Recruiting: high scale Pathfinder, Taldor, aka Byzantium focused

Started by Kolbrandr, June 02, 2013, 03:46:12 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

EroticFantasyAuthor

It seems one of my earlier questions was missed.

For a baseline "realistic" example, how big would something like a mercenary company get in 5 years time?

Also what would be a reason for a family with young children to leave Taldor? Still brainstorming.

Kolbrandr

There's no real one uniform answer to that. It really depends on the nature of its founding, as far as the last comment I made on that. It could be anywhere from 50 guys to 1000 guys. Some otherwise disbanded military unit could be quite large. A group of fighter types that got together in the name of bling could be quite small. The inheritors of some long standing mercenary tradition could be anything. As an upper end example from medieval history, Roger de Flor managed to take a huge pile of unemployed soldiers and turn them into the Catalan Company, a 5000 some odd strong mercenary army that rampaged around Europe and Asia Minor.

Go with a number you feel you can justify and makes conceptual sense.

MrBubbles

So what's the verdict on using canonically established houses? I've been tempted to throw in a a cadet branch of House Henderthane, but that might be a bit too much.

Kolbrandr

Quote from: MrBubbles on June 18, 2013, 08:27:08 PM
So what's the verdict on using canonically established houses? I've been tempted to throw in a a cadet branch of House Henderthane, but that might be a bit too much.

Depends on the house you have in mind, but the Henderthanes are Cheliax based and by my understanding suffering from a case of the deads, and even that first thing alone would incline me to go "eeeehhhh".

MrBubbles

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 18, 2013, 08:38:08 PM
Depends on the house you have in mind, but the Henderthanes are Cheliax based and by my understanding suffering from a case of the deads, and even that first thing alone would incline me to go "eeeehhhh".

Bah! Only Einmarch and his immediate family are dead, others who share the name are still alive and kicking. In fact, that presents a goal for the cadet branch; strive to get in House Thrune's good favors and have them be recognized as the Henderthane line from which they'll buy their weapons.

But yeah, being Cheliax based is an issue; they ain't no Jeggare, that's for sure.

Kolbrandr


MrBubbles

Aite, never hurts to ask, and I've been meaning to ask for quite a while now ;D

Kolbrandr

No worries. Welcome to pitch things regardless. If as write-ups go up, you want to be tied into one of those, feel free to ask and all.

EroticFantasyAuthor

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 18, 2013, 07:27:57 PM
There's no real one uniform answer to that. It really depends on the nature of its founding, as far as the last comment I made on that. It could be anywhere from 50 guys to 1000 guys. Some otherwise disbanded military unit could be quite large. A group of fighter types that got together in the name of bling could be quite small. The inheritors of some long standing mercenary tradition could be anything. As an upper end example from medieval history, Roger de Flor managed to take a huge pile of unemployed soldiers and turn them into the Catalan Company, a 5000 some odd strong mercenary army that rampaged around Europe and Asia Minor.

Go with a number you feel you can justify and makes conceptual sense.

The thing is I'm not really sure of anything right now, so was hoping for a few good baseline examples. I feel like I'm stuck at a point of not knowing where to start.

Shaitan

EFA one example to look at is the 127th Cavalry Unit, I've been working with Kolbrandr to make it a bit more fitting with the setting. The intent behind it is to make a maverick cavalry unit that is kinda a cross between the a-team and mongolian riders. Its only about 200 but they are a giant mish-mash of different styles and approaches. I'm still working on their background, one of the areas I am not so great at fleshing out. Though it should provide something of an example, not sure how good, but its something at least.

EroticFantasyAuthor

Any example is helpful, thank you.  ;D

At this point I'm thinking possibly 500 member mercenary group gathered over about 5 years. The mercenary group would be a mish-mash as well, but more specializing on covert operations. Basically, they'd market themselves as discreet problem solvers to any interested clients who need their services. But that's not to say more mundane jobs are a no-go. They'd still do plenty of bodyguard and security work.

Kolbrandr

Quote from: avorae on June 18, 2013, 02:10:17 PM
yes

Alright, if you want to put a more fleshed out backstory together we can give it a go.

Kolbrandr

So I was going to put up the douchebag wizards as the next house writeup while a bunch of people are still working on stuff, but I figured I might as well complete the benign royal houses trifecta, so, the Durahan! (who do exist as a brief canonical blurb I picked up and ran with to flesh out, and yes, as the Darahan if you've read it. It was first a typo, but then I decided I just liked how it sounded better  :P )

Notable current personalities and strengths and weaknesses will go up in a bit.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide


House Durahan

Overall House Alignment: Neutral Good (some Chaotic Good and Lawful Good leanings)

Favoured Deity: Pretty much all the gods of good (the Empyreal Lords included) except for Sarenae, see some measure of popularity in the house. For being Taldan, Kurgess and Cayden Caylien are somewhat more frequent in relative devotion.

