One of the lesser-known mages during the Storm Wars was actually an arch-mage of considerable power. He kept a tampered terrasque in suspended animation behind a great door, locked within the vaults beneath his castle. The castle itself is long-since gone, but the enormous laboratory itself, and the great doors that bind the terrasque, are still there. The great key that would open the terrasque, and free it from its confinement, is running about the land. Worse, many believe it to be a key to treasure beyond imagination -- instead of the more literal 'power beyond constraint' used in the olde tongues.

Tampered creatures: beasts changed by a mage's will or a cleric's prayers. Modifications can be minor, but are DM's will, and can deffinately surprise the players.

At Lok Magius, the location of one of the last, great wizard keeps is discovered in an ancient tome of magic. Artifacts and concepts hidden from the Inquisition's hands may be there, as well as hints to the history of the mages.

A color-blind mage turned his weakness, into a strength; the pathways of his tiled tower were color-coded such that only he could see past the obvious visuals and make sense of the patterns laid into the tiles.

With weather-patterns bound by ancient magics, some of the energies of the patterns are vented through illusory storms. Storms made of illusions, rarely seen, rarely encountered, but illusory in ways that would drive men mad -- storms of illusions, illusory storms, and all within such a storm something to make a man question his sanity.

A sword sheathed in blood; hard to draw, but once done, eager for more. A cursed sword, barely controlled and barely contained, requiring Willpower saves of considerable DC in order to overcome it's wrath -- but the normal, magical abilities of the sword are considerable -- almost worth the price.

A binding curse between a PC, and an NPC, possibly between two enemies. Whatever happens to one, happens to the other, until the curse is removed. This could be an excellent plot line between antogonist and protagonist.

An object with an antimagic shell much like Carl Liss's amulet; wherever the amulet goes, all magical items within 15ft are powerless, spells are useless, and prayers are unanswered.

A repressive theme in one module: a place where the architecture is designed to depress, show man's impotence, and impose the will of despair upon its viewers. The longer players remain within the place, the more penalties to all Willpower saves they take.

A barbarian people who refuse to learn to read or write, and who believe that such skills are abhorrent, unnatural, and evil... Mages will not be tolerated among them, nor will priests, nor any who would make images.

A paladin's armor, to be granted at a certain level, as a mark of the church's faith in him, and an investment in his abilities; levelling armor, perhaps awarded to the ranks of Protector. (A paladin's sword -- the same?)

Necromancers would be needed as advisors against the undead.

Unique mounts or horses, awarded as either background gifts or DM gifts.

Long ago, a horrible evil was discovered -- a blood-soaked torture chamber dedicated to Nabrol. Rather than clean the awful room and sanitize it, the owners chose to have it walled off and forgotten. The shattered remains of a Nabrolian relic or statue still lies on the floor, and the hundreds of grudges left within the room have infused the house itself, begging for release, and killing all who dwell within it in anger and jealousy.

Historical Note: when the first god was killed by the Godslayer sword, the gods were in such shock that they did not grant spells for a century, as dealt with the concept of death.

Need to customize the different faiths, and emphasize some of their uniqueness.

National Note: several nations' hereditary rulers have celestial blood in their veins, lending credit to their 'divine right'.

The next time a anyone casts Time Stop, or a similar temperal-altering spell, they may find themselves not alone. There are those there, in between times, that are there as penance to the God of Death. They may only be seen as hints, at first, but they are there. They can also be dangerous, in between worlds and times.

The desert elves tell a tale of a hidden city that was founded by Galanus himself, deep in the Choranil, when the God of Death gave up his mantle of death to hide. He gathered about himself many of the desert elven priests and soldiers that survived into the Storm Wars, and followed him into exile. Rumors say that they await a time to be called forth to defend all the desert elves.

Prestige class with Mother Confessor-like powers (Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth) series...

Geographical Note: Portions of the Choranil desert are littered with the bones of ograns and the husks of the srik.

The conjurers of the Age of Magic, from before the Storm Wars, are a reason the Inquisition hates magic. The conjurers brought forth, created, and transformed strange beasts -- many of which are still trapped within remote locations.