The Jewels of Parnaith

THE SEVEN JEWELS OF PARNAITH

Only a little is known about Danar’s wife, Parnaith. Before her husband was corrupted by the Book of Inverted Darkness, Parnaith began creating her own magical masterpiece: seven Ethereal Islands tied metaphysically to Mosul Pearl (now Jabel Shammar) and developed specifically as a path to enlightenment—and eventual godhood—for those who sought it. These islands are called the Jewels of Parnaith. One can reach the first jewel fairly easily, but a traveler can attain the others only one at a time, as he draws closer to true enlightenment.

The Nature of the Jewels

The jewels are physical places located on the Ethereal Plane. But they are much more than that, as well: Each one represents an important philosophical/metaphysical concept. Each is also tied closely to a specific symbol and a specific note on the musical scale. Most are literal islands, seeming to float in the empty space of the Ethereal Sea, although at least one (Av) has its own entirely shapeable essence and form. Each jewel is as large as it needs to be, taking up only ethereal space that does not necessarily correspond to normal space. Some of the jewels are as large or larger than Denwick itself. Each has magical qualities unique to its nature. They are like no other places in all the planes, and today their creation remains one of the most phenomenal and impressive accomplishments of any mortal.
Their creation would never have been possible without the help of the Wizard-Priests of Ni-Gorth. Ni-Gorth, the first mortal to ascend to godhood, had proven to be an enemy of evil, including his former master, Father Claw. Thus, when Danar built the Banewarrens and Mosul Pearl, the Wizard-Priests found themselves drawn to a place so devoted to utter benevolence.
It is said that the Wizard-Priests felt so in awe of Danar that they spent their time with Parnaith instead. At the time, however, Parnaith was every bit as powerful as her husband—it was only the influence of the Book of Inverted Darkness and the eventual creation of the Entropy Sphere that gave him the might to challenge both gods and men.
Over the millennia, the evil of Jabel Shammar has slowly corrupted the Jewels of Parnaith, but only slightly. Incidents of such corruption are detailed in some of the jewels’ descriptions here.

Accessing the Jewels

Seven golden pergolas float in orbit around Jabel Shammar, invisibly and intangibly. Each of these golden, open structures is approximately ten feet across and fifteen feet high. The orbits are wild and complex (but not random or erratic) and stretch out to almost a mile from the Spire. Because they are both invisible and intangible, finding one—let alone the correct one—is virtually impossible without a little help.
That help comes in the form of a magic item simply called the orrery. This device shows the complex orbital paths of the pergolas at any given time, thus predicting their relative positions with great accuracy. Getting to a pergola usually entails some kind of magical flight; attempting to access one as it passes through the ground or near the surface is extremely difficult. Only when it comes within twenty-five feet of an illitor does a pergola become visible and tangible—and even then, only for those within twenty five feet of the pergola.
An illitor is a complex item encompassing a golden belt, armband, and bracelet, each connected to the others by thin gold chains. Only someone wearing an illitor can gain entrance to a jewel; the process requires one to sound the proper tone on a chime while standing in a pergola. The wearer, and only the wearer, can see and play the chime located in each of the seven golden pergolas. The illitor has seven settings in which one can place a small gem. Travelers obtain these gems by attaining the proper enlightenment at each of the Seven Jewels of Parnaith.
Other than the chime, each pergola appears empty at first. Once the chime is played, a portal called a colordoor node opens and provides access to the Ethereal Plane and the corresponding jewel.

