Forest of Fiends: The Old Gods & Their Weirdings

[Here's another bit of setting lore for my Forest of Fiends campaign, with actual effects on play.]

Before the hex-priests bound the empire to the Maralith Queens, the land of Pra-Kryush had its own pantheon of local deities.  With the rise of the Queens their worship was suppressed, the priests broken or sacrificed, and the temples demolished.  Today, little remains of their faith and even the oldest amongst the tiefling elders remembers naught but odd references.  Nevertheless, the Old Gods are not dead.  Without mortal worshippers to sustain them they are so faded now as to be little more than wandering wisps.  Most are like dotards with fading memories of their former glory, some even forgetting their own names.  Some still cling to an abandoned shrine, idol, stele, cenote, or other lonely site in the jungle.  In that locale, referred to as a shrine manse,  they have some small power left.

Outside of these shrine manses, there are still many remnants about, such as building stones scavenged from their razed temples with some carvings left undefiled.  Here and there are troves of holy items stashed by faithful priests to keep them from destruction by the minions of the Queens.  A few of the greatest and oldest temples were so steeped in holiness that no corrupted being could enter, and so they were sealed by the demon-minions and forsaken.

The names of the Old Gods are long-forgotten, even to the gods themselves, for they have gone senile.  A person contacting one will experience strange visions appropriate to the deity's domains.  If the person tries to resist the visions, they must make a WILL save (DC 25) against each of the deity's three domains.  If they embrace the visions, or fail a WILL save against any, they will gain a "Weirding" (containing a boon and a curse) for each.

When each manse is contacted, the GM will secretly make three random rolls on the domain list for the forgotten deity's three domains.  The player of an affected character will then roll 1d6 (1-2/3-4/5-6) to see which of the three affects them.  The GM will note which weirding the character gains and reveal the effects when appropriate.

There are twelve domains on the list.  To keep things fun for the players, I'll just reveal one domain "weirding" as an example:

Domain: Animal
Wierding: you can speak with wild animals (boon); but domesticated animals panic near you (curse)

Forest of Fiends: The Homesteaders

As I continue hammering out ideas for my Forest of Fiends campaign, I'm getting to areas which I don't want the players to see or it will totally spoil the surprise.  One area which will be public knowledge (mostly) is that of the "homesteaders".  After the peoples of the Holy Realms overthrew the demonic empire of Pra-Kryush and drove their orc and drow allies back into the wilderness and the Everdark, there were a lot of undesirables left behind.  Many were executed, with or without a proper trial, but significant numbers remain.  These undesirables included half-orcs, half-drow, suspected heretics, sorcerers, shapechangers, and so on.

As the victors began to relax after cleansing their homelands, the priests of Lawgiver Tyr ruled that these undesireables could not be held culpable for the sins of the empire and brought an end to the executions.  However, they were still not considered entirely trustworthy.  It was clear they carried some measure of taint from the dark times.  Some of the undesirables took advantage of the lull in the violence to flee to wild and desolate places or risk living in disguise.  The rest were put under some form of supervision, such as apprentices to guilds or lay brothers in monasteries.  As long as they remained well-behaved, devout, and submitted to their new place they were tolerated.

When the continental homeland of Pra-Kryush was officially re-opened for the crusade, most of the rulers of the Holy Realms saw an opportunity to be rid of all manner of persons.  At first there were open calls for volunteers to fight, build, explore, and colonize in the new lands.  But soon roundups of the undesirables began.  Half-orcs, half-drow (half-elves), kitsune, gnomes, sorcerors, convicts, vagabonds, and beggars were given the "opportunity" to become homesteaders across the seas.  Those with money and possessions were allowed make reasonable preparations.  The penniless ones, who were the majority by far, were supplied with a few basic items and handful of coin out of charity.

So as far as the campaign is concerned, there will be affects both on the overall setting and on character creation.  Any characters of the half-orc, half-elf, or gnome race or of the sorceror class (I'm working on the assumption we'll be using the Pathfinder core classes only) must begin either as a "homesteader" or with their secret disguised.  Also, all homesteader characters start with the only the minimum starting money for their class.