Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Charles Phipps 08-29-06, 04:11 AM	In one of the curious developments of the game system, the player characters have asked for a mini-campaign like the Castlevania series for Eberron. Now, while normally I'd go Ravenloft for this game and just run "House of Strahd" for them, I was thinking it might be more interesting to run an Eberron game where the player characters take the fight directly to the nastiness in Karrnath. I welcome any input that may or may not work here. This is an attempt to answer that Eberron can't be high level. The Return of the Mark of Death The basic idea behind the mini-campaign is that King Kaius is unwittingly still the slave of Erandis D'Vol. His transformation into being a vampire was not something that was a regular creation but Erandis D'Vol using a very experimental form of the curse that was based upon Dragon's blood. This is one of the reasons King Kaius, despite being a 'mere' hundred years old is one of the most powerful vampires in the setting. Erandis has simply bided her time since his betrayal as his elven bride and the vampire are now expecting their first child. Erandis knows this child is a descendent of hers through illegitimate lines and she's manipulated the extraordinarily weak connection through centuries so that the Mark of Death will be born on the child. A child both undead, draconic, and elvish at once. This almost pure evil entity is more than Erandis could ever have imagined though as the Living Vampire is actually the fulfillment of one of the Lords of Dust's prophecies, birthing forth a Rajah in human form. It's a minor being though at present and requires time to gather its full strength but its birth is accompanied by essentially tossing aside King Kaius, transforming its castle into a hellish sinkhole of evil, and taking command over all of the undead in the country through his hereditary connection to the land. This event results in some pretty nasty business all round as The Dragon (Kaius never actually naming his demonic heir) has no interest in ruling over humanity. Instead, he wields his minion in what seems like a war against humanity. This doesn't particularly serve Erandis D'Vol's purposes as her hope to essentially regain the Mark of Death has placed it in the hands of some truly apocalyptical forces. The Dragons of Argonessan are stunned they didn't see this coming and so are the Deathless of Aerenal. They're preparing for war but by the time they actually do battle with the creature, it'll be essentially a conflict that will destroy much of Khovaire. Yes, it's UP TO THE PCS as both Erandis D'Vol and Kaius will both indicate that they want to help them. In Kaius' case, he's willing to promise anything to save his kingdom, up to and including actually handing it over to the PCs. Ultimately, the forces of evil might prove to be of great help in laying waste fo the bad guys minions or they might end up turning on the players at the first opportunity. In the end, Karrnath will have taken a huge and heavy blow but if they defeat the Rajah's avatar then that Rajah will be imprisoned forever as it's only means of escape is forever snuffed. Furthermore, the players will be eternally heroes in Karrnath and finally have broken the hold of the undead on the region forever.
Ellorin 08-29-06, 04:23 AM	A couple of questions: Erandis has simply bided her time since his betrayal as his elven bride and the vampire are now expecting their first child. Eh...how? He is dead. I think that only the Libris Mortis mentions Dhampires, and they don't appear that way. Besides, how has the draconic part been revived? Etrigani& ancestors are pure elves. So, the child is possessed by the Rajah or is the Rajah? It's him and the castle against Khorvairians Aereni and Dragons. May I suggest some changes? Forget Karrnath and use the Qabalrin. They seem to have been the ones capable of creating such a creature.
