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In The Lands of the Linnorm Kings, rulership is decided by proving your worth and slaying a fey dragon.
So what happens when a ruler dies? Where does that authority go? Do the citizens hold a Thing and elect a "placeholder"? Does the kingdom descend into total anarchy as lesser jarls make a bid for power? Or does another Linnorm King "step in" and take control?
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There might be several Linnorm-slayers hanging around, waiting for the current ruler to die so the next guy in line can take over.
Or if not, maybe they invite a Linnorm to burn down the kingdom until someone slays it.
(Or they appoint a Castellan.)
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When a ruler dies, their designated heir/regent normally takes over. However, they are not considered a "true" ruler until they slay/defeat a linnorm.
I.e., if a Linnorm King dies, his son could rule as a Prince (but not a King). If someone else kills a linnorm, the Prince could be ousted and a new King installed.
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Sveinn Blood-Eagle is the oldest and most powerful of the current kings, and the skalds whisper that soon he will step down and make the journey to Valenhall in faroff Arcadia. He is only waiting for a suitable candidate to come through his gates, bearing the traditional head of a linnorm.
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Likewise, the Panthfinder Wiki says this about the ruler of Hagreach:
Freyr Darkwine who is the current Castellan of Trollheim and commander of Blackravens military organization, is the respectful de-facto ruler of the region. He has not claimed the throne as he has not yet defeated a linnorm and does not plan to do so soon. Freyr is more interested to keep Hagreach safe, fighting the White Witches of Irrisen and their minions.
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Am I the only one that read the thread title and assumed the OP was going to ask if Linnorm Kings got a death curse? :D
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It does seem like a questionable political system. "We'll take people who have been cursed with eternal misfortune by dying dragons, and we'll put them in charge of the country."
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They need a watery tart to throw a sword at someone.
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It does seem like a questionable political system. "We'll take people who have been cursed with eternal misfortune by dying dragons, and we'll put them in charge of the country."
On the other hand, it eliminates the gambling problem created by bookies and dead pools.
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If I kill a Linnorm in my adventures, but I'm too busy to run a kingdom, what do you think the black-market price of a Linnorm head would be?
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If I kill a Linnorm in my adventures, but I'm too busy to run a kingdom, what do you think the black-market price of a Linnorm head would be?
Whatever they got, plus a cushy retirement home on a fjord.
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I wonder how old the Linnorm has to be. Seems like there'd be a market for juvenile linnorms. Maybe I could pass a tatzlwyrm off as a young linnorm.
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Full grown linnorms are really big - the lowest CR Linnorm I can think of off the top of my head (Crag Linnorm, CR 14), is a gargantuan creature.
If you aren't carrying in a head that's bigger than you are, they'll know something is up.
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I don't see anything that could be wrong with that idea...
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A Linnorm King's death means that whoever his designated successor is should probably go find and kill a linnorm if he wants to keep his place on the throne secure, because that's the only way to be considered a truly legitimate ruler.
As for what happens if you fail? Then any old jerk who walks in with a linnorm head is gonna get a lot of support to oust you, because killing a linnorm is considered the ultimate proof of your right to rule in the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
But just because that's how it works in general doesn't mean you don't have exceptions like in Hagsreach. No one in Hagsreach would ever support Oppir Eightfingers over Freyr Darkwine, even if there wasn't that lingering doubt about the veracity of the former's linnorm-slaying, because Freyr's a great leader and Oppir emphatically isn't.
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In The Lands of the Linnorm Kings, rulership is decided by proving your worth and slaying a fey dragon.
So what happens when a ruler dies?
A linnorm gets its wings.
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In our Carrion Crown game...
Forward on to after the AP ended and we continued playing the characters through a modified version of A Paladin In Hell. In the course of that adventure we encountered an extremely powerful linnorm (think it was a homebrew of some sort, but I could be mistaken) and murderized it. Lop goes its head and we give it to our barbarian for later use.
After the plane-hopping adventure concluded, the DM and I (I was running the next campaign) decided that Sveinn Blood-Eagle would happily grant the barbarian PC his kingdom since she procured not just a linnorm head (or two), but an extremely powerful one at that! So in our version, Sveinn has stepped down and the PC is now a Linnorm King!