Dnd Lore - Blog Posts

"She Who Last Saw The Stars

"She who first saw the stars"

The main and only actual goddess in my dnd.

Backstory:

Long ago before time, before the stars even existed two races existed in the never ending abyss, one who only ever knew peace and magic and the other swallowed in hate, the Corrupts as they are now known as wanted to be the only one and so they devised a plan. The corrupts would kill their other half, the Jxulx (translates to peace) had not been prepared and where almost instantly wiped out in the first wave, only few still stood and even less had been unharmed. The peace they once had was shattered, the once quite abyss was now filled with the wails of destroyed family's and the crunching of broken bodies, the once happy and joyful home of the Jxulx was smeared in their blood.

The Jxulx gathered anything that they could use as a weapon and tried to rebel against the Corrupts, the Jxulx now blinded by rage and sorrow for their dead, went to attack the Corrupts but it went horribly, they had only been able to take down a few of the Corrupts (The corrupts took up a tradition of killing the weak among them so there was only a few of them that was left.) as they had expected this and stood ready, annihilating the Jxulx, only one had been left standing, scared and traumatised she stood in the flames of her dead in, her mind raced with what she had just witnessed, her life flashed before her, looking, searching for something to save her and only one thing stood out, a taboo ritual, she gathered her remaining strength and let the chant spew out her mouth as she made her kins bones into a staff, she held the staff above her head and start to desperately scream the chant, the Corrupts had laughed at first before they screamed.

She turned the dead bodies of her kin into what we now know as stars, the light was blinding and it burned the Corrupts, seven of them lashed out and attempted to attack her but the heat of the stars only grew, the seven Corrupts slashed and clawed at her but it was no use as she kept dodging and running, they chased her all across the universe till the had ended up in an area far from the stars and other Corrupts, the last Jxulx desperately did all she could and came out victorious in the process she had gouged ones eye out and turned it into the sun and had made the other planets on accident (she pointed the staff in the wrong direction). Once the battle was done she looked at all the stars and was horrified to see, she was the last of her kind, she may have pushed the remaining Corrupts back but at what cost?

She spent many cycles regaining her strength and looked at the 7 Corrupts bodies that she had clumped into a ball, out of sheer loneliness she took her staff once again and purified the corpses as best as she could, she turned their bones into the stone of the Earth, their flesh the ground and their blood into water, she made creatures out of the things she use to draw as a child and soon this new home of hers became liveable.

The air was sweet and there was no longer the deafening silence... but she was still lonely, she had no one to talk to, no one to share her home with and so she slumped back into her depression, the creatures she created grew more and more concerned about her as the days went by, eventually one of the creatures she had named birds came to her carrying her staff of bones, once again did her eyes have that bright sheen that they missed, the woman picked up her staff for the very last time and created the races, elves came first, she had made them look as close to her people whilst still letting them be different in their own ways, she had created sea elves, light elves, wood elves (multiple sub-types of wood elves) and dark elves, she had created the other races after that over the time-span of many days - filling the world with unique individuals sadly this came at a cost, taking lives was easy but making them meant she had to sacrifice pieces of her own soul to make them but she could careless she had filled the world and her creations loved her, they knew her as the Mother, eventually she became to weak to continue to exist and so she had 'passed away' (she didn't actually she only fell into a coma under the Earth), her children mourned her but life carried on, they built civilisations, made bibles that got muddled and caught in mistranslation over time.

Eventually over time the Corrupts baneful energy risen once more, creating monsters out of her sweet creatures and children, this is why the guilds where made, too keep her hard work forever safe, so that she may live in our hearts forever more.

(I wrote this very, very late, no caffeine at all and I will not bother to edit it, get out of my cooch)

(https://meiker.io/play/15623/online.html this is what I used to make her)

Regarding the claim that the lore of vampire brides is supposedly outdated because it’s based on Van Richten's Guide to Vampires, published in 1991, and that this lore isn’t mentioned in the current edition of DnD 5e, specifically in the 2021 edition of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft:

First of all, vampire brides are also mentioned in Van Richten’s Monster Hunter’s Compendium from 1999.

But most importantly, the 2021 edition of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft directly references Van Richten's Guide to Vampires.

So…

If we disregard the lore of Ravenloft (even though the game clearly alludes to it) and focus solely on the game itself:

Player: How does someone become a vampire, exactly? Astarion: It's simple. Just find a vampire that will drink your blood and turn you into a vampire spawn: their obedient puppet. In theory, the next step is to drink their blood. Once you've done that, you're free and a true vampire. Player: 'In theory'? Astarion: People think the biggest threat to a vampire is a cleric with a stake. It's not. The biggest threat to a vampire is another vampire. They're scheming, paranoid, power-hungry beasts. So why would any vampire give up control over a spawn to create a competitor?

