Join a Villainous Conspiracy, Control the World, Win Prizes

[RangerWickett]

Dear EN World, we warn you not to read beyond this first post if you wish to avoid spoilers for the adventure path ZEITGEIST: The Gears of Revolution. To everyone else, this is your chance to play the villains of a campaign being run for your fellow gamers.

Sure, we're offering some rewards to those who participate, but the real fun is knowing you'll be able to cause other gamers grief.

To read the (spoiler-tastic) details of the villains, scroll down. Then chime in with your idea on how to rule the world, and questions about the conspiracy's plot. If you'd like to run the campaign yourself, check out our Kickstarter to create a hardcover compilation of the first five adventures.

And please remember, if you discuss this event elsewhere on the boards, other EN World members are playing the campaign. Use spoiler tags where necessary.

 

[RangerWickett]

Welcome to the Convocation
Lights dim, and the crowd murmur fades out. Two incandescent calcium oxide spotlights shine down on a stage podium, slicing out a single bright oval in the dark theater. A man with salt-and-pepper hair stands behind the podium, though you never saw him walk out.

“We have gathered for this convocation because we share a purpose.” As he speaks, he draws a cigarette from a case and lights it with a match. He takes a casual drag and continues, speaking through the smoke.

“That purpose is to fix the unsteady course of a flawed world. Some of us have worked to kindle industry, thinking progress and invention will defend nations from war and suffering. Others have ingratiated themselves with the callous and corrupt, ready to unmask their true faces and replace them with more honest and just leaders. You’ve unearthed ancient relics that revealed the forgotten origins of today’s woes, and have with regrettable necessity silenced those who would have revealed and thwarted grand design.

“Few of you have been trusted with the full extent of our agenda. You know simply that I or one of our other officers asked you to cloak yourselves, and then to strive and correct some flaw of society that the common people and their complacently powerful masters have chosen as ‘the way things are.’ Unlike them, we have not been content with an imperfect world, because we rebel against the conceit that the inertia of the world cannot change, that its course is set, that there is fate, or destiny.

“But the truth is, at their basest physical level, life, our planet, and everything we know is swayed by forces beyond us. If I may move from broad strokes to scientific particulars, our world is connected by ancient magic to eight planes – elemental realms of fire and earth and air and water, and inscrutable lands where time and space, life and death are corporeal and manifest. Look skyward and you can see these distant discs tracing their orbits through the night.

“These eight are but a handful in an infinite starscape of planes, and some of our agents have peered into the night sky to learn their nature. One airy world they spied through a powerful lens reveals itself to generate calmer and more predictable storms than we have here. Another planet, a dappled purple and yellow orb, is possessed of warm clouds and a strong cheerful emotion, while countless miles away a hazy nebula is wracked by eternal lightning – destructive but swift and powerful.

“Now, we have a world of our own full of elemental air energy, but its skies are thin, and the winds are erratic. Imagine if, instead of that plane, our world was infused with the energy from one of those others. It would change our climate. It would change, on subtle level, the emotions you feel looking at the sky. More than that, it would change the very fate of civilization.

“There is an ancient ritual seal, crafted and hidden by our distant ancestors, who chose which worlds our own would be linked to. But we have learned how to open that seal, and we are ready to change which planes dance in orbit with us. And that, ladies and gentleman, is the true purpose of our convocation. My name is Nicodemus, and though it was I who initiated our grand design, it is the right of you, the agents and officers of the Obscurati, to fix the unsteady course of a flawed world.

“For centuries prophets have sought visions in the night sky, and why? Because those eight worlds have power over us. The motion of the stars allows different ideals to gain ascendance: war, decay, chaos, exploration, order, creation. But no longer shall the procession of heaven obey the whims of an ancient, absent clockmaker. Now the hand that moves the stars shall be ours!”

Current Planes
Feel free to skip to the next post if you don't care about the technobabble-esque details.

There are eight planes tied to the world we live on, and each has aspects that distinguish from any old plane with an elemental trait. While the Plane of Air is vast, and there are many worlds that are carved from slivers of it, some of those slivers have storms, others are filled with birds, and some are smoky and concealing. The nature of each plane determines what traits it lends to our world.

It seems when the Ancients decided what worlds ours would be connected to, they did not care much for traits. Indeed, many of these planes are fairly mundane, and the Obscurati has access to many more impressive options.

