Hello, I have a question about :
Ever since the current Umbral Court's distant ancestors made their binding pact with the Midnight Lord, they have lived only to strictly enforce and promote the sadistic values of Zon-Kuthon.
Is it possible to break the pact with the terminate bloodline ritual on the descendant for example ?
There are also amongst them undead.
What are the repercussions if all the nobles eliminated ?
Thanks for your future answer.
The kind of thing you're talking about is on a scale they'd build entire campaigns around. But besides the fact that at least some of them are undead and thus have some kind of immunity to disease, the court more than likely has every single member of their families either under tight security or just killed outright.
Remember, Zon-Kuthon is a guy who espouses pain and suffering for its own sake, as some kind of art form. Inflicting it both on oneself and on other people, just because you can. Killing, maiming, torturing family members? Wouldn't be surprised if that was a regularly performed ceremony or something.
Is it possible to create a variant ritual about terminal bloodline to affect the undead ?
For example, use energy positive to bypass immunity to disease from undead ?
Are there feats, specific classes, or archetype to create a specific disease ?
For the pact, is it similiar to an occult ritual from 1st edition ?
Enter the Umbral Court ?
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Hello, I have a question about :
Ever since the current Umbral Court's distant ancestors made their binding pact with the Midnight Lord, they have lived only to strictly enforce and promote the sadistic values of Zon-Kuthon.Is it possible to break the pact with the terminate bloodline ritual on the descendant for example ?
There are also amongst them undead.
What are the repercussions if all the nobles eliminated ?
Thanks for your future answer.
I think you misunderstand. The Umbral Court is not hereditary; the "pact" it is talking about is the pact all of Nidal made. Members of the Umbral Court are (at least mostly) Nidalese citizens with family lines stretching back 8,000 years to Nidal's founding.
Killing off all of the Umbral Court would be like killing every noble in any other country: it would require conquering the nation and hunting down every last one. It would not do any more or less than killing the nobility of another country would.
So, the three rulers of Nidal and the ones who signed the pact in first place are only the immortal ones (undead ?) must be eliminated to break the pact ?
Ever since the Black Triune led Nidal’s terrified people into the Midnight Lord’s keeping, the nation has been a Kuthite theocracy. The country has no governing documents, and no charter or constitution beyond the vaguely prescriptive writings in Umbral Leaves, the religion’s high holy book. The only true record of the Nidalese’s servile contract with their evil patron is hidden behind their immortal leaders’ blackened gazes.
We don't know the terms of their pact, other than that it affects all Nidalese, despite only being accorded by the Black Triune. It may or may not be contingent upon their continued existence, but we have no real way of knowing, and are unlikely to ever really know, so you should be free to do whatever you want without contradicting canon.
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So, the three rulers of Nidal and the ones who signed the pact in first place are only the immortal ones (undead ?) must be eliminated to break the pact ?
I suspect that the pact is tied to Nidal, the land, and its people. It was a deal to save them from the apocalypse, and the people there owe their existence to that. Zon-Kuthon fulfilled (and continues to fulfill) his end of the bargain, and killing off the people who did the signing doesn't change that fact.
Nidal is eight thousand years old, older than every other nation on the planet, and older than a handful of gods. It has some of the world's oldest records, writings from civilizations that have otherwise been lost to history. They even have a separate library for "eyewitness accounts of the apocalypse by those who fled to join us in our god's protection." The Black Triune are neither living nor undead, falling somewhere in between, but have run Nidal with Zon-Kuthon's support for that whole time.
Sorry, I know that's not very helpful for running a "free Nidal" campaign. I just find it to be one of the setting's more unique and interesting features.
If I were to personally guess a weakness to the deal, it would be the horses. The reason that the nomadic people in what is now Nidal made the pact instead of retreating underground is because they refused to abandon their horses. Eight millennia later, horses are still raised in the same way, and the families that have carried on the traditions seem to have more leeway than the other people of Nidal. The horses are probably part of the pact, and killing every horse in Nidal with ancestry tracing back to the original herds would probably put Zon-Kuthon in violation of his end of the pact if he does not stop you.
Slaughtering cherished horses sounds like an absolutely miserable campaign, obviously. I would definitely go with "kill the undying god-bolstered tyrants" if you want to run this premise.
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The deities of other countries have broken their word. Zon-Kuthon has maintained his part of the bargain for 8,000 years of recorded history.
When Taldans slaughtered Sarenrites, did Saranrae create a homeland for them? No, she did not.
When Iomedae usurped Aroden's absence, hundreds of thousands cheered.
And yet, Zon-Kuthon remains, protecting his Chosen People. As he has from the age of Apocalypses.
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Take your first part, and add a slice of the provided horses tangent.
Have the three pseudo-dead horses of the tyrants be the actual key. If they are destroyed within a month of each other the pact goes in to default. The Triune loses their immortality and much of their non-mortal powers, and while technically still leaders of the nation, would be subject to losing control by those who may be eyeing them (both a mix of good and evil souls).
Have it so that the horses get reincarnated out of one other their descendants within a month (or other timeframe) as long as one remains. The one remains part may not be something that is an obvious requirement of the pact, nor a necessarily obvious limitation of it. However it could be hidden in the agreement.
It could be the more feared concern is someone killing off all the horses (descendants) and not killing off the three mounts before one of them can be reborn. (basically taking over the descendant's body)
You could even have the players working on the process, and then discover there is a ritual to speed up the rebirth process that they would have to stop before killing the third steed. Otherwise, the first one would be reborn before the third is killed. Leaving them still one from success, and having potentially revealed most of their hand, in terms of resources and opportunities.
Once the corrupted horses have ceased to be, then you have rulers who have lost their obvious historical powers and may no longer be seen as fit rulers. Where the country goes from there is up for grabs. A new generation attempting a new pact with their former patron. The neighborly legalistic country coming in to save its people from its long-standing chaotic afflictions, or another neighbor looking to expand and purify. Maybe the 'revolutionaries' who took down the pact may have their own ideas. The campaign changes from focusing on dealing with those items to items outside the nation, as well as perhaps other revolutionaries (who might have in past chapters even played parts as allies until the nation goes down finally).
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Team up with Nocticula to murder Zon-Kothon.
Oh wait.
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Personally I would go with needing to kill every member of the Umbral Court to break the pact, but the actual details of the pact are unknown so there is not a known answer on how to break it.
I mean, do you know how divine magical pacts work?
It may require the genocide of the entirety of Nidal to break the pact, as it possible that the magic of the pact is imbued into every member of the nation.
You would have to come up with something if you wanted to make a campaign about it, but it ought to be something suitable grand to be worthy of breaking a divine pact with a nations worth of people.