#because they refused to pray for Lolth

[introvert-rat]

I find that very funny that both Loar (they/she) and Lunara (@basketobread) have PTSD from the underdark

[ludinusdaleth]

this is something ive had brewing in my mind for a while, but now that this aeor arc seems concluded, im really thinking on ludinus & other calamity survivors, and the idea of no perfect victim & moving forward.

ludinus & leylas are about the same age, have lived the same years. when we meet leylas, she is sending her soldiers to war in large part because she has seen the cycles of exandria unfold so consistently she cannot imagine peace until she defeats her enemy (quana still prays for it, and unity among everyone. but she holds her tongue). ludinus, on the opposite side of the mountains, knows the cycles too. and he thinks he must wage them to break them. leylas worships the luxon to free herself from the gods. ludinus despises the luxon for being seen as a god at all, that leylas as a survivor would dare worship it. both see the exact same thing but in opposite ways. but leylas gives a small smile of surprise when the m9 stop the war of ash & light. she is surprised, but happy to be wrong, in this one moment; her faith in these non dynasty folk paid off. all ludinus, one who hates cycles seeing a cycle caught short, sees, is a loss at taking more beacons, at destroying the "religious drivel" of the luxons religion. at least he can get to work on the big picture, the cycle he actually cares about, over any he enforces.

devexian & alyxian awaken the same year, devexian by the m9, in the ruins of his (and ludinus's) home. he can only laugh dryly at its fate, say it is a cruel joke of history. he picks up the pieces, tries to bring his people back to life. he wants them to start anew. he wants them to let go. if ludinus cant escape the day the city fell then it seems devexian wants nothing more than to leave it for tomorrow. alyxian has been caught in the hell of being a demigod of divinity & ruidis left to rot in half death. (depending on your netherdeep ending) he awakens to a new dawn, suddenly ancient & old in body, but.... free. freed by your party. he was torn asunder by avandra/correlon/sehanine & predathos within him, their powers festering in him as gruumsh destroyed him - and still he tries to be kind, and have faith, even if he is not the warrior he was, even if everything he ever knew was destroyed. he can see society flourish again, even after his & gruumsh's battle destroyed half of marquet. ludinus has seen society rebuild its entire course of time - and all he sees is a world never as brilliant as what it was before.

all of these calamity survivors are completely fucked. leylas is paranoid, losing her mind from living too long, and still haunted by lolth. quana is resigned to stay at her lovers side even as madness takes her when all she wants is unity with others. devexian is clearly so unwilling to face history repeating he wont tell other aeormatons their heritage. alyxian is broken & battered after an eon of nonstop torture.

but they had help from others, from kind souls, who reached a hand out. and they took that kindness and internalized it. and they have vowed to help their people any way they can. to spread that glimmer of hope. to rebuild.

ludinus hasnt. and i think there is deep tragedy in that. i dont know if he has much hope, ironically, beyond raging cleansing fire. in that broad big picture it is both incredibly real & also heartbreaking when recovery falls through the cracks so badly. to have so little of a support group of survivors around you that you smack the hand of those who came out of it differently, and not have known others who could show you it was okay to move on. you hurt other survivors in your refusal to breathe, and live too large to see the others choosing a small destiny. it is unfair to him to had to have suffered and unfair to inflict that on calamity survivors again for your own agenda.

i fixate on him not disagreeing with the bells finding a third option. deep down, he wants to have that hope the others share so fucking bad. we'll see if he ever finds it.

[fabnamessuggestedbytumbler]

HHow does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)? / What is their preferred mode of transportation? / Do they usually live up to their own ideals?

Since this doesn't have a character in the ask, image just gonna assume its a whatever character you want kinda thing and do Haralel not because i was just listening to a recording of the last session haha what are you talking about

If you had a character in mind, feel free to pop back in and let me know, and I'll answer for them too!

How does evny manifest in them?

I'm gonna be honest, this one made me think a lot. It’s hard to imagine Haralel jealous. They very much feel like they deserve what they have, and if they don't have it, they don't deserve it. But there are two things they very much are envious of.

The first is the... lack of indifference, for lack of a better word, the elven gods (minus Lolth) show the non drow elves. It would be nice to pray to one and have some amount of faith that they're going to listen, or even answer. But they don't, and Haralel has a healthy amount of respect for Lolth for standing by the drow, and may even offer a prayer in a time of desperation, even though Lolth is evil and Haralel very much is not.

