D&D 4e Game, Homebrew Setting, Houserules

[Relmin]

Jeez, First I leave you guys alone and you drown my workshop, now you start a civil war? This is why we can't have nice things...

So Ancor and I will need a new workshop, I assume Garron can help us there as we can use one of the buildings in his extensive network. Once set up this will be extremely easy for me to make general weapons, arming guards and armies was my job for my whole life up until this campaign.

I will also be looking into cheap but effective alchemical items that can give our forces an edge. I figure we can give our best warriors and leaders some alchemical items to allow them to be as effective as possible.

[bac8434]

Okay, making weapons is easy enough. As far as keeping the dwarves out of this war, diplomacy is a far better tactic than sending orcs at them. Right now, the orcs are the only real defense we've got against the Necromancer, and to spread them thin could prove catastrophic. The dwarves will likely think about attacking while Valacia is weak, yes, but all we've got to convince them of is that it's not worth the trouble. I lived with the dwarves for quite a long time, and while I wasn't entirely integrated in their political system, I understand its workings and how to influence key players. My knowledge combined with Garron's skill at manipulation should make the task much easier.

Honestly, the best outcome would be somehow convincing the dwarves to return some of their forces to the wall to defend against the Necromancer's armies while we fight this civil war, but that's unlikely given the fallout of their relationship with the orcs. Failing that, it would be nice if we could convince them to side with us, at least economically. We know for a fact that the dwarves have access to firearms and explosives, and those would be immensely useful on the open plains of Valacia. We could probably even get the Dwarves involved in the fighting (with major concessions of course). If they had something concrete to gain from siding with us, they'd probably do so.

By the way, what exactly are the two sides of this war? I know we're trying to dethrone the king, but who are we attempting to replace him with?

[Iunnrais]

Whoever said anything about TWO sides to this civil war? There are potentially five sides, although alliances may or may not happen between said five factions. More if you want to count outside intervention (such as the dwarves, the seafarers, the fey).

[Relmin]

I have a feeling that Garron wants to be the king....

[Zyrb]

Oh...we happen to have some bombs from the dwarven ambassador that was in the capital. It was a very interesting exchange, that was just a suggestion the whole orc thing. The dwarves said they would be willing to trade more gunpowder and weapons with us for magic items, but then again from what we understood that is treason, but with open civil war, I think we already crossed that line.

[bac8434]

So we're on good terms with the dwarven ambassador? That'd be helpful. Maybe we should go have a talk with the elves? We could easily work out a trade system. Magical items from the elves go to the dwarves, who supply us with arms (and perhaps men), we use those arms in the war, we send captured goods to the elves, so on and so forth. That would be an extremely beneficial system for everyone involved. So Richard, what sides are we looking at? With some information about the political lookout we can start figuring out who we need to work with/against.

And Garron wants to be king? Not exactly shocked, but a little terrified. What'd he do to piss everyone off?

[Iunnrais]

Blew up a significant chunk of the poorer part of the capital city, grabbed some random dead guy's head, tossed it at the King's feet in the middle of a public court session, and publically announced the (true) fact that the Arch Dukes were raising armies, and (lying) blamed the bombing of the slums on said Arch Dukes.

[silarion]

No desire to be king. Archduke? Maybe. You can be dukes and barons.

To be fair, for all the reasons I stated, I believe it to be a good move.

[bac8434]

Oh, I'm not denying that its a good move. Actually, I'd say it was the best available move given the circumstances and the nature of our enemy. Better to solve all of this internal strife now than to have it all blow up right when the Necromancer decides to strike. Plus, we'd be able to get a lot more done if we were in charge. I'd love to take the Archduke of Veripole's job, maybe I could work out a deal with the seafarers so we can finally import some goods. If we're gonna be fighting a war, we're gonna need them.

So if none of us are angling for the throne, who are we trying to put on it instead?

[Zyrb]

Dibs on something militaristic if we end up in power. On a more straightforward note, I have no clue what the plan to put someone in power is. But I think we are really going to have some problems with rallying an army in the capital, even though...we could use the tunnels that we didn't collapse as an underground staging area if it were ever under siege.