Lord Liaden Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... Are Quemetiel and the Ravens of Dispersion detailed in DEMON' date=' The Mystic World[/i'], or some other book? Quemetiel is described in The Mystic World, but no game stats are given for it, as it's a cosmic force beyond human measurement. Essentially, Quemetiel is a multiversal black hole, down which flows the remnants of defunct universes on their way to final annihilation. Quemetiel is said to be made up of the accumulated remnants of the gods of those destroyed universes. It's not sapient, or even alive as we understand life. One of those universes should have been the realm known as the Pale Cathedral, the home dimension of the Ravens of Dispersion. IIRC they're mentioned in passing in a published 5E book, although I can't find the reference in a cursory search; but the only place with full write-ups for them is the 4E sourcebook Ultimate Supermage Bestiary. The Ravens are incredibly ancient, even older than the Kings of Edom. They've staved off the destruction of the Pale Cathedral by stealing energy from other universes, often using inhabitants of those universes as their unwitting pawns. EDIT: Found the 5E reference to the Ravens of Dispersion, on p. 57 of Arcane Adversaries. Very little detail given, though, less than I transcribed above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boll Weevil Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... There is a flaw in this plan. The flaw is "What are the EGo scores and Power Defense scores of your group?" Likely, they'll all be reduced to EGO 0 and become half-insane madmen within a few short minutes. If the idea is to describe the future to impress upon the heroes the importance of thwarting DEMON in the present, might I suggest their meeting a mystic who can see the future. Maybe one of the PC's touches an object that grants them one look into the future. This way they can "see" how things turn out without actually being there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... Much obliged, Lord Laiden. From what I've read so far, some of the Kings of Edom seem to be like Lovecraft's Great Old Ones (for example Vulshoth is reminiscent of Cthulhu), while others are vaster and more abstract things (like Deizzhorath, which seems like a Yog Sothoth analog). Since the write-up for Vulshoth mentions it restoring its full power via rituals that would kill a billion inhabitants from whatever world it arises on, I wouldn't imagine much would be left of the earth if all five Kings worshipped by DEMON were awakened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... You're welcome. Yes, Dean Shomshak (mystic HERO writer extraordinaire, and creator of the Kings) explicitly credits Lovecraft and his disciples, like August Derleth, as inspiration for the various Edomites. And as for the Kings being released... about the best the Earth could hope for would be for their moving on to conquer/devour the rest of the universe before all life on the planet was completely wiped out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdamnhero Posted September 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... The resurrection of this thread reminded me I never reported back on how the scenario turned out. I wound up going for a middle-ground between "Black Is President" and "Smoking Cinder." I fudged a little by saying the Kings' physical forms had faded away during their eons-long imprisonment, forcing them to take over the bodies of DEMON's Inner Circle. Their new host bodies are still adapting to their true forms and power levels -- which is the only reason there's still an Earth to visit. Society is in ruins, maybe 95% of humanity is dead, including nearly all supers. The remaining 5% has been spared (thus far) only so the Kings can enjoy slowly grinding the hope out of them. Humanity has perhaps 5-10 years left before the Kings get bored and move on to ravage other worlds, leaving Earth a lifeless, barren cinder. Black himself is a smear on the Kings' metaphorical sports page, tho this didn't actually come up in-game -- you can only pack so much into a 4-hour con slot. Besides, I knew few if any players would have enough points in KS: Champions Universe to wonder what happened to him. The Heroes got to tour the runes of their city (Denver), and fight some Quliphothic monsters without attracting the Kings' notice. They also met up with some old friends, DNPCs, Rivals and former Enemies among the huddled survivors. Major heartstring-plucking here, and the players really went along with it. In the end, the survivors sacrificed themselves to buy the Heroes enough time to "go back and fix things." Anyway I thought it turned out really well if I do say so myself. I wound up running the scenario three times, and it was a blast each time. My previous Champions con games were more comedic than horrific, and I was a little worried that some returning players might not like the darker tone - - but everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Thanks again to everyone for all your excellent suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... Well, as the Therion lyric goes, the Ravens of Dispersion have borne me utterly away. By which I mean something about the concept stuck with me after reading this thread, and prompted me on a convoluted search to track down a copy of the long out-of-print book they appeared in. What's the etiquette for posting one's 5th edition conversion of previously published earlier edition write-ups for feedback? Sometimes a little bit of obsession is good for you. I was inspired to draw my visualization of one of the Ravens this weekend, and the creative surge carried me through other unrelated pieces of art once I was at my desk with pen in hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... Well, as the Therion lyric goes, the Ravens of Dispersion have borne me utterly away. By which I mean something about the concept stuck with me after reading this thread, and prompted me on a convoluted search to track down a copy of the long out-of-print book they appeared in. What's the etiquette for posting one's 5th edition conversion of previously published earlier edition write-ups for feedback? Sometimes a little bit of obsession is good for you. I was inspired to draw my visualization of one of the Ravens this weekend, and the creative surge carried me through other unrelated pieces of art once I was at my desk with pen in hand. Gorgeous! Rep to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Re: After DEMON wins... Well, as the Therion lyric goes, the Ravens of Dispersion have borne me utterly away. By which I mean something about the concept stuck with me after reading this thread, and prompted me on a convoluted search to track down a copy of the long out-of-print book they appeared in. What's the etiquette for posting one's 5th edition conversion of previously published earlier edition write-ups for feedback? Sometimes a little bit of obsession is good for you. I was inspired to draw my visualization of one of the Ravens this weekend, and the creative surge carried me through other unrelated pieces of art once I was at my desk with pen in hand. Matt, I had to rep you not only for producing that stunningly disturbing image (reflecting their description perfectly), but for finding a copy of The Super Mage Bestiary. That sucker was only ever published electronically, and I've very rarely seen it advertised for resale. More's the pity, too; it and its companion, Ultimate Super Mage, contain a lot of write-ups for characters that didn't make it to Fifth Edition, some of them even mentioned in 5E books. As for the etiquette to posting updated write-ups, since Hero Games almost certainly retains the rights to the Harab Serapel, I recommend you send a Private Message or e-mail to Steve Long explaining what you want to do and asking the company's permission. From personal experience I know that if Steve has no plans to republish the characters in question, he's usually okay with people posting their versions, or even hosting them on a website, as long as they state it's done with the permission of Hero Games. You might also ask about transcribing some of their background as well, since most folks won't have seen them before or have access to TSMB. I look forward to seeing the Ravens' 5E stats. (You have to love a character with KS: Terrible Cosmic Secrets.) I would just suggest that you raise their power level somewhat from the 4E version, if only because Dean Shomshak did that with all his own updates, probably to line up better with the greater power of most published 5E character revisions. EDIT: Now that I think on it, the rights to the Ravens of Dispersion now probably technically belong to Cryptic Studios; but Steve would still be the man to check with for PnP RPG-related issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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