The Order of Smog
Extinguishers, Mad Order, Circle of Smoke, Anti-Druids
PHILOSOPHY: Pollution is a part of nature. Most druids and simple folk would regard this statement as so laughably untrue as to being unworthy of a counter-argument. But Smog Order druids follow a philosophy that says otherwise.
The origins of the Mad Order are shrouded in mystery—which is of course fitting for a sect based in the para-plane of Smoke—but the chant-mongers claim that the Fated absolutely have to do something with it. Indeed, the philosophy of the Extinguishers sounds a lot like the ideas of the Takers, just applied to the natural world. The way these druids see things, is that the nature doesn’t require protection from anything. In fact, they argue, mortal intervention—pollution, poaching, over-farming and so on—is just the same as natural extinction events which are caused by climactic changes or natural disasters.
At first, the Circle of Smoke wasn’t so radical. Its members, known as City Druids, were more like researchers, interested in how wild plants and animals might adapt to living in settlements. But as time went on, more extreme schools of thought became increasingly prominent within the Circle. They believed that humankind (or whatever other ‘kind is most prominent in this moment) should advance themselves further, with no regard for other parts of nature. Anti-druids of this group use their powers to decimate wolves that hunted livestock, drive fish into the nets and burn down forests to make room for new fields. And yes, despite all conventional wisdom, the so-called “druids” of the Smog Order do still receive all the same primal powers. It’s thought that not even they themselves fully understand who is granting their powers (not that druidism is well-understood at all), but the Mad Order believes this to be the sign of their path being righteous. Detractors claim this is the result of them secretly (or even unknowingly) worshipping some depraved Abyssal Lord of corruption. Now, the magic of these druids is often visibly tainted—conjured plants are invasive, their fire leaves soot and grime, the water they manifest is foul and unfit for drinking, and summoned animals are visibly diseased. Members of the Smog Order also know the secret Druidic language, Wildsong. Not just that, but they have developed a special variation of it, that is significantly harder to understand for normal druids. And much like conventional druids, Extinguishers can hide secret messages of their Wildsong in plain sight—just by using drops of paint and pieces of litter rather rather than leaves and branches.
However, don’t go thinking that the Extinguishers are all moustache-twirling villains who go out of their way to despoil pristine nature. Their numbers are still very low, so their preferred mode of operation is recruitment. Anti-druids seek out small, isolated communities and teach them their ways of magic. A tribe that struggles for survival is likely to be glad for lessons in hunting and agriculture and won’t worry too much about over-hunting. The infiltrating cadre promotes active exploitation of the natural world and kickstarts the industrialisation and urbanisation of the societies they arrive in. More often than not, they might end up in the position of advisers or ministers. The Smog Order believes that some of the most important metropolises of the Prime and planes have reached their current heights of influence due to their intervention—although this is, of course, unlikely to be true, considering that the Order seems to have appeared no more than 500 years ago. Smog Order advisors often enjoy adoration from many urban dwellers, who consider them brilliant progressive thinkers. They rarely know that the druid will gladly abandon such followers if their civilisation proves itself to be too weak in the face of natural disaster.
Anti-druids do not concern themselves with the disastrous consequences their actions might lead to. In this sense, they are a lot like Doomguard, revelling in short-term destruction, although with a belief that something greater should arise afterwards as a result. Nominally, the Extinguishers must take caution to not go so far as to cause life in their wake to become irreparably extinct, but not a lot of them have enough moderation to find such a balance.
The essence of nature is to adapt and survive.
— Smog Order credo
We mortals are also part of nature, and the consequences of our actions will enhance those species which are fit enough to adapt and thrive.
So what if some species die off? Extinction is a perfectly natural event.
STRUCTURE: The Smog Order consists of many circles, each of which typically has no more than ten members. Druids—even the Mad ones—usually prefer to work alone, after all. However, they all submit to the Grand Druid of their order, in this case—to Agatha Grimethix (prime half-dwarf druid [she/her] / NE). This woman isn’t the founder of the group, but she won her position the old-fashioned way—by killing the previous Grand Druid in a ritual combat. Agatha was a regular druid of stone in a rapidly growing dwarven city, until her beliefs as a druid came into conflict against her family’s work and the city’s expansion. The livelihood of the dwarven halls depended on extracting ore and coal from surrounding mines. But druids, mostly of sylvan races, saw how harmful these mines and quarries were and opposed dwarves in what would soon become a full-on war. Agatha couldn’t stand the thought of her home dwindling, people moving or dying out and monuments collecting dust. So instead, she betrayed her order and joined the side of the city to squash the resistance and take out the druid circle for good. But surprisingly, her primal magic didn’t go away after this committing this anathema. So, when her work was done, Agatha left her nation to seek out the answers to her questions—eventually finding them in the form of an emissary from the Smog Order. She joined the circle and quickly rose through the ranks, her newfound beliefs strengthening after every step. Today she’s a ruthless leader, motivated as much by the desire to crush other orders as by her image of expanding civilization as the true pinnacle of nature.
