magic outlawed in region

Gilladian · Apr 21, 2002

I've created a (semi-isolated) evil area of the campaign world which has outlawed magic. The reason: I don't know!

I'm interested in three sets of suggestions:

1) what could have caused magic to be declared anathema? It happened before the kingdom turned evil, about 300 years ago.

2) There is an order of priests of the most important god whose responsibility is to ferret out magic use. Actually, they use arcane as well as divine magic to do this. Is there an evil prestige class out there that would fit this motif?

3) I need ideas for some good city adventures/motifs that take advantage of this concept. There are a few other facts that might help: the culture is vaguely roman, women are definitely second class citizens, and slaves are common (as are lizard-man types as said slaves).

Right now, I'm fleshing out the campaign area before starting a new campaign in a few months.

Thanks,
Gilladian

Crothian · Apr 21, 2002

So, is it all magic or just arcane magic?

AS for why it's outlawed, that's simple. Place was conquored by magic people. Their number one enemy is a huge magical place. THey are not good with magica naturally, so they just outlawed the whole thing.

starwolf · Apr 30, 2002

Magic was outlawed because of a prophecy that said that magic would be the downfall of the king/ruler/favored god. This was of course while the region was still good, so the people outlawed magic assuming that by doing so they would keep the kingdom save. Of course this played into Evil's hand and now the area is evil and only magic can restore the kingdom to good.

Dispater · Apr 30, 2002

A very sensible reason would be that unruly magi often pose a threat to the authorities. Perhaps archmage X tried to seize all political power for himself 300 years ago, and caused a lot of troubles until he was slain/cast out by clerics of god X. Arcane magic was banned, and any wizard/sorcerer existing within the country's borders were either slain or exiled, in fear that they were the apprentices of archmage X. The clerics have in recent years feared retribution, and have therefore began to meddle in arcane arts themselves, to 'fight fire with fire'.

RigaMortus · May 8, 2002

Gilladian said:
I've created a (semi-isolated) evil area of the campaign world which has outlawed magic. The reason: I don't know!

I'm interested in three sets of suggestions:

1) what could have caused magic to be declared anathema? It happened before the kingdom turned evil, about 300 years ago.

The kingdom was a living, thriving, realm of magic. Every citizen could cast at least some form of magic it, whether it be a trivial cantrip or a comlpicated ritual. Eventually the people of the town got cocky and tried to perform higher level magics. Something went wrong and the whole kingdom suddenly vanished, for years. It was placed in another dimension, a sort of limbo state.

In this alternate dimension, their magic was limited. The civilization was conquered by the evil denzins of this world. The last remaining survivors of the civilization, the highest of mages, were able to concentrate their magic and "warp" the kingdom back into the Prime plane, along with the evil conquerors within the kingdom. As the remaining citizens were found and slaughtered, the new rulers proclaimed magic as "off limits".

Gilladian said:
2) There is an order of priests of the most important god whose responsibility is to ferret out magic use. Actually, they use arcane as well as divine magic to do this. Is there an evil prestige class out there that would fit this motif?

Not evil per se, but the "Geomancer" in the MotW book use both Arcane and Divine magic. Actually it is a requirement for the PrC that you are able to cast both magics.

Gilladian said:
3) I need ideas for some good city adventures/motifs that take advantage of this concept. There are a few other facts that might help: the culture is vaguely roman, women are definitely second class citizens, and slaves are common (as are lizard-man types as said slaves).

Drawing a blank here =)

Gilladian · May 10, 2002

Thanks for some great input. I've decided that I'm going to have magic (arcane and much divine) outlawed because a wizard tried to seize control of the kingdom several hundred years back. This was shortly post-collapse of the empire that predated the current kingdoms. The wizard was overtly evil. He was overthrown by priests of the god Centarius, who now control the realm. (they rule through a puppet king). Later, as the priests became evil themselves, they used the past fear of magic as an excuse to outlaw it. There is a prophecy that the descendants of the evil mage will return to destroy the current kingdom. The priests claim it will only happen if magic is allowed to return, and that naturally the descendants will be evil, overthrowing the "good king". The truth..... depends on the PCs, of course.

I've had a few ideas about adventures: there is an ancient ruined city in the swamps to the south of the coastal city where the campaign will begin. this ancient city is several layers deep. Top is 2nd empire, (the current kingdom claims to be the beginnings of the 3rd Empire), while deep down is 1st Empire which was VERY magical. Some entity lives there, protecting a gate which keeps him immortal.

His role is to act as a guardian of the gate, a guide to the party as they explore beyond the gate, and a narrator for backstory. Also, he can help the PCs find things that he knows passed through the gate in ages past. Possibly he is looking for the right person to take his place and let him die.

Thus the PCs can explore the swamps and have lots of varied dungeon-crawl style adventures "beyond the gate" and return to the civilized (?) evil kingdom to get involved in politics.

I am writing up brief "roles" for each potential party member. For example:
the female fighter/rogue (this character is already established by the player) is the daughter of a rich merchant. He wants to marry her off to a rich noble, but she wants to be an explorer.
the thief is actually a low-ranking member of a smuggler's guild, who are convinced the father/merchant is smuggling on his own and appoint this person to spy for them.
a priest is a member of a faction of the temple that is not evil, who are not sure if magic is evil, but definitely want to recruit the merchant to their faction.

In other words, each PC will have their own reason for being part of the group hired by the merchant to guard/protect his daughter while he lets her go adventuring as he secretly arranges her marriage to the noble scion he has selected for her.

Hopefully this will generate intrigue as the PCs struggle to carry out their divided missions.

Gilladian

magic outlawed in region

Gilladian

Adventurer

Crothian

First Post

starwolf

First Post

Dispater

Explorer

RigaMortus

Explorer

Gilladian

Adventurer

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