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houseofstrangeSo I got Volo's Guide to Monsters, finally, and it's had me thinking about krakens again.
The Guide has a few sections, one that goes more into the set-up of the societies of some big-ticket creatures, like Beholders, Hags, and such, then a section on playable types, and beastiary, and a section of jobclasses.
One item I found in the jobclasses was the Kraken Priest, and while the idea struck me as appropriate, proper reading and cross-referencing to the Monster Manual showed that it is more or less the opposite of what would work with what I have already defined.
I didn't read the Kraken entry in detail but the implication is they are hugely smart and can be viewed as near god-like, and someoen who takes to worshipping them becomes almost a slave that they work through.
In a way, that is how I see the relationship between Leviathan and the krakens in the Nightlands - Leviathan is an immense, powerful, and vastly telepathic entity that has a near god-like status for anyone and anything that lives in or near the sea. Krakens, while being powerful sea monsters, are nothing more than dumb animals that Leviathan controls telepathically to be it's mobile servitors, doing things on the scale of most of the residents of the sea, when needed.
Now I still think my first impression when I first looked over the Kraken Priest entry is one worth considering - the idea of sea priests that serve a powerful sea entity. In the Nightlands' case, it would more likely be Priests of Leviathan, and they have the potential ability to call on Leviathan to send a kraken to aid them in a situation - for example a fight between seafolk and the Black Empire would have Leviathan quite willing to put in his giant sea squid-shaped aid.
(In my mind, Krakens are giant squids.)
Now I do imagine most Priests of Leviathan are Oár Kessír (Sea Elves), Merfolk, and other sea-bound races (between the two manuals there are a few interesting possibilities of other sea races, including an extra fishy Mer-person type, the Kuo-Toa and Sahuagin, but I also have to take into account that I believe there are Fae Sea territories as well as land ones.
But I also think some coastal landfolk can be Priests of Leviathan, but I think such a person would live a very water-related life - fishermen and sailors for the most part.
One person I think is a prime option for being a Leviathan Priest is the expy for Egandír, though I also think he is a sea-aligned Landsinger, or "Seasinger" - having a strong sense of the sea and it's magic.
***
Another thing while looking through the Monster manual again is that I don't directly attribute the Nightlands as having "demons", so when it comes to demon and devil races in D&D, I am more inclined to make them a part of the Unseelie. Likewise Celstial/angelic races may be relegated to the Seelie, or some of both types may be Wild Fae or even Eldritch entities of the Arcane.
***
In other thoughts, I was contemplating Dryads and started considering the idea of what is the dryad - the humanoid being or the tree itself? Maybe the Nightlands has examples of both, but I was thinking my way through a model where it is the tree that is the living arcane entity and the humanoid-shaped extension is just a kind-of remote-controlled drone.
The same concept also had me recalling, vaguely, the idea of a stand of trees that are all the same organism, expanding the idea of my dryad as having a root network that spreads out through a forest in a web-like pattern, with smaller satellite trees popping up throughout the forest. This dryad does not make up all the trees in the forest, but is like one in every ten or twenty trees is one of it's satellite trunks. The dryad lives in a symbiotic relationship with the other trees and the animals that reside amongst them, both needing other plants and helping them grow. Such a dryad is incredibly resistant to attack, since most people who might try to attack it would try to destroy the central tree, not realising it's root network runs throughout the forest and the death and destruction of the central tree will not kill it.
Actually this presents a good reason to have the other dryad model - the one of an arcane being dependent on a singular tree - because most people would know of that type, also meaning this networked type of dryad is far more uncommon and less well-known.
Edit 2:53AM 14/4/18: A bit of reconsidering of the question of different types of dryads, and I don't think this dryad type of mine is different. What is different is the tree he is symbiotic with. There is a type of tree IRL that has been identified as being several trunks growing up from the same root system, therefore it is all one huge plant. So that is what I think this dryad is - a tree with multiple trunks growing from one root system. Probably the big difference from the IRL tree is what sort of shape the tree has - as I much prefer something closer to an oak in appearance - and that the forest it is in is not made up only of it's own trunks. As I mentioned above, it is intertwined with other trees in a symbiotic relationship, and only one in ten trunks is one of the Dryad's trunks.