The other is a life with their fiancee. They would give nearly anything to get Selnead back, to spend their life with her. They're jealous of people who get that, and a fair amount of 'you don't know how good you have it's have crossed their mind when they hear people complaining about their s/o.

What is their preferred mode of transportation?

A horse drawn carriage, especially if they're not driving and can just kinda chill in the back. Their heels are impractical for travel or fighting or anything, really, but they're fashion and they refuse to change them.

Do they usually live up to their own ideals?

They... try their best. They definitely think that an ideal bard should always be jovial and quick with their words, always with a clapback should they be put down or insulted, but sometimes they're just... sad, or if an insult hits close to their own insecurities its hard to come up with a comeback. They think kindness should be extended before hostility, but sometimes their own prejudice, such as toward other elves- justified from past experience or not- can make them seem standoffish or downright rude.

Anyway I enjoyed rambling about my drow baby, but sorry if you meant to include a character but just forgot! Like I said just let me know if you meant to and I'll do it for them too!

[creativerogues]

Dark, Disdainful Deities: Kiss the Tentacle

By Ken Hart

Cthulhu, powerful aboleths, and creatures from Beyond—what they have in common is an inhuman attitude toward life, as well as thought processes and motives that are hard to fathom. 

What we do comprehend is that they don’t like mortals, unless possibly as appetizers. 

Yet in mythology, fiction, and roleplaying games, such beings are worshiped as gods by deranged, fanatical cults. 

Many of these cultists act covertly to corrupt influential people and institutions, paving the way for widespread subversion or invasion.

What if such cultists were not covert about it? 

Faiths based on bizarre creatures of the Elemental Chaos or the Far Realm may well dominate the mortal world, while worship of the astral gods is limited to secretive cults.

Divine heroes who revere alien entities might not always be evil, but they’re certainly a little strange...

Mythology and Fiction

Descriptions of inhuman, remorseless deities stretch far back in history. 

The ancient Egyptians feared and respected Set, the donkey-headed god of storms and chaos, whose name evolved into Satan, the alias of the Biblical fallen angel Lucifer. Despite his bad reputation and his mythological struggles with the god Horus, Set was worshiped for a long time.

Dark gods of a less anthropomorphic nature arrived during the heyday of pulp horror fiction, well represented by the aforementioned H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. 

In the Cthulhu Mythos and the tales of Conan, Kull, and Solomon Kane, monstrous entities and the people who revere them often take center stage. 

Your divine adventurer could worship such beings but believe that compromise and cooperation are possible. 

You might see those of your faith who seek conflict as having corrupted your god’s message. 

Even so, powers that heal or aid others, such as those of the standard 5th Edition cleric, are likely not a high priority for your hero.

Disdainful, Alien Deities

Many of the primordials of the Elemental Chaos are Lovecraftian in nature. 

They are powerful enough that devoted followers could potentially access divine energy, but are so alien to the natural world that they cannot be truly understood.

A lack of understanding is part and parcel of the elder aberrations from the Far Realm. 

Although mind flayers and aboleths generally do not worship gods (some aboleths have outlived gods, so they’re not impressed), refusing to acknowledge the superiority of another being, a small minority within each of those monstrous races do pray. 

Some mind flayers worship the tentacled Ilsensine; an illithid cleric is not out of the question. 

In 2nd Edition AD&D, aboleths were tied to the worship of Juiblex, the demon lord of slimes and oozes. 

In 4th Edition, the Faceless Lord, for example, could perform a “divine masquerade,” stepping in to help aboleth cultists gain access to divine power. 

After all, in his view, the more chaos, the better.

Other, less outlandish races in isolated communities that began existence centuries earlier as former illithid or aboleth slaves might pray to the image of an illithid or an aboleth. 

Clerics of such faiths could tap into divine power through either the deification of an ancient Far Realm entity or the opportunistic actions of another deity. 

Dishonest gods such as Lolth and Vecna could get pleasure out of masquerading this way, because it would fool mortals, cause strife, and irritate the “superior” illithid or aboleth race.

Speaking of divine deception, what if one of the established good or unaligned deities had been secretly killed and replaced by a masquerading power from the Far Realm? 

