Just started playing Pathfinder for the first time. Running the "Kingmaker" module and playing a 10th level Wizard from Osirion. Just thought I'd share this with you, it's part of my character's background:
Written at the request of His Noble Majesty – Aurelius -- King of Proventus.
The warm desert wind blew across the sandy waste, disturbing the flap upon the tent's opening. A soft, sibilant Voice called to me in the night, whispering my name.
“Deka . . . Deka . . .”
I lounged upon my bedroll, my tent lying within the nighted shadow of Nephthys' final resting place. He is rumored to be the Pharaoh of Numbers -- one of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension -- a great Pharaoh who once ruled over Osirion when the Kingdom was at the height of its glory – 10,000 thousand long years ago. It is said -- whispered in the dark places -- that it is He who now rules from heaven as Nethys, God of Magic.
Nephthys delved deep into the Eternal Mysteries and this fueled His rise to the Divinity. But it is said that what He learned also shattered His psyche, splintering Him into two minds; one which would destroy and one which would create. One to harm, another to heal.
I lay within the shadow of the great Pyramid, listening to He who called my name. I stood and left my tent and my sleep. I stood in the dark of night, beneath the blazing stars of heaven, but still within a deeper darkness – the shadow of the Pyramid. Composed of a type of vein-stone not native to my homeland, a dense rock of light-green color, rippled with fissures of dark green, the Pyramid was thus faintly luminescent.
And there, dark against the monolith’s luminescence, stood an even darker shadow – a Black Scorpion. This was the deadliest creature of the desert and the largest specimen I had ever seen. This monstrous creature was said to be the totem of Nethys – a faithful servant. It was said that Nephthys had tamed one in His lifetime. The truth of this I could not prove, but had little reason to doubt, for Nephthys had become a God.
By means unknown the creature drew me towards itself. I should have fled in terror, for my powers were by no means a match for this monstrosity. But I did not. Instead, I walked towards it, as though drawn by a mystic tether. It turned, as though leading me to the final resting place of the great Pharaoh. It led me to a door, a door I would have sworn had not been there upon my earlier examination of the edifice. The great scorpion moved to one side, as though it were inviting me to enter. The Voice was stronger now:
“Deka . . . Deka . . . come to me.”
I could not resist and so I entered that blackened doorway. The night had grown cool, but it was colder still in that stone corridor. There was no light – no torch or candle lit the way – yet my steps did not falter. How long I walked I do not know, nor how far, for the path continued ever upward; twisting, turning, climbing. Undead there were and a stone golem, but these did not hinder nor harm. How I found my way to His hall I do not recall, for it was the Voice which entranced me, drew me onward, ever forward.
Hours later – or was it days – I stood within a high ceiling-ed chamber. Golden light bathed me with it's luminance, for gold lay all around me – golden numerical formula blanketed the ceiling, walls and floor. And there, at the far side of the chamber, stood a green, vein-stone throne, itself covered with the golden mathematical formulas.
A Being sat upon it. One side of His face was burned and blackened, the other white, luminescent and sending forth His energy. It was Holy Light which was reflected upon the golden equations which filled the chamber – Nephthys sepulcher. For I knew that He who sat upon the throne was Nephthys/Nethys. The blue nimbus which enshrouded his body left no doubt as to that. Power itself played about His person as lightning.
“Deka . . . Stand before me.”
And so I walked across the green and gold adorned floor of His tomb and knelt at the feet of my God. And then fell prostrate. How long I lay there – hours, days – I did not know and could not say. Long did He speak to me and many are the things He revealed. Called to His service I had been. And gifts had been granted me.
There, at His feet, lay a Staff of twisted dark-wood covered with knots and nodules which resembled crawling insects – which occasionally seemed to move – and topped with the hooded head of a King Cobra fashioned of silver, with a fist sized Ruby held firmly in it's fanged mouth. A Staff with the power to command the creatures of the desert: The viper, the scorpion and the scarab. Each of them a Guardian of the Tombs of the Dead. Each of them sacred to Nethys.
A thick book lay there as well – the Book of Magic. A book which contained a guide for channeling mystical energies and explanations regarding the moral ramifications of magic's use and misuse – Nethys' holy tome. But twas no ordinary Holy Writ given me by the hand of the All Seeing Eye, for inscribed within this particular religious text are the writings thought to be from the legendary Necromancer, Geb – the Aleh Almaktoum – the Book of the Dead.
I emerged from the Pyramid wiser and more knowledgeable. My power considerably augmented, my Secret Name – the source of my power – indelibly inscribed within my mind.
I found my campsite a shambles, victim of a terrible sandstorm. I divined that I had been within the great, green pyramid for 5 days. Hunger assailed me. And thirst. And so these needs were the first to be satisfied. As I broke my long fast, the Pyramid vanished from my sight. But I knew it would.
