Help with NPC Motive (long) [No Golden Wings Allowed!]

[Sheridan Boyce]

So I've taken into account the suggestions I got over in my last post before it turned into this monster about Sideral charms, which is totally cool but confused the hell out of me.


Anyway, I'm not using a Sideral because, well, I think the whole plot is beneath one, and they're rare, and I'd kind of rather stick to Bloods because that's what we have so far, outside of Solars.


Anyway, on to the point of the post.


What I need is help with the motivation for a few of the NPCs in the story I'm writing.  Let me give you some background on the chronicle and the story.


My troupe and I are running a round-robin Solar chronicle, we're each playing a character and taking turns STing.  It's working out pretty well so far, we're in the second story and the really experianced ST is telling right now.  I'm probably next, depending on when I get this story written.  Note that I've never actually run Exalted before, and I don't know the system backwards and forwards, but I'm getting there.


Also important is that the Circle is currently stationed in Whitewall andplans ot expand the cities power and holdings as pretty much the driving force of the chronicle.  Yay Syndics!


The idea for the story is pretty simple: A satrapy on the coast of the Inland Sea (just east of Marama's Fell) is late sending it's annual shipment of rice and corn to Whitewall, which is a major supplement to Whitewall's food stores.  The Solars are dispatched to investigate and, if neccesary, intimidate or conjole the satrapy into recommencing trade.


The Solars will not be permitted to actually broker new terms, or even actually know the terms of the deal.  Basically, it works like this.  The satrapy (named Gajendra) gives Whitewall food in return for the Syndics brokering a treaty with the denizens of the Fell to not attack them.  The deal was made with a long dead Dragon-Blooded ruler, who was bound never to reveal the deal to his people, they just know that they have to do it or bad things will likely happen.  The Syndics work very hard to cover their asses in Heaven.    I really, really like the Syndics.


Anyway, when they get there, they find Gajendra in the midst of a rebellion, it seems that the traditionally benign and caring ruler, Airavet (heroic mortal) has recently demanded much more from his people in way of taxes (in rice and corn), forcing them to plant in what were fallow fields and grazing lands.  Perhaps worse still, the Immaculate Order is on a campaign against the local gods and ancestor worship of the satrapy, which until recently, they let go unnoticed.  On top of it all, he's reinforced the army with Imperial soldiers and officers, and they're inflicting themselves upon the people, and are none to pleasent in their tax collection and supression of the folk religions.


As such, a local rebellion has sprung up, lead for the most part by V'neef Depswa Aske, formerly one of Airavet's Four Advisors and lover.  Aske was called away to the Blessed Isle two years ago and only recently has he had the chance to return to Gajendra, only to find that Airavet has changed completly and no longer remembers him or the ancestral sword he gifted him, Lighthing Walks About (perfect straight sword).  Aske, and the people who follow him, place the blame on the current Four Advisors, especially his replacement, the enigmatic and mysterious Arachnavarias.


The rebels are right, Arachnavarias is a sorcerer and, using Sorcerer's Irresistable Puppetry (much better than Threefold Binding of the Heart for my purposes) and his silver tongue, has taken control of Airavet.  The other three advisors were there alongside Aske and have grown to despise his favored position with the satrap and the royal family.


Now, the Four Advisors have redirected the food away from Whitewall, and probably to the Realm or to at least to trade controled by themselves or their families, and are making a decent profit off of it.  One of them is a graduate of the Cloister of Wisdom, and hopes that, by vigorously supressing the local religion he might earn a place among the Wyld Hunt.  I'm thinking he's a graduate who entered into politics instead of becomming a monk (or he dropped out or whatever works, I don't feel like rereading the section on the Cloister or the Order right now).


Now, obviously Arachnavarias stands to profit from all of this, but he's a pretty talented sorcerer, why is he mucking about with a petty satrapy?  I think he needs a more grand motivation to do all this than simply making some cash or starving Whitewall, especially since they can feed themselves (at least the bare minimum) and get crops from elsewhere.  Personally, I like the idea of him being above the mere profiteering of the other three Advisors, and have some grand scheme in place.


