Dead Gods - As A Resource

[jeff37923]

So I'm daydreaming at work, and I came up with this:

If there are Dead Gods floating around in the Astral Plane in the DnD cosmology, then why can't these floating statues be mined and smelted into magic items? Or even broken apart by stonecutters and used for building a stronghold? Wouldn't this imbue whatever was created with strong magic?

I'm thinking about using this as a cornerstone (no pun intended) for a mini-campaign.

Opinions on the idea?

 

[Kristian Serrano]

You mean like these on WotC's Map-A-Week archive?

La perdita del tutto che sia well: A village sits clustered on the face of a long-deceased goddess. A small castle looms behind the few buildings that are here, and a hot air balloon floats lazily above the ground anchored near the houses. The castle was built ages ago and has housed many inhabitants through the ages. Its rooms are decorated in a a rich but eccentric hodge-podge of different decors from different eras and locales. The first houses were built when a group of adventurers landed and decided to make this odd place their home. Some tunnels beneath the surface are used to store expensive or precious supplies.

Posto del sonno Mann: This place was built to house a small group of warlords who traveled the planes long ago. The strength of the unusual towers is unmatched. The larger main tower serves as the main hall, as well as an armory, eating hall, and library. It also houses some small dormitories for the troops. The smaller stacked tower is where the lords live. The dungeons are carved into the surface of the giant body fragment.

Fortress del drago del mare: An crazed wizard created this place as a base of operations years ago. The small fortress has several floors devoted to inventing new magic devices. Currently the wizard is experimenting with black powder and has made a large cannon for the defense of the fortress. He has tethered a small hot air balloon for when he needs to travel short distances.

Arenan Mortale: A dark and dismal place this is. It was once used for final judgment of the worst criminals. Instead of execution, the guilty ones who were brought here would fight each other until a winner remained. The losers would be displayed for all to see, and the winner would remain to fight until defeated. Those who lost their lives in combat here decorate the tops of the walls, impaled on spikes or left to rot in cages. A few lucky individuals remain held captive in the small tower next to the main island.

 

[Ambrus]

Because Anubis, watchmen of the dead gods, would hurt anyone who tried?

 

[Whisper72]

Because Anubis, watchmen of the dead gods, would hurt anyone who tried?

Sniff sniff sniff.... I smell an adventure brewing... mining dead gods, a divine watchman trying to prevent the PC's... some of the maps have already been provided... so what's next on the agenda...

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

So I'm daydreaming at work, and I came up with this:

If there are Dead Gods floating around in the Astral Plane in the DnD cosmology, then why can't these floating statues be mined and smelted into magic items? Or even broken apart by stonecutters and used for building a stronghold? Wouldn't this imbue whatever was created with strong magic?

Planescape's Guide to the Astral Plane?

Or was it Dead Gods?

Various Githyanki Strongholds are on various Dead Gods.

I don't have me Planescape stuff with me right now, but all the various things you describe were detailed for the Planescape Setting.

I can't remember if Manual of the Planes or Dieties & Demigods updated any of that info or not.


PS. What's with Ye Lord of the Seahorses? Big surprise he/she/it ended up dead.

 

[Nalfeshnee]

The second adventure in Dead gods involved something like recovering broken bits of a dead gods' head and reassembling them during a ritual to awaken the deity. the other adventure also features Tenebrous's dead body in the astral

ive always been a big fan of this idea, and can alrady picture an intersting adventure forming...

 

[Shemeska]

The Astral Dreadnaughts tend to be drawn to anyone disturbing the dead gods of the Astral, and they'll kill anyone actually mining them. The githyanki have managed by trial and error over millennia learned how to do what they do without being very invasive, thus not garnering the wrath of the Dreadnaughts (and by extension He Formerly Known As Anubis, The Guardian of Dead Gods).


I used the notion of mining dead gods extensively in my last campaign, and in fact the current plot arc in my 1st storyhour revolves around a pair of fiends posing as Rakshasas*, using disaffected/rebel githyanki as labor as they literally stripmine several godisles, including Maanzicorian and others. What they're actually doing there on the Astral is a bit deeper than just mining.

*the fiends, an Ultroloth and something else, presented themselves as the pair of Rakshasas mentioned in 'Guide to the Astral' in connection to Ghyris Vast of 'Divinity Leach' fame. I'll be posting a lengthy update with Vast sometime tonight that gets into how exactly the Leach itself comes into this, and I've dropped hints that some of the mining was intended to complete the Crown of Agony in Carceri atop the Tower of Incarnate Pain.

 

[Dr Simon]

Monte Cook continued the Dead Gods theme in the Malhavoc Press supplement "Requiem for a god".

It's got stuff like Godsflesh, Godsblood, Divinity Sparks, Spectres of the Divine and such things that might be mined (ahem) for ideas. My opinion - there's not much in it that you couldn't come up with yourself based on your idea.

 

[awayfarer]

Hmmm, how about retrieving an intact dead diety for a necrophiliac god of death? All packages delivered discreetly in 120x30 brown paper bags.

 

[Voadam]

Monte Cook's Requiem for a God, $7 pdf http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...Path=49_85&products_id=521&affiliate_id=17596 sounds like it has mechanics for mining dead gods.