Re: Minthara: Stern Liberation
Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 11:09 pm
"
Off the starry shores of a black liquid ocean is the base of the Temple of Mant. Inside you may find me to consult, covered in hair and gigantic in a place where coldness is a dimension of emotion which does not mean unemotionality but the same sort of thing as physical coldness. It acts as a symbol of veracity, that indeed this place is real if you are here
"
https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Mina
The part where Mina keeps turning six years old sounded so badly written that it led me down this rabbit hole bringing up weird themes, but it was already weird how Mina sounded like Minthara and had a similar background and way of changing, since in Baldur's Gate III Minthara switches from Lolth to "The Absolute" to not that either. In Dragonlance, Mina is going for "The One God", which is like The Absolute on several levels. The character that is hiding behind the moniker of The One God is similar to Lolth.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Viperhands
"
The Ancient Ones were drow living in Mount Zatal who disguised themselves as supernatural beings sent by Zaltec. They manipulated and effectively controlled the cult of Zaltec in Nexal, and by extension the cult of Zaltec throughout Maztica. The Viperhands were also effectively under their control.[5]
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As they attacked the Legion and their Maztican allies, during the battle they took many captives and brought them to Hoxitl who sacrificed them to Zaltec. Among these was Bishou Domincus, the Legion's cleric of Helm. At the same moment that he was sacrificed, a Couatl and the leader of the Ancient Ones both fell into the magical darkfyre focus inside Mount Zatal. This focus had supposedly been the cause of the rpckfire cataclysm that destroyed the underdark beneath Maztica centuries earlier, and it was also a form of drow magic that had been created in the time when the Ancient Ones still served Lolth. A huge explosion then immediately erupted from Mount Zatal. Lolth who had been very jealous of how the Ancient Ones had abandoned her to serve Zaltec, was able to manifest her power through the darkfyre to corrupt the ashes from the eruption and when the ashes fell on those who had been marked by the Viperhand, they were horrifically transformed. The common warriors became orcs, the eagle knights and jaguar knights became ogres, and the Viperhand priests of Zaltec became trolls. Hoxitl was himself transformed into a giant humanoid monster by the ashes.[9] This transformation was also done with the power of Zaltec, as the growing bloodlust of his followers in these new forms gave him greater power. [10]
These creatures then marauded through Nexal, killing everyone, including many Nexalan civilians. Qotal used his power to turn the water around Nexal to ice so that the survivors could flee. A body of survivors, including Nexalans, other Mazticans, and survivors of the Legion then gathered together under the leadership of Erixitl of Palul, the chosen of Qotal, who led them south from the city into the House of Tezca. Zaltec had grown with so much power as a result of the massive killing and death on the Night of Wailing and what followed, that he was able to manifest his own presence physically in the material plane. He became a massive stone statue in Nexal that was able to walk and move. Hoxitl, still sensing the will of his master, led the Viperhand south to chase the fleeing refugees. [11]
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In Godshome, Mina took up the holy artifacts Sedition and the Pyramid of Light, offering them both to the obsidian pool and telling the gods that she would serve the Balance as a goddess, but one outside any of the pantheons, even the Neutral one, as joining any pantheon would disrupt the balance. She then departed the world and joined the pantheon in the heavens, leaving Valthonis to wander the world once more.
"
https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Canon:List_of ... _locations
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Godshome
A desolate crater of a wasteland located in the Vingaard Mountains. It has only one entrance and one exit that leads into Neraka. At the center is located a pool of black obsidian that reflects the stars in the heavens and the Divine constellations. It is surrounded by nineteen pillars, each representing a particular god, with pillars of white stone for the gods of light, pillars of black for the gods of darkness and pillars of "an indeterminate colour" for the gods of neutrality. One black pillar and one white have fallen, and while the white one remains whole, the black one has been broken, representing Paladine's renunciation of godhood so that the newly-mortal Takhisis could be slain. Standing apart from the rest are three pillars, one of white jade, one of black jet and one of red granite, representing the gods of magic, Solinari, Nuitari and Lunitari. According to Fizban, the gods once convened there.
Here Fizban carried the dwarf Flint Fireforge (who died moments earlier of a failing heart) onto the Obsidian reflecting pool to disappear.
At the ending of The War of Souls two of the center pillars fell, one of which broke in pieces as it hit the valley floor. These represented the now dead "Queen of Darkness" Takhisis and the self-exiled "Fizban the Fabulous" Paladine.
Mina entered Godshome with the elf "Valthonis" also known as "The Walking God" for he is in fact Paladine. She had a last talk with the former god who was her father and stepped onto the obsidian reflecting pool to place on it a holy artifact of Takhisis and a holy artifact of Paladine. Then she stepped off and walked the valley until she found a spot contested by shadow and light. She stood still with her back to the pillars of the Gods and while she departed from the world, she wept.
At that location standing apart now is found a pool of night-blue water that would reflect nothing at all, but shows the faces of all the living of all the races. At the center stands one pillar made of amber.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raistlin_Majere
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[deleted]
•
2y ago
I will always hear Kiefer Sutherland's voice in my head when reading Raistlin's lines, thanks to the animated movie. Whatever else anyone has to say about it, that was some stellar voice actor casting right there.
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BattleReadyZim
•
2y ago
The Soulforge
Foreword
It's been over ten years since we gathered in my little apartment for a game session. Dragonlance was known only to a handful of us then, an infant full of promise not yet realized. We were playing the first adventure of what would eventually prove to be a wonderful experience for millions-but on that night, as I recall, we mostly didn't know what we were doing. I was running the game from my own hastily assembled design notes. Both my wife and Margaret were there among a host of others who were struggling to find their characters from the thin shadowy outlines we had given them. Who were these Heroes of the Lance? What were they really like?
