The Megalith
The Story of the Grouzhina Flood
I created I retrospect of what Humans do to our
World.
We must learn that most we do
will have some effect on the world. In the same retrospect I created the following about the Megalith we know as Urt or Mystara.
I read a Dragon Magazine article
about Seismic Force Points, that explains how certain spells would affect the
power stored underneath the crust. (an
excellent article by Jennifer Tittle Stack in Dragon Magazine 265 page 34).
Though I would not use the
special Druidic class she used herein, but I instead would give the same
powers/spells to Earth-Elementalists instead—especially since Earth-elementalists
of mystara are affected by the very on sphere..
The point is that it could also
be used in a different way. In the Almanacs we saw a sudden run on a newly
discovered mineral that increased magical power but at a later moment would
decrease the same (Mnemnonic mineral it was known). But this purely natural
mineral would have had special effects in the world or in its vicinity to
flora/fauna/ and even matter or magic. Other materials would have similar
effects; (I'd mention the brilliant mineral Cloudstone Bruce Heard created in his Blog about the
Floating Islands of Ar (http://bruce-heard.blogspot.nl/2013/01/Ar01.html#more].
He also speaks that the mineral
is almost depleted (at least as far known on the Outer World). In the Hollow
World many floating continents exist, so apparently the same mineral can be
found there more often and apparently in greater amounts.
I'd surmised why Cloudstone
minerals would exist. They were most likely connected with the stearing
mechanism of the Megalith that Urt/Mystara is.
How that exactly works I havent
Figured out yet, but it would make it logical in a magical world.
It also explains that other
Minerals with special powers, would probably have had functions for generating/collecting energies
or for distributing them. Similar to our nervous, muscular-electrical, or
lymphe-knode system. It would explain a lot of the magic-interactions of
Mystara.
The mining of these materials
thus would greatly affect the megalith itself. I've read some articles on
Pandius of the Megalith being in its sleep modus and being a hollow variant.
That does not seem logical, even
in a world as magical filled as Mystara.
No creature would remain inactive
with the amounts of damages done to it, as is done to Mystara; An Explosion so
enormous that shifted its axis, altered poles, currents and seasons, Causing
enormous upheavels (Plateaus up like
Atruaghin, and down like Taymora) , and Gigantic
worms (Burrowers, Purple worms and others, crawling through it, many creatures
feeding from its crust, and so on. All this without awaking it. It would seem
much more logical that the Megalith Urt/Mystara is dead (or at least Dying),
and that the feasting of the corpse has begun long ago.
A Copy from the Old Immortal Set
Megalith
Sphere: Matter
Status: Empyreal
Power Points: 5000
Anti-Magic: 75
%
Armor Class: -5
(core) or + 15 (mantle)
Hit Dice: Unknown
(see below)
Move: Constant
(see below)
Attacks: See
below
Damage: See
below
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: Empyreal 5
Morale: 12 +
Treasure Type: Self
Alignment: See Below (Habits)
XP Value: Not
Applicable
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Correct Digital Mastering of Mystara by Thorfinn Tait
Clearly revealing the shape resembling a round polyp without roots or arms. |
Megaliths are the
largest known life forms in the multiverse. They may be related to baaka
(q.v.), but are of a greater order of magnitude, and are as yet classified as a
different life form. A megalith may,
at first sighting, appear to be a planetary body. In its long dormant phase, it
may be indistinguishable from a planet.
The smallest known
megalith is about 3000 miles in diameter; the largest, over a million. The
average weight of a megalith’s form varies from 100 to 500 pounds per cubic
foot. Its exact Hit Dice are unknown, and of no practical use in games, but are
believed by Immortals to be about 1 per mile of the creature’s diameter.
A megalith’s
body has two distinct parts. Its center, in which the life essence resides, is
a warm, solid core weighing almost 20% of the total mass. This core,
effectively the creature’s brain, is protected by an outer covering of mixed
solid and liquid matter. This covering is called its mantle, and can withstand
nearly any imaginable attack due to its sheer size.