House Blazon: A medusa head flanked by a hammer and mattock on either side on a field of red.

House Motto: We Are the Wall

Common Classes: Almost all (see overview and house strengths)

Somewhat rare: Any of the more courtly focused archetypes or the like

House Structure: A family of monster hunters and adventurers, the Durahan have never really had the time to develop an especially formalized structure between jaunts into the field, preparing for hunts, and recovering from them. Certainly there is the Margrave at the top of the house, but given the various rewards of prestige the Durahan have received for their deeds over the years, the house is a dizzying mess of titles. Viscounts, Marquises, Contessas, Dukes, Lords, Ladies, Knights, Dames, Scholae, Barons and Baronets make for a rampant confusion. Fortunately a general spirit of shared purpose and an overall directive to obey the Margrave and his immediate named proxies keeps disputes and chaos to a minimum, though there is a great deal of personal autonomy. Beyond that, the house often functions as an information sharing and support network for the pursuit of chosen targets as much as it does anything else. The Durahan could almost be seen as a large group of affiliated adventuring bands who are all related.

General Overview: Cousins of the now-infamous Adella family, the Durahans also distinguished themselves in the Shining Crusade, and their knights were instrumental in bringing down the Whispering Tyrant. Unlike its extinct brethren, the Durahan family is still thriving, and its influence in Taldor and surrounding lands shows no signs of waning anytime soon. The Durahans seek to bring honor to the Taldan throne and prove the bravery of their people with a long tradition of monster hunting. The main obstacle to their greater glories is a hard to shake (and not entirely lacking in truth) perception of the family as a staggering collection of boors by much of the aristocracy.

Being fair, in the wider world, where they are quite active, many cultures find them the height of erudite sophistication by comparison. But then again, many cultures are not Taldor, where instead they are often several fashion trends behind, and similarly out of date on the latest gossip, diversions and entertainment. Taldan culture is an ornate world, even at its relatively lower levels, and one in which they lag.

It’s understandable of course. The Durahan education for a scion of the house is both intense and idiosyncratic all at once. Incorporating via marriage and adoption the bands of adventurers the family tend to find themselves falling it with have provided an extremely broad field of expertise to bring to bear. A child will be watched for particular talents as they apprentice to various members of the house, and when a particular inclination shows itself, end up as a more permanent assistant to a likely son or daughter of the house until they come into their own. Years of hard road and wilderness travel, delving into musty crypts, haggling with sages and brutal clashes await them. It’s not that they lack for tutors in etiquette and all the courtly sort of learning, it’s that time given over to such things ends up being a secondary priority at best, and not exactly a constantly refreshed one. They are not utterly without polish, but on the scale of Taldor, the gaps stand out glaringly.

And yet, it isn’t the total impediment to Durahan standing and influence that it otherwise could be, and there is a simple set of reasons for that. Taldor may be internally pacified of monsters almost completely, but not entirely perfectly.  The Fog peaks and World’s edge mountains on the borders are besides rife with creatures, and the druids of the Wildwood lodge sometimes need more diverse talent to apply to problems that crop up with the wide array of beasts and less convivial fey that lurk within the borders of the Verduran. Taldan investments in the wider world at large can suffer from the utter strangeness in that wider world. At that point, you either call in the experts or you accept having to come to terms with lowly, random /adventurers/ (shock, gasp, scandal). The family at that point manages to display a just depressingly keen memory for favours owed, and have a roughly effective negotiating style for services bartered. (“Well we could go ask the Branas, they at least have manners,” a noble with troubles might say. Sadly the Branas are quite likely to note being busy with their own duties keeping Taldor from invasion while replying “why aren’t you asking the Durahan?” and starting to give the asker a funny look of suspicion. The Eiredor aren’t likely to be interested in something lacking a certain chivalric sweep, and the Stromfords will probably make you feel like you sold your soul while bleeding you white for the privilege.) 


The family continues their work thereby, a generational business of saving people and hunting things, earning distinction from one hand, while the other tries to keep them distant enough that there not be complaints about smells, or sights of stains.


