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Android

2019-08-05T01:16:52Z

2605:E000:7EC5:A000:61CB:5177:DBDA:C688: /* Androids in Star Wars */

[[File:Starfinderandroid.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|An android from [[Starfinder]]. Sick mohawk, brah.]]
An '''android''' is described by most scientific outlets and professionals as any kind of [[robot]] designed to physically resemble a human being, both in appearance and behaviour. The concept of machines acting and looking like humans has been a very common idea for discussion in science fiction and scientific speculation, and the concept has been explored in many ways throughout history. This, of course, has meant that the idea has been developed and used by many authors of science fiction and fantasy writing, and it's frequently represented in many tabletop games and settings.

It is important to take into consideration that the original concept doesn't necessarily need the android to be an electronic-based creation; that idea appeared alongside the developement of computer science and AIs. Because of this, the idea of android is not limited to sci-fi settings, but it can also be included in fantasy settings.

Do ''not'' confuse with cyborgs. A cyborg is an amalgamation of a living being with artificial parts, whereas the android is fully artificial. Take that, whoever translated Dragon Ball!

==Origins of the concept==
The idea of machines looking and acting like us is not a recent topic of discussion. The first people to develop this idea were the ancient Greeks with their "αὐτόματον", complex artificial constructs designed to follow a series of instructions, usually resembling the human form. One of the most famous of them was Talos, a bronze automaton designed and created by the god Hephaestus (although in some versions the author is a mortal inventor) as a request by Zeus, and with the task of protecting Zeus's lover Europa. Talos's job consisted in guarding the island of Crete to avoid any potential threat to reach Europa.

Also one of the most famous takes of the android is the Jewish tale of the [[golem]]. A being magically animated created out of clay, it appears frequently in ancient Jewish folklore, although the most famous version of the myth is the Golem of Prague, where a rabbi created a golem to protect the Jewish community of the city, and had to dispose of the thing after that, usually after a series of violent events.

The first takes of the modern android, a machine based on science and technology instead of magic or divine powers, appeared during the 19th century in some speculative histories about "mechanical dolls". The term would not become popular until George Lucas brought the word "droid" into Star Wars. If a droid was just a robot, an android is a droid that looks like a human ("anthrop-" is the Greek root for "human being"; the term "gynoid" is derived from the same principle and used to describe droids that resemble women. Of course, the idea in modern media was older than that (see the movie Metropolis for a very early interpretation in cinema), but they usually just used the world robot, which is not as precise as it should be.

==Actual developement of androids==
Nowadays, the developement of human-like robots has risen in popularity, although the results usually fall right into the uncanny valley. Seriously, just look at some of those Japanese androids they show on those technology showcases, and tell me you don't get the creeps. The investigation also focus on the AIs, in particular those that allow self-learning. But as of now, they look and act very dumb. So your dream of getting your own robot girl is still too far. Don't lie, you want one.

==Androids in Star Wars==
The (trademarked) name "Droid" is obviously derived from "android". Despite this, while many droids in [[Star Wars]] have a roughly humanoid shape and artificial skin is old tech that has existed for a long time (a ''long'' time), very few droids could pass for human. The first known droid that pretended to be human did so merely by pretending to never meet in person and projecting a hologram of its "owner" and pretending they were elsewhere. That of course, doesn't really count.

It was not until the era of the Empire that droids capable of passing for human went anywhere. The first attempt came shortly after the fall of the Republic and was so disastrously deep in the uncanny valley it killed the company behind it. Despite this Imperial scientists, well aware of their value as infiltrators, continued working on them. A decade latter they produced droids that could pass for human to all but thorough medical tests and were explicitly capable of sex. The Rebellion experimented with the concept as well, but didn't produce anything till after the Battle of Endor (by which time they had already encountered Imperial examples) and those they did were crude and malfunction prone. In the New Republic era one of the surviving Imperial examples began producing further examples based on her own design.

Saga Edition is the only one of the Star Wars RPGs to stat replica droids out for PC use, giving them stats in ''Threats of the Galaxy''. They are stated as a humanoid race with some droid traits instead of a type of droid. The others do mention their existence and the way droids work in D6 and FFG's system makes it easy to roll a droid PC and say it's a replica droid.

==Examples of androids in D&D==
Purely technological Androids are a rare sight in D&D,;however there are a truckload of golems, magically empowered automata and races of [[Modron|weird]] [[Inevitable|mechanical]] celestial beings that fit the larger bill. Actual androids do appear as enemies you can face in the classic [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] adventure module [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks]], in which you explore what is ultimately revealed to be a crashed spaceship module from the [[Metamorphosis Alpha]].

[[Pathfinder]], being more willing to embrace the more gonzo and [[Science Fantasy]] aspects of old-school D&D, has a subsetting called Numeria, which is basically a glorious homage to the aforementioned module with a dash of [[Conan the Barbarian]]: it's a region of [[Golarion]] where a hyper-advanced spaceship crashed centuries ago. As such, the region is crawling with robots of various shapes and sizes, whilst androids - artificial humanoids who're basically super-realistic [[warforged]] in practice - are a player race that emerged from that region. Androids don't sleep, but they do eat, drink, breath and excrete: "Though they have secondary sexual characteristics and can engage in and enjoy intercourse, androids have no functional reproductive organs and cannot procreate." (Starfinder, for some reason, requires they sleep but does not require them to breathe, even though they're supposed to be the same species.)

::Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
::Size: Medium
::Base Speed: 30 feet
::Alert: +2 racial bonus to Perception checks.
::Emotionless: -4 racial penalty to Sense Motive checks. Can never gain moral bonuses. Immune to fear and emotion-based effects.
::Exceptional Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Low-Light Vision.
::Constructed: Androids count as both Humanoids and Constructs for effects that target creature type. +4 racial bonus on saves against mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison and stun. Immune to fatigue, exhaustion, disease and sleep.
::Nanite Surge: 1/day, as an immediate action, an android can trigger its nanites before making a D20 roll to gain a (3 + character level) bonus. When this ability is used, the android's circuitry-tattoos glow, causing them to give off light equivalent to a torch for 1 round.

Alternate Racial Trait: Repairing Nanites - Replaces Nanite Surge.
::The first time each day that an android with this trait has taken an amount of damage greater than or equal to twice their Hit Dice, their nanites activate. They give off light equivalent to a torch for 1 round and heal a number of hit points equal to twice their hit dice.

Some androids [[Loli|look like children but have adult minds (and thus presumably still "enjoy intercourse")]]. They have small size and immortality but are otherwise identical (including 30 foot move speed and lack of strength penalty).

Since Androids can't benefit from morale bonuses, and rage is based on morale bonuses, Androids make shitty [[Barbarians]] despite their immunity to fatigue. The exception to this is the Mooncursed archetype, which replaces the morale bonuses to rage with [[Transformers#Beast_Wars|transformation into an animal]] (But mostly tiger, since they get pounce meaning they are clearly better than the other options by a long mile). [[Bard]]s, oddly enough, don't give out many morale bonuses, only the bonus against charm and fear, the late gained Inspire Heroics and some (good) spells are morale bonuses. This means they make pretty good bards if you use the Chronicler of Worlds (which replaces Inspire Heroics with a non-morale bonus effect) archetype to make an intelligence based Bard. Otherwise they make good [[Wizard]], [[Magus]] and [[Witch]] as well as most skill monkey classes, especially so for child androids as they get all the benefits of small size with few of the drawbacks.

