The most important people in the world (my players stay out)

[Ravellion]

LE Troll Fighter 12.
Appearance: Typical troll, though seems to act in a very observing manner. Dresses in shiny full plate.
Key strengths: Incredibly intelligent and cunning.
Quirks: An insane obsession with staying alive. Hence his rings of Fire and Acid resistance.
Profession: Leader of the most powerful mercenary group in the world. No moral qualms in having his group taking whatever job is on offer. A reputation on delivering. Not the best group to hire for jobs where stealth is required. He will never tell who hired his group, but whoever is the target, will know Tubok's Band was out to get them or their possessions.
Attendants: Frigan, his insanely twisted Ogre mage advisor and personal spellcaster. Frigan is likely transformed into a more pleasing form, such as a human.

 

[The_Warlock]

Chancellor of the Faithful Blades, Aramok Botheris, High Commander of the Order of Seekers.

A stout man of 50 winters, he is usually in ceremonial plate at the least, full armor should he be leading the militant arm of his faith, or members of the Holy Order of Seekers, which it a multi-faith organizations of Paladins, Crudsader-Knights, and various forms of marshalls, warcasters and war healers. Aramok is 5'10", broad-bodied, with a heavy mustauche, many scars, and his god's holy symbol branded into his forehead. Whatever he wears, it is covered by a white, blue and gold tabard with the image of an black eye, a lit flame as it's iris, surrounded by the symbols of the gods accepted by the Holy Order of Seekers, with the bearer's personal god topmost; and amulet of a sword's hilt; and a great gold and silver metal sash set with topazes and sapphires. In the case of Aramok, it would be the most militant LG, NG, or LN god of your campaign world.

Aramok is frequently sent on behalf of his faith as a diplomat, as he has held his position for 2 decades, is considered uncorruptible by the triad of leaders above him, and has a keen tactical sense from his adventuring and warring days, and organizational knack thanks to his current appointment as head of the Order of Seekers.

Aramok is stiffly formal in any open meetings, saying what needs to be said, and nothing more. While a stout defender of his god, and all the gods of the Order of Seekers, Aramok is difficult to goad, even with religious blaphemy. Constant attempts to draw him out in group sessions will garner the offender nothing but a "accidental" slip by Aramok of some bit of knowledge or heresy regarding the verbal attacker. Aramok, always deftly apologizes to his hosts thereafter. Behind closed doors, Aramok is willing to provide information to those he trusts, but to him, trust is a many-leveled castle, and and you will only get as much truth as he feels you are ready for.

The Holy Order of Seekers: This multi-faith organization is a group which seems to sponsor interfaith association and collaboration to fund adventuring groups focused on finding and destroying undead, aberrations, and rooting out monsters which control the mind. While it's fortunes and presence have waxed and waned over the centuries, it seems a simple order of often paladin-centric crusaders for right and good.

The Order's true name is The White Order of Seekers in Darkness. Founded by a prophet among the ancient sorcerer kingdoms, it may be roughly as old as Congenio Ioun, though distant enough not to be easily recognized by him. The prophet in question was an astronomer and astrologer who forsaw a terrible cataclysm brought about by tripartite forces: Undead, Aberrations, and Psions.

Unable to convince the rulers of the day, he instead founded a secret order, inviting the mightiest holy warriors to carry on in secret through the millenia, giving to them star charts that would tell them when the key points in the coming cataclysm would arrive. At those times, the heads of the order would reinvigorate the order, gain members, and help vanguish the turning points, hopefully weakening the eventual enemies that would bring the cataclysm. Otherwise, they would remain in secret, and once a foe was defeated or artifact destroyed, they would lapse again except for a few key members to pass on the knowledge.

The Order has likely been following the surge in near-cataclysms in the world and grwoing it's membership among all the goodly militant faiths. Members of the order come in two ranks, lesser (who, while members, know little of the history, but are trained to fight the Order's foes in the best methods available), and High. High members compromise perhaps 2 handfuls in the world, and have been tested for their trustworthiness via many methods before being included in the ancient counsel of the prophet. They come from various backgrounds, and many different faiths, thus the Order maintains a broad network of informants among different faiths who, after having been initiated to the Order, consider the safety of the world primary, even above telling their supperiors in their respective churces the truth of the Order.

High members are distiguished by their Sword Hilt Amulets, which are attuned to each bearer individually, allowing the bearer to create a blade of force equivalent to a +5 weapon that can cut through Force effects given enough time.

Aramok also wears the Mantle of the Prophet, the metal sash which acts as an intelligent artifact, wherein the souls of each of the prior High Commanders of the Order dwell, to pass on their insights to the next throughout the ages.

The Seekers are a primary foe to the major enemy forces in my campaign, and are made up of heavily multiclassed individuals: using an alignment variable paladin class of my own devising, Sorcerers, Psions (what better way to fight psions), Marshalls, and various PrC that focus on melding fighting and the supernatural, or targeting undead, aberrations and psionic creatures (Lords of Madness has a great selection of such).

Aramok would be just as heavily multiclassed as the rest of the order, though possibly with a few levels of cleric due to his position within his primary faith.

