We were discussing this in another thread, but it was getting off-topic.
Korvosa has a bunch of powerful people in it who don't seem to be much help during the AP. For some of them (eg Lorthact) there's a bit of an explanation given, but for others (eg most of the Peerage Review, Tepest Geezlebottle, possibly a gold dragon, Lictor DiVri post-dismissal, etc) we're assumed to be sufficiently competent as GMs that we come up with our own explanations as to why it's the PCs and not them taking care of the problem. Personally, I've been enjoying the challenge. :D It's possible to hand-wave all these people away and say that they're busy or don't care or are out of town, but I think that they're at least worthy of some examination.
Lorthact's motivations have been discussed at length in this forum, and I think that for the most part he'd be delighted by the actions of most PC groups. As far as I can tell, he wins if Sermignatto dies and then Ileosa dies, as long as the deaths happen in that order and he's not seen to have been behind those deaths. He'd be watching the PCs, but not interfering any more than he needed to.
Lord Arkona is explored, but the rest of the Peerage Review is left to us. In my campaign, Lord Dragos Ornelos is completely under Lorthact's thumb. He has recently taken almost his whole family (less one NPC who joined the Gray Maidens plus one PC) into the Academae, after which the Abjurers put up a big, grey, impenetrable bubble around the whole campus. Nobody gets in or out. (Lorthact stayed out.) Similarly, Lady Eliasia Leroung has brought her family into the university campus and declared a quarantine. The faculty members are concentrating on helping the students continue their studies and are forbidding outside contact. Lord Lucien Jeggare is currently in Melfesh, though he has left a nephew and some staff to maintain Jeggare Manor. I haven't done much with the Zenderholms yet, but I think Zenobia will soon fall to a Red Mantis assassin.
Tepest Geezlebottle is turning into a more important figure. He's only a level 11 wizard, but my PCs are starting to use him as more of a resource now that they're cut off from the Academae. He's Lawful Neutral, so I think he'll take some serious convincing to ever work against his monarch. That day may yet arrive, of course. For the most part I'm leaving him busy with his own concerns and not paying a lot of attention to politics.
Mike McArtor said in Dragons Revisited that a gold dragon is rumoured to live in Korvosa. Gamer Girrl points out that a visit to grandmom takes care of this, and Xuttah suggests that the queen might have taken the dragon out of the picture early on, or possibly mislead him/her. Whatever happened, I like the challenge of incorporating this into the story. KaeYoss put forward the idea that the dragon might still be fairly young, and I like this.
Let's assume that the gold dragon came to Korvosa as a young adult early in Queen Domina's reign. The dragon could still be a young adult, looking to inspire and encourage rather than deal with problems directly. Candidates from the Korvosa book: Basha (p. 22), the proprietor of Smoked Foods (p. 23), Thavian Rigulus (p. 27, and this would contradict the book's appendix), and probably a few others. The gold dragon will presumably be trying to encourage people to solve the problems themselves, at least once he/she is sure that there's a problem. Presumably a gold dragon in Korvosa would be used to Lawful Evil leaders who nonetheless are good for Korvosa (eg Queen Domina) and might take a little while to realize that Queen Ileosa is actually much worse than usual. Personally, I'm leaning toward making Basha a gold dragon.
(It would be really useful to know how Queen Domina died.)
Lictor DiVri is a bit of a puzzle. Since the days of Queen Domina, Korvosa has paid the Order of the Nail to patrol the city. Since normally hellknights do this sort of thing anyway, all this really influenced was where this group spent its time, not how. Now that they're no longer being paid to be in Korvosa they can go wherever they like, but they still have this nice headquarters in Citadel Vraid so are probably going to stay nearby. They've taken a lot of casualties and lost a number of their female members to the Gray Maidens, so they're not doing anything in force any time soon. As far as we know they're not explicitly unwelcome in Korvosa, they're just not being paid to be there any more. Might some of them still patrol the city, just for free? I suspect that a few of them will also begin making the occasional return trip to Skelt via Bloodsworn Vale.
Any other thoughts? Who have I missed?
I believe there is some mention about the Order realising there is an issue and that they've pulled in their resources and have sent a request for reinforcement to Cheliax, with the intention of confronting the queen once that reinforcement arrives.
