The third of the evil archomentals, Yan-C-Bin is a subtle and hidden creature. He wages an endless cold war with his rival, Chan, while also wandering, gathering information, and using the destructive power of air on various planes. It is said that one day he and Chan will meet, and only one will survive the encounter.
Yan-C-Bin (PDF Version)
(Prince of Evil Air Creatures, the Archomental of Evil Air, the Master of Evil Air, the Unseen Fury)
Near Power of the Elemental Plane of Air, NE
Portfolio: Elemental air, wind, supremacy of air, tempestuous destruction
Aliases: None
Domain Name: Elemental Plane of Air/the Frozen Vortex
Superior: None
Allies: The Elder Elemental God
Foes: Aerdrie Faenya, Akadi, Chan, Elemtia, Krocaa, Ogremoch, Phaulkon, Remnis, Shu, Stronmaus, Syranita
Symbol: A tower smashed by wind
Wor. Align.: LE, NE, CE
Subtle and invisible, Yan-C-Bin (yan SEE bihn) is a little-seen but oft-felt terror of the skies. He embodies the destructive and scouring force of hurricanes, tornadoes, and winds. He holds that air is the ultimate and supreme elemental force and wields its destructive power as a force for evil.
Unlike the other archomentals, Yan-C-Bin does not rule a large realm of followers; despite this, he still wields considerable power. His home is a palace within a whirlwind all composed of frozen air, but only rarely is he home. Instead, the Master of Evil Air spends most of his time wandering the Plane of Air and other planes besides, or so it is said. These wanderings are not quiet contemplative journeys; he spends his time watching the activities of his rivals and foes and gathering information about their forces and movements. Yan-C-Bin is not one to amass armies or followers in response to what he learns on his travels. Instead, he favors threats and intimidation, using unseen actions to enforce his desires when clear force is necessary.
Despite his subtle activities and position as an archomental rather than a true power, Yan-C-Bin represents the greatest threat to the dominance of Akadi, the Lady of the Wind, on the Elemental Plane of Air. He is kept in check, however, by Chan, the Princess of Good Air; she is his greatest rival and the two have been locked in a cold war for eons. It has long been said that neither of the two has ever met, but when they eventually do, only one will survive. Both primarily act through influence, information, and observation rather than through direct attacks, meaning open conflict on the plane of Air is relatively rare. Of the other archomentals, Yan-C-Bin considers Cryonax a rising threat but chooses to watch him for now, just as he does with Imix and Olhydra. By contrast, the Prince of Evil Air keeps close tabs on the activities of Ogremoch and works to disrupt them when he can. His rivalry with the Archomental of Evil Earth is nearly as great as his rivalry with the Princess of Good Air. Outside of the archomentals, he keeps tabs on various other powers of the sky and air, but he is far too preoccupied with his conflicts with Chan and Ogremoch to do more than make sure they are not actively working against him.
The Prince of Evil Air is believed to wander through all planes that have a sky, staying invisible and undetected, slowly amassing knowledge to use against his rivals. As he is not a true power, these trips are made personally rather than through the use of an avatar. On these trips he only acts when assured he can do so without immediate notice, preferring to stay hidden. Yan-C-Bin is also suspected of using these trips to make bargains with wizards desiring power or answer queries as a sage if the price is right. However, he can explode in violent fury if displeased or crossed. Strangely, he does not seem to focus on forming cults devoted to him; while such groups are not unknown, they are not as common as expected given his wanderings.
Yan-C-Bin’s Form (20-HD Air Elemental)
The archomental Yan-C-Bin is naturally invisible and appears in the form of a 10-foot diameter column of air, although he can change form into a raging whirlwind 80 feet tall when angered. Vague and furious facial features can be seen in the whirlwind as it is spinning about. Full details of his physical form can be found in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix III. Should Yan-C-Bin become a demipower or more powerful, he is likely to continue to use a modified version of this form for some time.
