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<blockquote data-quote="chutup" data-source="post: 5893806" data-attributes="member: 6690844"><p><strong>The Final Heresy</strong></p><p></p><p>Long ago in the City of Shuttered Windows, not long after the Gnawbone Wars had ravaged the lands around the Keening Sea, there was formed an order named the Brothers of the Spear, who today are called the Temple Invisible. The high priest of Alberon summoned twelve of his most powerful sorcerer-assassins, and brought with him the Tome of the Forbidden, in which the darkest secrets of the City are recorded. To these twelve he revealed the true name of She Who Waits, and the story of how she came to be banished to her dark lair beneath the world. And he charged them with a task that has never been given before or since: that of the assassination of a god. This was the original purpose of the Brothers of the Spear: to find a way to slay She Who Waits once and for all.</p><p></p><p>For centuries the agents of the Brotherhood did battle with the Whispering Sisters as they sought a means to destroy the dark goddess. In time they began to consider the task hopeless, until a new and terrible possibility was raised: for it was said in those days that the sun-god, the Lion in Splendour, passed each night through the underworld realm, and that the Long Night came about because the sun-god had been waylaid by the vile temptations of the nameless death-queen. In order to achieve their sworn goal, the Brothers of the Spear were forced to do the unthinkable: to turn away from their god, Alberon, and into the arms of the Lion.</p><p></p><p>Today in some dark vault beneath the Great Temple of Alberon, there is stored the Book of Heresies, in which all the heresies from the Time of Schisms are recorded. Last of all come the heresies of the Brothers of the Spear, and the Final Heresy is that they renounced their god and chose another. It is the last and most secret of the Heresies, for, to the undying shame of the Temple Indivisible, it is a heresy that continues to this day.</p><p></p><p>Hooks:</p><p>- Is the Tome of the Forbidden still extant? What other knowledge is written in it?</p><p>- What was the true name of She Who Waits, and why was she banished to the underworld?</p><p>- How can the Sun-God help the Temple Invisible to carry out their ancient mission?</p><p>- What else is written in the Book of Heresies? Who would have an interest in its secrets being revealed?</p><p>- What will the laity think if they find out that the Temple Indivisible is tolerating a secret heretical sect within their midst?</p><p></p><p><strong>The Testament of Weneslas Stannev</strong></p><p></p><p>In the library at Newhill (17.07), and in the Temple of the Labyrinth (29.14), and in one other place, this record of the words of the prophet Weneslas is kept hidden. Weneslas spent his youth staring into the sun until he went blind, and thereafter spent twenty years in seclusion before he began to speak sooth. His Testament tells us that the Sun is God, and God is the Sun, and all the Shrouded Lands live and die in His glow. In distant aeons, God lived always at the top of the sky, and the world burned with purifying flame; but evil came into the world due to the cruelty of the city-god, Alberon, toward his first wife who is now nameless. In order to save the world from the goddess's wrath, the Lion in Splendor was forced to marry her, and to promise that he would visit her each night and keep her company until morning.</p><p></p><p>Now, so sayeth Weneslas, each night the Sun must become Flesh and descend into the mortal world, which is the world of sin. As He passes in His material body through the underworld, the nameless queen tempts him with lust, fine food and wine, enchanting music, and other pleasures of the flesh unknown to man. Each night he remains strong until the morning comes, and His flesh is immolated once more into the transcendent body of the Sun. But in the depths of winter, when the evil of the mortal world grows strongest, the Lion is tempted to remain with his queen, and only by the Ritual of the Horn of Morning is he returned to the sky.</p><p></p><p>Hooks:</p><p>- How much is true of Weneslas' account?</p><p>- Did Weneslas write any other prophecies or visions?</p><p>- Why did the Lion in Splendour have to marry She Who Waits?</p><p>- What is the Ritual of the Horn of Morning? What would happen if it were not performed?