Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Forum Games and Roleplaying => Topic started by: Weirdsound on November 07, 2018, 01:34:32 am
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The last 30 years have been terrible for both Dragonkind and the world at large. After inventing the means to mass produce ballista bolts strong enough to pierce dragon scales without magic, the dwarves of the Xinut Empire quickly discovered that one dead dragon could be used to make dozens of powerful artifacts. The Ambitious dwarves quickly set about slaughtering all the dragons they could find, and using the resulting artifacts to conqueror and subjugate most of the known world.
You are a young adult chromatic dragon, a creature typically (and justifiably) considered wicked and selfish by nature. But in these trying times, the mortals of the world may have little choice but to trust and work alongside you, and you them.
Your plan for survival is as simple as it is costly. You traded your hoard of dragon treasure to the Orcs of the Obsidian Coast in exchange for a large fleet of ships. You will load these ships with supplies, provisions, and followers, and set sail for Doomrus: a small and isolated continent that consists mostly of savage deserts and haunted forests. With luck, you will have time to grow mighty before the Xinut Empire gets around to trying to take Doomrus for themselves.
Character Creation:
Choose Your Name:
Choose Your Color
Red - Fire breath and illusion powers
White - Ice breath and weather manipulation
Green - Poison breath and command over bugs
Black - Lightning Breath and supersonic flight
Gray - Superior strength, endurance, and natural armor
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Protective Prophecy - Feel free to take risks, it is said that your life can only be ended by a being of royal blood who is wearing a crown and specifically seeking to slay you.
Female - A dragoness was a rare sight even before the Xinut Empire began their slaughter of your kind. If you do well, you may be able to build and control a harem of adoring males.
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Rite of the Sleepless - You know how to convert the dead into loyal mummies, bound to protect your holdings and/or followers.
Extra Loot - Your horde was so large, that you didn't need to spend it all to purchase your fleet and supplies. Start with an impressive collection of treasure.
Dwarfsbane - You have a history of clashing with the Xinut Empire and coming out on top. Those who wish to stand against the expansionist dwarves court your respect and friendship.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
Elemental Elf Worshipers - The wicked elemental elves worship chromatic dragons such as yourself. They are fierce, intelligent, and capable of channeling the draconic powers of their masters. They are also deeply racist, seeing kobolds as slaves and all other races as wastes of oxygen and space to be purged.
Kobold Worshipers - Kobolds may be small and weak, but they possess undying loyalty towards their dragon 'ancestors', minds fit for tricks and treachery, and a wealth of dragon lore. They are comfortable living off scraps on the margins of society.
Human Adventurers from Norisland - The humans of Norisland are known as mariners, explorers, and heroes. Although they have a rich history of dragon slaying, many are willing to put up with you if it means embarking on a grand adventure.
Human Refugees from the Brickflats - The humans of the Brickflats have mastered agriculture, pottery, and architecture. Many of these people have quietly accepted the yoke of the Xinut Empire, but some seek to resist and flee.
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Spirit Elf Refugees from the Chia Woods - If anyone can tame the haunted woods of Doomrus, it would be the reclusive spirit elves, who are magically bound to their natural surroundings. The Xinut Empire is harvesting the Chia Woods to produce charcoal, leaving many Spirit Elves in need of a new home.
Goblin Exile Mages from the Twisted Fortresses - Goblins are masters of alchemy and pyromancy, but they are known to be cruel and prone to deadly magical accidents. The Xinut Empire will put to death any goblin found practicing magic within its borders, a policy that has created many volunteers for your one way voyage.
Orc Pirates from the Obsidian Coast - Orcs are known for their fast breeding and as great soldiers, sailors, and slavers, but are known to be chaotic and difficult to govern. The Pirate Lord who sold you your fleet has offered to provide you with some of his excess population if you wish to take it.
Dwarven Dissidents from the The Xinut Empire - Like most dwarven peoples, the The Xinut Empire is known for its smiths, enchanters, and siege weapons. Plenty of Xinut Citizens have beef with their leaders for one reason or another, although it remains to be seen if the ones seeking passage see you as an ally or as crafting materials in the long run.
Dwarven Survivors of the Zinc Strongholds - The dwarves of the Zinc Strongholds worship the benevolent and now nearly extinct Metalic Dragons. Like Xinut dwarves they are good at making items and fighting wars, but they possess a solid moral foundation, and may not be willing to go along with some of your more wicked schemes.
Dwarven Refugees from the Verdant Hills - The dwarves of the verdant hills are forbidden from working with metal by their religion, but they are still great at crafting with other materials. Their minority faith is heavily persecuted within the Xinut Empire.
Nagaconda Refuges from the Wetwoods - The giant Nagaconda snake-folk possess both raw might and an affinity for the magics of earth and water, but are cold blooded tropical creatures who may have trouble adapting to the cooler climate of Doomrus. They were caught in the crossfire, as their homeland was a major theater in the war between the Zinc Strongholds and the Xinut Empire, and as such many Nagaconda seek to relocate.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
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Name: Annathericath
Color: White
Boon: Female
Followers: Kobolds Worshippers, Goblins Exile mages, Clownfin Slaves
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Name: Xaccarati
Color: Purple
Boon: Shapeshifter
Followers: Human Refugees, High Elf Scholars, Dwarven Survivors
Work purple magic with the elves and dwarves, humans to do the labor and general pop growth. Shapeshifting to blend in and not remind them there is an evil dragon about all the time, and maybe charm a few to get some half dragons.
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Choose Your Name:
Harkarus
Choose Your Color
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
High elves, empowered by our presence and pampered by our clownfins, handle whatever grandiose arcane rituals we devise to thrive in hostile lands. Tieflings serve as our flexible (or randomly specialized) core citizenry, loyal to our magnanimous vision and no more wicked than we are. Clownfins toil as a slave caste, giving us that evil empire feel but also providing raw materials and food from the sea. We use our shapeshifting powers to breed a half-draconic noble class out of any of the above who do well.
Historians will no doubt look at an evil dragon forming a highly magical half-demonic empire ruled by demonic-draconic nobles and conclude that everything worked out great for everyone.
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Choose Your Name:
Harkarus
Choose Your Color
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
High elves, empowered by our presence and pampered by our clownfins, handle whatever grandiose arcane rituals we devise to thrive in hostile lands. Tieflings serve as our flexible (or randomly specialized) core citizenry, loyal to our magnanimous vision and no more wicked than we are. Clownfins toil as a slave caste, giving us that evil empire feel but also providing raw materials and food from the sea. We use our shapeshifting powers to breed a half-draconic noble class out of any of the above who do well.
Historians will no doubt look at an evil dragon forming a highly magical half-demonic empire ruled by demonic-draconic nobles and conclude that everything worked out great for everyone.
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
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Choose Your Name:
Harkarus
Choose Your Color
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
High elves, empowered by our presence and pampered by our clownfins, handle whatever grandiose arcane rituals we devise to thrive in hostile lands. Tieflings serve as our flexible (or randomly specialized) core citizenry, loyal to our magnanimous vision and no more wicked than we are. Clownfins toil as a slave caste, giving us that evil empire feel but also providing raw materials and food from the sea. We use our shapeshifting powers to breed a half-draconic noble class out of any of the above who do well.
Historians will no doubt look at an evil dragon forming a highly magical half-demonic empire ruled by demonic-draconic nobles and conclude that everything worked out great for everyone.
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
+1
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Choose Your Name:
Harkarus
Choose Your Color
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
High elves, empowered by our presence and pampered by our clownfins, handle whatever grandiose arcane rituals we devise to thrive in hostile lands. Tieflings serve as our flexible (or randomly specialized) core citizenry, loyal to our magnanimous vision and no more wicked than we are. Clownfins toil as a slave caste, giving us that evil empire feel but also providing raw materials and food from the sea. We use our shapeshifting powers to breed a half-draconic noble class out of any of the above who do well.
Historians will no doubt look at an evil dragon forming a highly magical half-demonic empire ruled by demonic-draconic nobles and conclude that everything worked out great for everyone.
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
+1
+1
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Choose Your Name:
Harkarus
Choose Your Color
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
High elves, empowered by our presence and pampered by our clownfins, handle whatever grandiose arcane rituals we devise to thrive in hostile lands. Tieflings serve as our flexible (or randomly specialized) core citizenry, loyal to our magnanimous vision and no more wicked than we are. Clownfins toil as a slave caste, giving us that evil empire feel but also providing raw materials and food from the sea. We use our shapeshifting powers to breed a half-draconic noble class out of any of the above who do well.
Historians will no doubt look at an evil dragon forming a highly magical half-demonic empire ruled by demonic-draconic nobles and conclude that everything worked out great for everyone.
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
+1
+1
+1
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Choose Your Name:
Harkarus
Choose Your Color
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
High elves, empowered by our presence and pampered by our clownfins, handle whatever grandiose arcane rituals we devise to thrive in hostile lands. Tieflings serve as our flexible (or randomly specialized) core citizenry, loyal to our magnanimous vision and no more wicked than we are. Clownfins toil as a slave caste, giving us that evil empire feel but also providing raw materials and food from the sea. We use our shapeshifting powers to breed a half-draconic noble class out of any of the above who do well.
Historians will no doubt look at an evil dragon forming a highly magical half-demonic empire ruled by demonic-draconic nobles and conclude that everything worked out great for everyone.
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
+1
+1
+1
+1.
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Choose Your Name:
Harkarus
Choose Your Color
Purple - Negative energy breath, presence empowers allied magic users
Choose Your Boon
Shapeshifter - You possess the gift of forms, useful for espionage, surveillance, blending in, and siring dragon blooded beasts and followers.
Choose Three Peoples to Follow You
High Elf Scholars from the Startower States - High Elves are deeply attuned to various forms of arcane magic, but less so to the world around them to the point where they have trouble surviving without servants to feed and clothe them. The Startower States are loosely aligned with the Xinut Empire, but not so much so that leaving with you to study the magics of Doomrus would be treasonous.
Tiefling Outcasts - Demon-blooded mortals are rarely accepted in any society, and as such many would jump at the opportunity if you offered to sponsor them a civilization of their own. Tieflings can be born into any race and possess the boons of any sort of demon, so there is no telling what sort of traits these followers might have, but their fiendish heritage means that you may find more bad apples than expected in the bunch.
Clownfin Slaves - Clownfin are considered by most to be the lowest of the merfolk races, but since none of the greater sea-peoples have reason to flee the Xinut empire, a bulk purchase of these small but hard working mortals may be your best option should you wish to exploit the oceans around your new home. Weather or not your other followers are fit to exploit a large slave population remains to be seen...
High elves, empowered by our presence and pampered by our clownfins, handle whatever grandiose arcane rituals we devise to thrive in hostile lands. Tieflings serve as our flexible (or randomly specialized) core citizenry, loyal to our magnanimous vision and no more wicked than we are. Clownfins toil as a slave caste, giving us that evil empire feel but also providing raw materials and food from the sea. We use our shapeshifting powers to breed a half-draconic noble class out of any of the above who do well.
Historians will no doubt look at an evil dragon forming a highly magical half-demonic empire ruled by demonic-draconic nobles and conclude that everything worked out great for everyone.
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
+1
+1
+1
+1.
+1
Though like Black and Super dragon without breath/Powers. But Purple is best bet to fuel the Elf magic, got a labor force (that can also harvest ocean resources not just land. A huge deal in my opinion.)
Tieflings, well truthful my least favorite puck, but willing to look past prejudice of their background.
This should be good. As I doubt my picks for third would be worth a damn.
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This looks good; PTW.
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-snip-
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
+1
+1
+1
+1.
+1. Excellent combo.
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-snip-
I'll throw the first +1 onto the pile: +1.
+1
+1
+1
+1.
+1. Excellent combo.
+1.
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You pace the deck of your flagship, Blood River, nervously. For the past few months you have been cooped up on the deck of this ship, unable to use your true form due to lack of space and your lack of practice transforming mid-flight. For this voyage you have adopted the form of a six foot tall purple reptilian humanoid. When taking the form, you thought to give yourself wings, but to your dismay they were too small for long distance flight so you had to settle for flying between ships to actually commune with the lesser beings you have chosen to drag along as minions.
Grom-Chul, the half-human nephew of the Orcish Pirate Lord who took your precious hoard and provided your ships and slaves, is the one you come closest to liking. He is an ambitious little shit, who volunteered to control your 7000 or so Clownfin slaves with only his team of 90 Orcish slave drivers. He is cunning, ruthless, and you do not find his desires distasteful; The half orc isn't pretentious enough to covet your friendship, or the wealth of Doomrus that is rightfully yours, but merely a position of power over the High Elves which he plans to obtain by running the slaves that kept them fed, sheltered, and clothed.
As for the slaves themselves, Grom-Chul is confident that there is minimal chance of escape or uprising so long as you are not an especially abusive master. Clownfin are at the bottom of the ocean's pecking order, so if they flee, they are only likely to find themselves slaves or dinner to something else. The real issue is likely going to be protecting their eventual settlement from underwater beasts and raiders looking to make your slaves their own. The half orc suggests finding them a harbor with a small entrance that they can turn into a defensible choke-point if you don't want to put the effort into defending them yourselves.
