Vile & Horrid - Empire of the Petal Throne's 'The Book of Ebon Bindings' And Kevin Crawford's Worlds Without Number rpg

"Preface: The first part of this book consists of an introduction to the religion of Tsolyanu, its deities and cosmology, plus a brief discussion of its magical arts, the planes of being, and the various creatures which inhabit these latter. The second section of this work then presents a translation of The Book of Ebon Bindings, one of the most complete and detailed texts on the subject of Tsolyani demonology now found in the Five Empires. The introduction is itself a translation from the work of one of the writer's oldest friends and mentors, Tse'mel [roughly = "Cardinal"] Qure'n hiKe'dcolel, High Ritual Priest of the temple of Lord Ksarul at Be"y Su. In response to questions put by various foreign students resident in the Tsolyani capital, Tse'mel Qure'n had kindly summarized the series of lectures which he regularly gives to acolytes entering his priesthood. He has modified this summary somewhat so that it will be suitable for those unfamiliar with Tsolyani mores and beliefs. The writer wishes to extend his thanks to Tse'mel Qure'n, as well as to other friends in the Temple of Lord Ksarul for their kindness, patience, and willingness to explain the intricacies of their faith. The writer is neither a philosopher nor a theologian, and the task has not been an easy one for his Tsolyani colleagues. Particular thanks are due to Mr. Trasune' hiTankolei and Miss Kalusu hiViridame, who joined in the work of translation, corrected the author's errors, and proofread this manuscript..."

Its been many years since 'The Book of Ebon Bindings' has graced my hands, but covering so much Tekumel lately and the Star Ship Warden. I cracked the book today after a long day of being on the road. But all day my thoughts have been occupied by 'The Book of Ebon Bindings'. This is one of the hands down best of the best in universe cosmological &  demonology spell book from Tekumel. And it was written with the idea of use as an in game prop (sorta). 
Skimming through 'The Book of Ebon Bindings' it reminded me of the Worlds Without Number rpg. And the idea of using it to generate a Human Space Empire style world dungeon with scattered pockets of cities scattered across the world setting. 

A 'pay what you want 'post Human Space Empires setting book using 'The Warriors of the Red Planet' retro clone rules is out there called 'Warriors of the Lost Planet' by Brent Slocum available here. 


Dark wizards carving out their own little piece of the Human Space Empire colony worlds or the eroding technological occult landscape of Tekumel puts one in the mind of 'The Book of Ebon Bindings'. The infamous book creating dark cults while our heroes struggle to free the world setting from these dark influences. We know that Kevin Crawford did a rules  light play version of Empire of the Petal Throne back in 2015 available from Tankard's Tavern here called Swords of the Petal Throne.  So its easy to see that the PC's might wake up on such a colony world of the Human Empire. 

Because the Human Space Empire is in tatters these dark forces in the form of cults, dark wizards, demons, & worse are taking full advantage to move into inhabited  interstellar space. They are taking full advantage with little resistance in the outer fringes of the empire. Because of the custom PC generation nature of the Worlds Without Number rpg its easy to create the character you want to play. There's also the fact that using the 'Warriors of the Red Planet' rpg the DM could use the 'sorcerers of the black gate' optional PC class as an occult  faction. 

This plays up to the idea of the agents of Law & Chaos going around closing open planar gateways. This plugs right into some of the occult  premises that 'The Book of Ebon Bindings' talks about. The collapse of the hyperspacial planar gateways allow many beings from outside beyond the threshold of reality to cross over into the reality of the Human Space Empire. 'The Book of Ebon Bindings isn't for rank & file dark wizard. This book of horrid occult knowledge is for only the most accomplished vile dark wizards to handle. The demons listed within are beyond the pale of mankind. And in point of fact remind me to a certain extent to the 21 planes of Hell from Dave Hargrave's Arduin Grimoire first three books.