#modrons

[opalmarzi]

more recent modroddities (modron doodles)

[msvblight]

Probably talked about this before, but for when I run spelljammer I want to reimagine Modrons as the "caretakers" of the multiverse. Or perhaps the immune system of the multiverse.

They exist within their own realm and when something causes, or tries to cause, damage to the fabric of reality they Modrons arrive and swarm around to destroy whatever is causing the problem and to set about repairing the issue.

In my mind the Modrons and the Mindflayers are ancient enemies. As Mindflayers will use Nautiloids to rip open violent gashes in the fabric of reality to pass through to other dimensions/realms.

Sometimes the Modrons intercept them - other times they can only arrive to fix the wound before "bacteria" (aka incomprehensible horrors that live in the nightmarish void between realms) can find their way through.

I figure that the Modrons are a pseudo hivemind. A strange mixture of independence but also refering to themselves as a single entity ("We are Modron.")

Beings of pure order they will work to fulfil their duties without interruption. The trouble is that they are true neutral, if someone even seems like they're going to cross through to another dimension - even by accident - the Modrons will destroy them. Not out of malice, but just because that's their job.

However they have been known to rarely interact with others. Sometimes even using other people for assistance.

Additionally it's possible to travel to other dimensions without pissing off the Modrons. Just usually on a small scale and the methods cause no damage/no lasting damage.

[mushsect]

sketched my take on modrons for a campaign I'm participating in as one

[robmchops]

After my 2 and 2/3rds playthrough of bg 3 I can finally rate it.

No Modrons.

0001 out of 1010.

[scrmnviking]

All these untitled, random-name-generated spam accounts with default icons make me feel like I'm fighting a swarm of modrons.

The Great Modron March has begun!

[papierdrachenpodcast]

Pünktlich zum neuen Jahr gibt es eine neue Folge Papierdrachen!

Und passend zur neuen Jahreszahl betreten wir ein komplett neues Gebiet: das Innere des weissen Blitzes.

[official-dnd-posts]

the most beautiful-est silliest little guys, wow

official dnd post

Modrons! I had fun practicing gradients with these. They are incredibly silly. The one on the right even has a little jeweled goatee? Soul patch?My SO mentioned that he did not think beings from a plane of pure logic should be so goofy. I only know them from Planescape Torment, though, in which their ridiculousness is kind of fun.

Anyway, I feel like a lot of the official minis are a bit lackluster, but these were at least unusual and caught my eye when I saw them.

[tinyabbey]

the greatest wizard of all time

ungug (gornit?) stans unite

[a-jar-of-beetles]

Hot take But But I think Gorgug has officially dethroned Sandra Lynn as having the most bizarre love interests

[fantasy-mixtapes]

Letting you guys know that this is the official dnd art for what Modrons look like - for all your Gorgug x Unit pleasure

[opalmarzi]

[dailyadventureprompts]

Villain: Finality 9, Arbiter of the End

For hours you and your allies have sheltered in place as the astral warships bombarded the city, feeling each impact as another block was levelled. Now you watch as the Flagship touches down, scarab like legs taller than spires unfolding from it's hull. It's going to be a bloody, brutal struggle fighting your way through the rubble and the burning streets up to the control deck, but It's your only hope of ending things without your home being razed to the ground.

The embodiment of a death sentence passed long before any of the heroes were ever born, the Marut Finality 9 and the Inevitable armada it commands serve only one purpose: to deliver violent and irrevocable endings to entities that should have died long ago.

Unfortunately for the party, whatever being(s) Finality 9 is hunting happen to reside on the same landmass as they do, and the Inevitable has no qualms levelling anything that gets in its way until the destruction of its target is confirmed. Like many creatures born from the shattered plane of order, Finality 9 and its construct legion have a very narrow set of operational directives, and "preserving life" ends up being the preview of a different order of celestial machines.

Finality 9's operations always follow the same protocol: After using divination to determine the vague location of their target Modron scouts will be sent to investigate, sending a transmission back to the ship to begin the invasion the moment they've determined the enemy's presence and threat level. After that it's bombardment and battalions in specified areas to soften up their target's defences before Finality 9 itself descends to finish the job.