The one idea I do have is that he could be an agent of someone within Marama's Fell, and since he's a Dragon-Blood maybe he can muck about inside the satrapy without violating the pact with the Syndics, but the obvious question is why not simply kill Airavet and cease trade with Whitewall so they drop the pact with the Fell?


I really appreciate any help I get, hell, I appreciate anybody reading through this whole bloody thing!


The good news is that I plan on having the PCs lead ragtag rebels against the army outside the palace so that they can use it as a diversion to sneak in and kill the advisors and free Airavet.  The aim is to make it suitably spectacular.

 

[memesis]

He wants to bring Whitewall under his thrall so that he can restore it to its former glory (and geomantically unique nature) - see Wonders of the Lost Age for details.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

He wants to bring Whitewall under his thrall so that he can restore it to its former glory (and geomantically unique nature) - see Wonders of the Lost Age for details.

Hmm, it's a thought, although as a mere Terrestrial sorcerer, there's pretty much no way he'd know anything about Ondar Shambal.  Furthermore, what good would controling Gajendra do him against the Syndics in that respect?  That is, by the way, pretty much their plan, there's a good deal of info in Bastions of the North, thoguh I haven't read any of Wonders of the First Age yet.


I could play up the importance of Gajendra's crops to Whitewall though, and make them more reliant upon the satrapy, that way, cutting Whitewall off might give him a bargining chip of sorts against the Syndics (though he could simply be playing it up in his own mind).  Still though, what would he want from the Syndics?

 

[memesis]

although as a mere Terrestrial sorcerer' date=' there's pretty much no way he'd know anything about Ondar Shambal.[/quote']
That is an assumption that you control.  If you don't WANT him to, then he doesn't, but don't assume that being Dragon-Blooded makes him useless or ignorant.

Furthermore' date=' what good would controling Gajendra do him against the Syndics in that respect?[/quote']
Napoleon said, "an army marches on its stomach", but it's generally true that if you control the food you control the people who are eating it.  So let's consider the scenario where the sorcerer and the Syndics are the only two parties who know what the city is capable of becoming.  We further assume that rebuilding the city to its former specifications is possible to a Terrestrial sorcerer, but very expensive in terms of resources.


The Syndics wouldn't mind having a supercharged prayer engine where they live - they could simply funnel the energy to themselves, growing more and more powerful.  Doing so would attract the ire of the Immaculate monks once word got out, of course, since the whole place is an icon of worship to the Unconquered Sun.  But who'd report them?  Well, the satrapy would - if it wasn't under the control of someone who was willing to share power with the Syndics, like our sorcerer.


So he makes a deal:  "I will supply the stuff to rebuild the city, I will take part in the font of magical power that springs up, and I will keep you from discovery by the Realm."  The Syndics, wary, refuse - they've got a good thing going, they don't really think he has that much pull in the satrapy, and they're not foolish enough to blow it on a risky proposition like this one.


But the sorcerer won't take no for an answer.  He's decided to force their hand, proving how much influence he has and forcing the Syndics to make a decision in one swift stroke.  The Syndics realize that they have an enemy who's capable of endangering their position to serve his goals, decide they'd rather have things back the way they were, and send out some Solars.

 

[Persell]

He could be a former lover of V'neef Aske and do it out of revenge because she dumped him for a mortal.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

That is an assumption that you control.  If you don't WANT him to, then he doesn't, but don't assume that being Dragon-Blooded makes him useless or ignorant.

This is a very good point that you make, and something that, honestly, slipped my mind.  Golden Rule and all that.  We're running the game pretty mcuh by the book, no houserules, not cutting out any of the things from 2e that we don't like (there are a few), and I got into a mentality where I had to run my NPCs that way too.  Just because it says in Bastions that nobody (or at least very, very few people) in the Second Age know the true past of Whitewall, doesn't mean that I can't have NPCs know at least some fraction of it.  Thank's for the reminder.

