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I've thinking about doing an intrigue game for some time now and I figured that Andoran being a parliamentary democracy would be a perfect place for such an adventure. Then I actually read both of the sourcebooks for Andoran and realized that neither really had much information about any competing ideological/political parties in Andoran's People's Council or whether there were any in the first place. So, I've decided to throw out some ideas of parties here and see if anyone else has some of their own that I could use. Any help would be appreciated.
Liberty Now: Built around the idea of protecting the little man from the dangers of unelected bureaucracy and the potential of centralized power going to far. These guys/gals would be focused on ensuring that politics start from the bottom-up, with the individual communities in Andoran having their personal freedoms, identity, culture, and economic prosperity protected by, and from, the People's Council. Most it's members are from the lower and middle classes (which they are very conscious of) who sometimes struggle to not turn their noses up against the perceived privileged status of many of the members of Andoran United. Much are Chatoic Good who worship Cayden Cailean and Milani, but other deities and empyreal lords are proudly represented in their membership as well. The majority of halflings, half-elves and elves in Andoran are members.
* Anti - Increased Military Spending
* Anti - Lumber Consortium
* Pro - Glorious Reclamation
* Pro - Verduran Fey
* Anti - Offshore Colonies
* Pro - Twilight Talons Transparency
* Pro - Set Limitations to Supreme Elect Terms
Andoran United: Wishing to make Andoren a stronger, more homogeneous union, this party believes that for Andoren and democracy to prosper in the Inner Sea its power and culture must stand as a united construct supported by a decisive centralized government. They also hold that individual communities can be selfish and misinformed about the real priorities of the nation and that personal freedom comes second place to wider collective good. A lot of its members are upper class from major cities like Almas and Augustana, but those of lower status are never turned away. Usually. Many are Lawful Good who worship Abadar, Erastil, and Iomedae. The majority of dwarves in Andoran are members.
* Pro - Increased Military Spending
* Anti - Lumber Consortium
* Pro - Glorious Reclamation
* Anti - Verduran Fey
* Pro - Offshore Colonies
* Anti - Twilight Talons Transparency
* Anti - Set Limitations to Supreme Elect Terms
The Egalitarian Party: Basically a middle-ground between the above two parties who think that too much individualism or collectivism is a bad thing. Strives to uphold the early idealistic philosophies of the People's Revolt and hopes to respect the diverse opinions of the opposing parties while at the same time trying to get them to stop arguing and get stuff done. Currently their leader is the Surpreme-Elect (Codwin I) and their party has traditional been the most successful at getting its members in that position. Members come all walks of life, classes, races and religious beliefs, but a slight majority are Neutral Good worshipers of Shelyn.
* Anti - Increased Military Spending
* Anti - Lumber Consortium
* Pro - Glorious Reclamation
* Somewhat Pro - Verduran Fey
* Anti - Offshore Colonies
* Pro - Twilight Talons Transparency
* Somewhat Anti - Set Limitations to Supreme Elect Terms
Free Verduran: The newest and weakest party in the People's Council, these people are pretty much a bunch of angry agrarians outraged that all the other party seem to have turned a blind eye to the Lumber Consortium actions in the Verduran Forest. Most of them just want to have their concerns heard and see action taken, but more extreme members want to separate from Andoren entirely and form their own nation in the northern forest. Many are Neutral or Chaotic Neutral farmers, rangers or druids who worship Gozreh, the Green Faith or the Eldest. A surprisingly amount of them are also fey who want recognized citizenship.
* Indifferent Towards - Increased Military Spending
* Actively Hates - Lumber Consortium
* Indifferent Towards - Glorious Reclamation
* Very, very Pro - Verduran Fey
* Indifferent Towards - Offshore Colonies
* Indifferent Towards - Twilight Talons Transparency
* Indifferent Towards - Set Limitations to Supreme Elect Terms
So, what does everyone think? Good, terrible, mediocre. Anyone else have ideas?
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Darkmoon Bloc: Formed almost entirely from executives of the Lumber Consortium, this faction is ruthless in their pursuit of increased power for the Lumber Consortium. While not actively involved in high leadership, they monopolize local offices around Darkmoon Vale. They also try to persecute and stomp out anyone part of Free Verduran. Comprised mostly of the wealthy elite of the Consortium, along with some of its workers. The executives are mostly lawful evil, and worship Abadar, Asmodeus, or Norgorber in his guise of the Reaper of Reputation.
