I've been following the development blogs and I've been lurking on the messageboards for some time, so I'd like to introduce my idea for a chartered company.
The Black Lotus Consortium
The Black Lotus Consortium is an association of elves (and half elves) held together by a common set of beliefs, as follows:
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-Elves are the master race: While killing an innocent dwarf, human or gnome for no reason is unnecessary and tactless, the well being of other peoples is an after-thought at best. However, diplomatic relations with other races should be maintained when it is beneficial for the Black Lotus.
-Nature is a tool to be exploited by elven kind: While a woodland elf might see a tree as a divine giver of life, the consortium sees a pile of potential lumber waiting to be turned into something useful, like a balista or a castle door.
-Battle is a game of speed and cunning: Elves do not perform well in lengthy toe to toe fights. The key to victory for such a people is not to lumber about in cumbersome armor, but to strike from the shadows. Among our ranks, full plate wearing combatants are allowed, but only if they demonstrate remarkable speed and agility while armored. Deception, stealth, hit and run tactics, and fast, focused assaults are the bread and butter of BLC warfare.
-Blessed be the unnatural: The Consortium admires the arts of necromancy and alchemy with equal zeal. Both represent power over nature, and even life itself. A frail people, elves suffer from a relative lack of toughness that can be overcome by allowing the dead to fight for them, or even by horrific self induced surgeries and mutations that turn weak individuals into tentacle ridden monstrosities perfected for war.
-Poison is sacred: The use and creation of poisons is of great importance to the Consortium. Crafting poisons is an important business for the group, and a powerful weapon of war.
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Alignment: The BLC isn’t “evil”, although it is fundamentally racist. With little regard for the law and fueled by a sense of elven superiority and selfishness, most members would fall somewhere near Chaotic Neutral.
Government:
-The Consortium’s government is a monarchy in which the king has ultimate authority. The king of the Consortium is called the Overlord.
Objectives:
-The establishment of a kingdom.
- To become a major player in the weapons, armor, and magical/alchemical items market as well as in construction
-To act as mercenaries or assassins for anyone who can afford us
Your Character:
Race: Only elf or half elf
Class: The BLC has nothing but scorn for the lawful codes of monks and paladins. Druids seek harmony with nature and so they are unwelcome. Bards will probably be excluded as well, because playing music in battle is an act of high cowardice. That aside, any cleric, fighter, barbarian, ranger, rogue, wizard or sorcerer is more than welcome.
Blast! No responses!
Goblin Squad Member
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A few questions:
Why are the elves in your group so hardcore? You're obviously very different in mindset from the typical frolicky, "let's love everyone" sort of elves. How did the BLC get started down this path?
Any connection to the elves of Kyonin? What's your diplomatic situation with the established Elven kingdoms? What does the BLC think of Drow?
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Goblin Squad Member
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Actually, other than the anti-bard and anti-druid stance, this how I have always envisioned elves...but I always assumed this was as much as a result of the way the other races treat them as any innate demeanour. The other races treat them poorly, if for no other reason than jealousy of their long life and beauty...and the more strength oriented races probably only see their slight build as evidence of being frail and weak. It is hard to get along with someone with a superiority complex...even if the complex is justified.
Either way, to an elf, everyone not elf is essentially also forlorn.
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Goblin Squad Member
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ADND2E had a complete guide to elves. Doc's mindset is very much Grey Elvish. Grey Elves didn't frolick and pick berries. They were elves and elves are better than everyone else. That means something to them.
They wouldn't sit back and let a dragon ravage the whole kingdom, but if a group of thieves kept stealing from the local villagers, it really wasn't worth their time or effort to interviene.
A few questions:
Why are the elves in your group so hardcore? You're obviously very different in mindset from the typical frolicky, "let's love everyone" sort of elves. How did the BLC get started down this path?
Any connection to the elves of Kyonin? What's your diplomatic situation with the established Elven kingdoms? What does the BLC think of Drow?
1) The BLC believes that cheery, tree hugging elves are a disgrace to the species. The philosophy is simple: A sword is more effective than a song. A fortress is better protection than a forest. As Obakar mentioned, our mindset is very gray elf.
2) My knowledge on Galorion lore is extremely limited so I can't answer questions about specific pre-established factions. However, I can say that we wish to maintain relations with other elven kingdoms, and possibly even lend assistance to them when they are under threat. Even if the elves in question are a bunch of frolicking hippies, it sure beats having orcs or dwarves as neighbors.
The BLC admires the power and style of the drow, but sees them as despicable fiends. While we are a chaotic bunch, we see the constant assassinations and internal strife of the drow as excessively cruel and wantonly wasteful. However, the Consortium's use of poisons and ambushes is rumored to be drow inspired.