Over long periods of
time, very thin layers of earth, water, and air collect on the creature’s
surface. Most transient life forms present during a megalith’s active phase
confine themselves to these added layers, and rarely penetrate
any large fraction of the mantle.
Active
In its active phase,
a megalith can use all forms of Power attacks, and can create any magical
effect within its Sphere by standard procedures. The range of such effects is
measured from the creature’s outer edge, not the core. A megalith in dormant phase
is immune to Power and magical attacks.
Megalith Strength and
Constitution scores are extremely high. They vary by the creature’s size, with
a minimum of 1000 (virtually incomprehensible even to Immortals). Megaliths
have no Dexterity whatsoever, and are immune to direct attacks on that ability
score. Mental ability scores, including Charisma, are of the usual range for Empyreals
(50 to 75).
During its active
phase, a megalith can communicate by gentle, subtle manipulations of the
surface of its mantle. The only mortals able to understand megalith “speech”
are specialists called druids, and even they do not fully understand the
process or the implications. Immortal intelligence, augmented by magical aids
such as telepathy, can establish two-way communication with megaliths in
active phase.
Dormant
During its dormant
phase, a megalith rejects all attempts at communication, and will instinctively
use its mantle to defend itself or to repel irritants. Its physical attacks
include great earthquakes and huge volcanic eruptions. The latter may be used
to hurl large quantities of lava (molten liquid matter) to a maximum range
equal to the megalith’s diameter. The combined force and heat of the lava
causes an amount of damage equal to the megalith’s Hit Dice, thus instantly slaying
any victim hit and utterly obliterating any object, even an artifact. An Immortal
may make a Dexterity check to avoid being struck,
with bonuses or
penalties based on the amount of warning indicated by the circumstances.
Resistances:
A megalith’s core has
75% A-M and is immune to direct Dexterity attacks, but has no other special
defenses other than its protective mantle. Only the core life force can be
attacked by Power or ability score attacks, and the process of physically
reaching it can be difficult.
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Correct Digital Mastering of Mystara by Thorfinn Tait
revealing innards (Hollow World) Mystara in correct proportions. |
Habits:
The monotony of a Megalith’s life is broken by cycles. Each cycle consists of two phases, active
and dormant. In the active cycle, the
megalith is fully awake and Lawful in alignment. It observes its surroundings
and examines itself constantly, noting the appearance and disappearance of life
forms on and within it aiding their development and defending itself. Of
generally good intentions, a megalith will try to avoid unexpected movements
while awake, for such can damage or destroy the life forms. The active phase
lasts for 10,000- 1,000,000 years (ld100 *10,000).
Near the end of its
active cycle, a megalith loses interest in its surroundings. It cools its outer
parts by rotating with increasing speed, slowing only after all extraneous
material (such as water, life forms, etc.) is discarded. It then withdraws its
life force to some central point, finally lapsing into a dormant phase (similar
to animal hibernation).
During this phase it
ignores most activity within, on, and around itself, and becomes Chaotic in
alignment reacting randomly and instinctively. Whether it dreams or not, who
can tell.
Background:
All the known
megaliths were created at the same time as the multiverse. The home planet of
all PCs is a megalith, now nearing the midpoint of its active phase. The
Immortals made special arrangements with this creature, who is known to them as
Urt, before starting to cultivate life forms upon and within it.
Needed alterations
As seen in the Habits a
megalith alterates its active and dormant phases between 10.000 and 1.000.000
years.
According to found Hollow
World Boxed set Mystara is milions of
years old.
As an active megalith cools its outer parts by
rotating with increasing speed, slowing only after all extraneous material
(such as water, life forms, etc.) is discarded. It then withdraws its life
force to some central point, finally lapsing into a dormant phase (similar to
animal hibernation).
Such an event did not
happen. According to the stories of Ka the Artisan and Ordana life continued in
a constant line. Some disasters did happen, but nothing was expulged from the
Planet.
This concludes that; or the
periods of Active/Dormancy are wrong, or –much more realistic—that the creature
is no more living at all.
The activity of the planet,
is just a continuated biological process slowly (very slowly in this case) losing its energy to continue.
