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The Beams
In Roland's World, there are six Beams, each with two Guardians, one at each end. The great subterranean machines that hold the Beams steady are proof against all invaders, even should they get past the Guardian itself. The Beams are the metranomes of the Symphony that was shattered by the creation of the Dark Tower, and with the Tower as a center point, they hold Roland's world together.
However, all worlds were created by Gan, and what happens in one cannot fail to affect the others. The Symphony plays through all times, a song which echoes themes and measures from one world to the other. If the Tower falls, a part of the Symphony dies. A large part of it, in fact...so large that Gan itself would be immeasurably weakened, and the White in all the worlds would falter. This was Dis' intention: to create the Tower to be the lynchpin of worlds, then pull it down and watch them all fall apart.
The seven remaining Archangels of Roland's world sought to fight this (although they never understood exactly what they were fighting) by binding their power and substance into the beams, to help support the Tower, so that it would never fall. Six made this ultimate, selfless sacrifice: Dominic, Archangel of Judgment; David, Archangel of Stone; Gabriel, Archangel or Fire; Jordi, Archangel of Animals; Jean, Archangel of Lightning; and Eli, Archangel of Creation. All six of the heavenly choirs were represented, forming a symmetry that would aid the Tower's strength, and each Archangel would be reduced to two, and only two, vessels: The Guardians. The Guardians were created by the triple inspiration of Blandine, Gabriel, and Jean, who between them guided the human scientists of the LaMerk Foundation into building the monstrous animal vessels...which in form were a tribute to Jordi, who (in this world as in others) was the first to discover the secret of the creation of vessels. Once the Beams came online, there was only Blandine, Guardian of the Tower, secret patron of LaMerk and Sombra.
Gabriel: The Beam of Turtle to Bear.
Dominic: The Beam of Snake to Eagle.
David: The Beam of Horse to Dog.
Jordi: The Beam of Rat to Fish.
Jean: The Beam of Elephant to Wolf.
Eli: The Beam of Hare to Ape.
Within the Beams, the Archangels still had limited powers to affect the minds of men, as long as those men were within range of the Beams' power. Those travelling in the Path of the Beam will have aspects of that Archangel's Word seep into their soul in subtle, unexpected ways. It is no surprise that Gilead was built on Dominic's Beam, and was a place of justice and the birthplace of the Gunslingers, or that those who travel on Gabriel's Beam find themselves assaulted by visions and wild inspirations. GMs should interpret effects of a Beam on PCs and NPCs liberally.
Breaking a Beam: There are two facets involved in shattering one of the great Beams, and soul-killing the bound Archangel within. These Archangels cannot Fall, but their Words can be /weakened/; thus, the first requirement is to change the tides of the Beam's effect on humanity. Gilead and its surrounding nations were weakened by the Good Man, and his twisting of Justice into Injustice, and Law into Anarchy. The more the folk along the Beam came to reject law and order in favor of bloody revolution and indisciminate killing, the weaker Dominic became. However, this alone would not have been enough to break the Beam, had the Crimson King not had his Breakers, working with a variant Song of Thunder, causing massive levels of Disturbance along the Beam itself, seeking out its weak spots and widening them with each moment. Eventually, with pressure both within, and without, the Beam shattered.
In the time of the books, there are three Beams remaining, the Beam of Stone, the Beam of Lightning, and the Beam of Fire. Of the three, only Lightning and Fire remain at near-full strength. Earlier campaigns could go into the details of how the other Beams were lost (or saved...in the game, it's always possible for the PCs to change the course of history).
The Rainbow
Maerlyn's Rainbow consists of 13 glass balls, each an artifact of incredible power. They were created by Maerlyn, Child of Eld, and a Sorcerer easily on the same level as Lilith. However, Maerlyn served the White, and created the Rainbow so that the White and the Gunslingers could face and overcome the forces of Dis. Sometime in the Sorcerer's very long life, we know that he became corrupted, and through his corruption, his artifacts were lost, scattered across the worlds. Some of these glasses, (like 'Maerlyn's Grapefruit' and Black 13) were corrupted by him, but not all. Some were lost before he could change them. Of the 13 balls, we have only seen three:
The Pink: Also known as Maerlyn's Grapefruit, this glass grants its user the ability to see what is happening in different places. Once, it was held by the line of Eld, and used to dispatch Gunslingers to trouble areas with supernatural accuracy. Now, however, it has been corrupted. The visions it shows are warped and harmful...it searches the mind of its user, and shows them what they should never see. Also, every user must make a Will check every time they gaze into the glass, or become addicted to the glamour of the ball.
The Black: Also known as Black 13, and the most powerful of the Rainbow. This was the ball last made. It was crafted from a piece of stone brought from the Dark Tower itself, gifted (although Maerlyn did not know it) by the Crimson King himself. It was the usage of /this/ ball that began the Sorcerer's corruption, and Black 13 still seeks to ensnare and destroy any who use it. Its power allows the one who holds it to walk from one world to another, to Heaven, to Hell, or any place in between, regardless of their current state of being. However, each time it is used, the user rolls Will: every failed roll adds a level of Ethereal Discord.
The White: Also known as 'The Talisman' and 'The Holy Grail', the white ball of the Rainbow is a powerful, if elusive, force for good in all the worlds. It has been imprisoned, but never broken, hidden, but never tarnished. It can heal any wound, cure any illness, and be used by only the people it chooses to be used by. It also shares some of the Tower's properties, and can bolster the ability of people to move through the different worlds /if/ they already possess that ability. However, it is terribly, terribly fragile...if one of its holders should become corrupted, they can easily shatter this crystal ball, and snuff out its light forever. Finding and destroying The Talisman is one of the great priorities of Dis.
