So how does the Gorgon spend an Afternoon?

[kgauck]

That said I'd like to have a more detailed history of the Gorgon's interaction with Anuire. When did he set up shop in the Crown? When was he first considered a major threat? Was any of his campaigns especially successful or not so successful? When did people start scaring their children by mentioning his name? What about his agent networks - when did he start using subterfuge?

Given the location of the Crown, it would have been a very nice local for Keeping tabs on most of Cerilia during the days of the Empire. What if the Crown was an Imperial region, colonized by Anuire and full of legions and resources to deploy into Rjurik, Brectur, and Khinasi when the local garrisons needed help? It could be full of infratructure of a military nature, good roads, fortresses, bridges, and barracks, but originally supplied by imperial coin, not by a local populace (though veterans would be settled there in Roman style colonies). Perhaps its when the Gorgon kills Micheal that he siezes this imperial sub-capital in anticipcation of siezing the whole empire, but is unable to do so.

[The Swordgaunt]

I'd say a bit of torture, perhaps some rape, and if the weather is particularly fine, a little public terror.

-Sorry, but the title was too good to let it slide.

[edit: On a more serious note, the Imperial muster-area described by kgauck is a really neat idea. It fits neatly with how I've portrayed the Crow in my games - with good roads and an advanced infra structure.]

[Rowan]

So for the first thousand years after Deismaar, the Gorgon would have been a wanderer, commanding armies here and there as he could array them about himself? That could be interesting.

I think the Crown is big enough, however, to allow the deeper mountains to have been the Gorgon's fortress, more of a no-mans-land than a real and constant threat during the height of the Empire. The southern provinces could have been part of this imperial muster, in addition to Markazor and Kiergaard.

That way, the Gorgon has a realm of his own, perhaps even extending into the Giantdowns or farther northwest still. But for much of the Empire, he was not powerful enough to rampage often, but rather was contained.

I think the Gorgon was one of the key schemers and factors behind the downfall of the Empire. Anuire's decline spanned several hundred years, and during that time the Gorgon grew in strength, taking more land and gathering tribes and malcontents to him--even engineering the fall of Mur-Kilad to his reign, something that probably required several hundred years of campaigns to manage.

All this could explain the Gorgon's limited lands for most of the Empire, and then a resurgence and growth to current extent. Michael Roele may even have broken much of his power with his assault, preventing the Gorgon from overrunning even a weakened and fractured Anuire.

[Green Knight]

In my campaign history I had the Gorgon wander for some time after Deismaar, before setting up shop in a remote valley deep in the Crown. He built up a kingdom of sorts and an army of course, before launching a surprise attack on Anuire during the 7th century HC. These were the Golden Years of the Anuirean Empire, so what military might the Anuireans had were either deployed away from the heartlands of the Empire or not very alert.

The assault did much damage and the Gorgon got to within sight of the City of Anuire, but once the element of surprise began to subside he didn't have much of a chance. His army was destroyed, he fled back to the Crown and was besieged. But is castle did not fall and after years of maintaining a costly siege in the mountains, a smaller watch was retained to keep an eye on him. And so the Gorgon was defeated and humiliated, but not killed.

In the years before Michael became Emperor, the Gorgon had begun to cause trouble again, raiding surrounding lands, but nothing on the scale of launching any full-fledged attacks on Anuire. He knew he had not the might...but when foolish Michael came to see HIM...he was more than mighty enough to end the line of Roele.

[Lawgiver]

In my campaign history I had the Gorgon wander for some time after Deismaar, before setting up shop in a remote valley deep in the Crown. He built up a kingdom of sorts and an army of course, before launching a surprise attack on Anuire during the 7th century HC. These were the Golden Years of the Anuirean Empire, so what military might the Anuireans had were either deployed away from the heartlands of the Empire or not very alert.

The assault did much damage and the Gorgon got to within sight of the City of Anuire, but once the element of surprise began to subside he didn't have much of a chance. His army was destroyed, he fled back to the Crown and was besieged. But is castle did not fall and after years of maintaining a costly siege in the mountains, a smaller watch was retained to keep an eye on him. And so the Gorgon was defeated and humiliated, but not killed.

In the years before Michael became Emperor, the Gorgon had begun to cause trouble again, raiding surrounding lands, but nothing on the scale of launching any full-fledged attacks on Anuire. He knew he had not the might...but when foolish Michael came to see HIM...he was more than mighty enough to end the line of Roele.

Nicely done.

[The Swordgaunt]

The two storylines could be combined to fill in all the empty pages between Deismar and the fall of Michael. I believe I'll incorporate both into my mythos this very hour.

