Birthright

[Conner Destron]

I don't know man, among the MUD admins I tend to hang out online with, it seems a pretty popular past time.

[chabit]

Hehe, I know what you mean.

[matanthunder]

The Shadow Realm of Cerilia....Revealed?



Lets test some of my fellow gamers knowledge, or maybe just add to it.

I am a big fan of Birthright and the Cerilia Campaign. I have played and DM'd a number of campaigns with great enjoyment.

My question of the day is posted elsewhere, but I wondered if any of the posters here have any ideas or opinions on the subject of the Shadow Realm of Cerilia.

Post it is you got an opinion....

This post is a bit of debate me and one of my sons once had about how the shadow works and the Seeming worked in the game. The resolution of the situation was that the Shadow Realm (while a negative image of Cerilia) was connected to the negative material plane in some manner. Over the last few years I have wondered how that connection might be best explained in light of the Bloodspawn’s revelations about the nature of the Shadow and The Seeming. We had lacked the book at the time.

While I have come up with answers of my own that explain the issue, others might have other ideas. If you have any opinion feel free to post it. I am going to put forth my opinion and in that opinion I will also relate a number of monsters that may be directly descended from the Shadow Realms bosom.

1) The Connection to the Negative Material Plane! While the plane of shadow is now detailed in the Manual of the Planes (3.??), the issues of the powers of the seeming and the apparent ease of undead to issue forth from the Shadow Realms form time to time flies in the face of the statement that (Pg 60 MotP) that the “No Elemental or Energy Traits: Some small regions on the Plane of Shadow have the minor negative-dominant trait”, (called Darkholds), but they don’t seem to fit either. In the Atlas of Cerilia, pg9 “however, is populated with undead creatures; skeletons, and zombies serve as peasants, ghouls run towns, and ghosts control entire kingdoms”. This statement always made me think the realm of shadow was an extension of the negative material plane.

I do admit thought that the realm of shadow is very much connected to the plane of shadow; complete with the connection to superimposed image of the real world, and its ability to give life to illusion/phantasm. But there is much more to it with the very living nature of the seeming, and it’s ability to alter shadow magic or in the case of Cerilea Illusion. What makes the illusion connection fall on its face it the fact that spells of light will fizzle on the plane of shadow, which clearly some illusions of light generated by the seeming do!! (blur, dancing lights, mirror image are just the slight seeming power. With this reference they seem to put the plane of shadow out of the realm of use for the entire world of Cerilea and its connection to the Shadow Realm.

Maybe this is “small” in comparison to the plane of shadow, but as big as the world of Cerilea, which would create a significant Darkhold.

So if it isn’t the plane of shadow, what is the Shadow Realm?? The Atlas of Cerilia says it is a “presumably another dimension”.

I would say that since they recognize, “the Minor negative Dominant Trait” called the Darkland is part of the plane of shadow; I would extrapolate that the entire Shadow Realm of Cerilea is an extremely large & mutated Darkland that is at once both connected to the plane of light (positive) and darkness (negative) planar power. The ether is connected to the plane of shadow, so this connection is possible. It would also explain the use of those light based illusions as I’m sure that the positive material plane would offer power to the light based magic.

Furthermore, in the Rulebook from the boxed set it describes the Shadow World as, “A parallel world of cold, eternal twilight that exists when night falls over the land”. This “Twilight” might very well be a symbol of the fight of light & dark that caused the rift that created the shadow world in the first place. Add to that the fact that night weakens the border area (ethereal border) and allows for the rift to occur which can emit undead, and I’m sure you can see my point on the subject.

2) In the Bloodspawn I quote: “A power that suborneded by an ever greater force; the Seeming an unpredictable force”. The seeming is a force that appear to be alive. Alive in my opinion with the motive power of phantasm, which are a creation of light and dark magic that takes a physical misty form. I have read any number of spells (like phantasmal killer) that imparts a motive force (life energy driven) goals into a phantasm. I see the Shadow Realms of shadow as alive with this illusionary energy because of its battle between light and darkness. If you read up on phantasms they are neither a creation of light or darkness, but appear to have elements of both. And a motive force is imparted by the caster.

