Falk-fury rages on!

[brilliantlight]

[quote=mistmaster]
Because, obviously, my Azalin can't summon infinite undead and, also, it was part of an elaborate plot Azalin used to root out dissense, feigning to get deposed, allowing the falkovnian invasion, and than, after one year return, claimed as a saiviour, with his undead horde. There are still a lot of undead in Azalin disposition, but they are mindless Zombies and Skeletons which need direction, and when Azalin is occupied with an attack he can't fight another army on another point of the vast Darkonian-Falkovnian border. Plus, Azalin is a Chess-Master strategist, that meaning that sudden change of tactics can take him aback, expecially with little time to react; he needs time to be really performant. And when he, at last, acts, he probably will win.[/quote]

You're right, I didn't take into consideration you might have changed Azalin's powers as well.

[Mistmaster]

Infinite undead always struck me as too much OP.

[brilliantlight]

Infinite undead always struck me as too much OP.

It certainly can be argued that it is.

[tomokaicho]

Azalin can only summon as many skeletons and zombies as there are corpses, no? And they have to move in the normal manner as far as I know, so there are logistical issues, timing, etc. The advantage is not so overwhelming. Azalin's abilities to rewrite memories is more of a concern. That should probably be limited somehow.

[Five]

All this talk of Vlad Drakov is getting the noggin' joggin'.
Dread Possibility
Vlad Drakov is not confined to Falkovnia, and can in fact leave his domain. Vlad Drakov can enter any territories occupied by his forces, even if the area is in the domain of another Darklord. This means that Drakov is able to personally direct his forces in battle in other domains. As Drakov is too wary to enter other domains for personal reasons, he is completely unaware that he cannot do so. Because Vlad Drakov is unique in his limited ability to cross domain borders (directly associated with his curse), he does not have the ability to mystically close his own borders. When another Darklord closes his borders and Drakov is fleeing the domain, Drakov is not impeded by the closed borders at all, and can cross through the closed border into Falkovnia safely. Not so his soldiers, however.

Very interesting indeed. Can you jump up and down a bit for more joggin?

While the borders on the map of Falk are fixed, they do have the possibility of growing/overlapping (we have seen it before with Barovia and Gundark) _IF_ Vlad can successfuly control the area. Lose control and the border shrinks back to it's normal place. A few troops marching around wouldn't count, but maybe a major military installation or camp would. When the border is 'expanded', he can prance around in the new territory and feel good - but invariably he loses control (the other DLs take their territory back or the DPs tweak events causing a loss) which would drive him up the wall.

It would also explain why other less powerful Darklords are somewhat wary - he theoretically could take their territory.

Warmer, getting hot now...

Now Vlad has wings, a hunting ground, and the semblance of a (irregular) migration pattern. Annexed domains (a mercurial prison), even if temporary, is definitely a must for a dark lord of Drakov's war-based background.

Great tandem tweak!

Picturing an occupied Mordent now...

[Five]

Infinite undead always struck me as too much OP.

Hear, hear.

I almost choke with disbelief when I try to picture squads of plate-armoured Talons falling to undead Darkonians and Falkovnian soldiers. Tooth and nail war with undead Talons, sure, but a fail every time? No way. Barnyard holdouts, cut off and surviving the game behind enemy lines, pushing on towards their objective despite trailing pints of blood...hell yeah. Cue "Male Supremacy" by Carnivore. heh

Azalin's design pedestal is far too high IMO.

[DustBunny]

Now Vlad has wings, a hunting ground, and the semblance of a (irregular) migration pattern. Annexed domains (a mercurial prison), even if temporary, is definitely a must for a dark lord of Drakov's war-based background.

Thinking on it, one of Vlads big problems is that his curse has a lot of 'switch' but not much 'bait'.

Strahd has Tatyana dangled in front of him to stir him up on a fruitless endeavour, but Vlad can't really do anything but look at territory and respect he can never have - even his invasions were just his minions invading and the other domains were never in any real danger of being siezed by the warmongering DL. Now a good way to be respected and to show off your might would to be able to sieze enemies territory and strut around their lands, putting up statues and the like and daring them to do something about it. Why bother with constant invasions if you can't even survey your new lands and laugh at the 'weaklings' you took it from.

