Rilmani
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Plumach

(from Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II- 1995 - [credits])

"To paraphrase a particularly wise prime, the rilmani are an enigma cloaked in a riddle, wrapped in a mystery. Who can question their motives or their actions? They keep their own counsel. They’re sworn never to come when called, but always to be there when needed; never to answer questions put to them, but always to provide what information is necessary; to aid and abet good, evil, law, and chaos alike in order to maintain the Balance, regardless of the cost or repercussions. At least with a tanar’ri, a cutter knows what to expect."

- Sazraen Tildoma, sage of Sigil

Each of the cornerstones of the Great Road’s got its own bloods. Baator’s home to the baatezu, the Abyss’s the den of the tanar’ri, Mechanus is run by the modrons, and so on. Any berk knows that. But the rarest and most silent of all these planar races are the rilmani, the high-ups of the Outlands. They’re the creatures of true neutrality, preserving its cause across the multiverse.

Some bashers might have a hard time understanding how it is that creatures like the rilmani can find anything to do with themselves. After all, neutrality is the absence of any other viewpoint, right? So, how can a cutter support the cause that ain’t a cause? The rilmani don’t care about law or chaos, they stand in the middle of good and evil, so what do they care about? What makes them tick?

The rilmani’ll answer that question straight-up, without their customary double-talk and deceitfulness. It’s all about the Balance, they’ll say. The universe exists because certain forces counteract each other. If there wasn’t any darkness, how could a cutter know light? What if the light grew so bright that all darkness everywhere ceased to be? Then light’d cease as well, the rilmani say. It’s the same with the Great Wheel. If one of the rim-planes were removed, there wouldn’t be a Great Wheel anymore. It’d be broken, and it couldn’t work.

As creatures of neutrality, the rilmani keep the Balance. Whenever one side or the other gets too strong, they start aiding the disadvantaged sods until things even out. Sometimes their aid is direct, but more often than not rilmani even things out by pointing cutters in the right direction and letting them solve their own problems. ’Course, the rilmani themselves aren’t entirely decided on the best way to address these issues, but that’s another story.

Like the other principal races of the planes, the rilmani, comprise several subspecies with similar powers, appearance, and beliefs. (Six subspecies are described in the upcoming pages: abiorachs, argenachs, aurumachs, cuprilachs, ferrumachs, and plumachs.) Rilmani appear human at first glance - far more so than archons or baatezu - but their skins’ve got a metallic sheen to them, and their eyes glow with pearly, opalescent light. More importantly, the rilmani’s presence tends to overwhelm lesser creatures. Like a deva’s aura of beauty and peace, or a tanar’ri’s malignance and horror, the rilmani’s tangible manifestation of reserve, watchfulness, and puissance is something even the most insensitive berk can’t miss.

Planar Travel: Rilmani can travel to any of the Outer Planes or the Astral Plane freely, but they can't enter the Prime Material Plane unless a creature of similar status is summoned at the same time. In other words, if a powerful prime-material mage summons a glabrezu tanar'ri, a window is opened by which a rilmani can enter that same world. There isn't always a rilmani ready to drop what he's doing and go investigate, but there's always a chance that a rilmani'll take an interest and "piggyback" on the other creature's summoning just to keep an eye on what's going on.

Rilmani can't be summoned directly by any spell.

RILMANI AND THE OUTLANDS:

Most rilmani inhabit the regions of the Outlands that're closest to the Spire. They're found in the regions where most or all magic is neglected. The rilmani home regions can't be accessed from the Astral Plane, which probably explains why no cutter's invented a spell for summoning the rilmani. Rilmani can be found farther away from the Spire, in the more heavily populated areas of the Outlands, but they're generally visitors there and don't stay long.

THE CONCORDANACH:

Once every hundred years, the wisest and most powerful individuals of each type of rilmani travel to the Spire in the center of the Outlands to discuss the state of the Balance. Each of the rilmani views is represented, so the argenach delegate argues for more covert support to threatened causes, while the cuprilach and ferrumach representatives designate powerful creatures of extreme alignment who require elimination. However, since neutrality is the most apathetic and reactive of all the planar alignments, the Concordanach initiates change only in response to the direst threats.

