For the upcoming Paths of the Behemoth sourcebook, I contributed a parade of scavengers and weird mystics who trek along in the wake of the behemoths. I’ve a weakness for eccentric little guys who’ve found some niche and stick with it until they become crazy magic/mutant hermits – and the Dragon Empire setting is full of mystic niches. Weirdos like this can be annoying distractions or useful ways to drop plot hooks and hints – but they’re always fun for the GM to play.
Dungeon Dancers: This sect believes that everyone’s got a Living Dungeon of their own, and that if you enter the Living Dungeon that’s meant for you, you’ll become a god. (The sect’s probably connected to the Cult of the Devourer who live in the bowels of the Stone Thief, but over the ages, their theology’s gotten confused). Some Dungeon Dancers dress like the dungeon they’re trying to attract, and conduct elaborate and highly percussive dances in the hopes of charming their dungeon to the surface. Others beg, borrow or steal passage to the writhing isle of Omen, in the hope of finding transcendence amid the countless dungeons that spawn there. Dungeon Dancers are a good source of tips and rumours about other living dungeons, but they get paranoid if they suspect someone else is trying to jump the cue to godhood…
Flying Hermits believe that the only way to reach enlightenment is to get to the Overworld (everything’s better in the Overworld), so they try to hitch a ride on flying realms. Once they get hold of a floating rock, the next step is to lighten the load so rock goes up. So, if you meet a naked, emaciated weirdo on a floating rock who’s trying to rid himself of earthly attachments so he can gain another fifty feet of altitude, you know what you’re dealing with.
Axis Gladiomancers: These bloody-handed prophets hold that the fates express themselves through the fortunes of gladiators on the arena sands of Axis. If Johan Stonefoot wins his bout, then it means the dwarves are in ascendance all across the land. If Hargrek Dwarfsplitter wins… well, that’s less good for one dwarf in particular, and all dwarves in general. The gladiomancers read fortunes in blood splatters and chipped swords as well as, well, entrails.
Direwood Mushroom Pickers: The Dire Wood’s been used as a dumping ground for the alchemical experiments and weird magical runoff by successive Archmages for many ages. All that waste magic’s fermenting and decaying, so the mushrooms and truffles that grow amid the twisted roots are… interesting. The Mushroom Pickers brave the weird woods in search of glowing mushrooms and other unnatural growths; some of them are glowing and unnatural too.
Hellhole Surfers: These weirdos are like stormcrows, showing up as dire and offputting portents in places where a Hellhole might form. Just before a Hellhole erupts, there’s a surge of magical energy that you can tap. Wait, no, let me check my notes. Ah, there’s a surge of magical energy that could be tapped, in theory, but you’re infinitely more likely to just fall into the Hellhole and get eaten by demons.
Hellhole Surfers have not read my notes.
When a Hellhole doesn’t form on cue, they poke reality with arcane rituals, absurdly sinful atrocities, or some combination thereof. Unpleasant people, on the whole. But they’re also unpleasant people, on the hole.
Crusader Flagellants: Nearly as bad, Crusader Flagellants have taken the whole ‘Crusader is the mailed fist of the dark gods who strikes down demons’ schtick too far and believe that the Crusader’s going to strike down everyone. He’s going to kill all the other Icons, break down the pillars of Heaven, cast down the Emperor and the gods and then (in some unspecified way) things will be better. They try to hasten this by (a) gathering support for the Crusade (B) worshipping the dark gods (c) summoning demons in the heart of the Empire to draw the Crusade closer.
Coinseers of Glitterhaegen: Hang around Glitterhaegen, and you’ll see these weirdos with gold coins in their eyesockets. Rumours about them abound – are they seers who can see through coins? Is it a punishment for forging coins? For revealing guild secrets? Are they deliberately blinded so they can navigate the secret labyrinth within in the bank vault?
Exiled Lords of Nomad: Nomad’s a town of tents and easily portable dwellings, which moves to avoid being crushed by the thunderous passage of the Behemoths. The Exiled Lords are tent-dwelling hermits, each of whom claims to be a former Lord of Nomad. Through some weird lingering magic, their lordship has real power – while within his tent, a Lord of Nomad is sovereign, able to command the elements, bind and unbind spirits, and speak with the voice of command. But only within his or her ragged little tent.
Oldwall Anchorites: The magic of Oldwall is old and, er, wall-y. The ancient fortification restores itself, stone by stone, brick by brick, no matter what misfortunes befall the wall. There are those – again, those weird little guys – who immure themselves in Oldwall, hoping to tap into the magic of the stones before their little cells lose all connection to the outside world. Maybe if you find one of these anchorites, and pass in some food through the narrow window, they’ll work their stone magic on your behalf.
Orc Lord Truthers: A new sect, Orc Lord Truthers believe they know what really happened to the Orc Lord. What, you trust the mainstream town cryers? No, you’ve got to do your own research, find out what’s really going on. Orc Lord Truthers see conspiracy and malign double-dealing everywhere – which, ironically, makes them easy prey for devils.
Totally Normal Guys who just want to reassure you that the Dragon Empire has not been infiltrated by dopplegangers and that they’re totally normal guys, like you, fellow human or demi-human, and we’re all totally normal together and everything’s fine.
Past Age Throwbacks. There are those who miss the grandeur and wonder of past Ages, and so dedicate themselves to recapturing the beauty of the past. Some of them even wring some magical juice from history, accreted from fragments of ghosts with unresolved business, prophecies that never got fulfilled, threads of alternate histories that can now never come to pass and the like. On the one side, hey, free magic! The downside is that if they stop cosplaying past ages, even for an instant, that free magic might ground itself and zap them. Better keep on insisting it’s the 8th Age, weird guy.
Triskaidekeens are philosopher-pilgrims who roam the roads of the Dragon Empire, insisting that thirteen is the sacred number and all things must be arranged in groups of thirteen. Obviously, they only travel in packs, and can easily be recognised by the false fingers and toes they wear. They can be remarkable crafty and committed, sometimes even infiltrating important institutions like the library at Horizon or the scriptorium at Pelgrane Towers just to round things up to 13.