@Doc- Just so you know OB or Obaka is fine.
So you admire us, despise us, and imitate us? Looks like someone is in denial.
We also admire vermin, but you know, we know we're a little bit better than spiders (;
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Goblin Squad Member
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I for one am anxious to see what knowledge of history, war, and philosophy your group has held onto through the ages. At what time did you break from the main elven nation? DO you have any records of where elves came from and why?
Oh what they must have seen in the world...
Is there anything a lowly gnome can trade for access to your libraries and ancients?
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Speed is the key...and no long fights...both of these could be easily extrapolated from the fact that the racial bonuses for core elves is +2 Dex (speed), +2 Int (overly logical, if racist reasoning...sorta like Vulcans) and -2 Con (can't sustain long fights per melee, extended to the n'th degree).
So I get all that, but why the "exploit nature" thing. Yes, gray elves were all of these things, but in classic versions of the game they built cities IN HARMONY with, not OUT OF nature. Yes, the gray elves built elaborate homes but it was more as if it was SCULPTED from the trees, instead of the lumber being cut, milled, worked, bent and otherwise MADE into the dwelling.
No...these guys are more than hard. They're ANGRY. They hate, and exclude, and exploit. There's specific mention of the scorn of law. I think whoever started the consortium felt bulied, opressed; rather than seek that so-called "diplomatic response" it was easier for the victim to become the opressor, thus perpetuating the cycle.
If anything we shouldn't commend them, or even battle them; we should pity them. The elves of this group are nothing more than a bunch of cowards seeking to prop themselves up in a kingdom of hate, standing on the shoulders of those they disdain.
Once the kingdom's established, why stop there? The overlord will more than likely have a continuing agenda to weed out the impure. After a while those dirty half-breeds won't be enough so they'll have to be removed. Oh, and what about any complacent elves that, once the citadel's built and the borders properly charred with the flesh of the scorned, decide to leave the shadows and return to the lighted places of the Consortium's woodland to make bows and such. These hippies won't stand since there's the chance of song in such pursuits.
Eventually his own court will have to turn on the Overlord. No one else will have the knowledge, forethought and most of all the RIGHT to deal with such tyrany. They'll have to deal with the consortium itself since many of its enforcers and elite will undoubtedly be masters of stealth. Since elves are a notoriously long lived race it will be a plot centuries in the making. But when the final blow is struck it must be swift, final, and complete. This will require discipline, control; order from chaos.
My only hope is that, in those final hours when the shadows collapse in on themselves and all the old guard is swept away, that once again the light returns to the hearts of these wounded souls. There is so much pain here, so much darkness. It is no wonder they would flee the light...
Congrats; you've just re-created the drow. But as you say; you're better than spiders.
No...this time it'll be different. They'll see...they'll all see, despite the darkness we spread. This time we won't tie ourselves to some petty demon queen who fancies herself a demigod. No, we will make it right by our own hands...soaked in the blood of all those who've tried to hurt us. And when we end their hurting, and their laughing, and return them to the darkness...our darkness...then they'll understand what they did to us...they'll know that this is THEIR fault, not ours...
Yeah. Chaotic Neutral. AKA...crazy.
Oh, then let me be clear...I'm not rooting for them at all.
I am naive and old fashioned. I enjoy roleplaying a hero; maybe a gritty anti-hero hero sometimes, but I always want to on the side that's making the world a better place for someone OTHER than me.
The Consortium is my favorite kind of enemy; one convinced of their own superiority. It makes defeating them, DESTROYING them, that much sweeter.
As a villain they're great and as a GM I'd love to use them to oppose my players. However as a player, as a person, I'd never be party to their rise to power and if another member of the party revealed themselves as a member of the Consortium one of 2 things would happen; either they'd end or I would.
What about a charter of elves that ONLY used songs as their weapons? Or what about using speed and darkness to better the lives of all those oppressed by tyranny. They could wear masks and try to blow up Parliment.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Oh, then let me be clear...I'm not rooting for them at all.
I am naive and old fashioned. I enjoy roleplaying a hero; maybe a gritty anti-hero hero sometimes, but I always want to on the side that's making the world a better place for someone OTHER than me.
The Consortium is my favorite kind of enemy; one convinced of their own superiority. It makes defeating them, DESTROYING them, that much sweeter.
As a villain they're great and as a GM I'd love to use them to oppose my players. However as a player, as a person, I'd never be party to their rise to power and if another member of the party revealed themselves as a member of the Consortium one of 2 things would happen; either they'd end or I would.
Exactly, in a sandbox the other players are the content...so we need them to be successful. The only other semi "bad guy" groups so far seem to want to be int he shadows and work behind the scenes...great for those who hope to politick, but not so much for those of us hope to be able to field an army.
