| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Tigerclaw |
Posted - 10 Oct 2002 : 20:33:03
Well, folks here is my idea. I recently red an incredible book named Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It immediately hit me how Cormyr/Dalelands would be a perfect place to replay this jewel of Chinese literature in Toril. |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Tigerclaw |
Posted - 11 Oct 2002 : 21:35:16
Okay, here is the general story of Romance of 3 Kingdoms. End of 2nd century. The Hun dynasty is weakened by the death of the emperor, who leaves two sons in his wake. The court is in the grasp of Eunuchs, with Imperial Army headed by He Jin struggling for power. Without the government, the nobles squeeze the comonners for everything that they got. Older son is chosen to sucseed the throne by He Jin. Fearing He Jin, the eunuchs (who are corrupt and crooked as it gets), kill him. At the same time the Yellow Turban rebellion flares in the land, and the weak court is struggling to survive against the tide lead by Zhang Jiao (leader of the Yellow Turbans). The story is really long, really twisted with the plots, subplots and intrigues that make Machiavelli look like a schoolboy. The amount of fractions is incredible. First Dong Zhuo, rises, replacing the emperor with his younger half brother and poisoning him. The nobles raise against Dong Zhuo, at the same time they start squabbling with each other as to who gets to infulence the emperor after Dong is dead. They manage to take Dong Zhuo out in a rather incidious and sneak way. And the country falls to infighting. At the end, the following countries emerge:
1) Wu - led by "old guard" nobility. Their leader is ultimately Sun Quan Their slogan is "Land and Comfort". They concentrate in protecting the interests of nobility. And, of course increasing their riches. Despite many intellectuals in the land Wu was known for their prosecution of commoners and religious figures
2) Wei - the opportunists. Under their banners there are EVERYONE, as they prise people not for background, but for the deeds and abilities. Led by ruthless genious, Prime Minister Cao Cao they control the throne, gain the most resources capabilities. Incredible military, superb general, great efficiency and organization, the Wei Kingdom was ultimately the ones to win the war. Their slogan is "Time and Heaven" - reffering to the fact that Heaven blesses thouse who change according to the time.
3) Shu - she schivalric warlords. Under their banner are idealists and dreamers. Who genuanly care for commoners humanity, who wish to overthrow the cruel overlords of Wu as well as the dictator Cao Cao.
They fight not for ambition, but also for ideology and belief. Led by a dissposessed noble, Liu Bei, their slogan is "honor and brotherhood". They posess the least of the resources, but at the same time the sympathies of commoners are on their side, and the greatest military genious of possibly entire millenium, Zhuge Liang is their commander in chief. Not the last among the generals of Shu is Guan Yu, whos ability was such that after his death he became Kwan Ti - the Chinese God of War.
Why Cormyr is good of this? THink about it. Azoun Dead. Vangerdarhast is MIA. The prince is half gazaneth, which is GUARANTEED to turn many nobles against the Obaskyr line. What is more, plenty of noble families have direct offspring of Azoun (who was a skirt chaser). Each family will want their offspring on the throne. To this add War Wizards who are very posessive of their status, and Purple Dragoons, who are also the same way. Power struggle between those two is immenent (He Jin+military vs eunuchs). To that add Sembia supporters, and Zentarium. Dalelands will likely to get involved because it is ON THEIR BORDERS!!!.
Other ideas that I am playing around:
1) Secret society of Burning Dawn.
2) Ruthless half demon warrior named White Scorpion. He serves Fzoul Chembryl, apperantly. But his motives are his own.
3) Remember, Cormanthor with its drows and with wood elves as well as with Evermeet wanting to retake their powerbase.
What we have here is potentially events that can turn most of Eastern Faeran into a HUGE nest of intrigue, espionage, and even open warfare, as neighbouring countries will quickly take the sides of one or another faction in Cormyr.
Dalelands will not want half gazaneth ruling Cormyr. Neither do they wish to deal with Sembia's expantion. Sembia wants to expand and will be more than happy to deal with the prince. Zentharium and Church of Cyric will try to corrupt the prince one way or another (considering that he is a child of Gazaneth it should be not hard). Waterdeep+harpers will move in as soon as the crap hits the fan. Waterdeep will not want their trade opponent - Sembia to expand. Harpers will block zentharium/cyric. Zents and Church of Cyric will be at each other's throats immediately too. Amn/Calishman wanting to expand their influence and block sembia/waterdeep may get involved too.
Now, throw into this several secret society, including Burning Dawn. Do not forget about White Scorp. And.. let the mayham and whackyness begin
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| Mumadar Ibn Huzal |
Posted - 11 Oct 2002 : 14:44:10
I must say that I'm not familiar with the title of the book you're mentioning. Could you tell us something more, and why Cormyr/Dalelands might make a suitable backdrop? |
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