Help me write a Prophecy, please. Yandrinoth players stay out!

[hyulf]

Hello everyone,

I have recently started a campaign in which a Prophecy is a link between the players and will be used as some foreshadowing. However, my creative and poetic flair is failing me right now, so I thought perhaps some creative and poetic minds here at enworld might be willing to help.

I keep thinking something along the lines of the lyrics from Aquarius from hair:

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius

But my players would kill me for bringing in some 60's music theme (I like it, they don't).

There are 6 PCs that need to be woven into the prophecy.

#1: Male Human: is descended from fey and most likely be a sorcerer
#2: Male Human worshipper of Mithras and most likely a paladin type
#3: Female Human Dinosaur Totem Warrior (Unearthed Arcana)
#4: Male Human, currently kidnapped by fey
#5: Male Human, Wilderness Rogue, focused on agility kinds of things
#6: Doppleganger, this traitor was revealed which steers the prophecy awry. Think of Judas as the traitor for this group

Some storylines that could be incorporated into the prophecy would be:

A demon filled meteor is going to hit outside their valley and then torment them.
Dopplegangers are moving from the Underdark to claim the surface.
Horrors from the Far Realms might invade the Dwarven city.
A Reptilian Abomination (ELH) is waiting outside the valley, deep in a swamp.
Faeries are here for some reason.

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be wonderful. The Prophecy will be spoken by the village holy man and I want it to sound deep, dire and ground shaking.

Thanks for your help.
hyulf

ps. I will be telling them tomorrow night (10-13) so sooner is better. Thanks again.

 

[Henry]

First of all, www.Rhymezone.com is a place well worth knowing about.

let's see:

Six flames from (poetic allusion to name of the valley the PCs are from) stand fast against the tide
Flicker amid the darkness, its embrace is denied
Fae and fae-bound, fast-claw and blood-priced, (something about the dopple-character) and grace-guide
A Flame shall falter, and cause the divide.

Just some thoughts, maybe this will get someone's juices flowing, or give them something to work with. I'm horrible at prophecies, myself.

 

[hyulf]

Thanks Henry. I like the flow of it.

Six flames from poverty rise
Stand fast against the tide
Flicker amid the darkness, its embrace is denied
Fae and fae-bound, fast-claw and blood-priced, swift-shape and grace-guide
A Flame shall falter, and cause the divide

The Divide will split
Will Flame survive?
The abyssal touch of the grave's demise.
In forest friend or forest foe
At the rainbow's end, the water knows.

The shield falters and hope renews
The lizards gather to strike anew
Elements wait to bind and toil

What will the Flames bring to a boil? (this seems to corny. Suggestions?)

hyulf

 

[Piratecat]

Be aware that it's a lot more impressive if the prophecy is repeated by the holy man, but it was written down a couple of hundred years ago. That adds a whole extra level of majesty and mystery to the realization. It's also cool if the prophecy is slipped into the story sounding like it's about someone or something else, and the PCs gradually recognize that it's about them instead.

Also realize that if someone's character dies, your prophecy is somewhat screwed. Let's hear it for vagueness!

"It is written that in the year of dark snows in the time of my grandfather's grandfather that an old man named Ulaf was struck suddenly mad while drawing water from a well. His strong voice became a constant mumble, and months of his words were lost before a clever neighbor girl named Aintha realized that he might be prophesizing. She then appointed herself his caretaker, and scribed every word that he would say, so that it would be saved for posterity.

"Her actual tome has long since been lost, but its final verses -- just before Ulaf died -- sang in my dreams last night. I repeat them for you, as I did in my dream, but I know not why."

In the time of the Ivory Road
When the shapeless ones emerge from their deep burrows to mock the tones of man
They will come.
They will come, I tell ye! Away with yer filthy rag! With their dragging feet and nasty little whistles and no noses. How will they smell the soup? They shan't, they shan't, for they will be the soup, changing and e'er-flowing from one to the next, long fingers wrapping on crunching bone. They want me! They want this place, for they are called by the oxcart! They choose to hide in the chosen, they choose to sup with the victor, and they love to betray. Oh, we are lost, we are lost, we are --

I wish they were all.

It is from the oxcart that the other will come. Girl, you may think that the stinking pits sit in the long shadow of heaven, but that is a lie. That is a silly myth they teach you in the pews of the church. The sulpherous ones come from the arching darkness above, set in motion as the stars turn, and they are not the only ones, but those others DO come from below and these first ones come from above. As I said. Were you not listening? If will be your liver they sup on first, you see, if you are not dilligent. Mark me, girl! If you do not shout loud enough, those far ahead can not hear, and so will die unknowing.

The falling reins make the difference, after all. (*winks*) It sets all in motion, and when the whip snaps upon the world the near-star will break open like rotten fruit, and outwards they shall pour. They shall start near and spread far, and who may stop them? Not surely the sunken beast of Il'tombil, that which sleeps in reverie and rouses the hideous song. Not the flitting chits of the dreaming land, returned after so much time. Unless. . . yes. That one! He is of their line, and the other is taken by their kind, and she totes the mystery of the sunken one's slow dreams. Perhaps they can prepare, if they are fast enough? If they look?

