Dungeons & Dragons - The War Between Law and Chaos

This is a sort of companion article to my Guide to the Rod of Seven Parts.

I'm running a campaign called Dungeon Academy, where the heroes are trying to assemble the legendary Rod of Seven Parts. Each piece is in a different D&D campaign setting or adventure. They are about to go after the sixth piece. Here's the breakdown:

• 1st Piece (Ruat): Forgotten Realms (Halaster's Maze of Madness)
• 2nd Piece (Coelum): Eberron (Blades of Terror)
• 3rd Piece (Fiat): Barovia (Curse of Strahd)
• 4th Piece (Justitia): The Spelljammer (Legend of the Spelljammer)
• 5th Piece (Ecce): Sigil (homebrewed Planescape stuff)
• 6th Piece (Lex): Avernus (Descent Into Avernus)
• 7th Piece (Rex): Pandemonium (Rod of Seven Parts Boxed Set)

The group has just gotten the 5th piece. They stole it from Shemeshka the Marauder and almost got killed by the Lady of Pain.

Next session, I'm planning on having an NPC from the boxed set, a dude named Arquestan, show up and sort of hype the group up/reinforce the backstory. He's going to tell them about the ancient war between Law and Chaos.

The boxed set tells you the story, but I know that in 3rd edition, there are a ton of details added. The war, and specifically, the final battle of Pesh, has a lot of moving parts and each detail makes it more interesting.

I did a bunch of research and figured this might come in handy if you ever use the Rod of Seven Parts in your game. I'm sure I have missed details, but I gave it my best shot.

So first, let's go over the two sides.

Law

The side of "Law" began not as Lawful Good, just lawfulness in general.Chaotic Good creatures would not join up with the Wind Dukes.

• The Wind Dukes of Aaqa: Ancient wind people who had a vast empire that spread across multiple worlds and planes. They more or less ruled the Inner Planes at one time.
• Yan-C-Bin: The Princess of Evil Elemental Air!
• The Good Archomentals: Princes of Elemental Good: Chan, Ben-hadar, Sunnis, and Bristia Pel (princess of Fire).
• Chilimba: Evil Prince of Magma. Killed Bristia Pel and was ousted.
• Ehkahk: Evil Prince of Smoke. Also killed Bristia Pel and was ousted.
• Aarakocra: The bird-people from the 5e MM. 
• Wind Warriors: Suits of armor animated by wind.
• Salamanders
• Djinn
• Air Elementals 
• Elemental Weirds: It was their powers of prophecy who helped the Wind Dukes keep ahead of the Queen of Chaos. 
• Sionsiar: A snow weird who was close with the Wind Duke general, Icosiol. She was eventually assassinated by one of the Queen of Chaos's agents.
• Inevitables
• Mud Sorcerer Cults

Chaos

• The Queen of Chaos: An obyrith/demon lord of incredible power.
• Miska the Wolf Spider: Her creation and consort. Miska became the Prince of Demons, ruler of the Abyss. His blood can actually kill on contact and is what corrupted the Rod of Law at the Battle of Pesh.
• Demons: Many of which were created by the Queen of Law, including her spyder-fiends from the Rod boxed set.
• Princes of Elemental Evil: Ogremoch, Imix, Cryonax, and Olhydra.
• Cabiri: An ancient obyrith who was made up mostly of eyes. He had great powers of prophecy. He foresaw the Queen's defeat and abandoned her on the battlefield.
• Kizarvidexus: A demon lord whose remains eventually became trapped in the Wells of Darkness.
• Artophanx: An earth elemental described as a "lout" who fought at the side of Ogremoch. 
• Slaad: The Queen of Chaos "rallied" them. There is at least one reference that the Queen of Chaos came from Limbo, so she may be linked to the slaad in some fashion.
• Legions of Earh Elementals: Led by Ogremoch, who was very involved in the war.
• Reject: Astaroth/Diabolus, a demon who had successfully infiltrated the court of the archdevil Asmodeus, wanted to join the Queen of Chaos, was rejected. As a demon lord of prophecy, it can be assumed that the Queen trusted Cabiri over this known spy.

The Battle of Pesh

Here's a short summary of what happened at the decisive final battle of the war.

