Research:The Broken Lands - Revision history

INIQUITY: mountains of madness, another excerpt

2023-12-30T01:06:38Z

mountains of madness, another excerpt

INIQUITY: mountains of madness, another excerpt

2023-12-29T22:49:24Z

mountains of madness, another excerpt

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:49, 29 December 2023
Line 2,041:		Line 2,041:
	"At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft		"At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft
	</pre>		</pre>
	Antarctica in this story is also (conjecturally) the material world location of Kadath, and possibly the plateau of Leng, which is described as not having a single definable location. The cold wind in this place has disturbing piping musical quality, which is implicitly related to Nyarlathotep even though he is not himself mentioned. Tsathoggua is another Great Old One, like Nyarlathotep and Cthulhu, who resembles a toad and has some association with shoggoths. In "The Mound" he and the shoggoths are related to the material world Vaults of Zin deep under the Earth.		Antarctica in this story is also (conjecturally) the material world location of Kadath, and possibly the plateau of Leng, which is described as not having a single definable location. It was part of a still higher and worse mountain range thought to have been further in the distance and related to the moon breaking away from the Earth in deep antiquity. The cold wind in this place has disturbing piping musical quality, which is implicitly related to Nyarlathotep even though he is not himself mentioned. Tsathoggua is another Great Old One, like Nyarlathotep and Cthulhu, who resembles a toad and has some association with shoggoths. In "The Mound" he and the shoggoths are related to the material world Vaults of Zin deep under the Earth.
	<pre{{log2\|margin-right=350px}}>		<pre{{log2\|margin-right=350px}}>
	"There was indeed something hauntingly Roerich-like about this whole unearthly continent of mountainous mystery. I had felt it in October when we first caught sight of Victoria Land, and I felt it afresh now. I felt, too, another wave of uneasy consciousness of Archaean mythical resemblances; of how disturbingly this lethal realm corresponded to the evilly famed plateau of Leng in the primal writings. Mythologists have placed Leng in Central Asia; but the racial memory of man—or of his predecessors—is long, and it may well be that certain tales have come down from lands and mountains and temples of horror earlier than Asia and earlier than any human world we know. A few daring mystics have hinted at a pre-Pleistocene origin for the fragmentary Pnakotic Manuscripts, and have suggested that the devotees of Tsathoggua were as alien to mankind as Tsathoggua itself. '''Leng, wherever in space or time it might brood''', was not a region I would care to be in or near; nor did I relish the proximity of a world that had ever bred such ambiguous and Archaean monstrosities as those Lake had just mentioned. At the moment I felt sorry that I had ever read the abhorred ''Necronomicon'', or talked so much with that unpleasantly erudite folklorist Wilmarth at the university."		"There was indeed something hauntingly Roerich-like about this whole unearthly continent of mountainous mystery. I had felt it in October when we first caught sight of Victoria Land, and I felt it afresh now. I felt, too, another wave of uneasy consciousness of Archaean mythical resemblances; of how disturbingly this lethal realm corresponded to the evilly famed plateau of Leng in the primal writings. Mythologists have placed Leng in Central Asia; but the racial memory of man—or of his predecessors—is long, and it may well be that certain tales have come down from lands and mountains and temples of horror earlier than Asia and earlier than any human world we know. A few daring mystics have hinted at a pre-Pleistocene origin for the fragmentary Pnakotic Manuscripts, and have suggested that the devotees of Tsathoggua were as alien to mankind as Tsathoggua itself. '''Leng, wherever in space or time it might brood''', was not a region I would care to be in or near; nor did I relish the proximity of a world that had ever bred such ambiguous and Archaean monstrosities as those Lake had just mentioned. At the moment I felt sorry that I had ever read the abhorred ''Necronomicon'', or talked so much with that unpleasantly erudite folklorist Wilmarth at the university."
Line 2,051:		Line 2,051:
	- "At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft		- "At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft
	</pre>		</pre>
	There is a relatively strong case for "At the Mountains of Madness" as an influence on the Broken Land. There are numerous other themes in common between the two places. The Elder Thing city in "At the Mountains of Madness" is on a very high plateau, which is higher than most mountains, surrounded by still taller mountains than even the Himalayas. There is ambiguity on where the true ground level is, and with mountains rising higher all around in spite of being very high up. This is apparently the situation with the Dark Shrine in the Broken Land. There is ambiguity on whether huge rock formations are natural or unnatural. There are huge hyper-realistic sculptures, huge empty niches, huge elliptical windows, and huge caverns, and relief inscriptions in some extinct language. There are weird geometry rooms, similar to the cryptic tower with the Broken Land. There is "disordered time and alien natural law", and seemingly impossibly out of place anachronisms. There was also a limestone cavern system with stalagmites and an evolutionarily isolated ecosystem.		There is a relatively strong case for "At the Mountains of Madness" as an influence on the Broken Land. There are numerous other themes in common between the two places. The Elder Thing city in "At the Mountains of Madness" is on a very high plateau, which is higher than most mountains, surrounded by still taller mountains than even the Himalayas. There is ambiguity on where the true ground level is, and with mountains rising higher all around in spite of being very high up. Its entrances are described in terms of sub-glacial levels. This is apparently the situation with the Dark Shrine in the Broken Land. There is ambiguity on whether huge rock formations are natural or unnatural. There are huge hyper-realistic sculptures, huge empty niches, huge elliptical windows, and huge caverns, and relief inscriptions in some extinct language. Subterranean corridors with the persistent malodorous scent of unseen horrors. There are weird geometry rooms, similar to the cryptic tower with the Broken Land. There is "disordered time and alien natural law", and seemingly impossibly out of place anachronisms. There was also a limestone cavern system with stalagmites and an evolutionarily isolated ecosystem.

