Canonfire!

Wed Jun 08, 2016 9:56 pm An Earthquake & Tsunami Cult in Sheldomar Valley?

In our last session, an earthquake hit Keoland (summer 596). The earthquake was accompanied by a tsunami that struck Keoland, Principality of Ulek and Jetsom Island. The death toll was 5,500 and almost 30,000 people were left homeless. Monsters flew from the coastal Dreadwood causing dozens of more deaths. Monster continue to flee from the Underdark to the surface and a Svirfneblin city was completely destroyed in the Underdark, tipping the balance of power in favor of the drow. Cholera and filth fever claim hundreds of lives during the following months. In addition, sea elves suffered thousands of deaths.

The thing is that the catastrophy was 100% natural.

How will the people react to the natural catastrophy in terms of Greyhawk fantasy?

My take would be that there will an apocalypse cult of Obad-Hai. Obad-Hai does not claim or refute the allegations that he was behind this phenomenon. Evil cultists start to worship the earthquake as a just punishment for the people who deserved it. Furthermore, the worship of Earth Dragon will experience a dramatic rise. Sages search for answers from the history and the previous earthquake happened during the times of Vecna. The followers of Vecna will see this as a sign of their god's return and Vecna's followers, some very powerful from other nations and planes, will make "pilgrimages" in Keoland to see the "holy fissures" that are suppose to tell them something. The diseases make the faith of Incabulos grow stronger, of course. The forces of good will be too busy to handle with the refugee crisis to make a convincing countermove against the rise of evil.

What else? Any ideas?

Thu Jun 09, 2016 1:46 pm

Earthquake and Tsunami cults... the respective earth and water cults of elemental evil are the first things that come to mind.

Fri Jun 10, 2016 9:19 pm

In fantastic terms, there would probably be a loss of worshipers for the gods of nature, as propitiating them should have warded off such a disaster, breaking the contract between worshiped and worshiper. In fact, druids and the like might be officially or unofficially persecuted for this.

Cults to Incabulous and Nerull will likely flourish as well, in response to the disease and death respectively.

Evilly disposed magic-users might visit the area to further their research.

Researchers interested in the Sinking Isle might visit hoping to gain insight into the ocean's mysteries.