• White Plume Mountain: The volcanic field of Pesh is on the world of Oerth, right near White Plume Mountain.
• Evil Prince: Yan-C-Bin eventually left the Wind Dukes, due to increasing friction with the good elemental princes.
• Earth vs. Earth: Sunnis, Good Princess of Elemental Earth, and Ogremoch, Evil Prince of Elemental Earth, actually fought each other on the battlefield. By taking on Ogremoch, Sunnis cleared a path for the Wind Dukes to get to Miska.
• Death of Zosiel: A Wind Duke named Zosiel, who was using a sphere of annihilation in the battle, was killed by Kizarvidexus just before the Rod of Law was employed. It is also said he was killed by a beam of energy shot from Miska's eyes.
• Death of Kizarvidexus: The demon lord was killed by the Wind Duke general, Icosiol.
• The Rod of Law: It was a wind duke named Icosiol who plunged the Rod of Law into Miska. Miska's blood broke the rod into 7 pieces and tore a rift open in the multiverse.
• Miska Flees: The wind dukes chased the weakened Miska to Pandemonium and sealed him in the Citadel of Chaos. 
• The Queen of Chaos Hides: She retreated to the Steaming Fens, a deep Abyssal Layer.
• Eladrin Host: The Court of Stars sent in an "eladrin host" to the Abyss through a portal in Arborea, wiping out and chasing off most of the obyriths and their demonic servants.

Wind Dukes

Here's some collected Wind Duke Lore.

Glyphs: Each Wind Duke has a glyph as their personal symbol that represents their name.

The Guardian of the Vale: The Wind Dukes believe in this entity, who "stands between the lands of sleep and wakefulness".

Known Wind Dukes: These people have been named and/or detailed in official products:

• Icosiol: The Wind Duke General at the Battle of Pesh. Died in the battle. He is the Wind Duke who plunged the Rod of Law into Miska. Titles include Lord of Aaqa, Wandering Duke, Bearer of the Rod of Law. He had a winged helmet and wielded two swords - the Lightning Sword and the Sword of Aaqa. Icosiol could clang them together to create sonic shockwaves.
• Zosiel: Killed by a demon at the Battle of Pesh. He had a talisman of the sphere which controlled a sphere of annihilation.
• Nadrocs: A Wind Duke architect who built the Wind Duke Tombs near the Fields of Pesh.
• Arquestan: A gender-less Wind Duke who travels the Material Plane with hounds of law. Arquestan often goes in disguise as a female performer named "Arquesta", who uses little trained rats as part of the act. In the boxed set, Arquestan guides the heroes through their quest.
• Qadeej: It is also said that Qadeej is the one who used the Rod of Law. (Wandering Duke) Qadeej would later become obsessed with re-starting the war, and actually turned evil. In the boxed set, Qadeej eventually shows up and tries to manipulate the heroes.
• (Wandering Duke) Amophar
• (Wandering Duke) Darbos
• (Wandering Duke) Emoniel
• (Wandering Duke) Penader
• (Wandering Duke) Uriel

Rod of Seven Parts Boxed Set

Aeons ago, the wind dukes (also known as the vaati) ruled a vast empire spread over several worlds on the Material Plane, with footholds throughout the planes. When war between Law and Chaos erupted, the vaati were nearly annihilated.

"In a time long ago, war raged across the cosmos between the forces of Law and Chaos. Though the armies of the Queen of Chaos won most battles, they were forced to withdraw after their great general, Miska the Wolf Spider, was defeated and imprisoned by the Wind Dukes of Aaqa."

The Rod of Law: The Wind Dukes created the Rod of Law to slay Miska. Unfortunately, the artifact merely wounded him and was itself shattered in the process. In the centuries since the final battle, the Queen of Chaos has scored the multiverse, looking for the rod. If assembled, the rod could slay Miska, but it also holds the key to healing him and releasing him from his eternal imprisonment.

The War occurred in the Age of Legends. The roots of the conflict are obscure, and warfare "raged on several worlds".

Guardians of Law: Wind Dukes of Aaqa were scions of an empire already ancient at the war's beginning.

