It's more about infiltration/espionage than outright conflict. If Netheril attacked someone openly, they would find their enemies uniting against them. Powerful as Netheril is, it has to consider the cost of such conflict--even if they won, how many of their precious arcanists would be lost?
It's far better for them to amass military and magical might and wait for the right moment to strike when they think they can win.
Cheers
- In Neverwinter you have agents trying to influence local activities in Neverwinter with the occassional open combat, but on a limited scale (such as sending advisors to countries fighting for/against communism, who occassionally need to play a little defense of the locals, or supplying weapons to the mujhaideen). Having Netheril providing supplies and training to the Sons of Alagondar sounds about perfect.
- Against Cormyr, you have Sembia being used in a proxy war. (Vietnam pre-1965 parallel)
- Against Zhentil Keep, you've got some out-right curb stomping of lesser powers (Grenada) to show their power
- You can bet that Netheril has their version of the KBG/CIA running spies in places such as Thay and Cormyr.
I think stealing American and Soviet politics and political tactics and employing them by Netheril in your campaign is probably not a stretch at all. If the US/USSR was doing it, it's safe to say Netheril probably is too.
EDIT- I just realized that my question was first answered by Erik Scott de Bie. Wasn't expecting one of the writers to chime in.
Cheers back at you mate and keep up the good work!
EDIT- I just realized that my question was first answered by Erik Scott de Bie. Wasn't expecting one of the writers to chime in.
Cheers back at you mate and keep up the good work!
Hey, you're the one who asked the neat question.
I worked on Netherese stuff a little in the Neverwinter Campaign Setting, and Netheril may (or may not) be relevant to future plans of mine. We'll see.
Cheers
This at level 10. As they get into paragon, I'm going to put them more and more into conflict with Netheril's agents and machinations. Might get them stuck in the middle of conflict in the non Netherese Shadar-kai community, as Netheril tries to gain influence there, and Cormyr, Evereska and Myth Drannor are "too good" to get involved, due to distrust of Shadar-kai.
Eventually, they may become responsible for getting previously neutral nations into the fight, and will at some point lead armies as the war gets...somewhat less cold. :P
And then I might make the next campaign take place in the midst of a Faerunian Great War, starting again at low level. :D
*(they stopped a Netherese plot to turn lycanthropes against the people of Archenbridge, and then "save" the Dale folk from the "evil" lycanthropes just in time. They party got there first, warned the town, and helped defend it, then proved to the lycanthropes that the town wasn't responsible for the spread of Bahpemet cultism in the tribe, securing the gratetude of both sides. Then the Netherese showed up.
That was fun.) I just (last handful of adventures) had my players secure an alliance on behalf of Cormyr with some Dalelanders and a tribe of lycanthropes in that area, and then cross the sea to secure the cooperation of a circle of Druids on behalf of Evereska, increasing the "good guys" footing in the dalelands and the Dragon Coast. They now have a small island off the southern Dragon Coast, strong allies in the central Dalelands* and a town (modeled roughly on DL's Solace) nestled between a Druid controlled forest and the coast that they are basically in charge of now.
This at level 10. As they get into paragon, I'm going to put them more and more into conflict with Netheril's agents and machinations. Might get them stuck in the middle of conflict in the non Netherese Shadar-kai community, as Netheril tries to gain influence there, and Cormyr, Evereska and Myth Drannor are "too good" to get involved, due to distrust of Shadar-kai.
Eventually, they may become responsible for getting previously neutral nations into the fight, and will at some point lead armies as the war gets...somewhat less cold. :P
And then I might make the next campaign take place in the midst of a Faerunian Great War, starting again at low level. :D
*(they stopped a Netherese plot to turn lycanthropes against the people of Archenbridge, and then "save" the Dale folk from the "evil" lycanthropes just in time. They party got there first, warned the town, and helped defend it, then proved to the lycanthropes that the town wasn't responsible for the spread of Bahpemet cultism in the tribe, securing the gratetude of both sides. Then the Netherese showed up.
