Sinkholes of Evil

I called them Sinkholes because:

  1. Metaphorically, the Nether Darkness is “below” the material plane, while the Empyrean Heaven is “above” the material plane. Ergo, sinkholes of evil, pinnacles of good.
  2. The Sinkholes have tiers measuring their depth of evil.
  3. Ravenloft used the term and I thought it resonated.

Part of my sensitivity to the term possibly comes from having just been to an actual sinkhole with Tavis. Anyhow, given that caverns and dungeons feature prominently in the game, it doesn’t seem the best idea to me to use a confusing term with the given refferent. For example, one couldn’t say “As the party approaches from the west you come upon a sinkhole”, without someone immediately wondering if its an evil or geological feature.
Ravenloft used the term? Heh - that might be another good reason to change it.

That’s a good point. I’'m open to other ideas. I don’t like “vortex” as it sounds too science-fiction for my taste.
I will now share the sad truth that in my very first Auran Empire campaign, 5 years ago, the sinkholes of evil were called “tainted lands”. There were “taint elementals” and “taint demons” and so on. Unfortunately I was not aware that taint has an urban dictionary definition that is at odds with my desired sense of the macabre. Let us say that the atmosphere of bleak evil I sought to create ended every time I mentioned taint anything.

Blighted zone? I dunno.

I dunno about geographical confusion, I think it kinda suits the idiom, as Alex explained. However, if you want to monkey with some alternatives:
Shadowlands (which I have to confess is a favourite of mine)
Bitterlands.
Charons Callings
Dead Zones
Hell Manse
Miasma of Chaos (a bit 40K that one…)
Orcan Wastes (From Orcus, the Roman god rather than the D&D entity)
Desolations
Ravagings
Black Fields
I’m sure I could bore you all with more, but I shan’t.

Maybe ‘hollow’, which is both related to sinkhole and more metaphorical? Evil hollows, shadowed hollow, blight hollow, forsaken hollow.
I also see a more obscure, but kind of cool, archaic word: “Thester”, meaning “Darkness. lit. and fig.” Evil thesters, shadowed thester, blighted thester, forsaken thester…
(One of the joys of D&D for me, as a kid, was having to look words up periodically.)

I have a similar concept in my homebrew campaign. In it, such places are called “cysts”.

Thester… I quite like that! Though i guess there is a risk that the more archaic a word, the less accessible the concept. Course that may not be a concern :slight_smile:

Here’s a vote for Desolations. Sounds good to me, and doesn’t have the drawbacks of either being another geographic term, having to be a compound descriptive word (Shadowlands), or make a reference. In my book, I might call them Orcan Wastes or whatever as well, but the game term should be something like Desolation. I think it sounds cool too. I’d also be down with Blights for similar reasons.
Note: I know you could call a place a desolation, but it would have to come from fantasy fiction or something. Other Desolations in geography are american canyons or lakes, which fits the mold anyway.

I thought “Sinkholes of Evil” was pretty understandable as a metaphor.
I wonder if the opposite is also a spontaneous occurrence - martyrs dying causes a place to be hallowed, that sort of thing. Much more rare, obviously.

I like most of those too. I’ll just toss out another:
Unhallows

This might be an obvious place to go, but… I find that in RPGs or fantasy novels (and in real life) people often name things for what they see, or smell, or feel about a thing, or for their purpose - often in an unimaginitive but descriptive way. That’s at least as often as they’re named for metaphor or mystical connections. So, instead of plucking (more) new names for Sinkholes of Evil out of the ether, I’ve got a couple of questions:

  1. Aside from the mythic connection with the Underworld, is there anything about sinkholes that lends them to be called such, in a way a person could sense?
  2. What does a Shadowed Sinkhole, a Blighted Sinkhole, or a Forsaken Sinkhole look, smell, taste, sound or feel like?