Notable Historical Durahan

Ioan Durahan, Founder and Hunter (Fighter/Ranger)

Much of Ioan’s story is simple, yet effective, and some use that to praise the house, others to slight it. A retired soldier focused on raising a family, Ioan found themselves caught up in Tar-Baphon’s darkness in the tail end of the centuries long sweep of conquests and rampages that would eventually goad the Shining Crusade. The loss of his beloved wife to monstrous assault filled the would be farmer with a burning need for justice and vengeance alike. With nowhere safe to take them and unwilling to forsake guarding over them, Ioan took up his two sons with him onto a long and harsh journey through dark and occupied countrysides, raising and training them as warriors even as he refined his own skills. A wanted, outlaw presence operating under the nose of the Tyrant’s dominion, Ioan and his sons brought what relief they could to those suffering in misery, slaying monsters, banishing spirits, freeing slaves and helping people flee.


When word came of the forming Crusade, Ioan and his sons managed to make their way to where it was organized, providing detailed maps and other information that would prove crucial to the eventual securing of a beachhead in Tar-Baphon’s territories. For that, a grateful Grand Prince raised them up to the royal caste, and they spent much time afterwards raising up a band of knighted warriors around them, training them to fight the malevolence that loomed in its many forms. Like the Eiredor Grand Prince he served, Ioan would not live to see the end of the Shining Crusade, though to the surprise of the man himself and all who knew him, it was from the twilight that comes with old age, rather than some battlefield death or vengeful assassination. His children (and by now grandchildren), knowing that the enemies he had made would be likely to seek to violate his body into undeath, gave him the funeral that has become traditional to the house, that of a pyre intense enough to leave nothing left but ash then scattered to the winds.


Grand Prince Haverstrom Durahan, the Hero Emperor (Ranger/Rogue)


The judgement of history is mixed when it comes to Haverstrom. Oh, not in any sort of Arcadius I “hero or monster?” debate, but as to his quality as a ruler of men in the first place. The Shining Crusade had been decades on end of suffering and brutality, and it left any number of lines of succession a bit confused due to casualties, even a generation afterwards. With families still jumbled and recovering, it was accepted, even encouraged for the Grand Princedom to come to the son of these new and glorious hero royals of the nation, and in that way the throne came to Haverstrom. He looked the part at least, dashing and determined, heroic in profile, strong and swift and sure. Nor were looks really all that deceiving, for as a warrior, a hunter and tracker, Haverstom was seeming without peer, a victor in the countless battles that would define his reign.

But as a ruler of Taldor? Well, that’s another matter entirely. Perhaps he lamented having missed the Crusade. Perhaps the legacy of his great grandfather weighed heavily upon him as something to live up to. Or perhaps his heart simply bled for others just that much. Whatever the reason was, the Avistan and Garund at large were still recovering, and there were creatures and forces yet that attempted to take advantage of that state. Wherever they did so, there was Haverstrom and his most boon companions appeared, slaying monsters, putting undead to final rest or destruction, driving back forces of chaos and misery from civilization.

It’s not that this was unneeded work. It’s not that this wasn’t even crucial work to getting nations back on track. But couldn’t someone else have been doing it? Someone who wasn’t otherwise supposed to instead be running a particularly vast continent spanning empire? It would be a debate for scholars were it not for it being the case that it was only a handful of centuries after the Shining Crusade ended that Taldor’s decline took full hold. Some point to Haverstrom’s reign where the roots of such degradation took hold (others argue that being ridiculously simplistic). It was certainly true that Haverstrom propped up the day to day running of his nation by expanding an already unwieldy bureaucracy and delegating to proxy after proxy. And it was certainly true that the man spent far more time in travel and combat than actually tending to the mechanisms of state. If corruption that was already taking hold was able to magnify and spread, it may have been that Haverstrom was too mired in battle and triumphs to pay much attention to it. That perhaps his glories were so glorious as to dazzle people away from his sweeping failures.

Then again, the man personally killed a dragon. Objective judgements can be hard in the face of that.



Kolbrandr

Oh, the Adella family are the "got wiped from history for infernalism" family I periodically mention.

kckolbe

Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Phaia

some things I am looking at

I was reading about a Courtesan Guild in Abdosom [sp?], make sense that there should be one in Oppara as well... and that the House of the Setting Sun is a cornerstone/ core of it since they are a Royal order of courtesans... I was thinking maybe having a set of a couple of rules a guilded courtesan goes by and a ring or tattoo that marks one as guilded.... makes it easy then for anyone desired one to pay extra for a guilded one and know they have standards
also a courtesan can be of any level of society there should be ones working the merchants and mid level government officals
of course not all have to be members but doing so implys certain things not sure what those could be though
or if the whole idea just isnt needed

One rule was monthly curse disease set up with a temple and recorded. maybe another being a certain level of grooming and cleanness.

