An OOC question for priestesses of Eilistraee IC

[Madoc]

Hello to all,

This is my first post here, and I don't want to make a faux pas by posting on the wrong part of the forum. I hope you will bear with me.

I have a hypothetical campaign question for you, outside of Forgotten Realms. We play the long defunct BIrthright campaign setting, much expanded over the released material, and with a number of house rules. An Underdark is hinted at in two modules from canon (sections mapped out) "The Sword and Crown", and "Warlock of the Stonecrowns", and drow make a very brief appearence in the latter module. The campaign setting was killed off by WoTC before a lot was developed officially for it, and a lot of our expansion of the setting is based wherever possible on Rich Bakers design notes.

With that background information, we have always been fans of the Drow, and so we incorporated them into the setting wholesale, with the goddessess and gods of the Drow of the Realms. In this setting. Eilistraee and Vhaerun are at least superficially cooperating with each other, and have engaged in some behind the scenes motivating of NPC's and select PC's to forward some of their plans for their followers attaining the surface.

In our game, a good-aligned human regent was 'put in the path' of several followers of Eilistraee. This regent befriended them, and having compassion for their peoples plight, has used his considerable resources to,create a trade route to one of the Drow cities,(through third parties) to one particular house, which reaped the bulk of the financial benefit. After a while the trade route was surreptitiously turned into an 'underground railroad', if you will, giving the godesses followers in that city (and Vhaerun's) a route to the surface and freedom.

This route has lasted in our game the best part of a decade, and several hundred followers have attained the surface at least, and have been provided by this regent with forested land, created a village, and temple, etc. More have attained the surface through a campaign arc that had an important NPC kidnapped and enslaved in the Underdark, with a concerted effort by followers of the goddess and humans to release the initial NPC, along with a number of captives, and other followers of the goddess. This was accomplished in a series of successful raids so that now a few thousand of them have established communities within friendly human kingdoms on the surface.

So here is the hypothetical question for those experienced priestess characters of Elistraee . In such a situation where a few decent sized surface settlements exist, inside human kingdoms friendly to them, having achived that much, what would be their next step? It is highly likely, due to some recent infighting in the Underdark that the"safe" route to the surface will likely be closed. At least one priestess has the human regent in questions ear, and sits in his royal council, as does her drow husband. What would they possibly seek to have him do, to continue to aide their people? What would your characters do given that opportunity in your campaign?

Just as an end note as to why followers of the goddess were able to find friendly humans. In our campaign the drow were expelled from the surface more than a thousand years before the humans arrival on that continent, and in that world, humans and surface elves had sporadic hostilities for centuries, and little friendly interaction, so the humans did not even know of the drow until recent decades, and thus lack the predjudice specific to the race as found in Farun. The first interaction the regent in question had was with a follower of the goddess following her dogma, which of course made a strong, positive impression,

I look forward to your responses.

[Irennan]

Well, I've never played a priest(ess) of Eilistraee and I'm not an experienced player (alas - I've had the possibility to only play in 2 campaigns in my whole life...). However, I think to be able to give you a suggestion.
You could try to convince the regent to leave the Underdark-Surface route open. You said that followers of Eilistraee (and Vhaeraun) are not few in your campaign, and they even have many settlements, and are allied with a resourceful human kingdom. Now, drow/elves/whatever Eilistraeens try to avoid bloodshed whenever possible, however they are supposed to be perfectly able to defend themselves when the situation requires it, and in your setting their number is high enough to represent a non neglectable threat for Underdark forces who could be planning an attack (unlike what happens in the FR, where they are so few to be almost figures of myth), which is the reason why the regent is likely going to close the route, If I understand correctly.

So, if he fears that the recent fights below there can herald an attack from the Dark Elves, you could propose him an agreement: Eilistraeens would take care of the route with regular patrols, by building outposts etc... to protect and welcome refugee drow and to watch for and help to prevent threats that could hit the kingdom, with no expense for it, while the humans would keep sheltering the drow who seek freedom and a different kind of life in their land, maybe lending a hand in terms of resources or soldiers when necessary. Let him know that drow are resourceful and wield substantial magic, so simply closing the road won't really stop them but only delay the inevitable, while organizing a strong defense of the main link between the Surface and the Underdark could dampen the threat, and even provide a forewarning about their plans (through spies, or something along these lines), allowing adequate preparation.

