I've recently begun a character: an almost pure Suel cleric of Wee Jas of distant Neheli heritage: Eldred ben Zear Koth Neheli. At the moment he's being based loosely on Elric of Melnibone, as I've always gotten a heavy Melnibonean vibe from the Ancient Suloise. (He's Lawful Neutral with a Good/Evil internal conflict)
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any info, or just thoughts and ideas, on ancient Suel weapons and armor. Right now I have him wearing an ancient heirloom suit of black full plate, possibly having been passed down since the Rain of Colorless Fire. He wields a spear and buckler in combat. I am picturing them as gothic, archaic and slightly alien in appearance, as fits with my Melnibonean idea.
I've even been toying with the idea of making up some Suel glyphs and/or a few a alphabetical characters to have etched into the armor.
Very interesting comparison. I never really thought about that but I can definitely see some of the similarities. Too bad WotC don't have the rights to Melnibone so they could retain that section in Deities & Demigods.
But anyway, you might find it helpful to look through some of the Melnibone game books or check out some of the websites. I am sure there are many. That would probably give you a very good start. I should think, if you want to retain the similarities, that Suel armor and weaponary would be graceful and delicate to match their refined tastes. Since both the Melnibonean and Suloise originate from warm climates, they probably wouldn't be used to full plate or armor with a heavy metal content (you try wearing plate mail in the tropics and see how you like it ) Leather armor and scale mail would probably be ideal but ornately made through slave labor perhaps. Designs would probably include sharp angles with lots of blacks and reds.
According to the "Dragon Lords of Melnibone" by Chaosium, favored weapons include a "cruelly-barbed spear & etched large steel shield" and armor consists of "lacguered masterwork black-on-black breastplate armor with dragon motif."
I agree that full plate might not have existed in the Suel Imperium. I suggest scale mail, brigandine, or lamellar (latter two described in OA). The spear seems appropriately ancient. Chatdemon wrote about a spear-relic of Lydia. In the past Rasgon suggested that the Ancient Suel may have been "related" to the githyanki and githzerai, i.e. he suggested that the Suel may once have been thralls of the illithids...
Note that the "shaft of light" (short spear) is the favored weapon of Lydia, that's where the idea for the relic Lightbringer came from.
I've also recently begun adapting the Gith* races to greyhawk, not as planar badguys, but as degenerate suloise descendants living along the "sunela" coastline, so I'm all for tying them into the Suel family tree.
Since I'm not very fond of Illithids as a commonplace monster and I don't use psionics at all, I've removed those aspects from the races, but I've kept the references to a Priest-Queen figure (Gith).
IMC, Gith is/was a high level (epic, if you use that) priestess of Wee Jas at the time of the Rain of Colorless Fire. Like Slerotin far to the northeast, She led a large group of Suel south to safety, but unlike Slerotin, she declared herself their leader, and eventually (after her prayers to Wee Jas had long since gone unanswered) convinced them that she was a demigoddess of sorts. Gith eventually followed the route to Suel Lichdom and still rules the "Southern Empire" (as she and her people call the sunela region) in 593 cy.
The Githyanki (Suel for 'Children of Gith') are those in the region who follow Gith and worship her. (She is not a true divine being, clerics who worship her recieve their spells quietly from Beltar, who enjoys seeing such a blatant mockery of her rival Wee Jas)
The Githzerai (Suel for 'forsaken of Gith') are those who have chosen not to accept Gith as their divine ruler. These folk live mostly amid the grassy plains near the Amedio Jungle, and are at least passingly friendly with the Olman people there. Their religion is a hybrid of the old Suloise gods and the spirits and gods of the Olman people.
There's also the Zind (who I've adapted from the 'Pirates of Gith' spelljammer race), a seafaring race that has, like their Githzerai cousins, rejected the teachings of Gith. The Zind are a highly seafaring race, dwelling tenously among the Hobgoblin societies of the islands along the Sunela coast of the Pearl Sea. The Zind are worth noting mainly because that is the source of the name Zindia for the sunela region.. Scholars in the Flanaess, even with their limited knowledge of her realm, scoff at the idea of a god-queen and tend to ignore the significance of Gith altogether. _________________ What would Raxivort do?<br />
Chatdemon, Rasgon, have either of you done anything more with this Suel/Gith idea?
The reason I ask is that I'm hoping to tie the gith in with my current campaign but I'm having some difficulties coming up with transitions. If indeed the Suel and the Gith are related, then I'll have the opportunity to work in some Suel-related adventures I've been dying to run.
That was my way of explaining why the pale-skinned Suel lived at the latitude they did. They had a subterranean period, enslaved by the illithids long before the beginning of their calendar. After Gith and her forces shattered the illithid empire, those former slaves who did not emigrate to Astral Plane and Limbo eventually became the Suel.
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