Idea for an adventure or a stupid question
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vipera aspis
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Idea for an adventure or a stupid question
Why hasn't the good king Azalin destroyed Falkovia? Ivan cannot close his borders and his army could not hope to defend against the dead for long. Good king Rex could even hire a well organized adventuring party to assassinate the old hawk and his sons. All it would do whould be increase Darkons size, give azalin more power and minus away a petty merc war lord.
my bones among the rocks and roots
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Igor the Henchman
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Azalin knows enough about the meta-physics of Ravenloft to guess that removing Drakov probably wouldn't increase the size of his domain. Nor does he see Drakov as any kind of serious threat to his power.
If anything, Drakov's presence is useful for manipulating the Core's politics, as Falkovnia's presence forces all the surrounding realms in a perpetual defensive stance.
If anything, Drakov's presence is useful for manipulating the Core's politics, as Falkovnia's presence forces all the surrounding realms in a perpetual defensive stance.
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WolfKook
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Plus, Drakov's constant failures are a constant reminder of the military might of Darkon to all would-be conquerors.
As an adventure, it seems interesting, though I wouldn't use Azalin as the characters' patron, or would make up some other, hidden motive, for Azalin to plan on the downfall of Drakov. Perhaps the warlord is no longer useful to him. Perhaps there is something in Falkovnian soil that he needs for one of his constant power-schemes... Whatever it is, it will probably not be the desire to extend his domains.
As an adventure, it seems interesting, though I wouldn't use Azalin as the characters' patron, or would make up some other, hidden motive, for Azalin to plan on the downfall of Drakov. Perhaps the warlord is no longer useful to him. Perhaps there is something in Falkovnian soil that he needs for one of his constant power-schemes... Whatever it is, it will probably not be the desire to extend his domains.
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom"
William Blake
William Blake
In terms of canon, it's basicaly just that Azalin simply knows that expansion through conquest is futile, and on a personal level he blows off Drakov as insiginificant.
Beyond that, it's also worth noting that Azalin can't actually send his endless armies of undead into Falkovnia. His undead mastery is a domain-granted power, and as such ends at the borders of the domains. If he animates all the dead of Darkon and pours them across the border, they'll simply become free-willed the moment they step into Falkovnia (and for that matter, might well just fall over dead). Without that ability, Azalin is forced to rely on the same necromancy as any other spellcaster, which limits him to directly controlling a relative handful of undead. Without that overwhelming advantage, defeating Drakov's army on its home turf would pose a significant challenge -- despite their record, Drakov's soldiers are no pushovers.
Beyond that, it's also worth noting that Azalin can't actually send his endless armies of undead into Falkovnia. His undead mastery is a domain-granted power, and as such ends at the borders of the domains. If he animates all the dead of Darkon and pours them across the border, they'll simply become free-willed the moment they step into Falkovnia (and for that matter, might well just fall over dead). Without that ability, Azalin is forced to rely on the same necromancy as any other spellcaster, which limits him to directly controlling a relative handful of undead. Without that overwhelming advantage, defeating Drakov's army on its home turf would pose a significant challenge -- despite their record, Drakov's soldiers are no pushovers.
The Dark Powers might also be playing their hand there. It's part of Drakov's curse that the other domain lords and rulers consider him insignificant and fail to regard him with respect; Azalin might not be able to devote the mental effort to arranging the kind of serious war effort it would take to cross the borders and destroy Drakov.
I'd go with the free-willed interpretation rather than the "fall over dead" interpretation, if only because of the events in I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin. Strahd there talks of shambling undead coming over the border and his men fighting them off. While I'm as skeptical of the vampire's self-serving accounts as the next scholar, I do think this is one example of Elrod's writing that I'd keep as canon in my campaign.Mangrum wrote:Azalin can't actually send his endless armies of undead into Falkovnia. His undead mastery is a domain-granted power, and as such ends at the borders of the domains. If he animates all the dead of Darkon and pours them across the border, they'll simply become free-willed the moment they step into Falkovnia (and for that matter, might well just fall over dead).
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norms29
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Of course there's also the possiblity that Azzy is AFRAID to attack falkovnia.
