afroakuma's Planar And Other Oddities Questions Thread VII

[Brookshw]

What entity is responsible for granting Zodar wishes?

The DM

[Sharqking]

Do the Semi-Elemental Planes border the Quasi-Elemental Planes? Are they considered the border regions between the Quasi-Elemental Planes as well as the border between the Para-Elementals and +/-?
If no to both of those, do the Quasi-Elemental planes border each other? Or possible border the Para-Elemental Planes directly?

I imagine they wouldn't create their own planes in between, more of a bleed over effect into the other. Like the plane of Crystal would fill with crystal vapors akin to dust but feel wet like water towards the plane of Steam, or the plane of Pumice becoming more and more brittle until each touch turns the rock into dust as you move towards the plane of dust.

[enderlord99]

Do the Semi-Elemental Planes border the Quasi-Elemental Planes?

Maybe. Sparks certainly seems to fit that description.

Are they considered the border regions between the Quasi-Elemental Planes as well as the border between the Para-Elementals and +/-?

See above.

If no to both of those, do the Quasi-Elemental planes border each other?

No.

Or possible border the Para-Elemental Planes directly?

Yes. I originally thought you were still talking about Semi-. The actual answer is "no."

[Brookshw]

I'd suggest you try me again on the weekend.

Figure I'd bump this if you're so inclined.

[afroakuma]

What entity is responsible for granting Zodar wishes?

Zodars don't actually use wish, they alter reality in a similar fashion.

Do the Semi-Elemental Planes border the Quasi-Elemental Planes?

One imagines they would.

Are they considered the border regions between the Quasi-Elemental Planes as well as the border between the Para-Elementals and +/-?

I don't believe the fanon article mentioned anything about how they are "considered" or by whom. They don't match the descriptions of the actual borders, however, so they may be metaphysically separate.

If no to both of those, do the Quasi-Elemental planes border each other? Or possible border the Para-Elemental Planes directly?

They do, yes.

• The border between Lightning and Radiance is the Bright Land, a deadly place of glowing stormclouds.
• The border between Lightning and Steam is the Dark Land near Lightning, a place of rolling black stormclouds where mephits wage war on each other. Near Steam, it becomes the Death Cloud, a place of swirling steam clouds where lightning lances out erratically.
• The border between Mineral and Radiance is Brighthome, a crystal field where the stones glow and gleam with the light of stars.
• The border between Mineral and Steam is the Misty Caverns nearer to Mineral, exactly what it sounds like. Toward Steam it becomes the Shard Forest, where pillars and crystals float in the clouds of steam.

On the Negative side:

• The border between Ash and Dust is the Wasting Place, a horrible cloudy realm of cold and disintegration hostile to all things.
• The border between Ash and Vacuum is the Sparkling Vast, a nightmarish and airless land of grit that has become like flecks and shards of broken glass.
• The border between Dust and Salt is the Consumption, where unprotected fluids break apart into scintillating granules, a fatal event for living things.
• The border between Salt and Vacuum is the Flats, a vast expanse of hard-packed salt.

Figure I'd bump this if you're so inclined.

I mean, it sounds like you already have some ideas. Are you just looking for me to make up more? Let me know what we're looking for.

[crystal_entity]

Apologies if this has come up before, I'm still catching up with previous threads - I'm amazed by your in-depth knowledge! My question is whether there is there anything mentioned about how High Sorcery on Krynn interacts with wizards from other planes/crystal spheres.

If I remember correctly wizards on Krynn follow one of the gods of magic, and the phase of the relevant moon affects the power of their spells. Is there any mention on whether this is just a local phenomenon or whether a Krynnish wizard would still be subject to this on another plane despite the moon being back in Krynnspace? (I don't *think* Solarinari et al grant spells in the same way other gods to do clerics, more they're responsible for regulating magic?).

Similarly, if a wizard from another plane (or crystal sphere) travelled to Krynn, would their magic be subject to the Krynnish gods of magic and thus the moon phases? And is there anything written about how the Orders of High Sorcery treat travellers from other planes (I'm guessing they'd be expected to take the Test if they were planning on staying for a while, but that's purely my speculation)?

Thanks!

[PairO'Dice Lost]

If I remember correctly wizards on Krynn follow one of the gods of magic, and the phase of the relevant moon affects the power of their spells. Is there any mention on whether this is just a local phenomenon or whether a Krynnish wizard would still be subject to this on another plane despite the moon being back in Krynnspace? (I don't *think* Solarinari et al grant spells in the same way other gods to do clerics, more they're responsible for regulating magic?).

Similarly, if a wizard from another plane (or crystal sphere) travelled to Krynn, would their magic be subject to the Krynnish gods of magic and thus the moon phases? And is there anything written about how the Orders of High Sorcery treat travellers from other planes (I'm guessing they'd be expected to take the Test if they were planning on staying for a while, but that's purely my speculation)?

The moons don't grant power like gods of magic, nor is the moons' power exactly the source of their magic the same way the Weave is on Toril. Here's what the original sourcebook says about it:

Each of the three Orders of High Sorcery receives its powers from one of the moons of magic. Wizards of the White Robes get their powers from Solinari, Black Robe wizards get their power from Nuitari, and neutral Wizards get theirs from the red moon, Lunitari. It is by the position and aspect of its moon that each order gains its enhanced powers.
[...]
A wizard of 1st through 3d level is unaffected by phases of the moons because of the low power levels involved in his spells. It is for this reason that the tests for wizards occur at 3d [sic] level or above as it is at this point that wizards are considered to "come of age."
[...]
Only a wizard of 6th level or higher who also has an Intelligence of 15 or above gains this benefit [+1 CL during High Sanction] from the moons.

A wizard who changes orders suffers the loss of two experience levels. This may make the wizard's spell book unusable in some instances (since the types of spells a wizard receives depend on his order, the spells in his old book may no longer be usable when he changes orders).

Also, the wizard's abilities are not affected by any moons until one game month has passed after his change (then the moon of his new order affects his abilities).

Wizards who enter Krynn from other campaigns are considered renegade wizards until such time as they declare their alignment to an order. Such wizards use the standard wizard tables found in the DMG and the Player's Handbook.

Bolding mine. Taken together, all of that indicates that Wizards of High Sorcery don't draw their power directly from the moons (while the "1st level spells don't interact with moon magic" thing is similar to the "cleric spells of 1st level depend on faith alone and aren't granted by their deity" rule, a wizard of higher than 3rd level who's between Orders can still cast spells just fine, he'll just do so without the benefits of being part of one of the Orders) and the moon magic isn't something inherent about their magic that would "follow" them outside of Krynn.