The shadowy and strangely cloaked senior clerics in Corellon’s main temple might go unnoticed for a while, at least until one of the faithful happens to notice slime dripping from a cleric’s sleeves. 

In the meantime, the divine abilities of your lower-ranked adventurer in Corellon’s service would continue to work as normal. 

Not as repulsive, but equally as alien as Far Realm creatures, are angelic beings from the Astral Sea. 

Residents of the heavenly realms of Celestia and Hestavar might be beatific, but they are not immune to temptation or the lust for power. 

A frustrated angel, banned from punishing wayward mortals as freely as it wishes, could decide to develop a cult to get around the restriction. 

It could seek out ignorant mortals touched by divine presence at some point, intimidate them into worshipfulness, and convince them to act as deadly weapons in its stead.

Roleplaying Suggestions

Divine adventurers who worship inhuman deities likely perform their religious duties fervently and act in a deadly serious way even in their everyday activities.

Many of them are as antagonistic toward other beings as is their chosen god/demon/giant brain. 

Such a character would have a difficult time making friends with others in the adventuring party. 

A “true believer” in the cause of an undying aboleth is unlikely to find common ground with a follower of Pelor or the Raven Queen.

A character who chooses an unknowable deity might have done so for reasons that were personal prior to the character’s ordination in a divine class.

For instance, a young adventurer might have initially joined the cult or holy order because of her hatred toward a person or society. 

In time, she settled upon widespread chaos and destruction as effective weapons. 

(Overkill, perhaps, but revenge is revenge.) 

Likewise, a bitter noble whose family was exiled for dubious crimes could worship a god of destruction so that he might challenge all self-righteous and lawful authorities. 

These reasons don’t make their faith less genuine, but can explain why they turn to incomprehensible gods.

For those players looking for backgrounds that might aid party unity instead, consider a hero who was enslaved by—or born into slavery under—creatures from the Elemental Chaos or the Far Realm. 

(Among these unlucky people, the common races are human, elf, githzerai, drow, and gnoll.) 

To survive, your character displayed remarkable adaptability, and he or she was then elevated to an overseer position—ordained as a divine agent of the god. 

The hero’s faith in the alien god could have been a sham, part of an elaborate escape plan, but if it succeeded in fooling the senior members of the order, it might be sufficient to access divine power in that god’s name. 

Once given, divine power isn’t easily taken away. 

After your hero reveals his or her true character, the rest of the order no doubt declares the adventurer a heretic, bringing a new slate of nasty problems to the campaign.

Regardless of background, heroes devoted to inhuman gods usually are trained to seek out weakness. 

Once you understand the enemies of the faith and their flaws, you can more easily destroy them. 

As a result, improving your Insight skill and possibly selecting Skill Training (Deception) could reflect your ability to subvert the weak or make plans to escape your masters’ cruelty. 

[curseofstrahdxeli]

Rahadin

Character Sheet

Name: Rahadin

Race: Drow

Gender: Male

Eye color: Red

Hair color: White, dyed dark brown/black

Age: Over 500

Birthplace: Underdark

Class: Rogue, Assassin archetype

Younger brother of Nilvyr, Rahadin has been in Barovia for over 500 years. The brothers were separated when Nil was about 60 (equating to late teens in humans), and Rahadin was about 50 (mid teens compared to humans) in the area of Daggerford in Faerun.

In the Underdark, Rahadin was set to be sacrificed to Lolth as part of a ceremony. Before this point Nil had been in contact with a cell of Raven Queen worshipers, and thinking it was his only hope, he prayed fervently to her as the ceremony began, wishing for any help in saving his brother, and eventually himself, as he was likely going to the same fate. Seeing his brother make no physical action to stop his sacrifice, Rahadin thought he was allowing him to die, which started the seed of resentment between him and his brother.

The ceremony was indeed interrupted, by an attack by illithids, and in the chaos, Nil grabbed his brother and escaped. In Nil’s mind, the attack was sent by the Raven Queen as a result of his prayers, which cemented his belief and faith in her, setting him on track to become one of her followers.

On the surface, the brothers wandered at night and stole what they needed from farmsteads, hiding from the sun to sleep during the day. Nil wanted to find followers of the Raven Queen on the surface, thinking it was his destiny to serve her, though Rahadin is still resentful of Nil, refusing to believe in divine intervention.

