Inevitable
Inevitables are the soldiers of Axis and executors of the axiomites’ will, towering beings of absolute law. The axiomites first created inevitables to fight the forces of chaos directly, but now that war with the proteans has ground to an uneasy standstill, inevitables increasingly receive new orders: enforcing the laws of reality and society in equal measure.
Inevitables are living machines, and their bodies show it; most take on statuesque humanoid forms of metal, stone, and wood. Some deviate from this model to better execute their duties, such as by replacing hands with spiked chains or swapping out legs for an arcane armillary that enables flight. Despite their constructed appearance, inevitables are living outsiders who nevertheless enjoy many of the benefits of an artificial form that renders them tireless, without hunger, and completely immune to mortal maladies. These outsiders are fully aware of their awe-inspiring miens, and although they can speak in an array of tones or volumes, most embrace a steely, booming voice to ensure immediate obedience.
An unspoken hierarchy guides the inevitables. At the top are the few surviving primal inevitables, powerful demigods that focus their attention on emerging threats to the Eternal City. Beneath them, more powerful inevitables typically outrank lesser ones. However, a dizzying array of contingencies and scales determine which inevitable is the authority when two or more of the beings cross paths. The immediacy and severity of each inevitable’s quarry are significant factors, so in some cases even a mighty lhaksharut might defer to a mere zelekhut. No matter the situation, inevitables do not clash with one another, and their calculations to determine primacy rarely last more than a minute.
Axiomites exist outside the inevitable hierarchy and are highly regarded. As the inevitables’ creators, these beings directly program their soldiers’ skills and priorities, and the inevitables’ loyalty is absolute. This translates more as respect, not utter obedience, and the two types of outsiders operate more as partners than as masters and servants.
The only beings inevitables obey absolutely are the primal inevitables, the first of their kind. So many ages after creating the first inevitables, the axiomites no longer hold the knowledge of how to create more of these paragons. The primal inevitables’ own intercession in cosmic disasters has gradually destroyed the majority of their number, and as a result, the ranks of lesser inevitables look to the primal inevitables as living treasures to be protected at all costs.
Each inevitable emerges with a conceptual jurisdiction, such as the enforcement of contracts or the suppression of rebellions. This mandate drives the inevitable throughout its existence. Some inevitables regularly return to Axis for new orders, whereas others pursue an initial assignment and then strike out from there to restore order at their discretion across an entire country, continent, planet, or plane. As a result, errant inevitables often desire information, and confirmed intelligence about lawbreakers can win a mortal some measure of respect from these outsiders.
Created to precisely fit into a particular role, inevitables are completely without ambition to advance to a higher station. Bribery has no effect on them, though they are sometimes willing to offer lighter sentences in exchange for assistance in ending a greater crime. Ultimately, destroying violators is a temporary solution, and inevitables are alert for opportunities where instruction or a strategic mark of justice might turn a troublemaker into a convert.
Life begins for an inevitable in the Adamantine Crucible, an immense fortress-foundry on Axis where mountains of ingots, acres of stone, and lakes of molten metal are shaped into the shells of new inevitables. However, these durable forms are only part of the final outsiders. Axis’s petitioners carry hundreds of words, koans, and symbols in their skin, and once a petitioner has deciphered all of her new body’s riddles, she can bond with an inevitable’s frame to serve the Eternal City in a greater capacity. This union of soul and steel forges a powerful being. By this point, few of the petitioner’s memories of any past life survive, yet each inevitable develops its own subtle personality influenced by its animating spirit. As a result, any given enforcer might have a sardonic humor or enduring optimism that it shows only to close acquaintances.
Those inevitables that remain on Axis typically fall into two categories: the Bulwark and the Seekers. The former swiftly depart for the wasteland beyond the city’s walls, where they join their millions of comrades in fighting off the encroaching Maelstrom. The Seekers focus more on mortal affairs, often driven by observations and dispatches made by axiomites. Between assignments, these inevitables wander the Perfect City and even establish homes to better serve their communities, or else they roam the planes in pursuit of a broader mandate.
Off-duty inevitables in Axis congregate around the bastions of primal inevitables and axiomite academies. Among the most frequented is the Fivefold Calculus, the spherical redoubt of the primal inevitable Otolmens the Universal. Otolmens’ tireless analysis of the multiverse consistently identifies flaws in need of correction, which calls for a steady stream of inevitables and even mortal agents to be dispatched.
Built to be self-sufficient servitors, inevitables have very little culture of their own. Their solitary nature and rigid behavior makes it difficult for them to make friends, and even then companionship is rarely something they seek out or even desire.
Most inevitables’ relationships are strictly professional. In pursuit of justice, many rely on local mortals to provide intelligence or support. This often includes coordination with civil authorities, though in cases where such officials are part of the problem (or when alerting others would jeopardize the mission), an inevitable might bypass them altogether. This support can also include unaffiliated scouts or devotees of lawful-aligned deities.
