Feyd Rautha
First Post
Okay, I like the concept, but here is what I don't get...
What are Death's and the undead horde's motivations?
I am all about your concept for the 10,000 year thing and then the betrayal of his promise. Death would indeed be very irate and seek to destroy all that Havendish held dear. After the initial destruction though, why would the undead stop the slaughter? If indeed the dead rose again then there would really be no stopping the undead. Death would eliminate magic and the undead would move unhindered over the planet. How could a group of people survive this for 1000 years? I don't care how good a location if the population of the entire planet was outnumbered 1/100th of 1% (0.001%) to 99.999% there is NO WAY they could survive for a year let alone 1000. Why did Death stop the undead from killing everyone? I can assume that pretty much only mindless undead comprise the horde? Vampires, Ghouls, and most other sentient undead would have long ago entered a torpor from the lack of "food". If they have had "food" (human prey) for 1000 years then humans would be long gone.
Anyway, answer me that and then I can move past it. As it stands though Death has no reason to let a resistance start and his reasoning for not just taking Havendish are rather unclear also. If he was intent to destroy the world then there's no resisting for 1000 years with a horde of millions upon millions of undead. Any substantial settlement of humans would be discovered and even if the undead face losses of 100-1 they would barely lose any fighting power slaughtering the entire lot of humans.
My questions then in order of the timeline:
1) Havendish makes a deal with death for 10,000 years of life (Q: How the heck did he get death to agree to this? Death obviously has sentience and motives so what was his reasoning?)
2) Havendish reaches the end of his (cruel?) reign and when Death comes to collect, Havendish tells it to go slay itself.
3.) Death raises an army of the dead to gather the cost of Havendish's soul from the rest of the world and curses Havendish. (Q: Why? Havendish being an evil ruler obviously doesn't care about the world so destroying it really doesn't mean much. With 1000 undead warriors, Havendish could have been hacked to pieces and his phylactry destroyed. You have to answer the question of why the world instead of Havendish.)
4.) The PCs are killed along with basically everyone left on the planet.
5.) Death and the undead stop their war on the living. (Q: WHY? This is the biggest question. There's nothing that could resist their power. If Death has the power to destroy all magic then there couldn't be some "hallowed place" that could stay as such and even if there was unless there was an "undead shield" that kept them all out there would be no chance of survival. None. Zip. Nada. If there IS such a place, then how is it supporting a human population? How many people would be required to repopulate the entire planet? 23 (as per the Matrix), 1000, more than that? If so then these last survivors would be facing millions of undead and would have no resources to aid the "heroes" as they returned.
5.) The heroes return and somehow defeat millions of undead, regenerate and refresh a dead world, and remove the curse of Havendish all while defeating Death itself. Hmm... Kind of kooky.
Before I go try this one on for size. By proving Death wrong, Havendish unleashed the horde himself. Death lost his powers and walks the earth while Havendish controls an ever expanding army of undead. Death was able to remove magic from the realm so Havendish's victory could not be complete, but only arcane magic. The gods and Death could do nothing about Havendish though because Death would have been the only one to have power over a being with such power as Havendish (He was infused albeit unknowingly with a fraction of the divine when he "stole" death's powers). The one thing they could do is save mighty heroes from the original onslaught who would then be returned when the time was right.
Looking forward to response...
What are Death's and the undead horde's motivations?
I am all about your concept for the 10,000 year thing and then the betrayal of his promise. Death would indeed be very irate and seek to destroy all that Havendish held dear. After the initial destruction though, why would the undead stop the slaughter? If indeed the dead rose again then there would really be no stopping the undead. Death would eliminate magic and the undead would move unhindered over the planet. How could a group of people survive this for 1000 years? I don't care how good a location if the population of the entire planet was outnumbered 1/100th of 1% (0.001%) to 99.999% there is NO WAY they could survive for a year let alone 1000. Why did Death stop the undead from killing everyone? I can assume that pretty much only mindless undead comprise the horde? Vampires, Ghouls, and most other sentient undead would have long ago entered a torpor from the lack of "food". If they have had "food" (human prey) for 1000 years then humans would be long gone.
Anyway, answer me that and then I can move past it. As it stands though Death has no reason to let a resistance start and his reasoning for not just taking Havendish are rather unclear also. If he was intent to destroy the world then there's no resisting for 1000 years with a horde of millions upon millions of undead. Any substantial settlement of humans would be discovered and even if the undead face losses of 100-1 they would barely lose any fighting power slaughtering the entire lot of humans.
My questions then in order of the timeline:
1) Havendish makes a deal with death for 10,000 years of life (Q: How the heck did he get death to agree to this? Death obviously has sentience and motives so what was his reasoning?)
2) Havendish reaches the end of his (cruel?) reign and when Death comes to collect, Havendish tells it to go slay itself.
3.) Death raises an army of the dead to gather the cost of Havendish's soul from the rest of the world and curses Havendish. (Q: Why? Havendish being an evil ruler obviously doesn't care about the world so destroying it really doesn't mean much. With 1000 undead warriors, Havendish could have been hacked to pieces and his phylactry destroyed. You have to answer the question of why the world instead of Havendish.)
4.) The PCs are killed along with basically everyone left on the planet.
5.) Death and the undead stop their war on the living. (Q: WHY? This is the biggest question. There's nothing that could resist their power. If Death has the power to destroy all magic then there couldn't be some "hallowed place" that could stay as such and even if there was unless there was an "undead shield" that kept them all out there would be no chance of survival. None. Zip. Nada. If there IS such a place, then how is it supporting a human population? How many people would be required to repopulate the entire planet? 23 (as per the Matrix), 1000, more than that? If so then these last survivors would be facing millions of undead and would have no resources to aid the "heroes" as they returned.
5.) The heroes return and somehow defeat millions of undead, regenerate and refresh a dead world, and remove the curse of Havendish all while defeating Death itself. Hmm... Kind of kooky.
Before I go try this one on for size. By proving Death wrong, Havendish unleashed the horde himself. Death lost his powers and walks the earth while Havendish controls an ever expanding army of undead. Death was able to remove magic from the realm so Havendish's victory could not be complete, but only arcane magic. The gods and Death could do nothing about Havendish though because Death would have been the only one to have power over a being with such power as Havendish (He was infused albeit unknowingly with a fraction of the divine when he "stole" death's powers). The one thing they could do is save mighty heroes from the original onslaught who would then be returned when the time was right.
Looking forward to response...
