Good vs Evil

[overbringer]

I'm going to basically just copy/paste Avshar's setting, and then update this post as people offer suggestions.

In a distant land, two kingdoms warred: Videssos and Makuran. They were very different lands, but both honorable and civilized nations. About a generation ago, however, Makuran was invaded and conquered by the barbarian nomad hordes known as Yezd. Makuran now struggles under their new overlords, who have their sights set on Videssos. The most feared general of Yezd is the Wizard-Prince Avshar, who has led Yezd's armies in victory after victory, first against Makuran, and now against Videssos in stinging raids.

The last few months have been quiet, however. Avshar has not been seen along the borders. Rather, he has been seen in Videssos's capital itself, acting as an emissary for prisoner exchanges, arguments over who owns towns on the border, and other such business. He has so far minded his manners enough that he has not forfeited diplomatic immunity, but the Videssian officers and troops are just waiting for an excuse, especially since Avshar saw fit to bring his retinue of "aids", as unsavory a lot as ever there were who are causing no end of complaints amongst the citizens.

With open war on the horizon and an ambassador who's very presence is an open insult, tensions are at the breaking point. The only question is who will snap first.

Comments

[guarding_wheel]

Open questions:
Are we straight up going to use Videssos and Yezd for this adventure, or do we want to make up a new place?
There was talk of the initial event that Avshar is at when shit goes down being at least partly a celebration of someone's great victory on the field of battle, probably against Avshar's forces. Do we want to do that? If we do, who should it be?
What's the opening actually going to look like?
Are we making a comm for this a la EJ?

Ichirin's Deal:
Ordinary human, probably peasantry. Parents died, was taken in by and raised by a monastery dedicated to some kind of nebulous Fantasy Buddhism. During her time at the monastery, she came across a fierce but wise air elemental. They were initially at odds, but Ichirin somehow cleverly outwitted the cloud monster, which took a liking to her and made himself her guardian.

Unzan, aforementioned air elemental, protected her from harm and taught her martial arts, but at some point Discord (?) showed up to destroy the monastery. Thanks to Unzan's protection, Ichirin was the only survivor. Now twice an orphan, she hit the open road with only a magical cloud for companionship, eventually meeting up with and travelling together with some other people who are no doubt other PCs.

Will add more here as I come to it. Will probably also adjust icons a bit.

[princeofskotos]

- I was just gonna use the names of Videssos and Yezd at least, but figured that by the time all the other players had had their say, our kingdoms are gonna look pretty different from the canonical versions. And that's fine.
- My mental image was that the first event will be more or less as you described: a fancy party where everyone can do some initial mingling. After that, a log in which one of Avshar's goons tries to assassinate someone, but fails. Avshar is forced to flee the city, open war is declared, and the stage is set for various other people to do stuff. Maybe the middle section is the PCs chasing after Avshar as he heads back to Yezd and having encounters on the road with Avshar's lieutenants. Leading into some adventures in Yezd itself, then Avshar's counter attack, where he charges a big army through Videssos, ending in a bigass battle right outside of the capital itself.

I'm open to alternate suggestions for an overall plot structure though.
- Yeah we should probably make a comm

[guarding_wheel]

Other points I forgot to mention:
-Ichirin is 17
-Considering killing off Unzan

[blossominghero]

If Ichirin is traveling with Tsubomi and Dietrich, we should probably figure out how they get on. What do you think, on that front? :|a

Avshar

[princeofskotos]

Avshar's Deal:
800 years ago he was a priest of Phos, the chief god of Videssos. When his city was invaded by barbarians, the carnage and bloodshed he saw caused him to decide that humanity was inherently evil. He tried to preach the new word and was excommunicated and exiled for it. He found the secret to immortality from Skotos, Phos's dark rival. He's been working in the shadows ever since, manipulating various foreign powers into weapons to use against Videssos, in his attempts to bring down the empire that rejected him.

He is ostensibly human, but possesses nigh superhuman strength and endurance, hundreds of years of practice in the arts of war and magic, and backing by the dark god Skotos himself. Skotos's domains as a god are Evil, Darkness, Ice, and Hunger.

