Blogwagon: A Rankin/Bass Themed Hex

Blame Prismatic Wasteland, who announced a holiday-themed hexcrawl, based on the Rankin/Bass films and specials. Each hex has an association with those beloved childhood films. 

I'll never get invited to one of these holiday parties again...

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Going Over the Top, with Peter Cottontail.

First there was Ēostre, worshiped all the generations ago. She brought spring and growth, the explosive joy and promise of a new season past the dark of winter. Among those who worshiped her and beseeched her blessings were the rabbit-folk. Both fervent and fecund, the numerous rabbit-folk were devout followers, poring over her holy books and keeping her days holy. Unfortunately, as with so many religious movements, schisms ripped the followers into two parties, now belligerents in a holy war fighting over dogma, land, and sacred relic eggs.

Each believe they are the chosen of the goddess, those in the right.

What started as meeting-hall debates and fists pounding on holy text, devolved into skirmishes and back-and-forth heists. Now, it has sunk into a war of attrition – the Cottontails on one side, the Irontails on the other.

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What were once green swales and glens have been churned by years of warfare into a muddy, pockmarked and scarred land. Both sides have burrowed and entrenched, with the war now a cycle of mass charges, exchanges of explosive magics, and grim sappers.

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Leaders:

Brother Peter Cottontail: Rabbit-folk Paladin and leader. He rose into prominence among his folk after the death of the movement's original military leader, Colonel Wellington B. Bunny. Originally a dilettante among the group, the Brother has been hardened and focused by the whetstone of battle.

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General January Q. Irontail: Rabbit-folk Warlock. Always a cynical follower of Ēostre, Irontail found the opportunity of schism too great to pass up in the pursuit of power and influence. In spite of recent setbacks, Irontail has marshaled his forces, as well as developed magical technologies to keep the Cottontails at bay.

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Relics:

Between the two parties, there are Four Sacred Eggs:

• Spring – Renewal and resurgence
• Summer – Warmth and spreading growth
• Fall – Abundance and preservation
• Winter – Secreted gifts among the dark days

Each side has two random eggs. Among the back and forth of battle and clandestine actions, the eggs periodically change hands, no one seeming to be able to collect them all, thus proving their ultimate worthiness in the goddess' eyes. However, as with many crusades and religious wars, the goddess' eyes turned away from this mortal struggle long ago.

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Points of Interest:

Cottontail Burrows: Dug into the backside of the April Valley foothills, protected from the barrages by massive, native earth. Cottontail sappers and stormtroopers sally out, both under the ground and through the labyrinthine earthworks protecting their holdings.

Irontail Tower: General Irontail's redoubt, built of stone along the rocky foothills beyond his defensive lines. Red glows mark its summit, and sparks fly from its base as the battle-forges create new engines of war.

Ēostre's Folly: What remains of a cathedral to the goddess overlooks the conflict from beyond the Cottontail defenses. Although the landmark was spared by both sides during the initial stages of the conflict, an errant incendiary-waft struck the temple, causing a conflagration that left only is bell tower. The tower remains, garlanded in dead flowers and protected by one of the precious spell-mutes.

The Breach: A massive crater blown near the left flank of the Irontail earthworks. Although intended to collapse the defenses and allow a Cottontail push, Irontails were able to regroup in the high ground beyond and stage a defense. Now a no-hare's-land, as the inundated crater swarms with disembodied undead, raised by one of Ēostre's revivionist cousin-gods.

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Rumors ripple among the ranks on both sides that more rabbit-kin come to bolster those on both sides of the no-hare's-land, with whispers of faraway holdings with names as Efrafa, and The Watership...

of course I had to use this for inspiration, as well as this...