The regent could object that patrols and outposts may be an invite to conflict for lolthite drow, but you could make him notice that they are just puppets in the hands of their deity, and what she wants is only dominate everything, and that for this reason, considering the tensions in the Underdark, they're most likely going to attack no matter what, that they don't need reasons to raid beyond getting slaves to abuse and sacrifice, goods and power. A ''diplomatic'' reason that the kingdom could give for the increased armed activity could be that it isn't a hostile action, but a precaution to prevent the underground conflicts to affect and cause damage to human and drow on the surface (which is actually true), and that it may even favor trades, considering that merchants could get protection for walking that road. As I see it, In this way the followers of Eilistraee would manage to guarantee a place in the light to drow who seek to live free from the oppressing chains of Lolth's dogma, and at the same time would be offering their help to the humans, strengthening the bond that has formed among the two races IYC, therefore staying true to the goddess' way of life.

That's what I' could think of, for now. It's not much but I hope it can be useful anyway. If I get some other idea, I'll let you know.

[Bhaern Quel]

Lolthian Drow look for profit and power, this should be remembered. The House of te Underdark, clearly has profit from the trade toute, with profit there is power. They would also want the trade route keep open, odds are some lessor houses at least profit from the route. What is that compared to a few Drow deserting to the surface evey year, 1000 a game year is not many (If you meant 10 years playing time and game years less, it might matter a little more). As long as the Lolth have enough to sacrifice they are not going to worry about losing few that do not end on the altar.

The surface Kingdom has profited as well so it would be their interest in keeping the route open. With bother and sister working together for the commo good of return to the surface, and between the dogma differences there should be enough to defend the trade route unless an all out war would start.

A Priestess of Eilistraee is quick to offer a friendly hand to a stranger, though also quick with a sword in case of the stranger is a foe. Followers of the Masked Lord are quick with a blade and will kill any that pose a danger to them or their allies.

The other thing of course is trade routes by their very nature would be used by other races and would have in interest to use it. In some ways it depends on rules of the trade route. Those that follow the rules can freely use it for slight fee, or only Good can use it would make a big differebnce as to how hard others would try to take control of it.

[Pheurazath]

Well now, I don't think I really fit the qualifications asked for, but felt my two cents might be worth it. Some of the best FR canon material, I think we can all agree came to many of us from RA Salvatore, and his long-adored character Drizzt Do'urden. From what I remember, Lolthite Drow are educated from the start that the surface world is some sort of Hell in the living world, safe to visit at night, but in the day bathed in the light of a terrible fireball that will supposedly burn the flesh from their bones and their eyes from their sockets. Also, I recall tidbits in those books, speaking of the rumored following of Eilistraee, and how members of a House that has since fallen, as a result leaving them as rogue Drow without a House to belong to, had been defecting to find this following and escape their lot in Lolthite society. Some notions even that those occasional few males who miight be harboring some resentment that their social status is based more on gender, rather than what they can achieve through ability, might also try to defect.

Given your campaign situation, and this in mind, the idea of Eilistraee's followers leaving Underdark in such large numbers, I would think the Priestesses of Lolth would likely look upon this as a blessing, by ridding them of the presence of most, if not all, of a following that even just rumors of could give them cause for distress. The less presence the following of Eilistraee has in Underdark, the less the Lolthite Priestesses have to concern themselves with the 'faithful' of Lolth defecting to Eilistraee.

As to this being a trade route, and expanding off something Bhaern mentioned, where there's a chance for profit, and as long as one can work it out so there's no double-crosses, the Duergar (Gray Dwarves) would likely want a piece of that profit. Just like surface dwarves, they too are fierce in battle, have their magic resistances, and are also quite skilled at mining and smithing. They'd surely have goods aplenty made from metals rarely seen on the surface. Also, the Svirfneblin (Deep Gnomes) would be very likely to want to help. And if building outposts along the route for sheltering refugees, and defending against even a remote threat of Lolthite attack, a little help from the gnomes' architectural and mechanical cleverness would likely help make those outposts just as devilishly hard to assault as a deep gnome city, besides, I seem to recall that many Deep gnomes carry a green stone as a pendant with which they can summon a mighty Earth Elemental, which more often than not has turned the tide against the Lolthite Drow, during any conflicts in which the elemental manages to get summoned. Lastly, they might not be the prettiest of allies, but they consider themselves related to dragon-kind, so kobolds should not be discredited either. They are hard workers, and enjoy being as such in a way that might even rival that of dwarves. Most of them are skilled in some degree at trap-making, and for some it's all they do, becoming Master Trap-makers. If one can strike a deal with them, make an alliance forged on vows of honor, they will likely keep their end of it without fail, unless their allies break the agreement first.

