Damned Marines

Damned Marines

These units are long-dead marines of many nationalities - Ivory Asylum, Paradomea, Council of Bile, and any other who happens to fall victim to death ships of the Armada of the Damned. There have even been times that Grimsuvelth Trawlers sailed with the fleet, crewed by skeleton, zombie, and wight hill giants.

The undead marines of the Armada are just like their living counterparts as far as acting like marines - they are boarders of enemy vessels or used in amphibious assaults on coastal dwellings. There can be as many as 50 of them on one death ship if it is a warship or none if the ship was once a merchant or fishing ship. Across all 31 ships of the Armada of the Damned there could be as many as 400 under normal conditions. In times of great wars among naval powers, like in the Black Tide War, there have been as many 800 dead marines. This usually comes about from the ships being added to the Armada being warships won in battle with weaker non-combatants often falling first in battle.


One of the most harrowing sights of these marines is seeing them use their innate power to walk on water. They run across the waves as if it were land, storming a town and running off with future shipmates, all before the hapless settlement can muster a defense. Fortunately for the coastal holds of the Pearl Sea and the Sea of Mourning these raids are extremely rare with the Armada of the Damned resting in the deeps.

- Phoslomor, cartographer of the Third Epoch, excerpt from the book "Phoslomor's Survey of Midrêth, Ch. 4-1"

Otriring

Otriring ruin

Otriring is a vast cavern network near the center of Huzar-Arân. In the God Era, Set created the Khazarkar race and sequestered them in this area. He used life energy and powerful magic to bring the Underdark area to life as if it were a surface area basking in the rays of Merioss and Juniger and experiencing weather and the changing of the seasons. This artificial environment along with efreeti educators allowed the Khazarkar civilization to rapidly advance and catch up with the other advanced races of Bal-Kriav. In 255 LC, Set's use of Moradin's Surveyor to create life was found out. Moradin, a true God of Creation, went to the Quara'tun Council of Gods and had Set charged with theft and the illegal use of the powers of creation to create a race that would help him gain Divine Power. Set was ordered to give up the artifact Moradin's Surveyor and have his people abandon Otriring.


They are to go elsewhere and eke out a living without divine help, like all the other mortal races.

- Io, to Set, reading out the courts decision - "Direct Assistance to Mortals is Forbidden"

So that Otriring would not be re-inhabited by others seeking to benefit from its artificial environment, the life energy in the area was accelerated so that things here grow extremely fast resulting in accelerated aging such that one would age a life time in a matter of days. This results in anything living in Otriring to grow and age faster, reaching adult hood in two or three days, yet dying a few days later. This area is so dangerous that anything can succumb to its super-charged life energy - including the Higher Powers. Undead that enter the region find themselves withered away in a matter of hours or seconds for the weaker ones, and constructs which are themselves touched with a bit of life energy, break down after a few weeks. After death it does not end for the living, for they are reborn in hours and continue the cycle. This endless cycle of rebirth led to some calling the area Phoenix Gut.

The Khazarkar civilization thrived in this area for three centuries. There ancient ruins are scattered all over the area.

Abyssal Hegemony

The Abyssal Hegemony were the forces of the Abyss that opposed the Quara'tun Covenant in the Demon Spawn War. The leadership that made up the the Abyssal Hegemony was in no way organized on a hierarchy like its opposition. It was instead one of chaos with individual commands that worked in the interest of some demon and only allied with another if it served their self-interest; and woe to the "ally" if at the end of the battle they were badly beaten, for they would most likely fall victim to the superior might of their former ally.

Some of the demons that were part of the Abyssal Hegemony's leadership became demon princes during the Demon Spawn War or some time after it.

Megrlof

Megrlof

Megrlof is a half-submerged giant built ruin. It rests in the waters of Allof Stond, yet this was not always so. Before the Allof Stond War, it was a lake of molten lava and Megrlof was a seemingly impregnable bastion with fire giants patrolling its great walls.