==Examples of androids in Warhammer Fantasy and AOS==
{{stub}}

==Examples of androids in Warhammer 40k==
In the 40k lore, mankind once had to wage war against its mechanical creations, Terminator Judgement style but on steroids. After that, humanity is so paranoid of this happening again that they totally forbade the creation of AIs. They create human-like robots though, at least in the sense that their shape resembles a humanoid being. The best exampe of this are the titans, massive war machines that praise the holy human form by resembling the shape of a human (two arms, two legs, a head. That's it. So much for holy human form). In general, though, the Imperium relies much more on cyborgs, both in the way of servitors and the Adeptus Mechanicus. Chaos could in theory create some form of automata, but they rather make chaos s-THINGS! Yes!

Anyway... Outside of Mankind, the other factions that use their own shape to make artificial beings. In general, any faction that's vaguely humanoid builds constructs that resemble human forms. The best example of an android in the traditional sense are the Tau, who use massive amounts of robots and can create AIs good enough to pass as living, thinking beings. The Necrons are a particular case, due to the living Necrontyr used as a platform for the C'Tan to turn them into the mechanical Necrons. Due to this, they are technically neither cyborgs (they aren't living anymore)nor androids (they used to be alive, so they aren't fully artificially created). Automata would actually work closely with them, in the classic Graeco-Latin sense of the word. But I guess this is up to interpretation of what the Necrons actually are.

==Famous examples of androids in popular culture==
*''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (or Blade Runner, if you like films more). Humans create artificial humans as slaves, and after a revolt they hunt them all down. This is an interesting case because they are organic beings, but still artificially made, so the definition is just barely apt in this case.
*''I, Robot.'' In the classic Isaac Asimov's short story, there are some robots that could be described as android.
*''Metropolis.'' Mad science creates a robot that resembles a humble woman to bring chaos and ruin to the city.
*''The day the Earth stood still.'' An alien brings a doomsday machine in the form of a human to "peacefully" stop all wars on Earth.
*''Terminator.'' Machines rise against humanity, using human-like assassins to kill the remaining human beings.
*Marvel Comics. Characters like Vision or Ultron are thinking robots in human-like form.
*''Megaman''. The saga of a little blue android fighting other robots to keep the peace in the world.
*''NieR Automata''. Cute android fighting other androids not as cute.
*''Astro Boy''. One of the most important works in manga history, it tells the adventures of a little android that gets adopted after its original creator abandons him.
*''Lieutenant Commander Data'' from [[Star Trek|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]. Second and science officer of both the Enterprise D and E. Throughout the series and movies he displays feats of both superhuman speed and strength, such as dodging a mining laser and fighting the Borg in hand to hand combat.

==Android Monstergirls==
[[File:MGE Automaton.jpg|thumb|right|250px|What hath [[magitek]] wrought?]]
{{Monstergirls}}

They're more of an /a/, /co/ and /v/ phenomena than a /tg/ one, but robots in the shape of sexy women, ranging from "perfectly human until you see their internals" to "visibly mechanical but still sexy", are a well and truly established branch of the [[monstergirls]] family tree. What else can we say? Some guys in the late-70s/80s found their first crush in the [[succubus]], [[elf]] or [[marilith]] - others found it in Cutie Honey.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the Automaton is a mechanical [[magitek]] branch of the [[golem]] which taps into the robot-girl branch of the fetish. They're ancient lost technology golems of the "kuudere" archetype, meaning they act cold and emotionless because they can't express themselves well, but they're secretly very gentle and loving beings.

[[Category:Monsters]]
[[Category:Races]]

Android

2019-08-05T01:15:36Z

2605:E000:7EC5:A000:61CB:5177:DBDA:C688: /* Androids in Star Wars */

[[File:Starfinderandroid.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|An android from [[Starfinder]]. Sick mohawk, brah.]]
An '''android''' is described by most scientific outlets and professionals as any kind of [[robot]] designed to physically resemble a human being, both in appearance and behaviour. The concept of machines acting and looking like humans has been a very common idea for discussion in science fiction and scientific speculation, and the concept has been explored in many ways throughout history. This, of course, has meant that the idea has been developed and used by many authors of science fiction and fantasy writing, and it's frequently represented in many tabletop games and settings.

It is important to take into consideration that the original concept doesn't necessarily need the android to be an electronic-based creation; that idea appeared alongside the developement of computer science and AIs. Because of this, the idea of android is not limited to sci-fi settings, but it can also be included in fantasy settings.

Do ''not'' confuse with cyborgs. A cyborg is an amalgamation of a living being with artificial parts, whereas the android is fully artificial. Take that, whoever translated Dragon Ball!

==Origins of the concept==
The idea of machines looking and acting like us is not a recent topic of discussion. The first people to develop this idea were the ancient Greeks with their "αὐτόματον", complex artificial constructs designed to follow a series of instructions, usually resembling the human form. One of the most famous of them was Talos, a bronze automaton designed and created by the god Hephaestus (although in some versions the author is a mortal inventor) as a request by Zeus, and with the task of protecting Zeus's lover Europa. Talos's job consisted in guarding the island of Crete to avoid any potential threat to reach Europa.

Also one of the most famous takes of the android is the Jewish tale of the [[golem]]. A being magically animated created out of clay, it appears frequently in ancient Jewish folklore, although the most famous version of the myth is the Golem of Prague, where a rabbi created a golem to protect the Jewish community of the city, and had to dispose of the thing after that, usually after a series of violent events.

The first takes of the modern android, a machine based on science and technology instead of magic or divine powers, appeared during the 19th century in some speculative histories about "mechanical dolls". The term would not become popular until George Lucas brought the word "droid" into Star Wars. If a droid was just a robot, an android is a droid that looks like a human ("anthrop-" is the Greek root for "human being"; the term "gynoid" is derived from the same principle and used to describe droids that resemble women. Of course, the idea in modern media was older than that (see the movie Metropolis for a very early interpretation in cinema), but they usually just used the world robot, which is not as precise as it should be.

==Actual developement of androids==
Nowadays, the developement of human-like robots has risen in popularity, although the results usually fall right into the uncanny valley. Seriously, just look at some of those Japanese androids they show on those technology showcases, and tell me you don't get the creeps. The investigation also focus on the AIs, in particular those that allow self-learning. But as of now, they look and act very dumb. So your dream of getting your own robot girl is still too far. Don't lie, you want one.

==Androids in Star Wars==
The (trademarked) name "Droid" is obviously derived from "android". Despite this, while many droids in [[Star Wars]] have a roughly humanoid shape and artificial skin is old tech that has existed for a long time (a ''long'' time), very few droids could pass for human. The first known droid that pretended to be human did so merely by pretending to never meet in person and projecting a hologram of its "owner" and pretending they were elsewhere. That of course, doesn't really count.

It was not until the era of the Empire that droids capable of passing for human went anywhere. The first attempt came shortly after the fall of the Republic and was so disastrously deep in the uncanny valley it killed the company behind it. Despite this Imperial scientists, well aware of their value as infiltrators, continued working on them. A decade latter they produced droids that could pass for human to all but through medical tests and were explicitly capable of sex. The Rebellion experimented with the concept as well, but didn't produce anything till after the Battle of Endor (by which time they had already encountered Imperial examples) and those they did were crude and malfunction prone. In the New Republic era one of the surviving Imperial examples began producing further examples based on her own design.

Saga Edition is the only one of the Star Wars RPGs to stat replica droids out for PC use, giving them stats in ''Threats of the Galaxy''. They are stated as a humanoid race with some droid traits instead of a type of droid. The others do mention their existence and the way droids work in D6 and FFG's system makes it easy to roll a droid PC and say it's a replica droid.

==Examples of androids in D&D==
Purely technological Androids are a rare sight in D&D,;however there are a truckload of golems, magically empowered automata and races of [[Modron|weird]] [[Inevitable|mechanical]] celestial beings that fit the larger bill. Actual androids do appear as enemies you can face in the classic [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] adventure module [[Expedition to the Barrier Peaks]], in which you explore what is ultimately revealed to be a crashed spaceship module from the [[Metamorphosis Alpha]].