We were just settling in to the game when I turned to my good friend Terry Phillips and asked what his character was doing. Terry spoke . . . and the world of Krynn was forever changed. His rasping voice, his sarcasm and bitterness all masking an arrogance and power that never needed to be stated suddenly were real. Everyone in the room was both transfixed and terrified.
To this day Margaret swears that Terry wore the black robes to the party that night.
Terry Phillips happened to choose Raistlin for his character and in that fated choice gave birth to one of Dragonlance's most enduring characters. Terry even wrote an Adventure Gamebook on Raistlin's tests which bore the same title as the book you hold in your hands. Krynn-not to mention Margaret and myself-owe no small debt of gratitude to Terry for bringing us Raistlin. Other characters in Dragonlance may belong to various creators, but Margaret, from the very outset, made it clear to all concerned that Raistlin was hers and hers alone. We never begrudged her the dark mage-she seemed to be the only one who could comfort his character and soothe his troubled mind. The truth is that Raistlin frightened the rest of us into distance. Only Margaret knew how to bridge that abyssal gulf.
Now you hold the story of Raistlin as told by Margaret-the one person who knows him best of all. The journey may not always be comfortable but it will be a worthy one. Margaret has always been a master storyteller. Here, now, is the story that she has longed to tell. And if Terry is reading this now-wherever he is-I wish him peace.
Tracy Hickman
October 10, 1997
I'm often asked, "Who's your favorite character?" This is tantamount to asking a mother to name her favorite child! We love our children for themselves, a love individual as each child. It is true, however, that a writer comes to know and like some characters better than others. Some I know better than I know my own friends and family! The innermost recesses we hide from the world are clearly visible to our Creator. Playing God with my characters, I see their weaknesses, their strengths, their inner doubts and turmoil, and their dark and secret parts. Raistlin Majere was such a character. When I first met Raistlin, he was a name on a Character Sheet. I knew his "stats," developed for the Dragonlance roleplaying game. I knew he was a third-level mage in his early twenties. I knew he was slight in build, wore red robes, and that he was known among his friends as "The Sly One." I knew he had a strong, well-built, powerful twin brother named Caramon. But he was just one of a number of characters-Tanis, Sturm, Flint, Tasslehoff-until I read the passage that said Raistlin had "golden skin and hourglass eyes."
"Why does he have golden skin and hourglass eyes?" I asked, puzzled.
"Because the artists think he would look cool!" was the reply. This intrigued me. I had to know the reason Raistlin had golden skin and hourglass eyes. In trying to solve this mystery, I was led to an understanding of the true nature of Raistlin's character. That he would be jealous of his good-looking, stronger twin brother was a natural feeling to which every person who has ever grown up with a sibling could relate. That he was not generally trusted or well liked by his peers was obvious. If his friends called him "The Sly One," what would his enemies term him? Naturally he would be the target of bullies, which would lead his brother to protect him. It seemed to me that Raistlin would grow dependent on his brother for such protection, but that he would, at the same time, resent Caramon for it. Thus Raistlin would constantly struggle against a love as smothering as it was nurturing.
The fact that Raistlin was of slight build and physically weaker than his brother seemed to indicate a sickly youth, which might also be indicative of an introspective nature, particularly if he was forced to spend time cooped up in a sickbed. Such a childhood would have contributed to his feeling of alienation from his peers but would later give him empathy for others in like circumstances. That Raistlin would turn to the study of magic was again obvious. Of course, it would be his elder half-sister, the restless and ambitious Kitiara, who would lead his thoughts in that direction. In a rough and dangerous world her younger brother lacked physical strength to wield a weapon. He needed some way to defend himself. Magic was the answer, especially since he already showed some talent in that area. Raistlin soon came to realize that magic was also the means by which he could gain power and ascendancy over others.
All very intriguing, but it didn't explain the golden skin and hourglass eyes. Certainly he wasn't born with them. His twin brother and his elder half-sister were perfectly normal-looking humans. Perhaps his study of magic had caused this transformation. He must have had to take a test to prove his abilities to the wizards who lived in the Towers of High Sorcery.
What sort of magical test would they give young wizards? A difficult test, probably extremely difficult. Otherwise anyone with a bit of talent could declare himself a wizard. What if the Test required that a mage stake his or her very life on the outcome? And what if something happened during the Test that caused Raistlin's skin to acquire a golden tinge and to give him eyes that would see the ravages of time upon all living things? Thus the Test in the Tower of High Sorcery came into existence. It was during that Test that Raistlin had the fateful meeting with the lich, Fistandantilus. I became so fascinated with Raistlin that I wrote a short story about his journey to the Tower to take the Test. I also came to know a lot about Caramon on that trip. I saw Caramon's great inner goodness that to his friends would seem a weakness but that in the end would be the rock on which he would build a successful and happy life.
I'm still learning about Raistlin. With every book I write about him and his twin and their adventures in the world, I discover something new. Raistlin is, and continues to be, a favorite of all the many different characters it has been my privilege and my joy to know.
