Murat's Campaign Outlines: II. INFINITE REFLECTIONS

[Murat, Esq.]

I’m gearing up to start a new campaign in D&D 3.5. I’ve come up with several possible campaigns I’d like to run with my homebrew world, Cronus, but can’t fully decide which one to go with and flesh out. Since none of my players frequent the Dire Café, I’ve decided to write up a campaign outline for each one and run them out for your commentary and suggestions. Each campaign integrates modified versions of published materials to some extent. Here is the second one:

II. INFINITE REFLECTIONS

Cronus, like every parallel material plane, is the twin of an opposite “Doppel” world, physically almost identical but in which alignments are reversed (think the classic Trek “Mirror Universe” or the very similar world of the Sovereign from the Hercules TV show). In my cosmology, these opposite twins are naturally drawn to each other across dimensions, but just like positively and negatively particles they would neutralize each other if they ever actually touched, effectively destroying both. What keeps them separate across dimensional borders is the Plane of Mirrors, which is inhabited by the Nerra (see the Fiend Folio). The Plane of Mirrors acts as a kind of buffer or shock absorber keeping the Doppel planes from overlapping and annihilating each other, and the Nerra are guardians of that plane.
The Forgotten Gods, unspeakable remnant deities of previous creations that were driven off by the current gods to the Far Realms before the creation of Cronus, have resented the current world from its inception and have sent agents to undo it that they may return and remake creation in their own mind-blasting images. Races known to have been created include the Mind Flayers, Kaorti, Grell, Psurlons and various aberrations. Less well known is that the Doppelgangers were also creations of the Forgotten Gods, and while most have forgotten their origins and lost touch with their creators, a doppelganger cult that remembers their true origins and still serves their banished creators remain.

This cult, the Cult of Twisted Mirrors, remains aware of the doppelgangers’ original purpose. They know that scattered around Cronus there are at any given time thirteen magical mirrors that anchor the Plane of Mirrors to the Plane of Cronus, and thirteen identical mirrors exist in Doppel-Cronus. These mirrors are not natural but are created by the Nerra and hidden at various locations in the world. If any mirror is broken, a replacement may be created, but the replacement process takes thirteen years. Each of the mirrors in the Constellation of Thirteen functions as a permanent gate to the Plane of Mirrors, and has various scrying powers as well. These mask their most important function, as well: as long as even one of the Constellation mirrors exists Cronus and Doppel-Cronus are kept separate. If all thirteen are broken before any can be replaced, the two worlds will overlap and annihilate each other.

The Nerra and the Doppelganger cult fight a secret war, unknown to the world at large. Neither side wishes the existence of the Constellation of Thirteen to become public knowledge, and both sides have inherent power to disguise themselves and manipulate members of the other races in their shadow war. The Doppelgangers seek to capture the Constellation Mirrors; they won’t destroy them until all thirteen are in their power, as no more than thirteen can exist at one time and destroying just one would result merely in its being replaced. Although the Nerra are fighting to preserve the world, they themselves are morally neutral and frequently employ draconian methods in maintaining the delicate balance across dimensions. They believe that public knowledge of the Constellation of Thirteen will result in other races fighting over the mirrors and using them to invade the Plane of Mirrors and the Doppel universes from either side, and they will do anything, including mass genocide, to preserve that secret for what they feel to be the greater good.

Nevertheless, a small number of mortals of other races know about the Constellation of Thirteen and seek to preserve and/or control the mirrors. In Cronus, Constellation Mirrors are in the hands of:
-a band of predominantly human paladins known as the Knights of the Silver Order, which secretly have and guard a mirror, use it to find and destroy evildoers. They also know of the Cult of Twisted Mirrors and seek to find their hidden headquarters, the Funhouse, and rescue the captured mirrors from the Doppelgangers.
-a religious order of nondenominational lawful monastic clerics and monks called the Initiates of Enlightened Reflection, the leaders of which use the mirror to spy on the gods themselves.
-an evil drow matriarch, who seems to know every plot against her due to her scrying.
-a whimsical chaotic good gnome sorcerer.
-The lawful evil Goblin Emperor of Zarraketh.
-a chaotic neutral and unspeakably vain feytouched noblewoman who uses the power of her mirror to magnify her already remarkable beauty to incredible levels.

