Gorgon attacks

[DKEvermore@aol.co]

I have, in a couple past campaigns, run some scenarios in which the Gorgon
went on his usual rampage. The target: Mhoried. The purpose: merely to
"thin down the herd" a bit, and produce some nice veteran units with which he
can get some real warring done. In another case, the Gorgon simply wanted to
try the abilities of Michael Mhoried when the old Mhor died.

Here's the problem: Mhoried has no real friends on hand to help. The PCs
rallied to Mhoried's aid with help from all the guild holdings, source
holdings and temple holdings there. No go. The Gorgon'll crush them all
every time. He's got the entire war-time industrial and unit-making might of
4 nations. Three of them are quite large, and if run right, rich. And the
Gorgon knows the elven nations are not strong enough to lead an offensive
campaign-even if he's stretched out over half Anuire.

At least one of you will be thinking, "There's that elf-lover again,
protecting the elven kingdoms and using awnshegh to beat up on the poor 'ol
humans." Not really. One must remember that the Gorgon soundly beat
Tuarhievel 200 years ago, and although it cost him an army, that country no
longer has the resources for offense. Neither does the Sielwode. Elves
recover slowly, if at all. Besides, the Gorgon wants Anuire, not some useless
clumps of fairy-trees.

Elinie's tiny army is not enough to help. The elves wouldn't care (in fact
IMC, a PC playing a Tuarhievelan elf noble caused irreparable political damage
and only narrowly avoided causing a war).

Unless Ghoere lead an amazing counter attack with full backing of the church
of Cuiraecen there (still maybe a 50/50 chance), Mhoried is doomed.

What do you all do? Let the Gorgon thrash it (that's what I did)? Just hang
it over the heads of Anuirean nobles but never really run the Gorgon's
campaign? Set up an alliance and with who?

May your characters live long and bleed less often!
- -DKE

[Pieter A de Jong]

At 04:23 PM 7/14/98 -0400, DKEvermore wrote:
>I have, in a couple past campaigns, run some scenarios in which the Gorgon
>went on his usual rampage. The target: Mhoried. The purpose: merely to
>"thin down the herd" a bit, and produce some nice veteran units with which he
>can get some real warring done. In another case, the Gorgon simply wanted to
>try the abilities of Michael Mhoried when the old Mhor died.
>
>Here's the problem: Mhoried has no real friends on hand to help. The PCs
>rallied to Mhoried's aid with help from all the guild holdings, source
>holdings and temple holdings there. No go. The Gorgon'll crush them all
>every time. He's got the entire war-time industrial and unit-making might of
>4 nations. Three of them are quite large, and if run right, rich. And the
>Gorgon knows the elven nations are not strong enough to lead an offensive
>campaign-even if he's stretched out over half Anuire.
>
>At least one of you will be thinking, "There's that elf-lover again,
>protecting the elven kingdoms and using awnshegh to beat up on the poor 'ol
>humans." Not really. One must remember that the Gorgon soundly beat
>Tuarhievel 200 years ago, and although it cost him an army, that country no
>longer has the resources for offense. Neither does the Sielwode. Elves
>recover slowly, if at all. Besides, the Gorgon wants Anuire, not some useless
>clumps of fairy-trees.
>
>Elinie's tiny army is not enough to help. The elves wouldn't care (in fact
>IMC, a PC playing a Tuarhievelan elf noble caused irreparable political damage
>and only narrowly avoided causing a war).
>
>Unless Ghoere lead an amazing counter attack with full backing of the church
>of Cuiraecen there (still maybe a 50/50 chance), Mhoried is doomed.
>
>What do you all do? Let the Gorgon thrash it (that's what I did)? Just hang
>it over the heads of Anuirean nobles but never really run the Gorgon's
>campaign? Set up an alliance and with who?
>
>May your characters live long and bleed less often!
>-DKE
>
If it was my campaign, I would give the Gorgon a few more strategic worries
than simply holding off Anuire. Specifically, the Brecht realms would take
the oppotunity to strike at the Gorgon's possesions in that area, and the
Swordhawk might also take the field. So if he want's to keep those realms,
he simply can't throw everything he has at Mhoried. Also, I might see the
elves taking part.( I realize that some of those on this list find my view
of the # of elven mages controversial, but hey, this my post so tough
noogies). The elves don't particularly want their forests completely
encircled by Awnshegliens domains, they aren't very good neighbours.
Although they might not be able to put an army into the field, they could
provide considerable magical support for the Mhor's troops. A couple of
battle spells in the right place could be pretty useful, and if you go to
Realm spells, a well placed Warding spell could cause mass havoc.