The DP's wave some bait in front of him ('Num, num, birdie num num) with the ability to actually gain land and lord it over the previous owners, and he jumps at it. And inevitabely when the carpet is pulled out from under his feet, the loss is all the more painful. He could stand at the restored border an lamet 'I almost had it. I was standing right over there. Next time!'. And then word gets back children are throwing cow pats at his ruined statue and laughing at Vlad the Loser...

It could also open some interesting scenarios - the PC's have to work with the local darklord to defeat another worse one.

[Mistmaster]

Like someone made me notice in another thread, the simple fact of Drakov being able to leave his domain will make a lot of Darklords furious. Expecially Azalin. That could actually bring interesting developements.

[brilliantlight]

Even in canon he has temporary success that allows him to go partway into a domain and do some damage. He might eventually get curb stomped but it usually takes some time. Depending on the domain I can see even canon Drakov lasting a couple weeks and having his forces go say 50 KM deep , assuming my scale RL. He might manage 5 or 10 KM in canon scale RL.

[Five]

Even in canon he has temporary success that allows him to go partway into a domain and do some damage.

Where is this reference?

Edit: Just did some page-turning. Here's what I saw (though I may be missing something)

A Brief History of the Falkovnian Army (or, Charlie Brown's Dirty Dozen)

Unknown progress in the Winter War (Lamordia) in 695-696 BC
Pressed into the Forest of Shadows region of Darkon in 700 BC
Destroyed "minutes of border" (Darkon) 704 BC
Unknown progress ("expeditionary force") in Borca 706 BC
"Heart of Dementlieu" 707 BC
Darkon borders 711 BC
Unknown progress in Richemulot ("faced off against the citizenry Richemulot") in 716 BC
Balinok mountains in the Starving March against G'henna 719 BC
Unknown progress in DMC '22
Unknown progress in Executioners' Campaign (Dementlieu/Richemulot) 724 BC
Unknown progress in Cold Claw Massacre (Dorvinia) 727 BC
Made it to Nartok (Darkon) in 750/751(?)BC

So it looks like the Falkovnians (not Vlad) made some minor progress over the decades, but overall they have the impact of street trash hanging out in front of 7-11 asking you for change (or whatever it is they see that you have). This needs to change if for no reason than to wipe the clown makeup off of a dark lord. That is, let a monster be a monster. A malleable prison/curse like mentioned above does this particular dark lord justice, IMO.

Torch the Core!

Azalin can't be the only dark lord capable of rage-rattling the cage that is the DoD.

Drakov finds a way to restore his mental and physical youth (perhaps through a monstrous slaughter-sacrifice of all of Falkovnia's non-military personnel to a Mars-like entity). Curse stacks, his prison alters (he can only rule his current location, which by extension is that of his forces'; rule by proxy always fails; eternal rage/war is his fate). Utterly gruesome in-house clearing of inept personnel follows. Talons shred Falkovnia to pieces and a new hawk comes screeching to life. Now he looks all around him and gives the Core the thousand-yard stare. Now he feels the hunger...

[brilliantlight]

Even in canon he has temporary success that allows him to go partway into a domain and do some damage.

Where is this reference?

Edit: Just did some page-turning. Here's what I saw (though I may be missing something)

A Brief History of the Falkovnian Army (or, Charlie Brown's Dirty Dozen)

Unknown progress in the Winter War (Lamordia) in 695-696 BC
Pressed into the Forest of Shadows region of Darkon in 700 BC
Destroyed "minutes of border" (Darkon) 704 BC
Unknown progress ("expeditionary force") in Borca 706 BC
"Heart of Dementlieu" 707 BC
Darkon borders 711 BC
Unknown progress in Richemulot ("faced off against the citizenry Richemulot") in 716 BC
Balinok mountains in the Starving March against G'henna 719 BC
Unknown progress in DMC '22
Unknown progress in Executioners' Campaign (Dementlieu/Richemulot) 724 BC
Unknown progress in Cold Claw Massacre (Dorvinia) 727 BC
Made it to Nartok (Darkon) in 750/751(?)BC

So it looks like the Falkovnians (not Vlad) made some minor progress over the decades, but overall they have the impact of street trash hanging out in front of 7-11 asking you for change (or whatever it is they see that you have). This needs to change if for no reason than to wipe the clown makeup off of a dark lord. That is, let a monster be a monster. A malleable prison/curse like mentioned above does this particular dark lord justice, IMO.

