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[Let's Read] Nidal, Land of Shadows
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<blockquote data-quote="Tristissima" data-source="post: 7888803" data-attributes="member: 6162"><p>Way back in the long-ago time of the Age of Destiny, Azlant maintained a trading outpost in the Mindspin Mountains, no doubt in the region that separates modern Nidal from Molthune or Nirmathas. It was called Calignos, and its seers managed to predict Earthfall, literally a day before the aboleths smashed the asteroid into Golarion. Heeding this prophecy and with essentially no time to think about it, the people of this outpost (which included among their number not only Azlanti humans, but also elfs, gnomes, half-elfs, halflings, and others) did the most sensible thing available to them: they fled underground.</p><p></p><p>Such a grand impact obviously collapsed the tunnels behind the fleeing Azlanti, who knew little of how to survive in the photosynthesis-lacking Darklands. Magic was their savior, magic and a group of demigods in the Shadow Plane known as the Forsaken, who transformed these primordial humans into the creatures now known as the “dark folk”. Every once in a while, however, a child is born to them, slender and gray-skinned and resembling in many ways the Azlanti race. They are called, with forgotten lack of creativity and vague wistfulness “caligni”.</p><p></p><p>Many such forsake their people, both socially and physically, and in the latter forsaking many come to Nidal, for its gloom and environs prove quite welcoming to them and their light-sensitive eyes. As Zon-Kuthon and the velstracs reside in the Shadow Plane themselves, Nidalese culture reveres most shadowy entities, and this helps the caligni integrate into their society. One of the greatest tragedies to befall this race is that they rarely breed true. Their children, too often, are dark folk themselves and not proud caligni like their parents. We are not told what happens to these dark children, the heartbreak of their people, but we are told that many caligni who wish for children adopt abandoned infants or steal them either by their own force or that of hired mercenaries.</p><p></p><p>The Forsaken are described in the very last Pathfinder module to use the 1st edition Pathfinder rules, <em>Cradle of Night</em>. Though they hoped to transcend their status as demideities by explosively harvesting the souls of the caligni, they mysteriously disappeared sometime in the Age of Darkness, which started with Earthfall. Both due to their location aboveground and the more precipitous nature of their own transformation, it seems reasonable to believe that the Black Triune made their deal with Zon-Kuthon sometime relatively significantly before the disappearance of the Forsaken. I do, however, find myself wondering how related the two events are, since they both involve deities from the Shadow Plane and occur at about the same time…</p><p></p><p>Shortly after the disappearance of the Forsaken, beings known as the owbs appeared and replaced them as the center of dark folk and caligni religion. They seem to have some connection to the Forsaken, possibly as fractured shards of their being, as certain owb can channel the power of the Forsaken to grant clerical spells to their worshipers. They include:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Enkaar the Malformed Prisoner, neutral evil Forsaken of fetters, lethargy, and physical corruption whose owb prophets cannot be paralyzed and can deform others; Enkaar seems in many ways to resemble the velstracs though Enkaar’s chains are encrusted with rust</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eyes that Watch, neutral evil Forsaken of feelings of inferiority, felines, and strangers, whose prophets can see without their eyes, which emit dim flames instead</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Grasping Iovett, chaotic evil Forsaken of accidents, parasites, and reckless lust, whose prophets are immune to disease, poison, and grappling and can cause tick-bite-like pustules to erupt on a person’s skin; Iovett’s sacred animal, in fact, is the tick</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Husk, neutral evil Forsaken of emptiness, loneliness, and narcissism, whose prophets are immune to bleeding, disease, mind-affecting effects, and poison and can enshroud their surroundings in silence</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lady Razor, neutral evil Forsaken of family strife, suspicion, and vengeance, whose prophets can fight with all slashing weapons, even with more than one at once, and can ensure their slices cut vital areas; Lady Razor was the magistrate who forbade showing kindness or mercy to one’s family</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Reshmit of the Heavy Voice, chaotic evil Forsaken of broken things, forgetting, and unexpected violence, whose prophets make everyone around them unusually forgetful and can make objects explode</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Thalaphyrr Martyr-Minder, lawful evil Forsaken of failed heroics, imprisonment and squandered time, whose prophets prevent morale bonuses and can make others slow down; Thalaphyrr guarded the prisons where the Forsaken kept would-be usurpers and destroyers.</li> </ul><p></p><p>That’s . . . well, that’s certainly a pantheon, and suddenly makes me much more interested in the dark folk/caligni, who’d always seemed kind of bland in my previous readings. Their perspectives on things seem beautifully topsy-turvy, even appealing to my Discordianism in its glorification of things like accidents and failure. They certainly bring a flavorful masochism to Nidal that the Kellid inhabitants seem to avoid. I imagine that all of the Forsaken ~ well, the owb prophets who channel their divinity, anyway, as said prophets refuse to allow any of the energy possibly gained by worship to pass through to their patron ~ are allowed shrines within the borders of Nidal.</p><p></p><p>I kind of wonder if the cataclysm of the Forsaken came when Thalaphyrr somehow failed in its vigil, or has something to do with Enkaar’s resemblance to an antique velstrac.