A betwitched land...

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I'm building my 4e homebrew/adventure path from the ground up beginning with a small town in bewitched lands...It's based loosely on Etruscan culture, and strongly features witches and fey.

Any suggestions for improvement or problems you see? Ideas for making witches compelling and not cliche?

LAMBEURS
While only a small lake town, Lambeurs is a bustling center of commerce in the Vale, a bastion of faith in a fey-haunted land. Memories of the witch hunts a quarter-century ago simmer in the hearts of the people.

Population: 1,624
Gold Piece Limit: 500
Total Wealth: 50,000

The Town
An insular community of hard-working peasants, Lambeurs sits on the edge of Willow Creek where it meets Osprey Lake, at the very heart of the Feshinthan Vale. Narrow wooden two-story buildings rest on stone foundations at the center of town, with smaller garden-roofed homes at the fringes, and farm estates beyond that. The creek has been diverted at the center of town to create fishing weirs. Loggers bring pines and spruce on rafts down the wide shallow creek for trade along the shores of the lake, and fishermen ply their trade while their children gather herbs in the woods. Many people make their living off of wool and shepherds tend their flocks in the surrounding hills. Seasonal celebrations, presided over by the Aurox coven of witches or the druids of the Laurel Lodge, often shut the town down for days. When not celebrating, the common folk go home at night by way of the Sojourner Plough, the local watering hole.
A quarter century ago, witch hunts led by the Inquisitor-General shook the Vale, leaving many tortured and bereaved. The hysteria which turned neighbors against each other is a not-so-distant memory among elders, and while rarely spoken of, tempers can flare up from time to time. Witches have done much to heal the wounds of the past, and are more accepted today than ever before, enjoying status as midwives, ceremonialists, and apothecaries. That the witch Morae has been elevated to the town council speaks volumes of the capacity of Lambeurs to rise from the ashes.

Rumors of Lambeurs
As the largest town in the Vale, Lambeurs is ripe for rumormongers who become loose-lipped after a hard cider. Anyone who makes a DC 12 (DC 10 if buying the target a drink) Gather Information check might learn one of the following rumors:
• A rash of abductions occurred last week and the community is still reeling – apparently it was the same group of men doing the kidnapping.
• The Feast of Amn is fast approaching, a celebration in honor of the mussel harvest and raiding cormorant cliff roosts along the lakeshore.
• The Fiddler, an eerie faerie frogman, frequents crossroads and the local tavern where he relishes driving folks into frenzied dance.
• Ceanugh’s Bridge is dangerous at night – a hag and her troll sons collect a toll, sometimes settling for gold but more often demanding flesh.
• The ghost of Morae’s daughter, killed in the witch-hunts, was never given proper burial and haunts the temple erected on the witches’ sacred site.
• Years ago, several folks went missing on outings by the lake, and recently some of them have returned, but they aren’t the same.
• Jesper Braun is more than stupid – he’s got uncanny timing and an utterly disarming innocence which gets him out of trouble.
• The feud between the Heath family and the Fuller family dates back to the witch-hunts, and while it may be simmering right now, things could get ugly soon.
• Sleeping in the town well induces oracular dreams sent by the spirit of the auroch.

The Law
Lord Whyden is the absentee landlord of most agricultural land in Lambeurs, and defense of the town falls to him. In reality, Whyden only visits when his presence is demanded, preferring to let the peasantry live free, so long as taxes are collected (often a difficult task). At several points in history, Whyden has come to the town’s aid, but usually only when his interests have been threatened; most folks know they can’t count on their “lord” for much besides emergencies, and prefer to arm themselves. Fortunately, since the days of the witch-hunts, the people’s capacity for mob justice has been greatly curtailed, and the town council is afforded greater respect.
Morae,

The Land
Shrouded in mists and mystery, the Feshinthan Vale lies between deep river valleys and sharp angular hills. It is a swampy land of willows and cattails with black oaks buffering the highland spruce and pine. Besides shadow fey haunting the woods, the Vale is home to many creatures – deer, white owls, whisper-thrushes, giant bats and spiders, and wolves. Auroch once lived here, but were driven to extinction; it has been a quarter century since the last auroch was seen. Osprey Lake boasts a diverse ecology of mushrooms and aquatic plants as well as its notorious giant “screaming” eel-fish and mosquito swarms in summer.

