Conversation started Aug 28, 2013 at 10:46.
BESW
BESW
Aug 28, 2013 10:46
Kamola was a half-orc who started out as a racist, nationalist bigot. His half-orc empire was the best thing ever, and he had an ego the size of a small moon.
One of the early-game bits of worldbuilding was that in the half-orc empire, anyone who was granted abilities by the primal powers (like gods, but actually avatars of elements, animals, and places) was a priest, and the priests were in charge of appointing and deposing the rulers.
leokhorn
leokhorn
/listening/
BESW
BESW
When we had him multiclass for a more effective paragon path, he gained primal powers. At this point the half-orcs had been occupied and nearly destroyed by an evil empire so it had little significance, but I mentioned that technically this meant Kamola was now a priest. We laughed and moved on.
leokhorn
leokhorn
Foreshadowing~
BESW
BESW
Some time later, after the evil empire had been driven out, the party took on the job of helping the half-orc prince put down a rebellion of half-orcs who were arguing that the prince was unfit for leadership.
Inbar Rose
Inbar Rose
joins leokhorn in listening
BESW
BESW
Aug 28, 2013 10:52
The prince was an effeminate ponce who'd grown up in a foreign dragonborn country and took on a lot of the foreign traditions--including dental work to make his teeth look more like dragonborn fangs than half-orc tusks--and the party hated him on sight, but politically if he were deposed it would probably be an Archduke Ferdinand event that would lead to the evil empire taking over the whole world.
So Kamola gritted his teeth and set himself up to defend the prince who he felt was a betrayal of everything he loved about his country, because it was for the greater good of all.
leokhorn
leokhorn
Ouch :)
trogdor
trogdor
lol
@BESW and he is modest too
@BESW oh so modest
don't forget this stuff
BESW
BESW
(As an aside, during a previous adventure Kamola had found a magical tapestry which had trapped a whole legion of his nation's finest warriors hundreds of years ago, and he hadn't yet found an appropriate time and place to free them.)
After engaging the rebel forces, they found themselves in a position to actually sit down and talk. The leader of the rebels was a self-stylized priest (because remember, only priests can depose the rulers) despite not having any primal power.
Kamola, technically being a priest, decided to exercise wisdom and tact (unusually!) and treated the rebel leader as a priest instead of exposing him as a fraud.
It takes a minimum of three priests to make a quorum, so he released a Classical-Era priest from the tapestry, filled her in, and they sat down to debate the prince's suitability.
trogdor
trogdor
lol
that was funny
leokhorn
leokhorn
Oh dear
BESW
BESW
Aug 28, 2013 10:57
The sight of this bombastic, egotistical, loudmouth and impetuous fighter using diplomacy to defend the right to rule of a man he hated... it was glorious.
trogdor
trogdor
the rest of us basically went with him on his idea, and tried not to mess it up
leokhorn
leokhorn
So he still pushed for the silly ruler to stay?
BESW
BESW
Yes.
trogdor
trogdor
yeah
it was trolltastic
leokhorn
leokhorn
Almost thought he was going to get himself in a leader position instead :)
BESW
BESW
Aug 28, 2013 10:58
The conclusion of the quorum was that there was no appropriate replacement that the people would follow.
trogdor
trogdor
no
BESW
BESW
Kamola was the only other person the half-orcs would follow, and this was mentioned.
leokhorn
leokhorn
Must have had a rather pissed rebel on your hands there.
trogdor
trogdor
the guy who wanted to depose the prince even suggested that
BESW
BESW
The rebel would've been fine with a national hero like Kamola being made prince--in fact, he'd been agitating for it from the start.
But priests appoint rulers--they can't be rulers.
trogdor
trogdor
Aug 28, 2013 10:59
plus
BESW
BESW
And so Kamola, in another of the most painful moments of his life, declined the kingship of his nation.
trogdor
trogdor
I think even Kamola knew he wasn't cut out for the job
leokhorn
leokhorn
@trogdor It is quite a different deal
BESW
BESW
The Classical priest pointed out that the prince hadn't actually had a chance to prove or disprove himself yet, and the rebel agreed to allow the prince a chance to mess up--on the condition that Kamola pledge to be the prince's personal advisor.
trogdor
trogdor
yeah
leokhorn
leokhorn
Aug 28, 2013 11:01
That's not too bad.
trogdor
trogdor
we ended up retiring Kamola
leokhorn
leokhorn
Ohh
BESW
BESW
Which is, really, the only way the nation would unite behind the prince: if Kamola was right there holding his hand.
leokhorn
leokhorn
NPCfication!
BESW
BESW
The player was leaving island soon, and it was a brilliant way for Kamola to step out of the game.
leokhorn
leokhorn
Aug 28, 2013 11:01
Well done :)
trogdor
trogdor
so we whipped up a barbarian dwarf for him to use till he left
we even made him explode when he dropped (yes this was a mechanical ability)
cause he was completely expendable
BESW
BESW
Please note, though, that the preceding exchange was not really supported by any 4e mechanics.
leokhorn
leokhorn
@BESW The whole negociation you mean?
BESW
BESW
Yeah.
We did a little bit with skill challenges, but 4e basically leaves RP alone mechanically unless you want to represent it with skill challenges, so RP winds up being largely freeform.
 
Conversation ended Aug 28, 2013 at 11:06.