Mycanid said:
By the way Spooney ... I think a possible route for the necromancer would be through the ancient queen. Longevity potions to stave off death, eh?
Nah - Though a long dead queen does cast a long shadow. From the opening pages of the Player's Guide....
She fell, and with her the future, with her all hope. The world was spinning before her eyes, fading in and out of the light. Then a moment of focus came to her and she saw her cousin's face. Erin was pleading with her to stay alive. Then she saw the others, gathered like vultures to take the kingdom that was rightfully hers - and the anger this compelled found voice and she cried out, "No man shall unite this land!"
That said she shuddered, her eyes closed, and she fell into night. The two suns like angry eyes watched her fade and she and her kingdom was no more.
Thus died Queen Anne. Thus died Dalsundria.
Two hundred years later her prophecy remains true....
No man has united this land.
Dusk has fallen.
The Dalsundria of that passage was the Empire of Dalsundria - not the kingdom which the player's are part of. That empire included the areas of the 11 other kingdoms of Telzoa which are, in order of creation, Hone Rae, Milicsundria, Telmandy (now split up), Tezolan, Pildania, Alslandia, Altania, Creania, Dabrinia, Threndis, Poc Sian. Becoming King of Dalsundria is only part of the journey - the party must also attempt to unite the empire before the coming of the Orcen Hordes.
You see, every 200 years a great orcen invasion occurs. 200 years ago the war left the country fractured. Now it must come together or fall.
I still like the idea of Nelaria being the one who inherits the throne rather than Nathan - and I think the druids being activein this would be an interesting twist too.
This is uncertain. Between the two characters the players certainly have a say. There is also the possibility that Nate's player gets him killed - which I must be prepared to handle should it arise.
I assume Alblasker is the "master" of Valsil? And what do you mean when you say "master"? How so? A teacher of education? How to be a prince? You haven't said much about him other than that he somehow found out about things and then interfered via the druids.
Albasker is himself a Prince of Dalsundria - born Alblasker Tuval some 420 years before the campaign start. He and his triplet siblings - Anatole and Otal, forstalled the first major Orcen invasion led by Tancher. While Otal would go on to become High King, Alblasker chose to leave court life behind and become a wizard under the tutelage of Telsindria (that the two had fell in love also had much to do with this). Now Telsindria is my setting's Circe -- she is tempermental but kind. She also fills the role that Elminster fills in the Realms - showing up to chide, browbeat or otherwise nudge the player's along. She rarely helps them directly since if they can't fend for themselves what good are they?
Anyway, Albasker set up the Academy at Merryville and became the Headmaster of the school in secret. He saw Triel's rise through the ranks of the students there and personally taught him some of his arts before the two had a sharp falling out (which I haven't detailed). Knowing Triel to be ambitious, Alblasker set watch on him.
Ablasker has lived so long thanks to a
Ring of the Chosen, a minor artifact of Telsindria's crafting. In the last session though, mentally worn by the aeons of time and seeking to wrap up what loose ends he could he decided to let his mortality take him and took off the ring, dying instantly (I did this as DM mainly to cut off any direct pleas for high level character intervention. The players know Telsindria well enough to be certain she won't aid them - indeed they couldn't find them if they wanted to though she has a knack for finding them).
Also the druids with arch-druid Kimberly. How "non-involved" have they shown themselves to be?
Druids serve their own interests it is said, and no two druid's interests exactly coincide. Kimberly has a fairly free hand in the matter and would like to see the peace held since war puts stress on the people who in turn tend to do nasty things like chop down trees to build fortifications. This is one thread of the plot line I'm content to let evolve on the fly depending on how the players react. The very presence of the thread line was to make sure any druid PC's would have a stake in the overall plot though at the moment there are none.
(this is important to me -- making sure every player character has a stake in the plot and a role to play).
And what about the kingdom Pilandia and Delnor Auros? What are they all about? Is Delnor a ruler? A generic schmo? What? Does he play into the whole "race for the throne" in any way?
Delnor Auros is a general in the Dalisan rebellion againt Pildania. Should the PC's take the throne of Dalsundria and move to unite the empire once more he will come back into the picture but for now I'm content to let him fade from the stage.