	<pre{{log2\|margin-right=350px}}>		<pre{{log2\|margin-right=350px}}>
	[Dark Grotto, Long Stairway]		[Dark Grotto, Long Stairway]
	A gargantuan stairway descends from the landing here, reaching down along a solid stone wall into a huge cavern, farther than you can see. The stair is a marvel, '''an engineering feat of unparalleled proportions.''' The broad steps are more than twenty feet wide, some seven or eight feet deep, and about three feet high. The floor of the huge cavern lies so far below that all detail is lost in the distance. A large, dark tunnel has been bored into the stone wall.		A gargantuan stairway descends from the landing here, reaching down along a solid stone wall into a huge cavern, farther than you can see. The stair is a '''marvel,''' an '''engineering feat of unparalleled proportions.''' The broad steps are more than twenty feet wide, some seven or eight feet deep, and about three feet high. The floor of the huge cavern lies so far below that all detail is lost in the distance. A large, dark tunnel has been bored into the stone wall.
	Obvious exits: down.		Obvious exits: down.

	"We '''cannot yet explain the engineering principles''' used in the anomalous balancing and adjustment of the vast rock masses, though the function of the arch was clearly much relied on. The rooms we visited were wholly bare of all portable contents, a circumstance which sustained our belief in the city’s deliberate desertion."		"We '''cannot yet explain the engineering principles''' used in the anomalous balancing and adjustment of the vast rock masses, though the function of the arch was clearly much relied on. The rooms we visited were wholly bare of all portable contents, a circumstance which sustained our belief in the city’s deliberate desertion."
			- "At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft

			"But the salient object of the place was the '''titanic stone ramp''' which, eluding the archways by a sharp turn outward into the open floor, '''wound spirally up''' the stupendous cylindrical wall like an inside counterpart of those once climbing outside the monstrous towers or ziggurats of antique Babylon. Only the rapidity of our flight, and the perspective which confounded the descent with the tower’s inner wall, had prevented our noticing this feature from the air, and thus caused us to seek another avenue to the sub-glacial level. Pabodie might have been able to tell '''what sort of engineering''' held it in place, but Danforth and I could '''merely admire and marvel.''' We could see mighty stone corbels and pillars here and there, but what we saw seemed inadequate to the function performed. The thing was excellently preserved up to the present top of the tower—a highly remarkable circumstance in view of its exposure—and its shelter had done much to protect the '''bizarre and disturbing cosmic sculptures''' on the walls.

