What's to stop Vol from revealing to the publis that Kaius is a vampire, thus totally discrediting him and throwing the country into chaos, ripe for takeover?
(Obviously this one thing wouldn't be enough for Vol to seize power, but she's a lich, she has all the time in the world, so I assume she would have tons of other plots going at the same time that would help. For instance, the Deneith guy who works with the Emerald Claw and wants to take over.)
What's to stop Vol from revealing to the publis that Kaius is a vampire, thus totally discrediting him and throwing the country into chaos, ripe for takeover?
Nothing, if that's what a Dungeon Master needs for her campaign.
In context? Kaius himself. He has put significant effort into his appearance as a living human, and will not give up on it easily: should the groundwork be laid for such a revelation by any party—and it would require significant advance work, if it were to be taken seriously—his intelligence network would pick up on it and squash it as quickly as possible.
It's even possible that this has been attempted several times before—there being a fair number of people or things in the Blood of Vol who know that Kaius is a vampire—and been suppressed by agents loyal to or in the pay of the Karrnathi crown.
An fascinating, twisting scenario can be developed if it is not Kaius' agents who discover the plot to reveal his nature, but Etrigani's. This could lead Etrigani to decide to step outside official channels to deal with the problem: enter our Heroes, working for Etrigani, and trying to suppress the Blood of Vol's propaganda campaign, while simultaneously avoiding Kaius' agents.
—Siran Dunmorgan
Of course, at the moment, he's being a bit of an unruly servant, looking out for the good of the people and trying to "distance" himself from her. She knows he'll come crawling back eventually, though. And if he gets too out-of-hand, she's most likely got a back-up ruler stashed away in some dark prison cell somewhere...
My current game involves a far-reaching plan by Vol to recreate the Mark of Death, exact revenge on all who wronged her (read: Dragons, Elves, and everyone else in the world) and ultimately take over much of Khorvaire to usher in a new era of Death. So, Kaius serves her purposes for now, but eventually, he and his peace-mongering desires will have to be... removed.
Most people don't know that Vol herself exists. So it would be entirely possible that she herself would be revealed. That could go either way for her, and the Cult.
Cultist: "The King is a vampire! A foul parasitic creature! He's been lying to you!"
Peasant: "Abomination! Its all because of that Vol-cult and all their unholy undead-mongering! How did we ever let things come to this! Unite against Kaius! Unite against Vol!
Cultist: ...umm...no no I was making a joke *gulp*
In my head I saw her standing on some town square somwhere yelling Kaius is a vampire just to bombarded to smitherieens by a mob of angry dragons who still remember the blood of vol half breed bratt. (in short, she wont expose herself to much in fear of being discovered by the dragons).
Hmmm... beat me to it by a bit.
Considering the fact that so many villagers still adhere to the Blood of Vol religion, the truth is, a large percentage of the population might not care that the king is a vampire. They might look at his actions as good, and at his state as a transcendence of death.
This is a key point. In doing this, Erandis could actually create a serious, publicly-known (remember, most peasant followers of the BoV don't know Erandis exists) icon for the church to rally around, stripping power away from Erandis. As is, IMO Kaius' harem of blood donors are followers of the BoV; the believe they are supporting a great champion. And yes, the other risk is that it would trigger a big anti-BoV/undead wave across Khorvaire.
So she could do it, but she could easily weaken her own power in the process.
It has seemed strange that the blood of Vol, and the former house of Vol both had dealings with undead, and while any dragon that may have destroyed the original house may be dead, the name should be in writing somewhere, but yet nobody has seemed to catch on to anything.
I'm not sure I understand your point, Wraithstrike. Are you saying that it's strange that people don't get that the BoV has dealings with undead? Because I see that as a fairly well-known fact; their rituals present undead as champions of the faith. Or are you saying that it's odd people don't recognize that it's connected to Erandis, and that therefore she's still around? If so, the key is that it wasn't ERANDIS who brought the faith to Lhazaar and Karrnath; it was the exiled elves who'd allied with her line and were driven from Aerenal after the line was exterminated. It's not "The Blood of Erandis", it's "The Blood of Vol" - based on the traditions the line had developed over the course of thousands of years. So both humans and dragons know that this is derived from the line destroyed in Aerenal; but without a living half-dragon bearing a Siberys mark of Death, it's not something the dragons are especially worried about. For that matter, I'm certain the Chamber and Eyes of Chronepsis know of Erandis through the Prophecy; but in her current state, they no longer see her as a threat. It may even be that she has a vital role to play in the Prophecy, and that they are choosing to lket her continue her work.
Ultimately there's nothing to stop Kauis from simply going underground again and just impersonating a future ruler of Karrnath. In my opinion he's a charismatic figure like some of the domain lords from Ravenloft and I tend to think of him as just as inseparable from his land. He's also one of the few figures who've existed throughout the entire Last War and he did a good part of that as a major player in the war, that's just really cool. And I tend to see the Karns as the type of people who even if there were widespread rumors that Kaius was a vampire they would probably continue with life and almost brag about it to foreigners. His legacy is probably the kind where centuries after the rule of Kaius III amid wild rumors of vampirism, people would still point to strong rulers or military leaders and speak of how they have the spirit of Kaius.
This is a key point. In doing this, Erandis could actually create a serious, publicly-known (remember, most peasant followers of the BoV don't know Erandis exists) icon for the church to rally around, stripping power away from Erandis. As is, IMO Kaius' harem of blood donors are followers of the BoV; the believe they are supporting a great champion. And yes, the other risk is that it would trigger a big anti-BoV/undead wave across Khorvaire.
So she could do it, but she could easily weaken her own power in the process.
I'm not sure I understand your point, Wraithstrike. Are you saying that it's strange that people don't get that the BoV has dealings with undead? Because I see that as a fairly well-known fact; their rituals present undead as champions of the faith. Or are you saying that it's odd people don't recognize that it's connected to Erandis, and that therefore she's still around? If so, the key is that it wasn't ERANDIS who brought the faith to Lhazaar and Karrnath; it was the exiled elves who'd allied with her line and were driven from Aerenal after the line was exterminated. It's not "The Blood of Erandis", it's "The Blood of Vol" - based on the traditions the line had developed over the course of thousands of years. So both humans and dragons know that this is derived from the line destroyed in Aerenal; but without a living half-dragon bearing a Siberys mark of Death, it's not something the dragons are especially worried about. For that matter, I'm certain the Chamber and Eyes of Chronepsis know of Erandis through the Prophecy; but in her current state, they no longer see her as a threat. It may even be that she has a vital role to play in the Prophecy, and that they are choosing to lket her continue her work.
I never thought of that