Hecatoncheires (pronounced: /ˈhɛkətɒnˈkɪriz/ Hek-uh-ton-KI-reez[8]), also known as the hundred-handed ones, were a towering race of abominable outsiders that were horrifying combatants few could overcome, having even slain some pantheons in the past. They were created early in the history of the multiverse[3] by the primeval deities Gaea and Uranus.[3][9][10]
Description[]
These outsiders were distinguished from other creatures by their profuse number of limbs, having a hundred humanoid arms and fifty humanoid heads,[3][7][11][12] each of which had an unusually high degree of manual dexterity.[12] Over their torsos they typically dressed in some form of enchanted half plate armor. In place of legs, their lower body was like that of a tree trunk, supported by a number of knobby tendrils.[3] They ranged in height from 30 to 100 feet (9.1 to 30 meters).[2][3][7]
Abilities[]
Hecatoncheires were incredibly hardy creatures with a strong regenerative ability. They were immune to magical effects releated to the mind or form alteration, such as polymorphing and petrification. They were resistant to harm from elemental fire, elemental cold, and electricity. They perceived their surroundings with a combination of blindsight out to 500 feet (150 meters) and truesight, but also had telepathy out to a range of 1,000 feet (300 meters).[3]
Once per day a hecatoncheire could summon another of their kind to their aid, though a hecatoncheire could not do so if they themselves were summoned. They also possessed a small handful of spell-like abilities that mimicked the spells fly, greater magic weapon, and shield.[3]
Combat[]
The typically fought with a large arsenal of greatswords[3] or boulders,[7][3][12] but were sometimes armed with one or more magic weapons.[3] Because of their great strength and numerous arms, they could wield over fifty boulders against their enemies and hurl them as far away as 100 yards (91 meters).[7]
Society[]
The hecatoncheires were confined to the plane of Carceri.[11][13] According to some, they been trapped there ever since the early days of their existence.[10] For countless ages they worked on behalf of the Olympian pantheon as dutiful jailers of the Greater Titans, but eventually came to realize that Zeus had tricked them into being prisoners once more.[13] From then on they held a bitter contempt and hatred for the Olympians,[7][12][13] forging a new allegiance with the Greater Titans and their ruler Cronus[11][13] in hopes of one day escaping Carceri alongside them.[13]
Hecatoncheires spent most of their time roaming the plane of Carceri in search of people that venerated the Olympians.[11][13] They would attack any Olympian god or worshiper on sight,[7] fighting relentlessly until they were slain.[7][11] On some rare occasions individuals were released from the imprisonment by other deities, wanting them to use their incredible martial abilities to slay a rival deity.[3]
History[]
According to the Olympians' understanding of how the multiverse came to be, as documented in their the tome the Great Theogony,[14] before everything began there was nothing but an indescribable roiling mass of chaos. From this chaos arose various aspects of nature,[15][14] such as the planes of Arborea and Tarterus,[15] and a handful of primeval gods that included Gaea and Eros.[15][14][16] During this time, the primeval god Uranus was created by Gaea and soon after the two married.[15][17] [16]
From their union a powerful race of beings known as the Greater Titans were created.[9][17][15][14][18][19] Uranus favored the titans above all other children he would come to have with Gaea, giving them special treatment.[17] Some of the children that followed were fair in appearance like the titans,[14] whilst others were far more monstrous, such as the cyclopses and the hecatoncheires.[10][20][15][18] Horrified by their hideousness,[20] to the point that he hated to look upon them,[17] Uranus hid his monstrous progeny away[9][10][15] far from the eyes and minds of mortals.[14]
Some accounts told of Uranus locking the hecatoncheires up inside Gaea's own earthen depths,[15][21] causing her pain.[20] Others told of him imprisoning them in the plane of Tarterus.[10] Regardless of where they were imprisoned, his act angered Gaea and over time she grew sickened by the imprisoned state of her children.[14][20] Gaea convinced one of her Titan children, Cronus, to overthrow his father[14] and thus avenge her mistreatment.[15][21]
Cronus, accepting the goading of his mother,[15][21][14] did battle with Uranus[17] and critically wounded him.[17][15][21] Blood from fell from his wounds upon Gaea, which fertilized her once more and caused the creation of the Furies and the gigantes.[17][15] The wounded Uranus then fled from the battle to the farthest reaches of the multiverse.[17]
However, after marrying the Titan Rhea and assuming command of the Greater Titans, Cronus , went back on his word and wouldn't free the hecatoncheires.[15][21][14] Furious, Gaea laid a curse upon Cronus, proclaiming that one day his own children would usurp him in turn.[14][19] Eventually Gaea's curse came to pass and Cronus was usurped by his own son Zeus, who alongside his siblings led the way for the creation of the Olympian pantheon.[14]
The Olympian powers fought the Titans in a conflict that would come to be known as the Titanomachy.[4] After a decade of battle,[15] the Olympians ultimately overcame the Titans and imprisoned them in the bowels of Carceri.[9][14][15] Part of their success was owed to Zeus managing to convince some of the hecatoncheires to aid the Olympians in battle against the Titans. Once the war was won Zeus sent them down with the Titans to act as their guards, making the hecatoncheires too prisoners in all but name. This state as jailers lasted for countless ages, until the hecatoncheires eventually changed their allegiance to the Greater Titans.[13]
