Thay assaults Rashemen! (Updates from the game...)

[ashockney]

Don't forget to add in the spirits as well. The land of Rasheman will rise up to repulse the Thayans.

IMC (an evil Thayan campaign, that just touched on attacking Rasheman before we moved), I also used the ley-line rules from Heroes of High Favor: Elves. It lets Rashemi throw spell support thru the whole land from safe locations.

PS

Very cool idea Storminator. I like the concept of the "elven" ley lines. It would make great sense with the setup as well, because the Rashemi are not very mobile, and the heart of their power lies in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

Any other great ideas from your campaign you're will to share Storm?

 

[ashockney]

Here's another interesting component from the DMG, p.138 (thanks Monte!):

Under creating a campaign/world, when discussing guard/soldier, it states that in most fantasy medieval settings 1 in 100 adults is a full time guard or soldier, and in addition 1 in 20 can be conscripted into the militia within a frew hours.

To AQ's and DJ's points, the stadning military is MUCH larger in Rashemen. 1 in 10 by accounts in the Unapproachable East. That is ten times the size of a normal standing military!

Now, to exprapolate that into the militia. 1 in 100 is a soldier, and there are an additional 5 in 100 who are militia, in a normal medieval fantasy setting, can you assume that 1 in 10 is a soldier, and 5 in 10 are militia? Whew! That's as large or larger than what AQ had initially projected.

And so, here's some estimates based on these new figures.

500 soldiers in Mulsantir
1924 additional militia in Mulsantir

4,407 soldiers in Mulsantir's urban and rural settings
17,627 militia in Mulsantir's urban and rural settings

9,352 soldiers in southern Rashemen
45,747 militia in southern Rashemen

Wow. Supported by Hathrans (perhaps from afar), bards, druids, and clerics. A force to be reckoned with certainly.

Using Silveras' recommendation it would be more like:

500 soldiers in Mulsantir
500 additional militia

4,407 soldiers in Mulsantir's urban and rural settings
4,407 additional militia

9,352 soldiers in southern Rashemen
9,352 additional militia

Thoughts? Preferences? It is a LARGE area for them to cover, approximately 200 miles across southern Rashemen.

 

[Mystery Man]

Some good political food for thought...

What you do as a country directly affects your nieghboors as well.

How would your Theskians and Aglarondians feel about Thay invading Rasheman at this time?
Currently Thay is in the middle of a project of domination through trade of magic items etc. How will this be affected?

 

[Cergorach]

Let's not forget summoned and bound troops, mercenaries, constructs, etc.

[edit]
Would you really want every able bodied soldier to fight in a war, even if they would win, they would suffer huge losses. You could wipe out Rashemen!

Just think up the kind of forces you want to pitt against each other, make up story arcs why these forces are assembled, and slug it out.
[/edit]

 

[Storminator]

Very cool idea Storminator. I like the concept of the "elven" ley lines. It would make great sense with the setup as well, because the Rashemi are not very mobile, and the heart of their power lies in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

Any other great ideas from your campaign you're will to share Storm?

Star elf genocide. Burn down the Yuirwood, and the matching plane of Seldeyuir (sp?) is destroyed, wiping out the star elves. A natural for the Kossuth factions in Thay.

Rasheman owns Lake Mulsantir, which is a part of how they hold off the Thayans. What if the Red Wizards built a giant harbor portal and sailed the Sea of Fallen Stars navy into Lake Mulsantir. Remember the spell bombards? Cloudkill Mulsantir from the lake.

Red Wizards steal XP from apprentices. While using circle magic, each apprentice must make opposed Spellcraft checks against the master. Multiply the difference by 25, and that's how much XP the master steals. Keeps the masters powerful, and the apprentices down. The RW apprentice player hated this rule.

Theskan tax missions. Every now and again, the Thayan army moves into Thesk and demands money. Thesk generally complies.

Those are some of the big things I was working with. I originally had plans to send the party against Algarond, but the Rashemi kept making trouble, and the players kept going after them.