In the First Epoch, fire giants built Megrlof as a base to help guard and spread the lava of Ofli Hrolmir, and indirectly the expansion of Surtur's Artery. They did this in such a way as not to be too upsetting to the locals. For a time they had good trade relations with the Underdark city-state Hlothrabatta and the surface empire Melephaeusan.

Megrlof was abandoned at the end of the Allof Stond War. As terms of the surrender, the city was abandoned; this was not a bitter pill to swallow since the fire giants were none to happy with the cooling of the area from the lava lake Allof Stond being cut-off from its source of lava. On leaving the city, the people headed south to Trelshum and Thrammaer where they split up as refugees among the various holds of those areas.

Bullywug

Bullywug skirmishers

The Bullywug race is an ancient one dating to the Dawn Era. They were created in the Dawn War as amphibian soldiers to dominate wetlands, rivers, and other freshwater bodies. They were considered one of the weaker elements of the primordial armies. Many leaders of bullywug units viewed them as untrustworthy, sometimes unreliable, and at least 10% of them were insensitive to the deaths of those around them. These traits got worse over time, such that by the end of the Dawn War most of them had changed alignment entirely from chaotic neutral to neutral evil.

In some areas of the realm, bullywug will play the role of paying homage to the slaadi or possibly even a nearby dragon. Sociologist that have studied these groups say that they do this only out of their own selfish interests and will eliminate what they one idolized if given the chance. They were so widely used that after the primordials were defeated, bullywugs found themselves scattered all over the multi-verse. Since they were considered a minor threat and possibly even an ally in the Demon Spawn War, the Quaratun Covenant saw fit to allow them to permanent status on the Prime.

Bullywug are limited in their movements and habitats. This comes from the fact that they have to be immersed in water once per day or suffer dehydration. In severe conditions, they have been known to dig underground and enter a state of hibernation. This can last months or even centuries, ending only when a favorable environment exists. When the Nermanis Sea receded and then disappeared, thousands upon thousands of Kazrâ's bullywug dug holes and went into hibernation. Kazrâ became a hot and arid desert - possibly entombing the area's bullywug for all eternity. In the Cinazan Front, one Athirbêni general came up with a plan for digging them up and transporting them to Gimirkazân where they would come out of their sleep and then be pressed into military service. This never came to fruition with the rapid advance of the Horde of Chaos which put Kazrâ far behind enemy lines.

Bullywug are scattered all over Bal-Kriav, with most either where they were left after the Dawn War or several hundred miles away along the path of some waterway.

Crulock Globes

Crulock Globe

Crulock Globes are gelatinous globules of Nature Energy. They were created by the primordial lord Mephirouth solely for the purpose of accelerating the fungi growth around Crulock. The energy of one of these globes covers a 100' diameter, providing sustenance to plant-life and plant-based creatures. Plants in the area of a Crulock Globe grow five times faster, two to four times larger, and provide three times the bounty of any fruit, toxin, or substance they produce. Handling a Crulock Globe is dangerous to any creature but the myconids. This is because Mephirouth made these globes as vessels of disease. Fortunately, for those in the vicinity of them, only touching them exposes one to a virulent disease that can wipe out a community in weeks.

Late in the God Era, myconids collected hundreds of Crulock Globes from the Crulock ruins. Up until that time, no other creature had survived exploration of the disease infested ruin. They carried them to Wyzbrack and over a few decades turned a dark and barren swamp into an oasis of life. The myconid population rapidly expanded under an umbrella of nature energy. This ended with the arrival of the kuo-toa who wiped them out, yet they did not touch the Crulock Globes. It is said that priests of Blibdoolpoolp warned them of agonizing deaths to any that touch Mephirouth's creations. A few fools touched them, resulting in death by diseases that each time were different and nearly impossible to cure.

Patient 1 is drying out. There can be no other fate worse for a kuo-toa. Copius amounts of water and even submersion do not help. Two attendants have also contracted Mephirouth Touch and are only a week behind Patient 1. They are to be netted down in the marsh and left to perish by disease or any predator foolish enough to make meal of them.

