Page 7 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

ORIGINS OF THE from the remote reaches of the Material Plane come from
worlds such as these, places stranger and more menacing than
ABERRATIONS all but the most fearsome of Outer Planes.
Aberrations as a kind seem to cry out for explanation. Other Because these far worlds are still part of the Material Plane,
monsters are part of the natural world, or come into being it is possible to reach them via greater teleport, teleport circle,
through the actions of natural beings, but aberrations have no and similar magic. In fact, it is possible for vessels with the
place in the usual order of things. Their origins are unthinkably proper magic to voyage between the worlds without any sort of
distant in time, space, or planar cosmology. While they are teleportation. Flying ships (sometimes known as spelljammers)
now natives of the Material Plane (they would be outsiders if can reach the moon(s), nearby planets, or possibly even the
they were not), aberrations share little or no kinship with the
worlds of other stars altogether. Journeying to a nearby world,
CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS AN ABERRATION? other living creatures of the world. whether it is the moon of the characters’ own native world or a
As a DM, defining an origin for a major aberration race you

different planet in its own right, might require anything from
a few hours to months or even years of star-sailing.
intend to feature in your campaign will help you to create
plots and schemes for that race. For example, a race older than
The neogi are perhaps the best-known example of an extra-
the world itself might retain memories or lore of extremely

sinister, spiderlike flying ships, these rapacious slavers and oily
ancient events. Heroes who find that they need to understand terrestrial race. Descending from the dark night skies in their

how a god died thousands of years ago, or where and when a merchants wander from world to world, trading with those
very ancient artifact was last seen, might discover that the strong enough to warrant caution and stealing from those
knowledge they seek exists only in the secret lorepools of the who are not. Neogi merchants enjoy access to the resources
aboleths. Aberrations that came from distant worlds might have and markets of many worlds, and few can follow them when
an insatiable appetite for human slaves and wealth to send back they depart for their next destination. Slaves taken by the neogi
to their alien homelands through magical doorways. Races rarely, if ever, see their homelands again.
that exist through the intervention or corruption of a dark and The tsochari also hail from a distant world, a cold and light-
terrible god might seek ways to fully wake their progenitor, or less place of terrible black ruins and endless, shrieking winds.
form insidious cults to capture the worship of “lesser beings,” Unlike the neogi, who move from world to world so easily
such as humanoids, for their divine master. that they themselves do not recall the world of their origin,
the tsochari do not build starfaring vessels. They must labor
OUT OF SPACE long and hard to create the magical gates that allow them to
Most intelligent creatures live their lives on a single world in venture between worlds.
the Material Plane, and do not dream that the Material Plane
includes anything other than the world they know. However, OUT OF TIME
the Material Plane is indeed an infinite plane. It is filled with Just as the origins of an alien race can be physically remote

countless worlds, so inconceivably far removed from one from the normal world, they can also be temporally removed
another that only the most powerful of wizards can hope to from the world humans know. Some aberrations do not hail
travel from world to world. Each of these Material Plane worlds from places where the rules are different, but instead originate
possesses its own unique conditions, and some of these distant in times when the world is, was, or will be a very different
worlds nourish strange and inimical forms of life. Aberrations place than it is now.
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ABERRATIONS IN EBERRON
Nearly everything in this book is perfectly usable if you are run- Aberrations that venture near human habitation are frequently
ning a campaign in the world of the EBERRON campaign setting. the focal point of degenerate cults loosely termed the Cults of
After all, one of the guiding principles of the EBERRON setting is the Dragon Below. Cultists of the Dragon Below are insane, be-
“If it exists in D&D, it exists in Eberron.” That said, aberrations lieving that aberrations are beautiful and holy creatures that can
have a unique role in Eberron that might change how you use lead them to a subterranean promised land or reward them with
some material in this book. annihilation when they bring the daelkyr up from the depths to
Millennia ago, a bizarre and alien race called the daelkyr in- destroy the world.
vaded Eberron through planar portals leading from their home Most of this information amounts to background details
plane of Xoriat, the Realm of Madness—a plane similar to the about the various kinds of aberrations, and has little impact
Far Realm discussed in this book. While on Eberron, the daelkyr on their actual use in play. The vast majority of the informa-
created many of the known species of aberrations, including tion contained in Lords of Madness, including details about the
beholders and chokers. Mind flayers served as the lieutenants anatomy, society, abilities, and tactics of various aberrations,
of the daelkyr, and originated with them on the plane of Xoriat, is just as true in the EBERRON setting as in any other D&D cam-
making them extraplanar aberrations when they appear on Eb- paign. Simply alter or ignore details about the origins of differ-
erron. New kinds of aberrations are found on Eberron as well, ent aberrations presented in this book, placing them instead in
including dolgrims and dolgaunts. the context of the ancient daelkyr invasion.
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