Uthex Kathiasas: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:27, 11 April 2020

Warning: This page concerns archaic world setting information from the I.C.E. Age of GemStone III. It is not canon in contemporary GemStone IV, nor is it canonical for Shadow World as the details may be specific to GemStone III. It is only historical context for certain very old parts of the game and these things should not be mixed.

Uthex Kathiasas (? - 6521 Second Era) was a highly regarded Loremaster during the Wars of Dominion in the Shadow World history. As a Loremaster of Karilon, he was most likely Iylari. Uthex was one of the greatest researchers of his time, focused on finding ways of fighting the Dark Gods and the most powerful forces of the Unlife. He discovered what he interpreted to be a "new source of power", which he wished to give "physical form." His work was twisted into more perilous forms under the subtle influence of the forces of the Unlife. These were highly likely to have been members of The Dark Path, a contemporary neighboring theocracy of Kadaena. When Uthex had eventually gone mad, have succumbed to the dark power of the Unlife, his fellow Loremasters investigated fearing the worst.

Uthex had used his powerful influence to acquire control of what was thought to be a natural gateway to another plane of existence. This may have been through Bandur Etrevion, who had been recognized by the College of Karilon in the early years of the Wars of Dominion. When the Loremasters arrived Uthex had perverted hooded figures and fell beasts as minions. The Loremasters fought him and his minions, slaying him in a meteor swarm in what is now called the Broken Lands. The barren plain was laid waste with rocks. They removed what records they could, but were unable to destroy all of his experiments.

The Loremasters guarded the portal with Runes of Warding so only the powerful would be able to return to what was called the Man'Ta Pn'Tairken. This translates as the "Home of Broken Lore" in Iruaric, the ancient language of the Lords of Essaence, which was used to name some of the monsters and is found on the inscription at the entrance to the Dark Shrine. There was a hidden monastery founded to guard the portal, so that the forces of the Unlife would not be able to invade through it. Over the centuries these monks became increasingly isolated and lonely, and eventually succumbed to the very dark powers they had been dedicated to fight against. These monks were twisted and corrupted toward evil, and transformed themselves into monastic liches. Some haunt the monastery instead as spectral monks.

Behind the Scenes

The Uthex Kathiasas story is necessary to solve the puzzle to access the Jagged Plain from his workshop past the Misty Chamber. His creatures were most likely based on a class of non-demonic extraplanar entities from Rolemaster, which suggests the possibility of the forces of the Unlife making demons artificially out of the essence using the crystal dome. (The puzzle for turning it off no longer exists.) There is precedent for this in some of the older Shadow World source books. This may also relate to Purgatory in the old death mechanics. The Broken Lands is studied in depth in Research:The Broken Lands.

The Sheruvian Monastery was added to the Broken Lands several years later by a different GameMaster. There is seemingly no relation with the original story, except that the hooded figures work with the Sheruvian monks, who have learned how to summon the ki-lin and somehow conjure greater vruul. Uthex was retconned to be a Sage of the Order of Lorekeepers in the release event for Miracle (350).

