The War in the Core

[thekristhomas]

It occurs to me that a Richemulese occupation of Falkovnia would not be completely unopposed even if Vlad Drakov had been eliminated, and the bulk of the army transformed into wererats loyal to Jackie.

There would still be Vladimir Ludzig and his vampyre court, not a huge group, but they control the sewers, are immune to lycanthropy, and have a bloody good reason not to see the population of Falkovnia fall to wererats, as I imagine vampyres find lycanthrope blood unpalatable

[jamesfirecat]

It occurs to me that a Richemulese occupation of Falkovnia would not be completely unopposed even if Vlad Drakov had been eliminated, and the bulk of the army transformed into wererats loyal to Jackie.

There would still be Vladimir Ludzig and his vampyre court, not a huge group, but they control the sewers, are immune to lycanthropy, and have a bloody good reason not to see the population of Falkovnia fall to wererats, as I imagine vampyres find lycanthrope blood unpalatable

Are you sure about that last part? Remember Vampyre's are living creatures, they have CON scores, I just reread the Gaz 2 bit on Ludzig and I didn't see anything in his write up about him/vampyres in general being immune to diseases/lycanthropy.


Obviously Dark Powrs/DM intervention could make him /them so, but I think rules as written there's no reason why they could not be infected by the plague also.

[jamesfirecat]

I imagine that the plague is a one-shot kind of deal, once released it's pretty much done, I also figure that it might not affect rats outside the domain (although the wererats infected by the rats would still be infectious). So while not an effective offensive weapon, it is terrifyingly effective defensively and as it's secondary effect provides Jacqueline with an army of infected which can be used offensively.

As to the specific effects, I imagine that it creates infected wererats who are loyal to Jacqueline while in hybrid form. That is only really useful if either, hybrid form is permanent (unlikely) or they all share a trigger, which Jacqueline is in control of. If it is the case that Jacqueline can control transfiguration, might she simply "turn off" the lycanthropy once the crisis had ended?

If the trigger was as specific as a command word (probably not a command word, maybe a pheromone scent?) once the war was won, Jackie could turn everyone back into people, who have no memory of what's occurred, and maybe spin them a yarn about powerful war magic that transformed the nations citizens into berserker warriors who won every battle (this would also explain any lingering memories of mayhem in the minds of the infected) and everything would go back to normal. Except that all the natural wererats of Greater Richemulot now know that Jackie has an army of infected whenever she desires.

If the trigger was so specific as to only work for Jackie then this opens the possibility that if she were killed, then the wererat army might never be triggered again, an entire nation of wererats might live and die without ever knowing they were lycanthropes. That idea amuses me.

I think the wererat dietary requirements would barely be noticed as different, they can meet their requirements in preserved meat, so other than maybe a small increase in the nations consumption of ham it should be fine.

That approach (infected and loyal only while transformed) makes the most sense/is the most optimal outcome for Jacqueline I agree.

The idea that everyone infected by the Rat Life Virus has the exact same trigger for their lycanthropy makes perfect sense/is completely reasonable, and that trigger being a certain scent also makes sense since it's much easier to spread/control than a word/a particular astrological situation.

The only thing that is going to be awkward/tricky is that in theory according to Van Richten, infected female lycanthropes who are pregnant and in their third trimester are immune to their trigger/can't/won't transform. Jacqueline may end up needing to kill off/round up and properly bamboozle everyone in either Richemulot or Falkovnia who meets that condition to avoid having them realize/talk about the entire "and then everyone turned into a rat" thing.

Heck now that I think about, children who haven't hit puberty yet are are immune to transforming when they're infected lycanthropes... granted they're still children so it'll be easier for Jacqueline to spin the necessary yarns /make it look like she's the only one capable of protecting them/kept them safe when even their own parents turned into slobbering beasts (luckily infected lycanthropes won't try to attack/eat their own young, so long as those children are infected lycanthropes even if they are not transformed) earning her yet more credit as a maternal figure/the protector of Richemulot's future.


Maybe the break through for the Rat Life Virus, happened when natural lycanthropes operating under Jacqueline's orders crossed the boarder into Falkovnia, and managed to capture and escape back to Richemulot with Doktor Vjorn Horstman?

Horstman has spent a lot of time researching lycanthropy and according to Children of the Night Werebeasts, he's managed to reach the point that he can inflict temporary lycanthropy in people by injecting them with serums made from the bodies of various lycanthropes.

