Darkon Campaign: The Agency
I'm just going to post the continuation campaign here, for simplicity's sake. Spoiler-tagged for easy readability through collapsible menus, rather than a massive wall of text.Campaign plot arc:
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- Adventurers serve l'Agence d'Affaires ("the Agency"), an organization in Darkon. The Agency will serve as their "mission assigner" structure. The adventurers have little choice, since three of them are missing their memories and the fourth is the Agency employee responsible for the other three.
- The PCs who were recovered from outside of Darkon are missing their memories and all bear scars of torture at the hands of an unknown Falkovnian tormentor. The investigation into their lost histories is one plot arc, culminating in their confrontation against their tormentor.
- The Agency is embroiled in border espionage against the Falkovnians, who are massing for their first invasion in decades. The Falkovnians have a dangerously efficient new head of intelligence, and he is coordinating a tightly-controlled partial invasion of Darkon. The invasion's main aim will be to discredit the Eternal Order, install pro-Falkovnian Darkonians in cities, and turn Darkonian public opinion against Azalin. The PCs can aid Darkonian nobles, Eternal Order, and the Kargat to disrupt the invasion and restore public confidence in the rulership.
- The Agency's leadership grows fragmented as tensions rise from without and within. The PCs will have to pick a faction and weather the political storms. If things get really bad, they'll have to either leave the Agency or rebuild it. (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) If they can rebuild the Agency, and if they can figure out their pasts under the Falkovnian regime, they may have a chance to strike back at the Falkovnian intelligence leadership. (Smiley's People)
- Even after the Falkovnian expulsion, Darkon's own leadership faces several internal projects with potentially dire consequences. The projects will happen in three stages: material, computational, and dimensional. This will derive in part from the Grand Conjunction adventures as well as the Grim Harvest adventures.
- This campaign is intended to challenge conventional concepts of "good" and "evil", and to encourage the PCs to focus instead on motives, causes, and consequences. Divine, cosmic, or karmic retribution is a futile hope - it is the actions of individuals that move the world. The "villains" are also intended to be a deeply ambiguous group of people - Drakov's methods are roundly condemned, but as the campaign progresses, it is my intent to raise the awkward question "what if he was right all along?"
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- "Alcibiades": True name unknown - Mindlost. Falkovnian ranking officer, recently recovered from the border and held in debriefing in Darkon. Suspected in police work, which explains why the torturers seemed to have left his physical torture relatively light - he still wakes up with joint pains in a contorted position, as though he's been forced to sleep in a box too small for his frame for long periods of time. Has flashbacks of long interrogation spells. Keen minded investigator, good at figuring out what people are trying to hide - especially in lower-class locales. Believes in the economical use of force, making him a relatively humane Falkovnian officer by comparison. Not a huge combat build, but decent enough with a sword. (Note: Falkovnians in this campaign are branded with a hawk's head symbol at age 10, on a shoulder determined by their gender.)
- Nadezhda ("Nadia"): Full name unknown - Mindlost. Half-Vistani woman with a hostile and distrusting nature. Bears significant marks of physical abuse from her time in Falkovnia (nails still growing back, wrists and ankles routinely ache). Believes herself to be in grave danger from Vistani agents, but cannot remember from whom or why. Specializes in thrown weapons, with a practiced three-knife-burst attack to get herself out of bad situations. Knows a few naturalistic Vistani encantations (Ritual magic structure), which are cast at Normal Mana levels, but which degrade at -1 per day of non-travel (Static Burn).
- "Lyra": Full name unknown - Mindlost. Foreign woman with severe behavioral problems, approaching idiot savant levels. Fails to grasp dangerous situations, deals with obstacles with a misplaced childlike optimism. Casts arcane spells (usually at -5 for Low Mana) with a focus on mind-altering spells and confusion magic. Speaks to an invisible friend "Barbara" or "Barbary" (actually her snake familiar). Suffered the worst torture at Falkovnian hands - she has occasional crippling headaches, bleeding gums, and joint agony.
- Alen Vaughan: Darkonian native (as far as anybody can tell) and Agency employee. Detailed to Nartok Keep, under nominal command of Baron Eduard Curwen, but reporting to Captain Vasily Szekler, another Agency operative. Mission profile initially is to run counterintelligence ops at the Falkovnian border, and to assist in retrievals of "knowledge resources personnel" (i.e. refugees with inside knowledge of Falkovnia). A diplomatic speaker, he is comfortable among the powerful folk of Darkon. Secretly plies a secondary profession in "personnel redistribution" (i.e. kidnapping and assassination): he possesses a hidden sword-cane and a cigar-case blowgun. The Agency provides him covertly with paralytics and toxins.
Falkovnia:
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- Königführer Vlad Drakov: ruler of Falkovnia, a strict totalitarian military dictatorship. Citizens of Darkon and other neighboring lands (Nortenmark, Maresotes, Cosabel, and Praquadie) despise him for his history of military invasions; in those nations he has a reputation as a monstrous brute.