[Madoc]

[quote="Irennan":1u9ickpi]Well, I've never played a priest(ess) of Eilistraee and I'm not an experienced player (alas - I've had the possibility to only play in 2 campaigns in my whole life...). However, I think to be able to give you a suggestion.
You could try to convince the regent to leave the Underdark-Surface route open. You said that followers of Eilistraee (and Vhaeraun) are not few in your campaign, and they even have many settlements, and are allied with a resourceful human kingdom. Now, drow/elves/whatever Eilistraeens try to avoid bloodshed whenever possible, however they are supposed to be perfectly able to defend themselves when the situation requires it, and in your setting their number is high enough to represent a non neglectable threat for Underdark forces who could be planning an attack (unlike what happens in the FR, where they are so few to be almost figures of myth), which is the reason why the regent is likely going to close the route, If I understand correctly.

So, if he fears that the recent fights below there can herald an attack from the Dark Elves, you could propose him an agreement: Eilistraeens would take care of the route with regular patrols, by building outposts etc... to protect and welcome refugee drow and to watch for and help to prevent threats that could hit the kingdom, with no expense for it, while the humans would keep sheltering the drow who seek freedom and a different kind of life in their land, maybe lending a hand in terms of resources or soldiers when necessary. Let him know that drow are resourceful and wield substantial magic, so simply closing the road won't really stop them but only delay the inevitable, while organizing a strong defense of the main link between the Surface and the Underdark could dampen the threat, and even provide a forewarning about their plans (through spies, or something along these lines), allowing adequate preparation.

The regent could object that patrols and outposts may be an invite to conflict for lolthite drow, but you could make him notice that they are just puppets in the hands of their deity, and what she wants is only dominate everything, and that for this reason, considering the tensions in the Underdark, they're most likely going to attack no matter what, that they don't need reasons to raid beyond getting slaves to abuse and sacrifice, goods and power. A ''diplomatic'' reason that the kingdom could give for the increased armed activity could be that it isn't a hostile action, but a precaution to prevent the underground conflicts to affect and cause damage to human and drow on the surface (which is actually true), and that it may even favor trades, considering that merchants could get protection for walking that road. As I see it, In this way the followers of Eilistraee would manage to guarantee a place in the light to drow who seek to live free from the oppressing chains of Lolth's dogma, and at the same time would be offering their help to the humans, strengthening the bond that has formed among the two races IYC, therefore staying true to the goddess' way of life.

That's what I' could think of, for now. It's not much but I hope it can be useful anyway. If I get some other idea, I'll let you know.[/quote:1u9ickpi]

Hi Irennan,

Thank you for your kind response.

I think we have a misunderstanding, the human regent isn't going to close the trade route, nor would he. What is about to happen is a political manouver by the first house (and High Priestess) of the city in question, against the ambitious young matriarch of the current second house of the city. It will cut the trade route, and money and goods from this source to the second house, so this is internal house politics to the city.

As to the numbers of followers of the goddess in this campaign, they are significant in comparison to FR (still, a fractional number of the whole), the actual number of [i:1u9ickpi]priestesses[/i:1u9ickpi] of Eilistraee are very small. There are more followers of Vhaerun, disenfranchised males, who have made to the surface in this scenario than followers of the goddess, on the order of a 2-1 ratio.

The actual city of drow in question is located hundreds of miles to the north of the human kingdom in question, so direct military threat on the part of the drow is unlikely to succeed. While the human regent's kingdom is large in comparison, with many resources, it would have problems projecting power into the Underdark by conventional means, so the disparity in resources between the two is unfortunately moot.

[Madoc]

[quote="Bhaern Quel":1kpi7887]Lolthian Drow look for profit and power, this should be remembered. The House of te Underdark, clearly has profit from the trade toute, with profit there is power. They would also want the trade route keep open, odds are some lessor houses at least profit from the route. What is that compared to a few Drow deserting to the surface evey year, 1000 a game year is not many (If you meant 10 years playing time and game years less, it might matter a little more). As long as the Lolth have enough to sacrifice they are not going to worry about losing few that do not end on the altar.[/quote:1kpi7887]

Hi Bhaern Quel,

Thanks for your response!

