Characterizing Elaydren d'Cannith - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Characterizing Elaydren d'Cannith

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
sevoo
Aug 25, 2010 17:15:35 I've read through the adventures in which Elaydren d'Vown/d'Cannith is used as a patron for an adventuring party, starting with the Forgotten Forge and Shadows of the Last War on through The Grasp of the Emerald Claw.

What's up with Elaydren? She's a cipher to me. She's secretly working for Merrix, who doesn't actually trust her. She's nervous, picked-on, and kind of pathetic. At least in my Eberron, nobody of any consequence at all gets to be two-dimensionally pathetic.

I expect, as we move the plot forward, Elaydren's deeper story will turn out to be associated with or set up against something important to one of the PCs. I'll be grateful that she's enough of a blank slate that I can just paste a motivation onto her as necessary. But in the meantime, I'm roleplaying an NPC I can't wrap my head around.

For those of you who ran these adventures & fleshed out Elaydren, who did she turn out to be for you?
#2
naturax
Aug 26, 2010 9:47:47 When I ran my players through the Forgotten Forge, I made sure Elaydren was totally badass. She was assertive and knowledgeable when talking to them, being the poised nobility that she is. At the beginning of the next adventure when she's being attacked at the rendezvous point, I had her fighting away the assailants giving the PCs enough time to escape instead of her needing to be rescued. I also gave her an awesome warforged bodyguard/servant named Mettle who follows her unquestioningly.

I'm going to be using her as an NPC again for a game I'm running this weekend, actually. This time she's going to be speaking as the mouthpiece for The Twelve who are trying to convince the PCs to help them turn on House Tarkanan and recover The Delirium Stone. I plan to present her exactly as I described above, though I'm interested in hearing how other people have played her.
#3
jtrowell
Aug 27, 2010 4:58:21 In my campaign :

The Vown are one of the most inluencials of the Cannith family lines (it is known that several Cannith Patriarch have been Vown in the past), and as for the "main" Cannith family line, the most important Vown family members have died in Cyre, and Elaydren in my campaign has inherited what was left of most of the Vown family holdings outside Cyre (and with it influence over several Cannith Viceroys from the Vown family)

Had she been a little older and experienced, she could have been herself a candidate as a new Patriarch, with the backing of what's left of the Vown, and several other minor family lines. Instead, having been based in Aundair and more or less in the inner circle of Jorlana (the future Barronness of Cannith West), she has somewhat supported her claim to the title of Patriarch. To be more precise, her mother was a close friend of Jorlana who followed her when she was exiled during her young days for "improper conduct" (with a member of another Dragonmarkerd house), and while Jorlana was like an aunt to young Elaydren, Elaydren had no children friends, and when older was close enough to Jorlana to see her "court" a young dragonmarked heir from another house (again). For both those reasons and some others, she chose as soon as possible to add some distance between her and Jorlana (while still maintaining cordial relations with her "aunt"), and became a sort of amabassador from Cannith West to Cannith South.

That's were she met Merrix and was impressed by the genius he was, thinking that -maybe- he could be a worthy successor to the late Starring d'Cannith (the previous Patriarch). At first, she tried to serve faithfully as a link between Cannith West and South, hoping that perhaps the two could be reunited and a compromise found that would force Cannith East to accept a full Patriarch, but Elaydren soon found herself more and more helping Merrix under the idea that she was helping the whole House Cannith (yes, she was a little bit naive, with perhaps a starting crush on Merrix, remember that she was a rich girl with almost no man near her during her childhood)

That's when the players character came in the story.

In my campaing, the group consist of 3 warforgeds, and a young Cannith heir (Human artificer) that was more or less exiled in a desert island with his now deceased mother, mother who was a direct descendant of Starring d'Cannith from his first mariage (Jorlana is from his second marriage). Yes, this means that in a traditional succession line, the player character would be the first in line, but of course dragonmarked houses does not work like that.

Now, after having finised "Grasp of the Emerald Claw" the situation is:
- Jorlana has learned of Elaydren "treason" and do no trust her anymore
- Elaydren has been severly injured when the Emerald Claw attacked her house in Sharn to steal the Schemas and Pattern, and learning that Merrix has organized the info leak in order to make a trap for the EC (that did'nt work as he wasn't execting them to show with an airship) *without telling her of this*, she was severly pissed at him and doesn't want to have anymore to do with him.
She's almost ready to make her own faction foir the House control with the PC, but won't as long as he keep close relations with Merrix.
- The PC is tring both to learn from Merrix whom he respects, while still preserving some kind of relation with Elaydren who was here for him when he came back to Khorvaire.
- Merrix seems to think that Elaydren was grooming the PC as a new Patriarch candidate to doublecross both him and Jorlana, and don't trust Elaydren eitheir.
Merrix recognize the PC potential, and is trying to maybe make an apprentice of him, but with the player keeping close to Elaydren and having kept some secrets from Merrix, Merrix is not sure yet if he can fully trust him or not
- Meanwhile, Viorr the superior of Lucan ("Whispers of the Vampire Blade") in the Dark Lanterns, is trying to gain influence over the PC, hoping he might help to get some insight in the current Cannith internal situation
- In Xen'drik, they got some hints from the draconic prophecy that could be interpreted as the PC becoming the one to reunite House Cannith as its new Patriarch if/when he chose between Merrix and Elaydren