- Gragadpon, kuo-toa medic of Dilkuglapgon - "Mephirouth Touch"

Khunwrak

Urd

The Khunwrak hills are in southwestern Nabarzud. Many of the tops of the area's hills hold the ruins, piles of rubble, an obelisk or ancient tower that has been rebuilt or added to. In the Dawn War, a general serving under Clangeddin fortified Khunwrak with columns of rock and towers. These were then joined by chains and netting creating defense against air attacks. This defensive grid was a costly and time-consuming effort, because by the time it was completed, three decades later, sector Narbuzad was securely in the hands of the Nawirrûs Covenant.

Khunwrak's ancient fortifications, in the God Era derisively referred to as Nûl's Folly, were successful in breaking up urd and other air attackers serving primordial masters, yet as previously mentioned, were enormously costly. When Covenant forces moved on to other sectors, General Nûl, son of Clangeddin, and architect of Khunwrak's defenses, was censured for his waste and sent to the rear; far behind the angelic advance. This was done because Bal-Kriav, supreme commander of the Nawirrûs Covenant, was none too pleased with Nûl's wastefulness; even recommending that he be busted down to the rank of mere captain. Since General Nûl was Clangeddin's son, there was an obvious problem with him carrying out Bal-Kriav's recommendation. So Clangeddin allowed his son to keep his rank, but assigned him to the rear for the remainder of the war.

Some of the obelisks and towers of Khunwrak are still around. These places have outlasted others because they are made of concrete with reinforcing bars (re-bar). General Nûl is credited with inventing this construction technique that though costly, makes fortifications and structures very durable and very strong. Perhaps from stories past down over many generations, Nathol's urds still fear Khunwrak and will not pursue anyone that passes into these hills.

Guirfeint

Guirfeint Water Elemental Warden

In the Second Epoch, the course of the river Guirfeint was changed from a southerly route through Kizan to a southeasterly one taking it away from the valley. This new course took it east of the Gakhs and down to Lethiel. The river's course change did not come about naturally. The Rúmil Nénharma changed the course of the river to cut off Rumaktharga's main water supply. The dwarves of this city also worked while the elves undertook the monumental feat of building a canal to re-route a river. While the elves were cutting a canal across the south of their city Idril Séregon, Rumaktharga was digging wells deep beneath the city and redirecting streams and making canals to re-route mountain streams in the direction of their valley redoubt.

Rúmil's workers used the flow of the river to help blast out the canal that would become its riverbed. They also employed earth elementals which were supplied by Geb's Chosen. Initially, the Angrods were against their neighbor's massive military project (as part of the First Kizan War). They seemed to have been convinced of its value after seeing that it stood a good chance of driving Rumaktharga's dwarves back to the Clans and that it would become the new territorial boundary (in their favor) with Rúmil. Construction of the canal through the hard rock of the Gakhs was aided by both magic like Dig and Move Earth spells and with the elementals supplied by Geb's proselytizers. The re-routing of a river and use of earth elementals to tear apart the earth and stone did not go over well with one of Silvanus's cults. After some intelligence gathering Cheldremn's spies learned of an enemy and potential ally in Karnegmoth. Cheldremn turned to the Greenland Alliance for help. The aid they got was a supply of water elementals and water weirds to ward the river once it joined with lake Lethiel. These watery creatures were assigned the task of hunting down any earth elementals or Geb's Chosen that remained in the area after the canal was built. Since Geb's Chosen still has a presence in Taurelin, these water elementals and water weirds still carry out their assignment. Some of them are also employed in guarding the pearl halls of Anglor Hellion. This place serves as the church of Lokestant, built while Geb's Chosen were helping the Rúmil re-route Guirfeint.

