Piratecat said:
One thought: you are an evil, evil man. It's a beautiful trick to play on the players. Just a few thoughts/questions:
You implied that the New Story Hour is more or less current, and if I were a player who didn't know, that whole conversation between Ioun and Annel would be suspicious, unless you'd previously established a bit of senility/forgetfulness on Ioun's part, since it'd be sort of hard for him to forget Velendo.
So here's the big question.
In a fight between Ioun and his forces on one side, and the forces of Corsai (with other Aeosians, the Defenders and any of THEIR allies they bring in) on the other, who'd win? The odds of this fight ever happening are irrelevant, it's all about the balance of power during the negotiations.
Back when he was 27, the answer would be Ioun's side, I'd assume. But now, I'm not so sure. If the Iounians are still much stronger than the Aeosians, then it doesn't really matter. Sure, it makes Ioun more of a figurehead if the truth comes out, but that's hardly a new situation. But let's assume for the moment that the Aeosians, with their various allies, are at least comparable in power to Ioun's forces.
If Ioun doesn't come clean during the negotiations with Corsai, things could get very interesting when the truth comes out. A Lawful philosophy cuts both ways. The letter of the law says that the terms of a treaty would hold, regardless of this, but the spirit of the law would say that negotiating in bad faith would invalidate any treaty. And, all of its military aspects would have been written under the assumption that Ioun and his forces could pull their own weight. Even if Ioun's forces are still fairly strong without his direct assistance, the principle would still hold, and the church of Aeos can get really stuck on "principle", especially now that they don't answer to a civilian authority on these matters. If they find out he was trying to manipulate them into doing the lion's share of any fighting, things could get ugly quickly.
The same goes for the Defenders and the worm fight. If they arrange political concessions to Ioun in exchange for his assistance, and then it turns out he's weaker than any of them, then what'll happen? Besides just annoying a group of really powerful warriors, Ioun would also be alienating several major religions, nations, and organizations, not to mention endangering the world during a fight with the two near-deity-level worms. And then, once it becomes general knowledge that Ioun's nothing but a recently-reanimated cohort, I'd expect his whole empire to unravel. The parts nearest Corsai would probably ask for their protection instead of Ioun's. It might not lead to a full civil war, since the Aeosians haven't seemed too expansionist, but if it came to open war, Ioun knows which side the Defenders would jump in on, which brings us back to the first question.
So, if Ioun doesn't come clean AND his weakening shifted the balance of power to where any negotiating is in bad faith, the backlash could be huge, and the gains could be undone/repudiated by the Aeosians. Of course, as you once said in the story hour during the Ghouleax incident, Ioun has a history of short-sighted actions for his own benefit. So, he might honestly believe that no one will figure it out, or that once they do any treaties will keep them from doing anything about it.
On the other hand, if the Defenders DO find out before the negotiations are finalized, they could easily end up with a better outcome. Ioun seemed to want an empire, with Corsai as a near-vassal state. But with the power shifting, you could see it working out more as a confederation, or even with Corsai as the primary city and Ioun acting as more of a Prime Minister than an emperor.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
