The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun was written by E. Gary Gygax in 1982. The party finds a base camp of humanoid bandits. The bandits are straightforward enough. But the camp...
This has been one of my favourite modules ever since I bought it, August 1998 in a San Diego comic book convention. Straightaway the beautiful, haunting evil of the place took hold of my imagination. What lifts this module over peers such as the S-series, is that the adventurers' traditional motives - curiosity and greed - are turned against them. If the PC's succeed in gaining the Temple's best-hidden treasure, they will have cracked open a door to a transcosmic terror even the demons loathe and fear. When they win, they actually lose.
I do not approve of the term "post-modernism" - it covers too much ground for one thing - but to the extent that it defines works of a given art form which subvert the conventions of that form, we can safely label WG4 a post-modern module. We have since seen much more of post-modernism in D&D, particularly in Planescape's semi-satirical take on world religions and their "descent into hell" stories (Fires of Dis, Hellbound).
I wanted to draw a mental picture of the Temple, but I couldn't; the descriptions were evocative, but too elusive (like the adventure itself). So I took notes and drew diagrams. In 1999 I found another reference to Tharizdun in a lost temple in Night Below. In order to help DM's see what a real Temple should look like (and to practice my Java skills) I drew up this site.
This information is for DM eyes only. If you intend to play this campaign, please exit this site by the "back" button of your browser.
Module S4, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, is also the WG3 to Tharizdun's WG4. S4 was a tournament module intended to show off new spells and creatures for the game. In 1982, the Monster Manual II came out with the entire menagerie from S4's supplemental booklet. (The lion's share of the spells, meanwhile, would later end up in Unearthed Arcana.) Gygax therefore chose to make WG4 a showcase for the MM2's less-popular predecessor, the Fiend Folio, perhaps best described as a Monster Manual II without quality control. In the Temple and environs the intrepid party will find aarakocra, mountain giants, grells, a giant troll, meazels, a shadow demon, caryatid columns, a coffer corpse, norkers, and a stunjelly. They will not, thankfully, find a flumph.
Therefore, I suggest that Fiend Folio rules be in effect in WG4. Those who fail to resist Tharizdun's curse will be sent a Hound of Ill Omen, possibly even an Aleax. Also, an 8th level spell has a 20% chance of summoning a Terithran here; 30% if 9th level. For Illusion spells, it's 10% for 6th level, 20% for 7th, 30% for 8th, and 40% for 9th.
Tharizdun is a god of cold, darkness, and the black sun (p. 26). WG4 was written before the mind flayers were connected with the end of the sun (in the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide), but for illithids this is only a means to restoring their empire over men (consult the Fiend Folio again, this time for Githyanki; and Bruce Cordell's Illithid trilogy). Even the mind flayers are not so arrogant as to imagine they could ally with the Dark One. The Scarlet Brotherhood has no interest in that power either - they want to rule the world, not ruin it - but the rumours persist.
The Dark God's followers passed down an oral tradition and wrote a literature. Both are lost. There was once a paean, a song of praise, according to Temple survivors who moved on to other priesthoods of wickedness (p. 3). And hidden in the depths of the Black Cyst is a tome that even their descendents have forgotten: the Lament for Lost Tharizdun (p. 30).
The Lament for Lost Tharizdun was written up after Tharizdun was lost (obviously) but before the time of Wongas, the last cleric (p. 25). The tattered remnant were until the end uncertain whether the dark form on the block (p. 30) was truly their lost deity, but the darkness and cold seemed to point that way. Wongas was barred from both the crypt (that is, dungeon room #17) and the Undertemple (p. 3).
The paean mentioned in page 3 is also described as a "lament", but it is probably not the same. It contains some skewed history and divination magicks, but buried into the form of a mostly-useless prayer ritual. It is chiefly useful for the information it lets slip on how to survive the Black Cyst.
The paean and the Lament surely contain overlapping material, but no-one will be able say how much until a copy of either is rediscovered. Note that the Undertemple was delved in order to get to the Black Cyst (p. 3). Both follow the fall of Tharizdun. Where they overlap, the Lament and the paean might be used to reconstruct rituals predating the fall. (That their rituals have individually failed point to an crippling schism soon after the Cyst was found.)
