Undertaker
01-05-1997, 01:39 AM
At 04:23 PM 1/3/97 -0600, Jonathan Picklesimer(pick@chief.csm.astate.edu)wrote:
>
>I hear what you are saying, but I think that a campaign under the
>mountains against the Orogs that live there would not greatly disturb the
>human population. There are already a few human settlements that exist
>in the western reaches of B-A. They don't mind so much as long as the
>humasn behave. The humans in the Chimeron may not like that all too
>much, but sometimes that happens. The dwarves, being relatively
>isolationisitc asit is would probably leave the humans alone, unless
>forced to do otherwise. As far as the monestaries are
>concerned, I think that they would be glad to see the dwarves come in and
>proide some legitimate law for the land. While the dwarves may overlook
>a murder or two, and possibly some banditry, they will by no means
>tolerate lawlessness.
>
No I don't think an attack from the underdark, by the Orogs, against the
Dwarves would effect the Humans. But the Dwarves may have a problem with it,
if it comes at the wrong moment. Say while they are occupied with the
Chimera. As for the pre-existing settlements, once refugees start arriving
from the war, they are liable to become overcrowded, and very unruley, and
you know Dwarves just hate that. In fact as a DM you should be sure to have
clashes between the expanding Human population, and the Dwarves, just to
make the point. The Humans living in the Chimaeron really shouldn't care at
all about what happens outside their refuge, but once events start to bring
organized bands into the range, they are sure to take action to insure that
they can remain free. Even though they are Humans, and the invaders are
Dwarves, the Humans should have better knowledge of their home turf, and use
it against them. Now getting to those Monastaries, again you have to look at
eaches reasons for being here, if they are. The temple to Nesirie, at first
its hard to see where she fits in until you really think about it. Many of
her followers are those who have, or felt, they have suffered great losses
in theirs lives. The Priests here probably give medical aid, and such, to
those seeking refuge in the Chimaeron. They would wish to protect their
flock from any who might attempt to take them back into custody, for
persecution. True that most of the Human's are true villans, and deviants,
but many may be hiding from political, or religous, persecution. The
Priests, being Neutral Good, offer their protection to the whole group, not
willing to let one innocent suffer. Prehaps they offer protection to William
Moergen(the gentleman I think you reffered to as Morgan)as well, and thus
want any military power to stay away. As for the temple of Cuiraecen, they
have good reason for not wanting the Dwarves to invade. I believe their
Monastery, in the Chimaeron, is used as a place of training for their
Paladins. This secluded place alows them to train their holy chaotic
warriors, in an enviroment that matches thier war-like approch to life. The
order that the Dwarves would bring to the area would destroy this. Forcing
the church to find another location for their temple. It seems that the law,
and order, that the Dwarves represent, is the main reason none of them want
them there. Remember that not just the Monastaries in the Chimaeron will be
hackled. Branches of their churches all over Cerilia may put on pressure to
keep the Dwarves out of the Chimaeron.
>
>While the Chimera may have contact with the orogs, I do not believe that
>she has any outright love for them. Being that there is a distinct
>possibility that the mountains of the Chimera once belonged to the
>dwarves, they might find it worth the risk. As far as the Three Brothers
>goes, the dwarves may decide to do a few things to booby trap them. A
>well placed lie or two and some other subterfuge, along with some other
>political magical help, may cause the TB to back off. Besides, the
>dwarves may just decide that an informal agreement to allow them to keep
>their sources may be worth the effort.
>
They don't need to love one another to work together. While I think it would
be better for the TB to have a connection to the Orogs, the Chimera might be
involved with them. If fact, what if a Minor Awnshegh Orog lived beneath the
Chimaeron. Prehaps he has been consolidating his power, and now looks to the
surface, to spread his reign. If he, and his army, joined with either the
TB, or the Chimera, then they would make a terrible force. The Dwarves could
have the best reasons for wanting the Chimaeron, and could probably gather
an intrest toward it among their people, but with a war happening in a
nearby kingdom, some Dwarven Noble is going to point out that there is a mad
Human Warlord barreling toward their border. Many would want to protect the
homeland, and not march off in conquest. In the defense of the TB I must
say, please don't let the Dwarves handle them casualy. These are smart guys.
They should be shrewd, and methodical. I don't believe thay would do
anything acting on info. they can't confirm, or enter any agreement that
they wern't sure somehow gave them the upper hand.
