The War in the Core

[thekristhomas]

Hmmm...Lyssa von Zarovich, Duke Nharov Gundar and Leo Dilisnya, I wonder who else might join these "Vampires Without Borders", and what would their goals be?

A quick glance at the group should reveal that their primary goal would be the elimination of Strahd.

Secondary goals one would imagine to be the conquest of the possibly unified region of Borca/Barovia, with Gundar wishing to reclaim Gundarak, Leo wanting to re-establish himself as the Patriarch of the Dilisnya (and by extension the Boritsi), and Lyssa wanting to sit on the throne of Barovia.

So one can definitely see them working against any Pan-Balok cooperation, particularly if it has involved the elimination of the Borcan branch of the Dilisnya.

IMC the Ebon Gargoyle was formed first to hunt Dilisnya, and later retasked to fight the Kargat, and if they have become a symbol of Borcan/Barovian détente then they would surely become a target for the groups wrath.

[The Lesser Evil]

Actually, Gundar would probably go after Dominiani first, as that's specifically been his first listed goal (provided he can get back his memory). If Gundar were somehow able to get power, his attacking of Dominiani's domain might be a fun way to bring in the Sea of Sorrows as an element to the war or to Core War II.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

One thing to keep in mind -- Leo would also want Barovia. He suffered immensely for trying to take the place away from Strahd, once he's finally freed he will want it. If the vampires without borders ever manage to take down the Butcher of Barovia (not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination), I can see Leo turning on the others quicker than a rattler on speed... ^^;

[Rock of the Fraternity]

IMC the Ebon Gargoyle was formed first to hunt Dilisnya, and later retasked to fight the Kargat, and if they have become a symbol of Borcan/Barovian détente then they would surely become a target for the groups wrath.

The Ebon Gargoyles, against an ex-domain lord, a Ba'al Verzi with extensive wizard training, and a woman obsessed enough with vengeance to kill her lover in such a way that his ghost could artificially age her, all three corrupted by vampiric power...

Yeah, that's a slam dunk. The EG is going to be nothing but an embarrassing memory in short order.

[IrvyneWolfe]

Yeah I always saw Leo and Lyssa as a natural partnership. Love Gundar to death, but I don't think he misses being a dark lord, and he doesn't have a big enough beef with Von Zarovich to enter into an evil genius pact with two people smarter than he is. Now Dominiani, that guy's obviously on his hit list. Lyssa and Leo can easily go on a recruiting drive and turn a few ageing malcontents into vampires to fill out their ranks, Tabor, the Darkling rogue in Invidia comes to mind.

[IrvyneWolfe]

Tangentially. The discussion of the possibility of Prime Material Barovia not existing gave me another recruit for Vampires without borders.

Jander Sunstar. He's got all the reason in the world to hate Strahd, and is chaotic neutral enough to get into bed with Lyssa and Leo if it meant killing him. Of course this being Jander he'd change his mind at the 11th hour and turn on the others, but until then he'd be a better heavy for the group than Gundar would.

[thekristhomas]

Assuming the "Tripartite Fang" could overcome any personal differences and work together effectively, in the short term at least, what do we imagine to be the first thing they would hope to achieve?

The killing of Dominiani has been suggested as an over-riding goal for Gundar. Can we envision a scenario where the other two would co-operate with Gundar to see his goal fulfilled?

Dominia is a small island, it wouldn't take an army to take it (well, as a fair number of the inhabitants are cerebral vampires, it might if the army was merely human) provided the trio can get themselves (and whatever cohorts they choose to bring) there, I can't see them having much difficulty dispatching the current DL.

Of course, if they did kill the current DL there is a strong possibility that one of them (presumably the one that deals the fatal blow). This could be the opportunity that Leo and Lyssa have been looking for to ditch Gundar, or maybe they get one of their minions to deliver the coupe de grace to Heinfroth, and experiment with whether a puppet DL might be established (a similar scheme in fact, to Gundar's attempt to have Heinfroth assassinate Haakon Lukas). If this experiment proved successful it may spell doom for the lords of smaller domains (particularly in the Sea of Sorrows) as the group establishes a network of puppet DLs

[The Lesser Evil]

Dominia could be a good remote base for the three vampires to plan their attacks relatively safe from Strahd. It could also be a good hub for recruiting allies or naval subversion in the Sea of Sorrows if you include the various netbook domains in/accessible the Sea of Sorrows. Gustavstand (Undead Sea Scrolls 2001) might be the most likely to go along with some kind of naval alliance, though Hibernate (USS 2001/2002) and Whäl (Book of Sorrows) might be persuaded to join in if their idiosyncratic cultures could be navigated. Lyssa seems to be good at enlisting help from unlikely sources.

Another twist could be that some of the prisoners in Dominia have some particular knowledge that either Leo or Lyssa want to know about. Some dirty secret on Strahd or some such.

[thekristhomas]

One of my players pointed out that Leo would be Strahd's "slave" as Strahd is Leo's progenitor.

I've started another thread to deal with that issue in general (didn't want to derail the thread overly), but how do we see this affecting his/their plans?

