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Anti-Troll League
"They may be Uz,
but they’re not Us"
An
Association created by Ray
Turney
Web Adaptation by Nick Eden
| Note! This is a
fan contribution. The information may be contradicted by official
material. |
The Anti-Troll League is a relatively recent foundation,
having been created by Lord Daxos in the year Orlanth
was proclaimed dead. The
basic aim of the anti-troll league is a short, victorious war against
the Yolp trolls. This
is intended to secure silver and iron mining rights, to better prepare
the Empire for the coming Hero Wars; and to force the Yolp trolls to
accept the legitimacy of the way
of the Goddess. This league has also
proposed to attack Dagori Inkarth, but the leadership currently thinks
Dagori Inkarth is
beyond the effective reach of the Empire at this time.
The Anti-Troll League is an ideological group. The central
points of its ideology are:
1.
|
The
Hero Wars are fast
approaching, and they will be between Humans and Elder Races, and
between Light and Darkness |
| 2. |
The Empire currently
has an
opportunity to strike against its troll enemies, particularly those in
the Yolp Mountains who are near the Empire, lack heroes and organized
magical units, and
are at the moment, vulnerable. |
| 3. |
There is no reason
to assume
that this opportunity will last forever, if the Empire lets it pass, it
risks the trolls striking later, when they are better organized and at
a time convenient for them. They might
choose to strike in the middle of a Pentan
invasion, for example. |
| 4. |
By insisting on the
right to
kill and eat humans, the trolls make their rejection of the teaching of
the Goddess that "We are all Us" clear in
the most violent manner possible. |
| 5. |
The Yolp trolls are,
by reports (some divination and some clandestine scouting
expeditions) sitting on a lot of iron and silver, and some gold,
The Empire will need both the iron and the
silver in the struggle to come |
For these reasons, the Anti-Troll League believes that a war against
the trolls is the right and proper thing to do. It
should be noted that while the group favors immediate war with the
trolls, it has a longer term goal, to focus the efforts of the Empire,
and humanity in general, on what it believes to be the central aspect
of the upcoming hero wars, the struggle between Light and Darkness. This idea is at the moment ill defined, and
may cause it to go in unexpected directions in the future..
Common
Names
|
Troll
haters |
| Form: |
A loose alliance
of groups and individuals who either believe in the ideology above, or
think war with the trolls inevitable for other reasons and think
joining the Anti-Troll League will help them in it. Note that
this group is not exclusively lunar; it works with Sun Domers and
Humakhti, even if they are from outside the Empire, as long as they
want to kill trolls.
|
| Typical
Homeland: |
Areas which border
Yolp or Dagori Inkarth, Dara Happa, Glamour. Sun Dome Templars
and Humakhti from outside the Empire have been known to work with this
group, or even join it. |
| Ideology: |
"The Hero Wars wll be between light and
darkness. We should start fighting them now." |
| Look
and Feel: |
A coalition of
religious fanatics, people willing to blame their troubles on the
trolls, and a few ruthless schemers at the top trying to get
rich.
This group is structured much more like a federation of other groups
than like a typical hero band. |
| Purpose: |
1.
|
To
prepare humanity, and the Empire specifically, for the upcoming fight
with the trolls |
2.
|
To instigate a
war with the trolls on advantageous terms for humanity
|
3.
|
To get the
followers of the path of the Goddess to recognize that since the trolls
refuse to be Us, they are not Us.
|
4.
|
To allow the
people currently facing the trolls to better coordinate their efforts
|
5.
|
To launch
reprisal raids, on its own if necessary, to discourage the trolls from
further attacks upon humanity.
|
|
| Headquarters: |
This group has 2
HQ, one in Glamour and one in Oarz. The one in Glamour is used to
coordinate overall actions by the league, and the one in Oarz is used
for meetings involving people facing the trolls. |
| Reactions: |
Most people are
vaguely in favor of someone else killing trolls, and so do not really
object to this group. On the other hand, most people have also
never seen a troll, and would not want to go fight one, either.
