Tools of the Primordial Ancients

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GM James R

Prehistoric Article This article contains information said to be from Prehistoric Times. The validity of prehistoric content is dubious at best due to poor recordkeeping in the era, and should be considered unreliable, or at best: Legend.

Crown, Staff, Orb, Wand

According to legend, the Tools of the Primordial Ancients were the weapons forged by Akadi, Grumbar, Istishia, and Kossuth to fight back against the creator gods as they shaped Quelmar into existence.

With godlike power over the realm, the tools have spent most of their history protected by fierce guardians, or in hiding. However, on the rare occasion that they were used, the effects were wide-reaching, unforgettable, and sometimes permanent.

About

The artifacts enhance each other, and by channeling two, the power of both is doubled. Channeling all four gives god-like abilities. The items were cursed, however, after the Great Fissure, to only work in the section of the realm that the Artifacts called home.

1. The Wand only works when over the Ocean
2. The Crown only works over Quelmar’s southern lands (Amusa and Pteris).
3. The Staff only works over Quelmar’s green lands (Osugbo, Isonhound).
4. The Orb works as long as the user of the orb is off the ground.

This meant in theory that the Orb could work simultaneously as exactly one other weapon. But it was thought that the other three (wand, crown and staff) would never work together, based on the ancient creation stories that talk about the conflicts.

However, a loophole to the curse was discovered, or perhaps an intentional quirk. When channeling one artifact in its proper territory, it could still draw ancient power from the others. So while you may not be able to use the wand in an Amusan volcano, you can hold both crown and wand to power the crown with twice as much power as normal.

The other loophole came in the form the Levinkan continent. It was said in ancient times, the Lightning King himself could channel all four elements. It is theorized that Lightning is the primordial energy that all four elements can call themselves a partner of. Lightning happens where the Sky’s Energy meets the Ground’s Energy, often bringing along rains and starting fires.

The Tools

Crown of Empyrosis

• A legendary artifact, said to allow its wielder to control the maga and lava deep below Amusa, causing fiery destruction and volcanoes to emerge anywhere with a mere thought.
• When worn, the crown communicates with the wielder under the name "Yro". The crown always work in a self-defensive manner, ensuring that it stays out of the public eye. Typical behavior includes manipulation and murder of unloyal subjects.
• The crown contained the soul of Bruneld Redmane. It may have been possible to place the crown on Redmane's head and destroy it in the forge beneath his manor. However, Banite cultists stole and ceremonially demolished the head.
• The crown would later contain the Kossuthian follower Midnight, who replaced Bruneld as the crown's "soul" for several months before being freed of this responsibility by Edna.
• When the Crown was destroyed, Edna's spirit was set free as well.

Staff of the Marsh

• This legendary staff of ancient folklore was said to allow its wielder to easily command the earth of Osugbo, bending it with their will, creating mountains, volcanoes, caverns, and all other worldly features with a mere thought.
• It was held at the Howling Crag, where only a fiend could access it.
• Tigger claims to have bonded to it in some way.

Orb of Gales

• A legendary artifact, said to allow its wielder to control the winds above Pteris, changing their speeds and directions at will.
• Supposedly, it will show itself to one deemed worthy: one not touching the ground in the midst of a great storm.
• The Orb of Gales is home to a Fickle Spirit who deems it's wielder unworthy if they make contact with a solid surface.

Wand of the Spout

• Created by Istishia, the wand is a fabled artifact, mentioned mostly in ancient folklore. It is rumored that anyone who is strong enough to wield the wand can command the oceans, redirecting, evaporating, or freezing them through willpower alone.

History

Creation

Only one full creation story of the tools exists from Prehistory, reaccounted below.

Many believe the gods arrived at Quelmar first, creating the realm as their feuding grounds for the many prehistoric arguments they needed to settle. But the truly enlightened know that before the gods arrived, the chaos of nothingness was percolated with rivers.

These rivers cooled and soothed the chaos, controlling it, as the chaos was the precursor to fire, and even today all fires wish to turn the realm back into a chaotic womb of nothingness. It was the rivers that drew the attention of the gods, rivers that showed them the chaos could be tamed. So it was that the gods arrived at Quelmar and bore the sky and the ground.

Before wheat, before sea, before sun and moon, Quelmar stood immortal as sky, ground, river, and chaos. Perfect in every way, the virgin ground ran across the horizon smoothly like a glass bowl. But even the ground, creation of the gods, could keep back the chaos forever. In time, the chaos burned across the ground, creating great vales of stone and canyons of expanse. Where the chaos flooded, the river chased, filling the holes and valleys of the ground. Thus the oceans were created. Rivers multiplied and covered the ground, protecting it from the burning chaos.

The sky, an ever present observer of the war below, would open up to invite those who could stop the disfiguring landscapes, and so the life came to quell the marred landscape, filling it with creatures and families, who fled from the chaos, and traversed the ground to settle on waterfronts realm wide.

One day, the gods would meet the new life on the realm, teaching them how to survive on such disfigured terrain. They were taught how to walk, and how to climb. They were taught how to swim and how to breathe. But eventually the life of the marred and quelled terrain asked for more. The gods taught them how to survive the coldness of harsh winters, how to build structures of clay and brick, and eventually how to channel the magics of the universe with their minds and hands. Eventually ground was covered with blemishes of life now, and the gods smiled as the creatures ruined the realm, covering it with the seed of all civilization.

