Research notes

* Triumph of Athanasia - Building in the shadowfell that has imprisoned a soul. Technically non-magical. Surrounded with an anti-magic field.
	+ Whose soul is inside? What's its deal? Who made it and why?
* Gromchsl
	+ Double the amount of swarm farm, ~double the HP \* See Bone Colussus stats above

* "Famous souls of the Shadowfell" - is this like a district in the Shadowfell or something? or just weird phrasing?

* Bonus topic: the Pirate Kobold Scramtooth

#### Triumph of Athanasia

* An esoteric and rambling gith journal of an githzerai wizard from an unknown amount of long time ago, Jel Jel-mel Mel, who was studying the manipulation and connection of souls. "... Now I've thought of many things but the damned horse keeps dying and I have to keep bringing it back. It's like this journal and the pieces of paper that keep removing themselves ... [rants on for a bit] ... through my frustration I planeshifted the damn thing to the plane of fire, and awakened the three swans. It sure surprised me when they squawked for at least an hour and a half before going up in flames. The flames were each similar, nothing of note between the different personalities of the swans despite my earlier predictions of attitude vs. chemical composition ... [rambles on] ... There must be something about the Soul Connection requiring the entities to be on different planes of existences for it to work. If they are on the same plane, they just die normally. There also seems to be a connection between the stubborness of the horse and the tendency of the larger fowl to bicker over scraps. Unfortunately I lost the horse's remains to the fire winds so I'll need to start the whole Soul Balancing processes again from scratch ..."

#### The Rage

* Dawnbringer Crusades: an unfinished epic poem highlighting a religious crusade into the Shadowfell about a century ago. It was carried out by a group of fanatical followers of The Silver Flame, diety of  Life, Light, and War. 200+ clerics and paladins coordinated an all out attack on Thun'ancharar. The epic poem is obviously some kind of first draft that was being written as the events unfolded. The incursion went very well, within a day and a half the city was almost completely cleansed and occupied. At the end of the second day a great, starry dragon appeared and requested a parley. The conversation seemed to go well, she formally surrendered the city, and seemed to only want to learn more about them and hear how they did their great victory. Much boasting was done. Finally the great starry dragon seemed to have had enough and flew upwards into the dark, shadow sky. The ending passage is incomplete and seems confused. It speaks of a flash and 7 blinding streaks of bright energy soaring across the sky, each with a different direction. Then everyone being returned precisely back to the very opening war charge of the crusade exactly 2 days ago. Heavy with deja-vu, they attacked Thun'ancharar once again, and once again succeeded, though with more difficulty. The starry dragon didn't show up this time, and after precisely 2 days they were once again they were forced back in time. This time they seemed to be countered perfectly at every battle. The anonymous author seemed to simply stop writing at a certain point when their defeat was obvious, leaving the epic poem unfinished.

#### Shadowfell

* Shadowfell excerpt Bree found while researching:
	+ Famous Souls of The Shadowfell by Terry the Traveler, a strange tourism guide of traveling in the ethereal plane through the shadowfell to see the strange and wonderous entities it contains. It contains some mild warnings about Madness and breathing at the end, but they seem to be almost in legalese and a technicality.  "… Next we'll travel closer to the south foothill, by now you've probably gotten used to the annoying intrusions of the wraiths into the ethereal plane. We made it a game, placed bets on how many and how often, trading spell slots and healing potions depending on who won… Okay here it is! A undeniably intriguing construct of ancient past, the Triumph of Athanasia is now before you! It's minimalistic architecture almost seems out of place among the ruins around you. But the real question is… Why would a building be in the Famous souls of the Shadowfell? Spectacularly, it's the only inanimate structure on record that naturally houses a soul itself. Unlike a magic jar or Soul cage there is no actual magical effect. Even with a boldly created anti-magic field, the soul is truely housed there, and will be forever unless someone decides to take the whole thing down. Side note: be careful if exiting the ethereal plane to get a better look (or cast spells…), it seems the great undead remains of Gromchsl himself is strangely attracted to this building. He's got good taste! Next up we're going to hunt down the roaming undead body of pirate Kobold Scramtooth, who famously … [continues unrelated]"
* Winter Holiday in The Shadowfell, a work by Laurina Von Tartonnolin, self proclaimed arch-vampire of the Mideast region. The seemingly auto-biographical story takes place in an upscale and old part of Letich, the Wheel. 14-year-old Laurina Von Tartonnolin lives with her father Tychan and his mother Mrs Tartonnolin. Laurina Von Tartonnolin works at the Letich postal service, sorting and delivering items. One Winter Holiday Eve, Laurina Von Tartonnolin secretly decides to sort Winter Holiday presents addressed to rich people into a separate bag and instead deliver them to the people of the Shadowfell, who receive no presents. After being asked by Mrs Tartonnolin about a porcelain plate meant for Tychan that had been not be delivered, Laurina decides to be open and honest to her parents about what she has done. This makes Mrs Tartonnolin cry and makes Tychan seriously upset at her for what she has done, calling him a communist and sending her to bed early that night. The next day Tychan forces Laurina Von Tartonnolin to visit every person whose presents he had misdelivered to apologise. When she and Tychan visit these rich people the following day, they find that each home has a Shadowfell undead entity visiting and thanking them for the preset. Laurina and Tychan are met with positive reactions from everyone.  Laurina Von Tartonnolin is eventually celebrated as a hero by the various negatively-affected people by being tossed into the air in the midst of cries of ”hip hip hooray”. The story ends with Tychan proclaiming Laurina Von Tartonnolin a good vampire.

