So I have the grim hollow setting and I am working on a campaign idea. The first adventure would see the party getting into debt with Archfey and having to work off their debt by running errands for him. In Grimhollow the gods are dead and the heavens are being run by powerful but overworked Archangels. Demons are starting to run rampant.
This brings us to the Archfey the players end up working for. The Hunstman is heavily based on Odin as the lord of the Wild Hunt. He has a plan that the players would not know at first. recruit other Archfey and form and ascend as a new pantheon while the Angels and Demons fight one another. He is not after being a God of the hunt, he is thinking bigger. He wants to be the god of agriculture, the most important for daily life everywhere the head of this new pantheon. Creative stretching of his specialty of hunting into providing food.
His first recruit is the "Old man of the sea" who he wants to become not just the god of the seas, but the god of commerce, but after that, I am not sure who to include. I had an idea for a sort of "proto-raven-queen" because she was already being fey styled in 5e, but I don't really love that idea. The Huntsman is attempting to find fey he could convince to take on domains that would be essential trappings of civilization and important to day-to-day life. It is a big risk for those fey to try and change themselves like that so it takes some convincing.
The first phase of the campaign would be the party doing favors on behalf of the Huntsman for all of these archfey to get them to agree to some form of meeting. Then once they have reached a sufficient level the meeting comes and the plan is revealed. The players have met and worked for these archfey then have to choose whether to try and stop this or willingly help the fey ascend.
Any ideas for other archfey to fill out this would be pantheon. I am still early in the brainstorming process.
You could have an aries like figure that wants to become an athena like figure. War from violence to strategy. That could be a good position for a werewolf like archfey which is one of the hunting feys hunting dogs wanting to be elevated from a violent beast to a tactical figure. There is potentially an option to make all the future gods, odins dogs.
Dionysis could also be an interesting one. Dionysis was likely a god of madness and drugs that got civilized into being a god of parties and wine. You could have one with split personalities or insane. They could be imprisoned and or have moments where they support the plan and others they don't.
Love also works as an interesting domain to explore for this kind of things. There are different kinds of love, romantic, erotic, familial, social and intellectual. . A figure that changes from one to another could be an interesting character. So a kind of aphrodite like figure who changed from a god of beauty in greece to more of a mother figure in rome. Like a beautiful archfey that your Odin figure promises to marry in order to become a kind of mother goddess. They could also have many lovers the follow with them. Such as a satyr like pan.
You can then mix them up with some Norse aspects for example the Dionysus mad figure could take the place of fenrir the chained wolf.
Thanks! I really how you brought real inspiration for figures that changed significantly in mythology. I like your ideas inspired by Dionysus and Aphrodite. This gives me more places to look for inspiration. Thank you.
While he is a god, Dionysus does seem very fey-like and surrounds himself with them. (Satyrs) You could have him be a sort of double angent, maybe he wishes to join the fey and leave the other gods because he sees a chance to gain more power in the other pantheon. He is also completely mad so the reasons for him betraying the other gods don't have to be clear.
Krampus could join them. He might become the patron of punishment, snow, Christmas, wrath, and/or justice.
Zankallala might fit. He was a African creature that was a tiny man who rode a jerboa, wore a bee hive as a hat, carried a snake as a walking stick, had scorpions strapped to his feet as spurs, and was followed by a swarm of birds who all sung his praise. He might be a patron of wildlife.
Issitoq was the Inuit spirit of justice and often took the form of a giant flying eyeball. He punished those who did wrong or broke contracts or the law. He also had a more monstrous form and might have been associated with sadness.
The Meadow Lord is a Archfey I made up who is as tall as the smallest blade of grass while in a field, and as large as the tallest tree while in a forest. Would probably be a patron of nature and plant-life
The Swan Queen. Don't know who she is but would probably be associated with elves.
Goblins are considered fey now. I think that all their gods were killed, but maybe one survived and was hidden in the feywild. It would probably jump at the chance to gain support and rise in status once again.
The Porpoise of Life. A porpoise who has incredible healing abilities that I made up. Would be the patron of life, healing and health.
You could have Eros (Cupid) as the god of love. He might have been banished from the celestial planes because of all the chaos he caused with his arrows, so he fled to the feywild and fit right in. He would join the Archfey and their pantheon to gain status and power that were beyond his reach during his stay in the Celestial planes.
Maybe the Headless Horseman could become the patron of death and/or fear.
Baba Yaga might come to be the patron of death, magic, witchcraft, or just evil.
The Morrigan could be a good choice - ancient Irish goddess of Battle and Death - she's known for being very wilful and self-centred and can be hag-like in some representations so she's already very fey-like. She apparently enjoys chaos so there are a variety reasons she'd be interested in the plan. In Irish lore, she's an inciter of conflicts and a goddess of battle and death. Could also fill the roles of goddess of evil, violence, murder, bloodshed or any other darker aspect of deity you might be looking for.
