INNER PLANES:

SHADOW aka "Shadowrealm":

The demi-plane of Shadow is connected both to the Prime Material Plane and to the Positive and Negative Material Planes. The place is colored in shades of blacks, whites, and grays, with hints of colors. The land moves like shadows and will slip away unless it is concentrated on. The local area tends to stay fixed as the surrounding landscape drifts. There are effectively four cardinal directions here. Flowward, anti-flowward, crossflow fastward and crossflow slowward. The landscape slips away in one direction of flow. As one treads perpendicular to the direction of flow, the speed of flow increases in one direction and decreases in the reverse direction.

The sky is the color of old charcoal, dotted with black "stars" and lit with a large metallic colored "sun". The vegetation is also grey, dun, opalescent, and/or translucent. Traces of subtle colors may be noticed if concentrated upon. Shadowcreatures resembling natural creatures of the Prime live here as well. The locals here speak in toneless voices. When a Prime enters the area they initially appear a silvery hue, then begin to loose color and become grey in appearance. At the same time they become more lethargic and feel consigned to the plane. Yet, as one becomes more of shadow, the shadow objects behave in a more solid manner, for instance, shadow food becomes nourishing.

After Twilight, "when the heavens brighten and Mool's disc grows penumbral and waxen..." things take on more vibrant colors. Following Twilight is Snuffdark, when the realms darken. Then strong evil powers draw more darkness to them, and every native's potency wanes. Time on this plane runs quicker than it does on the Prime.

The Chiaroscuro Palace

This place is the home of the Shadowlord in the plane of the Shadow. It is "...a huge place of towers, spires, and flying buttresses..." It has the illusory appearance of "...a rambling affair, part fortress, part pleasure place." with an entrance "...made of obsidian and grey marble, with soaring walkways and pennoned domes high above the broad steps..." which lead to the ornate gates. The gates lie open in times of festival, but when they are closed, wooden magic mouths act as relays and sentries, allowing proper guests to enter.

In truth, phantoms and adumbrates guard the place and it is more fortress and less ornate than initial appearances would suggest. Illusory pillars and columns conceal phantom soldiers, while illusory bartizans conceal shadow-griffons. More than one level of illusion is laid over them and the palace.

The entry chamber is huge with a sixty foot high dome, columns and a portal and statue at the end opposite the entrance. The entire place has illusion laid over it to make it appear larger than in reality, and stars and Mool appear on the ceiling. The major domo hides behind a pillar, assesses the entrants and announces what they appear to be and how they appear to be accoutred by projecting his voice off of the statue at the end of the hall. Beyond this room is a great ballroom, and to one side of the ballroom is an alcove through which one may proceed to enter The Vault of the Veils.

The Shadowhall

The Vault of Veils

The Shadowking's private audience chamber in the Chiaroscuro Palace. It is accessed off of a hall-like alcove off of the main ballroom. There is a dark door, a half a foot thick, with no handle or grill. The vault itself is double-diamond shaped. Its ceiling is V shaped and 20 feet high. Veils hang everywhere, draping over walls and dividing its eight points. A double diamond shaped table of stone lies in the center of the room and it has fifteen seats. The Shadowking's seat is darker and mistier than the rest.

Dunswych

This place a village inhabited by phantoms, but otherwise like a Prime Material Plane village. The Palace passes by once every twenty-five sleeps.

Imprimus's fortress

The entrance to Imprimus's fortress is masked by powerful illusions, and barred by a massive slab of shadow-steel. There is also a lock plate, and a second, hidden bar near the base of the door. A final bar lies behind the door. Once inside, a hallway slopes sharply down into the hill. Here there is a long pit trap - which drops the floor as a smooth shear slide into a 20' or deeper, circular pit.

There is a narrow walkway around the pit and, beyond there is a low, six pace wide, passage with several doors with grills. Beyond one of them is a room containing ladders. At the end of the hall is a square chamber containing yeth hounds - their stink is noticeable for some distance. They will be dormant during Snuffdark. Three wooden doors lead into this chamber, each in the center of a wall and each flanked by cressets containing some oil. The door on the right has hound hair around it and leads to a storeroom. The middle door is rusty and has seen little recent use and opens outward - it may be a trap. The door on the left leads to a short landing and a long flight of downward steps.