#### Nuitari

* Pro civilization
* aims for followers that want to be societal elites and live forever
* "life is a bane that should never have happened in the first place."
* she wants to snuff out life and replace with "undeath"
* Religious translation of Nuitari holy book:
	+ In a religous translation of a Nuitari holy book you find an accounting of a battle from Malaeragoth's youth, still barely an Adult, it describes the Lord of the Fifth of hell, Prince Levistus, decided he was going to take the Shadowfell for himself and did a full invasion, and almost succeeded until… "And as the tides turned against them and things grew dire Her frustration grew and She called for the divine intervention of the Everlasting. With shattering success, the Everlasting saw She was finally worthy and gave her the reins of the ancient defenses. Across the Shadowfell the seven towers ignited as She activated The Rage. Now it is Her Rage. May Her Rage save us again and again."
* Different Nuitari holy book:
	+ In a different translation of the Nuitari holy book you find common concept of Balance, it generally goes on that complete destruction is foolish, and even non-believers have many uses. It talks of a revered human entity known as Vudunxi famously created a whole thriving city of gnomes within a demiplane of his own, inserting a piece of his soul into each of the thousands of complacent, unknowing, and now immortal inhabitants, prolonging his life as long as the city thrives. It implies that all mortal entities must find a Balance such as this or will ultimately succumb to time. In a section of the book following Malaeragoth's path to being a prophet you find "Malaeragoth found her Balance. While they taught her to create a multitude, she instead found an equal and opposite. She found one equally powerful being who also thought far into the future and could not turn down eternal life. They joined and the being became The Will. The Balanced pair saw to ensure their immortality by doing something else unheard of, and thus was created the Triumph of Athanasia. A three pointed pattern joining two souls. Now Malaeragoth and the Will are unbreakable opposites."

#### The Will

* Book of an ancient account of an exploring archaelogist/architect studying the destroyed remains of a plane called Mechanus:
	+ "A virtually undocumented magical multi-structure seven towers has been attributed with saving the great metropolis again and again, though no journals or records show what it actually does, just that they are called somewhat aloofly, "The Rage". Academic references state it's said to draw upon what they called the Temporal Plane, though I've never heard of such a plane myself. Likely time based in some sense, but it's anyone's guess what that even means for the seven large towers. They still seem to be still functional, unlike the rest of this great metropolis. Still humming with energy. In addition I personally noticed that a slight green glow emits from any liquids nearby."