In this situation, the PC has been delegated by Merrix in the name of the House to help Haaruc in a civil war in Darguun (Haaruc having been almost defeated at the time and trying to reorganise his forces, he ordered weapons and enchantements from House Cannith, and got the PC to deliver).

Having first produced some goos fire arrows and others enchantements, the players have been caught in a desesperate battle in a fortress, and won.

As the civil war is coming to an end, House Cannith has become an important part of Haaruc new might, and reminded to the whole Khorvaire the importance that the House had during the Last War.

Merrix has gained much influence with this war, and the PC is more or less (for now) at the head of a rapid growing Cannith holding in Darguun.

I ended the last seance with a messenger saying he came from Elaydren with an important message: according to this messenger, with the growing influence of House Cannith in Darguun, the House might have to nominate a new Viceroy officially, and the PC might be the logicial choice (still a little bit too young, but ...)

As viceroys can vote to elect the Patriarch, a new viceroy means an additionnal vote, and whoever will have the viceroy's vote will be one step closer to becoming the next Patriarch.

But sill according to the messenger, Merrix doesn't trust the PC with such a responsability and will ask him to leave Darguun soon, before he can realize the importance of the situation. So the messenger insists that now is the time to take sides, find a way to delay until a request can be done to the twelves to force the designation of the new Viceroy now in order to promote the PC.

