If you were a big evil guy looking to start an army.....

[DarkJester]

How would you go about it?

The setup:

You are a humanoid draconic beast (Advanced half dragon troll) with unlimited time, you do not age, and you can not truely die. If (or) when your worldly body is destroyed, you rebirth in 2000 years.

You are hatched once again from the eruption of the largest volcano on the planet, the military cities which were stationed around the volcano, to guard against your return have long since abanonded their posts.

Your goals:
*Seek revenge against bloodlines of those who slew you.
*Develope alliances to further your power
*Raise an Army
*Control a city
*Raise a bigger Army
*Control a country
*etc etc etc untill world domination.

You would like to accomplish steps 1-4 without your true prescence revealed. How would you go about it? You have no money or other worldly possessions to begin.


Also, for a less specfic topic:
What do you do as an BBEG to make sure your troops/ followers/ alliances stay truthful to you.

 

[Brisk-sg]

Do you have innate magics to draw upon?

 

[DarkJester]

Minor stuff, change self, magical camoflage, a breath weapon, and some minor psionic abilities.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Assuming there are groups of orcs or any other barbaric race in the area I would go in disguise as one of them and simply take control of their tribes with my superior strenght. And start to train them to be an effective fighting force is secret from civilized society.
Once I think they are ready to go and fight I'll go into a fairly large city and in disguise kill off their leaders. Then in a fast suprise attack immediately afterward I'd attack with my barbarian army.
After conquering the city claiming to be an orc king, I'd send word across the land that I am seeking soldiers to fight for me and any who join me will be paid handsomley, that way I could hopefully gain more soldiers for my war, and contue to conquer cities and gain troops and as word of my power grew I'd get more powerful allies.
And to seek revenge on the bloodlines that ruined me in the past I would go and capture them one by one, either personally or with servants and then torture them and just as they think they are about to die I'll reveal my true nature as the creature their ancestors long ago defeated and then turn them to stone so as they are taken out of the picture and can't be raised from the dead.

 

[Sixchan]

I'd maybe begin corrupting and controlling a town with a big garrison's rulers, and rule from the shadows. And then I move to the next town and do the same thing, and so on and so on...

Hey, this reminds me of a thread a friend of mine once made...

 

[jmucchiello]

Bah, I have change self. Find a minor noble. Get to know him socially. Move his ambitious nephew into an important city position. Eventually kill him and put the nephew in charge of his family fortune as a puppet. Go to another town repeat. After a generation or two, all the major noble house are mine. The cities are mine. The armies are mine. Yawn. At least this time I didn't have to sleep near any smelly orcs.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I think I'd do as Aust suggests except for one thing.

When I killed the leaders of the city, I would take special care to capture at least one leader who was a part of the second or third echelon of the city's leadership but who had blood ties to other kingdoms and city states as well. Perhaps he would be 5th or 7th in line for the throne of a nearby city-state. I would hide him in my fortress and interrogate him for months. I would learn how he talks and walks and everything about him.

Then, after conquering the city with my orc army, I would make sure that they were inefficient in the conquest, allowing many leaders of leading houses to escape with their wealth--those leaders that I allowed to escape would be historical enemies however. Then I would take my orc army and march on other kingdoms, deliberately overextending it. (Focussing particular attention on the people higher in the line of succession than my kidnapped noble).

Around this point, I would appear in the form of the young leader to unite the exiled nobles of the city I've slated for conquest. I would send out the call for an army and work to unite the kingdoms against the orcs. Secure in my strength and invulnerability, I would be an Alexander the Great type lead from the front rank type of general. In my role as the leader of the orcish army, I would do my best to ensure that the forces of the other kingdoms always got the worst of the battles but that the forces of my "boy general" persona were able to save the day. In this way, I would cultivate a myth of invincibility while I also weakened the prestige of my rivals in neighboring kingdoms. After defeating the orcs, I would lead my triumphant exiles in a glorious return to the city.

Then, I would start eliminating the royal families of the neighboring kingdoms until I inherited there too.

I could also provoke a war between my city and a weak neighbor later on and, after winning the war, annex it to my city. After a few of these kind of wars, and other inheritances, I should be a power to be reckoned with.

Over time, I would also want to start some rumors about the nature of this invincible boy general/king. Perhaps he is really a child of the gods. Or perhaps they have blessed him. Or perhaps the jealous god of victory condemned him to infertility such that any children born of him would be monsters. And the goddess of love cursed him for spurning her advances such that though he will love with purest passion and live a life of eternal youth, all those he loves will betray him or meet with misfortune thus turning the blessing of eternal youth into the wellspring of infinite pain. That sounds romantic and would build up my myth. And, I'd need something to explain the fact that I intend to be immortal. I'd also need some way explain the fact that any of my children were 1/4 dragon, 1/4 trolls. And that my wives had a habit of mysteriously dying if they found out too much about me.