The holy symbol of WG4 is an "inverted, two-tiered black pyramid" "with bases to the north, points to the south" (p. 14,15), called an "obex" by some. This is illustrated on the monks' cloaks on the internal cover (p. 1), albeit in a stylised fashion. The symbol on this page's background is truncated such that it matches the shape of the Temple (see below). According to Gygax (Oerth Journal #12), the cult chooses its symbol based on where it perceives darkness. Right now, it's under the Temple; in former days they adopted the sign of the black sun.
Lately, game designers have preferred the curlicued spiral for Tharizdun's symbol.
The 333 Gems of Tharizdun were consecrated long ago, but almost all were stolen (p. 3, 30). They are worth at least 5000 gp each if proven not to be cursed. Most of them probably wound up in the neighbouring caverns of Tsojcanth or in a nearby gnomish cache. The Scarlet Brotherhood has been rumoured to have the Dark God's followers in its ranks; if so, they may keep a few of these gems jealously hidden away. And finally, another shrine of dark, cold power - possibly of Tharizdun - is said to lie in a "sunless sea" deep in the Underdark (possibly in another world), with 75 cursed black diamonds. If these are truly Gems of Tharizdun, their worth to potential buyers will be limited; all those who see them will instinctively know that they are tainted with a powerful evil. (Night Below III.29,31) Still, fools who are thinking of collecting them, perhaps with a view to starting up the old rites again, are to be warned that the 333 gems did not help the ancient priesthood any.
333 is a holy number to Tharizdun (p. 15). Some have suggested that Tharizdun is an Abyssal Lord, perhaps over the layer of that number. However, it may also be that the urban legend of 666 layers postdates tales of Tharizdun; the Dark God is that old. The Shadow Demon's presence in the Undertemple (p. 28) does not help pinpoint Tharizdun's home plane; the "demon" may come from Carceri, and besides it was probably "found unfit".
I have tried to harmonize the varying descriptions of the Temple in WG4's text and maps. To this end I've written in Java a 3-dimensional wire diagram. To spin it vertically and horizontally, move the mouse over the diagram below, hold down a mouse button, and drag the mouse around. I apologize for the lack of other features. It could use perspective and filled-in walls. I may get to those in future (depending on how far I can stretch my maths and programming skills).
Here's how I came up with this design. My teachers always were on at me to "show your work". If you get bored by logical hairsplitting, feel free to skip to the appendix.
Start with the indoor plan, the least-flexible part of the Temple structure. The indoors of the Upper Temple is 80' x 80' and the Lower Temple 160' x 160', according to the inset maps. In addition, directly above the Upper Temple is a "flat-topped" roof, area H in the Aerial View and p. 9. From the Lower Temple's roof to the Upper Temple's roof is 40', and from the Lower Temple's floor to the Upper Temple's floor is also 40'.
"The sides slope" on this "two-stepped construction of basalt" (p. 9), much like the holy symbol mentioned above and as illustrated on the cover sheet. (Of course, the symbol is not to the scale of the Temple; is it were, the Upper Temple portion would extend beyond 40' in height.) This is where we run into problems with the text. Neither floor of the Temple can be described as 80' or 160' "square" from outside and have sloping sides at the same time, let alone taper to "points". Also, "the outer walls are, of course, of varying thickness". It follows that the outer walls are not slanted into the outer rooms. (p. 10) The only-40'-high tiers have to be 80' and 160' across as measured from their roofs, or else there is no room for the 30' high dungeons below them. This also jibes with the upper block's roof as mapped in the Aerial View.
In addition, the ramp at area G of the aerial view runs right around the 80'-long northern edge of the Upper Temple and cuts abruptly to the south at both ends. If the Upper Temple's sides slope, then the ramp is cutting through them. And how does one get to G's entrance? Are there other carved passages leading west and east from G's entrances to flat parts of the Upper Temple roof, or do they run south to the ramp at F? The Aerial View gives no indication that the Upper Temple's sides might be sloped, although it does so for the Lower Temple. I conclude - against the cover illustration and the implications of the text - that the "slope" only applies to the lower block, and that the upper block is a 80' x 80' x 40' cube. The roofs of both tiers are flat. However, it is still true that the holy symbol is a two-tiered sloping pyramid. If you turn the model above upside down, the steps flanking the Upper Temple give an illusion of a slope, if viewed from the front or behind.