I’ve been watching this conversation unfold - as a GM I’d inevitably like to turn a longer, more descriptive name into an abbreviated colloquial sounding name. ‘Sinkholes of Evil’ may be what the mages in the tower refer to them by since they have a more literate background and can bear to enunciate 5 whole syllables to communicate the thought, but the rest of the population would call them 'the ‘sinks’, or the ‘holes’ (or hollows), the blights, or the wastes, etc. I think I would prefer a descriptive term for this reason - something too specific and technical sounding doesn’t jive right with fantasy - especially when religion and myth are incorporated into the setting (which is typically true of any game with clerics). Cursed Desolations, Sinkholes of Evil - these sound fine to me.
Your post about ‘Taints’ was hilarious, Alex!

That’s kinda where I was going Ryan, only you used colloquial, which is a great word :wink:

I am with you :slight_smile:

Having done a quick count of the various viewpoints expressed here, it doesn’t look like any other name captures a plurality and that Sinkholes of Evil is at least as popular as any other option. So I’ll just leave it be!

Updated - See Below!


SINKHOLES OF EVIL
Places that are corrupted by the energies of the Nether Darkness are known as sinkholes of evil. Profane powers and undead creatures are stronger there, while the divine and the living are weakened. Sinkholes of evil can develop anywhere that death and decay predominate. Sinkholes of evil can be shadowed, blighted, or forsaken. The table below summarizes the effects of the various types of sinkholes of evil.
Shadowed Sinkholes
Shadowed sinkholes develop from two sources of corruption: Chaotic altars (such as those in evil shrines, temples, or churches) and places of death (such as cemeteries, catacombs, and battlegrounds).
Chaotic altars create shadowed sinkholes as soon as they are erected. The size of the shadowed sinkhole around the altar will be 100 square feet per 100gp spent on the altar. For instance, a 10,000gp altar would create a 100’ x 100’ shadowed sinkhole around the altar.
Places of death create shadowed sinkholes naturally over time. The annual percentage chance of such an area becoming shadowed is equal to number of dead interred in the area divided by the area’s size in square feet, rounded up. For instance, a small 50’ x 50’ cemetery with 25 graves has a 1% chance of becoming shadowed each year. An enormous cemetery such as the real-world Wadi Al Salam (5 million dead across 64 million square feet) has an 8% chance of becoming shadowed each year. Once the shadowed sinkhole develops, the size of the shadowed sinkhole will be 100 square feet per 20 dead interred in the place. However, a sinkhole of evil will not develop if the dead are cremated by a Lawful divine spellcaster, or if one or more shrine(s) to Lawful powers are erected on the site. The Lawful shrine(s) must have a gp value of at least 5gp per dead in order to prevent the area from becoming shadowed.
Corpses in shadowed sinkholes have a 10% chance to return as undead in 1d12 months unless their bodies are burned. Chaotic spellcasters who cast reversed (evil) divine spells or necromantic spells (such as animate dead or death spell) in a shadowed sinkhole calculate the spell effects as if they caster were two class levels higher than their actual level of experience. Characters performing necromancy (described in Chapter 7) in a shadowed sinkhole gain a +1 bonus to their magic research throws. A shadowed sinkhole can also be used for blood sacrifice (described in Chapter 7).
Blighted Sinkholes
When a chaotic altar stands on a shadowed place of death, a blighted sinkhole develops. The blighted sinkhole will extend only within those regions that are shadowed by both the altar and the place of death. An area affected by one, but not both, sources of corruption is merely shadowed.
Corpses in blighted sinkholes have a 20% chance to return as undead in 1d4 days unless their bodies are burned. Chaotic spellcasters who cast reversed (evil) divine spells or necromantic spells in a blighted sinkhole calculate the spell effects as if they caster were two class levels higher than their actual level of experience. Divine spellcasters of lawful alignment turn undead as if four class levels lower. Characters performing necromancy in a blighted sinkhole gain a +2 bonus to their magic research throws. A blighted sinkhole can be used for blood sacrifice.
Forsaken Sinkholes
A blighted area might, through some awful juxtaposition of the planes or terrible ritual magic, become forsaken. Forsaken sinkholes are pits of darkness where the vile creatures and foulest magic can be found. Such places are very rare (Judge’s discretion).
Corpses in forsaken areas have an 80% chance to return as undead in 1d4 rounds unless their bodies are burned. Chaotic spellcasters who cast reversed (evil) divine spells or necromantic spells in a forsaken sinkhole calculate the spell effects as if they caster were two class levels higher than their actual level of experience. Lawful divine spellcasters cast spells as if they were two class levels lower for purposes of spell effects, and may not turn undead. Any undead in forsaken areas gain a +2 bonus to attack throws, saving throws, damage rolls, and AC. Characters performing necromancy (described in Chapter 7) in a blighted sinkhole gain a +3 bonus to their magic research throws. Any undead created in forsaken areas gain a permanent +2 hit point per hit die, and animate dead spells cast in forsaken sinkholes create twice the normal number of hit dice of undead. A forsaken sinkhole can be used for blood sacrifice.
Cleansing Sinkholes
A bless spell will temporarily decrease the effect of a sinkhole within a 100’ diameter area for the duration of the spell. While subject to bless, the affected area is cleansed if shadowed; shadowed if blighted; and blighted if forsaken. A vial of holy water can be sprinkled on a 10’ diameter area with the same effect as a bless spell.
To permanently cleanse a sinkhole of evil, the source of corruption must be removed. If the sinkhole is being generated by a chaotic altar, the altar must be destroyed. A chaotic altar can be destroyed magically, with dispel evil; or destroyed physically by smashing it and then either pouring holy water or casting bless on the broken remains. This will remove the sinkhole created by the altar.
If the sinkhole is generated by a place of death, the sinkhole can be instantly cleansed with dispel evil. However, the area can become shadowed again over time. To permanently cleanse a sinkhole created by a place of death, a Lawful divine spellcaster must cremate the dead interred therein, or erect a shrine to the Lawful powers of appropriate value.
Cleansing a blighted sinkhole, with a chaotic altar standing on a place of death, requires that both sources of corruption be dealt with separately.
A forsaken sinkhole can only be cleansed by ritual magic. As such areas develop very rarely, the magic to cleanse them is almost always forgotten in between each such occurrence, and must be researched anew by the forces of Law.