The noting that Urt/Mystara was nearing its midpoint of its
active phase would have been long before Ka an Ordana came to exist.
It is also known that it
were not the Immortals which created life in the Prime Plane (Also canon
material—although I can’t retrace it) Thus Life as we know it must come from
other sources; why not the gigantic sources of life we know as megaliths, who
pour their balanced energies out over
itself thus creating life as a by-process of its own existernce. It is thus
these Balanced energies (probably controlled by the Megalith (or the Old Ones)
that create and sustain life.
As these energies are
depleting extremely slowly, it would also be more reasonable for a dead
Megalith.
The Death process of a
Mega-magical near-to-immortal creature like a megalith are of course unknown.
But it would clarify everything. The body-processes slowing down (there have
been Ice ages according to TSR sources and clearly visible facts—creatures
evolutions/adaptations, surface alterations by ice), the feasting upon its
remains (The worms and multitude of life living on it), the slow
degradation of its sources (the body was
warmer long ago in the Dinosaur era) and the uncontrolled motion of it(hanging
in a constant orbit around the sun). All
these would make sense now.
And the sole reason for this
would most possibly be Thanatos, supreme Hierarch of Death of the Sphere of Entropy.
He hated this form of life—as
these beings originating from the dawn of time are nothing more than pure life
itself, with their near-infinite hit Dice as according the Old Immortal box..
The killed creature would not
lose its tremendous powers immediately, but it would be dead. Caught in an
orbital motion around a sun, captured in its gravitational wake.
This would also explain the two
moons of Mystara , Matera and Patera; one invisible and unknown to most—but
a source of pure magical matter, the
other also a dead body (and according the same information on Pandius also Hollow.). It even would explain the Apocalypse
Stone (from the same named AD&D adventure which could be used on Mystara
roughly together with the Wrath of the Immortals), and
I read all and surmised the following
story. Keep in Mind that even Thanatos has forgotten what and how he did this,
but would be glad to know that he did this and why, he would be very unhappy
for knowing that the very life-force escaping from the dying body would have
been the reason of the explosion of different sentient and non-sentient forms
of life of which many became Immortal in their own fashion.
The Death Of Urt
It was at an early moment in Time
that the Immortals, under which were Thanatos, found that not only did the
Megalth collect Matter, Water and Air, upon themselves, but first in history it was on the bodies of
Megalith where arose miniature forms of life. Like tiny flees on a body, these
forms evolved rapidly due to the magic emanating from the Megalith.
Immortals soon learned themselves
to create life with spells like Create Species, using the same source of
balanced forms of energy (Matter, Time, Thought, Energy, and even Entropy
balanced together).
This was a thorn in the eye of
Thanatos, supreme Hierarch of Entropy (and probably one of the rare entities
from the Era of Chaos—we are now in the Era of Order), and he took ways to try
to discover their destruction. Thousands and thousands of experiments were
needed. He tried to slay them by impacting them with meteors, or solar flames,
expulged doses of magical powers upon it, etc. , but either they did not react
at all (even when it’s surface was a wasteland), or attacked with full force.
Then he tried to alter some of
the small lifeforces into gigantic forms of pests (a trick he first tried on
the lifeforms themselves, which worked so well that evben in the real-world
pests are the most prolific lifeform existing). The Burrowers were thus created.
But even now the megalith did not react, just as many lifeforms sometimes seem
unaffected by pests , the Megalith weren’t either. Their power of life was so
strong that wounds restored themselves in decades or centuries. (a mere
fragment of time in the existence of these creatures).
Contemplating all his actions,
failures and wounds, He found a small Megalith and a Larger one. The larger one
was named Urt by the Immortals, and was very large. He looked upon the two
Megalits initiating a reproduction method. It was a sudden idea, when he
discovered that Megaliths weren’t immune to their own powers. This was the
reason they gained offspring, in a way he did not understood.
