/tg/ I need some help brainstorming on the state of the world

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>>51404918
In the depths of the sea.
>Sahuagin warbands are being formed from conquered tribes of the fishfolk. Rumors of a Malnti Warrior gathering them into the fold and taking greater holdings than their kind have known in centuries are whispered from the kelp forests to the coral reefs.
>Merfolk surge toward coastal settlements, much more stable in light of recent events, and establish good relations with some land-dwellers while others have gained the ire of fishing communities suddenly bereft or forced into competition with the newcommers.
>Anguillian numbers surge in the far south waters, enlarged, armed lamprey barbarians seem to be swarming, their natural cycles thrown into disarray by a new vein of volcanic vents warming their habitat.
>Cephelamer mages, master diviners and strategists, offer to sell information and magical aid to those who've the wits to realize that their tendrils are already in everyone's courts and plots, while their agents obscure and conceal the truth of matters within their own reaches; a shadow civil war of quiet words, hidden deeds and prying eyes in the fluorescent towers of the north waters which reach from the clouds to the seabed.
>Abolethic Sovereignty returns slowly, singular abberations realizing the opportunity at hand and seeking to establish the beginings of their own little empires with mortal followers at hand. They act not simply from the shadows, but in proxies behind proxies (Think Xorvintaal if you know of it).

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>>51405955

In the underdark, the earth quakes under the shifting stones and scenes. Derugar uprisings abound as each of them seeks to find new slaves to toil for their glory. The Green Steel Hierarch has decreed that the forges shall overflow with production to sweep the markets in which they deal, but in truth weapons and arms the likes of which have not been seen in centuries are in dwarven hands once more, as a secret deal between the Hierarch, the Elder Stone, and the Storm Rider clans on the coastal ranges above them have colluded; an empire on three levels. The Derugar shall fill their coifers to fund and supply it. The Stone Dwarfs of the Darkened Valley shall carve and protect it. The Storm Riders will reach out over the surface and take to the sea and the skies to ensure their supremacy. At any one part, they seem insignificant, but in the scope of this new scale no one part may fall while the other two are unassailable.
Illithid collectives are running the numbers, and they are concerned; with the upheaval in recent events and the potential for conflicts...the humanoids might kill too many of themselves for their collective to survive; they need a healthy population to feed from and the prospects of starvation have left the usually-antagonistic Mind-Flayers in a remarkably charitable and altruistic stance of late.
A beholder has found a maze of mirrors and memorized every corridor. Scores of kilometers worth of territory ceeded to one floating eye-head because the fucker can spew eye beams across a series of reflecting faces and unexpected angles. Literally No One is happy about this except for the beholder who is having the time of its life and an odd cult of drow muder-clowns that find this to be hilarious. The beholder hates them but finds them to be useful as agents for when it wants something from beyond its grand, safe haven.
The Myconids have discovered farming and alchemy, harvesting neighbors for new fodder and soil.

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>>51406145
On the surface.
>The Elves have forsaken the woods in favor of desert sands; too immaterial to support an underdark, dry enough and high enough altitude to be averse to aquatic incursions. Harsh enough to discourage other invaders. Calm enough for contemplation of the way they've changed in light of the strange alterations that have come to them since primal spirit departed. They're pretty happy recreating Dune scenes.

Half the human nations are going about business as usual, somewhat dull to it after a generation has already passed and left the whole thing in living memory but not particularly poignant in their minds. Those with broader interests and awareness seek to aid those affected by the turmoil who have been their partners in trade, battle, or even simply kind neighbors in the past, while others recall old hatreds fervently and lash out given the opportunity; some small civilizations foundered and fell to human rule not because of the giant and depth-strider's conflict, but because in the aftermath they were easy prey.
The Strix, Avians, Kenku and other bird-folk take the recent tumult as a sign that their time to shine has come and seek to extend their own kingdoms. One sun-worshipping group in particular has crafted a reflecting/refracting device to strike out with the sun's rays across vast distances, lashing out at all in their lands who do not bend knee to their will. Still, none of them have found purchase against the Storm-Rider Dwarf clans for some reason, and they are keen to learn what the secret to their swift reconstruction and eagerness to fight in the skies that should rightfully have cast them down from their gryphon and wyvern mounts.

Seems like you basically got it with all that it seems.

To be honest, it seems like it would make for a rad seafolk adventure setting. Maybe flood some of the surface world to add more dungeons and places to adventure, then let the PCs be Sharkpeople, or Lionfish folk, or who knows what kinds of Octopi who take jobs to retrieve stuff for the surface folk.

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>>51406292
I don't know so much about your terrestrial regions of the setting so I had to guess. Your players' choices of race and character motives can make a campaign of themselves while the setting and details provide context in which their aspirations are tested in a lot of cases.

You can certainly make it a seafarer's campaign, and feel free to do so, they're just the easiest ones for me to work with given the info you have and some past campaigns I've run.

The Avian Sunglare vs the Dwarven Layer Cake can set up a pretty large-scale scenario to consider; PC's start out adventuring in an area, hearing about rumblings of giant glass devices and dragon-riding dwarfs duking it out well the fuck off to the west. Then Derugar merchants start showing up and boosting business in town as well as providing rare goods, while a kenku priest is starting to set up a shrine in the next village over to their sun deity and their celestial pantheon, using lights on the far horizon as part of their nightly rituals.

Later on, outright avian crusaders come seeking aid in their battle, trying to recruit the PCs to protect some new contraption they're building nearby. The money's good, probably too much to refuse, but a halfling agent for the Layer Cake lets them know what the score really is; it's a reflecting dish for their device to be able to reach into Their home valley.

Depending on where this takes place relative to the coast you can add in fishing village woes, Cephelamer power-playes, or even laser duels by cracking open the mirror geode base of the Eye Tyrant and tricking it into duking it out with the bird's magnifying array.

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>>51406496
>that image
Jesus H. Christ.

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>>51406599
You don't need high fidelity HD imagery for a lame memetic joke.

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>>51406635
t. Australian