Progression Through the Jewels

Each jewel represents a fundamental concept of the nature of reality. The intention was for everyone visiting a jewel to study, discuss, contemplate, and meditate upon that concept. Only after reaching true understanding can one pass on to the next jewel. For example, in the jewel of Orr, one must understand the concept of beginnings and endings, and that every beginning is an ending, and every ending a beginning. Truly comprehending each concept normally requires months, if not years, of contemplation.
Each jewel has an enlightenment key that resembles a globe of energy (of a color appropriate to each jewel). An impenetrable force field surrounds this globe, but when someone who has achieved the proper enlightenment approaches the field, it disappears, freeing the globe for a moment. It then fires a beam of energy that strikes the forehead of the enlightened. That person is also granted a gem of the appropriate color, which he can place within his illitor before heading to a transport point keyed to the pergola for the next jewel.
There is a way to circumvent, or “cheat,” the whole process. The key to this is an object called Parnaith’s mirrored sphere. Those who utilize such a sphere (there are said to be more than one) to travel from jewel to jewel without gaining enlightenment do not receive the ultimate reward at the end, however. Ghul himself captured Parnaith’s mirrored sphere and used it to pass through Orr to get to Ond, where he was slain. The Great Seven brought the sphere back to Denwick, where it now rests in the hands of Raguel in the Dark Reliquary.
Each of the jewels has a guardian, appointed long ago by Parnaith to safeguard a portion of the path to enlightenment.

Orr, Jewel of Beginnings and Endings

The first of the jewels is Orr. Orr represents life and death as a single dichotomy—the beginning and the end. Much of the island is covered by a ruined and abandoned town, destroyed long ago when Ghul came to the jewels.
The enlightenment sphere lies within a silver tower near the town. The tower was the abode of Damarcan (male half-celestial, fighter8/sorcerer6), who ruled the jewel for millennia before succumbing to the evil of Jabel Shammar. Now corrupt himself, Damarca passed on to Ond in the hopes of attaining great power by passing through all thejewels. (This is much harder than he thought, though, and he is still stuck in Ond.) He covets Parnaith’s mirrored sphere above all else.
To reach the interior of Damarcan’s tower, one must ride a boat on a river that flows across the island, over its edge, and across its underside. On the “bottom” of the island lies an entrance to a network of underground passages that eventually come up beneath the tower. Damarcan has placed a number of guardians in these tunnels.

Ond, Jewel of the Physical

The jewel of Ond seems entirely underground. This island, which stresses the concept of the body and physical matter, is honeycombed with passages and caverns, and everything important lies within them. Most objects in Ond are made of stone or metal. Everything feels more solid here than elsewhere. Creatures always feel physically fit and well here—or, at least more so than normal. (Damage still accrues normally in combat.)
Ond has the distinction of being the place where Ghul finally met his end, slain by the heroes known as the Great Seven. This event scarred Ond in places. Where Ghul bled, slivers of his evil essence take ghostly form (treat them as wraiths) and attack all that lives. The stone in these areas looks twisted and blackened, with skull-like visages peering from within.
Donrah, the ruler of this jewel, is an intelligent, free-willed elder earth elemental. He is very practical, very straightforward, and ultimately quite cold. The enlightenment key to leaving lives in a hidden cave filled with crystals.

Imn, Jewel of Energy

Imn has a flat, relatively unremarkable landscape except for a tall iron tower at its very center. Surges of blue lightning run up and down this iron tower in regular, pulsating intervals, creating a rhythmic buzzing and flashing that one can see and hear anywhere in Imn.
The ruler, Znaam, lives in the tower. Znaam is a singular being, a bloated insectlike thing—use an ice devil’s statistics, although he has no spear and is immune to all energy types. He is self-interested and mean-spirited, but not actually cruel or treacherous. He is equally uninterested in fighting or helping anyone. To reach the enlightenment key, a character who has come to understand all aspects of energy must leap off the tower and into the pulsing lightning.