Charles Phipps 08-29-06, 04:39 AM	A couple of questions: Eh...how? He is dead. I think that only the Libris Mortis mentions Dhampires, and they don't appear that way. Besides, how has the draconic part been revived? Etrigani& ancestors are pure elves. So, the child is possessed by the Rajah or is the Rajah? It's him and the castle against Khorvairians Aereni and Dragons. May I suggest some changes? Forget Karrnath and use the Qabalrin. They seem to have been the ones capable of creating such a creature. A couple of points to throw out. 1. In this respect, we can assume Kaius is different from other vampires as part of the nature of the ritual that created him. (I imagine Kaius might suspect something is "off" about his child though but is unlikely to probe too deeply) 2. The Dragon part comes from the Dragons blood used in the ritual to create King Kaius as a vampire in this scenario. (It's also possible Kaius' portion of the lineage has dragons like sorcerers are known to appear in, after all Ir'Wynarn could have originally been Ir'Wyrmarn) 3. The implication is that at full power, the Dragon will be a typical 60th level Rajah character wielding all of the might of an epic level magician and priest. I tend to think if there was a human soul in the half-elven child it probably won't survive being a host. He will probably use his powers to bring large numbers of Demons from Shevalresh and free others from Khyber in order to aid him in the war while transforming massive numbers of the populous into the undead. The war will probably end in his destruction or binding but the sheer cataclysmic scope of the conflict is roughly on par with the destruction of the Dhakaani civilization. The players alone are the only chance of destroying him before he accumulates his full power again. As for throwing out Karrnath and Erandis D'Vol, the point is really to keep a Gothic Transylvania and crazy feel without making it into another Call of Cthulhu game. If you just make it a bunch of evil cultists and don't throw in Eberron's typical personages then its really just utterly generic and unrelated to the setting.
Ellorin 08-29-06, 04:53 AM	A couple of points to throw out. 1. In this respect, we can assume Kaius is different from other vampires as part of the nature of the ritual that created him. (I imagine Kaius might suspect something is "off" about his child though but is unlikely to probe too deeply) 2. The Dragon part comes from the Dragons blood used in the ritual to create King Kaius as a vampire in this scenario. (It's also possible Kaius' portion of the lineage has dragons like sorcerers are known to appear in, after all Ir'Wynarn could have originally been Ir'Wyrmarn) 3. The implication is that at full power, the Dragon will be a typical 60th level Rajah character wielding all of the might of an epic level magician and priest. I tend to think if there was a human soul in the half-elven child it probably won't survive being a host. He will probably use his powers to bring large numbers of Demons from Shevalresh and free others from Khyber in order to aid him in the war while transforming massive numbers of the populous into the undead. The war will probably end in his destruction or binding but the sheer cataclysmic scope of the conflict is roughly on par with the destruction of the Dhakaani civilization. The players alone are the only chance of destroying him before he accumulates his full power again. As for throwing out Karrnath and Erandis D'Vol, the point is really to keep a Gothic Transylvania and crazy feel without making it into another Call of Cthulhu game. If you just make it a bunch of evil cultists and don't throw in Eberron's typical personages then its really just utterly generic and unrelated to the setting. Hm...quite a ritual then. The horde of Shavarath demons seem a little unlikely though. No real motive for so many. And what has the Call of Cthulhu have to do about it? I didn't mean a cult...when the stars align the right way, the creature will awake, and soon an entire Qabalrin city too. Fiends and Qabalrin undead.Poor Stormreach. And who knows which will be next if it falls?
Charles Phipps 08-29-06, 05:22 AM	Well I'm just saying that Karrnath is a different locale than the typical "evil ruins, evil monsters, and Lords of Dust" at work. Your mileage may vary honestly since the point is to set it in a major region of Khovaire than somewhere isolated. That's certainly another good place for a major awakening though.
DarkWarriorKarg 08-29-06, 06:41 AM	Gee... an epic world-changing effect that puts important NPCs in a support role for the PCs... and changes the face of Khorvaire. Cool. For epic nastiness, maybe he's got an undead twin that didn't survive the birth.... But then, an Atropal might be overkill...
