We, who seek to coexist peacefully and lawfully, and who through no fault of our own, but through birth, circumstance or affliction, are branded monster, must take it upon ourselves to improve our lot in this life, for there are none who would give us aid or succor in our times of need but we brothers in exile. -Opening line of Zortago’s Manifesto

The Brothers in Exile are a group of “monsters” which seek to live peacefully. The brothers include lycanthropes, intelligent undead, intelligent beasts, and others whose mere appearance is enough to get “normal” people up in arms.

They were founded by a minotaur named Zortago. Zortago actually had a home, once. He’d been secretly sleeping in a barn to wait out a terrible storm, when he heard people shouting for a lost child. Zortago snuck out to search for the boy, and found him at the same time as the townspeople; the boy was pinned under a tree in a small depression which was rapidly filling with water. He lifted the tree, allowing the boy to slip free just in time to avoid drowning, and he was allowed to stay in the town ever since.

Things were okay for a while, but peoples’ memories can be short, and soon some of them grew to distrust him. Eventually, the family which had put him up found themselves at odds with the other townspeople, and though the boy and his parents implored Zortago to stay, he left so that they could find peace.

Through his travels, Zortago eventually met a wereboar named Lysander, who’d been thrown out of his village after contracting his condition, and a ghoul called Jhourgmand who took pains to only eat the carrion left behind by the kills of other creatures.

Today, the Brothers in Exile operate three monasteries. Zortago and Lysander each head one, and the third is headed by a vampire named Kelstas. Zortago’s monastery is located in a valley and provides aid to several nearby villages. Lysander’s is located near the summit of a mountain, far from any civilization. Kelstas’s is located in a forest replete with wildlife and caters to those with special dietary requirements, like Jhourgmand and Kelstas himself.

Encounters with The Brothers in Exile

The PCs’ benefactor tells them of a haven of evil not far, where horrendous creatures congregate and terrorize the hillside, lead by a ferocious minotaur.

A PC’s loved one is dying of a disease which can only be cured by a mummy, and he learns there may be one at Lysander’s monastery.