Magespawn

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To call them failures is to misunderstand their purpose. Tezirah did not seek to create servants—she sought to create fear.
—Magister Orthenian, Secrets of the Left Hand

The Magespawn are titanic, nightmarish creatures, products of the High People’s dark experiments during the early days of their reign. Blending the chaotic essence of Asag’s dragons with the divine essence of the Yevim, these amalgamations were the culmination of House Kath's efforts to create a servitor race. While the Daemon ultimately became the faithful guardians of the High People, the High People failed to instill such fealty into these creatures. Their monstrous forms and uncontrollable natures made them dangerous liabilities rather than obedient allies.

According to forbidden Yevim texts, the heretical Tezirah, founder of the Left Hand of the Goddess, was the architect of the Magespawn. Her vision was to harness the elemental fury of Asag’s brood to challenge the gods themselves. However, the inherent chaos of the dragons defied complete subjugation, and though the Magespawn possess raw intelligence, their minds are ruled by primal instincts. She quickly learned their loyalty could only be compelled through magical domination, and the experiment was shut down before it was finished.

Fearing their own creations, the High People deemed the creation of the Magespawn a shameful failure best left forgtten. To protect their civilization, they sealed the creatures in hidden crypts within the Aerie, casting spells to bind them into eternal slumber. These crypts were thought lost with the city’s destruction during The Fall.

Adventure Hook

Make no mistake: Magespawn are not ordinary cryptids. The creatures are legendary monsters with a divine origin, meant to singlehandedly flatten entire civilizations. The High People sealed them away not just because they were a threat to the Magic City, but because they are a threat to the entire world. A Magespawn is not meant to be defeated; it represents an apocalypse to be averted. (Though level 10 adventurers are welcome to try!)

If you introduce Magespawn into your campaign, it’s important to foreshadow their dangerous, eldritch nature long before they are revealed. The Magespawn are likely to be sealed away in elaborate tombs that have been shielded magically by the High People. The party will find such tombs floating amidst the wreckage of the Daemon Aerie, or perhaps somewhere beneath the Ocean of Furies, in the chaotic whirlpool that is the Conamura Chaos. Mora prophecies can reveal the secrets of their origins; strange artifacts may serve as MacGuffins required to unseal their tombs; or continental tremors may accompany their awakening.

Consider this scenario: The party stumbles upon a crypt containing a dormant Magespawn during an expedition into the ruins of Muraius. However, the crypt’s seals are weakening, and cultists of the Left Hand are already at work trying to awaken the creature. The party must decide whether to reseal the crypt, confront the cultists, or risk unleashing the Magespawn to prevent its use by the cult.

What ancient secrets about Tezirah’s experiments might the crypt reveal?
How can the party handle a creature of such overwhelming power if it awakens?
Could the crypt’s destabilization signal the existence of more Magespawn elsewhere?

Tags: Monsters

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