The Plane of Torment floats silently in the ether that lies between the
planes. Resembling a large black cube, it has been manifested to
reflect the cruelty of the goddess Saryrn who embodies endless pain and
suffering in mind, body, and spirit. The material in this plane is
bound together by the suffering of its inhabitants; as the plane tastes
more suffering, it grows in power.
Many interconnected islands are suspended above a large lake of blood.
Obsidian pillars and barbed chains connect to the inner regions of the
massive cube to hold many of the islands aloft and support the
suspension bridges that connect island to island. The entire plane is
coated in a fine mist of blood.
border="1">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/30381" title="ShipCombat">
src="/image/view/30381/preview" width="200">
A view of the Plane
of Torment.
The plane is littered with various implements of torture. Moans,
screams, and the sounds of rattling chains echo off of the cold walls.
The Mistress of Torment is often heard giggling or singing along to the
tunes of her victims' pleas.
The Citadel of Pain looms as the largest structure in the plane,
standing in the center of the network of ramps, bridges, and islands.
The sound of rushing water leads the eyes to large streams of blood
that pour from the sides of the citadel. Large glass windows at the top
of the citadel allow Saryrn to view the entire plane from her private
chambers.
The cube that Saryrn inhabits is as much a place of confinement for her
as it is for victims. In the perverse manner of those who savor their
own pain, she enjoys it. After all, it is her anger and pain that make
up her very fabric of the astral plan, and her hate-filled insanity
prevents her from yearning for anything more.
The creatures one may find in the cube are manifestations of Saryrn's
pain and rage. In addition, she satiates her lust for misery by
acquiring new victims from outside her cubed lair. One of her most
recent victims is a young bard from the Plane of Tranquility. The pain
that she inflicts on others fuels her constant suffering, forcing her
to lash out again in a vicious cycle. This cycle of pain is emblematic
of torment itself.
Background
Story
Born a woman of striking beauty, Saryrn had a laugh that would make the
flowers bloom. She received a vision wherein Erollisi Marr blessed her
and promised her a rare and special kind of love. She was promised that
she would meet her soul mate and that should she master all the
principles of love, together they would share a long and happy life
together.
In the vision, she was shown the man of whom Erollisi Marr had spoken.
He was a Paladin of Marr. They courted and in the fullness of time,
married. Her husband served during the day but every night and morning
they were together in their modest hillside home on the outskirts of
Freeport. It seemed to her that Erollisi's prediction had come true.
Their life was idyllic and blissful at first but then she began to
become very possessive and even distrustful of her husband. This fact
became more readily apparent as the honeymoon wore off and her paladin,
ever faithful, grew concerned by her comments, every day she asked if
he really loved her or if he would ever leave her for another, more
beautiful, woman. His great love for her blinded him to what he assumed
were simply idiosyncratic musings. He assured her daily that she was
the only one in his heart and the only one who would ever be able to
fill that empty space in his soul he had suffered with before meeting
her. Despite his daily affirmations of love and faithfulness, the
nagging, painful blister of distrust grew and festered in her mind.
border="1">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/30377" title="ShipCombat">
src="/image/view/30377/preview" width="200">
The twisted form of
Saryn
One morning they shared a nice breakfast in the morning sun. So long
did they enjoy each other's company that the paladin found he was very
late for patrol. He rushed off in a hurry. Saryrn became concerned when
she noticed her husband had forgotten the lunch she had made for him.
She grabbed the basket and set off to meet him on his patrol.
She walked the streets for hours, her mind filling with worry. The
lunch she had made and lovingly wrapped in a cloth became a burdensome
stone. With her growing frustration over the failure to locate her
husband on his normal patrol route, suspicions began to rise like
odious snakes in her mind, until the blister of her mistrust finally
ruptured.
He truly was cheating on her and nothing could convince her otherwise.
As the cruel afternoon sun blazed high in the arid sky, her mind
twisted and the caustic acid of jealously quickly eroded and ate away
at the love in her heart. Though she was not certain of the identity of
the lover who she believed had managed to steal her soul mate, she
began to plan her vengeance against them both. She became dizzy and
staggered at the enormity of the effect these images had upon her.
As she marched through the streets, a contemptuous sneer confessed the
terrible thoughts bubbling through the last pockets of sanity
struggling to survive in her tormented mind. As she stumbled through
the streets, she heard his laughter coming from an inn sometime shortly
after the noon hour. The laughter seemed to mock her and this was the
final proof she needed to convince her of his infidelity.
She peered through the window and saw her husband sitting at a table
– a cooked bird, a small loaf of bread and a flagon of drink
before him. It was obvious, to her at least, that he didn't like her
cooking any more either. It was then that a serving wench, younger and
prettier then she walked up to him. As she refilled his glass, she said
something to him. They both laughed and then she touched him. It was
only a light touch to the shoulder but the look the lass gave him as
she walked away convinced Saryrn that both her husband and the serving
wench needed to pay and pay dearly.