• Stalemate: The war was a stalemate until the Queen of Chaos appointed a powerful demon as her new general, Miska the Wolf Spider.
• Chaos Dominant: Miska's chaos army conquered world after world.
• No Chaotic Good: The Wind Dukes started recruiting good creatures. Chaotic good creatures had abandoned the Queen of Chaos and would not join the wind dukes.
• The Captains of Law: "After a hurried council, the most powerful champions in the Wind Dukes' armies withdrew from the war, leaving their best troops, the Captains of Law, to resist Miska as best that they could."
• The Rod: The seven champions created the Rod of Law. "When the Rod was completed, the seven champions rejoined the conflict at the battle of Pesh, on the world of Oerth."

The Battle of Pesh: This is where Miska fought the wielder of the rod and their companion.

• Heroic Death: The companion perished in a selfless attack so that the rod bearer drove the weapon into Miska's body.
• Multiverse Fabric: Miska's blood covered the rod, Law and Chaos mixed together and the "fabric of the multiverse ripped asunder".
• Rift: The Rod shattered into seven pieces and Miska was sent through a planar rift.
• Hard to Kill: Miska survived, but a portion of his being remained in the rod.
• Retreat: Miska retreated to a Citadel of Chaos. The Wind Dukes intervened, imprisoning him in a cocoon of pure law and casting him into the depths of Pandemonium.
• Mystery Dude: The Wind Duke who followed Miska through the rift has disappeared from the chronicles.

Dungeon Magazine 124 - The Whispering Cairn

This issue contains the first adventure in the Age of Worms adventure path. This path combines all sorts of D&D concepts that, at the time, were somewhat overlooked, into one big storyline. This particular adventure involves a dungeon that is actually a crypt where one of the Wind Dukes who died at the Battle of Pesh is interred.

Miska and his demonic legions laid siege to the Wind Dukes' territory, routing the elemental armies and snuffing out the culture of Aaqa one world at a time.

The Wandering Dukes: A consortium of seven great Wind Duke warriors known as the "Wandering Dukes" created the Rod of Law.

Tombs: Hundreds of Wind Dukes remained at Pesh, many dead or dying from wounds sustained in the tumultuous final battle. Their tombs were built in hills near Pesh. One smaller tomb contained the corpse of Zosiel, a warrior prince who fell to a demon's blow shortly before the Wandering Dukes employed the Rod of Law.

In ancient days, a grand ring of portals connected several Wind duke burial cairns.

The Whispering Cairn: Zosiel's tomb, built by a Wind Duke named Nadrocs.

• Wind Duke Glyphs: Each Wind Duke had a glyph as their own personal symbol.
• The Chronicle of Chan: A book falsely attributed to a princess of elemental air, records a full roster of wind dukes present at Pesh
• Stone Egg: The dormant form of a hibernating earth elemental who served at Ogremoch's side at the Battle of Pesh. An evil lout named Artophanx.

The Guardian of the Vale: A mythical Wind Duke figure who stands between the lands of sleep and wakefulness. Wields a cylinder-headed great club.

The Wandering Dukes: Amophar, Darbos, Emoniel, Icosiol, Penader, Qadeej, and Uriel. Qadeej is the one who impaled Miska. Icosiol was struck by a beam from Miska's eyes and slumped to the ground, dead.

Wind Warriors: Ancient ceremonial armor animated by a fierce wind. Wind Warriors served the Wind dukes as shocktroopers in the war. Suits of ceramic ceremonial plate armor and swords were infused with minor air spirits. When slain, the armor and weapons crumble to dust. They cannot speak. They can clang their swords together to create a sonic blast.

The First Spheres of Annihilation: Zosiel had a talisman of the sphere that controlled a sphere of annihilation. "Many legends suggest that the deadly spheres were created during the great war between Law and Chaos."

Dungeon Magazine 129 - A Gathering of Winds

This adventure involves another Wind Duke tomb.

The Wind Duke Empire: The Wind dukes ruled a vast empire. Air and lightning powered their magic. The empire once included most of the elemental planes, the City of Brass. They ruled the Inner Planes and civilization thrived.

Dozens of other elemental and lawful races swore fealty to the Wind Dukes, including djinn, salamanders, inevitables, and mud sorcerer cults.

The Queen of Chaos rallied slaad, demons and others to her cause.

