A successful invasion of Darkon?

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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

Post by HuManBing »

Zilfer wrote:I might have said this already but Would Strahd throw in just to throw a wrench into Azalin's land? I know most people don't like the cold war between them right? But it's still out there as an idea.... if Strahd funds or assists even in the shadows Drakov it could also possibly turn a few things around.
That's a good point. Right now, the way I have it laid out, the Falkovnians have a good grasp of Darkonian civil and military information, but nothing about its secret police.

Strahd did have dealings with Azalin's Kargat, when their two nations shared a border. He even inhabited one of their bodies for a time. If nothing else, Strahd's forces probably had to do a lot of infiltration and sabotage work against Azalin's Kargat just to keep them from getting organized enough to plan for a mass invasion (which Strahd has frankly admitted Barovia could not possibly repulse). So Strahd could provide a missing piece regarding a detailed explanation of the Kargat's inner workings.


This could be very interesting, because one of my player characters (Nadezhda) is a half-Vistani, and she's related to Hyskosa's family (the Elviran clan). This clan fled into Falkovnia following internecine persecution. I'm thinking of making this persecution something at the hands of the Zarovan Vistani. Strahd may make an offer to the Falkovnians to help fill their gaps in Kargat knowledge, on condition that they'll return all the Elviran Vistani, including Nadezhda and Hyskosa, back to Barovia for the Zarovans to follow through with their blood feud. If the PCs can disrupt the relations between the Barovian and Falkovnian intelligence agencies, they could buy the Darkonians some breathing space (as they would still have one executive agency free from Falkovnian infiltration).


Finally, regarding your "cold war" comment, I love the idea of a cold war between Falkovnia and Darkon, and a limited military intervention. I am actively striving for a campaign backdrop of the moral ambiguity of two heartless superpowers duking it out for influence, loyalty, and power. It is my intention with this campaign to portray both Azalin and Drakov as potentially heroic figures in their own propaganda - but to give very clear evidence that both are extremely ruthless and dangerous individuals whose plans must be stopped by the PCs.

The PCs can help one side defeat the other initially. But whoever is left behind will be their direct responsibility to stop - alone. (Just like we teamed up with Stalin to defeat Hitler... and then spent the next six decades carefully sparring with the hostile juggernaut which Stalin established in his legacy.)
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

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The Pickled Punk wrote:
Nathan of the FoS wrote:Also, if you wanted to, you could fiddle with another canon figure and say that Bastion Raines, instead of being the most open of all the Ezrans to non-humans, is the least open, and wants to subjugate the demihuman population of Darkon
You wouldn't need to change Raines that much; while he displays no animosity to non-humans, he might argue that the slavery in Falkovnia is a lesser evil compared to the Time of Unparalleled Darkness.
I revisited this thread because the campaign is about to closely revisit the Falkovnian occupation.

Bastion Raines in my campaign is still going to be a generally decent guy, and his participation in the Beurteilung (public truth and reconciliations hearings) is motivated primarily to show the Ezra church's commitment to peace. Given the Falkovnians are scrupulously observing administrative neutrality, at least at first (including not flying their flag over the occupied city, leaving the Baron in power, and other gestures of preserving the city's freedom), this action on the part of Raines is actually not as collaborationist as it might appear at first blush.

The main ulterior motive for Raines to take part is that the Falkovnians are gunning to discredit the Eternal Order, which makes perfect sense because they can indirectly discredit the Darkonian leadership through them. The Church of Ezra obviously haas a lot to gain if the EO is overthrown publicly, so Raines takes part in the Beurteilung for that reason.

One fun undercurrent is: the Intelligence Ministry control of the occupation means that the Falkovnians are being genuinely okay about this entire operation, at least as long as the peace holds. If the Darkonians turn out restive and they feel that playing nice isn't working, the Falkovnians will eventually change course and turn increasingly brutal in their peacekeeping methods, eventually going as far as outright conquest once the Army regains control away from the disgraced Intelligence Ministry.

