The Labyrinth is the world between worlds, the maze that connects realities, and so much more. It’s a campaign overlay that lets your PCs world-hop between settings, experiencing the Ten Thousand Worlds and beyond that exist in all that is.

Once you get into the twisting realities of the Labyrinth, you discover that, as infinite as it seems, there are recurring groups and themes. A trickle of factions consistently populate the maze, for good and for ill.

Here is a one that is perhaps both.

The Old Ring (Elders)

The Old Ring is the oldest active faction in the Labyrinth. With extremely long-lived members, like treants, plantfolk, and dragons, as well as member species with rich recorded histories, like humans, minotaurs, and ratatosk, the Old Ring has a legacy that stretches back more than a thousand years with dozens, if not hundreds, of sects. They focus on eternal, sustainable, healthy growth of worlds, from planting new worlds to pruning and nurturing old ones, while opposing corrupting elements of the Void and its worshippers.

What’s their deal?

The Old Ring is generally considered a heplful faction, as they focus on tending of worlds and community growth throughout the Labyrinth. However, do not allow yourself to be lulled into thinking they are “good.” The Old Ring acts mainly in their chosen role as a judicious gardener.

They do not seek growth for the sake of growth, but want an expansion of the oak roads which strengthens the status quo and helps reinforce the existing Elder communities. The armies of the Old Ring might march in to defend you, and they might arrive ready to implement a controlled burn of sorts to curb unhealthy growth and rob a Void cult of its prize.

Their scouts perpetually gather insights into worlds, judging inhabitants’ potential and values. They consider a world in comparison to the greater tapestry and decide how to nurture it (or leave it to die off) to support the health and strength of the Old Ring treeworlds.

The Rose and the Thorn of the Old Ring

The Elders have no qualms about being seen interacting, and their policies of documentation and evaluation mean they actively engage with local cultures. Their experience with stamping out Void cults means they excel as advisors, sages, and instructors for new worlds and newcomers to the larger reality of the Labyrinth.

The Old Ring is most active in worlds about to be attacked, or those currently fighting the Void. They might feature prominently in an intrigue-heavy game where cults and adventurers face each other through conspiracies, as factions of the Void prepare for a world-consuming invasion by undermining and corrupting the world’s cultures.

Or they may arrive amid a full-fledged conflict against the Void. Ratatosk envoys might bring offers of reinforcement for worlds they wish to save, but only advisors and mild support for a realm they consider doomed.

To use the Old Ring as a deadly, beautiful villain, you might send the red hag druidess of Oakroot, Vercula Bloodthorn, and her cult to the characters’ world to prune it. Her more bloodthirsty followers wage a campaign to affect a spiritual amputation, sacrificing residents to fuel magic meant to shield the core worlds. She combines her terrible harvest with an occult bloodletting meant to draw and then destroy Void forces, creating a planar firebreak to help insulate the Old Ring worlds. This cult might offer ritual magical powers to the elite, spreading influence among those wanting to remain in positions of authority. The PCs must stop the cult or convince Ring elders that their world has more merit.

In a world the Old Ring deems worthy, or even a candidate to join the coalition, they might arrive well before a Void invasion begins, sending someone like Lady Hawthorne or one of her lieutenants, such as Ysabel Sunbloom. This can launch the characters on a preventive quest to draw local powers into an alliance, prepare defenses against Void creatures and cults, while educating the population on methods for identifying their corruption through the early eradication of forward scouts and agents.

As foes, the more bloody elements of the Old Ring are efficient and merciless. They are predators with a long-term goal of culling the planar population. Their sudden presence may inspire player characters to seek divine or otherworldly advice, revealing the multifaceted nature of the Ring’s council. They must either change the organization’s opinion of their world or eradicate the cult which has taken up residents in the shadows.

As either weak or enthusiastic allies, treeworld forces intend to help the player characters face terrible enemies from the Void. However, the key to their greater success lies in how well they can utilize and encourage the assistance of the Old Ring. This means building relationships. At the same time they are trying or preparing to fight a war.

In either case, the Old Ring is unusual because they’re a philosophically driven group, acting out of belief. This is far more challenging for characters to shift, because it requires discovering the Old Ring’s motivation, understanding the nature of the opinion the organization has formed about their world, and then deliberately working to either change it or collaborate with it. Any of these options strongly suggest challenging role-playing and non-standard campaign styles.

Explore the twisting passages that connect planes of reality with the Labyrinth Worldbook!
This campaign overlay connects your world with anything you can imagine!

Using the Old Ring in your World

The depth of the resources the Old Ring can bring to bear are a boon to GMs. With their diversity of forces, they can bring giants, dragons, or hordes of ratatosk to aid player characters. They might have unusual magics found across their allied worlds or living magic items tended in groves, capable of bonding in symbiosis with their wielder.

This sort of blank check means you can implement whatever strange and unusual thing you were considering trying. Found a weird monster in Monster Vault 2? Toss it in. If it turns out to be unbalanced, items, creatures, or situations can quickly wither and die, or lessen in effectiveness as time passes. Conversely, if you find such new elements to work well in the campaign, they can thrive and become part of the campaign environment.

Try one (or both!) of the following drop-ins to bring the character of the Old Ring into your campaign:

1. While transporting a World Tree seed to an Old Ring outpost, the courier was attacked and the seed was stolen. The thief believes it will serve as a potent material component for a resurrection spell, and intends to use it to bring a comrade back to life. However, the Old Ring wants the seed to reinforce their connection with this world. It’s up to the characters to recover the seed and decide how it’s used, and whether they will be on a quest soon to get a new one.

2. One of several scouts from the Old Ring have arrived to evaluate the PCs’ world and help the Council of Elders determine their policies about it. They give the characters several ambiguously ethical tasks. How the characters respond shapes the reports which determine who returns to establish an Old Ring presence.

See the Labyrinth Worldbook for more details on the history of the Old Ring faction, and its mysteries that have passed into Labyrinth lore.


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