Insectfolk elementalism (Conclave Bandwagon)

A brief background to insectfolk elementalism, d12 typical elementalists and a ‘Conclave encounter’ for the emergency ‘Conclave’ bandwagon called by Prismatic Wasteland.

What do you get when your culture pre-dates the gods, souls and the outer planes at large.

Why are there no insectfolk wandering around in the heavens? Because insectfolk do not have souls – not in the mammalian sense of them falling out and drifting away when their body dies. Insectfolk are far supperior to that. The soulstuff of insect folk gets caught in their carapaces and stays on the prime material, typically leaching away into the ethereal and then collecting back to the great hives.

Half the point of the great hives of the insect folk – and all of their great structure building in general – is to provide waystations for these last remains of the dead, to guide them back into the hatching chambers to be reborn anew.

In the ages of the insectfolk, the times before even the illithids, times the aboleth dimly recall, there was no worship of gods as would be recognised today – all that came later. Animist practices were frequently found but mostly insectfolk who pried behind the metaphysical curtains found the elemental planes. The astral was a barren place then; no outer planes had formed as no soulstuff had collected to form them.

The purity of the elements were looked to by insects in a manner somewhat like worship – shrines were raised, omens consulted and abiding in harmony with the elements was held as a goal by many. What exactly it meant to be ‘in harmony’ was the subject of much debate and conflict. Lines of schism included whether to focus on the manifestation of elements as inner strength or to look to draw power from the elements in the environment. Nothing was ever resolved.

Law and Chaos shaped the cosmos; primal forces of order and entropy churning the elements – manifestations of these forces from the elemental planes became the first great primordials accorded worship and respect by the insects. Law was held most in esteem, for the structures of the insectfolk both social and material sat well with Law. The place for Chaos and entropy was seen but feared and fought against.

Over time elementalism, insect-style developed a broad panoply of wise ancestral insects, saints and teachers, heroes of great battles, disasters and ventures. Worship included all these many intercessors more often than it appealed directly to the elements themselves.

After the greatest hour of the insectfolk passed, Chaos finally bringing them low, mammals with their shedding souls appeared and gods began to manifest. Many of these told stories of creator gods, with worlds as manifestation of their will. The insects knew these for the lies mammals told themselves and having watched the first gods rise from being mere mortals, knew them for just the extraordinarily powerful beings they were. Good

Over the long aeons manifestations of elemental might like the princes of elemental evil and good appeared but these were all rightly seen as yet more extrusions of mammal soul-stuff, nothing to be held as relevant.

Typical examples of insectfolk elementalists
1. Elementalist Spirit-Speaker – converses with all the spirits of the environment, a ritualist with the attitude of a crime-scene investigator or relationship counsellor
2. Follower of an elemental saint – typically full of aphorisms from their chosen saint, sure where they should not be
3. Recently Reawoken elemental saint – an adventurer out of time, stumbled into their sainthood and was grossly misremembered since
4. Sweeper of the dead – combs the wilds and battlefields searching for blockages or syphonings of soulstuff to keep the dead streaming back to the hives
5. Shrine-keeper of the primal elements – maintains a greater or lesser place aligned to one or more of the elements; ready to offer hospitality to any who visit
6. Aligner of structures – labours to maintain and repair the great structures, adjusting for misalignments over time
7. Cleanser of elements – effectively a demon-hunter; chasing away things like fiends and the undead that are attracted to the latent soul-like energies of insectfolk structures
8. Single element devotee – hermit-like, regarded as deeply odd by other insectfolk
9. Devotee of the elements within – one who pursues actualising their personal elemental potential (does monk-like things) – but mostly keeps it within their shell; calm, then explosively forceful
10. Evoker of the elements within – one who taps into and channels elemental power through themselves (does sorcerer-like things); cheerfully intimidating, casually violent
11. Weaver of elements – works large, slow rituals, most often found reinforcing enchantments within and around insectfolk structures (does wizard-like things); contemplative, judgemental
12. Heretic mammal-god worshiper – jittery, festooned with iconography of an elemental prince, likely found with non-insectfolk cultists

Encounter: The Conclave

You stumble upon a minor elementalist insectfolk conclave; a partially exposed insectfolk structure protrudes discreetly from the terrain. A deep central well with many sealed vaults spiraling outwards. At the worn-open upper entrance some insectfolk are gathered, apparently awaiting you. Roll up 2d4 elementalists from the table above; they are debating the implications of exactly the thing the adventurers last dealt with and whether or not they need to do anything about it. They gathered here because they foretold that the party would arrive here, now. There are refreshements laid out, they would like to hear the partys account of events, they are prepared to respond to violence in kind.