Ahnuthall

Ahnuthal

Ahnuthall rose to the status of demon prince from successes in the Abyssal Release. In this war, he never lost a battle with the primordials. His military genius faltered in the Demon Spawn War after being cornered by superior forces under the leadership of a rival demon prince named Orcus. This capture happened in the Abyss during the Demon Spawn War which was enveloping realms of the Prime Material Plane. After Ahnuthall's defeat, Orcus was generous enough to allow him to keep his title as Demon Prince, but must pay fealty to him for 666 years. It is said that Orcus kept Ahnuthall in check by threat of giving out his true name to the angels.

One's true name is a bind to their psyche and essence. If a conjurer gets hold of this then they can draw the creature across planes and multi-verses by various summoning spells. For the conjured this will result in torture by spiritwrack and possibly death by goodly summoners, long imprisonment, used as a bargaining chip for ransom, or as a tool to wreck havoc on one's foes.

 - Sammaster, from his conjuration tome Wisp Summonix - "True Names"

In the Demon Spawn War, Orcus assigned Ahnuthall with the task of establishing a base in Ohtarion. In this sector of the High Wood Country and others he battled the forces of the archangel Clangeddin. After four decades of war, Ahnuthall was driven out of the region. He next appeared in the highlands of Grashakh. He was sent to this area by Orcus to counter the threat of Demogorgon who had the objective of taking it. The opposing demon armies spent more time and resources fighting each other than combating those of the Quara'tun Covenant.

In the Bowkrak hills Ahnuthall tried to bring a demon city of the Abyssal plane Azu'tzor through a rift. This ended in disaster, with weave spiders sealing the rift as it came through. The city broke apart as the rift shrunk in size, obliterating tens of thousands of demons and slaves. Ahnuthall was the only person able to muster the inner power to open so large a rift so he paid the price of testing his meddle against the Web's guardians. There are scant records of the God Era, yet there is enough to conclude that Ahnuthall tried to bring a city, packed with demon soldiers, to Bowkrak out of desperation. He sought to retake the hills from the goblin mercenary general Maglubiyet and himself defeat the demon armies converging on the area. These allied armies where those serving under Demogorgon and Baphomet. As it turns out, the rock raining down from the shattered city weakened Maglubiyet's army so that it was also destroyed. The fall of armies did not end there, because the victors soon turned to fighting each other over the goblin's rich supply train. The badly battered foes did not get rest, because aerial units of Bahamut came in and strafed the area for days afterwards leading to the annihilation of both demon armies. These series of events and conflicts became known as the Battle of Ahnuthall Fall. For the Quara'tun Covenant it was a major victory where they had to do practically nothing but watch as four enemy armies destroyed each other with the loss of well over 100,000 enemy combatants.

Amras Calafalas

Calafalas Beserker

Amras Calafalas is a wood elf tribe in Lerundil. In the High Down War, the Angrods living in this forest suffered exposure to an Entropic Eddy. This made them more chaotic and barbaric - giving rise to some taking the path of frenzied berserkers, wild mages and wilders. They added a darker path to this in the long and brutal High Down War with Eldalweril. The Amras Calafalas became more cold and wicked in their ways until all of them eventually became chaotic evil. Senior seers of Idril Séregon claim that the chaotic emanations of the Entropic Eddy accelerated their descent into evil.

Amras Calafalas is a hostile tribe with foreign relations only when it suits them. They have been known to ally with Rumaktharga against the Angrods and serve others when their employers does not want to get their hands dirty.

Gwaelergoth Circle

soldiers of the Gwaelergoth Circle

 In the Maenedhel Shattering, the Khazarkars were forced to abandon Maenedhel. When they reached the surface, they came under immediate attack by large swarms of insects. These were not tiny gnats and mosquitoes, but giant bugs, giant ants, giant wasps, and a host of other insects that in some cases were bigger than a troll. The predatory types harried the refugees for fifty miles. When they got to Gwaelergoth the bugs became less of a problem. The passage took weeks as more than 30,000 Khazarkars left the deteriorating conditions of Maenedhel. Thousands were lost from bug attacks and disease. The Khazarkars built up their defenses in Gwaelergoth, turning it into a defensive zone that became their southern border. The area was managed by druids that had once tended the fields of their old homeland in Maenedhel. Since they were always under some kind of bug attack, they became militaristic with focused teachings on how to use their druidic art for combat purposes. Over time, these druids became more reclusive, often blaming explorers and seekers of Auhtai ruins for stirring up the bugs and turning them into Hive Swarms.

