BILESTONE Bilestone is similar to obsidian in texture and strength, but it feels slightly greasy and warm to the touch. Large concentrations of bilestone (such as a vein running through rock or portions used in the construction of a building) have a debilitating effect on the minds of all creatures within 30 feet that are not aberrations. If such a creature is within 30 feet of a cube of bilestone 5 or more feet on a side, it takes a –2 penalty on all saving throws against mind-affecting spells and abilities and on all Wisdom-based skill checks.
ABOLETH RELIGION Aboleths are a race of agnostics. They acknowledge the existence of the deities of the lesser races, because when such obvious proof as divine healing is so prevalent in the world, only a fool would deny the presence of the gods, and the aboleths are not fools. Yet they do not see the deities as infallible or all-powerful, for if indeed the deities had such might, then why are the aboleths allowed to exist at all? Their own continued existence and memories of a time before the gods is all the proof they need to justify their disdain of the divine. The aboleths acknowledge the fact that the gods are powerful, but they also know that the Elder Evils existed before the deities of the current world, and they know that the Elder Evils will remain after the world has come to an end. They are beyond eternity. Aboleth minds do not grasp the concept of faith, but they do understand the concept of respect, so the creatures pay their respects to these Elder Evils. They do not worship or gain divine aid from the Elder Evils. They build great statues in their cities and model their buildings after the supposed shape of the entities, but aboleths do not fawn over them or expect anything of them. Indeed, it is doubtful that any of the Elder Evils look more favorably upon the aboleths than upon any other creatures. Nevertheless, this respect is the closest the aboleth race comes to an actual religion. Of the various Elder Evils, the aboleths save the majority of their admiration and interest for a select five. These five Elder Evils are those whose activities and dimensional wanderings bring them most often in contact with the Material Plane. As opponents, all of these Elder Evils should be on par with the mightiest of demon lords or even deities themselves; meeting an Elder Evil in combat should make even the greatest of epic heroes quail. A better use for these beings is to keep them as abstract concepts lurking in the roiling darkness beyond the edge of sanity, perpetual terrors whose existence threatens life but can never be defeated. Each of the five Elder Evils most commonly associated with the aboleths are detailed below. Two of them are among the few of their kind to exist wholly in the material world, while the others are of interest because of their passing influence on the world at large. Bolothamogg (Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars): Bolothamogg is said to be the darkness between the stars, the guardian force or entity that exists to ensure that nothing in the multiverse can escape to taint the true reality of the outer dimensions. More a primal force than a physical entity, Bolothamogg is honored in aboleth architecture by leaving large gaps and empty spaces in the facades of buildings, and by constructing large open coliseums and other structures without roofs.
CHAPTER 2
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However, there is always the possibility of unforeseen events. Just as a massive volcanic eruption can change the face of a world overnight, so can a single event change the strength and power of the aboleth race for better or worse.
THE DEEP MASTERS
One popular theory holds that the slave races developed something new over those millions of years, something the aboleths had no prior experience with and were thus wholly unprepared to defend against. This theory claims that the slave races developed faith and found that there were creatures above the aboleths—creatures with power even more awe-inspiring. Apparently, these slaves called the deities into being, and the deities smote the aboleths to a shadow of their former glory. This, if true, would go a long way toward explaining the aboleth race’s cultural disdain for divine magic. Whatever the cause of it, the primal empire’s devastation was not quite complete. Ruins of the empire survived here and there—terrible structures founded on vile and unclean geometric principles. While the aboleths themselves were nearly obliterated, at least some survived. It might even be possible that only one survived, for a single aboleth, given time, can spawn legions. In any case, the world was free of their reign for another span of time, perhaps millions of years. When the aboleths again emerged from wherever they had hidden, it was into a strange new world, one with a profusion of life beyond what they had managed to achieve. They could not know if this life had been visited upon the world by an outside force of divine nature, or if their surviving slaves and living experiments had simply evolved during their absence. The aboleths didn’t care; they simply knew that the world was theirs, and all other beings were vermin to be exterminated. Thus, the aboleths set about a great crusade to retake the world. Through the millennia, their efforts have been repeated time and time again; they conquer and hold the world for a period before events conspire to wrench it away from their control and force them once again into seclusion. Certainly, the aboleths know how many times this cycle of triumph and defeat has repeated itself, yet this is another subject they never discuss. Learned individuals argue over the current state of the aboleth empire; is it waxing or waning? The growth and decline of this race is spread out over such vast periods of time that it is akin to the observation of events on a geologic scale. A pessimist believes that the aboleths are still building their forces and preparing for an assault on the world, while an optimist sees that they are again in decline. Whatever the truth, it is unlikely that the aboleth race will see any change in activity over the next few thousand years.
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