ArcTan 08-29-06, 12:21 PM	Let's leave out the demons of Shavarath. We already had a big to-do over the unlikelihood of demons of Shavarath coming over in large numbers when called. A plane-crossing event is much more likely to involve demons of Mabar, who are more generally malevolent than the Shavarathans (who are all embroiled in their particular cosmic war) and who are already tied to the undead and to negative energy. But the emphasis should be on releasing other rajah-type characters from Khyber. Now, the evil vampire heir thing is a concept that has a lot of history behind it -- however, I still feel like any resurgence of the Mark of Death would make more sense if it *didn't* involve a vampire somehow being still fertile in his morbid undead body. It makes a lot more sense for a rajah's soul to be bound to someone as a result of being born in an area of magical leakage from Khyber and under the direct control of Erandis. It's hard to see how Erandis would benefit from giving her Dragon's blood power to one of her most politically and physically powerful enemies, whom she was originally trying to make into a tractable slave. What would make a lot more sense would be for the Rajah to be born as Erandis' own "child" through some kind of mystical process. After all, if Kaius' wife gets pregnant *at all* people will immediately know some horrific magic is up, and if the child is born within Kaius' court, Kaius will have every incentive to surround it by magical protections, investigate it and perhaps kill it immediately. I don't see it easily being able to escape and grow to adulthood. And if you use a "The Omen"-style demon baby concept for this, then you already probably start with Kaius and his court all being killed and massive chaos engulfing the whole nation, which I don't think is a good start for this campaign. Instead make it be *Erandis'* heir who's becoming even more powerful than she, and breaking himself free from her control, until she becomes desperate enough to try to ask Kaius and/or the PCs for help stopping this greater evil.
ArcTan 08-29-06, 12:25 PM	Another possibility that makes a lot more sense than two undead frozen creatures having a child (are they even capable of having sex? C'mon): Kaius *himself* is the Dragon. The ritual granting him undeath is slowly empowering him, but at the same time twisting his mind to insanity. He's struggling secretly against possession by a far more powerful evil entity that's turning his thoughts to untold malevolence. Perhaps he's aware that he cannot -- or should not -- be capable of dreams, and yet is experiencing hallucinations and visions. It may be that this is why he hires the PCs, and the PCs learn that the Blood of Vol -- or the Lords of Dust, masquerading as the Blood of Vol -- are working to weaken the dimensional seals around a particular Rajah, one which would allow that Rajah to possess Kaius and become active in the world without even the Gatekeepers knowing, using the identity and resources of a ruler of Khorvaire to sow havoc across the world. It's another idea that messes with the ambiguous moral nature of Kaius himself and forces you to settle for the lesser evil. Again, I'd guess that Erandis would be an opponent of the Lords of Dust in such a plan -- she doesn't want anyone to become a superpowerful monster ruling Khorvaire other than herself.
Charles Phipps 08-29-06, 04:57 PM	Well it's a point I've made very clear in my games that vampires are very much fertile and sensual creatures in Eberron as opposed to being the walking corpses I treat them in other games. I ere on the side of them being more demonic and cursed individuals for whatever reason. But good points really.
ArcTan 08-29-06, 08:05 PM	"Fertile" in the metaphorical sense or the literal sense? If you actually have vampires conceiving and giving birth as a normal thing in your game, then you've departed so far from the whole point of what being undead means that it's almost not meaningful at all anymore. Being undead *means* losing the very basic functions of life, and sexual reproduction more than any other is an intrinsic item on that list. Remember what a huge deal it was on Angel and how terrified everyone when Darla was conceived? And how people reacted to that? As soon as Kaius' wife begins to show, people are going to know horrific and terrible magic is at work. (And actually a campaign based around killing Kaius' demon seed *before* it's born might be interesting.) And yes, this is *with* the sensual modern vampire as opposed to the monsters or walking dead they are in more classical stories. Anne Rice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vampire: the Masquerade -- all of these are home to sexy, sensual vampires who are very much characters in their own right quite separate from the Bela Lugosi stereotype. But the whole point is that vampires are a distorted mockery of life -- they partake of the *sensual* side of life without the real biological core. They have sex, but no children; they eat fine food but aren't nourished by it; etc.
