Arijani / Inajira

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Ail
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Arijani / Inajira

Post by Ail »

Hi all,

I've been making a confusion over these two names. First, there is a GC verse that seems to imply they are the same entity (sorry, I've never had the patience to read the last two modules) but then in the Gaz 1 one is described just as a fiend without any connection in its background to the other, who is, I suppose, the Darklord of Sri Raji. What am I getting wrong? And who is who, by the way?

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Post by Joël of the FoS »

The confusion was probably always left as an early dread possibility.

But it seems those are separate entities.

Inajira is the fiend who fought Strahd (as the hexad adventures, and the Gaz 1 profile), the other one is the rakshasa darklord (Arijani in Web of Illusion).

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Re: Arijani / Inajira

Post by Mortepierre »

Ail wrote:And who is who, by the way?
Inajira is the arcanoloth that has become Strahd's mortal enemy while Arijani is darklord of Sri Raji.

As for the two of them being linked.. who knows?

Rakshasa are, after all, outsiders. Nowadays they are considered "native" but in the days of the 2nd edition, both yugoloths and rakshasa were "natives" of Acheron. I am aware Arijani was apparently born on a Prime Material world but, still, the possibility that one would know of the other exists. Both species are long-lived so that's not so far-fetched as it may sound.
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Post by Jasper »

Arijani is the Darklord of Sri Raji

Inajira is a wandering demon known for his long elebarate contracts with mortals filled with loopholes that allow him to cheat anyone who signs it.


Back when TSR was doing the grand conjunction series thier was going to be a adventure for each of the verses but due to scheduling and changes in the company they had to force the end of the series early and only publish the six adventures-

Feast of Goblyns
Ship of Horror
Touch of Death
Night of the Walking Dead
From the Shadows
Roots of Evil


The adventures would have fit to the hexad like so-

The light of the sky shining over the dead,
Shall gutter and fail, turning all to red.

*Night of the walking dead


In the house of Daegon, the sorcerer born,
Though life, unlife, unliving shall scorn.

*Feast of goblins

The lifeless child of Stern mother found,
Speaks of true death, hammered and bound.

*Ship of Horror

Seventh time the son of suns doth rise,
To send the knave to an eternity of cries.

*Touch of death

Inajira will make his fortunes reverse
Dooming all to live with the dreaded curse.

*Unwritten fifth adventure

The bodiless will journey to time before,
Where happiness to hate makes land of lore.

*From the shadows/Roots of evil
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Post by Ail »

Jasper wrote:Arijani is the Darklord of Sri Raji


Inajira will make his fortunes reverse
Dooming all to live with the dreaded curse.

*Unwritten fifth adventure
Well, this was the one I meant. I had read this first verse as implying that through some device or other Inajira would acquire his name in reverse, thus turning to Arijani. I was always left with the impression, after reading Domains of Dread, that this was the actual meaning suggesting Inajira and Arijani were just two successive states of the same being... but this was before 3E.

Then again, this explanation for the verse is too naïve, but I did get that impression from somewhere else. I just did not happen to ask before, when I could remember from where.

Come to think of it, that imght have been in the VRGtD. I remember Van Richten said something about Inajira.

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Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

I think VRGtD mentioned the connection to acknowledge the "strange coincidence" that resulted when they had to shoehorn Inajira into Roots of Evil. NotWD, I believe, clearly says that the Arijani verse relates to a future adventure set in Sri Raji. But when that got axed, they had to make the verse make sense somehow. Hence, Inajira.
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

Yes, the "Inajira" verse was written back when they expected the Sri Raji adventure (eventually published as "Web of Illusion", minus all Hyskosa-related trappings) would come out soon enough to be a part of the Hexad adventure-arc. "From the Shadows" would originally have been the big finale for the series, had things worked out as planned -- an appropriate climax, given how gamers were fixated upon the original Strahd/Tatyana/Sergei tragedy at the time: it was, and probably still is, the most powerful single piece of drama in Ravenloft's mythos -- but when the intended fifth adventure didn't appear, FtS was revised to take place earlier (the REAL reason Azalin mucked up the prophecy! :wink: ), and an entirely different "big finale" had to be concocted, instead.

The business about going back in time to sabotage Inajira's temptation of Strahd -- and Inajira's own existance within the setting, for that matter; originally, "Inajira" truly was an inverted reference to Arijani -- was a re-interpretation of the "fortunes reversed" reference in that line of the Hexad.
Last edited by Rotipher of the FoS on Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Rotipher, you're right for the most part, except one detail. RoE still IS the finale. It's just that From the Shadows happened first, making the prophecy out of order. I assume RoE would've been very different if WoI came out in time. (Or maybe FtS would've been the finale?)
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

D'oh! Yeah, you're right Gonz: it was "From the Shadows" I was thinking of, not "Roots of Evil". Arrrgh, looks like the dreadful name-reversing curse of the Fifth Verse is affecting ME, now! :evil: :wink: :evil:

Okay, previous post revised to actually make a lick of sense now. Sorry if I confused anybody. :oops:

Seriously, I doubt if the Hexad would have even resulted in the same kind of "Grand Conjuction", had the preceeding adventures been released as initially planned. My personal theory is that the PCs would have had a chance to change the outcome of Strahd's original AoUD -- why else send them back to the past, if the whole business with the Book of Keeping wasn't originally part of the storyline? -- but would've learned just in time that this would unleash the darklords back into their original worlds (resulting in untold mayhem), so would have had no choice but to let history take its course. Granted, that's awfully hard on the residents of Ravenloft, itself ... but remember, back then Ravenloft was a weekend-in-hell setting everybody was out to escape from, not truly a world in its own right, in most gamers' minds: a desire to aid the Land's native cultures, rather than just the (all-outlander) PCs' homeworlds, simply wasn't on your average player's radar, back then.
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Re: Arijani / Inajira

Post by alhoon »

Mortepierre wrote: Rakshasa are, after all, outsiders. Nowadays they are considered "native" but in the days of the 2nd edition, both yugoloths and rakshasa were "natives" of Acheron.
Acheron is a L.Evil plane. The Yugoloths come from Gehena (Sp) I think. The plane with the volcanos.

PS. Javier is better than me in this. He is the planescape adept.
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Re: Arijani / Inajira

Post by Bluebomber4evr »

alhoon wrote:
Mortepierre wrote: Rakshasa are, after all, outsiders. Nowadays they are considered "native" but in the days of the 2nd edition, both yugoloths and rakshasa were "natives" of Acheron.
Acheron is a L.Evil plane. The Yugoloths come from Gehena (Sp) I think. The plane with the volcanos.
While the vast bulk of the yugoloth population dwells on Gehenna, their plane of origin is the Gray Wastes of Hades.
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Post by alhoon »

Yeap. I stand corrected :)
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Post by Mortepierre »

The reference was to 2nd edition.

Look in the original Planescape boxed set (DM Guide to the Planes, p.49, right column, last paragraph).

Back then, Rakshasa and Yugoloths were deemed the only true natives of Acheron.
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Post by Bluebomber4evr »

Mortepierre wrote:The reference was to 2nd edition.

Look in the original Planescape boxed set (DM Guide to the Planes, p.49, right column, last paragraph).

Back then, Rakshasa and Yugoloths were deemed the only true natives of Acheron.
Yes, but that same book also says they're "native" to Gehenna and the Gray Wastes. Their plane of origin is still Hades/the Gray Wastes, they've just branched out and established "colonies" in Gehenna and Acheron.
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Post by Mortepierre »

Fair is fair. I stand corrected :oops:
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