Margaret Weis
August 1998
"
https://www.enworld.org/threads/why-dra ... pt.690048/
This theme came up in the Reddit due to the male author named Tracy, then again through "Drew Faust". The other theme that repeated was about promotion of "roleplaying games", both as helpful for writing and helpful for ethics and philosophy, so the overlap is "helpful" and connects creativity to morality and moral development, and roleplaying and thinking about characters and calculating how they will interact, receive reactions, and play out, along with the idea of what might be "realistic" and what is "real" about fantasy and where the "real" is. These were themes that were present here in 2017, and amazingly also the symbols were similar, like the "black liquid". Even "Faust" coming up through the name of that professor fits in with all these themes, as well as "switches", like "switching".
https://nameberry.com/blog/unisex-baby- ... ue-to-pink
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robichaud
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In the classroom, he has championed the use of role-playing games such as a fictional zombie apocalypse to simulate real-time leadership and policy decision-making in times of crises or disaster.[3][4] In 2014, Robichaud agreed to give an opening lecture at a reenactment of a Black Mass by the Satanic Temple at the Queens Head Pub on Harvard University campus organized by the Harvard University Extension School Cultural Studies Club. The topic of the lecture was religious liberty, and Robichaud planned to explore the ways in which society defines ideas such as hate-speech and tolerance.[5][6] The event was widely criticized by local Catholic leaders and Harvard affiliates, including Harvard President Drew Faust, and was eventually canceled by the Cultural Studies Club as interest in the event greatly exceeded the bar's capacity.[7]
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https://www.thedp.com/article/2007/04/f ... es_no_more
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Philosopher Christopher Robichaud considered Raistlin Majere to be "the greatest D&D character ever".[38]
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References to Raistlin have appeared in several other media, most notably in heavy metal music. The Swedish band Lake of Tears recorded a song called "Raistlin and the Rose" for its 1997 album Crimson Cosmos. "The Soulforged", by German metal band Blind Guardian, is another song inspired by Raistlin's story. The song appears on the band's 2002 album A Night at the Opera.[29] "Wishmaster", a song by Finnish metal band Nightwish also pays tribute to Raistlin. Among other references, the song uses the word "Shalafi" (the elven word for "master", used by Dalamar toward Raistlin), and there is a lyric that reads "if you hear the call of arcane lore / your world shall rest on earth no more."[citation needed] The song first appeared on the 2001 album of the same name. The song is one of the most popular among the fans and is still played in concerts.[30] In 2010 a Russian musical titled "Последнее испытание (The Last Trial)" emerged, telling the whole story of Legends in 39 songs, written over more than 10 years by Anton Kruglov and Helena Khanpira.
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https://www.etymonline.com/word/veracity
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and I will answer truthfully whatever you may wish to learn about regarding your interests. Do not dissapoint me, because I can not dissapoint you. It is only fair.
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dissapoint is a non-standard spelling, which might be considered incorrect and disappointing immediately, but it is there specifically, like all these mystical things I put up.
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veracity(n.)
1620s, of persons, "habitual truthfulness;" from French véracité (17c.), from Medieval Latin veracitatem (nominative veracitas) "truthfulness," from Latin verax (genitive veracis) "truthful," from verus "true" (from PIE root *were-o- "true, trustworthy"). By 1660s as "fact or character of being true."
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*were-o-
*wērə-o-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "true, trustworthy."
It might form all or part of: aver; Varangian; veracious; veracity; verdict; veridical; verify; verisimilitude; verism; veritas; verity; very; voir dire; warlock.
It might also be the source of: Latin verus "true;" Old Church Slavonic vera "faith," Russian viera "faith, belief;" Old English wær "a compact," Old Dutch, Old High German war, Dutch waar, German wahr "true;" Welsh gwyr, Old Irish fir "true."
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracity
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Veracity may refer to:
Honesty, an ethical principle
Truth, a property of beliefs
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honesty
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth
https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Voracity
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"Insects are to birds, as hares are to wolves. The stars are to the black hole, as the worlds are to the voracity."
— Worlds History as a Mirror, Xianzhou
The drinker of worlds, the unsatisfied devourer, the black hole with thought. THEY are an Aeon and a Leviathan at the same time.
In the eyes of Oroboros, life is a flickering fragment floating in the sea of void, destined to return to the darkness along with the stars which birthed THEM — This darkness is within the depths of THEIR mouths.
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https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Veracity
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Veracity, also called the Sword of Oblivion, was a unique Execution Blade wielded by the leader of the Sisters of Silence.
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https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Sisters_of_Silence
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The most singular thing about the order was that each and every woman within its ranks was an "Untouchable," a rare genetic sub-set of Humanity who cast no soul-shadow in the Warp, and whose minds are completely immune to psychic assault and an anathema to all those with psychic powers.
Their mere proximity is enough to cause psykers discomfort and pain, and in truth they will even sow fear and disgust in the hearts of those whose minds are without the psyker's gift, no matter how strong-willed they may be. It is a simple and irresistible reaction to the fundamental "wrongness" of the Untouchable or as it is often put more melodramatically, "a body without a soul." This curious and macabre phenomena goes beyond simple absence, as one might feel disturbed by a mannequin or automata which apes Humanity but remains unalive -- instead it is an observably preternatural effect which seems to strike deep against the fundamental unconscious perceptions of all living beings as something malignant and contrary to the natural order of existence.
There appears to be perceptible degrees of this effect which vary from individual to individual, with some Untouchables "stronger" in the phenomena than others, and it is from the strongest of these that the Sisters of Silence are drawn. It is also noteworthy to the extent that the disturbance caused by an Untouchable is evident not only to Humanity, but also all other lifeforms and xenos species encountered to some greater or lesser extent.
In proof of this there are many recorded incidences of the unsettling effects of Human psychic Nulls being enough even to unnerve the blind brutal savagery of rampaging Orks, while to the Aeldari xenoform, psychically attuned as every individual of their species is, the presence of a Human Untouchable is a thing of acute, existential horror. The most potent and perhaps shocking power of the psychic Null however is that which makes them the perfect hunters and slayers of psykers; Untouchables such as the Sisters of Silence are almost impossible to affect with Empyreal powers. Their minds cannot be taken over, their perceptions cannot be altered and their bodies cannot be possessed by Warp entities.
