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I want to add more notables to the AP but I've been having trouble finding details on other Chelish nobles, especially for House Thrune whom I would like my PCs to have stronger ties to. I imagine Abrogail would like to make certain that other noble houses to get to dig their claws into the PCs with how potentially dangerous and influential they can become.
Unfortunately, even with the extra party guests bit at the start of Book 4 I feel like there's not many NPCs that the PCs could really connect to. Some of them are interesting quirky characters, but the types that I feel like my PCs will really connect to or inspire much loyalty in the nation of Cheliax to them. I feel like most of the nobles engender more feelings of "Asmodeus Below, why are we fighting for these people" instead of helping them be the loyal Chelish murdermachines they are meant to be.
For House Thrune, there's a few (living) notables I know of that might be able to be worked in, though I'm not entirely sure how to go about it yet. As my table has yet to touch Skulls and Shackles, that leaves Grand Admiral Druvalia Thrune as an option. Her Armada might complicate matters for the GR and she could be an interesting person to interact with. There's also Ghislaine Thrune who runs some kind of Captain Cheliax Super Soldier Project. Other than those two, and Barry over in Rebels there's none that I know.
For non Thrunes, I'd love to find a way to incorporate the Grand High Priestess Aspexia Rugatonn as some of her more zealous followers become the antagonists of the end of the Book. Maybe find a way to throw Varian Jeggare in there even...
Does anyone know of any other Nobles or other Notable NPCs I could have the party encounter to make Cheliax seem more worth saving for the PCs. Or at least make it seem like the PCs arent the 4 only competent people in the entire nation?
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Have you taken a look through Cheliax, The Infernal Empire? I've found that to be an invaluable source of lore and NPCs for the late stages of my Hell's Rebels campaign.
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I dropped in a bunch of the NPCs from the foreword of book four. Also, I kept a calendar and had the Dies Irae gladiator tourneys from the Cheliax book run in the background of the campaign, coincidentally so that the finals happened during book four when the party was in Egorian, and allowing me to introduce a new member of the aristocracy, who could actually be competent. In my case, the winner was a very level-headed dwarf warrior who showed up, made an impression, and then was shipped off to his brand new mountain barony to raise troops for the war effort.
But really, I got way more mileage out of the idea that's not very much explored in the book but is kinda there between the lines. Like all the Thrune agents are there. The queue is hours long. I played it so the city was fairly bursting with mid-to-high-level adventurers that the party could go carouse and hang out with. The evil iconic characters were also rooming at the same inn with the party, and there was much amusing interaction over the breakfast buffet.
(Except Lazzero Dalvera, whom I had already cast as the party cleric's direct superior and who ended up replacing the endboss of book four. He was captured, excruciated, his name stuck from records and his office got bricked up.)