The Four Entropic Paths to Immortality
By David Knott
There are four Entropic Paths to Immortality, each one of them opposed to one of the Paths that lead to immortality in another Sphere of power.
The Path of the Archvillain is opposed to the Path of the Epic Hero for theSphere of Thought.
The Path of the Dungeon Keeper is opposed to the Path of the Paragon for the Sphere of Energy.
The Path of the Conqueror is opposed to the Path of the Dynast for the Sphere of Time.
The Path of the Fiend is opposed to the Path of the Polyhedron for the Sphere of Matter.
Path of the Archvillain
The Path of the Archvillain is the path selected by those who are opposed to the Sphere of Thought. Since the opposed Path of the Epic Hero favors the fighter, thief, mystic, and halfling classes, the Path of the Archvillain favors spellcasters. Followers of this path seek power at any price and will betray anyone or anything to get what they want, and they typically attract the attention of their Immortal sponsor by murdering heroes who have spells or magic items that they want.
Quest:
The Archvillain must quest for a Major artifact from the Sphere of Entropy, which will be genuinely lost or in the possession of powerful "good" heroes who must be defeated to recover the artifact.
Trial:
The Archvillain must track down and bring about the permanent destruction of an artifact of the Sphere of Thought, which will of course bring him into conflict with minions of that Sphere.
Testimony:
The Archvillain must find and train a successor who is dedicated to the same ideals, and that successor must gain at least 12 levels in the service of the Archvillain. Given what I said earlier about the ideals of an Archvillain, it is obvious that the Archvillain's successor will find it hard to resist the temptation to betray his master. The Archvillain must also create a legendary item of power with effects that cause great destruction, corruption of the user, or other effects that support the cause of Entropy. He must then arrange for this item to fall into the hands of his successor and then, when his successor attempts to use that item against his master, destroy that successor in a spectacular manner.
While this phase of the path would seemingly offer no adventure hooks for heroic adventurers, it is likely that an Archvillain may approach a promising player character and attempt to recruit him as his successor (as per Darth Vader's attempts to corrupt his son Luke Skywalker). Any player character foolish enough to accept such an offer should immediately be "tainted" for his association with Entropy and suffer increasing penalties until he becomes an NPC utterly dedicated to the cause of Entropy. However, even after being reduced to NPC status, the successor to an Archvillain will continue plotting against his master.
Task:
The Archvillain must perform some nearly impossible evil task such as driving the dominant religion in a non-Entropic nation underground or creating an Entropic artifact that will corrupt or drain life energy from at least
1000 people once it is completed. Generally, this task will have such horrific consequences that heroic adventurers will do anything they can to thwart completion of the task.
An Archvillain who completes all of the above requirements becomes an Immortal in the Sphere of Entropy with a special interest in stifling Thought.
Archvillain: It is cheating for an Archvillain to create as his original magic item a cursed item that will destroy his apprentice as soon as the latter steals it. In fact, the Archvillain must ensure that the apprentice has the opportunity to learn all that the Archvillain himself knows about the item, as the Archvillain's challenge is to defeat the apprentice armed with that item and fully capable of using it against his master.
Path of the Dungeon Keeper
This path is opposed to the Sphere of Energy. Followers of this path tend to be lazy and cowardly but cunning, devising fiendish traps and setting up ambushes to thwart their foes. This path opposes wizards (i.e., it favors non-wizards), but many evil wizards still pursue this path because their spells are invaluable in helping them complete it.
Note that in this context the term "Dungeon Keeper" refers to a candidate for Entropic Immortality against the Sphere of Energy, not to the referee or game master -- although any DM who wishes to do so is welcome to invoke this path when his players accuse him of being "evil".
Quest:
The Dungeon Keeper must undertake a long and difficult quest for a lesser artifact of the Sphere of Entropy.
Trial:
The Dungeon Keeper must create an entirely new magic item or mundane threat that endangers at least 1000 people. A non-wizard may hire a spellcaster to create a magic item on his behalf. If an item is to be created, the Dungeon Master must acquire a number of rare and difficult to obtain components as well as at least one "impossible" component. Similar conditions apply if he opts for the "mundane threat" option -- in that case originality is highly prized.
Testimony:
The Dungeon Keeper must train at least 4-6 henchmen, and they must each rise at least 12 levels while in his service. He must also create an underground complex that protects his artifact as well as the magic item or a mundane item required to threaten 1000+ people. This underground complex will naturally attract heroic adventurers intent on putting an end to the threat created by the Dungeon Keeper.