Y'know what I miss? Villains in the open. I played a homebrew that became a published D&D setting through a 3rd party; it was called Metarken.
The idea was that all the religions unified and became a force of law and order...and facism. They refused to allow any outside beliefs and actively hunted down any "heretics" in their midst. That meant that the PC's couldn't have a cleric since 1) they were of the Church in which case they were the enemy and you wouldn't go adventuring w/them, or 2) your heresy would bring too much heat.
Now, this wasn't some hidden cult, or secret sect of a larger church...this was ever clergy member, in every town, across the whole land. They didn't operate in the shadows, you saw your oppressor every minute of the day.
That, to me, takes a lot more guts to pull off as a GM. It's easy to make a boogeyman that skulks about and have the PC's SECRETLY work for or against this group. But imagine, first level, adventure 1, the main villain is there, and the party is literally helpless to do anything about it.
If I WERE to include the BLC in my games I'd make them a villain no doubt. But rather than have them personify the Elf speed through shadowy strikes, I'd personify the group through knowledge.
Elves live for freaking ever right? What if a racist elf with an agenda got their hands on a place of learning, or if their college was THE place of such learning. Who better to be the stewards of history and lore than the humanoids that may have been living witnesses to it?
What is the natural expression of knowledge in PF? Knowledge skills, Spellcraft, and wizards. What better villains to be out in the open than frail little wizards?
Well actually, I did have a villain group like this in an old homebrew in 1e/2e days. They were the wizards of Impasse, and ironically they were gray elves.
Y'see, these elves had commanded an empire on the site of a vast forest spanning an entire coastland, until lust for power brought meddling humans into their midst. The short-sighted humans pursued the power of the 10th Sphere of magic (10th level spells) and in their arrogance some elves taught the forbidden lore. It only took one human six seconds to unleash a wave of destructive force that reduced all of the empire to ash in mere moments.
As a result there is now the desert of Impasse. Many of the ancient elves survived the initial effect and their immersion in the arcane sustained them. So they zealously hunted down ALL knowledge and historically significant artifacts that also survived and locked them away in Arnion's Tower; the only building that remained.
Now, like the Red Wizards of Thay in FR the wizards of Impasse dole out the knowledge and lore to those they deem worthy and set about destroying those they deem a threat. Mainly they hunt humans and half-elves. Everyone knows what they look like, who they are and where they can be found; no one single force in the world has the power to deal with them.
Now ironically the PC's came to find out after a couple campaigns that it was in fact a rogue elf named Lazarus Al' Haz'Reeb that in fact stole the power of the 10th sphere and gave it to a foolish human as part of a plot to set all of this in motion, just so he could in turn take over control of the tower and push his own facist agenda. They couldn't kill him; he was immortal. So they collected all 9 original Staves of the Magi and used them in an elaborate ritual to bury the tower with Lazarus inside beneath the sand. Of course, this also buried all that arcane lore, not to mention 9 enhanced Staves of the Magi, but in order to make an omelette...
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Goblin Squad Member
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Blast! No responses!
Hrm, I could have sworn I'd left a welcome message, and a reminder that The Seventh Veil would be interested in opening Diplomatic Relations.
However, diplomatic relations with other races should be maintained when it is beneficial for the Black Lotus.
I distinctly remember quoting that... Perhaps I hit Preview and failed to Submit Post. I've been known to fail at things now and then.
Is there anything a lowly gnome can trade for access to your libraries and ancients?
No, but this got me thinking.
We certainly aren't a genocidal or "hateful" group, although we believe elves the chosen people. I've been reconsidering the extent to which we should practice isolationism. I believe it will be likely that we will ally ourselves with other groups when it is necessary or convenient. So while your gnome will not have access to my group or it's private resources, we may some day fight on the same battlefield against a common foe.
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Goblin Squad Member
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No, but this got me thinking.
We certainly aren't a genocidal or "hateful" group.....
The BLC admires the power and style of the drow, but sees them as despicable fiends. While we are a chaotic bunch, we see the constant assassinations and internal strife of the drow as excessively cruel and wantonly wasteful.
You're an egotistical racist. Just don't go running back to the First World when you bloody your nose. The spiders are hungry and if you run away whoever will they feast upon?
Any word on a website/forums? Application process?
To be quite honest I didn't expect there to be this much discussion and interest. I have no computer skills, but I plan on asking any capable and interested person for help setting up forums. For the next week or two, we'll keep things informal. Anyone who wants to join can PM me and we'll discuss things that way in the short term.
Ah, thanks to Blaeringr I found a site where I can make an easy forum for members.
http://blacklotuscompany.enjin.com/home
MEMBERS, JOIN!!!