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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gromnar" data-source="post: 6033687" data-attributes="member: 6687226">[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]All ideas thus far are very good. I'm looking at the latter two; the elder vils Pandorym and Zargon. Its interesting that both elder evils are imprisoned in the former Imaskar empire...[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]What I forgot to add into the original post is that this is not intended to be the basis of a campaign itself, but rather an interesting addition to another plotline. The characters will need to travel to an area of waste in order to find information for their current goals, unreleated to walkers in the waste, elder evils, etc. I thought it would be a great chance to introduce the class and elements of Sandstorm. However, I always like to add history and involvement in anything the characters do.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I generally like to stay pretty FR canon as much as I can (with some allowances here and there).[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Looking at the two elder evils, I'm not sure which to go with. After the great ideas and suggestions presented so far (thank you!), this is my initial thought:[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The Dusty Conclave and the Walkers in the Waste that make up its membership have their origins in the remains of the Imaskari Empire. They were initially a small group of Imaskari survivors that vowed to conceal and bury the mistakes of their past, including the two elder evils present below the surface. Generally not ones to worship gods, these Imaskari took up the mantle of the druid in a fashion that does not rely upon divine worship (there's mention of the ice lich Lossarwyn allied with the Eldreth Veluuthra that has taught some elves drudic magic without worshiping a deity, so I'm going off of that as having this be possible for the Conclave). They researched magic of the waste and desert to help maintain the desert created by the fall of Imaskar. They are not benevolent, but rather neutral/neutral evil in their outlook. The Dusty Conclave has labored to maintain the desert and its secrets so they may not be unearthed again, yet still preserved as untouched in the annuals of history. They use the ancient Imaskari lore and their divine magic to create the sand golems and salt mummies to patrol their desert.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]As time passes, various other areas of the world go through their changes; the formation of Anauroch, the Calim Desert, etc... where other waste environments are created. The original Dry Liches of the Conclave realize that the same pattern is happening throughout the ages; civilizations create magical wonders or deal with magical creatures beyond their understanding, then they fall due to hubris and error. Eventually, the leadership decides that the pattern will never stop; as long as there are fertile lands to support people and the empires and the magic that are created from them, the mistakes will keep happening. The Conclave then expands their sphere of influence. They create portals to these other wastelands and recruit new individuals (lower level Walkers of the Waste who are not dry liches) to become the caretakers of local secrets, as well as expand the wastes to cover all of Faerun; the only way the mistakes of the past is to remove the fertile lands that support the people that make them.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The organization as a whole I’d say would be very small, less than 30 members, all of them druidic Walkers in the Waste. They’d ally with similarly-minded creatures, such as sand dragons, ruin chanters and monsters they could lead explorers to their deaths.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I may introduce an aspect of one of the elder evils (not sure which one; advice would be appreciated!) at the end of the campaign, depending on how the characters deal with the Conclave when they first meet them. Should they, say, eliminate a Dry Lich on their unrelated task, its fall might be the beginning of releasing one of the elder evils…[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Anyone have any thoughts?[/FONT]</blockquote>

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