Then who is the creator of the Shadow Realm’s motive force?? Why Azrai of course. And the Cold Rider is an incarnation of his spirit that will abide in the Shadow Realm for all time! It is bore out in a number of parallels. First the shadow realm mirrors events, topography, and creatures on the face of Cerilia. The Cold Rider is the arch bad force in the shadow realm and by extrapolation he should be a shadow incarnation of azrai. I can’t find the reference this second, but it is mentioned that Elves fear the realm to this day. I would say that a lot of your folk being swayed by Azrai in the world of Cerilia, then I think in the evil phantasm forces of the Seeming that the dread of falling under his incarnations power would be a powerful force to fear, whether the elf was for or against Azrai at Deismaar. Remember some of these elves were there. Elves of Cerilia are very very long lived indeed.

The Seeming could very well be a part of the imprinted nature of Azrai’s chaotic & evil nature that is imprinted on this part of the plane of shadow.


This is why I play up the connection of the Shadow Realm and the negative material plane. I was playing it as a full blown connection until the (3.?) Manual of the Planes came out. I may not play 3.whatever, but I do convert usable material back into 1st/2nd edition.


3) I have a short list of creatures that I would like to ascribe to the Shadow Realm, and while some of the stats are from other campaign settings, their connection to a shadow realm can easily be made. The the (3.?) Manual of the Planes it mentions for the plane of shadow the shadow mastiff, the nightshade, the ecalypse, umbral banyan, and darkbeast. See the manual of the planes for the stats.

a) The Malaugrym: While these shape shifting masters of Faerun may seem incongruous with Cerilia, I would point out this part of the monsters entry, “Malaugrym’s are creatures of pure evil native to some Alien plane”. The Shadow Realm is quite an alien place. I have also read several novels that mentions there master/father being a dweller of the plane of shadow and and illusionist. Where better to hone your skills of illusion than a plane where phantasm creations of the seeming are but a thought away. Maybe he was even a child of Azrai who traveled to Faerun, or was it the other way around.!!!!!

b) Bastellus: A creature of Ravenloft, this creature could be a very easy addition to the Shadow Realm. The creature inhabit dreams which totally connects with the strengthening of the shadow realm at night also. It would be a threat to any creature sleeping in the Shadow Realm, which I have read can happen from time to time. (The Iron Throne).

c) Ravenloft Creatures: While I specially mention the Bastellus, the entire plethora of creatures created for Ravenloft could well have a phantasmal parallel in the Shadow Realm. The creatures conversions practically write themselves.

d) Flying creatures could be quite a threat in the shadow realm. The creatures sweep out of the darkness, snatch the hapless and slip back into the dark. Quite a killer. I would recommend Darkenbeasts to any spell casting undead of the Shadow Realm. Their creation is an evil act, but it just gives the evil magic wielding undead another reason to tramp on the surface of Cerilia to garner the needed components.

e) And of course there is the listed creatures at the back of Bloodspawn.

I could list more but I think the post may be too long. We shall see.

What do you think of the idea of the Shadow Realm being an extension of the plane of shadow, twisted by the battle of positive and negative energies to create a unique Darkhold?

Later

;D

Lo there do I see my father,
Lo there do I see my mother, and my sisters, and my brothers,
Lo there do I see do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning,
Lo they do call to me,
They bid me take my place among them,
In the Halls of Vahalla
Where the brave,
May live,
Forever

Randomize it adds spice to a predictable games plot line (especially if they have read it before).

Have everyone roll their dice before the adventure and tick them off one by one, it helps speed up the game and allows the DM more time to think on his feet.

Turn them all into rainbow colored mushrooms and drop them from 300’ to the tune of the anvil chorus!! (The Simbul did just that to some nasty Malaugrym!!)