As a side note, the actual benefits for being a Wizard of High Sorcery in AD&D were thus:

• Getting mid-level spells early. Spell progression was delayed by a spell level after 10th level (so you got 6ths at 12th level, 7ths at 14th level, etc. like a 3e sorcerer), but Wizards of High Sorcery got 6ths at 10th level, 7ths at 12th level, etc.
• More spells/day overall. Whites ended up with more 8ths and 9ths, Reds got 3rds early (at 4th level) and ended up with more 1sts and 2nds, and Blacks got 9ths early (at 13th level!).
• Much slower advancement at low and mid levels in exchange for much faster advancement at high levels; a normal AD&D wizard hit 4th level at 10K XP, while it took a Wizard of High Sorcery until 20K (Whites), 18K (Reds), or 17K (Blacks) XP, but a normal wizard took 3M XP to hit 18th level (yes, that's M as in "million") while a Wizard of High Sorcery only required 2.5M (Whites), 2.25M (Reds), or 1.9M (Blacks) XP.

So switching Orders wasn't actually too terrible after a certain point, since being two levels behind merely put you at the same point that a standard wizard would have been, and the Orders have different strengths at different levels. Raistlin was actually fairly optimized in switching from Red (best at low levels with early 3rd and more low-level spells) to Black (best at high levels with much lower XP requirements and early 9ths) if he did so at 12th level or later so as not to lose access to 6th-level spells.

[aj77]

Speculation question: why do arcanoloths look the way they do? They don't seem to fit in well with your average fiend, let alone the other yugoloths. Lesser yugoloths seem to have a vermin theme going on, maraenoloths and ultroloths are vague shadowy schemer types, and nycoloths are generically fiendish looking. By comparison "dog people" are positively cuddly by comparison. If the point was to make arcanoloths more "approachable" or play up their scheming nature I'd think there would be better forms they could take. Are they universally jackal shaped or are some arcanoloths other animal shaped?

Speaking of yugoloths being vermin themed, I read somewhere unreliable that gelugons used to be a type of yugoloth. Is there any truth to this, either in or out of universe?

What is it about certain types of lycanthropes that enables them to generally have a non evil alignment? Is it a difference in the nature of the curse? A society built around those lycanthropes that teaches new members to control their powers? Influence from deities of those creatures?

Would you consider the lost layers of Arborea to be a reasonable addition to speculative talk about planescape?

[afroakuma]

Apologies if this has come up before, I'm still catching up with previous threads - I'm amazed by your in-depth knowledge!

Always pleased to meet a new reader!

My question is whether there is there anything mentioned about how High Sorcery on Krynn interacts with wizards from other planes/crystal spheres.

It essentially does not; the magic of external practitioners isn't designed to interact with the moons.

If I remember correctly wizards on Krynn follow one of the gods of magic, and the phase of the relevant moon affects the power of their spells. Is there any mention on whether this is just a local phenomenon or whether a Krynnish wizard would still be subject to this on another plane despite the moon being back in Krynnspace? (I don't *think* Solarinari et al grant spells in the same way other gods to do clerics, more they're responsible for regulating magic?).

A Krynnish wizard on another sphere would not derive any notable power from the local lunar bodies. Solinari, Lunitari, and Nuitari are responsible for the regulation of magic within Krynnspace.

And is there anything written about how the Orders of High Sorcery treat travellers from other planes (I'm guessing they'd be expected to take the Test if they were planning on staying for a while, but that's purely my speculation)?

I could have sworn I had once seen something specific regarding this... but in the generic, as Dice said, wizards coming from elsewhere are considered renegades if they do not swiftly approach the Conclave for admission into an Order. I would imagine that, provided they enter in an approved fashion and make themselves known appropriately to a Conclave representative as soon as is possible, there is some discretion involved in permitting a foreign wizard to operate on Krynnish soil - so really this would be spelljammers arriving in port at Palanthas and no other method.

Speculation question: why do arcanoloths look the way they do? They don't seem to fit in well with your average fiend, let alone the other yugoloths.

There are mammalian fiends, particularly amongst the tanar'ri. Arcanaloths may appear more relatable than the gargoylish nycaloth or alien ultroloth, but they're still snarling, jackal-headed in a decidedly non-cuddly manner, and may even present with horns. In some ways the humanoid form is a highly immediate way to conceal the scale of one's monstrous evil, but the face they wear ensures that arcanaloths can never hide the bestial hate and contempt they feel for other life forms. That they are otherwise human or humanlike in bearing suggests a greater degree of control over the nature of their evil, unlike the imbalanced yagnoloths, multifarious nycaloths, or debased hydroloths.

Arcanaloths generally look like jackals or war dogs. There's no reason some other canid could not be possible, however.

Speaking of yugoloths being vermin themed, I read somewhere unreliable that gelugons used to be a type of yugoloth. Is there any truth to this, either in or out of universe?

Nope.

What is it about certain types of lycanthropes that enables them to generally have a non evil alignment? Is it a difference in the nature of the curse? A society built around those lycanthropes that teaches new members to control their powers? Influence from deities of those creatures?

Certainly the deities are of differing alignments themselves, but there's a question of chicken and egg going on there. It may have to do with the primal origins of the individual lycanthropic strains - if werewolves are some distillation of the ferocity and malevolence of Miska the Wolf-Spider, for instance (not saying they are, just saying as an example), then chaos and evil would naturally be imprinted on the curse.

Would you consider the lost layers of Arborea to be a reasonable addition to speculative talk about planescape?

Lost layers? You'll have to remind me where you saw that, it's been a while since I last did a pass on the books.

Spoiler: The Thief of Years

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The Thief of Years

At the base of a cliff in a dry basin in Pluton, in the shadow of the ruins above, stands a lone black willow tree from which hangs a single tubular chime. Striking the chime causes a door to appear in the face of the cliff, which may swing open of its own accord or resist being opened as though sealed with hold portal (which it is). Within, hundreds of shadowy rats scurry silently along the walls and ceiling, pulling lines of glowing silvery thread to weave patterns around the otherwise sedate chambers. The master and proprietor awaits within, a tusked and emaciated cycloptic halfling wearing drab beige robes and turban. This is Al'Mumatil, who calls himself a transporter of rare goods, but who is most often known as the Thief of Years.

Al'Mumatil accepts commissions, typically for staggering fees, to go forth into the planes and steal from the victim of his employer's choice. While Al'Mumatil's skills in pickpocketry are legendary, there is only one commodity that he will ever lift from his target: time, specifically up to a year of time per century of potential life expectancy (minimum one year). The Thief can only steal up to one year per day from a particular target, the time emerging wrapped around his long, spidery fingers as silvery thread. These he brings back to his gloomy home, where they are added to the weblike tableau of wares on offer. The threads collected by the Thief of Years contain not just the time, but also the qualities of the time that the victim should have passed - and these can be passed on, spooled into the existing time of another - for a price, of course.

Primes often quest to the door of the Thief in search of longevity, and certainly his products can do that; but his thievery is so elegant as to be almost undetectable, even with magical aid, and the subtleties of Al'Mumatil's ability hold vast potential for the wicked and the unscrupulous.

