Ceremorphosis - Tumblr Posts
Ceremorphosis and Fleshcraft
A god died above The Wandering Isles, when it was still a continent, pre-calamity. If you're a learned scholar you'll know ov the events of the 3rd Trial of Heaven, and the god that was slain.
When the gods body fell, it crashed into the ocean, above the grave it dug itself. It's body sunk into the ocean, through the deepest part and into the Black Sea within the underdark.
Its unhallowed flesh fell to the very bottom of the plane, and fell upon the hole that the god had opened. Sealing it for good.
The flesh provided nourishment for the organisms at the bottom of that hole, and for millenia, the ghost of a god was eaten and digested by the strange plants and bottom feeders of The Black Sea. It was... A unique, and terrible fate for a god, it's body slain and it's mind tortured.
After a thousand years, an intelligent creature passed close enough for the warped mind of a dead god to latch on to it. An Illithid elder brain. The brain waged a psionic war against the fractured psyche of a god. It lost.
The elder brain became the brain of a god, and the cult of the drowned had begun. Over the following years, the cult expanded its influence while the god explored it's Illithid biology. It was this insane devotion towards remaking itself that drove the discovery of the further reaches of ceremorphosis.
You see when a host is infected by an Illithid tadpole, the elder brain sends psionic energy through the tadpole to reshape the hosts mind and body, painfully. (Thanks BG3). It turns out that the elder brain can shape flesh in a number of ways, but doesn't, because of the Illithid grand design. The Drowned God pushed the boundaries of what was possible, shaping flesh in horrible monstrous ways while leaving the minds in a state of torment. And as a god, it could pass this power to its clerics.
Now, the god extends it's gaze above again, in a bid to regain its body and divinity. Its Illithid priests shaping the flesh of their captives into more and more grotesque creations.
Included below is a list of experiments recovered from a laboratory where a cleric practiced
Torment Ballista- 6 Subjects - the sinew and bone bend to make the shape of a standard ballista. Nonessential organs are rebuilt into additional brain matter in order increase the psychic torment of the subjects. Throws psychic screams up to 300 yards. Penetrates most vessels.
Mind Cube- 1 subject- bones are pulverized and features are errased. The skin is tightened until the organs and mind within are compressed into cube. Easier to store materials this way.
Psi-reactive Liquid Meat. -1 subject - the former subject resembles a minor slime but opaque, and pink, with arteries and blood vessels spiderwebbing it's exterior. It leaves a trail of blood as it moves to seek the closest source of willpower. The broken creature seeks the brain of a nearby creature and attempts to drain its willpower through the ears and nose of the creatures.
If you read this far I love you! Tell me the worst way that the shattered mind of a dead god could warp your flesh and mind.
Continuing to sate the brainworms finishing this game gave me. There's serious body horror and spoilers for Act 3 within, so read at your own risk!
The Ultimate... Sacrifice? Or Evolution?