Of Bastards and Exiles

[Danos]

As an aside, the Valleniado sound like one of the many minor houses that Alexius is using as raw material to forge an Imperial house. Interesting stuff, thanks!

[Amlost]

I find it interesting that you read them that way. I have other more immediate needs for them but I'll have to leave that option open for the future.

Thanks for the comment.

[Danos]

They just reminded me of the minor noble families on Tethys and Byzantium. One of my favorite themes in Fading Suns is exploring the differences between the minor nobles and freelancers, and how the minor nobles are both advantaged and disadvantaged by their status when it comes to working to pay the bills. Then along comes Alexius, creates his own minor nobles by knighting soldiers, and co-opts some families, especially the Justinian, by using marriage and land grants to win loyalty to his nascent imperial house. Your description just made me think that this is exactly the kind of smaller house that Alexius likes to win over and co-opt.

[Aurin]

I just stumbled over this thread, having never read it since 2012... this is terrific stuff. Did you ever outline an adventure on Nowhere? I've always kicked around outlining a trip to the gargoyle. Ever make it that far?

[Amlost]

2012... Wow I started this over two years ago. Time flys.

I personally have never tackled an expedition to the Gargoyle.

My first introduction to Fading Suns(other then being a big fan of the PC game Emperor of the Fading Suns), as a player many many many years ago, started with an expedition to an archaeological site of an abandoned city on Nowhere. ((Note: This was Pre-2003 so the Imperial Fiefs Supplement/Source book wasn't published.)) Expedition was funded by a group of al-Malik. The big convoy we (PC's) were with was ambushed by Scavers. Group Scattered, surprise surprise, the remnant of the convoy were the games players. Had a blast knew I liked Nowhere at that point.

I was ecstatic when the Imperial Fiefs came out. I gm'ed an expedition to the Pyramids of Takameth (via the land sailing craft mentioned) that ended up being a race against a rather ambitious Li Halon Noble's gunrunning operation. It was during this visit that some of the locations and characters mentioned were created. The Cossimo Club, Ambrose Durrant, House Valliado (by another name), the former/retired al Malik Regent, St. Idoru's Hospice (I was reading Gibson at the time) and (due to the crude [but funny] inclinations of one PC {Personnel Note: Fading Suns and Mud Wrestling don't mix...}) The Ring.

My latest outlines for adventures in and around Rudra, never came to fruition... unfortunately.... I'll try to write up the synopsis of the storyline I had laid out for others to use. It starts out with a landless knight on Alyon, whose family lost everything during the invasion of Cadavus, receiving a Herald of the Emperor who gives him an inheritance long withheld and later forgotten by previous Regents.

[Angelman]

Oh yes, time does sure fly. I remember walking into my local gaming store in the fall of 2001, looking for a cool SciFi game that wasn't Star Wars (as I was getting rather fed up with the WEG rules after having played them for several years). I left the store with a copy of FS2, and never looked back. The first game I ran, I had two players, and the epic stranded after the first session because they decided to comitt suicide by sneaking aboard a pirate ship that was plaguing the system, and start an open war (there were about 60 pirates aboard if I remember correctly). But it was a blast

[Aurin]

I've always wanted to convert the D&D adventure Desert of Desolation into a Nowhere adventure / Gargoyle adventure of some type... maybe worth another visit. Would love to see your notes on the nowhere game, amlost.

Angelman - I had a very similar experience. I was actually working at a comic book store part time during undergrad, was walking by a shelf and thought "hey, that sci fi game looks cool" and I picked it up and read the intro during my break (in 2002). Loved it since then.

[Amlost]

The campaign I had in mind included two required PC's and one PC/NPC (I had a player in mind that would have been great in the role.).

-A young al Malik Knight and sole heir to the Anazeh family who were expelled from significant holdings on Cadavus during the Decados Invasion. He is currently serving as the Game Warden of Monteret’s Gap in the service of Count Seron al Malik, an old ally of his family.
-Footman in the service of Count Seron al Malik from a family of freemen with a long history of service to the counts family. He is secretly a member of the psychic Favyana Coven.
-An Orthodox deacon who serves as the caretaker of the Mimir Vaults, a minor shrine in Monteret’s Gap, who has been suspected of Preceptor sympathy’s in the past.

In an initial "trial" session [based on Alyon] I was going to have the footman and the deacon thrown (by coincidence driven by proximity) into the middle of a treasure hunt gone bad between a small Invisible path team looking for a very specific Thoughtbox (see arcane tech) and a Dervish hit squad looking for leader. In the end the deacon is imprinted with the memory of the Thoughtbox and both teams are dead/scattered, due to the intervention of the young knight.

Young knight is called to the home of his liege, Count Seron al Malik, to receive an Imperial Herald. The imperial herald presents him with belongings confiscated from his grandfather General Ishmael Anazeh al-Malik who was Lord General of Nowhere between 4941-4951.

General Ishmael Anazeh al-Malik was widely regarded as the most effective Lord General of Nowhere since the Regency took control of the world. He executed a number of campaigns to bring the outlying tribes to the peace tables utilizing 800 powered armor troops he brought with him from Cadavus. The Hesparte Guard were also the cause of his death when the next Regent came to power the replacement Governor, Vornic Kemal Decados, had him executed for treason when the vast majority of the legions armor and weapons mysteriously disappeared. Vornic’s claim that Ishmael al-Malik had signed over the Guard to Regency control was fought over for the following decade but since proved false.

Along with the mixed belongings of the general are 10 suits of Hesparte Guard powered armor (owned jointly by the Counts family and the young knights for which the Count graciously pays to purchase), numerous land deeds on Nowwhere, and various journals and clues pointing to greater wealth on Nowhere that he had hidden away. (I included a puzzle box style field desk popular at the time...)

I had a separate adventure for the trip to Nowhere involving a Hazat spymaster and some art forgers. (To give me a segway to the next campaign.)

From Nowhere's spaceport it was a free for all to find numerous hidden treasures. Including the greatest.... The rest of the Hesparte Gaurds powered armor sets.

[Angelman]

That game sounds like a blast, a very action adventure kind of thing Nothing like treking through Nowhere in search of treasure.

[Aurin]

Yeah that sounds really terrific. Nowhere does seem like a good place for Alexius to award fiefs to his imperial knights, too, which makes a good hook to get characters to go out and visit their new lands.

What was the art forger adventure?