Most followers of the lunar path are against cannibalism, and don’t
like trolls killing and eating humans. On the other hand, they
have their doubts when Humakhti and Sun Domers seem to be more
concerned with whether or not the trolls are in conformity with the
teachings of the Goddess than their own leaders are. Also, the
ideology of the Anti-Troll League is not lunar {it does not talk about
balance, or cycles; and a lunar theory of light and darkness would talk
about each being necessary to understand the other, balancing between
the two, cyclical alternation of the two being necessary, etc}.
It’s not anti-lunar, nor do any of the facts seem obviously wrong, but
it seems to miss something important from a lunar perspective.
Dara Happans and other Light/Fire worshippers tend to like this group.
The idea that the hero wars will be between light and darkness fits
their worldview very well. Also, the idea that the trolls are not
Us, and should be fought, is common sense to them.
Many members of the army are cool to this group. After all, it is
one thing to advocate fighting trolls in the town square, and another
thing to actually fight a troll. Most soldiers think that fighting
trolls could get very ugly very fast, and it is the guys in the army
who would end up doing most of the killing and dying.
Most trolls are unaware of the existence of this group. Most of
the trolls that are aware of the existence of this group are not
concerned about what humans think anyway. After all, why don’t
the humans see that eating their dead is an honor? Trolls eat
other trolls, to not eat a dead human would be to say he or she is
unworthy of being eaten.
Some trolls in Argan Argar advocate compromise; after all, it is not as
if they could not find human Argan Argar worshippers to buy human
slaves and let them mine the iron. All the troll followers of
Argan Argar would have to do is take a good cut off the top. This
position encounters strong resistance from most of the other trolls
though. After all, it is not in the interest of the trolls to let
the humans have more iron; and the humans are not strong enough to take
it.
Many along the border with Yolp support this group, since they are the
ones who expect to get eaten. Also, a number of prophecies
indicate that a clash with the trolls may be inevitable, if so, it will
be better to have it when the heroes and the army magical units are
available to fight the trolls. The Anadikki, in particular, would
be happy to get some serious help from the Empire in their continuing
low level conflict with the trolls. Even if this association
cannot get the army to fight on their behalf, it provides a structure
for organizing the fighters on the border, and hires mercenaries to
reinforce them.
White Moon types tend to be strongly against this group and its
program. After all, this aggressive vision of the path of the
Goddess is what they are trying to get away from. No one knows if
the trolls will attack, and if they do, so what? Unlike the
Pentans, the trolls have never conquered the Oslir River Valley, or
even come close.
Jar-Eel; and some in the army high command agree with most of what this
group thinks. They also agree with the intuition of the religious
types that the line this group pushes is somewhow not Lunar,
though. Also, from a practical perspective, the trolls actually
eat very few humans each year, and most of the humans eaten are
adventurers and warriors fighting the trolls. So troll
cannibalism, while sensational, is not very important. Setting
ending troll cannibalism aside as a minor objective, this reduces the
issue to straight strategic calculation. Is the likely gain, in
silver, iron, and weakening the trolls so they cannot strike later,
worth the risk? The risk is that in response to the attack on
Yolp, Cragspider might help the Sartarites, the Blue Moon Plateau might
help the Pentans, and the campaign might not go as well as the League
thinks. If the magicians and the heroes did not break the trolls
quickly, the short victorious war the League promises could easily turn
into a long drawn out fiasco. Also, relative to the size of the
problems it faces, the lunar army is small; it would be unwise to wreck
it this year in a campaign against the trolls when the Pentans may
strike again next year. On balance, the anticipated gain does not
look like it will be worth the risk.
Great Sister is her usual inscrutable self. On the other
hand, one of her long time associates, Axiothea has released a scroll
attacking the assumptions that troll cannibalism is a sign of
disrespect, and that in the end the Hero Wars will be between light and
darkness. Also, Great Sister is sending exploratory expeditions
to
the Gan Hills and Twin Mountains; to the north of Karasal, it is
thought that she is hoping to find iron there. So, those in the
know think Great Sister is probably against the Anti-Troll
League.
|
Resources
| Leader: |
"Daxos", sometimes
known as Lord Daxos, was a priest of Buserian in the Lunar army.
When Orlanth was declared dead, he asked the logical question,
"who should we fight next?" By a combination of interpreting
oracles and performing divinations, he arrived at the conclusion that
the true Hero Wars were going to be between Light and Darkness.