Avshar's magic is very powerful, and works best on a large scale. He effects entire armies, turning his troops invisible, setting swarms of demons upon his foes, controlling walls of fire, starting avalanches, and other such horrifying battle magics. However the trade off for his spells being so powerful and huge is that they are diffuse. Rival mages can counter him with more focused spells of their own, and even utterly non-magical humans can just power through them if they are sufficiently passionate about it. The rage of battle makes his magic unreliable.

PLOT HOOKS:
- Someone well versed in lore to eventually piece together Avshar's history
- Various people seeking revenge for loved ones he or his minions have killed
- A fighter who can match him physically in battle
- A mage who can deal with his magics, either by counterspells or just by cleverness.

[messerkampf]

Dietrich's Deal:

As a young man (thinking 16-22 roughly), Dietrich was part of a Revolutionary group in one of the countries called the Messerkampf!s who wanted to fight the power, and some point left the city to get help and made a pact with the Dragonslayer - a totem spirit, and picked up some Shamanistic magic.

When he returned, he learned that the king - a greedy man and bigot - had sent out men to murder non-human residents and steal their valuables, and Dietrich lead an attack on them, starting the biggest riots in the history of the country, while the planned massacre failed, many people did died.

One of the leaders - Rhavas, an extremist argued that they should keep pushing, but Dietrich was disgusted and refused, leaving the city. The king was forced to abdicate to his son, but the revolution collapsed from confusion and lack of leadership.

Since then, he left to live a cabin in the woods, deciding to take on the bad guys by himself without anyone else getting harmed and practicing his magic. A year prior to the game, Tsumobi's grandmother asked Dietrich if he could instruct her in the ways of magic, and he readily agreed.

[princeofskotos]

(BTW Rhavas is an anagram of Avshar. Rhavas was Avshar in disguise stirring up trouble.)

[blossominghero]

so, we're still running with the idea that Tsubomi was set to Dietrich to improve her magical training, I trust? I imagine they haven't been together more than a year... how do you figure their mentor/student relationship works?

[mad_poet]

Alhazred is Avshar's left hand man, third in command of operations. He's a demon and a loyal servant to Skotos summoned into the world to help spread darkness. I figure that he was summoned about when Avshar led his armies against Makuran, but has made appearance on Earth across history. Although he largely works in the shadows, there are several rumors among the surviving veterans of Makuran connected to Alhazred: some recall having to slay former comrades now fighting for Yezd who they're certain were killed, some remember fighting mad warriors, unbelievably strong but stripped of all humanity, and some remember seeing metallic insects scavenge the battlefield when the fighting died down.

In the shadows, Alhazred is in charge of tactics and R&D. He's fairly intelligent, completely amoral, but also slightly indifferent to what's going on around him. His primary interest is to toy around with and mangle the human bodies he can get his claws on in the name of research. He's magically-inclined and has a wealth of arcane and divine knowledge he uses toward cruel ends, bolstering Avshar's forces, turning good people into demons, and generally being terrible.

Alhazred will probably stay in the shadows and use proxies to appear in his stead mostly, but he'll appear from time to time to test out a new experiment or such. He's capable of fighting, though he prefers strategy and doesn't get his hands dirty. He can use magic and summon insect familiars, Bastis and Esparanza, that project an eldritch shield around him while attacking with energy beams. Of course, he also has a "true form" that he's saving for a final battle.

PLOT HOOKS:
-Maybe someone knows a person or IS a person who was turned into a demon by Alhazred.
-A moral rival to match wits against
-Someone who might be familiar with demonology to know Alhazred
-Maybe someone whose home or town was attacked by the guy and wants to seek revenge
-If he's allowed to have a laboratory or such, that ought to be wrecked

[charmbuster]

So he's probably going to remind Mimete A LOT of her old boss. JSYK.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Idea: Pidonus was someone who was turned by Alhazred. All her horrible nature is basically what he 'taught' her.