Unless a mortal already exists within the hierarchy of Axis (such as a cleric of Abadar), an inevitable rarely compels service and might even pay for the assistance. Hykariut in particular specialize in recruiting teams to help confront dangerous threats, using the opportunity to mentor those mortals so they might defend cosmic order or provide further assistance to other lawful-aligned causes even after the inevitable finishes its work and departs.
Most other outsiders consider inevitables stodgy at best. The enforcers’ stoicism and strict adherence to the letter of the law tends to discourage alliances with angels and agathions, whereas psychopomps often find inevitables’ zeal and occasional interference upsetting. Archons and devils alike are amenable to cooperating with inevitables, though they might disagree on the ways in which inevitables exact punishment. Because inevitables are generally quite slow, those participating in especially time-sensitive missions sometimes embark on mighty aekrakarshis, armored porcine beasts capable of immense strides on land or in the air. Otherwise, axiomites, their aphorite protégés, and a handful of specialized divine servants are among the few to mesh well with inevitables.
This lack of natural allies doesn’t impede these towering beings, who go wherever they wish to enact Axis’s will. Many of them travel to the Material Plane to fulfil their duties as well. Each variety of inevitable has a different reason to travel. Arbiters are scouts first and foremost, identifying chaotic hot spots to quell and then seeking out more powerful colleagues (or sometimes sympathetic mortal spellcasters) to execute their plans. Zelekhuts and kolyaruts far more frequently operate within the strictures of mortal societies, tracking down fugitives, lawbreakers, and any who would breach a contract. However, identifying and correcting these violations rely heavily on local institutions, meaning these inevitables spend ample time studying a region and learning its traditions to better serve the area—a nuance that amateur planar scholars often overlook.
Other violations are more severe, with the potential to affect entire countries, planets, or the underlying needs of the multiverse. Yarahkuts guard against the introduction of technologies beyond a society’s understanding, which unchecked might foment warfare, unpredictability, and chaos. Single yarahkuts might confront adventuring parties that have looted technologically advanced ruins, whereas cadres of these inevitables sometimes demolish encroaching starships and any alien species with the gall to “uplift” a planet’s inhabitants. Maruts implacably track down those who defy their own mortality, whereas lhaksharuts are willing to destroy entire towns in order to close extraplanar rifts. An inevitable might recruit local adventurers as irregulars to help combat any of these threats.
Although often straightforward in resolving their goals, inevitables regularly spend time on the Material Plane considering ways to teach mortals how best to honor cosmic order. Although this occasionally involves breakthroughs or inspires a new generation of lawful-aligned priests, inevitables recognize that mortals are imperfect. As a result, these outsiders aim to improve behavior or magically compel it, trusting that their students can never measure up to the instructors’ demanding standards.
Inevitables are living machines, and their bodies show it; most take on statuesque humanoid forms of metal, stone, and wood. Some deviate from this model to better execute their duties, such as by replacing hands with spiked chains or swapping out legs for an arcane armillary that enables flight. Despite their constructed appearance, inevitables are living outsiders who nevertheless enjoy many of the benefits of an artificial form that renders them tireless, without hunger, and completely immune to mortal maladies. These outsiders are fully aware of their awe-inspiring miens, and although they can speak in an array of tones or volumes, most embrace a steely, booming voice to ensure immediate obedience.
An unspoken hierarchy guides the inevitables. At the top are the few surviving primal inevitables, powerful demigods that focus their attention on emerging threats to the Eternal City. Beneath them, more powerful inevitables typically outrank lesser ones. However, a dizzying array of contingencies and scales determine which inevitable is the authority when two or more of the beings cross paths. The immediacy and severity of each inevitable’s quarry are significant factors, so in some cases even a mighty lhaksharut might defer to a mere zelekhut. No matter the situation, inevitables do not clash with one another, and their calculations to determine primacy rarely last more than a minute.
Axiomites exist outside the inevitable hierarchy and are highly regarded. As the inevitables’ creators, these beings directly program their soldiers’ skills and priorities, and the inevitables’ loyalty is absolute. This translates more as respect, not utter obedience, and the two types of outsiders operate more as partners than as masters and servants.
The only beings inevitables obey absolutely are the primal inevitables, the first of their kind. So many ages after creating the first inevitables, the axiomites no longer hold the knowledge of how to create more of these paragons. The primal inevitables’ own intercession in cosmic disasters has gradually destroyed the majority of their number, and as a result, the ranks of lesser inevitables look to the primal inevitables as living treasures to be protected at all costs.
Each inevitable emerges with a conceptual jurisdiction, such as the enforcement of contracts or the suppression of rebellions. This mandate drives the inevitable throughout its existence. Some inevitables regularly return to Axis for new orders, whereas others pursue an initial assignment and then strike out from there to restore order at their discretion across an entire country, continent, planet, or plane. As a result, errant inevitables often desire information, and confirmed intelligence about lawbreakers can win a mortal some measure of respect from these outsiders.
