Hecate's Forge

[Stryker25B]

I decided that to continue my contest entry from last month would be a little on the easy side and in the interest of brushing up my writing skills I should write about something new. However, having already written a contest entry for it, and not wanting the words to be orphaned and alone, I decided to post them here after some revision thanks to not having a word limit.

This concept grew immensely to the point that I think I've started a new homebrew from it. At the very least it would make a nice module that can easily be placed in any number of fantasy worlds so I think I'll work on that next.

Currently this still falls within the contest guidelines in that it had to be written for a setting other than my own setting. I chose Terra by khyron1144 hence the references to Terra, Arcanum, and the Great University.

[ic=Hecate's Forge]

Deep below to earth of Arcanum lies the stasis-sealed tower housing Hecate's Forge- the greatest achievement and final blunder of the magical item craftsman Rastilbaum. Rastilbaum, a human mage of no small power, created the forge as a set of tools, linked to myriad planes of existence, in order to craft artifacts the likes of which mortals have never seen. Driven from the Great University by his fellow wizards for his highly dangerous experiments, Rastilbaum crafted the forge in his tower in the wilds of Arcanum.

Rastilbaum dabbled in most areas of the arcane, but took a very keen interest in imbuing items with magical properties; specifically the raw energies of other planes of existence. The old mage spent decades dedicated to perfecting the art of crafting magical items and the methods through which to do so. He eventually devised the idea of the forge as the greatest magical workshop ever known.

The fires of Hecate's Forge were fed directly from the elemental plane of fire and a magical bellows tied to the plane of air. A pocket connected to the plane of earth gave the craftsman immediate access to all manner of metals from the plane of earth and once forged those metals could be quenched in a tub that continually refilled itself from the plane of water. Other tools maintained permanent links to other planes, such as the celestial realm or the abyss and myriad others in order to infuse items with properties of those planes. It was all in all the greatest magical item workshop in existence, and ultimately one of the most ill-advised creations in the history of magical study.

Nobody knows what exactly went awry, but likewise nobody doubts that a disaster was inevitable. With so many portals open to so many planes, there were just too many things that could go wrong. Despite all of Rastilbaum's precautions the tower was torn apart by the multitude of energies contained within the forge. When word reached the Great University, a group was assembled and dispatched to assess the area of the magical disaster and recover anything important from the site.

When outriders from the Great University arrived the tower had somehow managed pulled itself back together into a warped parody of what it once was. The structure itself appears to be constantly in flux, parts burning while completely covered in ice, spires crumbling in to mud flows only to sprout again as enormous horned claws. Gibbering murmurs, divine hymns, and demonic laughter all seemed to be issuing from the depths of the structure simultaneously, interspersed with screams of pain and the roars of unknown beasts.

The few mages the Great University sent inside to investigate were never heard from again. The leader of the group, in a moment of cowardice, decided that "out of sight, out of mind" would be the best course of action. The tower itself was sealed with powerful stasis spells then teleported miles below the surface to prevent the roiling planar energies that continually reshaped the outward appearance of the structure from spilling into the surrounding landscape. The same spells that lock the outside of the tower in one moment in time force time within the walls to move at a highly accelerated rate. For every day that passes outside the walls, a year lapses within.
The inside of the tower maintains it original appearance despite the outer facade of planar warping. The resemblance ends when one ventures through any doorway, ascends any staircase, or gazes out any window. When the tower was torn apart and subsequently reassembled itself, each link to a plane became a gateway to a vast, but finite, demi-planes sheared from wherever the original link connected. Through these portals, the displaced denizens of the planes make war on each other, each faction vying for control of Hecate's Forge at the heart of the tower.

Some of the factions hope to use the forge as a means to reconnect the severed territories to their original planes of existence. Others seek the great workshop to arm themselves with the power to shatter the stasis barriers and wreak havoc upon Terra. For almost 16 millennia, the factions have fought for control of the Forge Worlds, yet none have ever managed to hold power for long enough to see their plans to fruition. Those that might take the forge for themselves find that the soul of Rastilbaum was fused with the device and in his time-tempered madness he lashes out sooner or later at any that seek to control his creation. It is this constant strife that truly separates the Forge Worlds from the rest of Terra, not the woefully inadequate stasis wards.

The people of Terra go about their lives. None of them, from the weakest beggar to the mightiest archmage know of the catastrophic hazard waiting to be unleashed in the depths below Arcanum. Should the wards ever be breached, countless planar creatures would pour forth into the world and the flames of war would destroy everything in their wake.

[/ic]

[khyron1144]

This is really nifty stuff.  Do you mind if I nick at least the short writeup from the April contest for the main Terra thread?  I will give you full credit of course.

[Stryker25B]

You can take the whole writeup from here if you like. I cleaned it up as best I could, I just felt that the original contest entry lacked completeness.

[khyron1144]

You can take the whole writeup from here if you like. I cleaned it up as best I could, I just felt that the original contest entry lacked completeness.

Thank you.  I just copied it over to the main Terra thread.
Help yourself to a badge if you like; you have made a real and valuable contribution that will shape Terra in days to come.

In order to claim the badge, copy and paste the following code into your signature, if you care to

[Stryker25B]

Wow, my first badge!

Thanks khyron! It's very gratifying to know that I created something that fits so well in someone else's world that they added it to the main thread. I'm glad you think I captured the essence of Arcanum!

-Stryker

[khyron1144]

One of my goals for Terra is to make it like Greyhawk or The Forgotten Realms not in terms of being generic vanilla fantasy D&D-land, but in being a world that you don't have to be Gary or Ed to build something that fits in perfectly.

[Stryker25B]

I hear that. Hecate's Forge was born from my love of Ravenloft and Forgotten Realms.