The Acolytes Of Ahania - Another Take On The Cult Classic Televisions Show 'Otherworld' Episode Paradise Lost For Your Old School Campaigns

There are agents of neutrality who wander across the planes carving out places of pleasure and vice from areas of lost dreams and isles of inhospitably across the multiverse. Many of these places are gathering points for seekers of hedonism and excitement. But they are far more then that, these agents pledge themselves to alien intelligence's and weird life forms from beyond the pale of mankind. Many of these become acolytes of Ahania. These leaders of strange cult like brotherhoods and organizations  surround themselves with clerics, friars, and priests  who serve a wide variety of gods and goddess who they see as emanations of their central beliefs. Many are fanatical in their belief systems and can be quite dangerous.
Ahania is the cast out alien goddess. She is an eternal of Order of  reason & pleasure connected to Urizen. According to the ancient texts -

She is the representation of pleasure and the desire for intelligence. Although Urizen casts her out as being the manifestation of sin.

     

But she has become far more to those priests and priestesses who dwell in lost places that serve her as agents. She represents and gives the gifts of power, magic, super science, longevity, pleasure and far more. But there is a price as there has been since the days of Lemuria and Atlantis. 

Cruel jealousy! selfish fear!

Self-destroying: how can delight

Renew in these chains of darkness

The Acolytes Of Ahania surround themselves with the pursues of pleasure of the mind, the flesh, and beyond. They always give their guests and revelers a good time and beyond. They're island and mystical retreats always seem to be bastions of sorcery and super science. They have the highest technologies and the very best artifacts as well as facilities. But these are bastions against the forces of magick and chaos that always seem to lurk at the very edges of these places. 

Ahania's operatives move among the various planes where apocalyptic events have happened and often establish vast bastions where pleasure and the gathering of vast mystical energies happens within isolated settlements of weird aspects. These places often are guarded by super science artificial intelligence and have been set in motion hundreds of years or centuries ago. They continue to carry out their missions of strange aspect quietly feeding their goddess vast amounts of dangerous occult energies.
Sometimes these places are found among the ruins of older cultures time lost and weird in their aspects.

But there is a far darker undercurrent to these places, often they produce weird or strange potions, herbs, strange substances, and these are used to promote the longevity of the worshipers of the various pursues of pleasure for such never ending party produces vast qualities of magick and forces of vast semi divine potential. Often these agents are known for there vast knowledge of potions and herbs. Through the use of magical potions and a wand or a staff, they transform their enemies, or those who offended them, into  mutated animals or worse. There is often a byproduct or substance that can be harvested from these guests and party goers. This often happens through super science means. These substances can give incredible occult visions and euphoric highs and can temporarily boost intelligence and wisdom scores by +3 or more but they take away constitution points on a one to one basis, eventually killing both those addicted to the product and those producing it.

  

There are far more to these acolytes then the simple production vast occult energies,these places are often located at the remote edges of planes and can be used as temporary dimensional anchors against the encroaching forces of chaos and the Abyss. This makes the Acolytes Of Ahania sought out as guardians or custodians of both blessed pleasure and scared wisdom. Many guilds and bodies of ancient wisdom and magickal knowledge actively pursue the creation of such agents of neutrality by handing children over to such organization. Those who pursue this vocation specialize in the gray schools of magick exclusively. But some seek out the darker emanations of magickal power. These specialize in the black schools of magick and revel in their positions of pleasure and power. These end up serving some of the darker Abyss powers.

           In Astonishing Swordsmen and sorcerers of Hyperborea, the Acolytes Of Ahania are a witch cult dating back to the days of ancient Atlantis on Old Earth, they use a combination of lost Lemurian  Atlantis super science  technology as well as dark magic to create their affects and still operate in the hidden and dark oasis's of Hyperborea and worlds beyond! 

Using the The Acolytes Of Ahania
In Your Old School Campaigns


The acolytes serve as dimensional anchors for various provinces and provide a number of valuable illicit substances which are useful for royalty and rulers of dimensional provinces out on the fringes of reality. In post apocalyptic games these agents often serve as adventure location points or focuses for dungeons,raids, and the like. They serve as priests and priestesses of sorcery and occult sciences. They can also provide a welcome point of rest and relaxation for adventurers in the wastes but with a dark and sinister undertone to their resorts or spas in the wastelands. They can also be used as patrons for adventurers for relics, artifacts and occult treasures. 

No copyright infringement or trade mark violation is intended with this blog entry this is strictly a fan homage to one of the iconic shows from the 80's. I'm simply a huge Otherworld fan who has used this wonderful show in his old school table top rpg old school campaigns. 