Scáthach (the Shadowy one) - a kind of celtic amazon known for training legendary warriors. She lived in an impregnable fortress on an island (supposedly the Isle of Skye) which sounds like an Archfey lair. Could be a goddess of combat and honourable battle; I'd kind of imagine of her as a lessor goddess though.
Fossegrimmen - a figure from Norse mythology, a handsome man that supposedly sits naked under a waterfall playing the music of nature itself (as in the sounds of water, wind, etc all come from his music) - would make a good god of music, merriment and [some aspects of] nature (or you could take the strange music and the sage beneath the waterfall vibes to make him a god of knowledge)
(Just a random thought but you could have one/some of the Archfey that are approached decide they like the idea, but they don't want him as ruler - in case you want to create an antithesis or evil pantheon of deities/rivals for the party to overcome or to ally with depending on their choices)
I think this is a great story idea. The Morrigan and Scathach are great ideas. Something that has always bothered me is that owlin and harengon are supposed to be from the fey-wild but there is really no lore for them. If you allow them as playable races or just want them as NPCs then you could give them a patron Archfey. The Owlin could be ruled by the patron of knowlege, and the harengon could be ruled by the patron of prey and those who seek shelter and refuge. I could also see the Cat Lord, the ruler of Tabaxi, as an Archfey. There is this old story called Pusscat Mew about a guy who foolishly travels into an ogre and faerie infested wood. Throughout the story he hears a voice that calls out to him instructing him how to survive and a cat named Pusscat Mew comes and helps him. He could be something like an avatar or agent of the Cat Lord who helps those whose curiosity has gotten them in danger.
You could have the Cobbler King who is thronged by Leperchauns and tiny shoemaking elves. He makes magic footwear and bestoys it upon those who gain his favor.
Russian mythology has a King of Bears (I forget his real name) who could cause earthquakes, thunder and fling lightning. He could be the patron of storms, natural disasters and bears.
There were also these giants, one was named Swifteye, another was named Vii, they were both massive giants whose gaze brought destruction. Swifteye's head was wrapped in bandages, and if he every peeked out between them, bolts of lightning would flash forth and destroy all he beheld. Vii just kept his eyes closed I think.
So I have the grim hollow setting and I am working on a campaign idea. The first adventure would see the party getting into debt with Archfey and having to work off their debt by running errands for him. In Grimhollow the gods are dead and the heavens are being run by powerful but overworked Archangels. Demons are starting to run rampant.
This brings us to the Archfey the players end up working for. The Hunstman is heavily based on Odin as the lord of the Wild Hunt. He has a plan that the players would not know at first. recruit other Archfey and form and ascend as a new pantheon while the Angels and Demons fight one another. He is not after being a God of the hunt, he is thinking bigger. He wants to be the god of agriculture, the most important for daily life everywhere the head of this new pantheon. Creative stretching of his specialty of hunting into providing food.
His first recruit is the "Old man of the sea" who he wants to become not just the god of the seas, but the god of commerce, but after that, I am not sure who to include. I had an idea for a sort of "proto-raven-queen" because she was already being fey styled in 5e, but I don't really love that idea. The Huntsman is attempting to find fey he could convince to take on domains that would be essential trappings of civilization and important to day-to-day life. It is a big risk for those fey to try and change themselves like that so it takes some convincing.
The first phase of the campaign would be the party doing favors on behalf of the Huntsman for all of these archfey to get them to agree to some form of meeting. Then once they have reached a sufficient level the meeting comes and the plan is revealed. The players have met and worked for these archfey then have to choose whether to try and stop this or willingly help the fey ascend.
Any ideas for other archfey to fill out this would be pantheon. I am still early in the brainstorming process.
I have a few suggestions.
You could have an aries like figure that wants to become an athena like figure. War from violence to strategy. That could be a good position for a werewolf like archfey which is one of the hunting feys hunting dogs wanting to be elevated from a violent beast to a tactical figure. There is potentially an option to make all the future gods, odins dogs.
Dionysis could also be an interesting one. Dionysis was likely a god of madness and drugs that got civilized into being a god of parties and wine. You could have one with split personalities or insane. They could be imprisoned and or have moments where they support the plan and others they don't.
Love also works as an interesting domain to explore for this kind of things. There are different kinds of love, romantic, erotic, familial, social and intellectual. . A figure that changes from one to another could be an interesting character. So a kind of aphrodite like figure who changed from a god of beauty in greece to more of a mother figure in rome. Like a beautiful archfey that your Odin figure promises to marry in order to become a kind of mother goddess. They could also have many lovers the follow with them. Such as a satyr like pan.