When you inquire if the slaves keep an internal leadership structure, Grom-Chul explains that each Clownfin household typically manages its own affairs, but the population turns to their magic users for conflict resolution and spiritual advice. Clownfin arcane tradition includes very basic fire, water, and poison magics. The Clownfin are cagey, and usually keep the identity of their mages secret from their masters, but Grom-Chul has been driving merfolk slaves for decades and knows what to look for. He has identified a middle aged female on his ship called Flyooshy as such a caster. He could find more mages for you, but that would involve him traveling between ships to seek them out, and he suggests that one Clownfin mage is as good as another anyway.
While the Clownfin seem to have more or less accepted the yoke of slavery, the high elves are also pathetic in their own right. They are split into two main camps of about 1400 humanoids each, each lead by a scholar looking to open a satellite campus of his or her respective university on Doomrus.
Dr. Henrique Seville is the wizened head of the FFB Magics (Flora, Fauna, and Brewing) college at the University of High Haven, and you can tell right away that earning his respect will be an uphill battle. He is several centuries your elder, and often, right to you face, compares you unfavorably to other dragons he has met over the course of his long life. In addition to his followers and their supplies, Dr. Seville also has brought his flock of 100 horse sized omnivorous and slightly magical flightless birds called Color Runners along for the adventure. They look delicious.
Dean Mayleen Mapleseat is younger and more affable than Dr. Seville, but also happens to be the only being on your voyage that scares you. Dean Mapleseat has only been head of the Goldwalls University College of Forgotten Magics for a decade and a half; Before that she was a consultant for the high general of the Xinut Empire. She travels with a personal guard of about 70 fully armored dwarves, most of whom are retired or discharged Xinut soldiers. From what you can gather through the whispers of her students, she knows the Xinut rituals to make powerful artifacts from dragon remains, and her guard has brought at least one dragon killing siege weapon along for the voyage. When confronted with this, Dean Mapleseat neither confirms nor denies anything, and simpily tells you that she wishes to establish a suitable base from which she can scour Doomrus for ancient ruins and un-contacted civilizations.
In addition to the scholars and their students, you are also joined by Princess Ni'gwent of the Singing Canyon, a pretty young elf who in the old days you would have kidnapped in a heartbeat as either a meal, a decoration for your lair, or a short term sexual plaything. This one, however, is rather annoying in that she seems to have overly romantic notions of what in means to run off with a dragon. Admittedly a skilled architech, she has spent the whole voyage drawing up plans for a dream castle which you are to share with her, and has dropped several unsubtle hints as to what she is looking for in an engagement ring. As annoying as the brat is, it may serve you well to play her game; Her 200 strong retainer of guards and servants includes some of the mightiest mages on the voyage, and as an actual princess in good standing with the High Elfish High King, she would be well within her rights to pull rank and boss the scholars around.
Far more numerous but no more likable than the elves are the Tieflings, who are also split into two groups.
The first and smaller Tiefling faction calls itself the Typhoon Coast Enclave, and has persisted in relative isolation for several generations. Their stated goal is the creation of a superior race of beings through the selective breeding of Tieflings and other demonic creatures, and they must have been having some success as the Xinut Empire has recently been trying to press them into military service, which is of course what prompted them to run away with you. The enclave is about 4500 Tieflings strong, and is lead by Cameron and Cori Moonblood, a pair of fraternal twins in an incestuous marriage. You find the moonbloods to be sickeningly friendly and selfless, and you cannot quite figure out if this is their genuine personality, or a misguided attempt to butter you up and add dragon blood to their eugenics project.
The larger Tiefling group is known as the Cult of the Four Limbs, a young Tiefling faith with about 7000 practitioners. You know little about the religious pratices of the cult, save for the fact that it only welcomes the worship of the demon blooded, and that the object of said worship is Bahammed, one of 13 fallen gods defeated by the dwarven pantheon at the beginning of time. The worshipers themselves seem to come from all walks of life, but as is true of Tieflings in general, most are outcasts from whatever land they originated in. They are lead by the Prophet Diabold, who was rendered mute years ago by a dwarven torture master. He 'speaks' by writting in demon rune, a language of which you understand only the bare basics. Communication is going to be an issue.
---
It is one Grom-Chul's orcish underlings who rouses you from your deep thoughts on the minions you brought. "Lord Harkarus," the Orc begins with a slight bow, "Boss wants you to know that we are only about a week out from Doomrus now! Do you have any instructions on how to proceed?"
The question catches you off guard. Instructions? Who'd of thought that having minions would be so much work? You snarl, a light mist of negative energy escaping your nose, and dismiss the Orc in frustration. After considering the question for a bit, however, you admit there is some merit to it. Perhaps you should have some orders ready for the fools, at least by the time the ships reach the coast. To give wise orders, one must have wisdom. Knowledge of the situation. Your late mother used to preach that, and seeing as she used to lead a large cabal of Elemental Elves, you suppose that she knew what she was doing in that regard.
Yes... As loathsome as the thought of a dragon such as yourself working is, this last week of the voyage should be spent acquiring knowledge. Perhaps you should spend time with one or two of your important minions, learn more about them and their people, and quiz them about their knowledge of Doomrus. Perhaps you are better off taking wing, flying ahead, and checking out your new home before the mooks arrive. Perhaps you should spend some time in the cargo holds of your fleet, taking careful inventory of your follower's belongings. Or perhaps you have a better idea all together.
How do you proceed?
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Let's get to know everybody first. Speak to each leader of our peoples, starting with Grom-Chul. Then the two elves, the princess, the twincestous tieflings, and the prophet tiefling. Get a better handle on their personalities, as well as their suggestions and agendas.
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Let's get to know everybody first. Speak to each leader of our peoples, starting with Grom-Chul. Then the two elves, the princess, the twincestous tieflings, and the prophet tiefling. Get a better handle on their personalities, as well as their suggestions and agendas.
As we are not yet at the island, I believe this will do for now. +1.
When we do actually land, I suggest we form some scouting parties to search for suitable places to camp.
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Let's get to know everybody first. Speak to each leader of our peoples, starting with Grom-Chul. Then the two elves, the princess, the twincestous tieflings, and the prophet tiefling. Get a better handle on their personalities, as well as their suggestions and agendas.
As we are not yet at the island, I believe this will do for now. +1.
When we do actually land, I suggest we form some scouting parties to search for suitable places to camp.
+1
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+ 1. Always a good idea to see who your working with and defintivebscout st land fall from suitable camps.
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You decide to suck it up, go out of your way to interact with the lesser beings, and get to know their leaders a bit better. You have a week of travel, and six minions to study if you count the Tiefling twins as a single entity, so that means a day spent with each as well as a single day to yourself and your superior draconic thoughts.
---
Grom-Chul is forthcoming and willing to talk during the time you spend with him, and in a matter of hours you are confident you have him figured out; His ambition is driven by a desire to fit in and prove himself. As the nephew of a pirate lord, he would normally expect to be put in command of at least a small raiding fleet, but because Grom-Chul's mother was human, he was never even allowed to be captain of a single ship. Instead, he was made to take on the role of head slave driver at his uncle's mansion, a politically powerful position to be sure, but one usually held by Orcs of much lower birth. When he announced his intention to travel with you and help manage the Clownfin, he found that only the true outcasts and scum of orcish society were willing to serve under a half-breed. Of his 90 slave drivers, 15 are actually hardened and well armed mercenaries being paid a very generous wage, while the rest are prisoners and indentured servants who are barely more free than the slaves they will be working.
In terms of agenda Grom-Chul is clearly ambitious, but lacking in concrete plans. He knows the high elves will likely be the most powerful beings in Doomrus, aside from yourself, but also knows that they will likely depend on the slaves for survival, leaving him in a position over the noble people. When asked about the Tieflings, Grom-Chul admits that influence over them would be nice, but that because they will have less of a need for his services, he intends to focus most of his effort on working for and with the elves. On a slightly more personal note, the half orc mentions that he has his eyes on one of Dr. Seville's students, a young Geomancer named Meladora who appears to be at least a quarter human, if not half like Grom-Chul.
---
You pick a bad day to spend with Dr. Seville as the old elf had scheduled himself to lecture for eight hours straight, and the best you can do is sit in. You learn little about his personality, aside from the fact that he is stubborn enough not to let a dragon alter his plans, but you do learn a bit about the wildlife of your soon to be home. He spends the first half of the lecture talking about Death Hogs, porcine creatures from the haunted woods of Doomrus that can grow larger than a horse and breath miasmic gasses that melt flesh right off the bone. Their meat is toxic to most races, but they are still sought after for their bones and hide, which is extremely resistant to negative energy effects - such as the breath of a purple dragon. The second half of his lecture speaks of a creature called the Drakeclaw which inhabits the Doomrus deserts. Drakeclaws are dog sized creatures that possess the body setup of an arachnid, but the scales and fire breath of a red dragon. It is speculated that some ancient Dragon or Elemental elf created them by mixing dragon blood into the local scorpion population.
Having spent his entire day speaking about creatures that may be of interest to you, you wonder if the old elf might have secretly differed to your presence in some small way after all.
After the lecture, you do get a brief period to talk with Dr. Seville about his agenda. In the short term, he wants to set up shop on a sandy beach or desert; He has come equipped with the supplies and casters to perform a ritual that will transmute sand into enough glass and marble to build a proper High Elf academic compound. He anticipates that Dean Mapleseat has similar plans, and suspects that there will be competition over the slaves to see which elf faction will get their home built first. He assumes that he can count on your support in this matter, as Mapleseat has ties to "those dwarves who would dare butcher such a fascinating creature as yourself."
Once his tower is complete, Dr. Seville plans to hire and equip Tiefling guides to protect and feed his students as he sends them out into the interior of the wild continent to study the plants and animals. He has also brought large stocks of both magical and mundane crop seeds, and once he gets a feel for the local climate to figure out what will grow, he hopes to gain long term control over a slave population to work his fields.
---
Dean Mayleen Mapleseat is an administrator first and a teacher second, so she has no issue clearing her schedule to meet with you. You find her to be upfront, to the point, and no less scary than your initial impression of her has lead you to believe. She is quick to address the elephant in the room: her past. She worked with the Xinut empire, helped them butcher many dragons, and enjoyed every second of it. If she wanted to, she has no doubt that she could kill you as well, but fortunately she feels she has learned everything there is to know about the magics held within a dragon's corpse, and as such sees more value in you alive.
"You may not like me for my past, but we are natural allies," She argues. Dragons like to stockpile magical treasures. Scholars of forgotten magic like to study magical treasures. Dean Mapleseat claims to have many leads as to the location of magical treasures in Doomrus, that both you and her would benefit from investigating. Beyond that, she keeps her agenda close to the chest, but when you mention Dr. Seville's assumption that she intends to turn sand into building supplies and compete for slave labor to build a tower, she nods. "Best that you help me get my tower built first. The quicker I have a base of operations, the quicker we can get to treasure hunting."
---
Like Dean Mapleseat, Princess Ni'gwent is very forward in some ways. As an elf princess of the highest possible birth, she is entitled to rule over all less beings. As an artist, she appreciates beauty above all things. She fawns over and flatters you at every given opportunity, making no secret of her desires and going so far as to show you several idealized elfish forms you might adopt when the time comes to take her physically.
You are happy to receive a straight answer when you inquire as to why she thinks herself worthy of being a dragon's lover. "I am of the highest breeding. Unless you can convince a dragoness to abandon her stash of treasure and run off to Doomrus, you will not find anybody more worthy than me." She goes on to suggest that she is one of the few who can understand that you are not arrogant, but merely superior to most others, and hopes that you can one day see her in the same light. She wishes to use your might to subjugate the land and peoples of Doomrus, and bring the continent in line with her ideals of beauty, and in turn she is willing to pull rank on the other high elves to aid whatever your agenda happens to be. She then suggests that a shared bed and shared offspring are the logical first steps in forging the long term alliance with you that she seeks. You fall silent for a few moments to contemplate her words. It would be a stretch to imagine yourself seeing her as anything close to an equal, but at the very least you do admire her moxie.
Having spoken earnestly about her agenda, Princess Ni'gwent quickly re-adopts the persona of a young lady fawning over an idealized lover. Even though you now know this personality to be a mask of sorts, her performance of innocence and nativity appeals to you draconic instincts, to the point where you must excuse yourself from the room before you make the rash decision to claim her as a meal or a plaything.
---
The Moonblood Twins agree to host you for dinner in their cabin, which you find they have decorated and furnished to be a cozy home for them and their four children. They serve you a hearty bowl of soup made with tuber vegetables and salted meats, which you find to be more than enough to fill the stomach of your small humanoid form. Aside from their odd blueish-gray skin, the pair appear to be normal mortal dwarves. Cori explains that their demonic appearance and powers only manifest in moonlight, and that they become more monstrous and magical the closer the moon is to being full.
After dinner, Cori produces a harp and begins to play, while Cameron produces a deck of cards and invites you to join him in a bridge like game against two of his adult sons. Thanks to your draconic competitiveness and intelligence, the team of you and Cameron dominates the game, and as you play, you learn more about the Tieflings. The Moonbloods lead the Typhoon Coast Enclave because they, out of all the enclave's powerful bloodlines, are least driven to evil by their heritage, and as such can be trusted to make decisions that benefit the group rather than their own interests. As the night progresses you begin to develop a hunch that their nice and caring personas are genuine, but they may not be the soft-hearted chumps you take them for; You doubt they could have survived this long as leaders of a Tiefling compound if they were.
