The Beastlands
An Abridged History of the Celestial Wilds
The Beastlands’ location in the Upper Planes is a subject of great debate. In their former lives, animals, plants, and verminous creatures were morally neutral due to lack of reasoning and higher mental faculties. Barring magical interference, the vast majority of life on Material Plane worlds is non-sapient. So why do almost all animal spirits depart to a good-aligned plane instead of the Outlands?
The truth is that the Beastlands wasn’t always among the Upper Planes. It was originally a part of the Outlands, and Obad-hai directed the spirits to this realm. The Good and Evil deities of nature were unhappy with this plan, arguing that the animal companions linked to their Druids deserved to live on with their allies. Obad-hai could not send morally neutral creatures to the other planes, so he created a compromise. He split the Beastlands into three layers: Krigala, Brux, and Karasuthra. Krigala, the land of day, had portals to the Upper Planes, while Karasuthra, the land of night, had portals to the Lower Planes. The territory would be neutral ground, and no deity would use it as a battleground for their vendettas. All sides agreed that this was satisfactory.
The evil deities eventually grew unsatisfied with this bargain, and sought ways to bypass it. They used their druidic minions and their animal companions to create fiendish creatures to supply both sides of the Blood War in exchange for power and favors. After they had enough fiends indebted to them, the deities schemed to bring the entire Beastlands under their heel. Legions of demonic and diabolic forces poured into Karasuthra, laying waste to all in their path before turning on each other. Ehlonna, Skerrit, and Obad-hai managed to drive back the hordes and destroy the Lower Planes portals, but not before countless lives were lost. Filled with rage, these three deities banished the evil ones and their servants from the Beastlands. Obad-hai split the plane off from the Outlands and placed it within the Upper Planes, both to minimize future acts of retaliation and to reward Ehlonna and Skerrit, the deities who never abused their oath.
Even after countless ages had passed, the layer of Karasuthra is still home to dangerous areas scarred by fiendish magic and hidden traps for unwary explorers. Celestial animals and their angelic allies manage to keep the layer mostly safe, although surprise attacks still manage to overcome them. The numerous hiding places and shadowed regions means that the forces of Good have much work to do.
The Circle of Life
The Beastlands’ ideal of Good is in line with the more benevolent nature deities: have respect for your surroundings, for even minor actions have an impact on the surrounding life. Do not be wasteful or needless: overhunting, rapid industrialization, and over breeding all lead to increased rates of starvation, pollution, and near-irreversible long-term damage. Another aspect of the ideal is to not reach beyond your limits and recognize your strengths and weaknesses: some animals work better in packs, while others function best while solitary or in small groups.
But the most important aspect of the ideal is the nature of sustenance: living beings consume others in order to live. Many do not wish for death or to bring it upon others, but it is a part of life. The best option is to recognize this fact and be grateful to the spirits of animals and plants who gave their lives to nourish you. Eventually, you too will perish, and your body will provide sustenance to another.
Most petitioners are celestial animals, plants, and vermin capable of higher thinking. Almost every entity in the Beastlands is aware of this ideal to some extent, and as such worked out a mutually beneficial social contract. Petitioners which are old, sick, or weak voluntarily give themselves up for consumption, while it's expected that predators will consume prey. The consumed then merges with the consumer, becoming part of the land as excreted byproduct or forming into the offspring of the consumer. All but the newest petitioners had the opportunity to live as animal and plant, predator and prey, giving a greater understanding of life and empathy for others. Additionally, the Celestial conversion of life to sapience on the plane also diminishes the less pleasant behaviors among the animal kingdom: felines don’t toy with dying rodents; bear fathers don’t try to kill their offspring to induce the female into heat. The higher mental faculties and Good alignment of the animals results in greater respect for the dignity and welfare of others.
This results in a very collectivist society. The system works best in a closed loop: thrill-seeking hunters and industrialists looking to take away life from the Beastlands results in a united front against the invaders. The petitioners have a very good thing going on and they’re not fond of the thought of sitting in a cage in some dank apartment in Pandemonium for several dozen years. The thought of merging with an evil consumer or one departing for a foreign plane is intensely frightening, and the land itself often appears to be working against travelers by withholding food and game.
Merging with Nature
Despite this xenophobia, many travelers, Sensates seeking a new experience, and druids frequently travel to the plane to merge with nature and derive some deeper understanding of life, the Multiverse, or some other esoteric concept. Merging with the life of the Beastlands has the tendency to grant greater natural awareness to the enterprising pilgrim.
Consuming life on the Beastlands allows the souls of one or more petitioners to enter the consumer’s body. The consumer gains a +2 sacred bonus on Handle Animal and Survival checks as the consumed petitioner imparts knowledge. Additionally, the consumer has a constant speak with animals or speak with plants ability, but only in regards to the creatures he consumed. These benefits last for 8 hours, and can have no more than 3 additional souls in his body.
Being consumed is another affair entirely. If a character dies in the Beastlands and is consumed by the native animal or plant life, his soul merges with the petitioner’s body. The person is considered to be under the effects of Wild Shape, except that it lasts as long as his soul remains within the body, the soul can “speak through” the petitioner’s body, and that he can only have the form of the current petitioner.
If a person remains in this state long enough, he can gain incredible insight into the workings of the life of the Multiverse. If he remains in the Beastlands (either as a petitioner or as part of a petitioner) for a week, he can use Speak With Animals and Speak With Plants three times per day each as spell-like abilities. If he remains for a month, he can use these spell-like abilities at will. If a soul remains in the Beastlands for a year, he gains the Wild Shape ability as a 5th-level Druid (or one additional use of Wild Shape, if he’s already a Druid). A consumed creature regains his original form via a resurrection spell, and he can “hijack” control of a body with an opposed Charisma check (this is usually done when the petitioner and consumed have conflicting goals).
Particularly powerful beings riding along as souls are often called upon by Ehlonna, Obad-hai, or other powerful entities of Nature to do some task or undertake a quest that can only be accomplished with the minds of both men and beast. This is the perfect opportunity to send your PCs on adventures as talking animals for a fun change of pace, or for providing an interesting back-story for an awakened animal PC.
Adventure Hooks for the Beastlands:• The PCs are entrusted with the task of patrolling a dangerous region of Karasuthra to investigate the disappearance of several petitioners. A gluttonous Hezrou demon is consuming the petitioners in a mad attempt to gain dominion over the layer. He’s located in a hidden fortress full of fiendish survivors and Blood War constructs. If the Hezrou’s stronghold is located, an army of animals will assault the base to give the PCs time to infiltrate its defenses, kill the Hezrou, and free the captured petitioners.
• While searching for ways to vanquish a powerful foe, the PCs are led to the Beastlands. There, they meet several powerful Beasts of Legend. The animals explain the cycle of life of the Beastlands, offering to merge together and use their combined might and tactics to win. While training as part of the beasts, a powerful Blighter assaults the region with a powerful army of undead animals. The PCs must defend the beasts’ home from this new threat, both to prove their worth and effectiveness together and to avoid enslavement at the hands of a powerful evil!
• A powerful magic item the PCs are looking for is located in a marsh-covered region of the layer of Brux. The item is in possession of the Lord of All Alligators, an entity who has no intention of freely parting with his new treasure: it will make him look weak to his servants and other Animal Lords. The PCs must either perform a task for the Lord, trade it for another powerful item, or steal it and risk battling the reptilian forces of his swampy domain.