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Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie

We ran a brief stint through Damara in a campaign I'm playing in, wherein King Frostmantle was actually bound into a contract through an iron ring from one of the Warlock Knights. That's a neat concept to add intrigue to your game: the PCs find a ring that binds multiple people, and they have to hunt them down one by one?

As for the history, alas, no, we don't have a lot of canonical history as yet presented. I suggest you fill in what you need from your own invention, at least until we get an actual DDI article or print product.

Cheers

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Originally posted by sfdragon

ws there not a ddi article on the warlock knights.... where the last dragonbane heir is listed???

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Originally posted by Ayrik

One character in Troy Denning's Return of the Archwizards trilogy is from Vaasa and sometimes describes small patches of it in her recollections. I'm hesitant to recommend the trilogy, even though it heralded the return of the Shadovar (and the phaerimm) it still ended up being an overall disappointment to me. Darksword (also by Troy Denning) from the Realms of Shadow anthology is a much better telling of a related tale set in Vaasa.

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Originally posted by Markustay

The only annoying thing was that there were 3 stories I had already paid for in other books, but whatever. I would still highly recommend the anthologies - all of them - because of the 'small' feel of them. You get to view the Realms in little glimpses, without a moon falling on your head, or an army of elves, or an ancient city reappearing, etc, etc, etc...

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Originally posted by Markustay

The anthologies makes you realize that everyone in the Realms has a story, not just the 'movers & shakers'.

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Originally posted by barbican

So I have the 2nd Ed Bloodstone Lands supplement. I really would like to use some of the ideas about the competition between the barons and dukes as well as their adversarial relationship with the Damaran king.

I understand that there may be nothing written about the political situation during the reign of King Yarin Frostmantle. However, I was hoping that some of you might have good ideas about how to draw those threads from the 2E supplement to the 4E campaign guide.

About 120 years have passed, so 5-6 generations of rulers in peaceful realms or 10-20 successions and coups could have taken place in more chaotic ones. Still, I want the feeling of each barony and duchy to stay close to what it was before.

Some ideas: (comments would be appreciated)

-Barony of Bloodstone is now the Vaasan Sunderland so that can be set aside.

-Arcata has a mixed legacy of loyalty and rebellion, but I would like to have the Bloodstone refugees there stiffen Damaran patriotism. They work to defend the land and oppose the king without hurting the kingdom.

-I imagine Morov to be the source of King Yarin's wealth and power. The cities of Helgabal and Morov are interested in money and privilege so they support the openhanded king while the borders are insecure.

-Baroness Sylvia of Ostel is still in power. A 14th level magic user appointed by Zhengyi himself, she got her hands on a lesser version of the Witch King's ritual for lichdom. She has subverted the Church of Ilmater in her land to become a corrupt, money-grubbing mockery of what it should be. She is one of the pillars propping up the king who turns a blind eye to her necromancers and undead armies. She is trying to weaken Damara just enough to take it over without handing it over to a Vaasan invasion.

-In Soravia, Olwen Forrestfriend became the Duke. His dynasty is strong. A great-great-great-granddaughter who is an accomplished ranger is the Duchess. The region has good relations with the wilder races and the Fey. They are the most openly hostile region against the kings as the rural area is a bastion of traditional Damaran values.

-Brandiar suffered the worst in the wars against Zhengyi, and now it is on the frontier with Vaasa. Also, maintaining the Damaran gate falls to them. I think all of the pressure would cause even a good leader to overstep. The Duke of Brandiar is now a totally military man who taxes and conscripts his lands to the breaking point. He does not like the king, but Yarin is an occasional source of manpower and funds so the Duke will put up with anything. A good man goes bad by thinking that the ends justify the means.

-Carmathan suffered the chaos of a pretender to the throne over a century ago and as a result rejected hereditary rulers altogether. It operates as a rudimentary and limited republic within the framework of the Damaran kingdom. It is a wealthy region that is not much threatened, but it is also not very motivated to turn over its considerable resources to help the rest of Damara.

-Polten was brought down by the evil adviser Zorth. The problems of Impiltur have flooded into Polten with cults of demon worshipers, fiends, and thieves guilds terrorizing the populace. King Yarin has appointed a Baron/governor who is a glorified tax collector. Dunlevy the 27th is a sort of Robin Hood/Impilturan Demonslayer living in the Dunswood fighting a guerilla war against the Baron, the king, the demons, the cults, and the thieves.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

One thing I didn't realize until just recently was how much the Damara of FR resembles George R.R. Martin's Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones (there's the wall, above which are the wild people and undead, then below the noble northmen, then the "southerners" are mostly schemers in cahoots). Both came out around the same time, so I'm not sure if there's influence between the two or not.

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Originally posted by Lord Karsus

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Originally posted by sleyvas

One thing I didn't realize until just recently was how much the Damara of FR resembles George R.R. Martin's Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones (there's the wall, above which are the wild people and undead, then below the noble northmen, then the "southerners" are mostly schemers in cahoots). Both came out around the same time, so I'm not sure if there's influence between the two or not.

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-You know, I never noticed that either. Icy lands, undead savages, bastions of civilization around them, they're pretty common fantasy tropes, but that's an interesting observation.