You press the Moonbloods on their agenda, and learn little of interest. They have brought some crops and livestock along, but have no clue what will or wont grow in Doomrus, and admit that they may have to depend on either your generosity or the slave labor of the Clownfins until they are established. They have few desires, seeking only to live in peace and continue their eugenics projects, but are willing to devote some of their time and energy to your service in exchange for protection. On the matter of eugenics, you ask if they envision dragon blood in the future of the compound's breeding projects. Cori puts down the harp to answer the question: "We had hoped so, but were not going to press the issue unless you brought it up. Our eldest daughter will come of age in a year or two, but we could match you with a female from another bloodline at any time you wish."
---
Your meeting with the Mute Prophet Diabold dosn't go as well as the others. You have to rely on his 13 apostles to translate his writings in Demon Rune, and going off the look on Diabold's face you suspect that said acolytes are editing his words to flatter you. According to his servants, the Prophet feels that although his faith typically shuns those without demon blood, his people will serve your interests for as long as he lives, as payment for safe passage to Doomrus. The lifespan of a Tiefling can vary greatly based on both its mortal and demonic heritage, so you have no clue how long Diabold, a tall and slim figure covered in black chitin and resembling no mortal race you have ever seen, might last or what his people might do after he dies. You also begin to wonder if he is really the one who holds power over the Cult of the Four Limbs; Perhaps you should be keeping a close eye on his apostles.
---
Land is spotted. Rocky cliffs, reaching 1000 ft up in some place stand before you, and you can see the purple and black leaves of Doomrus' dread haunted forests growing all the way up to the edge.
Most of the minions wish to keep sailing and find a better spot to make landfall, but Grom-Chul and the Moonbloods have other ideas. The Half Orc quickly spots a natural harbor that would be a perfect place for the Clownfin to establish homes and underwater ranches. Between the efforts of the slaves, and the remaining food stores, Grom-Chul reckons that the travelers can continue to live on the ships, protected from storms and waves by high cliffs on all sides, until they find away to clear the woods and settle the land above.
The Moonbloods claim that their enclave possess a bloodline of Tiefling capable of digging into the stone cliffs and making subterranean homes, and some of the crops they have brought with them should grow very well in a haunted biome.
The Elfish scholars, of course, desire a sandy beach so that they may build proper marble towers. Dean Mapleseat in particular claims to have some maps that lead to a ruined elfish colony on the beach that can serve as a solid foundation, but since she dosn't know her exact location on the coastline of Doomrus, cannot tell you how far away said spot is.
Princess Ni'gwent is a bit more ambivalent toward the group's landing point, claiming that she can design a beautiful colony anywhere she chooses, but admitting that doing so would be much easier if the scholars had their sand.
The Cult of the Four Limbs is most opposed to stopping here. Prophet Diabold has no desire to subject his people to the horrors of the haunted wood nor the indignity of living underground with a bunch of 'inbred freaks'.
You suppose you have a choice to make now. You are a dragon, not a king. Your instinct is to fly off, explore the continent, claim a den, and start rebuilding your treasure hoard. You can lord over your minions from a distance, offering aid when they are doing poorly, and demanding tribute when they are doing well.
On the other hand, you know the Xinut Empire is only going to grow stronger, and eventually (hopefully no time soon) they will come for Doomrus. These peons need to grow strong to stand a chance at repelling them, and perhaps you need to fight your instincts and live among them, ruling them directly with your vast power and intelligence. You are not sure, after all, that such inferior beings can be both entrusted with freedom and expected to become mighty.
How do you proceed?
-
Ooh, lotsa good stuff here.
The princess is definitely the crown jewel of our pawns, and we should indulge her romantic interests. While it's true she's just an elf, she's the best elf, in breeding, attractiveness, and appreciation of our grand superiority. Since as she notes, finding a dragoness will be difficult, children with her will certainly be the fanciest offspring we can reliably expect, especially prior to the Xinut Empire finding us and being defeated by our magnificence.
Also, she's a fantastic barrier to any of our minions, elven or otherwise, trying to harvest us for parts.
Naturally, we're going to have to stick around and micromanage our pawns. If mortals could become powerful and strong on their own, they wouldn't need to sign up with us. Much like any other livestock, they're useful but unambitious and petty. They require a strong hand to guide them.
I say we keep looking for sandy beaches, ruined colony or not. I badly want that harbor, and cliffside warrens sound pretty fantastic. But trying to settle our entire herd- including scatterbrained scholar elves- in a haunted forest is going to result in casualties. The beaches and deserts will be... perhaps not "safer," but "less thickly contested."
Once we hit a good elf-spot, I'm afraid we'll have to give Dr. Seville priority in constructing his compound. His work cataloguing and collecting local flora and fauna- and therefore making use of them- will be of more broadly applicable benefit than Mapleleaf's lust for magical treasure. I'm willing to give Mapleseat priority over our princess' dream castle, though. In any case, our aura will hopefully assist in the rituals.
Beyond that, getting the basics set up and our environment understood is of the utmost priority. We need the clownfin safe and productive so that the elves and tieflings can be fed, which will in turn allow them to be safe and productive.
As an aside- we have enough ships that we could leave some of the clownfin and tieflings to set up a harbor ranching outpost. I don't think I'm personally a fan of splitting our forces like that; they'll be less productive without us goading them to ever greater heights, both settlements will be weaker for lack of members, and we'll be out of range should they run into trouble. But it's an option, and certainly something to consider in the future.
-
Doing my best to summarise IronyOwl's post:
1. Flirt with elf princess, get her to like us more.
2. Look for sandy beaches, with harbours and cliffside warrens. Let's not go for the haunted forest.
3. Give Dr. Seville the go ahead for building his compound. Give Mapleseat authority over the construction of elf princess' castle. Use dragon aura to assist if possible
4. Use majority of resources and workers to have basic shelters set up, and our environment scouted. Ensure worker base is safe & productive, same with tieflings and elves.
If that makes sense IronyOwl, and I didn't just bastardise some of your ideas, i'ma +1 that plan.
-
Doing my best to summarise IronyOwl's post:
1. Flirt with elf princess, get her to like us more.
2. Look for sandy beaches, with harbours and cliffside warrens. Let's not go for the haunted forest.
3. Give Dr. Seville the go ahead for building his compound. Give Mapleseat authority over the construction of elf princess' castle. Use dragon aura to assist if possible
4. Use majority of resources and workers to have basic shelters set up, and our environment scouted. Ensure worker base is safe & productive, same with tieflings and elves.
If that makes sense IronyOwl, and I didn't just bastardise some of your ideas, i'ma +1 that plan.
1. Yes
2. I would love to but I feel like sandy beaches that are also cliffside harbors is asking for the moon. Just the sandy beaches would be fine, harbors for the clownfin would be a fantastic bonus.
3. Nono, we let Seville build his compound, then Mapleseat builds her compound, then the princess builds her castle. Insofar as those three are depending on the same limited resources. Yes on dragon aura.
4. Yes, though also ranches/farms for food, and quarries/etc if we need more materials to build the shelters.
-
Do we have a way to do long distance messaging. If we do, it may maje sense to send a sciuting vessel out in either direction, while we personally explore inland.
-
Well besides lacking that sweet princess I feel should have a scouting ship. Half tempted to join in, dragon mode after princess deal for support. Once Coast is clear everyone set up camp on the beach. Nongoing To evil woods just yet.
-
You declare that the fleet will continue sailing up the coast, in search of a sandy beach, a place where the haunted wood does not grow right up to the shore, or ideally both.
---
For several days, the steep cliffs show no sign of relenting. You spend much of your travel time in the cabin Princess Ni'gwent, as you have decided to humor her and reciprocate her flirting.
Once you make it clear to the high elf that she has your interest, it quickly becomes apparent that she is well studdied in the ways of the Chromatic Dragons. She plays the innocent, young, niave girl long enough to fire up your instincts, but quickly changes to discussing plans that appeal to your ambition and greed just before you reach the point where you fear you may give in and take her. When you inquire as to why Ni'gwent seems to be keeping you from going all in on her physically, she informs you that she has no desire to fall pregnant quite yet; The first born child of beings as great as you and her deserves to be born and raised in a proper high elf tower at the very least, if not a proper palace or a fully stocked dragon's treasure cave.
Although her future plans are nebulous at best, you do manage to pry more pieces of information regarding the princess' general ambition out of her. Although she would not object to simply being your consort, she would very much prefer to marry you in a traditional high elfish wedding so that her children could be legitimate lords and ladies of the Startower States. "Sadly, the laws of my people are blind to the superior nature of your kind, so they could never be princes or princesses like myself as you are not an elf from one of the highest houses," she explains, "but they would still outrank every elf on this wild continent by birthright."
You also learn that she fully intends to bully the first scholar to finish his or her tower into giving her personal retainer of mages control of the spell labs within, so that they may work on the highly complicated rituals required to produce gold, silver, gems, and other valuable minerals. Once she has these treasures, she will either use them as material to make furnishings for an eventual palace, or perhaps give them to you so that you might re-establish a proper draconic treasure hoard. You can't help but feel an affinity for the young elf's love of wealth, but at the same time you are reminded of the helpless scatterbrained nature of her kind. Who sets off for a wild and untamed land, and has their mages prioritize and prepare for the creation of gold rather than more practical survival magic?
---
You spend some time as you travel considering the possibility of a scout ship, and determine that you have several options, none of which are great.
Physically speaking, The best ships for the job would be the five Elfish Starskaters that carry Princess Ni'gwent and her personal crew. These light warships are fast, well armed, and enchanted against rough winds and seas. You somehow doubt, however, that sending a bunch of pampered unescorted high elves on a scouting mission would end well.
The next best option is your own Flagship the Blood River. Until the the recent construction of the four Xinut Empire Dragonclads, an Orcish Kraken-Hunter like Blood River would have been the most feared sight on the seas. It is not nearly as fast as the Starskaters, and not magically protected against the elements, but it far out classes them in terms of sturdiness and firepower.
The rest of the fleet consists of a mix of Orcish Orcas and Dwarven Mauls, both of which are known to be slow but sturdy. These ships, although built to be suitable for battle, have forgone weapons to carry extra passengers and supplies. You had boasted before departure that your might was the only protection the fleet would need against pirates and Xinut patrols, and you guess that the peons have taken this to heart.
---
Eventually the cliffs begin to get steadily lower, and the fleet encounters a valley that opens up to the sea. A river or goopy orange liquid cuts through this valley, along which several dozen huts are spotted.
Almost everybody is in favor of avoiding the valley and continuing down the coast. Dean Mapleseat suggests that because the people live in simple huts, it is unlikely that they have much worth taking, and that because they can survive in the haunted woods without stone walls, it is likely that they are very proficient at defending themselves.
Grom-Chul suggests returning to raid the huts for slaves, once he trains a suitable number of elves and Tieflings to be proper slavers. "We are not equipped to enslave members of any race more assertive than the Clownfin at this time," he concedes.
Dr. Seville would very much like to get his hands on a sample of the 'water' found in the orange river, but warns that liquids from haunted biomes are unpredictable and can be potent enough to harm even dragons, and that even the mist that might come off such a river must be considered dangerous until proven otherwise.
This testimony serves to damper your own instinct to explore, raid, and conquer. As fun as it would be to swoop down on the huts in your true form, it seems as though doing so would be a risky operation with little promise of reward.
Only the apostles of Diabold seem genuinely interested in exploring the valley at this time. They are confident that their god will protect them from both the locals and the environment, and argue that they could call upon Bahammed to perform powerful magics if they had captives to sacrifice to him.
How do you proceed?
-
I think everywhere is gonna be deadly on the continent of doom.
Proceed to the elfin ruins I guess.
Really should consider splitting up. If most of our forces stay in one place, like the elven nobles, one of the scholars, the half demons and the fish slaves then we can travel with the other two groups and protect them personally.
If we have the half demons and the merfolk go back and set up their cliffs and cove city in the haunted land with support from the scholars and elf princess, then gather then elven treasure hunters and cultists to find the elven ruins with us we would be able to hedge our bets while keeping the two elf and two demonkin populations that hate each other separated.
-
I think everywhere is gonna be deadly on the continent of doom.
Yes, but think of the VARIETY!
Really should consider splitting up. If most of our forces stay in one place, like the elven nobles, one of the scholars, the half demons and the fish slaves then we can travel with the other two groups and protect them personally.
If we have the half demons and the merfolk go back and set up their cliffs and cove city in the haunted land with support from the scholars and elf princess, then gather then elven treasure hunters and cultists to find the elven ruins with us we would be able to hedge our bets while keeping the two elf and two demonkin populations that hate each other separated.
An option, but since everyone's lightly armed and depending on us for protection, I'm wary of letting them run off on their own. We really don't want the harbor colony being mauled by dire orcas or something while we're off babysitting elves. Or the elves being mauled by draconic scorpions while we're off checking on our ranching outpost.
Proceed to the elfin ruins I guess.
+1, I suppose. I'm certainly not opposed to picking our own spot, but if we're prioritizing the elven academies anyway we might not find better than whatever the scatterbrained elves chose the first time.
Though obviously we should ask why it's a former colony, if the spot was so great.
On the way there, we should gently dissuade the princess from hijacking our labs until we have a better grasp on the area's flora and fauna. Maybe we could even (eventually) build her and her retainers their own smaller compound for this vital but higher-end service.