[[Pathfinder]], being more willing to embrace the more gonzo and [[Science Fantasy]] aspects of old-school D&D, has a subsetting called Numeria, which is basically a glorious homage to the aforementioned module with a dash of [[Conan the Barbarian]]: it's a region of [[Golarion]] where a hyper-advanced spaceship crashed centuries ago. As such, the region is crawling with robots of various shapes and sizes, whilst androids - artificial humanoids who're basically super-realistic [[warforged]] in practice - are a player race that emerged from that region. Androids don't sleep, but they do eat, drink, breath and excrete: "Though they have secondary sexual characteristics and can engage in and enjoy intercourse, androids have no functional reproductive organs and cannot procreate." (Starfinder, for some reason, requires they sleep but does not require them to breathe, even though they're supposed to be the same species.)

::Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
::Size: Medium
::Base Speed: 30 feet
::Alert: +2 racial bonus to Perception checks.
::Emotionless: -4 racial penalty to Sense Motive checks. Can never gain moral bonuses. Immune to fear and emotion-based effects.
::Exceptional Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Low-Light Vision.
::Constructed: Androids count as both Humanoids and Constructs for effects that target creature type. +4 racial bonus on saves against mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison and stun. Immune to fatigue, exhaustion, disease and sleep.
::Nanite Surge: 1/day, as an immediate action, an android can trigger its nanites before making a D20 roll to gain a (3 + character level) bonus. When this ability is used, the android's circuitry-tattoos glow, causing them to give off light equivalent to a torch for 1 round.

Alternate Racial Trait: Repairing Nanites - Replaces Nanite Surge.
::The first time each day that an android with this trait has taken an amount of damage greater than or equal to twice their Hit Dice, their nanites activate. They give off light equivalent to a torch for 1 round and heal a number of hit points equal to twice their hit dice.

Some androids [[Loli|look like children but have adult minds (and thus presumably still "enjoy intercourse")]]. They have small size and immortality but are otherwise identical (including 30 foot move speed and lack of strength penalty).

Since Androids can't benefit from morale bonuses, and rage is based on morale bonuses, Androids make shitty [[Barbarians]] despite their immunity to fatigue. The exception to this is the Mooncursed archetype, which replaces the morale bonuses to rage with [[Transformers#Beast_Wars|transformation into an animal]] (But mostly tiger, since they get pounce meaning they are clearly better than the other options by a long mile). [[Bard]]s, oddly enough, don't give out many morale bonuses, only the bonus against charm and fear, the late gained Inspire Heroics and some (good) spells are morale bonuses. This means they make pretty good bards if you use the Chronicler of Worlds (which replaces Inspire Heroics with a non-morale bonus effect) archetype to make an intelligence based Bard. Otherwise they make good [[Wizard]], [[Magus]] and [[Witch]] as well as most skill monkey classes, especially so for child androids as they get all the benefits of small size with few of the drawbacks.

==Examples of androids in Warhammer Fantasy and AOS==
{{stub}}

==Examples of androids in Warhammer 40k==
In the 40k lore, mankind once had to wage war against its mechanical creations, Terminator Judgement style but on steroids. After that, humanity is so paranoid of this happening again that they totally forbade the creation of AIs. They create human-like robots though, at least in the sense that their shape resembles a humanoid being. The best exampe of this are the titans, massive war machines that praise the holy human form by resembling the shape of a human (two arms, two legs, a head. That's it. So much for holy human form). In general, though, the Imperium relies much more on cyborgs, both in the way of servitors and the Adeptus Mechanicus. Chaos could in theory create some form of automata, but they rather make chaos s-THINGS! Yes!

Anyway... Outside of Mankind, the other factions that use their own shape to make artificial beings. In general, any faction that's vaguely humanoid builds constructs that resemble human forms. The best example of an android in the traditional sense are the Tau, who use massive amounts of robots and can create AIs good enough to pass as living, thinking beings. The Necrons are a particular case, due to the living Necrontyr used as a platform for the C'Tan to turn them into the mechanical Necrons. Due to this, they are technically neither cyborgs (they aren't living anymore)nor androids (they used to be alive, so they aren't fully artificially created). Automata would actually work closely with them, in the classic Graeco-Latin sense of the word. But I guess this is up to interpretation of what the Necrons actually are.

==Famous examples of androids in popular culture==
*''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (or Blade Runner, if you like films more). Humans create artificial humans as slaves, and after a revolt they hunt them all down. This is an interesting case because they are organic beings, but still artificially made, so the definition is just barely apt in this case.
*''I, Robot.'' In the classic Isaac Asimov's short story, there are some robots that could be described as android.
*''Metropolis.'' Mad science creates a robot that resembles a humble woman to bring chaos and ruin to the city.
*''The day the Earth stood still.'' An alien brings a doomsday machine in the form of a human to "peacefully" stop all wars on Earth.
*''Terminator.'' Machines rise against humanity, using human-like assassins to kill the remaining human beings.
*Marvel Comics. Characters like Vision or Ultron are thinking robots in human-like form.
*''Megaman''. The saga of a little blue android fighting other robots to keep the peace in the world.
*''NieR Automata''. Cute android fighting other androids not as cute.
*''Astro Boy''. One of the most important works in manga history, it tells the adventures of a little android that gets adopted after its original creator abandons him.
*''Lieutenant Commander Data'' from [[Star Trek|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]. Second and science officer of both the Enterprise D and E. Throughout the series and movies he displays feats of both superhuman speed and strength, such as dodging a mining laser and fighting the Borg in hand to hand combat.

==Android Monstergirls==
[[File:MGE Automaton.jpg|thumb|right|250px|What hath [[magitek]] wrought?]]
{{Monstergirls}}

They're more of an /a/, /co/ and /v/ phenomena than a /tg/ one, but robots in the shape of sexy women, ranging from "perfectly human until you see their internals" to "visibly mechanical but still sexy", are a well and truly established branch of the [[monstergirls]] family tree. What else can we say? Some guys in the late-70s/80s found their first crush in the [[succubus]], [[elf]] or [[marilith]] - others found it in Cutie Honey.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the Automaton is a mechanical [[magitek]] branch of the [[golem]] which taps into the robot-girl branch of the fetish. They're ancient lost technology golems of the "kuudere" archetype, meaning they act cold and emotionless because they can't express themselves well, but they're secretly very gentle and loving beings.

[[Category:Monsters]]
[[Category:Races]]

Magen

2019-08-05T01:06:27Z

2605:E000:7EC5:A000:61CB:5177:DBDA:C688: /* Galvan */

[[File:Magen.gif|thumb|right|300px|A galvan magen with a female shape showing off its unique special ability.]]
[[File:Magen 4e.png|thumb|left|300px|And the same again from 4th edition.]]

'''Magen''', also called '''Gens Magica''' ("Magic People"), are a form of highly advanced [[alchemy|alchemical]] [[construct]]s native to the [[Mystara]] setting of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. An advanced form of homunculus, Magens are artificial [[human]]s engineered from exotic mixtures of alchemical fluids, which are poured into a specially crafted mold and then "set" into a solid form, akin to gelatin. The result is a greyish white-skinned humanoid with an appearance determined by the mold used - vain wizards have been known to sculpt magens that look like clones of themselves - with the warmth and textural consistency of human flesh. Artistically inclined magen masters can paint their magens to look less - or more - inhuman, and a skilled artisan can even add texture or the semblance of hair to the normally eerily smooth and bald creatures. Magens normally look like humans, but may be sculpted to have inhuman traits; this can lead to a magen looking like everything from an [[elf]] to a [[fiend]] to a [[monstergirl]]. They never bleed or bruise, they lack any discernible anatomy, and, when slain, their bodies dissolve in a burst of acrid, multicolored smoke and flame.

