Still, I was wondering how the Dark Powers were presented by the author. Good, evil, mad, silly?
Thanks!
This, of course, leaves open the possibility that the "vision" was merely the DPs' way of yanking the Big A's chain, and that his deductions about it said more about his own past bad experiences with extraplanar forces than about what the Dark Powers are really up to. The 3E products implied this was the case, when they pointed out that people who dare try to find out about the DPs generally wind up chasing their own obsessed fantasies, never coming any closer to the truth.
Likewise, the fact that the DPs seem like 'experimenters' in LotN may say more about Azalin's own perspective than about his "tormenters'" motives or nature. ;)
Likewise, the fact that the DPs seem like 'experimenters' in LotN may say more about Azalin's own perspective than about his "tormenters'" motives or nature. ;)
True. The "overgod scientists" view is just the image I got and how I present them in my games, as unofficial as Gothic Earth 1998. It's been stated time and again that the DPs will never be officially defined; they're to remain mysterious and ambiguous so any DM can portray them how they want and none of the canon material will say otherwise. There's no right or wrong answer to the question, "What are the Dark Powers?"
That said, for all we know the things Azalin experienced could be products of his own imagination. Didn't Van Richten say in his Guide to Liches that all liches are, by definition, insane? Plus Azalin has been a darklord for centuries, and he's clawed at the walls of his prison the whole time. Undead or not, that would certainly begin to erode one's sanity. And wasn't the novel set after the Grand Conjunction, the one he himself helped collapse by causing the fifth and sixth signs to occur out of order? That sort of knowledge would unhinge anyone.
Didn't Van Richten say in his Guide to Liches that all liches are, by definition, insane?
Anybody who drinks a potion so they can die, so that they can live forever, sounds insane to me.
Didn't Van Richten say in his Guide to Liches that all liches are, by definition, insane?
'Fraid not. The actual quote comes from Chapter I (Necrology) where he compares liches to vampires, and he says something to the effect that vampires eventually succumb to madness, but liches' intellects are protected by their rationality so that they are always sane... or at least, always self-motivated.
'Fraid not. The actual quote comes from Chapter I (Necrology) where he compares liches to vampires, and he says something to the effect that vampires eventually succumb to madness, but liches' intellects are protected by their rationality so that they are always sane... or at least, always self-motivated.
I really need to re-read that section of the book.
I still question the sanity of any being that would turn to such an alien existence. Even in the novel, when Azalin found a room where he could enjoy the comforts of life, he took advantage of it and relived the joys of a good meal. He became tired of his own gluttony, but there was a brief time when he enjoyed the simple pleasures of life. Undeath clearly takes some toll on the mind.Liches create themselves solely for the purpose of magic. Azalin is paralyzed in terms of learning new spells or advancing in level. In essence, he's cut off from the very purpose of his existence. The fury and frustration must eat at his mind like grave worms devouring a corpse.
I agree about the frustration, but I wouldn't say Azalin's motive in becoming a lich was typical for such undead. In King of the Dead (which is considered canon), it's clear he only took that course -- or at least, only justified it to himself -- because he didn't have anyone else he trusted to rule his kingdom if he died of old age. Pursuing magical knowledge was just a means to an end, for Firan Zal'honan; he didn't seek it purely for the sake of knowledge or power, as most liches do.
IIRC, Azalin doesn't even care to think of himself as a "lich": to him, "liches" are monomaniacal knowledge-hogs lurking in old crypts, and Azalin Rex thinks he's better than that. The Dark Powers may agree that, if not "better", then he's at least more interesting than most of his kind, because there are quite a few stereotypical (i.e. magic-obsessed) liches in Ravenloft who aren't darklords.
there are quite a few stereotypical (i.e. magic-obsessed) liches in Ravenloft who aren't darklords.
There are?
I count only one - Nightblood - who was a L20 lich in the Book of Crypts supplement.
(I suppose Vecna is another lich but he's arguably somewhat different from the usual one ;) )
Some other Ravenloft liches (not counting vassaliches):
Phantom's Bane
Mirinalithiar
The Bloody Hand
Crimson Arcanus
Redfist
Master Ulathar
Moonbane
Pythian
unnamed lich who'd kept VR's friend captive
Some of these have been destroyed, of course.
I am curious, did Azalin ever do the whole Vol thing? Vol collects the phylacteries of other liches to gain their power.
To Rotipher:
D'oh! I knew I should have looked into the flavor text of VRGttL for information on liches. Yes, all those you mentioned are liches in Ravenloft. I personally wonder whether any of those could be found in Darkon. It seems like there would be at the very least a question of power sharing if they were in Darkon. (Azalin perhaps contracting them to research spells for him to try.)
That's an interesting thought. If he can't learn new spells then maybe he can fudge it some how and get spell like abilities.
Somehow I doubt it. His curse is to never gain experience or new magic, which I'd assume would also mean spell-like abilities, psionics, etc. Magic items are an exception, though. He can cast a wizard spell from a scroll or wand even if it isn't one he personally knows. Whether he'd use these or try and hoard them is another matter.