Napoleon said, "an army marches on its stomach", but it's generally true that if you control the food you control the people who are eating it.  So let's consider the scenario where the sorcerer and the Syndics are the only two parties who know what the city is capable of becoming.  We further assume that rebuilding the city to its former specifications is possible to a Terrestrial sorcerer, but very expensive in terms of resources.
The Syndics wouldn't mind having a supercharged prayer engine where they live - they could simply funnel the energy to themselves, growing more and more powerful.  Doing so would attract the ire of the Immaculate monks once word got out, of course, since the whole place is an icon of worship to the Unconquered Sun.  But who'd report them?  Well, the satrapy would - if it wasn't under the control of someone who was willing to share power with the Syndics, like our sorcerer.

There's a problem with this, from the Syndic's point of view: they aren't the city fathers, it's illegal to even call them that, because the Unconquered Sun is the city's father, and they don't want to piss him off when he finally notices whats been going on down in Creation.  The sorcerer then becomes a threat, since not only can he snitch on them, but in return for not doing that, he wants to [unknowingly] call down the wrath of the Unconquered Sun upon them all.

So he makes a deal:  "I will supply the stuff to rebuild the city, I will take part in the font of magical power that springs up, and I will keep you from discovery by the Realm."  The Syndics, wary, refuse - they've got a good thing going, they don't really think he has that much pull in the satrapy, and they're not foolish enough to blow it on a risky proposition like this one.
But the sorcerer won't take no for an answer.  He's decided to force their hand, proving how much influence he has and forcing the Syndics to make a decision in one swift stroke.  The Syndics realize that they have an enemy who's capable of endangering their position to serve his goals, decide they'd rather have things back the way they were, and send out some Solars.

So the Solars are sent without any leeway to negotiate, only to reinforce the status quo, by whatever means they deem neccesary.  The Syndics expect Arachnavarias to react poorly to Solars showing up, and probably try to kill them, resulting in his own death because the Solars don't take kindly to people trying to murder them.  This way, they remove the double-edged threat that is Arachnavarias without having to explain things to the Solars (more than they need to anyway).  Arachnavarias however, might try to cut a deal with the Solars, and either convince them that he can be useful to the city so they treat with the Syndics on his behalf, or try to sway them to betray Whitewall, which would earn him and even faster and possibly more painful death at the hands of the two Solars born and raised there.


Damn, that's some good stuff Memesis, thanks for the suggestions.  Now I just need to find a way to string all of this together, involving the rebellion, the battle, and the (most likely) terribly violent and destructive search through the palace for the sorcerer (who hides away in a secret chamber while controlling the king.


Also:

He could be a former lover of V'neef Aske and do it out of revenge because she dumped him for a mortal.

Not that it much matters beyond cosmetics, but Aske is a he, the relationship is based loosely on king James I and Lord Buckingham.


You make an interesting point, but I think one [admittedly inadvertantly] forsaken lover is enough for this story.

 

[wordman]

We further assume that rebuilding the city to its former specifications is possible to a Terrestrial sorcerer, but very expensive in terms of resources.

Or, at least this sorcerer thinks it is. Might be fun to have his intitial plan succeed, but when he tries to restore the city, everything goes wrong and the solars have to clean up the aftermath (or stop him before it gets that far).


Also, do the solars know about Ondar Shambal? If not, there's a chance they could find out from this sorcerer (or, at least, hints). That could make things very interesting for later stories.


Another wrinkle is this: would a terrestrial who restored what is essentially a massive temple to the UC be considered a traitor to the Empire? A heretic? If so, and someone knows what he is up to, what would they do? It sometimes helps to have an NPC that can fill in gaps in the story that PC's are blind to. In this case, I could see an Immaculate monk who knew the sorcerer's real plot being in a position to see the PCs succeed, but being also unwilling to tell them what is really going on.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

We further assume that rebuilding the city to its former specifications is possible to a Terrestrial sorcerer, but very expensive in terms of resources.

Or, at least this sorcerer thinks it is. Might be fun to have his intitial plan succeed, but when he tries to restore the city, everything goes wrong and the solars have to clean up the aftermath (or stop him before it gets that far).

That's what I'm thinking, actually.  Arachnavarias knows enough about Ondar Shambal to understand that it's capable of channeling a lot of energy, but he doesn't know that it's dedicated to the Unconquered Sun and doesn't realize the dangers of trying to use it for himself.  The Syndics do, which is part of why they want him dead, so I'll be using the stopping him before he gets that far angle.

