The Tower of High Sorcery in Istar has a long storied history that extends into the Fifth Age. Let’s learn more about Istar: The Bloody-Fingered Hand. 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 believed lost during the Cataclysm, Istar’s Tower of High Sorcery is under the Blood Sea.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about the Tower of High Sorcery in Istar: The Bloody-Fingered Hand. 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 and Amber and Ashes Appendix for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
The history of the Tower of High Sorcery in Istar is one of irony. For when Kharro the Red sent members of the Conclave to scout possible locations for the construction of the Towers of High Sorcery, areas where magical energies were at their strongest, the lakeshore town of Istar was nothing but huts. Asanta, a powerful white robed wizard, chose the location, and it wasn’t what Kharro expected. Asanta knew this would be a bastion of power one day, and though she was advanced in age, raising the Tower would become her life’s mission. She led the powerful incantations that created the Tower from the bones of the earth itself. And when complete, the beautiful crystalline structure stood as a stark contrast to the surrounding huts. The wizards who lived within the Tower would contribute to the safety and security of Istar and contributed to the town’s rising popularity and population. For years they would protect the citizens from evil, and magic was their savior.
Among many Istarians, the tower was known as Pulmo spo-ponires, the Bloody-Fingered Hand. This was the second highest structure in Istar, standing five-hundred feet tall. This flawless white crystal tower would catch the sunlight and split it into sparkling rainbows. At its top, arranged in a circle surrounding a dome of black marble were five red turrets bent slightly inward. When viewed at a certain time of the month, the hand appeared to be grasping a silver moon. The fingers would glow with eldritch light as shadows moved within its transparent walls. The outer walls were a ring of alabaster with grand gates of silver. Red and black roses grew on a trellis around it. The tower’s many windows and balconies overlooked the grand courtyard. At night, enchanted light would play on the windows’ surface, making the tower appear to be made of stars. Surrounding the tower was the Balakan Grove. It consisted of gnarled olive trees, heavy with green and black fruit, and populated by songbirds and wild creatures. Those who walked the grove’s paths, felt a strong urge to walk among the trees. When they inevitably did, they immediately forgot why they had come to the Tower, and where they were going. When they emerged, their memory would slowly return coupled with a desire to never approach the grove again. If you eat the fruit in the trees, you would emerge with your mind wiped clean. You couldn’t even remember how to speak!
Then the Third Dragon War came and while the wizards convened in the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas to create the Dragon Orbs, Istar had no one to protect it from the Dark Queen’s forces. So they turned to the church. The patriarch of the Temple of Paladine rallied the people and protected them with divine magic. From that moment on, Istar would question whether they could trust the wizards, and knew they could put their faith in the gods. As Istar grew into the mighty empire we all know it would, the church of Paladine rose at its center and the head of the church was known as the Kingpriest. Then came the Three-Thrones War, which further turned opinions against the wizards in the Tower of High Sorcery. The kingpriest sent a force against the tower but it was rebuffed. The wizards and priests lived in an uneasy truce as no blood was shed, until Beldinas Pilofiro took the throne.
Treasury, misfortune, and violence shaped the new Kingpriests reign, and when he formed the Knights of the Divine Hammer, he sought to attack the Towers of High Sorcery across the continent. Rather than allow the magic to fall into the Kingpriests hands, the wizards sacrificed the Towers of Istar and Palanthas. Destroyed the towers of Losarcum and Daltigoth, and retreated to the Tower of Wayreth. The Tower of Istar was rededicated and used as a repository of sacred artifacts confiscated from heretical religions. They were all stored in the Hall of Sacrilege called the Solio Febalas. As corruption set in, the evil artifacts were joined by neutral and good artifacts, and when the Cataclysm struck, it was believed that all of the ancient and sacred magic and knowledge was lost forever. But it was not.
The Gods of Magic had plans to restore the Tower, but the Solio Febalas still held all of its treasures and the gods didn’t believe the mortals of the world were ready for the deadly artifacts, so it remained a future project of the gods for centuries. Then came the War of the Lance, then the Chaos War, and the War of Souls. When the gods finally recovered their lost world they discovered that the Orders of High Sorcery which guided magic since the Age of Dreams was disbanded. They quickly set out to reform its Orders. They banned Dalamar the Dark from the Tower of Palanthas which now resided inNightlund, leaving it hidden until they could decide its fate. As Lunitari and Solinari began to work on the Tower of Wayreth, Nuitarti was filled with rage over the betrayal of his mother Takhisis. He began to cement his own power and position in Krynn, as many gods of evil did in the vacuum of the Dark Queen. And the shattered Tower of Istar seemed the perfect opportunity. Nuitari cast an incantation to redesign the Tower rededicating it as the Tower of the Blood Sea, a bastion of dark wizardry. The powerful, holy and profane artifacts remain hidden inside the Tower, watched over by a powerful guardian.
The Tower of the Blood Sea looks much like its original structure with delicate, crystalline walls. The light that penetrates the ocean gives it a mesmerizing beauty which attracts creatures of the sea. The main difference is the dome at its top. There is an orb of black marble with a circlet of red-gold intertwined with silver and a black void at its center as a crown. This is meant to honor Lunitari and Solinari. There are many windows of clear crystal, allowing those outside the Tower to see a field of sparkling stars on a night sky from the lamps lit within. With the central doorway buried under sand and debris, the wizards have created a magical air lock. This also allows them to capture fish. The only time they are visible is when they are swirling open or closed. The Hall of Audience now holds Nuitari’s throne. The Chamber of the Eyes holds the Gods Eye, an unsurpassed magical scrying device. The Tower was temporarily raised above the surface revealed to the world, and has since been returned to the depths.
The future of the Tower of the Blood Sea and its relics are entirely up to your own gaming table, so I would encourage you to include this wonderful new Tower of High Sorcery in your game. And what is the future of the Orders of High Sorcery? Do they regroup and add in sorcerers or maintain only wizards in their ranks treating all others as renegades? This is also entirely up to you and your campaign.
Outro
But that is all the time I have to talk about the Tower of High Sorcery in Istar: The Bloody-Fingered Hand. What do you think about the tower being reused? Will the tower ever be permanently risen, or simply used with the Blood Sea as its protective grove? And finally, would you want to explore the ruins of the Tower? 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:
What sort of life can there be for one who is half of two things and all of nothing?
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