The Dark Powers...

[alhoon]

To Steve Miller:
You make some valid points there Steve.

Well, I don't pretend that I understand everything in the Old Testament so I can't answer all of them.

However I stand by my opinion that good people don't torment others even if that doesn't quite fit in the Old Testament style. Even more I believe they don't predestine sentient or even non-sentient creatures in order to suffer.

As for rewarding evil deeds so the creature in question walks down the evil path so he turns back in its own free will... well they could not curse/reward the evil deed in the first place.

As for Good AND evil DP: Well, I play them quite that way too. They are 13 IMC not 9, I haven't decided on so specific alignments and a minority is either good or at least neutral. They also fearful of other more powerful deities.

My take on the Unspoken Pact is: "You big guys don't get in here but we abide to some restrictions too, like giving the people you protect some chance at least."

[Dion of the Fraternity]

The identity of the Dark Powers will ultimately lead to a long and endless debate, so here's a lovely pic I found on the internets:

[Rotipher of the FoS]

And there may even be places where the reach of the Dark Powers cannot properly extend -- whether because divine influence denies their presence or some other power prevents them from reaching into a particular crystal sphere.

Of which one such place -- let's hope with every fiber of our beings -- just might happen to be Eberron.


Nice hat, Dion.

[The Nightmare Man]

And there may even be places where the reach of the Dark Powers cannot properly extend -- whether because divine influence denies their presence or some other power prevents them from reaching into a particular crystal sphere.

Of which one such place -- let's hope with every fiber of our beings -- just might happen to be Eberron.

I've speculated, in the past, on a possible connection between the plane of Dal Quor and the Nightmare Lands in Ravenloft. But I've never fully developed this idea, simply because I don't want to introduce the concept of of the Quori into the Demiplane of Dread, nor provide an opposing force of planar conquerors against the Dark Powers.

In this instance... I'd rule that the Dark Powers themselves have denied their own entry into another crystal sphere/material plane. To add a little to the bit you quoted from me above... there may simply be areas across the planes that the Dark Power voluntarily choose to avoid for whatever reason.

[steveflam]

What about these 2 guys as the Dark Powers, the debate continues

[alhoon]

so here's a lovely pic I found on the internets:

Am I wrong or that seems to be like... you?

[HuManBing]

Off topic for a sec... why do the uniform caps have the chin-straps at the mouth level?

[cure]

Off topic for a sec... why do the uniform caps have the chin-straps at the mouth level?

If you will permit me to engage in the equivalent of false etymology, because soldiers are supposed to shut up and follow orders, the better to realise the folly and mad dreams of their betters.

(Yes, I know some armies officially hold that soldiers are supposed to refuse illegal orders, but how many illegal orders do you think have been refused in, say, the last six years? Rather a climate of disculpability has been fostered and having your mouth strapped shut metaphorically or literally is a keystone of that culture. In short, a Dark Powers delight.)

[Spiteful Crow]

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/a ... ldiers.jpg

Thai soldiers, on the other hand, straps their helmets below the mouth.

[Archedius]

To be honest; I never allow my campaigns to touch the DP's even remotely because it takes away from the feel of the setting. Once players in campaign, get a hint that they are the pawns of some nebulous entity/plural the horror goes out the window. For me they are the judge/jury and executioner of their own strict code of morality that they judge most by.
To allow for this I keep most matters in campaign as secular as possible- even religion. Most clerics in my campaigns cannot cast spells; the churches operate similarly to how they did in the european early medieval and medieval ages. The nature of the dark powers matter not to me- regardless of what they are the result is the same; corruption is rewarded and cursed to give an opportunity for either further corruption or redemption. The innocent both live on occasion good lives tainted by dread, and miserable ones at the hands of the vile. There is duality here that fits romanticism and specifically gothicism and perhaps the dark powers themselves; but it ultimately doesn't matter. We know the end results of their machinations- just not the reasons.