Does anyone know if it's been specifically stated anywhere that Acererak actually oversaw a realm? the closest reference I found is in FtA, which states that Acererak "is said to have ruled the [Vast] swamp in the distant past. . . ." (p. 61). The swamp doesn't seem like much of realm--refuge, perhaps, but not a political entity of any worthwhile clout.
In other news, I have determined that Acererak most likely built the Tomb of Horrors some time between 1 & 215 CY (tSB, p. 4). I was rather surprised at how recent this was, considering he once served Vecna, whose own empire fell c. -358 CY (LGG, p. 64). Of course, S1 does mention that Acererak lived for centuries before becoming a lich, & that his tomb took about 80 years to build (pp. 2,10). I also determined that at some point between -534 CY & prior to the completion of his tomb, Acererak likely visited Lyzandred's tomb, as Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad mentions that Acererak stole the idea for placing a sphere in annihilation in a carving's mouth from Lyzandred (pp. 2, 29).
Interesting topic, let's see if I can expound on some of it!
Robbastard wrote:
Does anyone know if it's been specifically stated anywhere that Acererak actually oversaw a realm? the closest reference I found is in FtA, which states that Acererak "is said to have ruled the [Vast] swamp in the distant past. . . ." (p. 61). The swamp doesn't seem like much of realm--refuge, perhaps, but not a political entity of any worthwhile clout.
Yeah it doesn't sound like much of a realm does it? One thing to consider is his neighbors back then...the Scarlet Brotherhood had settled the Tilvanot around this time period and the demihumans of Sunndi and the Iron Hills I assume would have heard of anyone 'ruling' the swamp. I will also assume neither group would give a darn unless Acererak was attacking them. Furthermore, who are Acererak's subjects? Marshmen, Lizardmen, Bullywugs? Are there clues in S1 to what minions he had? In this set-up I'd consider the Vast Swamp of Acererak more refuge than realm, yes.
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In other news, I have determined that Acererak most likely built the Tomb of Horrors some time between 1 & 215 CY (tSB, p. 4). I was rather surprised at how recent this was, considering he once served Vecna, whose own empire fell c. -358 CY (LGG, p. 64).
AFAIK, the Acererak serving Vecna thing only came from the Vecna graphic novel (Hand of the Revenant?). Now I -do- like that novel and the info on Acererak is entirely compatible with the scant canon we have. I'm just sayin...
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Of course, S1 does mention that Acererak lived for centuries before becoming a lich, & that his tomb took about 80 years to build (pp. 2,10).
Once again, who built the tomb and with what materials? Magic was surely involved, but 80 years? Maybe not! If he was bringing stone from the Spine Ridge or Hestmarks for example using primitive slave labor, 80 years does sound reasonable. And tyrannical from the eyes of civilized races if they sat by for that stretch of time and watched the mad wizard force poor underlings labor for some secret project in the middle of a swamp for that long!
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I also determined that at some point between -534 CY & prior to the completion of his tomb, Acererak likely visited Lyzandred's tomb, as Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad mentions that Acererak stole the idea for placing a sphere in annihilation in a carving's mouth from Lyzandred (pp. 2, 29).
I will admit, I dislike Lyzandred and his forced inclusion in the mythos of Greyhawk concerning the likes of Zagig and now apparently Acererak. As if there weren't enough liches and mad wizards, this character was redundant in my opinion. But anyhow, going by your timeline estimate this does bring up a good line of reasoning. While the laborers build the tomb, Acererak is not idle. So sure, he'd visit his peers looking for more power or tips on building tombs. If he visited Lyzandred then going to White Plume Mt. or elsewhere wouldn't be out of the question either.
Tangents: His choice of the Vast Swamp was shrewd. He knows it is highly inaccessable unlike many other areas he may have once dwelled (see Vecna) and was easily subjucated. I seem to also recall a rumor that the Vast Swamp was magically sustained. Perhaps Acererak used some powers to expand the swamp's borders and make it more inhospitable to outsiders?
Finally, why does a lich create a tomb, besides the motif of being undead? I postulate that he used scraps of Vecna's formulas (or maybe nabbed Lyzandred's?) and succeeded partially in becoming a lich. He knew at some point that he was deteriorating into a Demi-Lich and so needed a safe place to keep his remains. I think this is important because AFAIK he is the only notable demi-lich in a Greyhawk crawling with liches.
