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Here is a new article from WotC's website:
The Eye of Madness
Tyrants of the Feydark
by Chris YoungsThe Feywild is commonly thought to be a reflection of the natural world. If this is true, some skeptical sages point out, then what parallel is there in the world for the mad fomorian tyrants in the Feywild? These kings and queens rule their kingdoms in the Underdark of the Feywild -- or the Feydark -- with an iron fist. Their madness is legendary, and few rulers of the Underdark can claim the level of power that these deformed creatures possess in the Feydark.
Fomorian monarchs rule their dominions mercilessly and cruelly, their tyranny fueled in part by typical fomorian madness. Among some fomorian rulers, this insanity manifests constantly, and their kingdoms are places of chaos and violence. Among others, their madness manifests in a more calculated form, allowing for rational thought, although this doesn't diminish their lust for power. All fomorian rulers, regardless of how insane, have one trait in common: extreme paranoia. For all their physical and magical might, they constantly fear rebellion from within, as well as conquest from without.Fomorian Rule
Wielding absolute power within their kingdoms, fomorians rule their Feydark territories through fear and oppression, and few dare to challenge a fomorian's grip on a kingdom. The unique madness of each ruler means no two courts are the same. One court, that of King Borunnor, for example, embodies the enigma of fomorian rulers. One week, he might seem merciful, granting pardons and sending emissaries of peace to neighboring kingdoms. But the week following, in a mercurial shift of temperament, he is just as likely to begin an inquisition to root out traitors, slaughtering pardoned souls and triggering sleeper agents among his ambassadors. Another king might revel in blood sports and hold grand tournaments between selected champions, as well as command the public -- and graphic -- executions of political enemies and conspirators, both real and imagined.
To an outsider, chaos seems to reign in fomorian kingdoms, but there is a method to their madness. The paranoia that besets fomorian rulers is one of the prime reasons that they manage to retain their power, because their constant fear is infectious. Their subjects tend to be suspicious and are likely to turn on one another if given an opportunity, for a fomorian tyrant shows favoritism to those fey who succeed in their ruler's plots and are willing to betray their fellows to do so. Fomorian tyrants are notorious for using their spies to stir up trouble within their own governments to try to expose traitors, and many of those accused, interrogated, and publicly executed are often just courtiers who failed to plan well enough for the onset of their ruler's latest mad investigations.
Each fomorian tyrant has an extensive spy network. The most elite of their spies are the Dark Hands, fey spies and assassins that act as a tyrant's secret police. Many Dark Hands are quicklings, dryads, or members of other fey races that are skilled at stealth or deception. These spies allow a fomorian tyrant to see much that happens within a kingdom, so the tyrant relies on them but does not necessarily trust them. Due to their constant fear of insurrection, fomorian tyrants keep few allies other than their loyal cyclops bodyguards, the only other creatures a fomorian will trust. Few other servants keep their positions for long before they are moved to a new one or are relieved of duty permanently.
Not every fomorian rules a kingdom. Those fomorians who lack this power hunger for it -- a trait that fuels the fears of the leadership. Such fomorians often seek service under a fomorian king or queen and then constantly scheme to usurp power. Still other fomorians seek advancement by overthrowing a power base in the Feywild -- perhaps an eladrin city or a gnome warren -- and claiming its magic and riches as their own.
A fomorian tyrant's spy network doesn't keep tabs on internal threats only. Fomorians plot against each other constantly, which is one of the main reasons they see traitors lurking in every shadow. A fomorian knows that his or her constant scheming is not unique among fomorians, that his or her lust for power is equaled by other fomorian rulers', who are doing whatever they can to undermine one another's authority. They have sent their agents across the Feydark and the surface of the Feywild, seeking chinks in the armor of neighboring fomorian kingdoms.
