Somnus Dreadwood

They’ve covered and disproved the links between their teachings and Dungeons and Dragons several times- I see this argument creep up fairly regularly and it makes me wonder why it’s continuously regurgitated with no evidence ever given.

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@Valanardeth Thank you, brother. I’d given up on replying but that’s pretty much exactly what I wanted to say. (NOT a Disciple btw. I have no reason to support them other than the fact that they’ve always been courteous and helpful).

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I honestly don’t care if they are DnD or not. Alot of us use Lovecraft. And I’ve been know to work with the Joker.

I personally think they allow too many distractions and hold grudges when they should just let it go and move on. I think they put alot of limitations on themselves. But this is my personal opinion.

I’d be curious to know how Somnus himself feels about the whole Asbjorn thing. His members speak about it but unless I’ve missed something, I haven’t heard him say anything either way.

I’m not gonna bash books I haven’t read. So I can’t say if it’s good or not. I would imagine it’s like anything…take what you need or like from it and discard the rest.

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He made a post in the Facebook group sometime back.

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Cool. But not sure if I can see them…like you pointed out could be friends only. But I will see. I don’t use fb too much

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Important: I would greatly appreciate people keeping this about Somnus Dreadwood’s books, and their own direct results and experiences with them ALONE please, and not the personalities or conduct of people, perceived or real, within the Cabal.

That was what I understood the OP to be about, and we have already had a thread that opened the topic of personalities and ethics.

Keeping this about personal experience with the books seems the most likely route to a frutiful discussion.

Regarding the “D&D” issue, we do have several threads on here where people talk openly about working with fictional and self-created entities, so in a thread purely about whether the books worked for members here, it’s a bit off topic.

And @Valanardeth - please introduce yourself to members of the forum in this thread.

It’s one of the forum’s rules, but you probably didn’t see it.

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Okay. Honest opinion on the books themselves: some of the most work-intensive stuff I’ve ever seen. The spells have a habit of falling flat unless you put in a lot of work to actually learning this (maybe I am just bad at it). It’s A LOT harder than say the OAA or a lot of the stuff from the Temple of Ascending Flame. Once you can do them though, the stuff is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! Nothing works as well from my experience once you’ve figured out how to cast it. Definitely recommended.

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What kind of work would it be - materials needed, special timing, fasting, study, ritual evocations and spirit work? Just trying to get an overall picture. :thumbsup:

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@Lady_Eva[quote=“Lady_Eva, post:19, topic:21565”]
materials needed,
[/quote]

They tend to be rather minimalistic. Eye of the Oracle requires almost nothing. The Left Hand and Charnel Whispers requires a bit more but it definitely requires less materials than say EA’s stuff. The Black Scriptures is a bit material intensive at times.[quote=“Lady_Eva, post:19, topic:21565”]
special timing,
[/quote]

Not often. Full moon, New moon and at night tend to be the usual.[quote=“Lady_Eva, post:19, topic:21565”]
fasting,
[/quote]
At times, yes.[quote=“Lady_Eva, post:19, topic:21565”]
study
[/quote]
the spells themselves are easy to understand as instructions. It’s just far harder to actually conjure the energies needed to cast them.[quote=“Lady_Eva, post:19, topic:21565”]
ritual evocations and spirit work?
[/quote]
The evocation style tends to be rather minimalistic most of the time. A few of the evocations in Profane Seala are a bit impractical though (of the bury sigils in graveyard variety).

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Interesting, thank you for taking the time to type that. :thumbsup:

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@Lady_Eva You are welcome

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@Lady_Eva Really, what makes the material so difficult to grasp at times is the way they use their Whispers to cast in a simple incantation, chant or even single word (sometimes with a sigil) what many would do a full ritual for (or perhaps couldn’t even do then).

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Apparently, they posted the sigils online so if you are still unsure then evoke them for yourself and see how real they are
http://forum.becomealivinggod.com/t/sigils-of-the-blighted-lords-of-the-maergzjiran-cabal-and-descriptions-of-them/21612

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Bumping this for helpful reply and thanks to @TheStorm for checking with them regarding copyright status. :thumbsup:

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You must have not seen my post on this thread:
http://forum.becomealivinggod.com/t/the-cabal/20705?source_topic_id=21565

It shows that the “Draelith for Humans Language Rules & Vocabulary” (a document published by Somnus Dreadwood) is pure fiction that was ripped off from Drow dictionaries (a fantasy D&D race)

One of the most common claims are that the Lich is also pure fiction. Here is a quick comparison of the Lich from the Cabal and D&D. The two books used for reference are Charnel Whispers (2012) and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Monstrous Manual (1993).