Thanatos, though Immortal, was
inexperienced, and direct to act. With his Immortal power of Shaping Reality by
moving celestial bodies, Thanatos grasped the
smaller Megalith and slammed it unsuspectingly into Urt. The blast was
terrible, killing most life on it as was, expect the minute forms like Algea,
bacteria, Some Plants and creatures like the Burrowers deep inside itself.
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The smaller one bounced back and
was dead in an instant, its innards spewn out in a wide spray. Urt, however, was dying rapidly, its essence
slowly pouring out of the wound (or the pole most near to it—this is unsure).
It still succeeded to combining the essence of the smaller Megalith with some of its
own, thus creating the Stone of Corbinet (see adventure the apocalypse Stone).
This stone is in fact nothing more than an egg, which will grow into a Megalith
if set out in space in millions years of time, probably feasting unknowingly upon
some of the remains of its parent(s)—what creatures do to save their kind.
Soon thereafter Urt died. The
last remains of its gigantic lifeforce—its brain, heart, soul combined was
expulged out of its crust.
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Free Downloadable PC Background
The expulsion of the softer organs of the Megalith; its brain, sensory organs and other. |
Slowly this pure magical matter
coalesced with the parts of the smaller megalith innards it bounced into
outside the body. The magical matter combined was drawn into the gravitational
orbit of the body, and gravity slowly mixed it together into a new, yet
invisible, orb of magical matter. Together
with the smaller dead Megalith it follows an orbit around the body
(which is later known as Mystara. Thanatos, as yet was unaware of either the
Stone egg, as the invisible moon.
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| From Coast to Coast site about Hollow Earth |
The body of the smaller Megalith became
known as Matera (sometimes mentioned as the Father, and the Body of Mother
Earth is named Mystara), the unknown invisible moon is named Patera by the
immortals who later discover it.
The Planet Mystara seemed dead at first, yet the immense
energies it had, were still available. Although the layer of air and water
decreased (it actually seeped in the Hollow World), upon the carcass the planet
actually was, life literally exploded. Thousands and thousands of species arose
and lived on and from it. The energies, slowly—very slowly—subsiding. This
explains the multitude of lifeforms earlier in history, slowly decreasing in
number over time.
The Immortals, curious as be took
residence upon Matera and create the tiny plane Pandius., to view and explore
the sudden experiment laid down to them.
What actually did happen, they
never knew. Some outside force (The Old Ones?) erased the memory of all
immortals who knew it. Thus even erasing their own histories.
Some Immortals (and recently even
a very few Mortals) discovered the Great Crater in Norwold. Within the middle
the metallic ore remnants of another source. They imagined all that it must
have been a comet, or meteor, yet bigger than ever before. Soon thereafter Ka
discovered the Hollow World while examining the wound itself. He forgot what he
actually researched and placed all its interest in this new location.
Then the Interstellar Craft FSS
Beagle crashlanded on Mystara, disabled by the very life-energies it still
emanates. The humans soon discovered the technology and somehow fused it
together in a technological/magical combination (Techno-magic). This caused the
explosive rise of this culture, but it did not last long. An engine of the
vessel exploded after some wrongly handling and within its blast it literally
wiped the Blackmoor culture from the face of Mystara.
In the wake of Destruction, the Planet
tilted, poles changed and the original openings (which were the megalith’s
sensory organs) became visible.
The Immortal closed them up with
debris collected from outside Mystara, and from the new polar gates they
created instead. This they did to prevent depletion of sources like air and
water. As they had discovered that the patterns of Air and Water still
influenced eachother with the changing seasons.
Currently Mortals and immortal
alike survey Mystara, and even beyond. Patera and Matera are visited (though
the common public knows still only one moon), and matrial from extraterrestrial origin is discovered.
The knowledge of other planets becomes more widely
soread, and even extra-terrestial interactions have been made. All these
confirm the rumors that Mystara is something way different than a common hunk
of matter balanced in an orbit around a sun.
What this difference is, Only
immortals know so far. Maybe in time, the dreaded disaster will become known;
maybe…
maybe then, the common people will come to understand that the world they
live on is not an infinite source of whatever, and maybe…
yes maybe they will
grant it more respect.
This in the Real World as in this Game World.