History with Toril[]
In the month of Hammer, in the Year of Rogue Dragons, 1373 DR,[note 1] a group of adventurers from Ravens Bluff found themselves transported to the plane of Carceri after defending the githzerai fortress of Tah'Darr from a tanar'ri incursion. At the urgings of the fallen paladin Elendil, the adventurers sought out Mount Othrys and Cronus for a way back to their Prime Material world of Toril.[22] When they entered the crumbling palace they found Cronus to be deep into some kind of Cosmic Game with the marilith Cucathne, who was entertaining him with the game in hopes of negotiating the use of Othrys as a tanar'ri staging ground against Tah'Darr.[23] Cronus was unwilling to answer any questions that the mortals posed, but offered to gate them home if they would fight as part of his forces in the game.[24]
As part of this "game of the gods" the adventurers each had their bodies and minds temporarily merged with a powerful fiend somewhere in the multiverse, then were placed in a combat arena.[25] There they did battle with bronze golems and a weak child of the hecatoncheires,[8] unintentionally slighting Cronus as they were creatures of his own realm.[25][8] After the adventurers earned their trip home they found that the battle had actually occurred in Ravens Bluff, discovering the Ministry of Art to be in ruins.[26]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The events of the Living City Ravens Bluff campaign took place on a timeline that advanced together with the real world's time. Even though all Living City adventures and issues of Ravens Bluff Trumpeter were dated with real-world dates, there were events that received a DR year. The Living City timeline can be derived from Myrkyssa Jelan's historic events of the late 14th century DR. Myrkyssa Jelan attacked Ravens Bluff in 1370 DR, according to The City of Ravens Bluff and Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition; these events are chronicled in an in-and-out of universe issues of Ravens Bluff Trumpeter. This places the real world year 1997 as 1370 DR, and in 1998 (1371 DR), Myrkyssa was at last arrested and tried and said to have been executed, only to reappear in 1372 DR in The City of Ravens novel. As the real world's months and the Calendar of Harptos are virtually identical, we can also date all events of the Living City Ravens Bluff as close as an in-universe month.
Appearances[]
Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
External Links[]
Hecatoncheire article at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
References[]
- ↑ Epic Level Handbook Errata (Zipped PDF). Wizards of the Coast. (2006-02-06). Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved on 2018-09-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 James Ward, Robert J. Kuntz (August 1980). Deities & Demigods. Edited by Lawrence Schick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 64. ISBN 0-935696-22-9.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell (July 2002). Epic Level Handbook. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 163. ISBN 0-7869-2658-9.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chris Pramas (2000). The Vortex of Madness and other Planar Perils. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 22. ISBN 0-7869-1614-1.
- ↑ F. Wesley Schneider, James Wyatt (July 2020). Mythic Odysseys of Theros. Edited by Misty Bourne, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 225. ISBN 978-0786967018.
- ↑ Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell (July 2002). Epic Level Handbook. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 162–163. ISBN 0-7869-2658-9.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 121. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), pp. 17–18.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), pp. 105, 108. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 116, 129. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Colin McComb (December 1995). “Liber Malevolentiae”. In Michele Carter ed. Planes of Conflict (TSR, Inc.), p. 11. ISBN 0-7869-0309-0.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 James Ward, Robert J. Kuntz (August 1980). Deities & Demigods. Edited by Lawrence Schick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 65. ISBN 0-935696-22-9.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 Chris Pramas (2000). The Vortex of Madness and other Planar Perils. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 27. ISBN 0-7869-1614-1.
- ↑ 14.00 14.01 14.02 14.03 14.04 14.05 14.06 14.07 14.08 14.09 14.10 14.11 14.12 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), p. 116. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 15.00 15.01 15.02 15.03 15.04 15.05 15.06 15.07 15.08 15.09 15.10 15.11 15.12 15.13 15.14 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 2.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 104. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 17.7 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), p. 129. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Skip Williams, Rich Redman, James Wyatt (April 2002). Deities and Demigods. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 99. ISBN 0-7869-2654-6.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 118. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 108. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 105. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), pp. 9–10.
- ↑ Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), pp. 17, 32.
- ↑ Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 16.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 32.
- ↑ Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 19.