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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 9721935" data-attributes="member: 2067">FWIW, I'm open to the idea of this organization aligning with amethyst dragons and having it make sense in and be kind of interesting in context. Like, amethyst dragons are Neutral and are aloof and kind of arrogantly "above it all" - they don't necessarily care about this nation or its people, and they're not the kind of dragon to inherently care about what happens to human nations. It's pretty clear why Cormyr would ally with dragons (power! money!), but what do the dragons themselves want? Amethyst dragons in 5e lore are very curious about the planes, and specifically oppose the threat of the Far Realm (reflecting a bit of the 4e psionics story). I haven't played it, but it's possible this connects to events in Phandelver and Below? Maybe they're planning a big Far Realm adventure next year or something and this organization can then key into it pretty easily? Amethyst dragons connect to themes like psionic force, psychokinesis, planar divination, aloof neutrality...there could be interesting elements in that.Like:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sagacious amethyst dragons that watch the planes see a rift to the Far Realm building somewhere in Cormyr</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hoping to preserve planar integrity, the amethyst dragons abandon their usual neutrality to empower the humans best able to fight the Far Realm with psionic powers. They're building an army to prepare for an invasion. But, the exact details of the rift (where it is, what can seal it, what's creating it, what's...crawling through it...) aren't clear. The dragons and the humans need to work together to solve the problem.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The humans are happy to accept draconic help in part to avoid an apocalyptic Far Realm invasion, but also because while they're fighting the Far Realm, they can get the power and the money from amethyst dragons and their hordes. The leaders of Cormyr are pragmatic: they can use the dragons to advance the cause of their nation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There's tension there between what the dragons want from the humans and what the humans want from the dragons.  The dragons are single-minded and deliberate. They're used to aloof neutrality, and they don't care about Cormyr as much as they care about preventing an invasion of horrors from the Far Realm. They believe they've got the right priorities, and that the humans should listen to their betters for their own dang good. They look for what is effective, not necessarily what is honorable or right, and they find all the politics and chivalry as little ants playing at their little ant rituals while the time to prevent an invasion grows short.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">For the humans, they definitely want to avoid the apocalypse, but what's good for the world is also what's good for Cormyr, and so they are more than ready and willing to use the power and money of the dragons for other purposes. Unrelated wars. Local conflicts. The dragons resent being entangled in these small concerns, but are also interested in protecting the world, so tolerate it (sometimes...most of the time....well, the stories of dragons turning on the armies they are supposed to serve are surely not becoming more common, right?!). Other factions and nations in the region are somewhat overwhelmed, and Cormyr's reputation for chivalry is tarnished because the amethyst dragons are not committed to noble ideals like compassion and mercy and honor. And power corrupts, so the leaders are also in tension, some wanting to preserve the old ways in the light of this amoral power, and others happy to use this amoral power for their own ends (sometimes justifying it as for the "greater good of Cormyr" because certainly a notable noble family falling from grace would just be a distraction from the greater fight against the Far Realm!) Sometimes, maybe the knights of the Purple Dragon sometimes fail to fulfill their side of the "fight the Far Realm" bargain in a way that could drop the region into aberrant chaos.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At the same time, an alliance with amethyst dragons is causing changes. Kids in Cormyr are being born able to move things with their mind, or seeing visions of a horrible future, or being able to speak without words. There's a variety of reactions.  Sometimes, it's just a new kind of magic, not any more of a big deal than sorcery (not that this is a small deal, exactly). But some parents are like "What is this doing to my family? My kids are MUTANTS, the Dragons are a DISEASE that is INFECTING us, and turning us into MONSTERS" (and maybe sometimes this is true, the amethyst dragons might not be extremely careful and the occasional megalomaniac with psychic powers is just part of the price they're happy to pay to get that rift sealed). Maybe then there's like X-men style psionic orphanage-academies that might be producing some Future Protagonists that will fight the Far Realm.</li> </ul>That whole bag is not a nothing story. It's not really necessarily a Cormyr story (AFAIK, the Far Realm and Cormyr haven't been linked exactly), but since part of that story is about preparing for an alien invasion, that feels pretty apt (the more normal the world is that the aliens could wreck, the more effective the story about aliens wrecking it!). It's at least got some legs.But this:[ATTACH=full]413487[/ATTACH]...this is pretty dumb. It tells me that the knights are chivalrous fighters for justice and freedom and protecting the innocent, which is all well and good. And then they also partner with amethyst dragons, which makes no sense without further context (amethyst dragons don't really care about chivalry, freedom, justice, or innocents). There's no reason for this pairing. It's just stated like it should be obvious.</blockquote>

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