First we have the near identical descriptions of what a lich is in both Charnel Whispers and in the Monstrous Manual:
“The lich is, perhaps, the single most powerful form of undead known to exist. They seek to further their own power at all costs and have little or no interest in the affairs of the living…”
“…a lich will protect itself from annihilation with the creation of a phylactery in which it stores its life force.”

Next, let’s take a look at the spells of the lich. On pages of 85 and 86 of Charnel Whispers we have the following 3 spells:

Aspect of the Lich: Fear
Aspect of the Lich: Keraktian Chill
Aspect of the Lich: Hand of Death

These are quite similar to what is found in the Monstrous Manual in the Lich section:

“The aura of magical power which surrounds a lich is so potent that any creature of fewer than 5 Hit Dice (or 5th level) which sees it must save vs. spell or flee in terror for 5-20 (5d4) rounds”
…”its aura of absolute cold will inflict 1-10 points of damage”
…” it unleashes a howl which acts as a death ray, affecting all creatures within a 20’ radius…”

Now if look at the ritual for the creation of a Lich we will also note some similarities. From Charnel Whispers:
The last Rite of Necromantic Apotheosis
“Requirements: Phylactery, Death Elixer, Death Incense”
“Astronomy: Must be performed during the Infernal Hour on the night of a new or full moon…”
“Allow the elixir to take its course through your body as well. This will be your mortal end…”

From Monstrous Manual:
“In order to become a lich, the wizard must prepare its phylactery…”
“Once this object is created, the would-be lich must craft a potion of extreme toxicity…”
“When next the moon is full, the potion is imbibed…”
“Rather than death, the potion causes the wizard to undergo a transformation into its new state…”

There are too many of these similarities to be ignored, and this is what I could find from just a 5 min. google search.

What I didn’t find was any historical references that use the terms “Lich” and “phylactery” in this manner. A little bit of further research and I found this:
“Gary Gygax, one of the cocreators of Dungeons & Dragons, stated that he based the description of a lich included in the game on the short story “The Sword of the Sorcerer” (1969) by Gardner Fox.”

This combined with the Draelith Language document is a strong indication that the Cabal’s material is based on pure fantasy. If I had more time and patience I’m sure I could find more connections between the two.

Oh, and you have this backwards:

We confronted with this accusation they are the once who regurgitate a bunch of dogma and never provide any actual evidence to the contrary.

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Can we keep this thread limited to experiences with the books please, as I requested above?

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It is essentially edgy chaos magick with most of the useful parts of chaos magic watered down. The majority of the spells have you visualize something, then say a “whisper”, which is just a few words in some unknown language.

Here is one of the “Void Meditations” from Eye of the Oracle:

VM: Alternate 5 (Spa Style)
…“You will use the following: a warm batch or shower, scented candles or incense, music/noise, a towel or blindfold, and some type of food you associate with a realm of study… As pizza is the standby of many gamers and college students cramming before exams, this choice should be a strong parallel. For myself, in years past, this was always sushi or Taco Bell…”
This is only a few bits from the section because it’s a rather long paragraph, but I think you get the picture.

Here is one of the Whispers from the same book:
“Beatdown
A thousand phantom fists, elbows, knees, and feet assault the body of the enemy in a flash moment. The body is immediately afflicted with bruises, broken bones; blood spills and both confusion and terror overcome the mind.
Void whisper: Szar’kth (Zar-Kah’th)”

Usually no instructions are given as to actually use these spells, other than just do it.

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@Fin_McLintock You are taking this so out of context. That is obviously a natural extension of the technique that they taught in the PREVIOUS CHAPTER on how to telekinetically attack another person… Also, they have instructions on how the Whispers are to be used at the start of that chapter too.

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I work the books but i have nothing to do with the Cabal. I have got this far in my own so to speak and i do not need someone to tell me if im the real deal.or judge me at this point in the game. Ya know what i mean? I recommend the books and the current though but i must warn you that it IS much different from the Infernal Realm and the Demonic Kings. From my first ritual it was immense and once you go in there is no going back. You see that immediately. And i sat there and thought what the FUCK did i just do!?

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@nikki which book did you use to initiate yourself into the current? I also am leery of diving into it at this time because I want to be able to continue working with any kind of spirit I desire (both celestial and infernal), and it seems pretty clear that working with Maergzjirah precludes the possibility of working with any celestial beings.