Palanthas: Spire of Lore and Doom

Let’s learn all about the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas: Spire of Lore and Doom. One of the greatest Towers of High Sorcery. Buy Towers of High Sorcery: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/2940/towers-of-high-sorcery-3-5?affiliate_id=50797

Transcript

Cold Open

Once located in Palanthas, this great Tower of High Sorcery is now located in Nightlund.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about the Tower of High Sorcery of Palanthas: Spire of Lore and Doom. 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 Towers of High Sorcery sourcebook for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

After the construction of the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth, plans were made for four more towers. Three would be dedicated to the three Orders of magic, and the fourth would be a center of study and sharing knowledge. It would be placed in a natural port where the town of Bright Horizon would come to be. The tower was originally called Tsandol Sirran, the Lore-Spire. The construction of the tower was not welcomed by all. A mercenary leader poisoned the Highmage Zindreth in order to prevent it, but Zindreth, in bitter pain and agony completed the spell the next morning as his insides were being eaten away by poison. His death saw this tower raised. The new Highmage Usk believed in the final moments the spire was named incorrectly as Tsandol Shum – the Doom-spire, so fearing it would come under attack, he raised the Shoikan Grove to surround and protect it.

After the Rose Rebellion, Vinas Solamnus renamed Bright Horizon, Palanthas and demanded that all Black Robes evacuate the tower. They naturally refused, and the knights couldn’t pass the grove. Eventually a compromise was made. The Black Robes would stay in the tower if the other two orders could roam the city unmolested. It was agreed on and this was the beginning of a partnership between Solamnia and the Wizards of High Sorcery. This partnership saved the world in the Third Dragon War, as Takhisis began her campaign, the Wizards all retreated to the Tower of Palanthas and decided to make the five Dragon Orbs. One was sent to the High Cleris’s Tower, and the others were sent to the Towers of High Sorcery. With the aid of the Orb, and Huma Dragonbane’s sacrifice, the free people of Krynn defeated the Queen of Darkness. This would be changed in the Dragonlance Destinies Trilogy.

The relationship would not last. As Istar began its campaign against evil, the local knights turned their church over to the Kingpriest and religious zealotry meant the death and destruction of the mages and their art, sculptures and tapestries in the Eve of Hammers and Flame. This nearly ended in ruin but the city leaders wisely beheaded the murderers and presented them to the wizards of the Tower. As the Lost Battles began and the Towers of Daltigoth and Losarcum were destroyed, the wizards decided to abandon the Towers of Istar and Palanthas. As they were prepared to hand the keys over to the regent of Palanthas, a black Robed wizard named Andras Rannoch, atop the tower raised his arms high and laughed. “You think you have won!” he shouted. “You have nothing! The gates of this Tower will remain closed and its halls empty until the day comes when the Master of both the Past and the Present returns with power!” He then leapt to his doom, landing on the gates. With his dying breath he laid a curse and the gates turned black, the towers beauty vanished, and its walls darkened. The prophecy of the Doom-spire was finally realized.

The architect of the curse, Fistandantilus, would patiently wait, for he wanted to use the Portal to the Abyss within the Tower to enter the Abyss, destroy Takhiss and take her place as a god. But he had to wait till there was none to oppose him. The Cataclysm gave him that opportunity. For as the world around the Tower was ravaged by death, disease, famine and chaos, Fistandantilus would enter the Tower to see his designs finally complete… and barely leave with his life. For he was not the Master of both Past and Present, and the Portal was no longer there! The arch mage would turn south, and the tower remained dark and cold. Until the end of the War of the Lance more than three hundred years later. Raistlin Majere, possessed by Fistandantilus, entered the Tower and claimed it as his own. His designs may have been influenced by Fistandantilus, but he wasn’t content to be the lich’s patsy. Raistlin would travel back in time, defeat Fistandantilus, enter the Abyss and challenge the Queen. He was stopped by the realization of his Twin of the outcome, and Raistlin closed the portal from the inside.

This left his apprentice Dalamar as the new Master of the Tower and the head of the order of Black Robes. Dalamar lifted the curse laid by Rannoch, and allowed the Test to be conducted here once again. Palin Majere would take his test there, and the Lore-spire was restored. Then Chaos was unleashed on Krynn, and the Second Cataclysm saw Palanthas to become occupied by the Dark Knights in the realm of Khellendros, the great blue dragon overlord. Fearing for the safety of the relics within, but helpless with the dismantling of the Orders of High Sorcery and the loss of magic, Dalamar was taught the secrets of Necromancy from Takhiss disguised as the Shadow Sorcerer. Dalamar used his newfound power to transport the Tower with the undead to Nightlund, but rather than being its master, he became its prisoner.

Takhiss had designs to reenter Krynn and used Mina toward that end. But ultimately Goldmoon sacrificed herself to prevent it, and both Dalamar and Palin Majere were killed in the Tower. As the War of Souls continued elsewhere, the Tower was once again empty. Dalamar and Palin were restored to life, but Dalamar was banned from the Tower by the gods of magic. The Forest of Cypress now surrounds the Tower of Nightlund, and the tower itself only stands due to the powerful magic that raised it. While many mages wnt the tower destroyed, its fate is yet to be decided in the Age of Mortals. It may yet return to its role as the Lore-spire, or see its fate in destruction.

The Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas or Nightlund is the largest of the Towers of High Sorcery, standing over six-hundred feet high. The Tower was glorious to behold: a cylinder carved from an enormous piece of marble, white streaked with red. Two minarets, each more than four hundred feet high, flanked the central spire, each of them capped with onion–shaped domes of brilliant red crystal that shone like rubies at dawn and sunset. Its turrets were black glass, as was the circular wall that separated its courtyard from the Shoikan Grove. After the curse the gleaming marble grew cold and turned gray shot through with black. The minarets shattered, leaving behind jagged shards the color of rust. The turrets collapsed. The golden gates twisted and warped. The gold and silver turned to a lusterless, grimy color, and the jewels vanished. Raistlin would change its walls to shining black and rebuilt its domes with magical stone the color of fresh blood. He also restored its turrets. When the Tower vanished from Palanthas, it left behind a round pool of obsidian where it had stood. Within hung an image of the Tower, reflected against the night sky even at midday. The magic of its removal nearly destroyed the Tower. The minarets crumbled, and great cracks opened in its walls.

The protective groves of the Tower were insurmountable without the occupants approval to pass them, and even then, you required a charm. The Shoikan Grove is made up of enormous oak trees, which became gnarled and twisted with the curse on the Tower. Within the grove it is perpetual night. A sense of fear chills the heart of anyone who dares approach. Now in Nightlund, the tower is surrounded by the Forest of Cypress. It is dense and shadowed, with no paths or signs of animals. Before the War of Souls it was filled with the spirits of the dead, dejected and despairing. The trees would drain ambient magic within its borders. After the War only a few of the dead remain as guardians. The gods of magic made the forest sap the Strength of those who would enter its boundaries, causing them to collapse.

Outro

But that is all the time I have to talk about the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas: Spire of Lore and Doom. What do you think of its relocation? Will the newly reformed Orders of High Sorcery destroy the Tower? And finally, what would you do with the Tower in your home campaign ? Leave a comment below.

I would like to take a moment and remind you to subscribe to this YouTube channel, ring the bell to get notified about upcoming videos and click the like button. This all goes to help other Dragonlance fans learn about this channel and its content. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:

The future changes as we stand here, else we are the game pieces of the gods, not their heirs, as we have been promised.