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+{{ICE}}
-'''Uthex Kathiasas''' (? - 6521 Second Era) was a highly regarded [[Sages|Loremaster]] during the [[Wars of Dominion]] in the [[ICE age|ICE Age]] history. As a Loremaster of [[Karilon]], he was most likely [[Iylari|High Elven]]. Uthex was one of the greatest researchers of his time, focused on finding ways of fighting the Dark Gods and the most powerful forces of [[Unlife]]. Seduced by [[The Dark Path]], Uthex fell to ever darker magics, eventually working with forging extra-planar entities. These were all named in [[Iruaric]], but were also known by other names, implying their origin in [[Lord of Essaence]] experiments. While this concept is esoteric, it still exists in modern demonology, as [[verlok]] demons are speculated to have begun the same way. There have been modern storylines with humanoids being transformed into extra-planar entities.
+'''Uthex Kathiasas''' (? - 6521 [[Second Era]]) was a highly regarded [[Sages|Loremaster]] during the [[Wars of Dominion]] in the [[Shadow World]] history. As a Loremaster of [[Karilon]], he was most likely [[Iylari]]. Uthex was one of the greatest researchers of his time, focused on finding ways of fighting the Dark Gods and the most powerful forces of the [[Unlife]]. He discovered what he interpreted to be a "new source of power", which he wished to give "physical form." His work was twisted into more perilous forms under the subtle influence of the forces of the Unlife. These were highly likely to have been members of [[The Dark Path]], a contemporary neighboring theocracy of [[Kadaena]]. When Uthex had eventually gone mad, have succumbed to the dark power of the Unlife, his fellow Loremasters investigated fearing the worst.
-Uthex was killed by his fellows in 6521 [[Second Era]], the same year the kingdom immediately to the south was crushed by the [[Ordainer]] [[Kharuugh]], serving the dark conqueror [[Lorgalis]] who was a former servant of [[Kadaena]]. While these events never happened in modern [[Elanthia|Elanthian]] history, much of [[The Broken Lands]] would be considered non-canonical in [[Shadow World]]. A monastery of Cay ([[Kai]]) was founded to guard the portal, so servants of the Unlife would not be able to return. Eventually, these monks were corrupted by the evil texts, transforming themselves into [[monastic lich|liches]]. The [[hooded figure|hooded figures]] regained control of the gateway, and a [[Sheru|Sheruvian]] Monastery was constructed a few years later. They were not reunited with the nightmare god himself, as he was on the moon of our world.
+Uthex had used his powerful influence to acquire control of what was thought to be a natural gateway to another plane of existence. This may have been through [[Bandur Etrevion]], who had been recognized by the College of Karilon in the early years of the Wars of Dominion. When the Loremasters arrived Uthex had perverted [[hooded figure]]s and fell beasts as minions. The Loremasters fought him and his minions, slaying him in a meteor swarm in what is now called the [[Broken Lands]]. The barren plain was laid waste with rocks. They removed what records they could, but were unable to destroy all of his experiments.
-==Research==
-His work was focused on giving "physical form" to a "[[The Dark Path#Behind The Scenes|new source of power]]", which amounts to making conscious entities out of pure energy. These were implicitly extra-planar beings who he apparently morphed into unnatural hybrids with each other. He had acquired access to a power draining dome in [[The Broken Lands]] that was left over from the rule of the [[Empress Kadaena]], with ruins [[Lesser vruul#Behind The Scenes|implying]] her role in the origins of the Dark Gods. This was presumably discovered by [[Bandur Etrevion]] as a result of his dream visions, or possibly from studying the journals of [[Selias Jodame]] at [[Library of Nomikos|Nomikos]].
-===Crystal Dome===
-The mechanism for the fashioning and telepathic control of synthetic life is the crystal dome on the jagged plain. It is implicitly a Lord of Essaence artifact left over from the [[First Era]] of the [[Shadow World]] history. More subtly, it is probably an esoteric allusion to the Shining Trapezohedron from [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/hd.aspx "The Haunter of the Dark"], an ancient artifact that was "a window on [[The Temple of Darkness|all time]] and space." Gazing into its abyss awakened the consciousness of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunter_of_the_Dark#Inspiration Nyarlathotep], and provided visions of other worlds and their horrific entities. It faintly glowed through its paneled angles and was found in an abandoned lair of evil lore.
