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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cyrik Skylark" data-source="post: 1206827" data-attributes="member: 9776">I like this (though I agree with TheLastMehina's later point that the "truth" of this religion is a moot point, as it is with all the religions in this world - in Unnamed-ia, religion is very much a socio-political construct). It gives a more concrete reason for the revolt, beyond, "They oppressed us and we revolted." In effect, it was the straw that broke the camel's back.I'm not sure about divination, but there were definitely a sizeable number of dissenters who joined with the commoners to oust the Chosen; or perhaps... hmm... Hunter's idea about the slave collars is pretty well infeasible for the Exiles themselves, but I do envision something like it for the pet sorcerors of the Outsiders. Perhaps, rather than these being magical collars, they're some form of Unobtainium, which... hmm... rather than suppressing magic, it puts the user into a sort of hypnotic, catatonic state, very susceptible to suggestion. So, they make the collars, and mob Chosen, put collars on, and now they've got pet sorcs. Of course, that raises the question, why bother with the Storm, if you could just do that? So perhaps a different idea - simple dissenters from the religion. However, eventually, the outsiders would have to figure out some control mechanism for the sorcerors. Well, we can leave that for later, though a variant of Hunter's idea could work - something cheap, though. A similiar (though less powerful) magic item is in the Book of Exalted Deeds, and its price tag is well over 100k. Clearly, too much to use on a large group of people.Definitely. They've been done there a decent amount of time - culture isn't static. Also, each individual city-state would subsume it to their own purposes, changing it around to fit their particular ideologies.It needn't even be an honor or a "trash" calling - merely a calling. What I'm thinking of is something from Haibane Renmei - in Haibane, the only ones who are allowed to go into the outside world are the Toga; additionally, the townspeople aren't allowed to communicate directly with the Toga. That role is performed by the Communicator of the Haibane Renmei. In both cases, the participants are masked; the masses have no idea who either are, what they look like, etc. However, I think I'd like it to be a combination of honor and distrust between those who trade with the outsiders and the masses, varying from town to town.Definitely. It's a force to be reckoned with, but far from the only power source. Exactly what the other power sources are depends on the city-state, but it doesn't have a monopoly.Well, the Storm is an anti-wild magic zone. But the area under the Storm isn't. Magic itself is fairly common - magic is how they survive. Most people would be multi-classed commoners/sorcerors, possibly adepts. Only a level or two, however; only the elite are allowed to truly develop their abilities (otherwise, the population becomes very difficult to control.). So, perhaps only clergymen, nobles, and military are allowed to, say, learn how to become a wizard, or are given the time to become high-level sorcerors.Well, there are quite a few "real" enemies already, without the need to make up fictitious ones; for one, there are the "tainted" bloodlines discussed earlier - doppelgangers could well be one of them -, former Exiles who, perhaps due to the influence from the storm, perhaps from having too-small a genetic pool, mutated into something different. Things like yuan-ti, doppelgangers, illithid - basically, magical, monstrous humanoids. Then there would be the few surviving aquatic creatures, migrating from vestigal sea to sea - kuo-toa and the lot. Lastly, I'm thinking of perhaps having the demiplane vulnerable to tearing - thus, various planar forces could have toeholds in the area - demons, devils, yugoloths, slaadi, formians, those sorts of things. I'm not sure about this last one, though. I think it might be introducing too much moral certainty - it's clearly a Good Idea to clear out demons from your lands. It would also, I think, invite too much unity - when faced with hordes of demons, it's hard to justify the kind of atmosphere I want to create. I envision something where they do have to work together to survive, but only barely - there are always plenty of people willing to betray someone else if they think they'll get better off. Calm on the surface, seething underneath.</blockquote>

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