• It seems the Thief is in search of an apprentice - perhaps he wearies of the longevity he has surely imbued himself with and wishes his art to outlive him; or perhaps he himself cannot die until the last thread of his life is stolen by another. It's possible he even owes it to whatever source granted him his curious power
rumored to be the Moirae - to continue the trade through an up-and-coming pickpocket. Whatever the case may be, Al'Mumatil is happy to give the first day's training to those who ask. Invariably, they return with a great increase in their capacity to pick pockets (+8 profane bonus to Sleight of Hand checks) but deeply and fundamentally haunted by whatever the Thief had to tell them.

[Eldan]

What I know about the lost Layers of Arborea is a half-remembered fan article on Planewalker, where someone for fun wrote up four more layers of Arborea that were lost at some point and can't be accessed anymore in the normal ways.

[Brookshw]

I mean, it sounds like you already have some ideas. Are you just looking for me to make up more? Let me know what we're looking for.

Some additional examples would certainly be fine. Where I'm "stuck" is with the notion of shadows of things that don't exist, more specifically whether that should be things that don't exist, or can't exist.

It's easy enough to change the tone of a location on the Prime, and in the process insert buildings/geographies which don't actually exist but could. Alternatively, I could also easily see putting in things that, factually, don't exist and couldn't exist short of magic, e.g., a large tower that's been severed in half with the top half floating. But that would simply be a thing that would ultimately seem to be a thing that could exist, and if a thing could exist on the Prime it doesn't feel.....weird enough for the deep shadow (and given the generally massive set of things that could exist a'la magic we could say that just about anything could exist).

So any thoughts in general on how to set the scene for the deep shadow, or examples, are much appreciated.

Afterthought, one thing I suppose is to play with scale/distances geographies in the same way shadows stretch, but I don't know if that adds enough.

What I know about the lost Layers of Arborea is a half-remembered fan article on Planewalker, where someone for fun wrote up four more layers of Arborea that were lost at some point and can't be accessed anymore in the normal ways.

This one?

[aj77]

This one?

That's what I meant, thanks... I can't post URLs...

Is the plane of Dreams its own, discrete plane? I always imagined it as a region of the Astral, but in 2e it was part of the Ethereal for some reason.

[afroakuma]

Oh hey Eldan! Good to see you're still around. I thought I hadn't seen that in a book.

Some additional examples would certainly be fine. Where I'm "stuck" is with the notion of shadows of things that don't exist, more specifically whether that should be things that don't exist, or can't exist.

I mean, I was going with "don't," but no reason it couldn't be both. Certainly a fun idea.

It's easy enough to change the tone of a location on the Prime, and in the process insert buildings/geographies which don't actually exist but could. Alternatively, I could also easily see putting in things that, factually, don't exist and couldn't exist short of magic, e.g., a large tower that's been severed in half with the top half floating. But that would simply be a thing that would ultimately seem to be a thing that could exist, and if a thing could exist on the Prime it doesn't feel.....weird enough for the deep shadow (and given the generally massive set of things that could exist a'la magic we could say that just about anything could exist).

Sure, so by definition you can't set your expected baseline to "couldn't exist even with magic." The Manual of the Planes tells us what Deep Shadow is like - the terrain becomes extreme, the scales exaggerated as though the features they mimic are casting much larger shadows. Astral rifts exist in Deep Shadow, connecting to Inner and Outer Planes, and entities from such places that have crossed over long ago may exist in a shadow-adapted form in the Deep. Shadow mirages may emerge from the endless night above that take on the scale of cities, countries, or even celestial bodies lurking in the vast blackness.

In the Deep where the cosmology itself is being stepped away from, a traveler may be at once closer to the Near Realm and the Vast Medium than at anywhere else one could go - shadowy mimics of vestiges might bring themselves to the fore, at once small and colossal, whole lives and empires since expunged from a place in the multiverse finding one last hurrah in shadowform in the depths. Even here, vestiges are little more than dreams filled with longing for a lost existence, and the swells of their self-reflections may flash past in the space of a few minutes, a disquieting tide of visions.

Deep Shadow is more than the occlusion of light - it is the concept of the "shadow" of all things, including the conceptual and the immaterial. The landscape may twist and corkscrew through the sky where gravity's shadow is cast; one's own footprints may be cast ahead of oneself; and the shadow of existence itself may generate the sensation of enormous and unknowable presences lurking just above, behind, or adjacent - a terrifying feeling that can only get worse if and when such a figure emerges from the Deep. At some point, the unlucky traveler may begin to encounter so-called "faintlings," shadow entities that arise from the shadows of one's own emotions. These remind the traveler of memories and experiences of specific people, sufficiently so to cause distraction and disorientation. Faintlings may behave erratically, though rarely in a manner that causes more than nonlethal damage.

Deep Shadow is also where one may find strange phenomena such as liquid unlight, which gathers in pillars and monoliths, rippling slowly in defiance of expected conventions of fluid dynamics. A thing which touches liquid unlight is, for a time, impossible to see in bright illumination - it only regains any visibility when some amount of shadow is cast over it. Places exist where distance will distort because the terrain itself attempts to flee from beings contaminated with lightedness. The air can sometimes exude strands of a silvery material that forms an entangling "web" or net around a moving traveler, one which only darkness and similar effects or native materials of the Plane of Shadow can easily remove. Anti-fountains of shadow exist, their motion hypnotic, concentrating motes of darkness and shadow from the surrounding areas into pools or crystals.

Most disconcerting is the bariq, sometimes called "black lightning." This rare phenomenon takes place when one is between cosmologies, and consists of a "flash" of darkness so absolute that even the pitch-black sky seems to momentarily darken. A bariq causes alarm because of what it reveals - similar to how a flash of lightning might reveal something which is occluded by shadow, a bariq can reveal that which possesses more "lightedness" than the plane's temporary darkening can match, resulting in a kind of sudden burst of high contrast. Travelers who witness the bariq are invariably stricken with fear; sages believe they have seen things from the early reaches of the creation process itself, in the midst of assembly.

Towering vistas, clouds like nebulae upon the ground, impossible and exotic physical phenomena, and a disquieting sense that everything one does is somehow of greater and incalculable consequence - this is Deep Shadow.

So any thoughts in general on how to set the scene for the deep shadow, or examples, are much appreciated.

Watch Annihilation. Steal the OST. Use it.

Spoiler: Feighetskog

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Feighetskog

Legend has it that the Norse power Thor was once bested in a wrestling match by the night hag Elli, at the behest of a great jotun. While the trickery of the jotun was revealed to Thor and the deity considered himself well acquitted in the other contests of the day, the loss to Elli was real and gnawed at him fiercely. Sending an avatar to Niflheim, Thor resolved to avenge himself on the hag and prove himself once and for all. The avatar espied the hag in a wood and assaulted her from stealth, only to be brought to kneel yet again.

In shame and dishonor, Thor cast a curse over the spot where he had been put low, and the wood grew thick and cruel. Fiendish dark trees^MoF were sown among the boughs of pine, to set the curious on another path, such that none could attain the center and see where Thor had tasted defeat. The greatest of these are enchanters, illusionists, and necromancers, and to navigate past any one unmolested, it is necessary to win a game of riddles. Those who lose may be deceived into the claws of a troll, or off the edge of a cliff.