Let's meet with that clownfin mage while we're at it, to get her opinion on the aquatic end of our settling decisions. We probably don't know much about coastline productivity, so knowing if we're settling in the aquatic equivalent of a mountain or a river valley might be handy. We should avoid directly mentioning we know she's an elder, but let the fact that we summoned her directly by name to ask about clownfin affairs speak for our omniscience and graciousness.
-
Proceed to the elfin ruins I guess.
+1, I suppose. I'm certainly not opposed to picking our own spot, but if we're prioritizing the elven academies anyway we might not find better than whatever the scatterbrained elves chose the first time.
Though obviously we should ask why it's a former colony, if the spot was so great.
On the way there, we should gently dissuade the princess from hijacking our labs until we have a better grasp on the area's flora and fauna. Maybe we could even (eventually) build her and her retainers their own smaller compound for this vital but higher-end service.
Let's meet with that clownfin mage while we're at it, to get her opinion on the aquatic end of our settling decisions. We probably don't know much about coastline productivity, so knowing if we're settling in the aquatic equivalent of a mountain or a river valley might be handy. We should avoid directly mentioning we know she's an elder, but let the fact that we summoned her directly by name to ask about clownfin affairs speak for our omniscience and graciousness.
+1
-
Proceed to the elfin ruins I guess.
+1, I suppose. I'm certainly not opposed to picking our own spot, but if we're prioritizing the elven academies anyway we might not find better than whatever the scatterbrained elves chose the first time.
Though obviously we should ask why it's a former colony, if the spot was so great.
On the way there, we should gently dissuade the princess from hijacking our labs until we have a better grasp on the area's flora and fauna. Maybe we could even (eventually) build her and her retainers their own smaller compound for this vital but higher-end service.
Let's meet with that clownfin mage while we're at it, to get her opinion on the aquatic end of our settling decisions. We probably don't know much about coastline productivity, so knowing if we're settling in the aquatic equivalent of a mountain or a river valley might be handy. We should avoid directly mentioning we know she's an elder, but let the fact that we summoned her directly by name to ask about clownfin affairs speak for our omniscience and graciousness.
+1
+1
-
Proceed to the elfin ruins I guess.
+1, I suppose. I'm certainly not opposed to picking our own spot, but if we're prioritizing the elven academies anyway we might not find better than whatever the scatterbrained elves chose the first time.
Though obviously we should ask why it's a former colony, if the spot was so great.
On the way there, we should gently dissuade the princess from hijacking our labs until we have a better grasp on the area's flora and fauna. Maybe we could even (eventually) build her and her retainers their own smaller compound for this vital but higher-end service.
Let's meet with that clownfin mage while we're at it, to get her opinion on the aquatic end of our settling decisions. We probably don't know much about coastline productivity, so knowing if we're settling in the aquatic equivalent of a mountain or a river valley might be handy. We should avoid directly mentioning we know she's an elder, but let the fact that we summoned her directly by name to ask about clownfin affairs speak for our omniscience and graciousness.
+1
+1
+1
-
It takes you all of two seconds to decide that you don't want to explore the Orange River and nearby coastal hunts. It takes a bit longer to figure out your next move.
You call upon Dean Mapleseat once more, and ask her about the ruined colony, hoping to learn more about the place and why it was abandoned.
"My people called it The Bleached Beaches, and it was built as a penal colony," the high elf explains, "a place for the Startower States to send criminals who were of too noble a birth to execute or imprison. It was active for about a hundred and fifty years, until my people received control of the Paradise Islands at the end of the Silver Wars. It was determined that the Paradise Islands were a much more humane and hospitable place to house our exiles, so pretty much the entire colony packed up and moved. A few chose to stay behind, but my uncle traveled the coast of Doomrus 200 years ago, and found no sign of living high elves when he arrived at The Bleached Beaches. It is likely they wandered off, escaped back to society, or lacked the numbers to defend themselves against the horrors of the continent."
Mapleseat goes on to explain that because her people believe that even criminal exiles deserve an education, Goldwalls University, the institution she represents, was contracted to build a scholar's tower at the Bleached Beaches in its hayday, but because of the harsh restrictions regarding magical practices and owned slave headcount put on the exiles, the project was quickly abandoned as impractical, leaving only a foundation. "This does mean that Goldwalls University has an extensive archives of maps and reports on The Bleached Beaches and surrounding area. Archives which I have had copied and brought along with me on this journey."
The Dean goes on to explain that these last few days of sailing down the coast has given her a better idea as to her exact location. She can now estimate that the colony is eight through fourteen days of sailing away.
This information is enough to satisfy you. You give the order to keep sailing until you arrive at the Bleached Beaches.
---
You spend the next day with Princess Ni'gwent. It takes some work to convince her to leave Dr. Seville's eventual Spell Labs alone; The thought of livestock and logistics bores her, but eventually you get through by selling her on the idea of a personal menagerie of exotic local critters.
---
With Grom-Chul's help, you track down Flyooshy for a day of conversation. The elder is quite flattered that you are even speaking to her and eager to be of assistance, but is unable to give you anything useful right away. The Clownfin will have to scope out the seafloor of any site you choose to settle before they know anything about it. "All seas look the same from the surface, yar'grace," she explains.
One thing you do come away with, however, is that Flyooshy does not seem quite as dead-set on a defensible harbor as Grom-Chul is. She notes that while a defensible position would be nice, she is sure that she can count on you to protect your workers should trouble arise, and that a location exposed to the currents of an open ocean would allow for the construction of sub-surface mills and the eventual mass production of aquatic flowers and dyes.
---
Two days have passed out of the eight to fourteen between you and the Bleached Beaches. How would you like to spend the remaining 6-12?
-
Reviewing the maps and archives of the Bleached Beaches would be an obvious first step.
Getting a better handle on the construction methods and times of our various pawns might be a good second one. We know the elves are going to use slave labor to gather up enough sand to produce grand marble and glass academies, but we're not sure how long that will take. We don't know how the tieflings or clownfin intend to shelter themselves at all yet.
If there's time left after that, we should probably get a more in-depth read on some of our minions. Currently our major leaders/factions include:
-Dr. Seville of the Flora-Fauna-Brewing High Elves (1400 Scholars)
-Dean Mapleseat of the Magical Treasure High Elves (1400 Scholars)
-Princess Ni'gwent of the Nonstandard Fairy Tale Wedding Elves (200 Servants and Bodyguards, including some of the strongest mages)
-Cori and Cameron Moonblood of the Breeding Program Tieflings (4500 Isolationists, including one who can burrow through stone)
-Prophet Diabold (and/or possibly his 13 Apostles) of the Mysterious Cult Tieflings (7000 Refugees, including powerful priests and supposedly bearing the favor of their god)
-Grom'Chul of the Slave Driver Orcs (90 Slave Drivers, 15 of which are highly paid mercenaries and the rest are inept indentured servants)
-Flyooshy of the Slave Clownfin (7000 Content Pawns, including many petty mage-leaders such as Flyooshy)
There's cases to be made for any of them, but I think I'm leaning towards, in order of priority:
Diabold and/or his Apostles to learn more about their religion and our largest "free" colonist bloc
Dr. Seville to learn more about what his academy will be able to do for us
Princess Ni'gwent to learn more about her plans for our eventual castle/palace/lair and continue pampering her
Flyooshy and/or Grom'Chul to learn more about what kind of resource base we can rely on the clownfin providing
-
Besides keeping the elves happen, talk to Apex and Clown Fin. The Orcs are slavers, they know the value of their trade. In this case the clown fin. And try to show said beings we can be benevolent.
Though yeah got to play the game of making everyone happy but it’s going to get harder.
-
Explore the coast a little looking for treasure.
I mean, yeah we can talk, but we've got a new world here. Might as well see if there's anything nice.
-
Explore the coast a little looking for treasure.
I mean, yeah we can talk, but we've got a new world here. Might as well see if there's anything nice.
Capital Idea! Let's go out into this totally-not-cursed-continent, and bring back some treasure that has totally-no-chance of being cursed as well. There's no way that could go wrong, like, at all!
Silly sarcasm aside, we might want to ask dean mapleseat to set up a "safe space" for artifacts to be kept, before we even attempt to do this. Finding out what a specific magical thingy does while travelling at sea, could bear heavy potential risks. A minor risk of it happening? Sure. A major risk that could screw us over from the get-go should something happen? Quite possible.
Reviewing the maps and archives of the Bleached Beaches would be an obvious first step.
Getting a better handle on the construction methods and times of our various pawns might be a good second one. We know the elves are going to use slave labor to gather up enough sand to produce grand marble and glass academies, but we're not sure how long that will take. We don't know how the tieflings or clownfin intend to shelter themselves at all yet.
-snip -
There's cases to be made for any of them, but I think I'm leaning towards, in order of priority:
Diabold and/or his Apostles to learn more about their religion and our largest "free" colonist bloc
Dr. Seville to learn more about what his academy will be able to do for us
Princess Ni'gwent to learn more about her plans for our eventual castle/palace/lair and continue pampering her
Flyooshy and/or Grom'Chul to learn more about what kind of resource base we can rely on the clownfin providing
Sounds good. Focusing on the matters at hand, and more nebulous factions of ours first.
+1
-
Explore the coast a little looking for treasure.
I mean, yeah we can talk, but we've got a new world here. Might as well see if there's anything nice.
Capital Idea! Let's go out into this totally-not-cursed-continent, and bring back some treasure that has totally-no-chance of being cursed as well. There's no way that could go wrong, like, at all!
Silly sarcasm aside, we might want to ask dean mapleseat to set up a "safe space" for artifacts to be kept, before we even attempt to do this. Finding out what a specific magical thingy does while travelling at sea, could bear heavy potential risks. A minor risk of it happening? Sure. A major risk that could screw us over from the get-go should something happen? Quite possible.
I doubt we'd actually find treasure, but what's the point of going to a new continent and not exploring things? As of now we have no permanent base, no hordes of dependants, and all our forces are currently packed up on boats. This may be the only genuine chance we have to act free of specific responsabilities and subject to none but our own desires. I think we should take advantage of that by looking at this place where we're going to live, in some small way, firsthand. There will be meetings, discussions, and endless politicking for the entire future to come. We should use this one free week to enjoy ourselves before we are permanently tied down.
-
Reviewing the maps and archives of the Bleached Beaches would be an obvious first step.
Getting a better handle on the construction methods and times of our various pawns might be a good second one. We know the elves are going to use slave labor to gather up enough sand to produce grand marble and glass academies, but we're not sure how long that will take. We don't know how the tieflings or clownfin intend to shelter themselves at all yet.
-snip -
There's cases to be made for any of them, but I think I'm leaning towards, in order of priority:
Diabold and/or his Apostles to learn more about their religion and our largest "free" colonist bloc
Dr. Seville to learn more about what his academy will be able to do for us
Princess Ni'gwent to learn more about her plans for our eventual castle/palace/lair and continue pampering her
Flyooshy and/or Grom'Chul to learn more about what kind of resource base we can rely on the clownfin providing
Sounds good. Focusing on the matters at hand, and more nebulous factions of ours first.
+1
+1
-
Reviewing the maps and archives of the Bleached Beaches would be an obvious first step.
Getting a better handle on the construction methods and times of our various pawns might be a good second one. We know the elves are going to use slave labor to gather up enough sand to produce grand marble and glass academies, but we're not sure how long that will take. We don't know how the tieflings or clownfin intend to shelter themselves at all yet.
-snip -
There's cases to be made for any of them, but I think I'm leaning towards, in order of priority:
Diabold and/or his Apostles to learn more about their religion and our largest "free" colonist bloc
Dr. Seville to learn more about what his academy will be able to do for us
Princess Ni'gwent to learn more about her plans for our eventual castle/palace/lair and continue pampering her
Flyooshy and/or Grom'Chul to learn more about what kind of resource base we can rely on the clownfin providing
Sounds good. Focusing on the matters at hand, and more nebulous factions of ours first.
+1
+1
+1
-
You decide to spend a day with Dean Mapleseat's archives regarding The Bleached Beaches, learning as much about the former and future colony as you can. You can tell The High Elf is not keen to let a dragon leaf through her collection of documents, but to her credit, she doesn't outwardly object to the activity.
The Bleached Beaches, you learn, is situated on and around a natural harbor called The Whalefluke. In its heyday the settlement was divided into three districts:
Elm Island sits in the mouth of the harbor, and is covered by a small un-haunted forest: a rarity in Doomrus. In the penal colony days the island housed a mixture of humans and dwarves who were tasked with preventing the exiles from escaping The Bleached Beaches, as well as launching fishing vessels to keep the scatter brained High Elves fed. Elm Island has a large port and system of long docks; It was forbidden to leave seaworthy ships anywhere else in the colony, less the exiles get to them.
The Bleached Cape is a low lying peninsula that is almost entirely covered by a walled town that the High Elves called Chainbleach back in penal times. Urvile Mapleseat, the most recent explorer to visit the colony, claims that although most of the buildings are now ruined, the town walls, inquisitor's hall, and subterranean desalination and waste processing station all remain structurally sound. This information, however, is just over 200 years old. The marble foundation of the aborted Goldwalls University tower sits near the center of the ghost town.
