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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Peni Griffin" data-source="post: 3379292" data-attributes="member: 50322">2A is easy on a philosophical level.  Law is a temporary emergent property of chaos.  The hobgoblins are lawful right now, but it isn't an essential part of their makeup and when it stops being useful they'll merge back into more chaotic behavior.  The ability of lawful creatures to twist the letter of the law against the spirit is subversive of law, if you think about it; and chaotic people with strong goals also know how to use the appearance of lawfulness in a lawful society in order to get what they want.Remember that a certain amount of order is necessary for bodies to function at all on the prime material plane.  Any embodied race represents a concession to order.  Possibly the different subraces of chaos creatures are different manifestations of chaos desires occupying different positions on the alignment grid as well as displaying different exterior forms according to their purpose.  The easiest way to use the adventure within a Civil War plot is for the goblins to exploit the confusion of the war.  If Elsir Vale is a military backwater, most of its resources, human and material, are being drained away.  Their garrisons are low - maybe everybody used to have a peackeeping force like the Lions, but they've all been mustered, leaving the towns to make due with second-rate militia, and the Lions are the sole organized peacekeeping force, suddenly responsible for a vastly enlarged territory even though their numbers have been reduced.  Such a place would be ripe for the picking.  You can read history for fun and inspiration.  During the American Civil War, the western frontier was pushed back by the various tribes of horse Indians, who recognized that those pesky bluecoats were busy elsewhere and they could raid for horses, cattle, and new tribal members with impunity.  The CSA, which had a supply problem, mostly wrote off their frontier, while the USA hit on the idea of paroling Confederate prisoners on the condition that they man Union garrisons against the tribes in the western territories, far from the North/South theaters.  Similar responses to the threat are available to your factions.If Elsir Vale isn't a backwater, then the two sides in the Civil War could assess which enemy they think they can beat without assistance (at least in that theater).  Ally with that group until the larger enemy is defeated, then turn on  the temporary ally before they have time to turn on you.  This is the strategy Patton wanted to use in WWII - join with Stalin to beat Hitler, then keep right on going and take out Stalin.  It is, of course, not a Lawful strategy, but "defeat Enemy A and keep up the alliance with Enemy B afterward" is traditionally a sucker's game for the weaker of the two allies and will only work for everybody if the two mutually distrustful allies are evenly matched.  The only way to be sure how even the match is would be to duke it out - but that's what makes horse races and treaties.If Prince Odon is sufficiently reckless and overconfident (and your idea that he "not have any idea what he's allying himself with" suggests that he might be, or that his intelligence services are not up to the challenge presented by these allies), he could even try to pull off a Munchausen's-by-proxy ploy on the grand scale - let the Horde invade, then come down in a blaze of glory, push them back, and be acclaimed a hero, converting Elsir Vale solidly to his cause.Are the Draconians actually brand new to the world, coming from another plane or recently created by the gods, or are they new in the sense that the Spanish were new when they reached the Americas?  Not sure how much difference it makes, but it might.Gods may not gain direct benefit from the worship of soulless creatures, but that doesn't mean they can't be useful in other ways.  If I hire a lawyer, he doesn't have to like me in order to win  my case.  If the goblins can do a task that Takhisis wants done, and Takhisis can provide something the goblins want, that's a basis for a pure business relationship.  You could convert the religious personnel into Draconians or some other race that does worship Takhisis, there to help things along and watch out for the Goddess's interests in the field; or the goblins could pretend to worship Takhisis in order to hide their true motives from ensoulled allies who don't understand their true nature.BTW, does "soulless" for these purposes just mean "lacking an immortal individuality" or are there wider implications, as when the Buffyverse identified souls as the source of free will, or when someone describes a criminal as "soulless" as shorthand for "lacking conscience and incapable of love?"  Giant Owls are neutral and suit the traditionally nocturnal orcs better than they do the traditionally diurnal elves, IMHO.  Did you know that owls are objects of fear in many tribal traditions, notably the giant Cannibal Owl?  Their silence and nocturnal habit give them lots of spook potential.  I'd keep them.  If it's a question of aesthetics, then a trek through the MMs looking for something with a similar CR that appeals to your more is your best recourse, unless you can identify the aesthetic quality you want.  That's what I get after sleeping on it.  Hope some of it is relevant, or sparks a useful train of thought if not useful in itself.</blockquote>

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