Thursday, January 9, 2020

The Legacy Of Kalthalax... Slayer of Demons & Devils - Some Thoughts on Liberation of the Demon Slayer By Venger Satanis


"The stars are falling - which can only mean one thing. Your town is about to be invaded by demons! Unfortunately, the famed demon-slaying sword Kalthalax lies in the caves below, and all manner of dark and deadly fiends reside in those eldritch-haunted Nether Realms."



So I got an update for the 
Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise kickstarter today even while everyone in my house is down with the flu/bronchitis thing that's hit my house since Halloween. The latest update on Kickstarter started off a whole train of thought. 

"I have some encouraging news... just got a price quote from Friesens (that's the high-quality printer I used for Cha'alt).  And I believe the extra value of getting hardcovers, as opposed to the softcover print-on-demand, is worth the increased costs to me.  Yes, even if the KS only tops out at $10k.
I still have many boxes of Cha'alt (otherwise I wouldn't have included it as an option for this kickstarter), so it looks like I'm only going to order 500 books of Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise.  That means this limited edition will undoubtedly go faster, and will retail for $50 post-kickstarter.
So, if you were on the fence, might as well jump in now before the limited edition hardcover is gone.  And if you've already gone in for one book, consider ordering a second or third before they go up in price.  10 years from now both Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise will go for hundreds of dollars a piece."
So Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise hardcovers are exciting but I this update got me thinking about my experiances with an early  Venger module specifically Liberation of the Demon Slayer from way back in 2014 & the book is a seriously nasty  huge six-and-a-half-level science-fantasy dungeon. There's the usual shot to shot demon fueled limbed tearing high weirdness that we've come to expect from Venger's pen. But thumbing through Liberation got me thinking about the fact that someplace out on the planes is a 'standard' Venger style fantasy world. We see glimpses of it in The S'rulyan Vault compliation map book as well & hints of it in Revelry in Torth.  A fantasy setting where the Elves, Dwarves, & Dungeons & Dragons races are dealing with the Lovecraftian dangers that we see in Cha'alt on a daily basis & first hand knowledge of the sanity shattering horrors are known.

Think about living with that kinda of fight or flight survival mechanism that's gotta be inbred into these folks. So let's call this the 'Venger Verse' & think about the fact that Revelry in Torth's Fifth Age might also be the same era that Cha'alt is taking place in. While this might not seem sigificant it actually is. The Lovecraftin  dragon gods of Liberation of the Demon Slayer are the same ones weaving their way through Revelry in Torth's Fifth Age. This means that the cults on Cha'alt have been spreading like a cancer through out the planes.


There are reasons why the plane shattering weapons highlighted in Liberation of the Demon Slayer are also implied to have wrecked Cha'alt. The god's know of the twisted history of  Kalthalax"There are many stories about that blade, my son.  Almost none of them are true.  That's probably a good thing; the world is a better place for not knowing the origins of Kalthalax.  Yes, our ignorance is a blessing... the birth-flames of that sword must have been emerald green with wickedness."
Kalthalax is a blade with some deep & abiding history behind it. The blade is another of those weapons that comes into a campaign for no damn good. 

After reading through Liberations again I'm convinced that the blade is very likely to surface in my Godbound/Cha'alt campaign. But where?! This brings up an interesting & very dangerous theory that I've got pretaining to the Islands of Purple Haunted Putrescence.
the Islands of Purple Haunted Putrescence are a revolving door in time & space trapping,warping, & gathering the lost, the mad, & the very unlucky in other words adventurers across the planes. 
 The islands are planar sponges picking off the thetic dimensional  viberations of the eldritch gateways that dot the islands & its environs.  And the key to these nightmare islands? Why the demon slaying sword 
 Kalthalax of course; 
"Forged into a formidable rune-blade, the unholy vessel was able to draw and keep the infernal essence or tenebrae until needed.  The Elven swordmaker and worshiper of Voorthal'nyggura named it after the first Demon to break through their fiery prison; his name Kort'thalis!  Kort'thalis and his brothers conquered a third of Razira before Yogsoggoth and Tsathag'kha dreamed themselves back into reality.

Kort'thalis abides, its black aura a tell-tale sign of the thousands stored within.  Voorthal'nyggura's servants prepared a patchwork golem of flesh to house the collected essence.  A thousand years ago, this stitched, grafted, and misshapen giant was to be the god's champion.  Soon after it was fashioned, the creators changed their minds.  The blade's custodians began to serve the sword more than their own god, each hoping to evolve into the prophesied chosen one.  They decided to keep Kort'thalis for themselves, knowing its power over Demonkind.    Might making right, they settled age-old vendettas and used the rune-blade to reign in Hell... for a time. " 

Surely there can't be a Dungeons & Dragons TSR classic era connection to this sanity shattering madness? Well in fact there is! The 1979 module White Plume Mountain features the infamous demon blade +3 Black Razor & its many facets of madness abound. White Plume is defined by its many strange & deadly features as well as its classic history;
"White Plume Mountain is an adventure module for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, written by Lawrence Schick and published by TSR in 1979. The 16-page adventure bears the code "S2" ("S" for "special")."


With the coming of the Cha'alt dimensional warp & the dangerous forces at play on Earth. The drawing together of so much power has called Black Razor to Earth. But what its doing there is anyone's guess or who has been possessed by the intelligent blade is anyone's guess. But like calls like & like, its only going to be a matter of time before these two blades come into conflict. And then all bets are off for those poor bastards who are around them.
I ran across a few fan resources for those who are using 
Liberation of the Demon Slayer.
Here are some great maps by Dyson Logos For 
Liberation of the Demon Slayer's dungeons right here. 
Bonus Content for the Islands of Purple Haunted Putrescence which could be used for an enterprising DM. 
The optional free PC  class of the 
 Baleful Sorcerer of Tsathag'kha is still available & is a perfect addition to either the Islands or Cha'alt. 

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