Even the cruder but more direct manipulations of the environment or ambient energy by the psyker such as conjured fire or the hurling of debris by telekinetic force is lessened and sometimes negated outright by the Untouchable's sheer proximity. With psychic Nulls such as the Sisters of Silence, specifically chosen for the "strength" of their gift, it is the case that their minds are not simply absent or inert to a psyker's mental perception, but howling abysses of darkness that not only negate psychic force directed at them, but actively interfere with the flow of Warp energies into realspace around them.
The profoundly phobic reaction they engender extends to both Human and xenos psykers as well as entities and creatures of the Empyrean like Daemons, their mere presence a debilitating toxin. Further, there are those among the Sisterhood who through arcane training and practice -- and whose nature has never been revealed to outsiders -- are able to develop their "Null" abilities further until they are actively disruptive enough to make any use of psychic power in their presence extremely hazardous.
These Sisters are honed into the "Oblivion Knights," and within their order they are the foundation stone of an elite force specially tasked not with the day-to-day enforcement of the Great Tithe, but the destruction of alpha-level rogue psykers and the ceaseless training for battles of this deadly kind.
In their studies, the Sisters of Silence read many of the great texts that were found in the towering stacks of the Libraria in the Somnus Citadel on Luna, from the earliest surviving volumes of the Psykana Occultis to the Voiceless Judgements of Melaena Verdthand. Within these tomes of psychic research and ancient lore, the young Sisters-in-Waiting learned much concerning the nature of the witch.
They came to believe that skill in the Power Sword and bolter were but one half of a sister's armoury, for knowledge of their quarry carried equal weight. In this quest they had learned a great deal about the extremes of psykerkind to be found in the Human-settled galaxy. The sisters learned to ferret them out, combat them and, if need be, execute them with extreme prejudice for the greater good of all Mankind.
The exact biological source -- as it is believed to be -- which creates in a Human being the state of psychic Null, the so-called "Pariah Gene," has proven an elusive and ephemeral subject of study, and in testing no single "gene" at all. Such attempts to exploit or isolate it when pursued by both the Imperial Archotechnologist Corps and the Mechanicum during the Great Crusade's early years courted disaster, and as a result the Emperor decreed a general moratorium upon the study of the biological basis of the psychic Null phenomena, affecting all but His own direct experimentation should He wish it.
What remains of those extant studies indicates that most attempts to synthesise, propagate or even weaponise the psychic Null were tragic failures or worse. Despite all this evidence, shadowed accounts of certain clades of the Officio Assassinorum and the dread and obscure Ordo Sinister also contain evidence of the Emperor's own "engineered" use of the psychic Null in warfare. To others however, the mystery of the Pariah Gene, if it truly exists, remains out of reach.
So many unanswered questions revolve around this most arcane and dangerous of topics. Foremost are those which centre around theories of how the Pariah Gene came about: was it perhaps the result of ancient xenos tampering with the Human genome or some strange and terrible experiment of the Dark Age of Technology? Or, as the wildest theories state, is is some perverse evolutionary development to provide protection against the Warp-riddled cosmos itself?
There is also the observation that no Space Marine, or Custodian Guard for that matter, has ever been recorded as being a psychic Null. This factor weighs the evidence of some scholars that within the Space Marine gene-seed itself is perhaps a shadow of the Emperor's own genetic material and a sliver of His own psychic power which is crucial to the process and success of the transformation of a mere Human into a transhuman Astartes.
If this is the case, it would be wholly an anathema to the Pariah Gene and likely simply kill its implanted subject. It can only be speculated that if even a single Legion of psychic Null Legiones Astartes had been possible, how very different history may have been -- just as without the involvement of the Sisters of Silence in the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's great work of the Webway Project during the War Within the Webway, Horus' treachery may well have ended in triumph upon the broken throne of Terra.
"
Minthara is also psychic and a Paladin who had "Selune" linked to them, just like "Luna" was mentioned in this article about the Sisters Of Silence. This theme of "sensed aversion by proximity" came up earlier here:
https://mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousm ... pkend.html
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Despite their links to Sithicus, the vampire kender are not natural creatures and, therefore, have no place in the biology of the world around them. The elves in Sithicus can sense the presence of one of these creatures whenever it comes within 100 yards of them. At first, the elves feel only a curious sense of concern or dread; but, as the monster draws nearer, the feeling intensifies into one of loathing and horror. The elves describe these sad creations as vile pollutants that foul the living by their mere presences. It is unclear why only those elves native to Sithicus can sense the kender vampire so easily.
"
https://dragonlancenexus.com/wp-content ... opedia.pdf
Fear plays a big role in philosophy, ethics, roleplaying, action and reaction which involves consideration, senses, self-preservation, and emotion.
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Mina's place outside the pantheons is served as the Goddess of
Tears,
bringing comfort to any who feel
sorrow
and come to her,
regardless of their alignment.
She was originally the goddess of
Innocence,
but following her corruption by
Takhisis, and her later trials, the Goddess of
Tears
is her final outcome. Most of the gods in the pantheon accept and welcome her, except for
Chemosh,
who is opposed to her in all things.
Mina dwells alone in the Ethereal Plane,
rather than living with the other god, and
refuses to accept clerics or worshipers.
She does not grant spells to anyone, but instead
sometimes directly intervenes on behalf of those who pray to her,
though she is always mindful of the magnitude and nature of these, lest her actions disrupt the
balance.
