The Campaign: A World Of Forever Adventure By Divine Decree

(Following from yesterday's post.)

The manuals present a world that is different from those presumed to be normal by Cargo Cultists, including those currently running Magic-Users By The Water, and that includes all the commercial settings published. Greyhawk comes closest, followed by the original version of the Realms, but neither are what is in the manuals.

Before I lay that out, let me summarize the other classes and their implied organizations.

• Clerics: Each faith is a structure to itself, so organization (or lack thereof) is defined primarily by the god and not the class. What the class provides are tentpoles to build around.
• Fighters: No structure whatsoever, but the fact that some form of leadership training occurs (due to how a player's Fighter can act as a Sergent, Lieutenant, or Captain) shows that they have the capacity to be organized and to organize in turn- what that means is defined by the organizer(s). Paladins are likewise lacking in more than Master-Apprentice structure due to the nature of their calling, but because they are called by a Lawful Good cosmic power their associations quickly assume the character of a formal organization without being one because they take the form of an ancient family model with elders and juniors and all that. (Illusionists: "Hey, that's a neat trick.")
• Thieves: There is a guild structure, but it is localized and federating beyond that is difficult and weak at best. Less a crime syndicate and more of a gang, but anyone familiar with real gangs know how much they vary in organization.
• Magic-users: No structure other than Master-Apprentice is required, and the same applies to Illusionists, but long-term associations tend to formalize into institutions- especially among the Lawful-aligned practioners. The influence of a cosmic patron (and their Clerics) will push this trend towards or away from being normative.

With that out of the way, let me paint a picture of the world in the manuals.

A Beautiful Ruin

There was a time before. Demihumans dominated it, with Men coming late. Something happened, and that time ended cataclysmically. The demihumans survived, but diminished; they are a remnant, a shadow, of what was.

Men have since filled in the gap, including wielding tchniques and magics many of them cannot master if they can learn them at all. While the gods speak to most of them, they now speak most clearly to Men, and some of them have taught them a way that only the most Man-like can even try (Druids, Assassins) if they can try at all (Monks, Rangers, Bards).

While the civilized world has its temples and priests, the rise of Druidry and its pervasive influence through the two elite lodges that they (co-)created cannot be ignored, and thus are the city-centric ways of old curtailed and constrained so that the natural order may persist peacefully.

The demihumans now find their peoples confined to retreats, such that even vast cities of old--even the forest cities of the Elves--can sometimes feel like confinement in a world where beyond their borders they must recognize the raw power of Nature and the Druids that serve the gods personifying its power.

The monsters that endure chafe at the notion that they must do so, drawing in conflict with the Druids through reckless despoiling, exploitation, and defilement. These monsters speak poison into the hearts of weak Men, poison often provided by those (Assassins, etc.) who would benefit from such actions.

The Druids allow them to try, and the Druids allow those of Good character to go after them, because the Druids take a long view of such things, and should it ever get out of hand they will be ready to intervene.