Paragon

From RPGnet
Revision as of 09:49, 10 August 2019 by Tolknor (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

Paragon-city.jpg

Paragon Fallen

"In the Dawn of Time, in the fullness of folly, by the foes of Entropy, in the darkest depth of the stuff of Chaos, was created the Paragon, to stand, and to fall, in the forces of fire."

Swayvil I

The first brush of law to assault the realm of chaos, fallen. Paragon was a single plain, a vast flat rock, filled with lands, realms, and wonders. One hundred thousand miles on all 9 sides, it was a gigantic reality. But it was flawed.



Hariswiee the Broken and the Creation of Paragon

The creation of Paragon is steeped in mystery. Long before a squealing babe left his mothers belly to be named Dworkin, in the reign of High Lord Vargest, long before the first Swayvil breathed air, the blood of a primal beast was willingly spread upon the Rock Paras. The inscription was slowly drawn as a ritual of great power but with no suspicion from the observers what effect it would have. As it was inscribed a Lord of Chaos basked gloriously in the mighty waves of power emanating from the new thing.

Hariswiee the Just, master of the Forces of Sway, feared the beast Entropy, growing in the far reaches of Chaos, devouring all behind it and leaving naught to be known behind it. While most lords cared not, seeing it as merely one more distraction and creation in Chaos, Hariswiee knew it was a devouring beast and all chaos would fall against it, unless some creation was created to stand against it.

The lords considered it quite an exciting event, this act of creation, right up until the moment of its completion. Then the reality of it tore at their power, forever reducing the powers of the Lords of Chaos, taking from each a portion of their passion and power.

To detail the wars of Paragon is the effort of centuries. For millenniums in chaos war raged on the construct, eventually even Entropy came against it, cutting a swath of non-existence across Chaos. In a mighty battle three things occurred.

The first was that a young and powerful sorcerer caused a creation of permanence, a contradiction of Law and Chaos, to manifest with the aide of the Primal Creature known as the Serpent. The Logrus manifested and Entropy reeled away against it, throwing his full might against Paragon in reflex.

Second was Entropy taking a bite out of the edge of paragon, severing the inscription causing the permanence of Paragon. The Breaking of Paragon caused Hariswiee to go mad for a time, from which he never fully recovered. It also stunned Entropy so horribly that it was unable to defend itself.

Lastly sorcerer lords of chaos threw all of their might into a construct to multiply the power of a Artifact of Creation, a tomb. The vast swath of non-existence was drawn within the tomb, encased by the powers of creation and the death curses of a million sorcerer lords of Chaos. The wickedest Lords, who eventually became the Abysmal Lords, surrounded it. Entropy was moved within the tomb and sealed, hopefully for all time.

Paragon began to unravel. Though it took ten thousand years, pieces of the edge of Paragon were broken off by wars against it, adventurers, treasure seekers and deathwalkers. Hariswiee fought valiantly but when only 100,000 miles of the inscription remained in tact, when only one of the 9 sides still held, the last corner was broken. Then the final 100,000 miles crumbled away to shards in a day. Hariswiee went into a coma, swept away by followers to a long convalescence.

The fall of Paragon is part of the ancient origins of chaos. Not often talked about or studied. But Hariswiee lives, and heals, and becomes less mad.

Artifacts of Paragon

There are three categories of artifacts of Paragon:Stones, Shards, Items.

  • Stones of Paragon are rocks from the structure of Paragon and have no inscription. They are potent magical focuses and inscribing tools.
  • Shards of Paragon are fragments of the actual Inscription of Paragon. Most are small, since the inscription shattered, some are sizable.

Fragments can be of almost any size. One fragment is the Rock Paragon, holding 9% of the Inscription. These fragments have varieties of powers. These items were sought by adventurers, sorcerers, and other collectors. Nearly all Shards are able to hold up 4 spells usuable by non-sorcerers who are attuned to their shard.

They are scattered throughout chaos and shadow. In Chaos they form little pockets of reality, fragile, temporary, even if long termed. The shards are frequently sought by a secret society, the Lords of Paragon, hoping to one day reunite the shards and rebuild Paragon.

Well Known Shards of Paragon

  • Rock Paragon

The Rock Paragon is a large chunk of the landmass, that remains intact, of the realm the Sigil once created.. It contains enough of the Inscription of Paragon and a sizable amount of the actual structure of the realm to remain whole. There is a sprawling collection of stoas surrounding a small complex of ancient buildings. One, a cathedral of sorts has a stairway that goes deep into the rock to a magnificent cavern. Among the stalactites and stalagmites is a full quarter of the original Sigil of Paragon.

The Rock Paragon contains a 12.2 million sq miles of surface land, roughly the size of Africa, with the depth of over 100 miles. It has 9% of the original inscription.

This realm is a bastion of Order in the midst of Chaos. It is a little over 400 square miles large and is slightly oval shaped with a surrounding and interwoven river that surrounds the landmass. The rim is surrounded by several hundred yards of densely packed forests. The center area is a well-manicured garden maze of hedges and flowering plants. Hundreds of small sitting areas are found in the maze, each unique with fountains, statues, central trees, bowers, pocket gardens and topiary displays. In the largest open place is a watery area with a single dwelling that has outcroppings over the pools and streams that surround the estate.

The Sage of Catala lives in this manse and his servants tend to the garden as well as his needs. Catala holds one of the best known Shards of Paragon. It retains 23% of the original Sigil undamaged.

      • Birasarquis

Biras is a small rock to be holding a 7% inscription. It is 13 sq meters and between 1 & 9 inches thick.


Powers

  • 5 Pips Basic Imprint
  • 10 Pips Advanced Imprint

Stones of Paragon

The powers of the Stones of Paragon vary. Some are ubiquitous.

  • Purify Water, Heat and chill liquids.
  • Wielder may have a sense when they are being lied to, as a function of the innate power of Order.
  • Detect other pieces of the Rock Paragon or the Shards of Paragon

The Powers of Shards of Paragon

  • Holder of the Shard-Uninitiated
  • Cloaks the holder's ability to use High Order Sorcery
  • Rack and use a certain numbers of spells depending on the stone. Usually 1 to 3. A sorcerer installs the spell, then a non-sorcerer can activate the spells.
  • Purify Water, Heat and chill liquids
  • Wielder may have a sense when they are being lied to, a function of the innate power of Order.
  • Detect other Stones and Shards of Paragon
  • Holder of the Shard-Initiated-Has assayed their stone.
    • Holds the Sigil of Paragon
    • Sorcerers may summon a Sigil of High Order for many uses.
    • Initiates of the Stone gain a frame of 4 spells that may be used by non-sorcerers
    • Initiates of the stone with the skill of Sorcery can access a frame of 8 Major spells and 12 minor spells.
    • May be used to Inscribe as a High Order Inscribing Tool
    • May use High Order Sorcery and empower spells of High Order Initiations if the holder has Sorcery.
    • Greatly boosts Low Order Magics.
    • Initiates of a Shard of Paragon gain access to one Shadow-The contents of the shard's choosing.