[merkader]

Where I can see where you are getting your connection for this arguement, I personally have always thought of the Shadow Realm as being named such because it shadows the land of Cerilia, not because of any connection to the Plane of Shadows or any other plane since Cerilia is cut off from the planes. Also the Cold Rider to me appears to be an Ashwaglien(sp?)... a humanoid who has been imbued with the blood powers of Azrai and taken over his pocket demension and perverted it further into his own twist world. The Seeming I have also felt is a fae power that the fae creatures of this realm use to try to keep wanderers into the realm of shadows safe from the evil that is there. Whether to frighten them back the way they came or help them not see this realm in it's truely horrible form. I will admit though that I have not used the Shadow Realm much in Birthright I mostly use random encounters when halflings are passing through using their shadow step abilities.

[matanthunder]

;D

A little added information....

For those of you who have defended another type of recognition of what the Shadow Realm is, do NOT take this as a personal assault on your belief system of what the Realm should be.

I am providing these detail (and their sources) to provide a number of points in order to support my beliefs about how the planes are connected, despite how Weenies of the Cr** failed to either connect or in better describing the differences of the two realm. I feel that they could be one and the same.

Pg 88 Cerilia Rulebook, “Cerilia has a dark counterpart—a parallel world of cold eternal twilight that exists when night falls over the land. The intangible border between Cerilia and the sinister twin can be breached only by powerful magic, but this border is weak and vulnerable in places where great evil has occurred, and on the darkest winter nights. Cerillians refer to this evil place as the Shadow World, and believe that any supernatural evils such as undead and fiends come from here.

Those few who have crossed over to the Shadow World report that it resembles a dark and distorted version of Cerila. Mountains and rivers stand where similar features exist in the daylight world, but the land is cold and empty. A musty, aged crypt may hold nothing but moldering bones in Cerilia, but if one were to enter the same cryps in the Shadow World—or eve on a night when the Shadow World was near—wights, spectres, or worse might be encounterd.”

And….”Time flows differently in the Shadow Land. Many dimensional magics such as dimension door and shadow walk use this property by creating short-lived passages through the Shadow World. Wizards must be extremely careful of using these spells; more than one mage has vanished while using such a spell and never returned from the Shadow World.”

Pg 9 Atlas of Cerilia; “This region (presumable of another dimension, we have surmised) seems to co exist with Cerilia and occasionally overlap into our land. The landscape is eerily similar to Cerilia, and events of Cerilia are mirrored in the Shadow World. This realm, however, is populated by undead creatures; skeletons and zombies serve as laboring peasants, ghouls run towns, and ghosts run town, and ghosts control entire kingdoms.

As you may know, it has been discovered that “weak spots” exist—something like oiled parchment in windows that allows light to pass but keeps out solid materials. These weak spots are almost always places of death and destruction, and they allow the Shadow World to press in on Cerilia. At these weak spots, undead can pass through to wreak terror on the living—but also the living may stumble through to a land of terror. Stull during the time of conquest that followed the war against Azrai, the Shadow World posed little threat to those who knew of its dangers, and no one saw an immediate way to destroy it, so the rulers continued on their quests for domination and ignored this strange discovery.

To this day, the Shadow World remains a place of mystery to everyone but the halfings who live scattered throughout Cerilia. A few souls have set about studying that realm, but most folk prefer not to talk about it. In some parts, mention of the Shadow World is strictly forbidden.



The Shadow Plane…..I am only including a little of the material here on the plane. It is several pages long, and if you really want it all you should snatch up a cheap 3.? Manual of the Planes and look into it.

Pg 59 Manual of the Planes;

Plane of Shadow: It is a toxic plane of darkness and power. It is the hidden place that hates the light. It is the frontier of worlds unknown. The Plane of Shadow is darkly lighted dimension that is both coterminous to and co existent with the material plane. It overlaps the Material Plane much as the Ethereal Plane does, so a planar traveler can use the Plane of Shadow to cover great distances quickly. The Plane of Shadow is also coterminous to other planes. With the right spell, you can use the Plane of Shadow to visit other realities.