Also, do the solars know about Ondar Shambal? If not, there's a chance they could find out from this sorcerer (or, at least, hints). That could make things very interesting for later stories.

The Solars know nothing of Ondar Shambal.  They know that the Syndics want to return Whitewall to it's former glory, and they want the Solar's help, but they don't know any of the details or even that it was dedicated to the Unconquered Sun, which would make my character ecstatic.  I'm thinking that, by the end of this, they'll have some more basic knowledge of Ondar Shambal, probably not it's name, but they'll know that it's designed to channel an emmense amount of Essence and if rebuilt could make the Syndics, and possibly others as well, very very powerful.  Don't think I'll tell them about the Unconquered Sun though.

Another wrinkle is this: would a terrestrial who restored what is essentially a massive temple to the UC be considered a traitor to the Empire? A heretic? If so, and someone knows what he is up to, what would they do? It sometimes helps to have an NPC that can fill in gaps in the story that PC's are blind to. In this case, I could see an Immaculate monk who knew the sorcerer's real plot being in a position to see the PCs succeed, but being also unwilling to tell them what is really going on.

I think he would certainly be a traitor to the Realm, and while he is a Dynast, I don't think Arachnavarias really gives two shits about the Realm if he can get his power somewhere else, especially if he could get as much power as he thinks he can.


As to others knowing his plan, it's not a bad idea.  The pseudo-Immaculate might have caught on a realized that he wants to cut a deal with the Syndics that will increase his power, but he won't really know the details.  I can actually invision them confronting Arachavarias and (most likely) killing him and the other two Advisors, only to have the pseudo-Immaculate confront them with a squad of men, thank them for their assistance in killing the sorcerer, and then attack them.  He does want to be in a Wyld Hunt so bad that he's willing to use the army to destory shrines and kill heretics after all.

 

[memesis]

they aren't the city fathers' date=' it's illegal to even call them that, because the Unconquered Sun is the city's father, and they don't want to piss him off when he finally notices whats been going on down in Creation.[/quote']
It looks like you've got the idea and have expanded on it pretty well, so just one comment here: maybe this is one of the reason the Syndics are supporting the Solar PCs.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

It looks like you've got the idea and have expanded on it pretty well, so just one comment here: maybe this is one of the reason the Syndics are supporting the Solar PCs.

Could be, could be.  Thanks for the help by the way.  I got too work on Arachnavarias himself today, Aske is almost done, and he's working up to be quite the badass.


I have a pretty good idea of how I want the assault on the palace scenes to go, at least in general.  But I need to figure out some more details between them landing in Gajendra and them actually getting to the palace, then from there to Aske's company, and of course I'd like to get some fun drama in there.  I'm hoping to get some social combat in, which we haven't used yet, but some actions scenes would be great, especially if I could work in a chase.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

Okay, I've given the Immaculate loving fellow some more thought, and he's no longer going to be an Immaculate, he wanted to attend the Cloister, but his family forced him into the Spiral Academy, and he has resented them ever since.  Over the years he's dedicated himself to learning Terrestrial Hero Style (he was never accepted anywhere that would teach him Five Dragon Style), and got more bitter.  Now that he's got some serious sway over Gajendra, he's using it to supress the local religions and promote the Immaculate Philosophy, which, though there and doing okay, never really took off.


I've decided to elevate him to the status of Boss himself, not as dangerous overall as Arachanvarias, but still a potent threat.  There are actually going to be a few Immaculate Monks in the satrapy that don't like what he's doing and want him stopped (preferably by somebody else, to avoid conflict for themselves) because they've set up a good balance with the local spirits and gods, many of which are very stubborn and set in their ways.  The Immaculates to well enough to leave things as they are, not start some brutal regime built around their faith.


Anyway, the point of all this is that I'm thinking of naming him Peleps Crushing Wave, but that sounds very, very familiar to me, and I was wondering if there's already a character out there with that name.  Any help would be great, either about the name, character or story.