It's generally accepted that magens were made by skilled wizards who weren't yet strong enough to make a fully-fledged [[golem]]... but this kind of flies in the face of some evidence; magens are actually much smarter than golems, even if they retain the golem's characteristic lack of free will, and are capable of speech, following detailed commands, understanding complex procedures to at least the same level as a human of average intelligence, and can even be taught to make simple decisions on their own. Also, making a magen is still quite a lengthy and expensive procedure, so they're not exactly winning points on the quick and cheap meter, either.

Officially, magens have no emotional capacity, although they can be taught to feign emotions to some degree. This justifies their willingness to undertake obviously suicidal orders if directed. And yet, should a magen's master die, they fly into what can only be described as a berserker fury, madly attacking anything and anyone until it is destroyed. Combined with their innate lack of free will - except in incredibly rare circumstances - magens are typically slaves for their [[wizard]] or [[artificer]] creators, though some lonely yet antisocial types have been known to treat their magens as their friends (or, perhaps, lovers).

==Making Magens==
The procedures for making a magen are only implied in Castle Amber, but are detailed thoroughly in their AD&D writeup in the Mystara MCA. In the adventure "Elexa's Endeavor" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #53, it's stated that a wizard needs to be at least 12th level to undertake the procedures, and 10th level to understand them, at least as written in an instruction manual like "The Text of the Magenmaker".

To start with, a prospect magen-maker must have access to a fully-stocked wizard's laboratory, the basic tools for which will set them back a neat 1,000 gold pieces. Then, they need to construct a mold of electrum into which to solidify their proto-magen gelatin; this will cost them between 10,000 to 15,000 gold pieces, depending on if they can make the mold themselves or need to get a metalworker in to custom-build it. Building such a mold will take at least 6 weeks, more for fripperies like hair styling or unusual physical features.

Once the mold is set up, the mage needs to acquire the chemicals, which will cost another 3,000 gold pieces, and begin the long process of blending, stabilizing and incorporating them. This requires 2 weeks worth of non-stop work, and requires so much attention that the mage can't do anything else during this time other than eat and sleep. In addition to the basic formula, the mage will need to add a certain special something depending on what type of magen they want to make, which will be covered below.

Once the chemicals are finished combining, the magen-maker pours their liquid alchemical jelly into the mold and proceeds to cast a barrage of spells on the mold and its goopy contents: in order, they must cast ''Lightning Bolt'', ''Fabricate'', ''Transmute Mud to Rock'', ''Stone to Flesh'', ''Domination'' and then finally ''Lighting Bolt'' a second time. This collective spell-energy interacts with each other and the reactive gelatin inside, and the wizard rolls a D20 to see what happens:
* 1: The final lightning bolt is reflected back at the caster, whilst the gelatin goes inert. Creation fails, and a new batch of gelatin must be made (if the caster survives).
* 2-3: The mold explodes, scattering boiling gelatin and electrum shards everywhere. Everybody in a 10ft radius takes 4d6 damage. Obviously, this is a failed creation. If the caster survives, they'll need to build a new mold and start over.
* 4-6: Something in the gelatin reacts badly to the magic and it simply congeals into a stagnant mess. The wizard has to clean it out of the mold and make a new batch. Failure, duh.
* 7-19: Success! A magen emerges from its mold and is ready to serve.
* 20: Seeming Success! However, the magen has been possessed by a [[fiend]] and will eventually turn on its creator.

Magen molds can be reused for new batches of gelatin (so long as they don't explode, obviously). However, the first kind of magen to come out of a mold "charges" that mold; it can only be used to produce more magens of that kind from then on. Different magen formulas will simply go inert - the lingering magical aura just causes a bad reaction. However, after that first exposure, there's a chance that the mold will grow unstable; each time a magen mold is reused, it has to make a save vs lightning, and on a failure, it breaks and becomes useless after the final spell is cast.

Should a mold break despite a success on the magen creation roll, 95% of the time, the magen will emerge as a deformed shambling mess that will dissolve into nothing within minutes. But... 5% of the time, a perfectly formed magen will be created that is fully sentient and self-aware, without the normal lack of will or compulsion to obey its creator.

Note that the above only applies to AD&D! Magens in 4th edition are the product of some ritual and/or special chamber that is not meant for PCs, so rules for making them didn't appear in this edition. Still, one could probably wing it if one wanted.

==Breeds of Magen==
The basic magen formula is highly adaptable, and [[mage]]s constantly experiment with trying new iterations of the recipe. This has led to several distinct kinds of magen, and even this list just represents the best known types.

===Demos===
The ''Demos'' is the most common type of magen; it has no innate mystical abilities, but is a natural bodyguard, imbued with the innate ability to wield weaponry as if it were a skilled warrior. This makes them quite cheap to produce as well, which adds to their popularity.

In 4th edition, Demos Magen do possess one subtle magical ability; they can partially absorb magical energy when targeted by spells, enabling them to gain a surge of vitality that can let them continue fighting for longer. This power, called Magic Absorption, only works once per encounter. This version can also be identified by its scent, a subtle yet metallic tang.

To create a Demos, the creator dips weapons into the prepared gelatin; this "imprints" the resultant magen with the knowledge it needs to use those weapons.

===Caldron===
The '''Caldron''' is a magen imbued with the ability to stretch its limbs, reaching 20 feet in length for each limb. Naturally adept at grappling foes with their tentacle-like arms, Caldrons are made extra dangerous by their ability to secrete corrosive acid from their skin, or at least their hands.

Caldron magens are usually used as house-guards or, for the more ruthless owner, as in-house spies and assassins; their distinctly sour, acidic scent and the uncanny sight of their limbs makes them less suited for the public eye than their Demos kindred, but it means they excel at burglary and killing. They also make pretty spiffy house-workers, because those elongated limbs means they can reach ''everywhere'' when it's time to do the dusting.

In 4th edition, a Caldron magen can absorb magical energy from spells directed at it and metabolize it, allowing it to temporarily sprout an extra arm with which to fight. Luckily it can only do this once per encounter via Magic Growth, but it's still an alarming trait.

To create a Caldron, the creator must add the tentacles of a [[roper]] or a [[choker]] to the gelatin. In 4th edition, a dose of acid is also required.

===Galvan===
The ''Galvan'' is arguably the most spectacular of the magens, as it can absorb static electricity from its environment and turn it into deadly blasts of electrical energy. They are often favored as either ranged guardians to add extra firepower to groups of Demos archers and bolters, or as decoys for their masters, should their masters have a reputation for favoring electrical spells.

In 4th edition, they actually get a little nastier; BD&D and AD&D galvans can only hurl lightning bolts 3 times per day, but 4e galvans can do it at-will. They also can channel electricity through metallic weapons, making them more dangerous in the melee, and can metabolize magic from spells cast on them to replenish their energy reserves and immediately respond with a powerful electric blast via their once-per-encounter Magic Recharge ability. 4e Galvans can be distinguished by a strong ozone scent, the way metal is slightly drawn towards them, and a noticeable static aura that makes one's hair stand on end when they get nearby.

Creating a Galvan requires the use of a body part from a creature that can generate electricty. 4e Galvans also require the inclusion of an iron rod into the alchemical jelly, where it dissolves.

===Hypnos===
The ''Hypnos'' is the rarest of the "common" magens. Physically frail, it makes up for this with powerful [[psionics]], allowing it the innate ability to control minds.

In BD&D and AD&D, this manifests as the ability to cast a Charm Person spell 1/round, although any creature that resists this effect becomes permanently immune to the Hypnos' charms. Those who succumb see the Hypnos as a trusted friend, and the Hypnos can telepathically communicate with these charmed victims and compel them to obey it (which manifests as a Suggestion spell in AD&D). Creating an AD&D Hypnos type magen requires dissolving a scroll of Charm Person in their gelatin.

