Ssendam (pronounced: /ˈsɛndʌm/ SEN-dum[7] or: /ˈsssɛndɑːm/ SSS-sen-dam[7]) was the slaad lord of insanity, a bizarre being of manifested madness. The most powerful and ancient of its kind, Ssendam pursued their inscrutable agenda through esoteric means.[6]
Description[]
Ssendam's primary form was that of a huge, golden amoeba,[4] a 20 ft (6.1 m).[6] gelatinous mass of oozing, glistening chaos with four pseudopods[4][3] and a brain in place of a nucleus.[5]
Though it had two other forms, Ssendam rarely used them. When near the Spawning Stone in Limbo, it appeared as a large, golden slaad,[4] and sometimes, when on the Material Plane, it took on a humanoid form.[4][5] Some reports described this form as an unarmored man[5] while others described a gold-skinned, elven, warrior woman.[4]
Personality[]
Ssendam was an incomprehensible being with a level of intelligence that was difficult to try and quantify.[4][6] Despite its strange mind, it did have an apparent goal, and that was the furthering of chaos via the spreading of insanity. The crazed, after all, rarely acted orderly, and by introducing insanity into stable communities, such as families, towns, and militaries, it ensured chaos would ensue. Its only end goal was to render every being in the multiverse insane, and it pursued this mission one brain at a time.[6]
Strangely for an extraplanar being, Ssendam shared its true name with all it encountered, though disaster was almost certain to fall upon those who tried to use it.[5] Despite its weird ways, Ssendam could make reasoned decisions and, somehow, be bargained with, though one had to be careful not to be destroyed in the process.[8][2]
Powers[]
Physically, Ssendam was an incredibly dangerous, nearly unstoppable melee combatant. When in its amorphous state, Ssendam struck its foes with corrosive psuedopods, each of which drained the energy of its victims. If three or more latched onto a foe, they dragged the target into Ssendam's body, where they would be incapable of physical action and gradually dissolve. Once fully digested by Ssendam's acid, nothing more of the victim would remain, making resurrection particularly difficult. Only substantially enchanted magical weapons cold harm Ssendam, and they regenerated from injury over time. In slaad form, Ssendam could fight its opponents with tooth and claw.[4][6][5]
In addition to their dangerous might, Ssendam also had devastating effects on the mind. Supposedly just looking upon it could drive someone mad, for the slaad lord had developed mind-crushing mental powers.[3] Those it struck, either with both their claws or several pseudopods, could have their minds shattered by the experience. Aside from that, the Lord of Insanity had mysterious methods of reaching across the planes to touch the minds of others.[4][6] Whether due to a magic spell or something like the winds of Pandemonium, those that lost their sanity could be incurable due to Ssendam's strange power. Though it would be tricky, it was perhaps possible to force Ssendam to restore the mental stability it disrupted.[8] Conversely, Ssendam was immune to magic, whether typical enchantments or psionics, that affected the mind.[6]
Ssendam also had various spell-like abilities, including astral projection, cloudkill, darkness, detect alignment, detect magic, flame strike (at twice normal strength), locate object, teleport without error, and wind walk, that it could use at will. It could also cast any power word spell, symbol of insanity, energy drain and unholy word, though it had limited uses for those each day. Ssendam had the ability to grant another being's wish once per day, but doing so required a minute during which it could do nothing else. Every ten minutes, it could summon a death slaad, and perhaps any other type of slaad.[4][6][5]
Possessions[]
When in humanoid form, Ssendam was known to wield a black sword that stunned those it struck.[5]
Realm[]
Ssendam's domain has been described as a golden castle that arose from the essence of raw chaos.[9]
Ssendam was sometimes found floating around the vicinity of the Spawning Stone that served as the mating grounds of the slaad race while in its golden slaad form. It was suspected by sages, based on ancient legend, that Ssendam served as the stone's self-appointed guardian.[10]
Activities[]
Ssendam freely floated in Limbo's roiling chaos consuming anything that came too close. It had never been known to leave the plane,[4] at most manifesting a kind of avatar to interact elsewhere.[5] It was said that it was always contacting mortal minds across the multiverse to drive them mad.[4]
