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<link rel="stylesheet" href="book-page.css" /><div class="document-container"> <h1>Natural Fantasy Villains</h1> <p> When you create a natural fantasy antagonist, the information on <a href="/books/natural-fantasy-atlas/#page-254">page 254</a> of the Core Rulebook is an excellent starting point, but there are a few extra things to remember, just as there are for Player Characters. </p> <h2>Basic Principles</h2> <p> The natural fantasy genre presents a significant variety of archetypal Villains, but we can still infer some common key traits: </p> <ul> <li> <strong>A link to the past.</strong> These antagonists have one or more elements that link them to the past of the setting: some are obsessed by ancient legends; others crave power and authority lent by millennia-old magics and technologies, or want to wipe out every last trace of them; finally, some are entities who survived an ancient calamity or were created in the distant past. </li> <li> <strong>Familiar concepts.</strong> A natural fantasy antagonist’s motivations and origin are often linked to needs, feelings, doubts, or emergencies that you might have had a brush with at least once in your personal life. As much as this might unsettle you, a part of you should be able to understand, perhaps at an instinctual level, what these Villains represent. </li> <li> <strong>Catastrophic results.</strong> When a natural fantasy Villain reaches their goals, the consequences are devastating: be it the awakening of a truly ancient danger, a permanent alteration to the ecosystem, or the extermination of entire communities, the Villain’s victory will tear open a wound in this world. </li> </ul> <p> The Game Master is given three main tools for introducing these Villains into the narrative and diving deep into their origins and objectives: </p> <ul> <li> <strong>Stories, relics and traditions.</strong> If a Villain is the incarnation of an ancient danger, references to their existence should gradually appear during the campaign: these sources are often vague or partly contradictory – fertile ground for studies and speculations. </li> <li> <strong>Game Master scenes.</strong> Above all else, these scenes are useful to add depth to the antagonists, revealing their doubts and hesitations. When dealing with Villains that are closer in nature to a cataclysm or a supernatural presence, these scenes can show omens of their arrival and a growing sense of foreboding. </li> <li> <strong>Conflicts.</strong> During conflicts, natural fantasy Villains tend to fully embrace one of two extremes: some speak openly with the protagonists, explaining their reasons, while others march forward, undeterred and silent, toward their objective. </li> </ul></div> |