Re: Vodoni, a different perspective

You know Adam, that almost might make Under the Dark Fist playable for the
first time if you flesh it out more.
Loki

On 10/10/07, Adam Miller <night_druid3000@?????.com> wrote:
>
> Hmmm, this email seems to have been devoured by some
> internet monster.  Lets try again...
>
> Heyall,
>
> Sometimes, I like to take a different perspective than
> commonly accepted ones.  For example, I read FR6:
> Dream of the Red Wizards, and I can't help but think
> "you know, you can ALMOST spin this product such that
> Thay is the 'good guy', a stable, relativley peaceful
> nation, surrounded by blood-thirsty, savage
> barbarians, pirates, and corrupted ancient powers".
> ;)
>
> So that leads me to my favorite "SJ's biggest missed
> opportunity", the Vodoni.  The common perspective is
> that the Vodoni are blood-thirsty savages who
> conquered their all-so-peaceful neighbors (I kinda
> want to gag on that).  So let me start spinning things
> and see where things end up.
>
> Vodonispace - home sphere of the vodoni, so naturally
> they'd colonize it.  There's also no reason that, by
> the time Valkaran took the throne, that there wasn't
> already a strong Vodoni Empire, just like Ceaser took
> control of Rome, which by then was far more than a
> single city-state.
>
> Vodonikaspace - we know nothing of the previous
> inhabitants.  There's no reason that they should be
> peaceful in any way; I could easily see the Vodoni
> conquering this sphere in retaliation for pirate
> attacks originating from it.
>
> Passarspace & Gorthspace - Pretty much unclaimed prior
> to the Vodoni, so really no "conquest" here, just
> basic colonization for resouces.
>
> Lostspace - A blasted out ruin of a sphere...can't
> blame this one on the Vodoni!
>
> Golothspace & Vergonspace - some pretty rough
> neighborhoods.  These guys were already duking it out
> prior to conquest.  To peasants, the Vodoni could
> easily be liberators...until they got hauled off in
> chains ;)
>
> Kofuspace, Zalanispace, Kra'akenspace, & Salzarspace -
> not all is as it seems.  Any one of these, or all of
> these, could have their darker sides.  The Zalani are
> shipbuilders, true.  They can also be cuthroat
> merchants & profiteers.  They certain benefited
> greatly from the Vodoni conquests.  The Kra'aken could
> be masterminds, using psionics to quietly manipulate
> things to their advantage.  Etc.
>
> Thasiaspace - Vodoni could just be trying to clonize
> here, and really don't view the natives as even
> existing.
>
> Under the Dark Fist adventure - you know, I could make
> an arguement that the "alliance" spheres are, in fact,
> the "bad guys".  What were Vodoni ships doing in the
> Known Spheres?  Can think of a couple reasons,
> actually.  A few could be renegades, expatriots,
> pirates, etc.  An empire that vast, and you don't
> think there'd be defectors?  PCs could mistake pirates
> for agents of the Empire.  A second reason is that the
> ships are merely on "specimen collecting" missions.
> They're gathering up plants & animals for their
> homeworld, and maybe a captain got a little
> overzealous.
>
> Anyways, part of me ponders what about the capital
> city makes it "obvious the Vodoni are preparing for
> war".  The word of the peasants, who have a vested
> interest in overthrowing the Emperor?  In fact, the
> adventure outcome really makes it the opposite; the
> Empire is, in fact, completely caught off-guard by the
> attack.  Here's an empire with thousands of ships,
> millions of troops, supposedly preparing for a major
> invasion of three worlds.  Yet the Alliance's dinky
> fleet can attack the capital city with impunity, and
> manage, DESPITE the neogi turning on them, to achieve
> victory on the ground AND in the air.  So much so that
> the Emperor must make a desperate gamble to decapitate
> the Alliance fleet by destroying the fleet's flagship.
> Were the Vodoni preparing for war, would they not
> have huge armies & fleets mustered at the capital, or
> elsewhere in the sphere?  Afterall, it IS the closest
> sphere to the Allance's homespheres.  Yet the Alliance
> can not only take the capital, but every populated
> world besides.  For the Alliance, it should have been
> walking into a death-trap.  Yet they win, no matter
> what casualties they take in the Web.  That speaks to
> how NOT ready for war the Vodoni really were!
>
> Anyways, just some random ramblings! ;)
>
> Adam
>
>
>
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-- 
George "Loki" Williams, writing and other aberrations

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