True. Here's what I've found:
Escape From Old Korvosa, p. 9: "The Order of the Nail has withdrawn from Korvosa, retreating to Citadel Vraid for the first time in Korvosa’s history—some whisper the Hellknights are planning a full-scale invasion of Korvosa to seize control, but more knowledgeable sources know that dozens of Hellknights perished or failed to uphold their charges during the recent events, and that Lictor Severs has recalled his troops to punish them for these failures."
A History of Ashes, pp. 22-23 "The Sable Company is officially disbanded, the Hellknights of the Order of the Nail abandons the city and begin a long (and ultimately fruitless) campaign to attempt to bring in reinforcements from Cheliax to oppose the queen, and the Korvosan Guard, already shattered by riots and plague, becomes little more than a mockery of its former glory."
Crown of Fangs, p. 7: "With the Sable Company gone, the Korvosan Guard reduced to little more than a shadow of its former glory, the silence of the noble houses, the retreat of the Hellknights and the wizards of the Acadamae into their respective fortresses, and finally the Church of Abadar’s public declaration of support of the city’s new ruler, the formerly vibrant city has dulled."
So there's a bunch of stuff there about what the Order of the Nail is not doing (namely invading Korvosa), but little about how they're filling their spare time now. Notice from the context that even this information is just in passing while commenting on how things have changed from the way they used to be.
Obviously there's enough information given for a GM to just handwave them out of the story. Paizo did its job and did it well. I'd just like to flesh it out a bit and know, for example, what the hellknights the PCs met before Seven Days to the Grave are doing with themselves.
I think I'll have them sent out patrolling the new road to Skelt. That seems like a good way to keep the knights busy, which I'm told is always a concern for military commanders. Presumably an officer or two has gone to Cheliax to appeal for reinforcements, but in the meantime the average member of the Order still needs something to do.
Besides, it will be fun to see the expression on the faces of the players when they walk into the Boar's Bones in Fort Thorn and see a squad of hellknights. :D
Great thread! I've been thinking on these questions as well. Although I had missed the part about the gold dragon...
I had the Jaggaere's hire the Hellknights. They're supposed to be insanely wealthy, so they can afford it. They have a major interest in the City their family essentially founded, and I just can't see them sitting by just watching Ileosa destroy their City. So, they hire the Hellknights as personal bodyguards, but begin to plot with Lictor DeVries regarding possible actions should things go downhill rapidly. (My campaign is in the middle of Escape from Old Korvosa.) Obviously, things do go downhill, and I'll probably have the Jaggaere's join up with Kroft as part of the resistance during latter stages of the campaign.
I have begun a secondary party that I will use to keep the players focused on Korvosa, intermittently, during History of Ashes and Skeletons of Scarwall. I need to come up with some scenarios for them to run through, and I want those to be focused on just this type of thing... expanding on what the other powerful figures in Korvosa are doing.
One other powerful figure I've added... I figure that there is a powerful vampire somewhere in town with ties to Ustalav, but, he or she has been in Korvosa for years, researching into the history of Sorshen. I'm not sure how he or she fits in with Ileosa, though.
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Mike McArtor said in Dragons Revisited that a gold dragon is rumoured to live in Korvosa. Gamer Girrl points out that a visit to grandmom takes care of this, and Xuttah suggests that the queen might have taken the dragon out of the picture early on, or possibly mislead him/her. Whatever happened, I like the challenge of incorporating this into the story. KaeYoss put forward the idea that the dragon might still be fairly young, and I like this.
Let's assume that the gold dragon came to Korvosa as a young adult early in Queen Domina's reign. The dragon could still be a young adult, looking to inspire and encourage rather than deal with problems directly. Candidates from the Korvosa book: Basha (p. 22), the proprietor of Smoked Foods (p. 23), Thavian Rigulus (p. 27, and this would contradict the book's appendix), and probably a few others. The gold dragon will presumably be trying to encourage people to solve the problems themselves, at least once he/she is sure that there's a problem. Presumably a gold dragon in Korvosa would be used to Lawful Evil leaders who nonetheless are good for Korvosa (eg Queen Domina) and might take a little while to realize that Queen Ileosa is actually much worse than usual. Personally, I'm leaning toward making Basha a gold dragon.
Another option for the Gold is make him Vadid Pestiico, the Doll maker.