</p><p></p><p><strong>The Scroll of Seven Shadows</strong></p><p></p><p>Also kept in the library of the Temple of the Labyrinth is this scroll, though it is said the Temple Invisible possesses others with key fragments burnt out. It records certain details about the founding of Bergolast, when the Tarrasque was pierced with six spears and held fast. But according to this Scroll, there was a seventh spear, forged from an unknown metal, which if it were plunged into the Tarrasque's heart would have slain it once and for all. For a time, this spear was kept in Bergolast, but eventually the lords of that city decided it was too much of a risk that someone might use it to destroy the beast. So they sent it to the far side of the Shrouded Lands, to the Temple of Seven Shadows (37.01), where it was sealed away behind myriad traps and guardians.</p><p></p><p>The last section of the scroll is written in a different hand, terse and cryptic. It seems to imply that when the Tarrasque is slain, the properties of the beast's blood will be instantly inverted. Instead of granting life, they will bring death; all trolls and other such descendants will be destroyed instantly. Furthermore, the seventh spear will become indelibly coated in the blood and made into the most deadly weapon ever forged; a weapon with the power to slay even a god...</p><p></p><p>Hooks:</p><p>- How exactly was Bergolast founded? Where did the founders acquire these seven spears?</p><p>- Was the seventh spear forged from the same metal as the Broken Spear? Apparently the Broken Spear was used to kill Tiamat. Does that mean that the Broken Spear was also doused in the lifeblood of a Tarrasque?</p><p>- Do the Temple Invisible want to get their hands on this seventh spear? Even if they did, who would wield it? Would they give the spear to the Lion in Splendour? How exactly do you give a weapon to the Sun?</p><p>- Let's say that the Lion in Splendour does slay his nameless wife. What happens then? Do we get a day that lasts forever? What exactly is 'purifying flame'?</p><p></p><p></p><p>(Not sure about how this is going to go. Basically I'm envisioning it as an epic-level quest which involves delving into the Temple of Seven Shadows to get the spear, then slaying the Tarrasque, then sailing to the edge of the world to give the spear to the Lion, then maybe accompanying him into the underworld to do battle with She Who Waits.</p><p></p><p>The only thing missing is a reasonable motivation for the PCs to go to all that effort... especially since there's a strong implication that the Long Day is not going to be very nice. Well, anyway, it's all the ravings of a dude who stared into the sun until he went blind, so it can be up to the DM to decide how much is true.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="chutup, post: 5893806, member: 6690844"] [B]The Final Heresy[/B] Long ago in the City of Shuttered Windows, not long after the Gnawbone Wars had ravaged the lands around the Keening Sea, there was formed an order named the Brothers of the Spear, who today are called the Temple Invisible. The high priest of Alberon summoned twelve of his most powerful sorcerer-assassins, and brought with him the Tome of the Forbidden, in which the darkest secrets of the City are recorded. To these twelve he revealed the true name of She Who Waits, and the story of how she came to be banished to her dark lair beneath the world. And he charged them with a task that has never been given before or since: that of the assassination of a god. This was the original purpose of the Brothers of the Spear: to find a way to slay She Who Waits once and for all. For centuries the agents of the Brotherhood did battle with the Whispering Sisters as they sought a means to destroy the dark goddess. In time they began to consider the task hopeless, until a new and terrible possibility was raised: for it was said in those days that the sun-god, the Lion in Splendour, passed each night through the underworld realm, and that the Long Night came about because the sun-god had been waylaid by the vile temptations of the nameless death-queen. In order to achieve their sworn goal, the Brothers of the Spear were forced to do the unthinkable: to turn away from their god, Alberon, and into the arms of the Lion. Today in some dark vault beneath the Great Temple of Alberon, there is stored the Book of Heresies, in which all the heresies from the Time of Schisms are recorded. Last of all come the heresies of the Brothers of the Spear, and the Final Heresy is that they renounced their god and chose another. It is the last and most secret of the Heresies, for, to the undying shame of the Temple Indivisible, it is a heresy that continues to this day. Hooks: - Is the Tome of the Forbidden still extant? What other knowledge is written in it? - What was the true name of She Who Waits, and why was she banished to the underworld? - How can the Sun-God help the Temple Invisible to carry out