Lyssa while being a Zarovich by birth is not of Strahds vampiric bloodline (anyone know anything about her progenitor?) and so wouldn't be affected, but she'd surely be aware (as would Gundar, Jander or whoever the third wheel is) of the possibility that Leo might be controlled by Strahd if they were ever to meet (or is it be in the same domain? I'm unsure of how vampiric control is affected by borders).

So, maybe the VWB's concentration on the Sea of Sorrows is partly to keep Leo well away from Strahds sphere of influence?

Also, where in the scheme of the greater Core War do we see the action's of the VWB taking place?

[The Lesser Evil]

Don't vampires have a limit on the amount of HD they can keep under their control? If so, over the centuries, he might've lost/ceded control over Leo.

[thekristhomas]

Don't vampires have a limit on the amount of HD they can keep under their control? If so, over the centuries, he might've lost/ceded control over Leo.

He might have, but Leo is Strahd's first real nemesis, as I see it, and I can imagine Strahd hanging on to any control, in the same way that some people hold on to the first dollar they made

[The Lesser Evil]

Ok, so assuming the "Vampires Without Borders" thing got set up, I don't think it'd affect any war in the mainland all the much if we just go with the canon domains. The Sea of Sorrows has Blaustein, Demise, Dominia, Ghastria, Markovia, and the Isle. Only Blaustein and Ghastria have human populations worth mentioning, and even these pale in comparison to the Core's populations.

If we go with noncanon or netbook canon, I'm guessing that Gustavsan http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Gus ... 8Domain%29 would be a primary backer as they have ties (however strained/mixed) with the Falkovnians. Gustavsan is a domain plagued by political in-fighting, but assuming a military-favoring faction came out on top, I could see them wanting to gain new monetary resources and/or finding an exterior enemy to rail against to unite the country. Assuming some Falkovnian officers could escape through Lamordian Dementlieu, I could see them appealing to the government of Gustavstan to mount an assault upon Richemulot.

Other island powers likely to go along with it:
-Marina http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Marina_%28Domain%29
-Virisa http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Virisa
-Whal (though possibly only the manufacture of ship supplies and a few independent ship captains direclty aiding in combat) http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Wh% ... 8Domain%29

[The Lesser Evil]

Expanding upon my thoughts on the post above, I see Three-Fang Alliance not begin able to achieve much until after Core War I was over (as organizing and subverting Dominia would take a while, and building contacts/ a sea alliance would take even longer.) Gustavstan is in virtual civil war, so getting past that would take a long time too. However, if the Falkovnians who fled the mainland gained enough influence over the emergent Gustavstan government, the island nation coulc conceivably be motivated to launch an attack against the mainland, thereby starting Core War II.

[thekristhomas]

Ok, so assuming the "Vampires Without Borders" thing got set up, I don't think it'd affect any war in the mainland all the much if we just go with the canon domains. The Sea of Sorrows has Blaustein, Demise, Dominia, Ghastria, Markovia, and the Isle. Only Blaustein and Ghastria have human populations worth mentioning, and even these pale in comparison to the Core's populations.

Blaustein has a much bigger punch than it's population would suggest though due to it's naval power, if the VWB could tie up western core shipping, such as it is, that could have serious consequences. As well as normal sea trade, IIRC the Sea of Sorrows has several mistways which have been allowing limited trade with certain mist bound island domains, a disruption to these trade routes might justify an intervention from those nations in the affairs of the core, if they lose enough coin or citizenry to the pirates to feel the pinch. Also, with the western core in disarray the Blaustein pirates would have more opportunity for plunder, as the respective navies tied each other up. I think this could lead to Blaustein being something of a player, potentially controlling shipping throughout the Sea of Sorrows.

If, for example, an early engagement between the Lamordian and Dementlieu navies resulted in heavy losses on both sides, that could leave Mordentish shipping to face the pirates alone. In some ways, given Mordent's reliance of fishing and shipping, this might be more of a problem to them than the Lamordian invasion of Dementlieu.

Demise, I struggle to see a way that the VWB could use the island even if they were to gain control over it, which I also struggle to see

Ghastria IIRC makes most of it's money exporting foodstuff, but I can't imagine that it would be enough to cause a problem if the supply suddenly stopped, but still, if combined with Dominia and Blausttein, the area of sea under the control of the VWB, would stretch over almost the entire western coast, which may bring them in conflict/negotiations with Darkon and Lamordia

Markovia is an interesting one, firstly IMC it's where the Monastery of the Silver Threads is (it had been in Barovia but when Markovia formed it became part of that domain, much to Strahd's annoyance, and vanished ,with the rest of Markovia, during the GC, to Strad's eternal rage) so for Leo to have been freed in the first place the VWB would probably have needed to come to an arrangement/defeated the islands DL. Aside from that though, its few inhabitants can't leave, or they regress to animals, and it has little in the way of immediately available resources (aside from trees maybe, useful to a burgeoning naval power), but it is a sizable chunk of land, that might appeal to a would-be conqueror.

So Markovia and Dominia may end up being controlled by the VWB almost by default, Markovia as a side effect of Leo being freed and Dominia as a by blow of Gundars revenge

[thekristhomas]

Also the Lamordians have already shown an interest in Markovia, a move by the VWB might be seen as a challenge to their claim