Rystil Arden
First Post
Heh, no worries. I'm just having problems responding to you because I see a message in my e-mail and it has become a new one by the time I am done responding.Sarellion said:
Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros
- Thread starter Mouseferatu
- Start date
I thought of keeping the numbers of the Praetorii branch below the number of the imperial masks, somewhere around 50 to 60. And a bunch of wizards in the other departments who do research, analyze items, testify for duels and the usual bunch of wizardly activities, bringing it up to somewhere around 120. These are the usual scholar types with a con of 6 to 8.
Using the number of imperial masks as point of reference seems reasonable to me as the senate is the counterpart of the grand monarch after all and the senate is the voice of the Houses. At least its full of pillar members. If you think that they aren´t enough human and orcish candidates you could include gnomes, too. Not every gnome spellcaster is in the Praes, or? And the Praes could use the spies.
What bothers me the most is the Praes Thantos plot to neutralize a potential threat to their dominion by using magic.
They pretty could have reached what they wanted by using normal intrigue and politics.
They got all their enforcing powers back, outsourced a lot of the drudgeworks but were not fully successful in dismantling them as a whole. That´s pretty impressive without pulling off such a big, dangerous and arrogant plot.
After your post the whole arcaneum just looks like a bunch of morons who can be ripped off horribly in their own field of expertise and don´t even see it, even when the Praetorii wear the evidence the whole day. I wanted an colleague of competent experts with some wizards strewn in, not a bunch of fools who cannot even fulfill their most important duty of protecting the senate.
Using the number of imperial masks as point of reference seems reasonable to me as the senate is the counterpart of the grand monarch after all and the senate is the voice of the Houses. At least its full of pillar members. If you think that they aren´t enough human and orcish candidates you could include gnomes, too. Not every gnome spellcaster is in the Praes, or? And the Praes could use the spies.
What bothers me the most is the Praes Thantos plot to neutralize a potential threat to their dominion by using magic.
They pretty could have reached what they wanted by using normal intrigue and politics.
They got all their enforcing powers back, outsourced a lot of the drudgeworks but were not fully successful in dismantling them as a whole. That´s pretty impressive without pulling off such a big, dangerous and arrogant plot.
After your post the whole arcaneum just looks like a bunch of morons who can be ripped off horribly in their own field of expertise and don´t even see it, even when the Praetorii wear the evidence the whole day. I wanted an colleague of competent experts with some wizards strewn in, not a bunch of fools who cannot even fulfill their most important duty of protecting the senate.
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X
xnosipjpqmhd
Guest
Here is another map of Eyros incorporating some of the features added in the past few pages of contributions.
I have take a few liberties (which I will count as a contribution
) to get some items to fit into the structure of the pre-existing map. I don’t think they contradict previous posts, but if anyone has a problem with them, let me know and I’ll change them.
- The Blue Mountains have been placed in the east as suggested in numerous posts.
- The land of the dark-skinned Mo’ahhi has been placed on a large island to the southwest of Nistadeen.
- The land of Nientei has been placed on the eastern map edge.
- I have assumed that the O'hoa'ti'neumas hordelands are off the eastern map edge.
- I have assumed that the Dead Waters Isthumus is either off the northern map edge or in the far northeast.
I have intentionally avoided placing items that are unnamed or are secret. These include the training compound for the young of the pillars, the ruins of First Malarn-ka, the secret city of Jhazed´Khal/Maloria, and a few other things I can’t remember now.
As I get time, I hope to provide closer and more detailed maps.
ironregime
I have take a few liberties (which I will count as a contribution
) to get some items to fit into the structure of the pre-existing map. I don’t think they contradict previous posts, but if anyone has a problem with them, let me know and I’ll change them.- The Blue Mountains have been placed in the east as suggested in numerous posts.
- The land of the dark-skinned Mo’ahhi has been placed on a large island to the southwest of Nistadeen.
- The land of Nientei has been placed on the eastern map edge.
- I have assumed that the O'hoa'ti'neumas hordelands are off the eastern map edge.
- I have assumed that the Dead Waters Isthumus is either off the northern map edge or in the far northeast.
I have intentionally avoided placing items that are unnamed or are secret. These include the training compound for the young of the pillars, the ruins of First Malarn-ka, the secret city of Jhazed´Khal/Maloria, and a few other things I can’t remember now.
As I get time, I hope to provide closer and more detailed maps.
ironregime
Attachments
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Voting on dispute
I'm going to agree with Sarellion on this point. As soon as someone does a close inspection of one of the uniforms, the game is up. Also, producing magical items like the uniforms is very expensive. I think the risk isn't worth it, and as soon as someone walks near the Caecus Mans with True Seeing* up, the Praes Thanatos are in deep doo-doo.
*True Seeing allows you to see the true nature of polymorphed or transformed things. Can you name any source besides the Praes Thanatos for a polymorphed gnomish spellcaster who instituted uniforms capable of disabling the Praetorii Arcanae? This plot can be found in too many ways, and would be disastrous once discovered.
Also note that, given the nature of the organization (specifically, study and watching of magic), the chance of this happening at some point are pretty reasonable.
I also do not believe this is in explicit or implicit conflict with the established facts, though I understand the concern that it might be.
Sarellion said:
I'm going to agree with Sarellion on this point. As soon as someone does a close inspection of one of the uniforms, the game is up. Also, producing magical items like the uniforms is very expensive. I think the risk isn't worth it, and as soon as someone walks near the Caecus Mans with True Seeing* up, the Praes Thanatos are in deep doo-doo.