their ancient mission? - What else is written in the Book of Heresies? Who would have an interest in its secrets being revealed? - What will the laity think if they find out that the Temple Indivisible is tolerating a secret heretical sect within their midst? [B]The Testament of Weneslas Stannev[/B] In the library at Newhill (17.07), and in the Temple of the Labyrinth (29.14), and in one other place, this record of the words of the prophet Weneslas is kept hidden. Weneslas spent his youth staring into the sun until he went blind, and thereafter spent twenty years in seclusion before he began to speak sooth. His Testament tells us that the Sun is God, and God is the Sun, and all the Shrouded Lands live and die in His glow. In distant aeons, God lived always at the top of the sky, and the world burned with purifying flame; but evil came into the world due to the cruelty of the city-god, Alberon, toward his first wife who is now nameless. In order to save the world from the goddess's wrath, the Lion in Splendor was forced to marry her, and to promise that he would visit her each night and keep her company until morning. Now, so sayeth Weneslas, each night the Sun must become Flesh and descend into the mortal world, which is the world of sin. As He passes in His material body through the underworld, the nameless queen tempts him with lust, fine food and wine, enchanting music, and other pleasures of the flesh unknown to man. Each night he remains strong until the morning comes, and His flesh is immolated once more into the transcendent body of the Sun. But in the depths of winter, when the evil of the mortal world grows strongest, the Lion is tempted to remain with his queen, and only by the Ritual of the Horn of Morning is he returned to the sky. Hooks: - How much is true of Weneslas' account? - Did Weneslas write any other prophecies or visions? - Why did the Lion in Splendour have to marry She Who Waits? - What is the Ritual of the Horn of Morning? What would happen if it were not performed? [B]The Scroll of Seven Shadows[/B] Also kept in the library of the Temple of the Labyrinth is this scroll, though it is said the Temple Invisible possesses others with key fragments burnt out. It records certain details about the founding of Bergolast, when the Tarrasque was pierced with six spears and held fast. But according to this Scroll, there was a seventh spear, forged from an unknown metal, which if it were plunged into the Tarrasque's heart would have slain it once and for all. For a time, this spear was kept in Bergolast, but eventually the lords of that city decided it was too much of a risk that someone might use it to destroy the beast. So they sent it to the far side of the Shrouded Lands, to the Temple of Seven Shadows (37.01), where it was sealed away behind myriad traps and guardians. The last section of the scroll is written in a different hand, terse and cryptic. It seems to imply that when the Tarrasque is slain, the properties of the beast's blood will be instantly inverted. Instead of granting life, they will bring death; all trolls and other such descendants will be destroyed instantly. Furthermore, the seventh spear will become indelibly coated in the blood and made into the most deadly weapon ever forged; a weapon with the power to slay even a god... Hooks: - How exactly was Bergolast founded? Where did the founders acquire these seven spears? - Was the seventh spear forged from the same metal as the Broken Spear? Apparently the Broken Spear was used to kill Tiamat. Does that mean that the Broken Spear was also doused in the lifeblood of a Tarrasque? - Do the Temple Invisible want to get their hands on this seventh spear? Even if they did, who would wield it? Would they give the spear to the Lion in Splendour? How exactly do you give a weapon to the Sun? - Let's say that the Lion in Splendour does slay his nameless wife. What happens then? Do we get a day that lasts forever? What exactly is 'purifying flame'? (Not sure about how this is going to go. Basically I'm envisioning it as an epic-level quest which involves delving into the Temple of Seven Shadows to get the spear, then slaying the Tarrasque, then sailing to the edge of the world to give the spear to the Lion, then maybe accompanying him into the underworld to do battle with She Who Waits. The only thing missing is a reasonable motivation for the PCs to go to all that effort... especially since there's a strong implication that the Long Day is not going to be very nice. Well, anyway, it's all the ravings of a dude who stared into the sun until he went blind, so it can be up to the DM to decide how much is true.) [/QUOTE]
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