In 4th edition, Hypnos magens have a broader array of mental powers, reflecting the different ways that telepathy works in that edition. Their touch shreds at a victim's mind, inflicting psychic damage and imposing a penalty to their Will defense, whilst they can wield potent Suggestion and Overwhelming Command effects to manipulate others like puppets. Once per encounter, they can use the Magic Feedback ability; converting magical energy into a blast of raw psionic agony that shreds at the minds of everybody in close proximity. These magens often serve as a diplomat, personal aide, or majordomo, as they possess a superficial charm and a general knowledge of social convention, due to both innate abilities and tutelage from their creator. Crafting a Hypnos type magen in 4e requires a body part from a psionic creature and the ground up pieces of a magic item that can exert control over others, which are both dissolved into the gelatin - it's said that using an intelligent magic item for this process will produce "impressive but unpredictable effects".

===Scalos===
The ''Scalos'' magen is the rarest of the known breeds. Introduced in the adventure "Elexa's Endeavor" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #53, this creature has never appeared in any other source. It has the unique ability to teleport others randomly by touching them, but no further information on them has ever been provided. A pair of Scalos are magically summoned to guard "The Text of the Magenmaker", a grimoire instructing a [[wizard]] on how to create all of the known varieties of magen.

==Publication History==
Magens first appeared in the adventure module [[X2: Castle Amber]] for BECMI, made a second appearance for that edition in B12: Queen's Harvest, and then were updated to [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] in the Mystara Appendix for the [[Monster Manual|Monstrous Compendium]], which provided an extremely long and detailed writeup of the creatures. After this, they fell into obscurity, but made a surprise re-appearance in [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] through issue #418 of [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Monsters]] [[Category: Mystara]]

Magen

2019-08-05T01:05:41Z

2605:E000:7EC5:A000:61CB:5177:DBDA:C688: /* Breeds of Magen */

[[File:Magen.gif|thumb|right|300px|A galvan magen with a female shape showing off its unique special ability.]]
[[File:Magen 4e.png|thumb|left|300px|And the same again from 4th edition.]]

'''Magen''', also called '''Gens Magica''' ("Magic People"), are a form of highly advanced [[alchemy|alchemical]] [[construct]]s native to the [[Mystara]] setting of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. An advanced form of homunculus, Magens are artificial [[human]]s engineered from exotic mixtures of alchemical fluids, which are poured into a specially crafted mold and then "set" into a solid form, akin to gelatin. The result is a greyish white-skinned humanoid with an appearance determined by the mold used - vain wizards have been known to sculpt magens that look like clones of themselves - with the warmth and textural consistency of human flesh. Artistically inclined magen masters can paint their magens to look less - or more - inhuman, and a skilled artisan can even add texture or the semblance of hair to the normally eerily smooth and bald creatures. Magens normally look like humans, but may be sculpted to have inhuman traits; this can lead to a magen looking like everything from an [[elf]] to a [[fiend]] to a [[monstergirl]]. They never bleed or bruise, they lack any discernible anatomy, and, when slain, their bodies dissolve in a burst of acrid, multicolored smoke and flame.

It's generally accepted that magens were made by skilled wizards who weren't yet strong enough to make a fully-fledged [[golem]]... but this kind of flies in the face of some evidence; magens are actually much smarter than golems, even if they retain the golem's characteristic lack of free will, and are capable of speech, following detailed commands, understanding complex procedures to at least the same level as a human of average intelligence, and can even be taught to make simple decisions on their own. Also, making a magen is still quite a lengthy and expensive procedure, so they're not exactly winning points on the quick and cheap meter, either.

Officially, magens have no emotional capacity, although they can be taught to feign emotions to some degree. This justifies their willingness to undertake obviously suicidal orders if directed. And yet, should a magen's master die, they fly into what can only be described as a berserker fury, madly attacking anything and anyone until it is destroyed. Combined with their innate lack of free will - except in incredibly rare circumstances - magens are typically slaves for their [[wizard]] or [[artificer]] creators, though some lonely yet antisocial types have been known to treat their magens as their friends (or, perhaps, lovers).

==Making Magens==
The procedures for making a magen are only implied in Castle Amber, but are detailed thoroughly in their AD&D writeup in the Mystara MCA. In the adventure "Elexa's Endeavor" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #53, it's stated that a wizard needs to be at least 12th level to undertake the procedures, and 10th level to understand them, at least as written in an instruction manual like "The Text of the Magenmaker".

To start with, a prospect magen-maker must have access to a fully-stocked wizard's laboratory, the basic tools for which will set them back a neat 1,000 gold pieces. Then, they need to construct a mold of electrum into which to solidify their proto-magen gelatin; this will cost them between 10,000 to 15,000 gold pieces, depending on if they can make the mold themselves or need to get a metalworker in to custom-build it. Building such a mold will take at least 6 weeks, more for fripperies like hair styling or unusual physical features.

Once the mold is set up, the mage needs to acquire the chemicals, which will cost another 3,000 gold pieces, and begin the long process of blending, stabilizing and incorporating them. This requires 2 weeks worth of non-stop work, and requires so much attention that the mage can't do anything else during this time other than eat and sleep. In addition to the basic formula, the mage will need to add a certain special something depending on what type of magen they want to make, which will be covered below.

Once the chemicals are finished combining, the magen-maker pours their liquid alchemical jelly into the mold and proceeds to cast a barrage of spells on the mold and its goopy contents: in order, they must cast ''Lightning Bolt'', ''Fabricate'', ''Transmute Mud to Rock'', ''Stone to Flesh'', ''Domination'' and then finally ''Lighting Bolt'' a second time. This collective spell-energy interacts with each other and the reactive gelatin inside, and the wizard rolls a D20 to see what happens:
* 1: The final lightning bolt is reflected back at the caster, whilst the gelatin goes inert. Creation fails, and a new batch of gelatin must be made (if the caster survives).
* 2-3: The mold explodes, scattering boiling gelatin and electrum shards everywhere. Everybody in a 10ft radius takes 4d6 damage. Obviously, this is a failed creation. If the caster survives, they'll need to build a new mold and start over.
* 4-6: Something in the gelatin reacts badly to the magic and it simply congeals into a stagnant mess. The wizard has to clean it out of the mold and make a new batch. Failure, duh.
* 7-19: Success! A magen emerges from its mold and is ready to serve.
* 20: Seeming Success! However, the magen has been possessed by a [[fiend]] and will eventually turn on its creator.

Magen molds can be reused for new batches of gelatin (so long as they don't explode, obviously). However, the first kind of magen to come out of a mold "charges" that mold; it can only be used to produce more magens of that kind from then on. Different magen formulas will simply go inert - the lingering magical aura just causes a bad reaction. However, after that first exposure, there's a chance that the mold will grow unstable; each time a magen mold is reused, it has to make a save vs lightning, and on a failure, it breaks and becomes useless after the final spell is cast.

Should a mold break despite a success on the magen creation roll, 95% of the time, the magen will emerge as a deformed shambling mess that will dissolve into nothing within minutes. But... 5% of the time, a perfectly formed magen will be created that is fully sentient and self-aware, without the normal lack of will or compulsion to obey its creator.

Note that the above only applies to AD&D! Magens in 4th edition are the product of some ritual and/or special chamber that is not meant for PCs, so rules for making them didn't appear in this edition. Still, one could probably wing it if one wanted.

==Breeds of Magen==
The basic magen formula is highly adaptable, and [[mage]]s constantly experiment with trying new iterations of the recipe. This has led to several distinct kinds of magen, and even this list just represents the best known types.

