Walker in the Waste/Dusty Conclave and the Realms

[Gromnar]

Hi everyone!

I'm wondering if anyone can give me a hand coming up with an interesting background for this Sandstorm class and organization.

I'd like to connect the organization to all the various deserts/wastes in Faerun; Raurin Desert, Planes of Purple Dust, Anarouch, the Calim Desert, the bandit wastes amongst others.

The general idea is that the Dusty Conclave has had a hand in maintaining the desert/waste conditions there. I'm not sure what deity they follow, if any (Grumbar perhaps), but their goal is to perserve the mistakes of the past and cover the world in desert.

I need some help coming up with chronological dates of when the various empires above fell. I think the Imsakar fell first, then the netherse, but I'm not sure. Which one was it?

Essentially, the first idea is after the first "fall", this group was created and moves in to help spread and maintain the waste/desert condition. They then moved to the rest when they happened in the courses of history.

The second idea is that they are a relatively recent creation (perhaps the last few hundred years) and are just staking their claim in the various areas, trying to expand them from their current locations.

I plan to have a portal or fey crossroad network connecting the various locations, making the group far more insidious then first realized.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Empirate]

Hmm... most of the large desert areas of Faerûn came to be due to a magical cataclysm of sorts:
Raurin desert marks the spot where Imaskar collapsed in a magical war between their Magocracy and the Mulhorandi deities.
Calim desert is the result of two powerful genies battling for half an eternity (they're still there, btw...).
Anauroch is, of course, the result of Karsus' folly and High Netheril's fall.
Narfell is a frigid desert wasteland due to the old Nar Empire's demonbinders' war with the Raumathari battlemages.
Even the Shaar used to be green and forested until the Crown Wars, IIRC.

You may want to connect your sinister group to this theme somehow. Maybe they spread knowledge of epic magic and supercharged destruction spells - with subtle, intentional breaking points built in? These make it so that after some (spectacular, safe, and extremely useful) castings, the energies released by the spell in question suddenly increase a thousandfold, resulting in something akin to a nuclear detonation. Maybe they were the ones who taught Karsus his ritual? Maybe they made sure to equalize the balance of power between Calim and Memnon, so their destructive battle would never produce a victor? Maybe they seeded antithetical magics among the rulers of Narfell and Raumathar? Maybe they even had a hand in the Crown Wars in some way?

I'd make this sinister cabal come from another plane, an interminable desert. Its rulers have long since figured out how to do practically anything with desert magic. Now they only need to spread the desert, and they become all-powerful.
Furthermore, I'd connect them to the forces of entropy. Maybe they have a deal with Shar, whose goals can only be furthered by large-scale desertification.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

The Imaskari fell first... from memory, thousands (and thousands) of years before the Netherese fell.

Another option is to link them to the Elder Evil, Pandorym, who is imprisoned in an ancient Imaskari ruin beneath the Raurin Desert. Do you have the 3.5E book, Elder Evils?

Another possible source if you go the Pandorym route is the novel, Darkvision, by Bruce Cordell. He is probably the worst FR author still being the published, and the novel is not exactly well-written, but there are some plot ideas involving Pandorym and the Imaskari you might be able to use.

Another option inspired by Elder Evils is to have them related to a cult of Zargon (yes, the same tentacled beastie from B4 The Lost City... nicely expanded in Elder Evils) and they're extending the desert to keep that thing imprisoned or something like that.

(Clearly I should re-read Elder Evils before posting anything else!)

FYI, according to FR canon - and it is your game so I am not trying to tell you that you must follow it - the Anauroch was created by life drain magics of the phaerimm in their clash with the Netherese.

 

[Gromnar]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]All ideas thus far are very good. I'm looking at the latter two; the elder vils Pandorym and Zargon. Its interesting that both elder evils are imprisoned in the former Imaskar empire...[/FONT]






[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]What I forgot to add into the original post is that this is not intended to be the basis of a campaign itself, but rather an interesting addition to another plotline. The characters will need to travel to an area of waste in order to find information for their current goals, unreleated to walkers in the waste, elder evils, etc. I thought it would be a great chance to introduce the class and elements of Sandstorm. However, I always like to add history and involvement in anything the characters do.[/FONT]






