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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7344674" data-attributes="member: 20323">Looking forward to start up a face-to-face gaming group after a long hiatus <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The premise I'll be pitching is a Roman/Egyptian-esque world under threat of getting dragged into the Abyss (specifically the desert known as the Nerebdian Vast) by the "subtler" demon lord Graz'zt who wishes to add it as part of his realm Azzagrat. As I've been making notes, I stumbled onto this question:What is the Nerebdian Vast (48th layer of the Abyss) like? Both physically and spiritually? How is it more than just a desert?While I have a fair idea of the sort of moral corruption Graz'zt would engender, defining the Nerebdian Vast will help me figure out how the world changes in a creepier/more supernatural way than "becomes more desert-like."A bit of context, based on integrating info from multiple D&D books, Green Ronin's Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra, and my own ideas/interpretations....[SBLOCK=Context]The Wasting. Graz’zt schemes to draw The Two Lands (a Material Plane world) into the 48th layer of the Abyss, a desert realm known as the Nerebdian Vast. The only remaining obstacle to his plan are the kingdoms of Khemti where Ma’at (truth, justice, harmony, balance, common good) is still valued. Where the Wasting swallows the land – turning arable soil into a parched desert, oases into viper tree groves, and wells into poison / salt pools – here the Abyssal corruption is most keenly felt, causing madness among the desert inhabitants and even creating conduits which demons may sneak through.Between Deceit and the Soul-Trade. The Nerebdian Vast lies between the lowest layer of Graz’zt’s realm, Voorz’zt the 47th, with its blue moon inverting heat/cold and concealing identities, and Shaddonon the 49th, realm of Graz’zt’s sister Rhyxali, Queen of Shadow Demons, a place of cities hidden amidst crags and forests of shadow where outcast demons, night hags, and fiendish spies conduct brisk trade in souls and secrets. It is said all the suffering caused by Graz’zt’s machinations form an Ocean of Tears (known as “Skeiqualc” in Abyssal) which defines the boundary between the Nerebdian Vast and the bordering 47th (where it becomes the Bay of Choking Bile where Graz'zt's fleets of chaos ships and planar dromands dock) and 49th layer (where it meets the River Styx used by the soul-traders visiting Shaddonon).Graz'zt's Motives. His motive at its most base is power and expanding his influence in the Abyss. However, there's a bit more nuance about why this world is so close to falling rather than, for example, Oerth or Faerun. First, in ancient days, the god Ra punished the wickedness of man with a Cataclysm that involved scorching the earth & letting demons loose upon the world – the demons were drawn from the ranks of funerary spirits which guarded areas of the Underworld (mingling the Egyptian conception of the Duat with D&D multiverse), but quickly became disobedient as they sought out secret knowledge of the paths between worlds...this knowledge would let demons leave the Abyss more or less freely. Second, a cruel empire formed called the Pax Imperica with a corrupted Alexander the Great-type ruler, and it has taken over much of the world with the exception of the kingdoms of Khemti and a few tribes and smaller fiefdoms; Graz'zt enjoys the bread-and-circuses and debauchery common in the empire and with his spawn worming their ways into the imperial ranks, he wants to see them prosper. Third, Graz'zt wants to snub the god Set who Graz'zt believes is his father that cast him out (this may or may not be "the truth"); there is a delicious irony in backstabbing the god of backstabbing who has been elevated as patron deity of one of Khemti's kingdoms, and Graz'zt savors such ironies.[/SBLOCK]</blockquote>

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