PS

 

[Black Omega]

On the other side of the coin, also keep in mind the Thayan military might be powerful in some ways but based on the books it's also pretty incompetant. Constant backstabbing and undercutting. The Rashameni might want to defend their city. The Thayan commander might want to capture it. But the Thayan second in command is likely thinking "Now how can I help this fail so -my- plan is the one that captures this city."

From reading the FRCS, the Thayans sometimes sound like the Nazi in Hogan's Heros, sadly.

 

[ashockney]

Star elf genocide. Burn down the Yuirwood, and the matching plane of Seldeyuir (sp?) is destroyed, wiping out the star elves. A natural for the Kossuth factions in Thay.

Rasheman owns Lake Mulsantir, which is a part of how they hold off the Thayans. What if the Red Wizards built a giant harbor portal and sailed the Sea of Fallen Stars navy into Lake Mulsantir. Remember the spell bombards? Cloudkill Mulsantir from the lake.

Red Wizards steal XP from apprentices. While using circle magic, each apprentice must make opposed Spellcraft checks against the master. Multiply the difference by 25, and that's how much XP the master steals. Keeps the masters powerful, and the apprentices down. The RW apprentice player hated this rule.

Theskan tax missions. Every now and again, the Thayan army moves into Thesk and demands money. Thesk generally complies.

Those are some of the big things I was working with. I originally had plans to send the party against Algarond, but the Rashemi kept making trouble, and the players kept going after them.

PS

Thanks Storminator!

These are some very cool ideas. It certainly shows your familiarity with the area. I'm defintely on the same wave-length with the Lake Mulsantir components. The coordinated efforts will use some powerful magic to "freeze" the lake in the winter, and get forces directly into the city, bypassing some of it's natural defenses. Hopefully, it will work well.

I also like the idea of the attack on the elves of the Yuirwood.

 

[ashockney]

What you do as a country directly affects your nieghboors as well.

How would your Theskians and Aglarondians feel about Thay invading Rasheman at this time?
Currently Thay is in the middle of a project of domination through trade of magic items etc. How will this be affected?

This is a great point. One that I will have to factor into the Thayvian generals "planning" to ensure conquest is completed. The objective is to move into and acquire all of Southern Rashemen. It appears that the forces of Northern Rashemen will be sufficient to repel/defeat a Thayvian army, but they may not be built for a siege, if Thay succeeds in conquering the land and holding off reinforcements/supplies. Rashemen will certainly seek aid from neighbors to the south and west, and will probably find very willing allies in the form of the Theskians and Aglarondans. Although a turncoat group of Theskians putting their own miliatary into the battle (although mostly for purposes of ceremony), as allies to the Thayvians would make for an interesting twist.

 

[ashockney]

Here's how the initial battle is shaping up right now:

Thay sends to strategic units into Rashemen. One from the southwest into Mulsantir, and one from the southeast/east to cut off reinforcements that may come from the north.

The battle for Mulsantir (where the players are based):
Somewhere between 500 soldiers (in Mulsantir) and 4,407 soldiers in the Mulsantir area for Rashemen. These soldiers will include many of the "spirit folk" of Rashemen. They will be supported by all the Hathrans of Rashemen, through their powerful ley line magic. The Rashemi will also have between 2,000 - 44,000 additional trained militia, who will be slightly better than generic conscripts.

Thay will move into Mulsantir with a HUGE contingent of lizardmen (approximately 10,000), acquired from the Surthary marshes. They will be supported by Goblin Skirmishers (5,000), a gnoll regiment (1,000), and a division of Thayvian cavalry (2,000 heavy mounted soldiers). A contingent of Red Wizards will also provide support.

Thoughts? Possible outcomes or pitfalls? Possible strategies for both sides?

 

[ascendance]

You should keep in mind that "standing army" does not mean standing army in the sense we mean now, with soldiers constantly at the ready, and doing nothing other than training and drilling.

A standing army, even in the Realms, would most likely perform some kind of economic activity. They might patrol as police, collect taxes, or even farm. The Roman legions, which were definitely a standing army, often farmed the land around their garrisons. They would most certainly practice regularly with weapons, and be responsible for upkeeping the defense of the town, including construction work and repairs of the fortifications.