Disciples of Bone | dlsaga.com

Introduced in The Dark Disciple trilogy by Margaret Weis, the Disciples of Bone. After the failed Beloved experiment, Chemosh created Bone Warriors and Bone Acolytes to lead his armies. Buy Amber and Blood here: https://amzn.to/3NwjE51

Transcript

Cold Open

Unknown since the Age of Dreams, these fearsome soldiers are now in the Age of Mortals.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about Chemosh’s Disciples of Bone. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Amber & Blood Appendix for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

It was a direct result of the War of Souls that a vacuum in the seats of power was created. First with the death of Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness in mortal form, then with Paladine stepping down from the pantheon of Good to wander Krynn as Valthonis, the walking god. So if you thought the gods were all up in mortals’ business during the Age of Despair, that pales in comparison to their far more active role in the Age of Mortals. Each god in the dark pantheon is vying for control, and at the moment it seems Sargonnas has stepped into the mantle with his minotaurs invading Ansalon and controlling the nation of Ambeon, occupied Silvanesti.

The Lord of Death, Chemosh leveraged Mina as his prophet and messenger, creating the Beloved, but to his surprise, the Beloved were not his creations to control after all, but rather Mina’s as she is a god. Frustrated in discovering this, Chemosh decided to return to a more tried and true method of creating followers. Ones that Krynn has not seen since the Age of Dreams, Bone Warriors and Bone Acolyte’s known as the Disciples of Bone. Little is known in the world about them, so it seems to be the right time to reintroduce his most mighty warriors of evil into the world. Let’s learn a little more about the Bone Warriors and Bone Acolytes.

Bone Warriors are fearsome opponents, and extremely difficult to control. The Lord of Death sees all souls to their respective afterlives, but some cannot bear to part from life, and return as undead. Bone Warriors are one of these unquiet undead. They wish nothing more than to return to the world and inflict revenge. When granted unlife, the dead retain their former life’s body and skills; their bodies turn inside out, feeling every moment of pain as their bones are forced out and shaped into a hard carapace, protecting every part of their body. This constant, burning agony they experience fuels their anger. They see all living beings as the enemy. They are incapable of speech, though they understand what they did in life, only crying out in pain and rage.

As their souls are bound to the Lord of Death in hatred and anger over their face, they must be commanded by those with a strong and powerful will. They are always under the control of either a powerful dark cleric, or a Bone Acolyte. If unleashed, they will attack every living being in sight until there is no one left to kill. They are unaffected by many physical and magical attacks like other undead. Their bone armor is as tough as Solamnic Plate. Swords and arrows do little damage to them. Even if struck by magical weapons, they feel no pain outside the constant agony of their unlife. They are significantly stronger than they were in life, and while they are incapable of taking actions that require focus or concentration, they do understand strategies, and utilize battlefield tactics with cunning. They will follow the orders of those to which they are bound, but constantly struggle against their will, seeing them as the master of their constant torment. If they break free, they will kill their master.

Bone Acolyte’s are living disciples of Chemosh. They are protected by unholy skeletal armor and are imbued with a number of powers by their god. In the Age of Dreams they were the most feared servants of any evil god, only rivaled by Morgion’s Plague Knights. When Clerics from the Holy Orders of the Stars and the Wizards of High Sorcery combined forces to destroy them, Chemosh moved on to other creations. Now, however, there are very few with access to any knowledge about them, and Chemosh believes it’s time for their return.

Bone Acolytes are powerful servants of Chemosh who call on the Lord of Death for more power. They willingly trade their life and soul for the power granted to them by their god. Their bone armor is also imbued with power in addition to protecting them in life. They earn it through a profane ritual of sacrificing an elf, ogre or human, then boiling their bodies to retrieve their bones. They next employ a terrible craft in order to shape the bones into armor.

The armor is whitish-yellow with unnaturally long spikes protruding from the shoulders, elbows, knuckles, and knee. The spikes are imbued with divine magic and may enhance the wearer’s natural movement. It imbues the wearer with unnatural strength and protects them from mundane attacks. It features a tattoo of a skull over the heart, as it is Chemosh’s symbol. It may even be summoned or discarded with a simple prayer to Chemosh! The Bone Acolyte learns the art of boneshaping, which allows them to alter the shape of their armor at will. They may grow a shield on one arm, or a blade on the other; even spikes to impale an enemy!

The Bone Acolyte even holds power over others’ bones! They may snap bones from a distance, demoralizing an entire enemy force. Only through great strength or exceptional will may this fearsome power be resisted. There is one more rare and terrifying power the Bone Acolytes are capable of: Liquifying the bones of a single opponent instantly! Without their skeletal structure, their bodies collapse into a soft, fleshy mound. Bone Acolytes are more capable of commanding Bone Warriors and may even choose them from Chemosh’s undead army. Losing control of the warrior ensures your death, as Chemosh has no use for weaklings.

By the end of the Dark Disciple trilogy the Disciples of Bone have been defeated, but Chemosh has plans to create more. His goal is to supplant Sargonnas as head of the Dark Pantheon. With the death of Ausric Krell, there are no more death knights on Krynn, so the Disciples of Bone would be the most terrifying foes to cast their shadows over Krynn. They will undoubtedly be seen again.

As you can see, the Age of Mortals is an era ripe for terrifying adventures with stakes that rival the War of the Lance, and dangers not seen since the Age of Dreams. With the pantheon of Krynn’s gods in upheaval, and the gods directly interacting with mortals in the world, who knows what epic storylines you may create for your home games. This will be the last Age of Mortals specific video that I will make for now, but rest assured there is still a lot more to talk about in this Fifth Age of Krynn.

Outro

And that is all the time I have to talk about Chemosh’s Disciples of Bone. What do you think about these fearsome warriors? Do you think Chemosh stands a chance against Sargonnas? And finally, have you ever used Disciples of Bone in your campaigns? Leave a comment below.

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It is not for them that you make this sacrifice… It is because you cannot bear defeat! Nothing has ever defeated you, not even death itself…