The ramps E and F muddy the waters even more. E is, apparently, a "walled ramp widening from 6' width at bridge mouth to about 16' width as it climbs to above the mid-point of the lower block". F is a "similar ramp climbing to roof level of the lower block to permit entry through the great portal of the upper block". In the aerial view, E ends up squarely on the lower block's roof. I suppose E's description meant (as depicted in the Aerial View) that E only turned into a 16'-wide road at mid-level, and kept going until it hit the lower block's roof. If it is the roof. The aerial view has ramp F start 10' north of where ramp E ends, but it "climbs to roof level of the lower block". I work around this by declaring "to roof" a misprint for "from roof".
So the lower block's surface is flat in a 40'-wide ring around the upper block. So why does one enter the upper block's front door via a ramp? The upper block's indoors are 30' high at maximum. "The entry is ... 20' high. A great stone lintel [over this portal]... 6' high supports the roof", so they are 26' high at minimum. That means there's 10-14' of solid stone filling out the 40' of that block. Just set the front door 8' up the outer wall and send the ramp up to meet it.
In addition, each rampway of G leads to a flight of "steep, narrow steps". The text doesn't say where or how far up the ramp becomes a stair, nor why the 10'-wide stairs should be any narrower than the 10'-wide ramps. Plus, if G is a ramp at this point, the northeast and northwest corners of G appear to swing around while preserving their angle. No-one ever designed a stairway or ramp like this. I solved this by declaring those corners to be horizontal, 10'-square landings. The wings of G are ramps leading up to those landings and stairs leading from those landings to the roof.
I also decided that the stairs are only "narrow" because by that time they're high off the ground. How high? Well, there are 20' of ramp south of the landings, and then 30' of stairs, going up 40' vertically. That's an average of 8' up for every 10' across. I decided to make this average a rule; just as the stairs are not really narrower than the ramp, they are not really steeper, either.
According to Jaime Nossal (368B4012.712B@ruf.rice.edu), the saga of Tharizdun's development begins with "Tsojcanth", a scenario for "a competition event at the Metro Detroit Gamers' Michicon in the late '70s". According to Thomas McCambley (76gf7q$7kc@freenet-news.carleton.ca), this scenario ran as follows:
Several decades ago when the Arcmage Iggwilv brought the Marches of Perrunland under his domination (note: his sex is different...), considerable store of treasure was taken from that place and sequestered by him somewhere in the no-man's-land between the Duchy of Geoff and the forsaken Sea of Dust. Among his loot were several rare and prized tomes and the fabled lamp known as Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn.
When Iggwilv was slain by the demon Graz'zt, and his minions scattered by an uprising of oppressed subjects, rumors began to spread regarding where the Archmage's treasure trove was located. Considering the cartloads of precious metals and gems taken away during the overthrow, it is not surprising that most of these whispered suggestions were ignored as spurious. However, the books and Lanthorn were never found, and the rumors did reach some interested parties, for several expeditions have sought to locate these items, but the parties were either unsuccessful in their attempts to find the location of the Caverns of Tsojconth (note: the dungeon has changed names..) where the most reliable rumors claim the treasure rests or else failed to return.
In other words, Iggwilv did control Perrenland, but the Caverns were not in the neighbourhood Yatils but far off in the Crystalmist/Hellfurnaces mountain range. Tharizdun was unknown as of then. S4 contained no background to this original Gnome Vale campaign... but WG4 did:
"...If you are actually utilizing this module as an adjunct to THE LOST CAVERNS OF TSOJCANTH [typical Gygaxian prose :^)], you might consider what was done in the actual campaign from which both were written. The adventurers discovered Gnome Vale in the course of seeking the 'CAVERNS. Later, they returned for rest and recuperation after suffering severe damage exploring the latter place. Only three or four of the original party actually journeyed to the 'TEMPLE, because, as is usual with any group, some of its number were not on hand when it was time to adventure. Because only a portion of the group went, the gnomes went along. After initial contact and a couple of pitched battles, several of the other party members joined the three, and the 'TEMPLE was sacked. Losses were minimal, because the players were reasonably adept, and hit-and-run tactics were used." - Page 5
"Special Note: I wish to thank Rob Kuntz for inspiration regarding the subject material of this scenario. Thanks too to the original group of players: Luke Gygax, Mike Olson, Sonny Savage, Richard Kuntz, and (of course) Mitch Preston!" - Page 30
This gang are also listed as "playtesters" of S4 (p. 30). I would conclude that Tharizdun was a later addition to Tsojcanth/Gnome Vale (then, apparently, located within the Crystalmists). Gygax may even have converted Tsojcanth into a tournament before starting work on Tharizdun. In 1981, Tsojcanth was converted into WG3, but released as the final module of the S-series. Tharizdun still went unmentioned until the March 1982 issue of Dragon (#59 p.6), in which he announced WG4's upcoming release.