#### Mechanus

* Plane that was destroyed and is now the Shadowfell
* Fall of Mechanus, taken from an epic poem written by Turnistus 'Timeless' Lants'deno.
	+ Reads similar to the Illiad, a retelling of a two day long battle of a city where some kind of corruption was spreading, turning people into undead. What's weird is it seems to tell the same battle in slightly different ways over and over again, each time leadership trying different approaches and tactics but each time still failing. You notice a particular repeated stanza at the end of each telling.
	+ "… Septomintron can see the fall … Quadronius predicts our end … Septotrenom calculates all … Logic was a true portend … … Without a hope to draw upon … Nothing left to clear the stage … They interfaced with power drawn … Reset their world with naught but Rage … … Defenders living, swords held high … Collapsed towers strength reattained  … Destruction once again denied  … Two days reversed, They'll try again …"
* Rage against the Mechanus, a work of fiction written by Octonitonator a.k.a. "Fiction writer" and translated into common.
	+ It tells a surprisingly straightforward and bland story of a single Modron who decides his society is illogical. He has many many conversations with other Modrons, and he convinces them. Leading to his succinct conclusion: … He agreed, so our protagonist got permission to talk to the rest of the crowd. He told them "We should instead use the central lanes of commute for broken and faulty maintenance. If one does not keep up then we should improve them." Several from the crowd said "Yes" and the others who had not said Yes then in response said "Yes". Our brave protagonist then said "Good." From then on they used the central lanes of commute for broken and faulty maintenance. They also improved machines that could not keep up with the general commute. The End. (Author's Note: This is obviously illogical, that is why it is fiction.)"

#### Material Plane

* ... Before there was the material plane there was only the four elements and their elemental planes (Air, Fire, Earth, Water). The elements battled endlessly in equilibrium. The four elements grew weary of the stalemate and each created an immense dragon. The elements carved out a neutral zone, the central planespace, where these dragons were sent to fight for dominance. They did not realize they made them too intelligent, too clever. The dragons conspired against the elements together and made a plan: each returned to its elemental plane to ask of assistance, and each was then granted the power to create and absolutely control their own element. They returned to the central planespace and all together harnessed their powers to cut off the elemental planes completely. For the fire plane they created a void with no air, for water they created an ever freezing storm, for stone they created a bottomless ocean, for air they created an rock surface that was infinitely tall and wide. With their independence secured the elemental dragons now had several entire planes of existences to mold. They mainly worked in tandem, balancing and blending each element into the world. After a time they decided each would need a place of their own to rest comfortably, so more extreme geographies were created to suit each dragon's whims. After an eternity the dragons finished, were proud of their accomplishment, and laid down for a long needed rest. While they slept, the combinations of elements they created began to interact on their own and the simple patterns and creatures they created started to change. Some life stayed true to its roots, while others grew more and more complex. The land itself began to split and stretch, forming layered planes of different types. Some overlapping, some joined at special locations.

#### Cortuum

* Split prophecies of the future, given to Nieven by the Entropy Manifestation:
	+ Left: You see the coast of the ocean with a heavily forested cliffside. In a quickly moving montage, the woods are stipped bare, replaced by buildings, farms, and roads. You see Bull's Port, except the buildings and city continues to spread inland. The view starts to shift and moves over the land. Time speeding up, you watch a series of forest and meadows removed and replaced by more farms, roads, citys, quaries. Faster and faster you move as the cities and civilization spreads across Cortuum. You can see civilization covering the entire continent. A few moments of stillness. Then your vision rushes south west, where an impossibly high wall of water rises rushing north east. Your vision circles high upwards, where the skies seems to ignite into flames, falling downwards. Vision blurs backwards, far south east, as a second wall, this one of stone, rumbles impossibly loud, breaching towards the north west. Vision shifting northward, a final immense rolling cylinder of violent, dense air moving south. All four crush inwards, centered on Cortuum, spreading immense destruction as they pass, and finally meeting in the center leaving the material plane vaporized.
	+ Right: A flash of green and you see you see all the cities of Cortuum abandoned and overrun by nature, except for one. A single large city built into the side of a large, peaked mountain range, currently under seige. Hundreds of beasts and creatures, even the trees themselves attacking and closing in on the city, killing those left inside. It seems to fast foward as the woods patiently enclose and eventually cover the city, reducing the walls and buildings to rubble before overgrowth reclaims it. A moment of stillness. Then the mountains themselves start shifting, cracking open the landscape around it, utterly destroying it. As it opens, what looks like a shoulder pulls out, and a giant, black scaled arm pulls free and grasps the ground. Your vision speeds to the north, the permafrozen tundras, where a large frozen, sparse river splits wide. Within, a huge white-scaled tail rises from the resulting chasm. Vision rushes to the west, where a rocky, huge desert plateau sinks into the surrounding sand leaving a gigantic sink hole. From the large hole a giant red-scaled wing stretches upwards. Finally, your vision rushes south where a swell of water is pulsing upwards, your vision dives deep, deep into the water, past the darkness, where a tremendous, slitted dragon eye blinks open as it moves towards the surface.