Mount Ogre-Ear, said to be the third tallest peak in all of Doomrus, looms the colony. Several dozen large High Elf Manors, which once housed the most important exile households, dot the slope which overlooks the bay. These manors, constructed with superior High Elf Magic and Architecture, were all standing when Urvile Mapleseat visited 200 years ago. Aside from providing high value real estate, Mount Ogre-Ear also serves as a natural barrier between the colony and the haunted woods which lay beyond.
Aside from the layout of The Bleached Beaches, you learn a few other interesting facts while reading through Dean Mapleseat's archives.
The Whalefluke is named such because every seventh year a rarely seen species called the Abyssal Toothed Whale arrives at the harbor in large numbers to mate and give birth, a process that takes ten to thirteen months. High Elf Scholars speculate that The Whalefluke may be the only place in the world where creatures breed.
Dean Mapleseat keeps a large scroll of strange ancient elfish runes that she has labeled as a ritual created by the original inhabitants that likely serves to boost the rate of plant growth on Elm Island so that its small forest can provide for a healthy lumber industry. Mapleseats own notes suggest that the ritual would require several trained FFB mages to perform. The Dean, however, has recently cursed the scroll to self-immolate should it be touched or read by anyone affiliated with the University of High Haven, as she cannot allow her rival Dr. Seville the glory of carrying out the ritual and establishing a sustainable supply of wood. You can't help but admire the female elf's arrogance and ego, even as you curse her impracticality.
Lastly, you read several interesting reports about the manor house situated closed to the summit of Mount Ogre-Ear. The building, called High Fang, was once home to the Black Prince DiXander, a legendary warrior mage who famously slew the Red Dragon Trigorr, only to be convicted of Capital Miscegenation and banished when he took the queen of said vanquished dragon's Elemental Elf Worshipers as a wife. Apparently Prince DiXander and his wife, Queen Olivescales, spent much of their time exploring the continent, and their mansion is said to contain both a tunnel to the dangerous far slope of the mountain, and a map of their exploits carved into the trophy room floor.
---
Your attempt to gather information on the methods and timing of your pawns' construction efforts goes poorly. Grom'Chul assures you that he should be able to get the clownfin to build with marble blocks, but that he has never actually made slaves build with stone before, so he has no clue how fast they might work. To make matters worse, neither Dr. Seville nor Dean Mapleseat trust the half-orc not to share their plans with their counterpart, so he doesn't even expect to see blueprints until the day the clownfin are supposed to begin work.
When you engage the half orc about the resources that the Clownfin may provide, the answer is likewise unenthusiastic. "They can mill various flowers if we expose them to the dangers of the open ocean," he offers, "and I suppose we could try feeding sea-bread to the elves, but no self respecting orc would eat such tripe. We can only hope that our new home will have a species of fish or crustacean suitable for them to farm. ...I guess they can make some pretty neat dyes as well, if you are into that."
---
Deciding not to torture yourself by 'conversing' with the mute Prophet Diabold once again, you try your luck at landing a one-on-one meeting with one of his apostles. This goes poorly at first. Most refuse your invitation, claiming that since you do not possess demonic blood, to converse with you outside their duties as translator to the prophet would be sinful. Eventually, however, you strike the jackpot when Lux, the youngest of Diabold's apostles, agrees to meet with you on the condition that you lower yourself to adopting a Tiefling-like form. Several hours later, you are in his cabin.
Lux gives you the run down on the tenets of his faith. Their deity Bahammed was one of the 13 gods to walk the world before the coming of the dwarves, and like his twelve counterparts, he was hunted down and defeated by the gods and kings of early dwarfkind. The victorious dwarves, however, did not kill Bahammed outright; Instead, they cut off each of his four limbs, sealed him in an adamantine vault, and dropped him down a magma shaft deep below the earth. Satisfied that they had condemned their foe to an eternity of undying torment and burning, the dwarves left Bahammed's limbs to rot, not knowing that the anger of their former owner would cause each to rise as a mighty demon.
"Bahammed seeks death, as his existence is nothing but suffering." Lux explains, "to this end, the god has made a pact with our prophet. Diabold will lead his followers to hunt down and destroy the demons of the four limbs. Doing so will allow Bahammed to die. Exactly what the god is doing for us in return is a closely guarded secret. I am not permitted to speak of what little I know on the matter, aside from that fact that Bahammed's death will mean the end of the Xinut Empire, and that in the meantime myself and the other apostles wield powerful divine magics."
Lux goes on to explain that Cultists of the Four Limbs are drawn from all walks of life. The largest sub-group within the cult are Tieflings of dwarven blood running from the oppressive Xinut Empire, but Diabold himself, most of his apostles, and many of the cult's other prominent figures were born to Spirit Elf mothers in the vanishing Chia Woods. Lux offers that his mortal heritage is goblin, and that he joined the cult because Diabold could grant him visions to be used as inspiration for his art. "I am both a mason and a gem carver," he explains with no small amount of pride, "and since taking up the worship of Bahammed my work has been able to put even that of the dwarves to shame."
---
You find Dr. Seville and his plans to be quite the let down, at least in the short run. His goal is to extract flesh and fluid samples from local plants and animals for magical experimentation. Save for perhaps breeding rodents to serve as test subjects, he has no real interest in any sort of animal husbandry. As for the crops he brought, none of them are meant for eating; Most are merely components for commonly performed rituals, while a handful are simply mind altering drugs to enjoy. The only plants he has brought that are remotely pratical are several species of grape intended for wine making, and a kind of reed that can be turned into high quality cloth through a labor intensive and inefficient process.
---
Back in Princess Ni'gwent's cabin, you pester the she-elf to learn what she has planned in terms of a palace or lair. Ni'gwent, however, refuses to commit to anything until she knows where she will be building. This leads you to share much of what you have learned from Dean Mapleseat's archive. A wide smile spreads across Ni'Gwent's face as you tell her about the manor of The Black Prince DiXander.
"DiXander is a friend of mine!" She exclaims. It turns out that Princess Ni'gwent spent about a decade of her extended elfish childhood on the Paradise Islands, studying architecture under the exiled prince, and the lore and manners of chromatic dragons under his wife. She quickly declares that the Black Prince's manor will be her new home, and that once things settle down she will dispatch one of her ships to seek out DiXander and solicit his advice for upgrading the place into a proper palace or castle. "They really restrict the sort of homes that the exiles are allowed to live in," she explains, "but DiXander is a dreamer. I'm sure he has plans all drawn out for what he would do to his house if given free reign!"
Although she intends to improve upon the manor, Princess Ni'gwent has no doubt that it is already a suitable place to raise superior dragon blooded high elves. "Unless you offer me your hand in marriage by then, and choose to wait until the wedding night, I will celebrate my first night in my new home by giving myself to you completely. I dream of doing so every time I lay eyes on you. If you do not intend to follow elfish protocol, I don't intend to wait around for you to change your mind."
---
Several days later, Dean Mapleseat pulls you aside and points to a mountain in the distance. "That is the Mount Ogre-Ear. We will arrive at the mouth of The Whalefluke by sundown."
You nod. It dawns on you that this is your opportunity to put your foot down and take control. You know almost exactly what lies ahead, a luxury that very few of your peons enjoy. Perhaps you should give specific orders as to who should settle where and do what before you arrive; If the mortals are allowed to spread out and do their own thing, you might never gain full control over them.
How do you proceed?
-
Crude, probably inaccurate map for visualization purposes:
(https://i.imgur.com/7dGQ37c.png)
-1400 High Elf Scholars (Dr. Seville of the Flora-Fauna-Brewing High Elves)
-1400 High Elf Scholars (Dean Mapleseat of the Magical Treasure High Elves)
-200 High Elf Servants and Bodyguards (Princess Ni'gwent of the Nonstandard Fairy Tale Wedding Elves)
-4500 Tieflings (Cori and Cameron Moonblood of the Breeding Program Tieflings)
-7000 Tieflings (Prophet Diabold and/or his 13 Apostles of the Mysterious Cult Tieflings)
-90 Orcish Slave Drivers (Grom'Chul of the Slave Driver Orcs)
-7000 Clownfin Slaves (Flyooshy of the Slave Clownfin and Innumerable Other Petty Mages)
Ships of the Fleet: Dock at Elm Island if there's room, or just anchor in the harbor otherwise. Ferry people and supplies where needed. We'll prioritize getting docks set up for locations that might benefit from them.
Elven Manors: Assign Grom'Chul one to help him feel fancy and indebted to us. Reserve the others for "individuals of noteworthy contribution," meaning the powerful and fawning.
Dr. Seville, Grom'Chul, and half our Clownfin: Get to work setting up Dr. Seville's campus. Make sure he knows he's getting it early because he's going to be using it to find us tasty staple foods and sustainable raw materials.
The other half of our Clownfin: Start setting up shop in the harbor and searching for viable farming/ranching stock. We'll leave it to Grom'Chul's judgement and the Clownfin's reporting as to the exact split between this task and the elven academy. Also, obviously they'll be clothing and feeding the elves in between other duties. Again, Grom'Chul's area of expertise.
Dean Mapleseat and her Elves: She wants the glory, she gets the glory. She's to get our infinite wood production started immediately using that fancy ritual of hers.
Cult Tieflings: Start settling the town and scouting for resources. The island has wood, but not enough until our rituals bear fruit. We know there's a haunted wood on the other side of the mountains they should be wary of, but if they're certain their god will protect them it's an option. They may use our ships for this purpose, but ensure they know how displeased will be if they damage our ships or subjects.
Eugenics Tieflings: Set up in the town for now, but start tunneling into the mountain if they still want their isolated subterranean settlement. Bonus points if their tunneling produces building materials for the rest of the town. Otherwise, they're also on scouting and figuring out how to be useful duty.
Princess Ni'gwent: Assist with any architectural endeavors the colony requires. Hold off on getting ravished by dragons for now, we'll propose once we have a suitably fancy ring.
Our Grand and Magnificent Personage: If the elves need us to empower their rituals, remain on hand for that. Otherwise, take wing and begin scouting our new home. Keep a particular eye out for suitable materials for the princess' engagement ring.
EDIT: Wait, this harbor is a "toothed abyssal whale" spawning ground. We should check in on that to make sure having toothed abyssal whales spawning in our harbor won't inconvenience the clownfin. Such as by eating inordinate numbers of them.
-
Ships of the Fleet: Dock at Elm Island if there's room, or just anchor in the harbor otherwise. Ferry people and supplies where needed. We'll prioritize getting docks set up for locations that might benefit from them.
Elven Manors: Assign Grom'Chul one to help him feel fancy and indebted to us. Reserve the others for "individuals of noteworthy contribution," meaning the powerful and fawning.
Dr. Seville, Grom'Chul, and half our Clownfin: Get to work setting up Dr. Seville's campus. Make sure he knows he's getting it early because he's going to be using it to find us tasty staple foods and sustainable raw materials.
The other half of our Clownfin: Start setting up shop in the harbor and searching for viable farming/ranching stock. We'll leave it to Grom'Chul's judgement and the Clownfin's reporting as to the exact split between this task and the elven academy. Also, obviously they'll be clothing and feeding the elves in between other duties. Again, Grom'Chul's area of expertise.
Dean Mapleseat and her Elves: She wants the glory, she gets the glory. She's to get our infinite wood production started immediately using that fancy ritual of hers.
Cult Tieflings: Start settling the town and scouting for resources. The island has wood, but not enough until our rituals bear fruit. We know there's a haunted wood on the other side of the mountains they should be wary of, but if they're certain their god will protect them it's an option. They may use our ships for this purpose, but ensure they know how displeased will be if they damage our ships or subjects.
Eugenics Tieflings: Set up in the town for now, but start tunneling into the mountain if they still want their isolated subterranean settlement. Bonus points if their tunneling produces building materials for the rest of the town. Otherwise, they're also on scouting and figuring out how to be useful duty.
Princess Ni'gwent: Assist with any architectural endeavors the colony requires. Hold off on getting ravished by dragons for now, we'll propose once we have a suitably fancy ring crown.
Our Grand and Magnificent Personage: If the elves need us to empower their rituals, remain on hand for that. Otherwise, take wing and begin scouting our new home. Keep a particular eye out for suitable materials for the princess' engagement crown.
EDIT: Wait, this harbor is a "toothed abyssal whale" spawning ground. We should check in on that to make sure having toothed abyssal whales spawning in our harbor won't inconvenience the clownfin. Such as by eating inordinate numbers of them.
Sounds sound.
Still though, a ring? Scratch that bauble - she is a princess, and to be married to the local ruler. We are getting her a crown!
One that will match with our own, to don if we dwell in humanoid form. And since we are superior, we can hint at that by making ours a step above hers - nothing to insult her, but still. Appearances have to be kept.
Food for thought;
We might want to help the tiefling cult in the long run - dooming our worst enemies via a quite possibly resurrected original demon, might not be a bad idea. After we have set up shop, and others on the main continent have suffered some more (who knows, there might be a dragoness or two who wants to crash at our place before long?).
Eugenic demons use tunnels. They might be the best ones to turn to, if we want to include a fancy lair for ourselves in our future home. As for the payment, we know what they want. I do propose though, that we look into rituals that guarantee their ladies to have male children. Having one of our blood used as some sort of breeding sow, would be apalling - being a stud for breeding, quite less so.
-
Still though, a ring? Scratch that bauble - she is a princess, and to be married to the local ruler. We are getting her a crown![/b]
One that will match with our own, to don if we dwell in humanoid form. And since we are superior, we can hint at that by making ours a step above hers - nothing to insult her, but still. Appearances have to be kept.