			As we stepped out into the awesome half-daylight of this monstrous cylinder-bottom—fifty million years old, and without doubt '''the most primally ancient structure''' ever to meet our eyes—we saw that the ramp-traversed sides stretched dizzily up to a height of fully sixty feet. This, we recalled from our aërial survey, meant an outside glaciation of some forty feet; since the yawning gulf we had seen from the plane had been at the top of an approximately twenty-foot mound of crumbled masonry, somewhat sheltered for three-fourths of its circumference by '''the massive curving walls of a line of higher ruins.''' According to the sculptures the original tower had stood in the centre of an immense circular plaza; and had been '''perhaps 500 or 600 feet high,''' with tiers of horizontal discs near the top, and a row of needle-like spires along the upper rim."
	- "At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft		- "At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft
	</pre>		</pre>

INIQUITY: mountains of madness expand

2023-12-29T01:30:51Z

mountains of madness expand

@@ Line 2,034: / Line 2,034: @@
 "At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft
 </pre>
 <pre{{log2|margin-right=350px}}>
 "There was indeed something hauntingly Roerich-like about this whole unearthly continent of mountainous mystery. I had felt it in October when we first caught sight of Victoria Land, and I felt it afresh now. I felt, too, another wave of uneasy consciousness of Archaean mythical resemblances; of how disturbingly this lethal realm corresponded to the evilly famed plateau of Leng in the primal writings. Mythologists have placed Leng in Central Asia; but the racial memory of man—or of his predecessors—is long, and it may well be that certain tales have come down from lands and mountains and temples of horror earlier than Asia and earlier than any human world we know. A few daring mystics have hinted at a pre-Pleistocene origin for the fragmentary Pnakotic Manuscripts, and have suggested that the devotees of Tsathoggua were as alien to mankind as Tsathoggua itself. '''Leng, wherever in space or time it might brood''', was not a region I would care to be in or near; nor did I relish the proximity of a world that had ever bred such ambiguous and Archaean monstrosities as those Lake had just mentioned. At the moment I felt sorry that I had ever read the abhorred ''Necronomicon'', or talked so much with that unpleasantly erudite folklorist Wilmarth at the university."
@@ Line 2,044: / Line 2,051: @@
 - "At the Mountains of Madness"; H.P. Lovecraft
 </pre>
 '''(7) The Call of Cthulhu'''

INIQUITY: typo

2023-08-22T22:30:04Z

typo

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:30, 22 August 2023
Line 2,641:		Line 2,641:
	</pre>		</pre>

	Another geographical point worth considering is that the Seolfar Strake is bordering the northern edge of the High Plateau. This is the plateau where the Graveyard is on a northward-facing edge of it. The High Plateau is made of limestone, and would be to the south and east of Seolfar Strake. In the Broken Land the cliffs are implicitly limestone and oriented to the north and west of the boiling sea of mud. One subtle point is that while the magru eat away tunnels in the Dark Grotto, the ratsnakes under the Monastery are not adequately parallel to that concept. In the background material for Quellbourne, the High Plateau does have an analog of this very ~~ting~~, a roa'ter-like creature called a "tergon" that subsists somehow on eating through the limestone of the plateau. Tergons were set free on the High Plateau by Zenon late in the Third Era. Zenon was a sorcerer who, like Uthex, was corrupted into madness by servants of the Unlife.		Another geographical point worth considering is that the Seolfar Strake is bordering the northern edge of the High Plateau. This is the plateau where the Graveyard is on a northward-facing edge of it. The High Plateau is made of limestone, and would be to the south and east of Seolfar Strake. In the Broken Land the cliffs are implicitly limestone and oriented to the north and west of the boiling sea of mud. One subtle point is that while the magru eat away tunnels in the Dark Grotto, the ratsnakes under the Monastery are not adequately parallel to that concept. In the background material for Quellbourne, the High Plateau does have an analog of this very thing, a roa'ter-like creature called a "tergon" that subsists somehow on eating through the limestone of the plateau. Tergons were set free on the High Plateau by Zenon late in the Third Era. Zenon was a sorcerer who, like Uthex, was corrupted into madness by servants of the Unlife.

	In the later Shadow World source materials, the Black Forest of Dir would pass through this northern borderland near the ruins of Quellburn, but that was not established yet during the I.C.E. Age of GemStone III. Dir was only known to be somewhere around Lu'nak in northwest Jaiman. In the early 1990s that was only referenced in the Shards section on the next page from the Gogor section concerning Kadaena's artificial constructs.		In the later Shadow World source materials, the Black Forest of Dir would pass through this northern borderland near the ruins of Quellburn, but that was not established yet during the I.C.E. Age of GemStone III. Dir was only known to be somewhere around Lu'nak in northwest Jaiman. In the early 1990s that was only referenced in the Shards section on the next page from the Gogor section concerning Kadaena's artificial constructs.

