Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 7:THE OUTERPLANESIllus. by W. Reynolds96monk at Zerth’Ad’lun is strict and harsh, but the rewardsof the spirit are considered sufficient compensation.The monastery welcomes visitors and may put them upfor as long as a week in quarters set asidefor hospitality. Nongithzerai whoare interested in studying at themonastery are allowed to doso, although the supplicantmust be willing to spend afew months in the monasterylearning the basics and abidingthe schedule of a cenobite.Slaadi in LimboThe slaadi freely roam the lengthand breadth of chaos, unharmedby all but the most severe chaosstorms. Generally, slaadi range innomad gangs of two to five orlarger packs of six to ten slaadi.They hunt the drifts of chaosfor food, and they are ready tofight off other predators (manyof which are rival slaadnomads). Ravening chaosbeasts pose more dangerousthreats; when encountered inthe plane of Limbo, chaosbeasts are always Large (atleast 13 HD).Spawning Stone: Theprimordial home of the slaadi,the Spawning Stone is located ina realm of their greatest dominion.Each race of slaad converges on theSpawning Stone for a season of mating. The hermaphroditicslaadi mate at the stone in turn, fertilizingeach others’ internal egg sacs.When the next slaad race in the cycle wrests theSpawning Stone away from the previous group, the slaadicarry around these seedlike fertilized eggs for laterimplantation into host bodies. Sometimes, however,young slaadi are produced right there at the stonebecause the slaadi implant each other in their matingfrenzy. Thus, dead adult slaadi routinely float about thestone until destroyed by the chaos of Limbo.SLAAD LORDSSome say that powerful slaad lords named Ssendam and Ygorl arerepresentative of true slaadi. As the story goes, slaadi are beingsof ultimate chaos, and their forms follow no set pattern. But whenSsendam and Ygorl rose to power long ago, they did not want tosomeday face a slaad spawned by random mutation greater thanthey. Thus, they altered the Spawning Stone to limit future slaadigenerations to the handful of “races” that they now take.Though the stone drifts from place to place, currents ofchaos-stuff always flow away from the stone. Slaadi can recognizethese currents and follow them “upstream.” The currentsgrow into tsunamis and give birthto chaos storms when the stonechanges hands among the slaadi.One death slaad guards theSpawning Stone at all timesagainst potential nonslaad visitors.This sentinel, called theGuardian of the Stone, is a 45HD death slaad who has severallevels of fighter and sorcerer.The slaadi believe thatwresting control of thestone from the Guardianallows the victor to bereborn as a death slaadwith the powers of ananarch. The level of controlpossessed by the anarch canbring into being buildings,vegetation, and animals—an entire ecosystem, ifdesired.Limbo EncountersUse Table 7–6: AbyssalEncounters or Table 7–9:Beatific Encounters (alternatebetween them) for randomencounters on the plane ofLimbo.WINDSWEPT DEPTHSOF PANDEMONIUMIt is a place of howling, screaming winds.It is an underground realm of stygian darkness.It is where sanity is besieged by unending madness.Pandemonium is a great mass of matter pierced byinnumerable tunnels carved by the howling winds of theplane. It is windy, noisy, and dark, having no naturalsource of light. The wind quickly extinguishes normalfires, and lights that last longer draw attention of wightsdriven insane by the constant howling wind.pqqqqrsBurning white runes that gird the Spawning Stone speak ofthese limitations, although no slaadi but the slaad lords knowtheir true purpose. However, because of the inherentlychaotic manner in which slaadi breed, sometimes slightly(and occasionally greatly) mutated slaadi are born anyway.The greatly mutated slaadi look absolutely nothing like thebase slaad form.pqqqqrs