Enjoy!

 

[Ze]

Three Formians - a Captain, a Warrior and a Taskmaster - enter the hall.
They bring gifts only to some of the most powerful leaders in the hall, and then silently stand aside.
They are only the physical facade of the Formian Delegation, which of course includes the Formian Queen herself, Shillzbthitha the Everlaying, telepathically attending the conference.

 

[Nareau]

The Jade Queen
The merfolk of the Craggy Sea have been ruled over by the Jade Queen for nearly 400 years. When she died of old age long ago, her necromantic vizier captured her soul in a beautiful jade mask. She can communicate telepathically with whomever wears the mask, and has thus ruled by proxy through generation after generation. She always chooses the most beautiful mermaid in the kingdom to be her proxy.

She is extremely wise and cunning, and has fought hard to maintain her position of power from beyond the grave. Some within her kingdom believe she has gone mad from her centuries in the mask, while others point to their perpetual prosperity as justification for her continued rule. Whatever is said, none can deny the merfolk are stronger now than they ever have been.

The Jade Queen is obsessed with her continued rule, and is willing to do whatever it takes (short of destroying her kingdom) to get it. She cares very little for the world of humans and elves, and would happily see them burn if it meant keeping her own kingdom.

For this meeting, she has ordered her mask to be worn by a huge Dark Naga slave. The slave has been dominated to obey her every whim. Her entourage consists of several Locathah bodyguards, and her mermaid (polymorphed into an elf) sorcerer advisor.

Nareau

 

[Arkhandus]

Voss'rec the Master of Sibilant Shadows
Neutral Evil (with chaotic tendencies), Male Half-Fey Tiefling, Rogue 3/Ranger 6/Assassin 5/Shadowdancer 6

A youngish man of obviously sinister heritage, Voss'rec is related to a member of the Unseelie Court and also belongs to a prominant bloodline of tieflings, lending him a scaly appearance as well as strange, vestigial wings; one resembles a black bat wing, the other an irudescent insect's wing. Voss'rec has long black hair and skin of reddish hue, while his eyes are both different; one a normal-looking eye but vibrant green with red striations, and the other entirely pitch black. Despite his sinister appearance, Voss'rec is remarkably handsome, if one could get past the unusual colors, scaly patches of skin, and vestigial wings. He is fairly muscular but lithe, and stands about 6-1/2 feet tall.

Voss'rec dresses in black and grey leathers, and carries his blades, a pair of Swords of Subtlety augmented with +5 enhancement bonuses and the Wounding quality, on him at all times, in simple sheathes at his thighs. He wears a Mantle of Spell Resistance over his shoulders, as a cloak would irritate his vestigial wings. Boots of Teleportation adorn his feet.

Voss'rec is the leader of the Guild of Sibilant Shadows, the largest and most successful guild of assassins, thieves, bounty hunters, smugglers, ladies of the night, and black marketeers in the southern lands. He naturally wants to ensure business as usual goes on unhindered, and despite his dark demeanor, Voss'rec has a vested interest in making sure that conditions remain suitable to continued business. He cares nothing for life, not even his own, and is simply driven by a burning passion for both murder and profit. Money buys him women and luxury, and all three sides of his heritage lust after these. He never passes up an opportunity to attempt seducing a woman, or murdering someone who irritates him. Of course the nature of the conference will constrain him in this to some extent, which will get frustrating after a while.

Voss'rec is a very intelligent and clever leader, methodical and calculating but adaptable. He tends to favor his Tanar'ri heritage in its chaotic whims, but tempered by his calculating mind and desire to keep things running smoothly for the Guild. He is accompanied by three senior guild officers on this trip: Rishnal the Bloody Paw, Crilnas of the Blackened Hand, and Surulka the Scarlet.

Rishnal is a tall, burly gnoll with dark fur and cruel yellow eyes. Getting a bit old, Rishnal is still the top enforcer of the Guild for now, and Voss'rec's informant on happenings within the guild. Rishnal keeps an eye on other guild members and some of their clients, and he's fairly canny for a gnoll. He wears grey and black leathers like his boss, but carries a number of throwing axes on his person, and a pair of +1 Vorpal Battleaxes. Rishnal is a Lawful Evil Rogue 7/Ranger 8/Assassin 1.

Crilnas is rather tiny by comparison, being a short halfling of unremarkable features and no apparent danger. He wears simple traveler's clothes, with no visible weaponry or armor, but in fact Crilnas keeps a dagger sheathed under each sleeve and wears a +5 Mithral Shirt of Greater Silent Moves under his outer clothing. He always has a few Greater Magic Weapon spells prepared in case he needs to put his daggers to use; they are ordinary daggers otherwise. The halfling is getting on in years, in late middle age, and the only remarkable feature about him, which he conceals with gloves usually, is that his right hand is blackened. Crilnas burned his hand badly long ago, when he tried to steal from a fiery celestial of some sort, and was only able to get it partially healed. Crilnas is a Chaotic Neutral Rogue 3/Cleric 15, dedicated to Olidammara, and carries his unholy symbol in a vest pocket usually. He favors negative energy and Olidammara's darker aspects, but not entirely. Crilnas serves as the Guild's healer and religious leader, for those in the Guild who worship The Laughing Rogue as patron of thieves and assassins. Crilnas is not particularly fond of violence himself, but has a foul temper and will do almost anything for treasure. Intensely greedy, Crilnas takes an overly-large chunk of the Guild's profits for himself but is kept around because he's useful and some of the guild members might get upset if Voss'rec just kills the thieving priest. In any case, Crilnas shares some of Voss'rec's obsessions, so Voss'rec generally gets back some of the guild's money from Crilnas through the guild's control of brothels in the south. Besides serving as religious leader and magic-user for the Guild of Sibilant Shadows, Crilnas manages the Guild's thieves, black marketeers, and smuggling rings.