This would have several advantages over simple conquest.
1. Orcs are neither particularly loyal, particularly disciplined, nor particularly popular. As the invincible boy general, hero of the orc wars, and Liberator of the Polis, however, I would have a much more skilled and loyal cadre of soldiers to work with.

2. An orc incursion would probably be seen as upsetting the balance of power and as a threat to the neighboring kingdoms. There would not be the opportunity for me to gather power and influence by cunning and stealth since the heads of the human kingdoms would be unlikely to make diplomatic marriages with a victorious orc chief or allow the orc chief to inherit lands in their kingdoms.

The magics that would be required to pull this off:
Long term (persistent/permanent) alter self or polymorph self (only two forms needed).
Detect Thoughts (for the interrogation)
Undetectable Alignment
Nystul's Antimagical Aura would be nice (to hide the undetectable alignment and the shapechange magics)
Suggestion would be very handy as well.
So would Cure Light Wounds or Remove Disease (if I wanted to pretend to be blessed by the gods).

 

[AngelTears]

I'd simply go off for a century and do the best way on gaining riches and friends in high places...

adventuring

Then once I had the capital and friends in the Capital I could sit down and actually destroy the very existance of families. After all you have eternity. Why rush things?

-Angel Tears

 

[Neo]

*Seek revenge against bloodlines of those who slew you.

Subvert them indirectly i.e destroy thier means of income or support or alternatively murder their heirs to prevent thier lines continuing the innocence of thier children is an easy tool for a bad guy to lure them into traps.

*Develope alliances to further your power

Local monster tribes, use fear, intimidation to gain control, if that fails slay thier leaders in blatant shows of power. nothing cows an angry mob like the fear of pending death. Once you have one tribe or beast under control it is easy to use them as a bargaining point for gaining others. i.e The skull smasher goblins serve me, you goblins of the Broken Horn tribe should also join my ranks lest you lose out on the spoils of conquest OR The Dragon of the Murky Swamps serves me, I suggest you do the same lest it finds it necessary to hunt in new pastures....Have the villain kill any dissenters openly and mercillessly, fear will keep the rabble in line.

*Raise an Army

See above, pay and feeding for an army needn't be a problem have them raid villages and towns, merchant caravans, trade routes, use this to gather supplies, wealth and experience as well as to gain reputation in order to draw more allies before targeting real threats.

*Control a city

A City stands or falls on its stomach, destroy thier food, pollute thier water, cut off thier means of external supply and support, ensure no communication escapes out or infiltrates in... soon the city will be begging for mercy...then enslave the populace or feed them to your troops as you will and move in.

You would like to accomplish steps 1-4 without your true prescence revealed. How would you go about it? You have no money or other worldly possessions to begin.[/B]

Money is a means unto itself, but wisdom and cunning are commodites with greater value. Take advantage of your surroundings and those that dwell in them, they will be the means to your income. You can promise wealth later.... or you can allow them to raid everywhere you go as mentioned above.. the first step is to get some allies, worry about money later.

As for identity, wear a disguise, give a flase name, keep covered or only deal with one or two individuals who then relay your orders to everyone else. If magic is available, then appear as someone or something else. Carry no obvious emblem or symbol nothing by which you can be traced back to your origin. Use a different language and if possible an accent of somewhere from which you are not and better still start rumours about you being made up people or powers all in aid to throw people of the scent of the truth.

Also, for a less specfic topic:
What do you do as an BBEG to make sure your troops/ followers/ alliances stay truthful to you.[/B]

For the Villain almost certainly Fear and Intimidation, if your troops fear you so much that they know to disobey or fail is death they will not dare lie. However in a fantasy world if your cause is beneficial to a certain relgion recruit them to your cause, religious fervour or fear of divine punishment are also great tool for manipulation. And with the added incentive of magic clerics who can literally tell if you are truthful or false make the rank and file too fearful of lying, especially if your clerics take the form of inquisitors or secret police who are commonly seen amongst the troops, as then the fear that these clerics may just be reading minds or seeking those disloyal just reinforces their abject terror of the consequences for doing anything except that which you tell them and answering only the truth when asked is multiplied a hundredfold.

 

[Neo]

Your goals:
*Seek revenge against bloodlines of those who slew you.

You could also frame them for crimes, dishonor their name, cause them to be exiled and the like if you wanted to prolong their suffering before finally taking vengeance in some physical and direct form.