Rhuobhe is dead - what now?

[Delazar]

In my campaign, the party has killed Rhuobhe. Let's not dwell on the how or why, what matters is, what happens now?

Rhuobhe's bloodline is gone (returned to the Shadow to feed an unknown entity, thanks to a mac-guffin), so there's no heir.

His armies are still intact number-wise (it was an assassination), but of course they lack their main leader.

I don't want to just substitute him with another awnshegh, or another elf. I'd like for something meaningful to happen. But I'm having trouble thinking, what will the remaining elves do? I was under the impression that they were able to survive between Boeruine, Taeghas, and Tuornen thanks to the realm magic of the Elf, but now this is gone. So, what can happen?

Right now, all I have in mind is:

A) they come out of their realm on a revenge streak, eventually getting killed to the last (very dramatic)
B) they plead with the humans to "let them go" and seek passage to a nearby elven kingdom (Sielwode or Tuarhievel?)
C) they stay put, and hope the Anuireans never come for them to finish the job (the Anuireans WILL come for them, party is already plotting it)

any suggestions?

[Witness3]

Ok, I love birthright brainstorms! I will put my randomly ordered thoughts here.

We have to talk about succession. You said Rhuobe was assassinated. If the killer managed to kill him, there could be a chance, albeit small, of bloodtheft. So the killer may be a new answegh. But maybe it's gone mad, so it just destroys everything, and the realm is left in chaos and anarchy. Maybe a civil war, maybe a "you kill the monster you get the crown" storyline, just like the old epics.
Elves, however, do not greatly care about succession - See the Secrets of Thurhaviel for better info. The seat may remain vacant. What about his source holdings? Will no elf inherit them?
Maybe a civil war will erupt - the once united army may be split into factions, fighting to claim the power of their former leader. A good chance to exploit in pure divide et impera style (latin for divide and conquer). I'd say that if the players do not exploit this, by the end of the turn a wizard will cast "ward" on the province and secure it for foreign attacks until internal order has been restored.

Of course, you can always play "the land card": someone is chosen by the land to become the new defender of the province. Maybe the bloodline goes to a non elf - and that's where hilarity ensues!

Now let's talk foreign politics. I always saw Rhuobe as the only thing preventing Boeruine and Avanil from the next war. Their court wizards will surely have a great desire to plunder that sweet level 7 source (was it 7?) - imagine the realm spells! And with no elven threat to consider, the prince and the archduke may route military assets towards mutual destruction. That province may easily be the next big battlefield, and the resident elves' response on this will be of most importance.

A) they come out of their realm on a revenge streak, eventually getting killed to the last (very dramatic)

Maybe Rhuobe becomes a martyr. THE elf is gone,the one who stood for 3000 years against humanity's greed. And he's gone bad, not in a blaze of glory, but in a shameful terrorist act. This could cause great alarm in the elven kingdoms, and maybe this will unite the sielwode with thurhaviel in reclaiming and securing the lake.

Another possibility is that an exemplary retaliation will be in order. Maybe the court will try to find who was the real killer, or they just target a random high profile, or even a province, if they manage to get a wizard. A high profile murder, a desecration of a holy place or relic, good old princess Aubre Avan being kidnapped (already played Sword and crown?), and maybe they will have know that it was the elves or they'll try to put everyone against everyone.

B) they plead with the humans to "let them go" and seek passage to a nearby elven kingdom (Sielwode or Tuarhievel?)

I can't imagine elves who fought humanity for 3000+ years begging a plead. But maybe they split into smaller tribes, and act as the "nomad tribes" from the RH, causing all sort of weird random events in the nearby provinces.

C) they stay put, and hope the Anuireans never come for them to finish the job (the Anuireans WILL come for them, party is already plotting it)

Stay put may be "preparing", since Rhuobe was the most "military" realm. I'd say, find a wizard, Focus on Ward and Subversion spells, as to gain time for their scouts to reach Turhaviel/Sielwode and ask for help.

Bottom line, In my view Rhuobe's elves are soldiers first , elves then. They would think military, but they wouldn't give an unique, massive response as elves are too chaotic for that type of plans. Just my opinion of course.

[Fizz]

Interesting scenario...

My thoughts... all of the above.

Certainly there will be diehard followers of Rhuobhe. They will want to continue his mission, and perhaps a new leader emerges.

But elves are also notoriously fickle. Some small groups may lash out trying to kill as many humans as possible. Others may fall into deep depression and think this is the end of their world. Others may pack up for safer pastures (other elven domains).

I don't see many asking for mercy or a truce though. The hatred of humans (or anything non-elven) is thoroughly entrenched in that domain, and combined with the elven superiority complex, i don't see a traditional surrender as likely at all.

Meanwhile, the human domains that border Rhuobhe may see this an opportunity- the elves are leaderless, so why not attack and finish the elves off for good? There might even be a rush to attack, to beat the other bordering states and claim the land before others can. This might in turn unite the elves (a new leader perhaps), and restore the status quo, but under a less powerful leader, presumably.

So i think you've got a great opportunity for some significant chaos all around. Sounds fun!

-Fizz

[Delazar]

We have to talk about succession. You said Rhuobe was assassinated. If the killer managed to kill him, there could be a chance, albeit small, of bloodtheft. So the killer may be a new answegh.

