RUMBLETiGER
Adventurer
And so, I've got the primary mover-and-shaker deities from This Post, now I'm crafting the Cult members themselves.
The perspective behind this campaign idea is that a cult is behind the overthrowing of civilization: cities, complex social structures, political empires, claims to land, etc., in favor of allowing forests to reclaim land where cities stand, and nature's laws to rule.
There has been a war going on for a long time, only the side of Civilization simply hasn't known it. The Nature cult has been operating in secret for quite some time, and the adventure will begin around the point where the cult is starting to make overt movements. The Pc's will arrive just as the first stages of discord start to be apparent.
And so I'm trying to design the main factions of such a cult. Some ideas already include:
-Druids: a small handful of Druids, all belonging to the same grove, who initiated this plan. Originally followers of Obad-hai, they were persuaded to follow the more aggressive deities and decided that the lie of "civilization" had to fall, that the arrogance of the humanoids, the destruction and disregard for nature, needs to be stopped and the damage reversed. I'm inclined to make these druids non-humanoid, but I haven't settled on what yet. Perhaps Killoren (Races of the Wild p.102), a Fay LA+0 PC class.
-Rats: Moon Rats, lead by a few mid level Cleric Moon Rats (MM II p.151), allied with Brain Moles (Expanded Psionics Handbook p.190), and Cranium Rat Swarms (Fiend Folio p.167). Basically, smart, long term planning, manipulative rats. Who have been operating as agents within the cities for decades. The rats don't so much want forests to overrun the cities as much as they'd like the cities to be cleared out and the empty ruins to be run by rats.
-Fay: Grigs, Pixies, a single Nymph or half-fay and Jermlaines (MM II p.131). The Nymph or Half-fay would pose as humanoid to enter cities, while the tiny/small sized Fay would sneak to accomplish tasks. They aspire to replace cities with forests again and scatter humanoid races into smaller, less organized and therefore less destructive groupings.
There would be an uneasy alliance between the Rat and Fay factions, due to the constrasting endgame preference for what happens after the humanoids are scattered. Jermlaines would liasion between the two groups.
-Half-Elves and Humans: the most socially and politically active members of the group, a wing of anarchists who are working to undermine social structure by encouraging the criminal underbelly to infiltrating government posts.
-Monstrous Humanoids and Magical Beasts: Centaurs, Saytrs, Griffons, Dragonnes, Gnolls, etc who are more muscle than planning factions, these are the ones who will come into play when overt warfare and destruction occurs. These will also make the roads between cities dangerous, cutting off one city from another when the time comes.
-Lycanthropes: Various Lycanthropes will serve in the above groups. Wererats will assist the rat faction and humanoid anarchists, Weretigers and Wereboars would serve as muscle. Perhaps one Druid would also be a lycanthrope and oversee this branch.
-Awakened Animals: Mostly these are animals who have been drafted into the cause by high level Druids. These are a horse in the stable, a cat on the rooftop, a squirrel in the town square.
-Awakened Trees: The Druids have spent some time building an army of Awakened trees, lead by a small group of Treants. When the attacks occur, this force will move into the city, smash all structures they can find, and then literally take root to provide cover and an advancing front for the other parts of the army. The Treants will try to use their Animate Trees ability to actually transplant sections of forest into the cities. Druids using Plant Growth will support this expansion.
What will likely happen at some point in the campaign is the PCs will come across a city that this has already occurred, before the PC's could arrive. A full forest will stand atop the ruins of a large town and the PCs will have to deduce what had happened, since the cult forces have already moved on.
What other creatures/factions would make sense in something like this? I'm looking for expanding plot points and encounters, not every interaction would be a combat one.
The perspective behind this campaign idea is that a cult is behind the overthrowing of civilization: cities, complex social structures, political empires, claims to land, etc., in favor of allowing forests to reclaim land where cities stand, and nature's laws to rule.
There has been a war going on for a long time, only the side of Civilization simply hasn't known it. The Nature cult has been operating in secret for quite some time, and the adventure will begin around the point where the cult is starting to make overt movements. The Pc's will arrive just as the first stages of discord start to be apparent.
And so I'm trying to design the main factions of such a cult. Some ideas already include:
-Druids: a small handful of Druids, all belonging to the same grove, who initiated this plan. Originally followers of Obad-hai, they were persuaded to follow the more aggressive deities and decided that the lie of "civilization" had to fall, that the arrogance of the humanoids, the destruction and disregard for nature, needs to be stopped and the damage reversed. I'm inclined to make these druids non-humanoid, but I haven't settled on what yet. Perhaps Killoren (Races of the Wild p.102), a Fay LA+0 PC class.
-Rats: Moon Rats, lead by a few mid level Cleric Moon Rats (MM II p.151), allied with Brain Moles (Expanded Psionics Handbook p.190), and Cranium Rat Swarms (Fiend Folio p.167). Basically, smart, long term planning, manipulative rats. Who have been operating as agents within the cities for decades. The rats don't so much want forests to overrun the cities as much as they'd like the cities to be cleared out and the empty ruins to be run by rats.
-Fay: Grigs, Pixies, a single Nymph or half-fay and Jermlaines (MM II p.131). The Nymph or Half-fay would pose as humanoid to enter cities, while the tiny/small sized Fay would sneak to accomplish tasks. They aspire to replace cities with forests again and scatter humanoid races into smaller, less organized and therefore less destructive groupings.
There would be an uneasy alliance between the Rat and Fay factions, due to the constrasting endgame preference for what happens after the humanoids are scattered. Jermlaines would liasion between the two groups.
-Half-Elves and Humans: the most socially and politically active members of the group, a wing of anarchists who are working to undermine social structure by encouraging the criminal underbelly to infiltrating government posts.
-Monstrous Humanoids and Magical Beasts: Centaurs, Saytrs, Griffons, Dragonnes, Gnolls, etc who are more muscle than planning factions, these are the ones who will come into play when overt warfare and destruction occurs. These will also make the roads between cities dangerous, cutting off one city from another when the time comes.
-Lycanthropes: Various Lycanthropes will serve in the above groups. Wererats will assist the rat faction and humanoid anarchists, Weretigers and Wereboars would serve as muscle. Perhaps one Druid would also be a lycanthrope and oversee this branch.
-Awakened Animals: Mostly these are animals who have been drafted into the cause by high level Druids. These are a horse in the stable, a cat on the rooftop, a squirrel in the town square.
-Awakened Trees: The Druids have spent some time building an army of Awakened trees, lead by a small group of Treants. When the attacks occur, this force will move into the city, smash all structures they can find, and then literally take root to provide cover and an advancing front for the other parts of the army. The Treants will try to use their Animate Trees ability to actually transplant sections of forest into the cities. Druids using Plant Growth will support this expansion.
What will likely happen at some point in the campaign is the PCs will come across a city that this has already occurred, before the PC's could arrive. A full forest will stand atop the ruins of a large town and the PCs will have to deduce what had happened, since the cult forces have already moved on.
What other creatures/factions would make sense in something like this? I'm looking for expanding plot points and encounters, not every interaction would be a combat one.