This means that the PCs have the odd situation where, in order to most efficiently defeat the Falkovnian occupation, they can and should provoke as many bloody massacres of their fellow Darkonian countrymen as possible...
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

Post by High Priest Mikhal »

Having the Falkovnians help discredit the EO wouldn't be hard. Even Azalin thinks it's a failed experiment in public control and has all but withdrawn support. That, of course, leads to the problem that undermining the EO may not have as much of an impact on the Darkonian rulership as the Falkovnians hope. Not to mention the people's growing dissatisfaction since the Requiem. It would be a masterstroke for Raines to get them to do all the work while he gains the most out of it.
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

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High Priest Mikhal wrote:Having the Falkovnians help discredit the EO wouldn't be hard. Even Azalin thinks it's a failed experiment in public control and has all but withdrawn support. That, of course, leads to the problem that undermining the EO may not have as much of an impact on the Darkonian rulership as the Falkovnians hope. Not to mention the people's growing dissatisfaction since the Requiem. It would be a masterstroke for Raines to get them to do all the work while he gains the most out of it.
Several assumptions to clarify here: this campaign is taking place in 735, and the Grim Harvest has not happened yet, nor has the Grand Conjunction. (The Shadow Rift is cool, so I'm keeping it there ahead of schedule.) The Eternal Order is still the most powerful single religion in the entire core, and Azalin has officially endorsed it as the state religion. It has not yet collapsed, and its leader is Mazrikoth, and not yet Llowellyn Dachine.

All your points are good if we were playing according to strict canon, but like The Pickled Punk, I have to apologize and say that my campaign's peculiarities mean it's not very close to canon in many ways.

I am preparing the ground work for both the Requiem and the Grand Conjunction, but they could occur in any order and the results will be largely dependent on what the PCs do.

If they go after artifact collecting, then the Grand Conjunction happens first. If they go after populace control, then the Requiem happens first.

Both will consecutively usher in the final Time of Unparalleled Darkness, which I've hashed out but which I'm not going to post here because one of my players has already inadvertently spoiled part of the campaign and another player knows of the existence of this forum, even if they don't necessarily know the specific threads of interest. The swine! :)
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

Post by Zilfer »

I'd be interested in a PM of your take of the ToUD....
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

Post by Dark Angel »

In my latest campaign, the players thwarted a third party (who was really a fiend in disguise) who was forming a mercenary like group that was planning to form the spearhead of a Falkovnian invasion. In short, a third party strike force led by someone who can avoid and breach sealed borders (like the Black Duke) would provide just enough umpfh (sp?) and grant Drakov a greater success than ever seen before. However, like always, the mercs would not be numerically powerful enough to hold territory and the Falkovnian forces would eventually be turned away. This compounded with the trust Drakov may or may not have in mercenaries (even if he was one) may prove to be an unlikely scenario.

Also, the plan was an invasion of the Four Towers lands, not Darkon which has the obvious defenses. Lands with more conventional means of repelling invaders would still be able to, pending their traditional means.
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

Post by vipera aspis »

I like to believe Vlad should be played as a more resourceful and far sighted villain. Not a big fan of the "Nazi bully who cannot get land or respect"

That being said...

Concerning the Grim Harvest, Vlad knew in advance what was going down that night. He's known for months. He had sleeper agents and double agents everywhere the entire time. Constantly placed and pulled to and from Darkon, with permanent agents deeply immersed in other domains.

Maybe even that he had under his employ; a double agent who was part of a certain religious order. Possibly rather high up in that order. Possibly on a very certain night, he was present for a very special ordeal.

Possibly this double agent sabotaged the device, causing Azalins apparent demise.

If Vlad learned what Azalin was and knew what he could do, he may have went in at his destruction in an area besides the battlefield. Knowing the only thing singular strong enough to dispose of the undying lich, is the arrogance of the undying lich.

Then invade.
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

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So far, in my current campaign (linked in my sig), the Falkovnian invasion has reached as far as Nartok. They took the Keep by guile, converting the Baron Eduard Curwen to their cause (he's actually listed in GazII as doing this, but was stopped in canon - here he succeeded).

Now the next step is: how do they take Rivalis?

The capture of Nartok Keep robbed the Darkonians of their most important defensive center, but the rest of the army remains at large under General Burkhart Volker and has begun entrenching the highway to protect Rivalis (the "Volker Line"), intending to wear down the Falkovnian advance by attrition. Colonel Billings Gilbresh is leading several lightning raids in the wild regions south of the Keep to disrupt Falkovnian logistics trains there.

The primary focus of the Falkovnians right now in Nartok is in public opinion. They're heading onwards with the Beurteilung ("public reckonings" hearings) with various luminaries to testify against the king and Kargat, and to dictate the direction of the public narrative there, thus weakening support for the Darkonian leadership.

I'm thinking of the next possible steps. The Falkovnians probably cannot prevail against Volker to the North, even taking their superior numbers and training into account. The Darkonian General has the benefit of home territory, shorter logistics trains, and he doesn't have to worry about his army losing their memories within three months. The Falkovnians have to deal with hostile inhabitants, long logistics trains, and they must rotate out their staff every few months to prevent them from "going native" in the most complete way possible.