I was curious as too what you all think of this idea

also once we get set up how much in the way of magic items can we have...maybe use the wealth guide as a basis?

I would be open to having contacts with other houses since the House of the Setting sun would have access to a most royal functions and can act as a behind scenes negotiator

Phaia

RubySlippers

I have a suggestion the D20 system has monthly upkeep maybe for ease of roleplaying we should use that?

Here is a simple breakdown of the idea.

Upkeep

Instead of worrying about meal prices, lodging, replacing torn clothing, and other miscellaneous costs, as well as to represent the kinds of costs that turn up in daily life that aren't reflected on the tables (like taxes) in Chapter 7 of the PHB, players must pay a monthly upkeep cost based on the lifestyle of the character. Money is due on the first of each month. See page 130 of the DMG for more information. Current Upkeep Level must be listed on your character sheet. Costs are as follows:

Self-Sufficient: 2 GP per month

Meager: 5 GP per month

Poor: 12 GP per month

Common: 45 GP per month

Good: 100 GP per month

Extravagant: 200 GP per month

I know its not official and all but seems to me this would keep things simple for say supporting followers you could say this mercenary I hired gets a Common lifestyle and this captain of the mercenary gets a Good Lifestyle.

Kolbrandr

The rest of the Durahan writeup:

(Yes, I basically stuck the high level pc approachable npc cleric for the campaign in this house. It amused me to do so)

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide


Notable Current Members of the House


Margrave Calidore Durahan, The Wall, The forcibly sedentary (Cleric 15 (Kurgess)//Monk 15 (Martial Artist)


It is a house truism that no one really wants to be the Margrave of the family. Most of the time the position sees a progression through family members into retirement age and otherwise unable to ignore that state or those too maimed for field duty. Given the nature of the family business, this cannot always be the case, with whole generations at times that have no one in that viable candidate pool otherwise alive. When that sort of situation arises, the family decides on who its most accomplished members are, and from them picks by lot. This generation’s loser was Calidore. He’s at least managed not to kill anyone over it yet.

Which is something of a minor miracle for the big, big man with the impossible feats of strength to his name (which is only appropriate for a priest of Kurgess the Strong Man). The sheer amount of boundless energy he keeps pent up could consume a city block. A life lived in hunts and adventures that ranged across the length and breadth of Golarion itself has come to a screeching halt in his early 30s, and not in any of the ways he ever thought it would. When he can rouse himself to be the hero that he was, Calidore is an inspiring presence, boisterous and energetic, easy going, yet willful, good natured, yet determined. When his current responsibilities weigh too heavily upon him instead, he becomes brooding and sullen, and more than a bit of a drunk (there are rumours that he and Aurelian Branas ended up in a fairly ugly tavern brawl, but neither man seems inclined to speak of such things, if they were even true).

The why of it is not hard to see. Can you punch corruption away? Can you use a magic ritual to banish fundamental social inequality? Well, perhaps you can determine the secret weak spot of intolerance to let you plunge a blade through its otherwise armored belly. Calidore is surrounded by things that grieve his sense of decency, and for all his vast personal power, there seems nothing he can do about them.

Worse yet, when people do approach him, it is largely to negotiate the services of some other member of his family. Or even worse than that, they’ve realized he is probably the most powerful cleric within all of Taldor’s borders, and instead look to him for consultation on matters of faith or healing. Gone are the days where he could spend weeks on end planning the hunt of some countryside ravaging monstrosity of legend, and months travelling to reach and draw it out. He tries to mostly take out his frustrations on an increasingly mangled home gymnasium.

It should be said, Calidore is not actually /that/ bad at the whole Margrave thing. Leading a diverse group of eclectic talents from one incomprehensible situation to the next makes for some experience in being a good leader. And some of his adventuring band/immediate retinue have turned out to have a decent head for land management and bookkeeping besides. While he is not the most courtly or nuanced of figures, he can at least be intimidating, and there is something to be said for managing to silence a cutting remark by being a 7 foot tall wall of muscle glaring down murderously.



Baron Robb “the Singer” Durahan, Coordinator and Center (Ranger 12//Wizard 7/Loremaster 5)

To get it out of the way, the nickname is a joke, Robb’s terrible singing voice is a thing of legend. A grizzled older man who has come out the other side of a long life fighting horrors and losing loved ones to them, Robb is a steadying presence and counsellor to younger members of the house. With a keen mind and methodical understanding of the world, it would even seem like the Baron would be better suited to hold the title of Margrave. The very idea of that would of course send the house into uproar.

