As part of my In the Shadow of the Spire campaign, I’ve developed a number of chaos lorebooks, some of which have featured in various Ptolus Remixes and others have appeared in the In the Shadow of the Spire campaign journal. They’re based around a network of chaos cults — an extensive node-based campaign campaign which incorporated adventures from Monte Cook’s Night of Dissolution along with almost two dozen original scenarios. These lorebooks delve deep into:

• chaos cults
• chaositech
• the demon court
• servitors of the Galchutt
• the elder brood
• the cults’ plans for the Night of Dissolution

The time has come to present the full collection, so that they can be used in your own campaigns and/or used as examples of how you can create your own lorebooks. I’m presenting them here exactly as they were written for my personal Ptolus campaign. This is important because I placed the city of Ptolus into my own campaign world and adapted its mythology. Notably, the Galchutt of Ptolus were integrated into the wider mythos of my Demon Court. If you use these chaos lorebooks in a standard Ptolus campaign, then you will find these lorebooks filled with many strange and apocryphal references… but perhaps that’s appropriate for chaos gods.

DISTRIBUTING CHAOS LOREBOOKS

For a detailed description of how and why I create lorebook handouts, check out Using Lorebooks. Lorebooks are one of my “secret weapons” as a GM, and I use them pretty extensively in my games.  They can be prep intensive — although the technique is designed to minimize that as much as possible — but have a huge payoff at the table. As a result, in most of my games they tend to be relatively rare drops

But not always. In my Eternal Lies Remix I designed three huge lorebook dumps, each presented as a list of titles that the players could read by investing significant in-game time. This evoked the experience of actually researching in a library, with the players exploring the lorebooks via topic and cross-reference based on the needs of their current investigation. For the chaos lorebooks, on the other hand, I decided to scatter them throughout the chaos cults so that the players could discover them slowly over time, piecing together their understanding of the cults and the dark gods they worshiped.

The nice thing about lorebooks like this is that multiple copies exist: If the PCs miss the book in one location, they can still find a different copy in another location. Following something akin to the Three Clue Rule, therefore, I created a spreadsheet with a list of chaos lorebooks cross-referenced to the various scenarios I had planned for this section of the campaign. Then I simply charted where each lorebook could be found. My design philosophy here was:

• The chaos lorebooks should be spread around, without any scenario (except the big finale) including more than four or five at most.
• No two locations should have an identical set of lorebooks. This meant that, while the PCs would almost certainly find duplicate lorebooks over time, in any given scenario they were likely to find new lorebooks they hadn’t encountered yet (no matter what path they charted through the node-linked cults).

The Book of Faceless Hate serves as a kind of introductory text, although it’s not strictly necessary for it to be the first to fall in to the PCs’ hands. The other thing they received in the introductory cult scenario was the Cult Diagram, as seen above: Sketched as a mural on the wall, this diagram showed the icons of various cults while, importantly, not giving their names. This diagram served as a kind of checklist, cross-referenced to holy symbols and lorebooks as the PCs work to identify and locate each of the cults.

The original Night of Dissolution adventure included The Book of Faceless Hater, but presented it as a far more encyclopedic resource — a one-stop shop of all chaos cult lore. Because I had expanded the scope of the chaos cults — from four adventures to a couple dozen — I wanted to pace these revelations instead of presenting them as a single exposition dump: What were the chaos cults really doing? How many cults were working together? What was the true nature and secret history of the “gods” they worshiped?

I’ve organized the various chaos lorebooks into four categories:

• Chaos Cults, which describe various chaos cults (including some cults who were not actually part of the campaign; creating both the sense of a wider world and a sense of doubt about the exact scope of the cults’ activities in Ptolus).
• The Demon Court, detailing the various chaos gods.
• Servitors of the Demon Court, powerful servitors of the Demon Court.
• Book of the Elder Brood, describing the lesser demonic servants of the Demon Cult. Many become tools of the cults

I expanded the ranks of all these — cults, gods, servitors, and brood — so if you’re familiar with Ptolus, don’t be surprised to see a few unfamiliar names below.

