u/rane0

The party previously knew that dero use cytillesh and were weighing the option of harvesting some to gain their trust.

"[Kineticist] would know that dero use cytillesh a lot, both as a poison and a drug. So if you took some of that you might be able to buy a modicum of loyalty from the dero.

But in the same way as one might earn the loyalty of someone addicted to meth by giving them more meth."

Spoilers for my Andoren Diplomacy players and some random gm-facing lore from Hell's Vengeance. Also there is a lot of Chelish stuff in here but nothing from any lore dated later than 4716.

I've been running a sandbox game set in Andoran for over a year and a half now. One of the character backstories is coming to a head soon so I thought I would share.

The character is a hellspawn nephilim investigator with the Royalty background. At the start of the game, the party knew him only as "Hercules". He was academic and self-effacing but strongly believed in helping the democratic process as the party worked as campaign staff for a People’s Council election in Bellis.

This persona, however, is a defense built to protect him from his past. He was born Commodus Thrune, first son of Abrogail I. When she signed her pact with Asmodeus, Commodus was transformed into a nephilim. Even then, this was seen as a stigmatized lack of discretion in devil-binding. So Abrogail sent him away to the far reaches of Cheliax. He was to act as Count of Northern Verduran, hiding his condition and governing through trusted proxies until such time as he could be cured of his fiendish influence. But that time never came. When the People's Revolt split Andoran from Cheliax, Commodus fled into the woods, fearing that his land would descend into chaos without the strict rule of Asmodean law. He was taken in by forest dwelling Ashavans who did not ask about his past.

Over time he came to realize that the separatists were not some unruly mob pulling nobles from their homes, but idealists who saw a path toward a better legal framework for government beholden to the will of the governed.

Still, House Thrune was reviled in Andoran. Their pact with Hell was seen as a betrayal of the people and Commodus Thrune was wanted for his role in this treason. Knowing that he would surely hang if he saw trial for his acts as Count, he let Commodus Thrune pass into obscurity. Decades after the disappearance of the tyrant Commodus Thrune, the soft spoken archivist, Hercules took up residence in Bellis, the town that had spring up around his repurposed manor (now the municipal building for the local government of Bellis). He aided with record keeping at the local temple of Shelyn and began studying the new laws of Andoran.

When the election of 4715 rolled around Hercules felt he had enough mastery of the law to join the campaign of an elderly, independent inventor named Dominico Ruggeri.

I won't get into the details of the political campaign, as that is a subject for a much longer story, but suffice it to say the canvassing and heroic action of the party secured Dominico's election. But not before his companions noticed signs of a malign influence.

When scandal threatened the campaign, a finely dressed lawyer named Prince intervened to protect Hercules from public scrutiny. When Hercules fell in combat, Prince offered one of his mourning companions the opportunity to trade place with him. The events were rewritten so that she died and Hercules lived. This only inflamed his feelings of guilt. The party recovered the fallen teammate. None of them, even the newly revived staffer, seemed to be aware of the bargain Prince had struck.

Their adventure brought them to Almas and eventually to the buried remains of an Asmodean ritual site sealed during the People's Revolt. There the party first encountered devils who hailed their humble investigator as Commodus Thrune, Count of Verduran, Prince of Egorian, who shalt be King hereafter.

Some in the party were shocked, but others had already put the pieces together.

What no one expected was that these devils were truly bound to follow his every word. To his amazement, even actions that helped the party do good were performed without hesitation.

Some legal research confirmed that, since the devils were summoned to serve the head of House Thrune, they truly had to obey him.

Cheliax was itself an offshoot of Taldor. Taldan law held to the concept of primogeniture, that all titles and lands passed to a noble's firstborn son at the time of their death. When Abrogail I had died, all contracts naming her as ruler of Cheliax had passed to Commodus. But since no one could find him, his younger brother was able to take the throne without resistance from the infernal legions. But his claim still remained. The devils explained that any who have held the title of Infernal Magistrix in his absence are, at best, stewards to the throne and, at worst, traitors and usurpers. If Commodus wanted to claim his birthright, every devil bound by the Thrune Pact would be obligated to help him defend this claim. Even to the point of overthrowing any "weaker claimants".

The party confirmed that they would even go so far as turning on Abrogail II if she stood in Commodus' way.

So after all this background, where is this going?

Well the devils never lied. Any devil bound by the Thrune Pact would be obligated to help Commodus press his claim. But of course that is not out of loyalty or altruism. The law says his claim is stronger and they must obey the law.

