What has happened/Will happen shortly:
The PCs went through SotAC, and finished with strong contacts within the Kings Citadel, completing a homebrew side-quest in Graywall involving a Swords of Liberty bomb plot for which they receive a personal thanks from Kor ir'Wynarn. The PCs have investigated the SoL bomb target, and will soon discover that it was the site of a meeting between a member of the Aundair Royal Eyes and a lackey of the Brelish Parliaments Zilspar representative, Thanoc, who is part of the push to democratize the nation upon the death of Boranel. The SoL caught wind of this meeting because the Aundairan Ambassadors in Sharn, one of whom is a member of the Lords of Dust, informed the leadership of the Swords, one of whom is also a member of the LoD.
The PCs have an invite to the Tain Gala provided by the Citadel, where I intend for them to see the Zilspar Lackey, and see his boss chilling with Rukan ir'Clarn , and start piecing together the more benign conspiracy. At the gala, Boranel will make an unannounced visit, and get some face time with the PCs (part of the reason for their invite?) to help cement their perception of him as an old king with a heart of gold whose prime is well behind him. He will thank them for their service, ask about their adventures and bemoan his age and failing health, and maybe tip his hand about his wishes for a democratic Breland after he passes.
What will happen: After some unrelated adventures, The PCs will hear of Boranels death by natural causes. Rukan makes a push for democracy, and it is ratified. Aundair is the first to recognize the new nation, followed by Zilargo. The Swords of Liberty move from pursuing terrorist actions in Breland to making clandestine attacks on bordering nations against Brelands' wishes, in hopes of restarting a war they think Breland will win.
What may follow: This is more nebulous, and where I would appreciate suggestions and a little taste of P.E.A.C.H. Obviously, the PCs can't have their fingers in every pie, but I need a good framework on which to set their story.
1. Thrane takes the SoL bait and masses troops along border.
2. In hopes of attracting Aundairan support, deposed Thrane nobility fosters rebellion in Thaliost.
3. Thaliost returns to Aundair, Theocracy discovers Thranish nobles involvement in rebellion and executes those responsible.
4. Remaining Thrane rebels successfully assassinate Jaela Darn, and Krozen takes over.
5. Shadow in Flame, aware of SoL Rakshasa leaders plans, pushes church leadership to war.
6.Thrane attacks Aundair.
7. Aundair calls in Brelish favors, and now Aundair, Breland, and Thrane are at war.
8. Droaam attacks Breland while its' western border is weakened. Breland calls upon Zilargo for aid, and gnomes agree. Swords of Liberty are deputized as official Brelish forces, and SoL/LoD leadership begins to corrupt Brelish military.
9. Karrnath offers aid against Thrane in return for food for starving populace. Breland and Aundair, breadbaskets of Khorvaire, accept. Remaining 4 of original 5 nations now at war.
10. Darguun attacks Zilargo border.
11. Barbarian tribes from Demon Wastes, under orders of LoD, overcome the Gatekeepers, and proceed to march across the Eldeen reaches.
12. Thrane is greatly weakened and is thinking of going kamikaze. Krozen begins to send teams into Mournland to a) find magic to help defeat it's enemies; b) perhaps learn the secret of the Mourning so it can be used against it's enemies; c) Shadow in the Flame wants to weaken the bonds of another Rajah trapped in the Mournlands.
At this point, the PCs should be about epic tier. They will have been involved in several sorties, a few secret missions, and maybe a large-scale battle or two. They will also have been in the Mournlands, and will have helped to foil the plans of Thrane there. They will have met and defeated the Lord of Blades, and his followers will regard the Warforged PC as his heir. They will learn from those followers what caused the Mourning: The Dragons of Argonessen, who wished to put an end to the hubris of the lesser races and avoid a repeat of their necessary annihilation of the Giants of Xendrik, took out what they thought was the most desperate and magically powerful nation, Cyre.
They will also learn that the Dragons are beginning to believe that their intervention failed, and are prepared to destroy all of Khorvaire in the same manner as Cyre, in the hopes of containing the threat of the Lords of Dust. In order to stop this, the PCs must negotiate for time, and attempt to end the new war themselves by recognizing which of the major players are LoD and eliminating them. They will have to defeat the Demon armies at Aundairs border, free Thrane, which has become totally corrupted by rakshasa influence, and lead the combined forces of the 3 nations into Flamekeep, culminating in a battle against the Shadow in the Flame. Succesful, they are crowned/elected rulers of newly minted nations, and ride into the sunset to help rebuild the continent, just in time for me to buy the Dark Sun books.