The wererats under Jacqueline's orders would probably link up with the Dark Men or whatever they're called who were the results of some of Horstman's failed experiments.

Horstman's ace in the hole defense system (an cage that's super hard to break and the ability to shoot darts from a blow pipe with the darts filled with the "primal serum" he uses to make people transform) failed against Jacqueline's agents, because no creature can be a lycanthrope of two different types, so natural wererats were completely immune to Horstman's usual favorite trick.

After getting him back to Richemulot Jacqueline convinced Horstman to turn his research (which had only reached the temporary stage) to focus on long term, and on transmission via living creature rather than artificial means, either through threats, bribes or some combination of the above.


Wererat dietary requirements only apply to infected wererats while they are in wererat form (they apply to natural ones all the time), so if Richemulot is a nation of infected wererats who never transform then there would be no noticeable change.


What would happen down the line though is that when two infected lycanthropes have children, the children they have are infected lycanthropes also, so not only does Jacqueline have an army of infected lycanthropes at her command, but so will her son Jacques if he eventually takes control of the family assuming Jacquline manages the quite difficult feat of dieing of natural causes and passing power (and a few choice secrets) peacefully down to her son.


How do you see Jacquline going about the process of folding Falkovnia's larger civilian population into Richemulot/what would she take as the symbol for when she's effectively "won" enough that she can have the infected wererats transform back to normal? The only thing I'm sure of is that she'll probably want a big parade through Silbervas....

Actually assuming that Falkovnia is folded into Greater Richemulot to the extent that much of Gundark was into Barovia, and thus Jacqueline can now cross into that territory/control the rats in it/basically have all her normal darklord powers/restrictions apply across a much larger domain, she might want to move the capital to Silbervas (it's said to have buildings done in the Richemulot style/I'm sure it's sewer system is quite extensive also) in theory because it'd be easier to administer Great Richemulot from somewhere closer to its center, in reality because it's another way of bragging to her family just how awesome and powerful she is, Claude gets chased out of that town with his tail between his legs, Jacqueline doesn't just take it over, she takes over the entire country that dared to exile them!


Lamordia and Invidia's victories may still be short lived even if the span is measured in years rather than months. Jacqueline will probably be a lot smarter than Darkov about the power of "economic warfare" and could possibly use it to bring Dementlieu to its knees, unless the revolution/wars winnow the population to the point that they don't need to import grain from Falkovnia/Greater Richemulot.

For Malocchio, he's going to have to deal with a minor revolt on his hands when news starts flowing back about what's happening to Falkovnia to the soldiers Darkov sent to serve him. Those men are probably much more loyal to Falkovnia than to Invidia, of course if they try to return to their homeland in its hour of need they'll only end up getting swept up in the Black Life Virus, assuming they make it back to Falkovnia alive, either way they're unlikely to want to continue to serve Malocchio while Falkovnia is getting conquered by Richemulot and their departure will be a major blow to him for sure.


Does Jacqueline plan to have all the Falkovnian soldiers/anyone else she thinks are likely to oppose her/cause trouble who get infected rounded up into some kind of gigantic prison /killed off before they're transformed back? They won't be loyal to her once they return to human form most likely...

[thekristhomas]

It occurs to me that a Richemulese occupation of Falkovnia would not be completely unopposed even if Vlad Drakov had been eliminated, and the bulk of the army transformed into wererats loyal to Jackie.

There would still be Vladimir Ludzig and his vampyre court, not a huge group, but they control the sewers, are immune to lycanthropy, and have a bloody good reason not to see the population of Falkovnia fall to wererats, as I imagine vampyres find lycanthrope blood unpalatable

Are you sure about that last part? Remember Vampyre's are living creatures, they have CON scores, I just reread the Gaz 2 bit on Ludzig and I didn't see anything in his write up about him/vampyres in general being immune to diseases/lycanthropy.


Obviously Dark Powrs/DM intervention could make him /them so, but I think rules as written there's no reason why they could not be infected by the plague also.

I assumed immunity, but I suppose on one level vampyres are just another race of demi-humans. For myself I tend to shy away from crossover monsters generally, but that's just me, and vampyre/wererats sound terrifying!