I was mainly thinking of keeping with high elven traditions, which presumably requires a ring. Crowns are a good idea too, but we might want to wait until we have truly outstanding materials for them. Unless we want to just periodically upgrade them, which I suppose we could.
Obviously ours will be similar to hers but more magnificent, that's just common sense.
Food for thought;
We might want to help the tiefling cult in the long run - dooming our worst enemies via a quite possibly resurrected original demon, might not be a bad idea. After we have set up shop, and others on the main continent have suffered some more (who knows, there might be a dragoness or two who wants to crash at our place before long?).
Eugenic demons use tunnels. They might be the best ones to turn to, if we want to include a fancy lair for ourselves in our future home. As for the payment, we know what they want. I do propose though, that we look into rituals that guarantee their ladies to have male children. Having one of our blood used as some sort of breeding sow, would be apalling - being a stud for breeding, quite less so.
Ending the Xinut Empire sounds too good to be true. I wonder if Bahammud intends to do so by destroying the world. Maybe the 13 Gods were lynchpins in reality, so they kept him alive but tortured to sustain it? Idle speculation, but when the exiled cult of a god that just wants to die claims their actions will destroy the greatest empire in the world, I feel it pays to be wary.
Sow, stud, all the same to me. Though now that you mention it, dragonesses are very rare. I wonder if that will affect the gender ratio of half-dragon children.
-
I for one agree in blood magic to make a male heir for CK dynasty sake.
The idea of a demon causing a ton of damage bothers me though. For dragons are supposed to be top dogs. Not the case anymore, unless dig something with this Destroyer demon thing.
Instead of overpowering a cunning plan to keep it loyal to us. But that’s tricky.
-
As the fleet approaches the mouth of the harbor, you gather your important peons, brief them on their new home, and dole out orders.
-1400 High Elf Scholars (Dr. Seville of the Flora-Fauna-Brewing High Elves)
-1400 High Elf Scholars (Dean Mapleseat of the Magical Treasure High Elves)
-200 High Elf Servants and Bodyguards (Princess Ni'gwent of the Nonstandard Fairy Tale Wedding Elves)
-4500 Tieflings (Cori and Cameron Moonblood of the Breeding Program Tieflings)
-7000 Tieflings (Prophet Diabold and/or his 13 Apostles of the Mysterious Cult Tieflings)
-90 Orcish Slave Drivers (Grom'Chul of the Slave Driver Orcs)
-7000 Clownfin Slaves (Flyooshy of the Slave Clownfin and Innumerable Other Petty Mages)
Ships of the Fleet: Dock at Elm Island if there's room, or just anchor in the harbor otherwise. Ferry people and supplies where needed. We'll prioritize getting docks set up for locations that might benefit from them.
Elven Manors: Assign Grom'Chul one to help him feel fancy and indebted to us. Reserve the others for "individuals of noteworthy contribution," meaning the powerful and fawning.
Dr. Seville, Grom'Chul, and half our Clownfin: Get to work setting up Dr. Seville's campus. Make sure he knows he's getting it early because he's going to be using it to find us tasty staple foods and sustainable raw materials.
The other half of our Clownfin: Start setting up shop in the harbor and searching for viable farming/ranching stock. We'll leave it to Grom'Chul's judgement and the Clownfin's reporting as to the exact split between this task and the elven academy. Also, obviously they'll be clothing and feeding the elves in between other duties. Again, Grom'Chul's area of expertise.
Dean Mapleseat and her Elves: She wants the glory, she gets the glory. She's to get our infinite wood production started immediately using that fancy ritual of hers.
Cult Tieflings: Start settling the town and scouting for resources. The island has wood, but not enough until our rituals bear fruit. We know there's a haunted wood on the other side of the mountains they should be wary of, but if they're certain their god will protect them it's an option. They may use our ships for this purpose, but ensure they know how displeased will be if they damage our ships or subjects.
Eugenics Tieflings: Set up in the town for now, but start tunneling into the mountain if they still want their isolated subterranean settlement. Bonus points if their tunneling produces building materials for the rest of the town. Otherwise, they're also on scouting and figuring out how to be useful duty.
Princess Ni'gwent: Assist with any architectural endeavors the colony requires. Hold off on getting ravished by dragons for now, we'll propose once we have a suitably fancy ring.
Our Grand and Magnificent Personage: If the elves need us to empower their rituals, remain on hand for that. Otherwise, take wing and begin scouting our new home. Keep a particular eye out for suitable materials for the princess' engagement ring.
The harbor looks exactly how you would expect it to based on the maps. The water here is clear and calm, and the fleet docks at Elm Island without any issue. Several hours later, ships scatter, carrying small parties of mooks to scout the area and begin to carry out your commands.
---
You decide to survey the sight from the Sky. As good as it feels to re-assume your true form after spending months cooped up on a boat and in a humanoid body, what you see puts you in a foul mood: the Bleached Beaches appear to be in slightly worse repair than Urvile Mapleseat's two hundred years old notes would suggest; Urvile reported that all the mansions on Mount Ogre-Ear still stood, but five out of the 26 that you can count appear to have collapsed. The town walls of Chainbleach on the Bleached Cape, which stood firm two centuries ago, seem to have been violently breached in several locations, and the gate seems to be missing from its hinges.
Beyond the settlement, all you can see is haunted woods, ocean, and rocky coastline which seperates the two. Flying up to your maximum altitude reveals another mountain in the distance, but beyond that the land appears to be a colorful yet featureless haunted canopy from above.
To explore this place, you must either commit to wandering a good distance from the settlement, leaving your mooks to their own devices for what is likely to be at least several days, or assume a smaller form and investigate the haunted woods on foot in hopes that the canopy is concealing nearby secrets from your elevated vantage point. You also suppose you could check out the Black Prince's map, which is supposed to be carved into the trophy room of the highest manor on the hill.
---
Returning from your brief flight, you receive reports from your various underlings. For the most part your orders are being followed without issue or argument, but a few matters have arisen that may require your attention.
-Dr. Seville has informed Grom'Chul that his scholars will need at least two weeks to draw up plans for their tower and create enough marble to build it. In the meantime, the Half'Orc is allowing the Clownfin to focus exclusively on getting set up in the harbor.
-Grom'Chul also has a request for you; His 90 orcs will be enough to direct the Clownfin to complete various tasks on your behalf, but not to drive them to work at maximum efficency, especially if you intend to divide the labor up towards several tasks at once. "Also, although I don't forsee the Clownfin getting uppity any time soon, if they were to rebel now, it would likely end poorly for me," the half orc explains. At minimum, he would like your blessing to draft and train 300 tieflings and/or high elves as slave drivers, although he could easily find use for up to 500 extra 'free' hands.
-Princess Ni'gwent has moved into the Black Prince's mansion, even though you didn't give her explicit permission to do so.
-Tol-Gurra, The Prophet Diabold's most senior apostle, has gathered several hundred cultists, and seems to be providing them with leather armor, bows, quivers and hatchets. Although nobody outside of Cult Leadership knows the purpose of this armed gathering, it stands to reason, based on the gear they have been provided, that they intend to explore the woods.
-Dean Mapleseat is more than willing to help you perform "your silly little forestry charm," but admits that she had not found the ritual scroll terribly interesting, and as such didn't come prepared to actually perform it. She will need three things from you to get the job done.
First and formost, she will need some mages talented in FFB magic - Ten of Dr. Seville's intermediate students or four of his advanced scholars should be enough to do the trick. It is unlikely the Dr. Seville's students would be keen to betray their school and aid Dean Mapleseat in this endeavor.
Next she will require whale blubber - specifically from the toothed abyssal whale. Going off of her archives, said whales are scheduled to return to the harbor in three years. She speculates that the blubber of other toothed whales can be substituted, especially if you are willing to aid in the ritual yourself. One large toothed whale, or ten dolphins should do the trick. Should you choose to hunt the actual abyssal whale, which is rarely seen outside of the harbor during breeding season, the ritual will require two or three of the orca sized critters.
The last ritual component that Dean Mapleseat lacks is a large amount Terra Salt, a magical substance specifically manufactured by high elves for use in rituals. Once she has her scholar's tower, the dean's underlings should be able to produce Terra Salt in the lab, although it will likely take a year or two to output the amount required. Alternatively, if she can find enough valuables to trade, Mapleseat can simpily dispatch a ship or two to the Startower States to buy what she needs.
How do you proceed?
-
Gah, no infinite wood for us.
Forget the ritual for now. If it'll be two years or a round trip back home until the earliest we could get it started anyway, we might as well focus on easier infrastructure. Might even be easier to get the FFB elves to make a new ritual instead, if they're required to cast this one anyway.
Instead, make sure her elves are doing something productive for the settlement. Like transmuting building materials for the other colonists, though since this is semi-dead space we can probably leave the specifics to her scatterbrained elf judgement.
Approve Grom'Chul's full request. Our food and possibly raw material production is more important than most of what our colonists could be doing right now. Besides, slave driver is a prestigious position.
Check out the Black Prince's map, and advise the tiefling group of any important revelations therein. No sense letting our minions wander into trouble blind when we've got a map of it lying around.
Presumably our personal course of action should be either long-range aerial scouting or going along with the tiefling group as added muscle, but I'm not sure which. Checking out the map and then seeing if it mentions anything interesting is also a possibility.
Another option would be seeing if we can aid in any rituals directly, perhaps getting the settlement off the ground quicker. Probably should have checked on this and the map from the start.
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Gah, no infinite wood for us.
Forget the ritual for now. If it'll be two years or a round trip back home until the earliest we could get it started anyway, we might as well focus on easier infrastructure. Might even be easier to get the FFB elves to make a new ritual instead, if they're required to cast this one anyway.
Instead, make sure her elves are doing something productive for the settlement. Like transmuting building materials for the other colonists, though since this is semi-dead space we can probably leave the specifics to her scatterbrained elf judgement.
Approve Grom'Chul's full request. Our food and possibly raw material production is more important than most of what our colonists could be doing right now. Besides, slave driver is a prestigious position.
Check out the Black Prince's map, and advise the tiefling group of any important revelations therein. No sense letting our minions wander into trouble blind when we've got a map of it lying around.
Presumably our personal course of action should be either long-range aerial scouting or going along with the tiefling group as added muscle, but I'm not sure which. Checking out the map and then seeing if it mentions anything interesting is also a possibility.
Another option would be seeing if we can aid in any rituals directly, perhaps getting the settlement off the ground quicker. Probably should have checked on this and the map from the start.
+1
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I'd actually be against drafting any of the high-elves into slave-driver-dom - and Grom'Chul should be, too. How is he to controll them, if he teaches them to control the slaves themselves?
Besides, those wimpy scholars aren't suited to the task, and those that would be - like their elven servants and similiar - are best kept where they are.
Either way, at least a snarky comment about this rather bad part of the plan his inferior mind cooked up, would fit the bill.
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I'd actually be against drafting any of the high-elves into slave-driver-dom - and Grom'Chul should be, too. How is he to controll them, if he teaches them to control the slaves themselves?
Besides, those wimpy scholars aren't suited to the task, and those that would be - like their elven servants and similiar - are best kept where they are.
Either way, at least a snarky comment about this rather bad part of the plan his inferior mind cooked up, would fit the bill.
i think that we should give Grom'Chul 500 slave driver trainees from the eugenic Teiflings. In this case we would not have as many loyalty issues as with using elfs. I agree with you that letting elves be slave drivers is a terrible idea.
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I assume he knows what makes a good slave driver better than we do, and elves must be at least okay at slave driving or they wouldn't be able to run their own civilization without mercenaries.
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You excuse Dean Mapleseat from performing the ritual - for the time being. No point allowing the elf the sit around twiddling her thumbs for however long it takes to gather the components. Instead you order the Dean and her scholars to do something constructive for the settlement. She considers your demands, and agrees to inspect and reconfigure the magical plumbing systems beneath the town of Chainbleach, so that they can provide water to and remove waste from whatever the Tieflings build within the walls.
---
Grom'Chul's request is reasonable, so you grant him permission to draft 500 new slave drivers. You question the logic of pulling high elves for the job, but the half-orc assures you that it will be fine. "The new guys are mostly going to serve as enforcers for my Orcs, who will be the real brains behind the operation." the half orc explains, "All the rookies need to do is follow orders, wield a whip or billy club, and look at least mildly intimidating. Even a high elf could do it."
The head slave driver informs you that nonetheless he intends to mostly pull from the cult. The high elves are airheads, as you suggest, and he doesn't want too many of them learning how to command their own slaves. As for the Typhoon Coast Enclave, Grom'Chul dosn't want to interfere with their eugenics programs nor waste the talents of their thoroughbred specialists by hitting them hard with the draft. Still, he will take at least some population from each faction so as to appear fair.
---
Chromatic Dragons do not spend much time in mortal dwellings, so the fact that High Fang, former home of Black Prince DiXander, is the most impressive building you have ever stood in likely speaks more to your lack of experience than it does to the merits of the manor. The walls are made of marble trimmed with large amounts of High Onyx, a synthetic rock manufactured by the high elves that sparkles with a supernatural luster. Many of the hallways and stairwells are just large enough to allow your true form to pass, but after some debate you choose to assume your humanoid form while inside to allow yourself room to maneuver.