My camel was gone also; signs suggested that it had satisfied the great scorpion's hunger. The loss of the camel was no great one, for I now had other means of travel. My tent and bedding were buried beneath the sands. The bedding I reclaimed, but the tent , also, was no longer necessary. A Divine purpose I now had, one given to me from the very mouth of my God.
I now travel the world in search of lost and forgotten knowledge and magics; be it the knowledge of Forgotten Kingdoms, or the magics of long dead Mages of Power. It is this Quest to which I am now bound. It is this Quest which has brought me to Proventus, to stand before your throne.
Deka Khemet
Demiurge of the Convocation of Thaumaturge
High Inquisitor of Proventus
City of Tatzleford, Principality of Almus
This makes me want to retool "Hagborn", which I have started twice before, as a weekly chapter-based installment. The story of the loathsome Krampus, male child of a night hag, is my multi-part hag ecology.
I've been reading up on Osirion all day and have found some interesting things, thus causing me to rewrite what you've already read!
I caught several changes relating to Nephthys/Nethys spheres of influence, etc.
Did you post it here instead of submiting it as an article so that you can edit it at will? That might not be a bad idea, come to think of it. I could get a lot of editing feedback that way before submitting a final draft as an article...
No, I didn't. I posted it here because this is the Pathfinder forum. And it's the only Pathfinder forum.
Please do not submit anything for publication to the Front Page that isn't Greyhawk specific!
Being able to edit it, after initial publication, was merely a nice "side benefit."
Flint's article now on the Front Page, is a continuation of the story that he's been posting on the Campaign Journal & General Online Play forum. Given that the original stories are already posted on that forum, there's no need to put them on the Front Page.
You are more than welcome to post your stories and articles in this fashion, so as to perfect your writing and story telling skills. But if you choose to post your stories and articles in that forum -- as Flint did-- then the chances are that they will probably never see the Front Page.
Forgive me if this is aggravating any of you. But I've spent the last two days combing through the Pathfinder Companion: Osirion, Land of the Pharaohs and the module Entombed with the Pharaohs.
Both of these have provided useful information in the creation of my character. And more. The pyramid of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension is made from a light green veined-stone that is not native to Osirion -- it comes from the River Kingdoms!
And therein lies the tie in with my character's being so "far from home."
So, as you can see, I just had to include it.
Not to mention taking time to make my Staff more Osirion centric.
I like the details you added in. They draw me into the tale that much farther. My compliments, MS. _________________ Shadows and Dust; Just Another Soul.
I found another Osirion module and apparently the last: The Pact Stone Pyramid.
It had a little additional information on the Four Pharaohs of Ascension, but nothing to change my story for. If you've noticed the last edit, it was simply a small change I made to my "signature" and nothing more.
Casting
Components: V, S, F (four alabaster canopic jars worth 100 gp
each), M (black onyx worth 100 gp per hit die of the target)
Casting Time: 1 round
Effect
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude half
Spell Resistance: Yes
Description
This spell eviscerates the target, drawing forth his life essence as well as his internal organs. The target takes 1d6 hit points of damage per caster level (maximum 20d6). If this damage kills the target, the spell pulls his organs into a set of 4 canopic jars and seals them; 1d4 rounds later, the corpse revives as an undead with the Osirion mummy template (see J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs, or as a standard mummy or mummy lord if that book is unavailable).
Talk about not pulling any punches. A 9th Level Spell to boot. At your current level the spell would not do enough damage to kill Argon, but it would put a hurting on him.
Looks like Argon is gonna have to Iron Will-ercise.
Yes I am referring to myself in the third person, happy?
And here it is! The long awaited sequel! Err, I mean Part II of my character's back story. My fans are going to be so thrilled!
Written at the request of His Noble Majesty – Aurelius -- King of Proventus.
I traveled for three days, to the City of Eto, there to seek for information concerning the sacred vein-stone which had come from lands far to the north. You may well ask why I needed to search for such information, having just come from the presence of Mighty Nethys. But know this, o' King, the gods will not do for man, what man must do for himself.
I encountered a Giant Scorpion along my way. At eighteen feet in length and six thousand pounds, it rose from the desert like a behemoth out of the sea, sand cascading from its carapace like water. It's claws were extended before it, snapping rapidly as it scurried side to side, prepared to sever my body in two. But I showed no more fear than did my mystical mount. Raising my Staff before it, I commanded it return whence it came – and it did just so, sinking back into the shifting sands as easily as it had risen up out of them. Such is the power granted to the servants of Great Nethys, o' King.
Arriving in Eto, I spent four days searching the temples and the ancient library of the City, only to discover a single page with a single reference to the stone and its origins. This one entry revealed that the stone had been “brought down” to Osirion at the direction of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension, from a mountainous land “beyond Tar Taargadth, the Kingdom of the Dwarves.” This, the only clue, nothing more was mentioned.
Tar Taargadth; this was a name unknown to me, though I was familiar with the many kingdoms surrounding the great Inner Sea. Ah, but the phrase, “the Kingdom of the Dwarves;” this was a clue. The Four Pharaohs of Ascension had ruled centuries ago; another clue. The Four Pharaohs of Ascension had fallen long ago, perhaps it was that this Tar Taargadth had fallen in times past also.