Robb already fills a role direly needed by the family. It is Robb that manages the vast storehouses of lore the family has gathered on everything from demons, to dragons, to the undead to even animated constructs, aiding his kin in critical research when it comes up.  And it is Robb that sorts through tavern tales, direct pleas to the family, scattered rumours and old maps and histories brought out to him to plot out where the Durahan should be striking next, picking out members of the house to send out on such tasks. Through letters, sendings and summoned creatures, Robb keeps what could otherwise be a far flung family in touch. He maintains a network of contacts besides amongst scholars, and adventurers both active and retired. And when not tending to all that, or fielding innumerable requests for support from relatives, he trains his successor, a somewhat gangly and awkward youth by the name of Gareth.

Robb cannot thereby be spared to represent the house politically, to handle talks with outsiders, to manage resources. And the strain upon what time he does have tends to make him even more cantankerous and ornery than he might otherwise be. “Idiot” is a common curse inflicted on family members who try his patience in some manner, though they in turn seem to love him as a second father, or in the case of the not infrequent Durahan of dead parents, first.



Marquis Anastasius von Durahan, the shadowed hunter (rogue 5/Sleepless Detective 9//Inquisitor 14 (Zohls))


House Durahan has an ancient relationship with the fell cursed nation of Ustalav, stemming from the time even before the Shining Crusade, when Ioan the founder fought across its lands. The shadow tainted nation has become something between a burden, proving ground and killing field to the family, with those who survive the experience ending up as some of the more potent figures within the house.

Anastasius is one such survivor, though some might argue his sanity endures less well than his body. His manelike shock of hair gone prematurely white, the hunter non pareil has only recently emerged from one of his every so often stays in the family asylum, idling a bit of time in Oppara for the moment (of course the Durahan maintain an excellent hospital for both mental and physical health, it comes with the job). A figure who radiates a disturbing sense of obsession and intensity, it would be a joke that Anastasius doesn’t blink, lest he lose a moment’s observation, but, really, Anastasius actually doesn’t seem to blink.

It’s a pity in a certain sense, for the Marquis has a sense of polished etiquette and decorous bearing otherwise unheard of amongst his kinsmen, the legacy of an Ustalavic noblewoman mother who drilled such lessons into him as a means of self control (and in whose posthumous honour he has added the “von” to his name). But it is the other legacy of his heritage that dominates his life. Not for Anastasius are clashes with orcs and giants, goblins and trolls. His war instead is against that which lurks and creeps in shadow, the lycanthrope, the vampire and its thralls, the damned pawns of subtler fiends, the ghost, the cultists to abominations from beyond reality and against those very abominations themselves. Anastasius has looked past the veil that separates sanity from sheer metaphysical insanity time and again and that he continues to recover from his experiences speaks to an impossible iron will. He has a particular keen talent for uncovering members of Tar-Baphon’s surviving cultists and laying them low.

Aside from a capacity to stand in the very midst of horrific gore without flinching, the prim and proper Marquis tends to still what mockery might have otherwise arisen from his family about him via his sheer brilliance. An intellect that is particularly expressed in being a walking repository of lore of such as he hunts, to a degree that impresses even the Baron Robb.

Still, damn shame about the creepiness.


Count Rustov Durahan, Unholy Family Bane (Fighter 16/Wizard 16, vampire)


There is an aphorism amongst the part of the family Durahan that focuses on the undead, on Tar Baphon’s undeath worshipping cult, and simply on the nation of Ustalav. That whatever foe you have bested or problem solved, you had best start training the next generation to deal with it now, because come the day they’re going to have to go face the same damn thing over again (Anastasius does not truck in this aphorism, because, of course, aphorisms are lazy mnemonic devices for those unwilling to properly internalize and understand a truth. Anastasius is just great at parties). A source of this particular lesson comes from one of the great black marks on an otherwise shining family heritage.


Tar-Baphon was obviously furious at the progress of the Shining Crusade on all levels, but he managed to reserve a corner of fury for the family that had helped it along and had been defying him even beforehand. It was a fury that would linger as a legacy with the cultists of the Whispering Way that survived the Crusade to carry on what they believed to be his legacy. But the Durahan were mighty and opportunities for revenge few. That is until the beginning of the twinned disasters that were the Chelish rebellions, and the Qadiran invasion.

The Count had to that point lived a life fairly typical to his family. He had even claimed a beautiful young bride for himself, a maiden that was to otherwise have been a sacrifice to a draconic overlord. In the rescuing of her, they had captured each other’s hearts. He had even saved her from an attempt to slaughter them on the very eve of their wedding by vengeful relations of his scaly foe. It was the sort of thing you would hear in a fairy tale. Unfortunately, this was not an era conducive to happy endings.

