Who would you sentence to the Mists v. 2

[Brandi]

Rasputin, of legend at least, partially fits the bill.

Cardinal Richelieu's a better fit.

[Brandi]

Rasputin, of legend at least, partially fits the bill.

Cardinal Richelieu's a better fit.

[Zettaijin]

Yeah, MS is an evil empire and all that, but Gates bores me.

If Gates' story is that of the lowly, over-ambitious nerd who became a powerful tyrant, Jobs is the poser who became a charismatic guru.

[Tykus]

Rasputin, of legend at least, partially fits the bill.

Cardinal Richelieu's a better fit.

I see Rasputin in Dominic d'Onaire (unsure of spelling).

As far as the esteemed Cardinal: 1. Which version? The original or the Disney-fied one (which by the way, Tim Curry was great)? 2. Dragon #249 has an article on how to integrate the old 2nd ed. Campaign books (you know, the green ones) into MoRD and Cardinal Richelieu was listed as a lich that had survived the Black Plague. Instead of a paralyzing touch, he had a disease touch.

[Manofevil]

Yeah, the FICTIONAL Richelieu might work. From what I've read on Wikipedia, the historical Richelieu actually had some pretty good qualities.

For sheer bloodthirst and madness, how about Bill Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson?

[Brandi]

Yeah, the FICTIONAL Richelieu might work. From what I've read on Wikipedia, the historical Richelieu actually had some pretty good qualities.

That's as may be, but if you want to talk about someone who did his best ruling from behind the throne, he's it.

And he doesn't seem all that nice in The Devils of Loudun (nonfictional, and recommended reading for people here, especially any who want to run something in Tepest).

[DocBeard]

Jim Jones.

The guy's whole story reads like a Darklords's, right down to his dream-community falling out of his absolute control driving the man completly around the bend. It would be easy enough to throw some of the guy, or a lot of modern cult leaders, into Yakov and G'Henna, but it's sort of cut off from the Core, which means interacting with other Domains, which kind of cheapens the paranoid feel nessicary to really capture the whole deal.

[Manofevil]

This thread started with Black Adam so I'll suggest the comic book version of Lex Luthor. He murdered his parents, had Lana Lang and Jerry White (Perry White's son) tortured, stole the presidency, and is constantly enslaving his female employees sexually. That guy's Azalin with a pulse.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Just coz I want to see them toil forever in curses twisted for them, George W. Bush and Tony Blair. Never liked them and their policies on POW's was barbaric and free of any remorse. Hell, they could prbably take over Falkovnia without to much trouble and nobody would know the difference.

[HuManBing]

Bush I agree with. His entire administration has been one false step after another. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Wolfowitz, and Gonzales are all up there with him in guilt in that tragedy of errors too. Not only did they screw up the war with hubristic arrogance in American superiority and a disdain for the rest of the world's reservations, but they unashamedly tried to take the country into a partisan conservative direction that limits free choice, they tried to muzzle or co-opt a free press in ways that no earlier administration would have dared, and they are dogged by persistent reports of breathtaking corruption and war profiteering from Iraq. (But we'll never know until Bush is out of office because he keeps blocking investigations with the aid of sock puppet Gonzales.)

I'm less sure Blair belongs in Ravenloft though. True, he supported the war, but then again I gather his domestic policies in Britain weren't nearly as destructive as Bush's? (I lived in the UK only during the first five years of his administration so I don't know how bad it got after 2001.) From what I understand he was a moderate leader of a formerly left wing government who was able to get things done internally and with his EU neighbors during 10 years in power.

[cure]

Blair and Powell should be co-dark lords. For it was their moral (religious even in the case of Blair) blank cheques that underwrote this war. Blair dreamt of ripping down the statues of Churchill and replacing them with his figure chiselled in stone. And Powell is either a completely self-serving liar who wants us to believe that he was an innocent victim or he knew more than well enough what was afoot and decided to make it possible rather than resigning which would have been the right and courageous thing to do.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Let us refrain from the politics, please.

[cure]

Let us refrain from the politics, please.

You might want to add "contemporary" or some such qualifier given that we are addressing a setting that features two darklords taken directly from historical misrepresentations of the Borgia, a darklord who has in his very title the word "Fuehrer" to say nothing of his taste for wars of aggression and his distain for other cultures, and arguably a darklord inspired by communist purges. Additionally Azalin is something of a commentary on kingship. Darklords speak to politics if not by their very nature then at least by the orientation of the ambitions of many in respect to that nature. And so they resonate not only or even principally with tv series script writers that apparently are profoundly hated (and quite possibly justifiably so) by some contributers to this thread.

[HuManBing]

Cure: Good point. We could also add d'Honaire, Boritsi, the Gundar/Strahd rivalry, and Mallocchio to that list of DLs with strong political commentary in their profiles.

[Joël of the FoS]

Sure, that is probably what Nathan meant.

Oh, and be careful with religion too Historical debate is fun, and encouraged, as long as the merits or perceived strenght/weaknesses of current/living faith are not debated.

Just be careful to to hurt anybody belonging to a specific faith. It can be tricky, as a friend recently found: his girlfriend liked buddhas and and them all over a place in the yard (personal taste is another subject of tricky debate). Well, a thaï friend was slightly offended that Buddha was used as a simple yard decoration...

My point is think twice and reread your post when discussing religion

Joël