Both sides would be utterly terrified of the Creeping Death, but at this point the mysterious controller of the Creeping Death is still limiting its use to night-time so as not to completely spook the Darkonian general public. They could raise enough Creeping Death to sweep the entire battlefield clean if they wanted to, but that would also kill all the Darkonians in the army, which they're not ready to do. Yet.

Right now, part of the PC party is in Nortenmark (the renamed version of Lamordia). In my canon, Nortenmark got its name because 50 years ago, Falkovnia provided military aid in putting down a popular rebellion (search "Eleuthiarchy" on these boards), resulting in the country becoming the "northernmost march" of Falkovnian soldiers. It is culturally close to Falkovnia, although scientifically more advanced and socially much more open.

I'm thinking of sending a Nortenmarker zeppelin squadron over the border to Rivalis. It could potentially start off by dropping flyers and leaflets about the Beurteilung disclosures in Nartok. If these are enough to sway public opinion, then Darkonian General Volker may find himself suddenly bereft of home front support, and forced to fight with demoralized troops and eventually retreating to Il Aluk.

If the PCs are able to shore up morale at home, or otherwise discredit the Beurteilung, then the propaganda usage of the zeppelins won't be enough and they'll have to carry ordinance in to bombard Rivalis and the Volker Line. This could reduce Rivalis quickly enough during the night, out of reach of the Creeping Death, so as to allow the Falkovnians to brush aside the remaining Darkonian resistance and invest the city before dark, holding out against the Creeping Death from inside.

Once this happens, Volker and any surviving Darkonian forces will have to retreat to Il Aluk for logistical support and levy personnel. This will also have the strategic sacrifice of leaving the forbidden Castle Avernus between the Darkonian defensive line and the Falkovnian invaders...
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

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Forcing a Two-Front War

The Falkovnians have Nartok, through a combination of surprise, treachery, and PsyOps to reduce native hostility with the public investigation against the Eternal Order and the King.

But strategically, they can't move out of Nartok. The Creeping Death will make short work of any Falkovnian army in the field after dark, and although they could get up to Rivalis within a day unopposed, there is the entire Darkonian Army encamped on that road behind steadily-increasing earthernworks fortifications.

In order to get to Rivalis, the Falkovnians have to get Nortenmark (aka Lamordia) involved in the hostilities. Nortenmark is technologically advanced, but several decades ago it faced an enormous social upheaval when foreign traders brought in a number of destabilizing technologies (gunpowder, printing presses, silk, and portable compasses). The Nortenmarker barons barely succeeded in tamping down the rebellion and reestablishing order. (See Eleuthiarchy threads.) They smashed the printing presses, burned all the paper currency to reestablish their gold standard, banned all production of gunpowder, and made certain unspecified research into gunsmithing alloys punishable by death.

One Nortenmarker baron, Ejlert Leichtenbach, stumbled across some preserved treatises from the foreign merchants, detailing the production of gunpowder, silk, and portable compasses. As the least-favored baron with the estate closest to the Darkonian border, Leichtenbach naturally felt flattered when the Falkovnian spymaster Yuri Mitrovic approached him with offers of generous Darkonian territories. Between the two of them, Leichtenbach began importing Falkovnian expertise and painstakingly assembling a technologically advanced elite attack force. Armed with the forbidden technology of cannons, rifles, and bombs, Leichtenbach intends to wait out until the halcyon week of winter, when the alpine winds are calm and maneuverable, and then sally forth with seven airships to bomb Rivalis an the Darkonian army's defensive positions south of the city. The Falkovnians will coordinate a follow-up, charging north along the King's Highway to clear the broken fortifications and occupy the city of Rivalis by dark.

The key point is to never be caught in the field after sunset, when the Creeping Death is active. Yuri Mitrovic and the Falkovnian leadership assume (correctly) that Azalin still has enough regard for his questionable public image not to send the Creeping Death into major Darkonian cities, massacring friendly civilians and invading enemies alike.

For now, at any rate.
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Re: A successful invasion of Darkon?

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Here are a few ideas for some wild card events to complicate things, perhaps even turning the whole affair into a wider World Core War I. Sorry for the length of this post.

1) Mother Fury (in canon currently residing in Kartakass, details in CoTN: Werebeasts p. 67) and her clan get chased out by the native wolfweres that dominate that domain. She and her minions make their way north through the core fighting (and losing) against the native defenses, but with each conflict Mother Fury becomes more cunning and insightful of the ways of man. In Falknovia, she cuts a swath through the Falknovian soldiers and police forces before coming into contact with Vjorn Horstman (CoTN: Werebeasts p. 78), who is duly impressed by the power of her clan. Horstman, in turn, impresses her capabilities to the high ups in Falknovia's military and intelligence communities.

