Gazetteer Metaplot

[Seamus]

Does anyone have a concrete notion of just what Azalin was up to in the Gazetteers? My first instinct would be that, as usual, Azalin was trying to escape, but a few of his notations seem to indicate that isn't the case. So has anyone put together a theory or played the scenario out in their own campaign? Or will one of the developers take pity on me and my feeble brain?
Just to recap, for anyone who feels like pitching a theory, here's what we know or have reason to suspect already:
The Dukkar is very important to Azalin's plan.
Despite the Dukkar's usefulness in this regard, it appears that Azalin's plan does not involve simple escape.
The plot may involve other children of the Gentleman Caller. However the GC may just be paranoid of the mention of so many of them in the gazetteers, or he may just be misdirecting attention away from Mallochio specifically.
The plan requires a survey of all the realm's domains, which seems superfluous on the surface given Azalin's existing knowledge base.
The last domain surveyed would have been Bluetspur.

So I'm curious. What do people think Azalin's ultimate goal is? By what method will it be achieved (often the most interesting part of Azalin's plots)? And how will it go wrong, and what calamity with befall the Land of Mists when the plan inevitably fails?

[ScS of the Fraternity]

My impression, right or wrong, is that Azalin's ultimate goal is revenge on the Dark Powers. Since the events of the Requiem, Azalin has become aware of the manipulations of the DPs and sworn to teach them the meaning of fear.

[Lucius]

Ryan Naylor mentioned in another thread that his plan obviously involves an attempt to escape the demiplane, and it involves the GC, the Dukkar, the Tribe of Hyskosa, and the Gentleman Caller´s children.

But I also think that escaping the demilane is not all Azalin that wants.

According the Gaz 4 even the Dark Powers may have some dificulty to "perceive" the Dukkar, so I believe that he wants the Dukkar not only for his capacity of transporting through the mists, but I think he wants to use the powers of the Dukkar against the Dark Powers, by endind the existence of the demiplane, or even changing place with the DPs, imprisioning them into their own creation.

[brothersale]

I agree with ScS, i read through the gaz and came to the conclusions that Azalin's has given up on trying to escape and instead now wants his pound of flesh from those he thinks are in charge. The biggest indicator of this was when 'S' was discussing Darkon's history and he commented that "Dreams are tencious things, little scholar, but eventually even they must die." who knows this could be what leads up to the Time of Unparalleled Darkness, we already know that thanks to Venca if a darklord ignores the bait of the DPs he can break free causing untold damage to neighboring domains in the process, and since old Azalin is on the largest and oldest of the land masses of the Mist it may even distrupt the place entirely.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I agree with ScS, i read through the gaz and came to the conclusions that Azalin's has given up on trying to escape and instead now wants his pound of flesh from those he thinks are in charge. The biggest indicator of this was when 'S' was discussing Darkon's history and he commented that "Dreams are tencious things, little scholar, but eventually even they must die." who knows this could be what leads up to the Time of Unparalleled Darkness, we already know that thanks to Venca if a darklord ignores the bait of the DPs he can break free causing untold damage to neighboring domains in the process, and since old Azalin is on the largest and oldest of the land masses of the Mist it may even distrupt the place entirely.

It was Soth's apathy that allowed him to escape. Vecna did it by absorbing Iuz's essence and becoming a lesser god, a being the DP don't have the power to hold.

[Undead Cabbage]

I agree with the previous statements that Azalin is out for more then just escape. Azalin (having a Knowledge: Ravenloft value of +25), knows more about the truth behind his world than anybody else (with the exception of the FoS, of course) precieves a gimpse of what the DPs might be trying to do. Azalin, being the apex of all liches, has constructed a plan that no one will even begin to understand until it is at least decades into fruitation.

Who knows, maybe Azalin is somewhat suicidal in that he simply wants the realm of dread to end, even if it means his own destruction. The sentence "Dreams are tencious things, little scholar, but eventually even they must die." suggests this. Azalin may have simply grown tired of this world, having realized that the DPs are not going to let go of their favorite Lab Rat. All of Azalin's life, he has done, or not done things to perserve his own life (necromancy, not killing strahd when he was in Barovia, taking the body of his son). Azalin might have realized that this matter of self preservation above all is what trapped him in the first place, and so he might be thinking less about saving his life and more about ending it only with everything the DPs have planned.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

It was Soth's apathy that allowed him to escape. Vecna did it by absorbing Iuz's essence and becoming a lesser god, a being the DP don't have the power to hold.

Actually, if you go by the course of events heralding Vecna's escape, it was more than just becoming a lesser god which let him break loose. He broke loose into Sigil, which a lesser deity shouldn't have been able to do. Vecna's own actions, and the gloating words he uttered during his escape, suggest that -- true to his philosophy and portfolio -- he found the mysterious secret that Azalin et al have been searching for, all along -- the truth about the Dark Powers' nature, capabilities, and/or intentions -- and he used that secret knowledge to do that which neither darklords nor deities before him had ever been capable of: break both Ravenloft's and Sigil's barriers.