*True Seeing allows you to see the true nature of polymorphed or transformed things. Can you name any source besides the Praes Thanatos for a polymorphed gnomish spellcaster who instituted uniforms capable of disabling the Praetorii Arcanae? This plot can be found in too many ways, and would be disastrous once discovered.
Also note that, given the nature of the organization (specifically, study and watching of magic), the chance of this happening at some point are pretty reasonable.
I also do not believe this is in explicit or implicit conflict with the established facts, though I understand the concern that it might be.
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Khorod
First Post
I don't think C4-wired uniforms are the way to go either.
Looking at the full development of the Praes Thanatos, they are
1) Magic Police,
2) Defenders against Strange Threats,
3) Deal with Elven Legacy Issues,
4) Have probably got the third or fourth largest army in their command,
5) Are considered absolutely (or nearly absolutely) loyal by the Pillars,
6) Are considered unnerving by everyone anyway.
I guess it might help if someone came out with a specific document of powers and responsibilities granted, along with historic interpretations.
The Praes Thanatos doesn't need an emergency detonation system because they are so thoroughly entrenched. Even if they screwed up and allowed the Praetorii Arcanae to gain headway against them, they could go out with a war that would destroy Eyros- in other words, they are either a power to ally with or a power to be feared, but a power nonetheless.
The Praetorii Arcanae as a bureaucracy I like. As the wizard power-house of the senate it does not make sense to me. The feel of the setting is that the Grand Monarch is 1st amongst equals with the Pillars, and the Senate is where the Pillars get their official politicking accomplished. It might be ideologically the counterbalance of the Grand Monarch, but it certainly doesn't seem that way.
It was no contribution, but I personally figured the Senate would be guarded by a team of Imperial and Pillar Masks in the same way as the Grand Monarch is. Formal Troops don't need to be spellcasters then.
However (and this is more a rules thing, but I think it feeds back into this argument), the specific training of most of the Praetorii Arcanae guards might be mostly combat, a little magic, and some specialized training in magic-supported bodyguarding.
I never suggested that human spellcasters might be put to death, I assumed that they might need a license. And that every Elven spellcaster would be found as a child and Masked immediately. The Arcanaem might even be in charge of teaching the young Masks- I can well imagine the host of semi-effective children's games a bunch of theoreticians with minimal practice have devised over the years.
Looking at the full development of the Praes Thanatos, they are
1) Magic Police,
2) Defenders against Strange Threats,
3) Deal with Elven Legacy Issues,
4) Have probably got the third or fourth largest army in their command,
5) Are considered absolutely (or nearly absolutely) loyal by the Pillars,
6) Are considered unnerving by everyone anyway.
I guess it might help if someone came out with a specific document of powers and responsibilities granted, along with historic interpretations.
The Praes Thanatos doesn't need an emergency detonation system because they are so thoroughly entrenched. Even if they screwed up and allowed the Praetorii Arcanae to gain headway against them, they could go out with a war that would destroy Eyros- in other words, they are either a power to ally with or a power to be feared, but a power nonetheless.
The Praetorii Arcanae as a bureaucracy I like. As the wizard power-house of the senate it does not make sense to me. The feel of the setting is that the Grand Monarch is 1st amongst equals with the Pillars, and the Senate is where the Pillars get their official politicking accomplished. It might be ideologically the counterbalance of the Grand Monarch, but it certainly doesn't seem that way.
It was no contribution, but I personally figured the Senate would be guarded by a team of Imperial and Pillar Masks in the same way as the Grand Monarch is. Formal Troops don't need to be spellcasters then.
However (and this is more a rules thing, but I think it feeds back into this argument), the specific training of most of the Praetorii Arcanae guards might be mostly combat, a little magic, and some specialized training in magic-supported bodyguarding.
I never suggested that human spellcasters might be put to death, I assumed that they might need a license. And that every Elven spellcaster would be found as a child and Masked immediately. The Arcanaem might even be in charge of teaching the young Masks- I can well imagine the host of semi-effective children's games a bunch of theoreticians with minimal practice have devised over the years.
ironregime said:
Jazed´Khal is not a secret city, only the library has restricted access. After the war the Malarn founded a city at the site of the redoubt. I think that they were too lazy and too fearful of potential damage to move the ancient scripts without good reason.
The name Maloria was scrapped.
X
xnosipjpqmhd
Guest
Sarellion said:
Ok, I misinterpreted the "secret redoubt" phrase in your original post. I guess it is a "once-secret redoubt."
Sarellion said:
Oh good.
Before we locate Jazed'Khal then, perhaps we should identify where the ruins of First Malarn-ka are, maybe somewhere between Mhur and Talkjik-ka, or between Mhur and Eyrdeyn (but it's too soon for me to make an official contribution, so those are just guesses...
)Wherever First Malarn-ka is, Jazed'Khal is most likely found in a mountain valley nearby.
ironregime
Rystil Arden
First Post
Reading the posts of Khorod and Abisashi, I tend to agree. On the magic side, I was planning on using a soul transfer a la magic jar to soil True Seeing, and the uniforms don't have anything dangerous wired in them, they are just foci that allow the Praes Thanatos to target all of the Praetorii at once with a spell of their choosing. But neither of those matter since I'm getting rid of them. Instead of my contribution that was there before, please read what I am about to replace in Post #697. It is a revising job that fixes everything according to what I am hearing (I could still be wrong of course).
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