My Arabian Nights inspired Dungeons and Dragons game is still running and I found myself a few weeks ago needing somewhere to send the players to look for a certain item. I’d already mentioned that the caravan route they were on crossed the Sakina River at the villiage of Talv and made its way up the east bank so as to stay away from a sorcerer’s tower of evil reputation so therefore I went looking for a wizard’s tower. Dyson’s maps are always amazing and his site was my first stop yielding up just what I was looking for.
Dyson’s awesome Shattered Tower has now become the Coral Tower of Naaman al-Raman, restocked and reskined for an Arabian Nights feel. Now a tower of this magnitude needs a good story behind it and therefore I give you
The Legend of Naaman al-Raman
and the
Genie Prince Khedive Murrah Abu Zobaah
Naaman was an elven sorcerer of great reknown. Magic of all varieties was his obsession, not willing to rely on genies alone but also not willing to ignore their wisdom and skill he bridged the domains of Sha’ir and Sorcerer. Naaman even dedicated himself for several years to the worship of Zann The Learned exploring the divine mysteries of his clerics. His long life allowed him to extend his studies beyond those of shorter lived races and deepen his understanding and skill.
As the years lengthened his studies moved more and more towards the realm of flame. He was not only a powerful elemental sorcerer but also often seen with an Efreeti companion who bound himself to Naaman. It was even rumoured that he frequently visited the City Of Brass on the elemental plane of fire and the court of Marrake al-Sidan al-Harig ben Lazan, ruler of the Efreeti.
Unknown to most of the genie race Naaman worked at creating a devastatingly strong genie prison known as “The Liquid Heart”. Some say that the Efreeti helped him to construct it, knowing who his target was, but it is almost certain that some of them knew of its construction and did not move to stop Naaman’s work. Nobody is sure how Naaman arranged a meeting with Murrah Abu Zobaah, esteemed Khedive of the Great Padisha of the Marid, Kalbari al-Durrat al-Amwaj ibn Jari, Pearl of the Sea but somehow he managed it. Somehow Naaman also tricked Murrah into lowering his guard and ensnared this mighty Maharaja of the oceans within The Liquid Heart.
When the court of the Citadel of Ten Thousand pearls discovered the fate of the Khedive they wept and raged. For any genie noble to be enslaved by a mortal is grievous but for such a noble marid to be subjugated thus was unheard of and all understood that action had to be taken. Yet the Padisha Kalbari was counselled to caution by her vizier wary of open hostilities breaking out between The Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls and The City of Brass. While the genie races keep their own counsel and the political machinations of their courts are deliberately veiled from the eyes of mortals there are rumours that an unnamed faction of Efreeti seeking war between the realms of fire and water were working the situation towards just such means. Through the Padisha’s patience and care peace was maintained between the nations but the delay that diplomacy caused was the downfall of poor Murrah Abu Zobaah.
Long had Naaman worked on the prison of Murrah and his plan was not some careless fancy. With such a noble and powerful captive ensnared Naaman bent all his skill and power into one single project. Binding powerful sorcery with rituals dedicated to Zann The Learned the enslaved Murrah found his power tied to the creation and protection of a great coral tower in the foothills of the Furrowed Mountains. Naaman perverted the normal bindings by which geniekind are enslaved by mortals, binding Murrah to him until the tower should fall while also linking the noble marid’s very essence to the tower.
When the forces of Padisha Kalbari were free from concerns that rash action would start a war with The City of Brass they arrived at the Furrowed Mountains to find that the enchantments protecting the coral tower were such that they could not even approach within a mile of it. Indeed not even the Efreeti, whom it is rumoured were involved with the building of The Liquid Heart, found that they could not approach the tower unless summoned by Naaman in such a way that they were powerless to take action against him. The court of The City of Ten Thousand Pearls used its influence among the mortals to try to recover The Liquid Heart and free Murrah from his slavery but Naaman’s power was too much for those who set out to assail the tower.
Many are the stories of Naaman but while more than forty years have passed since he was last seen his assumed death is clouded in mystery. His tower remains standing, the region around it shunned by mortals and immortals alike rumoured to be populated by the petrified remains of those who once sought to free Murrah from his captivity.
The players didn’t seem quite as pleased when they saw the tower as I was when I did. I can’t imagine why 🙂
Riotous GM 
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