The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: SteerpikeIt's an interesting Underdark you've got here.

Thanks!
But, of course, it's not the Underdark, it's the Underdepths... :grin:

Quote from: SteerpikeMindflayers at most a vague rumour

Admittedly, the setting is vague enough that a big part of this is going to be driven by player desires. If nobody cares particularly much about mindflayers, they will remain a vague rumor, whereas if you go delving into the depths trying to find them, you probably will.

Quote from: SteerpikeApart from the drow, are there any major subterannean civilizations i.e. duergar, dwarves, svifrneblin, etc, or are they mostly scattered tribes?

Due to rough terrain and rampaging goblins, travel in the Underdepths can be difficult. This makes it hard to establish any sort of cohesive empire (at least without magic that isn't widely available) and has led to city-states being the dominant system of organization. Kobolds, orcs, and duergar all have settlements of various sizes and strengths nearby, but Torizzod is the unquestioned dominant regional power-- superior organization and magical aptitude means that the drow are generally the dominant race anywhere they have a city state of decent size, with only the duergar able to really rival them. Most drow city-states have an uneasy peace with the various great dwarven nations in the mountains closer to the surface, as they don't really compete for the same territory at all, and both consider their mutual enemies the goblins and the duergar to be far greater threats.

I'll join in on the questioning :grin:

Quote from: sparkletwist
It's fairly close to the surface. The Undersea is not too far below sea level on the surface world. There are tunnels to the surface to the west of the city, which come up in a remote hilly area not well mapped among the surface populations.

How viable would it be for our PCs to go on a surface raid?

Quote from: sparkletwist
Kobolds, orcs, and duergar all have settlements of various sizes and strengths nearby, but Torizzod is the unquestioned dominant regional power-- superior organization and magical aptitude means that the drow are generally the dominant race anywhere they have a city state of decent size, with only the duergar able to really rival them.

Roughly how hostile are these other races settlements toward a random party of dark elves caught in their neighbourhood? Is it always kill-on-sight or could some of them be parlayed and bargained with?

Quote from: GhostmanHow viable would it be for our PCs to go on a surface raid?

Quite viable! On a meta note the only real limitation is I'd need to know before the actual session what the plan was so I could prepare something.

Quote from: GhostmanRoughly how hostile are these other races settlements toward a random party of dark elves caught in their neighbourhood? Is it always kill-on-sight or could some of them be parlayed and bargained with?

Most duergar have a well-established hatred of all elven kind, especially drow; combined with the general duergar penchant for insularity and cynicism, this means that random dark elves showing up at a duergar city are likely to be attacked on sight. The orcs around Torizzod are similar, and it would be very difficult to get them to show any sort of temperance or mercy if they had the advantage. However, they generally regard drow with a mixture of hatred, resentment and grudging respect and could most likely be persuaded to talk if they were faced with undeniably superior power or made to believe the wrath of Torizzod was about to come down on them. Bargaining with them might be a challenge as the average orc is quite simply inherently far less smart than the average drow, but this also means they're somewhat gullible. Kobolds are perhaps the best hope-- while any kobold other than a well-armed and trained military patrol is likely to flee in terror from a party of dark elves, if peaceful contact can be made, kobolds are perhaps the most willing to negotiate, as they are quite pragmatic and are happy to talk if it means avoiding combat or subjugation. Most of them resent and fear the power of the larger and stronger races, and generally figure the best way for them to stay safe is to simply stay unnoticed, but if that isn't an option, they'd prefer negotiation to conflict. Goblins are generally too poorly organized to be able to say too much about them, roaming around in raiding bands or living in primitive nomadic villages of at most a few families. As such, the ability to negotiate would depend solely on the temperament of the individual goblin(s) involved.

Ooh, question time, cool.
Seeing as my character is a cleric, I'm obviously going to ask about religion.

You said that the Octet is the ruling body of Torizzod, and is made up of nobles. Does this make it a secular institution, or is there some flavour of theocracy or at least state religion involved in the government?
I presume, these being drow, that there is conflict between the different cults. How open is it? Do the different cults maintain their own militias in the same manner that the noble houses do?
If Ulrynn, as a priestess of the Hungering Cold, walked into a temple of the Spider Goddess or the Gravemistress or any other openly-worshipped deity, what sort of reception could she expect?
How big a part does religious ritual play in the life of the average citizen or Torizzod? Are the commonfolk pious, or do most just pay lip-service to the Spider Goddess?
Are any of the civic insitutions other than food production entirely run by the clergy (medical services, for example)?
What regard are the priesthood held in by the noble houses? Rivals for political power? Respected advisors? Tools to be exploited?

