App N - Clark Ashton Smith - The Dark Eidolon


 The Dark Eidolon by Clark Ashton Smith

A grim tale of wickedness, revenge, and doom. Not a single decent, moral character in the entire story, everyone is evil. Strange to read a tale where no one is good and there is no side you instinctively want to succeed.


What's in a name?  The word 'eidolon' is only used once in the text.
Sure, it's evocative, but maybe it is pointing to a moral lesson or truth in the story. 
Looking up "eidolon" in the Oxford English Dictionary, makes you think...

 oed.com/dictionary/eid


Most, if not all, characters in the story have some dark (evil) obsession that ultimately destroys them when manifest.  When these fatal, evil flaws are brought to the surface and exposed, they spell doom for all.  I think about how each of the characters met their ultimate doom:




Namirrha - driven mindless and slashing an image of himself in the mirror until his magic sword crumbles. --> He lost himself (& his mind) in the pursuit of revenge, destroying his life's work (magic) in a fruitless attempt to hurt Zotulla, but actually was hurting himself - his death a reflection of his life.

Zotulla - spent his life consuming everything around him, trampling others without concern --> had the most important things in his life trampled by the Steeds of Thamagorgos his empire, his wealth, his beatiful home, his lover, all trampled.  Then a life spent in consumption was sent to an afterlife of oblivion. Because he created nothing, he became nothing.

Obexah - turned on her first lover and watched as he was tortured to death --> ended her life being tortured as her lover watched.


Eidolon: definition 4. an embodiment or epitome of a particular type, concept, quality, etc.
Namirrha = Pride & Wrath
Zotulla = Gluttony & Sloth
Obexah = Lust & Envy

Maybe?


Possible AD&D inspirations to add to a campaign: 

Spell:  Namirrha's Steeds of Thamagorgos 

Potion of Trans-possession (maybe this is already in the DMG) 

Misc Magic Item / Treasure / Monster:  Eidolon of Thasaidon (the statue shown in the drawing holding the mace.)

Magic Weapon:  What about the mace of Thasaidon?  How would you develop it's statistics?

Misc. Magic Item:  The Seven Horse skull lanterns of many colors and shadows )the descriptions of these are fantastic)

Cursed Magic Item:  Mirror of Namirrha

NPCs:

 - Narthos/Namirrha - Beggar boy, become Arch Necromancer, consumed with fantasies of revenge

 - Zotulla - evil emperor, hedonist, self-absorbed & self-centered.

 - Obexah - sensual, mistress of pain - total sociopath who imagines seducing Namirrha as the necromancer destroys everything and everyone she knows.

 - Ouphaloc - evil, hermit, necromancer, mentor to Namirrha

Monsters:

 - Thasaidon - Lord of the Seven Hells & God of Earthly Evil

 - Thamagorgos - Lord of the Abyss

Special Rooms:
 - Namirrha's domed room with the opening in the floor that looks up into the depths of outer space.  An inventive DM could create some interesting situations in this room.
 - Namirrha's feast hall which seems much larger inside that outside.

Publication history:  https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?62564
I first read this story in my copy of L. Sprague de Camp's anthology "The Spell of Seven" - November 2024

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