[ewancummins]

It occurs to me that a Richemulese occupation of Falkovnia would not be completely unopposed even if Vlad Drakov had been eliminated, and the bulk of the army transformed into wererats loyal to Jackie.

There would still be Vladimir Ludzig and his vampyre court, not a huge group, but they control the sewers, are immune to lycanthropy, and have a bloody good reason not to see the population of Falkovnia fall to wererats, as I imagine vampyres find lycanthrope blood unpalatable

Are you sure about that last part? Remember Vampyre's are living creatures, they have CON scores, I just reread the Gaz 2 bit on Ludzig and I didn't see anything in his write up about him/vampyres in general being immune to diseases/lycanthropy.


Obviously Dark Powrs/DM intervention could make him /them so, but I think rules as written there's no reason why they could not be infected by the plague also.

I assumed immunity, but I suppose on one level vampyres are just another race of demi-humans. For myself I tend to shy away from crossover monsters generally, but that's just me, and vampyre/wererats sound terrifying!

I like the idea that lycanthropy kills vampyres.

In some versions of B/X and BECMI, demihumans can die from contracting lycanthropy.

[thekristhomas]

The only thing that is going to be awkward/tricky is that in theory according to Van Richten, infected female lycanthropes who are pregnant and in their third trimester are immune to their trigger/can't/won't transform. Jacqueline may end up needing to kill off/round up and properly bamboozle everyone in either Richemulot or Falkovnia who meets that condition to avoid having them realize/talk about the entire "and then everyone turned into a rat" thing.

Heck now that I think about, children who haven't hit puberty yet are are immune to transforming when they're infected lycanthropes... granted they're still children so it'll be easier for Jacqueline to spin the necessary yarns /make it look like she's the only one capable of protecting them/kept them safe when even their own parents turned into slobbering beasts (luckily infected lycanthropes won't try to attack/eat their own young, so long as those children are infected lycanthropes even if they are not transformed) earning her yet more credit as a maternal figure/the protector of Richemulot's future.

This is good stuff, I'm imagining a "midnight ride" scenario (maybe involving PCs) where the heavily pregnant women and children are
rounded up and "kept safe", maybe it's even been rehearsed as part of militia training, with expectant fathers hurrying to get their families into "Talon-proof" bunkers, this might have been seeded by propaganda (the Falkovnians are eating babies!) long beforehand.

Maybe the break through for the Rat Life Virus, happened when natural lycanthropes operating under Jacqueline's orders crossed the boarder into Falkovnia, and managed to capture and escape back to Richemulot with Doktor Vjorn Horstman?

Horstman has spent a lot of time researching lycanthropy and according to Children of the Night Werebeasts, he's managed to reach the point that he can inflict temporary lycanthropy in people by injecting them with serums made from the bodies of various lycanthropes.

The wererats under Jacqueline's orders would probably link up with the Dark Men or whatever they're called who were the results of some of Horstman's failed experiments.

Horstman's ace in the hole defense system (an cage that's super hard to break and the ability to shoot darts from a blow pipe with the darts filled with the "primal serum" he uses to make people transform) failed against Jacqueline's agents, because no creature can be a lycanthrope of two different types, so natural wererats were completely immune to Horstman's usual favorite trick.

After getting him back to Richemulot Jacqueline convinced Horstman to turn his research (which had only reached the temporary stage) to focus on long term, and on transmission via living creature rather than artificial means, either through threats, bribes or some combination of the above.

Ha, I'll admit I'd gotten confused about this chap, and had it in mind that he already was working for Jackie How ironic then that the Falkovnian Ministry for Science had in all likelihood the scientist most capable of inoculating them against the plague, working for them. I agree that his abduction would certainly have been useful in the plague development, even if that didn't happen then I could see his ideas on "weaponized lycanthropy" would be fascinating to Jackie, were some RL version of "Operation Paperclip" take place.

Wererat dietary requirements only apply to infected wererats while they are in wererat form (they apply to natural ones all the time), so if Richemulot is a nation of infected wererats who never transform then there would be no noticeable change.

