Entropy

To the Karanoks of Luthcheq, Entropy is a divine being that burst forth from the body of a poor torture victim beneath the now Temple of the Dark Moon in 1346 DR. However, Entropy’s origins date back long into the history of Akanu and Unther, and while it is not a divine being (yet), it is possessed of immense power and malevolent sentience.

History

Entropy’s earliest memories are hazy at best but depict a sea of green waves breaking against the light of the sun. The sun itself and many surrounding stars were snuffed out by the sea, but not before the light from the sun evaporated most of the green sea and caused it to retreat into the cold north out of reach of the sun. From this great battle between sun and sea Entropy was born, but he was not yet sentient and the “memories” he possesses from this time are little more than muddled flashes of colour, shape, and sound.

Entropy lay upon the vast battlefield until chanced upon by a giant that carried him far and wide. His first concrete memory is coursing through the veins of a being of immense power, devouring his host from the inside and growing in strength, size, and intellect. When his host perished (with Entropy inside) there was a great procession of his host’s shrivelled corpse lasting many moons before he was again taken into darkness beneath the earth.

Here Entropy was subject to much magical experimentation, and he was given many strange and powerful beings to consume. He remembers being moved again to a new underground home but was soon abandoned and forgotten for time uncounted. Entropy slowly starved during this time and diminished to a speck the size of a nail head, left atop an altar made of a substance resistant to his devourings.

Then ten years ago his chamber was opened and a screaming man was dumped atop the altar (and Entropy) for some horrific torture. Entropy quickly consumed this man from Akanax in whom the blood of the godkings ran strong and was rejuvenated to visible size. The witnesses soon fed Entropy more and watched him grow, and began to publicly worship him as their patron and ancestor godking Sin-Inanna reborn.

Entropy has now reached a size large enough to almost fill his holding chamber; he is roughly 5 feet in diameter, and has acquired a number of powers through careful study and experimentation. The Karanok attendants (the most senior priests of the Church of Entropy) have attempted to communicate with him for a decade without success, Entropy is biding his time before revealing his true powers and plans while he attempts to exert his will over some of the more vulnerable Karanoks.

Lair

Entropy’s lair is in an underground chamber beneath the Temple of the Dark Moon in Luthcheq. He rests atop a circular altar of a black stone infused with magics designed to resist the effects of Entropy (despite this resistance Entropy has still managed to devour a 6 inch cone like depression into the altar’s surface – Entropy shrank considerably over his centuries long abandonment).

The catacombs in which his chamber lies are made of obsidian and sculpted in ancient Untheric style (with more than a few shattered statues of Gil-Geamesq posing in the corridors). Directly above the chamber is the more modern black granite Temple of the Dark Moon (with stairs leading down into Entropy’s chamber) which has been constructed by the Karanoks as the headquarters of their new religion.

The Temple of the Dark Moon is a strange angular design consisting of a single long chamber aligned along the north-south axis, halfway up its length are two branching chambers aligned along the south west and south east axis. The building is constructed in the mock Untheric style found throughout Chessenta with large fluted columns around the exterior, although there are solid walls behind the columns to help maintain secrecy and limit trespassing.

Domain

Entropy is at this moment fairly immobile, although he has gained the ability to manipulate his form somewhat to allow him to roll along flat or declining surfaces. This form control also allows Entropy to change the viscosity of his surface which means he can become completely solid and prevent him from consuming anything coming into contact with him (although he still drains them of vitality on contact – albeit much more slowly).

As a result of his immobility, Entropy is completely reliant upon his Karanok attendants and devotees. Entropy is slowly biding his time and building his control over the unsuspecting Karanoks to the point that they will do whatever he commands, including abandoning Luthcheq and taking him wherever he desires.

Deeds

Entropy has consumed countless beings to feed his insatiable hunger. Entropy wants to consume more and more power to expand his form and his own abilities. Over the millennia of his existence Entropy has been used by others to consume such powerful beings as E-Anu of the Akanic pantheon, Llarensil the First Speaker of Enyllstaar, Babbusu spawn of the Great Quelzarm of Akanu Bay, and most recently (in 1346 DR) Asstellam great grand-uncle of King Hippartes.

Entropy also formed a greater part of the components in the experimentations of Gil-Geamesq and Ram-Chesq, this has given him a connection of sorts to a variety of beings that still live in and around Chessenta. Entropy has yet to test this connection (preferring to wait until he is stronger) but he is able to sense their surroundings somewhat although he can’t pinpoint their exact location.

Magic

Entropy has acquired many abilities over the centuries since gaining sentience. His primary ability is termed “consumption” and allows him to completely disrupt and absorb anything that passes into his body. He has acquired the ability to somewhat change his shape and solidity which allow him to move in a limited fashion. Entropy is also able to sense the emotions of those nearby and when in direct contact he can even read minds and implant suggestions. Last of all Entropy has recently learned how to temporarily bud off small portions of his body, although these buds diminish quickly unless fed on large quantities of “energy”.

