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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerakSpielman" data-source="post: 1012628" data-attributes="member: 7464">This is my second shot at doing a Story Hour. My first one kind of fizzled 'cause I never updated it, but this time I have the advantage of being able to start at the beginning of a campaign. Anyway, here's the first post:  G.R.I.P.E.Background: Seven hundred years ago a group of well-meaning adventurers attempted to destroy a Doomsday Device that would have, if activated, reduced all people in the world into helpless thralls of the minions of Vecna. Unfortunately, in so doing, a magical chain reaction was unleashed that almost destroyed the very world they were fighting so hard to save. The rotation of the planet slowed down, making both day and night last a full six months. The surface world was laid waste as it was alternately cooked beyond imagination and frozen beyond belief. The oceans were destroyed. The land was laid waste. On the surface, nothing lives. The few survivors of this cataclysm fled into the Underdark, and refer to the desperate time as the Descent. Life in the Underdark was harsh, but largely shielded from the elemental extremes of the surface. The races of the Underdark, however, did not take kindly to the intrusion. War broke out, and continued to break out on and off for centuries. With the lack of the functioning ecosystem of the surface food became scarce. Populations plummeted from starvation and constant warfare. Eventually, painfully, a semblance of peace and order emerged. The population reached the level that could be supported by the available resources. The people had grown weary of conflict, though their enmities lingered. People turned their efforts away from the mostly solved problem of survival and began to ponder the nature of their existence. Why had this calamity befallen them? The gods were not angry, at least so the clerics claimed. Slowly, insidiously, the belief began to spread that the source of all this despair was unchecked arcane magic. Did not the teachings of magic allow the creation of the Doomsday Device in the first place? Centuries of learning and research had led inexorably to the destruction of the surface by a single, evil mind. It could not be allowed to happen again. Even the best-intentioned mages could contribute to a knowledge base that would allow evil to reign supreme, or destroy what was left of the world. The practice of wizardry became frowned upon. Then it slowly became taboo. Eventually, the civilized races banned it outright. The wizardly Cabals, once free to operate in public, fled into the shadows, becoming hidden, underground organizations in constant fear of being exposed and destroyed. Throughout all these centuries, groups and organizations rose and fell with the politics of the time. One particular organization survived in secret and called itself Gathering of Resources for Intercavern Problem Elucidation, or GRIPE. At any given time, this secret society had relatively few members, but still it managed to accomplish a great deal. GRIPE members were all required to seek out the highest and most influential position they could find in their local government. From there, they would help each other – and by extension each other’s races and civilizations – by subtlety pulling strings in their webs of influence. But GRIPE existed for a higher purpose. Each member maintained an information network and kept track of anything… ominous. It turned out that quite frequently in the Underdark problems would arise that were outside the bailiwick of any given race, and were therefore left to grow. The purpose of GRIPE was to eliminate such threats before they could pose a significant threat to anybody. The cumulative effect of each member exerting their influence in their civilizations toward a common goal could be tremendous, though the races involved rarely realized they were working together. Surprisingly, the members of GRIPE were quite varied. Many members were evil, recognizing the amount of personal power and benefit the group could bring them (if they behaved). All classes were represented - even after the downfall of arcane magic, the occasional mage could be counted as a member. The deep races were members as often as surface races. The philosophy of GRIPE was such that it recognized the value of diversity. But still, it became apparent it was not enough. The members of GRIPE began to hear dark rumors of Things Happening. Something was moving in the shadows, perhaps a group even more secretive than itself. Divinations revealed only that Something was coming. What it was could not be seen. GRIPE did not like anything going on of this scale that they did not know about, but the members were tied too intricately into their networks. They needed to be able to look into things personally, but their activities would surely be noticed. Chaffing at the delay, they found a solution. Each member would find and train a worthy apprentice. This student would be taught the deepest secrets of the mentor’s profession and be trained to be trustworthy and secretive. They would be kept as much as possible out of the public view, so that when the time came for them to sally forth their absence would not be noticed. When the time came, the nature of GRIPE would be revealed to the apprentices, and they would gather as a sort of investigative team to determine what GRIPE could not. They would be the hands and fists of GRIPE in the outside world. Before it was expected, the time came.</blockquote>

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