Pieter A de Jong
Graduate Mechanical Engineering Student
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

[TheMotive@aol.co]

What would *I* do? This. But keep in mind, this may not seem logical or
feasible, but it's what I have done in *my* campaign (just to spite all those
traitorous elf-lovers out there). This is the entry, word for word, in one of
my RL player's journals:

"...And now it is evening. The sun is setting over the horizon, and the hordes
of human stand at the edges of the forests. Tuarhievel? Sielwode? It is as if
they have never existed."

"Now the lords, kings, princes and princesses grant the promise that pulled
the humans together: the right of every man, woman and child who has lost a
friend or relative to the ghaellie Sidhe to bring forth one torch and burn the
forests of the fae-folk."

"Hours have passed, and the flames still stretch forth into the sky, akin to
fingers flicking out to touch the heavens. The fires are so strong and so
brilliant that they turn night to early evening--I can see my comrades' faces
perfectly. Armies stand at the borders of Tuarhievel and the Sielwode,
preventing the ravenous fires from spreading to our lands."

"And now, it is morning. Finally, morning. The fires still burn, but not so
bright. Word from scouts is that the Aelvinwode lay in ruins, and the elves
that were captured are being marched out in chains. Where will they go? I do
not know. Sold as slaves, possibly, or maybe just to be hung in the streets of
the cities that they ravaged and burned for so many centuries. Ah,
laughter--laughter from the peasantry that throw stones and vegetables at the
elven prisoners, laughter from the nobility to toast to their triumph over
'the first of races'."

"But what's this? Thunder? Clouds? The rains begin to extinguish the fires,
and the thunder spooks all. As everyone begins the long ride back the safety
of their cities and huts and cottages, my friend, Prefect Claudius--a half-
elf--speaks softly to me."

"'The thunder, my friend,' He says, 'is the laughter of the Gorgon. For he is
the only one who has truly won this war.'"

And so ends an epic campaign I have been running some time now. This
conclusion occured, uh, three months ago (approximately). The characters have
all moved onto other things--the memories of the elves long gone. Now the once
proud, haughty elves are but poor merchants, slaves, mercenaries and
scavangers. Killed where found, hunting everywhere.

- - The Motive

[Jim Cooper]

DKEvermore@aol.com wrote:
> Elinie's tiny army is not enough to help. The elves wouldn't care (in fact IMC, a PC playing a Tuarhievelan elf noble caused irreparable political damage and only narrowly avoided causing a war).
> Unless Ghoere lead an amazing counter attack with full backing of the church of Cuiraecen there (still maybe a 50/50 chance), Mhoried is doomed.
> What do you all do? Let the Gorgon thrash it (that's what I did)? Just hang it over the heads of Anuirean nobles but never really run the Gorgon's campaign? Set up an alliance and with who?
> May your characters live long and bleed less often!
> -DKE

Has anyone even thought about the wizards at the College of Sorcery?
Wouldn't they be interested in what the Gorgon does in their cultural
stomping grounds?

IMHO, I should think that a large part of the reason that the Gorgon
hasn't gone farther than he has is the fact that the College of Sorcery
exists, with some very nasty spell casters. Even the Gorgon should be
hestitant when going against a cadre of powerful wizards.

