Post/Author/DateTime	Post
outtoluch 01-24-08, 01:15 AM	I am going to be creating a new character soon. He is a human Ftr4/Rog3 by the name of Darian Vardalon. My problem is with his backstory. Darian was a fairly successful pirate, but his growing infamy caused the local authorites to come after him, and he was forced to flee the Lhazaar Pricipalities. The problem? As many of the local Authorites are pirates themselves, it seems unlikely that they would want to arrest Darian for Piracy. So what could he have done to make it unsafe for him to remain in Lhazaar?
kitrack 01-24-08, 07:54 AM	The problem? As many of the local Authorites are pirates themselves, it seems unlikely that they would want to arrest Darian for Piracy. So what could he have done to make it unsafe for him to remain in Lhazaar? Well, as pirates, they could be unhappy about the competition. He might not go to jail if they catch him; he'll probably be killed instead. While that may be standard, perhaps he stole from the wrong people and rather than a passive desire to see him dead to thin out the competition, they have an active desire to kill him for some slight (perceived or real)?
Vharuck 01-24-08, 02:15 PM	Just because the Lhazaars are famous for their piracy and are pretty open about it, doesn't mean it's not technically illegal. It's just known that, if you're in good standing with the Lhazaar princes (or even just work in one's service), you'll receive an official pardon if piracy and theft charges are brought against you. However, they keep the law because it keeps the rabble in order. They may be pirates, but even they fear prison enough to pay respect to the princes. Those that don't, well, they just don't happen to be pardoned when brought to trial. That's an idea, of course.
Cloud Divider 01-24-08, 07:18 PM	I am going to be creating a new character soon. He is a human Ftr4/Rog3 by the name of Darian Vardalon. He's a pretty significant personage - for Eberron, 7th level is "up there," relatively speaking. So think big. My problem is with his backstory. Darian was a fairly successful pirate, but his growing infamy caused the local authorites to come after him, and he was forced to flee the Lhazaar Pricipalities. Perhaps he's crossed exactly the wrong person somehow. Perhaps he's come to the attention of Vol herself, perhaps by preying upon a couple of her trade vessels. Maybe they weren't carrying anything particularly valuable (exotic, arcane spell components, that may not have had immediate value). But whatever it was Darian done did, he's put quite the rat in Vol's stew. So she wants Darian "taken care of." She's got the influence (via intermediaries, of course...never directly) among the other Lhazaar Princes to convince them all to place Darian into their Most Wanted lists. Naturally, as an infamous pirate himself, Darian clearly had some allies among the Lhazaar princes. These would be the ones to give him the warning to "get out of Dodge!" The gentlemanly warning is the best they can do - more would be politically...difficult. Ok. So now we've got one of the Powers that Be peeved at your character. But consider, you're still relatively small potatoes in the grand scheme. Vol's not going to be sending Deathknight assassin squads after you...yet. Perhaps you kept a small trophy from one of her ships - a small ring, figurine, scroll, whatever. Whatever that happens to be, happens to be something Vol desperately needs back. So she can't really afford to have you killed off until she finds out what you did with it. Better yet, scratch that entirely - maybe she's afraid that you've discovered what she's up to. She's paranoid that she's become lax in the security surrounding her plans ("three flawless Syberis dragonshards hidden among forty-two barrels of grain? Surely, nobody would suspect!"). She can't have you being aware of what she's up to, but more importantly, she desperately needs to know whether Darian knows enough to be dangerous or not. And then, depending on how your GM wants to run it, perhaps Vol will be convinced that having a living dupe provides better disinformation than a corpse that will only draw more questions...
Gurv 01-24-08, 07:31 PM	To be chased from the Lhazaar Principalities, you've lit your candle at both ends. Your activites as a pirate have made you a target of any legitimate authorities that might help you; they don't trust you, because you're a pirate. But you've also angered the other pirates, maybe by out performing them and taking all the best loot, by failing to follow some pirate code (guidelines, I know!), or perhaps by doing the worst crime of all: pirating another pirate's ship. The good guys think you're a bad guy and the bad guys want your head.
Shady314 01-24-08, 10:59 PM	There's an any number of reasons one might flee from anywhere to anywhere. You were a pirate. Perhaps you lost your ship and crew so your trying your luck elsewhere in Khorvaire at least for awhile. Perhaps you've run aground on mainland Khorvaire fleeing from a 5N naval ship hunting pirates. You fell overboard and miraculously washed up alive on the mainland. You ****** off someone way more powerful than you but whose power doesn't extend from the Principalities so you're letting them cool off while you hang elsewhere. You have some sort of incentive to leave. There is something somewhere else drawing your attention. A friend, family member, lead on a treasure whatever that is located outside of Lhazaar. You're just an impulsive guy who's decided it's time to check out the rest of Khorvaire. Piracy gets so boring after awhile especially in Lhazaar where everybody is doing it. Blah. You tried to pirate a ship with a wizard aboard. He waved his hands and suddenly you were in Breland. Etc.
Hideous Phidias 01-24-08, 11:37 PM	I would think big. First find a prince NPC you like, one with a good story line. Then maybe go with a story line that goes like this you worked for them as one of their miner captains. But you now are in bad standing becauce you learned a secret of theirs and in your attempt to flee you lost your ship in a storm or battle. Addi n details that you want but keep the story simple but contect your self to a few well known NPC and groups. I would go with something to do with the Emerald Claw, I think there was a fleet that worked with them. Gives you a cool enemy for the DM to work into the plot.