Other Manifestations
While the Master of Evil Air can make minor manifestations of his power on the Prime Material Plane, he has never been known to do so. He is primarily interested in information at this time and only observes the actions; if he feels his power is needed, he favors making a direct appearance.
Yan-C-Bin is served primarily by air elementals and invisible stalkers, but also works his will through aerial servants, air fundamentals, air mephits, air plasms, dusters (elemental vermin), ildriss (elemental grue), skriaxits, spirits of the air, tempests, and vortexes. The Prince of Evil Air displays his pleasure and displeasure through subtle breezes and winds that caress the skin or move plants, smoke, and the like. He expects his priests and followers to interpret these signs rather than making his wishes clear.
The Church
Clergy: Clerics, specialty priests, shamans, wizards
Clergy’s Align.: LE, NE, CE
Turn Undead: C: No, SP: No, Sha: No, W: No
Cmnd. Undead: C: Yes, SP: No, Sha: No, W: No
All clerics, specialty priests, and shamans of the Prince of Evil Air receive religion (Yan-C-Bin) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. As Yan-C-Bin is only a near-power, he can only grant 3rd-level spells to his followers on the Prime; if he appears in person, or for those on the Elemental Plane of Air, he is able to grant 4th-level spells as well.
The church of the Prince of Evil Air is small, even on his home plane. On the Prime Material Plane, it is commonly found as secretive cults among human or demihuman societies or dominating small communities of flying creatures. Yan-C-Bin’s faith tends to be attractive to those who wish to gain information from others without their knowledge as well as individuals who desire to wield the destructive forces of wind and storms to control or harm others. Despite its small size, the faith of the Prince of Evil Air is widely known and feared among aerial creatures, but little known beyond them.
No standards of temple or shrine construction exist among the faith. Most members of Yan-C-Bin’s church favor sanctifying locations where winds constantly or frequently blow or those that are high and airy. Shrines dedicated to the Master of Evil Air commonly contain an object that can be turned to catch the wind and create screeching or moaning sounds during services, but otherwise are hidden and unobtrusive when not in use. Objects eroded by the wind are also sometimes incorporated into the shrines, or vice versa.
Individual cults of the Prince of Evil Air are not affiliated with each other; as such each one creates their own ranks and titles and have their own terms for novices and full priests. Even on his home plane, Yan-C-Bin has not set up any sort of formal organization. However, because he wanders throughout the planes, his specialty priests are found with more frequency on the Prime than most of the other Archomentals. These specialty priests are called procelles. Shamans (65%) dominate Yan-C-Bin’s priesthood, although his faith is found among many more organized communities than most of the other archomentals, such that clerics (18%), wizards (10%), and specialty priests (7%) make up larger contingents of the clergy. Aerial and avian humanoids such as dire corbies (30%), kenku (18%), aarakocra (15%), urds (8%), and tengu (6%) are most commonly drawn to the Master of Evil Air’s faith, although air genasi (3%), eblis (3%), cloud, fog, and storm giants (3%), avariel (1%), other aerial creatures (5%), and humans and demihumans (8%) can be found in cults devoted to Yan-C-Bin. Outside of communities that require priests to be of one particular gender, Yan-C-Bin’s faith is egalitarian and contains similar numbers of males (54%) and females (46%).
Dogma: Wind extinguishes fire, scours earth, and pushes water where it wishes. Air can bring life or snuff it out, and so is the strongest of all. Air goes where it wills, and secrets are carried on air. Catch these secrets and use them to dominate the other elements.
Day-to-Day Activities: Followers of the Prince of Evil Air try to blend in when they do not dominate a community. They seek to subtly advance their agenda and their faith by learning and using secrets from other members of their community to gain power. They are often quite knowledgeable on a variety of topics and may even be seen as something of a sage. When they can more openly act, they seek to use supremacy of air to dominate and terrorize those tied to the ground.
Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: Individual cults dedicated to the Master of Evil Air establish holy days on dates important to the cult, such as the founding of the local faith or appearances of Yan-C-Bin, but there are no widespread observances across the faith. Once they have the power to be open about their worship, the cults often co-opt and twist other holy days to express the power of the Master of Evil Air over those powers his faith has displaced.
Major Centers of Worship: Given the fragmented and unorganized nature of the cult of Yan-C-Bin, no holy sites are known to the whole faith. He discourages his faithful from seeking out his unseen palace within the Frozen Vortex, and even those fervent enough to try seeking it out rarely find it.
Affiliated Orders: Yan-C-Bin’s clergy sponsor no martial or monastic orders at this time.
Priestly Vestments: The types of ceremonial garb worn within cults dedicated to the Master of Evil Air vary from race to race, although humans and demihumans tend to favor deep-hooded robes. The clothing is always light grey with fringes of dark grey or pale blue. The holy symbol used by larger organized cults is a disc carved with straight lines that curl at the front, indicating a very strong wind. The disc’s material varies, with silver being preferred. Tribal shamans use rare or exotic feathers dyed red, and often have more feathers tied to an amulet to indicate their rank.
Adventuring Garb: Yan-C-Bin’s faithful prefer to blend in with their brethren, so whatever is typical for their community is also used by his priests. Missile weapons are always favored over melee weapons, and armor is eschewed as often as possible.
Specialty Priests (Procelles)
Requirements: Strength 10, Dexterity 12, Wisdom 12
Prime Req.: Dexterity, Wisdom
Alignment: NE
Weapons: All piercing and slashing (wholly type P, type S, or type P/S) weapons, plus all missile weapons
Armor: Padded, leather, studded leather, no shields
Major Spheres: All, animal (flying only), astral, divination, elemental (air), healing (reversed only), summoning, weather
Minor Spheres: Combat, elemental (fire, water), thought
Magical Items: Same as clerics
Req. Profs: Survival (mountain or plains)
Bonus Profs: Direction sense
- Procelles can be of any race capable of becoming priests, although most are aarakocra, air genasi, dire corbies, or kenku. Until Yan-C-Bin becomes a true power, only those trained by another specialty priest or those who travel to the Elemental Plane of Air to train directly with him or his servants can become a specialty priest.
- Procelles are not allowed to multiclass.
- Procelles gain a +2 bonus to all wind and gas attacks, and can hold their breath twice as long as normal. Further, they are less affected by natural poor air quality, such as stale air underground, pockets of swamp gas, and fouled or deadly air on spelljamming vessels; they suffer only half normal penalties in such situations and make saving throws against such environments with a +2 bonus.
- Procelles may use magic items related to wind and air regardless of class restrictions. Similarly, they are unable to use any items related to earth and stone.
- Procelles can cast wizard spells from the school of elemental air as described in the Limited Wizard Spellcasting section of “Appendix 1: Demihuman Priests” in Demihuman Deities.
- Procelles can cast control vapor or wall of fog (as the 1st-level wizard spells) once per day.
- At 3rd level, procelles can cast dust devil or windfist (as 2nd-level priest spells) once per day.
- At 5th level, procelles can cast gust of wind or windwall (as the 3rd-level priest spells) once per day.
- At 7th level, procelles can cast solid fog (as the 4th-level wizard spell) or windflay (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day. Currently, this power is limited to those procelles who operate on the Elemental Plane of Air; should Yan-C-Bin eventually become a demipower, this and the other powers listed hereafter will become available.
- At 9th level, procelles can hold their breath four times as long as normal. They can breathe normally in natural air of any quality, including naturally poisonous air and fouled or deadly air on a spelljamming vessel. The bonus to saving throws versus wind and gas attacks is increased to +4, and they suffer half damage or none with a successful save. However, they suffer an extra +1 point of damage per die from all fire-based attacks.
- At 10th level, procelles can summon 1d4 air mephits or 1 invisible stalker who serve faithfully, even laying down their lives, for 6 turns. The creatures appear anywhere designated within a 30-yard radius on the round after the summoning. This summoning can be performed once per week.