During an early morning, after having just hidden away to sleep again, the brothers were attacked by a group. The sunlight was blinding, leading Nil to not see which direction Rahadin was taken in, only able to hear his muffled screams and struggles before being knocked unconscious.

When Nil came to, he found he was in a cage, surrounded by other cages full of people of various ages and races, though Rahadin was nowhere to be seen. He’d been captured by slavers by the looks of it,

While Nil was saved by a bounty hunting group that had been following the slavers with the intent of taking them down, and being mentored by the group’s bloodhunter in his particular way of battle, Rahadin himself had already been sold off to a mercenary group. He was forced to serve the group, along with a few other slaves that had been bought, cleaning, serving food, and other general labor.

The mercenary group wandered into Barovia and were eventually hired by a royal family of drow that were locked in battle with King Barov, refusing to bow to the human king. 

When the drow priestesses of the royal family saw the mark of sacrifice on Rahadin, they knew he had been meant for Lolth, and bought him from his masters with the intention of completing the sacrifice. Seeing the same fate coming for him, he refused to become a victim again, and in the middle of a raid set by King Barov’s men, he slew his captors, and surprised the leader of the mercenary group, slicing his throat as revenge for all the abuse he’d lived through. King Barov saw how Rahadin had turned on his own people and their troops, but the young drow pledged loyalty to the king in an attempt to find a better life for himself compared to where he had been until then. As a test of his loyalty, the king threw one of the last members of the drow royal family at Rahadin’s feet, whom killed the drow without a second thought or remorse. The king was pleased, taking Rahadin in and allowed him to join his military to train the young drow to fight under his banner. In thanks, Rahadin was fiercely loyal to the king, helping scatter the remaining drow, the survivers hiding in small cells in the forests or among the Vistani. Because of his loyalty, King Barov adopted him into his family, and he continued to serve them even after the king passed.

Loyal to Strahd now, he does anything his master asks of him, kills anyone that voices any dissent against him. After the death of Patrina Velikovna at the hands of her own people, Strahd sent Rahadin to kill all the remaining female drow in revenge so the bloodlines would completely die out, carving off Kasimir’s ears as the chief organizer of Patrina’s death.

Rahadin will do anything for Strahd, even if that means sacrificing himself in battle for him. It’s what real brothers do, in his mind.

[truthfulstars]

Mylvera Roslyn Thennis

[Image Description: a half-elf woman with short, curly red hair, freckles, and green eyes. She is smirking slightly at the viewer, with some curls in her face]

Age: 25

Race: half-high elf

Height: 5’7

Occupation: alchemist and adventurer

Source

About

Mylvera ‘Vera’ Roslyn Thennis (pronounced Then-nish with emphasis on the Th) was born to a human ranger/farmer— Rowan Thennis— and an elven Ex-Paladin of Corellon— Aurae Dienna. After serving The Protector for over 200 years, she fell in love with Rowan when she helped him fight off an attack by the Drow, the two writing to each other for over a year before she prayed to Corellon to ask if she could leave his order until her husband had died. Granted this wish, she lived with him on his farm, eventually having their first— and only child— three years after their marriage. Mylvera was raised on stories of both the human and elven pantheons, her nursery and childhood bedroom painted with pastoral scenes of both versions of paradise. From the time she could speak and walk, Vera retold these stories and acted them out with her toy bow and wooden sword, defeating Lolth and Mask for the glory of Lathander and Corellon.

When she was ten years old, Vera’s world was turned upside down when the Drow attacked Rothé Valley in earnest, slaughtering everyone who tried to resist them as they enslaved the farming village. Although Aurae and Rowan tried to protect their daughter, the family was taken away. As a high elven woman who still wore the holy symbol of Corellon, Aurae was sacrificed to Lolth, her husband easily cut down in front of their daughter as he tried to protect his wife, and the child was dragged away into the Underdark.

Sold to House Mizzrym— 6th House of Menzoberranzan— she bonded with a 15 year old human from Cormyr, by the name of Cassius. Separated from his sister and mother, he took the frightened Vera under his wing, helping her keep her spirits up and teaching her about the Purple Dragons of his land. A faithful follower of Lathander, he promised her that they would see the sun again, no matter what the Drow did. However, he never got to see that day, as he was killed when Vera was 12 years old.