After all, in the God Time, Orlanth’s assassination of Yelm was merely
the opening round in what ultimately turned into the Great
Darkness. There is no reason to suppose it could not happen again.
Daxos had the good fortune to be on detached duty when the dragon ate
most of the rest of the army. Inquiring into the cause of the
disaster, he concluded that Cragspider was behind it all. Having
asked his god why the Dragon ate the army, he got an image of two
dragons, talking. One of the dragons was black. He then
confirmed this view by studying esoteric texts, both Lunar and
Buserian. After this, he went on a HeroQuest, to speak with
Deezola. He became a Deezola worshipper and asked a boon from
her, Divination to Arachne Solara. Amazingly enough, he got Deezola to
take him seriously, and to do divination to Arachne Solara.
Deezola has confirmed that he performed the heroquest and received the
divination. His interpretation, which the Deezolans will not
comment on, is that the divination implied that he was correct.
More amazingly, he survived the heroquest, coming back with superhuman
rhetorical skills.
He offers his survival as proof in itself that he is correct.
After all, how could a Buserian priest survive a heroquest except with
the blessing of the Gods of Light? If they blessed him, because
they are also gods of truth, his views must be true.
As a good follower of Buserian, when he got back he started
writing. Also, he spoke. In an amazingly short time,
he put together a highly influential organization. It currently
has the support of several of the Comet Seers, a number of light and
fire temples, the richest man in the Empire (Crassus the Crass) and
even
a lunar Judex (Talwinos).
Personally, Daxos is a fairly mediocre looking Buserian priest; of
middling height, slightly overweight.
He now has intense, pale almond, eyes which seem to shine directly at
anyone listening to him. Old acquaintances report that this is a
result of the HeroQuest, his eyes were a rather unremarkable hazel
color before the HeroQuest.
Daxos speaks and writes on behalf of the organization, but he does not
run it in the usual sense. He delegates administration and
implementation of his ideas to others.
|
| Renowned
Members: |
Zurvanath of
Yuthuppa, a junior Buserian scholar who served with the Daxos,
and who is also a follower of Irripi Ontor, serves as the group’s
General Secretary. He arranges meetings, serves as the Hub of the
Wheel of Correspondence, and is the contact person for Crassus the
Crass. He is a skilled administrator, and firmly believes in the
group’s principles.
Master Six Stars Ketrokonath, a renowned
member of the Comet Seers, has attended meetings on a number of
occasions on behalf of the Comet Seers. He is a powerful mage in
his own right, and is thought to have much influence among the Comet
Seers. The Comet Seers as a whole are thought to leaning towards
support of the Anti-Troll League, but have not officially joined the
League. More information on the Comet Seers can be found in Masters
of Luck and Death. He is a spoke on the Wheel of
Correspondence
Crassus "the Crass" is a very rich,
flamboyant individual. He is one of the largest slumlords in
Glamour, Yuthuppa and Elz Ast, he owns a shipping company, "Empire
Shipping", and has a variety of lesser business ventures as well.
Crassus has financed expeditions into the Yolp mountains, and he was
the one who informed the group that there are significant deposits of
iron and silver in the Yolp mountains, which the trolls are stopping
the Empire from mining. Crassus funds most of the group’s
operations, out of petty cash While he is not personally a
spoke on the Wheel of Correspondence, his follower Evstafius who
follows DarEtyries, is.
Verus "the Victor" the Blue Dragon fist in
Yuthuppa, regularly attends meetings of this group. His
motivations, and those of the Blue Dragons, for supporting this group
are unclear, but he may just be a believing Solar worshipper who thinks
the trolls are up to something bad.
Talwinos "the Warrior" is a lunar judex and a
prominent member of the Lunar Legalist League. He has
written a scroll in support of aggressive punitive measures against the
trolls, but whether this means he is against the trolls specifically is
debatable. He seems to be in favor of aggressive punitive
measures against almost everybody. More information on Talwinos
can be found in the Lunar Legalist League description. While a
public apologist for the group, he does not hold a seat on the Wheel of
Correspondence
Lord Tiyanag of House Ganzak represents
the noble houses along the Doblian border with Yolp in the group’s
meetings, and has a seat on the Wheel of Correpondence More
information on Lord Tiyanag can be found in the House Ganzak
description.