- At 16th level, procelles can summon a 16-HD air elemental once per week. The elemental is utterly loyal and control cannot be wrested by another spellcaster. The elemental serves for one turn per caster level, until dismissed by the caster, or until dispelled by the appropriate magic.
Yan-C-Bin Spells
2nd Level
Windfist (Pr 2; Invocation/Evocation)
Sphere: Elemental Air
Range: 5 yds./level
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: ½
When this spell is cast, a small but powerful wind rushes towards a creature and strikes them with considerable force. This spell needs an unbroken line between the caster and the target; should any creature be along the line they are subject to the attack instead. In such a case, roll to attack with the caster’s unmodified THAC0 and a +4 bonus to see if the creature is struck; a miss indicates the wind passes them to strike the intended target. Any creature struck suffers 2d8 points of damage; a saving throw versus spell is allowed for half damage. This spell can be blocked by external barriers such as a shield spell, wind wall, or a dust devil, and it will be neutralized if it encounters a gust of wind, a wind column, or passes through any spell effects that are controlling the power of wind.
3rd Level
Steal Voice (Pr 3; Alteration)
Sphere: Elemental Air
Range: 120 ft.
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 3 rds. + 1 rd./level
Casting Time: 6
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: Neg.
By means of this spell, a small breeze funnels the voice of a target to the caster. For the duration, any vocalizations made by the target can only be heard by the caster and no others, from a whisper to a shout. The reverse is not true, however; the caster’s vocalizations are not impeded or redirected in any way. While this spell does not prevent the casting of spells with vocal components, it can alter their effects should a target of such spells need to hear them, as in the case of a suggestion or command spell; in these cases, unless the target of the spell is the caster of steal voice, the spell fails. For spells such as shout that affect an area, the power is redirected to the caster of steal voice, and they make any relevant saves with a −4 penalty. Vocal component spells such as magic missile or fireball are unaffected. This spell can be particularly useful to silence guards before they can shout warnings or the like. Any target is allowed a saving throw versus spell to avoid the effects.
This spell can also be used on a willing target; in such a case they are assumed to be voluntarily failing their saving throw. In these cases, it is often used to allow a scout to describe in real time what they are seeing without any chance of being overheard.
Steal voice only affects vocalizations made by a target. It does not affect their breathing or their ability to sound wind instruments such as bugles, whistles, or flutes. This spell can only be cast upon a creature within sight and range, although the target can then move out of the spell’s range or sight of the caster without breaking the spell, although there must be a path for the wind to travel to the caster; it cannot cross the void of Wildspace or escape sealed chambers, although it can squeeze through narrow openings. A target under the influence of this spell notices nothing unusual about their voice, and only should they realize that others are unable to hear them will they discover something is amiss.
The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and a small cup.
4th Level
Windflay (Pr 4; Alteration)
Sphere: Elemental Air
Range: 30 yds.
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 rd.
Casting Time: 7
Area of Effect: 20-ft. radius sphere
Saving Throw: Special
With this spell, the caster creates a powerful flaying wind that swirls through the area of effect. This wind carries with it small particles that painfully tear at skin and flesh; those caught within the win suffer 2d4 points of damage, plus 1d4 points per 2 levels of the caster, to a maximum of 12d4 points of damage. A saving throw versus spell is allowed for half damage. However, a failed saving throw also blinds creatures for 2d6+8 rounds from the pain and grit getting into the eyes. Any flying creature within the wind makes saving throws against this spell with a −2 penalty and suffer double damage from the spell. Further, an additional saving throw vs. paralyzation must succeed or the creature loses the use of their wings for 1d3 rounds, possibly causing them to plummet a great distance to the ground.
Non-corporeal undead and creatures composed entirely of air are unharmed by this spell but must make a saving throw versus paralyzation or be slowed for 1d3 rounds.
The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and a handful of sand, gravel, dust, salt, or other small abrasive substance.