First of all, no, Acererak dwelled with "hordes of ghastly servants" but, while he seems to have claimed ownership of the Vast Swamp, there's no indication in canon that he was the ruler of a political state of any significance.
If one takes the word "hordes" literally, though, he had armies at his command, which might imply a state.
That said, I really like the history in Oerth Journal #16, which has him ruling a swamp nation full of "animal-men of his own creation" and warring with Queen Ehlissa of the Nightingale.
mortellan wrote:
AFAIK, the Acererak serving Vecna thing only came from the Vecna graphic novel (Hand of the Revenant?). Now I -do- like that novel and the info on Acererak is entirely compatible with the scant canon we have. I'm just sayin...
While Vecna: Hand of the Revenant contains the only reference to Acererak being Vecna's apprentice, I found two other references to Acererak that support the idea that he was more than one thousand years old.
Return to the Tomb of Horrors, 131. "Each of the three scrolls on the obsidian block was ensorcelled by Acererak more than 1,000 years ago."
Dragon #225, page 53. "Little is known concerning the being called Acererak, for the name was ancient when eastern Oerik was still ruled by the Flan peoples, and the frightening tales of the Tomb of Horrors had long been a part of the folklore throughout the Flanaess when the Kingdom of Aerdy was but an idea posed by an Oeridian chieftain."
S1 suggests a number of possible locations for the Tomb of Horrors. One possibility is that the tomb in the Vast Swamp is not the first or only tomb he constructed. There may have been others built over the centuries as traps for the unwary.
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Once again, who built the tomb and with what materials?
The architect, according to Dragon #249, was a wizard called Moghadam. The laborers were apparently human; he murdered them all when the tomb was completed, and they remain in the Undertomb as wights. I say "apparently" because one would think if they were bullywugs or some such it'd be worth mentioning. They seem to be standard wights.
The tomb was excavated from the rock of the hill in which was built. I'm not sure if there was any need to import masonry from elsewhere. The site might have been chosen because it contained sturdy stone for building, despite the swampy nature of the surrounding terrain.
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I will admit, I dislike Lyzandred and his forced inclusion in the mythos of Greyhawk concerning the likes of Zagig and now apparently Acererak. As if there weren't enough liches and mad wizards, this character was redundant in my opinion.
Far from being redundant, Lyzandred is an interesting, singular character in Greyhawk lore. He's a non-evil, non-decayed Baklunish lich whose bizarre affectations stem from a twisted form of altruism. We have no other non-evil liches (aside from a baelnorn in Dungeon #77), no other examples of liches so well-preserved they seem alive, and not nearly enough Baklunish characters in canon.
As originally described by Carl Sargent he was a generic undead lord responsible for the creation of a fairly generic puzzle-tomb. Nothing to write home about, but insofar as the game is called Dungeons & Dragons, I don't think the addition of another dungeon in the setting is particularly redundant or unwelcome. As the character was fleshed out by Sean K. Reynolds, however, he became something unique and important.
Lyzandred serves several important roles in Greyhawk lore. Firstly, he gives us a critical early episode in the career of the Company of Seven. We know they must have had adventures, and we can assume that they must have gone dungeon-delving early on. Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad gives us something specific that PCs in search of clues about that group or intent on retracing their steps can go to.
Secondly, Lyzandred marks the transition of Zagig Yragerne from his early, obscure career as a fighter to his more well-known career as a wizard. The Company of Seven was not, of course, an adventuring party composed entirely of mages. Except for Tasha, all of them were multi-classed characters, so we can assume they begun as a balanced party and only later drifted into arcane studies. Zagig, then, was the party fighter. What changed for him to change careers so radically and utterly? Crypt of Lyzandred gives us an answer to that question, where otherwise we'd have none. During the group's expedition to Lyzandred's crypt, Lyzandred saw some great arcane potential in the young fighter which he may have been deliberately denying. Sending the other party members away, he took it upon himself to train young Zagig in his own style of magic, which had been lost to the world at large since before the Invoked Devastation. When Zagig returned to the outside world, his class and outlook had changed forever.