Ceorl’s Wood: Supposedly a gnomish burrow lies deep within the wood, but the wild boars deter most. The wood is named for the numerous serfs who live in squatter villages, often trying to evade the law.
Hag’s Marsh Road: Leads through dreaded Hag’s Marsh to Belham township. Haunted by wicked witches.
Horse Trail: Leads to Fatima Falls and Lord Whyden’s castle.
Lamb’s Quarter Road: Leads to Barisae, and is patrolled by highwaymen.
Osprey Lake: Vast haunted lake provides water for many townships and livelihood for fishermen. Boat races occur every spring, offerings are made to the dragon imprisoned beneath the lake, and young brides undergo rite of betrothal on the shores. Named for the ospreys which roost on rocky islands.
Selkie’s Road: Seductive selkies haunt this road to Shyvern township, leading many a fisherman to madness.
Veenwood: Fey haunted pine forest with strong ties to the Everautumn and druid enclave.
Willow Creek: Wide, shallow creek used to transport southern lumber. Haunted by merrow ogres and will’o’wisps. Named for many willow species lining its banks.

The People
Superstitious to a fault, Lambeurs’ community likes to keep to its own, but once befriended, strangers are welcomed…albeit kept at arm’s distance until they prove themselves. Surrounded by a mysterious and dangerous land, Lambeurs-folk cling to what is familiar and safe. A few of the town’s beloved residents are:
Arnth Lauthna: Forester sheriff and town councilmember
Morae sec Maerwynn: Wise woman and town councilmember
Cantor Oskell Velimna: Nobleman banker and town councilmember
Jurston Brauna: Blacksmith, foundry-man, and town councilmember
Larana ati Jesper: Clothier, seamstress, and town councilmember
Jesper clan Jurston: Town simpleton and swineyard
Tate Heathna: Fisherman and oldest codger in town
Colin of Barisae: Famous troubadour of the Vale
Lord Whyden: Nominal ruler of the town

Common Male Names: Aelgar, Estmund, Hairuld, Larth, Torquil, Urian
Common Female Names: Ancerel, Aulia, Godeleve, Ismay, Sedemay, Wuluethia
Family Names (nomen gentile): Aneina, Camillus, Gaius, Hathisna, Repesuna, Sergius
Use "-na" suffix to form nomen gentile, "Velimna" = "the Velim family"
Genitive case + "al", i.e. "Arnth Larthal" = "Arnth, son of Larth"
Clan = son, sec = daughter, +ti = adopted, apa = father, ati = mother, netei = univeral mother-in-law

 

[Lwaxy]

I like it. Yes, the withces are probably a bit too cliche, but then, so are Elves, Dwarves etc and they pop up in many games. What about trade, though? What other places are they in constant contact with?

I'd probably add someone to the townspeople list who is a bit weird and not so honest, and probably gets blamed for lots of things even when people know someone else did it, just so they won't have to blame influential people. To me it sounds like just the thing that could happen in a place like that.

I might borrow this for a part of my ongoing epic, if you don't mind.

 

[Quickleaf]

Borrow as much as you like.
Thanks for pointing out trade - I know that Barisae, Belham, and Shyvern towns/villages are traded with, perhaps making the lake figure prominently. I'm also considering some kind of annual roving faerie market, but haven't decided if it ruins the fey's mystique yet.

I'm playing with the idea of using a young witch named Gretchith as a scapegoat - she's a fiery, political, morally ambiguous witch who manages to alienate herself from other witches. While she tends to have a hand in most wicked witching plots, she's never the mastermind. She makes a convenient scapegoat because half the time she really is up to mischief.

 

[Lwaxy]

Yeah sounds like a good scapegoat

I'd not add a fairy market, but rather a slightly changed harvest and/or fisher festival. Probably have someone come into town who claims to have contact to feys and brings items supposedly made by them.

 

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Setting one-pager

WITCHING GROUNDS

Core Ethos: Benighted heroes raise the phoenix banner against oppression, but in these haunted lands the real fight is for personal redemption, liberation, and awakening.

Heroes with dark secrets: Lysander, eldest son of Thane Bayethdeir, is a devout Knight of the Chalice, emulating Saint Elaesin through his charitable works, and renowned for rescuing clergy during the Great Fires. What folks don’t know is that Lysander, in a fit of jealousy, abandoned his best friend to die in a well and he walks the “holy path” to atone for his grave sin.

Nettle is an acerbic ranger hardened to the guerilla warfare the peasant revolutionaries wage against the remnants of the empire. One of the cauldron-born who escaped servitude to the Hag Queens, he carries the spirit of a ghostly crusader who died fighting Nettle’s ancestors; Nettle struggles to find peace with this animating spirit while exacting his revenge on the Hag Queens.

Sulys is a doe-eyed faun, an ingratiating guide to the Avel Wold with a voice like a babbling brook. However, there is something forced about his good will; in fact, Sulys is one of the glimmerfolk – conmen illusionist bards – and was cursed by the wood hag for his prodigious lies. Sometimes lost travelers never return from the Avel Wold, left to the wood hag who Sulys appeases to avoid his gruesome fate.

Urathne, an eladrin heir to the Everautumn Throne, has the blood of witches in her veins, and is one of the greatest intellectual minds of her day, conducting alchemical experiments that push the frontiers of magic and science. Her dark secret, if revealed, could destroy her reputation and end her life – Urathne is slowly being possessed by a warlock in the Mirror World.

Threats, Conflicts & Villains: The Church negates the peasants’ belief in an afterlife, defacing village idols and graves, even as it provides aid to farmers and guards religious pilgrims. Meanwhile, within the Church a debate rages about the nature of grave sins, and the threat of a sectarian fracturing is imminent.

The throne of Lost Darsidar has been vacant for over a quarter century, but recent competing claims to the throne are rapidly polarizing would-be heirs along racial lines. Euphides, the masked oracle of Darsidar, refuses to acknowledge any of the claimants.

Ravaging mercenaries like the Farseer and Skullhelm Banners, once imperial soldiers, occupy villages when not fighting in nobles’ feuds, depleting larders, press-ganging youth, and hanging imperial loyalists.

Scions of the Witch Queens plot for a return to the halcyon days of High Witchcraft, allying with shadow fey – hags, satyrs, redcaps, goblins, ogres – who seek to subvert society in their image.

Witch-finders of the Empire hunt down those with the gift for magic, to twist them to the Emperor’s will. Holy Inquisitors flush out cultists and warlocks, using ruthless tactics to achieve their ends.

Courtiers with secret ties to thieves’ guilds and occult secret societies manipulate events to seize power.

All the while, the rakshasa simmer in the Mirror World, waiting for the chance to restore their Silent Empire.

Nature of Magic: Mysterious and fluid, magic is a force of change in the world of Ythra – like a stone cast into a lake, the more powerful the spell the further ripples will be felt. Yet magic also obeys rules of familiarity and sympathy, and wizards and witches alike make use of foci and components. Magic is also bound to times of power (phases of the moon, seasonal celebrations, meteor showers) and places of power (sacred groves, faerie cairns, dragon thrones).

What’s New: Heroes carry dark secrets – personal quests which can destroy them or remake them like the phoenix born from its ashes. Secret societies and cabals lead the resistance against the empire, each with a different vision for utopia and a different motive for heralding the phoenix’s return.

 

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Races

So, I'm taking a step back to look at the choices players in my "Witching Grounds" settings will make when creating their characters...races, classes, dark secrets, and factions.

RACES OF KARATHIA
I'm using these core races from PHB1: Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Human, Tiefling (cutting Dragonborn & Halfling). From MM1 I'll add Celestial and Gnome. New races include Caliban, Faun, Lupin, Selkie, and Troll (re-imagined from D&D standard).

Caliban, known colloquially as “Cauldron-born”, were created by the three Hag Queens (“the Foul Mistresses”) during the time of the Witch Sovereigns with the Whispering Cauldron artifact. The hags had made many abominations individually, but when the tide turned against them they joined together to create a servitor race imbued with souls harvested from the enemy’s fallen. Eventually the caliban rebelled, toppling the Hag Queens and setting up their own kingdom as a hotbed of resistance which the empire crushed. Many secrets of the resistance were learned from the captured caliban, who were rewarded for their treachery with land grants - ghostly citadels dot the land, home to the caliban nobility. They tend toward treachery, but are both adaptable and great keepers of secrets.

Celestials were caretakers of the holy city Abarra and guardians of the Beacons of Eshan, unquestioningly loyal to the empire. However, when their patriarch voiced opposition to the Emperor’s persecution, they were betrayed and those not killed in the coup were exiled from their holy city. Most faded into daily life, their families scattered across the eastern empire, hoping to one day reclaim their homeland. However, some used their familiarity with the empire to aid the resistance and a minority even fomented dissent. While they can be righteous, they are also compassionate and wise.

