What should be the Nidalese response to her death? Should there be any? I know that the books drop that potential plot line, but I'm curious as to how this would impact border relations.
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What should be the Nidalese response to her death? Should there be any? I know that the books drop that potential plot line, but I'm curious as to how this would impact border relations.
Zhol isn't a diplomat, and to the extent she received instructions from the Umbral Court, she probably wasn't instructed to aid Thrune as much as she did. The Umbral Court therefore has two options: distance themselves from her and make nice, or use her death as an excuse to put the screws on the new government. By the time of Age of Ashes they're making nice, so either they went with that option from the start or were convinced that pressuring Ravounel wasn't going to go anywhere. The latter option is more interesting, and there's something to build on in the AP to implement it too. The shadow giants in the Terapasillion are stated to be "Nidal agents." I don't know how much you want to toy with the encounters, but even if you do nothing, it'd be trivial to frame the site as recently occupied in response to the SRs' coup. It could potentially for use as a staging ground for an invasion, but in any event is an infringement on Ravounel's territorial integrity and a blow to its self-determination.
Interesting. I wonder what Nidal would want in negotiations with a New Ravounel? I'm thinking: shipping and maritime agreements for Nisroch, religious rights for Zon Kuthon parallel to their toleration of Shelyn, a buffer zone against a potential Cheliax led by the Glorious Reclamation, establishment of an embassy and border security, and trade (although what they want is unknown to me).
In my campaign, Zhol is the attaché who's really in charge of the diplomatic relationship here. Nidal has formally recalled its ambassador, but it's a political fiction, as she was the one actually in charge. (Recognizing the human supremacist nature of House Thrune, they pragmatically assigned her a human "face" to parrot her talking points in meetings.) I also completely redid her: she was an umbral scion sorcerer with levels in the umbral court agent prestige class.
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Interesting. I wonder what Nidal would want in negotiations with a New Ravounel? I'm thinking: shipping and maritime agreements for Nisroch,
I don't think so. Nidal is protectionist almost to the point of being a closed country, with Nisroch being its only legal and by far its most practical maritime entrepot. Ravounel, meanwhile, has a free trade policy and thus Nidal has no need of an agreement to secure Ravounel as an export market. If anything, Ravounel would want lower tariffs from Nidal.
In terms of economic agreements, I could see Nidal asking for fishing and whaling rights in Ravounel's territorial waters and fish/whale processing rights on its coasts (the uninhabited Deepmar is pretty good for this), a la the agreements between the US and Canada over the Grand Banks before the collapse of the cod fisheries. Speaking of whaling, I could also imagine the two countries forming a cartel to protect their industries from Pezzacki competition.
I could also imagine an international agreement between Ravounel, Nidal, Korvosa, and Irim to regulate surface navigation (standardization of buoys and other markers, cooperation in surveying hazards and dissemination of naval charts, etc.). Much of the legal infrastructure for a standardized system would be in place from all the countries' (except Irim) time under Chelish rule, but practically speaking the physical markers might have diverged over the last 80 years. Two major and related navigation projects I could see Ravounel being interested in are the dredging of the lower Yolubilis up to Whiterock to handle larger ships, and more ambitiously, a canal between Whiterock and the Dismal Nitch via the unnamed lake and river that the map in Tomorrow Must Burn insists is there. Nidal could invest in the enterprise.
religious rights for Zon Kuthon parallel to their toleration of Shelyn,
This should be easy to attain. Ravounel is tolerant by default, and while the Kuthites (like the Norgorberites and the Asmodeans) supported Thrune during the coup, assigning a less overtly subversive high priest should be able to mend fences. Nidal marketing velstrac labor to Ravounel in Tomorrow Must Burn is suggestive.
a buffer zone against a potential Cheliax led by the Glorious Reclamation,
This suggests to me that Nidal should have an interest in disrupting any military cooperation whatsoever between Ravounel and Cheliax in any event. Which probably means guaranteeing their independence. And ironically could mean encouraging Ravounel to align militarily with Andoran against Cheliax (diverting their gaze south), though how they'd accomplish this is somewhat beyond me. Perhaps make use of the relationship Nidal has with certain Shackles captains?
establishment of an embassy and border security,
This is a big one. Ravounel already pitches itself as a haven for refugees fleeing oppression in Cheliax, and the frontier with Nidal is naturally more porous than the one with Cheliax. Nidal should justifiably be worried about Ravounel attracting emigrants from Nidal and playing host to Nidalese subversives. It should want permission for its police to cross the frontier in pursuit of such quarry, extraterritorial protections for them, an extradition agreement, a commitment from Ravounel to police its frontier and hand over unauthorized border-crossers (enforced by a per-head fee to be paid for everyone allowed to cross), and other similar measures.
This is a big one. Ravounel already pitches itself as a haven for refugees fleeing oppression in Cheliax, and the frontier with Nidal is naturally more porous than the one with Cheliax. Nidal should justifiably be worried about Ravounel attracting emigrants from Nidal and playing host to Nidalese subversives. It should want permission for its police to cross the frontier in pursuit of such quarry, extraterritorial protections for them, an extradition agreement, a commitment from Ravounel to police its frontier and hand over unauthorized border-crossers (enforced by a per-head fee to be paid for everyone allowed to cross), and other similar measures.
Perhaps they could offer in exchange for such rights repurposing Thrune's Chance to send a few hopeful to Ravounel instead. That place serves as a safety valve for their middle class striver families and to give an outlet for dissidents anyway. The number per year could be expanded and would make this border security rights more palatable.
They could simply transfer this thorp of about "50 diplomats and agents" to Ravounel and eject the Chelish. Or they could move the embassy in Pangolais for the Chelish to here to set up parallel embassies for Ravounel and Cheliax to foster chances for antagonism between the two nations.
Source: Nidal, Land of Shadows.
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Perhaps they could offer in exchange for such rights repurposing Thrune's Chance to send a few hopeful to Ravounel instead.
Or Ravounel could just refuse to countenance the presumption. Extraterritorial protections for officials are the sorts of things granted to conquering imperialists, and Nidal hasn't won any wars against Ravounel yet. Besides, it gets enough of that crap from its other neighbor.
Oh, yes, it's not ideal for the Silver Ravens. But it's a neat little complication for the party to role-play over: "But we can save these people" vs. being a beacon of hope while risking a bad relationship with the extremely scary and militarily superior neighbor. And the party will have none of the hole cards they do when bargaining with Cheliax.
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militarily superior neighbor
I'm not sure that's necessarily true. Nidal is a military threat, to be sure, but its standing army, the Adamant Legion, is based on the wrong side of the country, and its population is, roughly, only twice that of Ravounel's. Not that either country can fully mobilize its population for anything resembling modern total war. Importantly, after the alliance with Irim, per the LOWG, is concluded Ravounel will have command of the sea and be able to blockade Nisroch. All of which is to say that Ravounel doesn't have to conduct itself like a prostrate power before it's even defended itself. And frankly, any party that advocates such defeatism would probably not remain popular long. So, yeah, tradeoffs.