This leads to what seems to be the heart of the gloam's stronghold. Masonry, pillars, and polished stone make this place more livable. There are workrooms, laboratories, and libraries here. There is a secret exit in a library in a recess and behind a shelf, leading to downward stairs. These stairs are narrow and a charnel smell of ghasts wafts up from bellow. Ghouls and ghasts guard this rough hewn, natural cave. Niches for catacombs are carved in the walls. The place is strewn with bones and rotting cloth. If outmatched, the six ghasts will retreat down a narrow tunnel. The passage ends in a glyph of warding, disintegration, placed on a large boulder, guarding the entrance to Imprimus' inner sanctum.

This is a high vaulted grotto, which makes ventriloquism easy here. It is this place where Imprimus hides. Water drips into small pools. Imprimus's coffin rests on a ledge ten feet above the floor of the cave. He sends out two pair of dun-colored light globes to scout the perimeter. His treasure mound also rests on the ledge, including the Crystal Blade, which is part of the Sword of Balance. Gord's sapphire necklace was hidden in the coffin.

Mool

a disk shaped heavenly body, the "moon" of the Shadowrealm

Festival of Twilight

A shadowrealm holiday. Representatives from all of the inhabitants of the plane attend a festival at the Palace, while local festivals carry on in villages and such.

Snuffdark

This time is the blackness after Twilight. All natives are at their lowest energy and mental levels during this time. Violent storms are more likely at this time. Mool and its accompanying stars are eclipsed at this point. It ends abruptly and marks the end of the year in Shadowrealm

Inhabitants of the Shadowrealm:

In addition to the following shadow creatures, shades, spirits, humans, drow, gray-skinned dwarves, brown-skinned gnomes, and a few ogre magi inhabit the realm.

dusk drakes

These are the most potent beasts of the Shadowrealm. Consider them super-shadowdragons. They make an "Oohoo! oooah!" call and can speak and understand common. The ground shakes when they tread near and each stride carries them twelve yards. Their breath weapon is shadowfire - which is gray, transparent, shot through with dark tongues, tipped with diamond-like brilliance and hot is as a Prime Material Plane dragon's breath. Such heat can melt shadow substance, creating a roiling zone of darkness. Like other dragons it is covered with scales and has talons. It also has spikes on its hide, which enhance damage done by tail-slaps.

shadowdragons

Like most natives to this realm, shadowdragons are semi-translucent shadowy creatures. They have huge, pointy teeth and breathe a pitchy blast. They are also fond of casting a charm spell involving the summoning of multiple colors and hues to fascinate the intended victims. Shadow creatures are particularly vulnerable to this attack form. Its hide can be used to make shadow armor.

gloams

These are shadow creatures who were once human and not of this plane (like the murklings and fulgi). They believe themselves to be the most potent sentient race of creatures on the Shadowrealm. They live in decayed towns and cities and are served by the shadowkin. They are like rebellious nobles to the Shadowking.

adumbrates

These shadowrealm creatures lack discernable forms, appearing merely as a collection of shadows. They are unharmed by non-magical weapons. They speak in toneless voices. The gloams regard them as abominations and not a proper sentient race, although in certain aspects they are just as powerful.

phantomfolk

This shadowrace is the next most potent after the gloams. They seem fairly human and inhabit about twenty or so villages scattered about the plane. They support the Shadowking.

shadowilk

These are the next most potent shadowrace after phantomfolk, they have an evil bent.

murklings

These are shadow-dwarfs and shadow-gnomes. They are the next most potent shadowrace after shadowilk.

fuligi

These tall, gangly shadow creatures are shadow-elves. They are the next most potent shadow race after murklings.

The King of Shadow "His Umbrageous Majesty, the Lord of Murk, his Gloominess"

He is the king of the plane of Shadow and a Lord of Balance. He is chaotic neutral. He can negate any memory loss associated with travel to this plane. He is very tall, very thin, pearly-skinned with hard, ashen eyes, ashen hair, and thin, night-dark lips. He has an aristocratic bearing and an arrogant visage. He resides in the Chiaroscuro Palace and makes his rounds after Twilight. He has no love for cat-kind. He believes that those who are not his servants, strive against his rule. He appreciates honesty and if one can breach his initial paranoia - induced by the state of affairs with the gloams - he can be pleasant and jovial. He believes the gloams have corrupted many of his creatures, such that only the phantoms are truly loyal. He created Shadowfire and desires its return. Shadowfire can act as a restorative for him. As he is tied to his realm, when the realm has split loyalties, he becomes split personalitied.