Horstman approaches Mother Fury for an alliance, and it's a match made in hell. Horstman has a lot of reason to ally with her- to study her kin more directly to distill a better brand of beast-man. Mother Fury is also interested in embracing the human half of her kind as another kind of predatory exemplars of the Wolf God (referenced in a sidebar in Gaz 1, p. 88). The former can give the latter new recruits, and the latter can give the former new test subjects. Eventually, as the war rolls around, the Falknovian intelligence operations discover the rumors of werewolf faithful to the Wolf God located in the Forest of Shadows. Mother Fury is offered a portion of it if she can capture the area and "convert" the werewolves already there. As lycanthropy is normally incompatible with undead, Fury agrees. If you play fast and loose with "the only one curse at a time" rule, and rule that the Creeping Death is a curse- then you might be able to justify lycanthropes being immune to turning undead.

2) Fiends and reality wrinkles to get around the barriers. You have a few options here. Martira Bay has one notable enemy of Azalin- Styrix the Night Hag. Her goal is to gather all that soul energy- perhaps she might be motivated to assist the Falknovians in subverting the town in return for some sacrifices. Most notably, those ground into her device might not produce bodies that could be reanimated by Azalin. Another option might be the Chauteaufaux fiends, who in canon were slain inhabiting that Dementlieu town. Perhaps they were simply driven out, or as mentioned here: http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/The_nameless_Amnizu Perhaps captured by the Fraternity of Shadows. Either way they might be motivated to work with the Falknovians- as revenge against an ally of Demenlieu or turned to work for the Falknovians as part of the Frat's efforts to unseat Azalin. One last option might be the return of the Whispering Fiend, who seems to strive on the chaos and bloodshed brought about by the war. He's likely to be more of a wildcard, but he might destroy a settlement or two of Darkon at a pivotal moment.

3) Ezra’s Holy War Straining the Treaty of the Four Towers- Raines may decide to seize the opportunity and declare holy war on Azalin and his army of the undead, calling upon the other branches to join him. This puts the Home Faith in a bind- as its relations with Boristi are already tenuous, and she's not fond of Falknovia. This latest internal tension might light a powder keg and cause strife within the church about not only what to do about Azalin but also what to do with the murderous woman who would ally with him. This trouble in Borca could effectively keep it from participating in a counter offensive against Falknovia. Meanwhile, what effect such a call might have on the Mordent branch, traditionally at odds with Darkon branch (I think either Gaz III or Heroes of Light talks about the Mordent branch planning a secret crusade against the Darkonese branch), remains to be seen. In any case, perhaps the Mordent Branch would use this as an opportunity for an excuse to infiltrate Darkon. As, of course, as the Ezra crusaders who decide to go to Darkon stream across Mordent, Lord Godefroy could begin killing them and adding them to his collection. (Godefroy in Gaz III is described as becoming more active and almost wanting a crusade to take place in Mordent- this could be where he gets his start.)

4) Lamordia- The Syndicate of Enlightened Citizens (Gaz II, p. 79) is noted to have secret influence everywhere but is notably focused in Lamordia. If Azalin was revealed to be a lich (a spellcaster in power is bad enough), I think they could really agitate for Lamordia’s entry into the war, or at least support of Falknovia. They have at least some sway in Darkon’s clergy and could conceivably have moles planted in various other places of power within Darkonese society

5) The resistance movements in Falknovia- Just to balance things out and give a few opportunities for those who would act against Falknovia, perhaps it would be wise to take into consideration what effect Falknovia's own resistance movements might have against Falknovia. With much of its troops at war abroad, on the home front things are likely to be weaker. Gondegal, the Knights of the Shadows, and even the kobolds (led by the Spawn of the Lizard and the Basilisk) are all noted enemies of Falknovia's oppressive government. IIRC in canon the various Falknovian rebel forces have never gotten their act together to really cripple Drakov’s military machine. Perhaps these circumstances (along with player intervention?) could galvanize them to cause Falknovia enough internal damage to let off the pressure in Darkon. Alternatively, if you wanted to discount the intervention of the Knights of the Shadows, you might have them become involved in the events related to Ebonbane and the maintenance of his seals (this was discussed in one of the framing fictions in one of the BoS’) or other events in the Shadowlands cluster/domains that would later become the Shadowlands cluster.

So yeah, basically, given the right circumstances, you could have a loose coalition of all sorts of tiny conspiracies serving interests normally at odds with each other aligning against Darkon. Ezra firebrands, rationalist manipulators, Wolf God lunatics, and horrible fiends all give you some variety in foes a Darkonese defense force might work against. A game could be made of exposing them to each other and then putting them at cross-purposes once again.
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