===Demos===
The ''Demos'' is the most common type of magen; it has no innate mystical abilities, but is a natural bodyguard, imbued with the innate ability to wield weaponry as if it were a skilled warrior. This makes them quite cheap to produce as well, which adds to their popularity.

In 4th edition, Demos Magen do possess one subtle magical ability; they can partially absorb magical energy when targeted by spells, enabling them to gain a surge of vitality that can let them continue fighting for longer. This power, called Magic Absorption, only works once per encounter. This version can also be identified by its scent, a subtle yet metallic tang.

To create a Demos, the creator dips weapons into the prepared gelatin; this "imprints" the resultant magen with the knowledge it needs to use those weapons.

===Caldron===
The '''Caldron''' is a magen imbued with the ability to stretch its limbs, reaching 20 feet in length for each limb. Naturally adept at grappling foes with their tentacle-like arms, Caldrons are made extra dangerous by their ability to secrete corrosive acid from their skin, or at least their hands.

Caldron magens are usually used as house-guards or, for the more ruthless owner, as in-house spies and assassins; their distinctly sour, acidic scent and the uncanny sight of their limbs makes them less suited for the public eye than their Demos kindred, but it means they excel at burglary and killing. They also make pretty spiffy house-workers, because those elongated limbs means they can reach ''everywhere'' when it's time to do the dusting.

In 4th edition, a Caldron magen can absorb magical energy from spells directed at it and metabolize it, allowing it to temporarily sprout an extra arm with which to fight. Luckily it can only do this once per encounter via Magic Growth, but it's still an alarming trait.

To create a Caldron, the creator must add the tentacles of a [[roper]] or a [[choker]] to the gelatin. In 4th edition, a dose of acid is also required.

===Galvan===
The ''Galvan'' is arguably the most spectacular of the magens, as it can absorb static electricity from its environment and turn it in deadly blasts of electrical energy. They are often favored as either ranged guardians to add extra firepower to groups of Demos archers and bolters, or as decoys for their masters, should their masters have a reputation for favoring electrical spells.

In 4th edition, they actually get a little nastier; BD&D and AD&D galvans can only hurl lightning bolts 3 times per day, but 4e galvans can do it at-will. They also can channel electricity through metallic weapons, making them more dangerous in the melee, and can metabolize magic from spells cast on them to replenish their energy reserves and immediately respond with a powerful electric blast via their once-per-encounter Magic Recharge ability. 4e Galvans can be distinguished by a strong ozone scent, the way metal is slightly drawn towards them, and a noticeable static aura that makes one's hair stand on end when they get nearby.

Creating a Galvan requires the use of a body part from a creature that can generate electricty. 4e Galvans also require the inclusion of an iron rod into the alchemical jelly, where it dissolves.

===Hypnos===
The ''Hypnos'' is the rarest of the "common" magens. Physically frail, it makes up for this with powerful [[psionics]], allowing it the innate ability to control minds.

In BD&D and AD&D, this manifests as the ability to cast a Charm Person spell 1/round, although any creature that resists this effect becomes permanently immune to the Hypnos' charms. Those who succumb see the Hypnos as a trusted friend, and the Hypnos can telepathically communicate with these charmed victims and compel them to obey it (which manifests as a Suggestion spell in AD&D). Creating an AD&D Hypnos type magen requires dissolving a scroll of Charm Person in their gelatin.

In 4th edition, Hypnos magens have a broader array of mental powers, reflecting the different ways that telepathy works in that edition. Their touch shreds at a victim's mind, inflicting psychic damage and imposing a penalty to their Will defense, whilst they can wield potent Suggestion and Overwhelming Command effects to manipulate others like puppets. Once per encounter, they can use the Magic Feedback ability; converting magical energy into a blast of raw psionic agony that shreds at the minds of everybody in close proximity. These magens often serve as a diplomat, personal aide, or majordomo, as they possess a superficial charm and a general knowledge of social convention, due to both innate abilities and tutelage from their creator. Crafting a Hypnos type magen in 4e requires a body part from a psionic creature and the ground up pieces of a magic item that can exert control over others, which are both dissolved into the gelatin - it's said that using an intelligent magic item for this process will produce "impressive but unpredictable effects".

===Scalos===
The ''Scalos'' magen is the rarest of the known breeds. Introduced in the adventure "Elexa's Endeavor" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #53, this creature has never appeared in any other source. It has the unique ability to teleport others randomly by touching them, but no further information on them has ever been provided. A pair of Scalos are magically summoned to guard "The Text of the Magenmaker", a grimoire instructing a [[wizard]] on how to create all of the known varieties of magen.

==Publication History==
Magens first appeared in the adventure module [[X2: Castle Amber]] for BECMI, made a second appearance for that edition in B12: Queen's Harvest, and then were updated to [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] in the Mystara Appendix for the [[Monster Manual|Monstrous Compendium]], which provided an extremely long and detailed writeup of the creatures. After this, they fell into obscurity, but made a surprise re-appearance in [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] through issue #418 of [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Monsters]] [[Category: Mystara]]

Outlands

2019-08-04T21:39:29Z

2605:E000:7EC5:A000:61CB:5177:DBDA:C688:

{{Topquote|1=Oh, I know that I don't need a whole lot of anything, I just want a little bit of everything na na na na.|2= Keith Urban}}
The '''Concordant Domain of the Outlands''' is ''the'' True Neutral [[Planescape|plane]] in the D&D Great Wheel Cosmology.

Exactly where it lies in relation to the other afterlives varies from edition to edition, since its ideal location, where the [[Great Wheel]]'s metaphorical spoke would be, is also where the [[Inner Planes]] are. 1e had it resting "''under''" the inner planes and used the analogy of an outer plane mug containing some [[Astral Plane]] hot chocolate with an Inner Planes Marshmallow floating in it. 2e, the edition that actually brought us Planescape, abandoned that notion because TSR thought "Great Wheel" sounded better than "Great Mug," but forgot to actually clarify the location of the Outlands. 5e went with the idea of, well, if you think of the Outer Planes as a ring of bricks, then the Outlands is the mortar between them.

It manages to connect to all Outer Planes simultaneously, making it one of the most cosmopolitan places in existence.

Because of the wide variety of inhabitants and traits, Outlands is '''not''' the plane of [[Stupid Neutral]] ''(although a violently neutral race called the '''[[Rilmani]]''' have their realm within the plane.)'' Rather, the plane serves as a somewhat of a sliding scale of alignment, that gets more or less prominent depending upon your relative position, making it neutral by dint of it being ''not quite'' any other alignment either.

This is a common theme of the Outlands: As a plane it serves to be the destination for those souls who were ''not quite'' the right alignment to get into the afterlife of their respective alignment, so they end up here. Although many deities and mortals choose to make their homes here, because of this, the plane is generally quite agreeable to all sorts of folks.

Because of Outlands favourable position as the "center" point of the cosmos and the meeting point of alignments, Outlands serves as an ideal crossing point for interplanar travel, trade or negotiation.

==Geography and Traits==
[[Image:Outlands_and_Outer_planes.jpg|thumb|Map of Outlands]]
First, the most noticeable thing about Outlands is the '''Spire''', which is a needle-like mountain that juts up into the sky. It can be seen from all points in the plane and makes for a great landmark as an indication of your direction. On the top of the spire can be seen the floating ring which is the city of [[Sigil]]. The odd thing is that the Spire is infinitely tall, despite the fact that you can see both ends of it, so don't bother trying to climb it. Although mischievous locals get a kick out of encouraging clueless strangers to try and attempt it.