Lady Sabina

She is the court duplitrix of the Chiaroscuro Palace and appears as a phantom. She has a soft, sweet voice and is darkly beautiful. She has long, sable eyelashes. She is pleasant and new to her position which includes finding out guests names, announcing them, and taking them to the appropriate areas in the palace.

Smirtch, the Gloam Imprimus

Imprimus is a gloam, a man-shaped, shadowy creature who resides in the Shadowrealm. He appears to have leaden eyes, grey teeth, and a rustling, shadow voice. He is also a lich, and as such, his natural form is rather rotting. His face looks half like a bat, and he has large fangs. As a lich he is also likely vulnerable during the brightness of Twilight.

He acquired the sapphire necklace of the ninth (seventh?) house of cats. He and Gord mutually question each other. Smirtch tries to conceal more than he reveals. He is proud and believes himself to be at least the equal of the Shadowking and states that no gloam recognizes the shadowking's authority. They are not truly equal to the Shadowking. He attends the shadowking's court and on occasion poses as the shadowking. If seriously threatened, he may offer to make the offender one of his servants. He is slain by Gord.

Hotbreath

He is an elder, lion-like shadow creature, and agent of the Catlord. He leads a pride and has a dove-grey body and a slightly darker, shaggy mane. He has long, smilodon-like, teeth.

Smokemane

He is a lion-like shadow creature, which speaks common and is an agent of the Catlord. He has a good sense of humor. He has a sooty shadow-mane. He has long, smilodon-like teeth. He and cat-kind prefer to be aloof from any power struggles on this plane. He is slain by the denizens of Imprimus's lair.

Vishwhoolsh

This shadowdragon is an ally of the gloams. He is slain by Gord.

The Sphere of Probability

This region lies between the elemental planes and the Astral Plane. It has manifold branches and loops.

Probability and Fate:

The House of Option

The House of the Fifth Dimension (Probability) - the home of Lady Tolerance - Istus. She keeps a formal garden in front.

NPC's of Probability

Istus - Lady Tolerance

Lady Fate can alter her shape and her surroundings. She, with Proctor Chronos agree that Entropy has done what was possible, but went beyond the plausible. They get into arguments over who rules who.

The Plane of Chance

(probability?) an ever narrowing plane in the Ethereal.

Sphere of Creative Energy

Realm of Regularity

The Extremity of all Order - The Realm of Uniformity

a wedged shaped plane (Nirvana?)

Time

NPC's of Time

Proctor Chronos

He appears as a venerable man who stands on a little hillock of sand in the Time Elemental Plane. He has a merry and vigorous humor and young muscles. He has thick white hair and wrinkled weather-beaten skin. He is a contradiction in age. As he moves, his size and age change according to the time concentration as he walks over the sands. He is against Entropy, who wants stasis. He measures events and places proper limits on things. He says that time flows in a loop - past, present, and future are the same. He does not have a scythe or a clock, but a sphere with billions of motes that shift to a few specks of light or bit about a huge mote in the center. It made of thin multi-leveled, overlapping, orbiting spheres, which when shaken turn into a ribbon of flowing sand that does not seam to move. He makes a Möbius strip of it and wears it as a waist sash about his toga. He will not allow the changing of past events. He is on good terms with Istus. As he moves, his size and age change according to the time concentration as he walks over the sands.

YANG

The Positive Material Plane

YIN

The Negative Material Plane

NPC's of Yin

Hatdoligor Kaathbaen

He is the master of the undead realm, presumably on the Negative Material Plane.

The Haven

This realm a quasi-plane created by the forces of Balance to give Gord, Gellor, and Leda a break once they had recovered all three of the Theorpart. Much of it is a meadow. It has a glen with a pond and a bamboo hut. Time initially passes very slowly here but soon it begins to catch up with the rest of existence. At first days inside were seconds outside. Three days outside equal two weeks inside.

There is a great stone of dense material that thrusts up in the haven. It has a secret door that leads to a small passage to a vault. Thick slabs of lodestone form a coffer with out handle, hinge or lock. This opens to Gord's touch. There is a silk-smooth adamantine strongbox inside that holds a long silver box with glyphs and sigils warding against nether beings. Inside this are the Unbinder and the joined Awakener-Initiator.