The natural suspicion of a fomorian tyrant's subjects serves a kingdom well when preventing incursions from external enemies. Untrustworthy of any creature they do not recognize, the tyrant's subjects are quick to report newcomers to the Dark Hands. A tyrant's subjects and spies keep an especially watchful eye on the drow, who commonly establish outposts or enclaves within the Feydark, and the hated eladrin (see "Fomorians and the Eladrin" below). But really, any race with a chance to accumulate power in the Feywild, especially magical power, is likely to gain the attention of a fomorian tyrant's wandering eye. And woe to them, for fomorians are tenacious in their madness, and usually nothing short of death will stop them from pursuing a goal.Entertainment
Fomorian kingdoms are filled with blood sports. Gladiatorial combat is common and usually involves captured creatures from the world as well as eladrin, other denizens of the Feywild, and supposed traitors to the crown. Sometimes these games go on for days of gory pageantry. Whether held in massive arenas built of crystal or staged as races through city streets and surrounding caverns, each contest is either to the death or, sometimes, until mutilation.In the latter case, two opponents are given nonlethal but brutal weapons, such as lashes or staffs that emit a magical, low-damage dose of painful electricity or necrotic damage. Other times, contestants are put through a grueling series of tests. Sometimes these are public inquisitions presided over by a master torturer, and sometimes the contestants are made to compete at trivial games, with the loser being punished by the loss of a finger or possibly a nose or an ear. Some games continue until one competitor confesses to some crime, whether or not it was committed, and begs for death. The winner -- almost certainly deformed in some way -- is usually never seen again.
What happens to the winners? Those who show a penchant for surviving the deadly games of a fomorian kingdom often find themselves in a worse situation. Fomorians, perhaps because of their own disfigurements, often pursue bizarre breeding programs, trying to magically combine the fiercest creatures in the hope of creating new forces for their blood sports and armies. Those who find the most success in the gladiatorial arenas often find themselves subjected to these breeding experiments, which usually result in their minds and bodies being twisted beyond sanity. Most of these experiments go nowhere, but some result in new toys for fomorian tyrants: deadly new creatures that serve them in all manner of twisted endeavors.
The Court
A fomorian tyrant's court consists of a variety of creatures. The most common, and the roles they often assume in these bizarre hierarchies, are described below.
Cyclopses: Perhaps the creatures most instrumental in ensuring a fomorian's rule -- other than the fomorian -- are cyclopses. These one-eyed giants serve their fomorian masters unquestioningly and without hesitation. They worship their fomorian masters as gods, a belief that fomorians foster through their practice of powerful magic. No one is certain why cyclopses view their masters in this manner, and many sages debate the behavior endlessly. Cyclopses act as a fomorian's valued lieutenants, spymasters (though they rarely take to the field themselves as spies), field generals, and bodyguards, and the number of cyclopses a fomorian ruler commands serves almost as a measure of the ruler's power in the Feydark. The eladrin, among others, believe that if they could unravel the secret of the cyclopses' blind obedience, they could sever the tie between fomorians and cyclopses and weaken all fomorian kingdoms permanently.
Most cyclopses are gifted in some sort of craft. Some show a knack for creating ornate suits of magic armor or magic weapons, and fomorians value any creature that can increase their store of magic.
Quicklings: Nimble and deadly, quicklings are the most numerous fey among the Dark Hands. They form squads of spies, assassins, and saboteurs and are frequently partnered with dryads, lamias, and hags on reconnaissance missions sent to infiltrate eladrin and other settlements on the Feywild's surface.
Dryads: It seems unlikely that these creatures -- tied so strongly to their trees on the surface -- would ever serve a fomorian. But it is precisely because of the dryads' ties to the surface that fomorians value their service; dryads' knowledge of eladrin communities is considered invaluable. After quicklings, dryads form the second largest contingent of fey among the Dark Hands, and briar witch dryads frequently command large groups of spies and assassins.
Goblins: Some goblin kingdoms populate the dark reaches of certain Feywild forests. Fomorians do not restrict their activities to their own plane, and when they do turn their gaze to the world, goblins are often their proxies. Only a few goblins serve within the dark, crystalline realms of the fomorians, usually as ambassadors from their own kingdoms on the surface.