Quote from: KindlingYou said that the Octet is the ruling body of Torizzod, and is made up of nobles. Does this make it a secular institution, or is there some flavour of theocracy or at least state religion involved in the government?

The Octet is ostensibly secular, but there is not a particularly strict separation between the clergy and the nobility in Torizzod, and it's not at all uncommon for a noblewoman to buy her way into a senior clerical position, or for an influential priestess to be granted a title of nobility as a reward for her services. While all sects have a great deal of mixing with the nobility, the clergy of the Spider-Goddess, being the de facto state religion, is melded at the highest levels; for example, the High Priestess of Torizzod typically comes from the House of Tthiki, a claim to power they are loathe to give up. It's all very corrupt and based far more on the accruing of temporal power and fancy titles than any spiritual goal, of course.

Quote from: KindlingI presume, these being drow, that there is conflict between the different cults. How open is it? Do the different cults maintain their own militias in the same manner that the noble houses do?

Yes, each temple would maintain a small number of armed and combat-trained clerics in order to defend itself and its political interests. Open battle between rival temples generally does not happen, but it is not unheard of to hire mercenaries to engage the clerics of the rival temple in battle, have them assassinated, or other sorts of proxy combat. These feuds are inseparably mingled with the power struggles of the nobles, of course.

Quote from: KindlingIf Ulrynn, as a priestess of the Hungering Cold, walked into a temple of the Spider Goddess or the Gravemistress or any other openly-worshipped deity, what sort of reception could she expect?

She'd be treated with professional courtesy, albeit rather coldly. They'd likely think the worst of her motives and try get rid of her as quickly as possible.  If she were noble, she'd be trusted even less (as she'd be presumably furthering some rival house's agenda) but even without a title, she's presumed to be trying to doing someone's dirty work in hopes of acquiring one.

Quote from: KindlingHow big a part does religious ritual play in the life of the average citizen or Torizzod? Are the commonfolk pious, or do most just pay lip-service to the Spider Goddess?

Given the sheer cynicism shown by the religious authorities, it's hard for most people to muster much more than lip service, although they do generally appreciate the services provided by the clergy-- food, clean water, medical care, and whatnot. That doesn't mean there aren't the zealous true believers, of course, who generally see it as their mission to excise the corrupt nobility and all its intrigue from the true faith. It is quite likely that revolutionary reformers of their own faith who want to overthrow the entrenched oligarchy is one of the things that most temples keep armed clerics on hand to defend themselves against.

Quote from: KindlingAre any of the civic insitutions other than food production entirely run by the clergy (medical services, for example)?

Yes, it seems reasonable given their access to healing spells that clerics would be responsible for much of the city's medical needs as well. The clergy does not entirely run them but are by far in the best position to offer these services.

Quote from: KindlingWhat regard are the priesthood held in by the noble houses? Rivals for political power? Respected advisors? Tools to be exploited?

All of the above, at various times!

Very nice. A couple more...

What sort hierarchy would a cult or temple in Torizzod usually have for its clerics? I know I sort-of invented the Hungering Cold, but I would still like its worshippers to fit roughly into the general pattern for religions in the setting. I'm essentially wondering what sorts of relationships Ulrynn might typically have with her superiors and/or inferiors in the church.

As well as the politically and socially active mainstream of the priesthood, is there any kind of more insular or isolationist monastic-type tradition to any of the cults?

Are there any deities that the Hungering Cold might regard as more specific enemies, rather than just the general temporal and political rivalries that any cult might hold for another? What's the deal with the Gravemistress, for example? She sounds like another death-themed deity, so I can imagine there might be a rivalry there of some sort. Is the Gnarled Root a nature deity? If so, again, I can see the veneration of life being anathema to the Hungering Cold's worship of death's Boundless Silence.

I made up the Gravemistresses, Kindling.

In my head she is a drow, female manifestation of Kyuss.

Hmm, a quick wikipedia-ing reveals that Kyuss's stated dogma is extreeeemely similar to that of the Hungering Cold.

A thought I had was that perhaps a point of divergence for worshippers of the Hungering Cold (Cold Ones? Coldites? Hungered?) is that their faith revolves around a kind of merging with their deity in death, and a becoming a more passive part of the Boundless Silence. So maybe more individualistic and active versions of the afterlife and/or undeath are Abominations Unto The Hungering Cold, and the souls involved are percieved as blasphemous Voices disturbing the sacred stillness of the Boundless Silence.