Pro-Increased Military Spending
Strongly Pro- Lumber Consortium
Anti- Glorious Reclamation
Strongly Anti- Verduran Fey
Pro- Offshore Colonies
Indifferent- Twilight Talons Transparency
Indifferent- Set Limitation to Supreme Elect Terms
Darkmoon Bloc: Formed almost entirely from executives of the Lumber Consortium, this faction is ruthless in their pursuit of increased power for the Lumber Consortium. While not actively involved in high leadership, they monopolize local offices around Darkmoon Vale. They also try to persecute and stomp out anyone part of Free Verduran. Comprised mostly of the wealthy elite of the Consortium, along with some of its workers. The executives are mostly lawful evil, and worship Abadar, Asmodeus, or Norgorber in his guise of the Reaper of Reputation.
Pro-Increased Military Spending
Strongly Pro- Lumber Consortium
Anti- Glorious Reclamation
Strongly Anti- Verduran Fey
Pro- Offshore Colonies
Indifferent- Twilight Talons Transparency
Indifferent- Set Limitation to Supreme Elect Terms
Oh, I like this. Having a flat-out evil party feels incredibly appropriate and definitely would love to use elements of such my game. It's just that I kind of like the idea of the parties being Good or at least Neutral so that my players won't immediately zone in on them as bad guys. Still an awesome write up though, Simeon.
Ah, I wasn't aware they were aimed for players joining them. Thanks for the compliment, and the parties you made look great!
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Oh, I like this. Having a flat-out evil party feels incredibly appropriate and definitely would love to use elements of such my game. It's just that I kind of like the idea of the parties being Good or at least Neutral so that my players won't immediately zone in on them as bad guys. Still an awesome write up though, Simeon.Darkmoon Bloc: Formed almost entirely from executives of the Lumber Consortium, this faction is ruthless in their pursuit of increased power for the Lumber Consortium. While not actively involved in high leadership, they monopolize local offices around Darkmoon Vale. They also try to persecute and stomp out anyone part of Free Verduran. Comprised mostly of the wealthy elite of the Consortium, along with some of its workers. The executives are mostly lawful evil, and worship Abadar, Asmodeus, or Norgorber in his guise of the Reaper of Reputation.
Pro-Increased Military Spending
Strongly Pro- Lumber Consortium
Anti- Glorious Reclamation
Strongly Anti- Verduran Fey
Pro- Offshore Colonies
Indifferent- Twilight Talons Transparency
Indifferent- Set Limitation to Supreme Elect Terms
The Darkmoon Bloc is a good (uh, I mean EVIL) nucleus for the start of an Evil party, but it needs to broaden its voter base. So a few years after their formation, they got together with another party that also didn't have a broad enough voter base, the Key Party, named after the Key of Abadar and composed of former nobles of Andoran who lost their noble status and slaves during the People's Revolution, and who scheme to gain their noble status (and in some cases also their slaves) back. It has also strongly attracted a growing de facto new nobility of mercantile types who want to be able to pursue profit at all costs, who may have formerly turned up their noses at slavery during the People's Revolution, but in many cases are now kicking themselves for that, realizing that they could be making more profits if it were restored -- potentially under another name, of course, such as "debt remediation". This includes a substantial contingent of Droskarite Dwarves, and this party has played a substantial role in spreading the worship of Droskar from these Dwarves to Humans and even some Half-Humans, which has resulted in a substantial admixture of Neutral Evil into the Key Party. They are also working -- with politically significant although under-reported success -- on ways to entice angry agrarians away from the Free Verduran Party into their fold by stirring up hostility against the Fey and their friends (who would limit exploitation of the land) and promising to unfetter their potential for profit-making by cracking down on refugees from Cheliax, Isger, and Galt. The refugees are disproportionately made out to be double agents (using highly publicized real incidents to give cover for even more fake incidents), as well as competitors for land and jobs, while Chelaxian/Isgeri noble, Droskarite Dwarf, and Kalistradian Druman immigrants conveniently get the eye turned the other way. The Key Party also attracts such supporters by promising to end "special treatment" for those who should be on social rungs even lower than theirs -- the Key Party uses political dog whistles to exploit almost any discriminatory *-ism they can find and figure out a way to exploit. In these efforts, they have even succeeded in attracting large numbers of supporters from the considerable heretical but not ignorable Ultra-Traditionalist sect of Erastil, although as an exception they carefully avoid stoking anti-Dwarf sentiment, and do a bizarre series of doublespeak on Cheliax. Although run by a bunch of crooks, the Key Party has also made considerable mileage out of exploiting fear of crime, and in this regard has even had notable success in promoting "necessary evil". As might be expected from its goals, location, and composition, the Key Party has also made advances in cognitive dissonance that were previously thought not to be possible, even having some success taking both sides of an issue simultaneously.