Further investigation revealed nothing more. No scholar working within the library could tell me of this strange land, for they knew it not. Nor was the name recorded in any other tome of which they knew. They advised me to search the Library of Sothis.
The record had been erased. The location of the stone hidden once again. This one passage all that remained, somehow over-looked as the Great Pharaohs had attempted to hide their machinations. Taking their secrets to their graves with them. This, too, is the way of Nethys.
So once again I mounted my mystic steed, traveling north to the great Capital of Osirion, Sothis, home of the Pharaoh, Khemet III. Yes, o' King, a very distant cousin, as you no doubt suspected. Thankfully, mine is a very minor branch of the royal family and so goes mostly unnoticed. Believe me when I say that such a circumstance is to be appreciated, for to come to the attention of the Ruby Prince of Osirion is not always a good thing.
As with my journey to Eto, I traveled through the deep desert, called the Sahure Waste, which lay upon the west side of the river. This was done to mask my movement, so that none might divine my purpose. You might well ask, o' King; Who was there, so as to see my passing? But know this, Noble Lord, that the desert has many eyes, always watching the unwary. Eyes which allow the Ruby Prince himself, to see all that transpires.
In fact, a group of seven nomadic bandits did spy me and attempted to waylay me – to their great misfortune. For they were as nothing before my might and the power of my Staff – the Gift of Nethys. Their corpses are where I left them, buried to be sure, but easy enough for me to find. One never knows when their services might prove necessary. And so they await me there in the desert, ready to answer my call. For we of Osirion are skilled in the Arts of Necromancy. Do not shudder at this, o' King, for are my powers not at your service now?
The crossing of the River Sphinx was also done surreptitiously, for my summoned mount could easily cross water, so none need know of my comings and goings. Once in Sothis, I searched thoroughly through the multiplicity of tomes within the Great Library. I combed through the diverse collections of the Exhibitory, at the Museum of Sothis. I relentlessly prowled amidst the numerous curiosities of the Malhitu Bazaar. All in search of information concerning the Kingdom of Tar Taargadth; just one inscription, a scrap of anything! I searched for five days, until at last I found that for which I sought.
An inscription, a fragment, written upon a stone ax of odd manufacture. Once held by the stone hand of a statue, no doubt. “Tar Taargadth.” The merchant said that the ax came from a land far to the north, a kingdom called Five Kings Mountains; a land of Dwarves.
Now I was on the track! Now had fortune smiled upon me! This kingdom of long ago, this Tar Taargadth, had lain to the east and south of a great lake men called Encarthan, a lake which is still there. The nations now occupying the lands of that ancient kingdom are today called Kyonin, Galt and, of course, Five Kings Mountains; the land of the Dwarves.
I now knew my destination, the place to which I must go. The Dwarves! Of course! Where else would one expect to buy the finest quarried stone? To the lands north of this modern Dwarven kingdom I must go. To the north of these three kingdoms was where the green vein-stone was to be found, in the northern lands now known as The River Kingdoms and Numeria.
It was there that the sacred vein-stone was to be found and it was to these lands I must journey. From Sothis I would sail to the great City of Absalom, upon the Isle of Kortos, where I would stop for a time. I would not pass up the opportunity to study in that City's Great Library. Who could know what I might find within its dusty tomes? I thought I might even attempt to speak with the great Amenopheus, himself, the Sapphire Sage of Osirion.
Who is this Amenopheus, you ask o' King? Who is this that men call the Sapphire Sage? He is, ostensibly, the Advisor to an obese Osirian nobleman named Dremdhet Salhar, who sits on the Grand Council of Absalom as the Ruby Prince's Regent. There are some few of us, however, that know better.
For know this, o’ King, the Jeweled Sages of Osirion are no man's puppets. For thousands of years these men were plotting the courses of the very stars when the other peoples of the Inner Sea were dwelling in caves like vermin and wearing the rotting furs of animals as garments.
Yes, o' King, there is far more going on within the “City at the Center of the World” then one might think.
Deka Khemet
High Inquisitor of Proventus
Demiurge of the Convocation of Thaumaturge
Magistrate of the Arcane Academy of Almus
Principality of Almus, City of Tatzleford
Considering you were just introduced to the PF setting. I enjoyed your story so far and look forward to seeing what comes of this veined stone you search for.
I thrive on "research" and don't give up until I've found every little bit. Like with my stories, I like my characters to be "canon" as much as possible . . . even if it's Pathfinder canon. _________________ Mystic's web page: http://melkot.com/mysticscholar/index.html
Mystic's blog page: http://mysticscholar.blogspot.com/
MS do you have the Hamunaptra d20 boxed set by Green Ronin? It's only $5 at the paizo store and that's not for the pdf but for the actual boxed set! It's great to flesh out Osirion and the neighbours.
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