- Falkführer Vigo Drakov: head of the Kerkerministerium (prison ministry), this is the most unpredictable and violent of the Drakov sons. Although the rest of the Drakov sons run their own nepotistic arms of government, to varying degrees of competence, Vigo Drakov is so depraved that it's widely rumored his placement with the prison ministry was effected to keep him relatively far from the public eye. Vlad Drakov occasionally taps him for useful gladiatorial candidates, so the various Erlösunghäuser ("redemption houses") prison camps help to keep Vigo in some form of political relevance. He visits Erlösunghaus 189 to check up on his protegé, Beredostich, and any promising candidates he may have.
- Mikhail Drakov, Mircea Drakov, Vlad Drakov the Younger: sons of the Königführer Vlad Drakov. Highly-placed leaders in the Falkovnian leadership apparatus.
- Kara Drakov: one of the few publicly known daughters of Vlad Drakov. Rarer still, holds a high rank in the Falkovnian army.
- Hauptmann Lars Beredostich: Internment camp warden at Erlösunghaus 189, located some 10 miles south of the Darkonian border. Personally responsible for Mindlost PCs' torture, seen mostly through flashbacks and nightmares. An extremely cruel and sadistic warden to the captives, he nonetheless is a loyal (and some might say, caring) colleague to "true Falkovnians", even to his subordinates. His deceased father, Oberst Jürgen Beredostich, was a well-respected colonel in the Falkovnian army, adding to his lower-ranking son's political frustrations.
- Falknerin Beate Arnitz: promising female falcon trainer, involved in developing new battleground tactics for preybirds. Her career stalls after she makes political enemies, and she is reassigned to the sinecure post at Erlösunghaus 189 under Beredostich. He tries to help her rehabilitate her career, with only limited success.
- Klaus Abendschwur: personal adjutant to Beredostich.
- Bukcsa: an ogre mage - a large, intelligent, cruel inhuman, captured by the Falkovnians and interned in Erlösunghaus 189 for gladiatorial purposes. Escapes into the wild with the grudging aid of Alcibiades and Gondegal. Hates all humans, but hates Beredostich and Vigo Drakov in particular. Alcibiades helps him escape by severing one of his hands; he returns to menace Beredostich with extremely brutality.
- The Thirteenth Directorate (der dreizehnte Direktorium): Falkovnian intelligence organization and subsection of the Nachrichtendienst (intelligence ministry). Has some power of intercession over Beredostich, regarding prisoner treatment.
- The Deliverers: rebel group operating along the Darkonian-Falkovnian border. Known collaborators with Sir Gondegal.
- Aarunder and Javethro: cleric of Ezra and ranger, respectively. Work for the Deliverers, but occasionally ally with the Agency to smuggle Falkovnians into Darkon.
- Sir Gondegal: an outworlder and rebel leader of a low-level insurrection against Drakov.
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- Darkonius Rex: Nominal ruler of Darkon. A distant figure and reticent patron of the Thaumatorium in Il Aluk, whose licensed Thaumatorium wizards sometimes refer to him as Azalin, i.e. "Wizard Lord".
- Baron Karl Ranherdt: Ruler of Il Aluk. Passes legislation in an attempt to control trade in addictive drugs in the capital city, with mixed results. Apparently a friend of the Agency, below.
- L'Agence d'Affaires ("The Agency"): nominally a trade guild spread across several domains. The PCs are picked up at the border by a semi-philanthropic, semi-pragmatic drive by the Agency to rescue amnesiac refugees and secure cheap labor. Founded by Renard Landert, deceased husband of the current owner, Shayla Nin.
- Vesildur Ermoroud: Thaumatorium mage and Agency member. Provides magical equipment for the Agency, and a minor link to royal connections.
- Leadger Wynn: Mysterious eccentric living below the botanical gardens in Il Aluk. Provides toxins, potions, and herbal concoctions to the Agency. Communicates only through written notes.
- Kellsin Cotter: Agency officer. Sometimes known as its thief requisitions expert. Not above a bit of illegal activity, up to and including smashing a drug ring and taking it over for himself.
- Rafiq al-Bahrani: Agency officer. In charge of shipping goods.
- Ranu Malingahan: Agency officer. In charge of ties to churches.
- Byron May: lutist, conductor, and composer at the Regina Mirabilis Music Hall. Also rumored to be something of an expert in astrology. Strong physical resemblance to Isaac Newton.
- Daverty: dock worker, drug addict. Brother to an unseen sister, Casey.
- Giren Shawmercer: foreman of a dockside construction site.
- Bogdan Tireš: Vistani darkling outcast with a very specific thing for Nadia.
- The House of Auspicious Meetings: famous Il Aluk courtesan's quarters. Trademarked by the phrase "What is the keenest pleasure known to the mind?"
- Giancarlo Gallietti: chemist working at The Preacher's Pestle apothecary shop.
- Thesseldarmenias: Ellyll cult leader of the Waveshapers.
- Breshgard: Waveshaper captain.
- Zaskin Pheldras: Kargat operative managing the Waveshapers.
- Walter: water elemental.
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- Shayla Nin: Head of the Agency. Lives at Fotherings Estate, a mansion at the outskirts of Rivalis, a day's ride west of Il Aluk and roughly the same distance north of Nartok Keep. Her bodyguard is a tall, solidly-built, dark-skinned man named Massisi.