[dictator_ko]

Moge-ko's deal: Cutesy psycho tyrant catgirl with a taste for sweets, meat products, and torture. She leads a horde of hedonistic and violent cat-creatures called Mogekos, who are individually no match for a human but a big threat in large numbers. Only thing keeping her in line and doing Avshar's bidding is a mixture of violent punishments, treats, and convenient targets for violence. As is, she's barely under his control, but her horde's ability to raze and loot everything in sight has been useful to him. Right now it's unknown where she, her followers, or her blood-spewing pet come from.

Plot hooks:
- Maybe she pillaged your character's hometown and crucified and ate everyone (she really likes crucifying and eating people).
- Her tyranny is actually enough to drive the usually simple and maniac Mogekos to existential despair. As such, there's a lot of attrition via desertion and suicides. Perhaps a deserter might provide valuable intelligence?
- Despite the high attrition, she never seems to run out of Mogekos. Just where do they come from?
- Somehow she seems to have a connection to Leone. Just what's their deal? (This was already worked out between Leone's player and me.)

[princeofskotos]

There is actually a canonical scene for Avshar where he is summoning a swarm of demonlings, and it goes about how the head demon tries to turn on him and his punishment for it is he cuts off it's mental link to the swarm. Does that sound like a thing that might fuck with Moge-ko's head?

[mad_poet]

I guess I'm curious how much Alhazred would know about Moge-ko and her kind being a demon. Given that she was created, I'm tempted to throw him into that origin story, but it seems like there are special circumstances you're gunning for.

[unmasked_nihilism]

Welp. Ulquiorra probably considers Moge-ko a pawn and nothing else, though he might be slightly interested in her ability to drum up that level of despair in her minions. He'll probably consider her methods to be slightly wasteful but useful when it comes time to make an example of somebody... or as a diversion.

[charmbuster]

She is probably Mimete's biggest rival rn, ngl.

[dictator_ko]

I probably should put out this clarification: Moge-ko has no special power to command her horde other than regular old violence and terrorization. Basically, she simply tells them what to do and they obey because they know what'll happen if they don't.

Also, in terms of abilities, she can create a magical force field around herself as well as being in general really good at violence.

[a_pirate_meant_to_be]

Guybrush's Deal: The son of a fairly well-to-do couple, Guybrush was put into a boarding school in an attempt to try to straighten him out. All it really did was make him want out as much as possible. Having read his fair share of pirate stories, he's decided he wants to be a Mighty Pirate (tm), sailing around, finding exotic treasures, swashbuckling, etc. etc. (He's not one of THOSE pirates, though, so less pillaging and other nasty "ings.") He's read all the books, learned all the tips, he just... needs a boat. He's the sort of guy who attaches to an adventure on ACCIDENT.

Plot Hooks:
- Parents aren't dead, so anybody who knows about Threepwood Shipping might be able to make a connection.
- He's gonna get a boat! No idea how long he will be able to hold on to said boat!
- Pretty much the thief of the party, except he only steals "useful" things most of the time and leaves the actual looting towards stuff found in ancient temples or whatnot.
- The type to be a thorn in villains' sides on accident.
- Also the type to seem completely unreliable until he IS reliable.

[1000yearsstoned]

Discord could totally give Guybrush a boat, and then ruin it for him somehow.

[1000yearsstoned]

Discord's deal:
About 1000 years ago, Discord was formerly a reasonable, human king, in a land far away from all of this. But he gained a hunger for power that lead to him gaining the powers of chaos from the gods themselves, turning into a mad tyrant. These powers twisted his mind and body to such an extent that even his real name has disappeared from history, leaving behind only his motive; purely causing chaos and making the world his playground until he was overpowered and turned to stone by two sisters that rose up against him.

It didn't take very long for him to break out, relatively speaking. Chaos he can draw power from exist everywhere.

Discord is allied with Ashvar more out of amused tolerance then anything else. He has some command, but just likes the chaos that's caused by them working together and goes with it. His comrades will more or less get the same level of tolerance.

