Originally Posted by
Shemek hiTankolel
I was nosing around on the Blue Room again, and I found this on the Undying Wizards written by Phil. Maybe Chirine can tell us a little more about some of the wizards mentioned, or about the College?
"There is no lengthy description of the Undying Wizards, the
College at the End of Time, and other features of the Further Planes. When
I first set out to publish "Empire of the Petal Throne," I realised that
many complexities had to be simplified -- perhaps totally dropped, perhaps
issued later as follow-up booklets, etc.
I thus put "Empire of the Petal Throne" out as "Introductory Tekumel." It
deals with the contemporary situation, particularly in Tsolyanu.
"Intermediate Tekumel" might include localised planetary developments, such
as the Undying Wizards, the College, and some of the "nearer" Planes
Beyond. "Advanced Tekumel" then could go on to treat the Further Planes,
the struggles between the Gods (and certain of the Pariah Deities), the
denizens of the Pylons, the strategems and grand planning of forces on
several sides, etc. etc. There could even be a "Post-Graduate Tekumel," but
this is best left undescribed.
Some of the Wizards of "Intermediate Tekumel" are mentioned in the various
sourcebooks: elderly, bald-pated Thomar, Subadim the Fisherman of Skeins,
Hagarr of Paranta, etc. Others are not well known outside of my personal
games: e.g. the devious Thuken; beautiful, but violent and impetuous
Sarvodaya Di'ela; Turshanmu the Klutz; Ardza the Inimical Beast of Hosts,
etc. Each of these has his or her (or its) peculiarities and personality;
each is the defender of a particular point of view, sometimes
straightforward (e.g. Thomar = Stability) and sometimes contradictory and
distorted (e.g. Sarvodaya = Change? the Goddess of the Pale Bone? Others of
the Pariah Deities? Her own selfish desires?). Each has a role and duties
on Tekumel. These "wizards" are not just free scholars, who can doze in
libraries and teach and enjoy their perogatives, as some players have
wished. They are busy people, with projects, schedules, and goals. They are
*not* there just to offer magical devices and information to the players'
characters. They may help on occasion, but at other times they refuse aid
because they can see problems further down the Road of Time. They travel up
and down time and skip from one Plane to another, as a monkey swings
through the trees of the forest.
The College is, of course, a much later form of Avanthar, built in the same
locale with much the same setting, but at the End of Time, far in the
future when the sun is always about to set, and the skies are a soft red
and dull gold. The place is called a "College," but there are no classes,
curricula, or degrees. It is a "college" in the older, mediaeval sense: a
haven for scholars. Its libraries are vast, containing the essentials of
all human history. The librarians have no idea where specific books are,
however, because, like mediaeval libraries, there is no catalogue system.
The College teems with people and creatures from many worlds, including
Tekumel itself. These students study, work under this or that tutor, and
are given projects of their own. Some of these projects are designed for
Tekumel, while others are meant to operate on the worlds of the Planes
Beyond. The system is quite complicated, involving many points of view and
conflicting objectives.
Most player characters (in my experience) are not suitable for enrollment
in the College because they are still too human, too greedy and
self-centred, and too limited in perspective to be productive in such an
environment. A yen for "magic items" and "secrets" does not make a
candidate a good student.
The Wizards and the College are widely known in my campaigns. My players
are now accomplished "Intermediate Tekumel" players. Some have moved on to
the lower stages of "Advanced Tekumel." Many have met some of the Wizards
and taken part in adventures on other Planes. Some have even allowed old
Turshanmu to cast spells affecting them -- ask Eyloa about fried eggs, or
others about Turshanmu's "Pink Goo." Ask Arumel about the whimsical
Sarvodaya Di'ela, or ask him what happened to his own daughter when he left
her alone at the College for too long. Ask Sanjesh about his lovely bride,
Ais. There are too many adventures and details here ever to record n full!
The Planes Beyond are tremendously confusing: an infinity of closely
similar Planes (e.g. on this one you sneeze, on that one you do not), with
interlinking nexus points that usually take a traveller *away* from his
goal (like putting a blind child into New York City without a map and
telling him to find his way home) and are fraught with danger. Thomar
describes the Planes as a great tree, with one central trunk (the main
time-line) and an infinity of limbs, branches, leaves, etc. Layers of the
Many Planes are like the rings in the trunk of a tree. On one "limb"
Mirusiya is Emperor; on another Hirkane is not dead; on a third, Ma'in
Kruthai rules and has turned the palace into a resort for Dlamelish
worshippers; on still another, the Hokun dominate a lonely planet of Ssu to
which humankind never came. If one wants to know more (but not all), one
must seek Waba, the author of the Periplus of the Planes. He's a pretty
good guide, though not always infallible.
I hope that this much will serve, at least temporarily. I don't usually go
into these aspects of Tekumel. There are enough complexities as it is; even
in the familiar Five Empires, even in Jakalla or Tumissa or Bey Su; no need
to wander far afield in order to find things to do, any more than one needs
to know the street plan of Tenochtitlan in order to analyse American
political campaigns. I hope I live long enough to get at least *some* of
this down in writing. My players know much about the "Intermediate" level,
however, and can act as guides. A few are experienced in certain nearer
regions of the Planes Beyond, such as Sanjesh, whose friend, Horodai, is a
demon -- but a friendly one.
Enjoy. Watch out for little old men who want to "borrow" chalk or a candle
in order to make a spell.
Phil"
Shemek
?
!
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