The way I'm playing it, his curse is less a forbiddance against learning ANY new magic, but rather a forbiddance against learning ALL new magic. There's a substantial difference. There are some things that Azalin will simply never be able to learn, although it's reasonable he could have spells that are close to what he already knows.
In gaming terms, this means Azalin is still a major threat, instead of a L18 lich with an impossibly narrow spellbook. But from his own viewpoint he is still utterly unable to research new forms of spells, like sonic magic and wild magic - although this may not have much effect on his combat deadliness, it would still be a major irritation.
He became a lich, in part, to be able to research new magicks for all eternity. Even shutting him out of a few fields of magical research will make his sacrifice that much more vain, and still draw his ire.
I personally wonder whether any of those could be found in Darkon. It seems like there would be at the very least a question of power sharing if they were in Darkon. (Azalin perhaps contracting them to research spells for him to try.)
I think Azalin prefers vassaliches as servants. A full lich which doesn't owe its "immortality" to him will always be a potential threat to his authority, even if he holds its phylactery hostage. By selecting potential vassaliches from among the living, he retains far more control, and can pick and choose candidates whose personalities are highly susceptible to intimidation and dominance.
Where researching new spells by proxy is concerned, I'm not sure he'd need to confine himself to fellow undead for that purpose. He allowed the University of Il Aluk to train living wizards before the Requiem, after all, and he hasn't purged the Brautslava Institute even though it's got (in-game) Fraternity of Shadows members on staff. Azalin probably keeps discreet tabs on every wizard in Darkon -- living or otherwise -- and makes sure he acquires copies of any spell that's invented there: even if he can't cast them, his minions -- again, living or otherwise -- can do it for him. He might opt to fund particular areas of arcane research covertly ... or even openly, for that matter. (Royal grant-applications, anyone?)
But yes, I think Azalin would definitely be wealthy enough to get various little R&D labs going across Darkon (and maybe even outside of it) to experiment with new spells and report back to him. Certainly fits in with his generally plotting nature. And the beauty of it is that some cells he might fund to do completely pointless research, if only to throw would-be spies off the scent of his real research.
Infiltrator: Milord Vasili von Holtz, we report that "Delta Source's" funding has been traced to the druids of Tepest's "Sanguine Circles".
VVH (who is really you-know-who in disguise): Druids? Ye gods, what are they researching?
Infiltrator: ...mushrooms, Your Grace.
VVH: Mushrooms? He's researching mushrooms.
[pregnant pause]
VVH: Divert funds to mushroom research! Abandon the construction of the orphanage for girls in Krezk! We must not allow him to create a Mushroom Gap!
It's funny you mention royal grant applications. In my upcoming article on Azalin there's a brief fiction piece that deals with just that suggestion.
But yes, I think Azalin would definitely be wealthy enough to get various little R&D labs going across Darkon (and maybe even outside of it) to experiment with new spells and report back to him. Certainly fits in with his generally plotting nature. And the beauty of it is that some cells he might fund to do completely pointless research, if only to throw would-be spies off the scent of his real research.
Infiltrator: Milord Vasili von Holtz, we report that "Delta Source's" funding has been traced to the druids of Tepest's "Sanguine Circles".
VVH (who is really you-know-who in disguise): Druids? Ye gods, what are they researching?
Infiltrator: ...mushrooms, Your Grace.
VVH: Mushrooms? He's researching mushrooms.
[pregnant pause]
VVH: Divert funds to mushroom research! Abandon the construction of the orphanage for girls in Krezk! We must not allow him to create a Mushroom Gap!
And the Azalin's Choice Award for Best Comedy Post Goes to...
And the beauty of it is that some cells he might fund to do completely pointless research, if only to throw would-be spies off the scent of his real research.
For that matter, he could fund such bogus investigations into lines of research he already knows darn well won't lead anywhere useful, and will even have catastrophic consequences for those he cons into pursuing (or stealing?) those studies. Getting the Radiant Tower's wizards working on something they think is a superweapon, but which will actually turn Lekar into a second Necropolis and/or a smoking hole in the ground, would be right up Azalin's alley. ;)
Getting the Radiant Tower's wizards working on something they think is a superweapon, but which will actually turn Lekar into a second Necropolis and/or a smoking hole in the ground, would be right up Azalin's alley. ;)
Sabotage by academic counter-espionage. :D Azalin would be proud.
(Spoilers, in case you like Star Wars novels and haven't read the GAT trilogy yet.)]
1. Thrawn has a cloaking device. Most planets have orbital shields that are able to withstand ship bombardments. Thrawn smuggles a few cloaked ships at strategic points past the orbital shield. He positions them carefully inside the orbital shield.
Later, he opens fire with a big ship in orbit. The laser blast travels towards the shield and hits it, then dissipates. However, the invisible ship INSIDE the shield opens fire at just about the same time. Because the cloaked ship is inside, its laser blast hits home along the same trajectory. To an outside observer, it seems that the big ship fired a pulse that bashed through the shield and hit the planet's surface. Scary stuff! After several salvoes of this, the planet's inhabitants believe Thrawn has a superweapon that can shoot past planetary shields. They surrender.