I will confess, this dryad concept has been encouraged by porny imaginings, centered around such a dryad seducing a young woman. That does happen a lot with me. /Edit.
***
Another creature I was interested in is the Ki-rin, which are a creature kind-of like a unicorn. Actually as far as I understand it, IRL Ki-rin are viewed as being Asian Unicorns, mythical beings that have a striking similarity to Western Unicorns.
That resemblance to unicorns tends to make me want to make them related, though I think Unicorns are residents of the northern Nightlands while Ki-rin are residents of the south. If they are a kindred race to unicorns, then I would also have them be immortal as well, with similar standards to unicorns, though if they live in the south, I'd think they would be psychologically tougher than unicorns, as they would face the problems of living near the Black Empire and the Unseelie.
***
The final idea I want to lay out some basics on is common religious observances in the North. The general model I was contemplating is an idea of people being led in a kind of group transcendent experience where they get to perceive a little of the Arcane, under controlled conditions. For humans and a lot of Kessír it would require some aid in the form of arcane talismans to help open their minds to the Arcane. I tend to imagine a lot of people having some sort of piece of jewellery like a necklace with a small piece of arcane crystal that serves this purpose - at least in affluent cities and towns. In smaller rural areas it may be a single arcane crystal installation in a village temple that people sit around in such rituals.
I mostly got thinking on this track while contemplating Losá's role in Hópa Elenna and considering how she is probably the city's High Priestess, and what would that mean to human and Kessír residents of the city. My conclusion is that there has to be a functional religion with regular ceremonies and rituals for the edification of the populous, and if the primary religion of the Nightlands is the belief in the Arcane, then it should centre around experiencing one's place in the Arcane and fortify the people's self-concept of their place in society, with the core belief that everyone is a part of the whole.
The Guide has a few sections, one that goes more into the set-up of the societies of some big-ticket creatures, like Beholders, Hags, and such, then a section on playable types, and beastiary, and a section of jobclasses.
One item I found in the jobclasses was the Kraken Priest, and while the idea struck me as appropriate, proper reading and cross-referencing to the Monster Manual showed that it is more or less the opposite of what would work with what I have already defined.
I didn't read the Kraken entry in detail but the implication is they are hugely smart and can be viewed as near god-like, and someoen who takes to worshipping them becomes almost a slave that they work through.
In a way, that is how I see the relationship between Leviathan and the krakens in the Nightlands - Leviathan is an immense, powerful, and vastly telepathic entity that has a near god-like status for anyone and anything that lives in or near the sea. Krakens, while being powerful sea monsters, are nothing more than dumb animals that Leviathan controls telepathically to be it's mobile servitors, doing things on the scale of most of the residents of the sea, when needed.
Now I still think my first impression when I first looked over the Kraken Priest entry is one worth considering - the idea of sea priests that serve a powerful sea entity. In the Nightlands' case, it would more likely be Priests of Leviathan, and they have the potential ability to call on Leviathan to send a kraken to aid them in a situation - for example a fight between seafolk and the Black Empire would have Leviathan quite willing to put in his giant sea squid-shaped aid.
(In my mind, Krakens are giant squids.)
Now I do imagine most Priests of Leviathan are Oár Kessír (Sea Elves), Merfolk, and other sea-bound races (between the two manuals there are a few interesting possibilities of other sea races, including an extra fishy Mer-person type, the Kuo-Toa and Sahuagin, but I also have to take into account that I believe there are Fae Sea territories as well as land ones.
But I also think some coastal landfolk can be Priests of Leviathan, but I think such a person would live a very water-related life - fishermen and sailors for the most part.
