|
Ok, as things stand, I'm running a little adventure for my group in Cheliax.
Currently they need to break into a wizard's tower. In this case, they're doing so through an illicit mithril mine north of Senara, in and amongst the mountains straddling Cheliax's norther border.
I've decided a long time ago that after they finish clearing out the mine, freeing the slaves and slaughtering the guards running the operation (then stealing the mithril for themselves.) they would need to go through an old, buried ruin, which would lead them into the wizard's tower.
A slight issue however.
I have no idea what kind of ruin it is.
At first I tried Thassilonian, but it's far too far south for that.
Then I considered the Jistka Imperium, but according to the Lost Kingdoms book, it's too far north for that, since the Imperium only ever got as far north as the Hellmouth, and as far east as the plains around Westcrown.
What do I do? Who would have been living in northern Cheliax a long enough time ago to leave a buried city? Did the Jistka Imperium ever come that far north? Did Thassilon ever range that far south?
Should I merely tell my players; "Mia culpa, I didn't understand the map enough, we're really on this penninsula here?"
I suppose, if push comes to shove, I could relocate the actual location to being in the foothills to the south of Egorian, but that's still too far east for the Jistka Imperium anyway.
Suggestions?
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
An old outpost built around a grand church of Aroden that fell into disrepair long before his death (when they *all* pretty much got sold off or fell into disrepair...).
While a civic god, more likely to have his big churches in cities, Aroden was also a god of history, and this was one of the scriptorums and archival vaults, where information was stored and scribes were trained and housed. After an ancient lord arranged for it to be burned (to destroy the last records that would have proven that he wasn't the son of who he said he was the son of, and therefore had no business sitting on the big chair or wearing the shiny hat), what survived was carted away to more defensible church holdings and the remaining soot-scarred and partially collapsed structure abandoned to the elements.
Some rooms of the central vaults, if opened, are still calf-deep in ash, from the thousands of books and scrolls worth of ancient lore now lost forever.
Some of the Arodenite scribes, perishing in the attempt to save their lives works from the flames, may not rest quietly...
Various buildings grown up around the central church could include private manor houses for the higher ranking priests (indeed, the location could have been something of a 'retirement community' for the elders of the faith), a nunnery, a papermaker / bookbinder, various merchants that supplied the community, a barracks for the guards assigned to work the area, homes for the locals, etc.
|
|
An old outpost built around a grand church of Aroden that fell into disrepair long before his death (when they *all* pretty much got sold off or fell into disrepair...).
While a civic god, more likely to have his big churches in cities, Aroden was also a god of history, and this was one of the scriptorums and archival vaults, where information was stored and scribes were trained and housed. After an ancient lord arranged for it to be burned (to destroy the last records that would have proven that he wasn't the son of who he said he was the son of, and therefore had no business sitting on the big chair or wearing the shiny hat), what survived was carted away to more defensible church holdings and the remaining soot-scarred and partially collapsed structure abandoned to the elements.
Some rooms of the central vaults, if opened, are still calf-deep in ash, from the thousands of books and scrolls worth of ancient lore now lost forever.
Some of the Arodenite scribes, perishing in the attempt to save their lives works from the flames, may not rest quietly...
Various buildings grown up around the central church could include private manor houses for the higher ranking priests (indeed, the location could have been something of a 'retirement community' for the elders of the faith), a nunnery, a papermaker / bookbinder, various merchants that supplied the community, a barracks for the guards assigned to work the area, homes for the locals, etc.
...
Uh... yeah... slight problem with that.
I already did that. Basically, as things stand, they were recruited by Osprey, the Pathfinder to go to an abandoned temple of Aroden (they were told they were going there to recover a copy of the Starstone Doctrine, written on stone tablets, in reality they were just there to flush out some rogue agents who wanted something else from the ruins. They do not yet know this.)
They did have a rather amusing moment when an unquiet spirit of the high priest assigned the thief to read lines from the a holy text as penance for blasphemy.
Though I probably will store away the idea of the burned ruins. Probably not for this campaign though.
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Okay, idea 2!
House Thrune, as part of it's build up to assume total control of Cheliax, had to get some people out of the way.
One such prominent noble family, whose name has literally been stricken from the official histories, had their villas in a particular community, a sort of private pleasure retreat for their extended family. Sworn to their patron Erastil, they were hardly the sort of family that would lie down and allow their beloved nation to fall into diabolism, and they preferred to keep their most exclusive manors a bit outside of the major cities, in keeping with their fascination with hunting from horseback, with hound and falcon.
Decades before the actual open conflict between noble houses began, they had been earmarked as possibly the biggest threat to 'the plan,' due to their popularity, both with the other families, and with the common people, and their seeming incorruptibility. So, not merely to get them out of the way, but also to throw their allied noble houses into confusion (since they were often the objective diplomatic go-betweens between several of the other prominent houses, reknowned for their scrupulous objectivity, in political disputes), they had to be 'gotten rid of.'
Since they gathered in their own little fiefdom from all over Cheliax to celebrate Archerfeast, the devils conjured by House Thrune struck then, razing the entire town and leaving no member of the noble family alive. Similar 'accidents' led to their holdings and manors all across Cheliax bursting into flames that same night (killing mostly servants and distant cousins, left behind to oversee the manor while their elders travelled to [insert name of ruined community here]).