I'm not sure this is true, or am I getting confused and infected lycans just get a "taste" for raw meat rather than a need for it? I do know that infected try to meet their requirement as soon as transfigured, but had it in mind that the requirement could be met while in human form (I'm probably wrong about this). Either way though, it shouldn't effect the Richemulese food supply noticably

What would happen down the line though is that when two infected lycanthropes have children, the children they have are infected lycanthropes also, so not only does Jacqueline have an army of infected lycanthropes at her command, but so will her son Jacques if he eventually takes control of the family assuming Jacquline manages the quite difficult feat of dieing of natural causes and passing power (and a few choice secrets) peacefully down to her son.

IMHO this is highly unlikely, I think it probable that the trigger is somehow keyed only to Jackie. I think that possibly, the great irony of the Becoming Plague (I quite like the name, Hannibal Lecter was always talking about "becoming") is that, without a means to trigger the transfiguration, whoever succeeds Jackie will gain control of a nation immune to all forms of lycanthropy! This might be something of a disappointment to which ever wererat manages the feat

How do you see Jacquline going about the process of folding Falkovnia's larger civilian population into Richemulot/what would she take as the symbol for when she's effectively "won" enough that she can have the infected wererats transform back to normal? The only thing I'm sure of is that she'll probably want a big parade through Silbervas....

Actually assuming that Falkovnia is folded into Greater Richemulot to the extent that much of Gundark was into Barovia, and thus Jacqueline can now cross into that territory/control the rats in it/basically have all her normal darklord powers/restrictions apply across a much larger domain, she might want to move the capital to Silbervas (it's said to have buildings done in the Richemulot style/I'm sure it's sewer system is quite extensive also) in theory because it'd be easier to administer Great Richemulot from somewhere closer to its center, in reality because it's another way of bragging to her family just how awesome and powerful she is, Claude gets chased out of that town with his tail between his legs, Jacqueline doesn't just take it over, she takes over the entire country that dared to exile them!

Yes, exactly, it was the Renier's ties to Falkovnia that made me think that they could absorb it (S. speculates in gaz2 that the reason Azalin annexed Arak was due to the lich's previous history with the domain)

Lamordia and Invidia's victories may still be short lived even if the span is measured in years rather than months. Jacqueline will probably be a lot smarter than Darkov about the power of "economic warfare" and could possibly use it to bring Dementlieu to its knees, unless the revolution/wars winnow the population to the point that they don't need to import grain from Falkovnia/Greater Richemulot.

I think that if Rudolph von Aubreker (the Living Brain) has managed to become DL during the invasion, then the Lamordians would remain in charge for as long as he is so (the land being a reflection of it's DL, the Brain is Lamordian) I think it likely that Gerda von Aubreker would probably attempt to separate herself from the Axis as soon as things start to go sour in Richemulot, and maybe placate the remaining Four Nations with arms deals (she may even try to replace Dementlieu as a member). I think the threat to Lamordian rule would come from the Dementliese themselves.

Firstly, consider that native D'Honaires (and there are quite a few, it's a big family) are immune to mind control. So that's a fair number of well placed aristocrats that are beyond any effort by the Brain to control (barring mundane means like blackmail etc) Also it's been suggested that Celeste d'Honaire-Loverde would seek to become DL. In my mind, the Brain's curse upon becoming DL is to never gain the political power that Dominic had, part of that is to dangle it tantalisingly close, the political leader of the Greater Lamordia is his sister, but he should never be able to control her. I imagine that Celeste might already be controlling Gerda before the Brain has a chance to strike.

It might be under Celeste's influence that Gerda decides to keep the institution of the Council of Brilliance, with a few Lamordian additions, and far more D'Honaire than have ever been involved. Indeed now that Dominic is gone, the whole family seems to step out from his shadow, and soon there a D'Honaire occupying many of the highest ranking positions of state. This puts the political branch of Dementlieu firmly out of the grasp of the Brain, who must content himself with criminal scum, while his sister is the puppet of his rival.

Of course that many mind control immune D'Honaire knocking about is not helpful to Celeste either in the long term. She has a plan however, La Resistance! Her own network is a mix of mind-controlled Obedients and genuine patriots, undermining Lamordian rule through acts of terror. When the time is right, the people will rise up, she will use her position as physician to Gerda to assassinate the Lamordian ruler, the rest of the family will be branded collaborators, done away with, a new Council of Brilliance will be formed composed of Celestes Obedients, and the hunt for the Brain will begin in earnest.

