WotBS 13th Age Icons for the Burning Sky thoughts?

[Volaran]

Wow, it has been years since I've logged into my ENWorld account, but I can't think of a better place for this kind of question.

I'm tossing around ideas for a 13th Age conversion of the War of the Burning Sky, and I thought I'd see if anyone had some thoughts on Icons for the WotBS World.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, in the base 13th Age game, Icons are powerful figures withing the campaign world generally represented by a title (The Archmage, The Emperor, The Lich King, etc). PCs have a certain amount of points to spent on relationships with these icons (positive, negative or conflicted), and these can come up in various ways during play. These might not represent contact with the icon itself, but could represent contacts within their organizations, etc.

In various conversions I've seen, GMs have expanded this to include organizations as well. For example, in an Eberron 13th Age campaign, each of the Dragonmarked Houses might represent an icon.

I have a few thoughts already for Icons as they exist at the beginning of the campaign, but I'd certainly appreciate it if anyone would like to chime in.

*MAY INCLUDE VERY MINOR SPOILERS*

The Emperor - Coaltongue (even though he's gone just as the campaign starts, a relationship here would represent connections to the old regime)
The Inquisitor - Leska
The Elf King - Shaaladel
The Lyceum (I'm thinking this would better represent the academy as a whole, rather than Simeon)
The Wayfarers (same deal)
The Aquiline Cross
The Two Winds (both the brothers and the monastery)
The Mother of Dreams (reflecting both Trilla and the trillith)

Any suggestions?

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, including the Mother of Dreams is a bit of a spoiler. Ditto the two winds.

Maybe say The Masquerade (i.e., Deception and other trillith who sell allies and grant boons) and the Elementalists (Pilus and Longinus are air mages, Lee is water, and Onamdammin was supposed to have an earth magic shtick; it never really made it fully into the campaign).

 

[Volaran]

Thanks Ryan. It is always nice to see you chip in about your older material, even though Zeitgeist is the big thing these days.

My thought on the Mother of Dreams would be not to initially announce her as an available, but introduce the option with a free point once the trillith were introduced. However, listing the collective Trillith icon as the Masquerade for that purpose does seem to make more sense.

Ditto on expanding the Two Winds to the Elementalists. Since the four legendary animals each represent an element, it also ties nicely into the history and legends of the region.

I'd considered including something for the other countries, but it doesn't seem like any of them have the same impact/influence as Coaltongue, Leska, and Shaaladel. Even with Steppengard and Dassen, it seems like the Book of Eight Lands itself would be the more likely candidate as an Icon.

One other thing. Since 13th Age usually portrays the gods as distant, or at least less important in worldly affairs than the Icons, I was thinking of taking the idea of the Aquiline Cross, and just expanding that so most priestly orders on the peninsula aside from the inquisitors would be based on the myths of the Stormchaser Eagle, the Tidereaver Kraken, the Flamebringer Dragon and the Worldshaper Worm. Though given the origins of Leska and the Inquisitors, I suppose this would apply to them as well

 

[hirou]

One other thing. Since 13th Age usually portrays the gods as distant, or at least less important in worldly affairs than the Icons...

Ryan semi-confirmed that WotBS occurs (or maybe occurs) in the same world as Zeitgeist, which is isolated from the usual multiverse (and I just sent my players hunting trillith beneath Flint...), and as far as I checked the original campaign, no obvious divine interventions are needed there.

 

[Volaran]

This is more for any players that wish to be clerics, druids, etc. Back in the day, both Morrus and Ryan had mentioned leaving specific gods out of the published campaign so people could slot in whatever pantheon they liked. Sounds like that might have been retconned since then. I just remember reading the Icon section of the 13th Age book and thinking the WotBS fit that idea really well.