You find Princess Ni'gwent in a sparsely decorated drawing room, entertaining Cori Moonblood of the Typhoon Coast Enclave. The high elf is quick to dismiss her guest so that she might retire with you to her chambers, and by the time you are able to explain that you intend to wait until marriage and will formally propose once you find a suitable engagement bauble, the Tiefling has already left.
"Oh. What a shame. The Tiefling was just tutoring me on the science of Miscegenation. Did you know that the first elemental elves were created by careful mixing of dragon and elfish blood, with a dash of transmutation magic thrown in for good measure?" The Princess muses, "I have nothing against elemental elves, save for the fact that most of them want me dead, but I'm positive that we can do better than that with our offspring; Mine is almost surely to be the highest elfish bloodline to ever mix with dragonkind!"
A few minutes pass as you allow Princess Ni'gwent to indulge her fantasy of ushering in a new elfish paradigm through the children you will give her. Eventually you get down to the purpose of your visit, and ask your future wife to show you The Black Prince's map.
The trophy room is the highest point in the manor, and actually sits higher than the natural summit of Mount Ogre-Ear. It is large chamber with walls made almost entirely of High Onyx and capped by a glass dome. Prince DiXander clearly cleaned up before he left, as the room is vacant save for the map on the floor and a collection of large glass lenses, mirrors, and mechanical parts that partially covers the border between rock wall and glass ceiling. Several of Princess Ni'gwent's underlings are studying this massive device, which they believe to be a Retinal Cooker, a particularly cruel magitech device that can turn a slave or prisoner into a homing device programmed to lead others to a given location.
The map itself only covers about a quarter of the floor, and seems to depict only a portion of Doomrus. Perhaps Prince DiXander intended to expand upon it as he explored the continent. Sites are marked in three distinct areas; The haunted woods beyond the colony, a desert region up the coast and far to the north, and some arid highlands that sit inland and far to the northeast. The map does not include a key, so it is up to Princess Ni'gwent and her scholars to fill in the gaps for you as best you can.
Several dozen of the sites are depicted as huts or towers on the map. Of these, many are marked with a pair of crossed spears, which Ni'gwent suggests means that a hostile settlement exists or existed at that location on the map. The remaining settlements are either marked with an open hand, or nothing at all. The Princess and one of the mooks examining the Retinal Cooker disagree on what these symbols mean. The mook thinks that the open hand settlements have actively aided or traded with the Black Prince, and that the unmarked ones are merely neutral, while Ni'gwent argues that the open hand indicates any non-hostile settlement, and that the unmarked ones, which are few and far between, indicate populations that DiXander observed but did not approach. You notice and point out that all the settlements in the highlands are marked as hostile, while none in the desert are. The scatterbrained elves murmur in shock at your revelation. The map indicates that there are hostile, 'neutral', and 'friendly' settlements in the woods nearby, but based on your quick surveying flight they might be difficult to spot from the air.
Five sites on the map are marked with a black shield bearing the severed head of a red dragon: an image that Princess Ni'gwent explains is the Black Prince's personal emblem. She guesses that that DiXander may have defied the ban against exiles wielding powerful construction magics, and built some sites in secret. Of these five sites, the purpose of only one can be deduced by looking at the map; "Freesails" is situated in a small natural harbor a ways up the coast, and judging by that name and location everybody present agrees that it must be some sort of secret port. You further deduce, going off a large blank area between the sites DiXander has explored in the woods and in the desert, that the Black Prince may have launched his desert voyages by sea. Another site, called "The Cradle" seems to sit on that mountain you saw in the distance from your Ariel survey. The remaining three sites are scattered across the haunted woods and called "Blackleaves," "Hell-Roots," and "The Trembling Drake" in order of nearest to the colony to furthest.
The map also shows many cave entrances and ruined pillars. Some of these sites are in locations that may be visible from the air.
Having considered the map, you tell Princess Ni'gwent that you are considering traveling with Tol-Gurra and his servants. Your probable future wife considers this for a moment before answering: "Well, I doubt you need any protection, but it would be proper protocol for a princess of my station to offer the one she is courting a champion to aid in his quest." Then then quickly ushers you around the mansion to meet three such possible champions.
Alcuin the Annihilator is an ancient looking elf with a long white beard. You know the title of 'Annihilator' is not given out lightly - only the greatest practitioners of High Elfish Destructive Magics earn that accolade. Alcuin likely wields terrifying power, and that is before taking into account the fact that you can boost magic users, but you also know that as a general rule the more prestigious a high elf is in the magical arts, the more scatter brained and useless they are in other walks of life. You would likely be stuck babysitting Alcuin until such a time he becomes useful.
Alcuin's opposite is Daniel Marcross, an EEA (Engineering, Enchantment, and Artifice) mage of great talent yet low birth. Daniel's collection of enchanted crossbow bolts and boomerangs likely dose not stack up to the Annihilator's magic, but he has some experience in outdoorselfship, and he might prove useful in identifying valuable materials.
Lucy St. Crux, Paladin of the High Elf Pantheon, is something of a middle-ground pick. Her combination of divine magic and skill with a maul likely puts her between the two male elves in terms of combat ability, and although generally only the least scatterbrained among the high born high elves are tapped to become paladins, Lucy is clearly young and inexperienced to the point where she might not be the most dependable traveling companion.
You suppose you could take more than one champion, or refuse to take any at all, but you are unsure how Princess Ni'Gwent would take such a decision.
---
You attempt to pass along what you have learned to the apostle Tol-Gurra, but the Tiefling brushes you aside.
"My path has already been illuminated to me by the Prophet Diabold," He declares "you are welcome to come, but I can tell you little about our mission other than it will be worth your while and will probably take about a month. Be sure to drag other heretics along if you desire company. I will personally butcher any of my followers caught having non-vital conversation with you or anybody else who lacks demon blood."
These words infuriate you, but also inflame your curiosity. You wish there was a way to both kill this arrogant fool on the spot and have him lead you to wherever he is going.
How do you proceed?
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Blegh. I'd like to find out what's at the end of this trip, but we probably shouldn't leave our pawns unattended for a full month this early.
you allow Princess Ni'gwent to indulge her fantasy of ushering in a new elfish paradigm through the children you will give her
On the bright side, our elven bride is showing appropriate ambition. We should get to work on marrying her and producing the future pinnacle of elvenkind.
Let's decline the tiefling's offer, and instead take the outdoorsy elf on an adventure to one of the cave entrances. We can explore, hopefully pick up some sweet loot, and get the elf's opinion on local resources.
We should especially keep an eye out for wedding materials. While it's unlikely we'll find the ingredients for an elvish engagement ring in the middle of a cave, hope springs eternal and we're not going to find them just sitting around either.
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Blegh. I'd like to find out what's at the end of this trip, but we probably shouldn't leave our pawns unattended for a full month this early.
you allow Princess Ni'gwent to indulge her fantasy of ushering in a new elfish paradigm through the children you will give her
On the bright side, our elven bride is showing appropriate ambition. We should get to work on marrying her and producing the future pinnacle of elvenkind.
Let's decline the tiefling's offer, and instead take the outdoorsy elf on an adventure to one of the cave entrances. We can explore, hopefully pick up some sweet loot, and get the elf's opinion on local resources.
We should especially keep an eye out for wedding materials. While it's unlikely we'll find the ingredients for an elvish engagement ring in the middle of a cave, hope springs eternal and we're not going to find them just sitting around either.
I'll +1 the general sentiments here, but i have some thoughts to share.
I think that we should deliberately allow the Tiefling Cultists to expose themselves to risks in their journeys throughout the continent, in a canary in a coalmine approach to exploration. They are by far the most difficult to control, and allowing them to stretch themselves thin in their efforts to kill their god might mitigate some of the threat they pose.
I would consider sending a eugenics tiefling on each of the cultist tieflings missions of exploration. The logic for that specific choice is that those tieflings are likely much more amenable to passing information on to us, and in addition are probably the least offensive pick to the cult as far as someone to represent us is concerned. Perhaps a relatively unimportant patsy or three of the Twins which we can give a relatively meaningless position of temporary authority, such as ambassador. Their official purpose is to make contact with anyone the cultist exploration force encounters in their travels, but just as important is keeping an eye on those travels to begin with.
I am however, inclined to encourage cultist exploration to begin with, for the reasons i've already explained. Use them as willingly disposable pawns to suss out the dangers out there. If they die horrifically for it, then all the better, considering they don't even show us what we are to consider the bare minimum of respect.
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I think that we should deliberately allow the Tiefling Cultists to expose themselves to risks in their journeys throughout the continent, in a canary in a coalmine approach to exploration. They are by far the most difficult to control, and allowing them to stretch themselves thin in their efforts to kill their god might mitigate some of the threat they pose.
I would consider sending a eugenics tiefling on each of the cultist tieflings missions of exploration. The logic for that specific choice is that those tieflings are likely much more amenable to passing information on to us, and in addition are probably the least offensive pick to the cult as far as someone to represent us is concerned. Perhaps a relatively unimportant patsy or three of the Twins which we can give a relatively meaningless position of temporary authority, such as ambassador. Their official purpose is to make contact with anyone the cultist exploration force encounters in their travels, but just as important is keeping an eye on those travels to begin with.
I am however, inclined to encourage cultist exploration to begin with, for the reasons i've already explained. Use them as willingly disposable pawns to suss out the dangers out there. If they die horrifically for it, then all the better, considering they don't even show us what we are to consider the bare minimum of respect.
I agree with some of this, but I'd like to point out that the cultists now make up slightly less than half of our free population, and thus about a third of our population in total. If we're viewing them as the enemy, we've already made a catastrophic blunder by bringing them here in the first place.
More likely we should view them as unruly and easily distracted, and in particular their leaders as uppity and ungrateful rather than their populace. Our efforts should probably be focused on reigning them in or bypassing them, rather than trying to strain or whittle down our own cattle.
That said, selecting an ambassador for the trip strikes me as a good enough idea to implement immediately, even though we don't really have time to get to know one or appoint him any gifts. It'll be good to establish a precedent for having Our Most Esteemed Representative on and in everything of importance.
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You turn the cultist down, deciding that you cannot afford to leave your fledgling collection of assorted pawns unattended for a full month. But you know better than to leave Tol-Gurra, so as soon as you depart from his presence, you hunt down the Moonblood twins and demand that they recommend to you an official ambassador to accompany the cultists on their quest, just in case they meet any outsiders.
The pair retire to their chambers for a brief private deliberation. When they return, Cameron speaks. "We nominate Olkop of the Green Wretch Bloodline to serve as your ambassador!"
Cori hastily fills you in on the details. The Green Wretch Bloodline is small in number, standing only about three dozen strong, but represent some of the most powerful Tieflings in the Enclave as most of their mortal ancestry can be traced back to trolls. For the most part the Green Wretches are kept out of the public eye, as they are prone to fits of destructive chaotic behavior, but Olkop is the most stable and well behaved of the lot of them, aside from his grandmother Matriarch Damnedclaw. The proposed ambassador is taller than most horses, equipped with razor sharp claws, and a healing factor that, although slower than that of a pure blooded troll, is still enough to ensure that he will survive just about any injury that doesn't straight up destroy or remove his heart, lungs, or brain. Also unlike a pure blooded troll, Olkop is capable of regenerating from damage caused by fire. To top it all off, Olkop speaks trollish and several other languages that natives of a haunted forest may speak.
"His toughness gives him a better chance of surviving the mission than any other tiefling we could in good faith recommend to you as ambassador." Cori concludes.
"Chance of survival?" You ask.
Cameron blinks, taken off guard. "Our spies within the cult tell us the Tieflings traveling with Tol-Gurra were told to settle their affairs as it is unlikely they are to return alive. You didn't know of this?'
A weak cloud of negitive energy escapes your nose as you snort in anger. Was Tol-Gurra trying to bait you in to partaking in a suicide mission? And for that matter, it would have been nice to know that the Typhoon Coast Enclave had spies within the cult. You hope not all pawns will prove as annoying as these damn Tieflings.
---
You sit down with Daniel Marcross, the champion of Princess Ni'gwent that you intend to take with you on your journey, to plan out a quick trip to check out one of the caves on the Black Prince's map. Marcross talks little, spending most of the conversation in shock that a dragon such a yourself is giving him so much as the time of day. Eventually you get him on task, however, and the elf begins to discuss your options. You could check out a cave in the seemingly friendly desert, the seemingly hostile highlands, or the nearby haunted woods. The later option would be tough to spot from the air, but Daniel suggests that one of the wooded caves is only several day's walk away; A solid option if you don't want to suffer the indignity of allowing the elf to ride dragon-back. You suppose if you were traveling by foot, you could round up additional pawns to tag along for the journey. At the very least they could help you carry anything interesting you find back home.
Aside from figuring out the logistics of your trip, you might also want to stick your nose deeper into Tol-Gurra's travel plans. Perhaps you want to confront the Tiefling with your knowledge of the suicide mission, or perhaps you want to have a chat with your new ambassador Olkop before he leaves with the cultists.
How do you proceed?
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Heh, how did I miss this one? Right up my alley, this.
Better not confront Tol-Gurra about his suicide mission. That would involve tipping him off about the spies that Typhoon Coast have in the cult... Normally it would be concerning to learn that our minions are engaging in such intrigue already, but Typhoon are more willing to share information than Limbies are, so those spies are useful.
