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[Spoilers!] Questions from a first read
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<blockquote data-quote="squirmonke" data-source="post: 8090885" data-attributes="member: 7025916"><p>Thanks for the responses! I'll address them in the same order:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Yeah, I get that there's two sets of icons. But what I'm wondering is, what's the point of the second set, if you only need one to conduct the ritual. I think the answer I'll probably go with is that the icons below the Axis Seal link a world to Lanjyr so that energy can flow from that world to Lanjyr. The other set the Ancients put in to allow energy to flow from Lanjyr to the other worlds. They did this maybe as a contingency because they were worried what would happen if they didn't. This reverse link allowed damage to the pillar of Avilona from the sea cave to weaken the defenses of Avilona, making it vulnerable to attack and leading to the death of the eagle, which caused flight magic to crap out. The Ob figured this out, collected all the icons from these lesser pillars (except possibly Avilona which it seems like the PCs get to first) in case they need them, and never replace them as they figure that this reverse-connection is a liability if someone were to say use it to damage Mojang or Ratios. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">My thoughts above pretty well cover this. I like the idea that the damage to the pillar caused the damage to Avilona, and now Avilona is naughty word and you have to replace it if you want to fly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I'm not sure I like the idea that the lighthouses prevent the stars from falling. After all, stopping the lighthouse in Risur is supposed to be a small but significant victory, and if the only outcome of it is that the city gets nuked, I don't think my players will be pleased. I like the idea that the lighthouses spread the Ob's ideology. They're basically psychic propaganda that takes advantage of the fact that everyone's super receptive to new ideas and don't know it yet. It makes sense that Nic would set this up if he knew the Watchmakers wouldn't win, and he probably figured they wouldn't. I also like the idea that they may have smoothed the edges of the transition (like preventing stars from falling and making sure everyone keeps their spellcasting) so that nobody gets the idea that the Ob totally ruined things. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Jiese definitely remains the plane of Fire. But since the Ziggurats kinda have nothing to do with the ritual of the Axis Seal anyway (as far as I can tell, they were just temporary barriers the Ancients put in before they had the idea for the Axis Seal ritual), I can probably just handwave this away as "a planar event of unprecedented proportions has occurred, some weird naughty word happened, deal with it"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Yeah, I guess just DnD physics. I like the idea that Lanjyr produces its own heat, and I like the idea that the Gyre fucks with it. The Gyre already appears to sit in its own little extra-universal pocket of space (hence why no stars can be seen there) that's reserved for dead and dying worlds. It makes sense that some of the inherent properties of Lanjyr would cease to function there.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I guess I would believe that Nem can't destroy a thoughtform. This leads to the interesting thought that, if Apet weren't making it hard for them to find Lanjyr, the Gidim could invade in spite of the Axis Seal. I'll keep Shijen if he manages to link to Gidim during Adventure 3, and replace him otherwise. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ah yeah, I would believe that if she survives she can convince Nic that he still needs her. I think if she dies, Nic probably doesn't give her that chance to explain, and I'll modify the assassination plot to not include her.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Regarding Urim, I'm referring to this text: "Do note, in the original planar set-up, the plane of earth Urim caused gold to block planar travel, so the seal made interplanar travel within the system limited; and Apet made planar travel from worlds outside the system difficult; while Nem attempted to destroy intruders from other worlds. Almost any other arrangement of planes will result in a world that can be more easily reached by travelers from other planes.". That aside, I like your version better. Urim has nothing to do with planar travel, and Apet is responsible for both the inner and outer bans. This still leaves the question <strong>How did the Gidim attack Lanjyr from Apet after the Axis Seal? And what did the Ancients do to make Apet a "prison plane"?</strong></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I see. Basically adding Apet to the Axis Seal did what the Ziggurats were already doing, and banned travel from the 8 worlds to/from Lanjyr. These two barriers have a little space between them, and that's where the pocket happens. I can believe that. I'll probably diagram it at some point.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Oh, two layers to the Gyre. Yeah, sure, that'd do it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Yeah, I like the idea that the Voice of Rot has fey-magicked this. And I feel fairly certain that my party will be itching for a chance to kill his ass by this point anyway. But I think the battle will have more Gravitas if they already knew that Reida falling in would doom their world, especially if they knew this without VoR telling them. I'll probably say that the Voice of Rot has linked the past of Lanjyr to Reida using fey magic (this doesn't make sense otherwise, as Reida is no longer the plane of time), and I'll add symptoms of that to the real world, weaker willed people after the Great Eclipse start forgetting parts of history, things they knew from before. Some force is siphoning away the past.</li> </ul><p></p><p>This was great and helpful! Though I do have two more questions I've thought up:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In adventure 3, I'm pretty sure Xambria finds a Golden Icon in the Ziggurat of Apet. This is the only time anyone mentions finding a Golden Icon in a Ziggurat. What was it doing there? Could this be related to the prison-plane effect the Ancients put on Apet?