The Dark Sickle
The part of the body for the soul of the world has been corruped. Woe be to all.
-Wyyrrenek, GreenMan Father 1620
For nearly all of Time, The GreenMan faith served the people of The Land. For decades new Faiths made inroads among the people of The Land. The New Faiths came with the traders and a few invading armies. They were the 'mainstream faiths' for much of the world. People saw weakness in their old ways (as invaders were coming in and setting up new homesteads and the people of The Land were powerless to stop them) and saw the 'advantages' of the new Faiths. The new faiths also spread many rumors (and even some outright lies) about the Old Green Faith.
Some of those were quite unsavory.
A small contingent of the Old Green Faith broke with the passive submission of most of the Green Council of the Faith. If they, followers of the GreenMan, were going to be branded murderers (non voluntary human sacrifice) and thieves, then they will live up to and exceed the lies of the new Faiths.
The Dark Sickle uses the old green magics and forest crafts as practiced by the GreenMan faith to kill and steal. Over the decades they have adapted the greenways to city ways. In addition to attacking high ranking officials of the invaders and clergy of the New Faiths, they will take on other targets (on commission). The price is dependent upon the opposition the the target (or target's owner) posses to the Sickles. So invaders, 'collaborators', active followers of the New Faiths, and nobles who have handed land over to the invaders, are all less expensive targets, while those faithful to the GreenMan faith are excessively/ prohibitively expensive.
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? Responses (8)
They went bad as a response to ill-treatment.That's why I like them.
Evil Druids Assassins. It seems like something out a Stephen R. Donaldson or Robert Jordan novel. Luckily, I like both.
Robert Jordan sucks and couldn't write actual good fiction to save his life.
But I like Stephen R. Donaldson. ;)
Very good.
4/5.
I think this is a good, solid idea, but I would have liked to see a bit more information on the Dark Sickle (cool name!). While I can understand how druids would feel the need to exact revenge on leaders of the newer faiths, I'd like to see more examples of how this would be carried out and justified. Also, would these members actually be evil in alignment, or could they still be considered neutral?
How they would do it would very from game system to game system, depending on the nature and power level of druidic magics. In some cases, they would simply be poisoners (utilizing their wood craft for exotic animal and plant toxins).
Personally, never used allignment in the D&D sense of it. They are tied to a given moral code, which in this case has mutated because of changing times. If you have to do D&D, they are restoring the balance, so neutral is still an option, IMO.
Perhaps they worship the Dark Nature Gods now, since the good ones have been weakened.
Or perhaps they are still worshipping the same good old Mother Nature - just more concentrate on a different aspect. For she is the one that gives life, and takes it at the same time.
Interesting group.
Definately could be a good starting point for a plot.