[ThatSeanGuy]

His sinister master plan of the past century or so is nearing completion...

...soon, he will unleash his greatist horror on all of Cerilia: Cable television!

[Capricia]

His sinister master plan of the past century or so is nearing completion...

...soon, he will unleash his greatist horror on all of Cerilia: Cable television!

Pay Per View, scrying mirror broadcasts of Anuirean Gladiators? And his upcoming reality TV show, "Gorgie knows best".

[AndrewTall]

History:
I'd figure that for the first few decades after Deismaar the Gorgon was pretty much on the run - he led a rebel Anuirean army against his brothers so he was probably public enemy #1 anywhere near Anuire making fleeing necessary - and given the rapid expansion of the empire he has to run a long way which can't have boosted his ego much.

Then there is the personal aspect of the loss at Deismaar - compared to his brothers gains. His little brother Haelyn became a god, his baby brother Roele rapidly forged first a nation and then the greatest empire that Cerilia has ever known - that has to be a real confidence crusher for the elder brother whose notable claim to fame is leading one of th elosing armies at Deismaar and watching his god die. (Me, I do ok, lead a tough band of mercenaries - looting, pillaging - a man's life! Oh you wanted to talk about my brothers, yeah - everybody want to talk about them...)

Tribes of the Heartless wastes says that when Roele attacked Vosgaard that Belinik and Kreisha forced the awnsheghlien to defend the Vos - which means that awnsheghlien has formed within 40 years or so of Deismaar, and that if the Gorgon was around he probably got shanghaied by Kreisha and forced to dance at her whim. I see him as a little put out by this - possibly enough to leave Vosgaard.

In my view becoming an awnsheghlien - particularly one of the first awnsheghlien - must be a seriously disturbing experience. Raesene was certainly very arrogant (he led an army against his brothers in order to take the throne himself) and thus was probably also quite vain. He also almost certainly saw goblins and beastmen as inferior given that the Andu had been waging genocide against both to carve out their home in Cerilia. To both lose his looks and become a hideous beast-man himself probably destroyed his image amongst residual followers (he was clearly cursed by the gods) and to himself.

As a result I see him as spending the first few decades fleeing the expanding empire; then as he became an Awnsheghlien he fled to the only place left to call home - the ancestral home of all monsters, Aduria. This conveniently moves him out of the way for the first few decades/centuries of the empire. Of course when he gets over himself and grows in personal might he comes back, seizes Kal Saitharak from Raizhadik, and then plots to destroy the empire...


Nowadays I see the Gorgon's afternoon as spent:

1. Pondering the infinite / ascension to godhood / the wrongs done to him all his life
2. Plotting against his foes (Belinik, Kreisha, Haelyn, the Lost, the Dark Horseman)
3. Tending to his garden (encouraging this family or that to mix to a point that their children are worthy of bloodtheft)
4. Holding court. I wonder about his realm's stability; goblins, orogs, ogres, dark dwarves, outlaw humans - not exactly a peaceable bunch! He'd probably ignore the continuous low grade violence and corruption but without his personal attention it would probably degenerate rapidly - Kiergaard may be mayhem compared to the rest of Brechtur but it's probably one of the more stable areas of the Gorgon's realm - bested only by Mur Kilad and Kal Saitharak itself.
5. Religion. He probably also has some religious role in the temples - come worship the living god and all that.
6. Greatheart indicates that the Gorgon still as sexual lust so he may retain an ogress harem or suchlike (humans and goblins would be too fragile barring polymorph magic).
7. Hobbies. These could include could include hunting - wyverns are a little big for his wrist, eagles too small, but some other aerial predator could work, as might hounds; other traditional hobbies include tourneys - don't expect blunted lances when the Gorgon commands entertainment but imagine the glory is you beat his champion! Music (can music soothe the savage beast?) Foolery (unlike the traditional court jester I don't think that the Gorgon's fool would tease the king much), Gaming (do you play to win or to lose I wonder?) and so on - I see his court as a perverted version of the old imperial courts with the underlying system of honour being based more on might than on right.

[ThatSeanGuy]

6. Greatheart indicates that the Gorgon still as sexual lust so he may retain an ogress harem or suchlike (humans and goblins would be too fragile barring polymorph magic).

So he likes the ladies with a little meat on their bones, eh?

[AndrewTall]

So he likes the ladies with a little meat on their bones, eh?

To be honest I didn't want to think that much about it :rolleyes: but at 12' tall, probably pushing a ton in weight he's not for the faint hearted woman...

[Rowan]

I suspect he keeps himself polymorphed quite often, preferring in his vanity his original, handsome human form to better play at still being just Prince Raesene and not the monstrous Gorgon.