Phew! That took a while
To all those who bothered, here are your internets.I deliberately left out everything non-khorvaire, as well as most of the countries east of the Mournlands. The Elves, Dwarves and Halflings may works as mercs, but will not have any major political aspirations. Q'barra and the Lhazaarites want nothing to do with any of this. The Marchers are swallowed by the Demon Wastes early on.
The Dragonmarked houses will be involved for financial interest or as window dressing for the prophecy, with maybe Cannith getting involved due to their part in Cyres rise and subsequent fall, as well as the LoD presence in their holdings in Aundair. The Daelkyr may make appearances as red herrings, but their incomprehensible goals will have no impact other than as distractions that the LoD may use to their advantage. I have no interest in getting the Dreaming Dark involved.
So, what do you think? Are there any gaping holes in my logic? Any place where a country will have acted out of line? Any more dishes to throw in this kitchen sink?
I would suggest that the Mourning was caused by a defense system that was supposed to put up a barrier around Cyre that would be impenetrable to Cyre's enemies.
...Of course the magical energies used in defending Cyre could, if re-tuned properly, also free a Rajah, or steal his power.
.....oh, and guess who suggested that Cyre build this defense system?
.........and guess who suggested to Krozen that the Mournland might have something to help Thrane?
............or was that the plan all along?
Maybe a warforged created in a Cyran Cannith enclave manifested an aberrant dragonmark, at which point the Dragons brought down the existential banhammer on Cyre. Maybe that Warforged is the Lord of Blades, and maybe my PC Warforged could manifest that mark after the LoB is defeated? This could cause some nice drama...
I don't like the idea of the Lords of Dust being primarily responsible for Cyres destruction. Too serialized evil genius for me, and too blatant for the way I would like the LoD to roll in my campaign. I do dig the idea of the Mourning being an intentional act performed by "dispassionate" observers for the greater good, a la Watchmen. If the Lords of Dust realized what the dragons did in Cyre and why, would they decide to push the big red button and see what the dragons would do, in hopes that they would benefit in the long run?
Could be fun. But I think that in my interpretation the Dragons did it to, in their minds, save the rest of the Khorvaire. Once the next war gets rolling, and whatever secret pushed them to act is close to being revealed again, they will decide that they pulled their punch too much and now must destroy Khorvaire.
Not really a hole, but more of a "how could this happen?" is it seems like Jaela is taken out of the picture far too easily. I don't know how much more you have planned around this issue and I agree she needs to go in order for this to happen.
The Thranish nobles getting axed I can believe since Krozan would be wanting (and in a position) to assimilate power. My only suggestion would be to have Krozan have a plan on getting rid of Jaela. The remaining nobles show up intending to kill Krozan and he is too much for them. Jaela shows up and her and Krozan have an epic showdown but Krozan (maybe enhanced by the shadow in the flame, since that seems to be a theme) gains the upper hand. The PCs get there just in time to take some pot shots at the jacked up Krozan and rescue Jaela + the remaining nobles.
The nobles go in to hiding/government in exile since their power is spent and since Jaela is out of Flamekeep her power quickly fades from lots of distance between her and the flame. Krozan announces Jaela was assassinated by the nobles and uses it to seize the rest of the power. Proceed to step 6.
I think this is a fairly logical (not to mention dramatic) turn of events because Jaela is well liked by the people (iirc) and she certainly would not condone the executions. This means Krozan needs to silence her before Jaela gives the country the idea that in killing the nobles they something unacceptable.
In turn, please let me know if there are any holes in my logic.
Extra Credit: Krozan has a secret alliance with Droaam (particularly the were-creatures). He argues it was not the tolerant people of Thrane but the Silver Flame zealots in Aundair who went overboard during the purge. He suggests paying them back.
I was thinking of having it to do with the creation of the warforged, which were developed in Xendrik. But it seems that most of the warforged development happened in Breland (I could be wrong on this, though.)
Actually, since Cannith was centered in Cyre, you're probably right about alot of Warforged development happening there. After Cyre gets destroyed, it shifts to Breland with Merrix's unhealthy obsession.
One thing I'd like to suggest, just as a PC issue, is be sure to give all the PCs attention. So far I've seen at least two mentions of major plot devices connecting to the Warforged PC, but nothing about the other characters. You may have some stuff planned you haven't mentioned here, but it's just a suggestion from what I've read.