Created to precisely fit into a particular role, inevitables are completely without ambition to advance to a higher station. Bribery has no effect on them, though they are sometimes willing to offer lighter sentences in exchange for assistance in ending a greater crime. Ultimately, destroying violators is a temporary solution, and inevitables are alert for opportunities where instruction or a strategic mark of justice might turn a troublemaker into a convert.
Life begins for an inevitable in the Adamantine Crucible, an immense fortress-foundry on Axis where mountains of ingots, acres of stone, and lakes of molten metal are shaped into the shells of new inevitables. However, these durable forms are only part of the final outsiders. Axis’s petitioners carry hundreds of words, koans, and symbols in their skin, and once a petitioner has deciphered all of her new body’s riddles, she can bond with an inevitable’s frame to serve the Eternal City in a greater capacity. This union of soul and steel forges a powerful being. By this point, few of the petitioner’s memories of any past life survive, yet each inevitable develops its own subtle personality influenced by its animating spirit. As a result, any given enforcer might have a sardonic humor or enduring optimism that it shows only to close acquaintances.
Those inevitables that remain on Axis typically fall into two categories: the Bulwark and the Seekers. The former swiftly depart for the wasteland beyond the city’s walls, where they join their millions of comrades in fighting off the encroaching Maelstrom. The Seekers focus more on mortal affairs, often driven by observations and dispatches made by axiomites. Between assignments, these inevitables wander the Perfect City and even establish homes to better serve their communities, or else they roam the planes in pursuit of a broader mandate.
Off-duty inevitables in Axis congregate around the bastions of primal inevitables and axiomite academies. Among the most frequented is the Fivefold Calculus, the spherical redoubt of the primal inevitable Otolmens the Universal. Otolmens’ tireless analysis of the multiverse consistently identifies flaws in need of correction, which calls for a steady stream of inevitables and even mortal agents to be dispatched.
Built to be self-sufficient servitors, inevitables have very little culture of their own. Their solitary nature and rigid behavior makes it difficult for them to make friends, and even then companionship is rarely something they seek out or even desire.
Most inevitables’ relationships are strictly professional. In pursuit of justice, many rely on local mortals to provide intelligence or support. This often includes coordination with civil authorities, though in cases where such officials are part of the problem (or when alerting others would jeopardize the mission), an inevitable might bypass them altogether. This support can also include unaffiliated scouts or devotees of lawful-aligned deities.
Unless a mortal already exists within the hierarchy of Axis (such as a cleric of Abadar), an inevitable rarely compels service and might even pay for the assistance. Hykariut in particular specialize in recruiting teams to help confront dangerous threats, using the opportunity to mentor those mortals so they might defend cosmic order or provide further assistance to other lawful-aligned causes even after the inevitable finishes its work and departs.
Most other outsiders consider inevitables stodgy at best. The enforcers’ stoicism and strict adherence to the letter of the law tends to discourage alliances with angels and agathions, whereas psychopomps often find inevitables’ zeal and occasional interference upsetting. Archons and devils alike are amenable to cooperating with inevitables, though they might disagree on the ways in which inevitables exact punishment. Because inevitables are generally quite slow, those participating in especially time-sensitive missions sometimes embark on mighty aekrakarshis, armored porcine beasts capable of immense strides on land or in the air. Otherwise, axiomites, their aphorite protégés, and a handful of specialized divine servants are among the few to mesh well with inevitables.
This lack of natural allies doesn’t impede these towering beings, who go wherever they wish to enact Axis’s will. Many of them travel to the Material Plane to fulfil their duties as well. Each variety of inevitable has a different reason to travel. Arbiters are scouts first and foremost, identifying chaotic hot spots to quell and then seeking out more powerful colleagues (or sometimes sympathetic mortal spellcasters) to execute their plans. Zelekhuts and kolyaruts far more frequently operate within the strictures of mortal societies, tracking down fugitives, lawbreakers, and any who would breach a contract. However, identifying and correcting these violations rely heavily on local institutions, meaning these inevitables spend ample time studying a region and learning its traditions to better serve the area—a nuance that amateur planar scholars often overlook.
Other violations are more severe, with the potential to affect entire countries, planets, or the underlying needs of the multiverse. Yarahkuts guard against the introduction of technologies beyond a society’s understanding, which unchecked might foment warfare, unpredictability, and chaos. Single yarahkuts might confront adventuring parties that have looted technologically advanced ruins, whereas cadres of these inevitables sometimes demolish encroaching starships and any alien species with the gall to “uplift” a planet’s inhabitants. Maruts implacably track down those who defy their own mortality, whereas lhaksharuts are willing to destroy entire towns in order to close extraplanar rifts. An inevitable might recruit local adventurers as irregulars to help combat any of these threats.
Although often straightforward in resolving their goals, inevitables regularly spend time on the Material Plane considering ways to teach mortals how best to honor cosmic order. Although this occasionally involves breakthroughs or inspires a new generation of lawful-aligned priests, inevitables recognize that mortals are imperfect. As a result, these outsiders aim to improve behavior or magically compel it, trusting that their students can never measure up to the instructors’ demanding standards.
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