So you're a dwarven god...

[Ry]

I've alluded to something in my campaign, my players are chasing it rabidly, and am totally writers-blocked on how to deliver it.

Imagine you're a dwarven god, and you (and the rest of the pantheon) are about to die. You want some of your dwarven people to survive, and so, as a last-ditch effort to save the race, you create an island in a demiplane (about 20 miles across) for the survivors to live on (and under).

What do you make?

Edit: Once I get enough responses, I'll compile, remix, and put out a new thread with the completed demiplane/island as a campaign resource.

 

[Mark]

A cave complex inside your godly molar.

 

[Starglim]

If the dwarves live on as bored pampered pets, they are no dwarves at all. I'd create a place of work and striving towards an ultimate return to the real world.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

2 ideas:

1) Think the M.C. Escher prints about staircases and doorways - the demiplane is a weird knot of worked stone passageways that loops back on itself infinitely, and is at a juncture of transitory planes.

2) The 'island' is a moving patch of Earthlike conditions within the Elemental Plane of Earth - the surviving dwarves have to continually tunnel, dig, and build to keep up with the motion of the demiplane's boundaries

 

[LazerPointer]

The whole Pantheon's gonna die, eh?

If I was a nigh-death dwarven god, I'd be looking for some being of power to whom I could burden with the protection of my people. The design of the demi-plane, and it's location, might follow from what would be compatible with this creature.

Of course, your Pantheon plan might be totally different. Are there any powers who will fill some of the functions of the Gods once the Gods are dead?

 

[Aust Diamondew]

First off if I were a dying dwarven god I'd go and get the rest of the pantheon and the rest of my buddies together and go and kick some goblin and orc butt. Try to cripple their pantheons by attacking their gods.

As for building a plane I'd definitely make sure there would be enough iron and other metals for the dwarves to keep building things with.

 

[Ry]

Aust Diamondew: Actually, this kind of thinking is the reason the whole apocalypse happened. I took a Forgotten Realms+Kitchen Sink-style universe and gave it a little initiative: the result, called the Godswar, was considered the end of the world. So not to worry; the dwarven panetheon is indeed sticking it to the goblinoid pantheon, and the human pantheon is sticking it to each other, the drow pantheon is sticking it to the elf pantheon, demonlords are eating celestials, etc. Unfortunately it became quite clear that the Godswar amounted to general suicide. Garagos the Reaver became ascendant (gaining power off of the raw godly destructive frenzy), and polished off most of the remaining gods.

LazerPointer: The problem was that by the time the dwarven pantheon realized it was going to bite the bucket, it looked like Garagos would consume _everything_ that wasn't tucked away. This demiplane is all they've got.

I think Starglim's idea about striving is a good one; the god isn't trying to create a dwarven paradise - just a place where they can be safe.

 

[sword-dancer]

Enough ressources, that a stable communitie(s) could survive and but only if they work hard and good with enough surplus in this case for cultural and recreational things.

 

[grimslade]

Ah Ragnarok

The Dwarven gods could use their surviving peoples to build the seeds of Garagos' destruction. Their demiplane would eventually be discovered by the Devourerer. The dwarves could turn it into a 'poison pill' for Garagos. The would dig and build a giant god grenade filled with magical shrapenal and explosives. This would be a beyond epic artifact. It would require generations of dwarves to accomplish. I imagine it as a desolate asteroid with "Eat me" etched into its' face.

Grim

 

[Sejs]

I would seed the demiplane with a number of portals to secret, secure caverns deep, deep within the earth to which my people could spread to once their strength and numbers were rebuilt. In time, they would use their new homeland as the staging point from which to retake their rightful place in the world. I would also probably create some enemy race within the demiplane to keep my people's edge, but said enemy would expressly know that the purpose of their existance is to test and strengthen the dwarven people rather than wipe them out. Heh, of course, I wouldn't necessarily tell the dwarves that, however.

I'm a dwarven god, I am the essence of dwarven tenacity and patience. I don't just give up, I don't just run away, and I don't just roll over and die.