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Glim
 
PostPosted: Mon, May 06 2013, 1:15 AM 

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Anyone have any good sources on Slaadi? Not just different types but info on society, ecology, etc.


 
      
Liz
 
PostPosted: Mon, May 06 2013, 2:17 AM 

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Do you have the Manual of the Planes? There's a little bit in the Limbo chapter.

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Halecta
 
PostPosted: Mon, May 06 2013, 22:12 PM 

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It takes alot of digging around about Slaadi and its culture, as there is no comprehensive single source, just mostly footnotes


 
      
TormakSaber
 
PostPosted: Tue, May 07 2013, 1:31 AM 

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MotP, monster manuals, for the most part.

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Glim
 
PostPosted: Tue, May 07 2013, 3:42 AM 

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I found a few more sources in Dungeon/Dragon magazines as well. Thanks for the help folks :)


 
      
exquisitelyme
 
PostPosted: Tue, May 07 2013, 16:59 PM 

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You read the Erevis Cale trilogy Glim? Not much on ecology, but some scary examples of Slaadi and their modus operandi, etc, there.

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Aiseth
 
PostPosted: Tue, Aug 13 2013, 2:39 AM 

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I'm pushing to get more quick info on Slaadi. Does anyone have any select web sources or feel like writing something of interest?

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666WaysToHell
 
PostPosted: Tue, Aug 13 2013, 9:15 AM 

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My character Loynis once got eaten by a Slaadi who was wearing a top hat and monocle. Then regurgitated in a mess of rainbow coloured bile.

True story, too.

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Silent2001
 
PostPosted: Tue, Nov 12 2013, 15:05 PM 

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http://www.mimir.net/psmush/slaadi.shtml

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Dark Immolation
 
PostPosted: Thu, Nov 14 2013, 10:22 AM 

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I actually strongly dislike the Planescape rendition of Slaadi, on several levels.

1. The strict society thing seems plain silly for a race that is supposed to embody axiomatic Chaos. Yes, the colors generally determine the power of the slaad, and all a slaad can respect is power, but its not an actual institutionalized thing beyond that. That is why all of the colors constantly fight for control of the spawning stone, wrestling it away from others, rather than waiting their turn.

2. The not understanding how to gang up on things is quite silly too. Maybe they lack the focus to form anything other than a temporary war-band, but they arent socially handicapped. If anything, Reds are the lemmings and fodder of Limbo, like Monodrones for Modrons, and IMO more likely to go swarming in groups, lacking the initiative to act on their own.

I would really rather see us homebrew a little bit of lore for Slaad, instead following Planescape or really anything else. Slaad are, in terms of alignment, the flimsiest of all the planar exemplars. Instead of coming across as true chaos, they more or less are portrayed as demons with the minds of a toddler.

Edit:

This I always thought would more sense for slaad/tenative IC research and theory:

-Colors are not definite. Meaning that as a slaad increases in power, it gradually begins to take on the color of the species above it. This is somewhat complicated if you go by the old lore of each species reproducing through its own particular method. But for simplicity sake, we can say reds get purplish until they get blue, blues get blue-greenish until maybe they start to be really green, etc. And the constant in-fighting for slaadi comes from them arguing who is the greenest, blackest, etc, something that is essentially qualitative. This strife is made worse by the fact that Slaadi perceive more colors than humanoids, or even most mortal beings. Colors are such an important part of Slaad ecology, they have eyes that allow them to see hues and shades most cant, like the mantis shrimp. Two slaadi that appear to have the same color to a mortal may seem extremely different when viewed by other slaadi.

-While Ygorls tampering with the spawning stone left Slaadi to appear frog-like, this is merely their general, nebulous appearance. When angry, sad, happy, etc, their bodies partially deform, almost cartoonishly. Their emotions and state of mind physically affect their bodies. I.E. An angry slaads muscles really do bulge and xe may grow in size, a sad slaad may literally gain big ol puppy-dog eyes, a scared slaad may actually shrink and lose xis color when surprised, etc. A slaad forced into a dormant state for too long begins to fade away from reality itself, as slaadi are partially a figment of their own rampant imaginations. While it seems slaadi have the capacity for sleep, having a very physical biology in comparison to other planar beings, they do not, out of having super-active minds and the fear that they will cease to exist. Most slaadi are both insomniacs and solipsistic.

-Contrary to many opinions, slaad are quite capable of staying focused. They are actually very ambitious. Their random actions stem from the logic of a constantly changing ethos. That is to say a slaad doesnt perform random actions out of sheer lack of direction, rather what they want constantly evolves. For older, more powerful slaad this process is slower, due to a larger perspective of time and existence, and thus they are able to make more coherent, long-term goals. Ygorl himself exemplifies this as the lord of Entropy, destructive, but patient enough to know that eventually, all things come to an end anyway.

