Origin of Monsters

[SliceandDiceKid]

I'm doing an origins campaign. I don't want to reveal too much because a few of my players frequent these forums. I'm using the "default pantheon" from 3.5. I can't find any material that explains where the majority of monsters came from (online). I'm not interested in fiends or demons. If no one has a canon explanation, I'm happy to take suggestions. For specific story-driven reasons, I may reject some new ideas. Please don't be offended. Several things in my campaign are set in stone. I have a campaign roughly written out to level 15 or so, with several promising ideas for final levels.

I'm seeking one big event or explanation for the existence of most monsters.

[Regitnui]

I'm doing an origins campaign. I don't want to reveal too much because a few of my players frequent these forums. I'm using the "default pantheon" from 3.5. I can't find any material that explains where the majority of monsters came from (online). I'm not interested in fiends or demons. If no one has a canon explanation, I'm happy to take suggestions. For specific story-driven reasons, I may reject some new ideas. Please don't be offended. Several things in my campaign are set in stone. I have a campaign roughly written out to level 15 or so, with several promising ideas for final levels.

So what, you want an origin for every monster in the MM?

*Cough* well, aboleths have always existed, since before the gods. They can actually remember the times before Creation. Mind flayers are time travelers, from the end of time. They scare aboleths only because the aboleths can't remember the illithid origins.

[SliceandDiceKid]

So what, you want an origin for every monster in the MM?

*Cough* well, aboleths have always existed, since before the gods. They can actually remember the times before Creation. Mind flayers are time travelers, from the end of time. They scare aboleths only because the aboleths can't remember the illithid origins.

Naw,
I know there are specific origins for several creatures, but there's a creation story for the player races, I was hoping there was a story for where the bulk of monsters came from. If not, I'm requesting a clever origin story/explanation for the WHOLE of monsters. Not each individual entry in the MM, in case that wasn't clear from the original post. Obviously, some creatures are from other planes or they have explanations in their flavor text. I'm seeking a big picture answer for monsters. Thanks.

[Regitnui]

Naw,
I know there are specific origins for several creatures, but there's a creation story for the player races, I was hoping there was a story for where the bulk of monsters came from. If not, I'm requesting a clever origin story/explanation for the WHOLE of monsters. Not each individual entry in the MM, in case that wasn't clear from the original post. Obviously, some creatures are from other planes or they have explanations in their flavor text. I'm seeking a big picture answer for monsters. Thanks.

Evolution in a magic-rich environment.

Intelligent Design with magic. This is the default one by canon. Either the gods made them with the world or drunk wizards.

[SliceandDiceKid]

Evolution in a magic-rich environment.

Intelligent Design with magic. This is the default one by canon. Either the gods made them with the world or drunk wizards.

My world is too young to justify evo-magic, and drunk wizards doesn't quite fit the low development of organized magic...

But DRUNK GODS! Now THERE is a concept I can get behind. I like the idea of gods who suffer significant from significantly human qualities.

[Nicodiemus]

I had a pantheon where the Gods created the longest living monsters as first attempts at worshippers. Like dragons, the Phoenix, and whatnot. The problem became- since these creatures were so powerful and long lived, they felt no allegiance towards their creators. The gods loved them, but decided to limit their numbers. They then tried again with the shorter lived monsters and player races. Simple, believable

[SliceandDiceKid]

I had a pantheon where the Gods created the longest living monsters as first attempts at worshippers. Like dragons, the Phoenix, and whatnot. The problem became- since these creatures were so powerful and long lived, they felt no allegiance towards their creators. The gods loved them, but decided to limit their numbers. They then tried again with the shorter lived monsters and player races. Simple, believable

I like it! Thanks for the input! If I don't hear better, I'll probably stick with that.

[Once a Fool]

My suggestion:

Nobody knows where monsters come from. They simply came to be. Overnight. More troubling, some races occasionally simply cease to be. Again, overnight.

[pwykersotz]

My custom world had pretty vanilla races...until the Cataclysm. It was caused by a slow buildup of extraplanar races learning about humanity and vice versa. The people of the world sought to learn the tricks to enslave genies, bind demons, and other such things, and the Fey played their games of kidnapping and twisting mortals, etc.

During this time, the intense planar activity causes the "Veil" (fluffy term for planar boundaries) to weaken, and planar influences began to cause corruption and anomalies on the Material Plane. Most of the damage is caused by the Shadowfell which releases twisted reflections into this world that have agendas which can be difficult to fathom.

[JackPhoenix]

In Eberron, all creatures arose from the spilled blood of progenitor wyrms. Khyber created the fiends, dragons were created from the mixed blood of Eberron and Siberys, while celestials are purely Siberys' "descendants". All other living things are children of Eberron...with few exception, mostly thanks to Daelkyr experiments.

In FR and Greyhawk, gods (or Ao) propably created the monsters because why not?

In Dragonlance, animals (and their most powerful kind, dragons) are the creations of Chaos (an overgod type), who wanted to mess with his children's creations, IIRC