Café de Nuit

Here's another interesting NPC from the 1993 TSR Trading cards. Heads up HuManBing and Deepshadow! He's tied to the Iron Crown and Falkovnia...

Kevlin 12th level Noble Priest
AL NE

Equipment: Ring of human influence, ring of (vampiric) regeneration

Background: Kevlin is the head of a vile cult known as the Servants of the Iron Crown. This small sect of evil priests has taken root in the domain of Falkovnia and hopes to destroy that land's ruler, Vlad Drakov, so that they may seize power for themselves.

Source: 1992 TSR Trading card #320

I really need to get me those cards. Seems there's a wealth of untapped NPCs there.

Yup, they are a wellspring of inspiration for me. (Get the 1993 factory set first, then the 1992 one. The 93 set has more and better NPCs. )


Are the Servants of the Iron Crown mentioned anywhere else?

The Giamarga wrote:Yup, they are a wellspring of inspiration for me. (Get the 1993 factory set first, then the 1992 one. The 93 set has more and better NPCs. )


Are the Servants of the Iron Crown mentioned anywhere else?

The Iron Crown is the author of the Raiment of Clarity. Perhaps the cult arose from those who read the book?

Azalin has an 'iron crown', doesn't he? Perhaps this cult is connected to Darkon? Part of the Eternal Order, maybe, or some group opposed to Death (as in the DL, not the concept). IE, I think it could be neat to have apparently heroic undead-slayers, which it later turns out are opposed just to undead not created by them and thus not controlled by them...

As the card places them in Falkovnia, not Darkon, my guess is that it's an exercise in state-sponsored terrorism on Azalin's part. He sends some of the Eternal Order's fanatical extremists into Drakov's territory to stir up bloody unrest among the downtrodden, and he weakens Falkovnia while foisting some of the Order's less-tractable holy rollers off on somebody else. At a minimum, he's killed two birds with one stone; even if they can't actually scrub Drakov, their very presence forces the Kingfuhrer to devote more assets to internal security rather than invading yet again.

Not that Azalin has any fear for Drakov's invasions. However sending away the rubbish so that he can actually use the 1/10 that would survive and become smarter by the experience? That's something to gain. And as you said, he's sending undesirables.

He doesn't actually have to be afraid of Falkovnia to see the sense in undermining it. Having to interrupt some crucial experiment or arcane ritual in mid-chant, merely to deflect yet another ill-conceived, futile invasion by branded, raptor-shrieking thugs, gets so annoying....

Yes Kevlin is an interesting character, though suffering from the same level inflation that a lot of the trading cards do. If you had the patience to fully roll the stats up, I could definitely see him as a formidable foe.

Lawful Evil "Noble Priest"?

"Noble Priest" was a character kit from 2E. In 3E terms, you could get an analogous effect by giving him 1 level of aristocrat, representing his toff upbringing before he entered the clergy.