"
Off the starry shores of a black liquid ocean is the base of the Temple of Mant. Inside you may find me to consult, covered in hair and gigantic in a place where coldness is a dimension of emotion which does not mean unemotionality but the same sort of thing as physical coldness. It acts as a symbol of veracity, that indeed this place is real if you are here
"
https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Mina
The part where Mina keeps turning six years old sounded so badly written that it led me down this rabbit hole bringing up weird themes, but it was already weird how Mina sounded like Minthara and had a similar background and way of changing, since in Baldur's Gate III Minthara switches from Lolth to "The Absolute" to not that either. In Dragonlance, Mina is going for "The One God", which is like The Absolute on several levels. The character that is hiding behind the moniker of The One God is similar to Lolth.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Viperhands
"
The Ancient Ones were drow living in Mount Zatal who disguised themselves as supernatural beings sent by Zaltec. They manipulated and effectively controlled the cult of Zaltec in Nexal, and by extension the cult of Zaltec throughout Maztica. The Viperhands were also effectively under their control.[5]
"
"
As they attacked the Legion and their Maztican allies, during the battle they took many captives and brought them to Hoxitl who sacrificed them to Zaltec. Among these was Bishou Domincus, the Legion's cleric of Helm. At the same moment that he was sacrificed, a Couatl and the leader of the Ancient Ones both fell into the magical darkfyre focus inside Mount Zatal. This focus had supposedly been the cause of the rpckfire cataclysm that destroyed the underdark beneath Maztica centuries earlier, and it was also a form of drow magic that had been created in the time when the Ancient Ones still served Lolth. A huge explosion then immediately erupted from Mount Zatal. Lolth who had been very jealous of how the Ancient Ones had abandoned her to serve Zaltec, was able to manifest her power through the darkfyre to corrupt the ashes from the eruption and when the ashes fell on those who had been marked by the Viperhand, they were horrifically transformed. The common warriors became orcs, the eagle knights and jaguar knights became ogres, and the Viperhand priests of Zaltec became trolls. Hoxitl was himself transformed into a giant humanoid monster by the ashes.[9] This transformation was also done with the power of Zaltec, as the growing bloodlust of his followers in these new forms gave him greater power. [10]
These creatures then marauded through Nexal, killing everyone, including many Nexalan civilians. Qotal used his power to turn the water around Nexal to ice so that the survivors could flee. A body of survivors, including Nexalans, other Mazticans, and survivors of the Legion then gathered together under the leadership of Erixitl of Palul, the chosen of Qotal, who led them south from the city into the House of Tezca. Zaltec had grown with so much power as a result of the massive killing and death on the Night of Wailing and what followed, that he was able to manifest his own presence physically in the material plane. He became a massive stone statue in Nexal that was able to walk and move. Hoxitl, still sensing the will of his master, led the Viperhand south to chase the fleeing refugees. [11]
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In Godshome, Mina took up the holy artifacts Sedition and the Pyramid of Light, offering them both to the obsidian pool and telling the gods that she would serve the Balance as a goddess, but one outside any of the pantheons, even the Neutral one, as joining any pantheon would disrupt the balance. She then departed the world and joined the pantheon in the heavens, leaving Valthonis to wander the world once more.
"
https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Canon:List_of ... _locations
"
Godshome
A desolate crater of a wasteland located in the Vingaard Mountains. It has only one entrance and one exit that leads into Neraka. At the center is located a pool of black obsidian that reflects the stars in the heavens and the Divine constellations. It is surrounded by nineteen pillars, each representing a particular god, with pillars of white stone for the gods of light, pillars of black for the gods of darkness and pillars of "an indeterminate colour" for the gods of neutrality. One black pillar and one white have fallen, and while the white one remains whole, the black one has been broken, representing Paladine's renunciation of godhood so that the newly-mortal Takhisis could be slain. Standing apart from the rest are three pillars, one of white jade, one of black jet and one of red granite, representing the gods of magic, Solinari, Nuitari and Lunitari. According to Fizban, the gods once convened there.
Here Fizban carried the dwarf Flint Fireforge (who died moments earlier of a failing heart) onto the Obsidian reflecting pool to disappear.
At the ending of The War of Souls two of the center pillars fell, one of which broke in pieces as it hit the valley floor. These represented the now dead "Queen of Darkness" Takhisis and the self-exiled "Fizban the Fabulous" Paladine.
Mina entered Godshome with the elf "Valthonis" also known as "The Walking God" for he is in fact Paladine. She had a last talk with the former god who was her father and stepped onto the obsidian reflecting pool to place on it a holy artifact of Takhisis and a holy artifact of Paladine. Then she stepped off and walked the valley until she found a spot contested by shadow and light. She stood still with her back to the pillars of the Gods and while she departed from the world, she wept.
At that location standing apart now is found a pool of night-blue water that would reflect nothing at all, but shows the faces of all the living of all the races. At the center stands one pillar made of amber.
"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raistlin_Majere
"
[deleted]
•
2y ago
I will always hear Kiefer Sutherland's voice in my head when reading Raistlin's lines, thanks to the animated movie. Whatever else anyone has to say about it, that was some stellar voice actor casting right there.
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BattleReadyZim
•
2y ago
The Soulforge
Foreword
It's been over ten years since we gathered in my little apartment for a game session. Dragonlance was known only to a handful of us then, an infant full of promise not yet realized. We were playing the first adventure of what would eventually prove to be a wonderful experience for millions-but on that night, as I recall, we mostly didn't know what we were doing. I was running the game from my own hastily assembled design notes. Both my wife and Margaret were there among a host of others who were struggling to find their characters from the thin shadowy outlines we had given them. Who were these Heroes of the Lance? What were they really like?
