- General
- Faerûn
- Mercenary Companies
- Psionic Organizations
- Underdark Organizations
- Minor Valorous Organizations
- Organizations of Waterdeep
- Organizations of the East
- Demon-led Organizations
- Cult of the Dragon
- Druids of the Tall Trees
- The Emerald Enclave
- Fangshields
- Fellowship of the Purple Staff
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- Guardian of the Weave
- Hand of Vengeance
- Marshals and Heralds in the Realms
- Harpers
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- The Lords' Alliance
- Malaugryms
- Order of the Grand Snakemaster
- People of the Black Blood
- Red Wizards of Thay
- The Seven Sisters
- Shades
- The Soft Claws
- The Xanathar's Guild
- The Zhentarim
The Earthborn
Duron Kavaros, a dissatisfied cleric, founded the organization known as the Earthborn some 700 years ago. Kavaros spent much of his life serving in various priesthoods, switching deities periodically because no god seemed to grant him the spiritual completeness he desired. After many years of angst, Kavaros became convinced that his inability to find an appropriate deity stemmed from the fact that the greatest god of all had been forgotten. He came to believe that the earth itself - the foundation of the entire world - was a divine entity greater than any god could possibly be. The sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes, the weather changes, and the tides go in and out, but earth alone is constant. Thus, he chose to devote his life to creating and maintaining an earth-based cult.
Kavaros gathered a congregation devoted not merely to the worship of elemental earth (though that was, of course, its primary focus) but also to finding a means of awakening and contacting the Earthen King, as Kavaros called his slumbering elemental lord. Calling themselves the Earthborn (or sometimes the Children of the Earthen King or the Sons of Stone), the sect's members devoted themselves to finding some means - natural or otherwise - of awakening the earth itself. Only then, they believed, could the rightful god of all things resume his place and make the world whole. With his ascension, earth would become dominant over all other, less stable forces, and chaos and evil would be banished forever.
Although they have not yet succeeded at their goal, the Earthborn continue to work toward it with passion equal to what their first leader displayed. In the process of trying to awaken the Earthen King, they have created a wide range of new spells, magic items, and techniques utilizing the incredible power of earth magic.
Size And Resources
The Earthborn is a small cult, but a wealthy one. Due to its members' affinity for stones, their alliances with creatures of earth, and their practice of traveling regularly to the Elemental Plane of Earth, they have access to gems, metals, and other riches far in excess of those available to other groups of similar size. These additional funds are reflected in statistics given In the sidebar.
Alignment
The Earthborn is a lawful neutral organization. Its leaders prefer to avoid accepting chaotic or overtly evil members, but they accept any creatures with the earth subtype, so long as they agree to support the sect's goals and activities.
Membership
Much to the surprise of many, dwarves and druids, although certainly present in the Earthborn, represent at most a significant minority of its membership. While the dogma of the sect appeals to a few druids, most do not share the faith's emphasis on earth over other aspects of nature. And while some dwarves find the precepts of the faith appealing, most see stone as something to be worked and treasured, not worshiped or revered. A great many monstrous earth creatures have been welcomed into the organization as favored children of the supreme element, and the Earthborn often take steps to defend creatures of earth - even those that are not members - when they are attacked. Members of the Earthborn believe that all their powers and abilities - even class features or racial traits they share with others of their kind -derive from earth and stone. Monks, for instance, think of their ki strike and unarmed damage abilities as borrowing the strength of the rock. They interpret their resistances as the stability of stone, their extra speed and ability to fall slowly as asking the earth to assist their movements, and so forth. Even though not all the spells cast by wizards, clerics, and druids within the organization are earth-related, these spellcasters still maintain that the power for their magic flows from the earth beneath them.
The vast majority of the Earthborn are clerics. They typically choose from the Earth, Law, and Strength domains.
Earthborn Cosmology
The Earthborn reject the "standard" version of the cosmos, in which the Material Plane lies in the center of a ring formed by the four elemental planes, the Positive Energy Plane, and the Negative Energy Plane. According to them, the Elemental Plane of Earth lies at the very center of the Great Wheel, with the lesser elemental planes (Air, Fire, and Water), the two energy planes, and the Material Plane arrayed in a circle around it. Just as earth forms the foundation for the world, so the Elemental Plane of Earth forms the foundation of the multiverse.
The Earthborn consider the Elemental Plane of Earth the seat of divinity, the true home of the Earthen King (whose presence on the Material Plane represents only the barest portion of his essence), and the holiest of all places. Some members of the sect believe that the Elemental Plane of Earth is in fact the Earthen King whose body and essence are so vast that they appear to form their own plane.
The Earthbound travel to the Elemental Plane of Earth frequently to partake of its bounty, to negotiate with various earth creatures, and to perform rituals intended to awaken the Earthen King. They believe, however, that it is blasphemy for any nonbeliever to travel there, so members of the cult resort to all manner of means - including violence - to prevent them from doing so, If they encounter any nonearth creatures that are not part of their organization within the Elemental Plane of Earth, they attack immediately.