One person I think is a prime option for being a Leviathan Priest is the expy for Egandír, though I also think he is a sea-aligned Landsinger, or "Seasinger" - having a strong sense of the sea and it's magic.
***
Another thing while looking through the Monster manual again is that I don't directly attribute the Nightlands as having "demons", so when it comes to demon and devil races in D&D, I am more inclined to make them a part of the Unseelie. Likewise Celstial/angelic races may be relegated to the Seelie, or some of both types may be Wild Fae or even Eldritch entities of the Arcane.
***
In other thoughts, I was contemplating Dryads and started considering the idea of what is the dryad - the humanoid being or the tree itself? Maybe the Nightlands has examples of both, but I was thinking my way through a model where it is the tree that is the living arcane entity and the humanoid-shaped extension is just a kind-of remote-controlled drone.
The same concept also had me recalling, vaguely, the idea of a stand of trees that are all the same organism, expanding the idea of my dryad as having a root network that spreads out through a forest in a web-like pattern, with smaller satellite trees popping up throughout the forest. This dryad does not make up all the trees in the forest, but is like one in every ten or twenty trees is one of it's satellite trunks. The dryad lives in a symbiotic relationship with the other trees and the animals that reside amongst them, both needing other plants and helping them grow. Such a dryad is incredibly resistant to attack, since most people who might try to attack it would try to destroy the central tree, not realising it's root network runs throughout the forest and the death and destruction of the central tree will not kill it.
Actually this presents a good reason to have the other dryad model - the one of an arcane being dependent on a singular tree - because most people would know of that type, also meaning this networked type of dryad is far more uncommon and less well-known.
Edit 2:53AM 14/4/18: A bit of reconsidering of the question of different types of dryads, and I don't think this dryad type of mine is different. What is different is the tree he is symbiotic with. There is a type of tree IRL that has been identified as being several trunks growing up from the same root system, therefore it is all one huge plant. So that is what I think this dryad is - a tree with multiple trunks growing from one root system. Probably the big difference from the IRL tree is what sort of shape the tree has - as I much prefer something closer to an oak in appearance - and that the forest it is in is not made up only of it's own trunks. As I mentioned above, it is intertwined with other trees in a symbiotic relationship, and only one in ten trunks is one of the Dryad's trunks.
I will confess, this dryad concept has been encouraged by porny imaginings, centered around such a dryad seducing a young woman. That does happen a lot with me. /Edit.
***
Another creature I was interested in is the Ki-rin, which are a creature kind-of like a unicorn. Actually as far as I understand it, IRL Ki-rin are viewed as being Asian Unicorns, mythical beings that have a striking similarity to Western Unicorns.
That resemblance to unicorns tends to make me want to make them related, though I think Unicorns are residents of the northern Nightlands while Ki-rin are residents of the south. If they are a kindred race to unicorns, then I would also have them be immortal as well, with similar standards to unicorns, though if they live in the south, I'd think they would be psychologically tougher than unicorns, as they would face the problems of living near the Black Empire and the Unseelie.
***
The final idea I want to lay out some basics on is common religious observances in the North. The general model I was contemplating is an idea of people being led in a kind of group transcendent experience where they get to perceive a little of the Arcane, under controlled conditions. For humans and a lot of Kessír it would require some aid in the form of arcane talismans to help open their minds to the Arcane. I tend to imagine a lot of people having some sort of piece of jewellery like a necklace with a small piece of arcane crystal that serves this purpose - at least in affluent cities and towns. In smaller rural areas it may be a single arcane crystal installation in a village temple that people sit around in such rituals.
I mostly got thinking on this track while contemplating Losá's role in Hópa Elenna and considering how she is probably the city's High Priestess, and what would that mean to human and Kessír residents of the city. My conclusion is that there has to be a functional religion with regular ceremonies and rituals for the edification of the populous, and if the primary religion of the Nightlands is the belief in the Arcane, then it should centre around experiencing one's place in the Arcane and fortify the people's self-concept of their place in society, with the core belief that everyone is a part of the whole.
