[URBIS] If you win, you get to marry the princess...

[Jürgen Hubert]

In my quest to make the yuan-ti even more interesting, here's another neat little location I've created forUrbis:

"Kelzech (Large Metropolis, 2,579,220): Many yuan-ti are obsessed with breeding programs. The ruling Zeshkel family of Kelzech just takes this obsession further than most.
Each year, a series of games is held in Kelzech, in which any member of a humanoid species can participate - yuan-ti, human, hobgoblin, and so on. Even slaves are permitted to enter - by law, their owners cannot prevent them from doing so. The contestants must face a series of trials that range from simple one-on-one fights against other aspirants to complicated mental puzzles. The high points are various "team games" where the contestants must work together in small groups to succeed - and be ready to betray them moments later when it becomes convenient. Contestants are frequently maimed or killed, but any non-lethal injuries will be healed by yuan-ti priests (though accepting such healing is grounds for disqualification. No magic or psionic powers of any kind are allowed in the contest on pain of death.
The three first-places contestants are showered with wealth (and given freedom, in the case of slaves). The overall winner is expected to marry into the royal family of Kelzech, and a suitable matewill be selected for him or her by the family elders. Note that the Zeshkels will not take "no" for an answer from the contest winner. In their view, he or she has proven to be suitable for breeding purposes, and they will not permit that person to get away. If that person tries to flee, they will psionically enslave this person and use him or her as breeding stock anyway. The same goes for someone who commits suicide - in this case, the Zeshkel simply send for a priest to perform a ressurection first."

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Kalanyr]

I see one flaw, the resurectee must be willing to be raised, they are informed of some information about the caster of the spell too IIRC, or do the Yuan-ti have some way around this?

 

[Chonicler]

Wow, this would make an amazing start to a campaign - just expand the number of winners to the number of PCs....I can imagine a final challenge being some sort of underground maze where the PCs decide to team together and then refuse to fight each other to determine first place. Then either they're all given a prize and decide to escape, or they just make their escape then and there....have to twist some rules and circumstances on the part of the DM for their escape, though.

 

[ajanders]

Heredity & Breeding

If it has a place in a fantasy world, do you have a half-yuan-ti template, to be applied to whatever the breeding partner was?
The other suggestion I might make is that you might take this straight into Book of Vile Darkness territory.
If you want to be brutally realworld biology enough, you don't really need consent, arms, or legs to mate.
Wither the arms/legs with a spell and you're left with a "breeding stump", easy to control, feed, and ignore when not necessary. (Further details will be decently left to the imagination.)

It makes for a heck of a twist on the standard "Rescue a Princess" plot. The heroes of the ages might be in that city somewhere, ready to join you in the fight against the ultimate evil. All you have to do is break them out and get their arms and legs working.
An interesting way to start a high-level campaign, too. Characters from vastly different places and times all meet in the Paternity ward, then get rescued to fight the ULTIMATE EVIL! (Like a giant D&D manga monsters.)

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I see one flaw, the resurectee must be willing to be raised, they are informed of some information about the caster of the spell too IIRC, or do the Yuan-ti have some way around this?

Whoops.

Hmmm. With the Nexus Towers, Epic Spells are rather common in Urbis. Perhaps there's an Epic variant of Ressurection that will allow you to raise the dead without their consent...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Wow, this would make an amazing start to a campaign - just expand the number of winners to the number of PCs....I can imagine a final challenge being some sort of underground maze where the PCs decide to team together and then refuse to fight each other to determine first place. Then either they're all given a prize and decide to escape, or they just make their escape then and there....have to twist some rules and circumstances on the part of the DM for their escape, though.

The yuan-ti, as the Evil Masterminds that they are, probably set up the whole thing that there will be one, and only one victor.

I'd say that each contestant gets some sort of point rating after each individual challenge - but they aren't told their own ranking. All they get told is whether they progress to the next challenge or not. This practically gurantees that there will be one participant who is the clear winner.

In the exceedingly unlikely event that there are two participants with the same point total, they get to battle to the death. If they refuse to fight, they are held in chains until one of them dies of starvation, and the other one is declared the winner (Stamina does count for something...)

The best a PC winner can do is pretend to accept his fate and wait for a rescue attempt by the rest of the party before he or she has conceived/is pregnant with a few little snakelings...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Re: Heredity & Breeding

If it has a place in a fantasy world, do you have a half-yuan-ti template, to be applied to whatever the breeding partner was?

Most of them would be yuan-ti purebloods or halfbloods. But I think I'll see if I can come up with a template...

(In Urbis, a feat called "Yuan-ti blooded" that can only be taken at 1st level and that gives some minor bonuses as well as access to the psychic classes would also be appropriate...)

The other suggestion I might make is that you might take this straight into Book of Vile Darkness territory.
If you want to be brutally realworld biology enough, you don't really need consent, arms, or legs to mate.
Wither the arms/legs with a spell and you're left with a "breeding stump", easy to control, feed, and ignore when not necessary. (Further details will be decently left to the imagination.)

This might be what happens to those who don't accept being the winner gracefully...

But in general, the yuan-ti want the best and brightest to compete in these contest - and the prospect of loosing your arms and legs is probably going to be a big turn-off for these people.

This way, the winners can say: "OK, I'll be married to some kind of... monster, but on the other hand, I'll live out the rest of my life in luxury with lots of personal slaves. And if I take those drugs they offer me, I won't even remember what happens in certain... nights. Probably.[/i]

It makes for a heck of a twist on the standard "Rescue a Princess" plot. The heroes of the ages might be in that city somewhere, ready to join you in the fight against the ultimate evil. All you have to do is break them out and get their arms and legs working.

This could certainly happen to a paladin who is enslaved and saw this contest as the only chance to gain his freedom.

Whoops.

An interesting way to start a high-level campaign, too. Characters from vastly different places and times all meet in the Paternity ward, then get rescued to fight the ULTIMATE EVIL! (Like a giant D&D manga monsters.)

Well, I guess you already saw my Neon Urbis Evangelion thread...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Here's a feat I've developed to represent distant yuan-ti ancestry (I've also posted this to the "House Rules" forum):



"Snake-Blooded [General]

The blood of the yuan-ti flows in your veins. You retain some of the mesmerizing qualities of your ancestors.
Prerequisite: Character must be a human, Humanoid, or Monstrous Humanoid (except for yuan-ti).
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Bluff and Diplomacy checks. You can gain levels in the psion and psychic warrior classes.
Normal: Humans, as well as any Humanoids and Monsterous Humanoids, can not gain levels in the psion and psychic warrior classes unless their racial descriptions says otherwise.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character."

 

[Nifft]

allow you to raise the dead without their consent...

What about Clone? It's not the same person, but it's the same genes.

-- Nifft

 

[CCamfield]

I must say this is damn nasty. I like it a lot.