This outline is my idea of the big-picture goings on that will affect Khorvaire while the PCs are living in it. I want to give the PCs the idea that the world spins regardless of their involvment, and in order to do that I want to create an orderly list of what happens when and where. Their choices may take them completely out of the picture: they might choose to go to Xendrik and not get involved at all. Such is the fate of all plans when they make contact with the "enemy", but it does not lessen the importance of planning.
To clarify, these are not all things the PCs will be deeply involved in. Some of these things will inevitably be background, and will merely be heard about in the news while the PCs are off adventuring. For instance, I think that the Thaliost rebellion would be better if it occurred off-camera, as I want to keep this Breland-centered. However, there will be events that the PCs can witness personally, and others which will be reflected on a smaller scale based on their own interactions. F'r'instance, having the PCs back up Aundairan troops in The Crying Fields may be in the cards, depending on their choices.
Howl: I do intend on catering to the other PCs. Right now, my party consists of:
Cyran Warforged Fighter
Half-Elf Storm Sorceror with Mark of Storm
Human Cleric of The Sovereign Host
Eladrin Ranger with Rogue-ish overtones.
The warforged only got mention due to the big-picture story involving the Lord of Blades, whom he has decided OOG he wants to fight. I am trying to line it up in-game, and think that this is where it will happen. The Half-Elf is disinterested in House Lyrander Politics, so I intend on hooking him up with a pirate airship. The House may come calling, but that idea is still incubating.
The Cleric and the Ranger tend to be roleplay lite, tactics heavy players. I plan on throwing them personal hooks, but I tend to wait until they grow interested in a specific plot point and then expand on it. I am thinking of getting the party into one of the Eladrin cities, which is an idea I love. Perhaps to help the gnomes fight the Darguuni? As far as the cleric, the religious overtones of my big-picture outline are ripe for him to build on his outlook and characters spirituality. Given the way they enjoy playing, I will point them to the water but not base my story on them drinking.
Durskut: I don't like the idea of Krozen being too evil to start with. I like the idea of him being corrupted by the Shadow when he assumes power. I hope to portray him as a more banal evil at first, and he blossoms into the full-out "destroy the world to save their souls" type as the story progresses.
I agree with your assessment that Jaela is taken down too easily. I don't think the players will have much to do with that development, so I don't want to waste the brain-power on the specifics unless it becomes necessary. However, if they are present, I think that perhaps the Shadow will have tricked her into a position of weakness timed to coincide with the presence of a hit squad. Now that I consider it, the benefits of having the Swords of Liberty do the hit as opposed to the Thranish nobility could be worth weighing. It would fan the flames of war, increase the depth of the conspiracy, and make the big reveal a little more impressive.
And , IMO, she has to die, barring direct and succesful PC intervention. I like developing the shades of gray in this plan, but the little girl getting offed will underline the evil at work here. If the party is at Flamekeep at the right time, they will have a chance to intervene. Perhaps as good-will emissaries from Breland, trying to repair the chilly relation that should exist at this point. Maybe one of their fellow diplomats is SoL-loyal and does the deed, and the innocent PCs have to get the hell out of dodge to avoid arrest and execution?
Amulan: You just asked the 64,000 gp question! Keeping the PCs up to speed and involved will be tough. I hope to give it a "fog of war" feel, where PCs on the "battlefield" only hear hints of some of the goings on behind the lines, like WW2 soldiers in the Pacific hearing about battles in other theaters. Big shifts will be hinted at in small ways, mostly, as single encounters mirror larger political shifts. This can be done with encounter composition or available quests.
Of course, since they are the stars of this game, I will need to make sure they play important parts in the narrative. They will hob-knob with the decision makers, and the decision makers will ask them for world-altering favors. They will be diplomats and lead spec-ops missions. But since it's is all conjecture at this point, I feel it unwise to build any one point too much. I don't want to get too invested in the party defending Zilargo from the Darguun when they would prefer to be repelling the Droaamish advance .
Right now, my goals are to have them fight several of the big baddies in Eberron (Shadow in the Flame, Wyrmbreaker, the Lord of Blades, and maybe even Belashyrra for a fun distraction!) so I can put my ECG back on the shelf for awhile without thinking that I missed something. Getting them there will be interesting, and I want to build a framework where it is possible to see and experience some of the things that make Eberron awesome.
If they decide to get the hell out of Khorvaire and head to Sarlona, then this all becomes moot beyond being interesting background. But verisimilitude is created with small things as well as big, so nothing will go to waste.