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[Let's Read] Nidal, Land of Shadows
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<blockquote data-quote="Tristissima" data-source="post: 8114682" data-attributes="member: 6162"><p>Yay! We get an explicit mention of Nidalese foreign policy and diplomacy, as we are told that the Jadwiga witches who rule Irrisen have found some devotion for Zon-Kuthon among their ranks and so maintain an embassy in the “fairy tale mansion” (I naughty word you not, that’s right out of the text) in Pangolais. Called the Frostfell Manor ~ just what exactly is everyone’s obsession with compound names involving “-fell”? It mostly just sounds stupid to my ears and I hate it, but “Frostfell” does sound better than “Shadowfell” ~ its walls emit a constant twinkle from the frost that magically swirls around it at all times. Within, the Irriseni diplomats enjoy more luxury than is the usual Nidalese wont.</p><p></p><p>As an old-school World of Darkness fanqueer dating all the way back to my high school days in the mid- to late-90s (I graduated in 2000), I have always enjoyed the various splat’s stereotypes and opinions of the other splats in their books. It’s a thing more D&D-fantasy gazetteers would do well to include amongst the nations, I daresay. I mean, do you know what Amnians generally think of Rashemi, or Solamnics of the Qualinesti, or people from the Duchy of Tenh think of Perrenlanders? Thankfully, I do have an idea of how the Kellid Nidalese generally view the Ulfen Irriseni: the winter witches seem ruled by greed and absent of discipline.</p><p></p><p>Okay, I may have misspoke when I called it an embassy. That’s rather a bit of an exaggeration; there is no alliance between Irrisen and Nidal. Those who come and stay in Frostfell Manor are individual Irriseni who have taken to the ways of the Midnight Lord, not official envoys, and the Umbral Court often takes advantage of their luxury-motivated isolation to spy on them in hopes of furthering their cause against a nation that they have little regard for.</p><p></p><p>I do think there might be some interesting stuff that could be done with an Irriseni Kuthite, but it doesn’t grip me with new ideas the way something like a Brevish dueling school exploring the uses of accepting pain joyfully would. Still, it does a good amount to broaden the field for Kuthite, Nidalese, witch, and Irriseni characters, so I’m happy for its inclusion. Also, political maneuverings inside Frostfell Manor could be hella fun.</p><p></p><p>The Gold Manticore Fount holds a secret brightness, a secret hope amongst the bleak wracking of Nidalese society, within it, and I greatly respect that it is not focused on balming pain or the Desnan revolution against the Umbral Court (and again: what of the Gozrehn revolution, huh?). By focusing it on the classism of Nidalese society and the naughty word position it puts the poor and disenfranchised in, it feels much more naturally emergent from Nidal’s situation on the ground. I firmly believe that fantasy worlds should be built to be seen from within, and this happy secret of a fountain marked by three hidden golden spikes amongst a ruff of steel spikes upon a manticore carved of obsidian, is certainly built to be seen from within.</p><p></p><p>Of course, the reason wishes whispered into the manticore’s ear on the first night of the new moon tend to come true is a gold dragon named Astarathian. So there’s that.</p><p></p><p>This lovely bit of epic solution for mundane problem lives most of the time as a greengrocer near the Gold Manticore Fount. For everyone who wonders why good creatures exist in D&D, this is why. This is the single best use of a gold dragon I have ever seen. (I’m looking at you, Dragonlance.)</p><p></p><p>The Chronicles in Tooth and Bone are an incredibly well-named collection of pre-Earthfall knowledge kept in Pangolais’s Hall of the Chronicles. Their grisly material (that name is not a metaphor) and stone-chiseled font are a result of survivors not stopping to grab parchment as they fled for their lives from the after-effects of a giant meteor slamming into the planet. Of course, ten millennia after their writing, the Chronicles’ worth is not merely in the events they record, but the lost languages they record them in, the physical things they record them upon, and the tiny religious details ~ especially funerary details ~ that crop up in those descriptions. An army of archivists unceasingly work with the Chronicles, translating them and writing commentaries and keeping ancient knowledge alive. I will repeat myself: I love that Nidal has these archives. It gives good parties a wonderful reason to need to come into the realm and not indiscriminately murder a culture that seems strange to them without trying to understand it.</p><p></p><p>Having praised Astarthian and his focus away from the obvious adventure fare, we come to the Moth and Flame tavern, which is named for its elaborate floor shows supplemented with many illusory effects. One dancer represents a Desnan moth who is drawn to a velstrac-in-disguise’s flame until finally she is chained and tormented and apparently roasted to a cinder. The illusions and the grace of the dancers bring throngs of customers to the tavern to feast.</p><p></p><p>It’s also a clever way for Theanor of Nisroch, the tavern-owner, to explain away the collection of real Desnan sacred paraphernalia weighing down the tavern’s walls and tables. Together with Lephalia Silvermoth, a CG female human bard 3, Theanor operates the center of Desnan planning and fraternity in Pangolais. It’s not the tavern; that just serves (presumably) as rallying flag and a recruitment office. The two nonetheless relay messages, arrange supply drops, and occasionall smuggle other butterfly-worshipping freedom fighters into or out of Pangolais.