-<pre{{log2}}>
-[The Broken Lands, Jagged Plain]
-A large crystal dome rises above the jumble of huge boulders and jagged rocks, breaking the monotony of the terrain.  There is no question in your mind that the dome is man-made and not a natural feature of the area.  A dense fog swirls around the base of the dome, and generally obscures your vision.
-Obvious paths: north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest
+The Loremasters guarded the portal with Runes of Warding so only the powerful would be able to return to what was called the Man'Ta Pn'Tairken. This translates as the "Home of Broken Lore" in [[Iruaric]], the ancient language of the [[Lords of Essaence]], which was used to name some of the monsters and is found on the inscription at the entrance to the Dark Shrine. There was a hidden monastery founded to guard the portal, so that the forces of the Unlife would not be able to invade through it. Over the centuries these monks became increasingly isolated and lonely, and eventually succumbed to the very dark powers they had been dedicated to fight against. These monks were twisted and corrupted toward evil, and transformed themselves into [[monastic lich]]es. Some haunt the monastery instead as [[spectral monk]]s.
-The crystal dome pulses with a dim, multicolored light.
+==Behind the Scenes==
+The Uthex Kathiasas story is necessary to solve the puzzle to access the Jagged Plain from his workshop past the Misty Chamber. His creatures were most likely based on a class of non-demonic extraplanar entities from Rolemaster, which suggests the possibility of the forces of the Unlife making demons artificially out of the essence using the crystal dome. (The puzzle for turning it off no longer exists.) There is precedent for this in some of the older Shadow World source books. This may also relate to [[Purgatory]] in the old death mechanics. The Broken Lands is studied in depth in [[Research:The Broken Lands]].
+The Sheruvian Monastery was added to the Broken Lands several years later by a different GameMaster. There is seemingly no relation with the original story, except that the hooded figures work with the [[Sheruvian monk]]s, who have learned how to summon the [[ki-lin]] and somehow conjure [[greater vruul]]. Uthex was retconned to be a Sage of the [[Order of Lorekeepers]] in the release event for [[Miracle (350)]].
-R>look dome
+===See Also===
-The crystal dome is about 12 feet tall, and some 15 to 20 feet across.  The multi-faceted surface is highly polished, and the reflective planes make it impossible to see into the crystal.
+* [[The Temple of Darkness Poem]] (1994)
+* [[A Popular History of the Broken Lands|"The Broken Land"]] (1993)
-R>prep 416
+* [[Iruaric]]
-You gesture and invoke the powers of the elements for the Piercing Gaze spell...
+* [[List of newsletters#The Kulthea Chronicle|"Kulthea Chronicle: Volume I, Issue V"]] - "Face to Face with Kygar", page 4 (1994)
-Your spell is ready.
->cast dome
-You gesture at a large crystal dome.
-The surface of the crystal dome shimmers in your vision, its reflective planes become insubstantial, and you can now see inside.  Peering closer you see flashes of swirling elemental energy.  Surely this dome must hold an immense amount of mana.
-</pre>
-The dome is a concentrator of great deals of magical power, which would otherwise spill out in violent bursts. Teleportation spells and devices fail in its vicinity, and it suppresses the ability to "reach out with your senses" in communicating telepathically. This is relevant because a number of his entities  were actually mentalist in nature, and were named in the partially telepathic language [[Iruaric]].
-<pre{{log2}}>
->prep 704
-You begin drawing a faint, twisting symbol while softly intoning the words for Phase...
-Your spell is ready.
->cast dome
-You gesture at a large crystal dome.
-Suddenly you notice the crystal dome's form dim slightly as it becomes insubstantial.
-The interior of the dome begins to flash and spark as whatever was contained inside now has an easier way out.  As you begin to pass into the dome, a wave of pure energy gushes forth, burning you with its intense heat!
-   ... 45 points of damage!
-   Left arm incinerated.  Unfortunate.
-   You are stunned for 10 rounds!
-The surface of the dome returns to normal as if nothing happened.
->think Hello world
-You concentrate on projecting your thoughts but something seems to be blocking them.
