Forgotten Realms question

[oprishon]

I asked this in the simple-questions thread but didn't get a good answer, and due to the nature of the thread don't expect anyone to come back to it. Here goes.

Are there any organizations, societies, cultures, religions, governments, etc. in the Forgotten Realms setting that are:

A) anti-magic, in the sense that they believe that all magic users cannot be trusted and/or must be killed (because they think they're unnatural, evil, merely dangerous, suspicious, messing with forces man was not meant to, etc, etc)

or

B) anti-non-humans, in the sense that they believe that all non-human races (Ogres, kobolds, goblins, dwarves, elves, halflings, etc) cannot be trusted and/or must be killed (because they think they're unnatural, evil, merely dangerous, suspicious, etc, etc).

If you can give me a group that believes in both that would be infinitely fantastic, but I'll settle for either one on its own.

Also, I prefer it come from the D&D 3.5 setting, but if it comes from any other edition I'm also okay with it, so long as it's Forgotten Realms.

[Dracons]

Yep.

Karanok family. They hate all wizards. Want to kill them. They also hates elves (Wizards), Dwarves (Earth Wizards), etc etc. They are detailed in Lords of Darkness, and given faint mention in Campaign guide under Chestenta, city of Luthcheq.

[BooNL]

There's also the Cowled Wizards in Athkala, Amn. They're like the gestapo for wizards. No one is able to cast spells in Athkala, unless sanctioned by them, spellcasters in general are mistrusted as well.

[Yora]

Though usually, all such groups only hate arcane magic. Divine magic is okay, and they often use it themselves.

[Mordokai]

My experience with Cowled Wizards is limited to Baldur's Gate, but there it doesn't make any difference. Arcane or divine, you got punished for using either.

[Platinius]

the Red Wizards are not only anti-non-human, they are even normal racists (following 's explanation)

[Longcat]

The Zhentarim are fairly xenophobic, although they are not above using Orcs and similar critters as soldiers. The Red Plumes of Hillsfar are similar.

As for Anti-Magic, no major organization in FR is.

[oprishon]

Yep.

Karanok family. They hate all wizards. Want to kill them. They also hates elves (Wizards), Dwarves (Earth Wizards), etc etc. They are detailed in Lords of Darkness, and given faint mention in Campaign guide under Chestenta, city of Luthcheq.

The best answer so far, after doing some web research. Thanks very much :)


Still open to other options, of course, if anybody knows of any, but this looks almost perfect.

[serok42]

As far as anti-magic i know of no real organization that is against it. Various barbarian tribes throughout the realms are against it.

The worshipers of Shar would be opposed to those magic users that worship Mystra.


I second the Red Wizards of Thay being anti non-human of course in 4th edition FR they are a shadow of their former selves and are probably more open to non-humans.

[Yora]

My experience with Cowled Wizards is limited to Baldur's Gate, but there it doesn't make any difference. Arcane or divine, you got punished for using either.

No, only arcane.

[Morty]

The entire country of Amn is against arcane magic, though they approve of divine magic. Also, followers of Uthgar despise arcanists, though again, they have nothing against divine casters.
So no, I don't think there's a FR organization opposed to all magic.

[Krrth]

Well, there's a race that absolutely hates divine casters, gods, and anyone associated with them.

Which pretty much includes anyone not them.

[Grumman]

I believe Tiamat has some cult of entropomancers or something similar, that hunt down wizards.

As for Anti-Magic, no major organization in FR is.

I imagine this would be a "those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't" kind of situation.

[LibraryOgre]

Depending on your timeline, the Blue Bear Tribe of the Uthgar can also work; prior to the Hellgate Keep explosion, the Blue Bear were nicely xenophobic and against arcane magic.

[Optimystik]

I imagine this would be a "those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't" kind of situation.

Yeah, pretty much. FR's "thing" was that magic permeates the setting via the Weave, so no powerful organization is going to ignore it, though they might try to regulate its use.

What OP could do is have a cult of Shar (Dark Moon monks?) that exclusively use shadow weave and despise all casters that draw on the regular one. It wouldn't really be "anti-magic" but they would have a reason to hate all other spellcasters, arcane and divine and regardless of alignment, and that sounds like what you're going for.

[mostlyharmful]

There's a race of flying godhating/magichating monstrous humanoids that were created during/by the time of troubles from the same book as the Karanok family (lords of darkness I think). They're more a race than an organization but they don't seem to like anyone and a decent leader might be able to whip them into shape for a campaign opposition.

[arguskos]

In addition to the Karanok nobles, there is the Eldreth Veluuthra, an organization of highly xenophobic elves who believe that only elfkind is fit to live, and try to kill off everyone else.

It's not anti-nonhumans, but it could fit your game, if you need it to. Just thought I'd toss that out there.

As for hardcore anti-magic, eh, most groups are smart enough to realize what magic means to the world. Oh, and Cowled Wizards aren't anti-magic, they're anti-their wizards. There's a well defined difference.

[Beleriphon]

As for hardcore anti-magic, eh, most groups are smart enough to realize what magic means to the world. Oh, and Cowled Wizards aren't anti-magic, they're anti-their wizards. There's a well defined difference.

"We like magic, we don't like you!"
- Cowled wizard motto

[mostlyharmful]

there's plenty of organizations that want to control or limit magic use, the cowled wizards are just one of the blunter ones. In fact, the real agenda of most every large organization or powerful group in the realms comes down to controlling the use or presence of magic in their little piece of the pond, harpers, churches, countries, wizards, cabals, whatever... In FR controlling casting is what real power is.

[Dracons]

There's a race of flying godhating/magichating monstrous humanoids that were created during/by the time of troubles.

Kir-Lanan. Not a nice race. Hates the gods and their servents, not so much any other races. Just don't call them gargoyles ;).