When the wars came, the Count was occupied as much of his family was, turning back monstrous attentions that grew rampant as social order otherwise weakened. He trusted in his nation to keep his lands safe while he fought. He might have known better.

Returning home to a burning castle, he was not left even a corpse to weep over, only testimony that those who had pillaged his home, had turned dark attentions to the women there, with none spared. What monsters had failed to take from him, men had managed, despite all he had done for their race for his entire life. His family’s precious heroic reputation meant nothing, protected nothing. He held onto his sanity (for the most part), just long enough to find those that had wronged him, and teach them just what exactly he had learned from monsters.

It was then that the Whispering Way found him, and offered the broken wreck of a man a chance to have his wife back, but for it, he would have to walk the path of undeath. For his wife, he would have marched right into hell. He was made over into a vampire and turned loose on the world, his family especially.

The Count was not an idiot of course, even gripped by heartbreak to the point of madness. He knew the cult was using him, and probably lying to him, but he knew also that he could use them, both their gathered lore and to send them chasing more as he needed. As distractions to breach the family vaults and steal from their collections of relics.

Eventually he had what he needed for the unholy resurrection of his bride, only to be stymied in the final moments by his own family. It was the final break and moment of his full descent into evil. He took a perverse, vengeful pride in travelling to any locale where the house had saved the innocent, had put right what was going wrong, and by his terrible hand bring the reverse to be, striving to unmake centuries of good deeds to prove a point about their fragility and meaninglessness. In his own wounded way, he likes to think he is doing the people who could not let him be happy a favour, to disabuse them of virtues that bring only pain. He has found man to be a miserable, wretched thing in his long unlife of observing them, unworthy of his family bleeding out for them time and again.

This running series of atrocities and catastrophe continued for over a century before his kinsmen were finally able to destroy the Count and send him to whatever rest could await such a creature as he. And then, some generations later, the Whispering Way were able to resurrect him through some twisted means, and the pattern repeated. And so it has gone, down to this day.   

Sometimes the Count will again try to bring back his wife. Sometimes the Count will fixate on a particularly noble member of the family and try to break their spirit to prove his usual attempted point. And sometimes he’ll just go on a vindictive rampage, occasionally against Cheliax or Qadira, which has some in Taldor finding him a curiously sympathetic figure.

Rustov was slain once more some thirty years ago, but no one in the family really believes it will take. There wasn’t even a body left over this time, making it one more incident in the usual way business stayed between the Count and his house. Unfinished.


(OOC: The GM feels neither shame nor regret at having created this particular npc, for the record)



Strengths of House Durahan


Actually well liked outside of Taldor: The Branas are certainly respected and feared (and cursed) by all of Taldor’s border nations. The Stromfords are certainly known and hated wherever colonial exploitation is possible. It is the Durahan by contrast, that are actually admired across a far wider spectrum. They are heroes after all, and if they are present in any particular nation, it is probably to help someone, somehow, with some terrible threat. The Grand Prince is generally pretty shameless about exploiting that, often including a Durahan with some diplomatic embassy or other (granted generally speaking someone else will do most of the talking for it). All the same, on an international scale, a Durahan can probably find some village or tavern or figure in some nation that has reason to think kindly on them, and want to help them out. The house even has a few cadet branches in the nations they most heavily find themselves within, and they are savvy enough to make use of all this for influence in Taldor proper.

House Durahan Aint Nothing To Fuck With: The Durahan don’t really have much of an army to speak of. Taking an army along in their line of work feels to them like nothing more than a way to get good soldiers killed, so they’ve just not really bothered. On the other hand, they are basically a large fraternity of successful, powerful adventurers formed out of themselves and the allies they make along the road. A sheer incomprehensibly diverse conglomeration of talent to stack ontop of that gives almost anyone severe pause as far as a notion of bringing destruction to the house. An army that ever comes for them, is generally speaking an army that is going to bleed to the point of death to get one over on them. Beyond that, what if a Durahan survives? What do you then do if you have some relentless monster killing son of a bitch who is used to basically living like a barbarian in a muddy ditch coming after you to put you in the ground? This is not to say people don’t politically screw with the Durahan to the same level any other house gets messed with, maneuver them into unfavourable positions at court, embarrass them, gain things at their expense, make them waste their money, or what have you. It just means that even the people who do such things have a line they don’t cross, ever, in the name of self preservation. 