As such, it might be a good idea to request regular briefings with the moonbloods on what the heck Four Limbs is up to. Keep an eye on them.
More immediately, let's go on a cave adventure in them haunted woods! Can bring along extra minions, but only up to the size of an adventuring party.
Dragons love dungeon crawls, man.
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Heh, how did I miss this one? Right up my alley, this.
Better not confront Tol-Gurra about his suicide mission. That would involve tipping him off about the spies that Typhoon Coast have in the cult... Normally it would be concerning to learn that our minions are engaging in such intrigue already, but Typhoon are more willing to share information than Limbies are, so those spies are useful.
As such, it might be a good idea to request regular briefings with the moonbloods on what the heck Four Limbs is up to. Keep an eye on them.
More immediately, let's go on a cave adventure in them haunted woods! Can bring along extra minions, but only up to the size of an adventuring party.
Dragons love dungeon crawls, man.
+1
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PTW
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Maybe see if one of those geomancers from the tieflings wants to come along, along with a student or two from the elves.
Cant hurt to have extra defenders/eyes/brains/snacks along the way.
Talk with Olkop about their mission, to make contact as a diplomat and be our eyes. We want them to return to us first, bring back treasures and gold and jewels and.. where was I. Oh right and report back on where the others are going.
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Given one of our super powers is Magic amp to allies, good idea to bring someone who can do those tricks.
Though loyalty matters too Given our minions may have own plans.
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Pretty sure that literally none of the people we brought would be willing to die for us if they had any choice in the matter. Loyalty is highest among the people who wand that sweet sweet dragon d for entirely selfish reasons, because at least those people can't get what they want when we're dead. The rest either don't care or would benefit from our death.
...So in terms of people who we drag along for adventures, them wanting to pocket some loot for themselves is probably the least dangerous possibility. Would be different if we had some kobolds or elemental elves here, but we sure don't.
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Kobolds being so tiny, cunning and loyal to dragons would have been nice, issue with them is their puny nature.
Though yeah Elemental Elf folk might have trigger a spite/ can of worms with other Elfs.
Though for now just gotta deal sadly.
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Kinda hoping that there's kobolds already living on the island that we can appropriate. They're kinda like smaller and lower tech dwarves, so very useful.
Might be worth considering that sites that DiXander found to be hostile might not be hostile to us, and vise versa. He might have marked a kobold camp as hostile where they would accept a chromatic dragon like us.
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I mean the mutant tieflings want to enjoy our company as well so they seem like a good choice.
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The only issue with the Tieflings is
A: More than one group.
B: We do not know everyone’s motives ( this flaw applies to everyone.)
So yeah do not regret agreeing to add tieflinfs. The race is not the issue it’s just a few of them. No Fantasy racism here.
Would be nice to find native tribe if Kobolds because
1: Dragon Kin And so easy concert with knowledge we are a dragon.
2: Being natives, will know place better than us, who just got here.
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Heh, how did I miss this one? Right up my alley, this.
Better not confront Tol-Gurra about his suicide mission. That would involve tipping him off about the spies that Typhoon Coast have in the cult... Normally it would be concerning to learn that our minions are engaging in such intrigue already, but Typhoon are more willing to share information than Limbies are, so those spies are useful.
As such, it might be a good idea to request regular briefings with the moonbloods on what the heck Four Limbs is up to. Keep an eye on them.
More immediately, let's go on a cave adventure in them haunted woods! Can bring along extra minions, but only up to the size of an adventuring party.
Dragons love dungeon crawls, man.
+1
Also some additional suggestions. I do not feel particularly good about sending Olkop along on the suicide mission. As we cannot backtrack now would it be possible to give them a little help getting home? Can we ask one of the High elf factions to cook him up a little scroll or magic item that he can use to either contact us with his location and any important information if he gets into trouble? If possible it would be nice for him to be able to teleport home if necessary, if it would be possible for one of the elves to cook up a one use item usable by an non-magic using individual in the time available.
As for the exact composition of the adventuring party.
+1 to bringing along a couple of the tieflings capable of digging, this should be useful in caves and might allow us to spend a little time prospecting the mountains for useful minerals/a stone big enough for us to get married, providing someone we bring knows anything about rocks.
Bring someone who knows anything about rocks.
Request a volunteer from Seville's elves, preferably one who doesn't have to be babysat. Their job will be to provide some insight regarding the biome we go into and take notes that might tempt more experienced academics to do something useful with the area.
Request Lux's expertise on this expedition if he will come, promise to be Tiefling shaped. We badly need an insight on how we can build a productive relationship with these Tieflings and if he'll let himself come on a week long expedition with us we might have a chance to find out how we can mutually benefit each other.
A handful of menial/meats shield eugenics Tieflings. For carrying and getting in the way of danger or adding a bit of minor magic.
This makes us slightly larger than an adventuring party (around 10 individuals) but it includes at least two magic users (the two elves) who can be boosted by us and is still small enough to make an escape while we dragon up and politely explain to anything that wants to mess with us why that's a bad idea. The plant elf should ideally be able to cast spells to make getting away easier too.
Some not relevant questions that I'd like to check if we know without asking any minions.
What is the High Elf Royalty's view on polygamy. Will we be limited to half elves by this marriage?
Which of our minion species has the shortest time between conception and maturity? Does being half dragon effect this time interval?
Generally what are relations between Dragons and their half progeny like? How well do the half progeny play with each other? Do they have inheritance rights in dragon culture?
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I would actually like to know just what our shapeshifting can do, besides what we've already seen, shrinking down to humanoid size so that we can fit into tighter places, and... yeah pretty much just that~
How convincingly can we mimic humanoids? Can we take the form of someone specific just from knowing what they look like? We can do humanoids, but what about something larger? Could we turn into a hydra for the multi-biting and extra eyes? Or a giant if we want to toss large objects around? Can we go bigger than our true form?
It might be a good idea to go on a brief trip to "explore the land" and sneak around our little settlement in disguise. Gives us a better view of the ground level of things, and how people talk to each other when not under the gaze of a big old dragon.
Plus if we catch someone making a big enough mistake, we can jump into our true form and give the poor fool a heart attack~
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I would actually like to know just what our shapeshifting can do, besides what we've already seen, shrinking down to humanoid size so that we can fit into tighter places, and... yeah pretty much just that~
How convincingly can we mimic humanoids? Can we take the form of someone specific just from knowing what they look like? We can do humanoids, but what about something larger? Could we turn into a hydra for the multi-biting and extra eyes? Or a giant if we want to toss large objects around? Can we go bigger than our true form?
It might be a good idea to go on a brief trip to "explore the land" and sneak around our little settlement in disguise. Gives us a better view of the ground level of things, and how people talk to each other when not under the gaze of a big old dragon.
Plus if we catch someone making a big enough mistake, we can jump into our true form and give the poor fool a heart attack~
I like the way you think in these matters.
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Shapeshifting is a powerful ability. I noticed that we might be underutilizing it.
Though the halfdragons alone would be nearly as good as the dragoness boon. The others seem a bit underwhelming, glad we picked this one. Double glad that we didn't pick the one that would be pretty trivial to replicate with simple necromancy magic.
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Also some additional suggestions. I do not feel particularly good about sending Olkop along on the suicide mission. As we cannot backtrack now would it be possible to give them a little help getting home? Can we ask one of the High elf factions to cook him up a little scroll or magic item that he can use to either contact us with his location and any important information if he gets into trouble? If possible it would be nice for him to be able to teleport home if necessary, if it would be possible for one of the elves to cook up a one use item usable by an non-magic using individual in the time available.
I disagree; there's plenty of time to back out and take Olkop with us instead. While I suspect it'll be survivable for him, I'd kind of rather just leave the apostle to his madness and focus on more productive pursuits.
As for why I think it'll be survivable:
-I'm an optimist, so I choose to assume he didn't just try to assassinate us
-He told us to bring friends; surely he doesn't think a royal elven bodyguard contingent plus a dragon is going to die to something his zealots are "highly unlikely" to survive
-Olkop is considerably tougher than anything in that party and has no zero compulsion to give his life for the glory of a tortured god (though perhaps some to fly into a berserk rampage)
Despite all that, like I said, I'd rather just snort disdainfully at the whole thing and get the report on their nonsense later.
Request a volunteer from Seville's elves, preferably one who doesn't have to be babysat. Their job will be to provide some insight regarding the biome we go into and take notes that might tempt more experienced academics to do something useful with the area.
Request Lux's expertise on this expedition if he will come, promise to be Tiefling shaped. We badly need an insight on how we can build a productive relationship with these Tieflings and if he'll let himself come on a week long expedition with us we might have a chance to find out how we can mutually benefit each other.
+1 to these, but I'm less fond of bringing along mooks. We're a dragon, we really don't need that much extra muscle; and we're just exploring a nearby cave, there's no need for a full on caravan. Better to cozy up to an elite selection of followers than bring along a gaggle of mooks for every possibility.
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Yeah, it would be preferable to bring along something like an adventuring party, as I said before. Where we know the names of everyone we drag with us. :P
Partially because if they're named, they're more powerful and less likely to lolrandom die to something. :P
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To tired to update. So have quick post answering questions.
What is the High Elf Royalty's view on polygamy. Will we be limited to half elves by this marriage?
Which of our minion species has the shortest time between conception and maturity? Does being half dragon effect this time interval?
Generally what are relations between Dragons and their half progeny like? How well do the half progeny play with each other? Do they have inheritance rights in dragon culture?
1: Marriage is uncommon among high elves; by tradition, a high elf wedding feast is so elaborate that a pair from the upper middle class looking to wed would have to each save most of their earnings for several centuries to afford the occasion. When they do wed, high Elves take a single spouse for life, and divorce is unheard of in their culture. That said, most marriages are arranged for political or eugenics reasons, so marital fidelity is rarely important. concubines, consorts, and bastards are a common and even accepted occurrence; children with one married parent are of higher status than children with no married parents, so unwed high-elves will often shack up with married friends (or even family if deemed safe by a proper bloodline study) when they wish to reproduce.
2: Elves grow slow. No two Tieflings are the same, so you'd have to ask about the growth rate of whichever one you wish to shack up with. Orcs grow up fast, reaching sexual maturity at age 6-8, and although you know little of the clownfin, you have to assume that Orcs would pick a quick breeding slave race. Dragons age differently than mortals, but most half dragons take after their mortal parent in terms of growth rate.
3: Chromatic Dragons do not practice the concept of parenthood and succession in the same way mortals do. A dragoness does not think of her brood as anything other than a particular interesting and valuable treasure. Young stay with their mother, who would often rather kill them than allow them to leave the nest, until they escape or are kidnapped by older dragons looking for minions. Because of this, young dragons (and half dragons) instinctively get along with one another and consider mom a natural enemy.
Male chromatic dragons with half dragon offspring, on the other hand, treat their children fairly well, in hopes of installing them as loyal puppet leaders over various mortal populations. In your case, the gift of shape changing runs in the blood, so it may be possible for your halfbreed kids to assume proper dragon form with decades of practice.
I would actually like to know just what our shapeshifting can do, besides what we've already seen, shrinking down to humanoid size so that we can fit into tighter places, and... yeah pretty much just that~
How convincingly can we mimic humanoids? Can we take the form of someone specific just from knowing what they look like? We can do humanoids, but what about something larger? Could we turn into a hydra for the multi-biting and extra eyes? Or a giant if we want to toss large objects around? Can we go bigger than our true form?
You can impersonate humanoids without much difficulty in terms of appearance, but your thick draconic accent would stick out like a sore thumb among the homogeneous groups of minions you have brought with you the instant you open your mouth.
You can take pretty much any form you wish, so long as you have seen a similar creature before and it is not too big or small
That said, you are only trained to fight in four forms:
True form - teeth, claws, and breath weapons
Feline - Teeth, claws, maneuverability and stealth
Alligator - Teeth, stealth, aquatic movement
Humanoid - Weapon and tool use
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Lovely to hear re the clownfish, potential quick way to get a slavedriving/underwater defence class going fairly quickly if given the time.
Re the mooks, fair enough, just thinking of getting started on adding long term economic value to our settlement really, oh and carrying stuff if we strike it lucky somehow.
On shapeshifting, is a dog or bird reasonable? That could potentially prove adequate for internal espionage purposes depending on how these animals are treated by the various minions.
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+1 to bringing at least one digging tiefling and one of Seville's elves
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You can take pretty much any form you wish, so long as you have seen a similar creature before and it is not too big or small
What are the limits on "too big or small", though? Could we turn into an even larger version of our true form? Could we turn into something the size of a mountain?
Is a rat too small? What about a housecat? A tarantula?
Can we mimic inherently magical creatures? If not, would a pegasus work or require magic to fly? Could we turn into a fire elemental and toss fireballs around without having to learn magic? Could we take the form of a ghost and be incoporial? Could we turn into a full sized adult black dragon and fly at supersonic speeds?
How fast can we transform, and how immobile are we during it? Could we be dueling someone while in human form, then surprise whip out an octopus arm to trip them? Can we transform into chimeras of multiple animals, such as a dwarf with bear claws or a lion with a scorpion's sting?
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+1
Yes one digging Tiefling is handy for finding useful minerals, and maybe burrow shelter should something happen.
And definitively two name brand magic users for our magic amp aura deal.
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PtW, so I can read this later