What if Louise Renier became a darklord

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brilliantlight
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What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by brilliantlight »

Most likely by successfully assassinating her sister. What would be her curse/powers? My likely guess IMO is that even through her successful assassination of her sister she still winds up being in her shadow. Behind closed doors muttering about how much better it was when her sister ran things.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by Rock of the Fraternity »

I'd make her a Darklord outside Richemulot, actually.
Maybe in a little patch of land halfway between Richemulot and Verbrek, where she can't amass the wealth to create a land that can stand the comparison to her sister's domain.
Her land is in constant danger of being physically assaulted by lycanthropes out of Verbrek, forcing her to sponsor a siege mentality and a level of rough-and-readiness that grates on her desire for luxury. She needs to welcome and sponsor the most odious sellswords to keep her armies up to date. She knows that to the Richemuloise, she is a joke; the ruler of a backwards nation supposed to bring civilization to the wilderness but instead succumbing to the beast.
Here in her own land, Louise finally has a crown and a family of her own, but she is constantly having to put her offspring in its place for fear that she will be overthrown. Thus her curse is that she has gotten everything she wanted -- power and a family all her own -- but they require her to be everything she does not want to be: no longer a lady of class, elegance and wealth living the high life, but a beleaguered civil administrator and a harried warrior queen.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by brilliantlight »

In that case it would be an unsuccessful assassination of her sister. She is worried about the werewolves, worried about her sister trying to have her assassinated in retaliation and still living in her shadow. I can see Jacqueline taunting her by proxy . Instead of being in the center of luxury and getting under the shadow of her sister she lives in fear and is in her shadow more than ever. One of the powers I wouldn't give her in that case is the ability to close her borders.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by alhoon »

Jaqueline ignoring her slight as unimportant and ignoring her backwards fief of rednecks would be worse. But that's Drakov's curse.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by brilliantlight »

alhoon wrote:Jaqueline ignoring her slight as unimportant and ignoring her backwards fief of rednecks would be worse. But that's Drakov's curse.
I wouldn't see Jaqueline doing that, but I could see her not seriously trying to kill her. Make half hearted attempts that she doesn't really want to succeed but keeps her in fear. She has a bit of a vindictive streak.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by alhoon »

Jaqueline's hell-bent on revenge usually, not just having a vindictive side. However, losing Louise would seriously damage her failing sanity. She keeps her around in order to never be alone. Having an a sister that wants to assassinate her is better option for Jaqueline than dealing with her. And Louise had made at least a couple of attempts on her in canon.

The way I see your scenario happening? Louise killing Jaqueline's son Jacque. THAT would send Jaqueline to a frenzy and would be horrible enough for Louise to be taken away by the mists. Louise may do it in order for her sister to lose whatever sanity she has remaining and collapse.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by brilliantlight »

alhoon wrote:Jaqueline's hell-bent on revenge usually, not just having a vindictive side. However, losing Louise would seriously damage her failing sanity. She keeps her around in order to never be alone. Having an a sister that wants to assassinate her is better option for Jaqueline than dealing with her. And Louise had made at least a couple of attempts on her in canon.

The way I see your scenario happening? Louise killing Jaqueline's son Jacque. THAT would send Jaqueline to a frenzy and would be horrible enough for Louise to be taken away by the mists. Louise may do it in order for her sister to lose whatever sanity she has remaining and collapse.
She could find someone else to hang out with besides her sister but yes killing Jacque makes sense and for that Jacqueline would go out of her way to make Louise suffer.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by jamesfirecat »

brilliantlight wrote:Most likely by successfully assassinating her sister. What would be her curse/powers? My likely guess IMO is that even through her successful assassination of her sister she still winds up being in her shadow. Behind closed doors muttering about how much better it was when her sister ran things.
Easy peasy.

Louise kills her sister, but is herself wounded badly enough in the fight that she can't be out in public for a while/has to hide some place to recover.

By the time she is well again... Jacques Renier, Jacqueline's eldest son is now Le Grande Duke, ruler of Richemulot.

Louise's curse is that she is darklord of Richemulot, she finally has what what once her sister's... she will gain incredible control over rats, near immortality, but she will never have the thing of Jacqueline's that she really wanted, political power.