Task:
The Dungeon Keeper does not directly confront heroic adventurers unless they have cleared out his underground complex and defeated all of his henchmen. If a party of adventurers succeed in clearing out the dungeon and are threatening to retrieve the Dungeon Keeper's artifact and/or "threat" item, then the lowest level henchman of the Dungeon Keeper is teleported to the dungeon to fight the heroes as the "boss" monster. If the heroes win, then the Dungeon Keeper must recover the major items lost to the party and "restock" his dungeon as soon as possible; the lost henchman may not be replaced. However, if at least on hero is killed during the adventure, then the Dungeon Keeper may count that character towards the eight kills required to complete his task if that hero is of higher level than the last hero killed. The task is completed once eight heroes of ever increasing level are killed -- and the Dungeon Keeper must make the final kill personally.
Since the Dungeon Keeper has no control over who comes into his dungeon seeking to trash it, it sometimes occurs that he is in a position to kill a hero who is of far greater level than his last victim -- which in turn would make his next credited "kill" even more difficult. The way out of this difficulty is one commonly resorted to by the villains of many James Bond movies: he captures the hero, places him in an "inescapable death trap" that is in fact quite easy to escape, and then goes away to leave the hero to his fate. Usually the hero makes his escape -- but in the unlikely event that the hero actually succumbs to the death trap, the Dungeon Keeper may accept or reject credit for that "kill" according to his personal choice.
Needless to say, this Path is the most frequently attempted Path to Immortality in the Sphere of Entropy.
Dungeon Keeper: A candidate on this Path has reason to limit his number of apprentices, as he cannot actually achieve Immortality until heroic adventurers have killed each of them off, cleaning out his dungeon complex each time. For the final expedition against his dungeon, a party of high level adventurers (perhaps including one or more candidates for Immortality in non-Entropic Spheres) must all but completely clear out the dungeon and then confront the Dungeon Keeper, who must then achieve a TPK ("total party kill") against that party.
The Dungeon Keeper's Immortal patron will aid the Dungeon Keeper in recovering his artifact and magic item after his dungeon gets cleaned out but will challenge him by drawing the dungeon to the attention of adventurers of ever increasing experience levels.
Path of the Conqueror
This is the only Entropic Path to Immortality for which any information is provided in a canonical work (namely Gaz 10: The Orcs of Thar). This posting provides a level of detail lacking in that work.
The Path of the Conqueror is opposed to the Path of the Dynast for the Sphere of Time. Since the latter Path favors clerics, druids, paladins, avengers, and dwarves, the Path of the Conqueror favors non-priestly members of any race whose natural life span is less than a century.
Quest:
The Conqueror must build an excellent war machine or magic item that can affect the course of a major battle and successfully use that war machine or magic item in at least three battles.
1st Trial:
The Conqueror must dominate all other sentient humanoid beings in a 500 mile radius.
Testimony:
The Conqueror must gain control of a realm of 50,000 humans, 10,000 demi-humans, or 5000 goblinoids and convert a majority of the inhabitants of that realm to his own faith.
Task:
The Conqueror must conquer a culturally superior nation and hold it against counterattacks and rebellions until the end of his mortal life, at which point his Immortal sponsor will remove him from the scene. During his life the Conqueror should either designate no successor (on the basis that he expects to live forever) or designate multiple successors whose claims cannot be evaluated easily. The removal of the Conqueror should spell the end of his empire as his potential successors fight for control of that empire.
2nd Trial:
Once the original empire has fallen in the civil wars that result after the Conqueror's death, the Immortal patron of the Conqueror will enable the Conqueror to possess or reincarnate as a common inhabitant of one of the successor states to his original empire. In this new form the Conqueror must re-establish his old empire, conquer at least half of the territory of his original empire, and perform some deed that will ensure that he will be remembered for centuries to come.
Once all of these requirements are met, the Conqueror becomes an Immortal of the Sphere of Entropy dedicated to stagnating Time.
Path of the Fiend
By SB Wilson
This path favors any character class but does favor those of an evil (preferably chaotic) alignment. Entropy is the weakening of the fabric of the Multiverse. It seeks to bring all things to a stop, causing oblivion. Entropy seeks to destroy Matter, dissipate Energy, stagnate Time, and stifle Thought.
The Seven Tests:
Obedience
Dedication to Entropy
Resourcefulness
Bravery
Persistance in the Face of Adversity
Fast Thinking
Destroy without Remorse
Quest and Trial:
The fiend must quest for an artifact of the Sphere of Entropy. During the Quest, the fiend must be accompanied by at least one priest, one warrior, one wizard, and one rogue. The candidate must gain their trust and friendship, and then betray each of them in a different way. The betrayal must be know to the betrayed, but no one else need know.
Task:
The canidate must, lie, destroy, or turn people against each other as much as possible. The fiend must travel to different cultures and lands, possibly other worlds, for five years while accomplishing this Task.
Testimony:
After completing the Task, the canidate must either create a new race of monsters, or corrupt a group or culture of no less than 1,000 individuals. The corruption must take the form of the culture's impending destruction or change to Entropic worship.