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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

    Join Date
    Nov 2018

    Default Cult of the Fanged Lamb

    Think of how people see the top of the corporate ladder.
    That’s how lambs think of wolves.

    We call it the food chain, but we don’t think of what the second word means to the animals at the bottom link. The food chain, to the Apex Predator, isn’t a chain. It’s a whip meant to keep their food in line.

    Imagine what would happen if the social structure was inverted permanently. The pain the new predators would inflict on their new prey.

    That’s what happened in Xaragotaz’ Jungle.

    The squirrels devour the eagles, the woodpeckers tear the snakes into shreds, rebelling against the very laws of nature themselves. Hooves become claws, wool becomes leathery hide, and horns grow sharper. The only beasts immune to this phenomenon are humans and their thinking companions.

    At the heart of the jungle, one monster and their elite warriors hunt for the last shreds of resistance from the old authority.

    The Sheep hunt for wolves now.

    Xaragotaz was once a god of bounty, often represented in the image of a lamb, representing the kinder side of nature. When the divine realms shattered, the beast quickly realized that the real world was harsh and cruel, and changed itself according.

    As the cultists that worship Xaragotaz say, “A sheep in wolf’s clothing becomes the new wolf.”

    Xaragotaz is now a monstrous beast that radiates an aura of predation. Beasts that were previously prey become monsters, able to rend their new food asunder.

    The Church of Xaragotaz
    Even though humanoids are immune to the mutations Xaragotaz’ aura inflicts, they are not unaffected. People who live within the jungle go mad with zeal for the new Xaragotaz’ beliefs.

    They call themselves the Herd of the Fanged Lamb.

    Nomadic barbarians, they are feared by all. They kidnap lone travelers at night. They agree to leave their victims alive if they can survive till dawn in the wilderness. Of course, the Herd tends to catch them right before dawn.

    The Herd despises civilization, seeing it as a different extension of the food chain. They don’t build towns, they don’t even build shelters. They sleep under the stars, or under the branches of the trees, if they reside in their holy land.

    Blood sacrifices are made to Xaragotaz, but they are not wrapped in ritual. Sacrifices are ripped limb from limb by the tribe, and the priests read their entrails.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

    Join Date
    Jun 2011

    Default Re: Cult of the Fanged Lamb

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc .

    Interesting, but one thing to think about is swarm animals, like insects or mice and rats. They survive being eaten by the truck load by having as many children as possible, so would devour everything pretty quickly. The opposite is also true for a lot of predators, bears usually only have a maximum of 5 cubs per year, on average closer to 2 or 3. would need to shoot those numbers way up, and prey numbers way down. But basically nothing would survive flys, they'd basically become piranhas.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DwarfBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    the Netherlands
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Cult of the Fanged Lamb

    Quote Originally Posted by mrzomby View Post
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc .

    Interesting, but one thing to think about is swarm animals, like insects or mice and rats. They survive being eaten by the truck load by having as many children as possible, so would devour everything pretty quickly. The opposite is also true for a lot of predators, bears usually only have a maximum of 5 cubs per year, on average closer to 2 or 3. would need to shoot those numbers way up, and prey numbers way down. But basically nothing would survive flys, they'd basically become piranhas.
    Flies, rats and mice are scavengers. They are neither prey, nor preditor.
    Last edited by the_david; 2020-03-20 at 09:23 AM.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2017

    Default Re: Cult of the Fanged Lamb

    I'm fairly sure there are several predators that eat mice and rats, making them prey; there are smaller ones (spiders, frogs; chickens eat fly larvae) that eat flies.
    My one piece of homebrew: The Shaman. A Druid replacement with more powerlevel control.
    The bargain bin- malfunctioning, missing, and broken magic items.
    Spirit Barbarian: The Barbarian, with heavy elements from the Shaman. Complete up to level 17.
    The Priest: A cleric reword which ran out of steam. Still a fun prestige class suitable for E6.
    The Coward: Not every hero can fight.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DwarfBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    the Netherlands
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Cult of the Fanged Lamb

    My point was that a lot of animals don't fall in the black and white spectrum of prey and preditor. There are scavengers and omnivores that don't fit perfectly into one spot on the food chain.