Hooks:

One of Finality 9's scouts becomes attached to the party early in their adventures, following along and providing typical mascot antics until they stumble across evidence of the big bad. This starts a ticking clock for the party to find and oust this evil before the Inevitables arrive... a task the galactic forces of order were failing at for decades.

Every year the realm celebrates the festival of St. Altrin's Star, held on a night when a particular comet is viable to venerate the figure's many beneficent acts. This year however the comet is unusually bright, heralding the fact that it is not a star, but Finality 9's ship which has been circling the world for decades or even centuries waiting for the reemergence of a long dormant demi-lich which the party awoke earlier in their adventures.

The Inevitable does not warn or negotiate, and likely does not even speak the language of the lands it is razing but with some telepathy or a background in obscure astral dialects they might be able to get it to stop by presenting evidence that its target is already dead ( forcing them to do all the work) or that its actions are unlawful (which requires iron clad litigation skills and knowledge of multiple celestial law systems). If the heroes happen to have any favours with infernal deal makers or underworld bureaucrats, now would be the time to call them in.

In a desperate hour, the party must seek out finality 9's armada hovering dormant in wildspace in hopes of gaining their aid against a greater foe. Delving through the flagship in its hibernation mode will not be easy as not only are there defence systems to worry about but astral wildlife that have nested in the interior while the constructs within were in standby mode.

Art 1, Art 2

[crow-caller]

1e decaton as if YOU even care

[themutantspacedancer]

Saw this piece of writing in my playthrough of Planescape Torment and immediately felt an extremely strong urge to want to draw it.

If *only* you could be a heroic modron cube... If only....

[gawrkin]

In the Mabinogion stories, Owain mab Urien Rheged (Sir Yvain) has a troop of shapeshifting ravens that can change between birds and human warriors. They got into a big fight with King Arthur's pages, who were harassing them while they were birds. Different canons for different writers aside, do you think there's a possibility Morgan gave him those ravens? Would she be the sort of mom who gives her kids overpowered artifacts just for funsies?

Well actually, if I remember correctly, those ravens are something he inherited from the father side. The 300 ravens (as well as 300 swords/spears/shields) being an heirloom that's handed down the line of Coel Hen, from Cynfarch Oer, Urien's (and Lot's) father.

Personally, I think that Ywain's affinity for mystical animals would be just Ywain's own abilities, rather than a corpeal gift that Morgan grants onto him. Remember that Ywain, in Welsh canon, seems to be associated with a divine figure, Mabon ap Modron, as to be almost synonymous. Ywain is magical, and possibly even an enchanter knight, like Kay, Menw and Tristan.

[sunshinemoonrx]

A cold winter, an old poem, and Mabon ap Modron

Short is the day; let your counsel be accomplished.

(Image source at the end)

Mabon is a figure of medieval Welsh folklore with a relatively minor (if distinctly supernatural) role in the early Arthurian tale Culhwch ac Olwen; a hunter who must be released from a magical prison. Unlike a lot of figures floated as euhemerised deities on pretty questionable grounds, his connection to the god Maponos, worshipped in Britain and Gaul in the Roman era, is fairly sound.

Recently I've been reading Jenny Rowland's Early Welsh Saga Poetry (bear with me, this will all come together), which I was led to by my interest in the 6th-century north-Brittonic king Urien Rheged and the stories that sprung up around him and related figures (his bard the celebrated Taliesin, and his son Owain, later adapted into the Yvain of continental Arthuriana). It includes an early medieval poem called Llym Awel, which immediately struck a chord with me.

It begins with a description of the harshness of winter, then transitions into either a dialogue debating bravery/foolishness versus caution/cowardice, or (I favour this interpretation) a monologue in which the narrator debates this within himself. In the final section, the context is revealed; the narrator has a dialogue with his guide through this frozen country, the wise Pelis, who encourages him and their band to continue in order to rescue Owain son of Urien from captivity.