- Simultaneously Pro- and Anti-: Increased Military Spending -- it depends upon who stands to profit from this.
- Strongly Pro: Lumber Consortium and other big business, as well as nobles -- but they have managed to convince a lot of the less fortunate that they are against greedy business types and nobles, even though a lot of Key Party leaders are such types themselves (even with DC <= 10 for the relevant Knowledge check), and never miss a chance to humiliate, discredit, and destroy a whistleblower from a big business or the nobles, including the Lumber Consortium.
- Anti: Glorious Reclamation -- somewhat consistent on this, but the things they accuse the Glorious Reclamation of are inconsistent with reality, but gain traction due to some success on the part of other forces at subverting the Glorious Reclamation, as well as moderately repackaged Chelaxian propaganda.
- Strongly Anti: Verduran Fey -- but they are willing to make fake appeals to Verduran Fey to convince non-Fey supporters who might be leery of their bigotry; their attitudes (and fake appeals) towards Halflings are similar.
- Pro: Offshore colonies (but they are perfectly willing to denounce spending money there, as well as "weird ideas" that people may or may not have actually brought back from there).
- Anti: Twilight Talons Trasparency -- except they are perfectly willing to demand investigations into Twilight Talons who try to investigate them.
- Pro: Limitation to Supreme Elect Terms, unless they get one of their own in.
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Good, good stuff, UnArcaneElection. Seeing the Darkmoon Bloc fleshed out a bit more makes me reconsider their use.
Oh, I also have a another I want to share. These actually pretty fun to make.
The Broken Shackles Party: Extremists to some, heroes to others, this party is the most militant when it comes to ending slavery across the Inner Sea. Having started as a political alliance between the now defunct Bellflower Party and Everbloom Party, the Broken Shackles is driven to push the People’s Council to take military action against all nations where slavery is legally practiced, with Cheliax, Qadira, Katapesh, and even Absalom being the first of many offenders that the party would want to see brought down. While a relatively small party whose members have to constantly compete with the more moderate Liberty Now and Andoran United parties which share much of their values, The Broken Shackles are highly popular with communities on the border of the Chelish Empire, freed slaves brought to Andoran (especially one’s freed by the Bellflower Network) and members of the Eagle Knights who believe that the People’s Council is to distracted by domestic issues and too unwilling to use violence to make the world a better place. One of the main reasons why the party has been marginalized in the People Council until recently is its advocacy against universal right to religion, one of the core values of Andoran. They believe that Evil religions, especially faiths like Asmodeus’ and Zon-Kuthon’s, have no right exist let alone practice in peace and believe that its members must be deported from the country at minimum when discovered. Recently the Broken Shackles have been on something of an upwind with members of the controversial Cult of the Dawnflower living in Andoran voting for them in droves for their thoughts on Evil religions and in the hope that an eventual invasion of Qadira would result in the end of slavery there and perhaps the greater Kelesh Empire as well. The recent religious crusade into Cheliax by the Glorious Reclamation has also resulted in party becoming more popular with many citizens clamoring for the People Council’s to take this as a golden opportunity to attack. A sentiment that the Broken Shackles share rather deeply. The party has a fairly diverse set of alignments within with it with members being anywhere from Lawful Good to Chaotic Neutral. That said, many of its members are radical members of the churches of Iomedae, Cayden Cailean, Milani, Calistria and most recently Sarenrae. It is also only second to Liberty Now in how much of the Halfling population it is able to pull.
* Strongly Pro - Increased Military Spending
* Anti - Lumber Consortium
* Strongly Pro - Glorious Reclamation
* Pro - Verduran Fey
* Anti - Offshore Colonies
* Anti - Twilight Talons Transparency
* Indifferent Towards - Set Limitations to Supreme Elect Terms
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They are indeed very fun to make, here's a somewhat nutty idea I had for a party.
People's Society for Awareness of the Paranormal:
Formed from conspiracy theorists and paranormal investigators, this party is the fringe of the fringe. Their theories are many and vary in degrees of truthfulness, from a sinister splinter faction of the Aspis Consortium to the Inner Sea being secretly ruled by shapeshifting mollusk aliens. Their membership if formed mostly of madmen, cultists of Outer Gods, and any who either have seen too much, or merely think they have. They are generally neutral or chaotic neutral, and often worship Groetus, Great Old Ones, Outer Gods, or any god that apprals their paranoia and suspicion.
