Lands of Intrigue
Featuring new areas, quests, NPCs, items, kits, creatures, spells and so on, as well as improvements & additions to existing BG2 content, Lands of Intrigue is a massive mod being developed by Andyr, Corradun & NIGHTMARE, with several other people helping out with NPCs & ideas. Trek over (or under!) the Cloudpeaks mountain range, explore an expanded Underdark, infiltrate the besieged city of Murann, battle through the ancient Shoonite capital of Monrativi Teshy Mir, encounter the Knights of the Black Gauntlet in occupied Kzelter, and more! You'll be able to recruit several new NPCs to help with such tasks, including a Shadovar scout, a Half-Ogre Barbarian, a Paladin of Milil and couple of familiar faces from BG. Other features of the mod include the ability to choose your character's subrace and deity, improved versions of several existing encounters, and random encounters in ToB.
Quest: King of Amn
LoI introduces an alternate choice to working for the Shadow Thieves or Bodhi's Guild - the Knights of the Shield. Not exactly a "good" route to go, but somewhat less morally dubious than the existing alternatives. Your contact is Phellus Tanislove who—unbeknownst to the player—is a relative high-ranking member of the Knights (though not in the Shield Councilyet), and one of the Council of Six who rule Amn. As the title of the quest suggests, he has a certain other ambition too...
NPC: Jaina (LG Female Human Cavalier of Milil)
Jaina Harpson grew up in the city of Crimmor, the "Caravan Capital" of Amn. Her parents were devout followers of Milil, and so she and her two brothers grew up steeped in the lore of the Lord of Song. During the Time of Troubles, the young family (Jaina was only five) just happened to be visiting Arbalest's House in Athkatla when their god took refuge there. Her brothers (the singer Tahrun Harpson and the poet Shyrros Harpson) have since become the joint leaders of Milil's faithful in Crimmor, but from a very early age Jaina chose a more militant path.
Jaina goes on to say that she's currently a junior member of the Harmonius Order, a knightly order of fighters, paladins and bards whose members guard temples and holy sites of Milil. They also frequently pursue quests and do good deeds in their god's name, and Jaina grins when she explains she'd much rather be out helping others than doing "boring ol' guard duty". She also briefly mentions that the Order apparently has loose ties with the Harpers, though they're not quite as involved with that group as the followers of certain other deities are.