Dwarves were once enslaved to the northern Witch Queen of the giants, winning their freedom only after a 30-year war which ended with the Dwarf King sacrificing himself. Retreating to mountain strongholds, the dwarves served as guardians of royalty-in-hiding leading the resistance, as well as the Serpent Gates which agents of the Emperor sought to open. A civil war was fought over whether to protect the human royalty, resulting in the banishment of House Morragrim, ancestral defenders of the Serpent Gates. Their homeland is the Serpentback Mountains. While greedy, dwarves are resolute and faithful.

The Sidhelein were split over whether to help the human resistance fighters despite their persecution at human hands...
Those nomadic Elves who helped hide the humans would join the resistance as scouts and spies, and many interbred with and suffered for their human allies. The elves’ have no homeland (rather, home is where the tent is); they are tribal, passionate, and fierce.
Those Eladrin who refused to get involved withdrew deep into the forests to create xenophobic citadels where humans are attacked on sight – these isolationists only became involved when the Emperor tried necromancy on captive elves, promptly destroying his attempt and rescuing the hostages. The eladrin call Avel Wood and the Feywild home; they are urbane, aloof, and calculating.

Fauns live in loose kinship groups, though their young often rove the wilds chasing nymphs, seducing mortals, composing ballads, and guiding those who would brave the Feywild through the Briarmaze. Fauns came from the same fey race as the satyrs – allegedly the fauns gave up their immortality to intervene on behalf of peasants uprising against the empire, while the self-serving satyrs remained immortal in the Feywild. Their true homeland is the Feywild, but it is exceedingly dangerous for them to return (for they are often hunted by wicked satyrs and other shadow fey). Their adopted homeland is the Feshinthul Vale, though it would be easy to believe they are rovers, being ever present at faerie festivals and crossroads. Fauns are lustful and gluttunous, but also can be charming and self-sacrificing.

Gnomes were the treasurers for the Karathian Empire, enjoying wealth beyond dreams for their complicity, but eventually their conscience led them to betray the Emperor and channel gold to the resistance. In an unlikely move to hide from the Emperor’s wrath, the gnomes hid among the shadow fey who trapped the gnomes in the Feywild as servants – only recently have they escaped centuries of servitude. Their homeland is unknown. Gnomes are universally deceitful and mischievous, yet show good cheer in the face of overwhelming odds and are exceedingly gracious.

Humans are a diverse lot, defining the conflicts of Empire vs. Peasantry and Church vs. Paganism. Humans are easily corrupted and tempted from the path of truth, but they are also resilient and innovative. The major cultures of humanity are...
Aurethian: Swarthy river-folk of Aghora’s Crescent
Feshinthan: Superstitious revolutionary peasants living in fey-touched Vale
Ghessan: Hearty ancestor-worshipping shepherds of Icespire Mountains
Ghost Tribes: Persecuted vengeful natives hiding in Wyvernlands
Hataresi: Amazonian corsairs living in an island matriarchy
Qulashkul Tribes: Horse-masher tribes of the Qulashin Steppes
Jheradi: Poetic seafarers of Simber Coast with ties to merfolk
Kheprian: Theocratic slave people south of Sajaje with tieds to Shadowfell
Khistani: Savvy gypsies driven from their homelands in the Hareech
Lahani Tribes: Coastal natives of the Minosian Peninsula
Palathari: Theocratic sophisticated craftspeople of Palathar
Rhugashi: Warrior culture of invaders cut off from their overseas homeland
Sicoran Tribes: Trackers and herbalists of the Sajaje Desert
Sindaran: Spice/dye traders and thunder lizard tamers of Sindara

Lupin, known colloquially as “Wolf-weres” or “Wolfen”, are a race of great wolves given bipedal form and intelligence by the Moon Goddess. Protectors of the gateways to the Feywild, they fought the shadow fey who had aligned with the Emperor, and managed to prevent the Feywild from falling to imperial conquest. However, many lupin sacrificed their lives, such that by the time of the empire’s fall many were jaded with their sacred duties, some even becoming fell predators of humanity. While honorable in the extreme

Selkie, known colloquially as "Otter-Folk", were press-ganged by the empire to serve as amphibious scouts, deceived by the feasts and song in their honor. Once they realized that those who didn’t serve were killed or sent to work in the shipyards, many went renegade and joined the resistance, though just as many played the two sides off each other for their own benefit. During their servitude, many lost the ability to skinshift - trapped in humanoid otter form; the few that do retain the ability have their magical otter skin possessed by corrupted imperial royalty. Selkie homelands are the waterways of Aghora’s Crescent. While they tend toward vanity, they are protective of loved ones and insatiably curious.