The Plane of Shadow is a world of black and white; color itself has been bleached from the environment. It is otherwise appears similar (but not exactly identical) to the Material Plane.”

Here are excerpts from the following four paragraphs.

1) Black vault with neither sun nor stars, landmarks twisted and warped things, diminished reflections.
2) Plane of shadow is highly morphic, and parts continually flow onto other planes. Maps are useless despite landmarks…..precision is a lost cause.
3) The terrain of the Plane of Shadow is usually similar to the area where the traveler enters…….although it usually bears some resemblance to the corresponding terrain on the Material Prime.
4) Spells often draw forth parts of the Plane of Shadow, in particular for illusions that have the shadow descriptor. The Plane of Shadow is a monochromatic world, but shadow material pulled from it can be any color. The spellcaster usually colors, shapes, and shades of shadowstuff to make it more convincing. A shadow evocation that produces a fireball, for example, appears like any other fireball to those fooled by the illusion. (Fully listed for comparison to Illusion material of the Shadow Realm).



Shadow Traits, “The Plane of Shadow is in many ways the dark duplicate of the Material Plane (Cerilia in this case). Much is similar, but there are significant differences. The Plane of Shadow has the following traits.

NORMAL….Gravity, Time (but refer to shadow walk info below), mildly neutral & Infinite Size. (Time may be normal but your rate of travel is highly accelerated)

Shadow Conjuration & Shadow Evocation ….within the Planes of Shadow make them particularly useful for explorers and native alike.

I have listed the Elemental and Energy Traits section as part of my argument that the Cerillian Shadow Realms is somewhat different from the Plane of Shadow in some ways.

Shadow Links: The most common way to visit the Plane of Shadow is to use a shadow walk spell for fast travel from one point to another on the Material Plane. The spells moves its targets up to 7 miles per 10 minutes on the Plane of Shadow, regardless of one’s normal speed. Such travel happens entirely on the Plane of Shadow, so travelers don’t see much of the intervening terrain on the Material Plane. Ending the spell returns the travelers to the Material Plane, again in a shadowy location if possible.



In final analysis you might wonder what all this means. I would say a little or as much as you want it to in your game.

The idea is that there are a lot of similarities in the two regions, and the Plane of Shadow itself is said to leach into other planes……despite what is mentions somewhere (please someone help me out here and point me in the direction of the material about connections to the other planes/realms so I can review it) about Cerilia being cut off.

I would say that this is somewhat naïve. The inner and outer planes are interconnected to ALL prime material planes: Greyhawk, Faerun, Dark Sun (yes elementally at least), Spelljammer, Mystara, Dragonlance, Arduin, Midkemia, Home Brew, and every piece of planar fantasy fiction has some form of interconnection (like Midkemia).

To think that Cerilia is somehow cut off may not reflect what the planes mean to all prime material planes. Heck if you are saying Cerilia is cut off from the inner planes, then you still have to reflect on the facts that the dead can still reach their final resting plane. If the dead can travel the Astral plane then outsiders (as 3.? Calls them) can also get in. A one way passage may exist in some gate features, but there is NO way that you can cut off the whole plane from something as vast as the Astral and its all encompassing nature of the cosmos.

Now remember you can see and play it as you want, but the The Shadow Plane and the Shadow World (Realm) are similar on a number of points. If the Astral has a connection then there should be now reason why the inner/ethereal connection is not present, especially in the face of the fact that the Shadow connection is there.

More to come,

Later

;D

[Renthallin]

Interesting information there.

I am about to start PBMB with Merkader for Birthright. Before that I had played it one other time.

My character was named Reginald Gaylord. He was a swashbuckler more interested in his male companions than any adventure. He attempted to seduce our parties Paladin on many occassions and infact that player thought perhaps I really was gay due to the RP factor.

Anyway Reggie finally got his way and seduced a member of the priesthood. The DM figured there was a slim chance (5%) that the person I had been plying my feelings toward would actually receive them well.

Heh it was a fun time playing.

[Niemz]

I am thinking about using some of the bloodline abilities in my realm, any information on them would be helpful!