To fight back against the creatures, those ancients of the primordial origin manifested themselves and challenged the gods. From the ground came Grumbar, proud and strong. From the rivers came Istishia, the purifier and protector. From the chaos came Kossuth, the flaming beacon of destruction. Finally, from the sky, the neutral observer of the war below bore Akadi, who remained aloof and unattached.

The primordial lords could not fight back against the overwhelming number of creatures who dotted the realm, but they had learned from watching the gods that the creatures were quick to turn on each other. To escalate their war on the masses, the primordial lords seduced creatures of the realm with artifacts of great power, said to let the creatures channel the elements like a true god.

From the fires of the realm, there was born a deadly diadem of fire, the Crown of Empyrosis was said to give its wearer the power to bring back the burning chaos and purify what has now become disfigured.

From the waters, there was born a wand of immense power, the Wand of the Spout is said to give its caster the abilities of Istishia, filling or emptying an ocean with the flick of a wrist.

From the ground, a great staff grew and formed, the Staff of the Marsh could let creatures command the earth under their feet, healing and puncturing the terrain to their hearts' content.

Finally, the goddess of the air gave the realm an orb of unimaginable abilities, not tired from the constant battles of the realm, Akadi was perhaps the most powerful of the primordial lords. When holding the Orb of Gales, a creature could spin vortices of air powerful enough to extinguish fires, part seas, and move continents.

These weapons were the only chance the Primoridal Lords had at taking the realm back from the gods and their creatures, but as the soon found out, the hearts of men are not so quickly won.

The Elemental Sundering

During the War of Essence in 650 BR, the artifacts were collected by an elite team of Eladrin, sent to the realm from the Feywild. Using the artifacts, they were able to control the power of the Elemental Chaos to split the inner planes into discrete and separated regions, giving birth to the Elemental Plane of Air, Elemental Plane of Water, Elemental Plane of Fire, and Elemental Plane of Earth.

The Arctic Autumn

In 496 PR, one of the Eladrin from the War of Essence, known now as The Paladin, began a second hunt for the artifacts, following on the prophecies that indicated they could only be found again once the spark had been ignited. The spark of course being the Blackouts of Galik in 495.

The Paladin would only get access to one tool, the Wand of the Spout, but would use it's intense power to track down and fight others for the Orb, Crown, and Staff on several occasions.

Destruction

The secret to the Tools destruction came from an unlikely source: Wanda. A fire Genasi who had discovered the Crown long before the world froze over in the 460s PR, it was one fateful evening that Wanda, a devout Kossuthian, finally received an answer to her prayers. Both she and the fire cleric Aritian received half of a vision which explained the workings of the Tools.

Wanda:	Aritian:
The Pulls Full Of Elemental Because An You Wield Crown To Its Anchor It Loses	Crown The Power The Plane It's Anchor Must The As Weigh Own So Now Connection

And only by combining their visions, did the heroic team of AFEW learn that the weapons COULD be destroyed....but it took someone with immense will and power to do so. They saw hints of this when watching The Paladin almost destroy the artifacts during the War of Essence, but now with all the information they needed, the group, which had finally collected all four of the Elemental Tools, took to a field in Levinkan, far enough from any civilization incase the worst were to happen.

And through the sheer will power and strength of Grindseed, the tools were wielded, and then their connections to the planes were drawn on, connecting them to their full strength. Picturing an anchor being weighed, the BugBear emptied the tools of their connections, severing them for good from their source of power.

The tools were last seen, powerless, hanging above the bar in a tavern, The Edesian, in Galik.

Behind the Screen

To "Weigh Anchor" of an artifact, a creature needs to have the willpower and/or strength to overcome the natural defenses of the artifact in question.

Three checks must then be made, a saving throw, a skill check, and an ability check. The more artifacts wielded at once, the higher the saving throw, but the lower the checks.

Great Damage Deaths invoked by the Artifacts reduce the wielder to an elemental pyre of the wielded artifacts (Dust, air, ashes, or vapor).

Players who don't die of great damage will fall unconcious instead and drop everything wielded (this risks the orb disappearing as well)

Artifact being destroyed, and # of artifacts wielded	Saving Throw	Skill Check	Ability Check	Misbehavior
Crown 1 artifact 2 artifacts 3 artifacts 4 artifacts	Wisdom 13 18 27 28	Religion 26 21 16 11	Constitution 22 17 12 7	Overcomes the Wielder - Cue Empyro Fight
Wand 1 artifact 2 artifacts 3 artifacts 4 artifacts	Constitution 15 20 25 30	History 26 21 16 11	Strength 22 17 12 7
Staff 1 artifact 2 artifacts 3 artifacts 4 artifacts	Strength 18 23 28 33	Nature 26 21 16 11	Dexterity 22 17 12 7	30 foot wide Great Fissure on the ground. Opens up to magma pools under Amusa. Everyone begins to fall.
Orb 1 artifact 2 artifacts 3 artifacts 4 artifacts	Dexterity 15 20 25 30	Persuasion 26 21 16 11	Wisdom 22 17 12 7	Disappears
	On Failure Cue Misbehavior, or can choose to bargain---their life for the consequences.	On Failure Take 25d10 psychic damage	On Failure Take 30d6 elemental damage (Fire, Thunder, Lightning, Cold)