Pandorym

Pandorym was an elder evil from a distant dimension beyond the Faerûnian cosmology.

"They brought it. They brought it and trapped it, though many gave their lives to do so. They brought it to threaten the gods, which they did. And the gods responded. But the evil remains, imprisoned. Biding. Planning. Seething."

- Tune Majii, arcane investigator

Appearance
Pandorym's body was a faintly glowing sphere, the hue of some underground fungi, caught inside an agate-like, immense geode. The body was not actually a physical form, but a conduit to "the incomprehensible reality of its home", which had an effect on objects and creatures similar to that of a sphere of annihilation. It was some in diameter.

Its mind, though invisible, generated a heralding cloud of pure darkness. While trapped, its mind was defined by its crystalline prison: the intensity of the crystal's purple glow waxed and waned in a rhythmic pattern, sometimes even seeming to pull light towards it instead of radiating it; at its darkest, a malevolent purple-red glow could be seen deep within. It was at those times that the alien mind was at its most focused and aware. Outside of the prison, but without its body, Pandorym's mind appeared as a sphere of emptiness both lightless and incorporeal, some in diameter, around which vaporous tendrils formed and dispersed at random. There was no discernable front, back, or sides; the sphere slowly rotated on a tilted axis and seemed to drift even when moving at top speed. Chilling breezes arose within of it, just strong enough to make candles flicker but not strong enough to extinguish them. When Pandorym spoke telepathically, a dim glow radiated from the center of its mind.

Abilities
Pandorym was simply too resilient to be defeated or even damaged, at least, by the ancient Imaskari; binding it was the most they could do, which they accomplished by separating its mind from its body. Even partly released, Pandorym had shown the ability to control anyone with plangent prosthetics, or even those who simply wore plangent crystal. More frighteningly, those under Pandorym's control inevitably died if later separated from the crystal, and it could even force them to do so.

Those bearing a plangent crystal and under Pandorym's influence could be granted boons such as great strength and blazing speed, the ability to cause their weapons to erupt with dark flame, or even stranger abilities, such as an attack with ribbons of darkness or the power to stretch out their mouths and consume all things with a vacuuming force. Those whose heads were embedded with crystal could even endure after death, their disembodied heads parting from their bodies and flying on their way to continue doing the Elder Evil's bidding. Pandorym could even see around such crystals, or transport creatures under its influence to the vicinity of any crystal it desired. Luckily, the elder evil's influence seemed limited to crystal from one specific location, especially prepared by a process known only to Shaddon Datharathi.

Another one of Pandorym's powers included a shroud of darkness that could quench any light, and disabled more than just sight: the Imaskari vengeance taker Iahn Qoyllor, when enveloped with such darkness, could not even register the presence of his own limbs. It could also put a deadly curse on those it chose to, whether through contact with the plangent crystal, or through simple extended proximity to the Palace of the Purple Emperor. Another of its powers was that it induced some disruption of "telluric currents", and could look back on those that tried to investigate it through scrying, or even prognosticating, spells, and even strike back at them or send monsters their way. Its very release induced a progressive build-up of shadow in many objects made of plangent crystal throughout Faerûn.

One of its most inexplicable powers was its connection to Ususi Manaallin, and the nightmares it inflicted on her. Those nightmares had the ability to reach out of her sleep and quench all lights around her, even magical ones. Pandorym had been using this ability long before it began to escape its imprisonment, ever since she was born. In fact, Pandorym was responsible for Ususi having a twin sister, Qari, as it had split her timeline in two from the distant past of its moment of imprisonment.

Mind Shard of Pandorym
While the crystal prison that held Pandorym's mind was hidden and difficult to damage, it was possible for a shard of Pandorym's mind to escape if it was damaged. Even such a shard was exceedingly dangerous, although only one could exist at a time and it did not last more than 24 hours.

Such a mind shard was possessed of powerful psionic powers. It was immune to divine divination magic and under an effect akin to nondetection, had telepathy out to, and healed any damage taken swiftly, amongst other strange and deadly abilities.

History
It was lured to Faerûn and imprisoned by the ancient Imaskari because they wanted it as a deterrent, a doomsday weapon to deter the vengeful deities of the Mulan from destroying Imaskar after their arrival in. Since Pandorym was very dangerous to the Imaskari themselves, they kept its body and mind separated. Both were stored in the Celestial Nadir, a demiplane created by the Imaskari, with its psyche kept in the Imperial Weapon Cache within the Palace of the Purple Emperor, which was shifted to this plane. In the end, Pandorym was never used, and Re, Enlil, and the other deities destroyed the Imaskari Empire in.

After millennia of imprisonment, Pandorym's psyche partly freed itself in 1370, and began using the people of Vaelan to free itself. When Datharathi miners from Vaelen discovered a gate to the Celestial Nadir and mined the local crystal directly from there, the patriarch of the Datharathi, Shaddon Datharathi, used the pure Celestial Nadir crystal to build superior prosthetics. Those not only improved the abilities of those who had them, but allowed him to possess and control those who took the crystal. He soon found out that Pandorym could control him too.

Pandorym also shifted the Palace of the Purple Emperor back into the world, onto its original foundation in the Raurin Desert. It also sent monsters after Ususi Manaallin, a Deep Imaskari wizard. It sought to acquire her keystone in order to fully free itself.

During its imprisonment, Pandorym had foreseen the moment of its release, but also the possibility that Ususi Manaallin would prevent that. To impede this possibility, Pandorym reached forward through time and accidentally forged two competing timelines: one in which Ususi would be born and dread Pandorym's darkness, and another in which Qari Manaallin, an alternate Ususi, would be born with the ability to pierce any darkness. Both timelines existed together, and in the end, the blind Qari gave her darkvision to Ususi so that she could defeat Pandorym.

In 1374, Pandorym attacked Deep Imaskar to take vengeance on the last descendants of ancient Imaskar, but, on Tarsakh 19, Ususi Manaallin, Iahn Qoyllor, Warian Datharathi, Kiril Duskmourn, and Prince Monolith succeeded in keeping Pandorym's body and mind imprisoned in the Celestial Nadir and the Palace of the Purple Emperor. Unfortunately, the sealing of Pandorym caused the death of most of the Datharathi senior members.

Rumors
By the there was a rumor that an evil of elder days haunted the corridors beneath Adama's Tooth, and that a cloud of darkness hung over the monolith forevermore since the curse that slew all but a few of the Datharathi scions.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Darkvision