Creating an Elemental Imbalance

When creating an Elemental Imbalance for use in your campaign, consider the following questions in order:

What is the Origin of the Imbalance?

Elemental imbalances can come from many sources. They might be caused by human expansion into wild lands, misuse of spiritual power (intentional or not), conflicts between greater cosmological forces, or even by disruption of the spiritual "ecosystem" by an outside force. First, determine what circumstances led to the imbalance. A few examples include:

Burgeoning Population: Human towns and cities can sometimes grow in uncontrolled ways. A city with a booming population might suddenly need to expand farmland or go further afield for resources like lumber and stone. However, this could lead to conflicts not only with other groups of humans, but also with spiritual beings. A tengu might be disturbed by loggers visiting its mountaintop retreat in search of wood, or an ancient and powerful spiritual predator might rediscover a taste for humans when they delve into its cavernous abode in search of ore. In response, such beings might create or exacerbate an elemental imbalance to gain what they desire. Even if neither side intends harm, such conflicts might escalate once started.

Hubris: Humans are driven and ingenious beings, but this drive and ingenuity can become a double-edged sword when not tempered with perspective. A human who believes they can gain from exploiting a supernatural power might choose to do so. Mahō-tsukai are one obvious example of humans who seek to wield a power that damages the balance of the world around them, but even more innocuous choices could be destructive. Pilgrims who overburden a particular spirit with their pleas might unwittingly take advantage of its good nature, leading to its power diminishing and elemental forces becoming uncontrolled in the region.

Spiritual Conflict: Humans are not the only cause of elemental imbalances. Powerful spirts sometimes wage battles with one another totally independent of humans, creating chaos in the world around them as each attempt to vanquish the other. Beings from the afterlife might incur upon the realm of the living, disturbing local spirits through their breaking of the natural order. And, of course, the creatures under the sway of Fu Leng eternally seek to twist the world around them into dreadful new forms. In such battles, humans are usually not responsible, but nonetheless suffer the consequences, and thus find themselves intervening if only to protect themselves. Alternately, human action might be at fault if one of the spirits involved was pushed from its prior home by human incursion, or even intentionally relocated via some human intervention.

What are the Direct Effects of the Imbalance?

Each elemental imbalance has some number of direct effects. These are the impacts of the powers that have been disturbed and should generally be disruptions in the natural world that affect anyone who lives nearby. Examples might include:

Drought

Inexplicable sicknesses

Tectonic instability

Destructive storms

Flooding

Isolation of an area by unnatural fog

Mysterious disappearances

Unseasonable weather events

How does Society React to

these Direct Effects?

When faced with an especially acute set of problems, a society will usually react in a number of ways. Some responses might be rational or at least sympathetic, while others might be rather callous. Generally, the worse the elemental imbalance’s direct effects and the longer they go on, the more extreme the reactions of society will become. Examples might include:

Finding Someone to Blame: A ruler disconnected from their people might believe that the imbalance’s direct effects are exaggerated, or even falsified. Meanwhile, if mistreated by those who rule over them, commoners might well come to believe that the visible symptoms of an elemental imbalance (drought, pestilence, inclement weather) are the result of an unrighteous lord. A religious authority might push the idea that they are being brought on to punish some group of people who reject their dogma.

Return to Old Ways: The problem did not exist before, some people will say, and therefore the clear answer is to return to the way things were and reject new knowledge and ideas. Sometimes there is significant wisdom to be rediscovered in tradition, but tradition not tempered by perspective can be restrictive or even dangerous. And while an answer might lie in the past, looking only to the past might rule out other options that will lead to different outcomes in the long run.

Treat the Symptoms: Society might well recognize the problems and want to act upon them but fail to identify their source. Or even if people know that there is some underlying problem, they might be unable to identify or act upon it themselves. In these cases, rulers and commoners alike might well appeal to external authorities to find the larger solution while they themselves focus on the day-to-day issues that arise.

Seek Out Answers: If it is especially organized in its response, members of society might be able to begin a rigorous search for answers as to the cause of the imbalance. However, if the imbalance is to be something that the PCs help solve, there is likely some impediment to NPCs undertaking this successfully. Perhaps one group wants answers but lacks the resources to get them, or perhaps the PCs possess expertise needed to address the imbalance. If the PCs are members of the society affected by the imbalance rather than outsiders of some sort, they might need to be the ones to organize this effort.

How Do Individuals React

to Society's Response?

As society attempts to grapple with the direct effects, its efforts will disturb the lives of individuals in various ways. Some people might be on the receiving end of society's scrutiny and react defensively. Others might rebel against efforts by society to make a decision they disagree with—which might help uncover the true root of the problem or might further obscure it. Some examples of reactions individuals might have to societal responses include:

Reject Society’s Answer: Some people may decide that society has chosen the wrong solution the problem. This might be a good thing, and if those in power in society render judgment upon a particular group that is not responsible for the problem, these individuals might see this as unjust and act to intervene. On the other hand, some people might come to the conclusion that it is up to them to personally implement a solution, even if nobody else agrees with it—and their answer is unhelpful, or worse.

Resist Efforts to Deal with the Direct Effects or Root Problem: Whether the efforts are well-intentioned or not, some people will simply resist any effort to interfere with their lives (even if this interference is for the good of the community, their personal wellbeing, or both).

Leave: If an area is sufficiently affected, individuals might to decide to leave before things get even worse. If large enough groups of people start to flee the area, this might even become the societal response.

Try to Exploit the Chaos: While most people generally want their society to prosper, some people will inevitably attempt to advance their own agendas in times of hardship.

Consider that how an NPC reacts can be an excellent opportunity to reveal something about their personality to the PCs, but also that people can and often do come to the wrong conclusion despite relatively selfless or understandable intentions. The conflicts that occur between individuals and society in the face of disaster can be an excellent opportunity to create meaningful and resonant conflicts between characters who might usually agree in better times.

Presenting the Imbalance

to your PCs

Once you’ve fleshed out an imbalance, you should present it to the PCs by first showing them the most distant consequences it has. The PCs' first sign of the imbalance should be individuals' reactions to society. People complaining about new edicts, leaving town, or dealing with the societal response has disrupted their normal life. Give the PCs the chance to interact in scenes of people making choices (good and bad) in the face of difficult circumstances, and perhaps solve some small problems along the way.

As the PCs become increasingly involved in the unfolding situation, they will learn that society is reacting to the direct effects of the imbalance. This, in turn, should draw them further into the situation. They might be called upon by a ruler or influential group to help address one of the direct effects of the imbalance, and along the way become aware that the imbalance exists and is the root of some or all of the issues they are observing.

However, the actual cause of the imbalance should require even further investigation to uncover, as the people in the affected community are likely not entirely aware of the source of their problems, instead seeing only the direct impacts (or, if they are aware, they have been unable to solve it themselves—after all, they wouldn’t need the PCs if they could). If the PCs move to address the direct impacts, let them do so, and as they do, slowly unveil to them that something is causing these problems. Seemingly unrelated problems should converge, helping the PCs to come to the conclusion that the cause is some common factor.

Eventually, the PCs should be drawn to deal with the imbalance itself, which requires identifying the root cause of the imbalance and addressing it.

Table 3—1: Uncertainty and Scarcity

SEVERITY | EXAMPLES | UNCERTAINTY | SCARCITY

Minor | Unseasonable weather, little or no rain, ominous fog

Moderate | Repeated but mild earthquakes, frequent lightning storms, hail

Major | Flooding, long droughts, large earthquakes

Catastrophic | Tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, massive earthquakes, repeated tornadoes