Help on a campaign seed idea

[Varen_Tai]

As stated in another thread, I'm starting a campaign in the next couple of months, my first real P'n'P campaign in a couple of decades, and first non-P'n'P campaign since I started a couple here on this board around a decade or more ago.

The seed of my idea comes from Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, a fine piece of literature that you should all go read if you haven't yet.

In this book, you have a vampire (there are still some that disagree with this conclusion, but I'm settled on it), a lycanthrope (weredog, member of a group that calls itself the Hounds of God), a mummy, ifreet, and perhaps others that we don't hear about in the group that call themselves the Honor Guard. They are all supernatural creatures that keep an eye out for evil and work to thwart it. There's really not a lot of info on them in the book, but I *loved* the basic concept.

So I'm running a campaign in the Forgotten Realms in between the Time of Troubles and the Spellplague. I envision a series of powerful supernatural creatures, most of whom were evil to begin with and found some kind of personal redemption arc in their lives, who find each other and band together to watch out for... something. I've definitely got a vampire lord, a lycanthrope or two (maybe a whole pack of remorseful werewolves), a mummy, an ifreet, and an ancient red dragon in mind for this. Perhaps some fey from the Unseelie Court as well? I may add a few members here and there, but here's where my questions are.

We already have the Harpers and other good groups that keep an eye out for dangerous people, orgs, and menaces of all types. Guys like Elminster are watching out for arcane threats on a world/planar level. What exactly kind of threat would my Honor Guard be watching for? What are they uniquely qualified for that the other groups would miss?

My players are being set up for this without knowing it - I opened all kinds of races up for player classes, and so far, only one player has opted for a normal race (half-elf sorc). All the rest are picking more exotic choices, which will be perfect for the flavor of the campaign. The sorc has a master who is secretly a silver dragon that is connected to the now-good red dragon, so that's how he's connected to this exotic group, and I always use my player backstories to drive a large part of the campaign, but I want some help brainstorming the larger plot.

The group will not be interacting directly with the Honor Guard at first, but they will have been handpicked to handle whatever unique threat is coming up.

Anyhow, thoughts? Suggestions?