Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9550801" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/e97mNTT.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Sea Spawn (Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse): When Droaam united as a single nation and declared independence from Breland, it served as a beacon for various people deemed “monsters” across Khorvaire who hoped settle in a more welcoming environment. While this dream doesn’t always live up to the ideal, the disparate species collectively known as sea spawn proved to be one of Droaam’s more unusual immigrants. “Sea spawn” is a collective term for beings, and the descendents of beings, who were kidnapped and enslaved by powerful aquatic entities, such as the aberrant aboleths but also the storm empires of ancient Xen’drik. Although diverse in form and features, their captors favored magical experiments that grant physical enhancements, limited amphibiousness, and mental vulnerabilities in order to make them an easily-exploited source of labor. And the sinister reputations of chuul, skum, and other aquatic beings enthralled to pelagic entities often cause communities to treat escaped sea spawn coldly. Ironically the sea spawn are all too often grouped in with willing spies and servants of the very monsters from which they sought to flee.Although a rising power in the west, Droaam is still an underdeveloped country, and it has yet to form a formal navy. Its only port town is Vralkek, and its local militia otherwise leaves the masses to fend for themselves. When groups of sea spawn refugees began showing up on the shores of western Khorvaire, a community leader by the name of Vredias Glithain petitioned Gorodan Ashlord to grant his people residency and citizenship rights. As many of the sea spawn easily found work serving as fishers and pearl divers, Glithain hoped that Vralkek’s chib would see merit in taking them in as skilled citizens who can bolster Droaam’s coastal economy.A rational ruler would’ve found merit in this deal: sahuagin, merfolk, and aquatic elves were already part of existing political powers and had little reason to move to Droaam, and anyone invading from the sea would prioritize Vralkek for supply lines. But Ashlord is a reluctant ruler, unconcerned with the affairs of Khorvaire and thus one of the country’s less loyal chibs. Thus, the fire giant has made the sea spawn refugees a shelved priority, leaving things up to locals on how to deal with them. Glithain and other sea spawn are well aware of his apathy, and are hoping to take the message of their plight to the Daughters themselves. Given that they cannot survive for more than a day without immersing themselves in seawater, they’ll need a hardy group of adventurers to deliver their petition to the capital city of Great Crag, in hopes that the hag sisters will have a more sympathetic ear.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/8im5ktF.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 247px" />Skulk (Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse): While most fey would proudly deny it, the development of mortal societies influences Thelanis just as much as fey influence the people of the Material Plane. The storybook logic of fairy culture is shaped in turn by the culture of living mortals. Due to this, the most prominent of archfey are those whose titles and legacies are household names passed from one generation to the next. But what happens to the stories of civilizations that no longer exist, whose cultures never passed on or been adopted by other groups?A skulk is a fey whose folkloric archetype has failed to persist among mortal memory. As long as a tale is adapted, a character is changed, or a fictional world is built upon, a fey can survive, albeit in a very different form. So in order for a skulk to exist, a culture must be so thoroughly erased that its stories are forgotten as its final souls fade away in Dolurrh. Such acts most often arise from mass deaths accompanied by a lack of records, be it by a sweeping plague wiping away an isolated civilization or an act of genocide and book-burning to ensure a people’s utter destruction. The fey of such unfortunates almost fade away, becoming invisible, voiceless entities who others struggle to remember. Their limited invisibility is cited by those few in the know as evidence of fey origin: their ability to be seen in reflections, within certain kinds of candlelight, and by humanoid children are a combination of traits that don’t arise naturally.Being fey themselves, the Daughters of Sora Kell managed to learn of the existence of the skulks. But it was Sora Katra who managed to earn the loyalty of several promising individuals. Seeing potential in their innate powers, she offered them the ability to be remembered, to have their deeds chronicled and be known as the nameless whispers in the night. Their names and deeds wouldn’t be acknowledged, but they will endure as the thief who absconds with small trinkets, the unseen guardian who leaves mysterious gifts, the invisible hand that causes tragic accidents to befall troublemakers, and the winds of fortune that give a lucky break to the favored of the Daughters.Sora Katra sought to mold these skulks into an elite “shadow guard” of spies, assassins, messengers, and saboteurs, but has had mixed success. On the plus side, the fact that skulks are this way naturally and don’t leave any tracks allows them to easily conduct espionage and sabotage with minimal evidence and avoid detection of magical auras. Additionally, the average skulk is so starved for companionship and recognition that they rarely ask for anything from the hags.On the other hand, skulks aren’t the most perceptive, and their inability to speak makes them unable to use most spells and magic items with command words.  This hinders their ability to engage in more complex and delicate tasks as seen in the likes of the Mark of Shadow dragonmarked and accomplished illusionists. Furthermore, the skulks’ ability to be seen by children caused an increase in “bogeymen” sightings in Droaam, leading to many a skeptical parent needing to console their frightened offspring. Most concernedly, a few of the more ambitious skulks aren’t content to have all their work credited to the Daughters. Having already seen the fear they can spread, there’s a conspiracy of skulk celebrities in the making, leaving behind unique calling cards at the scenes of heists and accidents, including in the more urbanized areas of Breland. Tracking down the skulks responsible can earn adventuring PCs favor with Droaam’s rulers. Alternatively, siding with these skulks can give the party valuable intel on said nation’s wetwork operations.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/aVPRfzi.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 363px" />Image From Pathfinder 2e, Bestiary 2Xill (Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio, Vol. 1): In spite of his self-imposed isolation, Mordain the Fleshweaver is one of Droaam’s most famous individuals. His experiments created, modified, and enslaved countless creatures, and it is believed that the xill are but one of many. With their ability to effortlessly travel between the Material and Ethereal Planes, they are one of the few non-magical beings who can reliably and consistently avoid physical barriers and terrain without the downsides of long-term immaterialization.Most xill serve Mordain, acting as kidnappers and thieves searching for items and victims of interest to bring back to the archmage. Their paralytic poison is often used to nonlethally dispatch quarries, meaning that xill raids have startlingly few casualties yet are no less vilified by their victims and loved ones. As can be expected, precious few xill have been caught and interrogated alive, with Speak With Dead having limited success when it comes to learning about Mordain’s grander plans.Yet, there are some xill who interact nonviolently with outsiders. It is unclear whether or not these ones broke free of Mordain’s influence, as they are loath to talk about the archmage and worriedly change topics or go silent. Called Redeemer Xill by others, these ones most often take the role of unconventional exorcists, venturing into the homes of possessed people and haunted lands to forcefully drive away the intruders. The religion most experienced with exorcisms, the Church of Silver Flame, is a vilified religion in Droaam. As few such priests can be found here, these xill fulfill a useful societal niche as professional ghost hunters in the country, although they hunt all manner of ethereal monsters beyond ghosts such as phase spiders. This is not enough for many communities to accept the Redeemer Xill with open arms, so they are often tolerated to stay just long enough to do their jobs before leaving for the next contract several towns over.</blockquote>

Verification