Revolution in Falkovnia

Discussing all things Ravenloft
User avatar
alhoon
Invisible Menace
Invisible Menace
Posts: 8804
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
Location: Chania or Athens // Greece

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by alhoon »

About Revolutionary Falkovnia: No ideas forthcoming, sorry! :)
For all it's worth, I find it noteworthy to have a "false revolutionary" as darklord, one cursing his luck that he has to play it that way.
PS. How about you make that person a woman to address the "lack of non-stereotypical women" darklords too?

About Robespierre as darklord: I don't think he was corrupt at all.
Not every firebrand is corrupt, although some of them do shady or evil stuff. Robespierre for all his education etc was a fanatic. He saw the republic of France with the same fervor as religious extremists see their religion.
He didn't push for the executions of tens of thousands because of power-lust or greed. He did it because of his convictions.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
User avatar
brilliantlight
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:02 pm

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

alhoon wrote:About Revolutionary Falkovnia: No ideas forthcoming, sorry! :)
For all it's worth, I find it noteworthy to have a "false revolutionary" as darklord, one cursing his luck that he has to play it that way.
PS. How about you make that person a woman to address the "lack of non-stereotypical women" darklords too?

About Robespierre as darklord: I don't think he was corrupt at all.
Not every firebrand is corrupt, although some of them do shady or evil stuff. Robespierre for all his education etc was a fanatic. He saw the republic of France with the same fervor as religious extremists see their religion.
He didn't push for the executions of tens of thousands because of power-lust or greed. He did it because of his convictions.
A bastard daughter then? Interesting, she would also be trying to prove to dear, old dad that "even a woman" can make something of herself.
jamesfirecat
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 11:30 am

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by jamesfirecat »

brilliantlight wrote:A bastard daughter then? Interesting, she would also be trying to prove to dear, old dad that "even a woman" can make something of herself.
On one hand given that isn't Falkovnia supposedly one of the most chauvinistic domains in the core (Kinder, Küche, Kirche though I suppose you can drop that last one in this case) you could probably make sexual discrimination another one of those things that people can go up against the wall for in the New Falkovnia.

Also would be an interesting concept to explore in that does the daughter actually believe that women are as good as men, or does she just think SHE is as good as men since you know she's a descendant of the noble line of Darkov and thinks more ordinary women should be busy producing more soldiers for the army.

The only possible downside is that then you have TWO darklords in the Core who are both the daughters (though of course obviously they have very different backstories beyond that) of Vlad Drakov, though since she and Gabrielle don't share a border it'd be hard for them to join a support group.
vyshan
Conspirator
Conspirator
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 1:56 am

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by vyshan »

jamesfirecat wrote:The only possible downside is that then you have TWO darklords in the Core who are both the daughters (though of course obviously they have very different backstories beyond that) of Vlad Drakov, though since she and Gabrielle don't share a border it'd be hard for them to join a support group.
Gabrielle is the daughter of vlad drakov? I have not read that before. Gaz IV just says unknown giogrio.
User avatar
alhoon
Invisible Menace
Invisible Menace
Posts: 8804
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
Location: Chania or Athens // Greece

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by alhoon »

Yeap, she is.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
User avatar
brilliantlight
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:02 pm

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

I don't have a problem with that. My players probably don't know that (I didn't) and even if they did there is no reason a dark lord can't have two daughters who are also dark lords. The Dark Powers certainly wouldn't care. As far as other women went she thought them as inferior. She was different because of her bloodline. As far as ordinary women go they are mere brood mares. If she ever had daughters she would think of them differently because of their bloodline. Treating ordinary women as more than brood mares is going to bug her. It takes away from her "specialness".
User avatar
alhoon
Invisible Menace
Invisible Menace
Posts: 8804
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
Location: Chania or Athens // Greece

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by alhoon »

Darklord? Perhaps she doesn't view her daughters as more than brood-mares. Or not all of them at least. And she has only daughters. Not a single son to inherit her birthright and put an end to this horrible revolution thing.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
User avatar
brilliantlight
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:02 pm

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

alhoon wrote:Darklord? Perhaps she doesn't view her daughters as more than brood-mares. Or not all of them at least. And she has only daughters. Not a single son to inherit her birthright and put an end to this horrible revolution thing.
I don't see that, it would go against "I am of Drakov's line and so I am special" line of thinking. Maybe she has to marry a revolutionary to keep power (which makes sense from a political point of view) which she would hate. Worse yet part of her is actually attracted to him which makes it an agonizing love/hate relationship.
User avatar
alhoon
Invisible Menace
Invisible Menace
Posts: 8804
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
Location: Chania or Athens // Greece

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by alhoon »

Well, that actually slides dangerously close to the traditional darklord women... marital problems.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
User avatar
brilliantlight
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:02 pm

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

Point taken, why not drop it all together? I just don't think kids are important to this character. Romance and the like might simply not come up with her.
vyshan
Conspirator
Conspirator
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 1:56 am

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by vyshan »

You could borrow ideas from Philippe Égalité, the duke of Orleans who became a fervent supporter of the revolution and changed his name from Louise Philippe to Philippe Égalité.