Outlands has no layers like other planes do ([[Sigil]] isn't counted as a layer), it is simply a land mass of ''theoretically'' infinite area. That's because it has some absolutely mind-bending geometry and magical inhibitions that no-one can make sense of (which is to say that if you start at the Hinterlands and walk to the Spire there's a point past which first level spells cease to function, and a point further in past which second level spells cease to function, and so on until at the very base of the spire where no form of magic works at all and gods are actually on the same playing field as mortals), but people accept as being part of the nature of the plane, and nearly everything has to do with the Spire.

Distance on the plane is entirely subjective depending upon your direction of travel: The further outwards one moves from the spire the more that distance compresses itself. It actually gets to the point where the land outward from the Gate Towns, called the HInterlands, operates in an especially notable way. If you start at a Gate Town and travel outwards, then no matter how far you traveled, if you turn around and travel back, you will find that not only had you never traveled more than 320 miles from the town in the first place, but that the terrain you covered will be as unfamiliar as if you had never traveled that way at all. Even creepier, Old cities and abandoned settlements dot the Hinterlands, with any information on them lost to time. There are also tales of stranger still oddities in the HInterlands, such as portals to unknown planes or even entirely new realities.

Another odd feature of the plane is its inhibition of magic and divine power. Starting at 1,100 miles from the Spire, magic starts to cease functioning. Standing in a Portal town, 9th Level spells don't work, and this only gets more severe the closer to the spire you get. When you stand at the base even the most powerful Gods find that they have no power.

It's for that reason that the wars between various alignments and races don't spill into the Outlands, despite it's favourable location, those armies would just end up hamstringing themselves before they'd even begun.

===Places of Interest===
The Portal Towns represent the link to the outer edges of the wheel, they are evenly spaced in a roughly 1000 mile radius around the spire . Each outer plane has it's own respective Portal Town positioned in Outlands accordingly with its position on the wheel, so it is closest to its planar neighbors and situated furthest from its diametric opposite. The portals allow planar travel to and from the Outlands, so you're obviously most likely to find Archons in the portal town for [[Celestia]] or Slaad in the portal town for [[Limbo]] for example.

If the prevailing attitude and alignment of the town shifts too far from its neutral position, it drops out of Outlands into the plane it was connected to, its portal gets reassigned to a different town which then takes up it's position in the ring around the Spire ''(the new town doesn't literally "move" into position, but just remember that terms like "distance" are flexible on the plane, and it is likely that the landscape rearranges itself to fill the void)''. Some within the various portal towns are extremely hostile to those that might hold them back from reaching the Outer Plane. Others seek to keep the town (and its merchants) securely moored in the Outlands by making sure there is some darkness in every light, and some light in every dark.

There are plenty of other "normal" towns on Outlands, filled with Petitioners and Mortals of a variety of alignments and philosophies, but they typically prevail towards inoffensive neutrality and are relatively unremarkable places to visit. Though there are exceptions: the realms of the Gods located here can be as grand as anywhere else on the planes, and its inhabitants can be just as zealous.

==Inhabitants==
Outlands is somewhat of an exception when it comes to Petitioners and it has a rather ecclectic mixture to choose from:

First, those souls who were "not quite" the right alignment to get into their respective afterlife end up here, as do those who were truly committed to neutrality. Those Petitioners return much as they did in life, their forms practically unchanged. However, Outlands is one place where Petitioners from other planes can travel to, which is quite a significant development, as in most cases Petitioners cannot leave their home plane without dissolving into nothingness, since their makeup is entirely from the energies of that plane. So either Outlands really is something special, or it isn't really its own plane at all and is merely where all other afterlives overlap. Beyond the Petitioners, you can find pretty much any form of Outsider here, from [[Guardinal|Guardinals]] to [[Yugoloth]] to Slaadi to Modrons if you know where to look.

The [[Rilmani]] live here and are generally more numerous the closer to the Spire you get, which is why there is no spell for summoning them.

A Faction (capital "F") called the [[Athar]] also hold headquarters in Outlands following the [[Faction War]] right at the base of the Spire, where they plot to oust the Gods as fraudsters and phonies not worth worshipping. Their camp at the base of the Spire protects them from divine retribution, but also puts them hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from anywhere remotely useful.

The Outlands is also the home front for the Concordant Killers, a group of very powerful beings who are part celestial, part infernal and are a bunch of divine hitmen dedicated to maintaining balance. They use swords that are somehow [[wat|axiomatic, anarchic, holy and unholy at the same time]], and use the full suite of Detect Alignment and Protection from Alignment.

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
Image:5 by 5 alignment chart by doaspotcheck-d3i5jfy.png| Basically, each box on the ouer edge of this image corresponds to one of the other D&D [[Outer Planes| afterlives]], and then everything in the middle (as well as everything that's halfway between any two other boxes) gets dumped here.
</gallery></center>
{{OuterPlanes}}

Hades

2019-08-04T20:56:51Z

2605:E000:7EC5:A000:61CB:5177:DBDA:C688: /* Inhabitants */

=Dungeons & Dragons=
{{Topquote|Life's a bitch, then you die.|The Washington Post}}

'''The Gray Wastes of Hades''' is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] [[Planescape|plane]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Great Wheel]] cosmology.

Its favourable location of equal "subjective" distance between the Abyss and Hell make it the most active battle-zone in the [[Blood War]], where Demons and Devils clash over who is the most evil. Unfortunately this distracts from what Hades is all about.

It is the inverse of [[Elysium]], being the place of ultimate evil in the existence. Worse perhaps than the [[Abyss]] or [[Baator]] if only because it is not subject to the capricious whimsy of [[Chaotic Stupid|Chaos]] or the regulations of [[Lawful Stupid|Law]].

It is a bleak place of suffering and misery with no ulterior motive; therefore there is cruelty without being sadistic and selfishness without ambition. Put simply, Hades represents [[Stupid Evil|evil for its own sake.]]

As the purest Neutral Evil plane of all in the Great Wheel, it is the center of the [[Lower Planes]].

==Layers==
Like and utterly unlike Elysium, Hades has an all pervading aura that causes visitors to be ensnared by its nature. In this case the removal of anything joyous or worthwhile.

By merely stepping onto the plane, non-evil individuals will be subjected to harsh penalties to their mental faculties, which makes colours appear duller and sounds seem more muted. Emotions seem more alien, and visitors find themselves less empathetic or caring than they used to be.

Not only that, but the plane is also home to a unique malady known as '''"The Grays"''', which affects all visitors, including evil ones and even if they are outsiders. This steadily causes those afflicted to lose their mental faculties for every day spent abroad in Hades as they become more detached from reality and hope. In rules terms this forces their wisdom score to drop for each failed attempt to resist the condition, bringing their ability to think ever downwards until they lose their sensibilities altogether and go mad. Of course this is more dangerous for non-evil people since their senses have already been assaulted by the bleak nature of the plane, meaning they are more likely to be overcome unless they have wills of steel. The only immunity is offered to those who have high enough levels of spell resistance. However the cure is simple: get them away from Hades and their madness clears itself naturally.

The last defence of the plane is its entrapping nature, with every week spent on the plane slowly bringing visitors down to its level. This is the plane exerting itself on the better natures of mortals (Outsiders such as Demons and Devils are immune). Making them forget happy memories, or distorting their feelings into something twisted and spiteful. This of course is coupled with the influence the plane has on the senses ''and'' the affliction of the Grays, meaning the minds of people who come here will eventually crack. Eventually they forget what it means to have hope and joy and they become trapped in the plane, unwilling to leave and are more likely to descend further into madness if the Grays has not gripped them already.

As for the plane itself; it fits its nature quite well. Despite the fact that sounds and colours are already drained... there simply ''is'' no colour, the sky is grey, the dirt is grey, and the inhabitants and structures tend to the gunmetal ranges.

There is no sun, moon or stars, just an impenetrable grey sky that goes on forever.