</p><p></p><p>For the record, caligni racial traits (from Bestiary 5):</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">+2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">30 feet of speed</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">See in darkness</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Light sensitivity</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Explodes in a flash of dazzling light when killed</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tristissima, post: 7888803, member: 6162"] Way back in the long-ago time of the Age of Destiny, Azlant maintained a trading outpost in the Mindspin Mountains, no doubt in the region that separates modern Nidal from Molthune or Nirmathas. It was called Calignos, and its seers managed to predict Earthfall, literally a day before the aboleths smashed the asteroid into Golarion. Heeding this prophecy and with essentially no time to think about it, the people of this outpost (which included among their number not only Azlanti humans, but also elfs, gnomes, half-elfs, halflings, and others) did the most sensible thing available to them: they fled underground. Such a grand impact obviously collapsed the tunnels behind the fleeing Azlanti, who knew little of how to survive in the photosynthesis-lacking Darklands. Magic was their savior, magic and a group of demigods in the Shadow Plane known as the Forsaken, who transformed these primordial humans into the creatures now known as the “dark folk”. Every once in a while, however, a child is born to them, slender and gray-skinned and resembling in many ways the Azlanti race. They are called, with forgotten lack of creativity and vague wistfulness “caligni”. Many such forsake their people, both socially and physically, and in the latter forsaking many come to Nidal, for its gloom and environs prove quite welcoming to them and their light-sensitive eyes. As Zon-Kuthon and the velstracs reside in the Shadow Plane themselves, Nidalese culture reveres most shadowy entities, and this helps the caligni integrate into their society. One of the greatest tragedies to befall this race is that they rarely breed true. Their children, too often, are dark folk themselves and not proud caligni like their parents. We are not told what happens to these dark children, the heartbreak of their people, but we are told that many caligni who wish for children adopt abandoned infants or steal them either by their own force or that of hired mercenaries. The Forsaken are described in the very last Pathfinder module to use the 1st edition Pathfinder rules, [I]Cradle of Night[/I]. Though they hoped to transcend their status as demideities by explosively harvesting the souls of the caligni, they mysteriously disappeared sometime in the Age of Darkness, which started with Earthfall. Both due to their location aboveground and the more precipitous nature of their own transformation, it seems reasonable to believe that the Black Triune made their deal with Zon-Kuthon sometime relatively significantly before the disappearance of the Forsaken. I do, however, find myself wondering how related the two events are, since they both involve deities from the Shadow Plane and occur at about the same time… Shortly after the disappearance of the Forsaken, beings known as the owbs appeared and replaced them as the center of dark folk and caligni religion. They seem to have some connection to the Forsaken, possibly as fractured shards of their being, as certain owb can channel the power of the Forsaken to grant clerical spells to their worshipers. They include: [LIST] [*]Enkaar the Malformed Prisoner, neutral evil Forsaken of fetters, lethargy, and physical corruption whose owb prophets cannot be paralyzed and can deform others; Enkaar seems in many ways to resemble the velstracs though Enkaar’s chains are encrusted with rust [*]Eyes that Watch, neutral evil Forsaken of feelings of inferiority, felines, and strangers, whose prophets can see without their eyes, which emit dim flames instead [*]Grasping Iovett, chaotic evil Forsaken of accidents, parasites, and reckless lust, whose prophets are immune to disease, poison, and grappling and can cause tick-bite-like pustules to erupt on a person’s skin; Iovett’s sacred animal, in fact, is the tick [*]Husk, neutral evil Forsaken of emptiness, loneliness, and narcissism, whose prophets are immune to bleeding, disease, mind-affecting effects, and poison and can enshroud their surroundings in silence [*]Lady Razor, neutral evil Forsaken of family strife, suspicion, and vengeance, whose prophets can fight with all slashing weapons, even with more than one at once, and can ensure their slices cut vital areas; Lady Razor was the magistrate who forbade showing kindness or mercy to one’s family [*]Reshmit of the Heavy Voice, chaotic evil Forsaken of broken things, forgetting, and unexpected violence, whose prophets make everyone around them unusually forgetful and can make objects explode [*]Thalaphyrr Martyr-Minder, lawful evil Forsaken of failed heroics, imprisonment and squandered time, whose prophets prevent morale bonuses and can make others slow down; Thalaphyrr guarded the prisons where the Forsaken kept would-be usurpers and destroyers. [/LIST] That’s . . . well, that’s certainly a pantheon, and suddenly makes me much more interested in the dark folk/caligni, who’d always seemed kind of bland in my previous readings. Their perspectives on things seem beautifully topsy-turvy, even appealing to my Discordianism in its glorification of things like accidents and failure. They certainly bring a flavorful masochism to Nidal that the Kellid inhabitants seem to avoid. I imagine that all of the Forsaken ~ well, the owb prophets who channel their divinity, anyway, as said prophets refuse to allow any of the energy possibly gained by worship to pass through to their patron ~ are allowed shrines within the borders of Nidal. I kind of wonder if the cataclysm of the Forsaken came when Thalaphyrr somehow failed in its vigil, or has something to do with Enkaar’s resemblance to an antique velstrac. For the record, caligni racial traits (from Bestiary 5): [LIST] [*]+2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int [*]30 feet of speed [*]See in darkness [*]Light sensitivity [*]Explodes in a flash of dazzling light when killed [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] Nidal, Land of Shadows
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