I think that the above rules accommodate all of the suggested improvements, including (a) usefulness of holy water, (b) effects of bless spells, (c) ability to create shadowed areas manually, (d) ability to have radius created by places of death extend outside the limits of the cemetary, etc., and (e) “pyramidal” structure of sinkholes.

Alex - I think the new version is much better for the reasons you say. I have a couple of questions about Chaotic Altars (and Lawful Altars I guess).
You say ‘Chaotic altars create shadowed sinkholes as soon as they are erected’. Am I wrong in thinking that, in Christian belief, an altar must be consecrated before it is regarded as ‘holy’? Is there any mileage in there needing to be some sort of consecration rite for either a Lawful or Chaotic shrine before it forms the shadowed sinkhole or pinnacle of good (or whatever they’d be called). For Chaotic this could be blood sacrifice, or sacrifice of something appropriate to the chaotic deity in question.
Also, Chaotic altars have to be valuable to create the area of effect. In most fantasy tropes, altars to the dark powers tend to be adorned with ‘things that are blatantly evil’ rather than gems and valuables. Aside from an obvious more value = more power mechanic, what’s the inspiration behind this, and do you have any good examples of a ‘valuable’ chaotic shrine? I’d be tempted to say that the value of an altar could be driven by the value of sacrifices made upon it - partly to discourage PCs from carting off chaotic altars worth thousands of gp for loot. Although that could be entertaining.

I like sinkholes, having used a couple in my Orkney Isles ‘Barrowlands’ camapaign as they really suit the creepy atmosphere. It’s getting a bit gonzo though - The Sons of Northern Darkness (the adventuring party) are currently travelling with a combined English/Scottish/Norwegian army (an ill-starred horde formed after much diplomacy and oneupmanship at King tier) about to make a stand against an Undead Giant (shadow of Colossus-type scale) who has an area effect inspired by shadowed sinkholes.