CHAOS CULTS

The Book of Faceless Hate
Book of Venom’s Truth
Truth of the Hidden God
The Masks of Death
Touch of the Ebon Hand
Eschatonic Visions (Tolling Bell)
Whispers of the Beast
Song of Chaos
Words of the Plague
The Scarlet Oath
The Worm of the Void
Oath of the Divided Eye

THE DEMON COURT

Lore of the Demon Court
The Source of All Filth (Abhoth)
Eye of Legion (Bhor Kei)
Mouth of the Void (Dhar Rhyth)
The Shapeless Codex (Jubilex)
The Writhing Obelisk (Kihomenethoth)
The Shepherd of Malignancy (Merihim)
The Beast Without Shadow (Ravvan)
The Shadow That Never Passes (Shallamoth Kindred)
The Hand of Gellasatrac

SERVITORS OF THE DEMON COURT

The Assassins of Chaos (Carach)
The Earthbound Demons (Rhodintor)
The Magi of Chaos (Shaddom)
The Grey Veiled (Vreeth)
The Bloated Lords (Zaug)

BOOK OF THE ELDER BROOD

Book of the Elder Brood – Akop
Book of the Elder Brood – Bulugon
Book of the Elder Brood – Essyat
Book of the Elder Brood – Gadacro
Book of the Elder Brood – Marbassik Spawn
Book of the Elder Brood – Nintha
Book of the Elder Brood – Nyogoth
Book of the Elder Brood – Obaan
Book of the Elder Brood – Solesik
Book of the Elder Brood – Sscreeth
Book of the Elder Brood – Tesk
Book of the Elder Brood – Tilaxic

And in the darkness of his prison, the Nameless One spun the first strands of the Web of Demons. And the web was laid between and beside the world, building upon the corruption that he had laid. And so he became the Weaver.

And in the world which he had lost, there were those who felt the touch of his web. And they were like unto gods. And chief among them were the Four Princes of the Demon Court: The Nightwalker, the Blood Goddess, the Scarlet Lord, and the Bane of Fire.

THE ORDERS OF THE DEMON COURT

And in the first rank of the Demon Court there were the Princes of Chaos.

And in the second rank of the Demon Court there were the Dukes of Chaos. And their chief was Shallamoth Kindred. And among them were Bhor Kei and Dhar Rhyth and Jubilex and Kihomenethoth and Ravvan the Beast.

And in the third rank of the Demon Court, there were the servitors of the Dukes – rhodintor and zaug, carach and shaddom, vreeth and the teeming hordes of the Elder Brood.

And in the passing of the Demon Court, there were left the Vested and the Cults – the seeds of chaos.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

No title marks the tattered, dark brown cover of this book. Its contents are written in a nearly illegible scrawl that could only have been born of hopeless madness. The first several pages of the book are covered in repetitions and variations of a single phrase: FACELESS HATE. (They wait in faceless hate. We shall burn in their faceless hate. The faceless hate has consumed me. And so forth…)

CHAOS: True chaos, or “deep chaos”, is a religion based on the fundamental aspects of hate, destruction, death, and dissolution. The philosophy of chaos is one of constant and endless change. It teaches that the current world is a creation of order and structure, but that it was flawed from the dawn of time due to the lack of foresight into what living sentience truly wants and need. The gods of creation – the gods of order – are untouchable and unknowable. They are aloof and uncaring, says the teaching of true chaos.

THE LORDS OF CHAOS: According to the book, the Lords of Chaos – or “Galchutt” – are gods of unimaginable power. But they are “mere servants of the true gods of change, the Demon Princes”. It is written that the Galchutt came to serve the Princes during the “War of Demons”, but while the Princes have “left this world behind”, the Galchutt still “whisper the words of chaos”.

VESTED OF THE GALCHUTT: Although they sleep, the Galchutt can still exert some influence upon the world. This influence can be felt by the faithful through the “touch of chaos” and the “mark of madness”, but it can also be made manifest in one of the “Vested of the Galchutt” – powerful avatars of their dark demi-gods’ strength.

CHAOS CULTS: The book goes on to describe (but only in the vaguest of terms) many historical and/or fanciful “cults of chaos” which have risen up in veneration of either the Galchutt, the Vested of the Galchutt, or both. These cults seem to share nothing in common except, perhaps, the search for the “true path for the awakening of chaos”. The book would leave one with the impression that the history of the world has been spotted with the continual and never-ending presence of these cults – always operating in the shadows, save when bloody massacres and destruction bring them into the open.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

TM and © 2022 Monte Cook Games, LLC

I’ve been running adventures in Monte Cook’s Ptolus for over twenty years, including my long-running D&D 3E campaign In the Shadow of the Spire.