1. Jiese, Plane of Fire. Its trait is Cunningness. The fire from this plane is less destructive than a typical elemental world, and its flames can be used intelligently, like a tool. Obscurati scholars suspect most worlds never achieve the industrial revolution ours has because they lack this trait. Changing this plane might stymie technological progress.
2. Avilona, Plane of Air. This world appears to have been damaged since it was originally tied to this world, so now its trait is Calm. Changing this plane might lead to stronger storms, and could make the world in general more energetic and changing.
3. Av, Plane of Life. This glassy hollow world is our moon and has the traits of Reflection and Dream. It allows our world to have the two parallel planes of fey and darkness, known as The Dreaming and The Bleak Gate. Changing this world would remove those parallel planes and might have consequences involving dreams and fears.
4. Mavisha, Plane of Water. Its trait is Mystery, and it is responsible for the many islands that dot the world with their various secrets.
5. Urim, Plane of Earth. This golden world has fractured into many pieces, but its trait -Barrier - causes gold in our world to block teleportation.
6. Apet, Plane of Space. The Distant Plane is responsible for keeping our world and its bonded planes far from the rest of the multiverse and less likely to attract extraplanar attention.
7. Reida, Plane of Time. Most scholars don't even realize that the incomplete silvery ring that surrounds Apet is another plane altogether. Its traits of Limited Fate allow for prophecy, but enforce that after a given time the world must change. Most Obscurati factions are wary of tampering with this plane.
8. Nem, Plane of Death. Its trait is Annihilation, and it destroys any who try to travel from our star system of planes to the outer multiverse, and vice versa.

 

[RangerWickett]

The Convocation of the Obscurati
In ZEITGEIST, a grand conspiracy known as the Obscurati seeks to influence the fate of the world through a powerful magical ritual. For decades they have worked in the shadows, establishing independent cells of operatives so no captured member could compromise the whole plot. They have infiltrated governments, manipulated their enemies into destroying each other, and crafted mighty eldritch machines that will alter the fabric of reality. When their plans come to fruition, the world will fall under their control.

But the Obscurati, composed of powerful industrialists and brilliant thinkers the world over, is not unified in its plans for after this victory. The many cells of the conspiracy have operated with little communication, and though they all desire to change the world to match their personal philosophies, they are about to find that their philosophies don’t quite agree.

The leader of the Obscurati, an ageless figure known as Nicodemus the Gnostic, has called the various cells of his conspiracy to gather in a great Convocation. And you, members of EN World, get to be part of that conspiracy. The conspiracy will choose the spirit of the next age, but what sort of age will it be? It’s up to you to decide.

Details
For the duration of our ZEITGEIST hardcover compilation Kickstarter (launching this week), every member of the EN World community will be able to pledge their support to one of the factions within the conspiracy, and then decide what plots to enact once they're in power. The various PCs playing ZEITGEIST campaigns will have to try to thwart whatever schemes you come up with, and the results of the Convocation will be included in Adventure Seven, Schism. Your decisions will influence the shape of the world in the final act of the campaign as the PCs try to topple you.

The factions include:

• The Arboretum. Order nature so it can spread and be controlled like industry.
• Colossus. Grant ourselves godlike powers to fix problems as they arise.
• Miller’s Pyre. Enact subtle changes, focused on making people more empathetic and less susceptible to hypocrisy, so they can more easily pursue goodness and justice.
• Panarchists.http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...d-Win-Prizes&p=6145303&viewfull=1#post6145303 Grant individuals enough power to make governments unnecessary.
• Watchmakers. Eliminate free will and design a thousand-year destiny for the world.
• Minor Factions. Various single-issue groups, willing to form coalitions.
• Radical Factions.http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...Prizes/page3&p=6147516&viewfull=1#post6147516 Fringe groups with distasteful agendas.

While some of their goals may seem noble, they have performed evil deeds to enact their new world order. Over the next week we’ll profile one faction in detail per day.

Swaying the Stars
Choose one of the factions, which will be detailed over the following days. Feel free to pick based on ideology, or style, or what you think would make a good story. Then post your thoughts on why your faction has the best idea and why the others are wrong.

The existing factions have already studied some possible combinations of planes, creating pocket dimensions to test likely consequences. Each main faction has a set of planes that they are confident will make the world a better place with no unforeseen drawbacks. However, fringe groups – or EN World posters who suggest their own ideas – run the risk of something going catastrophically wrong. But that can be fun too!