The Gwaelergoth Circle was established to guard against the bug problem of Hive. Originally its members were only Khazarkars, but over time they came to focus on what is best for them rather than the interests of other political groups.

By the end of the Horgon Era, they had become an independent force of Gulimbor-Hive, neutral to the growing conflicts between the Tragarans, Khazarkars, and the minotaurs. In the Gulimbor Cataclysm, they allowed passage through the jungle to the coasts but allowed no refuge for the people of the Great Exodus.

Studying with the Gwaelergoth Circle gives access to a feat that enhances druidic spells that deal specifically with vermin. This causes spells like Repel Vermin, Insect Plague, Creeping Doom, Summon Nature's Ally (if an insect), and others to be more difficult to resist, the caster is able to better concentrate and more alert to their surroundings.

Khalân's Embrace

Indal'pox, cambion double agent

In the Demon Spawn War, an angelic secret agent named Khalân, serving under Clangeddin, fell to the natural charms of a cunning cambion agent. This half-demon was a double agent, one that remained as such for the rest of the war and was responsible for Khalân's downfall. The cambion Indal'pox seduced Khalân and gathered such intelligence that led to the loss of a battle between one of Clangeddin's armies and those under the whip of the demon prince Ahnuthall. When found out, the damning info passed on by Indal'pox, Clangeddin sent his former agent in chains before the judiciary branch of the Quara'tun Covenant. Khalân got off easy, with Moradin urging leniency (probably because she was a Turkûn-Khâl). She was banished from service under the Quara'tun Covenant. Additionally, all those serving the pact could not render service to her unless it was life-saving. With this sentence, Khalân was in a bad state for she was now trapped between battlefields of demons and angels that were sprinkled across vast areas of Bal-Kriav.

Khalân, dejected from being kicked out of the angelic pact, grew vengeful. Out of necessity, mainly survival, she decided to join a mortal mercenary force that was unknowingly serving the demons. This group ended up being rooted out with Khalân again falling into the hands of Clangeddin's forces. This time her sentence was much worse. Khalân was stripped of her material form for the duration of the war. The records of Khalân state were lost when the bastion Dul-Kiz fell to the demons. The place was ravaged and anything not destroyed in the demon rampage was carried off as booty.

In the Horgon Era, an incorporeal Khalân was found by the gnoll shaman Sadî. The self-proclaimed "spirit talker" used her witchery to detect lost spirits and found Khalân. The spell Trap the Soul was then used to bind Khalân's to a receptacle. This receptacle was then used in the creation of a sentient trident. The magical powers of this weapon named Khalân's Embrace are based largely on Time. This is because they were supplied to Sadî by the then planetar Chronos. This was done by Chronos to spread his gospel among the gnolls that revered Sadî and to crush their enemies with the weapon's powers. The first group of followers to come under the sway of Chronos were the gnoll tribes of the Canines. Khalân's Embrace and Sadî headed up the conversion of these godless heathens and were instrumental in Chronos's elevation to godhood.

Khalân's Embrace is a +5 three-tined iron trident. It is inscribed with distorted images of things suffering the effects of time displacement and aging. It radiates a dull gray aura with ghostly trails of smoke endlessly rising from the tines. The air around the weapon is sometimes distorted, which can sometimes result in a displacing effect on the wielder and anyone within 10'.

see weapon properties

Kizan

covering Orphan Maker Pass

Kizan is a rugged valley in the southwestern tracts the High Wood Country. It has low vegetation with any vantage point give by trees non-existent. The woods on the valley's fringes are spare and often burnt-out. This is done for defensive reasons by Rumaktharga civil defense. They keep the vegetation in the valley sparse, so as to better defend against their bothersome Angrod neighbor. The people of Rumaktharga are by no means short on timber though, when they need it, they head to the Taurquion Tendril southwest of the valley. They cut down large swathes, giving no worry to the environment, because they know that the Taurquion regenerates much more rapidly than any normal forest.