For Malocchio, he's going to have to deal with a minor revolt on his hands when news starts flowing back about what's happening to Falkovnia to the soldiers Darkov sent to serve him. Those men are probably much more loyal to Falkovnia than to Invidia, of course if they try to return to their homeland in its hour of need they'll only end up getting swept up in the Black Life Virus, assuming they make it back to Falkovnia alive, either way they're unlikely to want to continue to serve Malocchio while Falkovnia is getting conquered by Richemulot and their departure will be a major blow to him for sure.

Does Jacqueline plan to have all the Falkovnian soldiers/anyone else she thinks are likely to oppose her/cause trouble who get infected rounded up into some kind of gigantic prison /killed off before they're transformed back? They won't be loyal to her once they return to human form most likely...

I've also been wondering about this, would it be possible to usurp control of the Talons bracers? Or would Drakovs death render them inert? If it's the former, I'd imagine Malochio would be more likely to achieve it that Jackie. If it's the latter then, I think yeah Jackie would probably round up and kill the infected Talons. As far as Malochio's Talon situation, if they look like deserting, then I imagine Malochio would probably massacre them in a fit of pique, even if he doesn't he's in trouble.

I could see this as maybe the point where Azalin steps in. With Malochio's allys scattered, his army bogged down in a war for Borca, while Kartakan wolfweres and Verbrekan werewolves tear up his homeland at his mothers bidding...Darkon offers the failed dictator "political asylum"...Azalin just has a few simple requests...

[thekristhomas]

I like the idea that lycanthropy kills vampyres.

In some versions of B/X and BECMI, demihumans can die from contracting lycanthropy.

This is probably what I would go for, it gives the vampyres another bloody good reason to resist

[jamesfirecat]

This is good stuff, I'm imagining a "midnight ride" scenario (maybe involving PCs) where the heavily pregnant women and children are
rounded up and "kept safe", maybe it's even been rehearsed as part of militia training, with expectant fathers hurrying to get their families into "Talon-proof" bunkers, this might have been seeded by propaganda (the Falkovnians are eating babies!) long beforehand.

Getting the kids/women who would not be effected (though still eventually infected) by the plague out of the way is doubtlessly one way to go about it, with Jacqueline having selected members of her family/selected Natural Wererats acting as the necessary go points of contact to try and maintain some level of normality while everyone else in Richemulot is growing fur and fangs, though the PCs would probably end up getting rat bites shortly after they completed their mission....

Ha, I'll admit I'd gotten confused about this chap, and had it in mind that he already was working for Jackie How ironic then that the Falkovnian Ministry for Science had in all likelihood the scientist most capable of inoculating them against the plague, working for them. I agree that his abduction would certainly have been useful in the plague development, even if that didn't happen then I could see his ideas on "weaponized lycanthropy" would be fascinating to Jackie, were some RL version of "Operation Paperclip" take place.

Well it's worth pointing out that the two are approaching matters from opposite directions, Jacqueline wants to use lycanthropic transformation primarily as a form of mind control, Horst wants to use it as the Ravenloft equivalent of steroids/ Bane's (the batman villian) Venom where a soldier injects himself with the stuff before battle to increase his strength speed and endurance in combat.

His ideas would be fascinating, but I'm not sure that she'd really need to scoop up her lab notes by the point that she's conquered Falkovnia, she already has natural wererats at her command after all, and the transform normal people into lycanthropes plan won't work on natural lycanthropes and may not work on infected ones...

I'm not sure this is true, or am I getting confused and infected lycans just get a "taste" for raw meat rather than a need for it? I do know that infected try to meet their requirement as soon as transfigured, but had it in mind that the requirement could be met while in human form (I'm probably wrong about this). Either way though, it shouldn't effect the Richemulese food supply noticably

Infected lycanthropes develop a preference for meat but so long as they are in human form they can still totally eat grains fruits like normal people and live a vegetarian diet. Natural lycanthropes no matter what shape they are in who try that start to starve, meat is the ONLY form of food that gives their bodies calories anymore.