-</pre>
-===Known Works===
-These creatures have had multiple names due to both the [[ICE age|I.C.E. Age]] ending and being references to [[Rolemaster]] and '''''{Lovecraft}'''''.
-* [[Hooded figure]]s '''''{"High Priest Not to Be Described"; hooded figures of the shining trapezohedron's evil cult; possibly the K'n-yans}'''''
-* [[Giant fog beetle|Giant fog beetles (Dictics)]] '''''{Beetles that follow the end of the race of man; stand-ins for purple [[Giant albino tomb spider|spiders]] of Leng}'''''
-* [[Magru|Lug'shuk traglaakh (Magru; Absorbers)]] '''''{Shoggoths}''''' ([[Night mare#Behind The Scenes|other forms]] in multiple colors sleeping as ponds, streams, puddles in [[Shadow Valley]])
-* [[Myklian|Kiskaa raax (Myklian)]] '''''{Toad-things; Reptile Tsathoggua worshippers of the Vaults of Zin}''''' (anagram of "many ilk", spectrum ordered power with purple greatest)
-* [[Dark vortece|Dyar rakul (Dark vorteces; Nycorac, Blacar)]] '''''{Kadath's cold wind vortices; purple fog being S'gnac; Shining Trapezohedron's "vortices of space where wisps of black mist floated"}'''''
-* [[Crystyl|Crystyls]] '''''{Oblivion, crystallized memories}''''' (crystal forest)
-* [[Hoard]] '''''{Mud of the nether earth; mud ooze of the colour out of space}''''' (boiling mud sea)
-* [[Traag]] '''''{Cats of Ulthar; Large Cats of Saturn}''''' (bone pit)
-* [[Blacar]] '''''{Shantak eggs}''''' (hazy tenebrous orbs, sphere piles)
-* [[Lesser vruul|Vruul (gogor)]] '''''{Night-gaunts}''''' (the "fell beasts" from [[A Popular History of the Broken Lands|the story]], if following the Tolkien convention, though Uthex did not create them)
-==Behind The Scenes==
-===(A) Lornon===
-Sage Uthex was [http://www.play.net/gs4/news.asp?id=615 retconned] to be a member of the [[Order of Lorekeepers]] for the release of [[350|Miracle (Spell 350)]] in 5107 Modern Era. The Broken Lands was treated as the surface of [[Lornon]] for the story, but it was [[A Popular History of the Broken Lands|originally]] written to be another plane of existence, possibly one of the parallel material planes which were almost impossible to access. These are not necessarily self-contradictory possibilities, as there was a source book (though published in 1995) that said the Lord of Essaence war began when Kadaena was performing extreme planar and [[Magru#Behind The Scenes|transmogrification]] experiments on Charon (Lornon), forming a coexistent dual of it on an artificial prison plane of existence that was much more habitable than the actual moon. It was infested with various extra-planar entities over the millennia, which is consistent with The Broken Lands. There was supposed to only be one surviving portal to that forgotten place, though on the moon of Charon itself, which was sealed by the Lords of Orhan ([[Liabo]]).
-This interpretation of the Broken Lands originates in the non-canonical "Curse of Kabis" source book of [[Shadow World]]. Kabis was an immensely powerful [[Pales|Void]] demon of shadows, who the light and dark gods imprisoned inside this artificial demi-plane at the end of the [[Wars of Dominion]]. While this thread would be a convenient basis for modernizing the story, possibly replacing Kabis with [[Althedeus]], the Broken Lands is much more likely based on the Loremaster theory that the Dark Gods escaped from some unknown inter-dimensional prison upon arriving in our world. The portal to the Broken Lands was a Lord of Essaence style gate, like those on Charon (Lornon), which were "naturally" unsealed by [[Second Era|the comet]] releasing the Dark Lords. This would explain why the story refers to the portal as a "natural" gateway in spite of clearly being Lord of Essaence in origin. This portal is set in a round stone of "strange dark rock that you have not seen before", engraved with "odd runes", which is a typical Lovecraft motif where something falsely seems natural but was made by great ancients. It is unclear if Morgu ([[Marlu]]) used his [[lesser vruul#Behind The Scenes|Dark Shrine]] in the [[Second Era]], but The Dark Path may have [[Black Hel|served]] Orgiana.
