Essentially, there are two distinct pantheons of gods operating in Dragonspace: the Greek Gods, and the Norse Gods. Each of these gods is represented by a constellation set in the sphere wall. The constellations representing the Greek gods dominate the northern hemisphere, while those reprenting the Norse gods dominate the southern. Additionally, there are a few stars that are not part of any of these constellations.
With just a few exceptions, no other god can grant spells to his or her worshippers within this sphere.
PRIESTS: The priest class in this sphere is modified
slightly as follows:
1) No generalist clerics. All clerics within this sphere are
specialty priests, identical to their descriptions
in the Legends & Lore rulebook.
2) Not all priests are spellcasters. In Regia, to become a
cleric in most sects, one must be born to a
suitable priestly family. Members of such families
are automatically `priests', regardless of whether
or not they actually receive divine power from
their deity. Typically, only about one member in
four of a given priestly family will actually
become a spellcasting priest - the others are of
the opinion that their `gifts' lay in other
directions (usually meddling fulltime in local
politics).
However, even though they are not spellcasters, the
members of a given priestly family will still be
subject to all the other restrictions and benefits
of a priest of that faith. For example, even though
Etor, a member of a priestly family dedicated to
Zeus is a fighter, he is still subject to the
weapon and armor restrictions of one of Zeus's
clerics - but he can also call upon Zeus for a
`Lightning Bolt' once per day.
It is not unknown for members of nonpriestly
families to marry or be adopted into priestly
families. Depending on the sect, such individuals
can become spellcasting clerics - sometimes.
OTHER GODS AND FORCES OF DRAGONSPACE:
Dragons
The Draconic powers are represented here by the `Son of the Great Dragon', a neutrally aligned Adamantite Dragon. The other dragon gods commune with this being; in turn he passes on their edicts, spells, ect to the other dragons. However, the `Son of the Great Dragon' is not so much a god, as an appointed representative of the gods (`quasi-god').
Elves
The `native' elves of this sphere do not appear to worship any deity, though they do have clerics. These clerics appear to draw their power from two sources: nature (essentially making them a druid varient), and from what might be termed the `Philosophy of the Divinity of Elvenkind'.
The elven clerics who draw their power from the Philosophy are as follows: AB: Wis 12, Ch 12; AL NG, N, CG, CN; WP: Bows (all), Dagger/Dirk, Javelin, Knife, Lance, Quarterstaff, Spear, Sword-Short, Sword-Long; AR: Non Metal; Spheres: All, Animal*, Charm, Divination, Healing, Necromatic*, Plant*, Summoning, Sun*, Time, Weather; PW 1) Soothing Word
Suynama
Suynama, the innermost world, is a borderline liveworld, where natural `life energy' is greatly concentrated. Suynama, the essence of this life energy, can best be described as a immensely powerfull, semi-sentient `spirit' that manifests itself most directly through Shambling Mounds.
The vast majority of the various priests and shamen of the races dwelling there draw on the life energy of Suynama for their spells. They advance as Druids, are subject to the same weapon and armor restrictions, and recieve much the same in the way of granted powers as do Druids. They do, however, differ slightly in the spheres they are permitted to access: All, Animal, Divination*, Elemental (all)*, Healing, Necromatic*, Plant, Weather. `*' denotes minor access to the sphere in question.
The Philosophy of Good
This religious movement, drawing magical power from good thoughts and deeds, was little more than a theological theory prior to the arrival of the Invaders, and is still suppressed in Regia where the clergy see it as both blasphemy and threat to their authority. Yet many in this sphere believe that the Gods let them down by not doing something to prevent the Invaders takeover, and if the Gods are not going to protect their worshippers, why bother with worshipping them?
This Philosophy is actually a partial fusion of the Philosophy of Good and the Philosophy of the Divinity of Humankind. Currently they are welcome only in the Metallix League of Dragonhome. The only native paladins of this sphere belong to this philosophy.
Priests of the Philosophy of Good are subject to the following: AB: Wis 12; AL: LG, NG, CG; WP: Club, Mace, Quarterstaff; Spheres: All, Charm*, Combat*, Divination*, Healing, Protection. PW: 1) Detect Evil 3/day, permanent +1 to hit and damage evil creatures (Invaders), 7) Quest; Armor: All.
