I'm working on a setting in the Great Swamp of Rethild that is the location of a hidden backwater connecting to the River Oceanus. Portals appear, seemingly at random, allowing a single craft to cross to locations along the great river.
Why would the ancient Sarrukh create such a place?
At the height of the power, the sarrukh dominated all of the continent of Faerûn. Perhaps these portals allowed the Sarrukh to launch raids into Elysium or the Beastlands?
Could have been one part of their exodus plan - portals with cryptic timing and conditions could make it easier for them to escape to a place where they could more easily flee to other planes and also make it difficult to be followed. Could have been a backup plan if the other means of leaving their failing empires became compromised. Either it was never used or someone didn't close the door(s) behind them - maybe the people responsible for sealing the portals were prevented from doing so. Maybe the people who were supposed to close the portals were murdered by a shadow organization from within their old empires. Maybe a plague followed them through and killed all of them, leaving the portal system a lasting, confusing legacy.
That's just one of oodles of possibilities that, without further established story, can't be proven to be true or not. If it were me (and it's not), I'd drop different suggestions that contradict each other and leave the truth uncertain.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I'm working on a setting in the Great Swamp of Rethild that is the location of a hidden backwater connecting to the River Oceanus. Portals appear, seemingly at random, allowing a single craft to cross to locations along the great river.
Why would the ancient Sarrukh create such a place?
At the height of the power, the sarrukh dominated all of the continent of Faerûn. Perhaps these portals allowed the Sarrukh to launch raids into Elysium or the Beastlands?
Commerce with upper planar deities? Or possibly a back door into Sigil?
Could have been one part of their exodus plan - portals with cryptic timing and conditions could make it easier for them to escape to a place where they could more easily flee to other planes and also make it difficult to be followed. Could have been a backup plan if the other means of leaving their failing empires became compromised. Either it was never used or someone didn't close the door(s) behind them - maybe the people responsible for sealing the portals were prevented from doing so. Maybe the people who were supposed to close the portals were murdered by a shadow organization from within their old empires. Maybe a plague followed them through and killed all of them, leaving the portal system a lasting, confusing legacy.
That's just one of oodles of possibilities that, without further established story, can't be proven to be true or not. If it were me (and it's not), I'd drop different suggestions that contradict each other and leave the truth uncertain.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Right. Trade, conquest, escape? All viable. These portals are ancient so there is probably no record of why the Sarrukh created them in the 1st place.