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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6405 Posts |
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Lord Bane
Senior Scribe
Germany
479 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Feb 2013 : 10:40:32
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Any Plots against Mulhorand would be coming to a drastic end with the Spellplague hitting. We all know what 4e did to that place.
As for plots, i could see him support freedom fighters of Unther who wish to drive the mulhorandi occupation out of their homeland or him even attempting to drag Red Wizards into operations against Mulhorand. |
The driving force in the multiverse is evil, for it forces good to act. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2013 : 13:00:44
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But if LEoF took place around 1372 DR, that would still give him an entire decade to exact his revenge before the Spellplague.
I might have him do a 'Tomb Kings' (WH) thing down in southern Mulhorand - build n undead region between Mulhorand and Veldorn ruled by Ancient Dead (Mummies).
Or maybe subvert Murghôm and us it against Mulhorand - they had some past ties to Myrkul. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 12 Feb 2013 13:00:57 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6405 Posts |
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xaeyruudh
Master of Realmslore
USA
1853 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2013 : 19:31:20
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Mulhorand is driven by its priesthoods. While I don't have any specific suggestions, I think this would be the place for Wendonai to dig his claws in.
Civil servants are priests. The Vizier, who is essentially the emperor of Mulhorand (historically, the Pharaoh says what the Vizier tells him to say) is a priest. The Precepts (governors) and all local officials are priests. The churches, which are the most powerful political entities in the country, are run by Hierarchs, who are obviously priests. Not to mention all the priests found in the temples and shrines located in each city and town. Not all of them are clerics with spellcasting ability, but they have a place in the political hierarchy and they're trying to better it while constantly trying to avoid/thwart being crushed/sidelined by rivals.
The church of Horus-Re is the most prominent/visible, by a long shot. They own the most real estate and the largest number of slaves, both of which result in huge revenues... which grants the high-ranking priests omnipotence on the streets of Mulhorand's cities but it also raises the stakes in the headgames they play with each other and makes them too paranoid to have any real friends/allies/protectors.
The other five "churches" (as opposed to the "cults" which are smaller) form a sort of backbone upon which the church of Horus-Re rests/preys. Without these churches the priests of Horus-Re would lack powerful agents they can manipulate into doing their will, and thus they would be weaker. Because the priests beneath that (the cults of Bast, Geb, Hathor, and other minor deities) lack the money and political influence to be interesting/effective agents for the power-hungry priests of Horus-Re.
The political structure in Mulhorand more closely resembles the Wall of the Faithless, or whatever it was called, than a standard totem pole or professional "org chart". Each church has a hierarchy, but they're superimposed on each other, each tier forming a framework for the next to grip/crawl on.
Wendonai can easily find a handful of weak-minded priests in the lower and middle tiers, and spread across the wall like a cancer. He could walk up to a hierarch of one of the churches (or the Vizier) and charm him/her directly, but where's the fun in that? Cancer is fun, for a demon. Revenge is best served slowly, where the victim sees it coming at the end but by that time is too paralyzed to do anything about it except scream. And even if Wendonai is more inclined to direct/brutal violence... a thousand-year-banishment will give him the idea of a revenge that lasts a thousand years.
If you're relying on canon, Mulhorand's god-kings will not get involved. Not until/unless Wendonai eliminates all the high-level (in terms of character level) opposition and then appears in his true form on the streets of Skuld and starts eating citizens at highsun. Then the incarnations might gather and fight him, but the manifestations would stay in their towers until all of the incarnations were killed.
That's probably stretching things a bit. But that is the whole point of the way Mulhorand is structured... it's all aimed at mortals taking care of everything without the manifestations being involved. I'm just saying canon doesn't suggest that the manifestations will do anything overt or immediate about Wendonai, so there's plenty of room to write some long-lasting and far-reaching intrigue for your campaign.
And I, personally, would look at the low and middle ranks of the priesthoods for places to start that intrigue.