Think about that, and then think about what Azalin may be trying to do with the knowledge he's gleaned about the Land and the DPs. Even if he's nowhere near Vecna's level of insight -- and, +25 Knowledge skill or not, Az ain't no god of secrets -- the mere prospect of turning the tables on his "tormentors", and using their own weaknesses to bolster himself at the DPs' expense, gives him a whole new agenda to pursue.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

perhaps some news of Vecna's escape reached Azalin, but in incomplete form. He has no idea who, how, or where, but he knows SOMEONE succeeded where he couldn't, and the best way he could envision to find out was to learn everything he could about eveywhere in the demiplane.

Don't know if that would fly if WW held onto RL, because they didn't seem to want to or be allowed to mention big V, but it would make some sort of weird sense.

[Tobias Blackburn]

That had something to do with the deal they had, not mentioning copyrighted names from other settings.

[Seamus]

I'm hearing a lot about Azalin's motives, which is cool. I appreciate all the input. But does anyone have any thoughts regarding his methodology? How exactly does he plan to enact his revenge/escape/demise, and what do S, the GC and his children, and Hyskosa's tribe have to do with it?

[Tobias Blackburn]

I'm hearing a lot about Azalin's motives, which is cool. I appreciate all the input. But does anyone have any thoughts regarding his methodology? How exactly does he plan to enact his revenge/escape/demise, and what do S, the GC and his children, and Hyskosa's tribe have to do with it?

-S is being used to gather information on every land of the demiplane, something that Azalin might not have done comprehensively yet. This is the basis of making sure he gets the info he wants or at least knows where to look.

-The GC's kids seem to play some part in it, seeing as how at least one is/was capable of teleporting Darklord's out.

-The Tribe simply want to thwart all of Azalin's plans from here to eternity and eventually destroy him. He has no particular plans for them.

The game world needs about 20 years for all of this to brew and come to a head. It can be anything you want it to be.

[Lucius]

I have some speculations about Azalin´s plan.

Talking about hte GC, I think he wants to wait the right time to release the Dukkar, and using his powers mixed with the powers os his children, to escape the demiplane/(insert here his grand plan). the GC can even be using his children to break the magic bound imprisioning the Dukkar in Invidia.

As for the tribe of Hyskosa I believe Azalin can use them. The women of the ToH can see the future (they are mad, but they still see the future). so Azalin can force them to show him the future, so he can see where his plan will fail, and avoid the fail.

Or he can try to discover what the GC will do with his children, and do it before the GC does. this can explain why is the GC so angry with him in Gaz 5.

Anyway, this can be very different from what the autors had planned, but if someon likes these ideas, feel free to use.

[Tobias Blackburn]

As for the tribe of Hyskosa I believe Azalin can use them. The women of the ToH can see the future (they are mad, but they still see the future). so Azalin can force them to show him the future, so he can see where his plan will fail, and avoid the fail.

That doesn't make a lot of sense. The Tribe exists to thwart Azalin. He'd have more luck forcing regular Vistani women to tell him his furture than doing it to the Tribe.

Besides, he's already tried screwing with Vistani prophecy. It didn't work that well.

[brothersale]

It was Soth's apathy that allowed him to escape. Vecna did it by absorbing Iuz's essence and becoming a lesser god, a being the DP don't have the power to hold.

sorry perhaps i should clarify my statement, Vecna was able to find not one but two means of escaping in fairly rapid succession due in part that he ignored the bait the DPs placed to distract him from escape that of Kas, one of his most hated enemies in the next realm (FYI according to the adventure Soth would not have been released by his apathy, his domain would have reduced in size to just his keep). If old Azalin ignores such bait as seems to be the case the land so justifiable tremble, for his plans may suceed (if not for some meddling PCs and their pesky dog)

[Undead Cabbage]

Perhaps the answer lies in all of the Dark Lords themselves.

Azalin understands what it means to be a Darklord, something not many of them do. I've always seen the DP's regarding the Darklords as their 'favorite Test Subjects' for whatever the DP's are planning.

Each realm resembles its Darklords in its own twisted way. The DPs enjoy the fact that the Darklords are in a prepetual cycle of reinacting the acts of evil that made them DarkLords. These acts are reflected back and onto the realm itself.

Is there any possibility that Azalin is so interested in the different realms as a means of learning what these acts are, in hopes to disrupt what the DPs are trying to do with their "favorite test subjects"? Maybe Azalin sees the realm of dread as like a giant puzzle, and all of the pieces have to fit in place. If Azalin solved the puzzle, he might learn more about the realm of dread.

At first it would seem silly that Azalin would legitally care about the sins of others, but in this case if it will disrupt things for the DPs I think this would count and maybe an exception for him.