• What Thor has concealed in the forest is a small pool of deep purple fluid, a festered divine ichor imbued with the dishonor of a god. Warrior's shame is a mighty reagent with many odious properties. Mixed with a Strength-damaging poison, it increases the save DC by 4 and the damage to Str by 1 point, while also transforming the poison into a contact poison. If boiled or vaporized, it functions as a 20 ft. cloud of crushing despair (except not spell-like in nature). A creature with at least 16 Strength and BAB +10 or higher may imbibe it to experience the shame of a god and grow in honor and glory, but the experience is vastly dangerous (Fort DC 35 or die; on save, exposed to dark reaver powder and paralyzed for 4d4 days). Those who survive have a 90% chance to gain a +2 alchemical bonus to Wisdom and Charisma; the other 10% have their alignment plummet to chaotic evil immediately and can never again benefit from warrior's shame.

[Efrate]

Deep shadow could also reflect the far plane. It might even be the equivilent of their plane of shadow. It could be inhabited by proto- versions of aberrations, obyriths and the like. Connections to the realm of dreams, specifically nightmares, as well as things like the plane of mirrors.

[afroakuma]

Is the plane of Dreams its own, discrete plane? I always imagined it as a region of the Astral, but in 2e it was part of the Ethereal for some reason.

Reposting from thread 3:

Given its nature, we can conjecture that the Region of Dreams is tied to the Astral Plane, the medium of thought. Where the Astral Plane is a conduit, however, Dream is a sort of net or web, and crossing through it requires risk and effort. The best analogy I can think of would be to depict the Astral Plane as a thread and the Region of Dreams as a ring around that thread. It is coterminous to the Material Plane, and likely the Astral Plane and Outer Planes, but in order to use it as a medium of transport you need to step into the center of Dream. The Dreamheart, "occupying" that space where the Astral would be, is also where the Region of Dreams can allow you to use it as a Transitive Plane; the tension in that area that permits this strange effect also carries with it mortal peril.

Dream is a weird phenomenon, one of those fun mysteries of the Great Wheel that defies easy placement or categorization. On some Prime worlds, Dream contaminates the Border Ethereal, creating a dangerous pseudoplane often called the Dreamtime. This is similar to how the Plane of Faerie contacts Prime worlds.

Deep shadow could also reflect the far plane. It might even be the equivilent of their plane of shadow. It could be inhabited by proto- versions of aberrations, obyriths and the like. Connections to the realm of dreams, specifically nightmares, as well as things like the plane of mirrors.

I would specifically recommend not tying it to the Far Realm, as it might get a bit samey. If the Far Realm is Lovecraft, Deep Shadow is Escher.

Spoiler: Glaesisvettir

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Glaesisvettir

Of the hero-king Godmund there are many stories told, and most of the strangest are true; he is believed by many to have been of direct descent from Odin himself, though sages differ on whether he was born mortal or spurned the gifts of the Aesir because life would have offered no challenge. He defied the fey and bathed in an enchanted spring whose waters turn men to stone, claiming to be already harder than any rock could be. He toppled giants and founded a kingdom in the heart of their lands, diverting a poisonous river to make the Urortvei, the road of the king where no giant nor monster would trouble travelers. He hosted an avatar of Surtur as his guest, who sought to offend the mortal king by reminding him that the land of the fire giants would never have bowed as easily as the world shared by men and giants did, inviting Godmund to come and burn in Muspelheim.

You know what happened next.

Godmund laid down iron keels and had boats built from the wood of the coldest forests. He descended into the hot places of the earth and slew the red wyrm Brannhyller, christening his ships with dragon's blood. He sailed forth with such speed that Njord lifted the vessels from the sea lest they cause it to boil, and upon a river crossing through the skies his ships voyaged to the shores of Surtur's land. Here Godmund told the fire to go out from the land, threatening to extinguish it otherwise. The fire fled Godmund's foot and his cask of endless water, and ran to tell Surtur what had happened. When the god of fire giants came to see for himself, Godmund had already stripped his ships for wood and mined the land around for fireproof stone, creating a castle, keep, and town which were surrounded by fields of black and glittering soil, sown with four grains. Though Surtur fumed, his challenge had been met, and he could raise no hand in anger.

...at least until Godmund's son was born, at which point Surtur sent a disease to claim the child. When Godmund discovered this, he hid in the nursery and waited for Death to come for the infant, at which time he tackled Death through a window and grappled with it to spare his son's life. Because you don't mess with Godmund.

Glaesisvettir is ruled by King Höfund, son of Godmund, who is entombed in a crypt beneath the castle and occasionally pauses in his battle with the death spirit to give brief counsel to visitors. Besides being one of the relatively few places in Muspelheim that isn't constantly on fire, the land is a source for services and supplies. Most importantly for some, the keels of Godmund's boats were laid in the ground to form the Iron Line, a demarcation beyond which neither fey nor their powers can cross. Even an avatar of a fey deity would need the King's permission to step past without being afflicted by a bestow curse (no save). Those fleeing fey justice may come to Glaesisvettir in the hope of respite, though in most cases Höfund will invite a fey ambassador to come to the Line and hold court to determine the fate of the refugee.

• The spectacular trees of Glaesisvettir demonstrate the power of both the flaming land and the will of Godmund. Boughs of torch-pine are traded here which offer the same properties as a torch, except the bough is never consumed by its own fire. As a standard action, the holder of bough of torch-pine may make a Charisma check (DC 12) to have the flames flare up, increasing the fire damage from 1 point to 1d6 points for the next minute. For every 3 points by which the check is passed (15, 18 etc.) the fire's damage increases by 1d6, up to a maximum of 6d6 fire damage if a 27 or higher is rolled. This check may alternately be made to consume the torch-pine and unleash a pyrotechnics from it (the holder being immune to the effects).

Spoiler: The Swamps of the Shrieking Tree

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The Swamps of the Shrieking Tree

None have ever had anything nice to say about Othrys, but certain sections are more accessible than others - a place where the horrors of Carceri come down to a dull roar and are more about alienation and spite than revulsion and terror. The Swamps of the Shrieking Tree are no such place. Formerly a Blood War battleground, the Swamps run red with pooled and congealed blood, and the air itself is thick with disease (Tarterian rattle, DC 16, 1d4 days, 1d4 Str damage and 1 Dex drain, infected cannot recover or be healed unless under the effect of calm emotions or similar). The red pools are the friendliest part of the morass - beyond, where red goes to black and gray and the plant life is withered and stunted, is where the shrieking can be heard, faintly echoing for miles.