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Silent2001
 
PostPosted: Thu, Nov 14 2013, 16:27 PM 

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While I agree with you on some aspects others - not so much. Slaadi are physical beings and they are very much real, there's no reason they should fade out of existence. Whilst I think Slaadi should, by and large, be independent the stronger of the slaads do shove the weak ones around (which is why they're capable of summoning lesser slaadi as an ability.) I've always played slaadi as completely unhinged, but with an over-arching goal which, due to their vast intellect (most of them anyway) and wisdom they can comprehend the logic in chaos and use it to get what they want.

They also have the ability to morph the surroundings of Limbo, much like the Githzerai but not as impressively because the githzerai do it en masse, together, for the most part. Slaadi don't.

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Dark Immolation
 
PostPosted: Thu, Nov 14 2013, 17:46 PM 

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But thats one of the issues, it just seems lame to me that slaadi are by and large, corporeal beings. Look at celestials, archons, demons. They all have some aspect that makes them either elemental or somewhat physically abstract. Partially made of flames, eyes of light, halos, constantly forming maggots out of the aether. Even modrons are born out of a pool of energy and go through large changes when they change rank. Slaadi by their base lore feel like someone wanted to put Bullywugs In Spaaaaace into their campaign.

I think them fading from reality from being dormant would actually make a lot of sense, and here's why: for outsiders, their souls and physical body are one and the same. As an archon becomes more holy, he moves up the ranks of celestials, starting off as a petitioning lantern and going all the way up. Likewise, if they commit evil acts, they can fall and become devils or even demons. I forget the name, but there is one solar that betrayed Corellon and became a lord of a lower plane, with the word TRAITOR branded onto his head that constantly drips blood. As well, as devils become more devily and demons more demony, they grow in shape and power. By embodying their alignments, outsiders grow in power, and by going against it they can diminish. So why would a slaad, something that is supposedly born out of primordial chaos, not slowly fade away or turn inert when forced to be stagnant? They are not changing, they are not moving or thinking, they are literally doing the one thing that can possibly go against their ethos of chaos: staying still for an extended period.

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Glim
 
PostPosted: Thu, Nov 14 2013, 17:48 PM 

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If I recall correctly, there's one Slaadi lord that essentially does just that; sit and wait.

At any rate, there is currently an IC opportunity to learn/expand upon Slaadi lore, so the OOC discussion here is mostly moot.


 
      
Magiros
 
PostPosted: Thu, Nov 14 2013, 18:28 PM 

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Totally interested in learning of the Slaadi IC if possible. Just because of the plane they live in and the chaotic (Wild) nature of it ;)

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Dark Immolation
 
PostPosted: Thu, Nov 14 2013, 18:31 PM 

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Glim wrote:
If I recall correctly, there's one Slaadi lord that essentially does just that; sit and wait.


Yeah, Ygorl, lord of Entropy and decay, but even it gets off its ass every now and then to cause chaos, I.E. casting Wartle into Celestia. According to what I recall from Greyhawk sources, it is believed to have been born at the end of all time and perceives time backwards compared to other things. It is patient because he already knows the end of the story. As possibly the oldest and most powerful slaad, I imagine Ygorl could be an exception to the rule. Simply because of his domain and because chaos breaking its own rules is, well, the epitome of chaos. No rules, not even the rule that there are no rules. Ygorl is the original hipster is what I'm saying.

Chousrt, Ssendam, Rennbuu and Wartle on the other hand all seem pretty down with the image that slaad dont like sitting still for too long, on a cosmic level.

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Aiseth
 
PostPosted: Fri, Nov 15 2013, 2:29 AM 

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I actually like the Slaadi have an ironically enforceful hierarchy as beings of manifested chaos, it is just good nonsense, which is entirely part of their satire. I think they're a satiric creature. You could subscribe so many metaphors and things to what the slaadi are meant to represent, the chaos of overly organizing things, or how madness is tiered in such a way to have the largest most crazy fucking old toad on top of the totem of other less crazy and sizable toads. They're just good fun, entirely pointless, and this makes them entirely dangerous to the protagonist adventurer.

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Dark Immolation
 
PostPosted: Fri, Nov 15 2013, 3:08 AM 

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The only problem is FR tends to take itself quite seriously, especially when it comes to Planar matters. Id much rather Slaad be as serious a thing as Celestials or Demons, because frankly, I think the whole good vs evil outsider thing is overdone at this point. Thats why I love WH40K for the lore alone; law vs chaos is the main dynamic there. No one is saying the froggy people have to be grimdark
(I would love them to be), but obvious joke characters/species don't belong on an RP server, IMO.

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Glim
 
PostPosted: Fri, Nov 15 2013, 6:01 AM 

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Yup, law vs. chaos and even law vs. law or chaos vs. chaos is just as important. Something I try to stress more than good vs. evil in most cases.


 
      
Halecta
 
PostPosted: Fri, Nov 15 2013, 20:06 PM 

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Just as the good planes battle the evil planes, Limbo (Chaos) is in constant opposition of Mechanus (Order).


 
      
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