The ruthless Prince of Evil Fire Creatures is Imix, a warlord who strives to dominate all with his fiery destruction. He plans and strategizes in steps, completing one before moving to the next. it is widely held that should he succeed in his current war against Olhydra, no other archomental would be able to match his power.
Imix (PDF Version)
(Prince of Evil Fire Creatures, the Archomental of Evil Fire, the Incinerating Flame)
Near Power of the Elemental Plane of Fire, NE
Portfolio: Elemental fire, heat, supremacy of fire, fiery destruction, burning
Aliases: None
Domain Name: Elemental Plane of Fire/the Temple of Ultimate Consumption
Superior: None
Allies: The Elder Elemental God, Garyx, Surtr
Foes: Kossuth, Olhydra, Zaaman Rul
Symbol: An erupting volcano
Wor. Align.: LE, NE, CE
No archomental is as dangerous or ruthless as fiery Imix (EYE-micks). He is a wily but patient strategist, planning well in advance before leading his legions with a fury of an out-of-control wildfire. He believes in the might and power of fire and will not rest until flame rules all and the multiverse is engulfed in a raging inferno.
The long-term plans of the Prince of Evil Fire Creatures are quite clear; he has never hidden his ambition to bring all other planes under his burning dominion. He takes a methodical outlook towards this goal and feels no urgency to achieve his ends, instead favoring a focus on incremental steps that lay the foundation for future endeavors. He is ever watchful for opportunities to advance those goals he has deprioritized, however, but is careful not to overstretch his resources. Some sages speculate that this accounts for his smaller following on the Prime Material Plane compared to some of the other Archomentals. One sage in Sigil recently scoffed at this speculation, and said it is based on elaborate propaganda to cover the incompetence of the Prince of Evil Fire. Sadly, before he could debate this matter with his fellows his home burned to the ground after he fell asleep studying in his library and apparently knocked over an oil lamp.
Of all Imix’s known goals, the most pressing is his war against Olhydra, Princess of Evil Water Creatures, both of whom are typically said to be offspring or descendants of the Elder Elemental God. Regardless of this apparent familial relationship, Imix seethes with hatred for her, and this war dominates his thoughts and near-term goals, much to the relief of the Prince of Evil Fire’s other major rival. Given the connection between Imix and Olhydra, it should come as no surprise that this second rival, Zaaman Rul, is held to be none other than the Prince of Evil Fire’s own bastard son, and an Archomental in his own right. Recently the pair led their respective armies against each other in a titanic battle of a sort rarely seen anywhere on the Inner Planes. This battle was an overwhelming victory for the forces of evil, and the Prince of Good Fire Creatures was forced to flee with what little remained of his forces. It is widely believed that had Imix not also been at war with the Princess of Evil Water he would have been able to surround and completely destroy Zaaman Rul and his stragglers.
Unusually for one of the Princes of Elemental Evil, Imix has actively sought out allies beyond his realm and plane. He has struck deals with Garyx and Surtr, the draconic and giantish gods of flame and destruction, as each being desires to burn all of existence. The Prince of Evil Fire believes that when all of the multiverse has been brought under their dominion, they can battle each other to determine who will have the honor of incinerating all of existence. Similarly, it is believed that Imix has reached some sort of agreement with Chilimba, lord of Magma, and the Great Khan of the Dao on Elemental Earth, for agents of both have been seen within the Temple of Ultimate Consumption.
While Imix has a number of agents on the Prime Material Plane, cultivating allies or cults, he leaves the direction of them to his priests and generals within his realm. He is no stranger to the Prime, however, for he has been known to undertake missions himself that he believes can benefit from his personal touch, but these missions rarely involve meeting or creating cults. The frequency of rumors of his appearances on the Prime have caused some sages to speculate that the portals to Elemental Earth and Paraelemental Magma in his realm have left him vulnerable to mortal summons, but the truth of the situation is unknown.
Imix’s Form (20-HD Fire Elemental)
The archomental Imix typically takes the form of an 18-foot column of flame with fist-like tendrils of fire halfway up and a vague face-like feature near the top from which his roaring voice issues forth. Full details of his physical form can be found in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix III. Should Imix become a demipower or more powerful, he is likely to continue to use a modified version of this form for some time.