Will the player align with Elaydren and try to become a Viceroy of Darguun ?
Is the messenger really from Elaydren, or a test from Merrix to see if he can trust the player character ?
Is it still possible to mend the situation between Merrix and Elaydren despite what the draconic prophecy seems to tell ?
#4
sevoo
Aug 29, 2010 13:46:45 These are some fun ideas; thank you both!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 sevoo Aug 25, 2010 17:15:35	I've read through the adventures in which Elaydren d'Vown/d'Cannith is used as a patron for an adventuring party, starting with the Forgotten Forge and Shadows of the Last War on through The Grasp of the Emerald Claw. What's up with Elaydren? She's a cipher to me. She's secretly working for Merrix, who doesn't actually trust her. She's nervous, picked-on, and kind of pathetic. At least in my Eberron, nobody of any consequence at all gets to be two-dimensionally pathetic. I expect, as we move the plot forward, Elaydren's deeper story will turn out to be associated with or set up against something important to one of the PCs. I'll be grateful that she's enough of a blank slate that I can just paste a motivation onto her as necessary. But in the meantime, I'm roleplaying an NPC I can't wrap my head around. For those of you who ran these adventures & fleshed out Elaydren, who did she turn out to be for you?
#2 naturax Aug 26, 2010 9:47:47	When I ran my players through the Forgotten Forge, I made sure Elaydren was totally badass. She was assertive and knowledgeable when talking to them, being the poised nobility that she is. At the beginning of the next adventure when she's being attacked at the rendezvous point, I had her fighting away the assailants giving the PCs enough time to escape instead of her needing to be rescued. I also gave her an awesome warforged bodyguard/servant named Mettle who follows her unquestioningly. I'm going to be using her as an NPC again for a game I'm running this weekend, actually. This time she's going to be speaking as the mouthpiece for The Twelve who are trying to convince the PCs to help them turn on House Tarkanan and recover The Delirium Stone. I plan to present her exactly as I described above, though I'm interested in hearing how other people have played her.
#3 jtrowell Aug 27, 2010 4:58:21	In my campaign : The Vown are one of the most inluencials of the Cannith family lines (it is known that several Cannith Patriarch have been Vown in the past), and as for the "main" Cannith family line, the most important Vown family members have died in Cyre, and Elaydren in my campaign has inherited what was left of most of the Vown family holdings outside Cyre (and with it influence over several Cannith Viceroys from the Vown family) Had she been a little older and experienced, she could have been herself a candidate as a new Patriarch, with the backing of what's left of the Vown, and several other minor family lines. Instead, having been based in Aundair and more or less in the inner circle of Jorlana (the future Barronness of Cannith West), she has somewhat supported her claim to the title of Patriarch. To be more precise, her mother was a close friend of Jorlana who followed her when she was exiled during her young days for "improper conduct" (with a member of another Dragonmarkerd house), and while Jorlana was like an aunt to young Elaydren, Elaydren had no children friends, and when older was close enough to Jorlana to see her "court" a young dragonmarked heir from another house (again). For both those reasons and some others, she chose as soon as possible to add some distance between her and Jorlana (while still maintaining cordial relations with her "aunt"), and became a sort of amabassador from Cannith West to Cannith South. That's were she met Merrix and was impressed by the genius he was, thinking that -maybe- he could be a worthy successor to the late Starring d'Cannith (the previous Patriarch). At first, she tried to serve faithfully as a link between Cannith West and South, hoping that perhaps the two could be reunited and a compromise found that would force Cannith East to accept a full Patriarch, but Elaydren soon found herself more and more helping Merrix under the idea that she was helping the whole House Cannith (yes, she was a little bit naive, with perhaps a starting crush on Merrix, remember that she was a rich girl with almost no man near her during her childhood) That's when the players character came in the story. In my campaing, the group consist of 3 warforgeds, and a young Cannith heir (Human artificer) that was more or less exiled in a desert island with his now deceased mother, mother who was a direct descendant of Starring d'Cannith from his first mariage (Jorlana is from his second marriage). Yes, this means that in a traditional succession line, the player character would be the first in line, but of course dragonmarked houses does not work like that. Now, after having finised "Grasp of the Emerald Claw" the situation is: - Jorlana has learned of Elaydren "treason" and do no trust her anymore - Elaydren has been severly injured when the Emerald Claw attacked her house in Sharn to steal the Schemas and Pattern, and learning that Merrix has organized the info leak in order to make a trap for the EC (that did'nt work as he wasn't execting them to show with an airship) without telling her of this, she was severly pissed at him and doesn't want to have anymore to do with him. She's almost ready to make her own faction foir the House control with the PC, but won't as long as he keep close relations with Merrix. - The PC is tring both to learn from Merrix whom he respects, while still preserving some kind of relation with Elaydren who was here for him when he came back to Khorvaire. - Merrix seems to think that Elaydren was grooming the PC as a new Patriarch candidate to doublecross both him and Jorlana, and don't trust Elaydren eitheir. Merrix recognize the PC potential, and is trying to maybe make an apprentice of him, but with the player keeping close to Elaydren and having kept some secrets from Merrix, Merrix is not sure yet if he can fully trust him or not - Meanwhile, Viorr the superior of Lucan ("Whispers of the Vampire Blade") in the Dark Lanterns, is trying to gain influence over the PC, hoping he might help to get some insight in the current Cannith internal situation - In Xen'drik, they got some hints from the draconic prophecy that could be interpreted as the PC becoming the one to reunite House Cannith as its new Patriarch if/when he chose between Merrix and Elaydren In this situation, the PC has been delegated by Merrix in the name of the House to help Haaruc in a civil war in Darguun (Haaruc having been almost defeated at the time and trying to reorganise his forces, he ordered weapons and enchantements from House Cannith, and got the PC to deliver). Having first produced some goos fire arrows and others enchantements, the players have been caught in a desesperate battle in a fortress, and won. As the civil war is coming to an end, House Cannith has become an important part of Haaruc new might, and reminded to the whole Khorvaire the importance that the House had during the Last War. Merrix has gained much influence with this war, and the PC is more or less (for now) at the head of a rapid growing Cannith holding in Darguun. I ended the last seance with a messenger saying he came from Elaydren with an important message: according to this messenger, with the growing influence of House Cannith in Darguun, the House might have to nominate a new Viceroy officially, and the PC might be the logicial choice (still a little bit too young, but ...) As viceroys can vote to elect the Patriarch, a new viceroy means an additionnal vote, and whoever will have the viceroy's vote will be one step closer to becoming the next Patriarch. But sill according to the messenger, Merrix doesn't trust the PC with such a responsability and will ask him to leave Darguun soon, before he can realize the importance of the situation. So the messenger insists that now is the time to take sides, find a way to delay until a request can be done to the twelves to force the designation of the new Viceroy now in order to promote the PC. Will the player align with Elaydren and try to become a Viceroy of Darguun ? Is the messenger really from Elaydren, or a test from Merrix to see if he can trust the player character ? Is it still possible to mend the situation between Merrix and Elaydren despite what the draconic prophecy seems to tell ?
#4 sevoo Aug 29, 2010 13:46:45	These are some fun ideas; thank you both!