Creative Director
|
| 8 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hi guys,
this is my first post here, its quite exciting.
The title says it all.
One of my players bought several adventure paths for me to delve into an make their life thrilling (miserable) :D
Anyway, while going throught it and all the lore around the runelords, I have a hard time to understand several things:
1- How do the new runelords get recognized and accepted as such by the runelords related artifacts (specifically by the seven swords of sin)?
2- How do runelords dominate rune giants, and by what are the means used by the new runelords to get that authority?
3- Generally speaking how do new runelords rise to power? What makes someone a runelord?
I thought that the most logical explanation is to make that related to the Alara'quin. Its kind of the regalia of the runelords, but I didn't find any material to corroborate that.
What do you think?
Yay! Welcome to the boards!
1) Part of someone becoming a new runelord is making that happen. The artifacts don't automatically accept them, but if you're high-enough level to force your will and presence onto those artifacts, you take control and prove it. Which is a LOT tougher if there's already a runelord in that role.
2) Mostly through a combination of bribery and bullying and giving the rune giants the agency to control and dominate and bully giants "legally." And the very first rune giants were magically created to have "serve Runelords" be part of their very existence. As generations wore on, that magical compulsion faded but was replaced by a societal element where rune giants had the privilege of being boss giants. They enjoy their cruel position of power and understand that a big part of what gives them that position is serving a runelord.
3) It's mostly "if you are tough enough to replace the previous runelord and tough enough to not get replaced by another" that decides if you're a runelord. It's not an inherited title, nor is it something that you campaign votes for. It's a power grab. If you can take it and keep it, it's yours.
Which is why the runelords are all so high level—there's just not a lot of things that a level 17+, artifact wielding wizard with access to a nation's resources for their own whims can be threatened by.
|
Creative Director
|
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yup. A returned runelord has a significant uphill battle when it comes to re-establishing their power base. For example, in Rise of the Runelords...
Which is why, in Return of the Runelords...
Also, thanks for the kind words! Those Demonomicon articles were lots of fun to create.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Throwing out a mention to the additional Runelord archetype in 2e, where some members of New Thassilon are calling themselves Runelords, emulating the old ones, but without the levels of power the old ones had. I imagine Sorshen is pretty amused at these little Runelords running around, playing at her immense power.
While you're here, actually, am I remembering correctly that Sorshen and Nocticula are on pretty good terms? I imagine they'd have a lot to talk about considering their similar past areas of focus.
|
Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Throwing out a mention to the additional Runelord archetype in 2e, where some members of New Thassilon are calling themselves Runelords, emulating the old ones, but without the levels of power the old ones had. I imagine Sorshen is pretty amused at these little Runelords running around, playing at her immense power.
While you're here, actually, am I remembering correctly that Sorshen and Nocticula are on pretty good terms? I imagine they'd have a lot to talk about considering their similar past areas of focus.
The "new runelords" thing is a new story thread we've not yet started to really explore, but hopefully some day we'll get a chance to do so.
Sorshen and Nocticula have a fair amount in common, and her faith is one of the most prevalent in eastern New Thassilon, yes. But Nocticula is a full-fledged deity these days, and so doesn't really "talk" to mortals much. And Sorshen has a lot more pressing matters to face in the meantime anyway, so they don't really "talk much" at all.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Throwing out a mention to the additional Runelord archetype in 2e, where some members of New Thassilon are calling themselves Runelords, emulating the old ones, but without the levels of power the old ones had. I imagine Sorshen is pretty amused at these little Runelords running around, playing at her immense power.
While you're here, actually, am I remembering correctly that Sorshen and Nocticula are on pretty good terms? I imagine they'd have a lot to talk about considering their similar past areas of focus.
The "new runelords" thing is a new story thread we've not yet started to really explore, but hopefully some day we'll get a chance to do so.
Sorshen and Nocticula have a fair amount in common, and her faith is one of the most prevalent in eastern New Thassilon, yes. But Nocticula is a full-fledged deity these days, and so doesn't really "talk" to mortals much. And Sorshen has a lot more pressing matters to face in the meantime anyway, so they don't really "talk much" at all.
That makes sense. I think it was her faith being prevalent that I was thinking of. And the new runelords sounds like so much fun, I hope you guys get to do something with it maybe in a region book or something. Thassilon is my favorite; can't wait to see what y'all do!