Other Manifestations
Imix rarely manifests his power on the Prime Material Plane in aid of his followers. On the rare occasions he does, it tends to take the form of an indiscriminately positioned incendiary cloud or firestorm that risks harming his own follower while inflicting maximum harm on their foes. He has also been known to unleash a flame strike upon followers who have dissatisfied him in some way. Otherwise, his only manifestations are messages that are conveyed in the roaring and crackling of large fires.
The Prince of Evil Fire is served primarily by fire bats, fire elementals, and fire snakes, but has also been known to work through the actions of blazing bones, burning man golems, efreet, fire falcons, fire giants, fire mephits, fire fundamentals, fire minions, fire plasms, fire toads, firebirds, fireliches, firethorns, fireweed, flame linnorms, flame spirits, flamelings (elemental vermin), flameskulls, harginn (elemental grue), hearth fiends, helians, hell hounds, lavaworms, phantom stalkers, plasmen, pyrohydras, pyrophors, q’nidar, red dragons, salamanders, sun dragons, and thoqquas. He displays his favor through the discovery of trees that appear intact but are found to be burning inside, underground seams of coal that continuously burn, red and orange gems that naturally have the appearance of a frozen flame, and the bones of creatures that have been burned nearly to ash inexplicably located in an area free of fire damage. Imix rarely displays his disapproval, but when he does it is always painful, such as spontaneous combustion of an offending priest, a fire that blazes out of control momentarily that burns a follower’s hand or other limb regardless of magical or natural defense against fire, and the sudden collapse of a large or small fire that sprays painful sparks at an offending follower.
The Church
Clergy: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, shamans, wizards
Clergy’s Align.: LE, NE, CE
Turn Undead: C: No, SP: No, Cru: No, Sha: No, W: No
Cmnd. Undead: C: Yes, SP: No, Cru: No, Sha: No, W: No
All clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, and shamans of the Prince of Evil Fire receive religion (Imix) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. As Imix 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 Fire, he is able to grant 4th-level spells as well.
Imix’s Prime Material cult has mostly taken among humans in desert regions as well as other hot lands or those close to active volcanoes. It has made small inroads among fire giants and slightly larger inroads among firenewts, but these cults are all small and tend to be very secretive. Cults dedicated to the Prince of Evil are most likely to be created by those with a thirst for the destructive power he can bestow or those with close links to the Plane of Elemental Fire. On that plane, Imix’s armies are directly tied to his priestly hierarchy, with most of his generals serving as priests of various ranks, and he has directed a small group of priests to make use of natural portals to spread his faith on the Prime Material Plane, as well as the elemental planes of Magma and Earth in equal measure. Spreading his faith throughout the Plane of Fire, however, is his top priority within these efforts.
As expected, Imix’s worship centers tend to follow the architectural preferences of whatever race and culture worships him, but on the Plane of Fire he encourages ziggurat-like structures the hold a great cauldron of fire or magma at the peak, representing a volcano. All shrines and holy sites are kept very warm and well-lit with large fires, copious torches, and other open flames; however, smoke is expected to be kept to a minimum to represent the purity of flame. Reds, yellows, and oranges are favored colors, with black highlights or bases; such colors will never be found in the form of tapestries, curtains, or other decorative cloth as the cult believes in utilizing metal and stone as fire-resistant decorations.
The Prince of Evil Fire has created a rigid hierarchy among his followers on the Plane of Elemental Fire, and this is slowly spreading to his Prime Material faithful, who mostly form around powerful or charismatic leaders who create their own hierarchies. Within the hierarchy on the Plane of Fire, novices in the service of Imix are known as the Unkindled. Full priests of the Prince of Evil Fire are known as the Enflamed Ones. In ascending order of rank, the titles used by Imix’s clergy are Smoldering Cinder, Alighted Tinder, Ignited Kindling, Burning Torch, Blazing Bonfire, and Raging Wildfire, with new titles likely to be added as the faith expands its ranks. As yet there are not enough high-ranking members of the clergy to warrant unique titles, but that too is likely to change in the future. Specialty priests, currently only found among Imix’s servants and priests on the Elemental Plane of Fire, are known as conflagrators. The clergy of Prince of Evil Fire is dominated by shamans (56%); the remainder consists of clerics (24%) and wizards (10%) among his human and more organized humanoid cults, with a small number of specialty priests (7%) and crusaders (3%) found on the Plane of Fire. Imix’s clergy has found the most purchase among humans (50%) and firenewts (33%), with a smaller presence among fire giants (5%), efreet (3%), salamanders (3%), fire genasi (3%), lower planar fiends (baatezu, tanar’ri, etc.; 1%), red dragons (1%), and other planar creatures (including azer, lava children, magmen, etc.; 1%). The faith’s gender breakdown tends to follow the typical racial preferences; where there is no preference, males (61%) tend to outnumber females (39%).
