So one of my PCs is a monk from a remote mountainous region that has a dozen or so different monasteries that for centuries have all operated as protectors in a loose confederacy of independent mountain villages and towns (very little to no central government). In this PCs backstory, he fled his home after someone high in the leadership of his monastery began reshaping the role of the monastery in the region and corrupting the Djozan (think sensei or Dalai-Lama) of the monastery. Now the Leopard Song Order (the PCs monastery) has been formed into a nationalistic military organization that is bringing villages and towns under direct control and causing the other monastic orders to either join up or bend the knee.
My players will be in this region soon with the express purpose of dealing with this problem. From the outset, I had decided that this corrupting official, the Swordarm named Hiuh Lao is not what he seems to be. I've gone through a few iterations of what he could be, but I'm not sure which. Currently, the campaign has 2 BBEGs who are cahooting, a vampire lord name Luther Mortanas and and extremely old and powerful wizard named Zhaken Amberhart.
Long story short:
Amberhart is in posession of a mcguffin that allows him to do a lot of things including influence peoples minds on a grand scale (thin Sauron using the one ring to influence the easterlings and the orcs and bring them under his control).
Mortanas owes a debt to Asmodeus that is constantly increasing to the point where he needs to orchestrate war so that he can steal souls through the use of special machinery that's not important for explanation here.
The two are working together and are ultimately being steered by Asmodeus to wreak havoc on the material plane.
Now for the issue at hand. I want Hiuh Lao to be a reveal of sorts. He's not just a bad dude, and I don't want him to be a lackey of the other BBEGs: I want him to be an ally of some sort with his own goals. I thought maybe he could be a real nasty magical creature like a Slaad in disguise or something. I also thought that maybe he could be a Drow that is working to disrupt the region somehow to the benefit of a Drow nation in the underdark beneath the mountains and coastal towns. What should I make Hiuh Lao to be? How do I write him as a villain that will dovetail in with the others (both of whom weave into other players' backstories)? My PC also had a vision that basically indicated he needed to get the McGuffin that Amberhart has to save his people. Might be like a 'return this to its natural home/rightful owner' type situation and that owner might turn out to be an overgod type entity.
I wouldn’t make him a different creature from what he presents himself as. Instead, he should just be an ordinary guy, trying to unite the orders under his rule, so they can fight as one against the encroaching fiendish forces. His methods are brutal, but his intentions are noble.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Maybe an elder Ki-Rin that's mind has been corrupted a long time ago from a vision quest to the abyss. It came to the noblest monestary long ago as a human going though the ranks as a monk to see their ways and the path is just, but to become a master had to survive the Abyss for a time or reach a goal there, but it got to the mind of the Ki-rin and put it in a battle of chaotic thought and inner peace. It sees the chaos of the villages each set in their own ways and sees uniting them as the only way and will stop at nothing to get them on the same page and to put its lackey as the puppet leader for it to convey its wishes through, but take any blame. Maybe it has a champion it sends village to village challenging the strongest houses to duals or blackmailing them etc.
An evil version of a Ki-Rin seems cool and could need something from each village to skirt around the mcguffin's powers so it can claim it for itself. Once revealed, could be seen as an omen and immediately worship(?) it or have to destroy it as an abomination. Maybe the party has to cure the Ki-Rin of its madness for it to remember a key missing piece to the key to destroying the mcguggin....
I am a chaotic helix of thought myself. May you make order of any which way you make this encounter and I hope all have a blast!
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So one of my PCs is a monk from a remote mountainous region that has a dozen or so different monasteries that for centuries have all operated as protectors in a loose confederacy of independent mountain villages and towns (very little to no central government). In this PCs backstory, he fled his home after someone high in the leadership of his monastery began reshaping the role of the monastery in the region and corrupting the Djozan (think sensei or Dalai-Lama) of the monastery. Now the Leopard Song Order (the PCs monastery) has been formed into a nationalistic military organization that is bringing villages and towns under direct control and causing the other monastic orders to either join up or bend the knee.
My players will be in this region soon with the express purpose of dealing with this problem. From the outset, I had decided that this corrupting official, the Swordarm named Hiuh Lao is not what he seems to be. I've gone through a few iterations of what he could be, but I'm not sure which. Currently, the campaign has 2 BBEGs who are cahooting, a vampire lord name Luther Mortanas and and extremely old and powerful wizard named Zhaken Amberhart.
Long story short:
Amberhart is in posession of a mcguffin that allows him to do a lot of things including influence peoples minds on a grand scale (thin Sauron using the one ring to influence the easterlings and the orcs and bring them under his control).
Mortanas owes a debt to Asmodeus that is constantly increasing to the point where he needs to orchestrate war so that he can steal souls through the use of special machinery that's not important for explanation here.
The two are working together and are ultimately being steered by Asmodeus to wreak havoc on the material plane.
Now for the issue at hand. I want Hiuh Lao to be a reveal of sorts. He's not just a bad dude, and I don't want him to be a lackey of the other BBEGs: I want him to be an ally of some sort with his own goals. I thought maybe he could be a real nasty magical creature like a Slaad in disguise or something. I also thought that maybe he could be a Drow that is working to disrupt the region somehow to the benefit of a Drow nation in the underdark beneath the mountains and coastal towns. What should I make Hiuh Lao to be? How do I write him as a villain that will dovetail in with the others (both of whom weave into other players' backstories)? My PC also had a vision that basically indicated he needed to get the McGuffin that Amberhart has to save his people. Might be like a 'return this to its natural home/rightful owner' type situation and that owner might turn out to be an overgod type entity.
I wouldn’t make him a different creature from what he presents himself as. Instead, he should just be an ordinary guy, trying to unite the orders under his rule, so they can fight as one against the encroaching fiendish forces. His methods are brutal, but his intentions are noble.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Maybe an elder Ki-Rin that's mind has been corrupted a long time ago from a vision quest to the abyss. It came to the noblest monestary long ago as a human going though the ranks as a monk to see their ways and the path is just, but to become a master had to survive the Abyss for a time or reach a goal there, but it got to the mind of the Ki-rin and put it in a battle of chaotic thought and inner peace. It sees the chaos of the villages each set in their own ways and sees uniting them as the only way and will stop at nothing to get them on the same page and to put its lackey as the puppet leader for it to convey its wishes through, but take any blame. Maybe it has a champion it sends village to village challenging the strongest houses to duals or blackmailing them etc.
An evil version of a Ki-Rin seems cool and could need something from each village to skirt around the mcguffin's powers so it can claim it for itself. Once revealed, could be seen as an omen and immediately worship(?) it or have to destroy it as an abomination. Maybe the party has to cure the Ki-Rin of its madness for it to remember a key missing piece to the key to destroying the mcguggin....
I am a chaotic helix of thought myself. May you make order of any which way you make this encounter and I hope all have a blast!