As part of my ever-vigilant crusade to create a D&D campaign, I needed a few powerful entities for the characters to seek out/annoy/beat the absolute shit out of. Here is one such entity.

Erchius started out in a failed book series me and a former friend co-wrote. In it, Erchius was one of eight powerful demigods that had been imprisoned underneath an ancient city. Upon its release, Erchius immediately set its sights on corrupting as many people as possible with its strange and dangerous magic, as well as its power over light, crystals, metal, and energy. However, one particularly powerful hero stood up to Erchius, and gave their life and physical form to wound Erchius enough to cause it to be imprisoned again. As a permanent reminder of that moment of weakness, Erchius forever carries the scar of its wound- a large red crack on its otherwise flawless body.

In my campaign world, Erchius was first discovered inside of a giant meteorite that fell to the planet's surface, like a giant geode. In its powerless state, it was taken to be broken into pieces. But once Erchius's finders realized what it actually was, they immediately made sure to take it as far away from the civilized lands as possible, to a secluded island far in the south. There, it was hidden in a floe of volcanic rock. Its finders then settled the island, creating the indigenous race that now lives there.

But whatever happened- a cruel twist of fate, perhaps, through Erchius's mind-altering magic, or miscommunication over the generations- the locals now venerate Erchius in its sleeping state, calling it the Dreamstone. They are woefully ignorant of the danger they are in as they seek to feed its power and free it from its rocky prison, let alone the danger they put the rest of the world in. And if Erchius should ever reawaken, they will be the first to die...

...or worse.

Erchius and the Kethoras D&D campaign setting belong to me.