In the heart of the swamps, rings of stunted black growths (actually fiendish corrupted^BoVD twig blights^MMII) surround a massive weeping willow from which hang dozens of hissing, weeping, and shrieking heads, muttering and crying out in as many languages. The Shrieking Tree (advanced fiendish treant) thrives on blood and is an affront to servants of nature or good. Its "fruit" can bite at foes for 1d4 damage in melee range, and spit seeds of death's head tree at a range of up to 30 ft. (+10 ranged touch). Mature fruit rips itself from the boughs and sprouts bat wings, becoming a corrupted^BoVD vargouille. On rare and horrific occasions, an entire bough of fruit ripens at the same time; when this transpires, the whole branch separates from the Tree, the wood bloating as it transforms into a corrupted^BoVD shrieking terror^MMIII. It takes the Tree 1d4 years to recover a branch.

• Why would anyone venture close to the horrific Tree, except to chop it down? The answer lies in the immature fruit, which can be preserved in a solution of vinegar and rare salts. Pickled death's head is a powerful alchemical reagent useful in many necromantic applications, and acts as a speak with dead cast at 20th level when placed into the mouth of a corpse. Used in the crafting of a darkskull, it reduces the costs by 5000 gp and 500 XP. It may also confer additional powers to undead when used as a material component in their creation. Sages speak of important healing uses, but few of these fruits are ever collected by those likely disposed to heal others.

• The wood of the Tree and its attendant twig blights, meanwhile, is of great interest to vampires; a coffin made from it grants the vampire +2 turn resistance, fire resistance 5, and most crucially provides one additional round of defense against sunlight - on the first round of exposure, the vampire is shaken (no save) but otherwise unaffected; the second round causes disorientation, and the third round destruction. The coffin also slows a vampire's weakness to immersion in running water to loss of 1/5th of total hit points and total destruction at the end of the fifth round. A vampire who lies in such a coffin once a day for 666 days gains the evolved undead^LM template. A stake made of this wood, driven into the earth where a vampire was destroyed, will gather the lost animus of the vampire over the course of a year and give rise to a new evil entity - possibly the vampire renewed, the soul of the vampire in demonic form, a fiendish plant creature, or an unrelated horror.

Spoiler: The Spire of Shattered Legs

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The Spire of Shattered Legs

To the best of anyone's understanding, each layer of Pandemonium is an eternal network of caverns; there is no such thing as a "surface" in this plane. Occasionally, however, one finds locales such as the Spire of Shattered Legs that seem to give question to this assessment. Sages are quick to scoff at the notion that this is anything more than a vast and dusty cavern with a source of light high above, but none have yet explored and found the walls, nor any ceiling. What they have found are hundreds, if not thousands, of rotting or skeletal legs, most broken in at least 2d4 places, with some torn to tatters. Directly beneath the light source above towers a needle-like spire covered in strange markings believed to resemble languages from various backwater Prime planes. Clouds of dust kick up here from gusts of wind that emerge from the passages beneath, making the place hazy and hard to navigate without tripping on discarded limbs.

What one really needs to watch for, however, are the tongues - every so often, a tongue is found near a pair of legs, still moist and apparently healthy apart from its bloody stump. The tongues denote the presence of evil guardian spirits of this place (treat as evolved^LM wraiths with a howler's quill ability, triggering on incorporeal touch attacks, and +2 circumstance bonus to AC and attack rolls due to being largely invisible except for the tongue and the legs; these wraiths have 1d4 rogue levels). It is believed that the power animating these spirits is a byproduct of whatever necromantic process sacrifices all of these limbs and tongues in the first place, and that the secrets of this process are graven on the Spire. Theft of anything, including knowledge, from this cavern may attract the attention of the dark powers who jealously guard these secrets.

• A breathstealer's tongue, properly collected by dispatching a guardian spirit and preserved appropriately, is a potent asset in methods of murder. An assassin may keep one as a spell focus, enhancing all assassin spells with Silent Spell without expending a higher level slot. When used as a material component in a power word spell limited by the hit points of the target, the tongue increases the effective limit by 50%. Clerics of certain malign deities can employ a breathstealer's tongue as a spell component to add 4 to the DC of slay living. It is believed that some of these tongues whisper murderous secrets to their users, increasing the DC of an assassin's death attack by 2 but carrying a risk of madness.

• Breathstealer's bone is prepared from the crushed leg bones of this cavern. If used in the creation of undead, it adds 1 hit point per hit die, increases ground movement speed by 10 ft., and confers a +4 alchemical bonus to Climb, Hide, and Move Silently checks made by the resultant undead. It can be stirred into an injury, inhaled, or ingested poison to increase the save DC by 4. If sprinkled on a corpse, that corpse cannot be subjected to speak with dead or similar effects; attempting to do so will instead cause a horrible shout (CL 10) and gust of wind (blowing directly away from the corpse's mouth) as the skull explodes.

[Brookshw]

O
Sure, so by definition you can't set your expected baseline to "couldn't exist even with magic."

That's a fair level set.

Deep Shadow is more than the occlusion of light - it is the concept of the "shadow" of all things, including the conceptual and the immaterial.

Hmmm, interesting point. I'll need to work on how to incorporate that.

"faintlings,"

well there's a template waiting to be made.

Watch Annihilation. Steal the OST. Use it.

I had never heard of this movie until you brought it up, good recommendation! Definitely some stuff to steal from there (gave me some ideas for the fairy plane as well).

Thanks for all the ideas as well.

[afroakuma]

well there's a template waiting to be made.

Things to remind me of down the line.

I had never heard of this movie until you brought it up, good recommendation! Definitely some stuff to steal from there (gave me some ideas for the fairy plane as well).

It really reminds me a lot of a blog story, The Sick Land, that I read years ago; I believe the book and the blog were oddly contemporaneous. In any event, I really like this track for Deep Shadow.

Thanks for all the ideas as well.

I hope it was helpful; I know it's a weird concept to explore and doesn't have a ton of native support.

Spoiler: The Castle of the Shuddering Rift

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The Castle of the Shuddering Rift

It is always unnerving to planar scholars when a rift between planes - not a portal, but actual damage to the fabric of reality - is discovered, and the Shuddering Rift is one of the more terrifying by any measure. Bearing properties of an ether gap - impossible on the Outer Planes, and yet present here - the Shuddering Rift connects not just two planes but three - and unpredictably so. In this place, the sky is constantly out of step with the landscape, whose only consistent features are that it is on a steep mountain slope and bears the ruins of an ugly black castle. Some of the ruined elements float above or below the main keep, shattered towers and bits of wall twisting slowly in midair.

The Shuddering Rift can be found in three places, with rumors linking it to a fourth. Those documented are a mountain far from the city of Dis on the layer of the same name; the frozen slopes of Krangath; and a sheer and unstable bluff on Niflheim. Studies conducted on it by braver sages than live today suggest that it is also attuned to the realm of a goddess on Avernus, though the Rift never opens there - perhaps it cannot through the force of her power. More alarmingly, harmonics show the rift to be attuned to both the Prime and to an unknown plane that defies description. To date, none has seen it journey to either of these locales - one can only hope such attunement was a thing of the past.

