Fenris said:
I can't shake the idea that we are headed in to this desolate wasteland of dead trees and roving bands of demons and devils. And I knwo it's not right, but I can't get a fix on a better image.
And don't tell me to wait until I get there!
You'll just have to wait and ...
Oh, never mind. You probably not accept that answer.
Seriously, though. Quehalost is a land in turmoil. The land in general might well be chaotic - but that is just because Quehalost is split into pockets of "evilness." Because each pocket is different ... it seems a bit chaotic to describe it. But there are very lawful pockets and there are very chaotic pockets. So ... lawful/chaotic doesn't do well to describe it as a whole.
Hmmmmmm. Let's build from the bottom up. First of all ... the sun shines just as brightly there as it does anywhere else. If one were to remove the people/creatures from the land and just take the ground and earthen formations - there would be little difference from the other three kingdoms. So it isn't like it is crossing onto the dark side of the moon, for example.
Now, adding in for plants and animals. Because of the ferocity of life in Quehalost and the inability for the land to be tamed because of the infighting ... the land does have a more primal nature. That is the best word for it. Not necessarily evil - primal. The beasts there are used to a kill or be killed mentality. There are plants that have developed/evolved ... aggressive ... tendencies as the scorching of demonic, devilish, and undead war/magic has been thrust across the land. It is not necessarily because the land is inherantly evil - it is because the land must be primal just to merely survive in evolutionary terms. But there are things like oak trees and happy meadows in Quehalost. But there are also more sinister sides to the plants/animals that live there.
Okay, the people. The people really depend on where they are. There is no single organized force of evil in Quehalost. there are multiple sources. The people who live in the town reflect the source of the evil that they happen to be "blessed" in being under their control. For example - Devil organizations tend to be lawful, right? So, it is quite possible that on the surface at least ... a devil area might appear to run just like anywhere else. Business as usual - except the people are more mean or at the very least uncooperative or greedy. But you might not realize a devil was in control because the town is operating under a lawful threat over their head. You might not see a devil if they are able to rule with fear behind a human beaurocrat - or if you do see a devil they would most likely be acting in a lawful manner. A demonically controlled town, however, might be more obvious. The people might not be so much mean-spirited as they might be selfish or cruel. These people would be used to being under the control of a power that lashed out however it felt like ... and they would reflect that same character. You might even see demons around freely just to torment the locals. The people might be impulsive and seem to follow superstitions. A town controlled by an undead power might fear death because they know the horror that awaits them at the hands of the local necromancer. Or they might never accept surrender because they are paid for each dead foreigner they can bring into town. These towns can run the balance between lawful and chaotic, so it might be more or less obvious what kind of undead power is at hand.
In some cases it might be just like watching a roving band of demons creating havoc wherever they go. In other cases it might be hard to realize that there is a potentially extra-planar power at work in a place because it looks so ... normal. There is a good bit of both.
Oh. Yeah. We haven't even spoken of the Athlesis. Heh.
Heh heh. They are a special collection of ... people ... I have cooked up. I'm surprised that in talking about evil that their general type hasn't come up in duscussion. But, I'll save those for later. And yes, you will have to wait and find out what ... or who ... the Athlesis are.
[Athlesis - pronounced ath-LAY-sis if anyone is curious.]