By the time she turned 15, Vera became a personal handmaiden to Matron Mother Mizzrym. She was the youngest woman ever given the honor, along with a powerful Arcane Mark of their house crest on the back of each hand, that would not fade until her death. Vera immersed herself in learning how to dress and prepare the Matron Mother for the day, every aspect of her life scheduled away. As the personal handmaiden to the Matron Mother, she quickly grew the ire of her son— Valok Mizzrym, whose ability as a wizard was outshone by his frustration and Napoleon complex. He made it his goal to ruin her, no matter what it took.

At twenty years old, ten years after the death of her family, Valok Mizzrym was sent to the surface to prove his worth by doing some reconnaissance in order to help find slaves that could be sold in Menzoberranzan. As a lure and also someone the Matron Mother trusted, Mylvera was sent with him, just days before the backup would arrive. However, her fear of the house’s wrath was overshadowed when she was told to lure away a young girl from her home as a test. When Vera refused to bring a child into the life she was forced into, Valok moved to strike her down, but she was faster— using the dagger coated with paralytic toxins she was supposed to use on his victims, she slit Valok’s throat. Arm shattered by his shortsword and covered in his blood, she cut his silk shirt off and fashioned it into a sling, running away with what money he had on him and the clothes on her back.

She made her way to Neverwinter, where she hid among the beggars and refugees while terrified and wondering where to go. As she sat in a tavern, back against the wall and facing the door, the elven bard began to play a familiar song— an old folk song her uncle had sung years before. Reminded of the family she had left in Waterdeep, she traveled south until she found the Apothecary her uncle Leon Thennis owned with his wife, collapsing into his arms after years of struggling to survive.

Because of the arcane mark on her hands, Mylvera does not stay in the attic-turned-apartment above her family’s shop and flat for more than a month at a time. She knows that she is one scrying spell away from being found, and constantly keeps running— doing odd jobs all over Faerûn to keep from staying in one place for too long. She always returns home with money and some stories, but creating roots or starting a family is out of the question.

Facts

Vera is a Druid-Rogue multiclass. At the moment, there are plans to add a couple levels of cleric (Corellon) in the future, but I want those sweet sweet circle of land [Underdark] spells.

Vera feels very nervous around Drow. It’s a combination of the fact that House Mizzrym could find her at any time to drag her back to Menzoberranzan and the things she saw as a slave— although her mother tried to teach her it is the actions that make a person evil, not their race, her own experiences have overshadowed the childhood lessons.

Because of the trauma she faced in the Underdark, Vera has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and has four alters— Naneth, who acts as a mother figure and protects her; Cormyr, who is a fugue state like personality that blocks out pain; Avuna, who is less withdrawn and stands up for herself; and Hinya, who is the part of her who acts as a ‘good slave’ should. Mylvera is unaware of the personalities except for Naneth, who she has auditory hallucinations of at some points. She believes that she is the spirit of her mother guiding her, and does not realize she is actually a part of herself.

Vera is missing the ring finger on both hands at the first knuckle. On her left, the cut is clean but the veins have turned black and hardened from what appears to be a poison. On the right, it is a jagged cut that seems half-assed, and there is no other damage. Because of this and the Arcane Mark, is glowing slightly red when scried on, she wears leather fingerless gloves at all times.

Vera speaks Elvish, Undercommon, Common, and Dwarvish. After fighting a lot of Yuan-ti, she’s also beginning to think about learning Draconic or Abyssal because fuck you sneople (snake people).

Vera is vaguely Aromantic and/or Asexual. This is partly from a lack of want to be married or settle down— as she doesn’t want to create a family she can’t protect— but even before that she never had dreams of marrying anyone or having kids of her own.

Even though she does not want kids of her own, Mylvera is very protective of children in general. Her own childhood was taken from her in such a violent way that she can’t stand to see children put in any type of danger. To her, even though she will probably never get over what happened to her or her parents, she can at least make sure no one else has to be hurt the same way.

Stats

Strength: 11— +0 modifier and saves

Dexterity: 19— +4 modifier and saves

Constitution: 13— +1 modifier and saves

Intelligence: 16—+3 to modifier and +7 to saves

Wisdom: 18— +4 modifier and +8 saves

Charisma: 15—+2 modifier and saves