(There then follow several more stanzas which seems to be a totally separate poem--Llywarch Hen, a different figure with his own saga-cycle, laments the death of his son. The traditional interpretation was that all this was a single poem, the narrator of the first part was Llywarch's son, and this shift represented a 'flash forward' to after the expedition ended poorly. Rowland points out various inconsistencies that point to this whole section being a different poem altogether, motivated by a mistaken interpolation of an earlier stanza with names from the Llywarch cycle)

Where this comes back to my introduction is the book also theorises that the story the poem is telling was originally about Mabon, not Owain. Rowland points to several instances where the two were conflated; from early poetry in the Book of Taliesin to the 'Welsh Triads' (lists of things/people/ideas bards used as aids to remembering legends) to much later folklore. As mentioned, one of the only stories we have about Mabon centres around his role as an "Exalted Prisoner" (as the Triads put it) whose release bears special significance, while no other such story survives about Owain.

This is obviously all conjectural, but I feel there's even another angle of support for the idea the book doesn't consider. The Romano-British/Gallo-Roman Maponos was very consistently equated with Apollo, god of the sun, in inscriptions (most of which show worship located in the same area of Owain's later kingdom of Rheged, which could support the possibility of folklore getting mixed together). Certainly identification with a god who appears as idealised beautiful youth would fit his name--"Mabon son of Modron/Maponos son of Matrona" is basically "Young Son the son of Great Mother". This could be all there was to the connection; Roman syncretism wasn't always 1:1. But it's entirely possible both figures shared the spectrum of youth-renewal-sun associations, or that Maponos originally didn't but picked these up over centuries of being equated with Apollo.

Whatever the case (and with emphasis that this is not sound enough to be considered anything like scholarship, just an interesting "what-if"), if Apollini Mapono was associated with the sun as well as youth, wouldn't it make perfect sense for the story of journeying to release him from captivity to have a winter setting? The winter is harsh, but if the sun can be set free, warmer times will come again.

(I'm a little hesitant in writing this, because "seeing sun-gods everywhere" was a bit of a bad habit of 19th-century scholars whose work is now disproven, especially in Celtic studies, and the internet loves to let comparative mythology run wild with vague connections, but I think the case is reasonable here)

I'll put below Rowland's translation of the poem, with the Llywarch stanzas removed (so something like its 'early' form):

Sharp is the wind, bare the hill; it is difficult to obtain shelter. The ford is spoiled; the lake freezes: a man can stand on a single reed.

Wave upon wave covers the edge of the land; very loud are the wails (of the wind) against the slope of the upland summits - one can hardly stand up outside.

Cold is the bed of the lake before the stormy wind of winter. Brittle are the reeds; broken the stalks; blustering is the wind; the woods are bare.

Cold is the bed of the fish in the shadow of ice; lean the stag; bearded the stalks; short the afternoon; the trees are bent.

It snows; white is its surface. Warriors do not go on their expeditions. The lakes are cold; their colour is without warmth.

It snows; hoarfrost is white. Idle is a shield on the shoulder of the old. The wind is very great; it freezes the grass.

Snow falls on top of ice; wind sweeps the top of the thick woods. Fine is a shield on the shoulder of the brave.

Snow falls; it covers the valley. Warriors rush to battle. I do not go; an injury does not allow me.

Snow falls on the side of the hill. The steed is a prisoner; cattle are lean. It is not the nature of a summer day today.

Snow falls; white the slope of the mountain. Bare the timbers of a ship on the sea. A coward nurtures many counsels.

Gold handles on drinking horns; drinking horns around the company; cold the paths; bright the sky. The afternoon is short; the tops of the trees are bent.

Bees are in shelter; weak the cries of the birds. The day is harsh; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . White-cloaked the ridge of the hill; red the dawn.

Bees are in shelter; cold the covering of the ford. Ice forms when it will. Despite all evading, death will come.

Bees are in captivity; green-coloured the sea; withered the stalks; hard the hillside. Cold and harsh is the world today.

Bees are in shelter against the wetness of winter; ?. …; hollow the cowparsley. An ill possession is cowardice in a warrior.

Long is the night; bare the moor; grey the hill; silver-grey the shore; the seagull is in sea spray. Rough the seas; there will be rain today.