Anti-increased military spending
Anti-Lumber Consortium
Pro- Glorious Reclamation
Pro- Verduran Fey
Indifferent- Offshore Colonies
Pro- Twilight Talons Transparency
Indifferent -Supreme Elect Term Limits
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Awesome stuff so far!
While I can't contribute with another party right now, I thought about saying a couple things about this politic intrigue idea in Andoran, which I'm also toying with:
Tendency of the parties: I'd advise you to remove their tendency altogether. Each one of their ideals could be seen both in a 'good' or 'evil' way depending on a particular individual... for an example, the Seven Houses organization would probably be heavily infiltrated on the Liberty Now party, and they are LE.
Care with this pro and anti assumptions: As far as I've read, with the exclusion of the Lumber Consortium party, every other one is against it! So what is keeping the others from banning it? I believe that many things are much more 'grey' instead of black and white when politics are the subject. I believe it would be more entertaining if each of these 'subjects' were more divided between the parties, with approximately the same amount of councilors in favor and against them.
The Twilight Talons As far as I've read in the books, most don't even believe they exist, so I believe it is a weird topic to be discussed... it would be the same to discuss the 'full disclosure of alien material' in our real world.
I'm Brazilian and I'm planning to use Brazil's current politic scenario as the source of this campaign. If the main topic of this intrigue campaign is corruption, I doubt you'll find a more fitting real life equivalent.
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For those interested in some discussion about campaign ideas to use this material presented here, this is what I've thought so far:
It is election year and all eyes are turned to who will be the next Supreme Elect. Once more, Codwin I is the favorite, but this year it is more disputed than ever. The campaign begins when the candidates for the Liberty Now and Andoran United are murdered after they leave a meeting with the intention to join their forces to elect a new Supreme Elect. The People's Council then requests for external aid in the investigation... someone who is not linked to an of the parties (the PCs).
As the PCs delve in the mysterious murder, they find clues that point the act to the Egalitarian Party, perhaps fearing that Codwin I would finally lose his power after 15 years. The investigation will be inconclusive, though. Frustrated, the PCs are asked to join the Liberty Now party and engage in a full politics campaign who will eventually win the elections.
The truth: The Seven Houses, the true leaders of the Liberty Now party, orchestrated the murder with the intention to frame Codwin I and thus gain the elections. Unfortunately, there is no way for the PCs to know they were part of a coup.
Part 2
Defeated and convinced that there was a coup d'état , Codwin I turns himself in the 'main villain', with the help of some still loyal eagle knights and many twilight talons. This part of the campaign would be much more sandboxy, with the PCs being the new face of the Liberty Now party, doing many missions in their name to replace 'corrupt politicians' and anti-democratic rebels.
While they do so, the twilight talons would work as their enemies, trying to undermine their efforts and know what has happened. This part of the adventure would also take a couple years, like the first 5-years term of the Liberty Now party, culminating with the discovery and destruction of the Twilight Talons.
Part 3
While they continue to hunt for Codwin I and his loyalists, the PCs are charged of creating the Liberty Talons, the new espionage agency of Andoran. To change a bit the focus from the previous part, now the PCs would also deal with a bit more of foreign politics, even if the ultimate focus is still to find Codwin I.
Meanwhile, it is time for elections once more, and there will also be a couple missions with the intention of keeping the Liberty Now in power. During this whole part, I intend to give them a couple hints that something is wrong. I hope that, by the end of this part when they finally imprison Codwin, they discover the whole truth, even if now they are considered the 'heroes' of Andoran.
Parts 4, 5, and 6 are still in the dark, but would involve the PCs changing sides and starting to work against the government, even if the Liberty Now had took many measures to remain in power, like guaranteeing the mass public loyalty, while in truth draining the kingdom to their own gains.
Awesome stuff so far!
While I can't contribute with another party right now, I thought about saying a couple things about this politic intrigue idea in Andoran, which I'm also toying with:
Tendency of the parties: I'd advise you to remove their tendency altogether. Each one of their ideals could be seen both in a 'good' or 'evil' way depending on a particular individual... for an example, the Seven Houses organization would probably be heavily infiltrated on the Liberty Now party, and they are LE.
Care with this pro and anti assumptions: As far as I've read, with the exclusion of the Lumber Consortium party, every other one is against it! So what is keeping the others from banning it? I believe that many things are much more 'grey' instead of black and white when politics are the subject. I believe it would be more entertaining if each of these 'subjects' were more divided between the parties, with approximately the same amount of councilors in favor and against them.
