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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 6197095" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Arborea <img src="http://i.*****.com/FqDDUYi.jpg?1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />    Arborea’s known for being the homeland of the elven pantheon as well as a realm of hedonism and excess.  The Manual informs us that the plane has regions of unspoiled wilderness and hints at a less than ideal scene with this line: “All three layers are places of mercurial weather, sudden attacks, and strong passions.  Arborea is a plane of joy and sorrow.”  Fey live here as well, and creatures infused with Chaos (the Anarchic template) can be wildly unpredictable and may strike out at travelers with little provocation.  The Planescape description of Arborea tells us that it’s also home to the Greek pantheon, and that all sorts of creatures from Greek mythology live here.  This interesting assortment of inhabitants gives us much potential.  Here’s my re-design:Spontaneous Harmony    Arborea’s ideal of Good is that people should be able to do what they want if it reduces suffering and brings joy to themselves and others.  Despite the preconceptions of mortal puritans, consent is of prime importance to the Plane’s inhabitants, as pleasure gained at the expense of others results in long-term harm and the spread of despair.  The goal of most Arboreans is not just to spread positive emotions and encourage others to live life to the fullest, but to bring happiness and hope out of misery.    Even then, there are societal problems in Arborean society.  The vast distances between habitats are so hard to traverse that most people use flight and teleportation magic to travel.  These wide swaths of wilderness are home to many monsters from Greek mythology and beings borne of raw Chaos.  Their idea of a good time doesn’t usually include mutual enjoyment of fun activities between strangers and good friends.  There are also the wandering mobs of Bacchae, who mentally compel others to join in their revelry at the expense of personal safety; some of the more “Neutral” ones are known to violently lash out at people who attempt to put a stop to their hijinks or rescue a loved one from their parties.Meddle Not in the Affairs of Gods    Arborea’s home to the Elven and Greek/Roman Pantheons.  The Seldarine’s faithful live in treetop cities and wooden glades, while the followers of the Olympian deities live in cities styled after Hellenistic and Roman architecture.  Although the more nationalistic towns keep to themselves and brutally enforce their “no immigration” policy, there is a fair bit of overlap between the two in terms of trade and cohabitation.    Although the faithful live together in relative peace, the Gods themselves are more dysfunctional.  The Greek Gods and Goddesses alternatively love and fight each other like a dysfunctional family, while the more isolationist-minded of the Elven deities clash with their more moderate kin over the presence of non-elves on the plane.  The deities regularly intervene in the affairs of petitioners and planar travelers, sending them on quests to retrieve some sacred relic that belongs to a rival god, or slay some vicious monster to help some unlucky mortal be rid of a divine grudge.  Adventurers on a holy quest inevitably anger somebody on Arborea, but the rewards of a god can be great indeed…Natonalists: The Warriors of Arborea    In addition to being a plane renowned for its ideals of art, festivals, and all the enjoyable things in life, Arborea’s also a plane of passion.  And the passion of nationalism can be just as powerful as the passion of hedonism.  Many entities of Evil and Law made the fatal error of mistaking Arborea for an easy conquest before meeting defeat at the hands of Elven and Olympian legions.    The Elves and Olympians both fight as hard as they play, owing much to their martial cultures.  Despite not being of Good alignment, Shevarash of the Seldarine and Ares of the Olympians both have a highly militarized force of warriors both ready and willing to defend their homes from extraplanar attacks (and each other, if necessary).  This is a spot of contention among the followers of Artemis and the Good-aligned deities, who aren’t fond of letting people driven by hate possessing such authority.  The fact that a disproportionally high amount of evil souls among each deity’s faithful led to more than a few bitter feuds.    The petitioners of Shevarash and Ares have great loyalty to their respective peoples, and they’ll defend their homeland as zealously as any Eladrin.  The two deities have a greater kinship to their own kind than the forces of the Abyss, and get to make their realms in Arborea due to the shared alliance of the pantheons.  Their followers know that they’d be barred entry to the plane or living as petitioners in a more hostile plane, and as such owe a great debt to the Gods for their mercy.  The great love of Arborea these petitioners have for their plane has led to others calling them “nationalists.”    Unfortunately, the people most willing to defend their plane are potentially its greatest oppressors.  The nationalists are upset with status quo and want the Elves and Olympians to separate and live in their own enclaves.  Elven worshipers of Olympian deities, and non-elven worshipers of the Seldarine, would be segregated from their fellow devotees.  The nationalists prefer this separation to be voluntary with minimum bloodshed, but this appears unlikely.  Some go even farther and advocate making Arborea an Elven-only plane, or making the plane the base of an interplanar Olympian empire.  Shevarash and Ares publically make attempts to reign in their more radical followers, although they privately encourage their xenophobic sentiments.Mithardir    The third layer of Arborea is a flat plain on white sand stretching in all directions.  The sandstorms are fierce enough to rip the flesh off of one’s bones in mere minutes, while the ancient ruins and minarets contain numerous death traps and magical wards.  Nobody really knows what civilization the ruins belonged to, or if Mithardir was always this desolate.  Aside from the Egyptian Goddess Nepthys, the layer’s sole inhabitants are archeologists, tomb-raiding adventurers, and whatever guardian forces still lair in the ruins.  Mithardir is a highly dangerous and inhospitable place, and Arborea’s petitioners strongly advise travelers to avoid the area for their own safety.Adventure Hooks in Arborea:•    An elven artisan can craft a powerful magic item for the PCs, but the specifics of the creation require him to be in a rare glade untouched by civilization.  Such a location can be found in a remote mountaintop forest in Arvandor, yet it’s full of dangerous beasts.  The PCs will need to protect the artisan and his supplies from roaming monsters, freak weather, and wandering groups of Bacchae if they hope to get their magic item!•    The high war-priest of Ares has had it up to here with the rampant hedonism in a major city.  While the PCs are staying or traveling through the city, he puts the settlement on lockdown and installs a military dictatorship as the ruling authority.  If they hope to escape, they must overthrow the new regime!•     A patron wants to hire the PCs to retrieve a valuable artifact from the ruins of Mithardir.  The patron is actually an evil Titan, and the artifact is a miniature prison his people created to use against the Gods.  While exploring the treacherous dungeons, the PCs will have to deal with the powerful minions of the Olympian deities seeking to keep the artifact lost and buried, and the wrath of a Titan should they choose to turn against their patron.</blockquote>

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