The Knights Of The Brass Book - The Inner Brotherhood Of The Zone Troopers From The Cult Classic Television Show 'Otherworld' 1985

The Knights Of The Brass Book
The Inner Brotherhood Of The Zone Troopers

There is an inner brotherhood of the Zone Troopers of Thel, 'the knights of the brass book' are at the heart of the Thel military machine moving unseen among the troopers as an official  part of the 'Church of Artificial Intelligence'. The are a cadre of 50,000 to 70,000 thousand dedicated knights, paladins,inquisitors, clerics, friars,priests moving from providence to city state carrying out the will of the Praetor and those laws of  Law and Order itself or so it would seem. 

They are secreted among the officers of the zone trooper forces and move unseen among the rank and file. The knights of the brass book draw their power and spells from a secret Eternal of Law and Order. Urizen  is the Eternal of  Law and Reason. According to ancient scriptures - ' He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe; or nets, with which he ensnares people in webs of law and conventional society.'

'Urizen is seen with four books that represent the various laws that he places upon humanity.'

The knights are fanatic devotees of Urizen and the ideals he represents as well being the primary backbone of the triangle of excellence which is the cornerstone of zone trooper philosophy. 

Proficiency,Pride, & Prowess 

 

A combination of  super science and sorcery is used to mold the minds and hearts with the chains of reason and law to bind the knights into warriors of frightening fanaticism and cunning bravery. Only then will they receive the glass dagger which is the mark of their office and become instructed in the secret teachings of Urizen. The knights often move unseen among new societies and dimensions that the Thelian military wishes to conquer, the pass unseen as strangers, travelers, spies, etc. all the while reporting to zone trooper command central and the Praetor himself. 

The knights wear the purple uniform of the zone troopers which is at its heart symbolizes their inner workings. The purple symbolizes magic, mystery, spirituality, the sub-conscious, creativity, dignity, & royalty. The red should stripes represent the color of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure as well as the blood of conquest. 

The knights of the brass book may pull from the Grey school of magical spells and certain white spells but they must commune with their modules of the Church of Artificial intelligence to telepathically receive their spells from the songs of Urizen. Secretly there are four modules each representing a different aspect of Urizen's laws.
According to the ancient scriptures - 

'Urizen is described as having multiple books: Gold, Silver, Iron, and Brass. They represent science, love, war, and sociology, which are four aspects of life. The books are filled with laws that seek to overcome the seven deadly sins. He constantly adds to the works, even when he faces his opposition in Orc, but the books are destroyed in the Last Judgment. The Book of Brass sets forth Urizen's social beliefs that seek to remove all pain and instill peace under one rule.'

             

The knights of the brass book are often used to fight demons, Lovecraftian horrors, things from beyond the grave and even worse threats to Thelian interests. They are implacable foes and often draw as well as commune with spirit of Urizen himself during these times. They are expected to be completely selfless and utterly devoted to the ideals of the knights. He is often like a father or wise councilor to his charges during these times.

It is said that these circles of teaching, brotherhood, and super science as well as sorcery hearken back all the way to ancient Lemuria and even further back in Old Earth's history. The knight's commands and laws must be obeyed by all zone troopers including commanders and providence leaders. They have been known to shoot anyone who opposes them should they stand in the way of their judgements.

Photo by Michel wal

The knights are able once per day to call upon the consciousness of Urizen for insights in matters of judgement, artifact identification, and more. This miracle is always at the judgement of the DM.

The steps to becoming a part of the order stretch all the way back to the zone trooper academies where certain cadets singled out and selected to under go a rite of combat with a dangerous combat Plasmoid android which is designed to kill the acolyte.

The glass dagger is passed on to the combatant and the ritual trail of combat begins.

The hand to hand rite is as much a contest of wills as it combat and many readings by super science devices scan the very soul of the acolyte who is being tested. Weakness is not tolerated and many trainees are never seen again disappearing when their failure becomes evident.



In the end only the worthy may wield dagger, the +2 bioruptor and don the purple uniform of the knight. They are trained with many of the zone trooper common weapons as well as primitive and archaic weapons. The knights are usually lawful good but still utterly ruthless in their zeal to the ideals of the zone troopers and the praetor. Many however are lawful evil but still Urizen takes them on as his own. His laws and reason tempering their own violence and murderous impulses.

