Help me develop a plot point in my 'points of light' setting.

[magnusmalkus]

I have a point's of light town plot i'm trying to develop. It goes something like this.

The town the PC's start in is very remote. There is a person in this town who is awaiting the arrival of a certain stone idol. He knows he's not the only one who knows of it's possible arrival but many who knew were killed or hunted and killed...

He is the follower of a crazy cult and somehow he comes to hear a prophey that says a certain stone idol will be 'delivered' to a named town very far away that noone has ever heard of. This stone idol, when worshiped by the follower of ANY god, will begin to transform the land around it in an image pleasing to the god making it a place sacred and holy (or maybe even profane!) to that god.

Immediately after the prophecy is spoken, chaos breaks loose scattering the attendees of the gathering.

I'm thinking perhaps we have a gathering of representatives of all faiths for some reason. An assemblage of about 6-12 leaders/elders/powerful members/high level representitives of their respective beliefs and their coiteree (like in Fellowship of the Ring, the council that gathered before the fellowship was formed).

Among the attendees are sneaking shadowy cultists, druids, priests of goodness, baleful commanding anti-palidans, record keeping clerics of history, ect.

Those among the gathering of a more mutinous and selfish bend would have attacked everyone at the gathering in hopes of killing everyone and being the only ones who know of this prophecy. It was a bloodbath that ended with many dead and a handful of escapees.

Why are they gathering? How did they come to be gathered?
From what divine source/agency was the prophecy delivered?

Things to remember:
It's a points of light setting and pockets of civilization are sparse. Contact with the world outside the city walls is taken at your own risk.

This speaking of the prophecy is current events. If it happened long ago, the prophecy may very well have become public knowledge and the purpose of it NOT beign public knowledge is that I want the shadowy cultist to be paranoid, on the lookout for others in competition with him, ie The PC's who will inevably come into opposition of the shadowy cultist.

 

[Clay_More]

I got an idea.

Imagine a deity who's ideas and beliefs are so radical that the deity is shunned by all other faiths. Perhaps the deity is so evil and repugnant that it is shunned by other deities for this reason, perhaps it tries to spread a belief that it is the only real deity and the others are false (unlike most fantasy setting deities that claim to be "right", but not the only god around). Perhaps the deity preaches that true men of faith shouldn't have belongings, something the other rich and opulent religions find to be highly controversial. For some reason or another, this god and his followers are hated by all other the other gods. A vast campaign is fought against this god and his followers, bringing them to the brink of destruction. With victory in their sight, the followers of all the other gods gather (hence the gathering) to divide the spoils of war. Perhaps they intend to divide up the defeated god's portfolio, perhaps they intend to physically divide up his followers, temples and treasures. During the gathering, the very last follower of the defeated deity appears, delivering the prophecy to the gathering. Perhaps the source of the relic's power is the last lifeblood of the defeated deity, his very last act being to channel his last energy into the idol.

This also helps explain several things. First of all, the defeated god wanted to make one last act of aggression in creating the idol. Even though it might appear to be a gift to the gathering, the god knew it would create strife more than union. This also explains why the last follower delivered the prophecy to the gathering, it wouldn't have the same effect if none of the other gods knew about it, or only a few of them.

Anyways, hope this is useful.

 

[fba827]

Other faith representatives could be there to " see whatthe prophecy is all about " -- the ones from good don't want it to fall in to evil hands (or destory it if it is evil) and visa versa for the evil ones (or to just keep it out of the hands of their enemies if unaligned) or just curious in general.

maybe the thing is some how (or rumored to be!) linked to Orcus or similar demi-god like being (since you have his stats in the MM may as well use it ). And the fear is that the item will some how bring revive or bring power to this demigod... who will in turn wage war on all the faiths and deities as he wants to be a god himself and destory all the other gods.

...
anyway, that's all i had off the top of my head. if i think of something else later i'll add more.

 

[arcanaman]

It Fell From the Sky

prehaps it is an ancient evil imprisoned in the idol banished from some far corner of the universe and when they use the idol's powers they set it free and unleash havoc on the world prehaps the idol has the power to subvert peoples mind

 

[Rechan]

Why are they gathered?

A God died.

Seriously, a Divine Being got the kibosh, and this gathering was a summit to discuss the ramifications, theories, speculations, etc of this sort of thing. It was also a means for people of every faith to gather and go "Hey, let's make an agreement that we will not support Divine Slayings of any kind. Because it could be YOUR god that gets whacked, and that means YOU lose your power. Etc etc."

Who carried out the prophecy? It's fake. That's right, it's an intentional maneuver by something that isn't divine, but instead wants to sow chaos among the various Faiths. Perhaps it's a trap, intending to steal the souls or hurt any God that is venerated through the Idol.

 

[magnusmalkus]

Wow. All awesome replies. I can use many of thos ideas. It fits well.

The setting is during the dark age and a mortal has somehow managed to rise to godhood begins and begins preachng monothesim. His following gains popularity but is soon hunted down in an Inquisition formed by agents of the splintered gods. The elevated being (he was never quite a 'god', just very trancendent) was brought before an execution squad and upon his death, one of the attendees at the execution suddenly spills forth this prohpecy. He is noone of consequence, just one of someones coitere.

Chaos ensues for the secret and that leads up to today in the city...

I like that the prophecy is likely a trap.