[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I generally like to stay pretty FR canon as much as I can (with some allowances here and there).[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Looking at the two elder evils, I'm not sure which to go with. After the great ideas and suggestions presented so far (thank you!), this is my initial thought:[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The Dusty Conclave and the Walkers in the Waste that make up its membership have their origins in the remains of the Imaskari Empire. They were initially a small group of Imaskari survivors that vowed to conceal and bury the mistakes of their past, including the two elder evils present below the surface. Generally not ones to worship gods, these Imaskari took up the mantle of the druid in a fashion that does not rely upon divine worship (there's mention of the ice lich Lossarwyn allied with the Eldreth Veluuthra that has taught some elves drudic magic without worshiping a deity, so I'm going off of that as having this be possible for the Conclave). They researched magic of the waste and desert to help maintain the desert created by the fall of Imaskar. They are not benevolent, but rather neutral/neutral evil in their outlook. The Dusty Conclave has labored to maintain the desert and its secrets so they may not be unearthed again, yet still preserved as untouched in the annuals of history. They use the ancient Imaskari lore and their divine magic to create the sand golems and salt mummies to patrol their desert.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]As time passes, various other areas of the world go through their changes; the formation of Anauroch, the Calim Desert, etc... where other waste environments are created. The original Dry Liches of the Conclave realize that the same pattern is happening throughout the ages; civilizations create magical wonders or deal with magical creatures beyond their understanding, then they fall due to hubris and error. Eventually, the leadership decides that the pattern will never stop; as long as there are fertile lands to support people and the empires and the magic that are created from them, the mistakes will keep happening. The Conclave then expands their sphere of influence. They create portals to these other wastelands and recruit new individuals (lower level Walkers of the Waste who are not dry liches) to become the caretakers of local secrets, as well as expand the wastes to cover all of Faerun; the only way the mistakes of the past is to remove the fertile lands that support the people that make them.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The organization as a whole I’d say would be very small, less than 30 members, all of them druidic Walkers in the Waste. They’d ally with similarly-minded creatures, such as sand dragons, ruin chanters and monsters they could lead explorers to their deaths.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I may introduce an aspect of one of the elder evils (not sure which one; advice would be appreciated!) at the end of the campaign, depending on how the characters deal with the Conclave when they first meet them. Should they, say, eliminate a Dry Lich on their unrelated task, its fall might be the beginning of releasing one of the elder evils…[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Anyone have any thoughts?[/FONT]

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif](snip) What I forgot to add into the original post is that this is not intended to be the basis of a campaign itself, but rather an interesting addition to another plotline. The characters will need to travel to an area of waste in order to find information for their current goals, unreleated to walkers in the waste, elder evils, etc. I thought it would be a great chance to introduce the class and elements of Sandstorm. However, I always like to add history and involvement in anything the characters do. (snip) [/FONT]

Ahhh, got it.

I've always thought a Zargon- or Pandorym-focussed campaign set in and around the Raurin would be fantastic. In fact, my original plan with 4E was to start such a campaign in the post-Spellplague Realms (and, yes, I know liking the 4E version of FR is heresy... but I have liked and run games in all the versions of FR).

(snip) [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Looking at the two elder evils, I'm not sure which to go with. After the great ideas and suggestions presented so far (thank you!), this is my initial thought:[/FONT] (snip)

I know you mentioned the Lossarwyn example of a druid getting his power directly from nature but that particularly tidbit of information is generally believed to be a mistake by Realmslore pedants (myself included - not that it matters in your game, of course!). Personally, I had Lossarwyn drawing his power from Malkizid but thinking it was coming from "nature" (don't forget nature is personified in Silvanus and Chauntea as well as the Earthmother).

I only mention this not to somehow "correct" your Realmslore in any way but simply to suggest using Zargon because he/it is supposed to have power over storms and that speaks to an appropriate origin for a druid's powers.

Furthermore, as this is a drop-in arc rather than your main arc, using Zargon - particularly as he/it is described in Elder Evils - lets you use a fairly basic plot hook -unexplained magical storms - to link the PCs to your story. Of course, Elder Evils goes into a lot more detail about what Zargon can do all of which should provide you with plenty of hooks to attract their attention.

Anyway, I do like your ideas. Can I add this: the phaerimm appeared at at least two separate points in the history of FR. The first time was during the Imaskari period, the second point during the rise of Netheril.

I read something the other day postulating that they are creatures of the Weave akin to a cancer that develops when magic is overused. What if your druids were exactly as you say... but also breeding phaerimm to strike at what they perceive to be an increase in the use of magic.

The phaerimm thus become something like the Weave's white blood cells hunting down and destroying magical parasites... like the PCs with their powerful magic. Of course, it may be something even more specific that has been discovered that has triggered their activity: I rather like the idea that too many portals in an area triggers a phaerimm "immune system response".

How does that sound to you? It doesn't change anything you have written but folds Zargon in more tightly with your plans.

Edit: Should you prefer Pandorym, this same sort of background still works plus Pandorym is impacably opposed to the divine. Anyway, either Zargon or Pandorym would work... but I tend towards Zargon because it means you can always run an updated version of B4 The Lost City which is something I have personally wanted to do for years!