The Prison of Tharizdun

The roadway from the Seven Heavens twists and turns upward after crossing a ridgelike spine whose sides disappear into the misty chasm. The road leads to a delicate looking, fairy-type castle of pearl, ivory, silver, and opal. There are smooth walls and soaring buttresses, thick towers with high turret tops. It must be walked to and is a tough climb. It is cold at the gatehouse as the castle is frozen. There are no gates, and no bridge. The Key can come apart here. The Initiator immediately becomes a quicksilver bridge that seems to hold very little weight. It deposits a silver-hued ring with a perfect diamond. Leda takes the ring. If both the Unbinder and the Awakener are touched, Tharizdun will possess that person and say that the Unbinder will free the place of the ice. It becomes red, heats the ice, melts it, moves along inward, and becomes a growing cylinder. A gold ring set with a jacinth is found in the castle's entry hall. The Rings are the artifacts after they serve their purpose. They compel those nearby to wear them. Gellor dons the gold ring.

The castle is bright within. It has a great hall, antechambers, cellars, dungeons, galleries, and countless rooms above. It is furnished in an Oerthian style; however it is done all in white or near white with crystal or pale metals. The furnishings will always appear familiar to those who enter. They will be exactly what they would expect, but white. There are many towers. There is a great middle spire, the tallest one. It is gold roofed, has turrets, and reaches two-hundred feet high.

Spiral stair

It has a spiral stair that climbs up to a sky blue door of pure adamantine. The Awakener, when its blunt end is put against the door, will run like molten metal and form hinges and handles. There is a tinkling sound as another ring appears. This one is adamantine with a sapphire. Leda thinks that the rings serve as a protection. Gord loans her his magic dagger.

Study

The door swings inward when unlatched. Tharizdun's child avatar is here. He proclaims that he is Tharizdun, Emperor To Be of all the Multiverse - when he is full grown. He is most gracious in thanking his rescuers. He thinks that he has been here for a month. He wants to know where Gord got the ring. The room is forty feet across and is a well furnished office. There is a couch, a table, chairs, and a small shelf of well-bound books here, as well as bric-a-brac, candle prickets and magic lamps. The blue adamantine walls are unseamed. There are adamantine crystal windows and adamantine bars. There is fine upholstery, tapestries and rugs. There is a flight of stairs going up. They lead to a dining salon.

Dining salon

It has banners, armor, and ancient weapons as decorations. It is also lined with adamantine with the Glassteeled windows. Tharizdun says that he used to have servants, but not for a long time. He used to have knights and long bearded councilors, then the ugly beasts came and killed or scared his servants and locked him up here. There is a ewer on the long narrow table that pours forth any drink Tharizdun's child avatar wants. He has a golden bowl that is filled with whatever he wants to eat. Upstairs is his bedchamber.

Bedroom

It is slightly smaller than the dining room. It is also lined in adamantine. There is a royal looking bed, armoire, chest or drawers, shelves, two large chests, several small chests, and toys all over: a wooden sword and shield, toy soldiers. The bed is enchanted to make itself. The clothes are always cleaned. There is a bath drawn for him every morning. If he doesn't bathe, he won't be fed. There is a bronze-runged ladder that leads to a trap door above to the observatory.

Observatory

"From there I can see all the lands around. I don't like it there, though, for it is boring." It has a conical roof with Glassteeled adamantine merlions. There is nothing to see but clouds, mountains and the road. There is a cold stone seat. It houses Tharizdun's material form. Gord could detect it but Gellor and Leda could not, even with spells.

Events

If Tharizdun is losing his Planarchess game, he will cheat. If he is caught cheating, he will throw a tantrum and ask for a price for the theorpart rings. He will hold his breath etc. Gord asks for the power of Ultimate Evil. Tharizdun throws a fit and tells them to leave. They stay. He begins to reveal his demonic nature. His eyes glow with malice. He throws six acid-filled, poisoned tipped darts, and runs up the ladder. Gord, Gellor, and Leda leave the castle, it turns red, then ugly red-violet, and darkens, there is a sound of heavy footsteps.

