Stonehearth Opponents

The movement represented by House Stonehearth is larger than a noble family or a social collective – it's the nexus of events that have thousands of years of momentum. To stand before Stonehearth isn't standing before an ambitious marquise, it's standing in front of a cannon.

In that respect, there are challengers that don't know the true depth of what is happening. They will be swept away with barely a thought.

There are two groups, though, that see this rise as something beyond what it purports to be. For them, the opponents of Stonehearth, there is opportunity in the havok of those cannons.

### The DESPOILERS

There are plenty of hooks, places for a certain mindset to play counter to any sense of good. Followers of Bane, Bhaal, and so on can ply their trade in a challenging, uphill battle against the goody two-shoes hypocrites of cannonville (or whatever their battle cry happens to be).

Note: this is a tougher one for DMs as the campaign is designed from an insider’s point of view. To start a campaign as a despoiler, it’s going to be particularly rough (or short-lived) from inside the Stonehearth strongholds. Consider a starting point on the periphery, in the wake of Baldur’s Gate Mudergate incident, or possibly playing a smarter-than-average chaotic evil troll on the edge of Stonehearth encroachment.

Playing a competitor is also a strong possibility. Consider that House Stonehearth is a Masked Lord of Waterdeep, the Contraduke of Baldur’s Gate and so on… there’s plenty of room to view Stonehearth as the next great threat to the status quo another character depends on.

#### Potential Despoilers

* A Zhentarim slaver allied with Najara
* A Thayvian Red Wizard
* A follower of Bhaal in Baldur's Gate
* A cultist of Asmodeus in Waterdeep

### The DISILLUSIONED

Unlike the despoilers, the disillusioned has a vast field of possibilities, coming from both inside and outside the Stonehearth system. Playing an Amnian, Calishite or Cormyrian character could have any number of counter-Stonehearth motivations, stemming from anger they didn’t intervene despite their purported high ethics to reasonable rumors that Stonehearth may invade them next (Amn and Calimshan in particular).

This can also come from the inside – and more so in the turbulence as Stonehearth exerts political will over polities regarding gray-area differences (like condoning slavery). Feel free to adapt all of the nuances of real-world ethical dilemmas to characters that could be heroes of Stonehearth only to turn against them… and perhaps even come back again as they help Stonehearth “find their way.”

#### Potential Disillusioned

* A competitor to Stonehearth (either the House of the Merchant Company) in Baldur's Gate
* A former Stonehearth employee
* A cleric of Tempus, offended by the Marquisate's godless positive-plane clerics

### The Road Less Traveled

There's plenty of room for gray-area play, with the moral ambiguities that make compelling stories. A player looking for a complex arc of character growth could begin as a sworn enemy of Stonehearth, along the lines of a surviving Shadovar Netherese, cloistered against a hostile world after the humiliating fall of Thultanthar. In the process of fighting the phaerimm, the common enemy opposed by Stonehearth as well, they abandon the quest to Make Netheril Great Again, their eyes opening to the light of the Commonwealth...

Perhaps they are a follower of Mystra or Azuth, and are convinced that the primal method of tapping raw magic will be downfall of the multiverse. What if they discovered they were wrong? What does a former foe do when making a revelation when there is already blood on their hands?

The path of the adversary is guaranteed to be both challenging and interesting.

## Where to from here?

* I'm talking to my DM. **Let's roll a character**!
* This is insane. Let me look at the **Stonehearth Subjects** again.
* And what were the scenarios for an **ally**?
* Actually, let me re-read that whole "**Crucible**" thing.