hobbygamers ~ View topic

All right, we're starting to develop our own set of divinities for Bonethrall, but we still don't have a feel for the beings that the warlocks of Creation swear fealty to. To remedy that, this thread is up for the team to propose sample patrons for the warlocks of our world.

Format:
Patron Name (Star/Fey/Infernal/Custom Pact)
(A description of the patron, its agenda, manifestations, etc)
Motif/Insignia: A description of any symbols associated with this power, or motifs in the spells it provides.

Samples:
***
Bloody-Handed Mithras (Infernal Pact)
Once an exarch of the Iron-Handed God, Mithras is a powerful angel with aspirations of godhood. Unable to grant divine prayers, Mithras nevertheless teaches the secrets of infernal pact sorcery to those that swear fealty to him. Mithras expects his acolytes to rise to always seek to rise to positions of power, and rewards daring and bold-faced ambition. In return, the brutal angel expects these acolytes to serve him to the best of their abilities when he requires them. Mithras is particularly interested in the godstones and the nature of the powers they provide, and rewards acolytes who can provide him with samples. A common patron among the Baalim, his patronage is viewed with suspicion by Iron-Hand Redeemers, who regard him as a renegade servant of their god. For reasons unknown, Mithras never accepts acolytes from House Lasirlan.

Mithras manifests as an angel sheathed in godplate armor, his metal gauntlets constantly coated and dripping with blood.

Motif/Insignia: A bloody palm-print. Many of the spells that Mithras provides have blood as a common motif, with spells such as Flames of Phlegethos manifesting as boiling ball of blood that streaks out toward the enemy and showers it in fiery, clinging, infernal blood. Mithras also looks with favor on those of his disciples that multiclass into wizard and take the Blood Mage paragon path.
***

Locust (Star Pact)
The being known as Locust is a particularly cryptic and meddlesome patron for warlocks of the Star Pact. Of particular note is the fact that the creature known as Locust can take bodily form on the surface of Creation itself. A shapeshifter, Locust wanders the land in various forms, ever seeking those discontented with the Redeemers and Liberators, or those who hunger for arcane secrets. Unlike other patrons, Locust actively seeks out his agents, hunting for those whose creativity, curiosity, and personalities appeal to him. He approaches them in one of his various guises, and then poses philosophical and arcane riddles whose answers snare the mind toward Locust's patronage. Those rare few who he does not headhunt himself are drawn to his patronage by clues and arcane puzzles that he scatters throughout creation. Their solutions inevitably lead toward the Locust.

Locust's agenda is cryptic. He encourages his agents to actively seek ancient lore from the Age of Gods, and occasionally, from before. Alternatively cryptic and meddlesome, Locust occasionally gives his chosen ones "nudges" in the forms of visions and dreams, guiding them towards relics and ancient tomes, and towards tasks that both strengthen and enrich his agents, as well as accomplishing its own inscrutable ends. Besides his penchant for revealing ancient secrets and relics, few patterns have yet been found in his agenda.

Locust appears to his agents in the form that the agent is most familiar with, often the one used when Locust recruited them. For example, to the adventuring archaeologist Kyris Lasirlan, Locust appears as the rakish Baalim courtier who seduced her with secrets and lore. To the elderly scholar Akkanar of Jorat, Locust appears as an ancient, hunchbacked dragonborn matron who intrigued him with her stories of the Emperor Wyrm. Occasionally, Locust appears to them in unfamiliar forms, to remind them of his shapeshifting nature, but otherwise, the being prefers to maintain the illusion that he has a special, almost unique relationship with its agents. Rarely, Locust may drop its guard, intentionally or not, and when it does, agents report seeing a slick, chitinous thing with innumerable eyes, a buzzing voice, and too many mouths and mandibles.

EDIT: Locust's agenda is roughly inspired by Caiphon, from Dragon 366's Wish Upon A Star.

Motif/Insignia: Insects. Many of the powers that Locust gives to his chosen retain an insectile motif. Shielding shades and shadow veil take the form of a swarm of insectiod shadows wrapping themselves around the warlock, and tendrils of Thuban summon vast clawing arms like those of a preying mantis that lash out and pin their prey.
***

To Follow: The Master of the Hunt (Fey Pact)

No, these are not yet fully canon, and BJ has raised some points on keeping the patrons relatively undefined and mysterious. I'm still willing to hear proposals out, for, against, etc. And yes, let's hear some more ideas. I don't want these patrons to be straight up new gods, because that just defeats the purpose of removing the old ones. More like patrons that one can deal with on a relatively mysterious but still mortal scale.

This reminds me of Binders and Vestiges.

Though, maybe that's the point and I missed it, heh.

Come to think of it, they sort of do.

Now really, I dunno how to differentiate warlocking, clericing, and the old binder/vestige (which I feel has enough similarities to the 4e warlock).

(default) Cleric: Powered by faith in a powerful being.
Warlock: Powered by bargain with a powerful being.
Binder: Mastery/bargaining with powerful being.