Magic
Because of how massive and brutish-looking fomorians are, many of their enemies assume that fomorians will attack only with the massive weapons they carry. While all fomorians enjoy the feel of their enemies' blood splashing against their skin, they are an inherently magical race of tremendous intelligence. Each fomorian possesses an evil eye that gives it a potent magical ability -- as well as the potent curse that is the source of a fomorian's madness.
Fomorian rulers employ some of the best magical artisans in the Feywild, some willing and some not. The cyclops armorsmiths and weaponsmiths in fomorian employ are legendary in the Feydark, although many a fomorian has enslaved members of other races. Captured dwarves are especially prized, as are enslaved shadar-kai from the Shadowfell.
Fomorians value magic as highly as dragons, some say, and many adventurers and brave merchants have offered powerful magic items to gain audience with a fomorian ruler or to secure safe passage through a fomorian kingdom.
The struggle for power through the acquisition of new magic has led to some of the fiercest struggles between fomorians and the eladrin. The eladrin take to magic like a dryad to a forest and constantly develop new spells, rituals, and magic items of all sorts. Conquering one of the last bastions of eladrin power in the world ranks high on every fomorian ruler's list of desires, and they betray and compete against each other for the right to seize each eladrin city they discover. This competition among fomorians is likely what has allowed the eladrin to survive against such hostile odds in the increasingly dangerous Feywild.
Fomorians and the Eladrin
Fomorians see enemies everywhere. Their spy networks are vast, and the conspiracies they sow endless. Other than fellow fomorians, few groups in the Feywild irk fomorians more than the eladrin. In contrast to the eladrin empires of old, which sought peace and stability in the Feywild, fomorians have always sought to spread tyranny and conflict. The two races' opposing goals have destined them for conflict.
The eladrin seek harmony with the natural world, while fomorians seek to bring everything they see under their malformed thumbs. With eladrin civilization now splintered into city-states, the eladrin seem more vulnerable than ever before, and fomorians covet their powerful magic. To a fomorian -- king, queen, or ambitious upstart -- an eladrin city looks like a treasure trove waiting to be plundered. Most of the creatures will stop at nothing to crack open these vaults and strip them bare. Glorious eladrin cities fall each year to fomorian forces, their beautiful spires crushed to rubble and their vaults pillaged of powerful magic items.
Of all the varied races of the Feywild, fomorians are perhaps some of the least understood. Utterly mad but possessed of nearly unrivaled power, they rule -- or seek to rule -- with unmatched avarice and ambition. Few can get close enough to the fomorians to fully understand their paranoid and magical ways. But if eladrin scholars can agree on anything, it is this: fomorians are a threat. Wielders of immense power, fomorians always crave more, and the threat they represent is not restricted to the Feywild. Who knows what they could do if given unrestricted access to a portal to the world . . . if this hasn't happened already.
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Personally, I found the article to be interesting. It has a flavor of Irish-Celtic Myth. I'm not sure if I like the idea of evil dryads, as I always saw them as being more neutral. I am glad to see the Cyclops and Quickling brought back, especially the Cyclops. I like the way they make them craftsmen - a nice, light touch of Greek Myth.
The only thing I do not like about this is that it seems to do away with the previous ideas of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. They used to have some excellent articles for those subjects. I was hoping they'd be adapated for the new game.
So, likes, dislikes, opinions?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Darn, I was kind of hoping that the Formorians would be more like the formorians in DeLint's Riders of the Sidhe series: heirs to a great power that left them hideously twisted and scarred. This would really rock Eberron too. Plus a epic level Formorian, clad in black armor and able to fire a heat beam as a minor action. (See, I can speak 4.x, jsut chose not to play it.)
Hmm, I wonder if these Fomorians are still Giants, or if they're 'just' fey. I do like the return of the concept of the courts.
The fey plane in general sounds like something a lot of us have been using for years. Looks interesting, but I don't see using it in every campaign (fey just... don't fit in some places).
Here's a LINK to the printer-friendly version.
I like the article quite a bit, though some of the (presumably) 4e terminology confused me a little.