Why would he scared, you ask? Well for starters he had a comment in the second doomsday gazzetter regarding his war with Barovia
Why would he scared, you ask? Well for starters he had a comment in the second doomsday gazzetter regarding his war with Barovia
so given what he knows about the demiplane, Azalin might believe that ANY inter-domain military action is doomed to fail, no matter how big an advantage the attacker should have.some men recognize futility when they see it.
Yes, but I suspect Azalin, as perceptive as he is, suspects that the DPs allow Drakov enough land to think he's got a shot at his futile goal-- meaning that Azalin's armies can't sweep in and take over either...tarlyn st-denfer wrote:Maybe against Strahd's army yes, but not against Drakov's. Drakov lacks Strahd's intelligence and experience. Also Azalin can just raise Drakov's dead to his side.
Besides, the stupid mercenary is, as far as he's concerned, a pest who occasionally creates a messy distraction from Azalin's more important business. Why *bother* conquering him?
From a purely political viewpoint, Azalin has no reason to want to remove Vlad Drakov.
Currently, Drakov is more or less completely incompetent. His antiquated military tactics and overweening pride means that each time he invades Darkon, the ranks of undead swells enormously, adding to Azalin's own power. Plus, as another poster has already pointed out, the Falkfuhrer's depredations on other realms has kept the other darklords politically busy with handling him. Falkovnia is to Darkon what North Korea is to China - it's a very noisy and unpopular neighbor that draws the attention of all its surrounding countries... who might otherwise have spent their time and efforts in targeting Darkon instead.
If Azalin succeeds in removing Drakov, the likely inheritors of the throne might be just as inept and ineffective as him... or they might not.
Who's to say that one of his sons, if crowned Falkfuhrer, might not embrace magic, technology, and gunpowder? Who's to say that a more level headed son might spend less time with his tortures and more time with his tactics? A Falkovnia led by a truly competent military leader who understood the mystical nature of the realm, and could use it to their advantage, might be a truly strategic player in the Core - as opposed to the realm's current "barbarian raider" status.
Azalin is hardly bothered by Drakov, who does not (as far as we know) make use of assassins, mercenaries, or wizards - preferring instead to march soldiers over the borders en masse. This suits Azalin just fine; until Drakov does something to truly threaten him, he'd likely stick with the evil he knows.
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Of course, if you want to make an adventure that would change the political balance in the Core, you may want to give Drakov some knowledge or hints about Azalin's true nature. That would likely make Drakov a real target of Azalin's, perhaps leading to an overthrow. The PCs could be brought in as unwitting allies of Azalin (or Drakov) working for that cause without even knowing it.
Currently, Drakov is more or less completely incompetent. His antiquated military tactics and overweening pride means that each time he invades Darkon, the ranks of undead swells enormously, adding to Azalin's own power. Plus, as another poster has already pointed out, the Falkfuhrer's depredations on other realms has kept the other darklords politically busy with handling him. Falkovnia is to Darkon what North Korea is to China - it's a very noisy and unpopular neighbor that draws the attention of all its surrounding countries... who might otherwise have spent their time and efforts in targeting Darkon instead.
If Azalin succeeds in removing Drakov, the likely inheritors of the throne might be just as inept and ineffective as him... or they might not.
Who's to say that one of his sons, if crowned Falkfuhrer, might not embrace magic, technology, and gunpowder? Who's to say that a more level headed son might spend less time with his tortures and more time with his tactics? A Falkovnia led by a truly competent military leader who understood the mystical nature of the realm, and could use it to their advantage, might be a truly strategic player in the Core - as opposed to the realm's current "barbarian raider" status.
Azalin is hardly bothered by Drakov, who does not (as far as we know) make use of assassins, mercenaries, or wizards - preferring instead to march soldiers over the borders en masse. This suits Azalin just fine; until Drakov does something to truly threaten him, he'd likely stick with the evil he knows.
...
Of course, if you want to make an adventure that would change the political balance in the Core, you may want to give Drakov some knowledge or hints about Azalin's true nature. That would likely make Drakov a real target of Azalin's, perhaps leading to an overthrow. The PCs could be brought in as unwitting allies of Azalin (or Drakov) working for that cause without even knowing it.