>
>Actually the refugee thing is what prompts the dwarves to action, or at
>lest it is supposed to. They definitely do not want a couple thousand
>humans hanging out at their door step. Jaison Raesnech is planning a
>major land grab. He is, with the help of his wizard and an artifact-like
>magical item, going to basically push Morgan, the exiled leader or
>Osoerde out of the swamps and into Coeryanis, then chase him through the
>northern proince of Coeryanis in the name of "pursuing the outlaw
>Morgan." Of course, once he has managed to chase of the citizens of
>Coeryanis as well as Morgan's men, he will have little to no reason to
>give back the land. He has already been working on decapitating the
>government of Coeryanis by importing a few (hundred) hydrakin from the
>Hydra's domain to effectively cut off the city from the rest of the
>country.
>
If you make sure the Dwarves notice the Humans, I'm sure it will prompt them
to action. But I think your PCs might want to help out the army of
Coeryanis. To drive Raesnech back across the border. This is a noble action.
It could earn them brownie points with Coeryanis, and if they retrieve the
item, possibly even the Elves. All good things. Of course many Dwarven
Nobels will want to remain neutral, and not get involved. If the PCs manage
to get them to join the fight that will leave their homeland with poor
defenses. This would be another good time for the TB, or the Chimera,
possible backed by Orogs, to attack B-A.
>
>The artifact is elven in derivation and was made, and lost, many
>centuries ago. This powerful artifact effectively halves the cost of any
>realm spells (or some unreally powerful thing as that). With this artifact,
>Jaison plans to overrun Coeryanis. Of
>course, the elves in the Seilwode are not very happy to see an artifact
>from their country in human hands, so they have an intrest in what is
>going on.
>
How about a sword that doubles the defense value of all the units he
controls(or lowers their A.C. by 3 places, whichever is appropriate). The
sword allows his men to blend into their surroudings, like a sort of super
Cloak of Elvenkind.
>
>Now this "Duke" to whom you refer, is that Jaison or Morgan? If you are
>refering to Jaison, then things will get really scary really fast. If
>they are allied with Morgan, that may make things go easier in the future.
>
The TB are nasty fellows at heart, so I certainly would think they had to
side with Jaison. Besides who wants to make things easier. Lastly I would
like to point out that the entire Rumors, Secrets, and Plots
section(pg.28-32), in the B-A PS has some good possible story threads. They
just don't give much of any possible political, or really long term,
ramifications for persuing them. If you want to use any of them, as a DM you
have to look at it from all sides, and have all the nations react in what
they should see as their best interest. BTW, I can now see why you were so
intrested in Kiergard.
Undertaker, richt@metrolink.net
RL Homepage: http://www.metrolink.net/~veleda/sepulcher.html
>
>I hear what you are saying, but I think that a campaign under the
>mountains against the Orogs that live there would not greatly disturb the
>human population. There are already a few human settlements that exist
>in the western reaches of B-A. They don't mind so much as long as the
>humasn behave. The humans in the Chimeron may not like that all too
>much, but sometimes that happens. The dwarves, being relatively
>isolationisitc asit is would probably leave the humans alone, unless
>forced to do otherwise. As far as the monestaries are
>concerned, I think that they would be glad to see the dwarves come in and
>proide some legitimate law for the land. While the dwarves may overlook
>a murder or two, and possibly some banditry, they will by no means
>tolerate lawlessness.
>
No I don't think an attack from the underdark, by the Orogs, against the
Dwarves would effect the Humans. But the Dwarves may have a problem with it,
if it comes at the wrong moment. Say while they are occupied with the
Chimera. As for the pre-existing settlements, once refugees start arriving
from the war, they are liable to become overcrowded, and very unruley, and
you know Dwarves just hate that. In fact as a DM you should be sure to have
clashes between the expanding Human population, and the Dwarves, just to
make the point. The Humans living in the Chimaeron really shouldn't care at
all about what happens outside their refuge, but once events start to bring
organized bands into the range, they are sure to take action to insure that
they can remain free. Even though they are Humans, and the invaders are
Dwarves, the Humans should have better knowledge of their home turf, and use
it against them. Now getting to those Monastaries, again you have to look at
eaches reasons for being here, if they are. The temple to Nesirie, at first
its hard to see where she fits in until you really think about it. Many of
her followers are those who have, or felt, they have suffered great losses
in theirs lives. The Priests here probably give medical aid, and such, to
those seeking refuge in the Chimaeron. They would wish to protect their
flock from any who might attempt to take them back into custody, for
persecution. True that most of the Human's are true villans, and deviants,
but many may be hiding from political, or religous, persecution. The
Priests, being Neutral Good, offer their protection to the whole group, not
willing to let one innocent suffer. Prehaps they offer protection to William
Moergen(the gentleman I think you reffered to as Morgan)as well, and thus
want any military power to stay away. As for the temple of Cuiraecen, they
have good reason for not wanting the Dwarves to invade. I believe their
Monastery, in the Chimaeron, is used as a place of training for their
Paladins. This secluded place alows them to train their holy chaotic
warriors, in an enviroment that matches thier war-like approch to life. The
order that the Dwarves would bring to the area would destroy this. Forcing
the church to find another location for their temple. It seems that the law,
and order, that the Dwarves represent, is the main reason none of them want
them there. Remember that not just the Monastaries in the Chimaeron will be
hackled. Branches of their churches all over Cerilia may put on pressure to
keep the Dwarves out of the Chimaeron.