The Philosophy of Evil?
Possibly developed by the Invaders or originating in the underdark, this Philosophy is barely more than rumor.
Gods from Elsewhere
Baphomet (minotaurs), Ptah (humans), Semuanya and Sess'innek (lizardmen), Skerrit (centaurs), and Zaltec (tabaxi) all have minor cults in this sphere, as do a few titans, demon lords, powerfull elemental beings, ect.
THE CREATOR
The Creator is not a god, though `he' is essentially immortal and possess's considerable power. Precisely who and what the Creator is is unknown. Some think him some sort of elemental being, others a sort of free willed golem like construct.
The Creator: Wizard 19/Thief 3
The Creator is something of a shapeshifter. In the past, he has has manifested himself as everything from a stone golem to a gnome to a human child to a dog to a rainbow colored dragon. A short, cherubic, human/demihuman form is favored. The creators form is marred by black and red patches, the result of `contamination' by an old enemy, the Destroyer. These `patches' appear to get slightly larger with each new century, possibly indicating a growing corruption.
S:19 I:19 W:9 D:16 C:14 Ch:15 AC:Var HP:Var THACO:10 Magic Resistance:100% AL:CN(G)
The Creator has 99 Hit Points upon emerging from his casket. Every 24 hours that passes after he leaves, he looses 1 Hit Point. He can regain these lost Hit Points only in his casket - at the rate of 1 per year. He must remain in the casket for full year for every day spent outside it. The Creator, though virtually immune to magical damage, can be wounded - even `killed' - by normal means. However, Hit Point loss from this source does not count against his regeneration time - if he is fifty days out of his casket (49 Hit Points remaining) and takes 50 points of damage in an attack, he will spend `only' 50 years, not 99 years regenerating in his casket.
Special abilities/restrictions of the Creator:
1) Immunity to normal and magical fire, normal and magical
cold, poison, disease, gas, vacum, and energy
draining (wight/wraith/ect) of any sort.
2) Healing spells have no effect on the Creator whatsoever.
Nonmagical healing methods prevent further wound
loss, but do not restore lost hit points.
3) The Creator is not an accomplished linguist (and it
wasn't until a few hundred years ago that he
aquired the `tongues' spell). His languages include
the common elven, dragon, and human tongues used on
dragonworld, plus the major lizardmen, tabaxi, and
tasloi languages used on Suynama, and a few oddball
dialects that are spoken mostly on the outer
planes. He does not have all that solid a grasp of
any of these languages, and speaks them with a
heavy accent, frequently using archaic words.
Interestingly, he can `Speak With Plants' without
using a spell.
Likewise, the Creators grasp of the various written
languages is limited as well - just the written
language used in Regia, elvish, (poor) gnomish,
(worse) lizardman, and an almost forgotten tongue
once in widespread use in the Outer Planes.
The Creator has a flat 10% Legend Lore ability
(stemming from his own vast experience) on almost
any topic.
3) In addition to his wizard spells, the Creator has 99
levels of spell energy available to him when he
leaves his casket. He can use this energy to
`power' the following innate effects as often as he
desires - but these energy units are not replaced:
Cure Light Wounds - 1 unit
Plant Growth - 3 units
Project Image (to any point within the sphere) - 5
units
Raise Dead - 5 units
Teleport Without Error (to any point within this
sphere) - 7 units
(Fullfill anothers) Wish - 9 units
4) The Creator does not need spell components or make
gestures, ect when casting any of his spells.
However, he cannot memorize any spells while out
of his casket - once he casts a spell, it is gone.
This does not apply to his innate abilities.
5) The Creators knowledge of wizard spells, while
impressive, is far from complete. True, he knows
spells the PC's don't (he is the Creator, after
all), but there are many spells he simply never
aquired.
While not restricted in the schools from which he
draws his spells, the Creator seems to prefer the
schools of Alteration, Conjuration/Summoning,
Illusion/Phantasm, and all four Elemental Schools.
(At times, he seems to regard this entire crystal
sphere as an illusion).
6) The Creator cannot leave this Crystal Sphere. He can scry
other worlds and planes outside this sphere, even
open Gates to them, but cannot leave. At times the
Creator has spent days and even weeks intently
viewing events on other worlds, sometimes opening
gates to them in the hopes that something or
somebody will come through. Quite possibly, this is
how Dragonspace wound up with many of its sapient
inhabitants.