This sounds like pure awesome.
My FR campaign is also where I'm going to try out a new way to approach making harder monsters.
Magic items. Instead of leveling up a monster or just making it elite, and then it's hoard has that magic sword and helm of whatevertheheck, the monster is made more powerful by applying the enhancement bonuses, extra crit damage, properties and powers of the magic item the players are going to get off them.
It will be a bit of a wild card, but honestly I think that 4e combat is solid enough that it shouldn't be much of a problem.
The CG hinted at a portal device from Ammarindar, so I put it that she was a Netheril agent trying to figure out how this 1000 year old dwarven portal worked. The goal was to use it to create a passage via the Greypeak Mountains for a small Shadovar invasion force, that would be unnoticed by the watchful eyes of Evereska further to the south. They would silently take over llorkh, Loudwater, all the way down to Waterdeep eventually.
The PCs thus figured out what the portal was, by exploring the Goblin lair in the old Ammarindar ruins (I think it was called barrow of the Ogre king). They deciphered an old painting of the war of the dwarves of Ammarindar and the elves of Eaerlann against the demon armies from hellgate keep via a skill challenge and figured that the portal was crafted by Ammarindar´s clan Grimstone (all that I got from the "Ammarindar - the adamantine Kingdom www.scribd.com/doc/46249514/Ammarindar-A...).
So, after completing a task for the warlock Keyleth Moonfire in the Direwood (clearing Draegduroth-Tower, he had become a powerful Skull Lord after losing his soul to Orcus), they went on to Llorkh, where there was a dwarven community thriving with a few Ammarindar heirs that knew more. Llorkh had been almost destroyed by the Spellplague, the only two quartes that remained largely intact were the former regent´s quarter, now under control of some shady Half-Orc and his minions - and the dwarven quarter, which was largely autonomous. The rest was ruins and slums, a lot of spellscarred and even plaguechanged linguering around and so. Even worse, a Shar cult had secretly almost taken over the city, controlling the Half-Orc regent and doing everything to create utter despair among the residents. Of course, the Shar cultists were vanguard for the Shadovar, already a few shadar-kai among them.
After presenting it to them, the dwarven heirs of clan Grimstone insisted on reclaiming the portal, as it was rightfully theirs. They planned to form an expedition force to explore the ruins of Whitewater Mines, where the portal would lead them. The chars could have participated, but decided to dwell in the city and investigate the Shar Cult. Who became aware of their efforts and tried to ambush them various times to no avail. So the cultists massacred all the priests and adepts in the Temple of Tymora, the last remaining bastion against Shar in Llorkh. Investigating that massacre, the PCs heard of a mysterious yet powerful Netheril commander named Holoratus. With the help of the former elven consort of the Half-Orc regent, a spellscarred Sune Priest named Lady Adrie who herself had had visions of Holoratus, they pulled the regent free from the Shar cultists´ grasp by killing the shapechanger Shadar-Kai who hat seduced him.
Meanwhile, the cultists (and the Shadovar agents) had become aware tha the portal which the dark creeper back in Loudwater should have put to work for them, was actually in LLorkh right before there eyes. They stole it from the dwarves (that was played out in a sort of "vignette", I got the idea from the DMG2) and began the summoning of Holoratus and his lackeys. By then the PCs had found out that he was a dreadful Shade-General from the Netherese city of Oreme. For 4 or so sessions, I had built up the anticipation towards this ultimate vilain (level 10 for level 3 PCs).
So they managed to convince the regent´s militia and the dwarves to put aside their animosities and line up an army against the secret temple of Shar (they already had an idea that it had to be in the unexplored and lawless southern ruins of the city), where they assumed the Shadovar base as well. It all became pretty climatic as the dwarven and human forces battled the Shar cultists and Shadar-Kai on the open field while the party sneaked into the Shar Temple (a former Oghma-temple) and killed the Dark Moon monk running it.