Icosiol: At the Battle of Pesh, the Wind Duke general Icosiol perished.

• Icosiol, Lord of Aaqa, Wandering Duke, Bearer of the Rod of Law, used the Rod of Law to defeat Miska and the Queen of Chaos.
• The dead wind dukes were buried in shrines on the Material Plane where they fell.
• Had a winged helmet and two swords
• Another Wind Duke who died was Zosiel, slayer of the demon Kizarvidexus.

One of the greatest resources utilized by the Wind dukes were elemental weirds - they gave advice in exchange for gifts and offerings.

Sionsiar: A snow weird oracle that was friends with Icosiol. She was killed during an offensive against the weirds.

Items: There's some sweet Wind Duke magic items:

• Ring of the Wind Dukes: Cast charm monster once per day, turn into a 60 foot-long line of lightning.
• Lightning Sword: Cast fly three times per day. +2 shocking burst.
• Sword of Aaqa: +2 axiomatic mithril long sword. Critical hits cause gusts of wind. When wielded with the lightning sword, both blades can be struck together to create a sonic wave in a 30 foot cone.

Dragon Magazine 347 - Princes of Elemental Evil: The Archomentals

Several of the Princes fought in the ancient Wars between Law and Chaos that spanned several Material Plane worlds in the Age Before Ages. The good archomentals sided with the Wind Dukes The evil princes sided with the Queen of Chaos. That'S Cryonax, Imix, Ogremoch, Olhydra

Yan C Bin sided with the wind dukes.

Ogremoch sided with the Queen of Chaos. He contributed legions of earth elementals and was the most involved of the evil princes. Ogremoch was present at the battle of Pesh.

Dragon Magazine 353 - Princes of Elemental Good

"During their genesis, the mortal wars between Law and Chaos raged on. The four fledgling archomentals - Chan, Ben-hadar, Sunnis, and Bristia Pel (princess of Fire) - became comrades, and after observing the conflict they concluded that the side of Law should also be the side of Good.
The good princes joined the Wind Dukes, but were dismayed to find evil elementals among the forces of Law":

• Yan C Bin: Evil Elemental Ait
• Chilimba: Evil Magma
• Ehkahk: Evil Smoke

The drama unfolded like this:

• Murder: Chilimba and Ehkahk ambushed and destroyed Bristia Pel. they were kicked out of Team Law for this unsportsmanlike conduct.
• Abandonment: Ben-Hadar abandoned the wind dukes and even joined up with Chaos for a time.
• Princess of Earth: Sunnis remained with the wind dukes.
• Earth vs. Earth: Sunnis first glimpsed Ogremoch at the Battle of Pesh and they fought nearly to the death. Sunnis distracted Ogremoch long enough to allow the Wind Dukes to use the Rod of Law.
• Fun Fact: "Using a powerful artifact called the Sands of Slumber, Sunnis forced the tarrasque into dormancy for most of its existence, thus limiting the creature's ability to affect the Material Plane."

Dragon Magazine 357 - Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Demogorgon

Before the demons existed, the obyriths ruled the Abyss. One of their number - "a self-styled Queen of Chaos whose true name has been stricken from time" - gathered their numbers and marched in a war on the multiverse.

The Beginning of the War: When the Queen of Chaos marched on the multiverse, her first act was to strike against Obox-ob, the oldest of the obyriths. She defeated him, and he fled into the depths of the Abyss.

The Queen of of Chaos was the first to cultivate mortal souls. She turned them into demons.
The first demon she created was Demogorgon! She tossed him aside, as he was uncontrollable.

She formed demons from different mortal vices:

• Lust: Succubi
• Envy: Glabrezu
• Sloth: Alkiliths

Miska: The Queen of Chaos used sibriex fleshwarpers to adjust and transform the demons further. The most powerful of these was Miska the Wolf Spider.

The Queen of Chaos crowned him the new Prince of Demons and sent him to march on the multiverse. Her army was defeated by Law, and she was forced to flee and hide in the Steaming Fen deep in the Abyss.

Other obyriths were attacked by an eladrin host and from within by their own slaves.

