Tome of Magic and the Lost

[Thorogood Roele]

Frankly IMHO I think that anyone wanting to know what the lost were like should read The Shadow Stone by Richard Baker. It was originally written for BR but got hacked into Forgotten Realms when TSR discontinued BR, in fact in the very last chapter some of the characters were "accidentally" forgotten to be changed from Boeruine and Avanil to whatever family they were the rest of the novel. It's main character was originally the High Mage Aelis and he fights with mages from the College of Sorcery that have found a portal in the ruined "pyramid" aka the blown up college tower, to the shadow world they find a Stone that grants them immense powers and become mages of Darkness. Really the only difference between these dark mages is that their magic corrupted the land. In fact all of Anuire was dying. Their magic drew from the shadow world, specifically this stone (which could likely be a great deal of Azrai's trapped essence) and it was this stone that likely corrupted the Faerie world into the shadow world. Instead of drawing their power from the land of the light they were tied to the stone. IMHO it would make sense to say that this stone is part of Azrai, and the original Lost were tied to Azrai in the same way, giving them the ability to be true mages, much more of a slant towards necromancy arts and less of the "good" stuff, but non-the less capable of casting any magics available to a true mage. In my world, they gain all the benifits of Illusionist specialists with no restriction of schools, a boon from their god (I still use 2nd ed).

But again this is totally required reading for anyone wanting a better grasp on the dark side of the shadow world, high mage Aelis, or the lost. It has been said in some of the lost files by either Ed Stark or Rich Baker that the Cold Rider was intended to be a part of Azrai, the cold dark corrupting part of him, that he wasn't truly destroyed by the gods but dispersed. Book of Abominations calls the Apocolypse "the breath of Azrai" and the shadow stone could be the lost power of Azrai, but those together and tadaaaa. Here's Azrai... great adventure idea/campaign setting. Now of course I would imagine that the Lost may choose both sides of the conflict actually, some believing if their god is brought back they will gain even more power, perhaps the ability to go back to the light world. But some might believe that they would lose their power, since they failed him, and subsequently fight against the evildoers trying to re-unite the pieces.

[graham anderson]

Doesn't one of the myths mentioned talk about bringing azrai's last breath his spirit and his body back together. I am not sure about the stone as I would have the body somewhere on cerilia or very near it but the gods bodies did turn into/create stones at their death with some of their power in it. Maybe it is some of azrai's power and along with his body (? many in the straits of aerele) his last breath (the apocalypse) and his spirit/soul (the cold rider) powers his ressurection.

It is a favourite story of mine for when I run birthright.

I dont run 2nd ed anymore I just use home rule rich 3.5. I have my problems with all the level based systems but just dont have the time to fully convert things into a victory point system.