INIQUITY: magru vs tergon

2023-08-22T22:28:21Z

magru vs tergon

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:28, 22 August 2023
Line 2,641:		Line 2,641:
	</pre>		</pre>

	Another geographical point worth considering is that the Seolfar Strake is bordering the northern edge of the High Plateau. This is the plateau where the Graveyard is on a northward-facing edge of it. The High Plateau is made of limestone, and would be to the south and east of Seolfar Strake. In the Broken Land the cliffs are implicitly limestone and oriented to the north and west of the boiling sea of mud. In the ~~later~~ ~~Shadow~~ ~~World~~ ~~source~~ ~~materials~~, the ~~Black~~ ~~Forest~~ of ~~Dir~~ ~~would~~ ~~pass~~ ~~through~~ ~~this~~ ~~northern~~ ~~borderland~~ ~~near~~ the ~~ruins~~ of ~~Quellburn~~, ~~but~~ that ~~was~~ ~~not~~ ~~established~~ ~~yet~~ ~~during~~ the ~~I.C.E~~. ~~Age~~ of ~~GemStone~~ ~~III~~. ~~Dir~~ was ~~only~~ ~~known~~ to be ~~somewhere~~ ~~around~~ ~~Lu'nak~~ in ~~northwest~~ ~~Jaiman~~.		Another geographical point worth considering is that the Seolfar Strake is bordering the northern edge of the High Plateau. This is the plateau where the Graveyard is on a northward-facing edge of it. The High Plateau is made of limestone, and would be to the south and east of Seolfar Strake. In the Broken Land the cliffs are implicitly limestone and oriented to the north and west of the boiling sea of mud. One subtle point is that while the magru eat away tunnels in the Dark Grotto, the ratsnakes under the Monastery are not adequately parallel to that concept. In the background material for Quellbourne, the High Plateau does have an analog of this very ting, a roa'ter-like creature called a "tergon" that subsists somehow on eating through the limestone of the plateau. Tergons were set free on the High Plateau by Zenon late in the Third Era. Zenon was a sorcerer who, like Uthex, was corrupted into madness by servants of the Unlife.

			In the later Shadow World source materials, the Black Forest of Dir would pass through this northern borderland near the ruins of Quellburn, but that was not established yet during the I.C.E. Age of GemStone III. Dir was only known to be somewhere around Lu'nak in northwest Jaiman. In the early 1990s that was only referenced in the Shards section on the next page from the Gogor section concerning Kadaena's artificial constructs.

	===Huge Cavern===		===Huge Cavern===

INIQUITY: refine source dates of ritual of black eternity

2023-02-03T04:19:20Z

refine source dates of ritual of black eternity

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:19, 2 February 2023
Line 749:		Line 749:
	The Monastery itself is not obviously based on a ''specific'' historical or fictional place, aside from a vaguely eastern flavor in the ki-lin and the meditation chamber. The cells and abbot are historically consistent for a western monastery. This will be explored more fully in the subtexts section. These were monks of Cay, most likely, and Orhan more generally. This is perhaps even "monk" in a similar profession sense as the Monk class in GemStone IV, except in the Shadow World setting they use the Essence realm instead of Mentalism. The monastery itself gives the flavor of their living centuries below ground, dedicated in the struggle to prevent the forces of the Unlife from invading through the portal.		The Monastery itself is not obviously based on a ''specific'' historical or fictional place, aside from a vaguely eastern flavor in the ki-lin and the meditation chamber. The cells and abbot are historically consistent for a western monastery. This will be explored more fully in the subtexts section. These were monks of Cay, most likely, and Orhan more generally. This is perhaps even "monk" in a similar profession sense as the Monk class in GemStone IV, except in the Shadow World setting they use the Essence realm instead of Mentalism. The monastery itself gives the flavor of their living centuries below ground, dedicated in the struggle to prevent the forces of the Unlife from invading through the portal.