Kizan is a heavily defended valley with dozens of forts and castles. Most of the forts and castles are within cannon and mortar range of a nearby bastion, thereby allowing a fallen fort to receive fire from another. When a fort of Rumaktharga falls, the dwarves set-off demolitions and spike their artillery. They then do a fighting retreat through tunnels to another defensive area, which is not the nearest fort. In this way, a captured fort can receive fire from a nearby fort, and not be taken from the tunnels. The heavy defenses of the area are called the Rumaktharga Defense Matrix. They are perhaps one of the strongest in the realm, and have proved so costly to the Angrods that they have nicknamed the gullies, passes, forts, and other defensive areas with elven names that mean "Suicide Alley", "The End", "Last Charge", "Orphan Maker", and so on.

Synapses

Synapses

Synapses is a very old weapon, forged in the Horgon Era by a martial illithid of Penumbra. It was an illegal fabrication of the time, one using pure psionic energy shaped into the likeness of a sword and giving sentience from a bound and trapped soul. Pure psionic weaponry were feared by the illithid non-warrior types, particularly since these were the types that have long held the power in Suellk's government. After it was made, its maker T'gauld had it smuggled out of the city and sent off-world. The ship carrying the contraband was never seen or heard of again by the illithids.

Synapses ended up in the hold of alien ship beneath the void fortress Citho-Cûr. Beneath this keep, and in the heart of the asteroid was an ancient craft of alien origin. This craft was never discovered by those that built a fortress above it. In the Third Epoch, Crimson Eye came to Citho-Cûr and cleared the place of a danger that had come up from the alien craft and wiped out the entire hold. Crimson Eye plundered the treasures of the craft, looted munitions and void ships from Citho-Cûr and made off with the weapon Synapses. Having gone insane over countless centuries of imprisonment, the sentient weapon was initially useless to its owner. Niras F'veer used psychic surgery to return sanity to the item and took command of a weapon that had never seen combat.

Synapses is composed entirely of psionic energy and treated as a psionic entity. It can be attacked psionically, though with a Will of 25 it is a mentally strong defender. Since it has no material form it is immune to most magical and physical attacks. The enchantment of the item is the wielder's full PSP pool divided by 20 to a maximum of +6.

see weapon properties

Maidens of Poseidon

The Maidens of Poseidon are magical constructs forged by Poseidon in a war where gods battled primordials for the power of Creation. In what became known as the Dawn War, the Maidens of Poseidon guided or acted as captains for ships serving the armies of the primordials. These ships were needed to move supplies and ferry troops over vast oceans, taking them to whatever objective their Primordial Lords dictated. These Maidens of Poseidon saw service again in the Demon Spawn War. When one was found by the demons, it was typically put to use in the same way the primordials used them in navigating the oceans and adjacent coasts. When one was found by forces serving the Quara'tun Covenant (the armies of the angels), it was secured and taken to some vault.

This was done out of seeing that the benefits of using it were outweighed by potentially losing one to the demons - for a Maiden of Poseidon with "her" sea knowledge and navigation skills is such that one of these constructs can save a fleet from foundering in uncharted waters.

  - Snaketongue, from his book the History of Zhut and Crew - "Maiden of the Sea Strider"

Maidens of Poseidon are spread all over the realm, with some active in the navies of empires, or in possession of some pirate leader, lost in the deeps of some ocean, in the treasure hoard of a monster or vault of some well-to-do noble. Each of these constructs has knowledge of one ocean. They know the safe navigation routes, most efficient times of travel, and other things that would require a lifetime of sailing a particular sea - and even then probably only know a chunk of it well, whereas a Maiden of Poseidon knows it all well. Poseidon made 56 of these constructs, with 27 of them still around and functional. Each of the Maidens of Poseidon are different in appearance, but all have one thing in common - they are made of coral and each were made to resemble a female merfolk that had once been part of Poseidon's harem. Some even believe that the spirit that powers the construct came from these slave concubines.