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- Vasily Szekler: Captain in the Darkonian Army, assigned to Nartok Keep permanently. Resembles Tom Selleck. Agency member. Cabinet member.
- General Burkhart Volker: Darkonian Army head. Dignitary in Nartok Keep, reassigned there in recent months in preparation for possible Falkovnian hostilities. Passng resemblance to William Hurt, with a beard. Cabinet member.
- Captain of the Guard Sinclair Piergate. Civilian police chief in Nartok Keep. Resembles a younger Al Pacino, with a moustache. Cabinet member.
- Baron Eduard Curwen: Baron of Nartok Keep. Resembles Kevin Spacey. Cabinet member.
- Calbie: A very large woman quartermaster and armourer in Nartok Keep.
- Ardellia Borlest: Violinist and composer in the Fiddler's Finger pub, one of the (few) night spots in the fortified city. Former Agency member, occasionally does them a favor.
- Percival Sedgewick: bard friend to Ardellia Borlest. Won a bet against her and forced her to write a dubious song as a forfeit, which was almost immediately censored by Church and Baron. Also accompanied: Vesper Trill, Maryam Kevat, Rue Chatelier.
- Pap, Smee, and Gevinn Narfeblis: father and two sons comprising a company of gnome cargo haulers.
- Dedrick Lacon: A transcriber, noting down the impromptu performances at Fiddler's Finger.
- Gladwyn Voss: Pub owner, runs the Axe 'n' Ale. Uses dubious employment practices to exploit Mindlost and Mindled workers.
- Lt. Sierby: Darkonian officer.
- Ofc. Laslo: personal attendant to Vasily Szekler.
- Colonel Gilbresh: border commander, reports to General Volker.
- Khalid: Vesildur Ermoroud's man in Nartok. Serves the Thaumatorium but also has dealings with the Baron and his Keep staff.
- Khabakov: Nartok guard officer.
- Archimandrite Paglinescu: Eternal Order temple leader.
- Colonel Leopold Neiß: Free City administrator.
- Marta: Alen's housekeeper.
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- Lord Szelenaz Vorjek: Faded nobleman, nominal administrator of Velnarest town, near border.
- Marcus Redralen: Arriviste challenger to Vorjek's authority.
- Shay Stearns: firebrand, leads Velnarest's nominal "constabulary" (young hoodlums). Later relocates to Nartok.
- Lukas Nardev: deceased Eternal Order priest. Casts a long shadow, even in death.
- Damin Ludgate: Nominal police presence in Velnarest. Sent there by Nartok and Vasily Szekler to investigate the murder of an Eternal Order priest, Lukas Nardev.
- Vierpalt ("Slick stone" in dwarvish): dwarven proprietor of Velnarest's main tavern. Prefers the term "zverg".
- Bec de Corbin ("The Crow's Beak"): rival guild and bandit group, not above stealing from the Agency. Notable members include Dale "Innit" Reeve (bandit leader), Molly (lady of negotiable virtue), and Krager Braddock (lieutenant). Dale Reeve has a troubled past with Beredostich.
- Okun: farmer on the outlying lands to Nartok.
- Borji Weigh: Blacksmith. Kind to children and Lost Ones.
- Leila: Short-haired woman, chain smoker, wearer of dark clothes and percher in branches. Knows where to get the really good stuff.
A hapless family of Vistani facing prosecution from their own relatives, their situation is so dire they actually fled into Falkovnia.
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- Elvira: raunie of the Elviran family line, maternal aunt of Hyskosa.
- Hyskosa: Dukkar and soothsayer of the Elviran family line. His portents and predictions are unsparingly dire, and this has made him several enemies in other Vistani tribes. Although he is in his late thirties, he seems much older and is in frail health.
- Soldanni: Hyskosa's brother. Mid thirties, in much stronger physical condition. Not a seer, but canny and knows his outdoorsman skills.
- Snezhana: Elvira's daughter. Taciturn blonde in her late twenties. Dotes on Beshaley.
- Tsuritsa: Elvira's daughter. Careworn dark-complexioned woman in her late thirties. Takes care of her mother.
- Dulcimae: Hyskosa's sister. Beautiful dark-complexioned woman in her early twenties. Her pending marriage to another Vistani was what triggered their expulsion and exodus - Hyskosa refused to give his blessing, foreseeing tragedy if she married her promised. This caused an outcry at the festivities, and Hyskosa was stabbed, near-fatally, in the melee.
- Beshaley: Snezhana's son, Elvira's grandson. In his early teens, but already saddled with the cares of the man of the family. He is harsh-tongued and resentful, speaking boastfully and criticizing those around him, especially berating the female members of his family. In reality he is devoted to his family and terrified of his responsibility for their wellbeing, knowing his own inexperience and age.
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- René Bois-Gilbert: restauranteur and barkeep. Has to keep the Falkovnians happy in his cafe. Possibly while fighting off the attentions of three of his comely serving girls and the clueless suspicions of his wife.
- Klaus Schönberg: Doctor of Chemistry (with a specialty in Metallurgy) at the Gymnasium Neufurchtenburg. Married to Klara.