#### **Guardians**

##### **Thun'ashes Guardian: A small group of Külmking**

* This creature's long, horse-like body has far too many legs with multiple arms that end in rending claws, while its misshapen head has a fanged maw used for rending flesh and sucking out souls.
* -Cursed Defiler. When a creature chooses to go out of its way to harm forests or other wildlands, fey spirits can curse it to become a külmking. This twisted, horrified undead is forced to become guardian to the lands it once corrupted.
* -Stalker of Fey. Though a külmking must follow the wording of its curse to protect the lands to which it is tied, it is a vindictive spirit and will often hunt fey who enter its domain. It delights in terrorizing small sprites and gentle bearfolk alike.
* -Sound of a Thousand Hooves. The sound of a külmking's hooves on cobblestones or stony ground often echoes and re-echoes, sounding like a stampede or a much larger company of horses. Occasionally, a pair of külmkings will pull a carriage for vampires, ghouls, or liches.

##### Uasch'k Guardian: Polukranos with a guard of several Scurvers

* Polukranos, called the World Eater, is the mortal manifestation of the eternal ideal of a hydra.
* Scurvers are rotfiends' larger cousins. The bodies of these hideous, vaguely humanoid creatures are covered in rotten scraps of flesh, under which lurk even more rotten muscles stretched around a strong, flexible skeleton. Scurvers, which feed on old, rotting corpses, prefer to make their hunting grounds in abandoned torture sites, forgotten graveyards, and old battlefields. They are very aggressive and, though they feed on corpses, if they come across a living person they are likely to attack.

##### Daul'chiin Guardian: Cluster of Telepathic Pentacles with a few Wormhearted Suffragan

* Telepathic Pentactles: Months before Ythryn's fall, a circle of mages known as the Telepathic Pentacle tried to fuse their minds together to become a conjoined telepathic force. The procedure went terribly wrong, and their bodies and minds melded into a single monstrosity.

* Wormhearted suffragans are devoted followers of Qorgeth, demon lord of worms, who they believe is the servant and forerunner of a dark goddess of worms and decay.

##### Dul'mur'chiin Guardian: Ghost Dragon, Hollow Dragon

* Both seemed to long ago be one entity, but with the fall of the shadowfell the soul split into the ghost, and the mechanical split into the hollow dragon. Both are compelled to guard the Rage tower at Dul'mur'chiin

##### Thun'ancharar Guardian: Nightwalker and a horde of ghouls

* Nightwalker: The Negative Plane is a place of death, anathema to all living things. Yet there are some who would tap into its fell power and use its energy for sinister ends. Most individuals prove unequal to the task. Those not destroyed outright are sometimes drawn inside the plane and replaced by nightwalkers—terrifying Undead creatures that devour all life they encounter.
* One can reach the Negative Plane from the Shadowfell in places where the barrier between the planes is thin. Stepping onto the Negative Plane is almost always fatal since the plane sucks the life and soul from creatures, annihilating most at once. The few who survive by sheer luck or by harnessing some rare form of protective magic soon discover that they can't leave as easily as they arrived. Worse, for each creature that enters the plane, a nightwalker is released to take its place. In order for a trapped creature to escape, the released nightwalker must be lured back to the Negative Plane by offerings of life for it to devour. If the nightwalker is destroyed, the trapped creature has no hope of escape.

##### Sphearr Ulpre Guardian: Hym, with a pet Death Tyrant

* Death Tyrant: On rare occasions, a beholder's sleeping mind drifts to places beyond its normal madness, imagining a reality in which it exists beyond death. When such dreams take hold, a beholder can transform, its flesh sloughing away to leave a death tyrant behind.
* Hym: “Some men have got good reason to fear their own shadows. A tyrant slowly looses grip over his kingdom, shutting out all his advisers, accusing his most loyal knights of plotting against him. The father that drown his children during the last famine screams at them in the street, asking for forgiveness one second and cursing them the other. These are all signs of hym's haunting. These wraith torment the guilty, the wicked and the mad, driving them always further down the path of insanity.”

### Library Info

#### Room with orbs

* Blackish(?) orb - took Savu to Trennan into a Githyanki barracks
* Deep red orb - took Bree to the Abyss
* Beige/canvas orb - took Janus to a modron airship cruising in the Feywild
* Greyish orb - took Tiido to the Shadowfell (middle of the woods, some sort of creatures nearby)