Compilation of Notes, Vol. 1

Compilation of Notes Regarding the Phenomena of Saga Skins - compiled from notes by Maelin of Knowledge Vol. 1

Recently I was approached with some odd new information. One of the Planes of Power, the Plane of Rage, has been breached by Norrathians. Those that are so-called 'natives' appear to be brought there if they die when enraged or commit murder out of anger. By doing so they dedicate themselves to the goddess Sullon Zek and become a part of the cycle in the Plane of Rage. When they die they join a tremendous wall of the animate dead, each battling toward the edge of this wall so that they might be reborn into The Devastation and again fight with others like them. Their madness-driven goal appears to be to gain access to a fortress that lies at the center of the battlefield.

Such mindless conflict seems fruitless to a scholar, and it probably is. But there is an interesting concern here that has only recently been answered. Can this mass of angry warriors be considered a culture? Do they have any traditions and beliefs that they pass down to the next generation?

Their next generation appears to be other newly killed, angry warriors, so it might be a little complicated to describe their community at all. But they do appear to have a method for passing down traditions and lore. The strange thing is that they appear to be passing it down to themselves. These beings live an eternal existence of battle, death and rebirth. As such, they tend to forget things from one rebirth to the next. It would seem that they have little that they need to remember, their fighting skills are always retained as is their anger. But some of them have been keeping stories on their bodies, the only other thing that survives with them every time they are reborn.

In each of the samples of this lore that I have seen there appears to be some slight variation on a singular theme. There is a ceremony or rite of passage that they believe is important. Important enough to dye, scar or carve their skins to keep the memory of that rite. There are other stories kept there, but all of those are tangential to this rite, which I shall describe to the best of my ability.

There is a goddess in the tower that lies in the Stronghold of Rage known to us as Sullon Zek. That goddess is calling to each and every being in the Plane of Rage. Apparently she enflames their rage and their destructive desires are focused on getting into the fortress and occupying it. From descriptions provided by adventurers it is obvious that this fortress is the only place of relative security in the Plane of Rage, but it is not security that these beings desire. They seek to be near their goddess and inside that fortress is the tower in which they believe she dwells.