Cheers,
Darren

[The Olesens]

> Incidentally, I notice that the entry for the Gorgon in the Blood Enemies book does not list him as having any wizard powers as his sheet
in the original boxed
> background doesn't really lend itself to wizardry, and there are many other awnsheghlien who have magical abilities for whom it is more
appropriate.



In _Iron Throne_ by Simon Hawke (every Birthright player should read it)
it talks of a blooded mage selling his services to the Gorgon (the mage
was the court mage of Areywn Bourine).

Conclusion: Gorgon cannot cast spells.

but...

It also says the Gorgon used a lock of the wizard's hair as a spell
component to bind the wizard to him.

Conclusion: Gorgon can cast spells but most likely only low-level.

560+ years later: wouldn't he advance in skill? I mean he is pretty
smart.


BTW-"Gorgon Attacks"-sounds like a movie

[Gary V. Foss]

> Has anyone even thought about the wizards at the College of Sorcery?
> Wouldn't they be interested in what the Gorgon does in their cultural
> stomping grounds?
>
> IMHO, I should think that a large part of the reason that the Gorgon
> hasn't gone farther than he has is the fact that the College of Sorcery
> exists, with some very nasty spell casters. Even the Gorgon should be
> hestitant when going against a cadre of powerful wizards.
>
> Cheers,
> Darren

I think this is a really good point, Darren. I've argued several times that there should be more magic in Cerilia than is often supposed. Sure, there should be much less than in other campaign worlds,
but the impression that magic is as rare as Cerilian dragons is, in my view, a mistaken one.

As to how this regards the Gorgon: It effects him drastically. While blooded mages are very rare in Cerilia, they should be just a tick or two away from non-existent in the Gorgon's realm. He has a
nasty tendency to kill blooded scions, leaving only a few comparatively innocuous ones around at best. In addition, he has a rather anti-education and learning kind of guy (at least for his people) so
there would be no structure anything like the CoS.

Incidentally, I notice that the entry for the Gorgon in the Blood Enemies book does not list him as having any wizard powers as his sheet in the original boxed set does. This makes sense to me, as his
background doesn't really lend itself to wizardry, and there are many other awnsheghlien who have magical abilities for whom it is more appropriate. It does, however, show the Gorgon's weakness. His
lack of magic makes him vulnerable. Even if you use the original boxed set version of the Big G, he would have to divide his three domain actions between ruling his realm and casting realm spells,
which means that a small band of regents could be pretty effective if they combined their attacks against him....

If you use the unwizard version of the Gorgon then he would be even more vulnerable to magic than the magely one, as he would have no magical response to realm spells or battle magic.

Lastly, I forgot who is was that mentioned that the Gorgon has the war machine of four nations to back him up, which is true, though the variable sizes of Cerilian domains makes this a rather vague
assessment. Classic military doctrine, however, points out that one needs at least a 3:1 ratio to take on an entrenched opponent, which would lead me to suspect that a typical Cerilian nation would
need to have only one real ally in order to fight him off.

In any case, such an attack would leave the Gorgon vulnerable to any rulers in the Brecht, Rjurik or Anuirean lands that could band together long enough to attack him, which is probably why such an
offensive on the Gorgon's part is unlikely. The Gorgon's central location in Cerilia means he can threaten a lot of realms, but it also means he is vulnerable to attack from all directions. He'd have
to make sure he was not vulnerable before he would launch an offensive. Nobody on Cerilia is a better warrior than the Gorgon, he would be very aware of these problems. That's why he is so cautious.

Anyway, that's my take on it.
Gary

[Simon Graindorge]

>> Has anyone even thought about the wizards at the College of Sorcery?
>> Wouldn't they be interested in what the Gorgon does in their cultural
>> stomping grounds?
>>
>> IMHO, I should think that a large part of the reason that the Gorgon
>> hasn't gone farther than he has is the fact that the College of Sorcery
>> exists, with some very nasty spell casters. Even the Gorgon should be
>> hestitant when going against a cadre of powerful wizards.
>>
>> Cheers,
>Incidentally, I notice that the entry for the Gorgon in the Blood Enemies
>book does not list him as having any wizard powers as his sheet in the
>original boxed set does.