The Ptolus sourcebook — originally published D&D 3E, but since released in edition for D&D 5E and Cypher — is one of the best RPG setting sourcebooks ever published. It describes a rich and marvelous city perched upon the coast and filled with the wonder: The impossible, terrifying heights of the Spire tower above it; beneath it endless, overlapping warrens, dungeons, and caverns worm their way through the earth. The book itself is nearly 700 pages long, and every single one is packed to the gills with practical, gameable material. And while I typically find such huge tomes to be overwhelming and difficult to use, Ptolus is incredibly well-organized, with bountiful cross-references and a sidebar reference system that makes it easy to navigate the book and find the information you need, whether during prep or at the table.

Over the years I’ve remixed a variety of published Ptolus adventures and created new ones. Some are entirely idiosyncratic to my group. Others I’ve shared below, with plans for more.

REMIXES

Ptolus Remix: Banewarrens
Ptolus Remix: The Mrathrach Agenda
Ptolus Remix: The Quaan
Ptolus Remix: The Vladaam Affair

ADVENTURES

The False Tomb
Complex of Zombies (3E)
Laboratory of the Beast (3E)
Lost Laboratories of the Arn (3E)

CAMPAIGN JOURNAL

In the Shadow of the Spire

RESOURCES

Chaos Lorebooks
Dreaming Arts (3E)
Kaostech (3E)

REVIEWS

Review: Ptolus – City of Adventure

COLLECTED EDITIONS

Patrons of the Alexandrian can download collected PDF editions for most of the material above, and I’ll be adding PDF collections for the older material soon!

Go to Table of Contents

LETTER OF CAUTION FROM SHIGMAA URASTA

Arquad—

These most recent requests have proven most challenging, and the resulting creations may prove both delicate and dangerous.

First, the members of the danse macbre are not to be trifled with. The gifts you ask of them have only been achieved by imbuing them with the essence of the Crimson Court. They harness, thus, the endless revelry of that eternal celebration, but also carry in the marrow of their bones the malefic curse of the Court’s taint.

As for the stitched zombies, their endurance and baleful death curse are all that we had hoped, and they require no special caution beyond avoiding any breaking of their skin.

—Shigmaa Urasta

LETTER FROM ALIASTER TO ARQUAD

Master Arquad—

I have need of additional brute labor capable of the utmost discretion. My sister suggested that you might be able to supply me with the perfect candidates.

Please dispatch four of your adamantine skeletons to our apartments on Crossing Street. Select those with slender phalanges, if you would. I may have need to employ them in tasks of a delicate nature.

—Aliaster of the House Vladaam

REQUEST FROM HOUSE SADAR

Arquad—

House Sadar requests one dozen skeletons be prepared to perform the danse macabre and delivered to their manse upon the 30^th in time for their celebrations.

The utmost care must be taken with their construction, for they must be capable of the most intimate interactions with the many and esteemed guests of House Sadar. Each must be capable of performing at least six dances in response to both music and vocal request — the waltz, bachata, tango, paso doble, cotillon, and gavotte. Lord Renn has also requested that they perform, upon command, a coordinated schuchplatter for the entertainment of the guests.

We have the greatest confidence in both your ability to fulfill these needs in the most exemplary of fashions, and also with the most respectful discretion. House Sadar wishes neither any untoward reumours to accrue towards them; nor do they desire that this most splendid display should be anything less than the most exquisite of surprises for the guests of their celebration.

—Majordomo of the Esteemed House of the Merchants Sadar

LETTER FROM GATHAR TO ARQUAD

A.—

Lilith offers to you a pair of great and wondrous gifts. Milady knows the craft of these Tomb Maidens of old, and these have been but recently discovered within a mausoleum in the deep vails of the Quiet. From the vast book of her memory, she speaks of a time when these beautiful maidens of iron were placed as guardians upon the great houses of the dead throughout the southern city-states. Sadly superstition and fear of the necromantic energies which course through their lithe forms led to the practice being outlawed.

Use them for your own protection or dispose of them to whatever profit or advantage you would wish. Lilith cares only that you know the value she places upon you and your work.

Regretfully, this will need to be the last shipment of consequence for at least a fortnight. My brothers among the Deathguild have grown suspicious of my activities. The correct application of additional coin may be required, but I am hopeful that a little time will serve to quiet worried minds. I certainly do not expect any lasting difficulty, but caution is never unwise.

Gathar

BILL FOR THE RATLING ARROWS

Owed: 240gp 5sp

You’re spoiling those ratlings! These arrows are too good for them.

Make sure they keep them in the sheaths we’ve prepared, lest more than your enemies come to regret our work.

The bill has been folded for delivery.
A return address is given on the outer fold:

F. Gld. — Vanguard Street
Guildsman District

Go to Part 18: Vladaam Drug Running