Description
In the standard cosmology, they are from Mechanus, the Lawful Neutral aligned Outer Plane. Inevitables are built and programmed in automated factories called creche-forges; one of them, mentioned in the Manual of the Planes, is called Neumannus (a reference to Von Neumann machines). Every type of inevitable is designed to enforce a particular type of universal law and will pursue its objective at any cost. In order to fulfill their tasks, they may ally themselves with other creatures or, if necessary, sacrifice themselves.
After they complete a mission, they go in search of other transgressors, some of whom they may have encountered while on previous missions. Unlike other constructs, they may learn from experience and may even develop individual personalities over time. Eventually, they are called back to Mechanus, where their personalities and knowledge are erased so they can begin anew.
The Manual of the Planes sourcebook and later the 3.5 Monster Manual lists the main types of inevitables. They are:
- Zelekhut. These represent the ineluctability of justice. They are extremely skilled trackers and usually hunt those who flee to avoid punishment. They resemble mechanical centaurs with golden wings and use built-in spiked chains charged with electricity as their primary weapons.
- Kolyarut. These represent the ineluctability of agreements. They hunt oathbreakers, often assuming humanoid form. Their natural forms resemble humanoids made of black metal and dressed in robes. They are typically armed with swords.
- Marut. These represent the ineluctability of death. They hunt for those who either extend their lifespan unnaturally (such as liches and maybe elans) or those who commit extreme acts to keep themselves from death (such as sacrificing hundreds of others to save themselves from a plague). Maruts resemble muscular humanoids made of polished black metal, and typically use their fists in battle.
The Fiend Folio lists two others, which are:
- Varakhut. These protect the integrity of divinity by hunting down beings who are attempting to ascend to godhood. Should the attempt be successful, however, the varakhuts will defend the new god as part of the natural order, as they are also tasked with hunting down any being who attempts to kill a god. Varakhuts appear as a humanoid-shaped creature made out of metallic polygons, and fight using disintegration beams.
- Quarut. These protect the integrity of space and time, usually against wizards with the power to alter reality with wish spells or time travel. They resemble metallic humanoids made of golden clockwork with hourglasses for heads, and seal opponents in bubbles of slowed time.
Sandstorm introduces a sixth inevitable:
- Waste Crawler (Anhydrut). Anhydruts oppose anyone who attempts to change deserts by irrigation, farming, etc.
More information about inevitables can be found in the March 2006 edition of Dragon magazine (#341), in the article Ecology of the Inevitable by David Noonan.
Read more about this topic: Inevitable (Dungeons & Dragons)
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“The great object in life is Sensation—to feel that we exist, even though in pain; it is this “craving void” which drives us to gaming, to battle, to travel, to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)