Player: So they bite you, you bite them? Astarion: Yes and no. The problem is once you're a vampire spawn, they completely control you. They have to allow you to bite them. And why would they do that? Vampires are power-hungry creatures. They won't lose a servant to create a competitor. Trust me. It doesn't happen.

Once AA gives Tav his blood, they can no longer be considered a spawn—according to the lore, they become a true vampire. This is confirmed both by in-game dialogues and the D&D 5E lore on which the game is based.

Astarion: Nearly two hundred years and I never came back. Not since the night I woke up down there. I had to punch a hole in the coffin and claw my way through six feet of dirt. Then when I finally broke the surface, retching up dirt and congealed blood, Cazador was waiting. From that day on I was his. Until today. Moreover, we never see AA mentally controlling Tav the way Cazador controlled his spawns—which would be undeniable proof of their status as a spawn. The game only presents a dialogue about freedom, which does not contradict the concept of Tav as a bride but also does not confirm any magical control that could prove otherwise.

So if you believe that the Bride Theory is unfounded and that the process of becoming a vampire bride doesn’t align with what is shown in the game, then consider this: it has even less in common with the process of becoming a spawn. The turning into a spawn is described in detail in the game, and clearly not without reason—and Tav's/Dark Urge's turning is not just different in some aspects, it has absolutely no similarities with it.

No matter which lore you take, Tav is not a spawn.

Maybe I should make a post with counterarguments to all the most common arguments against the Bride Theory.

Pet Idea

Duck Of Inspiration

Description: An apparently normal duck, occasionally it glows of a very faint yellow light.

Functionality: Give to all the players in a 10ft, that are in good terms with the duck, the possibility to use +1 to +5 inspiration per long rest. A player can use +5 all in one roll, or two players can use +2 and then +3.

BUT

If someone uses the inspiration of the duck they will not be able to use it until the next long rest. If someone uses the inspiration point that the DM gave them and that sums up to more than a +1 inspiration used, they will be unable to use the Duck until the next long rest.

To be in good terms with the duck you need to feed it, play with it, take care of her, NEVER call her “Quack”, “Goose”, “Silly Goose”, “Duck”, “Chicken” or “Bird” and NEVER say to her to shut up or act angrily towards her if she quacks.

If you do one of those things, you roll a d20

15-20: the Duck will look at you angrily, quack loudly while glowing and you will be feeling uneasy for a minute

10-14: the Duck will quack, looking at you seriously while glowing of a faint orange, you’ll be unable to speak for a minute. If you have any inspiration points, you lose 1 of them

5-9: the Duck will quack quietly, looking at you with disdain while glowing orange, you’ll be blinded and mute for a minute. If you have any, you’ll lose 2 inspiration points.

2-4: the Duck looks at you in silence and glows red, you’ll be paralysed for a minute, uneasy for 5 minutes and take 3d4 of psychic damage. You’ll lose all your inspiration points given to you but the DM

1: the Duck eyes turn white, its feathers vibrate while turning of a pitch black, it opens its wings and beak, looking directly into your eyes. The duck glows purple, everything around you seems to tremble like in an earthquake and then you start vomiting blood losing 20 pure damage, you look at the Duck and for a second it seems to have horns and sharpened teeth inside it’s beak, what seems like blood comes down like tears from its eyes. Then everything turns black, and the next thing you realise after opening your eyes, is that you’ve been transformed into a duck (a chicken, if you’ve called her “Chicken”). No other players have seen past the black aura that surrounded the Duck and you while everything happened. Everyone need to roll an Intelligence roll (>5 to succeed) to understand that the Duck polymorphed you into a Duck/Chicken. You lose all your inspiration points and stay polymorphed for 2 hours or until the next rest. You can understand other Ducks while in this form, except The Duck.

Rolling lower than a 12 will make you unable to use the Duck again (don’t say it to your player until it tries to, to make it funnier) because you’ll be in bad terms with the Duck.

Say sorry to the Duck and take care of her and it will accept your apologies and after your next rest you’ll be able to use the Duck again.

Speak with animals will not work (and any other spell that need its target to be an animal) but will give you the faint sensation that you should make this Duck friend and follow you, for your own good.

P.S. Yes, The Duck is an eldritch abomination. If you want it can become a patron, but don’t make it that it’s a Dark creature polymorphed or trapped in the body of a Duck… make it that the Duck is its normal form.

Inspiration: The Duck above… wait I’ve gained inspiration from the duck of inspiration to make the duck of inspiration… it’s Duckception

Saw a post like this with negative outlook so I asked for it to be fixed