The campaign involves the player characters gradually becoming aware of the Nerra-Doppelganger secret war and ultimately being recruited to stave off annihilation. Great fun will be had when their own evil doppel-counterparts come out to complicate their lives and are recruited by the Doppelgangers to oppose them.

Early game (level 1-6): An old and kindly but apparently somewhat demented and delusional retired paladin (yes, deliberately intended to be a Don Quixote ripoff) hires the inexperienced PCs to search for a thief who stole his most valuable possession, a chest full of shards of mirrored glass. As the PCs are on the trail of the thieves, a wiseass half-elf rogue and his band of companions, they come across a portrait of an evil blackguard tyrant who dominated a faraway region forty years ago, before mysteriously disappearing. In fact, the old paladin is not demented and really is a paladin: he is the doppel-counterpart of the evil tyrant who exchanged places forty years before; the mirror was accidentally destroyed. He knows nothing of the Constellation of Thirteen and merely wishes to return to Doppel-Cronus, but the players will have a tough time figuring out his true alignment. The path of the thief will lead them through a number of encounters and one or two dungeons, each of which involves a magic mirror of some kind (not all magic mirrors are part of the Constellation of Thirteen, and the half-elf was hired to round up every magical mirror he could find for a generous bounty on each by a mysterious patron).

Middle game (level 7-12): After a long chase and several interrupted encounters, the PCs catch up with the thieves just in time to witness them slaughtered by their patron (revealed to be a Doppelganger posing as an eccentric nobleman). During this encounter the PCs first hear the term “Constellation of Thirteen” and legend lore, knowledge checks, research or bardic lore might reveal some hints about their nature. In this phase the PCs encounter the mysterious Silver Knights (who may even rescue them). The Knights, recognizing that the PCs are already involved in the secret war, recruit the PCs to help track down the location of more Constellation Mirrors and Doppelgangers, providing them with a small amount of secret information on a “need to know” basis. In the course of their investigations the PCs also first run afoul of the Nerra and their agents, and it may be difficult to distinguish them from the Doppelgangers.

Endgame (level 13-18?): By this point the PCs know about both the Nerra and the Doppelgangers, and become involved in open violence between the two. They become lured through Constellation Mirror and get lured into the Plane of Mirrors, and are hunted by the Nerra and their own doppel-counterparts before emerging again – in Doppel-Cronus! Allies become enemies and vice versa, and the party encounters the evil old blackguard tyrant from their own world who is now conquering this one. Unlike his counterpart, he knows almost the whole story of the Constellation of Thirteen and is trying to gain control of them in this world. Ultimately the Nerra arrive and shepherd them all (blackguard too) back to their own world, and charge them with hunting down their own doppel-counterparts and capturing them (alive! If they are killed the PCs will die to!). In the endgame the PCs find the Funhouse and fight the minions of the Twisted Mirrors and their own counterparts, destroying the cult and recovering their captured mirrors intact.

[Murat, Esq.]

I think it will hold up as well as any single narrative over a long-term campaign. Frankly, I could get the gist of the plot across in a "mythoogy" advenure once every three levels or so. My biggest reservation about this campaign is I couldn't really come up with a single really nifty BBEG to play the part of the final boss monster and still capture the flavor I was going for; I wanted to go with a final battle against the PCs' own counterparts but I fear its too trite.

[Berin Kinsman]

Okay, I really like this cosmology and the fact that you've given a purpose to the existence of doppelgangers. I truly dig the mirror-mirro aspect. My only question, again, is whether this will hold together over your intended timeline to endgame.