The Cardinal Rule
You cannot directly alter behavior or personality. Free will is an all-or-nothing option, and you cannot force people to be ‘good’ without also turning them into complete automatons. You can, however, nudge people, and you’ll see some example options below.


Schedule of the Convocation
On Monday, June 17, we will hold a non-binding vote where you can pledge yourself to one of the factions. That poll will remain open for the duration of the Convocation, and you’ll be able to change your vote (just click Unvote at the top right), so everyone can see the shifting support for different factions.

After that initial phase, it’s up to you to decide whether to stick to the existing factions, form coalitions, organize backroom deals, or otherwise push for your ideology to win the day. The Kickstarter campaign ends in mid-July, and the following day we will open the official final vote to determine which faction will be triumphant.

Agents and Officers
Of course, this villainous conspiracy is not a democracy. Everyone is welcome to play the part of an Agent of the Obscurati, but only those who contribute substantial support are given the rank of Officer.

Agents are anyone on the forum. You can get involved in the discussions, suggest plans, and broker deals. Everyone who joins a faction in the preliminary vote will be given the option of having their name listed in Adventure Seven as a member of the conspiracy. Also, one member from each faction will be awarded a copy of the ZEITGEIST Act One compilation PDF, which contains five adventures (available for either Pathfinder or D&D 4th Edition).

Officers are anyone who either has an EN World community supporter subscription, or who pledges to the Kickstarter. Only officers will have a say in the final binding vote. That final vote will decide the agenda of the Obscurati throughout the rest of the ZEITGEIST adventure path.

After the final vote, the E.N. Publishing staff will choose one forum member that we feel best contributed to the event – be it by creating interesting posts or motivating others’ involvement – and will reward that person with a hardcover color copy of the Act One compilation.

Feel free to get into character as nefarious members of the world’s elite. You’re about to rule the world. What kind of world do you want it to be?

Fine Print
[sblock]Like a parliament, if a faction gets 50% or more of the vote, it wins outright. If no faction gets 50%, the faction with the most support has a week to try to form a coalition of supporters from other factions – perhaps by adopting a compromise agenda. If that fails, the next smaller faction gets to try to form a coalition. If no agreement can be reached within two weeks after the vote, E.N. Publishing reserves creative control to decide an entertaining outcome.

Delivery of the PDF rewards is dependent on the success of the Kickstarter drive. Should the drive fail to reach its initial funding goal, E.N. Publishing are not obligated to provide any prizes for this event.

EN World staff and forum moderators are not eligible to win the compilation PDF. For each faction, members of that faction may nominate a winner. Failing that, the winner will be chosen randomly. E.N. Publishing reserves the right to disqualify people who simply post for a chance to win, rather than contributing to the spirit of the event.[/sblock]

 

[RangerWickett]

Arboretum
Order nature so it can spread and be controlled like industry.

The proposal of the faction known as the Arboretum comes from an odd alliance of druids and industrialists from the nation of Risur, and is represented by the ghost of Reed Macbannin, a former mayor in the city of Flint.

The goal of the Arboretum is to increase the bounty of nature, to reduce the impact of natural disasters, and to have them both be under the control of the Obscurati. They see it as poor design that weather and the earth are so unpredictable, and that horticulture progresses so slowly, generation by generation.

Their proposal would replace the current planes of air, earth, water, and life with new ones. Key will be replacing the moon -- the current plane of life, which has Dream and Mirror aspects -- with one that has aspects of Craft and Artifice. The other elemental planes will have to include slight Lawful traits, which will make them more susceptible to magical control, as well as making it easier to predict them with divinations.

The Arboretum feel the drawbacks of their plan are minor. The new plane of Life will yield somewhat weaker harvests if nature is not tended, so areas lacking civilization will tend to become deserts. Likewise, storms will actually be more intense unless they are controlled, but it would only require moderate effort to distribute trained mages throughout the land to deter this.

The most significant change would be the severance of two realms known as The Dreaming and The Bleak Gate, which are the fey and shadow mirrors of the real world. The replacement of our current moon would remove and possibly destroy these two realms. Reed Macbannin, never a fan of fey meddling in his homeland, sees this as perhaps the greatest benefit of the plan.

Artists and explorers who have visited the pocket dimension crafted by the Arboretum claim that they felt a malaise, like the world was lacking in surprises, but Arboretum representatives claim those with the complaints were simply biased.