We were just settling in to the game when I turned to my good friend Terry Phillips and asked what his character was doing. Terry spoke . . . and the world of Krynn was forever changed. His rasping voice, his sarcasm and bitterness all masking an arrogance and power that never needed to be stated suddenly were real. Everyone in the room was both transfixed and terrified.
To this day Margaret swears that Terry wore the black robes to the party that night.
Terry Phillips happened to choose Raistlin for his character and in that fated choice gave birth to one of Dragonlance's most enduring characters. Terry even wrote an Adventure Gamebook on Raistlin's tests which bore the same title as the book you hold in your hands. Krynn-not to mention Margaret and myself-owe no small debt of gratitude to Terry for bringing us Raistlin. Other characters in Dragonlance may belong to various creators, but Margaret, from the very outset, made it clear to all concerned that Raistlin was hers and hers alone. We never begrudged her the dark mage-she seemed to be the only one who could comfort his character and soothe his troubled mind. The truth is that Raistlin frightened the rest of us into distance. Only Margaret knew how to bridge that abyssal gulf.
Now you hold the story of Raistlin as told by Margaret-the one person who knows him best of all. The journey may not always be comfortable but it will be a worthy one. Margaret has always been a master storyteller. Here, now, is the story that she has longed to tell. And if Terry is reading this now-wherever he is-I wish him peace.
Tracy Hickman
October 10, 1997
I'm often asked, "Who's your favorite character?" This is tantamount to asking a mother to name her favorite child! We love our children for themselves, a love individual as each child. It is true, however, that a writer comes to know and like some characters better than others. Some I know better than I know my own friends and family! The innermost recesses we hide from the world are clearly visible to our Creator. Playing God with my characters, I see their weaknesses, their strengths, their inner doubts and turmoil, and their dark and secret parts. Raistlin Majere was such a character. When I first met Raistlin, he was a name on a Character Sheet. I knew his "stats," developed for the Dragonlance roleplaying game. I knew he was a third-level mage in his early twenties. I knew he was slight in build, wore red robes, and that he was known among his friends as "The Sly One." I knew he had a strong, well-built, powerful twin brother named Caramon. But he was just one of a number of characters-Tanis, Sturm, Flint, Tasslehoff-until I read the passage that said Raistlin had "golden skin and hourglass eyes."
"Why does he have golden skin and hourglass eyes?" I asked, puzzled.
"Because the artists think he would look cool!" was the reply. This intrigued me. I had to know the reason Raistlin had golden skin and hourglass eyes. In trying to solve this mystery, I was led to an understanding of the true nature of Raistlin's character. That he would be jealous of his good-looking, stronger twin brother was a natural feeling to which every person who has ever grown up with a sibling could relate. That he was not generally trusted or well liked by his peers was obvious. If his friends called him "The Sly One," what would his enemies term him? Naturally he would be the target of bullies, which would lead his brother to protect him. It seemed to me that Raistlin would grow dependent on his brother for such protection, but that he would, at the same time, resent Caramon for it. Thus Raistlin would constantly struggle against a love as smothering as it was nurturing.
The fact that Raistlin was of slight build and physically weaker than his brother seemed to indicate a sickly youth, which might also be indicative of an introspective nature, particularly if he was forced to spend time cooped up in a sickbed. Such a childhood would have contributed to his feeling of alienation from his peers but would later give him empathy for others in like circumstances. That Raistlin would turn to the study of magic was again obvious. Of course, it would be his elder half-sister, the restless and ambitious Kitiara, who would lead his thoughts in that direction. In a rough and dangerous world her younger brother lacked physical strength to wield a weapon. He needed some way to defend himself. Magic was the answer, especially since he already showed some talent in that area. Raistlin soon came to realize that magic was also the means by which he could gain power and ascendancy over others.
All very intriguing, but it didn't explain the golden skin and hourglass eyes. Certainly he wasn't born with them. His twin brother and his elder half-sister were perfectly normal-looking humans. Perhaps his study of magic had caused this transformation. He must have had to take a test to prove his abilities to the wizards who lived in the Towers of High Sorcery.
What sort of magical test would they give young wizards? A difficult test, probably extremely difficult. Otherwise anyone with a bit of talent could declare himself a wizard. What if the Test required that a mage stake his or her very life on the outcome? And what if something happened during the Test that caused Raistlin's skin to acquire a golden tinge and to give him eyes that would see the ravages of time upon all living things? Thus the Test in the Tower of High Sorcery came into existence. It was during that Test that Raistlin had the fateful meeting with the lich, Fistandantilus. I became so fascinated with Raistlin that I wrote a short story about his journey to the Tower to take the Test. I also came to know a lot about Caramon on that trip. I saw Caramon's great inner goodness that to his friends would seem a weakness but that in the end would be the rock on which he would build a successful and happy life.
I'm still learning about Raistlin. With every book I write about him and his twin and their adventures in the world, I discover something new. Raistlin is, and continues to be, a favorite of all the many different characters it has been my privilege and my joy to know.