ALLIES: Despite their strange and often less-than-benevolent beliefs, Smog Druids have some very powerful allies. First of all, the Fated approve of their ideology, although some of them feel that actively helping civilisation to progress is cheating other species out of their right to compete. Other important ally is the sect of Merkhants, and the multiverse-spanning Planar Trade Consortium. These bloods don’t care much for nature—but they do care for money, and warriors of nature often stand in their way of getting it. Merkhants not-so-secretly donate to Extinguishers in hopes of using them as props against their enemies. Many faithful druids are almost certain that these generous donations are what caused the Circle of Smoke to become so pervasive. Ironically, the Vile Hunt and the Smog Order seem barely aware of one another and don’t work together, at least for now. However, Xenos, the human supremacist group on Prime approves of the order’s actions, believing themselves to be a pinnacle of evolution, so to say.
ENEMIES: Of course, the major enemies of the Smog Order are other druidic orders, mostly from the Prime Material Plane. Or rather those of them who even realise such a perverse threat exists. Extinguishers are adept at covering their tracks, and rarely go in for direct confrontation. There are a couple of druidic orders that have the numbers to combat the Mad Order, but they have no means to launch an attack on the Extinguishers’ base in the Plane of Smoke. On their home plane, the most common nuisance for the Circle of Smoke are the natives of the Great Conflagration like para-elementals and belkers. No major power, however, threatens the anti-druids—they have an agreement with Ehkhak, and other races of Smoke try to keep themselves hidden. On the Prime, the Smog Order is often confronted by elves, fey, unicorns and other creatures of nature, but they haven’t earned a widespread infamy quite yet.
HEADQUARTERS: Called the Smouldering Grove or the Forest of Chains by the anti-druids and the Belching Maw by visitors, the meeting place of the Smog Order sits on the outskirts of Cinderwood. It is a sphere of lumps of coal, tied together with colossal chains that glow red from heat. Inside there are multiple chambers, separated by metal walls, smaller chains and cogs. Multiple tubes and pipes stick out of the Maw, sucking in the smoke into the furnaces that somehow use it for fuel. The Smoldering Grove was not built by anti-druids, merely claimed by them, and some parts of the structure are still left unexplored. No one has yet found an answer as to who created the place, but theories range from Sleeping Ones, to whoever built the City of Glass, to some kind of intrusion from Mechanus or Acheron. Metal that makes up the internal mechanisms is similarly unidentified, but it possesses an incredible resistance to both heat and bending. Some high-ranking smog druids even use it to make weaponry, although since these chains are impossible to forge, they are restricted to flails and similar armaments.
Only a few druids and the Grand Druid themselves are present in the Smouldering Grove, outside of their annual meetings. However, clockwork constructs always skitter around the place, acting as guardians and assistants. They are all directed by the Seeker’s Eye, a giant legless golem with multiple hands that sits at the centre of the Grove. The Eye is connected to the chains and gears of the internal machinery and can change the Maw’s configuration at a whim. According to the Smog Order, the Seeker’s Eye is operated by a rogue gear spirit from Mechanus, although its current golem body was likely there from the beginning.
Crunch
The following section is a class archetype creation option—homebrew Smog Order Druid rules for Pathfinder 2e. It hasn’t been playtested yet, so criticism is welcomed, and things may be tweaked in the future.
Order Skill: Society
Druid Feat: Fire Lung
Order Spell: Smoke Figure
Anathema: You lose the typical druidic anathemas and gain those instead: Knowingly prevent the extinction of a species other than your own; Prioritise the needs of nature over the needs of civilisation; Teach the secret dialect of Wildsong to non-druids or to druids of other orders. NB: If you become a member of another druidic order (such as via the Order Explorer fear), work with your GM to change its anathema to represent your beliefs.
Special:
- You have access to the Fire Resistance druid feat.
- If you gain access to an animal companion, you can choose the smoke paraelemental companion as an option.
- You have access to the Advanced Elemental Spell druid feat. The focus spell granted to you by this feat is Clinging Pollution.
Source: Margarita