Here's a topic to throw out to everyone:

Why hasn't the Gorgon conquered Anuire yet? What's stopping him?

Here's a few ideas that I've played with.

The Gorgon's armies are mighty, but are rarely capable of matching the combined might of even a third of Anuire's strength. IF we're only comparing the armies themselves, and assuming that the Gorgon doesn't personally lead his forces.

However, it's when the Gorgon steps in personally that balance is thrown out the window. In 2e he was bad...in the BRCS writeup, he's even worse. If we get real and give him a few epic feats and perhaps an epic item or two (which is reasonable, given his level, but not necessary; if he can't make 'em, maybe nobody can, so it's OK if no epic items).

Now, imagine a battlefield between the Gorgon's armies and the collective resistance: say, Mhoried, Elinie, Coeranys, and maybe some other allies (perhaps even elves of the Sielwode or Tuarheviel, or dwarves of Baruk-Azhik). Let's say the Anuireans, etc. even outnumber and outmatch the Gorgon's forces - not inconcievable if they're properly geared up for a big war, and throwing everything they've got to repulse the Gorgon.

Now, if the Gorgon's dwarven general is leading his armies, I bet the Mhor could outmatch him any day as a strategist. So could Aeric Boeruine and Gavin Tael, I'd guess. So in a field battle, they could probably succeed in defeating the Gorgon's armies.

Now, imagine the battle raging, the heroic regents are leading their armies and driving back the Gorgon&#39;s hordes, victory is in sight, and then...<POOF&#33;> In teleports the Gorgon himself in the midst of our heroes, armed to the teeth and ready for bloodtheft. Our mighty 10th-15th level "great heroes of Anuire" would be like mewling infants next to the Gorgon. Anyone checked out the DC on his Death Gaze? Once per round, anyone wtihin 30&#39; in his LOS makes a Fort save at DC 58 or dies&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; Which means everyone within 30&#39; of his frontal facing is dead, unless they&#39;re willing to fight blind (a Darkness spell or blindfolds might keep you alive from that) or have Death Ward in effect (which only lasts 1 round per caster level - means no battle-length spells; perhaps a divine Realm Spell could be devised for this very purpose&#33.

So, let&#39;s say the heroes have somehow warded themselves against the Death Gaze. Now they&#39;ve got to deal with the legendary monster himself, who&#39;s got Lifender to kick their butts with. Yikes&#33; That, plus all of the prep spells he would certainly have cast on himself before teleporting in (haste, stoneskin, protection form arrows, shield, displacement, fire shield, mirror image, globe of invulnerability, maybe mind blank...) means the Gorgon is one unstoppable fighting machine. You do the math. Could any non-epic characters really stand up to him for more than a round or two? I seriously doubt it.

Net result: The Gorgon could freely stomp around the battlefield and kill off the regent leaders one by one, bloodthefting them and depriving the armies of their spirit and leadership. And if the Anuireans kept fighting (some might, at first), well...watch the Gorgon start unleasing some fireballs, cones of cold, cloudkills, circles of death, chain lightning...and then following up with his death gaze and melee dominance (he&#39;d be virtually untouchable by common troops), he could easily decimate and route whole companies by himself. So all he&#39;d have to do is target the leading companies of resistance and crush them with shock tactics, and one by one the pockets of resistance would be crushed and broken.

And why wouldn&#39;t he do any of this? I can&#39;t think of a reason. He&#39;s an epic strategist (if there are any skills he&#39;d have at maximum levels, it would be Warcraft, Lead, and probably Intimidation) with genius+ intelligence, so he would certainly maximize all of his assets and abilities.

So you tell me: why hasn&#39;t the Gorgon, with capabilities like this, won every major battle he&#39;s fought? And what could stop him from conquering all of Anuire if he really wanted to?

The only answer I&#39;ve found satisfying is that he really has no desire to conquer Anuire. He&#39;s in it for the blood. Harvesting bloodlines is his real goal, and his generational rampages are in fact excellent means of getting the targeted regents to come out on the open field and be easy targets for him...and to waste their resources and lose a generation of resources and development, and keep Anuire fractured and stagnant if they start getting too advanced and unified. I imagine that this state of chaos and inter-realm strife is exactly how the Gorgon likes Anuire; it makes his harvesting easier, and keeps his own lands fairly secure.

Ultimately, I think the Gorgon sees his quest for blood power as a quest for godhood. Bloodlines are the power of the gods, and none knows this better than Raesene. So wouldn&#39;t there come a point at which all that blood power would reach critical mass, and the ascension to godhood could take place? It&#39;s already hinted at the Gorgon may already have achieved demigod status (divine rank 0 or 1?) and can grant some minor spells to followers. But it seems he&#39;s really just a proxy of Azrai at this point, which probably galls him to no end. I&#39;d guess he really hopes to ascend as the replacement of Azrai - heheh, imagine him gaining that lesser god status. I reckon the first piece of agenda would be to eliminate his rivals, Belinik and Kreisha, and replace them as a sole god of evil. Ah, deicide...do you think the gods could be "bloodthefted?" How would they like the bite of tighmaevriel, do you think? Heh heh heh...

-Osprey