De-Beholdering the Beholder ™ for Inclusion in Vanilla ToME

[Planetus]

Given the tentacular nature and the inherrant magical and mental power, maybe the origin of this race has something to do with the Sher'Tul. I'm thinking something like a colonial group of Sher'Tul that moved through an experimental Far Portal in the hopes of reaching a different world. They succeeded, but the nature of that world was very different from the one they had come from, so many of the powers they were originally reliant upon (the unknown forces that power all their tools) were no longer so reliable. They molded themselves to that new world and reached dominance there, mastering new powers that could allow them to return to their long-lost home. Now, however, they find their home is bereft of the Sher'Tul they sought to re-unite with, and instead over-run with these strange 'hyue-muns' and 'eylvs' and 'haflngs' and 'dewareves', all of which seem related to each other in a way that denies their relation to the Sher'Tul. Your quest is to discover what happened to the Sher'Tul, to reunite with your lost brethren, and, most importantly, to establish reliable contact between this world and your homeworld. Again, however, this world seems to have embraced new powers (Blight), and you have a chance to adapt yourself to this new power (unlock when siding with the Grand Corrupter to add a beholder corrupter class).

[The Revanchist]

Given the tentacular nature and the inherrant magical and mental power, maybe the origin of this race has something to do with the Sher'Tul. I'm thinking something like a colonial group of Sher'Tul that moved through an experimental Far Portal in the hopes of reaching a different world. They succeeded, but the nature of that world was very different from the one they had come from, so many of the powers they were originally reliant upon (the unknown forces that power all their tools) were no longer so reliable. They molded themselves to that new world and reached dominance there, mastering new powers that could allow them to return to their long-lost home. Now, however, they find their home is bereft of the Sher'Tul they sought to re-unite with, and instead over-run with these strange 'hyue-muns' and 'eylvs' and 'haflngs' and 'dewareves', all of which seem related to each other in a way that denies their relation to the Sher'Tul. Your quest is to discover what happened to the Sher'Tul, to reunite with your lost brethren, and, most importantly, to establish reliable contact between this world and your homeworld. Again, however, this world seems to have embraced new powers (Blight), and you have a chance to adapt yourself to this new power (unlock when siding with the Grand Corrupter to add a beholder corrupter class).

That certainly is a bit of a mouthful. But what a tasty mouthful... I actually like that origin, too. Certainly not impossible.

[Grey]

Instead of making them aliens why not make them an ancient race that were once servants of the Sher'Tul? Perhaps Amakthel's convulsions have disturbed them from their long slumber, and now they rise from the deep oceans in search of their lost masters.

In general hard to imagine them interacting with NPCs and the like though, unless they have some mind-disguise thing going on like the undead cloak.

[Doctornull]

Instead of making them aliens why not make them an ancient race that were once servants of the Sher'Tul? Perhaps Amakthel's convulsions have disturbed them from their long slumber, and now they rise from the deep oceans in search of their lost masters.

So they're Shuggoth'tul?

[HousePet]

So they're Shuggoth'tul?

Glorious

[rexorcorum]

Given the tentacular nature and the inherrant magical and mental power, maybe the origin of this race has something to do with the Sher'Tul. I'm thinking something like a colonial group of Sher'Tul that moved through an experimental Far Portal in the hopes of reaching a different world. They succeeded, but the nature of that world was very different from the one they had come from, so many of the powers they were originally reliant upon (the unknown forces that power all their tools) were no longer so reliable. They molded themselves to that new world and reached dominance there, mastering new powers that could allow them to return to their long-lost home.

Also quite possible . So far so good.

Now, however, they find their home is bereft of the Sher'Tul they sought to re-unite with, and instead over-run with these strange 'hyue-muns' and 'eylvs' and 'haflngs' and 'dewareves', all of which seem related to each other in a way that denies their relation to the Sher'Tul. Your quest is to discover what happened to the Sher'Tul, to reunite with your lost brethren, and, most importantly, to establish reliable contact between this world and your homeworld.

This is a tricky part, because it will require (or rather it would be nice to have it) some main quest rework also, regarding your course of action with a certain ancient artefact if you can hold to it long enough and of course a different ending options.

Again, however, this world seems to have embraced new powers (Blight), and you have a chance to adapt yourself to this new power (unlock when siding with the Grand Corrupter to add a beholder corrupter class).

Lovely .

