Civil War in Esrolia

[Soccercalle]

My PCs may be involved in the events leading to Samastina ousting Hendira as Queen of Esrolia/Nochet in 1622. Where can I find more information about the events and what happened?  I own the Nochet book.

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

My PCs may be involved in the events leading to Samastina ousting Hendira as Queen of Esrolia/Nochet in 1622. Where can I find more information about the events and what happened?  I own the Nochet book.

In the supplement I'm working on as a Gold Bonus... 🙂 

(Note: you can infer some of the events of the Great Winter from the character background events from the Nochet: Adventurer's Guide. But I am putting the events of 1620-22 into a bit more straight textual form and intending to include a map of pre-riot Moontown with it.)

Edited February 8 by jajagappa

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

Samastina ousting Hendira as Queen of Esrolia/Nochet

I finally had a revelation on this a week or so ago beyond just "Samastina went on a HeroQuest, was able to awaken/incarnate Ernalda and help end the Great Winter, and Hendira could not."

Clearly Hendira was trying to invoke & awaken Ernalda, and attempted particular rituals, but failed. As the governor of Esrolia in 1614 and 1616, she was automatically pulled into the Tournaments of Luck and Death, so it's not that she doesn't understand quests. But she followed traditional ritual paths.

(And by extension, Samastina clearly did not, and that made a difference.) 

One unknown is whether Samastina crossed paths with Argrath between the time of her exile (which I place in later 1620 when GS notes Fazzur was busy negotiating with Hendira) and the Cradle adventure (Cradle comes down river in Harmonyweek, Seaseason, 1621, and Argrath was already helping with the effort to aid its passage). My inclination is to say "no" - Argrath isn't the only source of information/inspiration on questing - but perhaps Samastina traveled to Pavis from Nochet and sought out the LM temple there. Prince of Sartar hints at Samastina wanting to visit Cragspider, and Samastina's Saga in HQG shows her meeting Cragspider. So, that's where I place Samastina getting her insights to help end the Great Winter.

[Jeff]

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

I finally had a revelation on this a week or so ago beyond just "Samastina went on a HeroQuest, was able to awaken/incarnate Ernalda and help end the Great Winter, and Hendira could not."

Clearly Hendira was trying to invoke & awaken Ernalda, and attempted particular rituals, but failed. As the governor of Esrolia in 1614 and 1616, she was automatically pulled into the Tournaments of Luck and Death, so it's not that she doesn't understand quests. But she followed traditional ritual paths.

(And by extension, Samastina clearly did not, and that made a difference.) 

One unknown is whether Samastina crossed paths with Argrath between the time of her exile (which I place in later 1620 when GS notes Fazzur was busy negotiating with Hendira) and the Cradle adventure (Cradle comes down river in Harmonyweek, Seaseason, 1621, and Argrath was already helping with the effort to aid its passage). My inclination is to say "no" - Argrath isn't the only source of information/inspiration on questing - but perhaps Samastina traveled to Pavis from Nochet and sought out the LM temple there. Prince of Sartar hints at Samastina wanting to visit Cragspider, and Samastina's Saga in HQG shows her meeting Cragspider. So, that's where I place Samastina getting her insights to help end the Great Winter.

As an aside, no I do not think this is what happened. In fact, I do not think heroquesting was at the center of this.

[g33k]

24 minutes ago, Jeff said:

As an aside, no I do not think this is what happened. In fact, I do not think heroquesting was at the center of this.

Jeff -- I hope you reconsider this.

The Earth Queen archetype already suffers a bit from certain stereotypes... it's really easy to see her as the passive on-a-pedestal type to be wooed-and-won as a trophy by the active male.  Giving her a more-active role (even in some ways a central role) in ending the Great Winter would go a long ways to counteracting this impression.

[kalidor]

5 hours ago, Jeff said:

As an aside, no I do not think this is what happened. In fact, I do not think heroquesting was at the center of this.

Old way coup d'etat?

[Soccercalle]

My plan is actually to have my PCs being the ones that helps Samastina with her coup etat. But I would like to add as much context as possible. My PCs is coming straight from the Battle of Auroch Hills and the Gods are - at least partially - awakened. 

[metcalph]

I suppose a key spark is the residents of the places that were razed for the forthcoming Lunar temple.  Hnedira orders it as a sign of strength but the Lunar architects don't show up.  When it becomes apparent they are due "next year", Hendira looks foolish and there are daily homeless protests.  Erstwhile supporters who had been impressed by her now realize that she's always been a bit useless and soon plot her demise.  

[Jeff]

6 hours ago, kalidor said:

Old way coup d'etat?

Yep. The conflict between Queen Hendira and Samastina (her niece) was a FAMILY conflict. Like Starbrow's Rebellion, it came out of play - Samastina (like Leika) was a player character. Her player got herself into conflict with her aunt the old-fashioned way. As others have pointed out - the razing of part of the city for the Lunar Temple played a part of setting the scene. So did the Lunar military defeat at Auroch's Hill. So did the Great Winter which was a case of Lunar propaganda backfiring.

The whole situation was perfect for a bunch of player character Esrolians to organise a coup - which is exactly what they did.