The Rift seems to somehow leak chaos or chaotic energies, and is strongly associated with forgetfulness, such that details regarding it are often scarce and hard to come by. Those who come to this place begin to lose memories about it as well as 1d4 days before and after their visit, a process that commences upon leaving and claims the memories over the course of a week.

The Castle of the Shuddering Rift is guarded by foul undead wolves of diseased aspect and horrific durability, as well as by Large stone half-golem^MMII gargoyles which are not truly alive. In one of the high spires of the Castle, toward the shatterpoint from which the broken elements spin out, festers an emerald glow that writhes and pulses with unknown energy. It is believed that this nameless force is responsible for the forgetting powers of Shuddering Rift and may even power its threefold crossover.

• Those who practice the transgressive art of pact magic may seek the emerald light to make pact with the sinister vestige "within," a heretical mage of surpassing power and evil who cast himself out of reality rather than face the consequences of his treacheries in death.

Spoiler: Dracos, Arch-Renegade

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Dracos, Arch-Renegade
7th Level, Bind DC 32

Dracos, a mighty renegade wizard, made a bid for godhood but was foiled by a knight's bravery. Exposed as a traitor to the goddess he served, he cast himself into oblivion rather than accept her eternal punishments.

Legend: Galan Dracos was born on Krynn over 1000 years ago, in a small village called Culthairai in Istar. Discovered in his youth by the Black Robe Sagathanus, the young sorcerer had already been magically seizing the minds of a few locals, showcasing the terrifying potential of his strange and unique ability to intensify his own powers by drawing on the untapped gifts of followers both willing and unwilling. Sagathanus took the boy as an apprentice, teaching him the Black Robe arts of enchantment, illusion, and necromancy. Before long, however, he realized that Galan was going beyond the practices of High Sorcery - and extending his mastery to those schools of magic traditionally frowned on by the Black Robes. Before long, the young Dracos had delved into secrets of magic unknown anywhere else on Krynn - methods and magics considered blasphemous and transgressive even on far-flung worlds - and had knelt in service to his Outer Planar patron, a goddess of darkness who wished to conquer the world.

Outmatched by his own apprentice, Sagathanus came to believe that the Conclave could never control Dracos's powers and, as Dracos began to gather renegades to his side, convinced the Black Robes to join him after negotiating with his former student for safety and security in the world Dracos and his goddess intended to create. With their aid, Dracos opened a planar tear between the Material Plane and the realm of Abthalom, the Nether Reaches of Avernus, what the people of Krynnspace call "the Abyss." Here, upon a mountain situated in the midst of the Astral rupture that was both of and not of the world, Dracos erected his castle and set about a master plan to allow his dark goddess to bring her full might to bear upon the Prime, not merely an avatar. As the Third Dragon War raged, Dracos loomed large across the conflict as the ultimate architect of evil upon the world.

But the ambition of Galan Dracos transcended that of a mere renegade wizard - he worked to betray his own goddess. Through his supreme artifact, the Emerald Orb, Dracos magnified his power with the arcane energies of his heretical Order and the cowering Black Robes who served him. As the goddess crossed over, the act of her doing so would unleash energies that Dracos intended to seize and absorb, turning her entry against her and using it to ascend to godhood himself. Though the goddess suspected him, she herself could not fathom how close Dracos had come. The end of Krynn and the godhead were within his grasp...

...until the young knight Huma shattered the Emerald Orb.

Unable to safely control the chaotic energies he had unleashed, and with the goddess's backlash now certain to follow, Dracos became a figure of twisted madness immolated in emerald flame. Rather than surrender himself to the eternal cruelty in Abthalom that his goddess promised for his treachery, Dracos spoke his final spell, a single word, and eradicated himself from existence within the multiverse.

Special Requirement: Dracos's spell of eradication fractured even the memories of his name and works. To bind him, one must either travel to the Castle in the Shattered Rift and make his sigil within the emerald light that lurks therein, or to have previously made the trip and done so.

Manifestation: The air darkens and begins to shift, revealing faint hints of some other world of nightmares. Pieces of green glass float upward from the seal, assembling themselves into a sphere that glows with a fierce and fiery emerald glow. A sensation of a taller being lurking right behind you is replaced by your mouth and skin going dry as you stare into the orb and feel as though the orb is staring back. The mocking voice of Dracos echoes in your mind, and you must make a Will save (DC 20) to avoid reaching out to the orb and being burned by its flame (1d6 damage, untyped - only the binder can be harmed or otherwise affected by this energy).

Sign: Your face and head elongate slightly and your skin becomes coated in dry dragonscale that flakes off at a touch.

Influence: As a vestige, Dracos feels most keenly that he has been deprived of opportunities to commit cruelties and atrocity, and his expectations for same from his binders may threaten one's alignment over time. You may not directly attack a dying foe unless they have stabilized. If you have any foe helpless, you cannot kill them with a coup de grace. You can knock them unconscious with a coup de grace, but killing them must be a long, drawn out, torturous process.

Granted Abilities: Dracos gives you the assistance of his dreadwolves, his ability to siphon magical energy and repurpose it, and his ability to send horrifying projections to others.

Dreadwolves: As a standard action, you may conjure a dreadwolf. Use the stats of a diseased^LM evolved (see invisibility)^LM juju zombie^UE howler with cold immunity in place of electric immunity and the scent extraordinary ability. The dreadwolf’s howl isn’t a sonic, mind-affecting effect: instead it is a disease effect. The dreadwolf lasts until slain or the pact ends. You may not conjure more than two dreadwolves at a time; if you try to conjure a third, the oldest one disappears. Once you have conjured a dreadwolf, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.

For each 10 points of emerald chaos you infuse into the dreadwolf, it gains 1 HD and can see invisibility once per day. If at least 15 points are infused into a dreadwolf, you may go into a trance (see nightmarish projection below) in order control the dreadwolf, seeing through its eyes and hearing what it hears. While you are in this trance, your own body is helpless and you can neither see nor hear around yourself.

Emerald Chaos: Whenever a spell is cast by another creature within 100 feet of you and to which you have line of effect, you gain a number of emerald chaos points equal to the level of the spell slot used. Cantrips and orisons do not contribute any emerald chaos points, nor do spells cast without using a spell slot (e.g. from magic items, magic traps, spell-like abilities, and so on). Emerald chaos points last until used (see dreadwolf above and horrific regeneration and magic missile, below), or until the pact ends. You can have a maximum number of emerald chaos points equal to twice your effective binder level; any points you would gain in excess of that limit are lost.

Horrific Regeneration: As a standard action, you may give a creature you touch fast healing, with the amount healed each round equal to the emerald chaos points you spend on this use. The fast healing lasts for 5 rounds, and after using this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.

If you spend eight or more points, the touched creature’s severed body members (fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms, legs, tails, or even heads of multiheaded creatures), broken bones, and ruined organs grow back. After the effect is applied, the physical regeneration is complete in 1 round if the severed members are present and touching the creature. It takes 2d10 rounds otherwise.