>
>While the Chimera may have contact with the orogs, I do not believe that
>she has any outright love for them. Being that there is a distinct
>possibility that the mountains of the Chimera once belonged to the
>dwarves, they might find it worth the risk. As far as the Three Brothers
>goes, the dwarves may decide to do a few things to booby trap them. A
>well placed lie or two and some other subterfuge, along with some other
>political magical help, may cause the TB to back off. Besides, the
>dwarves may just decide that an informal agreement to allow them to keep
>their sources may be worth the effort.
>
They don't need to love one another to work together. While I think it would
be better for the TB to have a connection to the Orogs, the Chimera might be
involved with them. If fact, what if a Minor Awnshegh Orog lived beneath the
Chimaeron. Prehaps he has been consolidating his power, and now looks to the
surface, to spread his reign. If he, and his army, joined with either the
TB, or the Chimera, then they would make a terrible force. The Dwarves could
have the best reasons for wanting the Chimaeron, and could probably gather
an intrest toward it among their people, but with a war happening in a
nearby kingdom, some Dwarven Noble is going to point out that there is a mad
Human Warlord barreling toward their border. Many would want to protect the
homeland, and not march off in conquest. In the defense of the TB I must
say, please don't let the Dwarves handle them casualy. These are smart guys.
They should be shrewd, and methodical. I don't believe thay would do
anything acting on info. they can't confirm, or enter any agreement that
they wern't sure somehow gave them the upper hand.
>
>Actually the refugee thing is what prompts the dwarves to action, or at
>lest it is supposed to. They definitely do not want a couple thousand
>humans hanging out at their door step. Jaison Raesnech is planning a
>major land grab. He is, with the help of his wizard and an artifact-like
>magical item, going to basically push Morgan, the exiled leader or
>Osoerde out of the swamps and into Coeryanis, then chase him through the
>northern proince of Coeryanis in the name of "pursuing the outlaw
>Morgan." Of course, once he has managed to chase of the citizens of
>Coeryanis as well as Morgan's men, he will have little to no reason to
>give back the land. He has already been working on decapitating the
>government of Coeryanis by importing a few (hundred) hydrakin from the
>Hydra's domain to effectively cut off the city from the rest of the
>country.
>
If you make sure the Dwarves notice the Humans, I'm sure it will prompt them
to action. But I think your PCs might want to help out the army of
Coeryanis. To drive Raesnech back across the border. This is a noble action.
It could earn them brownie points with Coeryanis, and if they retrieve the
item, possibly even the Elves. All good things. Of course many Dwarven
Nobels will want to remain neutral, and not get involved. If the PCs manage
to get them to join the fight that will leave their homeland with poor
defenses. This would be another good time for the TB, or the Chimera,
possible backed by Orogs, to attack B-A.
>
>The artifact is elven in derivation and was made, and lost, many
>centuries ago. This powerful artifact effectively halves the cost of any
>realm spells (or some unreally powerful thing as that). With this artifact,
>Jaison plans to overrun Coeryanis. Of
>course, the elves in the Seilwode are not very happy to see an artifact
>from their country in human hands, so they have an intrest in what is
>going on.
>
How about a sword that doubles the defense value of all the units he
controls(or lowers their A.C. by 3 places, whichever is appropriate). The
sword allows his men to blend into their surroudings, like a sort of super
Cloak of Elvenkind.
>
>Now this "Duke" to whom you refer, is that Jaison or Morgan? If you are
>refering to Jaison, then things will get really scary really fast. If
>they are allied with Morgan, that may make things go easier in the future.
>
The TB are nasty fellows at heart, so I certainly would think they had to
side with Jaison. Besides who wants to make things easier. Lastly I would
like to point out that the entire Rumors, Secrets, and Plots
section(pg.28-32), in the B-A PS has some good possible story threads. They
just don't give much of any possible political, or really long term,
ramifications for persuing them. If you want to use any of them, as a DM you
have to look at it from all sides, and have all the nations react in what
they should see as their best interest. BTW, I can now see why you were so
intrested in Kiergard.
Undertaker, richt@metrolink.net
RL Homepage: http://www.metrolink.net/~veleda/sepulcher.html