IMHO this is highly unlikely, I think it probable that the trigger is somehow keyed only to Jackie. I think that possibly, the great irony of the Becoming Plague (I quite like the name, Hannibal Lecter was always talking about "becoming") is that, without a means to trigger the transfiguration, whoever succeeds Jackie will gain control of a nation immune to all forms of lycanthropy! This might be something of a disappointment to which ever wererat manages the feat

Eh it's not sure why exactly it's that much of a disappointment. Infected wererats are probably often problematic in Richemulot (it may have been one of many reasons Jacqueline had her husband killed) since the more normal person who suddenly transform into rats while screaming in pain the more people start looking for wererats and the more they might possibly find them. It's not like the Renier family is any less likely to produce true lycanthropes breeding with infected ones than they are with normal humans. It'll just mean that Richemulot is a society of natural lycanthropes ruling over a bunch of never shifting infected lycanthropes instead of humans.

Yes, exactly, it was the Renier's ties to Falkovnia that made me think that they could absorb it (S. speculates in gaz2 that the reason Azalin annexed Arak was due to the lich's previous history with the domain)

The subject of how she manages to do it (I mean conquering Falkovnia with the disease is easy properly absorbing most of the population will be a lot harder) is going to be the real crux of the matter.

I've also been wondering about this, would it be possible to usurp control of the Talons bracers? Or would Drakovs death render them inert? If it's the former, I'd imagine Malochio would be more likely to achieve it that Jackie. If it's the latter then, I think yeah Jackie would probably round up and kill the infected Talons. As far as Malochio's Talon situation, if they look like deserting, then I imagine Malochio would probably massacre them in a fit of pique, even if he doesn't he's in trouble.

I could see this as maybe the point where Azalin steps in. With Malochio's allys scattered, his army bogged down in a war for Borca, while Kartakan wolfweres and Verbrekan werewolves tear up his homeland at his mothers bidding...Darkon offers the failed dictator "political asylum"...Azalin just has a few simple requests...

Talons are the equivalent of SS soldiers, most of the soldiers that Drakov sends to Malochio are probably just ordinary Falkovnians soldiers who thus don't have the mind control bracers on. The Falkovnians might very well threaten to wreck Malochio's army on the way out (trying to fight their way back to Falkovnia so they can help it against Richemulot) if he makes a fight out of it, granted they may not know how powerful he is, but it'll still take some effort on his part, if those soldiers weren't a force to be reckoned with he wouldn't have asked for/wanted them in the first place.

Why do the Verbrekan werewolves get involved in Invidia? I must have missed that part of the discussion, and from what I recall wolfweres and werewolves actually HATE each other pretty badly.

Azalin would probably be among the first to recognize "Greater Richemulot" not that you really have the sort of diplomatic situation where you need "recognition" but he'd probably do it anyway just to A: spit on Drakov's rat gnawed corpse, and B: drive home the point that Malochio should think about getting while the getting is still good....

[thekristhomas]

Infected lycanthropes develop a preference for meat but so long as they are in human form they can still totally eat grains fruits like normal people and live a vegetarian diet. Natural lycanthropes no matter what shape they are in who try that start to starve, meat is the ONLY form of food that gives their bodies calories anymore.

Thanks for the clarification on that

Eh it's not sure why exactly it's that much of a disappointment. Infected wererats are probably often problematic in Richemulot (it may have been one of many reasons Jacqueline had her husband killed) since the more normal person who suddenly transform into rats while screaming in pain the more people start looking for wererats and the more they might possibly find them. It's not like the Renier family is any less likely to produce true lycanthropes breeding with infected ones than they are with normal humans. It'll just mean that Richemulot is a society of natural lycanthropes ruling over a bunch of never shifting infected lycanthropes instead of humans.

I'll be honest I'd assumed that the human population of Richemulot were exploited to some extent as a food supply by the nations wererats and that infected wererat would probably be inedible. However, I can see that, particularly with wererats, any taboo against "cannabalising" their infected "brethren", is probably one of taste/convenience rather than a biological prohibition.

Why do the Verbrekan werewolves get involved in Invidia? I must have missed that part of the discussion, and from what I recall wolfweres and werewolves actually HATE each other pretty badly.

