Post by ancientempathy on Sept 1, 2009 2:06:59 GMT -5
Lord of the Dead, Judge of the Damned
When mortals die, their souls are drawn to the Fugue Plane. Most of this place is flat, gray, bland and nondescript. With no notable topographical features. The spirits of the dead gather here, usually unaware that they have died. From time to time (anywhere from once a day to over a tenday, depending on the deities involved), the powers send representatives--usually outsiders of the appropriate alignment--to the Fugue Plane to gather the souls of their own worshipers.
A worshiper’s soul automatically recognizes an agent of its own deity, knows that it needs to go with that agent, and cannot be deceived by any means into following the agent of another divine power. The agent collects the proper souls and returns to its deity’s realm, where the worshiper serves the deity in whatever capacity necessary. Agents cannot take the worshipers of deities other than those they represent.
The Baatezu
Within the Fugue Plane lurk small enclaves of baatezu. By agreement with Kelemvor, the god of the dead, they cannot harm or trick the waiting souls. However, the devils are allowed to explain to the souls that they are dead and awaiting the arrival of a divine messenger to take them back to their deity’s realm. At this point, the devils attempt to bargain with souls.
The baatezu want souls that they can use to create lemures (the lowest sort of deil), which over time are transformed into more powerful devils in the service of the Nine Hells. While this probably isn’t appealing to most souls, those who are pledged to evil deities or fear what punishments they may suffer in their respective deity’s realm might jump at the opportunity to escape that fate. After all, in the hells you certainly know where you stand and have the opportunity for promotion, with the remote possibility of advancing to the level of a pit fiend. As a servant of an evil deity, you are always at that deity’s whim and have no guarantee of being anything other than an expendable, insignificant slave.
In exchange for consigning themselves to the Nine Hells, souls may be offered early promotions from lemure to another form of devil, material riches for friends or family in Faerun, or the execution of devilish attacks on their still-living enemies on their behalf. Especially powerful souls may bargain for automatic transformation into something other than a lemure. The success rate of the baatezu is low, but given the number of beings that die each day across Faerun, even a small portion of that number results in enough of a gain for the hells that it’s worth the fiends’ time.
The City of Judgment
The shared realm of Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead, and Jergal, Scribe of the Doomed, comprises a portion of the Fugue Plane. This realm, called the Crystal Spire, stands in the center of the region known as the City of Judgment. The city itself is a gray, bland, tightly packed metropolis populated by the judged dead.
While most souls wander the Fugue Plane until their deity calls them, the Faithless and the False are compelled to enter the city and be judged by Kelemvor. The Faithless firmly denied any faith or only gave lip service to the gods for most of their lives without truly believing. The False intentionally betrayed a faith they believed in and to which they had made a personal commitment.
All of the Faithless receive the same punishment: They form a living wall around the City of Judgment, held together by a supernatural greenish mold. This mold prevents them from escaping the wall and eventually breaks down their substance until the soul and its consciousness are dissolved.
The False are punished according to their crimes in life and serve their sentence in the City of Judgment for eternity. Nearly all of the beings in the city are members of the False, the rest being deceased followers of Jergal and Kelemvor who enact the will of their deities upon the doomed souls. Depending upon the severity of their crimes, some of the False may receive relatively light punishments, such as escorting visiting baatezu or patrolling the city for unauthorized guests. Others are punished in ways that would surprise the cruelest demon.
As part of his agreement with the baatezu, Kelemvor allows a few groups of devils to torment the citizens of the city. There is no respite for the False unless Kelemvor wills it, and in his tenure he has not been known to change his mind. Furthermore, once Kelemvor has made his judgment, the soul cannot be raised or resurrected without the intervention of a deity (represented by at least the use of a “miracle” or “wish” spell), who will almost certainly have to negotiate with Kelemvor.
The Tanar’ri
While the lawful baatezu have a contract with Kelemvor that allows them to acquire souls, the chaotic tanar’ri employ another method: They steal them. From time to time, a demon ruler creates a portal between the Abyss and the Fugue Plane. Dozens of servitor demons spill through the opening to claw a hole in the wall of the Faithless, tearing some of the doomed free to be brought back to the Abyss. The demons then raid the city, gathering as many souls as they can before retreating. The minions of Kelemvor and Jergal act as guards and soldiers against these attacks, as do the devils, who are always willing to take on their ancient enemies. Kelemvor tolerates these attacks if they are not too frequent and don’t cause much collateral damage.
However, when the demons become greedy, some of Kelemvor or Jergal’s divine servants are taken, or Kelemvor feels he needs to teach the demons a lesson, he steps up his realm’s defenses or makes raids into the Abyss to harass as many demons as possible. He prefers sorties and campaigns that make the demon rulers look weak and ineffectual. These reprisals are rarely needed and primarily serve to keep the number of tanar’ri attacks low.
Creatures of the Outer Planes
In addition to deities and the souls of their followers, outsiders of many shapes, sizes, and temperaments inhabit the planes. These native creatures include planar animals, guardinals, tieflings, and elemental creatures. Within the realm of a divine power, the natives are loyal to that deity. Creatures native to a plane shared by several deities have an affinity for all of them.
On their home planes, these creatures are the natives and therefore not subject to outsider-based warding magic (such as the bodily contact prevent aspect of “protection from evil” spells, if evil) or attacks that would send them back to their home plane. Note that in the planes and realms it is still possible to use summoning spells, although quite often a summoned creature of like alignment to the current plane is actually summoned from the plane the caster is on, much as with a “summon nature’s” ally spell.
Spells such as “summon monster” and other effects that bring outsiders to Toril follow rules based on the nature and resonance of Toril and its associated planes. All summoned outsiders come from a realm or plane appropriate or similar to their alignment and type. The deity living in a realm determines a realm’s alignment, and a plane created and shared by several deities reflect all of the alignments of the powers living there. If a priest summons a creature that is appropriate to his deity’s plane or realm, the creature actually comes from there.
For example, an outsider dog brought by “summon monster I” has a lawful good alignment and comes from any plane or realm that has a lawful good alignment, such as the realm of Torm (a lawful good deity) or the Golden Hills (a plane inhabited by lawful good, neutral good, and neutral deities). An outsider eagle brought by “summon monster II” has a chaotic good alignment and comes from the realm of Sune (a chaotic good deity) or from Arvandor (a plane inhabited by neutral good, chaotic good, and chaotic neutral deities). A neutral evil salamander might be a native of the Elemental Plane of Fire (because it is a fire creature), the realm of Shar (neutral evil), or the Plane of Fury’s Heart (chaotic evil, neutral evil).
//From the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting sourcebook, pgs. 258-259