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tristissima, post: 8114682, member: 6162"] Yay! We get an explicit mention of Nidalese foreign policy and diplomacy, as we are told that the Jadwiga witches who rule Irrisen have found some devotion for Zon-Kuthon among their ranks and so maintain an embassy in the “fairy tale mansion” (I naughty word you not, that’s right out of the text) in Pangolais. Called the Frostfell Manor ~ just what exactly is everyone’s obsession with compound names involving “-fell”? It mostly just sounds stupid to my ears and I hate it, but “Frostfell” does sound better than “Shadowfell” ~ its walls emit a constant twinkle from the frost that magically swirls around it at all times. Within, the Irriseni diplomats enjoy more luxury than is the usual Nidalese wont. As an old-school World of Darkness fanqueer dating all the way back to my high school days in the mid- to late-90s (I graduated in 2000), I have always enjoyed the various splat’s stereotypes and opinions of the other splats in their books. It’s a thing more D&D-fantasy gazetteers would do well to include amongst the nations, I daresay. I mean, do you know what Amnians generally think of Rashemi, or Solamnics of the Qualinesti, or people from the Duchy of Tenh think of Perrenlanders? Thankfully, I do have an idea of how the Kellid Nidalese generally view the Ulfen Irriseni: the winter witches seem ruled by greed and absent of discipline. Okay, I may have misspoke when I called it an embassy. That’s rather a bit of an exaggeration; there is no alliance between Irrisen and Nidal. Those who come and stay in Frostfell Manor are individual Irriseni who have taken to the ways of the Midnight Lord, not official envoys, and the Umbral Court often takes advantage of their luxury-motivated isolation to spy on them in hopes of furthering their cause against a nation that they have little regard for. I do think there might be some interesting stuff that could be done with an Irriseni Kuthite, but it doesn’t grip me with new ideas the way something like a Brevish dueling school exploring the uses of accepting pain joyfully would. Still, it does a good amount to broaden the field for Kuthite, Nidalese, witch, and Irriseni characters, so I’m happy for its inclusion. Also, political maneuverings inside Frostfell Manor could be hella fun. The Gold Manticore Fount holds a secret brightness, a secret hope amongst the bleak wracking of Nidalese society, within it, and I greatly respect that it is not focused on balming pain or the Desnan revolution against the Umbral Court (and again: what of the Gozrehn revolution, huh?). By focusing it on the classism of Nidalese society and the naughty word position it puts the poor and disenfranchised in, it feels much more naturally emergent from Nidal’s situation on the ground. I firmly believe that fantasy worlds should be built to be seen from within, and this happy secret of a fountain marked by three hidden golden spikes amongst a ruff of steel spikes upon a manticore carved of obsidian, is certainly built to be seen from within. Of course, the reason wishes whispered into the manticore’s ear on the first night of the new moon tend to come true is a gold dragon named Astarathian. So there’s that. This lovely bit of epic solution for mundane problem lives most of the time as a greengrocer near the Gold Manticore Fount. For everyone who wonders why good creatures exist in D&D, this is why. This is the single best use of a gold dragon I have ever seen. (I’m looking at you, Dragonlance.) The Chronicles in Tooth and Bone are an incredibly well-named collection of pre-Earthfall knowledge kept in Pangolais’s Hall of the Chronicles. Their grisly material (that name is not a metaphor) and stone-chiseled font are a result of survivors not stopping to grab parchment as they fled for their lives from the after-effects of a giant meteor slamming into the planet. Of course, ten millennia after their writing, the Chronicles’ worth is not merely in the events they record, but the lost languages they record them in, the physical things they record them upon, and the tiny religious details ~ especially funerary details ~ that crop up in those descriptions. An army of archivists unceasingly work with the Chronicles, translating them and writing commentaries and keeping ancient knowledge alive. I will repeat myself: I love that Nidal has these archives. It gives good parties a wonderful reason to need to come into the realm and not indiscriminately murder a culture that seems strange to them without trying to understand it. Having praised Astarthian and his focus away from the obvious adventure fare, we come to the Moth and Flame tavern, which is named for its elaborate floor shows supplemented with many illusory effects. One dancer represents a Desnan moth who is drawn to a velstrac-in-disguise’s flame until finally she is chained and tormented and apparently roasted to a cinder. The illusions and the grace of the dancers bring throngs of customers to the tavern to feast. It’s also a clever way for Theanor of Nisroch, the tavern-owner, to explain away the collection of real Desnan sacred paraphernalia weighing down the tavern’s walls and tables. Together with Lephalia Silvermoth, a CG female human bard 3, Theanor operates the center of Desnan planning and fraternity in Pangolais. It’s not the tavern; that just serves (presumably) as rallying flag and a recruitment office. The two nonetheless relay messages, arrange supply drops, and occasionall smuggle other butterfly-worshipping freedom fighters into or out of Pangolais. [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] Nidal, Land of Shadows
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