Editing Midnight: the SHADOW KILLERS Campaign SPOILER PAGE
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==the world's cosmology== | ==the world's cosmology== | ||
In particular, I’m quite interested in the idea that Izrador's fall to Aryth and his deception of the Gods is not and has never been what it appears to be. Rather, I see it as the old fey gods cutting their losses and casting out the black sheep of the family. Aryth is Izrador's prison, and while the veil is his own work and his own idea, it is not for his benefit (and it is not for his gain). <br> Having just re-read the divine comedy, i find this idea incredibly appealing. The players really are on their own, since the gods have no intention of ever returning to Aryth. At an extreme, the fey gods are in fact the player's enemy, since they are ultimately responsible for the war. <br>I also wanted to address why Izrador has not pursued the genocide of mankind: Mankind is not Izrador's enemy, the fey are. As a nod to Grial's back story, he really does intend to eradicate the fey by taking advantage of the Orcs hatred of their distant cousins to perpetuate genocide. Izrador believes that the fey are the only thing sustaining the power of the old gods, so if he can destroy the fey races he will cripple them more completely than he believes he already has. Once he breaches the veil, the elder gods will be easy prey. <br>But this isn't his ends, merely a means. More than anything else, Izrador wants to return to heaven (again, back to the divine comedy); to do this, he needs an army that the fey gods do not control. The humans are the only non-fey sentient race on Aryth. This is why the church of the shadow is dominated by humans, and why he has not sought to eradicate mankind ... it is also likely to be why he has not waged war on the rest of Aryth. <br> <br>Izrador needs mankind to storm heaven. <br> <br> So this is the quandary I intend to throw my players: Izrador doesn't want to rule Aryth, he doesn't even want to be there. In fact, Izrador wants to elevate the entire human race. Izrador might also not have begun evil (at least he doesn't think so), just arrogant and powerful, but it's been a long and subtle trip downhill. He wants out, and he will leave once the fey are destroyed. If the players want an ultimate end to the war, they have the option to help Izrador discover a way to pierce the veil. <br> <br>Really, once you think about it, it might not be such a hard sell. The fey were toast to begin with. Human expansion and aggression, combined with a low birth rate would seal their fate. Even without the war, the fey wouldn't have had much time left. They are (in Izrador's opinion) the fractured and degenerate remains of the final creation of the gods that abandoned Aryth to shadow and flame. Remember, we're not just talking elves and dwarves here, but also the Orcs. No matter what their birth rate is, the Orcs cannot sustain the kind of losses the elves and dwarves are inflicting. <br> | In particular, I’m quite interested in the idea that Izrador's fall to Aryth and his deception of the Gods is not and has never been what it appears to be. Rather, I see it as the old fey gods cutting their losses and casting out the black sheep of the family. Aryth is Izrador's prison, and while the veil is his own work and his own idea, it is not for his benefit (and it is not for his gain). <br> Having just re-read the divine comedy, i find this idea incredibly appealing. The players really are on their own, since the gods have no intention of ever returning to Aryth. At an extreme, the fey gods are in fact the player's enemy, since they are ultimately responsible for the war. <br>I also wanted to address why Izrador has not pursued the genocide of mankind: Mankind is not Izrador's enemy, the fey are. As a nod to Grial's back story, he really does intend to eradicate the fey by taking advantage of the Orcs hatred of their distant cousins to perpetuate genocide. Izrador believes that the fey are the only thing sustaining the power of the old gods, so if he can destroy the fey races he will cripple them more completely than he believes he already has. Once he breaches the veil, the elder gods will be easy prey. <br>But this isn't his ends, merely a means. More than anything else, Izrador wants to return to heaven (again, back to the divine comedy); to do this, he needs an army that the fey gods do not control. The humans are the only non-fey sentient race on Aryth. This is why the church of the shadow is dominated by humans, and why he has not sought to eradicate mankind ... it is also likely to be why he has not waged war on the rest of Aryth. <br> <br>Izrador needs mankind to storm heaven. <br> <br> So this is the quandary I intend to throw my players: Izrador doesn't want to rule Aryth, he doesn't even want to be there. In fact, Izrador wants to elevate the entire human race. Izrador might also not have begun evil (at least he doesn't think so), just arrogant and powerful, but it's been a long and subtle trip