I've posted some new monsters and a feat in the Homebrew Forum. This lore is too much to post there, so I submit it here as a resource to provide some context, for those interested.
What follows then is the lore of the first Lastoa'giza, the Straw Lastoa'giza.
High Mage of Transmutation, Master Juk'taluth, though he had dabbled in the mechanics of lich magic, found the prospect of an eternity of unrest, feeding on the souls of the dead to maintain his own soul's tenuous hold in the material plain, deeply troubling: and so put aside his studies of immortality and instead set himself on the path of the highest power, Creation. Alas though his mind could grasp the method, his powers of transmutation were insufficient to bring life into the world and hold it, and so he journeyed to the Realm of a Million Eyes, the 6th layer of the Abyss, and sought to make a pact with the Great Mother, who could dream the impossible into being.
'She' could see his heart was prideful, so the Great Mother took Juk'taluth into 'her' service to champion, as 'she' wills, any of 'her' children who cry out to 'her' in need. In exchange 'she' granted Juk'taluth the three boons he had requested. 'She' expanded his powers of transmutation with persistence well beyond the norm; the first boon. This boon was two fold as it strengthened him to become the vehicle that would bring his vision of creation to form while at the same time allowed him to resist the Great Mother's chaotic shifts from helper to devourer while he was to be in 'her' presence. Then 'She' lay before him skins from the great book of weaving that showed the method of the weave of time and space; the second boon. He sat with it for many years in the presence of the Great Mother and when he looked up from his studies, a mound of golden straw had been set before him, dreamed into existence by the Mother, herself; the third boon .
He took the straw and wove it with great skill and mastery acquired from the book into the shape of a simple humanoid figure; and deep in its neck he implanted a finely crafted phylactery of the clearest diamonds, wound in delicate hairs of precious metals. And deep within the torso he buried 3 needles of polished smoked glass, the eyes of which were enchanted as portals to extradimentional space.
Juk'taluth then took leave of the Great Mother to seek out souls of the newly dead in the Fugue Plane, to give the semblance of life to his straw figures. But Juk'taluth failed, as the binding of the faithful to their gods nullified any contract Jul'taluth attempted. Then he looked across the Plain and saw the Wall of the Faithless and he determined that there he would find the souls he needed, as their fate was separated from the gods. But again, Juk'taluth was thwarted, as Myrkul, Lord of Bones, and Master of the Wall of the Faithless laid claim to the souls of the faithless.
But the Raven Queen, the keeper of the gateway between life and death, the one through whom all souls must pass before Myrkul could make his claim, in her seeming mercurial way offered Jul'taluth an office and bestowed upon Jul'taluth her authority to select at the time of their death, the finest of faithless souls who had not lived enough yet to realize their promise, and offer them an opportunity to escape the Wall and embrace the gods. When Juk'taluth had enlisted three of these novice souls, he brought them before the Raven Queen, who allowed Juk'taluth to bind them in a single phylactery within the neck of one of the woven golden straw beings. In return, as was her way, she took their memories with her to the Fortress of Memories in the Shadowfell. But not all their memories. She left each soul with enough memories so they would not go mad for loosing themselves; while the gift of second life offered them the opportunity to replace lost memories with memories anew. The gods were pleased, as the prospect of redemption of these young souls promised to expand their own powers. Ao himself was gratified at her forbearance in claiming what was her's in favor of elevating the prospects of all the gods; and so the Raven Queen too rose in favor.
And when the souls were bound, Juk'taluth, under the tutelage and for the service of the Great Mother, with the blessing of the Raven Queen, brought the straw figure into the light of day and it took on the form that one of the three souls had known. Each soul took its form in turn and held it as long as daylight held. But, the life was fleeting, as when the sun had set, the soul returned to the phylactery, and its body gave way to the form of the woven straw figure, while its possessions were siphoned through the eye of one of its glass needles for safe keeping.