I'd suggested earlier in the thread that Alfred might attempt to make use of the chaos in Invidia to launch his own war, though I imagine this to be mostly one of raids and massacres, less about conquest more about feasting and proving the dominance of the Wolf God. I can imagine however, that if Lukas were to get involved in Invidian internal politics, that this would virtually guarantee that Alfred would declare war, remember, Lukas is Grandfather Wolf, surely a blasphemous attempt to claim to be an avatar of the Wolf God? In this case, maybe Alfred could seize Castle Loupet, ancestral siege of the Werewolf King Bakholis, gaining control of Karina and the Vulpwood, simply to have a platform to attack those Kartakans assisting Gabby. Maybe that was her plan all along, she doesn't want to strengthen Lukas overly and she might be trusting her DL powers to expel the werewolves from Invidia

[jamesfirecat]

I'll be honest I'd assumed that the human population of Richemulot were exploited to some extent as a food supply by the nations wererats and that infected wererat would probably be inedible. However, I can see that, particularly with wererats, any taboo against "cannabalising" their infected "brethren", is probably one of taste/convenience rather than a biological prohibition.

You are very much correct that the human population of Richemulot serves as a food source for its lycanthropic population.

However given that in the wild rats will eat each other at times, and that Jacqueline herself took a nip out of her sister (though that was more about dominance than sustenance ("I had an uncle who wasn't able to tell us apart, now no one has that problem anymore")) I think it's safe to say that true wererats will be willing to eat other wererats at times. They'd be especially willing to eat infected wererats in human form who have a trigger so peculiar that it's never ever going to come up again so those humans don't even realize that they're infected lycanthropes.

By the way if you want to talk about any possible future of Richemulot war /Greater Richemulot or no would you like me to bounce you an NPC that you could probably use in your campaigns?

[thekristhomas]

I'll be honest I'd assumed that the human population of Richemulot were exploited to some extent as a food supply by the nations wererats and that infected wererat would probably be inedible. However, I can see that, particularly with wererats, any taboo against "cannabalising" their infected "brethren", is probably one of taste/convenience rather than a biological prohibition.

You are very much correct that the human population of Richemulot serves as a food source for its lycanthropic population.

However given that in the wild rats will eat each other at times, and that Jacqueline herself took a nip out of her sister (though that was more about dominance than sustenance ("I had an uncle who wasn't able to tell us apart, now no one has that problem anymore")) I think it's safe to say that true wererats will be willing to eat other wererats at times. They'd be especially willing to eat infected wererats in human form who have a trigger so peculiar that it's never ever going to come up again so those humans don't even realize that they're infected lycanthropes.

I think that pretty much sorts out the problem of the becoming plague, a brief (few days, weeks tops) period of mind bending horror then everything pretty much goes back to normal, except now everyone is immune to lycanthropy, hurrah!

By the way if you want to talk about any possible future of Richemulot war /Greater Richemulot or no would you like me to bounce you an NPC that you could probably use in your campaigns?

Sure

[thekristhomas]

So a brief recap

Ivan finally kills Ivana

Invidian forces invade Borca

Falkovnia ceases to trade with the Four Nations

This pushes Dementlieu (with the help of Rudoph von Aubreker, the Living Brain) to the point of revolution.

Dominic D'Honaire is killed, The Brain becomes darklord

Under the pretext of supporting the legitimate government, Lamordia invades Dementlieu

Gerda von Aubreker becomes political head of a united Lamordia/Dementlieu, she appoints a new Council of Brilliance

Falkovnia invades Richemulot with the aged Vlad Drakov at the head of the army

Falkovnian forces plough through the Richemulot exterior, winning every encounter easily, Vlad Drakov has never been happier, it's almost sweet.

Just as it seems like victory over Richemulot is complete, the Becoming Plague is triggered causing nearly everyone within the domain of Richemulot, including most of the Falkovnian army, to transform into wererats in hybrid form.

Under the control of Jacqueline Renier, this wererat horde swarms over the Falkovnian border, tearing apart the Falkovnian infrastructure.

Caught while attempting to return to Falkovnia, Vlad Drakov is brought before Jaqueline in chains, she wields the knife that kills him herself

Falkovnia ceases to be a domain as it's territory is absorbed into Richemulot

Assassins working for Strahd von Zarovich successfully kill Ivan Boritsi who Malochio had imprisoned.

This puts Borca's status as a domain into flux, and Strahd capitalises and invades Borca, claiming to be the liberator of the Balok people

Gerda von Aubreker withdraws from the Lamordian/Falkovnian/Invidian Axis, and quickly begins selling arms to the remaining Four Nations (ahem, Two Nations) also tentatively suggests that Lamordia and Dementlieu might join the treaty, returning it to full numbers.

Malochio's army is in disarray as they hear of the fate of Falkovnia, those that do not desert or are killed, are bogged down in Borca fighting Barovian forces.