The Creator has a short attention span and a intense, wide eyed interest in the world - a `kid given free reign in a candy shop' mentality. He wants to go here, see this, do that, talk with this person, learn how to manage that trick, ect - all in the next ten minutes. Speaking with the Creator is often frustrating - its not that he won't talk, its that he won't shut up. (Some spacefarers have compared him to a kender or tinker gnome). He gets his tenses mixed up, and rarely uses proper nouns (its always `they' and `we' and `here') instead of proper names.
The Gods of Dragonspace regard the Creator as a sort of talented pet (at best) or more often as annoyance. Many of them actually seem somewhat embarassed by him. He gets along best with Apollo and Hephaestus. Ares detests him, and has tried to destroy him at least once. Zeus see's him as one more headache. Interestingly, two or three of Regia's past hero's claimed the Creator as their father.
The Creator regards the `Son of the Great Dragon' and Suynama as best friends of his.
The Creators Book: The Creator left this tome behind after
one of his excursions some six hundred years ago.
It purports to be an account of the events leading
up to the Creation of this sphere. It is an
infuriating work to read: it jumps around in time,
offers few names, and changes subjects abrubtly.
Both Suynama (apparently some sort of sapient bush
sized semi mobile plant creature back then) and the
Son of the Great Dragon appear as companions of the
Creator in this badly written epic; the chief foe
is a being refered to as the Destroyer - possibly a
demon lord of some sort - who was tricked by the
Creator and eventually wound up as little more than
a ghost of himself. Mixed in with the text are a
number of very strange alchemical formulas and
several spells ranging from minor to powerfull,
including Comprehend Languages, Locate Object,
Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Monster Summoning I,
Phantom Steed, Magic Mirror, Plant Growth, Animal
Growth, Conjure Elemental (all), Contact Other
Plane, Enchant an Item (a nonstandard version),
Hatch the Stone From the Egg (a nonstandard
version), Permanency, Gate, and Foresight.
The `Son of the Great Dragon', for his part, has made cryptic comments about the events described in the book from time to time:
"I was only a hatchling - at the time I knew nothing of the world beyond the cave."
"Most of the time, we had no idea of where or what or why."
"In the end, he learned it was about freedom of will. He learned that with freedom of will anything becomes possible - which was when he created this sphere."
"Freedom of will can mean the freedom to act foolish. But he has never understood what is foolishness and what is not."
The Casket: The casket, so far as is known, is
indestructable and impenatrable to all except the
Creator, his Contemplator `servant', or those
possessing his key (though he can bring others in
without it). The key - lost for several centuries -
consists of a half sphere of opaque crystal the
size of a mans clenched fist, and counts as a minor
artefact in its own right, with powers including
Knock, Wizard Lock, Anti-Magic Shell, Globe of
Invulnerability, and Imprisionment. The caskets
interior consists of the Regenerating Chamber (the
part above ground), and several other chambers,
including a workshop and a library. Several
spellbooks, magical items, and mechanical oddities
are found in these chambers.
Besides the Creator, a near permanent resident of
the Casket is a Contemplator, whom the Creator
treats as a sort of combination butler and tutor.
The Contemplator (who seems both slightly amused by
and contemptuous of the Creator) can apparently
enter and exit the casket at will, but unlike the
Creator cannot bring anyone else in with him.
The Creator usually - but not always - regenerates
inside his `casket', spending one year inside for
every previous day spend outside. He can choose to
remain inside the casket for longer periods, but
this does not affect his stats upon leaving. From
inside the casket he can cast certain spells -
notably Project Image - that have effects on the
outside. He does not begin loosing Hit Points until
after he leaves.
THE DESTROYER
The Destroyers origins are, if anything, even murkier than the Creators, though it seems possible it was some sort of demon lord originally. It opposed and manipulated the Creator back before this sphere was formed, and ultimately let the Creator fashion this sphere soley so it could be obliterated - only to be tricked by the Creator in the Creation process, expending so much energy the Destroyer could not destroy the sphere, nor even maintain its own bodily integrity. Furthermore, the Creator `contaminated' the Destroyers psyche with bits of his own, which resulted in the Destroyer having a sort of mental breakdown. Ever since then, the Destroyer has been a weak but unkillable spirit creature, much like a wraith or shadow.