Dry is the wind; wet the path; ?….. the valley; cold the growth; lean the stag. There is a flood in the river. There will be fine weather.

There is bad weather on the mountain; rivers are in strife. Flood wets the lowland of homesteads. ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The stooped stag seeks the head of a sheltered valley. Ice breaks; the regions are bare. A brave warrior can escape from many a battle.

The thrush of the speckled breast, the speckle-breasted thrush. The edge of a bank breaks against the hoof of a lean, stooping, bowed stag. Very high is the loud-wailing wind: scarcely, it is true, can one stand outside.

The first day of winter; brown and very dark are the tips of the heather; the sea wave is very foamy. Short is the day; let your counsel be accomplished.

Under the shelter of a shield on a spirited steed with brave, dauntless warriors the night is fine to attack the enemy.

Strong the wind; bare the woods; withered the stalks; lively the stag. Faithful Pelis, what land is this?

Though it should snow up to the cruppers of Arfwl Melyn it would not cause fearful darkness to me; I could lead the host to Bryn Tyddwl.

Since you so easily find the ford and river crossing and so much snow falls, Pelis, how are you (so) skilled?

Attacking the country of ?. does not cause me anxiety in Britain tonight, following Owain on a white horse.

Before bearing arms and taking up your shield, defender of the host of Cynwyd, Pelis, in what country were you raised?

The one whom God deliver from the too-great bond of prison, the type of lord whose spear is red: it is Owain Rheged who raised me.

Since a lord has gone into Rhodwydd Iwerydd, oh warband, do not flee. After mead do not wish for disgrace.

We had a major cold snap here recently, and having spent day after day going "WHY is it so COLD" every time I emerged from a pile of blankets and hot water bottles--and even having come through it, I'm sure we'll be right back there in the coming months--needless to say, a lot of this stuff resonated.

Rowland discusses some ambiguous lines that suggest the narrator is ultimately overcoming their doubts to boldly press on throughout the poem, even before Pelis chimes in:

A coward nurtures many counsels. i.e. "Deliberating this isn't getting anything done"

Despite all evading, death will come. i.e. "When danger approaches, hiding won't help."

A brave warrior can escape from many a battle. i.e. "Conversely, you can survive by meeting that danger head-on."

There will be fine weather. i.e. "Amid all this description of how cold and miserable it is now, a reminder that warmer times will come again"

Short is the day; let your counsel be accomplished. i.e. "Let's hurry up and act decisively."

-with brave, dauntless warriors the night is fine to attack the enemy. i.e. "Fighting during night (much less during winter) is rarely done in this era because it's hard and it sucks, but we're built different, we'll simply handle it."

In my opinion, many of these would take on an interesting dimension with the above interpretation vis a vis Mabon; it's best to press on through the cold and difficult conditions, because success (the release of the sun from frozen "imprisonment"--a metaphor the poem uses multiple times with animals) will bring an end to those conditions. If the sun can be released, there will be fine weather.

Now, I'm not saying there was some "lost original version" of this poem itself. It's a medieval poem about Owain, and quite a moving one in that context; frankly the addition of the Llywarch stanzas, even if they change the meaning, might make it more moving still. But I do agree it's a distinct possibility that the story the poem was retelling was originally one about Mabon, and I would add that it has perhaps gone unappreciated that this could contain otherwise unattested details to the story of the Exalted Prisoner, and just why it was so important to set Maponos Apollo free.

And on a personal level, especially these past couple weeks while I shiver and glance at the mounting ice outside, I can't help be touched by the imagery of summoning up the courage to press on through the cold to find this buried god.

- - -

For further reading, Rachel Bromwich's Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, as well as going through the Triads themselves, contain an encyclopedia of every figure mentioned in them (so near enough every figure of medieval Welsh legend, literature and folklore, including all the ones mentioned here), and runs down basically everything we know about each one. An invaluable resource.

Image at the top: Winter in Gloucester, site of Mabon's imprisonment in Culhwch ac Olwen. Publicly downloadable. Link to the photographer's gallery: