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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 3002613" data-attributes="member: 20323">Thanks LostSoul; it was great fun.To better help, could you give a snapshot of the PCs? How many, what classes, alignments, religions, homelands, genders, motives and so forth?I gather that the lycanthropes are an oppressed minority; I would portray them as animalistic rather than murderous evil, and I would portray them as advocating a return to man's animal nature, perhaps eschewing technology and the conveniences of civilization? A lot depends on how you portray lycanthropy in your game - is it a curse? a lineage? a sub-species of humanity? a blessing? You present the idea that lycanthropy was a military-created disease. A lot depends on how the characters (PCs & NPCs alike) view this lycanthropic disease - is there a cure? does it transfer to one's children? are victims pitied? feared? both? You've got to provide the lycanthropes with some redeeming qualities otherwise the PCs won't empathize with them.I would also point out to you that stealing the lyre is a no-brainer - of course the PCs will do it without hesitation. After all, buildings can be made by hand - you don't need a magical lyre to do that, it's just more convenient. Instead, I would make the lyre critical to the nascent lycanthrope nation's survival; say it allows them to channel their fury into productive work, or what have you. Make it something the PCs will think twice about taking from them because it will dramatically worsen the lycanthropes' plight.Questions:* What kind of organized crime are the lycanthropes involved with? * Who's their leader and what's his/her motivation?* Before it was stolen, how was the lyre being used? Who used it?* Why do they need all this money they're stealing? To purchase boats and supplies? To buy slave labor? To pay the blood price for crimes they've committed?* Why do the lycanthropes need to resort to crime? Are there laws against employing lycanthropes? Are they killed on sight?* Are the lycanthropes deliberately trying to increase their numbers by afflicting innocents? Or do they choose victims according to certain criteria?It would be easy to paint the church as "fanatics", but I encourage you to present a more complex picture. If the church had the power to influence the military (or has its own military) enough to destroy another nation, then that church is vastly powerful with a large number of supporters...and by necessity has heresies which have formed over time. These may have been repressed brutally, but their echoes are still there. The majority may be anti-lycanthrope, but is that universally true of all the church's followers?Questions:* What is the core of the church's teaching? (think the Ten Commandments, or the Five Pillars of Islam)* How has the church's doctrine evolved over time? What heresies are now considered orthodox?* Was the destroyed nation composed of lycanthropes? Of those descended from lycanthropes? Was it supplying lycanthrope terrorists? Did it harbor lycanthrope criminals?* Are there heresies within the church that espouse a doctrine of reconciliation or redemption of lycanthropes? How would such a heresy be handled by the church?* Did the church's actions constitute genocide? Or was it more standard warfare? Is the "destroyed" nation intact with survivors living under church dominion now? Is there an attempt to conver the nation's people or are they seen as a lost cause?* What about lycanthropy rubs the church's theology in the wrong way? Is it political/economic matter or a theological one? Does it have to do with the animal human soul vs. transcendent human soul arguement?* In fighting murderous evil lycanthropes have the church warriors themselves become depraved, or worse yet afflicted with lycanthropy?</blockquote>

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