COMBAT:

All rilmani share several basic spell-like powers that may be employed at will. These include: continual light or darkness, dismissal, hold monster, know alignment (always active), polymorph self, and teleport without error. In addition, rilmani are capable of gating their follows to their aid. (See the individual rilmani descriptions.)

All rilmani possess an innate telepathy ability that allows them to communicate with any intelligent creature. With non-intelligent monsters or normal animals, the rilmani telepathy is empathic. Rilmani cannot be attacked by telepathic psionics, but they can be physically injured by psychokinetic or psychometabolic powers. All rilmani can be damaged only be enchanted weapons and have no special vulnerability to silver or cold-wrought iron weapons.

Rilmani are affected by the following attack forms:

Acid = Half damage

Cold = Full damage

Electicity = None

Fire = Full damage

Gas = Half damage

Magic Missile = Full damage

Poison = Half damage

(from Fiend Folio - 2003 - [credits])

Some say the universe is composed of opposing forces, elements, and ideas: good and evil, light and darkness, heat and cold. Supposedly, the interaction between these forces and concepts defines everything.

The rilmani would be quick to disagree with that contention. Between all these forces and ideas, they say, exists a middle ground—neutrality, shrouding shadow, comfort. The rilmani argue that these phenomena and concepts are at the heart of the nature of existence, and conflict between opposing forces such as good and evil threatens this existence.

The rilmani exist to protect that middle ground and to correct any imbalances that would compromise or destroy it. When the forces of evil—or good—threaten to overwhelm a world, the rilmani step in to set things right. Rilmani speak their own tongue, Common, and Undercommon.

RILMANI CHARACTERS:

Most rilmani advance by increasing their Hit Dice, but some choose to advance as characters. The favored class of an aurumach is cleric. A cuprilach’s favored class is rogue. A ferrumach’s favored class is fighter. A rilmani PC’s effective character level (ECL) is its class level plus the appropriate modifier: aurumach +25, cuprilach +17, ferrumach +13. Thus, a 1st-level ferrumach fighter has an ECL of 14 and is the equivalent of a 14th-level character.

COMBAT:

Rilmani prefer not to involve themselves in any kind of conflict until the ramifications of that conflict can be ascertained. If aiding or hindering one side will preserve the balance of power and the existence of a middle ground, rilmani are quick to act or to advise.

Rilmani use their polymorph self ability to disguise themselves while they determine the alignments and motivations of those around them. If an imbalance is detected, rilmani often insert themselves into the conflict in the guise of some type of creature already involved.

Outsider Traits: Rilmani have darkvision (60- foot range), and they cannot be raised or resurrected (though a wish or miracle spell can restore life).

Outsider Traits: Rilmani have darkvision (60- foot range), and they cannot be raised or resurrected (though a wish or miracle spell can restore life).

Rilmani Traits: Rilmani are immune to electricity and poison, and they have acid and sonic resistance 20.

Change Shape (Su): A rilmani can assume the form of any Small or Medium Humanoid.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will—comprehend languages, detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, detect magic, detect thoughts, feather fall, sanctuary, tongues. Caster level 17th (aurumach), 12th (cuprilach), 9th (ferrumach); save DC 18 + spell level (aurumach), 16 + spell level(cuprilach), 15 + spell level (ferrumach).

In addition all rilmani have spell-like abilities unique to their kind (see below).

Summon Rilmani (Sp): Rilmani can summon other rilmani as though casting a summon monster spell, but they have varying degrees of success. Roll d% and compare the result to the die range given in the rilmani’s specific description (if the summoning is not automatic): On a failure, no rilmani answer the summons. Summoned creatures automatically return whence they came after 1 hour. A summoned rilmani cannot use its own summon ability for 1 hour.