Tieflings are the corrupted Daravian nobility who ruled the empire for centuries, eventually giving up their spirits to dark powers to oppose the power-mad Emperor. However, in so doing many became the tyrants they were fighting against, and only a few, mostly those who had fallen from favor, fought with the resistance (often for their own nefarious purposes). Their homeland is the Heartland cities, especially Larthlaweys. Prone to bitterness and an overdeveloped sense of vengeance, tieflings also are unyieldingly perseverant and shrewd judges of characters.

Trolls were once shadow fey, devious tacticians and masters-at-arms for the Lord of the Wild Hunt. However, they were touched by an act of human beauty (some tales say it was a human maid singing a song to a unicorn, others that it was a knight binding a faun's wounds), and aspired to become defenders of beauty and peace. A great civil war ended with many trolls betrayed by the Lord of the Hunt - forced to work in salt mines for the emperor. Those who returned to the Lord of Hunt were cursed with stupidity and ugliness as "ogres." In the wake of imperial collapse, a slave uprising granted the trolls independence (these handsome trolls have bluish skin, horns, white hair, and crystalline eyes). Today they call the Icespire Mountains home. While prone to rage and self-doubt, trolls are utterly honorable and seek peaceful resolution when possible.

 

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Classes

ADVENTURERS OF KARATHIA
I'm allowing all 8 core classes, and hope to add these classes from expanded core: Barbarian (primal defender), Bard (arcane leader), Druid (primal leader), Spellsword (arcane defender), and Knight (martial controller). Witch (primal controller) will probably become it's own class focused on area of effects like hasten daybreak, terrain changes like entangling briar, debuffing via divination & curses (depriving of blessing), and hindering via fey allies & ritual magic.

I want each class to have at least 3 builds, but these will be more tied to the setting rather than generic. So...each class will get a write-up like this...

Barbarian
Karathia is a land teaming with warriors whose lifeblood is the land, the so-called barbarians. The term “barbarian” is ironically used by these native peoples to describe imperial soldiers. Barbarian builds are based on their culture of origin:

Totem Warrior: The Lahani Confederacy boasts warriors who summon animal totems to aid them in battle.

Horsemasher: The Horsemasher tribes of the Qulashin Steppes prize martial prowess and their horseback warriors invoke the Horned God to redden their eyes with his wrath. Horsemasher barbarians always have the Mounted Combat feat.

Dispossessed (aka Ghost Warrior): Scattered “Ghost tribes” exist in the Wyvernlands, their people a hollow reflection of who they once were after the empire’s predations, and barbarians from these dispossessed tribes engage in desperate missions of survival and vengeance, calling on their ancestors to crush the empire. As they prefer camouflage and ambush tactics, “Ghost” barbarians trade the “” barbarian ability for the “” rogue ability.

Desert Nomad: The Sicoran nomads of the southern desert have elevated combat to a highly ritualistic art form, and their barbarians are gifted poets of excrutiatingly high moral character.

Fighter
Heavily armed men and women without clear allegiance are assumed to be soldiers turned mercenaries ("jackal sons of wolves"), feared and viewed suspiciously by the common folk, and reviled by loyal soldiers.

Honorable Mercenary: Once a soldier, life circumstances led the mercenary to a slippery path with no master. However, unlike their vainglorious brethren, the honorable mercenary still holds onto their humanity. Forced to keep their identity concealed, they have superb connections, ample armories, and the ability to mark entire groups of foes.

Peasant Hero: The peasant hero rose up from the ranks of the common folk, their body forged by the labors of farm life, during times of need to protect the village. They gain bonuses when defending innocents, improvise farm tools as weapons, and are often helped in subtle ways by their fellow commoners.

Watchtower Lord: Weathering harsh conditions in isolated freeholds, the Watchtower Lords are entrenched nobles as dangerous on the battlefield as they are politically savvy. When given time to plan, they can make a fortress impregnable, and are known for wielding heavy legacy weapons on the battlefield.

 

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Dark Secrets

DARK SECRETS
Each PC in the "Witching Grounds" setting must choose one dark secret. Anytime the DM invokes a PC's dark secret in a way to make trouble for the PC or their party, the PC is rewarded with 1 action point (maximum 1 per session).

Accursed
Atoning for Grave Sin
Changeling
Craven
Haunted
Hunted
Imperial Informant
Mirror World Double
Oath
Scion of the Witch Queen
Thrall
Vengeance
Wicked Relative

 

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Factions

FACTIONS
Here I'll describe the factions which seek to revive the Phoenix.