And make them pay she did. Over the course of weeks, they paid in
screams and tears. She tortured the two with metal skewers, hot irons
and wood splinters. They paid with flayed skin over which she poured
vinegar, a weak acid only strong enough to intensify the pain. The
serving wench escaped to the peace of death long before the paladin,
whose body was strong. Even as Saryrn administered her physical
torments and brayed litany of harsh and evil words, her husband still
professed his love for her unto his death.
Saryrn moved from her home in Freeport and used her amazing beauty to
build a new life for herself. She followed a common pattern for many
years. She would meet a young man, marry, and eventually torture him
and some unsuspecting female relation to death. Each instance allowed
the insanity that lived within her to grow stronger and more tangible.
As the years passed and her list of victims grew, she began to notice
that she was not alone.
border="1">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/30378" title="ShipCombat">
src="/image/view/30378/preview" width="200">
An image of Maareq
the prophet.
A voice spoke to her. The voice was an unintended result of her visit
from Erollisi Marr. Gods often speak to mortals, but these interactions
do not always produce the effect that the god intended. Saryrn is an
example of such a case. The words that Erollisi spoke to Saryrn
produced a resonating echo in the mind of the young girl. This echo
eventually took the form of Baraguj Szuul.
It was his voice that spoke to Saryrn and informed her of her husband's
infidelities. After she resolved the issue with the Paladin and his
lover, the voice grew louder. He spoke to her of unfathomable
possibilities and the weakness of man. Soon another voice began to
speak to her as well. It was the voice of Maareq the Prophet. He
foretold of her ascension into the pantheon of the gods. She prepared
for the fulfillment of his prophecy and began to practice the dark arts
under his tutelage.
As the years passed and her power grew, her vision of another place
began to grow as well. Each year and each victim fed her imagination.
She crafted a place of perfect pain in her mind. A citadel of obsidian
rose from the depths of world's suffering and she found shelter in its
walls.
Eventually, all memories of the mortal world escaped her. She was alone
in perfection with the only people she loved and the minions she
created for amusement. She found that she had the ability to move
through the minds of mortals. She used this ability to find new victims
and return their spirits to her lair. As they suffered, her power grew
and her reach expanded.
Maareq's prophecy was true. Saryrn ascended beyond the realm of man.
She was transformed into the Goddess of Pain. This transformation sent
ripples through the fabric of the Planes. Many of the Elder gods
regarded the occurrence as another example of why they should not
meddle in the affairs of mortal, while, several other gods seized the
opportunity to use this newcomer to extend their power in the mortal
realm. Saryrn soon found herself in a pact with the dark triad:
Innoruuk, Cazic-Thule, and Bertoxxulous.
Saryrn's abode, the Demi-Plane of Pain, is hot, damp and uncomfortable.
There are no flat surfaces on which to walk. Instead the ground is
cluttered with small, closely placed, stalagmites of smooth obsidian.
Even one dexterous enough to walk between the small dagger-like
extrusions would be hard pressed not to stumble and fall on the
slippery ground.
The air is filled with a sharp, acrid odor that burns and irritates the
nose and throat. Often, the dreary yellow sky rains saltwater that when
dried, becomes corrosive to everything it covers and causes painful
ulcers to form on exposed skin. It is never day nor is it ever night.
There is only a sickly twilight that makes both the normal activities
of the day and the peace of the night a concept beyond reach for
inhabitants of the plane.
border="1">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/30379" title="ShipCombat">
src="/image/view/30379/preview" width="200">
A shot of the Keeper
of Sorrows.
Muffled cries and moans of despair are carried far and wide on hot,
cruel winds that blow endlessly, bearing stinging sand and grit.
Nothing lives in this place of its own accord save the mistress
herself. To simply exist in her domain is torment.
Saryrn busies herself by spending personal time with those cursed
enough to live in her realm. She captures and torments her subjects
mentally and physically and completely at random. The length of their
torment before she releases them again is also completely random -
based mainly upon her whims. Those who fall into her hands may suffer
but a few moments or for months at a time. All live with the fear that
at any time, she may choose them as a partner.
The
Fabled
Saryrn, Mistress of
Torment
In her mortal life she was a truly devout follower of Erollisi, Marr,
the Goddess of Love. Her love fueled her existence, and she gave the
fullest of her being to the indulgence of this emotion; a love of art,
music, food, and drink, and eventually, the love of another. With the
discovery of what she was supposed was her soul mate, Saryrn was
overcome with a sense of the true meaning of her existence. Her husband
was her life and purpose, as his love for her was to be his.
However, she was cursed; not be means of arcane or divine intervention,
but through her own inability to control and moderate her indulgence of
love. She gave herself entirely unto it, and it would be her downfall.
Upon the knowledge that her husband's heart belonged to another, Saryrn
was destroyed. She stewed from afar as her husband's affections grew
further removed from her and slowly, her own love turned into writing
envy, hate, and ultimately bloodlust.
Upon the brutal execution of her husband and is mistress, Saryrn went
mad and set out to torture and ultimately destroy anything she saw as
sacred to Erollisi Marr. She strove to replicate her anguish in others,
contorting and twisting love's blessings into a medium for pain,
despair, and utter torment.
Keeper of Sorrows
The Keeper of Sorrows is one of the many fiends that protects Saryrn
and defends the Plane of Torment from intruders.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EverQuest Game Page.