Surulka is a wicked beauty, a female tiefling of similar heritage to Voss'rec but without such repulgnant signs of it. She has small, vestigial horns but no other overt signs of her fiendish heritage. Her appearance is both cruel and attractive, though she's a little plump from too many years indulging in sweetmeats, since she has enjoyed a profitable tenure as the chief manager of the Guild's brothels, and Voss'rec's chief consort. Surulka has scarlet hair and fair skin, unblemished thanks to her Succubus heritage. She wears the black and grey leathers common to members of the guild, though she wears much less than Voss'rec or Rishnal. Surulka keeps a dagger concealed in each boot, but rarely uses them, preferring conjured minions to do any fighting for her. She's mainly along as Voss'rec's consort and arcane support. Surulka is a Chaotic Evil Sorcerer 10/Rogue 3/Shadowdancer 3. She favors enchantments and conjurations, but knows a few spells of other schools.

 

[Sejs]

What the hell?


Is that just a giant floating eyeball ringed in an upright disc of arcane sigils?


Yes. Yes it is.


It's one of the Thousand Eyes of Tchu-Ren, the Watcher Beyond. It's not saying much, lacking both the capacity and the inclination to speak, but it's observing everything quite intently.


Tchu-Ren. Alienist diviner. Originally from this world, now drifting in waking slumber nestled in his own little corner of the Far Realm. The Eyes are his astral projection-like manifestations through which he observes. Normally passive and unseen, recent events have spurred him into action, as he has a very sentimental attachment to Spira. Think sort of a non-undead, information-obsessed alienist version of a demilich.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Terbor Matt, Half-elf Expert 10/Bard 6. He's the smartest man alive (Int 26, Wis 8, Cha 6, before headband of intellect +6), and not above letting everyone around him know it. He's the ultimate party boor, speaking in loud, nasal tones that are impossible to escape. Mordenkainen, Elminster, Vicini? Morons!

He'll gladly enlighten anyone within a 5' step about the most insignificant of topics, from the common contents of purple worm digestive tracts to the mating habits of the ethereal filcher. He can't take a hint -- most of the scars on his face as well as his malformed nose were a result of victims who couldn't figure out how to escape his inane small talk. Yet despite that, world leaders continueto invite and reward him for his amazing depth of knowledge ... so long as they have a majordomo to sacrifice to Terbor's blather. Terbor also considers himself an expert in native djerridoo music, and if loosened up a bit will happily attempt to entertain the audience. Despite his brilliance, he hasn't figured out why his music isn't able to bring forth mystical effects like other performers, but no matter -- he's such a sheer genius that he knows he'll figure it out eventually.

The only way to escape him when he goes on an intellectual tear is to find som eother poor victim to foist him off on.

 

[Piratecat]

I've gone from delight to glee.

 

[ericpat]

Descendants of Original Adventurers?

Is this regarding the worms that were trapped by "chains of light" that recently escaped in your white kingdom storyhour?

I seem to recall that you once stated (or merely hinted) in one of the "threads that must not be named" that there was a group of mortals that helped the gods trick/trap the worms originally, and that the weren't human (dragon?)

Perhaps someone who is a descendant of one of those original questers -- possibly with conflicting lore to what the PCs have learned.

"I know all about these things. My great aunt Finnovax used to tell me stories when I was no bigger than you. She said ..."

 

[awayfarer]

Torib Druaghk
LN male dwarf Paladin1/Expert 19
Age 163

Many years ago Torib heard the call to paladinhood in the worship of (Insert Diety Here). His order, the Coruscating Shield, was called to destroy a terrible lich and nearly all were slain in the attempt. Torib himself lost his left leg to a nasty, withering curse. The leg remains as a twisted husk that Torib has encased in a wooden leg. It has resisted all attempts at a cure.

Torib became despondent when his dreams of becoming a great champion were dashed. He brooded for a time and lost faith, fell into drinking and withdrew from the world. It took years, but eventually the dwarf found a new reason to live; building a monument to those lost in the attack that cost him his leg and his faith. The mountain upon which The Shield was slain was slowly and gradually chiseled with an enormous and ornate (For a dwarf) tablet with the names of the dead.

It took a massive amount of study and dedication to complete the feat, but Torib's success drove him on to further works, many nearly as great as the memorial to his lost comrades. He is by far the greatest architect and stonemason in the world, but it is difficult to say whether he is truly happy.