Numerous: The family encourages its sons and daughters to have as large a family as they can plausibly manage. There is a sad and simple reason for this. There is a great deal of turnover in House Durahan due to the lifestyle they lead. So while at any point there is certainly a large group of them, it’s best not to get too attached to those faces. Most of them won’t really make it far into the next generation.


Lore and Relics: He who would fight monsters had certainly better have some kind of idea about just what the hell those monsters are. The Durahan have accumulated a stunningly vast body of lore on every sort of unnatural peril that can be found in Golarion and the planes beyond. Twinned to that is a sizable collection of magical items and relics seized from fallen foes. Some of these have been deemed dangerous by the family of course, and legends have grown around the vast vaults they secure and conceal them in, rumours of being designed like the dungeons they have had to fight through, of caikalang guardians and even demiliches sealed away for the good of the world.


Tolerance: Lifetimes on the road and amidst scraggly bands of adventurers tend to make the Durahan more accepting of difference in race, faith, social class and station than most. They readily adopt their bastard children, and the tieflings, aasimar and half elves that sometimes ensue from nights of passion in tense situations, well.. no, they don’t acknowledge them in Taldor proper (even the Durahan understand the concept of political suicide), but they will often set them up with a family branch somewhere outside it with titles of their own. This sense of acceptance has broadened a range of talent in the house that one less welcoming might find closed off to them.


Weaknesses of House Durahan

Enemies. Enemies! ENEMIES! He who fights monsters, is going to seriously piss off a lot of monsters. The enemies of the Durahan are powerful, inhuman, and as diverse as the house itself in ability. Every so often they coordinate. The house in those times verges on ending up decimated for a few generations. Granted the stories of the various children avenging family deaths that result are of course quite exciting.

Honestly, they are kinda boors: The Durahan are a fairly moral bunch, but they don’t really manage to bring that to bear on Taldan society as much as they might otherwise hope for. It doesn’t help that they don’t do great in the venues that might otherwise let them accomplish that, like court for instance. And while they might snort in the direction of the idea, people do want examples they can look to, be awed and, and thereby inspired to strive for better by. That’s just not their thing.

Boom and bust: A house that gets most of its wealth and influence from monster slaying is going to have lean years depending on rewards given, hoards found, more Durahan being dead than alive in a particular generation to hunt monsters down, all that sort of thing. Said house is also going to have really flush years beyond the wildest dreams of other families for those same reasons and more. It veers wildly up and down, with little middle ground. An incident in lean times where the Varian tried to indebt the family to them so hard as to turn the Durahan into their permanent bodyguards has left a festering grudge between those houses. It has otherwise stuck in the house’s craw in leaner years when they have to take work they view as beneath them to get by. The Branas have generally been pretty good at finding ways to pay them for services close enough to their usual preference that comes off as neither pity nor charity in those eras.

Currently Politically Vulnerable: The Durahan usually count on the Branas to advocate for them at court somewhat from a shared sense of duty that is simply applied to different fields (You might wonder why the Eiredor don’t similarly advocate, but honestly darling, the Durahan are boors, and they refuse to learn better even when you try to educate them. You can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped, don’t you know. Tut tut.) With Maxentian’s exile, Aurelian being a recently arrived unknown quantity, and Theodora it seems harboring a grudge against the Durahan for one of their paladins having encouraged Photius down his path, that arrangement is no longer guaranteed. And it would hurt the family pride to have to outright ask for something that has always been assumed to be default. At court right now, the Durahan stand alone, and that is never a good situation for them.

Count Rustov: The Count gets his own entry, even when currently, probably dead (maybe). Anything less would be an affront to him.

Relations with other Nations

As noted, the family is known and liked on a wide scale outside of Taldor, but a few nations stand out in that, for good or ill.


Lastwall: One of the three royal houses that especially contribute to the defense of Lastwall (along with the Branas and the Zonaras), the Durahan more focus on sending sons and daughters to focus on patrolling the lands around Gallowspire, the prison of Tar Baphon. The warriors of Lastwall are grateful for it all the same, and the Durahan actually have a cadet branch of the family in the nation out of personal bonds forged.


Ustalav: The Durahan like Lastwall, but it is Ustalav that is more like their second homeland. Their terrible, nightmare wreathed second homeland full of horrors and malevolent fog rolling in from everywhere. The Durahan bleed in Ustalav hunting its many shadowed monstrosities, out of a mix of ancient family obligation and a belief that if one does not fight the monsters and cults in Ustalav today, one will be fighting them across Golarion tomorrow. The main thing they get in exchange for such sacrifices are.. a mild sense of culturedness that rubs off on them from the Durahans that spend some time being born and raised there. So clearly an even trade.


