Peculiar Places: The Towers of Creation
It is said that the towers of creation are located where the barriers between this world and the divine world are weakest. It is unclear whether the towers are guided by the gods, by fate, or by some other power; but it is clear that they are part of something’s plan… maybe even their own.
At any given time, each tower has a single custodian. The custodian is someone who has completed some significant task, whether aspiring towards custodianship or not. At first, many feel that they have earned the privelege, but they quickly realize that it was the tower which chose them and not the other way around.
The custodian of a tower is the only one who can call upon its power. Each tower grants different powers, but all custodians have the ability to travel to their tower and return from whence they came. It is unclear how many towers there are; it may be a handful, it may be dozens, it may even be limitless. None can know for sure.
Custodians often find themselves working together through what seems like sheer circumstance; those who have been in the service of the towers long enough know that there truly is no such thing, though. It is all part of towers’ plans. Perhaps even more frequently than the companionships, though, custodians find themselves opposing one another. For some unknown reason, no custodians powers will directly affect another, though it is certainly possible to do so indirectly with clever planning.
Some of the towers of creation include:
Dormitas, the Dreamgate: Dormitas is located deep in a swamp, forever shrouded in fog so thick one cannot see one’s hand if he were to hold his arm straight out. The custodian of Dormitas has the ability to visit peoples’ dreams and to see their dreams, and from Dormitas the custodian can actually enter the realm of dreams itself.
Nihilus, the Prison: Nihilus resides upon the moon, looking down on the world. The custodian of Nihilus can trap someone within their own mind; someone so affected sees nothing, hears nothing, and cannot move. Nihilus also houses a vault wherein anything or anyone may be kept, unable to escape, remaining in stasis until released.
Oculus, the Watchtower: Oculus stands at the tip of an outcropping miles high along a sheer cliff wall. The custodian of Oculus can determine truth from fiction as easily as one determines an apple from an orange. On the observation deck of Oculus is a shallow pool, through which the Custodian can see almost anywhere.
Seculus, the Void: Seculus is isolated on a small chunk of ground floating around in black nothingness. The custodian of Seculus finds himself unusually resistant to magic of all forms. In addition, if he brings someone or something there he can forever strip away that person or thing’s connection to magic.
Love the idea. I’m glad you didn’t try and put a price tag on these magical founts of power, as Wizards often does, so that they may remain tools of unimaginable power, and not simply a magical status that any old PC can pick up.
In Wizards’s defense, it’s fairly important to put a “virtual price tag” on abilities like that in D&D 3rd edition. A character’s equipment value is one of the things they’re balanced with, just like feats and base attack bonus and spells. It’s thus important for a DM to know what an ability’s worth, to make sure that he’s not over/underpowering a character. If you were to use these in 3rd edition, I’d recommend assigning a value to them.
All that said, it’s not the sort of thing you can buy… You have to be chosen. This is set up so that it could form the entire paradigm of a campaign, if you so desired.
haha,
“Shopkeeper, I’d like one ‘Dormitas, the Dreamgate’ please.”
“Right then gov’nah, that’ll be two million gold peices. We’ll have it set up by monday.”