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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hexmage-EN" data-source="post: 8506730" data-attributes="member: 79428">Maruts are actually an interesting example to bring into the thread. In Hinduism the maruts are minor storm gods. They answer to the greater storm god Rudra. When Planescape incorporated the maruts they were instead instruments of divine fate that targeted those who defied the gods, living in Mechanus but answering the summons of the deities of other planes, with Rudra being used as an example in the flavor text. When 3E came around and the designers were looking to replace modrons the marut became but one member of the Inevitables, with the marut being singled out not as an enforcer of divine will in general, but as specifically a punisher of those who defy death (as in the Planescape flavor text). The roster of Inevitables and their functions are as follows:4E did away with Mechanus (initially; late 4E reintroduced it and the modrons but described Mechanus as effectively a Lawful version of the Far Realm). The 3E Inevitables disappeared, but the maruts not only remained but went back to their Planescape roots as enforcers of the will of the gods. The 4E lore describes them as having been created by the Lawful gods initially as impartial judges in disagreements between the gods, and in the years since their creation they established various outposts within the Astral Plane to perform other tasks, such as establishing a reliable map of the plane.5E reinstated Mechanus from the beginning and gave it back to the modrons, with not a mention of the maruts until Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. The current maruts are very high CR creatures that are rented out from a location called the Hall of Concordance in Sigil. They are programmed with specific instructions on a golden plate and single-mindedly pursue their goal, which usually involves capturing a target and teleporting it to the Hall of Concordance. A reference is also made to a kolyarut overseer of the maruts, which if you recall from earlier was a 3E Inevitable in charge of enforcing contracts, though it appears that there is now only one.So, to sum it up, D&D took minor storm gods from Hinduism and made them into enforcers of the will of the gods (2E), then enforcers of death alongside other specialized enforcers (3E), then back into enforcers of the will of the gods with a few side projects going on (4E), and finally into a small number of programmable enforcers for the will of whoever is able to get a contract approved (5E). The closest thing they have to the Hindu marut is the name and that they sometimes answer to the gods.</blockquote>

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