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It seems like the Ziggurats have nothing to do with the ritual of the axis seal. The Ancients built them to protect the minor seals that they put on natural planes to other worlds, so that people would stop coming from those worlds, and those worlds would eventually empty out. If this is the case, why are there only 8 ziggurats? It seems awfully convenient for Ancient Lanjyr to have already only been directly portaled to 8 worlds, and for those worlds to just happen to have all the energy types you need, and for one of them to conveniently have a trait that lets you seal off all other planar travel. There must have been others right, so that the Ancients could pick out a set that would protect them (such as including Urim, Apet, and Nem)? Why are there no other Ziggurats? </li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="squirmonke, post: 8090885, member: 7025916"] Thanks for the responses! I'll address them in the same order: [LIST] [*]Yeah, I get that there's two sets of icons. But what I'm wondering is, what's the point of the second set, if you only need one to conduct the ritual. I think the answer I'll probably go with is that the icons below the Axis Seal link a world to Lanjyr so that energy can flow from that world to Lanjyr. The other set the Ancients put in to allow energy to flow from Lanjyr to the other worlds. They did this maybe as a contingency because they were worried what would happen if they didn't. This reverse link allowed damage to the pillar of Avilona from the sea cave to weaken the defenses of Avilona, making it vulnerable to attack and leading to the death of the eagle, which caused flight magic to crap out. The Ob figured this out, collected all the icons from these lesser pillars (except possibly Avilona which it seems like the PCs get to first) in case they need them, and never replace them as they figure that this reverse-connection is a liability if someone were to say use it to damage Mojang or Ratios. [*]My thoughts above pretty well cover this. I like the idea that the damage to the pillar caused the damage to Avilona, and now Avilona is naughty word and you have to replace it if you want to fly. [*]I'm not sure I like the idea that the lighthouses prevent the stars from falling. After all, stopping the lighthouse in Risur is supposed to be a small but significant victory, and if the only outcome of it is that the city gets nuked, I don't think my players will be pleased. I like the idea that the lighthouses spread the Ob's ideology. They're basically psychic propaganda that takes advantage of the fact that everyone's super receptive to new ideas and don't know it yet. It makes sense that Nic would set this up if he knew the Watchmakers wouldn't win, and he probably figured they wouldn't. I also like the idea that they may have smoothed the edges of the transition (like preventing stars from falling and making sure everyone keeps their spellcasting) so that nobody gets the idea that the Ob totally ruined things. [*]Jiese definitely remains the plane of Fire. But since the Ziggurats kinda have nothing to do with the ritual of the Axis Seal anyway (as far as I can tell, they were just temporary barriers the Ancients put in before they had the idea for the Axis Seal ritual), I can probably just handwave this away as "a planar event of unprecedented proportions has occurred, some weird naughty word happened, deal with it" [*]Yeah, I guess just DnD physics. I like the idea that Lanjyr produces its own heat, and I like the idea that the Gyre fucks with it. The Gyre already appears to sit in its own little extra-universal pocket of space (hence why no stars can be seen there) that's reserved for dead and dying worlds. It makes sense that some of the inherent properties of Lanjyr would cease to function there. [*]I guess I would believe that Nem can't destroy a thoughtform. This leads to the interesting thought that, if Apet weren't making it hard for them to find Lanjyr, the Gidim could invade in spite of the Axis Seal. I'll keep Shijen if he manages to link to Gidim during Adventure 3, and replace him otherwise. [*]Ah yeah, I would believe that if she survives she can convince Nic that he still needs her. I think if she dies, Nic probably doesn't give her that chance to explain, and I'll modify the assassination plot to not include her. [*]Regarding Urim, I'm referring to this text: "Do note, in the original planar set-up, the plane of earth Urim caused gold to block planar travel, so the seal made interplanar travel within the system limited; and Apet made planar travel from worlds outside the system difficult; while Nem attempted to destroy intruders from other worlds. Almost any other arrangement of planes will result in a world that can be more easily reached by travelers from other planes.". That aside, I like your version better. Urim has nothing to do with planar travel, and Apet is responsible for both the inner and outer bans. This still leaves the question [B]How did the Gidim attack Lanjyr from Apet after the Axis Seal? And what did the Ancients do to make Apet a "prison plane"?[/B] [*]I see. Basically adding Apet to the Axis Seal did what the Ziggurats were already doing, and banned travel from the 8 worlds to/from Lanjyr. These two barriers have a little space between them, and that's where the pocket happens. I can believe that. I'll probably diagram it at some point. [*]Oh, two layers to the Gyre. Yeah, sure, that'd do it. [*]Yeah, I like the idea that the Voice of Rot has fey-magicked this. And I feel fairly certain that my party will be itching for a chance to kill his ass by this point anyway. But I think the battle will have more Gravitas if they already knew that Reida falling in would doom their world, especially if they knew this without VoR telling them. I'll probably say that the Voice of Rot has linked the past of Lanjyr to Reida using fey magic (this doesn't make sense otherwise, as Reida is no longer the plane of time), and I'll add symptoms of that to the real world, weaker willed people after the Great Eclipse start forgetting parts of history, things they knew from before. Some force is siphoning away the past. [/LIST] This was great and helpful! Though I do have two more questions I've thought up: [LIST] [*]In adventure 3, I'm pretty sure Xambria finds a Golden Icon in the Ziggurat of Apet. This is the only time anyone mentions finding a Golden Icon in a Ziggurat. What was it doing there? Could this be related to the prison-plane effect the Ancients put on Apet? [*]It seems like the Ziggurats have nothing to do with the ritual of the axis seal. The Ancients built them to protect the minor seals that they put on natural planes to other worlds, so that people would stop coming from those worlds, and those worlds would eventually empty out. If this is the case, why are there only 8 ziggurats? It seems awfully convenient for Ancient Lanjyr to have already only been directly portaled to 8 worlds, and for those worlds to just happen to have all the energy types you need, and for one of them to conveniently have a trait that lets you seal off all other planar travel. There must have been others right, so that the Ancients could pick out a set that would protect them (such as including Urim, Apet, and Nem)? Why are there no other Ziggurats? [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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