Knights,inquisitors,paladins,agents of law,all of these and more are counted among the ranks of the knights of the brass book. Parties who encounter these dangerous operatives and fanatical agents of the zone troopers will not soon forget them.
No copyright infringement or trade mark violation is intended with this blog entry this is strictly a fan homage to one of the iconic shows from the 80's. I'm simply a huge Otherworld fan who has used this wonderful show in his old school table top rpg old school campaigns.
Part I of this series is right HERE

Zone Troopers From The Cult Classic Television Show 'Otherworld' For Your Old School Campaigns

They are the brutal,efficient, and completely ruthless arm of a extensive tyranny that might be encountered across the multiverse. They are the zone troopers and they are coming to cause your PC's some trouble.

Zone Troopers Pyramid Of Excellence
Proficiency , Pride,  & Prowess,

Zone troopers are the military arm of the expansionist world of Thel, and have within the last twenty years been encountered across a number of alternative Earths and Prime Material dimensions. This is especially true of certain post apocalyptic or alternative timelines. The central city state of Imar has been seeking to expand control of its plan since the take over of a new Praetor and a new series of 'unification wars' to expand the zones and dimensions of control for the plane of Thel. Since Thel is an other dimensional  alternative of old Earth in many respects there are many similarities to the ancient Roman Empire especially in the rank and training of the dreaded 'zone troopers'. This also includes tactics, suppression, and raids as well as battles a fact that has become evident in several recent battles across the planes.

The zone troopers use twentieth century level military equipment similar to Old Earth lines in all respects except that there has been considerable advances made in several key areas of Thel society.  Artificial intelligence has been a part of Thelian society for several centuries. And is used extensively for information technologies including in daily life, military info structure, robotics, and  energy weapon production including  the side arms that are common among zone trooper forces. This also includes advance 'plasmoid' and android robotic life forms which are indistinguishable from flesh and blood human beings. 'Plasmoids' do not make good zone troopers however but often serve Thel forces as medics and societal advisers.


The Zone Troopers themselves recruit from across the citizenry of Thel's city states often picking high school dropouts, Thel society's outsiders, citizens who are considered 'losers', criminals, and other so called under desirable elements. Men and women are both taken. The Trooper need warm bodies and no is turned away. These 'warm bodies' are sent to academies for reeducation into the zone trooper philosophies of the pyramid structure of proficiency, prowess, pride. The 'zits' are given an intensive thirteen week course of training. Each one is expected to become a 2nd level fighter by the time their done.


The zone troopers are given the opportunity to enter the officers corps, the officers are the brains and backbone of the troopers. They are also the state arm of the Church of Artificial intelligence. According to Thel's Wikipedia-  A state religion was the unifying ideology of the land. The Church of Artificial Intelligence, a rigid, computer based ideology without equal, the church wields powers of censorship, worship and could even put people to death in cases of heresy. The Church of Artificial Intelligence, however, may be just a means for the government to add one more measure of control to the everyday lives of the peoples of Thel.

It is from the zone trooper officers  that the feared and very dangerous Zone Inquisitors come. Officers who have undergone "Vibratory Behavior Modification Module ' treatments. This gives access to the magical schools of Law And Order in the Thelian tradition. A state secret and brotherhood within the zone trooper and the Church of Artificial Intelligence. There are whispers of certain inquisitors becoming agents of terrible Thelian gods of Order whose names aren't even known to the general populace.

The officers of the zone troopers are given access crystals which are part of the back bone of Thelian control, these are issued upon assignment to a unit of the zone troopers. Access crystals perform a number of high level operations in the Thelian world of the various city states. They are one of the technologies that functions across planes and dimensions as well as the various levels of techology displayed by the Thelian city states themselves. 

 Once again the Thelian Wikipedia - 

Access crystals were the method of securing high level databanks, travel, power sources and other high security areas of Thel. The crystal was basically a faceted glass appliance, several centimeters long, purplish in color, with a series of electronic chips and components inside. They are individually numbered and have the "mark of Imar" engraved on the bottom. Though not fully discussed in the series, it might have operated by being optically read or perhaps the electronics were of an RFID type. The crystal was read by a reader that simply allowed insertion of the crystal less than half way into its interface shaft. A light would illuminate the crystal as it was being accessed and most readers were shown tied to computer terminals but in some cases they were freestanding units not unlike keyholes and used to secure doors. It was mentioned in the pilot that Kroll possessed a "class 1" access crystal, which is possibly the highest access class. What the lower class crystals' abilities were was never revealed.'


