Plate of Ancient Evils

The Plate of Ancient Evils

There is no set list of entities for a plate of ancient evil. The beings depicted on these plates vary from place to place, with variations even within the same geographical location. Even the representations vary. The most commonly surviving come from Yohkaen, Zhug'Arod, and Mag'Gard.

Yohkaen Plates depicts four animal-headed dark gods, a boar, a bull, a vulture, and a crocodile. These are usually done as bas relief, raised from the surface of the plate, and painted in vivid colors before the plate was fired in a kiln. Late Yohkaen plates lose the bas relief and either have the dark gods painted on their surface or their associated glyphs in primary colors. There are cold painted plates of ancient evils, but these tend to be discounted, if there was no effort put into the making of the plate it is assumed they were ornamental and not actually used.

Zhug'Aradian plates depict five non-anthropomorphic entities, reflecting their greater warlike nature. They depict a massive coiling serpent, a being made of fire, a temple of darkness, a stone woman, and a monstrous skull with fangs and antlers. Zhug'Aradian plates are noted for being large, typically three feet across. In comparison, the Yohkaen plates seem small, most being less than a foot wide. There are also indentations and holes made into Zhug'Aradian bowls for the burning of stick or cone incense, and a 'well' in the center.

Mag'Gardian bowls are rare, as they were not especially known for producing artifacts, and being semi-nomadic, everything was at risk of being broken during travel. Mag'Gardian plates depict an eagle-headed being with a bow and spears, a goat-headed squat being with axes in both hands, a lion-headed being with a sword and a wheat scythe, and merfolk being with the head of a shark and armed with a great gaff hook. 

Usage:

In older times, Plates of Ancient Evil were kept in a household, typically concealed in part of the family altar. When there were bad times, the plate would be brought out and put in the center of the alter. It was generally believed that by making direct prayer and offerings to the spirits of Ancient Evils that they would be appeased, and would move along. This was common during times of drought, war, and pandemics of pestilence and disease. Specific incenses could be burned in the plates, and offerings would be made in the normal fashion.

It is worth noting that the veneration of the ancient evils was no form of demonism, infernalism, or other dark worship. It was seen as a sort of bribery, tribute to be offered so that the dark forces would leave. Many cultures that used these plates and offering systems did not believe that it was the purpose of good and evil to oppose each other until a final apocalyptic confrontation that destroyed the world. Good and evil were more akin to summer and winter, part of a cycle, like night and day. During the purges, consolidations, and changes of pantheons and religions, this acceptance of darkness and evil as a normal part of existence was pushed to the fringes, and the use of these plates faded. Few plates survived, as the destruction of home altars was a major component of the religious consolidations. With home altars ruined, those people would be forced to worship at a central temple, ran by clergy, and would be forced to take spiritual guidance and atonement from said clergy.

Magical Applications:

The Plate of Ancient Evils is technically not a magic item or wondrous object, though several are known to be. Most carry the magical resonance of being used by families, often for generations, and can be used in nethermancy, speaking with the dead, and be used for spells protecting against evil or darkness.

It is believed that the regular use and sacrifice involved with a plate of ancient evils could actually change negative events. Households with a properly used plate, including the proper pungent incenses, and offerings of blood, alcohol, and potent herbs, fared better than houses that did nothing.

Known Wondrous Plates of Ancient Evils

The Plate of Rurra Pentha - an impressively large piece of stoneware, the plate of Rurra Pentha is almost four and a half feet wide and a foot and a half deep. It is specifically large enough for living sacrifice to be made into the bowl, typically chickens, suckling pigs, and other small animals. During the Dynastic Plagues in the Years of Black Blood, the high lords and ladies of Rurra Pentha ended up sacrificing six of their own children to the plate to end the Dynastic Plague in the region. The body of the sacrificial victim was left on the plate for three days, then the next offering was made. Five bodies rotted to the bone in each three-day period, and the sixth did not, and soon after the plagues ended.

The Plate of Ku Hullen - this plate is unusual in that it is a dark green color, and the evil spirits are depicted in almost nightmarish beauty. The plate was created and used in a city-wide ritual to bind a specific entity into the plate. Ku Hullen was a necrophage and was feasting on the dead of the city. The entity appeared as a grotesquely fat man pulling a trundle cart, laughing and singing as it gathered the corpses from the street. It would carry them to the center of town where one by one it would strip the corpses naked, inspect them, and then consume them, spitting out polished bones. Before starting its next round of gathering bodies it would gurgle and let out a stream of putrified waste. Attempts to kill Ku Hallen had failed, and those heroes bones were among the piles. The people came and offered their own blood and the last of their spirits, their strong herbs, anything they had, to end the beast. A number of people, often the last survivors of their households, asked that they be helped offer their everything, committing ritual suicide to bleed out into the plate. Legend says the plate boiled and steamed as something was accepting their offering. The next morning the common square was empty. The filth was gone, and the only evidence that Ku Hallen had been there was the smashed cart, and gouges cut into the stone where something came and took the dark monster. Ku Hallen is bound to the plate, and it it believed that if the plate were broken, or attuned and mastered, the eater of the dead could be released or summoned.