Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.
In this column, we take some of the lands from Magic: The Gathering and turn them into something you can use for your fantasy games.
The stats given in each entry assumes that you’re using Pathfinder or 5e for your games, but they can easily be converted over into any fantasy system. This week we find celestial refuge at the Cathedral of Serra.
Cathedral of Serra
The Cathedral of Serra is located atop a single carved mountaintop peak. It’s taken the people who live here hundreds of years of unceasing work to carve the mountain top into a semblance of what they’d find on their home among the celestial planes. The cathedral is devoted to an unbelievably powerful magic-user (though no one is quite sure what type of magic she wielded) named Serra — she was powerful enough that not only did she create a home among the celestial planes, but she ascended to demi-godhood before mysteriously vanishing. The people living at the Cathedral hope and pray that one day she will return to them, but until then they will rigorously try to live up to her ideals.
Those who come here often seek knowledge from the Cathedral’s vast library on planar travel and the various traits of different planes. Some come here though, simply to serve Serra in doing as much good as they can.
Lay of the Land
The Cathedral of Serra sits atop a single mountain peak where a gigantic staircase with more than 10,000 steps has been carved into it. It is therefore relatively easy, though exhausting, to ascend from the bottom of the mountain and up to the Cathedral at the top. Above the Cathedral float several towers, that are turned upside down, from where angels and magic users can survey and protect the Cathedral and the lands around it.
The levitating towers are made in the image of the plane that Serra created. There, floating buildings are common, though the upside-down part of them is supposed to serve as a reflection of the fact that they’re no longer a part of the celestial planes or world. This serves the spellcasters just fine, though the angels seem to have a bit of an issue with it. Avians and other flying creatures are easily confused around the towers, especially if they have wings, as each tower has its own gravitational pull, forcing those around it to align with it so that the rest of the world becomes upside down in comparison.
Dangers
Aside from the gravitic pull that each tower exudes, the lands near the Cathedral of Serra are safe, IF you come here with good intentions. If you come here with evil in your heart or with bad intentions of causing harm to others, you’ll find yourself beset by a squad of celestials (typically devas (PF2 / 5e ) but occasionally more powerful creatures will emerge. These will question the intruder in question and will banish them if they do not find their answer to their liking. If the intruders cause more trouble than the devas are able to handle, they’ll call upon “The Illuminated One,” a solar (PF2 / 5e) said to serve Serra directly.
And that concludes the Cathedral of Serra. See you next week? 😊
Kim Frandsen
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