His bloodline is returned to the Shadow to feed some mysterious entity, thanks to a mcguffin.

Elves, however, do not greatly care about succession - See the Secrets of Thurhaviel for better info. The seat may remain vacant. What about his source holdings? Will no elf inherit them?

Not sure if Spiritrender (the half-fiend son on Rhuobhe) was an heir, but the PCs killed him too. Would there be more blooded scions in the province? I was going more with something like "there's no one to inherit this place, so what will the elves do?"

Now let's talk foreign politics. I always saw Rhuobe as the only thing preventing Boeruine and Avanil from the next war.

Very valid point! In our campaign, Anuire is a unified empire, under a tyrannical theocracy following an impostor god that pretends to be Haelyn. So Avanil and Boeruin are actually "allies". Tuornen & Alamie (the PCs) are still faithful to the true Haelyn, and they're rising in rebellion against the empire. So yes, war is coming, Rhuobhe was just something they had to take care of because he kidnapped one of the PCs' nephews to blackmail them. (ok, this may be getting complicated, the more I explain it...)

Their court wizards will surely have a great desire to plunder that sweet level 7 source (was it 7?) - imagine the realm spells! And with no elven threat to consider, the prince and the archduke may route military assets towards mutual destruction. That province may easily be the next big battlefield, and the resident elves' response on this will be of most importance.

Now this is interesting. PCs are about to invade Boeruine, but I didn't consider they would go through Rhuobhe. Also because I seem to understand that province is basically impassable, except through the secret way described in Sword&Crown? Would that be feasible for an army?

Maybe Rhuobe becomes a martyr. THE elf is gone,the one who stood for 3000 years against humanity's greed. And he's gone bad, not in a blaze of glory, but in a shameful terrorist act. This could cause great alarm in the elven kingdoms, and maybe this will unite the sielwode with thurhaviel in reclaiming and securing the lake.

Elves already have it hard in this empire, since there's an ongoing 20-years crusade against all things fey and magic, so this could indeed be the event that gets them to ally with the PCs to overthrow the empire, interesting.

I can't imagine elves who fought humanity for 3000+ years begging a plead. But maybe they split into smaller tribes, and act as the "nomad tribes" from the RH, causing all sort of weird random events in the nearby provinces.

yeah, I'll scratch that ^^

[Delazar]

Interesting scenario...

My thoughts... all of the above.

*snip*

So i think you've got a great opportunity for some significant chaos all around. Sounds fun!

-Fizz

Yes, a lot to consider! I love DMing Birthright campaigns, but sometimes the sheer amount of possibilities in a political game kinda overwhelms me...

Like, I want to try and do ALL OF THE ABOVE, but at the same time I want to keep the story going and focus on having big stuff happen!

[Sorontar]

Perfect moment to introduce the Seelie and Unseelie court. If Rhuobhe was an elf, who was his Seelie equivalent? Perhaps the next regent will in fact come from the Shadow World.

Sorontar

[Fizz]

Perfect moment to introduce the Seelie and Unseelie court. If Rhuobhe was an elf, who was his Seelie equivalent? Perhaps the next regent will in fact come from the Shadow World.
Sorontar

Ooo... evil thought... I like it. Perhaps Rhuobhe's successor is even more dangerous, with motivations far more mysterious and complex than Rhuobhe's.

-Fizz

[Delazar]

Perfect moment to introduce the Seelie and Unseelie court. If Rhuobhe was an elf, who was his Seelie equivalent? Perhaps the next regent will in fact come from the Shadow World.

Sorontar

I'm working toward a similar idea... basically there's an "entity" in the Shadow World that is the patron of our Undying Warlock, and they're guiding her to kill off the "original" awnsheghlien using a specific dagger that it's syphoning their bloodline to them.

When this is done, the entity will return to the world...

[Sorontar]

using a specific dagger that it's syphoning their bloodline to them.
When this is done, the entity will return to the world...

Let me guess, the party will have to get hold of the dagger, get someone powerful who can do some voodoo magic on it, then stab the baddy or some in a difficult location (possibly SW or where Azrai was killed) to reverse all the bloodtheft performed using the dagger and return the blood to the earth. Of course, that won't actually be what happens...

Regardless of what you choose, it has many interesting possibilities. In Doyle's Team D campaign, we had a similar story. The Vos warrior, Teodor Profiev, had been killing off the awnsheghlien. It wasn't till the end that we found he was doing to give power to the Cold Rider. He challenged the Gorgon, and lost. The Gorgon had invaded Anuire (and won due to political manipulation) but was killed by an ally of one of the party members, thanks to a magical dagger. The campaign then ended, after many years.

Sorontar

[JanessaVR]

In my campaign, the party has killed Rhuobhe. Let's not dwell on the how or why, what matters is, what happens now?

...

C) they stay put, and hope the Anuireans never come for them to finish the job (the Anuireans WILL come for them, party is already plotting it)

I'd say that Option C is the mostly likely. They're militant elves who will think of defending their homeland first. But now that their big, bad protector is gone and the land is unruled by a blooded regent, the Anuireans *will* come in and finish the job. I'd proceed forward from that outcome.