[ Animal Lords ] of the [ Land | Past | Skies | Tundra | Waters ]
[ Ape | Bear | Boar | Cat | Chameleon | Dinosaur | Dog | Elephant | Fox | Lizard | Mouse | Sheep | Wolf | Zebra ]
Mouse Lord
Seyhrain Timor. Planar animal lord [he/him] N
Realm: Beastlands / Karasuthra / Mouse Lord’s Scurry
Clueless primes tell the story of the Lord of Mice and his struggle with the Elephant King long ago on the Happy Hunting Grounds. Apparently, the Lord of Mice did something to offend the Elephant King—it must have been something dwarfing whatever started the Blood War because the Elephant King ordered the immediate genocide of all of the servants of the Mouse Lord. After a three week war, the Elephant King submitted in defeat, as the mice had waged a war based on subterfuge and guerilla tactics. And from this, say the primes, stems every elephant’s inherent fear of mice. Of course, what would one expect from a group of people that refer to the Beastlands as the Happy Hunting Grounds? What’s more likely is that Mouse managed to get Elephant mildly annoyed, and was forced to turn tail in defeat before he was killed.
The Mouse Lord, who’s also called the Rat Lord by those who fear or hate him (though not many fear him), maintains his realm on the third layer of the Beastlands, Karasuthra. It is called the Mouse Lord’s Scurry by the outsiders, and he moves the realm constantly, always attempting to evade the minions of the Owl Lord. However, Mouse bears the Owl no ill will for the Owl Lord’s attacks on his minions; in fact, Mouse sees the whole thing as a game to stay alive for the next day. While within the Mouse Lord’s Scurry, all cutters find themselves able to hide in shadows [with 50% accuracy; rogues already able to hide in shadows add 50% to their chance to hide.]
Bashers may enter the Mouse Lord’s Scurry and not even know it—Mouse and his wards are very adept at hiding. Unlike many other Animal Lords, Mouse does not allow lycanthropes within his realm. He sees wererats as self-serving and frankly, wicked—which to be fair they often are. Besides, in the Scurry, there isn’t really room for the lumbering wererats. See, only the fleet of foot can survive the swift minions of the Owl Lord, who patrol the night skies searching for the Scurry and swooping down upon whatever prey that they can find. But that is the way of the wilderness, and thus the way of the Beastlands.
Indeed, sometimes the whole of the Beastlands seems to tread on the Mouse Lord. Unlike the reaction of the Dog Lord to his troubles, Mouse however takes it in good humour. His wards are the smallest of the beasts, and therefore are easy prey for anything that takes an interest in them. Mouse makes up for this by encouraging his followers to raise large litters, because otherwise their numbers will dwindle.
Of all the Animal Lords, the mantle of Mouse Lord is passed on more often than any other—each time Mouse is caught by the Owl Lord and eaten. This is neither good nor evil, merely the way of the Beastlands, and the followers of the Mouse Lord have grown accustomed to the frequent changes in leadership. However, the current Mouse Lord has managed to avoid being served to the Owl Lord for a whole year now, which is a longer of tenure than most others before him.
The Mouse Lord takes the form of a roguish tiefling, and who favours keeping a low profile and blending into the Karasuthran night. If he’s attacked, the Mouse Lord will shrink down to the shape of a tiny mouse just three inches long, before scurrying away. Mouse himself is rather a coward compared with the other Animal Lords—but this is what has kept him and his species thriving. While many other Animal Lords do not foster a great number of offspring, the Mouse Lord himself has had dozens of litters with his petitioner wards, and mortal visitors to Karasuthra too.
Most of the time, the Mouse Lord keeps to the night of Karasuthra, though he does on occasion travel to Brux for a change of pace. For the Mouse Lord and his followers life is a never-ending run from those who chase. Ever since the new Cat Lord took her place, there’s been less pressure on Mouse since Cat and her followers keep mostly to Brux. All except for the panthers; they love to hunt the night.
The Mouse Lord does not appreciate intruders to the Scurry, because their size usually alerts the predators to the location of his realm. However, there isn’t much that he can do to prevent cutters entering his realm, so he’ll usually just hide. It;s impossible to meet with with Mouse unless those seeking an audience have magical means of hiding, such as a veil spell. Furthermore, even persuading Mouse not to run is a challenge. The Mouse Lord is civil to visitors, but the threat of being eaten always hangs over his head, and he’s an understandably jittery and nervous cutter. Of course, Mouse understands that his lot in life in one that he has earned and he cannot change: he is the Mouse Lord, and things cannot be any other way than they are. If he is to be hunted, then he is to be hunted. That is the Way of Things.
Source: Dave King aka Heregul, Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: The Mouse Lord is homebrew.