SPOILERS: This post contains spoilers for Quests from the Infinite Staircase, if you plan on playing the game, do not read any further. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Content Warning: Self Harm, Loneliness, Isolation, Betrayal, Spoilers

If you are unaware of the Quests for the Infinite Staircase, it is a collection of some of the older D&D B-Series games, wrapped into the context of the Infinite Staircase, a connection between the dungeons and dragons’ multiverse and planes of existence. Conceptually, it works and gives a good canvas upon which to give life to the campaign. I think it’s a great way to introduce some of the newer players of the game to something that has a bit more of an old-school feel. But the trick is for all of this to make sense, you have to have a good glue.

With that said I know that there is also material out there for the 3rd edition (I think) for the infinite staircase, where it was introduced. I don’t have a copy of that material and so I am taking this information with fresh eyes.

Have some cosmic glue…

This is where Nafas comes in he is the timeless guardian of the infinite staircase. First, if you have the module go back over and read through the content about Nafas, there are some really interesting parts of the character that could have some really interesting story hooks if you pay attention to them.

So, in the understanding of the character and his place in all of this. There is a guardian who is undying (attempting to kill him will bring him back in 1d10 days), and has access to unrestricted power that he can execute in the form of the wish spell (which is commonly understood to be the most powerful spell in the game… right?).

Nafas isn’t a genie as you think about him in the sense of a monster, he’s a demigod that rules over the infinite staircase. Although it should be noted that his ‘rule’ over the staircase is virtually nonexistent for personal reasons (more on this in a bit).

What to do with all of this Time?

What would your life look like if you had all of the time in the world and the ability to fulfill your greatest wish every day? This is the heart of the question when you look to Nafas. He has been there since the beginning of the stairway, and it would be understood that in that time before, there would have been some time for him to think through things and discover himself. There would have been time that was there before he realized that there were other people in the staircase. So it’s safe to assume that there was a period of time of figuring out what his existence was, how did that effect him.

Some insights are provided to us by the adventure, specifically that he is the gracious host of all of the travelers of the infinite staircase. To better understand this, you need to ask the question why? Is it because he is seeking to offset his own loneliness?

If we decide to explore the loneliness of his existence we are led to some interesting conjectures. All other creatures are free to travel the staircase; He is the only ones who are bound to the location, functionally locked inside an infinite prison of stairs. How long have the bounds of his world been something that he has been aware of, and what was his first experience learning this? How many travelers travel the staircase and before the presence of his grand hall, were there people who would be willing to stop and stay with him? This more than anything in combination with his ability to grant wishes I think is what led to the creation of the Censer of Dreams (the Magical Palace on the infinite staircase). Connecting these pieces together we understand that he constructed this not only as a place of lavishness as much as a palace to his own loneliness that he could banish it. He created a palace so immense and beautiful, that people would travel from other parts of the planes of existence to see this place.

There is a second possibility that exists here, with the continued encroachment of the Iron Shadow. If at the well of destiny he is able to hear the cries of others, wishing for the saving of their worlds, the it would be reasonable to ask how he feels about this encroachment. Is it something that he views as part of the infinite cycle of life and death? Because, you know what isn’t mentioned in the list of places inside his palace? A command center for fighting back against the Iron Shadow. In fact at no point is there any indication that he cares, he has the ability to banish it (since it says that it could be banished by a wish spell) yet is persists in the staircase. Is it possible that he allows it to persist as he knows that there are people who will come to him seeking help and protection?

Taking into account all of the elements that are present in this, lets take it another step further in this thinking and really see how far down this dark rabbit hole goes.

One of the key things that they point out to you is the fact that he has his final wish: if, for some reason, the party decides to take him on, his last act is to ask for one of them to replace him. The inclusion of this, I think, points heavily to the fact that this is not the first time that he has died since he knows that, barring all other situations, he’s coming back in 1d10 days. Furthermore, based on the conversations above we can see that there are some much darker elements to the reality that he exists in, and it would lead to some interesting pieces of his nature. Knowing that this is the case is he seeking to bring people in who are looking for adventure, giving them the things that can make them strong enough to defeat him, promising them power beyond their comprehension, them picking a fight with them so that they will kill him and release him from his prison?

Closing it all up…

So in conclusion Nafas has the ability to be one of the more interesting NPCs to a problem of the game. He has the ability to exert any level of power he wishes over the staircase (power word kill is covered by the wish spell), but he chooses not to do that because any power that he would use over the people of the staircase would push people away from him. We see more that he attempts to be as helpful to others as possible, while not isolating himself from others.

This is just one way to play him and some of the thoughts that brought me to this place, but as always I’m interested to hear the thoughts of others.