Your first part of the response is exactly why the current second house agreed to the negotiated trade route, and why it has been allowed to operate for a decade. A part of the reason it is being closed down is that when the second house had previously been the fourth house, it used resources from this source to help eliminate the third house, while a feud went on between the then second and first house (it gets confusing trying to keep the various inter-house feuds straight), during which the then second house was eliminated and absorbed. This power play which took place 2 years ago in game time is a reason the current first house has manouvered to shut down this source of power and wealth for the second house. I hope that made some sort of sense.

The number of escapees through this route has been a trickle - a few here and there for a decade (no more than 10 a season, initially), and that wasn't what raised the concern. When the current second house went to war with its foe, it brought in surface resources, including mercenaries' from the human kingdom, not in huge numbers, but in a very decisive action that eliminated the rival houses matriarch. as a part of the deal, the humans took away what was considered a significant number of males of the defeated house, who worshiped Vhaerun. The elimination of the matriarch, and the desertion of scores of soldiers raised the ire of the city's ruling matriarch, and prompted the unfolding action.

[quote:1kpi7887]
The surface Kingdom has profited as well so it would be their interest in keeping the route open. With bother and sister working together for the commo good of return to the surface, and between the dogma differences there should be enough to defend the trade route unless an all out war would start.

A Priestess of Eilistraee is quick to offer a friendly hand to a stranger, though also quick with a sword in case of the stranger is a foe. Followers of the Masked Lord are quick with a blade and will kill any that pose a danger to them or their allies.

The other thing of course is trade routes by their very nature would be used by other races and would have in interest to use it. In some ways it depends on rules of the trade route. Those that follow the rules can freely use it for slight fee, or only Good can use it would make a big differebnce as to how hard others would try to take control of it.[/quote:1kpi7887]

The surface kingdom will do its best to keep the route open, but as a 3rd party runs it, he won't be able to respond quickly enough to prevent what is about to happen, so it will be at least closed temporarily. The trade route is primarily used by evil or neutral parties. Basically, the third party and the 2nd house (and other houses) make 90% of the profit or more, while the human regent breaks even, and gets a few scarce trade goods. His primary purpose is keeping a lifeline open to the Drow seeking the surface, and using the route itself as a source of intellegence to the situation in that part of the Underdark. He pays the third party a handsome bounty for every seeker of the surface brought to safety, and this tends to consume his part of the profit.

[Irennan]

[quote="Madoc":33t5i4qi]

Hi Irennan,

Thank you for your kind response. [/quote:33t5i4qi]

You're welcome.

[quote:33t5i4qi]
I think we have a misunderstanding, the human regent isn't going to close the trade route, nor would he. What is about to happen is a political manouver by the first house (and High Priestess) of the city in question, against the ambitious young matriarch of the current second house of the city. It will cut the trade route, and money and goods from this source to the second house, so this is internal house politics to the city.

[...]

The actual city of drow in question is located hundreds of miles to the north of the human kingdom in question, so direct military threat on the part of the drow is unlikely to succeed. While the human regent's kingdom is large in comparison, with many resources, it would have problems projecting power into the Underdark by conventional means, so the disparity in resources between the two is unfortunately moot.[/quote:33t5i4qi]

Oh, I see. I've completely misunderstood what's going to happen IYC. So, according to what you say, a direct intervention from the kingdom to avoid the closure of the trade route, or a sort of protection of it by the Eilistraeens like I suggested, sounds risky and very hard due to the distance, and the real cause of problems for the followers of the goddess lays in the drow city itself.

Well, at this point I -personally- don't see many choices but intervening in the infighting itself. Assuming that emissaries of the kingdom won't get outright attacked if they show up in the city, a priestess of the Dark Maiden could try with diplomacy, but I doubt that it'd work, since it seems that the only reason the drow would listen to in this case -economic profit- is favoring mainly the 2nd house, which the 1st one wants to see weakened.

