Orcus "Last Word"

[rossik]

so, i have a question that maybe u guys can answer:
(from wikipedia)
After a string of successful wars with Graz'zt and Demogorgon, Orcus was slain by the drow demi-goddess Kiaransalee, who took over rulership of Orcus' layer of the Abyss, Thanatos. Orcus was restored as the undead demon Tenebrous. With the power of the Last Word he managed to kill several gods (including Primus and Maanzecorian) in search of his wand.

so...whats the Last Word?
i mean, the what it is for?

 

[hong]

Hypersmurf is the wielder of the Last Word. It's used for smacking down rules debates.

 

[rossik]

Hypersmurf is the wielder of the Last Word. It's used for smacking down rules debates.

dont get it :\

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

dont get it :\

Inside joke. Hypersmurf is a guy that posts here and is renowned for his rules knowledge, to the point that many consider him the final arbiter on rules disputes. Also, he's purple. and hyper.

 

[NiTessine]

Moderators always get the last word...

The Last Word, on the other hand, is an ancient, powerful magic of unmaking that Tenebrous dug up from some ruins on the layer of Pelion, on Arborea. Very little is known about it, apart from that it has sufficient potency to slay deities, and that even the mere knowledge of it was taxing to the undead god.

 

[Shemeska]

All of the relevant information comes from Dead Gods, but the gist of it is that the Last Word was only one of a number of similar bits of obscenely powerful magic that Orcus/Tenebrous discovered on Arborea's layer of Pelion/Mithardir. When he found it, it was hidden within one of the last standing structures on the layer, protected by two humanoid guardians of an unknown race, potentially deific proxies. Tenebrous took what he wanted and destroyed the rest, including killing one of the guardians and leaving the other one alive and alone with the knowledge that he'd failed.

Now the origin of the Last Word and the other magic that was there where it was found isn't solidly known. It might have been created by the unknown and possibly extinct pre-Eladrin race that inhabited that layer of Arborea and then vanished, or it might have just been discovered by them (possibly leading to their own destruction) and then just bottled up and guarded.

So powerful was the Last Word that looking at it, attempting to learn and understand it, caused incredible pain and even death (aka no PC is going to learn it). And much to Tenebrous's lament, once he learned it, the Last Word began slowly devouring him, gnawing away at his quasi-existance and providing the feverish motivation for him to find his wand (and the bit of his former power it contained) that Kiaransalee had hidden.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Hypersmurf. The Fragarach of EN World.

 

[Ambrus]

The Last Word is "plot-device".

In the Dead Gods adventure Tenebrous went around killing gods by speaking the Last Word at them. It's essentially a word that unmakes whatever it is directed at; it's the Omega, the ending. IIRC In the adventure's final notes it is suggested that, after having been preyed upon by a serial-killer, the gods of the multiverse decide to do something about the Last-word, band together and do something to fundamentally change reality in such a way that the Last Word no longer functions or has power. So if Orcus now wants to kill gods he'll have to do it the old fashioned way; roll for initiative!

 

[Alzrius]

Shemeska was spot on. The one thing I wanted to add is that there's one other product that uses the Words: Ravenloft's Vecna Reborn. While it's never used in the adventure, Vecna is going to use the Word of Creation Once Spoken to escape his domain. The PCs are there to spoil the ritual (of course, that was in line with Vecna's greater plan anyway).

 

[Shemeska]

Shemeska was spot on. The one thing I wanted to add is that there's one other product that uses the Words: Ravenloft's Vecna Reborn. While it's never used in the adventure, Vecna is going to use the Word of Creation Once Spoken to escape his domain. The PCs are there to spoil the ritual (of course, that was in line with Vecna's greater plan anyway).

Isn't it only speculation however that the Words of Creation Once Spoken in 'Vecna Reborn' are in any way connected to the Last Word and its ilk on Pelion? The stuff that Vecna had was referred to as words in the 'language primeval', which has been a term tossed around once or twice elsewhere. None of the same terms were ever mentioned in Dead Gods, and while the Last Word and its manner of magic devoured Tenebrous in the end, and would obliterate anything but the most powerful beings, Vecna as a mere demigod never had any issues learning the magic he used in Vecna Reborn, etc.

I'll hold that they're both powerful forms of magic, but not related.