Dogma: Fire befouls air with smoke, melts earth, and boils water away. Fire can ward away deathly cold and incinerate foes and their works. Let it engulf everything and bring its deathly light everywhere. Fire’s destruction is total, and it is supreme.
Day-to-Day Activities: Imix’s faith draws those who believe that people and things harmful to themselves or their community should be utterly destroyed, as well as those who see fire as an easy path to power. They are often dissatisfied with the status quo and want to tear it down, to be replaced with their own ideal society, which usually places themselves at the top.
Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: While the whole faith of the Prince of Evil Fire observes no fixed holy days, the clergy on the Plane of Fire is working to establish the Triumph of Flaming Ascension in honor of Imix’s victory over Zaaman Rul. The ceremony has yet to firm up, but those followers who are in contact with cults on the Prime Material Plane are spreading this event to those followers, attempting to set the day as observed on midsummer. Beyond this, cults tend to create their own holy days and ceremonies based on the founding of the individual sects and other important events, especially any known appearances by Imix himself.
Major Centers of Worship: The Mosque of Blistering Atonement is the only major shrine or temple outside of Imix’s own Temple of Ultimate Consumption. Located within the City of Brass, this shrine is sheathed in corroded copper, and quite popular with the noble efreet of the City of Brass. The Prince of Evil Fire is currently planning the construction of a monument to commemorate his victory over Zaaman Rul, but as yet no details of this monument are known.
Affiliated Orders: The Legion of Blazing Lances is a group of firenewt cavalry led by all of Imix’s crusaders, based out of the Temple of Ultimate Consumption. They suffered heavily in the battle against the Prince of Good Fire Creatures, having led the charge against Zaaman Rul’s personal guard; their ranks are already being replenished at a steady clip, however.
Priestly Vestments: Local customs dictate the form of vestments worn among Imix’s cults, but they always contain deep red or black as the primary color, with yellow or orange fringes. Metal armor is also sometimes a component of the vestments, although this is uncommon. The holy symbol used by the priesthood is a metal or stone disc carved with the image of a flame with two tendrils. Tribal shamans are not required to have such a holy symbol, instead tending to carve an abstract image of a flame into a piece of obsidian.
Adventuring Garb: Followers of the Prince of Evil Fire favor metallic armor such as mail or scale armor for protection, while weapon selection tends to be based on personal preference or local custom, although hot irons, torches, and other incendiaries are popular.
Specialty Priests (Conflagrators)
Requirements: Strength 12, Wisdom 12, Intelligence 10
Prime Req.: Strength, Wisdom
Alignment: NE
Weapons: All bludgeoning (wholly type B) weapons, plus torch
Armor: All
Major Spheres: All, astral, combat, elemental (fire), healing (reversed only), summoning, sun, war
Minor Spheres: Divination, elemental (air, earth)
Magical Items: Same as clerics
Req. Profs: Fire-building, torch
Bonus Profs: Survival (desert or volcanic regions)
- Conflagrators can be of any race capable of becoming priests, although most are efreet, firenewts, genasi, or salamanders. Until Imix becomes a true power, only those trained by another specialty priest or those who travel to the Elemental Plane of Fire to train directly with him or his servants can become a specialty priest.
- Conflagrators are not allowed to multiclass.
- Conflagrators may select nonweapon proficiencies from the warrior group without penalty.
- Conflagrators may use any weapon that produces flame, such as a flame tongue sword, regardless of class restrictions. They suffer no non-proficiency penalties with such weapons.
- Conflagrators take twice as long to suffocate when in smoke. Further, they gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws versus any attacks that involve smoke, heat, or fire.