You can then mix them up with some Norse aspects for example the Dionysus mad figure could take the place of fenrir the chained wolf.
Thanks! I really how you brought real inspiration for figures that changed significantly in mythology. I like your ideas inspired by Dionysus and Aphrodite. This gives me more places to look for inspiration. Thank you.
While he is a god, Dionysus does seem very fey-like and surrounds himself with them. (Satyrs) You could have him be a sort of double angent, maybe he wishes to join the fey and leave the other gods because he sees a chance to gain more power in the other pantheon. He is also completely mad so the reasons for him betraying the other gods don't have to be clear.
Krampus could join them. He might become the patron of punishment, snow, Christmas, wrath, and/or justice.
Zankallala might fit. He was a African creature that was a tiny man who rode a jerboa, wore a bee hive as a hat, carried a snake as a walking stick, had scorpions strapped to his feet as spurs, and was followed by a swarm of birds who all sung his praise. He might be a patron of wildlife.
Issitoq was the Inuit spirit of justice and often took the form of a giant flying eyeball. He punished those who did wrong or broke contracts or the law. He also had a more monstrous form and might have been associated with sadness.
The Meadow Lord is a Archfey I made up who is as tall as the smallest blade of grass while in a field, and as large as the tallest tree while in a forest. Would probably be a patron of nature and plant-life
The Swan Queen. Don't know who she is but would probably be associated with elves.
Goblins are considered fey now. I think that all their gods were killed, but maybe one survived and was hidden in the feywild. It would probably jump at the chance to gain support and rise in status once again.
The Porpoise of Life. A porpoise who has incredible healing abilities that I made up. Would be the patron of life, healing and health.
You could have Eros (Cupid) as the god of love. He might have been banished from the celestial planes because of all the chaos he caused with his arrows, so he fled to the feywild and fit right in. He would join the Archfey and their pantheon to gain status and power that were beyond his reach during his stay in the Celestial planes.
Maybe the Headless Horseman could become the patron of death and/or fear.
Baba Yaga might come to be the patron of death, magic, witchcraft, or just evil.
These are some great inspirations.
The Morrigan could be a good choice - ancient Irish goddess of Battle and Death - she's known for being very wilful and self-centred and can be hag-like in some representations so she's already very fey-like. She apparently enjoys chaos so there are a variety reasons she'd be interested in the plan. In Irish lore, she's an inciter of conflicts and a goddess of battle and death. Could also fill the roles of goddess of evil, violence, murder, bloodshed or any other darker aspect of deity you might be looking for.
Scáthach (the Shadowy one) - a kind of celtic amazon known for training legendary warriors. She lived in an impregnable fortress on an island (supposedly the Isle of Skye) which sounds like an Archfey lair. Could be a goddess of combat and honourable battle; I'd kind of imagine of her as a lessor goddess though.
Fossegrimmen - a figure from Norse mythology, a handsome man that supposedly sits naked under a waterfall playing the music of nature itself (as in the sounds of water, wind, etc all come from his music) - would make a good god of music, merriment and [some aspects of] nature (or you could take the strange music and the sage beneath the waterfall vibes to make him a god of knowledge)
(Just a random thought but you could have one/some of the Archfey that are approached decide they like the idea, but they don't want him as ruler - in case you want to create an antithesis or evil pantheon of deities/rivals for the party to overcome or to ally with depending on their choices)
I think this is a great story idea. The Morrigan and Scathach are great ideas. Something that has always bothered me is that owlin and harengon are supposed to be from the fey-wild but there is really no lore for them. If you allow them as playable races or just want them as NPCs then you could give them a patron Archfey. The Owlin could be ruled by the patron of knowlege, and the harengon could be ruled by the patron of prey and those who seek shelter and refuge. I could also see the Cat Lord, the ruler of Tabaxi, as an Archfey. There is this old story called Pusscat Mew about a guy who foolishly travels into an ogre and faerie infested wood. Throughout the story he hears a voice that calls out to him instructing him how to survive and a cat named Pusscat Mew comes and helps him. He could be something like an avatar or agent of the Cat Lord who helps those whose curiosity has gotten them in danger.
You could have the Cobbler King who is thronged by Leperchauns and tiny shoemaking elves. He makes magic footwear and bestoys it upon those who gain his favor.
Russian mythology has a King of Bears (I forget his real name) who could cause earthquakes, thunder and fling lightning. He could be the patron of storms, natural disasters and bears.
There were also these giants, one was named Swifteye, another was named Vii, they were both massive giants whose gaze brought destruction. Swifteye's head was wrapped in bandages, and if he every peeked out between them, bolts of lightning would flash forth and destroy all he beheld. Vii just kept his eyes closed I think.
I like the idea of the Cat Lord, Cobbler, and King of Bears.