After that came the ending fight. A complex encounter featuring the dwarven portal, summoning shadar-kai and undead throughout the fight and an ancient shrine dedicated to the now lost lesser deity Shaundakul, a former enemy of Shar (I adapted the idea from the DMG2, the example encounter featuring the ritual to open a portal to the nine hells with the devils and multiple rooms) Only by activating a blessing by this Shaundakul shrine and by deactivating the dwarven portal could they stand a chance against the shade (that hindered his regeneration and lowered his defenses). Still, I had to throw in 3 more npcs, including the battle-wounded half-orc regent that died a heroic death to buy the PCs some time.
After killing it, the party´s rogue obtained Holoratus powerful shade cloak, a lvl 4 magic item I crafted myself, that is more or less evil. It isn´t really an artifact, but a rare item with his own - although be it rather weak - evil will. Now the nex campaign will revolve around Neverwinter, and the Shadovar there might be interested in retrieving the cloak and revenge themselves for the defeat their plans suffered in the Grey Vale by the PCs...
oh, now I notice that this text got a little bit long... but after all, it was almost half a year of roleplaying on that. Hope that inspires others.
I used the Loudwater Setting form the FR CG, in which there is this "Lady of Shadows", the dark creeper running the local crime gang in the underground of the village. Started a heroic campaign at level 1 then.
[snip]
oh, now I notice that this text got a little bit long... but after all, it was almost half a year of roleplaying on that. Hope that inspires others.
Interesting, particularly the bit about using a skill challenge to lower the defenses and remove some powers from a BBEg that otherwise may be too tough for the party.
What level was the party at before and after the big fight? Lvl 3?
Then there was another extra room which contained the lost shrine to Shaundakul. The PCs had learned about the mysterious Shaundakul-Priest prior to the encounter by looting the temple above ground (the ending encounter took place in the undergrounf library of the temple). That´s when the Skill Challenge actually started (before the encounter with Religion checks to figure out Shaundakuls rivalry to Shar and therefore his power being a potential weapon against Shar-blessed beings such as the shade). They had to discover Shaundakuls symbol on 4 pillars and move them towards a stone altar in the center of the room to activate the shrine (Perception and Athletics checks). Only then could each PC obtain some sort of residual divine aura of Shaundakul by touching the Altar that would lower the shade´s defenses by 2 and hinder it´s Regeneration if he were adjacent to them.
Anyway, since they wasted all their dailies on first sight of the enemies on the shade with little effect before even figuring out the dangerousness of the portal, let alone think of this Shaundakul-shrine that they read about before, they would have all died had I not thrown in the Half-Orc regent and his minions as NPC companions (which all died during the fight). From the PCs, only 2 got unconcious about 2 times rolling death saving throws.
In case you wonder, Holoratus was the name of this shade general.. I took the Naramus stats from the FRCG and lowered his level to 10. Still, it was a tough fight, of course. But it had to be that way to be really epic in my opinion.
Also, I miss Shaundekul.
Thinking about houseruling him back into FR in my campaign, and making my shadar-kai monk who used to be a Calimport arena slave worship him. He wandered Faerun after his escape, looking for a way home, or just a purpose to keep the ennui he still carries with him in check, and eventually found...something. Might be Shandakul could be that something. 8-)
Sounds pretty rad, man!
Also, I miss Shaundekul.
Thinking about houseruling him back into FR in my campaign, and making my shadar-kai monk who used to be a Calimport arena slave worship him. He wandered Faerun after his escape, looking for a way home, or just a purpose to keep the ennui he still carries with him in check, and eventually found...something. Might be Shandakul could be that something. 8-)
Is there any canon on him? He was a favorite of mine in 2e, and I don't specifically remember seeing him killed off. If he wasn't /killed/ then he should still be around, although not supported officially.
byt he could be on the we'll never see list of primal spirits....
none so far in 4e lore.
byt he could be on the we'll never see list of primal spirits....
I'd go with ArchFey, in that case.