With his powers, Discord can manipulate the landscape, create things from nothing, turn things inside out and upside down. He's incredibly clever and manipulative, but also extremely prideful and enjoys toying with his foes instead of simply destroying them. His close combat skills, while decent, aren't his strong suit either, so he can be taken by surprise and possibly overpowered.

Plot Hooks:
- Maybe he burned down your monastery :D
- Maybe you've heard about him. Well the rumors are true!
- The kind of villain that thinks they're untouchable and loves to mess around
- Maybe you want to seek revenge against him for one reason or another

[mad_poet]

Alhazred will be super skeptical about Discord's ability to be a "team player" just on principle. But that said, he'll probably enjoy his antics and make sure that it's directed at the good guys than the bad.

All in all, he thinks Discord's hilarious, but just... won't trust him near his toys. On the flip side, Alhazred might come off as kind of a creep?

[unmasked_nihilism]

Ulquiorra Schiffer is Avshar's right hand and the guy who generally keeps things running in his master's absence. His origins are shrouded in mystery but what is known is that he isn't human, and isn't quite a demon either. The story goes that somewhere, in some deep pit of the Abyss or relevant netherworld, is a vast desert of endless night populated by lost and damned souls that have fallen into despair. At the center of this realm is a bottomless pit where not even a shred of light reaches. Since the beginning of time, spirits have sank into this pit never to be seen again and nothing has ever come out until, one day, for entirely unknown reasons... something did.

Ulquiorra is an odd creature. He doesn't seem to have any reason or motivation for serving Avshar aside from the fact that he has no reason not to. An "Avatar of Despair", Ulquiorra's outlook is one of total nihilism. He sees no point in anything and considers life itself to be a transparent and fleeting and hope to be nothing more than an illusion

As Avshar's second in command, he oversees the activities of his armies and other lieutenants and keeps them in line when he needs to, however, he tends to be rather hands off in his methods. He's content to allow them to pursue their own goals as long as they don't conflict with or cause problems with Avshar's overall plans. If they do, he's quick to step in and dole out whatever punishments are necessary quickly, efficiently and without mercy.

He'll rarely take to the field himself but when he does his power can best be described as overwhelming, as befitting an "Avatar of Despair" such as himself. There seems to be no end to the speed and strength he can call upon and he seems to shrug off both physical and magical attacks. He even treats combat casually, hardly ever drawing his sword or even using both hands and will occasionally comment on the futility of his opponent's actions. That said, he is not invincible and can be defeated... doing so will just prove to be exceedingly difficult.

[mad_poet]

Despite being Avshar's left hand, Alhazred probably knows to take orders from Ulquiorra as if he was Avshar in the event that the latter's missing. He'll largely be okay with this, but will probably find Ulquiorra a little offputting. He likes despair and futility as much as the next guy does, but it gets to be a little depressing sometimes. Al's a demon that loves life and all.

Overall they probably share strategies and execute them as necessary. It might be a difficult relationship since the two probably reserve a level of respect only for Avshar. But a working one nevertheless.

[charmbuster]

MIMETE'S DEAL:

OKAY, so once upon a time in Videssos there was a magus with shiny spectacles who had a cute little daughter and there was a HUGE MAGIC ACCIDENT when she went into his study when he was summoning up stuff and they ended up both getting possessed to a greater and lesser degree, which lead to him assembling a crack team of young lady mages (THE WITCHES FIVE) to assist him (and his lover) in summoning Skotos to manifest fully on the physical plane in order to END EVERYTHING.

Yeah. That certainly was a thing. Anyway, among the six Witches Five (the twins were counted as one witch) was a young lady named Mimete who was shallow and careless and not really as studious as she ought to be, but was hella ambitious and one day after liberally distributing snails all around her main rival's bedroom, Mimete used her magery to contact Alhazred for help "dealing with" said rival and he turned her into a demon.

This had the effect of removing the breaks completely from Mimete (who had been a kind of terrible person to START WITH) and she promptly went about slaughtering the other five Witches, in the process of which... well, stuff got knocked over, potions mixed with potions that they should have never been mixed with and by the end there was one less Perfectly Ordinary Manor in the capital city, one less possessed magus (and daughter and lover), and one more somewhat singed demon.