	The records of the existence of the monastery were lost or destroyed with time, and the monks eventually succumbed to the corruption of the Unlife. Whether this is from prolonged exposure to dark essence is unclear. It is possible some of the texts removed from the Broken Land were kept in their own library. Kygar has them first suffering from loneliness and increasing isolation for centuries, so if there was an active "dark struggle", they may have eventually bonded with the hooded figures who in turn taught them dark magic. What is unusual about the monastic liches is the hole in their chests where they removed their own heart. This is the Ritual of Black Eternity, one of the most evil of all spells. It is from the Classic Liches in Rolemaster Companion I (1986), pages 33 and 75, a tighter fit than D&D phylacteries.		The records of the existence of the monastery were lost or destroyed with time, and the monks eventually succumbed to the corruption of the Unlife. Whether this is from prolonged exposure to dark essence is unclear. It is possible some of the texts removed from the Broken Land were kept in their own library. Kygar has them first suffering from loneliness and increasing isolation for centuries, so if there was an active "dark struggle", they may have eventually bonded with the hooded figures who in turn taught them dark magic. What is unusual about the monastic liches is the hole in their chests where they removed their own heart. This is possibly meant to imply the Ritual of Black Eternity, one of the most evil of all spells. It is from the Classic Liches in Rolemaster Companion I (1986), pages 35 and 75, a tighter fit than D&D phylacteries.
	<pre{{log2\|margin-right=350px}}>		<pre{{log2\|margin-right=350px}}>
	>describe lich		>describe lich
Line 762:		Line 762:
	''(Note: Classic "Lich" monsters are Evil Clerics, Evil Mages, or Sorcerers. See page 42 of Creatures & Treasures I.)''		''(Note: Classic "Lich" monsters are Evil Clerics, Evil Mages, or Sorcerers. See page 42 of Creatures & Treasures I.)''
	</pre>		</pre>
	In the 1999 edition of Creatures & Monsters on page 118, standard liches are transformed over a year with the Ritual of Twilight, while classic liches use the more rare and dangerous Ritual of Black Eternity where the organs are put into a special container and hidden. ~~This~~ ~~text~~ ~~references~~ them having red light in their eyes. This is not included in the monastic lich section on page 131, but is part of the ambient messaging on the monastic liches. The lich description of "fine, although unkempt and tattered, clothing or robes" is significantly closer to the GemStone description than their monastic lich entry. These rituals were not given until the 1995 ~~books~~, before which ~~there was no~~ phylactery-like concept ~~for~~ Rolemaster ~~liches~~. The important point of the monastic liches is that, as monks rather than pure spellcasters, they could only have done this by possessing texts on necromancy. This only makes sense if it came from the Dark Shrine.		In the 1999 edition of Creatures & Monsters on page 118, standard liches are transformed over a year with the Ritual of Twilight, while classic liches use the more rare and dangerous Ritual of Black Eternity where the organs are put into a special container and hidden. (In the 1995 edition of Creatures & Monsters this is on page 187.) These texts reference them having red light in their eyes. This is not included in the monastic lich section on page 131 (or page 190 in the 1995 edition), but is part of the ambient messaging on the monastic liches. The lich description of "fine, although unkempt and tattered, clothing or robes" is significantly closer to the GemStone description than their monastic lich entry. These rituals were not given until the 1995 version of Spell Law, before which the phylactery-like concept was only in Rolemaster Companion 1. The important point of the monastic liches is that, as monks rather than pure spellcasters, they could only have done this by possessing texts on necromancy. This only makes sense if it came from the Dark Shrine.