A new alliance emerges Invidians under Gabrielle Aderre, with Gundarak nationalists supported by Kartakan woodsmen/wolfweres

This new group is able to seize control of the Nharov river valley from Strahd, thus connecting Kartakass and Invidia, they begin to tear at Malochio's internal infrastructure.

Enraged by the sudden presence of a wolfwere army nearing his borders, Alfred Timothy orders his werewolves into the Vulpwood, they take Castle Loupet and Karina with ease

The Church of the Lawgiver inspires the formation of a Nova Vaasa/Hazlani army to attempt to exploit the situation in the west

Hazlan annexes Immol

Nova Vaasa attempts to gain strategic control of the Old Svalich Road

Both groups are supplied with doses of the antidote against choking fog, but supplies are limited and border crossings are planned and rationed.

The combined armies also strike at eastern Kartakass, as the wolfweres are occupied in Invidia.

Azalin offers Malochio "political asylum"

With Malochio out of the picture Strahd easily finishes up in Borca and turns his attention back east.

With Malochio gone Gabriel Aderre believes she will soon be back in control of Invidia (and maybe a small chunk of Barovia)

It is not to be, tired of the Invidian witch and desperate to get his wolfweres back to fight the Vaasi, Lukas kills Aderre.

Invidia vanishes as a domain, it's territory being divided between Verbrek and Kartakass (who also gain the Nharov River valley), all the south-western core is now governed by shape shifters.

the Vaasi adventure will likely end badly, with both Strahd and Lukas organising punative raids into Vaasi territory. Hazlan might by a fluke hang on to Immol, the Barovian borders have been shifting since Strahd claimed Borca.

So the "winners":

Lamordia gains Dementlieu
Richemulot gains Falkovnia
Barovia gains Borca
Kartakass gains eastern Invidia
Verbrek gains western Invidia

as a note Dementlieu actually remains a separate domain, with it's own DL, but the other domains have been removed, they are now geographical regions in other DLs domains

[Rock of the Fraternity]

You're forgetting about Sithicus.

[The Lesser Evil]

Not to mention Tepest.

Here's my take on how a Nova Vaasan invasion of Tepest might go down:
Perhaps Nova Vaasa hope to annex Tepest in preparation to help facilitate trade and possibly gain aid from Azalin against Barovia. The Nova Vaasans perceive the Tepestani as a bunch of backwards (if tenacious) bumpkins, so they don't expect too much trouble. However, fey, goblins, and other monstrous horrors of the domain work against the invaders along with the Tepestani people.

Although the Tepestani people have the inadvertant aid of their monstrous enemies in that both are fighting the invaders, the Tepestani don't see it that way. To their eyes, they're being overwhelmed. They're facing an organized threat, something they've never had to deal with before. For the first time, the Tepestani have to look outward for help.

And then a seeming miracle from Belenus occurs, they discover a mistway to a land where the natives appear to worship Belenus as they do: the domain of Nidala. Possibly religious differences in interpretation of his worship are glossed over as Faith-hold orders her enforcers to go through the mistway and aid the Tepestani. With this unexpected aid of trained warriors, the Tepestani manage to throw off the Nova Vaasan invaders and kick them out of their domain.

The Three Hags don't bother closing the borders during all of this mess. Instead merely work to increase hostilities by committing atrocities and pinning the blame on the mortals.

The Nova Vaasan forces, split in a two-front war between the surprising quagmire of Tepest and the forces in Barovia, falter and ultimate retreat from both domains. The Tepestani have apparently won an ultimate victory, for they're free from the Nova Vaasan threat for some time. However, their contact with the Nidalans may prove to be just as horrible a threat. After the foreigners are pushed out, differences in religious doctrine between how the Nidalans and the Tepestani emerges. Hostilities begin to simmer, possibly laying down the foundation for some future holy war between the two domains.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

An open Mistway between Tepest and Nidala, allowing communication and cooperation between Faith-Hold and the Tepestani Inquisition?

o_o

Congratulations: I just got for-real cold chills down my back...
Faith-Hold may be a lunatic zealot, but I think she might find an appreciation for the 'thoroughness' of the worst Inquisitors. Men like Flinn might latch onto a Belenus-worship that allows for the domination of large sections of the world through a combination of zeal and military might, too.