I made a domain to fit a religious order that I have in my games. They are a cult of Oblivion. They are not bad people, in fact they are generally good. They believe that nothing should be forever. In particular, they want to see an end to suffering. They are the enemies of the Dark Powers, devils and undead, but also angels and the divine.
This place is not technically a Domain of Dread. It is a place of power actively working against the Domains. For high level adventurers, it could act as a place to make tenuous allies.
Domain: The End of All Things.
Dark Lord: Oblivion / Azathoth (or a cosmic horror of your choice)
Themes: Suicide. Eniu. Mercy. Anything that is forever turns into a hell of itself. Cosmic immensity
Look and Feel: Surrounded by galaxies of stars above and below. There is a gaping black hole taking up about 30% of your field of vision in one direction. Everything in the plane moves slowly towards the black hole of oblivion. Everything is on the one level, rather than floating in freely space. The entire plane moves towards the black hole, slowly but surely. It is like the entire world is a conveyor belt. You barely notice it, and it is not hard to avoid disappearing into the hole.
PCs arrive in a city. The architecture is unlike anything they have seen. Other areas of the city have entirely different architecture. They are all from different periods, places and technology levels. Every civilisation that disappears forever ends up here. When your city turns to sand due to time, this is where it ends up. In the distance are vast deserts with sand dunes as large as mountains. These are the mountains that time has eroded. In another direction, you can see the ends of the endless oceans, disappearing into the maw of the black hole.
The city disappears at a rate of about 1 row of houses per hour. In an 8hr rest, you will lose two city blocks. New buildings are always appearing out of the nowhere at the opposite end of the city, furthest from the hole. These are civilisations that have fallen into obscurity. Full of books with knowledge that has left the world, technologies that will be forgotten, art that will never be shared again. It is very easy to avoid being sucked in, you just can't stay in the once place forever. This is not a place of sisyphusian punishment.
Inhabitants: Unlike most Domains of Dread, most people are here willingly. In fact, they longed for this place and escaped to it. The fervent prayers, hopes and wishes of those trapped in the domains are occasionally answered. Some say that such huge amounts of spiritual and psychic energy from the trapped souls of other domains is what created this one.
The inhabitants fall into a few catagories.
Plot Hooks:
Leaving: You can leave this place, if you have a way to do so. There is nothing stopping you from plane shifting out. After you leave however, you will always feel a pull towards Oblivion. That odd sensation as if the entire world is on a conveyor belt never goes away. It is not enough to cause you to lose balance, just to sense the End of All Things.
Some people end up with eyes like Raistlin from Dragonlance. Their pupils become hourglass shaped and when they gaze at the horizon, they always see Oblivion's Maw just waiting as they are ever so slowly pulled towards it.
This place is not technically a Domain of Dread. It is a place of power actively working against the Domains. For high level adventurers, it could act as a place to make tenuous allies.
Domain: The End of All Things.
Dark Lord: Oblivion / Azathoth (or a cosmic horror of your choice)
Themes: Suicide. Eniu. Mercy. Anything that is forever turns into a hell of itself. Cosmic immensity
Look and Feel: Surrounded by galaxies of stars above and below. There is a gaping black hole taking up about 30% of your field of vision in one direction. Everything in the plane moves slowly towards the black hole of oblivion. Everything is on the one level, rather than floating in freely space. The entire plane moves towards the black hole, slowly but surely. It is like the entire world is a conveyor belt. You barely notice it, and it is not hard to avoid disappearing into the hole.
PCs arrive in a city. The architecture is unlike anything they have seen. Other areas of the city have entirely different architecture. They are all from different periods, places and technology levels. Every civilisation that disappears forever ends up here. When your city turns to sand due to time, this is where it ends up. In the distance are vast deserts with sand dunes as large as mountains. These are the mountains that time has eroded. In another direction, you can see the ends of the endless oceans, disappearing into the maw of the black hole.
The city disappears at a rate of about 1 row of houses per hour. In an 8hr rest, you will lose two city blocks. New buildings are always appearing out of the nowhere at the opposite end of the city, furthest from the hole. These are civilisations that have fallen into obscurity. Full of books with knowledge that has left the world, technologies that will be forgotten, art that will never be shared again. It is very easy to avoid being sucked in, you just can't stay in the once place forever. This is not a place of sisyphusian punishment.
Inhabitants: Unlike most Domains of Dread, most people are here willingly. In fact, they longed for this place and escaped to it. The fervent prayers, hopes and wishes of those trapped in the domains are occasionally answered. Some say that such huge amounts of spiritual and psychic energy from the trapped souls of other domains is what created this one.
The inhabitants fall into a few catagories.
- People seeking release from domains of dread, unlife, arvernus or other such places/things. They tend to run headlong towards the black hole.
- People from dead civilisations. It is unclear how they got here or if they are just the symbolic recreations of those people, rather than really present. Some are high tech from previous forgotten ages and places, all of them are odd to behold with strange customs.
- People studying the place. It is the only place to find knowledge about forgotten places and peoples. You can imagine scholars get excited about this place, there is always new information arriving, and they are losing information quicker than they can study it. Most never leave this place, knowing that if they leave, by the time they come back, everything they knew will be gone. Those that try to leave and take knowledge and artifacts with them, find themselves at odds with the denizens of this place. Things are meant to be forgotten, not taken from this place.
- People who want to live so much that they turn this into a hell. They have been here for so long, walking an endless very slow treadmill. They might have started as scholars studying the place. Eventually the enormity of their task has overwhelmed them. Most submit to Oblivion. Some will do anything to escape it. Some are working on a way to destroy Oblivion. What happens if they succeed? What happens to the realms if everything is forever?
- The Cult of Oblivion. Its followers all have different theologies and are from different times and places. Their core tenant is that nothing should be forever. Many are brave crusaders, seeking to end the suffering of those in various hells. Some hate the gods and want to see them die. Some just want to watch the worlds burn. They are generally not hostile, except to those seeking to 'rescue' ancient things from this place.
- "Things-that-are-yet-should-not-be" are the beasts come into existence when Oblivion needs a helping hand. They are things that could have been created, but never were. They are possibilities made real. They are angels of Oblivion. These are your classic cosmic horrors. You are unlikely to encounter them unless you are trying to stop the process of destruction. Even then, they don't care about merely delaying the inevitable.
Plot Hooks:
- The Cult of Oblivion wants to help PCs free people from Domains of Dread. They want Strahd to end his eternal suffering. They want the hells to spill their souls into the void. They want the gods to die and their domains to rot away, eventually. Many of these line up with what PCs are likely to want.
- PCs are seeking knowledge or perhaps an artefact of a lost civilisation. If they don't get greedy, they could probably find it and take it, they better hurry though.
- Somebody they love (or need) has committed suicide. Resurrection won't bring them back, as they are not willing to return. This is where they end up. Catching them here is a last ditch effort before they disappear forever.
- A PC without a religion, or whose philosophy lines up with this place, dies. To bring them back they need to rescue them from here. Really, finding them will be the issue. This domain does not care if people leave for the most part. They will be back eventually.
Leaving: You can leave this place, if you have a way to do so. There is nothing stopping you from plane shifting out. After you leave however, you will always feel a pull towards Oblivion. That odd sensation as if the entire world is on a conveyor belt never goes away. It is not enough to cause you to lose balance, just to sense the End of All Things.
Some people end up with eyes like Raistlin from Dragonlance. Their pupils become hourglass shaped and when they gaze at the horizon, they always see Oblivion's Maw just waiting as they are ever so slowly pulled towards it.
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