Shards of the Silve Flame -- OOC thread

[drothgery]

This thread is for any non-trivial out-of-character discussion, and/or off-topic messages to the players in the game.

First order of business is figuring out how your characters know each other, how long you've been working together, and how that relationship got started. Also how you know Lord Reverend Alistair ir'Irandi (at whose bequest you're meeting).

Edit: The new Rogue's Gallery thread (for stats) is at
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2621110

Edit: The in-character thread (for playing the game) is at
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2658762

 

[Anax]

My working model for how Hariel knows the Lord Reverend ir'Irandi (by the way--what is the proper mode of address? His Reverence? His Grace? Lord Reverend?) depends a lot on what kinds of projects he's been involved in in the past. Based on the short description we have, I've presumed that he might have been involved in charity works in the city of Flamekeep. I've also presumed that he might have been involved in the government of Flamekeep, or of Thrane, at some point.

Working with the most optimistic situation, I believe Hariel was a bit of a street rat in one of the poorer areas of Flamekeep when she was young. The Lord Reverend was involved in some way (anything from simply lending his name to the enterprise to direct involvement) in a project to provide help to the needy in these areas, and particularly, in a project to educate the poor youth. Hariel turned out to be one of the brighter students, and ended up joining the Flamekeep constabulary when she came of age.

The next step is somewhat more tenuous: I feel that the Lord Reverend is a man with a mind for seemingly trivial detail. What I imagine is that Hariel discovered some corruption in the guard, and when she attempted to call attention to it, she was framed for the crimes herself--the actual corrupt guards assuming that because she was from one of the poorest and most crime-ridden parts of town, nobody would give her case a second look. By chance, the Lord Reverend was in a position to hear about the case, and recalled Hariel's name and circumstances. Based on what he knew about Hariel (either first-hand, if he was involved in the charity work directly, or second-hand, if he received reports of the work), he had doubts that Hariel was guilty. After some amount of work (on the part of Hariel and those she worked with directly, who had come to respect her a great deal), and with the Lord Reverend's interest (which may have not been directly obvious) to ensure that someone was listening, Hariel was cleared--and now doubly indebted to a man (possibly a man she had never actually met.)

After she was cleared, Hariel was promoted from the equivalent of a beat cop to a detective. Her keen intellect and her willingness to take direct action to bring the truth to light spoke well for her. Not to mention the fact that people were now willing to overlook her low origins... and that she perhaps had patronage (either people believed she did, or she did publicly, or she did quietly without truly knowing it.)

Naturally, when an agent of that man delivered a message requesting a meeting, and perhaps mentioning the Lord Reverend's interest in her recent case, Hariel was happy to oblige. And that lead to him suggesting some things she might look into for him.



I like the background of having some public recognition in this way. Should be an interesting mix of respect, admiration, and "who does she think she is, anyway?" sorts of attitudes from different groups of people. But I'm not super attached to this backstory if it doesn't fit the Lord Reverend's style. Either of the two situations (the charity, or the quiet patronage in the case of corruption) would do alone, as would anything similar that would make Hariel indebted to the Lord Reverend--and that would cause her to believe he's a man worthy of respect.


As for how our characters know each other, it seems to me that the easiest way would be for us to know each other through the Lord Reverend. It's possible that some of us have been brought together by him to work with each other over the last few years. Perhaps all of us have worked together with some of the others, but not all together at once.

Once we get things penciled in in a little bit more detail, perhaps we could learn something about what we've done for the Lord Reverend in the past? I've restricted my speculation to how Hariel came to know him, but I don't want to speculate into what he would have asked her to do. (Although the thought strikes me, depending on how the Lord Reverend operates, that Hariel may have been set on the trail of the corrupt guards by the L.R. without knowing about it.)

Anyway, that's enough for me, now. I look forward to what other people have to suggest.

 

[drothgery]

My working model for how Hariel knows the Lord Reverend ir'Irandi (by the way--what is the proper mode of address? His Reverence? His Grace? Lord Reverend?) depends a lot on what kinds of projects he's been involved in in the past. Based on the short description we have, I've presumed that he might have been involved in charity works in the city of Flamekeep. I've also presumed that he might have been involved in the government of Flamekeep, or of Thrane, at some point.

As to what to call him -- either Lord Alistair in a personal context (his surviving older brother being Lord ir'Indari), or Reverend ir'Indari in a Church context.

For much of his adult life, he divided his time about evenly between his ancestral holdings near the Karrnath border, and Flamekeep, where he has held several positions over time. A few years ago, some allies of High Cardinal Krozen arranged to have him made Theocrat of his home district, mostly to get him out of Flamekeep.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Found the new thread. I'll post a little bit more after I wake up.

 

[Anax]

For much of his adult life, he divided his time about evenly between his ancestral holdings near the Karrnath border, and Flamekeep, where he has held several positions over time. A few years ago, some allies of High Cardinal Krozen arranged to have him made Theocrat of his home district, mostly to get him out of Flamekeep.