I like having bad guys to use. I like organized bad guys. I really like organized crazy bad guys. The article gives meaningful context to the fomorians, which can be used in any edition of the game.
I also dig the art. Wait...
Big tree. Metal cages. Crazy bad guys obsessed with creating portals.
See... Chris is still the same guy we all loved in the SCAP!
Goblins as Fey is something I've wondered about for some time. Bugbears and Hobgoblins as well, with Hobgoblins being almost the unseelie equivalent of elves, in this strange imagining.
Unfortunately, goblins do not appear to be fey in 4e either, based on the stats released so far.
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Unfortunately, goblins do not appear to be fey in 4e either, based on the stats released so far.Goblins as Fey is something I've wondered about for some time. Bugbears and Hobgoblins as well, with Hobgoblins being almost the unseelie equivalent of elves, in this strange imagining.
Agreed. It seems that, in this case, the goblins just live in these realms ruled by the fomorian overlords. I've always thought goblinoids would be better as fey-type creatures, though. Blame the movie Legend.
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Unfortunately, goblins do not appear to be fey in 4e either, based on the stats released so far.Agreed. It seems that, in this case, the goblins just live in these realms ruled by the fomorian overlords. I've always thought goblinoids would be better as fey-type creatures, though. Blame the movie Legend.
Ah well, perhaps 5th Edition will toy around with that.
One thing about *any* edition change that bugs me is that it's never what *I* would have changed. They go insanely too far in one direction, and then totally miss the boat on other cool changes!
Darnit, design people! Read my mind already! :)
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I read through the article.
First of all, I *love* the artwork. Lots of fun there.
Something that struck me is that the Goblin's artwork out of Pathfinder would fit well with these guys. Imagine some of those Pathfinder Goblin's being pawns in the Fomorian plans?
The like the concept of the Feywild and Feydark. It's good to see "Fey" mean something creeepy again. It's been used well in some recent literature and I'm glad they are following that example. One of my favorite TV shows was always "Tales from the Darkside" and their new take on dark fey and the shadowrealm reminds me of the opening credits...
It's easy to imagine some fun adventures around that with some crazy Fomorian king. The article immediately got me thinking of some interesting campaign ideas. By associating the Goblins with them you have the tie into the character's realm.
I'm really glad to see Cyclops -- they're a classic from mythology that everyone knows but has never been used well.
Dark Dryads sound really creepy, actually. Deep dark woods dragging you down to the depths of the Feydark. <shudder>
All in all good stuff.
Rather apathetic to the article in truth. Nothing really exciting I found in it about them. Really, not sure if having them as a sort of nominal big bosses there really jibes with me. Just something about them and how they describe the minions seem a bit off-putting I guess.
Hopefully there will be some other bigger baddies to lurk in those dark fey places too besides the Fomorians and their cyclop buddies.
Unfortunately, goblins do not appear to be fey in 4e either, based on the stats released so far.Goblins as Fey is something I've wondered about for some time. Bugbears and Hobgoblins as well, with Hobgoblins being almost the unseelie equivalent of elves, in this strange imagining.
Yes, but if my Dm says it's so.., then it is. Because he's the Dm.
I LOVE the new fluff of 4th edition. ....
This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to play D&D.
Damn it! Me too!
I love the new cosmology of the 4e core multiverse.
I love the idea of "Grimm" faeries. The Fomarian article was just some super cool stuff, in my fiendish opinion.
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Now that today's excitement has wound down some, I was finally able to give this article the time it deserved and ... I liked it. I liked it a great deal. This is the first thing I can say that I have heard about 4e that truly impressed me. Before I finished reading it I was thinking how I could make this a part of my game, and that is a Good Sign.
Now that today's excitement has wound down some, I was finally able to give this article the time it deserved and ... I liked it. I liked it a great deal. This is the first thing I can say that I have heard about 4e that truly impressed me. Before I finished reading it I was thinking how I could make this a part of my game, and that is a Good Sign.
I thought the Worlds and Monsters preview had quite a bit in line with this. I found the feywild and shadowfell portraits they were painting to have a great feel.