-The [[Lysierian Hills|surrounding hills]] were intended by GM Kygar as an idyllic contrast to the dark struggle being waged in the mountain, which was due to the impossibility of destroying his foul experiments. The monks would have been fighting the hooded figures for centuries, who implicitly were probably being reincarnated by the crystal dome. Incarnating spirit to corporeal being is the distinguishing power of Eissa ([[Lorminstra]]), which is the most immediate meaning of "spirit born of death." That Uthex was incarnating extra-planar beings from pure energy implies his work could have been twisted toward fashioning demons and dark gods. The Shar story line would later refer to the Broken Lands as "The [[Arkati]] Workshop", part of her quest to ascend herself to godhood. (Shar herself was a dark goddess of [[Purgatory#Archaeology|the underworld]] in Dungeons & Dragons.) [[The Monastery]] makes only very opaque [[Andraax#Behind The Scenes|allusions]] if any at all, but the [[The Broken Lands and ki-lin|ki-lin]] of eastern mythology appeared with the birth and death of immortal sages.
-===(B) Lovecraft===
-There are numerous allusions to [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/dq.aspx "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath"] in The Broken Lands. This novella was also alluded to [[Bandur Etrevion#Behind The Scenes|below]] [[The Graveyard]] and [[Purgatory#Purgatory|Purgatory]], which is based on the prose poem [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/eo.aspx "Ex Oblivione"] as well, with Uthex Kathiasas likely being a portmanteau of "[[Andraax|Utha]] [[Kadaena]]" with "Ex" and "Kadath." The end of the novella might also be referenced by [[Muylari#Behind The Scenes|the exit]] of [[Shadow Valley]]. The plateau of Leng was similarly a place whose location could not be identified from the [[Isles of transfer|convergence of realities]], and was next to the [[hooded figure|monastery]] of the wicked [[Bandur Etrevion#Behind The Scenes|pharaoh demon]] [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/n.aspx Nyarlathotep]. The globe lamps, Dark Shrine windows, [[Crystyl|telepathy suppression]], and [[The Temple of Darkness#Behind The Scenes|temporal anomalies]] come instead from [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/sot.aspx "The Shadow out of Time"], which explains Kadaena being served ''now'' long after her death. The crystal dome is probably a reference to the Shining Trapezohedron and its evil cult of hooded figures from [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/hd.aspx "The Haunter of the Dark"] which ends with possession by Nyarlathotep and refers to [[Myklian#Behind The Scenes|Roderick Usher]]. The Dark Grotto with its narrow cracks is [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.aspx "At the Mountains of Madness"], which refers to Kadath and the destroyers from "Shadow", with the [[magru]] as shoggoths and the [[Traag#Behind The Scenes|bone pit]] as the excavation.
-Kadath was a cold waste of mountains with a desolate castle at its peak where the "Great Ones" lived, who were the ancient gods of earth, where climbing the mountains would lead to [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.aspx madness] and [[Wall of Darkness|none knew]] what lay beyond. These gods would correspond to the Lords of Essaence in the Shadow World history. However, the "feeble" gods of earth were actually guarded by the hidden [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/og.aspx Other Ones], who resided beyond this world in incomprehensible horror. The mountains that are seen from the windows of the Dark Shrine correspond to the "jagged peaks" of the fungous "blasphemous plateau" of the dark side of the moon, and possibly the mountain of [http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/og.aspx Hatheg-Kla] where reality warps at night under the unnatural eclipse, which would be impossible to exist on Charon in the Shadow World source material. This is keeping with the numerous [[Purgatory#Archaeology|allusions]] to Lovecraft stories in [[The Graveyard]]. The emphasis is the great demonic "gods of the outer hells" and the dreamlands. Of special interest is that when the quest seeker reaches unknown Kadath, the gods are replaced with a [[Marlu#The Broken Lands|malevolent presence]], having gone to the physical world as the Dark Gods did in the [[Wars of Dominion]]. In particular the material world of Charon was only the size of an asteroid, whereas the Dark Lords were extra-planar entities, and so The Broken Lands may reflect the moon of the dreamlands. In this way it is possible for the cold wasteland to be both the moon of the dark gods as well as another plane of existence, which justifies the presence of the Sheruvian monastery that was built later by GM Sayzor.
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Uthex Kathiasas: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:27, 11 April 2020

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