Geb: Every so often there are Durahan working as rebels in Geb, trying to aid the beleaguered and increasingly fewer mortals of that land against their undead overlords. Geb himself will sometimes respond to this by unleashing some undead abomination on the family, or, in one instance, helping to resurrect Count Rustov (whose noble title is of course fully recognized in this most civilized of nations).


Cheliax and Nidal: Such as the family hunts tend to walk the streets in these nations as accepted parts of society. Naturally this has resulted in standing bounties of the heads of the family for being murderers most foul. The Durahan view these bounty hunters as excellent training, and in flush years, as an example of family sense of humour, tend to mail their heads to the courts of either nation, lacquered in gold and gems to the value of the bounty. Andronicus Branas is known to find this hysterical. But of course he would.



Kolbrandr

Quote from: RubySlippers on June 19, 2013, 01:39:45 PM
I have a suggestion the D20 system has monthly upkeep maybe for ease of roleplaying we should use that?

Here is a simple breakdown of the idea.

Upkeep

Instead of worrying about meal prices, lodging, replacing torn clothing, and other miscellaneous costs, as well as to represent the kinds of costs that turn up in daily life that aren't reflected on the tables (like taxes) in Chapter 7 of the PHB, players must pay a monthly upkeep cost based on the lifestyle of the character. Money is due on the first of each month. See page 130 of the DMG for more information. Current Upkeep Level must be listed on your character sheet. Costs are as follows:

Self-Sufficient: 2 GP per month

Meager: 5 GP per month

Poor: 12 GP per month

Common: 45 GP per month

Good: 100 GP per month

Extravagant: 200 GP per month

I know its not official and all but seems to me this would keep things simple for say supporting followers you could say this mercenary I hired gets a Common lifestyle and this captain of the mercenary gets a Good Lifestyle.

Like I said, I'm pretty much handwaving that sort of thing to concept. The most concrete thing I'm going to outline is some kind of tailored annual income setup so people can have what to blow on buying magic items, risking money on attempting to profit by various things, and what have you in game as far as personal funds, in contrast to the more handwaved organizational funds for large projects.

Kolbrandr

Quote from: Phaia on June 19, 2013, 12:00:44 PM
some things I am looking at

I was reading about a Courtesan Guild in Abdosom [sp?], make sense that there should be one in Oppara as well... and that the House of the Setting Sun is a cornerstone/ core of it since they are a Royal order of courtesans... I was thinking maybe having a set of a couple of rules a guilded courtesan goes by and a ring or tattoo that marks one as guilded.... makes it easy then for anyone desired one to pay extra for a guilded one and know they have standards
also a courtesan can be of any level of society there should be ones working the merchants and mid level government officals
of course not all have to be members but doing so implys certain things not sure what those could be though
or if the whole idea just isnt needed

One rule was monthly curse disease set up with a temple and recorded. maybe another being a certain level of grooming and cleanness.

I was curious as too what you all think of this idea

also once we get set up how much in the way of magic items can we have...maybe use the wealth guide as a basis?

I would be open to having contacts with other houses since the House of the Setting sun would have access to a most royal functions and can act as a behind scenes negotiator

Phaia

Having both imperial patronage for your order and also control of all the courtesans in Oppara is probably a bit much. With that said, you can certainly try to get control of them via a guild as an in game project, sure.

As far as magical items, if you mean character build wise, remember, any mundane expenses of 250 gp or below, you don't have to pay for. Starting wealth is basically a representation of personal funds on a non organizational scale level.

RubySlippers

What about House Sclerina someone was working on it I thought?


Kolbrandr

Quote from: RubySlippers on June 19, 2013, 02:11:27 PM
What about House Sclerina someone was working on it I thought?

They are, yeah, should be up soonish. In the meantime the hedonistic slave traders who are rich as balls degenerates is the shorthand.

RubySlippers

I tweaked my character sheet added small set of professional skill in Slave Trading and Torture well she has to learn the family business.  >:)

And my character is not a degenerate she would never do things banned by the site, call her a pervert.  ;D

Ebb

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 19, 2013, 01:45:16 PM
The rest of the Durahan writeup:

(Yes, I basically stuck the high level pc approachable npc cleric for the campaign in this house. It amused me to do so)

Online now: https://elliquiy.com/wiki/House_Durahan

Are there any other houses that you want to farm out to folks, or are you happy getting the rest (with Melai tackling Sclerina)?

Any other particular organizations that need fleshing out?