Now the interesting thing personally with the warlock is that there is give and take between the agent and the patron, rather than a cleric's devotion to a superior. Of course, a pact relationship can closely resemble a cleric's relationship with their gods, but not always the case, and definitely not as a given in their relationship with the patron.

Will expound a bit more on this tomorrow, but right now, I need to get me some sleep.

Worship is the main difference here. Clerics are powered by faith and devotion, be it to a deity or cause (or, in our case, organizations). Their belief that something bigger than they exist, even if they most likely have only heard stories about the said entity.

In contrast, warlocks have "met" their patrons, personally or in delusions/dreams. They are not particularly led by some belief system in their patron,. and they mostly don't think of them as their "superior". Theirs is a life of paranoia; they know that the patron empowers them, but they also know that if they submit to much of themselves onto it, their very personality will be lost in insanity/consumption of the soul.

The binders of old are somewhat similar to the modern warlock in that they make pacts with otherworldy entities, but in this scenario, the binder holds the trump card. Vestiges are neither alive nor dead; all they want is the opportunity to feel alive again, even if it is through the consciousness of another. At worst, they only manifest minor physical changes/minor personality alterations, but they have no control whatsoever with the binder. The binder controls them.

Hmm. What if we keep these entities detailed, but have them accessible only to COPALs/DM's by request? It could work..

Still a working idea, but...

Pox (Fey Pact)
Pox is a strange being, one so elusive that even those among the fey insist he does not exist at all. Those who do acknowledge his existence are undecided as to his origins. Some say he was but a slave in the fey court who merely seized power at about the time of the king's untimely demise; others say he is, in fact, the last legitimate fey prince in existence. But everybody agrees on one thing: Pox is a trickster first and foremost.

However, Pox is different from the conventional trickster in that his motivation is unique. While most such beings act the way they do out of boredom, or to abuse their power, Pox does so because it is his aim to understand everything. Indeed, the world is a magical place, but Pox knows it has its limits... and if it takes him forever, he will find those limits. It is as if all the universe were just one grand experiment, and Pox is the lone scientist at the helm. Of course, all conventional variables have been handled already; now the task is to unravel the twisted mess of things that remain.

This has led Pox to do things so bizarre that, to everybody else, it was as if there was no way he could have taken his actions with serious intent... but of course, in the end, they are wrong. In fact, in his own mind, Pox is anything but a trickster (though, to be fair, he speaks the language well enough).

His ambitions were deemed so dangerous that the fey courts simply had to stop him. They knew from the start that reasoning with him was out of the question, but they had to take action, and fast. It took eight of the fey's most brilliant minds to finally subdue Pox; after many pranks and schemes and battles of wit they were finally able to trick him into entering a chamber bound in earth and cold iron, thus inducing in him a state of indefinite hibernation. He remained slumbering deep in this room until the day a young girl unwittingly dispelled the protective seals that held the room in place. While this did not free Pox immediately, it weakened his chains just enough for him to break out of his prison.

Dealing with Pox is always an interesting experience. Warlocks do not choose Pox as a patron so much as Pox chooses warlocks to be his agents. And if he does choose somebody as an agent, it is surely because he believes that person can show him things he's never seen before. Oh, he will grant power, that goes without saying... but more often than not, the cost is far too great.

Pox manifests in many different forms. One time he is a dashing-yet-unassuming young man; the next he is an ugly little sprite; the next he appears to be an avatar of nature itself, standing tall with an awe-inspiring terrible glory.

All of these faces are false. Not a single soul has seen his true form.

Motif/Insignia: A mask with eight eyes, each of a different color. The illusions conferred by warlocks of Pox often involve disembodied eyes gazing at you as though your soul were an open book. Otherwise, the more superstitious have sworn that amidst the dazzling lights associated with many of the fey pact's powers, one can see eyes peering through the veil.
-----------------------
This is the being Lucretia Savros was unfortunate enough to forge a pact with. Pox is something of a placeholder name (it's similar to Puck, who was the original inspiration). However, one can also think of Pox as similar to Pazuzu, or even Loki.

Again, working idea. We can flesh out the details some other time, though.

Old Dragon Joined: 04 Oct 2007 Posts: 431

Orbil (Dark Pact)

They say curiosity killed the cat... but this cat still lives on...
-Orbil

He was once just a curious human, wanting to know everything there is to know. His travels led to to distant lands and exotic planes, recording every single bit of information possible. His methods extreme...until he traveled to Abyss. There, his mind was torn apart between his curiosity and his survivability, until finally he used his knowledge to transform his body to be able to fend to the enemies, his will to know fueling his power. His body disintegrated and he let his knowledge become his blood, bone and muscle, turning him into a monstrosity unlike anything ever seen before...

Warlocks choose Orbil because they see him as a perfect example of someone with an infinite thirst for knowledge. They also want to know all, not necessarily understand all though.

Appearance: humanoid body with words scribbled everywhere. base skin black word white. the words the "moving" around his body. they are written in every language

Motif/Insignia: an open book in front , with words from every language spewing out of the pages, written multiple times. they all read "to know..".