Av, Jewel of the Mind

The jewel of the mind resembles a thick, verdant forest, but that is not its natural state. Without any outside influence, Av would be nothing but a seemingly endless white void. However, the substance (if it can be called that) of Av is influenced by the subconscious minds of those upon the jewel. For many centuries, these minds have been mainly those of the sibeccai who live here. These caninelike humanoids (use gnoll stats) live here in a wooden fort, hunting and fishing for their sustenance and devoting themselves spiritually to Lothian. Their existence is a rather idyllic one. Beyond approximately a mile and a half from the fort, the landscape fades away into the white void, but the sibeccai do not venture that far.
The enlightenment key lies within the white void, and only by those utilizing their own force of will to shape Av’s existence (requiring a deliberate Will save, DC 24) can find it.
Av has a rift within it, created inadvertently by the Wars of Fire (see “Kem,” PT2, page 41). It is possible to pass physically from Av to an isolated spot in the land of Kem and to travel from Kem to Av, bypassing the traditional means of reaching the jewel. However, the secret of the rift is all but lost today. Further, those using the rift without some kind of special protection must make a Will saving throw (DC 24) or go insane due to the experience.
The sibeccai were brought here by none other than Lothian himself. Lothian’s spirit, after his death, traveled through the Seven Jewels, attaining its reward of ultimate enlightenment. When he discovered the rift, he used it to bring the sibeccai here to ensure their safety.
Unfortunately, a powerful demon lord named Savvan discovered the rift and came to Av centuries ago. These days Savvan takes the form of a sibeccai and rules them in the name of Lothian, twisting and perverting the god’s teachings and dogma for his own use. No one has traveled through the jewels all the way to this point in so long that Savvan has almost forgotten the rest of the world exists. When visitors come here, however, he is reminded and realizes it is time for him to leave.
Savvan possesses the cask of frozen dreams in a demon-sealed box (see “Dreta Phantas” in PT7, page 457, and “The Cask of Frozen Dreams” in PT4, page 278). Av’s ruler, Varen, became one with the Jewel but exists there only as a lingering mental form.

Ath, Jewel of Spirit

The jewel Ath has become a realm of ice and snow—a perpetual blizzard, in fact—due to an infestation of winter harridans (for more information on winter harridans, see the monsters section of the appendix in The Banewarrens adventure on the enclosed CD-Rom). The winter harridans killed the jewel’s ruler, Faranastra the Faithful, some time ago. The people of Ath, the acolytes and hirelings of Faranastra (and their descendants), live within a handful of snowbound monasteries guarded by fanatical monks.
Faranastra’s tomb lies within an icy cave guarded by a white dragon and an ice devil, both brought here by the harridans. This same cave contains the enlightenment key.

Unn, Jewel of Magic

The jewel of magic resembles a pleasant island covered with grassy hills and trees. Dotting the landscape of Unn are tall stone wizards’ towers. The jewel was ruled by a Wizard-Priest of Ni-Gorth named Leisarth, who disappeared more than fifty years ago. However, he had many apprentices, students, and servants. The most powerful of these call themselves the Children of Leisarth.
The so-called Children of Leisarth all occupy their own towers across the face of the island—eleven in all. Each is a powerful wizard (of 12th to 15th level), and each spends his or her days studying magical lore for the secret of passing to Esh, the final jewel. They are a scheming, conniving, and treacherous lot, not one of whom actually earned passage to this point through enlightenment.
The wizards are likely to use visitors to Unn in some way—either as a part of an experiment or as a tool by one of the Children of Leisarth to kill one of the others. The enlightenment key lies at the top of Leisarth’s old tower.

Esh, Jewel of the Divine

The jewel of divinity is different from the others. It has no ruler, per se. Upon arrival, a traveler sees Esh as a wide crater with walls of sheer rock rising fifteen hundred feet all around. Along these walls stand statues of the Elder Gods, rising another fifteen hundred feet. The objective here is to ascend out of this pit so that one can see it is merely a small hole in the head of a much, much larger statue of another god: Praemus, the Creator.
Travelers who reach this point without “cheating” by using Parnaith’s mirrored sphere spend anywhere from ten to one hundred years in conversation with the avatar of the Creator, before ascending to godhood themselves. Travelers who use the mirrored sphere can ask a handful of questions (perhaps one or two per character) before they are sent back to Denwick bereft of their illitor and sphere.

Type

Planar Sphere/Grouping