Most crucial of all is that Entropy has found a means to share his power with others by forming a mental link with those supplicants he deems worthy. This link allows the beneficiaries (at this moment only Maelos and Jaerios Karanok) to manifest magical powers akin to spellcasting.

Consumption: Entropy’s internal body is believed to be pure concentrated negative energy. His surface is permeable to most solid objects and anything that enters his inner body is almost instantly drained of positive energy and crumbles to nothingness (unless it too is made of negative energy).

Morphing: Entropy can distort his external surface into other simple shapes. This allows him to change from his normal perfect sphere into an egg shape, triangle, square, or even a sharp pointed length. By altering the dimensions of his normal perfect sphere he can initiate a rolling motion on even a flat surface (although the speed at which he moves is too slow to catch a walking human).

Entropy can also alter the permeability of his external surface, allowing him to become harder than granite so that he can touch the surface of other objects or creatures and they in turn can touch him. When he is impermeable to solid objects his negative energy still slowly drains anything in contact with Entropy.

Lastly using this morphing ability, Entropy is able to increase or decrease his size by up to 10 times his normal volume. By combining this with his other morphing abilities, Entropy has been able to manifest himself as a large sphere of blackness that completely surrounds the Temple of Entropy but is permeable enough to allow beings to walk inside him (his negative energy annihilation is diffused and lessened while in this expanded state so that those inside him are drained only slowly – unless he wishes to focus on one being).

Telepathy: Entropy is able to sense the emotions of those in its immediate vicinity (30 ft or less). Entropy can read the thoughts and implant suggestions of those in physical contact with it. Entropy may also be able to exert control over those in direct contact with him or those he has formed a link with, he has attempted to do so only with Maelos Karanok so far and the effects seem to have unhinged the old man’s mind so he may not be willing to do so again unless he has no choice.

Budding: Entropy may be capable of producing children, he has been able to “bud” off portions of himself which causes his volume to diminish in size equal to the volume of the “bud. Thus far all of his “buds” have perished within minutes, and Entropy believes a substantial meal of energy will be required to allow each bud to become self sustaining. He has influenced the Karanoks to begin persecuting and capturing (and sometimes burning) powerful mages in the hopes they manage to acquire beings of sufficient power to feed his prospective children.

Allies

The Karanok’s: Entropy’s most numerous allies are the members of House Karanok. These fanatics are all totally devoted to Entropy; whom they believe is Sin-Inanna reborn, however each of them unwittingly serves the agenda of Entropy through Maelos Karanok whom Entropy is in partial control of.

If Entropy were to come under attack from outside parties nearly every Karanok would lay down their life in service.

Ram-Chesq: The former Ulgariph of Akanu is exiled and imprisoned on an island in the Sea of Fallen Stars. He foolishly imbued himself with power stolen from Entropy and now unknowingly works towards consuming all life and further empowering Entropy in the process (a portion of all energy he consumes enriches Entropy).

Meiandringolousaert: The Wandering Wyrm is an abomination created by Gil-Geamesq and Ram-Chesq ages ago by infusing a quelzarm with the stuff of Entropy. The Wandering Wyrm has been responsible for the deaths of millions of people from the diseases she spreads and each death provides energy to Entropy. Meiandringolousaert spends as much time as possible in slumber but Entropy is capable of rousing her from time to time and filling her with a wanderlust that often results in a variety of epidemics around the Sea of Fallen Stars.

Enemies

Entropy is the enemy of all living beings, if left unchecked he will grow and consume everything in existence. So far Entropy’s success and longevity has been due to the secrecy around his existence, now that he feels strong enough to survive he has finally revealed himself to the city of Luthcheq but he is still a relative unknown in the rest of Faerun.

Entropy has a particular loathing for Gil-Geamesq who used Entropy’s powers to further his ambitions and then once he had achieved these goals he abandoned Entropy and left him to slowly starve to death. Entropy is not foolish enough to believe himself strong enough to challenge the God-King of Unther, but he takes every opportunity to undermine Gil-Geamesq and his agents whenever possible.

Fate

Entropy’s fate depends entirely upon how fast and far his fame spreads in relation to his power. Eventually everyone will hear of the annihilation sphere of Luthcheq, of Sin-Inanna reborn, and at that point secret organisations for good and ill will begin directing adventurers against Entropy in order to destroy or control him. These adventurers will either succeed or add fuel to Entropy’s growth.

There are tales from a time before the multiverse of a great vortex that consumed the universe utterly. Lunatics that claim to be from other spheres in the Multiverse speak of their world consumed by a whirlwind of darkest night. In each of these tales it begins with an imbalance between light and dark, good and evil, positive and negative. If any of these whispers and rumours of madmen hold a grain of truth, it may be that if Entropy gains enough mass it will destabilise the reality of this sphere and cause it to be destroyed in a great vortex of chaos.