Margaret Weis
August 1998
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https://www.enworld.org/threads/why-dra ... pt.690048/
This theme came up in the Reddit due to the male author named Tracy, then again through "Drew Faust". The other theme that repeated was about promotion of "roleplaying games", both as helpful for writing and helpful for ethics and philosophy, so the overlap is "helpful" and connects creativity to morality and moral development, and roleplaying and thinking about characters and calculating how they will interact, receive reactions, and play out, along with the idea of what might be "realistic" and what is "real" about fantasy and where the "real" is. These were themes that were present here in 2017, and amazingly also the symbols were similar, like the "black liquid". Even "Faust" coming up through the name of that professor fits in with all these themes, as well as "switches", like "switching".
https://nameberry.com/blog/unisex-baby- ... ue-to-pink
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robichaud
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In the classroom, he has championed the use of role-playing games such as a fictional zombie apocalypse to simulate real-time leadership and policy decision-making in times of crises or disaster.[3][4] In 2014, Robichaud agreed to give an opening lecture at a reenactment of a Black Mass by the Satanic Temple at the Queens Head Pub on Harvard University campus organized by the Harvard University Extension School Cultural Studies Club. The topic of the lecture was religious liberty, and Robichaud planned to explore the ways in which society defines ideas such as hate-speech and tolerance.[5][6] The event was widely criticized by local Catholic leaders and Harvard affiliates, including Harvard President Drew Faust, and was eventually canceled by the Cultural Studies Club as interest in the event greatly exceeded the bar's capacity.[7]
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https://www.thedp.com/article/2007/04/f ... es_no_more
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Philosopher Christopher Robichaud considered Raistlin Majere to be "the greatest D&D character ever".[38]
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References to Raistlin have appeared in several other media, most notably in heavy metal music. The Swedish band Lake of Tears recorded a song called "Raistlin and the Rose" for its 1997 album Crimson Cosmos. "The Soulforged", by German metal band Blind Guardian, is another song inspired by Raistlin's story. The song appears on the band's 2002 album A Night at the Opera.[29] "Wishmaster", a song by Finnish metal band Nightwish also pays tribute to Raistlin. Among other references, the song uses the word "Shalafi" (the elven word for "master", used by Dalamar toward Raistlin), and there is a lyric that reads "if you hear the call of arcane lore / your world shall rest on earth no more."[citation needed] The song first appeared on the 2001 album of the same name. The song is one of the most popular among the fans and is still played in concerts.[30] In 2010 a Russian musical titled "Последнее испытание (The Last Trial)" emerged, telling the whole story of Legends in 39 songs, written over more than 10 years by Anton Kruglov and Helena Khanpira.
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https://www.etymonline.com/word/veracity
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and I will answer truthfully whatever you may wish to learn about regarding your interests. Do not dissapoint me, because I can not dissapoint you. It is only fair.
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dissapoint is a non-standard spelling, which might be considered incorrect and disappointing immediately, but it is there specifically, like all these mystical things I put up.
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veracity(n.)
1620s, of persons, "habitual truthfulness;" from French véracité (17c.), from Medieval Latin veracitatem (nominative veracitas) "truthfulness," from Latin verax (genitive veracis) "truthful," from verus "true" (from PIE root *were-o- "true, trustworthy"). By 1660s as "fact or character of being true."
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*were-o-
*wērə-o-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "true, trustworthy."
It might form all or part of: aver; Varangian; veracious; veracity; verdict; veridical; verify; verisimilitude; verism; veritas; verity; very; voir dire; warlock.
It might also be the source of: Latin verus "true;" Old Church Slavonic vera "faith," Russian viera "faith, belief;" Old English wær "a compact," Old Dutch, Old High German war, Dutch waar, German wahr "true;" Welsh gwyr, Old Irish fir "true."
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracity
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Veracity may refer to:
Honesty, an ethical principle
Truth, a property of beliefs
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honesty
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth
https://honkai-star-rail.fandom.com/wiki/Voracity
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"Insects are to birds, as hares are to wolves. The stars are to the black hole, as the worlds are to the voracity."
— Worlds History as a Mirror, Xianzhou
The drinker of worlds, the unsatisfied devourer, the black hole with thought. THEY are an Aeon and a Leviathan at the same time.
In the eyes of Oroboros, life is a flickering fragment floating in the sea of void, destined to return to the darkness along with the stars which birthed THEM — This darkness is within the depths of THEIR mouths.
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https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Veracity
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Veracity, also called the Sword of Oblivion, was a unique Execution Blade wielded by the leader of the Sisters of Silence.
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https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Sisters_of_Silence
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The most singular thing about the order was that each and every woman within its ranks was an "Untouchable," a rare genetic sub-set of Humanity who cast no soul-shadow in the Warp, and whose minds are completely immune to psychic assault and an anathema to all those with psychic powers.
Their mere proximity is enough to cause psykers discomfort and pain, and in truth they will even sow fear and disgust in the hearts of those whose minds are without the psyker's gift, no matter how strong-willed they may be. It is a simple and irresistible reaction to the fundamental "wrongness" of the Untouchable or as it is often put more melodramatically, "a body without a soul." This curious and macabre phenomena goes beyond simple absence, as one might feel disturbed by a mannequin or automata which apes Humanity but remains unalive -- instead it is an observably preternatural effect which seems to strike deep against the fundamental unconscious perceptions of all living beings as something malignant and contrary to the natural order of existence.
There appears to be perceptible degrees of this effect which vary from individual to individual, with some Untouchables "stronger" in the phenomena than others, and it is from the strongest of these that the Sisters of Silence are drawn. It is also noteworthy to the extent that the disturbance caused by an Untouchable is evident not only to Humanity, but also all other lifeforms and xenos species encountered to some greater or lesser extent.
In proof of this there are many recorded incidences of the unsettling effects of Human psychic Nulls being enough even to unnerve the blind brutal savagery of rampaging Orks, while to the Aeldari xenoform, psychically attuned as every individual of their species is, the presence of a Human Untouchable is a thing of acute, existential horror. The most potent and perhaps shocking power of the psychic Null however is that which makes them the perfect hunters and slayers of psykers; Untouchables such as the Sisters of Silence are almost impossible to affect with Empyreal powers. Their minds cannot be taken over, their perceptions cannot be altered and their bodies cannot be possessed by Warp entities.