In the wreckage, unburied bones, sundered as if struck with great force or rent by unnaturally strong claws, will be found, entire family groups struck down, some simply blasted from this life with a single spell, and lying dead in eerie tableau around a dinner table. Every surviving surface has signs that someone has painstaking defaced certain areas, with wood and even stone scarred by fire and fiendish talons, so that the name and sigil of this fallen house cannot be determined. Among the oddities, of the hundreds of skeletal remains, dozens of them are missing their right hand, some despite no other signs of violence, perhaps having been slain by spell or poison. (The fiends who did the butchery were ordered to bring back any hand bearing the signet ring of the noble family, so that a proper accounting could be made of the nobles slain.)
This sort of place would likely have started as a single manor house, out in the boonies, being expanded upon over the years into a rambling 'hunting lodge for rich weirdos,' as they say.
Over the centuries as the family rose to prominence (and attracting classier visitors from other noble families, come to pay a visit, or seek counsel or arbitration, or just curry favor), the site could come to include a half dozen such manor houses, perhaps in a circle around a small lake or large pound, with various support structures (stables, graineries, servants quarters, merchants to supply their needs, a caravanserai, etc.) springing up either in a central location, or around the first such manor house.
Whatever business the noble family made it's break with, probably, as Erastilians, purveyors of fine horses, hounds and / or hawks, the ruined buildings in the area might follow suit, with stables, kennels and mews among the destroyed structures, as well as the sorts of buildings that would logically follow, like graineries and leatherworkers / saddle-makers.
Since the Thrunish takeover, they've been busy regularly rewriting the history books, and not only is the name and nature of this murdered noble family forgotten, but even the location and name of this small community. Any local authority who knows of it will have been informed that it was a leper colony or something, and burned in some sad tragedy (which was probably for the best, all things considered, he'll confide...).
Set es maestro.
I know, right? Set, I thought you had the perfect scenario with the temple to Aroden and ArianDynas' campaign just happened to have the one possible foil to such an idea already in place. Scenario 2 is equally imaginative, appropriate, and in keeping with the lore for Cheliax. Good show.
|
|
Set es maestro.I know, right? Set, I thought you had the perfect scenario with the temple to Aroden and ArianDynas' campaign just happened to have the one possible foil to such an idea already in place. Scenario 2 is equally imaginative, appropriate, and in keeping with the lore for Cheliax. Good show.
Aw, thanks guys!
I just try to be helpful and offer ideas and say 'yes, and here's how!' as much as I can. My overactive imagination does the heavy lifting. :)
Likely Taldan, I believe. Bear in mind that these civilizations are much longer lived than their RL counterparts (thousands of years versus a few hundred). Cheliax is 1700 years old, according to the PCS. LOTS can happen in those centuries, including ones own towns and fortifications falling into ruin.
Consider that your ruins might be left from the campaign under Chelish King Aspex the Even-Tongued against Taldor in 4081. It may have even been raised by an ambitious lord AGAINST King Aspex (remember that Chelaxians are ambitious folk).
OR...it was a barbarian ruin dating from before civilization reached it, and ruled-over by some ancient and unknown mage-lord a-la Thulsedoom...?
Good question, OP. Good seeing "deep" historical discussions on this board. I wouldn't mind seeing a history board here; somewhere to discuss the history of Golarion in more depth.
Set, work worthy of the namesake -- let nobody fault you for calling yourself a god, for you truly must be a god of DMs!
|
|
Likely Taldan, I believe. Bear in mind that these civilizations are much longer lived than their RL counterparts (thousands of years versus a few hundred). Cheliax is 1700 years old, according to the PCS. LOTS can happen in those centuries, including ones own towns and fortifications falling into ruin.
Consider that your ruins might be left from the campaign under Chelish King Aspex the Even-Tongued against Taldor in 4081. It may have even been raised by an ambitious lord AGAINST King Aspex (remember that Chelaxians are ambitious folk).
OR...it was a barbarian ruin dating from before civilization reached it, and ruled-over by some ancient and unknown mage-lord a-la Thulsedoom...?
Good question, OP. Good seeing "deep" historical discussions on this board. I wouldn't mind seeing a history board here; somewhere to discuss the history of Golarion in more depth.
Thank you, and I will say, while I did like Set's ideas, they didn't quite hit the "mood" I was looking for, in the end, I went with a mixture of "geographical retconning" informing the players, who DO know (and appreciate for some bizarre reason) that I pull most of the stuff directly out of my rear that I had relocated the illegal mithril mine they found themselves in to a large expanse of hill country about 90 miles south of Egorian, with my own personal explanation for why it's so far out is that it's a Jistkan outpost.
I figured that the Jistkans, much like their inspiration, the ancient Greeks and Romans surely would have outposts from their empire, and that surely not every city the Jistkans had ever founded had been discovered, so I figured that this would be an acceptable break from reality. My players are highly excited by the idea of exploring this, since they're mostly Pathfinders.
All that, of course, and the fact that, since I had already previously established that the wizard they're robbing (they need to go through the ruins to sneak into his tower) was known for his famous constructs, the explanation being that he's robbing the ruins of golems with an ivory rod he stole. One that's running out. Muhahwaha.