[geeman]

At 09:20 PM 3/30/2008, Rowan wrote:

>I suspect he keeps himself polymorphed quite often, preferring in
>his vanity his original, handsome human form to better play at still
>being just Prince Raesene and not the monstrous Gorgon.

This is one of the issues that I think was overlooked when it comes
to dealing with awn-/ehrsheghlien. Why not just morph through some
magical means back to the original form when necessary? I don`t
think standard magic should be able to do that. After all, the means
of the transformation is divine. It`s a step beyond standard magic,
so standard magic should have only a limited effect on the
`sheghlien. Even if the Gorgon were to polymorph himself into his
original human form I don`t think it would last more than a few
minutes or maybe a few hours. He might appear human for a while, but
he`d begin changing back to his monstrous form soon after the spell was cast.

Gary

[kgauck]

There are several awnies who have this power in one form or another. The one that comes to my mind right off is the White Witch, where a ring is associated with the transformation from crone to beautiful maiden. Of course the Wintering is also described as a ring of artifact status gifted by Kriesha.

The Chimaera can also revert to her original form for short periods of time, but long enough to conduct business.

Doing something similar for old Gorgie would probabaly follow the Wintering precident. This of course raises another issue of having an epic level character. (See why the Gorgon has't won yet). Such a character would be expected to have an outrageous store of goodies. Even with various methods of keeping magic items from running wild, a 36th level character (or wherever you place him) is bound to have some items that are really useful, and something like this: magical morph back to the original form when desired.

It certainly suits his vanity to do it. Crossing over to the other thread on the Gorgon being the hero, one of the side effects of the Winterwing is making the character LG, and that would also create a Prince Raesne who might be good emperor material when in his handsome form.

[Green Knight]

I'm opposed to letting awnies use "simple" magic to turn back into their former shape (besides it smells of dragons-polyed-into-human-shape...not a concept I'm too keen on). That, IMO, defeats the purpose of their curse - great power and long life - paid for with a corruption that is not only spiritual, but actually takes physical form.

Those awnies that CAN change shape do so as part of their awnie powers...that is something very different.

So if, and only if, the Gorgon does have the means to become "human" again, it should be very limited and at great cost.

[geeman]

Here`s the write up that I did for the use of conventional magics on
awn-/ehrsheghlien:

COUNTERING TRANSFORMATIONS AND DISADVANTAGES

Some disadvantages can be temporarily countered by magic. The
effects of size decrease might be altered by a Growth spell, a
character driven insane by his transformation might be the subject of
a Heal spell or the physical changes of an awnshegh/ershegh might be
altered by a polymorph spell. In such cases, the effects of such
spells are always temporary, even if the spell is normally permanent
and for the effect to take place at all the spellcaster must overcome
the power of the transformation to begin with.
In order for a conventional spell to counter the effects of a
character`s transformation the spellcaster must make an opposed roll
using his spellcaster level as a modifier. The awnshegh or ershegh
uses his levels in the awnshegh/ershegh character class as a modifier
for the opposed roll. If the result of the spellcaster`s level is
higher than that of the awnshegh/ershegh then the spell takes effect.

Even if the spell that counters a transformation or disadvantage
takes affect it remains in effect for a number of hours longer than
the caster`s spellcaster level less twice the number of disadvantages
that are being countered. For example, a Heal spell cast by a 16th
level cleric upon a character with Phobia 1, 2, 3 and 4 would remain
in effect for 16 - (2 x 4) = 8 hours. Should an awnshegh become the
subject of a polymorph spell or one that is meant to change his
physical shape the spell will remain in effect for either the spell
duration or one hour per spellcaster level less the levels of
awnshegh character class. A 12th level spellcaster can change the
shape of a 7th level awnshegh for five hours.

Gary

[Green Knight]

I like it - requires a check to do anything and is of limited duriation only.

I'd consider adding in two things:

If the awnie does soemthing that is a function of his blood abilities or bloodform, then the spell is imemdiately broken (say that the Gorgon suddenly felt a need to petrify someone...poof, he's amonster again). This would go well in hand with the angst/wrath/whatnot many awnies have, so if the inner monster is unleashed due to provocations of some sort, the outside monster reestabilshes itself.

Moreover, a costly spell component would also work well. I suppose a rich regent awnie might overcome this limitation...if it was gold only...but it should instead be something of VALUE to the awnie, something that it treasures. The concept being that if the semblance of humanity is to be restored, then a sacrifice must be made.

[ploesch]

I agree that even permanent transformation or other effects should not be permanent when dealing with awn/ers. I would make an exception for when a permanency spell is used.