Charles Phipps 08-29-06, 08:14 PM	"Fertile" in the metaphorical sense or the literal sense? As in they birth Damien style creepy children. Effectively, corrupted innocents that want to thirst for blood and are innately evil from birth. People whom are psychotic and litter the bloodlines of Karrnath to create a degenerate and evil nobility that threatens to destroy the entirety of social fabric. rare? Hell yes, but hardly unknown in the game. This isn't Angel. If you actually have vampires conceiving and giving birth as a normal thing in your game, then you've departed so far from the whole point of what being undead means that it's almost not meaningful at all anymore. Being undead *means* losing the very basic functions of life, and sexual reproduction more than any other is an intrinsic item on that list. A simple description of being undead and the differences of various types to my players. "Being a Lich means you lose all ability to feel. You cannot touch, taste, smell, eat, drink or make love. You have become an embodiment of cold academia with no blood to rise or boil within you. A creature of pure science and sorcery devoted to accumulating more." "To be a vampire is to have every single sensation in your body enhanced to unlimited efforts. A vampire wants MORE than any other being. He wants food, sex, and the like more than anything. However, only the Blood can satisfy it. It is a raging inferno of emotion and passion that is a monster impossible to equal in its rages." Vampires can eat, have sex, and plenty else in my games. It's just all of it pales to the blood thirst. I chose this angle because my decidedly non-canon vampires were far preferrable to the Vampire the Masquerade rules and sensibility the players brought to the table that coated everything. I figured this was an effective way to divorce it. And its worked fantastically well. You can argue I've done vampires wrong but given my players and myself are satisfied Remember what a huge deal it was on Angel and how terrified everyone when Darla was conceived? And how people reacted to that? As soon as Kaius' wife begins to show, people are going to know horrific and terrible magic is at work. (And actually a campaign based around killing Kaius' demon seed *before* it's born might be interesting.) A: Who would know? No one but Kaius' Inner Circle knows he's a vampire. B: Kaius wouldn't be making love with his wife if he didn't expect it to concieve a child. And yes, this is *with* the sensual modern vampire as opposed to the monsters or walking dead they are in more classical stories. Anne Rice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vampire: the Masquerade -- all of these are home to sexy, sensual vampires who are very much characters in their own right quite separate from the Bela Lugosi stereotype. But the whole point is that vampires are a distorted mockery of life -- they partake of the *sensual* side of life without the real biological core. They have sex, but no children; they eat fine food but aren't nourished by it; etc. I don't think we're too far off here. I think my "Perverse and distorted children" aspect is an effective enough mockery of it to begin with. I'm not having kids birth "Blade" but instead Omens. It's just Kaius doesn't mind evil kids.
Edymnion 08-29-06, 08:15 PM	Generally, the idea for vampires that can breed with humans to make half-vampires is that these undead creatures become less "undead-ish" after they feed. While they have fresh warm blood in them, their color comes back, their skin softens up, and it can be virtually impossible to tell them apart from any living person at that point. Then, as their meal wears off, their color fades back to gray, their skin gets more leathery, and they become much more like the classic D&D undead vampire monster. So, while a female vampire would have to gorge herself on blood CONSTANTLY for many months to carry a baby to term (which is virtually impossible), a male vampire can become "potent" again for long enough to "seed" a living companion easily enough.
Charles Phipps 08-29-06, 08:20 PM	I can agree with that Edymnion and think that works rather well actually.
ArcTan 08-29-06, 08:43 PM	Generally, the idea for vampires that can breed with humans to make half-vampires is that these undead creatures become less "undead-ish" after they feed. While they have fresh warm blood in them, their color comes back, their skin softens up, and it can be virtually impossible to tell them apart from any living person at that point. Then, as their meal wears off, their color fades back to gray, their skin gets more leathery, and they become much more like the classic D&D undead vampire monster. So, while a female vampire would have to gorge herself on blood CONSTANTLY for many months to carry a baby to term (which is virtually impossible), a male vampire can become "potent" again for long enough to "seed" a living companion easily enough. "Generally" meaning where? It's not "general" in actual literature involving vampires that I can recall.
ArcTan 08-29-06, 08:47 PM	As in they birth Damien style creepy children. Effectively, corrupted innocents that want to thirst for blood and are innately evil from birth. People whom are psychotic and litter the bloodlines of Karrnath to create a degenerate and evil nobility that threatens to destroy the entirety of social fabric. You mean you make them Fiendtouched a la HoH, or Dhampir, or just people with a nasty streak?
