Trilla Backstory Needed

[Rilvar]

SPOILERS:
(As in this whole thread is basically nothing but spoilers, so no player should read past this, and that's enough for the spoiler warnings)...

So I'm finally almost wrapping up my current campaign, an Age of Worms 4E conversion (and I can't say how much I look forward to not having to convert WOTBS!) and getting ready to start my new one with WOTBS. As part of the transition, I'd like to add some foreshadowing / links into my current campaign that will spill over into the next. As it is I've already mentioned Ragesia / Emperor Coaltongue (who's in the process of conquering Latia at the moment), the Torch, and a few other things.

However, what I would really like to foreshadow is the Trillith, but based on everythign I've read I still don't really understand the whole backstory behind how they were created, WHAT they are, and how I might tweak it to my setting.

I understand they are the sort of dream manifestations of the dragon Trilla who is imprisoned in the Underdark, why are Trilla's dreams getting manifested in the first place?

Who is Trilla, how does this dragon tie in with the other ancient dragons involved?

Are the Trillith tied to any other part of the world's ancient history? I ask this because I'm considering expanding the Trillith in a sort of philosophical delving extra-reality dimension in my setting and I want to make sure I don't tweak anything that is tied to the adventures.

Appreciate any help!

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

What world setting are you using?

I ask because I am running WoBS in the Eberron setting, pre-current day by 1,000 years or so, and have linked the Trillith to the Quori spirits and a manifest zone of Dal Quor where Trilla lies. The Trilla are Quori that manifest through the channel of the sleeping Dragon and they are seeking a way to take control of Eberron.

Some more on Trilla..
[sblock]
Trilla is a young Dragon, the daughter of Syriana.. and was part of the genisis of the Torch.
The progenitor Dragons have nothing to do with her directly, however she is linked to the planes themselves... acting as a material focus and living manifest zone. The reasons for this can be varied. IMC, this is due to the arcane experiments her mother conducted as part of an attempt to unravel the Prophecy.
[/sblock]

Note, I am only up to Module #8 in play, and have skimmed the rest of the adventure path. I do not think that your tweaking will have any negative impacts on the campaign. As with many things in the story, the reality of the backstory is often left up to the DM to set what fits best with the group.

As to foreshadowing, perhaps you could have Deception play a part in an adventure.... she shows up multiple times in the adventure arc, often just in the shadows and out of harms way. She is most prominent in the Mad Kings Banquet.

 

[pneumatik]

Lots of spoilers ahead.

Trilla the golden dragon just happens to be extremely psychic. Coaltongue captured her as a way to get to her mom, Syana. Syana was a powerful defender of the elvish people, and Coaltongue wanted to kill the elves she was protecting. So Coaltongue captured Trilla and had her tortured by a bone devil. Between the torture and watching her mom die (Coaltongue, again), Trilla's psychic power of her dreams manifesting went crazy.

In the fight where her mom died Trilla was freed by some elves. Those same elves were worried about Trilla, so they hid her in the WotBS-land Underdark. But her dreams became more powerful, to the point where they keep her asleep so they can run free. And then the campaign starts.

Continuity Notes:
The fight where Trilla's mom dies and Trilla is freed is where the Torch of the Burning Sky is created.
The elves involved are the Shahalesti (sp?), specifically their rulers. They turn up a lot in the campaign.

 

[Rilvar]

What world setting are you using?

I am using a homebrew, which at this point I'm fleshing out the world's ancient history (thus moving in the direction of profound realization themes).

Trilla the golden dragon just happens to be extremely psychic. Coaltongue captured her as a way to get to her mom, Syana. Syana was a powerful defender of the elvish people, and Coaltongue wanted to kill the elves she was protecting. So Coaltongue captured Trilla and had her tortured by a bone devil. Between the torture and watching her mom die (Coaltongue, again), Trilla's psychic power of her dreams manifesting went crazy.

Ok so neither Trilla or Syana are linked to any of the primordial forces that are linked to the Heart? I believe that Coaltongue gained his immortality before the battle that created the Torch, so the whole Trillith theme is independent of the Heart?

And one of my players will be very interested in creating a psionic character in this new campaign, so I may be able to write that into the story with Trilla (I have yet to explain psionics in my world since the "Great Sundering" 4E conversion )

Oh, and as for Deception foreshadowing, I need to be careful since my PCs are epic and ambitious at this point, so too much involvement may mean they actually go and try to meddle with things, hard to stop a powerful group from interfering at this point lol.

 

[RangerWickett]

Torch came first. With Torch, Coaltongue becomes a continent-conquering badass. A few decades later, he's getting old, not so much a warrior anymore, and then Leska finds the Aquiline Heart and they share the immortality.

Here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/war-bu...ers-timeline-other-questions.html#post4580930

 

[RangerWickett]

Oh, and this is a small nuance, but there's a trillith-esque spirit guarding the heart in adventure 12. I never quite explain what it is, but what I wanted to imply was that the primordial dragon who killed the eagle somehow created entities similar to trillith too (perhaps just a one-off thing, as a consequence of killing the eagle).

 

[Rilvar]

Here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/war-bu...ers-timeline-other-questions.html#post4580930

Thanks, it makes more sense now, but one thing I'm still unclear on is what the Trillith are exactly. I got that they are formless creatures, a sort of manifested dream, but without adventures 9 and 10 I'm not sure how they would interact with the world beyond taking other bodies. Several adventures mention that their goal is to diffuse the world into nothing but dreams - is this just some fluff or is there a real threat that arises? And I also remember reading something about a Trillith Dreamscape - does this appear in the adventure series?

 

[pneumatik]

Trillith are Trilla's dreams made manifest in the real world. For most of the campaign they're able to posses creatures and influence them somehow or flit about incorporeally, but towards the end they start getting close to becoming corporeal. Their goal is to create a dream powerful enough and real enough in Trilla to manifest itself in the real world, then have this powerful dream destroy reality somehow, I think by destroying the Aquiline Heart. In the formless reality that's left the Trillith believe they'll be as real as when they're in Trilla's dreams. They also think they'll be able to survive Trilla's death when reality ends.

 

[Rilvar]

Trillith are Trilla's dreams made manifest in the real world. For most of the campaign they're able to posses creatures and influence them somehow or flit about incorporeally, but towards the end they start getting close to becoming corporeal. Their goal is to create a dream powerful enough and real enough in Trilla to manifest itself in the real world, then have this powerful dream destroy reality somehow, I think by destroying the Aquiline Heart. In the formless reality that's left the Trillith believe they'll be as real as when they're in Trilla's dreams. They also think they'll be able to survive Trilla's death when reality ends.

Ah, great, thank you.

On another line, is there any way that subscribers can access the 3.5 editions (which are all written and out) while we wait for the 4E conversions? Mainly all I'm interested in is reading the storyline so I can prepare, and while the Campaign Guide does give a summary it really doesn't have much in the way of details.

 

[pneumatik]

From what I can tell there are significant differences between the 3.5 and 4E versions of the campaign. I've only read the 3.5 version (which is my source material for this thread), but whenever I see the 4E version being discussed it seem different. I don't know if the trillith backstory would change or not, though.