Pilgrims following the path up and out of the Silver City will in time come to the Yellow City, which is the second of the Heavenly Cities. Canals of quicksilver, like liquid mirrors, run between its citrine-colored monuments. The canals are lined with statues of honored visitors or residents of the city: mighty heroes, learned sages, and wise rulers. Indeed, everyone arriving in the city is honored by a procession and a recitation of their deeds with fanfare. They may well be approached and asked to become part of the municipal government in some way commensurate with their skills. There are no shortage of folk in the city looking to recruit heroes for quests, warriors for noble crusaders, or mighty wizards for some task requiring their skills. The city plays upon vanity and ambition. Those who fail its trial may well become famous or powerful on the Material Plane, and will certainly be lauded in the City, but they will get no closer to the summit of the Mountain.
Those who successfully pass this trial and continued their way up the mountain will come to a city of green stone, malachite and turquoise, with domes of burnished copper. This Green City, the third of the Heavenly cities, is known for its beautiful gardens and its baths whose spring waters have rejuvenating properties. Some visitors have likened this city to Arborea, but the real allure of the third city is not sensual pleasures but the chance to reacquaint oneself with lost, forgotten, or neglected loves. Spirits of departed love ones will join visitors in the city, and those pining for lost love may find it anew. Estranged family members or comrades can be reconciled. Lost personal treasures are found. Even old or neglected hobbies can be indulged in the social clubs and shops of the city. Finding fulfillment in these worldly attachments, a great many will never again embark on the pilgrim's path up the Mountain.
The first three cities and their trials are most often more than enough to distract or dissuade the undedicated or cynical visitor, but more trials follow for the truly fervent and disciplined.
4 comments:
"They may well be approached and asked to become part of the municipal government in some way commiserate with their skills."
After a minute of head scratching I'm guessing you meant "commensurate" rather than "commiserate" there?
Regardless, I have a mental image of visitors to the Green City discovering a few of their long-lost socks in every batch of laundry they do. Not really likely to tempt pilgrims away from their goal but planar magic can be a bit imprecise at times, even in heaven.
This series forms the backbone of my Blog Database Planes, and the backbone of the planes in my games.
https://jonbupp.wordpress.com/for-dungeon-masters/multiverse/outer-planes/
Cool! Glad you've been enjoying it.
the sock isn't a temptation itself, it's the first hint that if you stick around, you might recover any or all of the things whose losses have crippled you over your life. this is the cruelest depiction of heaven i think i've seen. i kinda dig it.
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