However, something could be achieved nonetheless. I don't know how things in that city work, but the diplomats may try to discuss the matter with the ruling council (if any exists), instead of just dealing with the 1st House. After all, unless the 2nd house is the only one to gain advantage from the trade, the route itself can only benefit all the Houses, for the exchanges that it allows can turn the city in a rich commercial hub in that section of the Underdark. Furthermore the fact that the escape of so many males (and the consequent weakening of the drow military force, which is what made the first house and temple of Lolth furious, if I understand correctly) wasn't caused by the road itself, but by inner power games, could be used as a further reason to not close it, and might even open some eyes and indirectly lead the powers that be to deal with the 2nd House (they seek to ''punish'' them for the damage caused, if I got it right) in different, dirtier ways (sabotaging their caravans instead of closing the link, etc...) that wouldn't affect the safety of drow refugees. Letting the other involved factions observe that the route didn't effectively cause any harm, but only profit may even throw discredit upon the 1st house for putting their hatred and rivalries before the power and economic interests of the whole city, shifting the balance in your favor.

The alternative is taking part in the infighting between the two houses. The PCs, with the support of the intelligence that the kingdom has in the area, could try to take part to the conflict, tweaking the balance as it best benefits the drow who seek shelter on the surface, either as outsiders or even aiding the 2nd house (they could lie, using the fact that it is in the economic interest of the kingdom to have the route open -so, some sort of mutual exchange of favors with the drow- as motivation to overcome the probable hostility from the matron of the house, at least temporarily), maybe trying to pit all the organizations of the city that take profit from the route against the first house, which would then be forced to leave it open.

If nothing of this is possible, I can only suggest to infiltrate a group of agents in the city, to carefully look for any drow who wishes to leave the life in the Underdark, and to (periodically) safely sneak them out of there and lead them to the surface and to the warm embrace of Eilistraee. It's a risky, hard and dangerous duty, but surely there are agents (and -more in general- followers) of the Dark Maiden willing to take care of it.

[Madoc]

[quote="Pheurazath":8fw6o1qq]Well now, I don't think I really fit the qualifications asked for, but felt my two cents might be worth it. Some of the best FR canon material, I think we can all agree came to many of us from RA Salvatore, and his long-adored character Drizzt Do'urden. From what I remember, Lolthite Drow are educated from the start that the surface world is some sort of Hell in the living world, safe to visit at night, but in the day bathed in the light of a terrible fireball that will supposedly burn the flesh from their bones and their eyes from their sockets. Also, I recall tidbits in those books, speaking of the rumored following of Eilistraee, and how members of a House that has since fallen, as a result leaving them as rogue Drow without a House to belong to, had been defecting to find this following and escape their lot in Lolthite society. Some notions even that those occasional few males who miight be harboring some resentment that their social status is based more on gender, rather than what they can achieve through ability, might also try to defect.

Given your campaign situation, and this in mind, the idea of Eilistraee's followers leaving Underdark in such large numbers, I would think the Priestesses of Lolth would likely look upon this as a blessing, by ridding them of the presence of most, if not all, of a following that even just rumors of could give them cause for distress. The less presence the following of Eilistraee has in Underdark, the less the Lolthite Priestesses have to concern themselves with the 'faithful' of Lolth defecting to Eilistraee.

As to this being a trade route, and expanding off something Bhaern mentioned, where there's a chance for profit, and as long as one can work it out so there's no double-crosses, the Duergar (Gray Dwarves) would likely want a piece of that profit. Just like surface dwarves, they too are fierce in battle, have their magic resistances, and are also quite skilled at mining and smithing. They'd surely have goods aplenty made from metals rarely seen on the surface. Also, the Svirfneblin (Deep Gnomes) would be very likely to want to help. And if building outposts along the route for sheltering refugees, and defending against even a remote threat of Lolthite attack, a little help from the gnomes' architectural and mechanical cleverness would likely help make those outposts just as devilishly hard to assault as a deep gnome city, besides, I seem to recall that many Deep gnomes carry a green stone as a pendant with which they can summon a mighty Earth Elemental, which more often than not has turned the tide against the Lolthite Drow, during any conflicts in which the elemental manages to get summoned. Lastly, they might not be the prettiest of allies, but they consider themselves related to dragon-kind, so kobolds should not be discredited either. They are hard workers, and enjoy being as such in a way that might even rival that of dwarves. Most of them are skilled in some degree at trap-making, and for some it's all they do, becoming Master Trap-makers. If one can strike a deal with them, make an alliance forged on vows of honor, they will likely keep their end of it without fail, unless their allies break the agreement first.[/quote:8fw6o1qq]


Hi Pheurazath,

Thanks for your response!