Tharizdun's true form comes down and bites his child avatar's jugular in order to gain full power. He then devourers all but its skull. He comes down to Gord and tells Gellor and Leda to stay and he will deal with them. He throws the head of his boy avatar at Gord. Tharizdun calls into being a large two-headed axe that deflects Gord's blow. He can't draw on the nether planes until he leaves the castle. He balances combat to his advantage - when Gord uses Courflamme, he splits the axe into two smaller single headed axes. He is pushed back by Courflamme's blinding white fire. He can summon from the axes many small disgusting sucker-mouthed purple larvae that are poisonous and thumb-sized. Gord uses the theorpart ring to summon a phoenix who eats the grubs and grows with the help of Gellor and Leda's rings. Gord melts the adamantine confining Tharizdun to the entrance chamber. Gord strikes Tharizdun and the demon's face and eyes become more hideous. Tharizdun realizes that Gord will beat him and calls for aid. Lord Entropy responds, bringing all of itself to one part of the wall. It decays and Tharizdun escapes. This is probably the last possible point of divergence from a Greyhawk Campaign which leaves the Flanaess intact. Gellor and Leda go back to the castle to fetch Gord as the place falls apart. They hop from the Empyreal Sphere to the Celestial Sphere to the Sphere of Creative energy to the Astral to the Ethereal to the Realm of Regularity to the Province of Order. They use the Ethereal Plane to escape impeders.

Residents of Tharizdun's prison:

Tharizdun

He is known as the Master of Malevolence, the Darkest, the Ultimate One of Nullity. He is the epitome of evil and he would unite all evil, but he was entrapped by Good Deities eons ago. They enmeshed him in a cocoon of his own power, but he could still act in a limited way. He lies wrapped in ebon slumber, awaiting the joining of the Theorparts. When they are joined, he will be released and the Upper and middle planes will ally against evil. His mind can not be read.

One of his forms is that of a purple cloud. The cloud has dark eyes, emitting an amethyst light. He has a purple, black, lipless mouth with many teeth, tusks, and fangs, that are all very large. He has a hairless black hide, that is full of blemishes. He is left in the Oerth Prime with Lord Entropy, and they battle it out ending in mutual destruction after a few million years.

Child Avatar

appears as a young, naive, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, boy. He is in the Prison of Tharizdun. He is dressed richly, but not uniquely. He knows that he is Tharizdun and believes that he is Emperor to be of all the Multiverse. He considers the Theorpartings to be his. He is gracious to his rescuers. He has spouts of boyish glee. After his rescuers have explored his prison/castle, he challenges them to a game of Planarchess, betting several jewels against the theorpart rings. He was all that the Lords of Light could not bind up by spells millions of years ago. Once he has control, he could harm Lord Entropy by allowing life to have creativity, but this is against his nature.

True form

Entombed under the cold chair in the observatory, he needs to consume his child avatar in order to gain full power. He is six foot, six inches tall, has fair skin, gold hair, is comely, fanged, and has an incredibly deep sonorous voice. He split Courflamme in the original battle into the two component swords. He can not be whole until he consumes the child avatar's head. He is not an expert with weapons. He escapes his prison with the aid of Entropy and has all the Hells and Hades easily submitting to him. He goes to the Abyss and makes Bulumuz defy him. He eats the demon lord in an amorphous form, transparent so that all can see. He proclaims that another demon is hereby Bulumuz and says that anyone can be replaced. He becomes impatient with Entropy. He can not remember throwing the skull of his Child avatar at Gord. He does not feel whole. He is responsible for the creation of Yeth hounds. He plans on making Yeth hounds with the heads of every malevolent form of life. see also WG4, The Lost Temple of Tharizdun.

RESIDENTS OF THE INNER PLANES

"All and Nothing"

a being that is usually against all, but sides with balance to fight Tharizdun.

Master Entropy

He is also known as the Lord of Inertia and the Master of Devolution. Like "All and Nothing" he is usually against all. He reveals that Gord's Suel sword is more powerful than suspected. During the Come Endless Darkness-Dance of Demons interregnum he instigates world chaos, wars, discord among allies, plagues, and natural disasters. He cloaks Gord and Gellor's movement through the Astral to the Abyss. He is behind Gord's lethargy, the removal of Leda and Basiliv, and the wars of attrition. He wants Tharizdun to come, then he will burn out and Entropy will rule. He addresses Graz'zt and brings Gord to them. He would have Leda placed in a null space and have Gord exchange himself for her and have Graz'zt join the Theorparts. Graz'zt agrees to this plan. Entropy says that he will slow Tharizdun. He will hide inside Leda. He meets Graz'zt on Iyondagur. He is left in the Oerth Prime with Tharizdun, and they battle it out ending in mutual destruction after a few million years.

Vashmilkusom

the air elemental which brought forth Gravestone's storms and transported him to Hardby.