Nowadays, Gygax's position holds as follows. (Roughly.) Tharizdun is an exiled god of powers beyond imagining. An avatar of his manifested in Oerth around the time of the Invoked Devastation. (This was intended as coincidence at first; but Gygax has been leaning against that view at late.) Tsojcanth found a hidden cave system not far from Tharizdun's temple and used it for his research. He successfully trapped Tharizdun's avatar in the Black Cyst using Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn, the Theorparts, and help from otherplanar creatures he'd forced into servitude. Later, the sorceress Iggwilv found these caverns and continued Tsojcanth's research, albeit for much more selfish ends.
Until June 2001, this site treated the Tharizdun canon as if it had closed in 1982. Nothing had been published worthy of the Tharizdun name until very recently. But there has been something of a Tharizdun renaissance in just the last year and it is no longer possible, nor even desirable, to ignore it.
WG4 was not a success at the time, by TSR's standards, and went through one printing only. It was quietly forgotten in the 1980's. When Gygax left TSR, Tharizdun resurfaced - at first unnamed - in Carl Sargent's revisions of the early 1990's. The rules of D&D had changed into a Second Edition a few years prior to Sargent, and one of those rules was that a cleric of a nonexistent god could still retain spells up to second level. (DMGR4 Monster Mythology pp. 61,67, developed from Manual of the Planes)
Sargent attempted to put Tharizdun to practical use in From the Ashes (pp. 35,91-92) and Night Below, both times clumsily. The former stated that the Suel-racist Scarlet Brotherhood was working to free him, which contradicted years of development of Suel culture and religion. Reynolds fixed this misstep in 1999, Scarlet Brotherhood p. 13 (also c.f. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer pp. 98,184-5): the Brotherhood's deepest involvement in Tharizdun is research and the occasional use of an artifact. In other words, no more than what any other evil power in the region would do. As for Night Below, I deal with that campaign set in detail elsewhere; but where it touches Tharizdun, I suggest you ignore it.
But matters have improved vastly recently. The freelance author James Jacobs wrote two articles on the Dark God: a bestiary in Dragon Annual #5 and a side-trek to his otherwise excellent adventure Lord of the Scarlet Tide, Dungeon #85. Robert Lee followed up with the complete, if abbreviated, Cradle of Madness in Dungeon #87 which employed a member of the bestiary. While I have my problems with Jacobs's efforts on this front - he is clearly a man of the Sargent school - Lee's adventure was excellent, so much so in my opinion that I consider the canon reopened. (With a vengeance, now that Return To The Temple of Elemental Evil is out...) I have posted a review of each, linked from the Appendix.
Copyright:
All articles are © their respective authors. These articles are made available for private use. Reprinting or uploading for profit is strictly prohibited without the express consent of the author of the work. AD&D®, D&D®, Dungeons & Dragons®, DM®, Dungeon Master®, TSR®, TSR Hobbies®, World of Greyhawk®, Greyhawk®, Night Below®, are all registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast® (or WotC®). This site is not endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. All Rights Reserved.
[ed. note] Elsewhere I tried to include all I could find. These links, on the other hand, are elitist. I selected them based on how well they fit with "Tharizdun Canon" as envisaged by Gygax, and on writing quality. If the website says that Wee Jas imprisoned Tharizdun, or used one of Big T's high-level priests in a campaign - you won't find it here.
This site essentially complete: 29 September 1999. I converted the applet to Java 2 in 25 February 2000 but otherwise I didn't add anything to this until 16 June 2001. 10 August, added review of RttToEE.
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