Lyzandred also explains the final great mystery of Zagig's life. Why, in the midst of his greatest power and madness, did he suddenly disappear from public life, retreating to his castle and abandoning the city he had ruled for over a century to its fate? Not to undergo apotheosis: Zagig wouldn't complete his bid for godhood for another eighty years. To further his research toward that ultimate end, certainly, but why did he vanish so utterly? Surely being seen in town now and then wouldn't have hindered his research. The answer, as Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad gives it, is that Lyzandred saw that his former apprentice was headed down the same path of madness that he himself had once walked. Because Lyzandred's whole existence has been dedicated to reducing the dangers posed by the foolish use of magic, he took the time out of his busy schedule of luring adventurers to his lair to be tested to have a talk with Lord Yragerne, who actually listened.
There's one other cool link with Lyzandred: Diancastra.
Now, of course, we certainly don't need Lyzandred to explain any of these things. But assuming these things have some explanation - assuming the Company of Seven and Diancastra were adventuring somewhere, and Zagig became a wizard and went into seclusion for some reason, and Lyzandred, who I think is a cool character, fits the bill, then he at least serves a purpose. Because we don't have alternative, contradictory things to put in that slot, he's not redundant.
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Finally, why does a lich create a tomb, besides the motif of being undead? I postulate that he used scraps of Vecna's formulas (or maybe nabbed Lyzandred's?) and succeeded partially in becoming a lich. He knew at some point that he was deteriorating into a Demi-Lich and so needed a safe place to keep his remains. I think this is important because AFAIK he is the only notable demi-lich in a Greyhawk crawling with liches.
If you accept Return to the Tomb of Horrors, Acererak was never "deteriorating" into a demi-lich. That was a scam, something Acererak wrote in his false diary in order to ensure that his enemies underestimated him. Acererak ascended into the status of demi-lich, evolving into a state where his mortal remains were utterly irrelevant to him as "his soul roamed strange planes unknown to the wisest of sages" (mostly the demiplane of Moil and the Negative Energy Plane). The tomb wasn't built as a place to keep his remains safe; he couldn't care less about that. The tomb was a trap designed to lure adventurers into a place where he could devour their souls. The jeweled skull in the tomb may or may not have been originally made from his actual skull; it may have been destroyed multiple times by multiple parties of adventurers (once by Tenser in the original Lake Geneva campaign), and each time Acererak simply restocked the tomb and replaced the skull with a new one.
The sole purpose for the Tomb of Horrors is to provide Acererak with a supply of souls that the gemstone eye transfers to his phylactery in the Fortress of Conclusion on the Negative Energy Plane, to empower his ultimate apotheosis. That said, Acererak seemed to have originally used the site as a temple of Orcus, and he used it as his residence for "scores of years" before moving on to other planes.
I think creating other tombs and other skull-constructs to provide him with yet more souls would be very in character for the demilich, however.
The 4th edition adventure Revenge of the Giants (a dubious source, for the notable reason that it's set in the 4th edition world rather than Oerth), the PCs encounter a still living Acererak around 600 years in the past (which fits with Rob's timeline), living in a manor with his warforged bodyguards. This Acererak, who is evil-leaning but not yet truly evil, has contingency spells in place that transform him into a lich automatically upon his death. The answer to the question of how and why he became a lich in this adventure, then, is likely "because the player characters killed him while time-traveling." A nice set-up to make going after Acererak later on a very personal mission, perhaps. He's definitely not the ruler of a nation in this adventure.
Last edited by rasgon on Mon Jun 28, 2010 11:29 am; edited 2 times in total
Hold on...let's give Acererak some credit. After all, it is not the size of the empire that counts but how oppressive it is. To the humans it might be a stinking swamp but to someone without a sense of smell - paradise.
Besides if his ultimate goal is seclusion for his bones then he could not find a better place . Under the premise; political clout is not the goal but isolation. Of course it never hurts to smack around a couple lackeys. Acererak would have learned from Vecna what happens when the empire get a bit too big.
As long as his tomb is undisturbed, stinking swamp to lord over and a few slaves to abuse - what more does a demi-lich tyrant need?
