Assistance with on-Going Game?

[Persell]

Okay, as y'all have likely noted most of my posts to date have concern the North, the Bull and the League.  The reason for that is simple- I'm running a game focussed around those items.


Currently, the situation is as follows-


The Bull and his forces have returned to the North seeking artifacts in the ruins there and also to try and establish the seat of his growing empire in his homeland.  He pulled a strategic feint at Fort Bear and used the bulk of his force to take Crystal.  Crystal's remote location made it harder for the League to defend and the rumored 1st Age relics of the area made it very appealing.


Now the Bull is planning to move onto Windcreche.  It is the next link from Crystal and if he can take it, he stands a good chance of being able to greatly reduce the League's access to vital oil/blubber resources necessary to construct and operate airships.  This not only means it will be hard to the League to attack him, but means that they will be scrambling just to keep the League intact and viable.


The PC groups is struggle to stop or at least slow the advance.  The Lunars of the region are conflicted on whether or not to get involved.  The Bull represents a barbarian ideal they can respect, but he also tramples over centuries of custom and homage to spirits and nature that they have imposed in the north.  The League was founded by a Lunar, but he is bored with it.   Further is the League has grown too weak/soft to stand up for itself, maybe it should fall.  At the moment that are on the fence in every possible way.


Any tips for how to play out the Windcrech conflict and events moving forward?

 

[Silence In Daylight]

What kind of campaign are you running? For each Exalt type, there are different potential options. Celestial Exalt campaigns may have enough mojo to force the Bull back themselves; others will require more assistance from other powers.


 I'm consulting on a campaign where the Locust Crusade almost exactly between Rubylak and Crystal, a few months after the Tepet legions were destroyed, and the Bull had managed to replenish his forces and think about expanding westward. Interesting stuff.

 

[Guard]

One thing that directly came to my mind when I read your post is that if I were one of those Oligarchs I would send Elias Tremalion to seek information about the Bull.Though I'm not  sure if anyone of them knows about him being a "Solar".They refer to him as the sixth branch but true nature of him is known by anyone else than the Grandmothers that I don't know.


What he would gather about the Bull would be then passed to the other branches of their intelligence in order to slow down his advances.If the oligarchy has any idea about him being at least a celestial level anathema then they would pass the intelligence gathered about him to the Wyld Hunt waiting in Cherak having once again Elias to pull this trick.They would at least pass them the information they think the Hunt needs to have in order to deal with him.


The book In Northern Twilight states that all of the Hunts scattered around the world have the authorization of the Order to liquidate Bull on sight.It means that the Oligarchy has alternatives they don't have to lure the Hunt stationed in Cherak.They might as well try the other ones if they know how to contact them.They might even try to put them all against the Bull.Though this last one would seem like an act of outright despair.


They may even order Elias to assassinate Bull instead of dealing with all this mess.But the question is what Elias will do when the day he must face another Solar inevitably comes?


Duty towards his country or that strange feeling of kinship when it's about antoher Sun-Chosen?Will he be ready for it?Who knows the Bull may try to turn him to his side and he will certainly do that if he ever discovers about Elias Tremalion chasing him.


There's also the question of Wulgar Yhainilson(see p.105 of the Bastions Of The North)You may find the specific threat this weak link presents for the future of the League especially now that you think putting Bull right in front of his already awed eyes.Take a look at the little gray box at the upper left of the page and you'll see what I mean.


Anyway Haslanti has a lot to offer to the Bull if he ever considers about diplomacy.They may leave Swar to his circle.Considering the appetite Samea has for such things this may at least slow down the Bull.But in the end Bull and his allies will just think that they have been betrayed since Swar is nothing more than a lie.It may even fire up renewed hostilities between the two warring parties.Only it will be more fierce this time.


They may have Elias manipulate him into sitting at the table with the League.


Consider now the tiny possibility of the oligarchy knowing the true nature of the Swar.What if they try to drown the Bull and his allies in it?I'm assuming that they only know about the city and not about its true purposes.I think it will suit your intentions about running a game centered around Swar and the like.


About the campaign I have only one suggestion.I think that the outcome of a battle between Haslanti and Bull will be determined simply by the surrounding geography.That's why the authors of the Bastions devoted five full pages to explain the environement.Play it to the tactics.Bull loves this.He loves to use the surroundings of a battlefield to his advantages.We've seen that when he was back in Halta.Both Haslanti and the Bull are natives of this land and they'll certainly have something up their sleeves.


I think that's all :wink:

 

[Guard]

By the way I'm assuming that you intend on using Swar in this game.I'm also assuming that the League learns of the Bull coming to seize Crystal just in time to destroy any evidence as to the whereabouts of Swar.

 

[Persell]

Thanks for the feedback!


I have used SWAR- sort of.  I used it to sidetrack the Bull and weaken his forces.  During the game- as background- the PC's found out the Bull made a run of the ruins near Crystal and whatever happened weakened his forces in the immediate term and forced him to spend the better part of the next few seasons licking his wounds and reinforcing.  The Bull is now thought to be moving from Crystal to Windcreche.


With regard to Elias- I have already made the decision that his primary loyalty is to the League and if the Bull stands against the League, Elias will oppose him - Solar or not.


One of the PC's has managed to really really catch the ire of the Bull and the Bull will therefore likely abandon all diplomatic options immediately.  The PC's have managed to recruit aid from other Solars in the area (Rune, Macha Pethisdottir, Nimium Snow Eyes).  Unfortunately, this is and alliance based on a common enemy rather than any unity- and Nimium is planning on betraying the group and the city of Whitewall to the Fair Folks as soon as the action gets intense.


Does anyone have any other more concrete idea for the actual conflict/war with the Bull?