The Shining Vortex of Mesnar: A portal that connects Arborea to the Abyssal woodlands of Morathkian. This portal was used by the eladrin court to invade the Abyss, in an attempt to finish the job against the obyriths. It is now guarded by Ilsidahur, the demon lord of the barlgura.

Astaroth/Diabolus: A demon lord of prophecy who is now a vestige. Wanted to fight alongside the Queen of Chaos, but was rejected. 

Cabiri the Watching Master: A many-eyed tyrant who once ruled Pazunia. He advised the Queen of Chaos often during the war.

Cabiri foresaw the Queen's defeat and fled the Battle of Pesh. This crippled her forces and allowed for the Queen's defeat.

Dungeon Magazine 148 - The Wells of Darkness

Kizarvidexus: Kizarvidexus is trapped in a well. "This long-dead demon lord, described as a cloaked demonic figure with two long curved horns tipped in darkest red, served the Queen of Chaos in her war with the Wind Dukes."

"Some time after Kizarvidexus destroyed the Wind Duke Zosiel, the demon himself was slain by another Wind Duke named Icosiol."

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

Obox-ob had his title of Prince of Demons stolen from him by the Queen of Chaos, who killed him and granted his title to Miska the Wolf-Spider. Although Obox-ob was slain, his most powerful aspect survived and went into hiding on a deep layer of the Abyss called Zionyn.

"There, on the Field of Pesh in the shadow of a great volcano called White Plume Mountain, Miska the Wolf-Spider fell in battle to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa.."

The Wind Dukes trapped Miska in an extradimensional prison on pandemonium.

5e Monster Manual

Aarakocra (MM pg 12)

Search for the Seven Shards: "In service to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, aarakocra scout the planes in search of temples of Elemental Evil.

"The Wind Dukes of Aaqa come from a race of elemental beings called the vaati." That's odd, as in the 2e boxed set the vaati are said to just be another named for the Wind Dukes.

Aarakocra seek signs of the pieces' locations in order to rebuild what is now known as the Rod of Seven Parts.

Elder Evils

The Queen of Chaos tried to recruit a demon lord of parasites named Sertrous, but he killed every agent of hers that came to his lair. The Queen destroyed his body and cast his essence in the gulf between planes as one might cast aside a carcass."

Against the Cult of Chaos

This is one of those D&D Encounters adventures that came out right when 4e was ending and the 5e playtest had begun. What a weird adventure! Here's how they describe it in the book:

"Against the Cult of Chaos is a strange mash-up of three classic D&D adventures: The Keep on the     Borderlands, Village of Hommlet, and Against the Cult of the Reptile God. It also includes some story elements from another adventure, Rod of Seven Parts, specifically the story of Miska the Wolf-Spider. This adventure combines the villages of Hommlet and Orlane into the single village of Hommel Lane, and turns the tower of Rufus and Burne into a version of the Keep on the Borderlands. It drops all of this into a nebulous setting defined in part by the conflict between the Queen of Chaos and the Lawbringer, two generic deities with no place in any known D&D world."

Plot: A cult of Miska are trying to establish a permanent connection to Miska's "prison plane."Miska was able to send small bits of his essence through a crack in the planes to create three items of power.

Miska's prison drains his power, forcing him to rest for a century between intervals of expelling his essence through the crack.

A villager named Haffron Hommel found the Caves of Chaos. There was a temple of chaos which contained the Chaos Mote, the terminus of Miska's power. Haffron sacrificed himself to keep the mote in check.

The Chaos Mote: A huge, cracked silver sphere, allows cultists to harness the raw power of chaos. A villager threw their body into the mote to stop it from growing.

Miska's Items:

• The Chaos Blade: When you strike your enemy with this weapon, a small measure of your foe's life force is absorbed by this weapon and directed into you (you are coated in sweet temporary hit points!).
• The Death Circlet: This black circlet has seven green gems set in it. They are dull and dead, as if any magical power they once held had been spent. When you kill people, you can store their souls in the gems and then expend their energy to heal yourself or do extra damage.
• The Scroll of Final Words: Any attempt to destroy it ends in failure. You can use this to regain an expended spell slot.

Links

So When Exactly was the Law/Chaos War? Try reading this... you'll lose hours of time as you fall deeper and deeper into D&D lore.