I noticed this too, and have been wondering whether this was simply an
oversight of the editors of BE, or if this is an "updated" stat sheet for
the Gorgon. Which version does everyone else use? Which do you guys think is
more appropriate - the Gorgon with, or without, magical powers?

Simon

--------
Simon Graindorge
Tribology Laboratory
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
University of Western Australia

email: simong@mech.uwa.edu.au
phone: +(61 8) 9380 3604
fax: +(61 8) 9380 1024
--------

[Jim Cooper]

Simon Graindorge wrote:
> I noticed this too, and have been wondering whether this was simply an
> oversight of the editors of BE, or if this is an "updated" stat sheet for the Gorgon. Which version does everyone else use? Which do you guys think is more appropriate - the Gorgon with, or without, magical powers?<

Well, my initial response would be that the RoE takes precedence, since
he hold sources (and judging by his RP income, he collects from these
too). But, now that I think about this, I wonder if 'ol Rock Butt isn't
just holding the sources, just so he can deny them to any true wizard.
I think I'll have to give this one more thought

Perhaps Ed or Carrie can give us the official version? Is this another
Blood Enemies propaganda piece?

Cheers,
Darren

[Simon Graindorge]

>Simon Graindorge wrote:
>> I noticed this too, and have been wondering whether this was simply an
>> oversight of the editors of BE, or if this is an "updated" stat sheet for
>the Gorgon. Which version does everyone else use? Which do you guys think
>is more appropriate - the Gorgon with, or without, magical powers?<
>
>Well, my initial response would be that the RoE takes precedence, since
>he hold sources (and judging by his RP income, he collects from these
>too). But, now that I think about this, I wonder if 'ol Rock Butt isn't
>just holding the sources, just so he can deny them to any true wizard.

I seem to remember (correct me if I'm wrong, 'coz I don't have the rulebook
on me) that source holdings are special, in that they are the only holding
type that can NOT be held by someone of the appropriate "type" (in this
case, a blooded mage).

Simon

[James Ray]

In MY campaign, the Gorgon is kept in check by several factors...

1) Erik Danig. The Count is the leading NPC in my campaign, keeping an
eye on the Gorgon, the White Witch, and various other villains. He is
(according to HotGB) liked and respected by his neighbors, and could
probably put together a force to attack oldf stony britches in the rear.

2) Every country bordering the Gorgon should be suficiently terrified of
him to do SOMETHING if he invades one of the other guys. (Wierech, in
particular, would like a little pay-back)

3) The guy running Massenmarch (Swordhawk?) would definately find time to
attack Kiergard, if he knew old iron-butt was invading Anuire again

4) Have you run "Warlock of the Stonecrowns" yet? HE (the Warloack) would
certainly like a piece of that action, at least for a while.

5) Alies to fight the Gorgon should be EASY to find. There are two
Dwarven nations right next to him, that wouldnt want to become the next
"Mur-Kilad". He is within fighting distance of three elven kingdoms
(Luabraight, Tuarhievel, Sielwode), one of which OWES him an ass-woopin,
and....well, you get the idea. The Gorgon needs "distractions" (according
to Warlock of the Stonecrowns), so he can get enough lead time to put his
war machine far enough into motion that it intimidates his neighbors OUT of
attacking in support of his OTHER enemies. If he just tries to
nonchalantly "pick a fight", he will find his lil party has been crasghed
by NUMEROUS uninvited guests.

James

- ----------
> From: DKEvermore@aol.com

>
> I have, in a couple past campaigns, run some scenarios in which the
Gorgon went on his usual rampage.