Torch the Core!

Azalin can't be the only dark lord capable of rage-rattling the cage that is the DoD.

Drakov finds a way to restore his youth (mental and physical). Curse stacks (he can only rule his current location; rule by proxy always fails; eternal rage/war is his fate), his prison alters. Utterly gruesome in-house clearing of inept personnel follows. Talons shred Falkovnia to pieces and a new hawk comes screeching to life. Now he looks all around him and gives the Core the thousand-yard stare. Now he feels the hunger...

Your own TL shows that he had some temporary success going partway into a domain and doing some damage. A couple weeks or so and maybe 5 to 10 KM deep is what I said. Not much, but it isn't nothing.,

[Five]

Your own TL shows that he had some temporary success going partway into a domain and doing some damage. A couple weeks or so and maybe 5 to 10 KM deep is what I said. Not much, but it isn't nothing.,

His army had limited success (if you can call it that), but Vlad, as far as I can tell, didn't leave Falkovnia.

I read your post as you indicating Vlad as being able to go into domains and have limited success ("Even in canon he has temporary success that allows him to go partway into a domain and do some damage". And the last few posts were about Vlad hypothetically being able to physically leave his prison). But after I posted the latter part of your post indicated to me that you meant his army.

I was just too lazy to make the correction and left it as is.

[brilliantlight]

Your own TL shows that he had some temporary success going partway into a domain and doing some damage. A couple weeks or so and maybe 5 to 10 KM deep is what I said. Not much, but it isn't nothing.,

His army had limited success (if you can call it that), but Vlad, as far as I can tell, didn't leave Falkovnia.

I read your post as you indicating Vlad as being able to go into domains and have limited success ("Even in canon he has temporary success that allows him to go partway into a domain and do some damage". And the last few posts were about Vlad hypothetically being able to physically leave his prison). But after I posted the latter part of your post indicated to me that you meant his army.

I was just too lazy to make the correction and left it as is.

OK, that makes sense. In any case his army having limited success is enough to encourage him to try again. I see Drakov (In a sense) as a medieval Benito Mussolini. A swaggering buffoon that thinks he is a military genius but basically leads his armies into the crapper.

[Five]

I see Drakov (In a sense) as a medieval Benito Mussolini. A swaggering buffoon that thinks he is a military genius but basically leads his armies into the crapper.

And you're not the only one. That seems to be default Drakov. Fair enough.

I see Drakov as the next Great Upheaval to rock Ravenloft. Hell, I'd like to see him and his murderous horde drive Azalin to the back of some mountainous cave somewhere where time will forget (for a while). But I'd settle for a moving mass of barbarism. Enough to claim as much of Darkon as his forces can handle, with the rest still under the exiled Azalin's (somehow limited) control (1). Of course control of Falkovnia is lost, more than likely through treachery, and the win becomes hollow. Spoiled (it's not the loss of land that enrages Vlad, it's the defiance). Loop curse, change location, modify forces to account for battle losses/recruitment and to keep RL from becoming a war game. It takes time for camp followers (slaves) to reproduce...

1) This doubles as a DP bitchslap to Azalin for his meddling/antics. A nice "history repeats itself" moment for their favorite lich. The blow to the ego, the one constant force between man and lich, gotta sting!

At least, I remember reading that it was mercenary forces that exiled/toppled Azalin the man king. Maybe it was a dream or a canon mod? I dunno. Haha

[brilliantlight]

In a sense I see Drakov being an example of the[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle]. Even without the curse he probably would be promoted to his level of incompetence. He was a good mercenary leader but going beyond that to actual rulership was beyond him.

He has little or no notion of large scale logistics, military strategy, military intelligence or diplomacy as he didn't have to worry much about those things as a merc. He was good at small unit tactics but nothing more.