Magic Missile: As a swift action, you may cast magic missile, as the spell. When you do, you fire three missiles, plus one additional missile for every three emerald chaos points you expend.

Nightmarish Projection: Once during your pact with Dracos, you may send a projection of yourself to any target on the same plane as you. Treat this as the sending spell, except instead of a message of 25 words or less, you send an illusory image of yourself, as with major image. Your image can speak and can see and hear its surroundings. The image can last up to 1 minute, during which time you are in a trance, controlling the image instead of your actual body, and so your actual body is completely helpless. Those visited by this projection must make a Will save or be shaken for its duration plus an additional minute after it has left. Nondetection and misdirection as well as similar effects can prevent the projection from finding its target.

[Brookshw]

It really reminds me a lot of a blog story, The Sick Land, that I read years ago

You've mentioned it before, I'll add it to the list for downstream.

In any event, I really like this track for Deep Shadow.

I had a feeling Cool scene, definitely something I'll play off of at some point.

I hope it was helpful;

It was, yes. Thank you again.

[Efrate]

Other than the wotc articles, are there any other reasonable vestiges from semi-official sources anywhere? I vaguely remember the green lady? I think ?made by devs.

[afroakuma]

Other than the wotc articles, are there any other reasonable vestiges from semi-official sources anywhere? I vaguely remember the green lady? I think ?made by devs.

Ahazu, the Seizer appears in Dungeon 148; Ansitif, the Befouler appears in Dragon 357; Ashardalon, Pyre of the Unborn appears in Dragon Magic; Astaroth, Diabolus appears in Dragon 357; Astaroth, the Unjustly Fallen appears in the Cityscape Web Enhancement; Cabiri, the Watching Master appears in Dragon 357; Desharus, the Sprawling Soul appears in the Cityscape Web Enhancement; Kas, the Bloody-Handed appears in Dragon 341; Primus, the One and the Prime appears in Dragon 341.

Spoiler: Lasher Clouds

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Lasher Clouds

Travelers in the Elemental Plane of Air can sometimes be deceived by the benign appearance of these towering cumulus clouds, whose fluffy white globular nature belies the threat they pose. A trailing thread of cirrus cloud on the bottom of these aggregates signals that something is amiss - this is the "lash" of the lasher cloud, an air elemental creature that appears to exist as a pair of faintly glowing 10 ft. diameter clouds. One of the pair has a lash which injects a poison; the other's lash sucks blood and fluids from living creatures. The lasher cloud absorbs heat, lightning, and magical force attacks harmlessly, at least unless its inner depths are disturbed.

Through some mechanism, a piercing attack "leaks" the outer air into the interior of the cloud, creating a gaseous mixture that is intensely explosive and highly flammable. If attacked with a flame arrow or some other source of both piercing and fire damage, the cloud explodes, causing its partner to dissipate over the course of 1d10 rounds. Otherwise, 3 rounds after being struck for piercing damage, the external cumulus cover reforms around the "wound." During this time, fire can be brought to bear against the creature to cause its death by explosion.

Lasher clouds are more common near the border to the Para-Elemental Plane of Ice and any water pockets. Indeed, some seasoned planar voyagers deliberately seek out the deadly teardrop clouds for the sole purpose of helping locate water. Lasher cloud pairs never attack their other half and do not register it as a separate creature; unless forced, they coexist peacefully with their own strange kind.

• Capturing the inner vapors of a lasher cloud is a source of income for some residents of the Plane of Air, who may even allow themselves to be sucked inside a puncture "wound" to more easily bottle it. Each bottle drained from the creature causes it to suffer 1 point of Constitution damage. This lasher gas has a number of potential uses in alchemy and potion-making, especially for substances which have fire- or air-related properties, including properties pertaining to levitation or flight. Lasher gas can reduce the costs of such a potion or oil by 500 gp and 50 XP per bottle, though not more than half the cost can be reduced in this way for any one potion or oil (a single bottle can be used to make multiple potions or oils). It is also believed to have applications in poisonmaking and transmutation magic, though scholars have not often had sufficient samples to do much with it.

[Alea]

Other than the wotc articles, are there any other reasonable vestiges from semi-official sources anywhere? I vaguely remember the green lady? I think ?made by devs.

The most complete listing I’m aware of is here, though I’m pretty sure fro got them all. That link also has some similar Pathfinder material as well as thoughts on converting the binder to Pathfinder, for what that’s worth.

[afroakuma]

Alright, with the aid of Alea, we have the vestige Dracos added to the Castle of the Shuddering Rift.

Spoiler: Rasashadda

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Rasashadda

There is wealth aplenty to be found on the Elemental Plane of Earth - or rather, within it, as veins of precious metals and gems lurk in the endless rock and soil, just waiting to be uncovered. While the locals like to discourage such exploitation (when not taking part themselves), an adventurer can usually get away with a bit of something valuable if she keeps her wits about her. It's the more industrial efforts that take risks, particularly those that come from the Material Plane and have unknowingly passed through a rift when digging too deeply. In addition to the large-scale threats, one of the most devastating to a caravan hoping to extract riches from Earth is a black, needle-like insect the dao call rasashadda.

This minor pest is a simple nuisance to creatures with the Earth subtype, who get itchy and take 1d4 damage when bitten (ignoring DR) and suffer effects equivalent to Small centipede venom (primary and secondary damage 1d2 Dex, Fort DC 11 negates). This is not a poison effect. For creatures from the Material Plane, the bite poses a more serious concern; while it does a mere 1 damage and may quickly go unnoticed, bipeds suffer the same venomlike effect described above and become slowed for 10 minutes (a successful save against the venom reduces this to 1d4 rounds). A quadruped from the Material Plane suffers the most devastating effects, as in place of the venomlike outcome it will immediately begin to suffer from a disease as parts of its body turn to a leaden substance (leadenback flu, incubation 1d6 minutes, 2d6 Str damage, 1d6 Dex drain, 1d6 Con drain and slowed until recovered, Fort DC 20). Ability drain suffered from this disease can only be removed via neutralize poison or casting chill metal on the animal followed by remove disease.

The leadenback flu tends to trap caravans in the depths for weeks at a time while the animals struggle to recover, if they are even able to. The rasashadda itself is merely attracted to motion and vastly prefers its local prey to intruders; it goes for Prime intruders when food has not been plentiful, as it would like to leadenize the meat and crack through the brittle metal to get at the calcium in the bones beneath. The rasashadda is a Fine creature that has fire resistance 20, DR 5/-, AC 22 (touch 18) and 1 hp, and flies at a speed of 20 ft. (good). Any damage dealt to it will kill it. Dao tell tales of rasashadda swarms that tear through planar rifts to lay waste to Prime lands, though these are almost certainly just their way of being macabre.