I can modify the Gravemistress, too. I see her as basically a god of decay and unlife, all about the power and fecundity begat by death and rot. She's the "Mother of Maggots," as well. Basically, a death-god who is also an Earth Mother, all about fertility and creation but through putrescence and death, for her all death is simply an opportunity for transformation, etc.

That works, gives a pretty clear divide between the two. The Gravemistress is all about the physicality of death, whereas the Hungering Cold is a bit more spiritual in focus.

Maybe they could be sects that actually follow what were originally two different aspects of the same deity, that at some point started to be interpreted as separate gods as the cults diverged from each other?

Depending on the cosmology/theology, that kind of schism could be either a reflection or even a cause of an actual split of the deity itself if we went that route.

The Hungering Cold is genderless, right?

As I had imagined it, yes. More a cosmic force than a truly anthropomorphic deity.

Quote from: KindlingAs well as the politically and socially active mainstream of the priesthood, is there any kind of more insular or isolationist monastic-type tradition to any of the cults?

I think that all the cults would have this to some degree, but after reading the comments in this thread and also re-reading Ulrynn's biography, it occurred to me that one good way to express any religious split in practice might be that the Hungering Cold has a more ascetic tradition compared to some other death-oriented cults, like the Gravemistress. The idea of the cold symbolizing being more austere and free of corrupting influences seems like it could be thematically fitting. So, if you like this idea, I'd make the Hungering Cold sect more ideologically "pure" to a degree, at least to the extent that nobles are not allowed (or at least, not usually allowed) to buy their way into the sect's hierarchy with substantial "donations" like most of the other cults-- this would provoke the ire of nobles who would like to do exactly that, naturally, but would also give them a certain aura of integrity, at least in the eyes of those concerned with such things.

Quote from: KindlingMore a cosmic force than a truly anthropomorphic deity.

That actually fits in pretty well, too... I thought that a lot of the drow sects were so corrupt because they were corrupt from the top down. They serve demonic or abyssal patrons who have their own wicked motivations, and are happy to bargain for power. The currency is a bit more esoteric-- blood, sacrifices, souls-- but the basic idea is the same. A sect that doesn't interact so closely with a creature showing such naked ambition of its own would likely be more austere.

Quote from: KindlingWhat sort hierarchy would a cult or temple in Torizzod usually have for its clerics? I know I sort-of invented the Hungering Cold, but I would still like its worshippers to fit roughly into the general pattern for religions in the setting. I'm essentially wondering what sorts of relationships Ulrynn might typically have with her superiors and/or inferiors in the church.

Hmm... how about this? Each temple is run by a High Priestess, who has authority over the other priestesses, themselves in their own hierarchy-- the High Priestess commands the Senior Priestesses, who command the Revered Priestesses, who command the Adept Priestesses, who command the Initiate Priestesses. Each sect might have more thematic artful titles, like the Hungering Cold may give them coinages referring to cold, silence, and death.

Quote from: KindlingAre there any deities that the Hungering Cold might regard as more specific enemies, rather than just the general temporal and political rivalries that any cult might hold for another? What's the deal with the Gravemistress, for example? She sounds like another death-themed deity, so I can imagine there might be a rivalry there of some sort. Is the Gnarled Root a nature deity? If so, again, I can see the veneration of life being anathema to the Hungering Cold's worship of death's Boundless Silence.

The Gnarled Root is just a name I dropped because I liked the sound of it, but thinking about it more, a name like that would suggest a sort of veneration of life, particularly the sort of life you'd find in the Underdepths. It seems like the best choice for an ideological rivalry, because it would imply a certain vibrancy and zest for life (with all of the drow hedonism that goes along with it) that I would think would offend followers of the Hungering Cold on a very basic level.

Yeah I really like the sound of all of that, sparkle. Really works well for my initial character concept, fits in very nicely with the vision I had for her.

I'll try and come up with some flavourful titles for the different ranks of priestess of the Hungering Cold. What rank would Ulrynn be as a level 4 cleric? I'd assume adept, but possibly eyeing up a relatively imminent promotion to revered? Not that I would expect to have a squad of junior priestesses at my beck and call, of course.

EDIT: Naming idea - It's customary for priestesses of the Hungering Cold to address those of higher rank to themselves as Mother, those of lower rank as Daughter and those of equal rank as Sister. To this title, the following adjective is added to denote specific rank, where necessary: Quiet for Initiate Priestesses, Tranquil for Adept Priestesses, Frozen for Revered Priestesses and Eternal for Senior Priestesses.
The High Priestess stands above this system and is referred to as the Breath of Emptiness.