Each morning's light sparks the straw to life again and which of the three souls would wake and manifest them self in the world is determined by chance, each taking their turn. A balance of Aberracious, Necrotic, Transmutative and Conjurative magics, all supporting the miracle of Second Life, Juk'taluth was pleased; and when he had made a handful of Straw Lastoa'gizaor, though their minds were still clouded with the fog of recent death and the Raven Queens tithe of their memories, he would send them to far off lands, to discover their debt to the Great Mother and to honor it, and, by the will of the Raven Queen, to see what they could make of their strange new life, and their second chance.
The Agency of Juk'taluth: Only Juk'taluth as charged by the Raven Queen, can assign souls to the phylactery of a Lastoa'giza, of the Straw. If a Straw Construct is damaged, it can only be restored by Juk'taluth, or one who knows the book of the weaving and has studied how Juk'taluth has applied it in configuring the Lastoa'giza, or perhaps a Wish spell.
Malicious Rumors:
Lurking Thief - Some say that Juk'taluth never asked for the Great Mother's help at all. Instead, they say, in an effort to master Lichdom, he presented himself as a gift, in the shape of a bookshelf, to the Great Mother, that he might gain entry to the Realm of a Million Eyes and gleen there what he could to aid him in his mad quest. The Great Mother bedazzled by the wondrous form of the bookself, took it in and stored on it many books from her collection: one of which was a tome called The Book of Weaving. For years Juk'taluth, in his form as a bookself, and in the unknowing presence of the Great Mother, read it, and the other books deposited on or near him, and gained much knowledge. He use that knowledge to expand his own magic and craft many wondrous things from the materials and items that the Great Mother had laying about. One of the items he crafted was the first Lastoa'giza. However, although Juk'taluth had snuck into the Great Mother's Lair, and existed in her presence without her awareness, he could not get out, passed her watchful eyes. Then, one day, he realized that the Great Mother would distress from time-to-time when one of her children called out to her in danger, distracting her from her own machinations and thus putting her in great fear for her own safety. With this new awareness Juk'taluth saw another way to immortality, and a way of leaving the Great Mother's Lair. He took the opportunity to speak to the Great Mother from no where, and everywhere, and plant in her mind the idea of a champion who would come to offer his services. And then, one day, Juk'taluth, dropped the form he had held as her bookself, and presented himself with the proposal of the Lastoa'giza; an ever-ready construct that could assist her by rescuing her children when needed. His timing was masterful, as the Great Mother was not then disposed to consume him, but allowed him to leave as her champion, with a number of wondrous things he'd made over the years, including several Straw Lastoa'giza and a large supply of raw "straw"; none of which the Great Mother realized belonged to her. And so Juk'taluth, stole the Great Mother's magic, and many objects and materials from her Lair, and walked out of the 6th layer of the Abyss, on a new path towards immortality, godhood.
Dark Constructs: Some say it is not light, but darkness that drives the Straw Lastoa'giza. And that it is not the souls that require rest in darkness, but the divine material that makes up the Construct; that the material must have time to gather its dark energy to power the spells that bring the Second Life; that the souls and the bodies they inspire protect the Construct from the light, until it can show its true divine nature, in darkness. Because of this, they refer to the souls as Priests, and to the Constructs as Temples of Darkness. Some say.
Juk'taluth's Quest: Juk'taluth, though he does not seek immortality through lichdom, still hopes to achieve it through Godhood. The domain he hopes for, under the Raven Queen, and with the Blessing of Ao, is 'Piety'. He hopes to ascend by gaining worshipers; either of some souls of the Lastoa'giza he chooses, or of those who esteem the Lastoa'giza, or of those who esteem Piety itself.
Note: the lore specifies that only the finest faithless are selected...this suggests that only characters with high Ability Scores may be suitable for this PC type. A combined base ability score of less than 80 is risky, due to their inability to be healed by most spells in combat. Aditionally, a party can randomly become unbalanced and underpowered depending which Character has Second Life on a given day. The higher ability scores can help alleviate these disadvantages
I've posted some new monsters and a feat in the Homebrew Forum. This lore is too much to post there, so I submit it here as a resource to provide some context, for those interested.
