Tomorrow I'm going to run the meeting where the new Lord Mayor gets chosen. I was thinking of using the Vanderborens to foreshadow the coming Savage Tide a bit since two of the main characters in it are Vanderborens (Lavinia & Vanthus if I'm not mistaken).
I was wondering about the exact relationship between them all. Are Lavinia & Vanthus children of the Vanderborens and thus (younger?) brother and sisters of Todd? And how did they come to be in Sasserine? Did they leave Cauldron?
Does anyone have any ideas? I read the Savage Tide Preview in Dungeon 138 but that didn't really make it clear.
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Breaks down like this:
Lavinia Vanderboren is the "star NPC" of Savage Tide. Her brother, Vanthus Vanderboren is one of the main villians that hounds the PCs through much of the campaign. Their parents are Verik Vanderboren and Larissa Vanderboren.
Verik's younger brother is Premiach Vanderboren, a man who rejected the traditional Vanderboren calling of becoming an adventurer to pursue his dreams of becoming a rich merchant in the city of Cauldron. He started as a messenger for another merchant in Cauldron, serving faithfully for two years before the owner passed away and left the businees to Premiach. Soon after, he met Aeberrin, who was working as a server at a tavern, and over the next several years they've become quite successful, specializing in buying and reselling houses (which, in Cauldron, is a brisk business, as there's little space to build new houses). They were made nobles of Cauldron only recently.
One of Premiach and Aeberrin's earliest purchases was the Lantern Street Orphanage. They took one of the orphans under their wing at this time; unfortunately this guy kind of turned into a bad seed. This is, of course, Todd Vanderboren, one of the Stormblades.
So to recap: The Vanderborens are old nobility in Sasserine. The Cauldron Vanderborens are new nobility; Premiach left the noble life to become a merchant and now, ironically, he finds himself a noble all over again but in a different city.
Relations between the two families have been strained. Verik Vanderboren and his father did not approve of Premiach's decision to leave Sasserine, and apart from a few almost accidental visits over the year, the two families have not had much contact. At the start of Savage Tide, we find the Vanderborens of Sasserine have fallen on hard times, and are sending word to the Cauldon Vanderborens to attempt to repair this rift and to ask for aid. Of course, this event won't happen for about 3 or so years after the event in which the Cauldron Vanderborens are helping pick the new lord mayor. One way you can foreshadow Savage Tide is by having Taskerhill (who's family also has a presence in Sasserine) subtly mock the Vanderborens, suggesting they return to Sasserine to rejoin their mother and father and to leave the hard work in Cauldron to the nobles who know what's going on.
Thanks! Really great stuff.
It's backstory like this that makes me want to rename the Amedio Peninsula the Paizo Peninsula. :)
This has answered my questions about the Vanderborens, but what is the connection between Kalmadar Taskerhill of Sasserine (Dungeon 139) and Ankhin Taskerhill of Cauldron?
I've been navigating around here looking for the answer. My apologies if I just missed it.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
This has answered my questions about the Vanderborens, but what is the connection between Kalmadar Taskerhill of Sasserine (Dungeon 139) and Ankhin Taskerhill of Cauldron?
Kalmadar is Ankhin's older cousin. Unlike the Vanderborens, the expansion of this noble family into Cauldron was a calculated move to build on the family's power. Over the generations, the Cauldron Taskerhills have grown increasingly greedy and cuthroat in their methods of gathering power, something the Sasserine Taskerhills are quite ashamed about. During the events in Shackled City, the Cauldron Taskerhills (Ankhin in particular, but possibly his daughter as well) are caught in the thick of it, and rumors that Ankhin hired assassins to (if unknowingly) aid Vhalantru and the Cagewrights has severely damaged the family name. Kalmadar's been working hard lately to repair the damage to the family name, but the fact that Ankhin's gone missing (likely fled to parts unknown) isn't helping much.
Thank you for that information. Is there printed information on Kalmadar somewhere that I might find, or is it yet to come in future Savage Tide adventures? Also, what, if anything do we know about a wife for Ankhin? Does Annah have any brothers or sisters? I don't mean to be a pest, but I'm doing some things with the Taskerhill family and all information about them is helpful. Cheers.
|
Creative Director
|
Thank you for that information. Is there printed information on Kalmadar somewhere that I might find, or is it yet to come in future Savage Tide adventures? Also, what, if anything do we know about a wife for Ankhin? Does Annah have any brothers or sisters? I don't mean to be a pest, but I'm doing some things with the Taskerhill family and all information about them is helpful. Cheers.
If you have the Shackled City hardcover, that's the best place to look for further info about the Taskerhills. There's not much more about them beyond this book. Kalmadar Taskerhill doesn't really have a role to play in Savage Tide, so there's not going to be much more (if any) information about him in the campaign. In other words, go crazy with his relations!