The zone trooper officer class is also used as advanced scouts and spies in other Thelian city states and as secret police often spying on their own populace as well infiltrating other dimensional societies by assuming new identities and guises as needed. These abilities are directly related to the 'thought modules' and access crystal matrices which are used in overlaying new identities over existing individual mind architecture.  
Zone troopers count as men and use a wide variety of technologies but the most ubiquitous is the bioruptor. A simple,easily mass produced energy weapon built upon the early Thelian particle beam weaponry technologies.

Bioruptors are sleek black tubes with a rear-facing pistol grip at the butt end and are held with the barrel flipped from a natural pistol fashion with the trigger on top of the pistol grip. A single switch on the side of the bioruptor barrel serves as a "safety" to prevent accidental discharge. Though the devices could be quite deadly in the right hands, the weapons were capable of being adjusted from a light stun to a kill setting. The weapon's bright blue laser-like beams were said to affect the heart so they could be an electrical discharge type of weapon.

The bioruptors are a thirty shot weapon and powered by an energy cell the size of a nine volt battery. 

Anyone hit by the bioruptors stun setting must make a constitution save or be stunned for 2d4 rounds in addition to taking 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage. There is a 5% chance of a target's heart stopping from the electrical damage that the weapon causes. 

The regular blast of a bioruptor's blast does 2d8 points of damage with a range of 200 feet. The weapon is used one handed and has a leather holster. 

For Mutant Future the bioruptor has the same stats as a heavy stunner and the heavy laser pistol.

In the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea system, the Bioruptors do 4d6 points of damage, have 30 shots, and a range of 200 feet. The stun setting causes the target to make a save vs wands or be stunned for 2d4 turns in addition to taking 1d4 points of damage with a 4% chance of stopping the target's heart due to the disruption of the target's nervous and electrical systems. 

The zone troopers are brutal, efficient, and amoral in their policies. They make extensive use of lighting raids, fast attacks, and quick suppression with the maximum amount of psychological trauma to their targets. 
Often officers and important personnel use the Thelian hover car, a standard vehicle for the zone trooper elite. 

The standard zone trooper units make use of the 'Night Demon' advance scout vechile. This craft is often armed with compact advanced particle weapon systems and a compact sensor package.

The ultra light airplane systems are still in use as well and are equipped with a variety of small,compact, and concise weapon systems. These craft are cheap to produce,easy to maintain, and found throughout a wide variety of theaters that the zone troopers operate in.

The zone troopers also make extensive use of  tanks, troop transports, and many other conventional 80's level of technology but inter spiced with artificial intelligence and weird applications. They're headquarters are often guarded by A.I.'s of a competent level and capable of making independent thought and limited decisions. Recently these A.I.'s have been used in dimensional worm hole technologies. 


Zone trooper fortresses and military bases share many characteristics of ancient Roman fortifications including arrangement, hierarchy, and much more. This style of base is becoming familiar to many people as the zone trooper forces are becoming quite common across the dimensional cosmos as they expand the Thelian empire. 

The New Unification Wars
 For Your Old School Campaigns 

With a new praetor sitting on the throne of Imar, a new round of the unification wars have begun a chance for this new ruler of Thel to make his mark on the throne. Nuveen Kroll saw his chance to step into the role of praetor and seized the opportunity with a vile viciousness that has marked him throughout his career. Through a combination of tricky,murder, and outright horror Kroll's campaign ended with him on the seat and a new age of expansion has begun. After his dealings with the Sterling family,Kroll learned of other worlds and dimensions outside of Thel. After consulting with the best sorcerers and super scientists of Thel. Kroll made use of several secret technologies at the disposal of the zone trooper military. 

Praetor Krull gained his first conquest into a former post apocalyptic timeline of Earth  in a recent zone trooper military expediation. Not only was this 'program' a success but it brought several artifact technologies from this world into the purview of the zone trooper military ministry. Their appetite had been whetted. Already a new round of conquest has begun with the infusion of new military technologies and economic stimulus.This has put the Thel military machine into high gear. 

The new Unification Wars have begun!

The fact is that zone trooper forces can be encountered across the planes, in the past they have had interaction with indigenous populations on several  alternative Hyperborean demi plane worlds, they have fought and conquered other post apocalyptic worlds, and even had running battles with several wizards across the planes. This makes the zone troopers very dangerous forces to encounter. DM's should position these dangerous armed forces as major opponents and players should come to hate and despise them. They are dangerous, amoral reminders that not all evils have to be inhuman demons or monsters. They might also be encountered anywhere operating on a wide variety of worlds.

No copyright infringement or trade mark violation is intended with this blog entry this is strictly a fan homage to one of the iconic shows from the 80's. I'm simply a huge Otherworld fan who has used this wonderful show in his old school table top rpg old school campaigns.