I would simplify it a bit though. Besides normal saves and MR checks, I would have an initial oposed level check but with a Difficulty of 20. This would make it extremely difficult for an awn/ers to transform even themselves with simple magic.

I also like the idea that if they use any of their blood abilities the spell effect immediately ends. I think this should only apply on spells they cast on themselves, and possibly items they are using, though. You don't want to screw the PC's by havig an Awn/ers get around a successful polymorph, shrink, etc just by using a blood ability.

That's my 2 copper.

[AndrewTall]

One possible cost to discourage polymorph magic is regency points - given the interest that many awnies have in boosting bloodline score making them spend RP on an hourly - or even minute by minute basis could prove a deterrent (with a higher cost for more transformed beings) to casual transformation - particularly if it exhausted their RP and they had to burn bloodline score to stay in shape. As regards permanent polymorph spells I'd expect that the corrupting effect of the awnsheghlien bloodline would make itself felt in time regardless of the power of the spells used against it.

I'd also suggest that the transformation suppresses many of the awnie's abilities as a side effect to temprarily overpowering the bloodline transformation - as a 'mortal human' for example the Gorgon would lose much of his strength, his armour, his deathly gaze etc - not something to do lightly given the power of his enemies - or even the preponderance of ambitious underlings about him.

Illusionary beauty would seem more 'natural' for an awnie than an actual transformation, it is less helpful to those monstrously transformed obviously and vulnerable to the perceptive but more in keeping with the idea of 'corruption to the core' inherent in being an awnie.

I think that the book of magecraft made some note of the awnie transformation being pervasive and 'following over' into the new form - so if the Gorgon transformed into a bull it might still have armour-plated skin and be monstrously large for example.

[kgauck]

Keep in mind that if one makes it too difficult to alter the form of the awnie, the work-around is to just use an illusion, which effects not the form of the awnie, but the mind of the viewer. Let's assume that a scion viewer is a noble with a superior Will save, and may even possess bonuses in this regard. Transformation penalties might yet be harder for the awnie for logical reasons - though it is hard to cloud the mind of a resolute scion, it is still harder to transform the dire nature of an awnie - if it gets too hard, one logically just uses illusions to bypass this problem.

[Green Knight]

But the illusion is even less of a change that the poly, temporary though it may be. Do not at least some of the awnies long for their human FORM, as to prove to themselves and others that they are not the corrupt creatures they have becomes.

To me an awnie may TRICK others into believing n his normality with an illusion, but he does not trick himself.

[kgauck]

There are two issues at work here, one is the game related issue of what powers a certain character may have, and the role playing issue of what powers a character wants to have.

There is then the related question of what personal motivations a character has. I tend to see characters as the sum of their politics. A well developed character from my pov has a very well articulated politics, with nuance to distinguish his views from his allies or similar positions. Person information is mere ornamentation. As such, a character's political and ideological stance is often planned out well in advance, while their personality gets developed incidentally over time.

As such, whether the Gorgon longs to be human is not the kind of thing I am sometimes even aware of. An essay on whether the Gorgon is a tyrant or a despot is something I could produce with a model contrasting the two in an afternoon. I've frequently written entire speeches for NPC's, presented off-camera as handouts, to exposit their politics. Just as often I never even think about a character as a person. I've played with plenty of people who see the character as a stat block, or an assembly of skills. Until I begin to play a character (key advisors, main rivals) I generally see characters as ideological constructs, wh become fleshed out characters during play. Hjalmar Helder or Bain Earthkore as key advisors, and Olfjor Ylvarrik and Wulfram Wainier as adversarial magnates, eventually became people with quirks and hobbies, and personalities. I figure my ratio of agenda to fully realized people is about 10:1.

Thinking about what a character's self-deceptions are, their anxieties, their secret personal aspirations can only come for me after I play the character a little while. Considering that the Gorgon might want to trick himself about his abominable nature is something that would not have occurred to me.

[AndrewTall]

To me an awnie may TRICK others into believing n his normality with an illusion, but he does not trick himself.

It could however be quite fascinating for the reverse to be true - even partially so. A awnsheghlien 'king' who normally sees himself as an attractive upright knight, even with a coterie of equally deluded followers - could be interesting to play in the game if to all 'non believers' the king was seen for his true abominable nature. I can see this working with the hag - she and her charmed followers really do see her as a beautiful young woman, whilst 'minions' and other inferiors see her for what she really is - but are too afraid to tell. (Incidentally, how does a psychotic awnie who kills all children in her province/realm rule over a level 2 population? Surely they can't all be charmed?) Another possibility may be the vampire or the chimera in her elven form (have a lovely time until you accidentally remind her of what she is...)