ChaoticGood 01-25-08, 12:44 AM	I got one! A Lhazaar prince caught you trying to seduce his daughter, whom he intends to wed to a Karrnathi nobleman in exchange for protection and pardons for his ships. He's none too happy about her falling for some riff-raff pirate, least of all a competitor who could ruin his plans with the Karrnathi nobleman, so he sent you packing with scar on your cheek and a price on your head.
outtoluch 01-26-08, 11:34 AM	Thanks for the wonderful ideas people. Keep them coming. I've got at least a week before the next session so I have plenty of time to think.
Zadmar 01-26-08, 02:05 PM	My problem is with his backstory. Darian was a fairly successful pirate, but his growing infamy caused the local authorites to come after him, and he was forced to flee the Lhazaar Pricipalities. Do you want to leave open the possibility of him one day returning (without having to leave a trail of corpses behind him), or have his bridges been thoroughly burned? If the former, you could do a Han Solo - Darian was forced to dispose of a load of cargo to avoid arrest, resulting in a large and mounting debt which he couldn't afford to pay off. Or perhaps the cargo was lost in an accident, or even stolen by someone else. Thus your goal would be to get enough money to pay off your debt (or instead find out who ripped you off, if you go with that approach), while dodging the occasional bounty hunter.
outtoluch 01-26-08, 04:39 PM	Yes for clarity's sake, one of his long term golas will be retruning to Lhazzaar and his career of piracy.
Cloud Divider 01-26-08, 09:16 PM	Yes for clarity's sake, one of his long term golas will be retruning to Lhazzaar and his career of piracy. How's this - rather simpler. You crossed the wrong folks (by raiding the wrong vessel/port). "They" set up an ambush for you (perhaps engineered by a traitor aboardship), and you basically lost everything - your ship, your crew, etc. You, however, were taken prisoner, presumably for trial back at the throne of whichever bigger fish you annoyed. By trickery (or by greasing the right palms - perhaps you gave up your jewel-encrusted signet ring to the jailer), you managed to escape. You either washed up ashore someplace, or managed to get fished out of the water by a trading vessel en route to Sharn (more importantly, anywhere that isn't a Lhazaar port). But now you've got: 1) No ship, 2) No crew, 3) No money (to speak of...), 4) And an awesome appetite for revenge. What's the easiest way to get rich once you're on the continent? I suppose that's doing the whole adventurer thing that all the kids are talking about these days. Sure, there's the fine details of how you ended up with all of your level-equivalent wealth and equipment - we'll just write that off as "beginner's luck" and your first real job paid off far better than anticipated. So now you can pull the whole Count of Monte Cristo thing (since you did give up your signet ring - as high-level as you are, you could easily be a minor pirate lord). And yes, I'm considering a 7th level starter as "high level" - look at Forge of War: major field commanders were on the order of 7-8th level, and commanded on the order of 300-1100 men (adding up the numbers for an Aundairian regiment and a Brelish legion)! So if you were a 7th level pirate captain, you could easily have had a small fleet of pirate ships that were loyal to you (as loyal as pirate ships can be, anyway...). So in that light, you don't just have a ship to go back to, you've got an entire pirate organization to wrest back into control. This is naturally where that signet ring starts to become meaningful again... And perhaps it's your old second-in-command that was the traitor all along (and he's now running YOUR show!). It was all a joint plot between him and the Bigger Fish group - your "first mate" turned your organization from meaningful competition into essentially a friendly subordinate...
Shady314 01-27-08, 04:30 AM	If you want to stick with your original idea of fleeing authorities perhaps the Sentinel Marshals are hunting you down. That'd be a good impetus to stay on the move.l
outtoluch 01-27-08, 05:29 PM	So if you were a 7th level pirate captain, you could easily have had a small fleet of pirate ships that were loyal to you (as loyal as pirate ships can be, anyway...). How many ships comprise a "small fleet"? 4-5?
Cloud Divider 01-27-08, 10:03 PM	How many ships comprise a "small fleet"? 4-5? To hazard a guess? Figure if someone of your level was commanding anywhere from 300 to 1100 people, you could easily have had that many people among your fleet. Bear in mind, that most of those folks are going to be 1st level NPCs with NPC classes. So War 1's, Exp 1's, etc. Let's pick a (lowball) number, and maybe call it 300 able sailors. Maybe cut it down to 250, but you've got 50 loyal support people as well (ie a safe harbor hidden among the Lhazaar islands). Lowball estimate, because these would be folks you've managed to recruit or otherwise wrest into your power (rather than being troops "issued" to you by a national army). I never bothered to pick up any of the d20 books focused on sailing/piracy, so I don't have any quick lists of crew for the types of ships you'd find in Eberron. A caravel like the Sea Wyvern (from The Sea Wyvern's Wake, part of the Savage Tide Adventure Path, Dungeon 141) has a crew of 23 (including passengers). To make the math easy, figure 25 men per ship (though you could easily go to 1.5 or 2x when you're raiding). So you could quite possibly have had as many as 10 ships (heavily weighted towards smaller craft). The Sea Wyvern's a pretty small ship - probably more like a courier than anything more exiting (probably does make a good raider - small, fast, and effective in boarding if you cram it full of pirates). 5-7's a pretty good number, actually.