I meant to respond to your post yesterday, but I ran out of time. The Underdark hinted at in Cerillia, and as we developed, trying to extrapolate from canon, is a litte different than what you find in FR. There are fewer races, in example, and a different dynamic in regards to which are dominant in areas.

I think the actual underdark is smaller, and not continuoiusly joined. Cerilia has according to canon quite a a bit of seismic activity, active volcanos in some places, making occupation in some parts more difficult. Basically, the stretch in play is in the upper Stonecrowns, above the Giantdowns, while there is another stretch in a connected mountain range, which however is unconnected in the underdark to the first due to volcanic activity in the Gorgon's crown. There is an entirely seperate bit in another mountain range, far to the south, the 'Seamists', which do not host drow settlements, but which is instead dominated by Cerilian Orogs. The latter race is probably the greatest player in the Underdark, easily outnumbering the Drow on the continent on the order of 3-1 at least. We had added both Derro and Duregar, as being in essence debased dwarves, which race is a part of canon. I think gnomes of any sort aren't a part of canon.

Cerilian elves (in published canon) are very different than standard any edition elves, having been written by Rich Baker as rather Tolkienesque, being taller than humans (and, oh, most of them hate humans...), essentially being immortal unless killed. They worship no gods at all - they aren't atheists, the acknowledge the gods exist, they just do not worship them, in part due to the war of Shadows, and having been decieved by the supervilian of that canon, the evil god Azrai. We have the split between the drow and surface elves occuring over the rejection of gods by the surface elves (maybe Eilistraee has some work cut out in that department, trying to lead the Cerilian elves into the fold of the Seldarine?). These traits in part pass on to the Cerilian drow, of course, as well.

At any rate, a part of the excellent idea you have put forward as a plan would not work, due to a lack of some of the players you mention. The drow of Inle, the city with the trade route in question, import surface luxury goods, the Cerlian equivalent of tuns of Chateunef de Pape, or Beaune ,brandy, bolts of cloth of gold, and figured velvets enriched with gold, and damasks, and hard to find surface delecasies and spices, all of which command even higher prices in the Underdark than the world above. They export some small quantities of weapons, metals, gems, fungus (truffles, anyone?), wine, and we have them as producers of absynth., and they export some bolts of spider-silk as well.

[Madoc]

I'm running out of time available to post, so I'll respond later this weekend. I'd be delighted if I could have some more input from some of the experienced players of priestesses on the board. I was hoping to get a variety of opinion, although what has been posted so far seems to generally be along the same idea, and similar to what I have been considering.

Thanks so much for your helpful advice and opinions so far.

[DrBobcf]

I've been role playing a character for over 43 years. He's a Blade of Sekhmet. He looks human but really isn't.
Many of the campaigns we ran concerned keeping the peace between the Drow of the Underdark and the Overworld after the end of the Sundering. Followers of the Drow goddess Nocticula and Blades have been clashing ever since. She tells the stories about The Blades from a Drow's early childhood, either demonizing us or belittling us. The reason Nocticula hates us with so much passion is because ever since the Sundering, the war with the Drow and their dark allies that drove them under ground, The Blades have kept the peace. We have patrolled the borders, enforced the treaties,

The idea has always been to dissuade the Drow from thinking about plotting a return to their condition before they were Driven into the Dark, Nocticula leads this faction of Drow. The Goddess Sekhmet, in her capacity as divine arbiter of Justice and Order, is trying to get the Drow to accept what each side has now, and avoid another war. Part of this delicate balance comes in trying to satisfy the Drow that they have no reason to fear further aggression. Naturally, her Blades act as peacekeepers, enforcing the Concordat and acting as a safety buffer between the sides. What that means in real life is that both sides either mistrust us or, in the case of Nocticula, hate us. They don't realize that we are there to protect them just as strongly as we protect their neighbors. All that Nocticula's followers see is that we've stopped Nocticula's plots, foiled many of her assassination attempts, and stopped her attacks across the border. Nocticula, naturally hates us for this, as do her fanatical followers.

My character, therefore, has considerable experience in the situation described. I have been perusing the forums to see if a new character class/race would be permissible.