At which point Alhazred pointed out that since she'd exploded her boss along with everyone else, that meant she was out of a job and added that she could join up with Team Ashvar and spread darkness with them.

And so she did.

Mimete can summon lesser demons (something she could also do in her human days) and she also has a wand that she uses to fling negative energy at people, which she refers to as her 'charm buster' for whatever reason.

PLOT HOOKS:
-- Maybe you met her in her human days?
-- Are you a hot guy? Do you know hot guys? Do you want Mimete to get yandere?
-- Her entire schtick is being cute and perky and VERY PSYCHO, even more so now that she's a demon
-- She's gunning for the number two minion spot
-- Treats other women as bigger rivals than the males in the organization
-- Is nowhere near as competent as she thinks she is
-- Okay she's the comedy relief badguy but she's still kind of scary

[unmasked_nihilism]

But what if the number two minion is also a hot guy? What then?

[blossominghero]

Tsubomi is the grand-daughter of a famous sorceress named Kaoruko, and she's wanted to do nothing more than follow in her grandmother's footsteps. Unfortunately, she's not the best study of magic, and as such, has been struggling to master her abilities. After training with her grandmother, Tsubomi was sent to study under Dietrich, in order to gain more confidence in her abilities and become more worldly.

Unlike other characters, Tsubomi's story is more or less just beginning. She's enthusiastic, is all about the love and justice, but she has issues with shyness and self-confidence. She's also young and very naive, and hasn't seen much of what the harsher world has to offer.

Plot hooks:
-- Maybe your character knows her grandmother. Maybe your character knows OF her grandmother. I'd be willing to flesh this out with anybody who wants it.
-- People who can test Tsubomi or help her grow as a sorceress would be much appreciated.
-- At the same time, villains might target her as a weak link. But I would like this to lead to eventual growth, not final defeat.
-- Less scrupulous types manipulating or stealing from her might be fun, and would help with being naive.

[princeofskotos]

If Kaoruko was seriously a badass, she probably gave Avshar a headache or two during her career. It's not like he wasn't around, after all. He is not above seeking revenge on her granddaughter to satisfy his own feelings, should he realize who she is.

Obviously he won't kill her outright, for plot reasons, but if anyone was to show her what harshness the world has to offer, it could certainly be him.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Pidonus Marasia was an innocent, beautiful human woman whose town happened to be destroyed by Alhazred. Unfortunately, Alhazred happened to hear her when she, trapped under some burning church wreckage, begged for her life, specifically saying the particularly stupid words "I'll give anything". Alhazred took her up on the offer, rescuing her only to transform her into a Succubus, erasing her memory of her human past and replacing it with a mile-wide sociopathic complex and intensely vain nature.

Pidonus is loyal to Avshar only incidentally; Alhazred, her 'creator', is the one she honestly thinks of as master. Pointedly, though, her methods are particularly nasty even by the terms of Avshar's minions, manipulating the minds of the weak-willed directly through magic, while working to corrupt the strong-willed until she can influence them too. Some get turned over to Alhazred for his experiments, while others are ultimately slain, their lifeforce drawn into her to power her nastier magics. (She refers to the amount of energy consumed by these spells as a "number of souls", however, it's uncertain that she actually claims the soul, stealing it from its honest fate. Certainly, though, the body is left dead.) A signature method of hers is to steal someone's memories and then kill them, magically copying their form and taking their place for some time to lead into a larger scheme.

Possible Hooks:
-- Possibly someone you were close to was consumed by her. If they were significant in their community, perhaps they acted strangely for some time before doing something horrifying and turning out to actually have died days or weeks ago, replaced by the succubus.
-- Possibly you were another survivor of Pidonus' hometown, and recognize her.
-- Most importantly, a major thing I wish to play out is Pidonus ultimately being captured by the heroes, and convinced to allow herself to be 'purified', at least partially restoring her human form and memory. How might your hero or villain be involved in that?

