Inevitable

Template:Infobox Greyhawk creatureInevitables are constructs from the plane of Mechanus who exist to enforce cosmic laws.

Society

• The kolyarut enforce written contracts.
• The marut hunt down those who seek to cheat death.
• The quarut protect the laws of time and space.
• The varakhut hunt down those who would seek to rival the gods.
• The zelekhut hunt down fugitives from justice.

History

Inevitables were servants of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa in the Age before Ages, but it wasn't until 10,000 years ago, after the disappearance of the aphanacts, that they emerged on the plane of Mechanus.

Creative origins

The maruts were minor storm deities from Hindu mythology. Inspired by the treatment of maruts in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix, David Noonan reinterpreted the marut as one of three (later five) different constructs charged with enforcing laws across the cosmos.

Publishing history

The maruts appeared in Deities & Demigods (1980) as invisible humanoids made of wind, servants of the gods Vishnu and Rudra. They were reinterpreted in the Manual of the Planes (1987) as "great, red-eyed, unliving giants carved from polished black stone" and dressed in gold armor, with the power to hurl lightning and control winds. It was this latter version of maruts that appeared in the 2nd edition of the game. The Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994) included a bit of fiction in which a marut appears to claim one who sought to defy death. The inevitables first appeared under that name in the Manual of the Planes (2001). Two new inevitable castes, the quarut and varakhut, appeared in the Fiend Folio (2003).

The adventure "A Gathering of Winds" (2005) revealed they had been servants of the Wind Dukes, and the adventure featured an inevitable encountered within a Wind Duke's tomb.

Bibliography

• Baur, Wolfgang. "A Gathering of Winds." Dungeon #129. Bellevue, WA: (Paizo Publishing, 2005.

• Cagle, Eric, and Jesse Decker, James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Matt Sernett, Chris Thomasson, James Wyatt. Fiend Folio. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.

• Grubb, Jeff, David Noonan, and Bruce Cordell. Manual of the Planes. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.

• Noonan, David. "The Ecology of the Inevitable." Dragon #341. Bellevue, WA: Paizo publishing, 2006.