When properly tended, nature in this paradigm is significantly more bountiful, which would reduce the competition for resources that drives warfare. Additionally, Arboretum inventors have already created new lifeforms in their pocket dimension. You can see their showcase by visiting the Portal Gallery.

Compared to other faction proposals, the Arboretum plan may be the most modest.

 

[RangerWickett]

~til~

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I like the idea of this. It's always fun to have a say in the fate of a world.

I will await further information on the factions.

 

[unin5pired]

The chamberlain: "The floor recognizes Alloquicious, the Iron Gnome!"

Alloquicious: "Thank you. And thank you Nicodemus, for leading this august body. Given my penchant for clockwork wonders, and ornate schemes, my colleagues most likely expect me to put my weight behind the Watchmakers, and embrace elemental Order. Well, I propose, more than any other, we ought to embrace the ideal of CREATION. When want is eliminated, shear will may rule the direction of our civilization, and that is when Order of a purer sort, one tempered by contest against Chaos, may rule supreme. First, let us create a world where there is no hunger, no cold, no poverty. Then, only wit and will shall guide the actions of we who steer society, and competition between our ideologies, in the absence of material disparity, will allow Law to prove its supremacy. Without such contest, the victory of Law over Chaos would ring hollow. I support a 1000-year plan, but one that is earned, on a level playing ground where we all may draw upon the power of CREATION!!!!"

 

[RangerWickett]

Colossus
Grant ourselves god-like power to fix problems as they arise.

The Colossus proposal is backed by some of the more prestigious cell leaders of the conspiracy, and their soft-spoken leader is the aasimar Roland Stanfield, who claims that his centuries of reincarnations have taught him that common people abuse power, but in the hands of the enlightened it is a powerful tool.

As Stanfield argues, the Obscurati has come this far because its members have used their power intelligently, and have acted decisively despite the fact that society as a whole would oppose them. The best course of the action in the future is to consolidate their power and become the de facto rulers of the world.

The challenge is in granting power to a limited set of people. The Colossus movement has discovered a set of elemental planes each with a secret truename. These planes would still provide the normal energy needed to keep the world together, but those who know the truenames would be able to tap a greater power. And the Obscurati would decide who is told these truenames.

This truename power would be tied to two new planes. First, a plane of Space would grant the ability to sense events and teleport to areas within their domain. Second, a plane of Death with a 'Cyclicality' aspect would orbit the world as a new, dark moon. Each person who knew the truenames would choose a point on the cycle to be at the height of their power, and a half-month later they would only have the power of a normal mortal.

This would make them vulnerable if they abuse their power, and force them to rely on the defense of other Ob members. The goal of this is to prevent abuse.

The drawbacks to this plan are that the new elemental planes would result in stronger storms, and the seas would draw back slightly, and the world would grow colder. Perhaps the largest threat is that, since the current Plane of Death acts as a defense against extraplanar incursion, the world might be invaded by creatures from other planes. However, Colossus believes that the newly-empowered rulers of the world would easily be able to drive back such threats.

To experience a sample of the power Colossus would grant you, visit their sample demi-plane in the Portal Gallery.

 

[Ajar]

Intriguing. I'm torn between advocating one I find agreeably villainous and advocating one that my Zeitgeist players will be a little bit conflicted about opposing.

 

[gideonpepys]

Intriguing. I'm torn between advocating one I find agreeably villainous and advocating one that my Zeitgeist players will be a little bit conflicted about opposing.

It has to be the latter in my opinion. For the longest time I've been wondering what the goals of the Obscurati are. Not sure I'm 100% sold on the idea that Nicodemus would leave that up to anyone but himself, but I'll get used to it. I certainly think this Convocation idea is hugely innovative and is bound to be entertaining. (Can't help but wondering how much of it will eventually be shared with the players.)

That said, all along while wondering exactly what their 'brave, new world' would look like I have been hoping that it would be something potentially better than the existing one; a plan that is flawed only by the ruthlessness of its execution, the arrogance of its presumption, and the fact that it takes an enormous risk with the fabric of the world itself and ultimately fails.

I really want the conspiracy to be planning something better.

The great thing about this debate is that we will hopefully get to see all of the philosophies fleshed out and argued, so I'm guessing that if a DM doesn't like the one that is eventually chosen, he can just pick another one and run with that instead. So if you want out-and-out villainy and we vote for idealism - change it, and vice-versa.