A Maiden of Poseidon is not a free-willed creature. It was built to serve as a navigator for a ship traveling around one particular ocean. It serves who ever takes control of it. As the need arises, such as signaling dangerous shoals, currents, or other seamanship the construct communicates telepathically to all on-board the ship. They have the battle skills of a stone golem, yet are no larger than a female merfolk and light and lithe of move.

- further information on this magic item

Deadspawn

Garn and Deadspawn

Deadspawn was enchanted by Katrana Dumu'loc. When it was finished it was given to one of the top generals of the Black Tide. This general was Garn, former party member of Black Banner and close adventuring friend of Katrana. When the Black Tide War started, she sought to make sure that Garn would be loyal to her over other members of the First Dead Council. She made sure of this by putting a curse on the blade Deadspawn. This curse took effect when Garn fell in the Bone Arrow Campaign. His sword Deadspawn then raised him as an lich and the curse activated making him 100% obedient to the commands of Katrana. When Squad X7E slew Garn at Ebonstar they took his fell blade, yet fearing its baleful emanations, sold it for a pittance, getting 75,000 gold pieces and much thanks from the Relics Department of Outpost Prime.

Deadspawn still carries the curse laid upon it by Katrana. If the wielder dies with blade in hand, they rise as a lich and become an obedient ally of Katrana. Since it is unlikely that Katrana would show herself on Brucrumus, unless backed by a army, new owners of the blade have little worry of becoming her minion.

The blade of the weapon is made of bonebrack with a black silver hilt encrusted with three 5,000 gold piece Lich Tears. One gem is in the pommel and the other two are in Deadspawn's quillons. The tang is inset with a ring of bloodstones and the hilt is wrapped in the hide of a shator demodand.

Deadspawn is a +5 over-sized ghost strike strength sapping bastard sword. Even though it is an over-sized weapon, the wielder suffers no hindrances.

see  weapon properties

Onk'ar Decath

Onk'ar Decath opening on Phlegethos

The Onk'ar Decath rift was created in secret by Asmodeus's most loyal confidants. It was built as a line of retreat if he had a falling out with the angels. He had reason to suspect he would because of his methods in dealing with the demons. In the Demon Spawn War, Asmodeus was for a time the supreme leader of all forces of the Quara'tun Covenant. Even though he was their supreme leader, his war practices on planes like Avernus and those of the Abyss were coming to attention of the more goodly angels and gods. These practices included torture, utter soul destruction, genocide against the demons, and putting non-demon allies in labor camps with often inhumane conditions. Spies had also learned that he was diverting souls destined to the Abyss and redirecting them to Baator where they were drawn into an illegally modified Well of Afterlife. The demon souls that were drawn here were changed in alignment to lawful neutral or driven insane in the process. The insane ones were still chaotic evil, and now in their maddened state too dangerous to keep around, so they were terminated. The sane lawful neutral ones were pressed into service and sent back to the battlefields of Avernus and other battle areas outside of the Prime.

At the time, the plane Baator was lawful aligned and not a Soul Gathering Plane. When Asmodeus became a Fallen Angel, Baator became better known as the Nine Hells, and became the soul gathering plane for lawful evil souls. It replaced Gehenna which had originally been set by Io as the plane for such souls. Io helped Asmodeus in this undertaking since not even Asmodeus and all the magical might of his followers could move the Well of Afterlife to Baator. Io's helping Asmodeus was done out of practicality since the angels and gods alone were not enough to counter the vast demon population of the 666 planes that made up the Abyss. When the work was done of making the Nine Hells the destination for the lawful evil souls, Asmodeus completed the deal by handing over the modified Well of Afterlife that he used in the Demon Spawn War.