What follows then is the lore of the first Lastoa'giza, the Straw Lastoa'giza.
High Mage of Transmutation, Master Juk'taluth, though he had dabbled in the mechanics of lich magic, found the prospect of an eternity of unrest, feeding on the souls of the dead to maintain his own soul's tenuous hold in the material plain, deeply troubling: and so put aside his studies of immortality and instead set himself on the path of the highest power, Creation. Alas though his mind could grasp the method, his powers of transmutation were insufficient to bring life into the world and hold it, and so he journeyed to the Realm of a Million Eyes, the 6th layer of the Abyss, and sought to make a pact with the Great Mother, who could dream the impossible into being.
'She' could see his heart was prideful, so the Great Mother took Juk'taluth into 'her' service to champion, as 'she' wills, any of 'her' children who cry out to 'her' in need. In exchange 'she' granted Juk'taluth the three boons he had requested. 'She' expanded his powers of transmutation with persistence well beyond the norm; the first boon. This boon was two fold as it strengthened him to become the vehicle that would bring his vision of creation to form while at the same time allowed him to resist the Great Mother's chaotic shifts from helper to devourer while he was to be in 'her' presence. Then 'She' lay before him skins from the great book of weaving that showed the method of the weave of time and space; the second boon. He sat with it for many years in the presence of the Great Mother and when he looked up from his studies, a mound of golden straw had been set before him, dreamed into existence by the Mother, herself; the third boon .
He took the straw and wove it with great skill and mastery acquired from the book into the shape of a simple humanoid figure; and deep in its neck he implanted a finely crafted phylactery of the clearest diamonds, wound in delicate hairs of precious metals. And deep within the torso he buried 3 needles of polished smoked glass, the eyes of which were enchanted as portals to extradimentional space.
Juk'taluth then took leave of the Great Mother to seek out souls of the newly dead in the Fugue Plane, to give the semblance of life to his straw figures. But Juk'taluth failed, as the binding of the faithful to their gods nullified any contract Jul'taluth attempted. Then he looked across the Plain and saw the Wall of the Faithless and he determined that there he would find the souls he needed, as their fate was separated from the gods. But again, Juk'taluth was thwarted, as Myrkul, Lord of Bones, and Master of the Wall of the Faithless laid claim to the souls of the faithless.
But the Raven Queen, the keeper of the gateway between life and death, the one through whom all souls must pass before Myrkul could make his claim, in her seeming mercurial way offered Jul'taluth an office and bestowed upon Jul'taluth her authority to select at the time of their death, the finest of faithless souls who had not lived enough yet to realize their promise, and offer them an opportunity to escape the Wall and embrace the gods. When Juk'taluth had enlisted three of these novice souls, he brought them before the Raven Queen, who allowed Juk'taluth to bind them in a single phylactery within the neck of one of the woven golden straw beings. In return, as was her way, she took their memories with her to the Fortress of Memories in the Shadowfell. But not all their memories. She left each soul with enough memories so they would not go mad for loosing themselves; while the gift of second life offered them the opportunity to replace lost memories with memories anew. The gods were pleased, as the prospect of redemption of these young souls promised to expand their own powers. Ao himself was gratified at her forbearance in claiming what was her's in favor of elevating the prospects of all the gods; and so the Raven Queen too rose in favor.
And when the souls were bound, Juk'taluth, under the tutelage and for the service of the Great Mother, with the blessing of the Raven Queen, brought the straw figure into the light of day and it took on the form that one of the three souls had known. Each soul took its form in turn and held it as long as daylight held. But, the life was fleeting, as when the sun had set, the soul returned to the phylactery, and its body gave way to the form of the woven straw figure, while its possessions were siphoned through the eye of one of its glass needles for safe keeping.
