EUROPA 513 WILL RETURN
This is what you will be getting into: Note that even though it is a "short" it will probably not be short by RPOL standards. This might take a loooong time!
In late 513 AD, news reached Burgundy, the Three Kingdoms of the Franks, and others of the death of Gasalog, king of the Visigoth Orcs. Officially, the new king was Gasalog’s, son and heir Amaric the Half Orc, but Amaric, born in 502, was still a boy. And a Half Orc, a fact which bothers many Orcs.
Some of the powerful Visigoth clan chiefs rallied around the new ruler anyway. Some of the humans living in his domain did so as well, expecting that a half Orc would be a better, more civilized ruler than the brutal Orcs who devoted their thoughts only to war, eating, and tax collection. Others opposed him, some even taking up arms.
In the Human and Elven kingdoms, news of this arrived. Gundobad, the aging king of Burgundy, was the most politically astute ruler in western Europa, especially with Orcs. The Frankish king Theoderic, full of vitality, and a strong sense morality cultivated by his young Elvish wife Aelasuria, lacked Gundobad’s experience, and devious, strategic way of thinking. Through correspondence and meetings, Gundobad gradually convinced the others that while the Goths were far too powerful an enemy to face in battle, the current situation opened up an opportunity that. A crack could be made in the Goths, in this case the Visigoths, which could weaken them permanently.
That crack was the city of Massilia. The ancient port built by the Greeks on the south coast of Gaul was a thriving, successful port even during the occupation by the Visigoths. Massilia brought in so much money through trade that the Visigoths chose to let Human population go about their business largely unmolested, as long as they remained obedient, productive, submitted to the occasional bloodthirsty demands of the Visigoths’s demonic powers, and paid their taxes promptly. The city was officially under the control of a powerful Orc tyrant, Harridog, who is responsible for defending the city against Ostrogoth and Vandal attacks, and any internal dissent. Harridog uses the wealth generated by Massilia to play kingmaker in Visigoth politics- he is not the most vocal, but he is the financial master of the Orcs aligned against Amaric. While Orcs and their minions enforce Harridog’s will, the day-to-day operation of the money-machine that is the Massilian economy is left to a Council of Select, most of them human, knowledgeable, and corrupt.
Ironically, from the point of view of Humans, the most evil inhabitant of Massilia is not even an Orc. Years ago, the Bishop Proculus decided that if the Infernals were winning, he would be on the winning team. He openly follows the Infernal Powers, but at the same time, he is the appointed (by Harridog) master of all the Human clerics. The Humans are still permitted to worship their gods, and there are temples to Neptune, Mercury and others, but Proculus is in charge, and he makes sure everyone knows it.
King Gundobad believes the Visigoths controlling Massilia are at their most vulnerable point, and an insurrection is possible. There are many dangers; not only suppression by the brutal Visigoths, but the Ostrogoths, and Vandals and other threats that might exploit a time of weakness. It may be that an acceptable outcome falls short of liberation and merely turns the city over to more amenable Orcs backing Amaric. On the other hand, breaking the city away from the Visigoths would strike a major blow against them. They might end up withdrawing from the entire Rhone valley.
Your mission, if you decide to accept it:
Identify the key figures that could support a rebellion in Massilia, identify the kind of assistance they could provide and the roles they could play. Learn their motivations, and use that to move them to support a rebellion. Identify other key resources that would aid the rebellion, and the adversaries which would oppose it.
This game is in part inspired by a role playing “game” used by the CIA to train field agents, training them to identify who is important, why, and how the motivations of those important people can be identified and used. I could tell you more, but, then, you know…
Using characters’ interpersonal skills will be more important than in most games. So, there are some additional rules for doing this. More of these will be added as time goes on, and they seem necessary.
Additional Character/NPC Interaction skills:
1) Identify Most Important Person in Group (Gather Information + Sense Motive)
By listening to or interacting with a group of people, identify the important one.
2) Reveal Motivations. (Sense Motive + Diplomacy)
By listening to or interacting with a person, find out what general things are truly important to that person.
3) Build Friendship (Diplomacy + Misc. Modifiers)
Bond socially with a person. The modifiers are highly “situation dependent”.
4) Create Distrust (Diplomacy + Misc. Modifiers)
Build up a distrust in one person for another.
5)Share mutually interesting stories (Appropriate Knowledge + Diplomacy)
Get a knowledgeable person to share some random interesting thing, out of “shop talk” or mutual interest.