Relationships[]
Ssendam cared little for the slaadi race, and its involvement with them was limited at best. Visitors were warned to avoid it, as all native inhabitants that knew of it did, lest they be eaten, and any followers it might have had, Ssendam had no apparent concern for.[4]
Ygorl, believed to be the second oldest slaad lord, avoided Ssendam as well, and rather easily at that.[11] Both Ssendam and Ygorl only tolerated the existence of Bazim-Gorag so long as he didn't overtly challenge their "rule" over the slaadi.[12]
History[]
Long ago, before Ssendam rose to become a slaad lord, it was a green slaadi (or at least a very similar creature).[6][note 1] This younger Ssendam was obsessed with madness, viewing it as the perfect expression of chaos, and imbued itself with it to become a slaad lord.[6]
Originally, being entities of ultimate chaos, the slaadi followed no set form. However, when Ssendam and Ygorl rose to power, they realized that by sheer luck, another slaad might be spawned stronger than them due to a random mutation. To prevent such a thing, they altered the Spawning Stone itself (though Ygorl was credited with its creation) to limit the future slaad generations to a handful of toad-like types.[2][13]
Rumors and Legends[]
The eldest lord of chaos was shrouded in mystery and rumors; even its gender, if such a thing could be ascribed to it, was uncertain.[3][4] It was said by some that it grew strong off the psychic trauma of the insane, particularly those it had personally afflicted.[6]
Legends spoke of a large vrock pack that came to Limbo to destroy the death slaadi. They gathered at the Spawning Stone and used their superior numbers to overpower and kill four death slaadi before a massive golden slaad appeared and jumped into the fray. In just the first few moments of combat, the golden slaad bit off one vrock's head, ripped the second in half, and squashed the third underfoot. The sole surviving vrock was allowed to limp back to the Abyss and the tanar'ri didn't return to the Everchanging Chaos for quite a while after that.[10]
Appendix[]
See Also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ In the "Lords of Chaos" article in Dragon Magazine detailing the slaad lords, Ssendam was stated to have been a greed slaad. However, in all later works, including "Tales from the Infinite Staircase" and the 3rd edition "Manual of the Planes" she was stated to have been a slaad lord before the slaadi were codified into colored types.
Further Reading[]
Gary Gygax (August 1983). Monster Manual II 1st edition. (TSR, Inc), p. 158. ISBN 0-88038-031-4.
References[]
- ↑ Jeff Grubb (July 1987). Manual of the Planes 1st edition. (TSR), p. 65. ISBN 0880383992.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan (September 2001). Manual of the Planes 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 96. ISBN 0-7869-1850-8.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), p. 52. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 Edward Bonny (September 1995). “The Dragon's Bestiary: Lords of Chaos”. In Wolfgang Baur ed. Dragon #221 (TSR, Inc.), p. 72.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Don Turnbull (1981). Fiend Folio. (TSR Hobbies), p. 82. ISBN 0-9356-9621-0.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 Edward Bonny (September 1995). “The Dragon's Bestiary: Lords of Chaos”. In Wolfgang Baur ed. Dragon #221 (TSR, Inc.), p. 73.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Frank Mentzer (January 1985). “Ay pronunseeAYshun gyd”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #93 (TSR, Inc.), p. 28.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Edward Bonny (September 1995). “The Dragon's Bestiary: Lords of Chaos”. In Wolfgang Baur ed. Dragon #221 (TSR, Inc.), p. 78.
- ↑ Jeff Grubb (July 1987). Manual of the Planes 1st edition. (TSR), p. 99. ISBN 0880383992.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Edward Bonny (September 1995). “The Dragon's Bestiary: Lords of Chaos”. In Wolfgang Baur ed. Dragon #221 (TSR, Inc.), p. 75.
- ↑ Edward Bonny (September 1995). “The Dragon's Bestiary: Lords of Chaos”. In Wolfgang Baur ed. Dragon #221 (TSR, Inc.), p. 76.
- ↑ Jeff Crook, Wil Upchurch, Eric L. Boyd (May 2005). Champions of Ruin. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 154. ISBN 0-7869-3692-4.
- ↑ Monte Cook (1998). Tales from the Infinite Staircase. Edited by Skip Williams. (TSR, Inc), p. 71. ISBN 0786912049.