• Rasashadda venom is useful against Earth elemental creatures. When employed in tandem with an ordinary poison (Craft (alchemy) DC 25), the resultant product is no longer considered a poison when applied against creatures with the Earth subtype, allowing affliction of even earth elementals with Prime toxins. It can also be used as a material component in a slow spell, increasing the save DC by 4 and doubling the duration.

[Dalmosh]

Erik Mona was involved in writing both FCI: Hordes of the Abyss and the 3rd party supplement Armies of the Abyss, in Green Ronin's The Book of Fiends.
In an interview he mentioned that Green Ronin had attempted to write a supplement that could be easily meshed into existing Planescape lore about the Abyss.

Armie of the Abyss details the following demon lords mentioned in the appendix at the back of FC1: Abraxus, Anazarel, Astaroth, Azazel, Haagenti, Nocticula and Socoth-benoth, though notably changes the names of their respective Layers.

Do you know if these lords were ever officially mentioned in D&D prior to FC1?

[Efrate]

Several of those are vestiges.

[Larkas]

Other than the wotc articles, are there any other reasonable vestiges from semi-official sources anywhere? I vaguely remember the green lady? I think ?made by devs.

These are not at all official, but are quite nice and reasonable. They were originally posted in the official Wizards boards, way back when they were originally online. They are, overall, very reasonable. I especially like Vorel, specially due to all the lore involved. Raistlin is very awesome too.

[Alea]

Erik Mona was involved in writing both FCI: Hordes of the Abyss and the 3rd party supplement Armies of the Abyss, in Green Ronin's The Book of Fiends.
In an interview he mentioned that Green Ronin had attempted to write a supplement that could be easily meshed into existing Planescape lore about the Abyss.

Armie of the Abyss details the following demon lords mentioned in the appendix at the back of FC1: Abraxus, Anazarel, Astaroth, Azazel, Haagenti, Nocticula and Socoth-benoth, though notably changes the names of their respective Layers.

Do you know if these lords were ever officially mentioned in D&D prior to FC1?

They were, yes, but a “mention” is all we get for most of them. Abraxas, Anarazel, Astaroth, and Socoth-benoth are all included in a list in Monster Manual II (the 1983 one), but beyond their names there’s basically no information. Haagenti is also detailed a bit as a demon lord in a 2005 Dragon article for whatever (little) that’s worth.

Nocticula is also from Monster Manual II, but unlike the rest, actually has a little detail offered, making her to be a self-styled queen of succubi with eyes on Malcanthet’s throne.

Only Nocticula is an original D&D creation, as far as I can tell. {Scrubbed}
There are three major books of demonology that are being referenced here: the sixteenth-century Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, the seventeenth-century Ars Goetia, and the nineteenth-century Dictionnaire Infernal. Each of these leans heavily on the others before them, as well as earlier works of occultism and demonology.

Haagenti appears in both Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and Ars Goetia. Abraxus (or Abraxas or Abrasax) and Azazel come from Dictionnaire Infernal (and not the other two). Astaroth appears in all three.

Haagenti appears to not have come from any earlier source, being a Pseudomonarchia Daemonum original.

Abraxus, as “abrasax,” is also a word of power from the second century, possibly related to “abracadabra.”

{scrubbed}

Several of those are vestiges.

Tome of Magic based almost all¹ of its vestiges’ names on these sources as well (Pseudomonarchia lacks Andromalius, Dantalion, and Eurynome, Ars lacks Eurynome, and Dictionnaire lacks ... well, most of the vestiges really, but has Eurynome). The seals found in Tome of Magic (as well as many but not all of those found elsewhere) are also from these sources, even when applied to vestiges whose names don’t come from these sources.

For the most part, demonology only supplied names. Most of the vestiges’ descriptions and powers bear little resemblance to their descriptions in these books, though there are a number of exceptions like Buer, Leraje, and Naberius. The iconic lion-head-with-five-legs depiction of Buer (seen in the vestige’s manifestation, the roving mauler creature, as well as in other media like Castlevania) comes from the 1863 edition of Dictionnaire Infernal.

1. _{Exceptions: those vestiges referencing existing D&D material: Acererak, Geryon, Karsus, and Tenebrous; original creations (as far as I can find): Chupoclops and Dahlver-Nar; and Orthos, which was the name of Cerberus’s two-headed brother.}

[PairO'Dice Lost]

1. [suboriginal creations (as far as I can find): Chupoclops and Dahlver-Nar[/sub]

Dahlver-Nar is also based on existing D&D material, actually. The teeth of Dahlver-Nar in ToM that give vestige-themed powers are based on a major artifact of the same name in the 1e DMG (they might have been around before that, but I haven't seen them in earlier books), where each individual tooth granted a certain minor power and sets of multiple consecutive teeth (8, 16, or the full 32) gave more and better powers on top of that.

Granted, all that's mentioned of Dahlver-Nar himself in 1e is thus:

If any cleric was more powerful than the renowned Dahlver-Nar, histories do not tell us. The gods themselves gave special powers to him, and these have passed on to others by means of the great relics of Dahlver-Nar, his teeth.

The 2e Book of Artifacts mentions the teeth of Dalhvar-Nar (note the misspelling), where Dahlvar-Nar is still a cleric (though a younger and inexperienced one), the teeth themselves are those of a dragon he killed rather than his own teeth, and they're planted in the ground to summon monsters instead of replacing the owner's teeth, much like the Greek myth of the spartoi growing from dragon's teeth. The 2e Encyclopedia Magica Volume IV lists both versions side by side as "Teeth of Dahlver-nar" (the 1e human teeth version) and "Teeth of Dahlvar-nar II" (the 2e dragon teeth version), so maybe Dahlvar-Nar II is an alternate-Prime version of the original, who knows.

[Efrate]

Kas is also a figure in dnd history fwiw. He was a leiutenant of vecna who betrayed him and cut off his hand.

[Tzardok]

Abraxus, as “abrasax,” is also a word of power from the second century, possibly related to “abracadabra.”

Abrasax, the original spelling, was IIRC a being revered in some gnostic groups, some kind of divine messenger or teacher of enlignment.

Exceptions: those vestiges referencing existing D&D material: Acererak, Geryon, Karsus, and Tenebrous; original creations (as far as I can find): Chupoclops and Dahlver-Nar; and Orthos, which was the name of Cerberus’s two-headed brother.

Geryon, like many other archdevils, also was named after a goetic demon. Edit: Proven wrong.

[Alea]

Kas is also a figure in dnd history fwiw. He was a leiutenant of vecna who betrayed him and cut off his hand.

Sure, and so was Ashardalon; I focused a little bit on Tome of Magic there because it was easier to speak about them as a group.

Abrasax, the original spelling, was IIRC a being revered in some gnostic groups, some kind of devine messenger or teacher of enlignment.

I believe this is correct, yes.

Geryon, like many other archdevils, also was named after a goetic demon.

Err, unless the name has been changed fairly significantly, I believe this is incorrect. In fact, he does not appear in any of the sources I mentioned, at least according to Wikipedia. Several other demon and devil lords are from those sources, but not (as far as I can tell) Geryon.