Hmm. It sounds like my backstory for Hariel may be workable, then? Let me know if you have any suggestions for the rougher edges.

It also sounds like Hariel should know Reverend ir'Irandi from before he was shuffled off to be kept out of Flamekeep.

That raises the question of military background--it's unclear to me how likely a young woman of sound mind and fit body would be to avoid military service if she was of an appropriate age before two years ago. (Well, to be clear: it seems unlikely that she would.) Should I factor some form of compulsory military service into my character background?

(Left brain says: How do you maintain a hundred-year war without having everybody able to serve in the military serve? Right brain says: How do you maintain a country if you have everybody able to serve in the military serve? Middle brain says: Forget about it for now and go have breakfast.)

 

[drothgery]

That raises the question of military background--it's unclear to me how likely a young woman of sound mind and fit body would be to avoid military service if she was of an appropriate age before two years ago. (Well, to be clear: it seems unlikely that she would.) Should I factor some form of compulsory military service into my character background?

Sexism? Also, as per below, I don't think there was a lot of mass conscription.

(Left brain says: How do you maintain a hundred-year war without having everybody able to serve in the military serve? Right brain says: How do you maintain a country if you have everybody able to serve in the military serve? Middle brain says: Forget about it for now and go have breakfast.)

[Dave playing with Eberron history here; what follows is non-cannon, and only applicable to this particular Eberron game, unless WotC and/or Kieth Baker have written something similar that I haven't seen or don't remember, or write someithing like this in the future]

There were a hundred years of war. There weren't a hundred years of high-intensity combat. Some nations went decades where they weren't involved in any open war. Besides, D&D mechanics tend to bias armed forces even more in the direction of small and highly skilled than historical feudal Europe did, and Eberron geography and demographics exaggerates this even further.

 

[drothgery]

Just as an FYI to everyone, I'll be on a business trip next Wednesday & Thursday, so I'm not planning on the game really starting before next week (assuming everyone's got their character sheets and backgrounds together by then).

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

I could move Oswin's history from Thaliost to Flamekeep. This would put poor Oswin as living on the streets of Flamekeep and possibly taking part in the same get the poor off the streets program as Hariel initially. As she enters her guard service, Oswin could easily be going into his training/missions for the Shadowbane squads of Thrane, developing his inquisitive and infiltration skills, etc. Oswin gets out, and is assigned to the inquisitive side of the guard with an old familiar face as a partner...Hariel. The ensuing next year or so becomes the Eberron equivalent of Dutch and Claudette on the Shield. Lord Alistair then pulls strings to get us working for him.

How would that work for a start?

 

[stonegod]

I think Saalin's background works mostly as is; he only arrived on the Flamekeep-scene in the last two years. That'll probably be when he met up w/ the gang; still working on those details.

As for a question: An preferred format for the rogue's gallery thread? I was planning to use th new statblock format unless something is more preferable.

 

[Anax]

There were a hundred years of war. There weren't a hundred years of high-intensity combat. ...

Okay--that's likely how I'd reconcile things, too, but it's always good to check.

I could move Oswin's history from Thaliost to Flamekeep. ...

Wow. I didn't look at everybody's post in detail, so I didn't spot that our backgrounds were so similar in many ways. Hmm. I need to run, but my first pass thought about this is that it might be more interesting to keep things somewhat more independent. Oswin's background suggests that the organization he's a part of is more involved in the occult side of things--and is more of an elite Church force than the general run-of-the-mill guard. I alluded before to some possible tension between the ordinary guard who are at work every day in the streets of Flamekeep, and know what kind of compromises people need to make to survive, and the more elite guards who (when they do end up in the slums for some reason, perhaps coming after an arcane offender of some sort) are more likely to enforce the word of the law.

What if Oswin did have a similar background as far as what got him started, but in Thaliost instead of Flamekeep, and ending up in a martial church order rather than the guard. That implies (to me) that he's got a much firmer grounding in special situations (you mentioned cults of the Dragon Below, possessing fiends, and spies in your original post), whereas Hariel's experiences (at least, before Lord Alistair) have been related almost exclusively to mundane matters.

Based on that, I can see Hariel and Oswin striking sparks when they first meet. Because they have similar backgrounds, but significantly different careers, they kept almost, but not *quite* understanding each other for a while. Eventually, however, they saw enough of the other's baileywick to gain some serious respect. Oswin certainly has a way with matters religious and arcane that Hariel's training had not prepared her for. Hariel, on the other hand, has a greater degree of insight into the criminal mind uninfluenced by those matters.

And I'll stop there. What do you think? If you want to go with a more connected background, Shaggy, I can certainly work with other possibilities. (Heck--could even do the childhood friendship, then went different ways for training, and when they met again similar sparks to what I'm supposing above, before any work for Lord Sinclair.)

And: don't let me bulldoze you into anything. I tend to just spew when I get thoughts running through my head, but I'm very open to alternatives.