	There is some reason to suspect this is a later period admixture, presumably from the 1995 edition of this book, especially since the Monastery pre-dates the Describe verb by half a year. The creature description for the ki-lin on the Play.net website is inconsistent with the Rolemaster version with the glowing red horn, but it is consistent with the Rolemaster description of the ki-rin which is more consistent with the mythological qilin. It is important to be cautious with creature descriptions because they were often added later. The spectral monks are presumably the monks who failed to become liches.		There is some reason to suspect this is a later period admixture, presumably from the 1995 edition of this book, especially since the Monastery pre-dates the Describe verb by half a year. The creature description for the ki-lin on the Play.net website is inconsistent with the Rolemaster version with the glowing red horn, but it is consistent with the Rolemaster description of the ki-rin which is more consistent with the mythological qilin. It is important to be cautious with creature descriptions because they were often added later. The spectral monks are presumably the monks who failed to become liches.
Line 779:		Line 779:
	With the monastic liches still having rotting flesh in their description, rather than being purely skeletal, we might think it was only relatively recently that they fell to the Unlife. This would be consistent with the timing of the hooded figures appearing, though it puts too much weight on a possibly apocryphal creature description. In any event they would have fallen into madness first, perhaps indicated by the emotive faces above the doorways downstairs. The painting upstairs referring to the "Undead Wars" probably said "Wars of Dominion" originally. The phylacteries are most likely sealed away in the sewers under the monastery, but again, Rolemaster liches did not use these yet when the Monastery was built. The sewers originally had ratsnakes in them. This potentially supports interpreting the cave itself as an allegory for Lovecraft's "Snake-Den", detailed below in the Major Sub-Texts section.		With the monastic liches still having rotting flesh in their description, rather than being purely skeletal, we might think it was only relatively recently that they fell to the Unlife. This would be consistent with the timing of the hooded figures appearing, though it puts too much weight on a possibly apocryphal creature description. In any event they would have fallen into madness first, perhaps indicated by the emotive faces above the doorways downstairs. The painting upstairs referring to the "Undead Wars" probably said "Wars of Dominion" originally. The phylacteries are most likely sealed away in the sewers under the monastery, but again, Rolemaster liches did not use these yet when the Monastery was built. The sewers originally had ratsnakes in them. This potentially supports interpreting the cave itself as an allegory for Lovecraft's "Snake-Den", detailed below in the Major Sub-Texts section.

	It is unclear if the action of reaching into the holes in their chests dates back to 1992 or was added later. It is possible that this connection to the Ritual of Black Eternity, which first appears in the ~~1995~~ ~~books~~, is not the intention behind the liches having holes in their chests. In the Major Sub-Texts section another theory will be given in terms of the monastery's meditation room and astral projection esotericism that would still work for 1992.		It is unclear if the action of reaching into the holes in their chests dates back to 1992 or was added later. It is possible that this connection to the Ritual of Black Eternity, which first appears in Rolemaster Companion in 1986 but not in the creatures bestiaries or Spell Law until 1995, is not the intention behind the liches having holes in their chests. In the Major Sub-Texts section another theory will be given in terms of the monastery's meditation room and astral projection esotericism that would still work for 1992.
	=Death=		=Death=
	The major sub-texts category addresses the parallel the Broken Lands has with H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and possibly other related stories. The within GemStone significance of this is that the same story appears to be used in the messaging that occurs when bodies decay and need to be reincarnated by Eissa (Modern: Lorminstra). This is illustrated in [[Research:The Graveyard#Lovecraft\|Research:The Graveyard]]. The soul is in a limbo that was once called [[Purgatory]]. That research page argues for various reasons that the Graveyard is symbolically a dark mirror of Purgatory and the temple of Eissa in the Landing.		The major sub-texts category addresses the parallel the Broken Lands has with H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and possibly other related stories. The within GemStone significance of this is that the same story appears to be used in the messaging that occurs when bodies decay and need to be reincarnated by Eissa (Modern: Lorminstra). This is illustrated in [[Research:The Graveyard#Lovecraft\|Research:The Graveyard]]. The soul is in a limbo that was once called [[Purgatory]]. That research page argues for various reasons that the Graveyard is symbolically a dark mirror of Purgatory and the temple of Eissa in the Landing.
Line 1,261:		Line 1,261:
	The '''multihued''' iridescence of this triangle, crafted from lapis lazuli, is almost hypnotic in its beauty.		The '''multihued''' iridescence of this triangle, crafted from lapis lazuli, is almost hypnotic in its beauty.
	</pre>		</pre>
	Another remarkable point is the top-level meditation room, which is arguably more Buddhist or Hindu than the bottom-level meditation room. This has a geometric meditation symbol on the wall. When read more closely, there is a colored triangle in the center of it, with a complicated design around it. This is most likely supposed to refer to the chakras. The chakras are meditation symbols associated with the color specturm and focal points up the torso of the body, which is related to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtle_body "subtle bodies"] of astral projection in Hindu esotericism. This is the most parsimonious explanation for why the monastic liches have holes cut into their chests, as [https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Chakra#The_seven_chakra_system the chakras] around the chest resemble this symbol in the meditation room. (Especially if the creature description or ambient referring to the hole pre-dates the 1995 edition of Creatures & Monsters, which introduced the Ritual of Black Eternity ~~concept~~ along with the Evil Cleric base list in Spell Law of 1995.)		Another remarkable point is the top-level meditation room, which is arguably more Buddhist or Hindu than the bottom-level meditation room. This has a geometric meditation symbol on the wall. When read more closely, there is a colored triangle in the center of it, with a complicated design around it. This is most likely supposed to refer to the chakras. The chakras are meditation symbols associated with the color specturm and focal points up the torso of the body, which is related to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtle_body "subtle bodies"] of astral projection in Hindu esotericism. This is the most parsimonious explanation for why the monastic liches have holes cut into their chests, as [https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Chakra#The_seven_chakra_system the chakras] around the chest resemble this symbol in the meditation room. (Especially if the creature description or ambient referring to the hole pre-dates the 1995 edition of Creatures & Monsters, which introduced the Ritual of Black Eternity in the bestiaries along with the Evil Cleric base list in Spell Law of 1995. However, the Classic Lich description did use it earlier, in Rolemaster Companion 1 of 1986.)

