Revolution in Falkovnia

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TheSalemlord
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by TheSalemlord »

I remember reading something about revolution in Falkovnia here: http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/TheV ... ovnia.html, which also sparked the idea for my campaign.

As I've mentioned in this thread: http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... f=1&t=9047
My Paladin player has some resemblance with Drakov (Player and Character). So my plan to start this revolution in my current campaign was to make the Paladin meet with Gondegal, Convince him to join his cause to overthrown Vlad and help Gondegal reclaim the Throne. So they start to raid and kill all the Bastard sons of Drakov in different places of Falkovnia, eliminating all the "bloodlines". (I know there are a lot, but for plot I will only add the most recurring bastards...Pun intended).

All sons killed, they march against Drakov. Assault Lekar and storm the castle to fight the Kaiser. Once they dispose of Vlad; Good Guy Gondegal turns Bad Blood Gondegal and will try to kill the Paladin in a treacherous manner, since Gondegal knows the Paladin is in fact the "Last Bastard Son" (Info provided by Dark Powers , Vistani magic or Azalin Trolling around*).

They probably defeat and kill Gondegal. My plan is to put the Paladin on the Throne as a "Good Vlad", but since he is a kind of "Justice Freak Zealot Paladin", with time all things will jump into Elena Faith-Hold's train.

now...that was the plan for the long shot...But time is getting shorter and I'm not sure if I will be able to run it since I am aiming for Roots of Evil* as the final adventure to end my torment.
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brilliantlight
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

I didn't notice that before. In any case my revolution and dark lord are quite different from that. In any case great minds think alike. At least I will go with that when I am one of the minds. :D
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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brilliantlight wrote:
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.
The government is not truly a monarchy in the traditional medieval stance but more of a military despotism. There isn't really any nobility or aristocracy, just soldiers and the military. Drakov doesn't rule through a divine right of kings like traditional monarchs. (In fact, the church is completely at the sideline of society- having no influence in shaping public policy.)

Drakov rules purely on fear and the need for the totality of the sovereign state and its resources for war. The ideas of sovereign national state as depicted as the main conception of society (to the exclusion of local, religious, and cultural conceptions) and the idea of innate racial superiority as depicted in Falkovnia seem to draw from more modern source of inspiration than older ones.

The state of Falkovnia seems to be much more centralized than a feudal monarchy, in that there is no mention/seems to need no vassal lords. In addition, the gaz on Falkovnia talks at length about carrying ones identification papers about them at all times. In a time where most people couldn't read- this is an anachronism. The Ministry of Intelligence also seems to indicate a very well developed and formalized national professional spy system which seems out of place with a medieval milieu. Historically many spy networks employed skilled amateurs such as those involved in commerce or the church.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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The Lesser Evil wrote:
brilliantlight wrote:
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.
The government is not truly a monarchy in the traditional medieval stance but more of a military despotism. There isn't really any nobility or aristocracy, just soldiers and the military. Drakov doesn't rule through a divine right of kings like traditional monarchs. (In fact, the church is completely at the sideline of society- having no influence in shaping public policy.)

Drakov rules purely on fear and the need for the totality of the sovereign state and its resources for war. The ideas of sovereign national state as depicted as the main conception of society (to the exclusion of local, religious, and cultural conceptions) and the idea of innate racial superiority as depicted in Falkovnia seem to draw from more modern source of inspiration than older ones.

The state of Falkovnia seems to be much more centralized than a feudal monarchy, in that there is no mention/seems to need no vassal lords. In addition, the gaz on Falkovnia talks at length about carrying ones identification papers about them at all times. In a time where most people couldn't read- this is an anachronism. The Ministry of Intelligence also seems to indicate a very well developed and formalized national professional spy system which seems out of place with a medieval milieu. Historically many spy networks employed skilled amateurs such as those involved in commerce or the church.