2. Thrawn has a cloaking device. His ships snare an unspecified number of asteroids. They plant cloaking devices on the asteroids, so the asteroids are invisible. His fleet travels to the Republic capital planet and blockades it. They release the asteroids into orbit using tractor beam pulses. Because the asteroids are invisible, Republic craft in the area are destroyed unpredictably through asteroid collisions. The entire planet goes into a state of isolated quarantine, with no ships going in or out. They gradually sweep the orbits looking for asteroids. They find a few dozen, but are still looking for a few hundred, since Thrawn's tractor beam pulses numbered that many.
Turns out there only ever were a few dozen. The rest of the tractor beam pulses were just decoys, causing them to waste time looking for asteroids that weren't there.
3. Thrawn has a cloaking device. (Did I mention this?) He also has a few mining vehicles. He equips an old shipping container with TIE Fighters and makes them cloaked to bypass sensors. The shipping container floats into a Republic shipyard and then detonates, freeing the TIE Fighters, who then uncloak and engage the Rebel fighter defense. Meanwhile, Thrawn's main fleet arrives and sends mining vehicles out to the enemy capital ships.
The mining vehicles mine through the command centers of the capital ships and Thrawn's stormtroopers clamber through and disable the Rebel crews. The plan is for them to capture the enemy capital ships and take them away.
(And one more spoiler, this time from the amazing PC game TIE Fighter from 1995.)
4. Thrawn has a cloaking device, but it doesn't work too well. It has problems when the user enters hyperspace. Thrawn is tasked with capturing rogue Admiral Zaarin. Zaarin humiliates Thrawn by capturing his cloaking technology prototype. Thrawn maneuvers Zaarin into a certain defeat scenario where the only option is to escape in hyperspace. Zaarin does so while cloaked, which causes a catastrophic reaction. The craft splits apart in hyperspace, killing all inside.
Converted to Ravenloft, these could have interesting potential. Azalin's sure to have various failed technology lying around, some just inert, others highly dangerous if used in the wrong combinations.
1. A similar "false causation" trick could be used with war engines on the border and constructs. Before the outbreak of hostilities, a number of expensive but deadly constructs are introduced to the water supply of Il Aluk and gradually make their way downriver, walking on the bottom of the waterway, until they get to Lekar or Stangengrad. Once there, they take up position in the city, scrabbling into nooks and crannies by night.
Meanwhile, the Darkonian Army gets instructions to set up a dramatic-looking magical device in a fortress on the border, well within view of the Falkovnian watchtowers. As things get underway, the fortress' magical device flares off periodically, sending great balls of fire into the air (really nothing more than illusory figments or possibly actual Fireballs that fizzle into nothing as they pass their max range).
As these happen, Azalin coordinates these with a magical signal to the constructs in the cities to self destruct, one at a time, as the flares occur. Each explosion is not particularly dangerous, but it is enough to blast facades, collapse roofs, and injure or kill people through shrapnel. It also raises the intriguing question in the minds of Falkovnia's war planners, of whether Azalin has perfected some sort of magical engine that can hurl spells dozens of miles into Falkovnia with pinpoint accuracy.
Falkovnian armies may even try to take the hilltop fortress, which will do little to stop the explosions from continuing. Azalin can presumably task a vassalich or other arcanist professionals with producing mass numbers of these and sending them into Il Aluk's river each day.
2. Azalin creates or ensnares a few clockwork horrors and imbues them with invisibility, then sets them free in the Falkovnian heartland. This may not do much to the Falkovnian armies, but it's bound to sap morale at home as peasants go out to harvest the grain and end up as mangled corpses.
The roads are soon declared off limits. Azalin allows the Falkovnian High Command to "acquire" shipment manifests that estimate about three hundred are loose in Falkovnia. The actual number is less than 60. The Falkovnians will waste a lot of time looking for things that aren't there.
3. If a particular Falkovnian army column or enclave is bolstered by a priest or cleric, who keeps turning or destroying Azalin's undead servants, Azalin could substitute a construct instead. These are harder as he would have to consciously make them individually, but there is an intriguing little creature from From the Shadows which could serve as a good construct animator. It's a Zharakim, a monster about the size of a man's palm and appearing roughly like a black pudding. If attached to a freshly dead corpse, it turns the corpse into a construct that follows instructions.
Falkovnia doesn't have many clerics, and this nasty trick can catch the few they have off guard entirely. By the time the cleric realizes he'll never be able to turn or destroy these particular corpses, it may be too late.
(The "reanimate" spell from GazII may also work.) For added lethality, add a Contingency to trigger a destructive spell if the Zharakim is ever removed, so the Falkovnians can't study them and their properties.
4. Azalin has plenty of cursed items. Any number of these could function erratically or not at all. The most interesting ones are the ones that react badly with other spells or effects. For example, imagine a necklace of fire resistance that functions fine... until the wearer is subject to magical cold. The necklace could quite feasibly malfunction and cease to work. Worse still, with a little imagination, you could say it shrinks from cold, to the point where it starts to constrict the wearer terribly. The term "magical cold" could even be used to apply to the touch of undead that drain living attributes, so not only has the luckless wearer lost levels or attributes, but they're also being choked by their necklace!
Some ideas that presented themselves.