Instead of making them aliens why not make them an ancient race that were once servants of the Sher'Tul? Perhaps Amakthel's convulsions have disturbed them from their long slumber, and now they rise from the deep oceans in search of their lost masters.

Haha, the Sher'Tul bureaucracy sub-race, why not indeed.

In general hard to imagine them interacting with NPCs and the like though, unless they have some mind-disguise thing going on like the undead cloak.

They already have it

So they're Shuggoth'tul?

That, my dear doc, is hilarious!

To summarize the options for "Beholder Age: Origins" so far:

• Proper aliens, a.k.a. Extraeyalnials
• Out of this time and space continuum or void dwellers
• A long lost Sher'Tul branch, returning from a distant world
• A Sher'Tul-created sub race of clerks [EDIT] rising from the oceans Chtulhu-style

[grayswandir]

I do rather like the idea of the race the Sher'Tul created to be clerks possesing vast and destructive mental/magical powers.

[rexorcorum]

Well, maybe they got borked at some point Or the Sher"Tul 'upgraded' them by the time they start killing each other.

[HousePet]

I think a more vague and mysterious background would be better than making them crafted servants of the Sher'tul.

[Grey]

The aliens front seems a little dull to me, as it's already covered by demons.

Perhaps an old race that were forced out of Eyal by the Sher'Tul? They fled, very afraid, to another dimension. Disturbances from Amakthel have lured them back to Eyal, where they hope to feast on the fallen god and becomes as powerful as the Sher'Tul themselves.

Of course whatever their backstory it should be presented with a suitable element of mystery and obscurity. It just needs to make some sense beyond "mysterious race".

[PureQuestion]

already covered by demons.

And elementals and spiders and horrors (some of them, anyway) and...

man, this game really has a lot of aliens.

[rexorcorum]

The aliens front seems a little dull to me, as it's already covered by demons.

I'm covering that particular front, because DarkGod wants to make them aliens. The point of the discussion is of course to gather different opinions and stories - the more the merrier.

man, this game really has a lot of aliens.

Man, someone must really love them aliens

[Lubaf]

My personal take:

The Watchers themselves are somewhat unclear on their origins. They were awakened from The Long Great Sleep in a large chamber (their starting city), with no memories of what they were or how they got there. From what they can tell, the Spellblaze did something to disrupt the usual methods the Watchers would use when in The Great Sleep to store memories during that time.

(The Great Sleep is part of their biological cycle; the Watchers can hibernate for vast periods of time (not available to PCs, though, as it requires a safe location and lasts at minimum a few months). The Long Great Sleep is what they call what they were in previous to awakening.)

There was some emergency documentation that allowed them to work out their biology, and how to structure their society, but due to extreme brevity lacks anything besides those two matters other then some instructions on how to build a beacon of some kind (which, even if they were inclined to build, would take resources they currently lack).

If they have a unique Initial Quest, said quest involves establishing diplomatic relations with the Allied Lands (and is mandatory for them, like the Dwarf Initial Quest). Alternately, they could share Initial Quests with one of the Elves.

Thanks
Luc "Lorewise" French

[Planetus]

I'm thinking if we take that ex-Sher'Tul path, the main quest can be absorbed into theirs with a little lore and reasoning. Early on, they seek peace with the natives and explore a range of myths of ancient powers. They find the Fortress and take it as a great home for them as they recognize it as the leftovers of the Sher'Tul and hope to find some clues in it. They left the Sher'Tul before the Sher'Tul reached the kind of power found in the Staff of Power and so don't understand it even a little, but see it as a clue to the fate of the Sher'Tul. If the staff is stolen, that takes on it's own course. If the staff is saved, they trade it to the King for peace, information on a stable Farportal (the Farportal in the Fortress is very unstable and hopeless for anything more than chaos), and the potential to find people who not only know the power of the Staff (since they're after it), but also are able to construct stable Farportals (a technology they remember in legend but have lost in knowledge). Ultimately they choose to preserve the world rather than hand it over to a god they don't know how to slay, though whether this is for the good of the people or simply so they can conquer and colonize it is up to the player.

[Waladil]

On the matter of the name -- when I was working on my pretty-much-aborted Star Kitty race, I put them into the Traveler superrace. Was trying to connote a being that has traveled very far and is very foreign to this land. Maybe it'd work for Behol--WATCHERS, too.

Although I also really like Outworlder.