- Conflagrators can cast wizard spells from the school of elemental fire as described in the Limited Wizard Spellcasting section of “Appendix 1: Demihuman Priests” in Demihuman Deities.
- Conflagrators can cast burning hands or fire burst (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once per day.
- At 3rd level, conflagrators can cast flaming sphere (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) or produce flame (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once per day.
- At 5th level, conflagrators can cast animate fire or flame arrow (as the 3rd-level wizard spells) once per day.
- At 7th level, conflagrators can cast produce fire (as the 4th-level priest spell) or wall of fire (as the 4th-level wizard spell) once per day. Currently, this power is limited to those conflagrators who operate on the Elemental Plane of Fire; should Imix eventually become a demipower, this and the other powers listed hereafter will become available.
- At 9th level, conflagrators can no longer suffocate from smoke inhalation, being able to breath it freely; other forms of fouled air still affect them normally, however. Further, they are completely immune to heat and fire damage, but suffer an additional +1 point of damage per die from water, ice, and cold attacks.
- At 10th level, conflagrators can summon 1d4 fire mephits or fire bats 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, conflagrators can summon a 16-HD fire 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.
Imixan Spells
2nd Level
Fire Lash (Pr 2; Conjuration/Summoning)
Sphere: Elemental Fire
Range: 10 yds.
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 rd./level
Casting Time: 1 rd.
Area of Effect: 1 flame
Saving Throw: Neg.
By means of this spell, a priest causes a single fire source to lash out at nearby creatures. The fire may be of any size, from a candle up to the size of a bonfire. Flames can lash out each round for the duration, and a saving throw versus spell is allowed to avoid damage entirely. In all cases, the flames can be extinguished by any normal means. Small flames, such as candle or lamp flame, can strike out up to one foot away from the source, dealing 1d4 points of damage to a single target; a torch flame can do the same up to 2 feet away and deal 1d6 points of damage. Flames about the size of a campfire or hearth fire can lash out at two targets up to five feet away for 2d4+2 points of damage, and larger flames, up to the size of a bonfire, can strike at four targets, dealing 2d6+3 points of damage.
The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and a vial of lamp oil.
3rd Level
Animate Fire (Pr 3; Conjuration/Summoning)
Sphere: Elemental Fire
Range: 10 yds./level
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 rd./level
Casting Time: 1 rd.
Area of Effect: 1 cu. ft./level
Saving Throw: None
This spell allows the priest to control the movements of normal fire. He can cause flames to leap at an opponent, spread in a particular direction, flare up into the sky, or fall to a quiet smolder. The animated fire can be made to move in any direction the caster wishes (at the rate of 3), provided there is combustible material for the fire to feed upon. The priest can also cause the fire to burn with greater heat, causing twice the normal amount of damage. This consumes the fuel of the fire at twice the normal rate.
The amount of fire a priest can animate is determined by his level. This also determines the range he can cause flames to reach from the main fire source: a 9th-level priest can cause a flame to reach out 9 feet from the main body of the fire. Controlling the fire requires the priest to concentrate on the spell. If the concentration is broken before the end of the spell’s duration, the spell disappears.
The material components for this spell are a handful of charcoal, sulfur, and soda ash.
Fire Mine (Pr 3; Enchantment/Charm, Invocation/Evocation)
Sphere: Elemental Fire
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 1 turn
Area of Effect: 1 mine
Saving Throw: Special
With this spell, the caster infuses a small ball of pitch, saltpeter, and powdered feldspar with fiery destructive power. This ball, about one inch across, must then be placed in a thin wooden or metal container and buried up to six inches deep in soft earth. Once buried, the magic activates, and any creature treading within five feet of the burial point will trigger the magic of the fire mine. When triggered, the fire mine explodes in a 10-foot radius hemisphere from the point of burying, dealing 2d4 points of damage, plus 1d4 points of damage per two levels the caster has achieved; a saving throw versus spell is allowed for half damage. Further, creatures who fail this save are knocked down by the concussive blast, and items must make a saving throw versus magical fire or crushing blow, whichever is better.
The fire mine can remain active in its unburied state for one hour per caster level. Once buried, it remains active for one day per caster level. It can only be triggered once.
The material components for this spell are the pitch, saltpeter, and powdered feldspar, as well as the container.