Hey all.
Just got Dungeon 140 and I love it to death. Great issue.
I particularly enjoyed the map of mystery in the back.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure what elestial means. Was it supposed to be celestial? Was such a big typo missed? Or is elestial supposed to be for the user of the map to come up with?
P.S. I looked it up on Dictionary.com and such to no avail.
P.P.S. While I'm asking questions, what is a webbird? In the Dungeoncraft about ordeals (good article) one of the ordeals (the one pictured) mentions webbirds. Though I assume they are what are depicted in the picture, I've never seen or heard of them.
Creative Director
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The word tripped us up too, but it's indeed real. Elestial is in fact a type of quartz crystal; the Map of Mystery could therefore be called "Temple of the Quartz Eye," but that doesn't sound as cool as "Elestial Eye." A google search for "Elestial" turns up lots of examples.
Huzzah for D&D teaching us new words!
As for the webbird... this little critter first appeared back in the adventure "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks." They've since showed up in the 1st edition Monster Manual, and in various places in 2nd edition, but haven't yet officially been updated to 3rd edition. Anyone out there who wants to take a shot at updating them and sending the stats in to dungeon@paizo.com has a really good chance of seeing the update appear in the Campaign Workbook, by the way...
Basically, they're weird insect/bird hybrids that spin webs. They catch and imobilize victims in these webs, then swoop down and lay eggs on them. The creatures depicted in the illo are indeed webbirds, doing their thing.
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As near as I can tell, "Elestial" is a new age metaphical term for multifaceted quartz crystals with unusual characteristics (such as intricate patterns embedded within). I think it is used more generally to refer to magically-empowered quartz crystals. I stumbled across it some time ago, and thought it would be fun to use it as a name for this secret order of arcane spellcasters.
I expected the guys at Dungeon to make me change it since I, too, couldn't find it in a dictionary, but once I cited a source they were cool with it. :)
As a symbol for the Order of the Elestial Eye, I would suggest a quartz crystal eye with arcane sigils embedded within it. I think this would make a pretty cool talisman to identify members of the order, too.
I'm just kicking myself for not renaming the "Obsidian Sentinels" to "Crystal Sentinels" or "Quartz Sentries" or something like that...
As near as I can tell, "Elestial" is a new age metaphical term for multifaceted quartz crystals with unusual characteristics (such as intricate patterns embedded within). I think it is used more generally to refer to magically-empowered quartz crystals. I stumbled across it some time ago, and thought it would be fun to use it as a name for this secret order of arcane spellcasters.
I expected the guys at Dungeon to make me change it since I, too, couldn't find it in a dictionary, but once I cited a source they were cool with it. :)
As a symbol for the Order of the Elestial Eye, I would suggest a quartz crystal eye with arcane sigils embedded within it. I think this would make a pretty cool talisman to identify members of the order, too.
I'm just kicking myself for not renaming the "Obsidian Sentinels" to "Crystal Sentinels" or "Quartz Sentries" or something like that...
Cool. Thanks so much for the info. (And for the map in general. :) )
And thanks to James, too. I'd take a stab at updating the webbirds, though all I'd have to go off of is the info you just gave me.
Pfah. Six years is not that uncommon. =)