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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 4431762" data-attributes="member: 6533">Yeah, they were one of several players on the infertility scheme, but I also thought they had some invasion of the body snatchers plans going down elsewhere.Didn't they have someone in the temple of the Loregiver itself?I think the Brotherhood of the Flame was the most active of the cults of the elemental lords, but they were all a nascent problem.  Anyone of them could be brought up as a complication further down the road.Imagine, for instance, an arcane shadow war between the Brotherhood and a resurgent Cult devoted to the Elemental Lord of Water.Or, perhaps, a larger conspiracy in which the mages devoted to each Lord have their own methodologies for bringing about the desolution of the world.If you really wanted to 4E it you could rewrite to say that these are actual devil worshippers - seeing the Abyss as the true fate of the elemental chaos.Weren't they training people?  Projecting the magic and environment of Ghul-ness.  Could we give them an agenda beyond simple territorial acquisition?  Maybe they have want to upset fate or the loregiver.Well, there are two ways this works:First, there are the enlightened tribes.  Groups of Elves, Humans, and Half-Elves who are part of the larger picture of Al-Quadim society and essential allies for anyone with larger political ambition.  Sadly, the box sets went into too little detail with them.  I never had the impression anyone was trying to civilize them, but I did think they were loosing prestige and there was tension over what exactly there role would be in a stronger more unified Caliphate. So there role in a weakened Chaotic Caliphate would be even more interesting.Second, there were the unenlightened tribes.  The hill tribes, forest tribes, and Island tribes who were the Barbarian Mercenaries and the sources of slaves and Mamlukes.  They filled in all the blank and rough spaces on the map, but they were weak and without political clout.  From the perspective of the Enlightened they should have been objects of evangelization or conquest, but their status as outsiders also made them economically valuable and it was unclear if the people of the Loregiver could even make their society work in those areas.Genie intrigues were what evil gods were in other settings, the generic excuse for adventure.I honestly don't know.  They were after occult knowledge and awakenning old powers and magics, but I don't know if they had objectives beyond that.  No reason they couldn't develop some.Maybe a hatred of the Pantheon states?Akota was sort of like Ceylon so there would be your India inspired region, but it was also a sort of unique fantasy society with its Matriarchy and Polyandry.The foriegn stuff should have been developed more, particularly in terms of refugees or adventurers.I remember them having weird dynastic and class politics.  Maybe it develops into a democracy dominated by guilds and aristocratic banking clans?I loved it.  Particularly things like the tiny community of Mazticans because it was such a strong center that a little bit of everying ended up there.That was my thought.  I also thought it might turn them more firmly towards the sea so that they become sort of like the Ancient Greeks throwing out small colonies into the many islands of the middle sea.I think they should develop into a sort of meta society like the knightly orders once Jerusalem fell as they grow farther and farther away from the purpose of shielding the Caliphate from foriegners.  Let's say they split and half the Mamlukes decide to stay true to their original purpose, and the other half become mercenaries and speculators establishing small fiefs in every city and principality.  The defenders find themselves crippled by the tensions in the central city and in turn begin establishing fortresses all along the North strapped for resources, but cleverly made and independent of the Northern cities who have already subscribed to the services of their rivals.I can see that.  They can be the far edge of ruin, filled with social experiment and innovation but in the face of desperation, ignorance, and fear rather than inspiration.We could add a social component too, maybe this is the land of too many temples and too many schools where strange and dangerous magics fight in the streets and topple rulers every week.Oh, this could be developed in interesting ways.  Maybe they have a slave rebellion lead by prophets that divides the political authority of the league, even as it gives them a new moral authority.I hadn't meant that literally, but now I really wish I had.</blockquote>

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