She may even loose the "Renier Mystique" and start smelling horribly like wererats normally do, making her forced to be even more of a social recluse. Her curse is that no matter how she tries to kill Jacques either personally or through others, he will always survive, and the attempts on his life will just make him more famous/more amazing/more praiseworthy to the people of Richemulot.

The little upstart that Louise never considered a true threat while his mother was alive, will be become the ultimate thorn in her paw. Louise has moved out of Jacqueline's shadow, and into Jacques, and at least she respected her sister as a worthy foe, Jacques will overshadow Louise simply because the Dark Powers want him to/give him unnatural luck.


Darklordship of Richemulot need not be considered to come with political control of the nation after all....
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by brilliantlight »

jamesfirecat wrote:
brilliantlight wrote:Most likely by successfully assassinating her sister. What would be her curse/powers? My likely guess IMO is that even through her successful assassination of her sister she still winds up being in her shadow. Behind closed doors muttering about how much better it was when her sister ran things.
Easy peasy.

Louise kills her sister, but is herself wounded badly enough in the fight that she can't be out in public for a while/has to hide some place to recover.

By the time she is well again... Jacques Renier, Jacqueline's eldest son is now Le Grande Duke, ruler of Richemulot.

Louise's curse is that she is darklord of Richemulot, she finally has what what once her sister's... she will gain incredible control over rats, near immortality, but she will never have the thing of Jacqueline's that she really wanted, political power.

She may even loose the "Renier Mystique" and start smelling horribly like wererats normally do, making her forced to be even more of a social recluse. Her curse is that no matter how she tries to kill Jacques either personally or through others, he will always survive, and the attempts on his life will just make him more famous/more amazing/more praiseworthy to the people of Richemulot.

The little upstart that Louise never considered a true threat while his mother was alive, will be become the ultimate thorn in her paw. Louise has moved out of Jacqueline's shadow, and into Jacques, and at least she respected her sister as a worthy foe, Jacques will overshadow Louise simply because the Dark Powers want him to/give him unnatural luck.


Darklordship of Richemulot need not be considered to come with political control of the nation after all....
Nice, a very good idea.
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by Zilfer »

I like all the brainstorming in this topic. How i could see all the stories going one way or another. :) I might decide to make Richemulot my next campaign. Thanks for the ideas!

Edit: I did have some political intrigue based off a suggestion of Jamesfirecat's suggestion of having Louise indirectly try and have her sister killed but there was a mess up like a game of telephone where the instructions were interpreted as targeting Jacques instead of Jacqueline. The party saw that happen at the party, and helped a feline friend defeat and kill the would be assassin. Jacqueline could have clergy speak with dead later without unknown people or adventures getting wind of stuff. (Party wanted to heal Jacques but he was spirited off to another room quickly to be healed by 'in house clerics' stating that they couldn't trust strangers even if they did come to his aid.)
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Re: What if Louise Renier became a darklord

Post by thekristhomas »

Rock wrote:I'd make her a Darklord outside Richemulot, actually.
Maybe in a little patch of land halfway between Richemulot and Verbrek, where she can't amass the wealth to create a land that can stand the comparison to her sister's domain.
Her land is in constant danger of being physically assaulted by lycanthropes out of Verbrek, forcing her to sponsor a siege mentality and a level of rough-and-readiness that grates on her desire for luxury. She needs to welcome and sponsor the most odious sellswords to keep her armies up to date. She knows that to the Richemuloise, she is a joke; the ruler of a backwards nation supposed to bring civilization to the wilderness but instead succumbing to the beast.
Here in her own land, Louise finally has a crown and a family of her own, but she is constantly having to put her offspring in its place for fear that she will be overthrown. Thus her curse is that she has gotten everything she wanted -- power and a family all her own -- but they require her to be everything she does not want to be: no longer a lady of class, elegance and wealth living the high life, but a beleaguered civil administrator and a harried warrior queen.
I could see this happening as a result of Richemuloise expansion after the Becoming Plague, or events similar to those discussed in the "War in the Core" thread. In fact, it could happen by accident, as it were, if Louise just happened to be in a domain when the DL was killed, and she was the most DL-worthy candidate. IMHO, she needn't have even been a participant in the demise of the previous DL but YMMV.
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