But of course Abrogail II is no fool. She knows that her security is not absolute so long as the loyalty of her devils lies with her title. As yet, she does not know about Commodus, but she has prepared ways of repelling aspirants to her throne. In Hell's Vengeance, she drafted the Hellfire Compact to ensure loyalty by having her servants swear a new oath with their hands upon the substance of Hell. That oath swears loyalty not to the House, but to her directly.

So a devil bound by the Hellfire Compact has no obligation to enforce another's claim. Still, the devils at the periphery of Chelish territory are often remnants of the larger forces of the Chelish Civil War. There is no need for them to reaffirm their oaths.

Moreover, there is a deeper purpose to the power they promise Commodus.

Unbeknownst to most, there is an exemption to the Second Damnation (that of House Thrune in its entirety) baked into the Pact. An individual’s complete rejection of the name, wealth, power, and benefits of membership in the family would absolve them of Hell's claim to their soul.

All of these conditions had been met while Commodus was living in the woods as a penniless wanderer under a new name. But Asmodeus doesn't want to miss out on completing the set. So the devils now offer him the opportunity to reclaim Cheliax, make it a better place, take his fight to Egorian and save the soul of his nation.

All so that, when the time is right, he can die as a Thrune.

In the coming months I'll be offering the player alternatives to open conflict and chances to see through the loopholes that could be his undoing. But until then we remain on the edge of our seats.

The latest arc had brought the party into conflict with a group of Hellknights and their devil retainers. In the midst of this I offered Hercules a new ability called "Command Devil." What he knows is that, once per day, for two actions, he can attempt to bring any devil within earshot under his control. All he must do is identify himself as "Commodus Thrune, son of Abrogail Thrune I, heir to the throne of Cheliax" and attempt a secret legal lore check against the target's Will DC as he issues a command. I'm hoping he will use this to turn the devils on their Hellknight companions.

I have not told him the degrees of success for Command Devil yet.

On a critical success, the devil is controlled for 1 minute and will do anything Hercules commands. It will treat any who stand in his way as traitors and will fight to the death in defense of his claim. After that minute they remain helpful. Unless explicitly told not to, they will attempt to spread word of his return.

On a success they recognize his claim and become friendly to him. They will not directly attack other devils or servants of House Thrune as they recognize the legal quagmire of old and new oaths. But against other foes they have no such compunctions.

On a failure, they are not devils that still hold to the original pact. Their attitude toward him is unchanged.

On a critical failure, they are specifically bound by the Hellfire Compact and immediately recognize him as a threat to Abrogail II. If they were not already hostile, they become hostile. They target him over all others as a traitor to Cheliax.

No matter the result, any devil targeted may be called as a witness to recognize his assertion of his place in House Thrune, thus securing his place in the... family plot.

On the player's side, he is fully engrossed in the ethical quandary.

He sees the value of using the devils, but has issues with their inability to make choices of their own. Unaware of the exemption clause in the Thrune Contract, he believes he is already condemned and thus has nothing to lose by using the devils. He also knows that devil-binding is illegal in Andoran, so any utilization of his authority must be done carefully. Right now he wants to find the contract holder for the devils from Almas and negotiate their release. The contract holder is a phistophilus named Malovet that served his family before the revolt. But Malovet has been working with Queen Frilogarma of the fey Court of Ether to help her develop a casus belli against Cheliax to gain territory on the surface. Malovet has told her that if she can secure the loyalty of a more direct heir, she can utilize that claim. Frilogarma has since learned of Hercules' background and has offered him a deal. Safe passage through her domain for the party's other goal in exchange for "that which all warn that the fey want." She has asked for his first born.

The.... method of acquisition would be decidedly traditional. She would bear his child, once the child is born he will formally abdicate and allow his title to pass to the child. Then she will raise the child to lead her conquest of the surface, where they can rule as heir to both Cheliax and the Court of Ether.

The player is weighing this option. Other players have strong reasons not to trust fey.

If you did something in a plane that was illegal in the state you are currently flying over, but is legal in both the place you took off from and the place you are landing, and doesn't specifically in trouble with the flight staff, can you be charged with a crime?

For instance, let's say you're flying over Croclahoma, where it's illegal to wear crocs and you just happen to be sitting next to a Croclahoma state trooper with the forbidden footwear festooning your feet.

Bonus question. Has this ever happened? (Not the croc example but the general premise)

Yo chat am I cooked?