But woe, I can hear the giggling of those beneath. Do you know what they say? The blasphemous abominations may rise in the far places of the Obsidian King. His kin are still there but he's long gone, oh yes, gone from that place in the darkness and stone, but what he left behind may well be enough. I spin, I spin, whirling through a child's laughter as we all fall away into the writhing teeth. My belly aches. Less of the turnip soup, please, my dear. For turnips bring madness, and teeth, and turns the world into the nothingness of a beetle's tongue. Do not let the bearded ones bring forth the nightmares, and do not let the shapeless ones subvert the blessed, and do not let the stinking ones devour the babies in the night. Not many arrayed against such horror. Five and one, for six minus one is five. He shall dance atop the trees, and he shall wear righteousness like a shield, and all shall face the dream ahead. They all fall and we all fall, for I see down within and I. . .

Down from above and up from below and into the darkness they seep. Six and more to meet the foe, one less than they really will keep.

And now, it is gone? I can sleep? Bless you, for I hear only rain and not the silent screams of the creeping ones. It is a blessing, a blessing of Mithras, and surely not the last.
​

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Whatcha think for a start? Okay, chew on that for a bit, and then I'll identify the various euphemisms.

 

[Piratecat]

Ivory Road - path from the underdark which the doppelgangers are coming up
Shapeless ones - doppelgangers
The oxcart - a constellation (replace as necessary.) This is also the part of the sky from which the demon meteor will come.
Sulphurous ones - the demons.
Falling reins - the comet-like streaks of light in the sky caused by the meteorite/comet coming from the oxcart.
Sunken beast - swamp creature (maybe an ally if approached ny the woman with the dinosaur totem?)
Flitting chits - fey. The rest of the verse refers to three of the PCs.
Those beneath (abominations) - creatures from the far realms.
Obsidian King - ancient dwarven king in this city, left something behind related to the far realms.
Bearded ones - dwarves
Shapeless ones - doppelgangers
Stinking ones - demons
Five and One - 5 PCs plus doppelganger. The rest of the verse discusses the other two PCs.
Silent screams - dopp telepathy/ESP.

This may not be what you're looking for, but hopefully it's suitably obscure but decipherable.

 

[Henry]

Ah, there's one of our prophecy gurus now.

Now, that's good. At first, I thought you might have meant the oxcart to be the demon-comet itself.

 

[Piratecat]

It could be. I always try to write prophecies so that there's some room for interpretation if I change my mind halfway through, or if the PCs come up with something cooler than I do. This one should probably be made a little bit more obscure in order to help with that. For instance, the oxcart could be an obsolete name for a constellation that no one uses anymore.

There's a couple of useful ways to hide information. One is making up unique names (calling the far realm the Blissful Regions, for instance, or calling these particular doppelgangers Izulithars) that you then use in the prophecy, requiring the PCs do spend money on sages. Another is to make veiled references that become clearer with time. Ideally you obliquely reference campaign events to come, some of which might not involve the PCs at all but which are still significant happenings, and which make the prophecy clearer once they occur.

 

[Ferret]

Just some thoughts, nothing to compare with PK's though: Talking about the deamons from space,

When the sky bleeds
And blood is wept from the flames
Scar the land
Which shall burn.


Those help at all? I started with the Bleeding sky image and worked around it, so the rest might not be up to scratch....

 

[hyulf]

I sit here in awe with the story you wrote Piratecat. I don't quite know how to reply but here goes.

I like what was written and I agree with you that it needs to be more obscure. The prophecy will be delivered to the PCs on the evening that they graduate from their rite of passage into adulthood. The Prophet of Tanus (think male form of Mystra) will deliver the prophecy. He has already hinted that things are moving too fast for the prophecy (since the doppleganger was discovered) and that things might be going wrong.

The campaign is set in the Deordenu valley. The valley has been sealed for 75 years due to a war between dragons and gods and a plague released by the dragons (inspired by the epidemic article in Dragon a long time ago). The members of the valley have no idea what is outside the valley since the Aegis (like a mythal from FR) block everything out by animals and such. People have been survivng and have reached a status quo in the valley but PCs being the adventuring types that they are will change that. This is a good thing.

I wanted the Prophecy to guide things along. Sometimes the group does not pick up on things and I thought the Prophecy could provide a trail map. I agree with you that it needs to be flexible and not written in stone. I tend to be more literal in my thinking so it comes out in the prose.

In terms of game mechanics, the valley and their rite of passage was used to do some 0-level gaming (remember that from the Greyhawk hardcover). It was a lot of fun and got the PCs to try new things and discover the world. The demons will arrive when they are 10th level or so, in hopes that it will force them to break the Aegis and see what is beyond.

I love what you folks have written/suggested. I will be mulling it over and will post the final tomorrow. If there are other suggestions, I am all eyes.

hyulf

 

[Piratecat]

What I gave you is a little less like a trail map; it's designed to alert folks to upcoming concerns, but doesn't especially give them advice along the way.

Anyways, pick and choose any elements of that you like, and toss the rest. It'll be fun seeing your completed prophecy when you finalize it!