The Destroyer
The Destroyer has no true physical form of its own anymore, appearing as a man shaped black cloud that can easily be mistaken for a normal shadow, were it not for its glowing red eyes. The cloud, incidently, is not perfectly black, but is instead marred by multicolored streamers here and there - lingering effects of `contamination' by more benign beings.
S:n/a I:20 W:5 D:n/a C:n/a Ch:7 AC:4 HP:13/Special Thaco:13 MR:100% AL:CE (CN)
The Destroyer, like the Creator, is limited in what it can do.
1) The Destroyer has a number of spellcasting energy units
equal to its hit points. Each time it cast a spell,
it looses a number of hit points equal to the
spells level. Lost Hit Points are regained at the
rate of 1/week. Normally, the Destroyer cannot have
more than 13 Hit Points. If the Destroyer is
reduced to 0 or fewer Hit Points, it is dispersed,
but reforms at the rate of 1 Hit Point per week.
The Destroyer can manage the following spells
(spellcasting energy units in brackets):
Animate Dead (3)
Curse (3)
Darkness 15'R (2)
Death Spell (6)
Disintegrate (6)
Fear (4)
Magic Mirror (4)
Teleport Without Error (7)
(Fullfill anothers) Wish - (9) (intent twisted)
Because of its `contaminated' mental state, the
Destroyer must pass a Wisdom Check before using any
of these spellcasting abilities.
The Destroyer can learn other spells, but strictly
on a `one shot' basis - once cast, the spell is
gone and must be rememorized. Typically, it will
have D12 such spells memorized at any given time.
Each spell cost an amount of energy (hit points)
equal to its level to cast.
2) The Destroyer has certain other abilities that do not
drain its power, notably:
Infravision (out to 100 yards)
Legend Lore (stemming from its own vast experience,
base 10% chance of success on any topic)
The Destroyer has a limited form of ESP which lets
it communicate with any sapient creature.
3) The Destroyer has the following special defences and
immunities:
It is utterly immune to direct magical harm
(effectively having a 100% Magic Resistance).
However, it is affected by Protection From Evil,
Remove Curse, Imprisonment, and a few other
similiar spells, which can be used to bind it to a
specific location.
It is not affected by poison or non magical
weapons. Fire - including magical fire - can hold
it at bay, but cannot injure it. Electricity, cold,
and vacume have no effect. It can be affected by
holy water or +1 or better magical weapons.
4) The Destroyer has a automatic, innate ability very much
like the necromatic wizard spell Vampiric Touch.
Upon touching a living creature, the Destroyer
automatically drains D6 Hit Points from that being,
which are then added to its Hit Point total. These
additional Hit Points count as spellcasting energy
units as well. The Destroyer can aquire up to 66
additional Hit Points via this method (to a total
of 79) - but these Hit Points are lost at the rate
of 1/day. The Destroyer cannot use this ability
when possessing another being.
5) The Destroyer can opt to `possess' weak willed mortals
(Wisdom of 7 or less). To do so, it must be in
direct contact with the person to be possessed. It
must then pass a Wisdom check, while the creature
being possessed must fail a Wisdom check.
Afterwards, the Destroyer must expend a number of
spell energy units equal to the possessed persons
wisdom each day in order to maintain control.
Furthermore, the possessed person is entitled to a
daily Wisdom check to evict the Destroyer. The
possessed person suffers the permanent loss of D4
Hit Points for every day he or she is controlled by
the Destroyer. The Destroyer cannot use its
Vampiric Touch ability when possessing another
being. However, it can use any spells or special
abilities of the being whom it is possessing,
though to do so it must pass a Wisdom check.
The Destroyer is irrational in the extreme - occasionally, `contaminated' elements of its personality will come to the fore and it will actually attempt to undo whatever scheme it is currently embarked on (sort of a split personality condition). However, these additional personalities are more like `echos' than anything else, and never maintain control for long. Many have been part of the Destroyer for so long that they have merged with its core personality, slightly affecting its behavior and alignment.
The Destroyer, like the Creator, cannot leave this Crystal Sphere, nor can it really be ultimately destroyed. It can and has been imprisoned for long periods by gods and powerfull wizards.