I LOVE the new fluff of 4th edition. ....
This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to play D&D.
Damn it! Me too!
I love the new cosmology of the 4e core multiverse.
I love the idea of "Grimm" faeries. The Fomarian article was just some super cool stuff, in my fiendish opinion.
I'm with you 100% fellas! These 4E articles and preview books have me and my gaming group FIRED UP.
I'm planning my 4E campaign, and I will use the Feywild and more than a little Anglo-Irish-Celtic-whatever flavor. The fomorians will definitely make an appearance.
If you're interested, check out my site. ;-)
I like it and my group does plan on switching . . .but . . .not a huge fan of the feywild per se. I think instead I will have the eladrin and the residents of the feywild coexist on the prime material.
I doubt that will be such a huge undertaking on my part and in general I am excited by the fluff (and most of the mechanics) of what I have seen regarding 4e.
I'm torn.
On one hand, it seems good that they are keeping the theme of "points of light" even in the Feywild: one fomorian court can be unlike another, and there are vast swaths of feydarkness between them. This is internal campaign consistency.
However, I don't particularly like the "points of light" as an overriding setting design. I think there is a lot of adventure possibilities in continent-spanning empires. Knowing that these would not be the case in the Material Plane, I was hoping for something like this in the Shadowfell or the Feydark. I didn't get it; it's just "points of light" all over.
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Personally, I found the article to be interesting. It has a flavor of Irish-Celtic Myth. I'm not sure if I like the idea of evil dryads, as I always saw them as being more neutral. I am glad to see the Cyclops and Quickling brought back, especially the Cyclops. I like the way they make them craftsmen - a nice, light touch of Greek Myth.
The only thing I do not like about this is that it seems to do away with the previous ideas of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. They used to have some excellent articles for those subjects. I was hoping they'd be adapated for the new game.
So, likes, dislikes, opinions?
I remember reading, MANY, MANY years ago an old medieval folklore tale from the crusades describing dryads as tools of the Devil that had to be destroyed by a righteous crusader to save the world.
Of course, pretty much everything at the time that was not exactly like you was described by the chroniclers as being evil ...
Still, even if I don't like the idea, you see there is precedent.
I have very bad feelings about the execution though. Looks like a bad scene from a poorly drawn manga IMHO. I would have instead gone the way of the cute teen like dryad girl turning into the evil old crone with daggerlike nails, instead of the tree-like Hulk.
I have very bad feelings about the execution though. Looks like a bad scene from a poorly drawn manga IMHO. I would have instead gone the way of the cute teen like dryad girl turing into the evil old crone with daggerlike nails, instead of the tree-like Hulk.
I also dislike the new dryads. Can't say much about the Fomorians either. How did they beat out the other giants?
Edit: My guess (from a glance at the SRD) is because Fomorians seem to be property of WotC and not OGL.
Agreed. It seems that, in this case, the goblins just live in these realms ruled by the fomorian overlords. I've always thought goblinoids would be better as fey-type creatures, though. Blame the movie Legend.
Don't forget Labrynth.
I also dislike the new dryads. Can't say much about the Fomorians either. How did they beat out the other giants?
They said that they were looking for a race of baddies for the feywild and felt that the formorians were interesting but not used as much as they could have been. So there's a distinction with this setup between the true giants and the fomorians.
My only gripe with the entry is if they are as chaotic and crazy as they are described then how do they have any kind of organized government and country? How can a king have a spy network? The first takes some basic organization and the second takes a lot of organization to be effective. The idea of massive kingdoms of crazy giants doesn't work for me.
My only gripe with the entry is if they are as chaotic and crazy as they are described then how do they have any kind of organized government and country? How can a king have a spy network? The first takes some basic organization and the second takes a lot of organization to be effective. The idea of massive kingdoms of crazy giants doesn't work for me.
Crazy cool maybe?
Though to be honest it doesn't pull me at all and seems overly complicated with contradictory information.