And let us remember that being the "ruler" of an area doesn't necessarily imply any great degree of political power in any conventional sense. In our modern-day minds we tend to think of rulers in terms of governments and borders, but in fantasy literature (upon which our favorite game is built, after all) this is not always true. Somebody may "rule" an area simply because he is the biggest, baddest, force living there. Someone may claim an area as a personal fief or somesuch only on the basis that one wants it and intends to keep everybody else out. Thus, Acererak could easily have been the ruler of the Vast Swamp merely by virtue of the fact that nobody else there could beat him or had any interest in exercising any sort of control over the area. He might very well have had absolutely no interest in treating with the nascent nations surrounding him beyond whatever was necessary to keep their errant citizens from bumbling around and messing with his stuff.
AFAIK, the Acererak serving Vecna thing only came from the Vecna graphic novel (Hand of the Revenant?). Now I -do- like that novel and the info on Acererak is entirely compatible with the scant canon we have. I'm just sayin...
I believe Vecna: Hand of the Revenant was the first professionally published source to make this connection, but the idea had been around for years in GH fandom (IIRC, it would pop up now & then on GreyTalk). Furthermore, Dragon #271 (2009) finally nudged this apocryphal notion into true canon: “Acererak had connections to Vecna as well, rumored to have served and even saved his lich master before becoming a lich himself” (p. 64).
Dragon #225, page 53. "Little is known concerning the being called Acererak, for the name was ancient when eastern Oerik was still ruled by the Flan peoples, and the frightening tales of the Tomb of Horrors had long been a part of the folklore throughout the Flanaess when the Kingdom of Aerdy was but an idea posed by an Oeridian chieftain."
The text in my copy of #225 actually reads "Tome of Horrors"--certainly a typo, but it could be used as an explanation (albeit a weak one) for the discrepancy between the timeframe in this article & The Scarlet Brotherhood--the "Tome of Horrors" could be just another name for Acererak’s Libram.
Of further interest regarding the Vecna-Acererak connection is this bit of information in Dragon #241 regarding the similarity of the snake-entwined personal symbols used by Acererak and Keraptis:
"This symbol poses an interesting correlation between Keraptis and the lich Acererak, a connection that suggests the two mages may have been acquainted, for with the exception of the initials they used, their symbols are identical down to the last detail. This seems to imply that they were influenced by a mutual experience, as the symbols are too similar to be dismissed as coincidence. Perhaps they were part of a forgotten wizard society whose members all used the same serpentine configuration in their personal symbols, or maybe both wizards received magical instruction from the same teacher. The debate continues" (p. 79).
While Dragon #256 profiles a "Society of the Serpent" (pp. 45-47) which claims to have had both Acererak & Keraptis as members, the article makes it clear that this is propaganda, as neither were part of this organization. However, given Vecna's association with the Serpent and his fondness for serpentine motifs (see Die Vecna Die!, 48, 94, 95, 96, 98, 109, 111, 112, 113, 118), it's certainly possible that this bore some influence on Acererak, at least.
As for Keraptis, it is possible that he had dealings with the Whispered One before becoming protector of Tostenhca. DR#241 places Keraptis in the Bone March in his younger days, so it is possible that Keraptis was one of the Ur-Flannae "Tyrants of the Trask" which haunted northern Aerdy. As Dungeon #125 speaks of a tome known as the Nethertome of Trask which purports to contain edicts of Vecna (p. 18), it's possible that some of these edicts involved the importance of the Serpent, who was in Vecna's youth, forgotten by all the Ur-Flan save him and his mother (VHotR, 70).
I found two other references to Acererak that support the idea that he was more than one thousand years old.
Return to the Tomb of Horrors, 131. "Each of the three scrolls on the obsidian block was ensorcelled by Acererak more than 1,000 years ago."
RttToH also seems to imply that Acererak became a lich about the same time, as it implies the scrolls were part of his "early research as a lich" (same page). The diary in RttToH also speaks of a dated document the mage Desatysso discovered “many years ago” (likely c. 561 CY), that was “over 1,000 years old.” Desatysso claimed that the work was “penned by . . . Acererak” and was “the last thing he wrote as a living being,” written “immediately before he undertook the ritual which he believed would transform his living flesh to that of an undead lich.” This product also purports, in a section regarding the destruction of his phylactery, that Acererak’s consciousness “has been perpetually aware for the last millennium” (p. 149). Also note that Tomb of Horrors states that he had already lived for centuries before becoming a lich (p. 10), likely due to a combination of magic and demonic heritage.