Even the cruder but more direct manipulations of the environment or ambient energy by the psyker such as conjured fire or the hurling of debris by telekinetic force is lessened and sometimes negated outright by the Untouchable's sheer proximity. With psychic Nulls such as the Sisters of Silence, specifically chosen for the "strength" of their gift, it is the case that their minds are not simply absent or inert to a psyker's mental perception, but howling abysses of darkness that not only negate psychic force directed at them, but actively interfere with the flow of Warp energies into realspace around them.
The profoundly phobic reaction they engender extends to both Human and xenos psykers as well as entities and creatures of the Empyrean like Daemons, their mere presence a debilitating toxin. Further, there are those among the Sisterhood who through arcane training and practice -- and whose nature has never been revealed to outsiders -- are able to develop their "Null" abilities further until they are actively disruptive enough to make any use of psychic power in their presence extremely hazardous.
These Sisters are honed into the "Oblivion Knights," and within their order they are the foundation stone of an elite force specially tasked not with the day-to-day enforcement of the Great Tithe, but the destruction of alpha-level rogue psykers and the ceaseless training for battles of this deadly kind.
In their studies, the Sisters of Silence read many of the great texts that were found in the towering stacks of the Libraria in the Somnus Citadel on Luna, from the earliest surviving volumes of the Psykana Occultis to the Voiceless Judgements of Melaena Verdthand. Within these tomes of psychic research and ancient lore, the young Sisters-in-Waiting learned much concerning the nature of the witch.
They came to believe that skill in the Power Sword and bolter were but one half of a sister's armoury, for knowledge of their quarry carried equal weight. In this quest they had learned a great deal about the extremes of psykerkind to be found in the Human-settled galaxy. The sisters learned to ferret them out, combat them and, if need be, execute them with extreme prejudice for the greater good of all Mankind.
The exact biological source -- as it is believed to be -- which creates in a Human being the state of psychic Null, the so-called "Pariah Gene," has proven an elusive and ephemeral subject of study, and in testing no single "gene" at all. Such attempts to exploit or isolate it when pursued by both the Imperial Archotechnologist Corps and the Mechanicum during the Great Crusade's early years courted disaster, and as a result the Emperor decreed a general moratorium upon the study of the biological basis of the psychic Null phenomena, affecting all but His own direct experimentation should He wish it.
What remains of those extant studies indicates that most attempts to synthesise, propagate or even weaponise the psychic Null were tragic failures or worse. Despite all this evidence, shadowed accounts of certain clades of the Officio Assassinorum and the dread and obscure Ordo Sinister also contain evidence of the Emperor's own "engineered" use of the psychic Null in warfare. To others however, the mystery of the Pariah Gene, if it truly exists, remains out of reach.
So many unanswered questions revolve around this most arcane and dangerous of topics. Foremost are those which centre around theories of how the Pariah Gene came about: was it perhaps the result of ancient xenos tampering with the Human genome or some strange and terrible experiment of the Dark Age of Technology? Or, as the wildest theories state, is is some perverse evolutionary development to provide protection against the Warp-riddled cosmos itself?
There is also the observation that no Space Marine, or Custodian Guard for that matter, has ever been recorded as being a psychic Null. This factor weighs the evidence of some scholars that within the Space Marine gene-seed itself is perhaps a shadow of the Emperor's own genetic material and a sliver of His own psychic power which is crucial to the process and success of the transformation of a mere Human into a transhuman Astartes.
If this is the case, it would be wholly an anathema to the Pariah Gene and likely simply kill its implanted subject. It can only be speculated that if even a single Legion of psychic Null Legiones Astartes had been possible, how very different history may have been -- just as without the involvement of the Sisters of Silence in the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's great work of the Webway Project during the War Within the Webway, Horus' treachery may well have ended in triumph upon the broken throne of Terra.
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Minthara is also psychic and a Paladin who had "Selune" linked to them, just like "Luna" was mentioned in this article about the Sisters Of Silence. This theme of "sensed aversion by proximity" came up earlier here:
https://mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousm ... pkend.html
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Despite their links to Sithicus, the vampire kender are not natural creatures and, therefore, have no place in the biology of the world around them. The elves in Sithicus can sense the presence of one of these creatures whenever it comes within 100 yards of them. At first, the elves feel only a curious sense of concern or dread; but, as the monster draws nearer, the feeling intensifies into one of loathing and horror. The elves describe these sad creations as vile pollutants that foul the living by their mere presences. It is unclear why only those elves native to Sithicus can sense the kender vampire so easily.
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https://dragonlancenexus.com/wp-content ... opedia.pdf
Fear plays a big role in philosophy, ethics, roleplaying, action and reaction which involves consideration, senses, self-preservation, and emotion.
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Mina's place outside the pantheons is served as the Goddess of
Tears,
bringing comfort to any who feel
sorrow
and come to her,
regardless of their alignment.
She was originally the goddess of
Innocence,
but following her corruption by
Takhisis, and her later trials, the Goddess of
Tears
is her final outcome. Most of the gods in the pantheon accept and welcome her, except for
Chemosh,
who is opposed to her in all things.
Mina dwells alone in the Ethereal Plane,
rather than living with the other god, and
refuses to accept clerics or worshipers.
She does not grant spells to anyone, but instead
sometimes directly intervenes on behalf of those who pray to her,
though she is always mindful of the magnitude and nature of these, lest her actions disrupt the
balance.
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i'm addicted to this song then until now. ❤