One thing I would do if I was messing with Falkovnia is to make things better in general, hell I would do this even if Vlad Drakov is the darklord. The reason for that is because as Falkovnia is written, there is no joy, nothing sympathetic or tragic to Drakov, the books even go out of the way to say the cities lack color, color as if everything was an old black and white movie. I don't feel any sympathy or see anything tragic about Vlad Drakov; where as IMO with a darklord you should see that there, there should be a peice that makes them sympathetic and tragic, it doesn't change that they are evil men and women.

Instead, I would have drakov(either vlad or the new ruler) focus on things to keep the people distracted from his/her brutality. Let them have their bread and circuses. Thus entertainments, such as hawking(ie falconry but with hawks), Military sports like jousting and sword-duels, games like chess, and so on. This has 2 effects; first it distracts the populace form the brutality of the regime, and second it functions as a way for people to train during peace time.

Furthermore infastructre building from things like national roads to new housing for the people. Even Hittler had crazy plans for berlin and he made the autobauhn. These sort of improvements help the people out while at the same time being a major boost to the country, after all having a road system is useful for the military.

P.S: can someone explain how Falkovinia is a medieval style country?
User avatar
Dark Angel
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 815
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:00 am
Location: Falentei, the Lands of Fire and Darkness

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by Dark Angel »

vyshan wrote:P.S: can someone explain how Falkovinia is a medieval style country?
I moved them up to chivalric with the following criteria from my sources:

8-Chivalric Age-1300-1450 AD- The era of the mounted knight brings many innovations along with it. Accurate hourglasses, mechanical clocks, better paper, spectacles, the game of chess, and even the concept of quarantining sick populations all make life easier and safer. Governments begin consistently tracking births, deaths, and marriages. However, many new tools of war appear including the arquebus, jousting lance, morningstar, claymore, and bastard sword (although the bastard sword is only found in Falkovnia). New polearms of the age are bardiche, bec de corbin, glaive-guisarme, military fork, and the lucern hammer.

Excluding the arquebus, of course.
"One does not stop playing when they get old, they grow old when they stop playing" George Bernard Shaw
"If you could be either God’s worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose?" Chuck Palahniuk
User avatar
brilliantlight
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:02 pm

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

vyshan wrote:You could borrow ideas from Philippe Égalité, the duke of Orleans who became a fervent supporter of the revolution and changed his name from Louise Philippe to Philippe Égalité.

One thing I would do if I was messing with Falkovnia is to make things better in general, hell I would do this even if Vlad Drakov is the darklord. The reason for that is because as Falkovnia is written, there is no joy, nothing sympathetic or tragic to Drakov, the books even go out of the way to say the cities lack color, color as if everything was an old black and white movie. I don't feel any sympathy or see anything tragic about Vlad Drakov; where as IMO with a darklord you should see that there, there should be a peice that makes them sympathetic and tragic, it doesn't change that they are evil men and women.

Instead, I would have drakov(either vlad or the new ruler) focus on things to keep the people distracted from his/her brutality. Let them have their bread and circuses. Thus entertainments, such as hawking(ie falconry but with hawks), Military sports like jousting and sword-duels, games like chess, and so on. This has 2 effects; first it distracts the populace form the brutality of the regime, and second it functions as a way for people to train during peace time.

Furthermore infastructre building from things like national roads to new housing for the people. Even Hittler had crazy plans for berlin and he made the autobauhn. These sort of improvements help the people out while at the same time being a major boost to the country, after all having a road system is useful for the military.

P.S: can someone explain how Falkovinia is a medieval style country?
That is hardly unique to Drakov. There is nothing sympathetic in Godfrey's, Azalin's or Markov's background I can think of. One was a noble who killed his wife and daughter in a rage, another is a lich who had his own son executed while the last was a wife killer who tortured animals. I don't feel sorry for any of them.

How is Falkovnia NOT a medieval style country? It is ruled by an absolute monarch who is backed up by a bunch of well armed goons. It has a peasantry that is totally oppressed and is a country constantly at war. Sounds like a typical medieval country to me.
jamesfirecat
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 11:30 am

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by jamesfirecat »

I think some people are talking past each other in this thread.

I might be wrong but I believe that Dark Angel used "Midevil" as talking about a particular level of technology, whereas brilliantlight is using it as a more of a system of government, or a particular "sensation" that one gets from traveling in the domain, IE Falkovnia is one of those domains where "How do you know he's the king?" "Because he's the only one not covered in..."

I think we should ask vyshan to clarify what he meant by "medieval style country" to properly answer it.
Last edited by jamesfirecat on Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
brilliantlight
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:02 pm

Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

jamesfirecat wrote:I think some people are talking past each other in this thread.

I might be wrong but I believe that Dark Angel used "Midevil" as talking about a particular level of technology, whereas brilliantlight is using it as a more of a system of government, or a particular "sensation" that one gets from traveling in the domain, IE Falkovnia is one of those domains where "How do you know he's the king?" "Because he's not covered in..."

I think we should ask vyshan to clarify what he meant by "medieval style country" to properly answer it.
You have a point. I definitely was looking at it at a governmental level. Dark Angel was looking at it at a technological level.
Post Reply