downhill. He wants out, and he will leave once the fey are destroyed. If the players want an ultimate end to the war, they have the option to help Izrador discover a way to pierce the veil. <br> <br>Really, once you think about it, it might not be such a hard sell. The fey were toast to begin with. Human expansion and aggression, combined with a low birth rate would seal their fate. Even without the war, the fey wouldn't have had much time left. They are (in Izrador's opinion) the fractured and degenerate remains of the final creation of the gods that abandoned Aryth to shadow and flame. Remember, we're not just talking elves and dwarves here, but also the Orcs. No matter what their birth rate is, the Orcs cannot sustain the kind of losses the elves and dwarves are inflicting. <br> | ||
| − | Humans are, by contrast, the natural product of Aryth. Humans evolved on the planet and it is their birthright. Once Izrador retakes heaven, he will leave Aryth to its proper owners. No more gods, no more elder races keeping secrets from you like condescending parents, and no more war. <br> <br>It's the classic deal with the devil: everything you want, but in return you must turn against [the] God[s]. This of course, assumes that the party is entirely human. <br> <br>This line of discourse may be Izrador's most potent logical tool for enslaving humans to his will as Legates for their entire lives. If the goal of the dark god is to breach the Veil and regain the heavens, who wouldn't support him? Doesn’t the world suffer so in its isolation? Wouldn't it be better to support an attempt to regain the heavens for the world, even if that attempt is being led by a being of evil? <br> <br>I'd certainly agree that Izrador has no real interest in ruling Aryth, and that all his energies are focused on breaching the Veil and gaining freedom. I'd also agree that the Sundering was a form of damage control, and as such arguably an act of extreme callousness by Aryth's deities, who certainly would NOT want to see the PCs breach the Veil, even to beg intervention and redemption for Aryth. In fact, destroying the Grand Mirror or otherwise delaying the Shadow's plans for a century or so is about all the PCs can do in such a scenario, since the only beings capable of freeing Midnight from the Shadow are likely the gods, who have a strong interest against doing so. <br>In fact, I may allow the PCs to discover this on the verge of implementing a potentially successful scheme to breach the Veil and look for help in the heavens. The solar Anuviel may track them down and tell them why the Veil is really there, and why it, as a truly selfless servant of good, has accepted its imprisonment as a small price to pay for keeping the Dark God chained. The PCs will then have to face a new level of despair. (Of course, I'll be letting them off the hook in a different way, but they'll have to destroy the world to do it!) | + | Humans are, by contrast, the natural product of Aryth. Humans evolved on the planet and it is their birthright. Once Izrador retakes heaven, he will leave Aryth to its proper owners. No more gods, no more elder races keeping secrets from you like condescending parents, and no more war. <br> <br>It's the classic deal with the devil: everything you want, but in return you must turn against [the] God[s]. This of course, assumes that the party is entirely human. <br> <br>This line of discourse may be Izrador's most potent logical tool for enslaving humans to his will as Legates for their entire lives. If the goal of the dark god is to breach the Veil and regain the heavens, who wouldn't support him? Doesn’t the world suffer so in its isolation? Wouldn't it be better to support an attempt to regain the heavens for the world, even if that attempt is being led by a being of evil? <br> <br>I'd certainly agree that Izrador has no real interest in ruling Aryth, and that all his energies are focused on breaching the Veil and gaining freedom. I'd also agree that the Sundering was a form of damage control, and as such arguably an act of extreme callousness by Aryth's deities, who certainly would NOT want to see the PCs breach the Veil, even to beg intervention and redemption for Aryth. In fact, destroying the Grand Mirror or otherwise delaying the Shadow's plans for a century or so is about all the PCs can do in such a scenario, since the only beings capable of freeing Midnight from the Shadow are likely the gods, who have a strong interest against doing so. <br>In fact, I may allow the PCs to discover this on the verge of implementing a potentially successful scheme to breach the Veil and look for help in the heavens. The solar Anuviel may track them down and tell them why the Veil is really there, and why it, as a truly selfless servant of good, has accepted its imprisonment as a small price to pay for keeping the Dark God chained. The PCs will then have to face a new level of despair. (Of course, I'll be letting them off the hook in a different way, but they'll have to destroy the world to do it!) |