The properties and colors of other Bends of the Rainbow can be speculated about, although it is certain that some, perhaps even most, of them have been shattered in the times since Maerlyn walked the earths. Many of the Bends are corrupted, but some are not. All are hunted by the followers of Dis, either to covet or destroy. On occassion, the King himself will direct that one of the balls he controls be offered to some person or another, but /only/ if he is certain that it will be used for evil.
In our world, the only certain possessor of a Bend is Kronos, and he possesses the Timekeeper, the Yellow Bend. This corrupted ball allows him to see the darkest ending of any being (he alone has seen the Fate of Gan), as well as to manipulate the bounds of time itself. Two of his Servitor Attunements take their power directly from this Bend, and its possession is his second most dearly held secret. The first, of course, is that he is a general of Dis, and not a follower of Lucifer, at all. Even Lucifer is unaware of the existence of the Bends, or that one of his Princes holds one.
GMs should be careful when bringing any Bend into a campaign, be it pure or corrupted. The Bends possess remarkable, game-breaking powers, and to fail to acknowledge that is to both downplay their majesty and to endanger the playability of the campaign. No PC party should ever hold more than one at a time, and then only for a specific purpose or goal, after which, they lose the Bend.
The Rose and the Writer
As the Tower touches all worlds, so do the Beams, by virtue of their connection with it. Symbols and anchors of various Beams manifest in our world, and in other worlds, even as symbols of the Tower do. These anchors are rather like Tethers, except that instead of being passageways from one world to another, they are shunts for the gates. The influence of the Archangel spills out from these in an unstoppable flow, and in some way, the Archangel gains energy in turn. The Rose in NYC and the Writer in Maine are both anchors of Gabriel's Beam. Inspiration, prophecy, glory, and wild joy spill out into the world from their point. If these anchors were to be destroyed, the Beam would be terribly, terribly weakened, and the process of Breaking, which usually takes centuries, could be accomplished in weeks.
Celestials or Saints in the presence of an anchor may make a perception roll, adding their Celestial Forces if they serve the same Word as the Beam. If successful, they believe that they have found a Strong Influence Tether of the Superior to whom the Beam is tied. However, no upper locus for this Tether can be found, and anyone attempting to ascend through an anchor will end up in Roland's world, at the appropriate end of the Beam. Note that this does NOT work in the other direction! There are only 12 anchors in all of the worlds, and some of them are mobile (the anchor of the Writer was in a different artist before him, and a holy madman before that, and a dreaming child before /that/...), and others have their own guardians, who kill first and ask questions later.
The destruction of an anchor causes 100 points of Disturbance, with no echoes. Aware beings in the area can be stunned by the explosion, and in the corporeal realms, earthquakes, floods, random outbreaks of violence, mass suicides, and storms that arrive out of nowhere are not uncommon. While the destruction is not as great as a Beamquake, it is likely to be followed very shortly by that very event.
Demons who take celestial form in the presence of an anchor discover that it resembles a Heavenly Tether in another respect: it /burns/. They take celestial damage exactly as if they were in the locus of a Strong Angelic Tether.
Doors and Doorkeepers
Doors between the worlds are rare, especially in our world. Many of those which used to exist were believed to be Ethereal Tethers, and destroyed in the Purity Crusade. Those that remain are few and hidden, and typically only answer to the 'right' person at the 'right' time. These can only be opened in the presence of a favorable Intervention, or with a key gained during a previous Intervention. An unfavorable Intervention should result in something very, very nasty...the doors go places other than our world or Roland's.
Many of the remaining doors have Doorkeepers. Some of these are Renegade demons, some are ethereals, some may even be humans or Outcast angels who have been bound into service by Gan or Dis. They have many of the benefits of being a Word-Bound Seneschal of a Strong Tether, and one additional: they can /choose/ which world to cause Disturbance in, while in the presence of their doors. For obvious reasons, most Disturbance gets shunted to Roland's world (further aiding the breakdown of the Symphony there, but that is a largely unrealized side effect) so as not to call attention to the door in a world with more celestials. Any sentient being is eligible to become a Doorkeeper...all that is required is finding a door and swearing yourself to its protection, even if you don't know exactly what it is that you're swearing yourself to. If a human was not Symphonically Aware before they became a Doorkeeper, they will become so, as well as gaining one Force immediately, and having their force potential expanded to 15. These beings may also gain Advantages, Songs, and Disadvantages at random times through their tenure....old Doorkeepers are powerful, unpredictable, and often insane. A Doorkeeper can never leave the presence of his door and loses the ability to ascend to either celestial plane. If the door is destroyed, the Doorkeeper is also soul-killed. Sometimes, ka creates a door with but one purpose. When that purpose is fufilled, the door is destroyed. If this door acquires a Doorkeeper, it will still be soul-killed when the door's purpose is fufilled...if the Doorkeeper allows it to happen.
Conversely, the death of a Doorkeeper does not harm the door.
Next Part: PCs in Dark Tower/In Nomine
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I'm a big Dark Tower nerd, even though I haven't gotten through Dark Tower #7 yet due to overwhelming babiness. This is Very Excellent Indeed.
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