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Honestly, the 'courts of madness' described here simply make me think of the Shivering Isles expansion pack for Oblivion, ruled by the Daedra Prince of Madness, Sheogorath. Admittedly Sheogorath is a lot less abominable-looking than your average Fomorian, but the theme of a mad ruler and a mad realm fit well enough.
I like to think of it kind of like Denethor in Return of the King (the film, anyways). He's clearly mad--but he manages to hold it together. Sort of this paranoid-but-aggressive attitude that allows them to have allies but there's sort of this two-strange-cats-in-a-room attitude between any two members of the fomorian's court.
I like to think of it kind of like Denethor in Return of the King (the film, anyways). He's clearly mad--but he manages to hold it together. Sort of this paranoid-but-aggressive attitude that allows them to have allies but there's sort of this two-strange-cats-in-a-room attitude between any two members of the fomorian's court.
Rodney and Mike Mearls in the same day here. WOW!!!
Hi!!!
My only gripe with the entry is if they are as chaotic and crazy as they are described then how do they have any kind of organized government and country? How can a king have a spy network? The first takes some basic organization and the second takes a lot of organization to be effective. The idea of massive kingdoms of crazy giants doesn't work for me.
That's because it's 4e; alignments are out. Step out of the box, man and visualize the possabilities. Think of a violent street gang with fear, violence and a cult of personality, a street gang can make an effective "spy network", and rule it's domain.
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I like to think of it kind of like Denethor in Return of the King (the film, anyways). He's clearly mad--but he manages to hold it together. Sort of this paranoid-but-aggressive attitude that allows them to have allies but there's sort of this two-strange-cats-in-a-room attitude between any two members of the fomorian's court.
Denethor seems too tame to me despite his madness. I was thinking Drow internal politics when I read this, something I have always really liked and found at least plausible but given all the baggage that has accumulated over the years and the general dislike for a certain angst-filled, scimitar wielding member of the race, doesn't see enough game time.
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I was thinking Drow internal politics when I read this, something I have always really liked and found at least plausible but given all the baggage that has accumulated over the years and the general dislike for a certain angst-filled, scimitar wielding member of the race, doesn't see enough game time.
The original Drow of Erelhei-Cinlu (sp?) were at each others throats, worshipping different gods (and / or demon lords) and basically each had their own fortified manor because the only thing more dangerous to them than the vampires, mind flayers, demons, etc. walking the streets of their city with impunity was each other. Very much a chaotic society with no central command.
The 'Way of Lolth' Drow later introduced in novels are so freakishly uber-lawful it's not even funny. Status, ranks, heirarchies, tons of forbidden things, tons of required things to prove devotion, blah-blah-blah. As not-chaotic as not-chaotic can get.
Denethor seems too tame to me despite his madness. I was thinking Drow internal politics when I read this, something I have always really liked and found at least plausible but given all the baggage that has accumulated over the years and the general dislike for a certain angst-filled, scimitar wielding member of the race, doesn't see enough game time.
As a comparison to the Fomorians? Sure. I was more drawing a parallel between the way they might be able to interact with members of their own court. A Fomorian will likely be more aggressive, more brutal, and more violent, but by the same token his minions seem likely to be more capable and willing to handle that kind of leader. One thing I like about the Fomorians (and the feywild in general) is that they're a lot more alien than we're used to, so there's that sense of the unexpected there as well. You never know what the Fomorian king is going to do next, because he's just thinking along a totally alien mindset from you--and one filled with paranoia and aggression.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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That's because it's 4e; alignments are out. Step out of the box, man and visualize the possabilities. Think of a violent street gang with fear, violence and a cult of personality, a street gang can make an effective "spy network", and rule it's domain.
Is that a minor action step to get out of the 5' square box, or is it an action my Warlord has to grant me? ;-)
That's because it's 4e; alignments are out. Step out of the box, man and visualize the possabilities. Think of a violent street gang with fear, violence and a cult of personality, a street gang can make an effective "spy network", and rule it's domain.Is that a minor action step to get out of the 5' square box, or is it an action my Warlord has to grant me? ;-)
LoL
Stay tuned for the release of Dungeons and Dragons fouth edition, June 2008 and find out.