	It is possible that the monks were struggling with the hooded figures in some astral way in spiritual warfare as part of the theme or high concept. The portal to the Broken Land notably dematerializes the body from this reality. The crystal dome may have once allowed transportation involving the Vibration Chant and Piercing Gaze spells. It would be interesting if it put the character in some kind of dematerialized state in the cryptic tower, which might then have allowed access to the monastery through the sewer. But this is highly speculative. The portal was dormant in 1992, up until 1993. If it was sealed off for thousands of years, the monks were struggling with the dark forces in some other way.		It is possible that the monks were struggling with the hooded figures in some astral way in spiritual warfare as part of the theme or high concept. The portal to the Broken Land notably dematerializes the body from this reality. The crystal dome may have once allowed transportation involving the Vibration Chant and Piercing Gaze spells. It would be interesting if it put the character in some kind of dematerialized state in the cryptic tower, which might then have allowed access to the monastery through the sewer. But this is highly speculative. The portal was dormant in 1992, up until 1993. If it was sealed off for thousands of years, the monks were struggling with the dark forces in some other way.

INIQUITY: minor tweaks, links

2022-12-27T04:40:34Z

minor tweaks, links

Show changes

INIQUITY: parallel dimension, geology and ecology

2022-12-26T00:33:39Z

parallel dimension, geology and ecology

Show changes

INIQUITY: subtext for the Monastery

2022-12-18T02:01:32Z

subtext for the Monastery

Show changes

INIQUITY: /* Shutting Off */

2022-01-21T10:30:58Z

Shutting Off

@@ Line 2,203: / Line 2,203: @@
 ===Shutting Off===
-The crystal dome will overheat if it is agitated too much in a given time interval. In the event it is made to absorb more than 2,000 mana without being allowed to cool down, it will backlash in what is essentially a major elemental wave. This has the effect of resetting the dome to its baseline status. The process would have involved more than one character profession, and allegedly the old Sorcerer spell Forget.
+The crystal dome will overheat if it is agitated too much in a given time interval. In the event it is made to absorb more than 2,000 mana without being allowed to cool down, it will backlash in what is essentially a major elemental wave. This has the effect of resetting the dome to its baseline status. Whether or not it was actually possible to "shut off" the dome is not clear. What ''is'' still possible is blocking the power draining effect. This requires a Wizard and Cleric, or else scrolls or other access to certain spells.
 <pre{{log2}}>
 >send [#] dome
@@ Line 2,227: / Line 2,229: @@
 ''(The dome cools off at a rate of 100 mana per whole mana pulse.)''
 </pre>
 ==Sheruvian Monastery==
 The Sheruvian Monastery is a later addition to the Broken Lands and not part of the original story of Uthex Kathiasas. However, it is implied that the Sheruvian cultists are working with the hooded figures, and they possess their own dangerous artifacts. They are using the Broken Lands to form a teleportation network throughout Elanith, which would allow them to move around and execute invasions at will. This was what allowed the greater vruul to leave the monastery, where they used to wander from here into the Dark Shrine. It might explain how the [[Sheruvian harbinger|harbinger]]s suddenly appear with [[nightmare steed]]s.