The Twilight Talons As far as I've read in the books, most don't even believe they exist, so I believe it is a weird topic to be discussed... it would be the same to discuss the 'full disclosure of alien material' in our real world.
I'm Brazilian and I'm planning to use Brazil's current politic scenario as the source of this campaign. If the main topic of this intrigue campaign is corruption, I doubt you'll find a more fitting real life equivalent.
You make a lot of good points, Sir Longears. With the tendencys I tried to make the main parties have an established ideology that while counter to one another were still "good" in the sense they weren't cynical or exploitative like the Darkmoon Bloc or Key Party. Just a bunch of idealistic politicians (this is Andoran after all) who just saw things differently. But, yeah, everyone hating the Lumber Consortium doesn't make a lot of sense and the Twilight Talons should probably not be a thing that a lot of people know about.
Thanks for the criticism.
^However, most people hating the Lumber Consortium publicly, but being prevented from moving against them in practice due to dependence on their lumber (and in some cases money) DOES make sense. Those who would subvert Andoran's democracy see dependency on the Lumber Consortium as a pillar of their efforts.
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This is actually a good point, UnArcaneElection. The problem with the Lumber Consortium is that, even if many are suspicious against them, they are a legal organization. It is mentioned in the most recent books that it was fundamental to the revolution and since them, the government (and the Eagle Knights) have been looking for something wrong with them, even if they have not found anything.
Being a legal business (at least until they get caught), it would make little sense for the government to act against them, since it would be against their main Liberty ideal.
On the other hand, what could be done IMO, is the creation of some laws against the monopoly of lumber, but would the government risk o upset their main lumber company? What if they start a strike?
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Scouring the references yields the following names:
Lumber Consortium Tim Hitchcock and Jason Nelson, Andoran, Birthplace of Freedom, 5, (2015).
People's Freedom Movement. Id.
Eagle Knights. Id at 7.
Seven Houses. Id at 10.
Merchant's Council. Id at 11.
Forester's Endowment. Id.
Andoran Alchemical Society. Id at 12.
Of these, the Lumber Consortium, Merchant's Council, Forester's Endowment, and Andoran Alchemical Society seem more like industry or interest groups than political parties, and the Eagle Knights are obviously a military order. The People's Freedom Movement ("Populists" for short, though this name is my invention) and Seven Houses are most like modern political parties, or maybe rather political clubs. That said, the Lumber Consortium elects councilors, the Eagle Knights have guaranteed councilors, and the Alchemical Society is known to have at least local politicians under its influence.
In the People's Council, the above factions (plus the Bellflowers and Green Faith mentioned in the opening to the Factions section of Birthplace of Freedom) might arrange themselves something like this:
The Democrats
-Populists
-Eagle Knights
-Bellflowers (through independent candidates or fronts)
The Greens
-Forester's Endowment
-Green Faith adherents
The Burgesses
-Lumber Consortium
-Merchant's Council
-Alchemists
The Conservatives
-The Seven Houses (likewise to the Bellflowers)
As for the parties' voting bases:
The Populists would draw their votes from among artisans and proletarians in the cities of Almas, Augustana, Sauerton, and Triela, as well as from some democratic intellectuals in Almas and Steyr. That same romantic/intellectual milieu would also sympathize with the Eagle Knights, as would ideologically democratic elements of the old aristocracy transitioning from one military caste to another. Former slaves and ideological abolitionists, likely concentrated around the western frontier, would give their support to Bellflowers.
The Green is less organized than I've presented it, gaining the votes not just of conservationists, but also of some farmers hoping for peaceful coexistence with the fey, or just to be let alone by encroaching industry. Its votes mostly come from Carpenden (both the region and the city) and Bellis, but its leadership is from Augustana.
The Lumber Consortium runs an efficient political machine that earns it the votes of its tenants and contractors throughout Darkmoon Vale and especially Oregent. Other industry and financial concerns have struggled to replicate its success among their workers, but have the support of the middle classes, broadly conceived.
The Seven Houses play the roles of demagogues among the urban poor, while quietly using their wealth and influence to set up their own underground political machines. Being less open about it than they Lumber Consortium, they've been somewhat less successful, but also haven't attracted public attention or criticism until recently.
Oddly missing from the setting material are trade unions. Given their explicit presence in, say, Korvosa and Riddleport, you'd expect to see at least craft unions allied with the Populists and maybe radical and company unions competing among lumberjacks in Darkmoon Vale. But they just don't exist. There's mention of apprenticeships in Smithtown, so some sort of guild might exist, but it's not elaborated on at all.