===Oinos===
The first layer (also referred to as a "Gloom") is pretty much a wasteland. There is not much here other than craters, the occasional husk of a tree, the forgotten detritus of ancient wars and a whole bunch of rotting corpses. If you need more inspiration, the realm probably resembles no-mans-land in WWI with all the colour and depth of a black and white photograph.

Oinos is the stage of the Blood War and thus you don't want to roam here too often, otherwise you'll find yourself running into Demons or Devils or worse.

But not only that, you'll have to look out for the [[Yugoloth]]s, the Neutral evil faction of outsiders much like Devils and Demons.
The seat of the Yugoloths power in Hades rests in Oinos, where there is a tower, twenty miles high called the '''Khin-Oin'''. The tower is said to be the spinal column of a long dead god that came to rest on the plane. At the top of the tower is a throne, called the ''Siege Malicious'' where the ruler of the tower may sit. It should be noted that the temporal ruler of the Yugoloths is the ''General of [[Gehenna]]'', though his power only extends as far as his ability to enforce it, and since he's on another plane the Yugoloths here pretty much serve themselves.

The throne of the ''Siege Malicious'' gives the user the ability to create or modify any disease with just a thought. It comes with its own price, as any ruler who sits on the throne is caused to have their skin slough off and disfiguring them. But this is nothing compared to usurpers who sit on the throne without the right to do so, who are inflicted with a particularly severe case of the '''[[AIDS|Gray Wasting]]''' which is ''yet another'' disease inherent to the plane, but unrelated to '''The Grays''' or the entrapment effect.

It is often said that Oinos is the [[Nurgle|origin source for all disease]] in the multiverse. So you don't only have to watch out for the Grays and the spiritual weakening that comes with Hades, but you'll also have to prepare for the smorgasbord of pestilence and corruption that exists on this layer as well.

===Niflheim===
This gloom is all the worst environmental features of Hades made claustrophobic.

The grey aura actually closes in on you like a fog, meaning your visibility is reduced significantly, as well as muffling sounds to near in-audible levels and the level of moisture in the air creates a sense of uncomfortable dampness.

The topography is of a thick forest filled with carnivorous creatures and roving monsters. So while you are less likely to walk into a battalion of devils or demons, you are more likely to be stalked by a predator that you cannot see.

However, the layer is probably more habitable than Oinos since it is not a perpetual battleground, and it is much easier to hide here; thus there are settlements here and there. Most notable is '''Death of Innocence''', which is a small town of mortals where the inhabitants at least attempt some semblance of trying to improve their lot. For some reason the Grays and the entrapping nature of the plane have no hold here, so the town ''could'' be likened to anywhere else in the prime material plane... if not for the fact that the wood that the houses are built from ooze blood instead of sap, and the fact that anyone who ''actually wants'' to eke out a living in the plane of ultimate evil probably don't make for fantastic neighbours.

Beyond the Death of Innocence, several Neutral Evil deities make their realms here, mostly because it is convenient to do so.

===Pluton===
The final gloom of Hades would appear the most peaceful. It is a realm of withered forests and dusty olive groves. It's not ''quite'' terrible, but the aura of the place is one of impending doom and of being on the brink of apocalypse. There actually is not a lot of activity here and you could probably cross the layer relatively unmolested.

Pluton is really the dumping ground for its entrapped mortals and petitioners. It is that "classical" afterlife of despair and self-pity. Unlike the more imaginative punishments of [[Baator|Hell]], those who end up here are generally left to wallow in their own suffering in the desolate landscape... At least until a third party comes along. Devils and Demons come here looking for souls to conscript for the Blood War, whilst Hags occasionally herd petitioners together for use as currency.

Pluton is also the bottom of Mount Olympus due to its connection with the Greek pantheon, therefore if you're clever, just find a hill and keep walking upwards. If you're fortunate you might eventually end up in [[Arborea]], but you're more likely to go mad while trying, as this place for all of its relatively quiet and peaceful nature still remains part of Hades and will still suck you dry of emotion and goodness.

==Inhabitants==
There are two types of petitioners in Hades: The ethereal kind, who are disembodied souls who don't even get sensory bodies with which to suffer their eternal torment, thereby adding to that sense of loneliness and despair. These spirits tend to flock towards mortal visitors like desperate wastrels, hoping to leech off some of warmth and positive emotion, but they are harmless.

Then you get the larval kind of petitioner, who are common throughout the lower planes as giant man-sized maggots with mortal faces. Larva get used as currency, fiend-food, materials in spellcasting, or as raw recruits for promotion into the higher fiendish forms such as Demons and/or Devils.

Due to the differences of religion on different worlds in the cosmos, there is no hard guarantee of which form you take in the afterlife of Hades. Though as a rule of thumb, particularly wicked and evil people become Larvae, whilst those who "end up" in Hades through lack of faith or by committing sins are probably going to end up as spirits.

Hades is also the home realm of the '''[[Yugoloth]]s''' which are the Neutral Evil fiends. They never really get as much screen time as the Devils and Demons, if only because the other two are more easily contrasted with each other. These guys are just evil [[Stupid Evil|for the sake of being evil]]. Also despite this being their home plane, they are more common in [[Gehenna]] where they migrated en-masse because, in case you haven't been paying attention, this place is a shit hole ''even by hell-plane standards''.

As a result of the Yugoloth's disinterest, the primary planar power in Hades are the Night [[Hag]]s, a fiendish branch of the hag family who focus on herding and trading the larva, both as lone "shepherds" and as mercantile consortiums.

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=Pathfinder=
In the [[Pathfinder]] setting, Hades ''(along with [[Gehenna]])'' is an alternate name for '''<u>Abaddon</u>''' and is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] plane of the [[Great Beyond]] cosmology. It is largely the same as it's D&D incarnation; a bleak and blasted landscape populated by Night Hags, [[Daemon (Pathfinder)|Daemons]], [[Div|Divs]] and evil deities.

It encompasses the concept of oblivion of the mortal soul, even the petitioners rarely persist for longer than a few hours after their arrival; inevitably becoming swept up to be consumed by foul entities, or enslaved and sold to be utilised in wicked magic or transformed into other hidious guises.

What little light in the realm comes from a sun that exists under a perpetual eclipse and the landscape is peppered with dormant volcanoes, acidic seas and diseased forests. The '''River Styx''' bubbles up through the polluted soil like spring water and flows to locations on other planes.

==Inhabitants / Locations==
Petitioners of Abaddon are called ''"The Hunted"'' and are emaciated versions of their mortal forms. They are the lowest in the pecking order of the plane, and as mentioned; usually perish within a few hours of turning up on the plane. If they are lucky, they might survive long enough to start preying on each other and potentially becoming Daemons themselves.

Abaddon is the home of the Daemons in Pathfinder, and their leaders the [[Four Horsemen]], nominally led by '''Charon''': The Rider of Death, who holds his court in a mobile palace that drifts through the river Styx. '''Szuriel''', the Rider of War makes her realm in the ''Cinder Furnace'', a volcano forge that constantly churns out weapons of war, although the volcano no longer provides enough heat for forging, so captive souls are used as energy instead. '''Apollyon''' Rider of Pestilence claims ''Plaguemere'' and makes his castle in the hollowed out corpse of an ancient deity where he devises and spreads new diseases ''(much like Khin-Oin mentioned above)''. While '''Trelmarixian''': Rider of Famine holds his ''Withered Court'' in a tower made up of living flesh and bone.

'''Ahriman''', Lord of Divs also keeps his realm of Ahermanabad within a bastion made up of fallen monuments at the top of Mount Kef. The Divs exist in a state of cold war with the Daemons, occasionally skirmishing with daemonic forces, but typically retreating so to not draw the full ire of the Four Horsemen. Instead the Divs spare most of their attention and considerable hatred for the mortal realms.

{{Pathfinder-Planes}}