Just my two cents, flavored by my obsession with Mulhorand. |
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xaeyruudh
Master of Realmslore
USA
1853 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2013 : 20:21:12
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Also, regarding this:
quote:
Unfortunately im not great at political intrigues
You're on the right track with destroying Mulhorand from within. That would definitely be his ultimate goal. Destroying the Imperial Legion is one part of that, obliterating the priesthood of Horus-Re (a priest of Horus-Re banished him, right?) and crippling the other churches enough to prevent them from stepping up into the power vacuum and stabilizing the country will be another goal. Making Horustep III unpopular is another good plotline... I don't think Wendonai should try to kill the Pharaoh... that would just require him to start over on weakening/corrupting the next Pharaoh, and it would also risk revealing his presence/activity earlier than he'd like. Starting a revolution is a good idea, but he needs to cripple the priesthoods and the Imperial Legion first, so that the revolution cannot be halted/quashed... that way the revolution will not end until it tears the country apart mentally and spiritually, on top of all the physical damage it will cause.
Intrigue is all about making people distrust each other. Make the citizens distrust the Pharaoh and the priesthoods. Make the priests distrust each other, mainly superiors and subordinates so that they don't want to follow orders and they can't get anyone to do their will.
And given that Wendonai is such a charming, sweet guy... make family members and lovers distrust each other, turning love into suspicion and accusation and defensive behavior and eventually hate. His claws and teeth are totally unnecessary... Wendonai could spend the next thousand years in sublime bliss just turning everyone's love into seething hatred and the tearing anguish (and madness) that comes from deeply hating someone you were once madly in love with.
Imagine all the secret trysts that are probably taking place in an organization numbering thousands of members, with dozens of levels of hierarchy, which is basically in charge of running the country. Of course there are also openly known relationships too. ...That's just one priesthood, out of many.
There are also thousands or millions (depending on which population numbers you use) of households in Mulhorand, each with a family that's ripe for intrigue.
It starts small. Steal a daughter's much-loved doll, while she's sleeping (oh, savor the ease with which you could squeeze her neck til her head pops... but there's a longer sweeter pain to build here) and leave a piece of that doll (perhaps the head!) in the hallway just outside her brother's room. And off to another home...
It doesn't have to take big flashy spells. A simple charm person is all it takes to make a devoted wife go to the nearest temple of Bast and sign up to be a pleasure-dancer for visiting merchants and adventurers. Since she thinks (for tonight, anyway) that this is perfectly acceptable behavior, she doesn't disguise herself or take any care at all to hide her visit. So at least one friend or acquaintance might see her approach the door of the perfume shop that's widely "known" to house a shrine of Bast and perform the simple hand-gesture that's rumored to signal an interest in speaking to a priestess. It's inevitable that such news will get back to her husband... perhaps even before she returns from the shrine. When she returns home bathed in exotic perfumes and smiling blissfully...
Luuuuuucy... you got some esplainin' to do!
Gossipmongers, rumor-mills, "tabloids" and even "neighborhood watch" groups and individuals are Wendonai's best friends in his effort to rend the social and spiritual fabric of Mulhorand. Friends will spy on each other... at first it's because it seems like their friends are suddenly having more fun, being more bold and exciting... gradually the motive will turn into a voyeuristic enjoyment of their friends' new perverse pursuits. People will notice their friends having more fun than they are, and they'll chafe at their morality/responsibility until they can find a way around those limitations so that they can enjoy the forbidden fruit too. In our place and time, one hopes, we can rely on our self-control to keep us on the "straight and narrow" but the Mulhorandi won't have that option. Wendonai's charms and manipulations (increasingly performed through spellcasting minions and minions-of-minions rather than personally) will remove that self-control and occasionally forcefully compel people to do the demon's will. Often, the manipulated individual's memories will be erased so that subsequent accusations of wrong-doing engender self-righteousness and even more resentment.
As his plans begin bearing fruit across all levels of the social tapestry, he'll be using proselytizers and doomsayers to maximum effect. These people will condemn sinners and remind everyone of the "virtues" of piety... which now serves to depress ever-increasing numbers of people who are no longer capable of maintaining piety because now they're being alternately charmed and manipulated by several difference forces. "Purifiers" will start dealing out street justice, stalking sinners and killing them, leading to neighborhood-wide hysteria and a growing sense of "everyone is against me" which is designed to make everyone shun their friends and potential allies and thus stand completely alone. It's much harder to resist a charm or suggestion or compulsion when you have no friends. It's also harder to stand against a crazed crusader who's out to kill everyone who errs from the faith.
I ramble a lot. But um... I think Wendonai could have a ball. |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6405 Posts |
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Wendonai