From all this, I'm assuming Acererak became a lich shortly before the Twin cataclysms, Revenge of the Giants notwithstanding.
Ah wow! Good references, guys. I never had the ToH sequel and it slipped my mind entirely that they made this. So it did expand on his background after all, good deal. The Dragon Mag bits are cool too. Great topic.
Of further interest regarding the Vecna-Acererak connection is this bit of information in Dragon #241 regarding the similarity of the snake-entwined personal symbols used by Acererak and Keraptis:
Yup, I mentioned that in this thread. I'd made the word "Serpent" in this context a hyperlink to The Serpent in the wiki, but you, correctly, edited that out because while I agree that it's a very logical connection, it's not an official one.
Good find with the serpentine motifs in Die Vecna Die!
I forgot about the Dragon #271 reference! I thought that someone had "canonized" the connection from Hand of the Revenant, but I had it fixed in my head that it was 3rd edition's Tome of Magic, which didn't have it there. However, the society of Acererak-revering mages who once dwelled in Skull City at the time of Return to the Tomb of Horrors did, according to ToM, shift to the veneration of Vecna instead after Acererak's destruction.
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The text in my copy of #225 actually reads "Tome of Horrors"--certainly a typo, but it could be used as an explanation (albeit a weak one) for the discrepancy between the timeframe in this article & The Scarlet Brotherhood--the "Tome of Horrors" could be just another name for Acererak’s Libram.
My copy says the same. I corrected it automatically in the quote, not thinking it was important. I should have put it in brackets or something. You make a good point; if you wanted, you could assume the Tome of Horrors was a book instead of a misprinted Tomb. It could also have been an older tomb replaced by another one in the first century, perhaps on the same site.
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RttToH also seems to imply that Acererak became a lich about the same time, as it implies the scrolls were part of his "early research as a lich" (same page). The diary in RttToH also speaks of a dated document the mage Desatysso discovered “many years ago” (likely c. 561 CY), that was “over 1,000 years old.” Desatysso claimed that the work was “penned by . . . Acererak” and was “the last thing he wrote as a living being,” written “immediately before he undertook the ritual which he believed would transform his living flesh to that of an undead lich.” This product also purports, in a section regarding the destruction of his phylactery, that Acererak’s consciousness “has been perpetually aware for the last millennium” (p. 149). Also note that Tomb of Horrors states that he had already lived for centuries before becoming a lich (p. 10), likely due to a combination of magic and demonic heritage.
Ah, good reading. Sounds like you've basically fixed the time of his lichhood. I think his demonic heritage alone would probably explain is long life. Although he lived for centuries, he seems to have been mortal, and began to age before he finally transformed himself into a lich (although Hand of the Revenant makes it sound as if he can't wait to become undead as soon as possible). I don't think there's anything official about cambion lifespans. Some are noted to be centuries old, but the half-fiendish template itself doesn't mention an extension to life.
I do prefer that to the 600-year timespan. If he's a demilich, he should be pretty old, and we already have millennium-old liches like Lyzandred and Asberdies, so he shouldn't be substantially younger than them. However, he may well have been privy to necromantic secrets that they were not. His exploration of the lost necromantic civilization of Moil and the Negative Energy Plane itself doubtless taught him much. I agree with Mortellan that he's probably the only demilich in the Flanaess, although I think there were several in Greyhawk Ruins.
I don't think there's anything official about cambion lifespans. Some are noted to be centuries old, but the half-fiendish template itself doesn't mention an extension to life.
I think the closest we have is the tiefling lifespan in the 3E Planar Handbook, which is pretty much the same as for humans.
Nice find, Rip! Looks like we now have a viable explanation as to why the tomb crops up in pre-GK legends, yet the Vast Swamp tomb wasn't built until centuries later.
I wonder if this thing will have any salvagable GH info?
Once again, who built the tomb and with what materials? Magic was surely involved, but 80 years? Maybe not! If he was bringing stone from the Spine Ridge or Hestmarks for example using primitive slave labor, 80 years does sound reasonable.
So he built another one - it burned down, fell over, and sank into the swamp.
But the fourth one... _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
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