[charmbuster]

Mimete would be available to "accidentally" arrange for Pidonus to be left behind after some joint operation if she ever is given reason to think Alhazred likes Pidonus better than her.

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Yuri's Deal:
Warrior of the Moon's Light, Yuri Tsukikage - part of an ancient order of holy warriors tasked with vanquishing darkness from the land and protecting the hearts, minds, and bodies of the populace. Its founding many centuries ago was said to be under the guidance of an angelic being known only, aptly enough, as Cure Ange. Whether or not that's what she was is up to debate and muddied by history, but it's the belief of this order that those deemed worthy to harness this holy light have been blessed by her in some manner or another.

Once a studious girl in a rural town, Yuri's father was a member of this organization, the "Order of Ange," and an old friend and colleague of the great sorceress Kaoruko. While having little natural talent for magic, she did come to know the older woman well at a younger age, admiring her and learning the basics of magical theory out of sheer curiosity. Time passed, and Yuri too became chosen as a warrior wielding Ange's light, and further beyond that was deemed worthy to be paired with a creature born from that light - a fairy named Cologne, who would ensure Yuri both guidance and more power when she came capable of wielding it.

In spite of this, the Order had dwindled in number considerably over the years, and it did so even further when Yuri's father came into conflict with a being named Ulquiorra Schiffer. He battle Ulquiorra, intent on vanquishing him from this world and... failed. Yuri came too late to save him, or to even battle Ulquiorra herself.

By this point, Yuri had been a Paladin for some years, starting to gain some level of infamy for feats combating those who would threaten the innocent. However, with the death of her father she became even more driven. She withdrew herself from the rest of her family and what little remained of the Order out of shame, focusing completely on battling dark forces, kept on the righteous path only by Cologne's guidance. By the time she comes into the path of the heroic party, they will find a somewhat hardened young woman, hiding someone who would otherwise be a kind and gentle soul.

Yuri is a highly skilled warrior, trained in the use of numerous weapons, but favoring swords. She wields the power of a holy light, which can take the form of both energy to strike foes with, provide limited healing to those around her, and generally increase her durability and physical strength to a degree.

Beyond that, the idea is for her to also be carrying a medallion which represents the power she cannot yet wield. Basically, acting as a later power up over the course of the story, which would involve Cologne being drawn into the medallion and her power increasing, with the effect of her armor and hair shining when in effect. Basically, my excuse to work in a temporary transformation mechanic. Though when that is used, it may well drain her greatly.

Plot Hooks:

Yuri has made a name for herself battling dark forces and creatures, as well as healing people in her travels. Though since the death of her father, she's focused much more on the "fighting" part.

This has its benefits, but its disadvantages as well - beyond expectations being put upon her that may in fact exceed what she can mentally cope with, it also makes her one hell of a target.

The Order of Ange as an institution could have been a pain in the ass of any given evil creature over the years.

...and it has fallen into disarray in recent times, the number of warriors in its ranks thinning out considerably, and noticeably. Yuri could well be seen as someone trying to prop up a dying order.

Yuri has studied a lot about the world - magic even if she cannot preform it, creatures, history, and so on and so forth. She views everything like a science, and history as an important thing to learn from so they do not repeat it. So if there is anyone who could serve to learn from her, once she's opened up more, that is an option.

She has a direct rival and a quest to avenge her father's death, but anyone who might want to steer her from potentially self-destructive behavior would be great.

Other Things:

Using her fairy Cologne is something I considered as a means to keep her more willing to travel with the other heroes at the start. Judgmental and harsh at first, she needs some controlling force to keep her from running off to try and solo things. However! Unlike canon, I would like to keep Cologne alive. Because that'd be different.

The stuff with Kaoruko is okayed with Tsubomi's player, and Ulq with his.

There's probably other things but I have a lot of ideas for this and stuff keeps cropping up. 8D;

[guarding_wheel]

I don't know where I'm going with this yet but there might be some kind of CR hook inherent in Ichirin and Yuri belonging to two different religious orders.