I am glad that the STAP adventures have been coming in faster than I can run them; being able to foreshadow events is a good, good thing for fleshing out my storyline :)
The latest questions to stick in my mind, though, regard the mission to Farshore and some of the people populating it when the PCs arrive in TOD. I don't remember it being mentioned in SWW or HTBM, but shouldn't some people in Sasserine know about Farshore's existence (since many of the colonists came from there)? Does Avner know that his uncle is there? Would the elder Vanderborens have spoken to the Dawn Council about setting up the colony in the first place? Would Larissa's journal have any entries concerning the colonists?
My first thoughts on this were that it was kept quiet since there was no guarantee that the colony would be viable, which made sense to me. But I also know my players are going to be asking why nobody in Sasserine remembers this place after only a year's time has passed.
I'm about to start SWW probably within the next week, so I have to hammer this out soon. There has to be something in the adventures or the backdrops that I have overlooked - what am I missing? (I knew I should've gotten more coffee this morning before thinking about this....)
Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks!!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
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My first thoughts on this were that it was kept quiet since there was no guarantee that the colony would be viable, which made sense to me. But I also know my players are going to be asking why nobody in Sasserine remembers this place after only a year's time has passed.
IIRC Lavinia's parents returned from Farshore a couple years ago. They were busy in Sasserine taking care of some local concerns and working on some items for the colony also and were just preparing to return to Farshore when Vanthus killed them. Also, a few of the citizens of Sasserine might have heard about a possible colony but not where it was going to be located.
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Unless your characters are big movers or shakers in the city then its unlikely they would know about a single colony being founded someplace. Colonies are likely founded fairly frequently and only 200+ people went off to found this one. Before their patron mentions it, then its easy to believe that the PCs would not know about it.
I'm sure plenty of NPCs know about. The Dawn Council is probably aware it exists, but even if a PC was part of that faction there is no reason that they would be randomly told about it. Also, once they start the trip there is a cool article in Dragon which details the contents of the journal that the PCs can use to "learn" about the colony.
People who think they are in the know might know this:
A bunch of fools set sail on some idiot notion to establish an colony in some far away unknown place. Nobody has heard from them in sometime so it is most likely the fools meet their doom somewhere.
That about sums it up. Colonies fail all the time and people are written off and forgotten. That is one reason that little is known.
Creative Director
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Lavinia's parents and the original colonists left to found Farshore about 4 years before the campaign starts. They brougth about 250 colonists, and the Vanderborens managed to return to Sasserine to attempt (and fail several times) to get a new set of colonists down there.
Sasserine is still recovering from Sea Prince rule, so there's a lot more on the top of people's minds in the city than the condition of a tiny little outpost 3000 miles away.
Which means that there's plenty of people who know about the colony, but very few, if any, who know about the colony's current condition. Most assume that they're all dead. Of course, confirmation on the colony's health is only a sending spell away; it's possible, for example, that the Sasserine Meravanchis have contacted the Farshore Meravanchies, but it's more likely that since the Sasserine ones don't really care all that much for the Farshore ones that they didn't bother.
As for the Dawn Council... while the initial expedition was funded and sponsored by nobles, only the Meravanchis have any real pull on the Dawn Council, so if they don't push to find out what happened to Farshore, no one there really will. They've got festivals to plan, after all!
Once again my proverbial bacon (and my sanity) have been saved - thank you all for the help!!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"