 - Melek Taus, contract historian for Asmodeus - "Baator Deal"

When Asmodeus was cast out, the rift Onk'ar Decath was hidden with powerful magic. It was kept a secret by Asmodeus with him eliminating all those that had a hand in building it. Asmodeus used this rift to send agents to Bal-Kriav where they spread his influence surreptitiously. In the Horgon Era, he sent the tieflings through the rift where they built the settlement Kathodrarg. They built a temple to Asmodeus with the mouth of the rift as the altar. This transplanting of outsiders did not go unnoticed by the gods. Athena worked out a deal with Loki whereupon they sent agents into the temple who then planted a Null Mine inside the rift. When the mine detonated it permanently closed the rift.

In the Nine Hells, the rift is on Phlegethos. This side of the rift is still open, but goes nowhere. The rift's opposite end is on Bal-Kriav, in the labyrinths under Kathodrarg. Where the gate opening once was is now a Sphere of Annihilation locked in place by divine magic.

Filion'lyr

Filion'lyr

Filion'lyr was founded by drow colonists that came to Bal-Kriav from its parallel world Kriav. The drow came to Sygning by way of a Feydark Fissure. This fissure, a road between worlds, lies in a secure area of the city that grew up around it.

Filion'lyr is sited on a cavern ridge a hundred or so feet above the Vuzlyn river. A thousand yards northwest of the city is a tunnel through which this river flows. It spills out of this tunnel, plunging into a great falls that is illuminated in a rainbow of colors. These lights are from drow that use magic as a form of art. The Filion'lyr-Hlat'tar Tunnel was made in the city's last war with Hlat'tar's aboleth. The tunnel drained the lake that once covered much of Hlat'tar and brought an end to two aboleth city-states. This ended a period of three centuries during which the people of Filion'lyr were constantly under threat of aboleth attack or their conniving machinations.

Annbild's Entrail

Fire Snakes

Annbild Hrolmir, or Annbild's Entrail is a great lava river that courses across several regions of Brucrumus's Underdark. It was named after a legendary captain of the guard that served Surtur in the Dawn War. Surtur honored the death of this hero by naming one of the Great Vein's rivulets after him.

Annbild Hrolmir is a great river of lava that though immense in length is but an artery of the Great Vein of Surtur. The Annbild Hrolmir artery begins in the deepest reaches of the Underdark. Starting from the Great Vein, it pushes straight up for many leagues and then levels off becoming a eastward flowing magma river. When pressure is great enough from below, it causes eruptions at various points along the river. These areas have choke-points where the lava backs up until it can feed through submerged passages. In these areas is always an active volcano, while in areas of a dead volcano the checkpoint is gone from past eruptions, earthquakes or even the doings of something else.

The river begins in Sygning and flows eastward. Its first pressure release is the volcano Traeulf. After this volcano the lava river continues east for another four hundred miles where it splits off into two. It goes southeast into Ufthag and continues eastward across the bottom of Garathral. The split lava rivers feed all the volcanic activity of Agulbandal, and its four active volcanoes - Vaermund, Kradlod, Vistlod, and Trylming. Leaving Garathral, the lava river continues east, releasing gas and smoke up the Annbild Pipe and then cutting south where it feeds the lava tubes of Bolmod. In Yol Skerah, a region beneath the Aerie of Dragons, the lava river splits into three with each river ending at a volcano.

Annbild Hrolmir can be travelled by lava barge. It is not a normal route for most though because few can handle the often noxious and poisonous conditions, and extreme heat. The people of Surticon are the river's major traffickers. They use it move goods to distant ports from Sygning to Yol Skerah. Travel along the lava flow is stopped in areas where the lava completely fills the tubes. In these areas, a land journey is undertaken to move to the next open area where more lava barges are staged. Beyond the environmental hazard of the river, there are also bands of salamanders, fire snakes, and other fiery brutes.

The lava barges of Annbild Hrolmir, with their crews of fire giants, are the best protection against a hungry fire snake or salamander wielding a man-catcher.
 

 - Phoslomor, cartographer of the Third Epoch, excerpt from the book "Phoslomor's Survey of Midrêth, Ch. 6-2"