Charles Phipps 08-29-06, 09:00 PM	You mean you make them Fiendtouched a la HoH, or Dhampir, or just people with a nasty streak? My homebrew version of Dhampir which basically means Half-Vampires have minor qualities of vampires like a Constitution drain and potentially one Vampire Special Ability. They also have the "always chaotic evil" monikor even though there's always the "heroic exception" but that's purely PC stuff. It's based vaguely on the Vorlog from Children of the Night: Vampires mixed with Vampyres from the 1st RL MM. I've been a DM a long time and like to mix match my supplement info. Their children I tend to give Tiefling like qualities to a less pronounced extent and that they 'tend towards mental illness and psychotic or evil behavior.' Based somewhat on the whole myths of decadent Eastern European noble houses. My version of Karrnath is flooded with them sadly.
slimgoodbody 08-30-06, 05:36 PM	Charles, your unique style of vampire/offspring is incredibly cool and has been stolen for my game thusly. Edit: Your PCs will, of course, have to go through the Nightwood to get to the castle, cross a drawbridge, head through a long hallway full of zombies, and be diverted to a semi-sunken part of the castle teeming with sahuagin before gaining access to the castle proper. :) It just wouldn't be Castlevania without it. Also, if I were you, I'd say that the castle and all the area surrounding it is such a thoroughly evil and powerful manifest zone that it partially counts as its own plane, with rules limiting teleportation. Any porting farther than very short visual range (dimension hop, dimension door in some cases) is either impossible or suicidal, as they would end up in Dollurh or Mabar. By the way, just how high level are we shooting for approximately?
Charles Phipps 08-31-06, 04:47 PM	We'll know when we get there. Okay, here's my revised idea that I've been working on. King Kaius has been working on attempting to breed a child with his wife for some time. His great grandson has died in prison at last and he's of the mind that his existing heirs are softened by Brelish living to serve as any form of a leader. Frankly, the continued battle against his evil nature is gnawing him at him and he desires a return to a less stressful existence. In ten to twenty years or so. While half-vampires are not unknown in Karrnath, they're extraordinarily rare and he turns to a source that he probably shouldn't have in one of the Lords of Dust. The Lord of Dust's magic 'breaks the rules' and results in King Kaius fully siring the child he desires even though portents start filling the land of dread. Kaius cannot find anything wrong with the child though and it seems to be a fully half-elven baby boy. ...Right up until the child kills his mother despite his seemingly newborn status and disappears into the darkness. The boy is having some SERIOUS growth spurts and seeks out the player characters to reveal to them that King Kaius is a vampire while pretending to be the "lost prince." A son born while his father was imprisoned by Kaius. The player characters are recruited to be the assassins and also help Kaius the Fourth steal several ancient artifacts of Karrnath the conqueror in preparation for the Boy-King to be King. Aiding him in this is Morana, whom has been thoroughly charmed into protecting her 'son.' If all works out, the player characters slay Kaius and reveal to the world his vampirism, unknowingly leaving the demonspawn of a Rajah on the throne. Fast Forward All hell is breaking loose in Karrnath as the Dragon has started to weaken the seals on his "true fathers" tomb underneath Karrnath's Castle (where he was originally imprisoned and the evil drew Karrnath the Conqueror to build his home there). That causes all sorts of madcap crazy chaos to start to afflict the land when Morana finally breaks her charm and comes clean with the player characters. She also desires, in addition to the slaying of the demon child, to help her recover Kaius' bones to ressurect him.
Edymnion 08-31-06, 06:04 PM	"Generally" meaning where? It's not "general" in actual literature involving vampires that I can recall.In actual legends, no, that doesn't happen. But then, in actual legend, you can't have a half-vampire in the first place, because they understand the simple fact that a vampire is undead, and can't help make a new life. As for contemporary literature, I know that the Ann Rice vampires use this approach (as far as regaining some lifelike properties), and it was generally adopted as the standard for the modern "sexy vampire". Although, we know that this couldn't be used in Ann Rice novels, because no male vampire is interested in women anymore in those books. ;)
kaor 08-31-06, 07:31 PM	You have missed a very important detail. Instead of Karrnathvania, you should call this scenario... Karrloft And the child's name must without doubt be Boris.
slimgoodbody 08-31-06, 09:05 PM	You have missed a very important detail. Instead of Karrnathvania, you should call this scenario... Karrloft And the child's name must without doubt be Boris. 10 internets to Gryffindor.