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Originally posted by Markustay

I applaud what Rich Baker was doing there - the Warlock Knights were his creation (and one of the best things to come out of 4e) - and the idea that Vassa wanted a port on the Moonsea makes so much sense... I'm almost embarrased I never thought of that myself - its bloody brilliant (and very realistic). If I were to run a 4e (5e?) FR campaign, I would give them Sulasspryn, and allow them to use the already-existing (canonically) tunnels beneath the mountain range. I'd also make the city have 'drow ghetto', just because that would be kewl, and make sense (the drow had to have given permission - and made some deal- with the knights to rebuild the place). I'd also leave-in some of the thing RB did to it (don't go out at night!)

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Originally posted by Ayrik

One character in Troy Denning's Return of the Archwizards trilogy is from Vaasa and sometimes describes small patches of it in her recollections. I'm hesitant to recommend the trilogy, even though it heralded the return of the Shadovar (and the phaerimm) it still ended up being an overall disappointment to me. Darksword (also by Troy Denning) from the Realms of Shadow anthology is a much better telling of a related tale set in Vaasa.

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There was short-story based around the a character from the RotAW series, who travelled in early Vassa (having just beenn released from the glacier around that time), with some bizarre mud-swimmers living in the bogs (I've connected them to the batrachi in my own campaign - some ancient eggs that hatched, and they are now a very primitive, savage culture, nothing like their glorious past). If I had to guess, I'd say that short-story was in Realms of Infamy*

At the end of the story, the main character is using at least one local tribe (likely an offshoot of the proto-Netherse barbarian culture, related to the barbarians of The Ride) to help him forge a bunch of swords, which has something to do with the RotAW trilogy, if I'm not mistaken (I own it, but have never read it). Not sure if it was something I got from the story, or something I came up with on my own, but I spun-it (in my personal musings) that there was something in the area he needed for the forging (a rare mineral, perhaps? Maybe some of that stuff - Ironfel - the Warlock Knights later became known for?)


*I stand corrected, it was indeed in Realms of Shadows.

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Originally posted by Lord Karsus

-Parts of it. Huge chunks have been in the Plane of Faerie in my reading, so far. Have to admit, it's annoying.

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Originally posted by Brimstone

The Chosen of Nedawen is set in Narfel. It has some lore for the region. I enjoyed the series myself.

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Originally posted by Markustay

I applaud what Rich Baker was doing there - the Warlock Knights were his creation (and one of the best things to come out of 4e) - and the idea that Vassa wanted a port on the Moonsea makes so much sense... I'm almost embarrased I never thought of that myself - its bloody brilliant (and very realistic). If I were to run a 4e (5e?) FR campaign, I would give them Sulasspryn, and allow them to use the already-existing (canonically) tunnels beneath the mountain range.

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Originally posted by barbican

That would be great. Should I send you my email through PM or is it in the forums somewhere?

Campaign Update...

The players are 4th level. They have tangled with the lowest tier of the coalition of Citadel of Assassins and Banite faction of Warlock Knights. They got their hands of an Ironfell Ring that has many Damaran nobles bound to it. They are about to go off hunting these people down thinking that they are killing spies who are providing intel for the Vaasan invasion. After they have taken out half a dozen, they will find out that all of the people in the ring worship Orcus. Hopefully, they will think that it is all one big conspiracy for a few sessions before they learn that Bane has inspired the Vaasan invasion of Damara simply to oppose Orcus' big move to get revenge on the Damarans for the loss of his wand by opening dozens of gates from the Abyss all over the region. The nobles bound to the ring have been turned by the Vaasans to provide information about the activities of their cults.

Notes:

1. I know that the Citadel of Assassins was part of Team Orcus in the 2nd Ed supplement, but I wanted them to evolve into a Lawful Evil philosophical/mercenary guild that plays puppet master with the region's politicians and criminals.

2. A smaller invasion of a devil-worshiping tribe of Nars has just started in the east. When the PC's get back to Ironspur, they will see the first wave of refugees fleeing Steppenhall. After the party stabilizes the situation, I want to give them a few levels to pursue their own interests. Then, one big army from Vaasa besieges the Damaran wall while Vaasan commandos come over the mountains to harass behind the lines. PC's will be asked to be among the commandos going the other way.

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Originally posted by barbican

That would be great. Should I send you my email through PM or is it in the forums somewhere?

Campaign Update...

The players are 4th level. They have tangled with the lowest tier of the coalition of Citadel of Assassins and Banite faction of Warlock Knights. They got their hands of an Ironfell Ring that has many Damaran nobles bound to it. They are about to go off hunting these people down thinking that they are killing spies who are providing intel for the Vaasan invasion. After they have taken out half a dozen, they will find out that all of the people in the ring worship Orcus. Hopefully, they will think that it is all one big conspiracy for a few sessions before they learn that Bane has inspired the Vaasan invasion of Damara simply to oppose Orcus' big move to get revenge on the Damarans for the loss of his wand by opening dozens of gates from the Abyss all over the region. The nobles bound to the ring have been turned by the Vaasans to provide information about the activities of their cults.

Notes:

1. I know that the Citadel of Assassins was part of Team Orcus in the 2nd Ed supplement, but I wanted them to evolve into a Lawful Evil philosophical/mercenary guild that plays puppet master with the region's politicians and criminals.

2. A smaller invasion of a devil-worshiping tribe of Nars has just started in the east. When the PC's get back to Ironspur, they will see the first wave of refugees fleeing Steppenhall. After the party stabilizes the situation, I want to give them a few levels to pursue their own interests. Then, one big army from Vaasa besieges the Damaran wall while Vaasan commandos come over the mountains to harass behind the lines. PC's will be asked to be among the commandos going the other way.

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