Considering its size it is more like a barony or at most a county than a kingdom. They way I see it is that Drakov is basically a king in a kingdom so small it doesn't have or need local lords in that sense. In a way I see the talons and high officers as the nobility. The ID papers are a bit of a problem. The divine right of kings was always a fluid concept being more might makes right than anything else.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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brilliantlight wrote:The ID papers are a bit of a problem.
The ID papers you can't read say whatever the officer reading them tells you they say peasant!
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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An idea I had for this domain is to make it a "Psedo-Republic" a sort of http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... cOfTyranny . The revolutionaries are in a sense the new aristocracy. As they are "Heroes of the Revolution" they have special rights. Speaking against one of them is not technically illegal but is almost certain to get you named as an "enemy of the people" After all why are you speaking out against them unless you are a counterrevolutionary? The dark lord is still miserable since even the pretense of a republic grates on her nerves. She shouldn't even a have to pretend the peasants matter, damn it! Besides the new aristocracy is made up of nothing but jumped up commoners who should be groveling in the dirt not lording over everyone.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by alhoon »

Falkovnia, with about 65K adults is not that small... They would certainly need an upper-class (whether military or not) to govern it. I mean, even barons had the knights and other gentry running the villages outside the town.

At 65K people, in a 1200 AD frame-work, Falkovnia is large enough to be a small duchy I think or a very large county. It has 3 cities after all. That means at least 2 extra high-ranks to run them.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

Post by brilliantlight »

alhoon wrote:Falkovnia, with about 65K adults is not that small... They would certainly need an upper-class (whether military or not) to govern it. I mean, even barons had the knights and other gentry running the villages outside the town.

At 65K people, in a 1200 AD frame-work, Falkovnia is large enough to be a small duchy I think or a very large county. It has 3 cities after all. That means at least 2 extra high-ranks to run them.
They would certainly need an upper class, most likely high ranking officers that are nobles in all but name.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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Epically wrote:http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... php?t=8658

I had a revolt in my campaign.
Interesting but it looks like the new governments will be quite different.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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One thing I forgot to ask. What powers would you give her? A paranoid dark lord who was going to turn in her fellow revolutionaries whose power is based on being one of the leaders off the revolution . She is a high level LE rouge/fighter. She hates and fears her fellow revolutionaries and admires and fears the talons.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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brilliantlight wrote:One thing I forgot to ask. What powers would you give her? A paranoid dark lord who was going to turn in her fellow revolutionaries whose power is based on being one of the leaders off the revolution . She is a high level LE rouge/fighter. She hates and fears her fellow revolutionaries and admires and fears the talons.
Unless powers are really necessary to play into her curse/desires it's perfectly acceptable for her not to have any, after all the old ruler of Falkovnia didn't have any...
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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jamesfirecat wrote:
brilliantlight wrote:One thing I forgot to ask. What powers would you give her? A paranoid dark lord who was going to turn in her fellow revolutionaries whose power is based on being one of the leaders off the revolution . She is a high level LE rouge/fighter. She hates and fears her fellow revolutionaries and admires and fears the talons.
Unless powers are really necessary to play into her curse/desires it's perfectly acceptable for her not to have any, after all the old ruler of Falkovnia didn't have any...
He was slow-aging and had spell resistance, but yeah, other than that, not much.

Regarding the new darklord, you might give this new darklord a "detect revolutionary" power that might function similarly to Elena Faith-hold's "detect evil" power.
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Re: Revolution in Falkovnia

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The Lesser Evil wrote:
jamesfirecat wrote:
brilliantlight wrote:One thing I forgot to ask. What powers would you give her? A paranoid dark lord who was going to turn in her fellow revolutionaries whose power is based on being one of the leaders off the revolution . She is a high level LE rouge/fighter. She hates and fears her fellow revolutionaries and admires and fears the talons.
Unless powers are really necessary to play into her curse/desires it's perfectly acceptable for her not to have any, after all the old ruler of Falkovnia didn't have any...
He was slow-aging and had spell resistance, but yeah, other than that, not much.

Regarding the new darklord, you might give this new darklord a "detect revolutionary" power that might function similarly to Elena Faith-hold's "detect evil" power.
Maybe she has a constant "detect fear" which she misinterprets as "detect revolutionary". Anyone who is afraid of her is marked down as a revolutionary. This happens less likely than you might think. As a "villainess with good publicity" and "affably evil" far more people adore her than are afraid of her. However every few days (A week or two at most) she will run into someone who is.
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