    A better example would have been bees. A horrifying thought, but still a better example.

    And yeah, nature would have to find a new balance, but the whole premise is basically "because magic" so there has to be a little bit of suspension of disbelief.

    As for the whole concept, are the former apex predators part of this transformation or is the transformation limited to the former prey? Does Xarahotaz have some kind of rival and what would be their response?

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Banned
     
    PaladinGuy

    Join Date
    Jul 2019

    Default Re: Cult of the Fanged Lamb

    Quote Originally Posted by Tornadofyr View Post
    Think of how people see the top of the corporate ladder.
    That’s how lambs think of wolves.

    We call it the food chain, but we don’t think of what the second word means to the animals at the bottom link. The food chain, to the Apex Predator, isn’t a chain. It’s a whip meant to keep their food in line.

    Imagine what would happen if the social structure was inverted permanently. The pain the new predators would inflict on their new prey.

    That’s what happened in Xaragotaz’ Jungle.

    The squirrels devour the eagles, the woodpeckers tear the snakes into shreds, rebelling against the very laws of nature themselves. Hooves become claws, wool becomes leathery hide, and horns grow sharper. The only beasts immune to this phenomenon are humans and their thinking companions.

    At the heart of the jungle, one monster and their elite warriors hunt for the last shreds of resistance from the old authority.

    The Sheep hunt for wolves now.

    Xaragotaz was once a god of bounty, often represented in the image of a lamb, representing the kinder side of nature. When the divine realms shattered, the beast quickly realized that the real world was harsh and cruel, and changed itself according.

    As the cultists that worship Xaragotaz say, “A sheep in wolf’s clothing becomes the new wolf.”

    Xaragotaz is now a monstrous beast that radiates an aura of predation. Beasts that were previously prey become monsters, able to rend their new food asunder.

    The Church of Xaragotaz
    Even though humanoids are immune to the mutations Xaragotaz’ aura inflicts, they are not unaffected. People who live within the jungle go mad with zeal for the new Xaragotaz’ beliefs.

    They call themselves the Herd of the Fanged Lamb.

    Nomadic barbarians, they are feared by all. They kidnap lone travelers at night. They agree to leave their victims alive if they can survive till dawn in the wilderness. Of course, the Herd tends to catch them right before dawn.

    The Herd despises civilization, seeing it as a different extension of the food chain. They don’t build towns, they don’t even build shelters. They sleep under the stars, or under the branches of the trees, if they reside in their holy land.

    Blood sacrifices are made to Xaragotaz, but they are not wrapped in ritual. Sacrifices are ripped limb from limb by the tribe, and the priests read their entrails.
    It's more of a food pyramid, at the bottom are the plants, the next are the herbivores, and then come the carnivores. If you turn the food pyramid upside down the whole thing would collapse and you'd have only the plants left which have eaten everything else.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2017

    Default Re: Cult of the Fanged Lamb

    Quote Originally Posted by the_david View Post
    My point was that a lot of animals don't fall in the black and white spectrum of prey and preditor. There are scavengers and omnivores that don't fit perfectly into one spot on the food chain.

    A better example would have been bees. A horrifying thought, but still a better example.
    That's a fair point; it might be that any animal that has commonly been preyed upon by a given species, now preys upon it? So in my example, flies would attack frogs but ignore tigers.
    My one piece of homebrew: The Shaman. A Druid replacement with more powerlevel control.
    The bargain bin- malfunctioning, missing, and broken magic items.
    Spirit Barbarian: The Barbarian, with heavy elements from the Shaman. Complete up to level 17.
    The Priest: A cleric reword which ran out of steam. Still a fun prestige class suitable for E6.
    The Coward: Not every hero can fight.

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