Villains

The next round of the RPGSuperstars contest is going to be a 'create your own villain' sort. While I still have mixed feelings about the contest in general, I am still presumptuous enough to think my entry will be in the top 32 out of the couple thousand who entered. So it is natural for me to think of Villains, since it is the next round and you only get 3 days to write, edit, and submit it (and I hate rushing).

Perhaps I am an exception in DMs, but I rarely use individuals that are intended as reoccurring villains. This does happen on occasion but it is usually the players own doings when they let something get away or just a set of odd circumstances. So, I generally have little experience with villains, at least in the way that Paizo intends.

I have a bit of a road block here, but at least I can kill two birds with one stone and use whatever I make in Valley of the Blue Snails as well as the contest. Some of my initial inclinations:

• A pickled villain in the rum cask (ala Cask of the Suffering Bastard). The reason this poor sap in the rum cask could be pretty broad, but it would be safe to say he is undead now. I think it would be interesting should anyone drink the rum, they would be under his influence. Really it is just a matter of motivation for him and his minions which is a bit ?.
• A Clockwork Raccoon. I've been on a raccoon kick lately and for some reason bad-ass clockwork raccoon that shoots black puddings out of its orifices sounds interesting. Again we need some motivation as why this particular thing is a villain rather than simple monster.
• An Elf Prince. Some fairly powerful mage who sought to keep winter at bay while the Elves could harvest their crops. Instead his spells created an endless Autumn. And so he rules his own little Great Rot. Perhaps he is seeking a way to end it, albeit a bit mad since he doomed his own people. This is usually not typically 'me', but it may be a good villain never the less.
• The Raccoon Lord. Write up below, which I found his motivation to be pretty easy and it should fit into Valley of Blue Snails easily enough. I'm not sure if it is a winner, but I would probably use it in some game I was running.

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Ahrah-koonem, The Raccoon Lord
‘He who rubs, scratches and despoils with its hands’

History

The embodiment of Raccoon traits, both fair and foul, Ahrah-koonem is a primeval creature simply known as The Raccoon Lord. Once a verdant and benevolent trickster, the Raccoon Lord has fallen from his light-hearted ways. A rotten bough of the world tree known as Boletus fell to the deep wilds of the Raccoon Lords domain. There the gargantuan branch lay to rot, bringing with it the taint that the world tree sought to be rid of. Ever curious the Raccoon Lord investigated the wondrous, albeit forbidding bough. To his delight he found a pair or acorn still attached to Boletus. As a being of perpetual hunger, the Raccoon Lord quickly devoured one to sate his appetite.

The acorn rotted within the Raccoon Lord and he languished for years, tormented by pain, hallucinations and wracking. Over time the Raccoon Lord found that devouring rotting material would ease his suffer; and so he sought rotten leaves, piles of compost and forgotten carcasses of anything he could find. He quickly found the need to traverse great distances to sate his hunger, baying his discomfort the best he could. The Raccoon Lord sought a solution to his woes, beseeching greater powers and urgently searching the civilized races for knowledge.

Eventually the Raccoon Lord found what he desired, a plan to end his suffering. The Raccoon Lord still possessed the other acorn from Boletus and he learned that if he were to plant it in the right location, it would grow a new sapling world tree. It was possible the power of this new world tree would cure him if he were to devour a fresh untainted acorn. Secondly, the rise of the new sapling would pulled the power of the natural world to itself, and halt the rotation of seasons for hundreds of miles around. Thus the Raccoon Lord knew if he was to plant the seed in Autumn, the season would never end and a great rot would ensue, sating his hunger until the sapling could grow.

Still possessing the other acorn of Boletus, the Raccoon Lord seeks to find a suitable place to plant it. Only rumors of such places lay in legend; Nalateem the navel of the world, Gilhegrand the wild growth, Everebb heart of all rivers. Much to his chagrin, the Raccoon Lord and his minions have failed to find these locations and now search methodically while trying to keep his hunger sated. With rotting material in short supply the Raccoon Lord creates his own out of necessity, complicating his search for knowledge while among the civilized races of the world.

Description

The Raccoon Lord appears as a twenty five foot raccoon with an overly large maw, a ringed prehensile tail, and bristly fur that shimmers with supernatural radiance. He can easily stand on its hind legs and manipulate his delicate from paws with meticulous detail. The Raccoon Lords cavernous maw contains a barbed tongue and small swarm of stirges that live within feeding upon the roof of his maw. Should the Raccoon Lord be roused in anger he will often brush his tongue on the stirges and exhale them outward, creating an enraged cloud of stirges in front of him.

The Raccoon Lord can take other forms but prefers his own form greatly. When taking another form they are often imperfect and lack common traits of that race. For example, when taking the form of an Elf, in his haste the Raccoon Lord may apply a light coat of fur and forget the ears. The Raccoon Lord and shift between forms as a full round action as often as he wishes.