Each morning's light sparks the straw to life again and which of the three souls would wake and manifest them self in the world is determined by chance, each taking their turn. A balance of Aberracious, Necrotic, Transmutative and Conjurative magics, all supporting the miracle of Second Life, Juk'taluth was pleased; and when he had made a handful of Straw Lastoa'gizaor, though their minds were still clouded with the fog of recent death and the Raven Queens tithe of their memories, he would send them to far off lands, to discover their debt to the Great Mother and to honor it, and, by the will of the Raven Queen, to see what they could make of their strange new life, and their second chance.
The Agency of Juk'taluth: Only Juk'taluth as charged by the Raven Queen, can assign souls to the phylactery of a Lastoa'giza, of the Straw. If a Straw Construct is damaged, it can only be restored by Juk'taluth, or one who knows the book of the weaving and has studied how Juk'taluth has applied it in configuring the Lastoa'giza, or perhaps a Wish spell.
Malicious Rumors:
Lurking Thief - Some say that Juk'taluth never asked for the Great Mother's help at all. Instead, they say, in an effort to master Lichdom, he presented himself as a gift, in the shape of a bookshelf, to the Great Mother, that he might gain entry to the Realm of a Million Eyes and gleen there what he could to aid him in his mad quest. The Great Mother bedazzled by the wondrous form of the bookself, took it in and stored on it many books from her collection: one of which was a tome called The Book of Weaving. For years Juk'taluth, in his form as a bookself, and in the unknowing presence of the Great Mother, read it, and the other books deposited on or near him, and gained much knowledge. He use that knowledge to expand his own magic and craft many wondrous things from the materials and items that the Great Mother had laying about. One of the items he crafted was the first Lastoa'giza. However, although Juk'taluth had snuck into the Great Mother's Lair, and existed in her presence without her awareness, he could not get out, passed her watchful eyes. Then, one day, he realized that the Great Mother would distress from time-to-time when one of her children called out to her in danger, distracting her from her own machinations and thus putting her in great fear for her own safety. With this new awareness Juk'taluth saw another way to immortality, and a way of leaving the Great Mother's Lair. He took the opportunity to speak to the Great Mother from no where, and everywhere, and plant in her mind the idea of a champion who would come to offer his services. And then, one day, Juk'taluth, dropped the form he had held as her bookself, and presented himself with the proposal of the Lastoa'giza; an ever-ready construct that could assist her by rescuing her children when needed. His timing was masterful, as the Great Mother was not then disposed to consume him, but allowed him to leave as her champion, with a number of wondrous things he'd made over the years, including several Straw Lastoa'giza and a large supply of raw "straw"; none of which the Great Mother realized belonged to her. And so Juk'taluth, stole the Great Mother's magic, and many objects and materials from her Lair, and walked out of the 6th layer of the Abyss, on a new path towards immortality, godhood.
Dark Constructs: Some say it is not light, but darkness that drives the Straw Lastoa'giza. And that it is not the souls that require rest in darkness, but the divine material that makes up the Construct; that the material must have time to gather its dark energy to power the spells that bring the Second Life; that the souls and the bodies they inspire protect the Construct from the light, until it can show its true divine nature, in darkness. Because of this, they refer to the souls as Priests, and to the Constructs as Temples of Darkness. Some say.
Juk'taluth's Quest: Juk'taluth, though he does not seek immortality through lichdom, still hopes to achieve it through Godhood. The domain he hopes for, under the Raven Queen, and with the Blessing of Ao, is 'Piety'. He hopes to ascend by gaining worshipers; either of some souls of the Lastoa'giza he chooses, or of those who esteem the Lastoa'giza, or of those who esteem Piety itself.
Note: the lore specifies that only the finest faithless are selected...this suggests that only characters with high Ability Scores may be suitable for this PC type. A combined base ability score of less than 80 is risky, due to their inability to be healed by most spells in combat. Aditionally, a party can randomly become unbalanced and underpowered depending which Character has Second Life on a given day. The higher ability scores can help alleviate these disadvantages