When did Orcus die?

[Alzrius]

Does anyone actually know when Orcus was supposed to have died the first time?

I could have sworn that some PS product said it was "a thousand years ago" but now I can't seem to find any that say when, other than it was "recent".

I ask because according to the Bloodstone Lands stuff, he only lost his wand around fifteen years ago. That isn't him dying, but he's still alive then, and could have been killed after that. Can anyone find anything in a Planescape product that said it actually was a thousand years ago?

 

[EricNoah]

Hmm, gosh, let me think. Orcus is tied pretty closely to a couple of Planescape adventures -- Great Modron March, and, hmm, is it Dead Gods? But I can recall if this is when he dies or when he is returned...

 

[Alzrius]

Those are the adventures that, respectively, prelude his return, and are his return itself. Both were stellar adventures. I've read them a lot.

What I'm actually looking for though is something that says "Orcus died a thousand years ago". Or something to that effect anyway. Being given a direct quote and a page number would be helpful too. Orcus gets mentioned a lot (though virtually never by name, since Kiaransalee erased it across the multiverse) in a significant number of Planescape products.

Thanks though!

 

[galaga88]

Here's Necromancer Games' History of Orcus they did. May answer it in there.

http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/HistoryOfOrcus.pdf

 

[Alzrius]

Galaga, thanks for the link!

The really embarrassing part is that I didn't think to check that resource, but I'm the guy who wrote that!

Of course, looking over it, I think the one thing I didn't reference in that document was a definitive statement of when Orcus died, since I took it as a given...hence why I'm asking for that statement now.

 

[the Jester]

I've always taken it for granted that all the dead Orcus references rely on H4 for validation- you know, the module for 100th level characters?

I never played PS, though, so I may have missed all the pertinent refs...

 

[EricNoah]

I'm assuming the "recent" reference is from the 3E MotP, p. 102. Vaguely references the events of the modules I mentioned though doesn't mention Kiaransalee by name.

 

[BOZ]

do you mean when orcus died, or when he died his death as a mortal man (thus leading to his becoming a demon, then eventually a demon lord)? they only hint at that in dead gods, showing it in a flashback. no dates are given IIRC.

 

[Alzrius]

Jester, as near as I recall, Orcus never actually died in H4. You just destroy his Wand.

Eric, which "recently" reference are you referring to? The MotP does talk abotu Dead Gods, though only barely in how vague it is. Kiaransalee's role in it is, like most of the holisticity of 2E, lost in the new edition of the game.

 

[Alzrius]

BOZ, I'm asking when he died as a god, that is, when Kiaransalee killed him. Everything else is in my History of Orcus that Galaga posted above (though, in truth, I've got to update that thing...3E references to Orcus are cropping up all over the place now).