Etherius "the Black Eyed", is a devotee of
Durendalu and Varmanor, the Twin Stars of Induppa. He got
his coal black eyes on a
heroquest, which was otherwise successful. He has also completed
the famous "Hill of Gold" quest in Vanch, and has a high status among
solar types. A very minor noble, and proud of his ancestors, he
could not afford a mount when he joined the army. A native of
Induppa, he is very devoted to solar traditions, and due to has long
service in Aggar has many friends in the Sun Dome temples there.
He is the group’s emissary to the Sun Dome temples, which seem to warm
to the Anti-Troll message, but are reluctant to get formally involved
with any lunar league. He is a spoke on the Wheel of
Correspondence.
Abgatha "the Ardent" runs the group’s
"instrumentality". He is another Dara Happan, a minor noble who
worships Antirius. He is young, handome, and seems like just
another minor noble with a fondness for honey, wine,
and slave girls. He has a serious side, which he devotes to this
group. His subgroup, the Golden Eye Eagle League focuses on three
tasks: obtaining and publicizing
evidence of troll atrocities; tracking Argan Argar cultists and
learning what they are trading for; and trying to find out if any
members of the Lunar religious hierarchy are involved in any with the
trolls. It has also been known to hire adventurers to map
the troll lands, and look for minerals, these adventurers have not
always been Lunar. He is a spoke on the Wheel of Correspondence.
|
| Membership: |
This group is open to anyone "concerned about the troll
situation". In practice, it mostly tries to recreuit members who
can act as agents of influence in powerful organizations. About
150 people are known to have attended its meetings, from a variety of
temples, local houses on the border with the trolls, etc. How
many of them are committed to the goals of the group, and how much
influence they have in the other associations the group is trying to
influence, is unclear.
The group is thought to have "secret" members, who do not go to the
meetings but try to influence groups they are members of to support its
policies. The extent of this is unknown, but though to be minor.
There is a relatively small inner group, the "Wheel of Correspondence".
The instrumentality, the Golden Eye Eagle League, is willing to employ
anyone who doesn’t like trolls and can be useful in achieving its
ends. The Golden Eye Eagle League usually does not explain that
it is a part of the Anti-Troll League, when recruiting people; and
members of the Golden Eye Eagle League are often not members of the
Anti-Troll League
|
| Other
Contacts: |
They
have fairly extensive contacts in the Dara Happan traditionalist
portion of the army, and the Buserian side of the lunar
bureaucracy. They can get small to middle sized favors done
without too much difficulty. These contacts will take some risks,
i.e. they will provide divination, some free training for adventurers
working for the group, some spell trading, and information. If
the pot were sweetened, they might be able to make a magic item.
Thanks to the wealth of Crassus, they can get a respectful hearing, and
maybe some minor favors, from most parts of the lunar religious
bureaucracy, and the Irripi On-Tor and Red Emperor aspects of the
Imperial Bureaucracy. They usually will not have much luck
getting real support, unless the person asking for that support is
himself entitled to it for some reason.
A number of people in other instrumentalities sympathize with this
group, and will pass along information if it is not so juicy it is
clearly in the interest of their own group to keep it as an exclusive.
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Military Power:
|
This
group does not maintain a standing military force. The
instrumentality, the Golden Eye Eagle League, does, but it has fewer
than fifty deployable troops. When they need to perform a mission
into the troll lands, they attach a trusted agent from the
instrumentality to mercenaries hired from Kirit Nonius. They are
longing to develop a better clandestine military option of their own,
who believe in the cause themselves and might be willing to take
greater risks.
|
Other Resources:
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The
group is not yet fully organized, and has no system for assessing dues
for its members.
It does have a cash reserve about 15,000 silver pieces, in silver,
gold, and gems. It has two small magic items; one of which grants
Troll Sense and the other is a small bronze wooden baton with an iron
band and a silver band. This can be used to locate silver or
iron, by a method similar to dowsing. These items are available
to any adventuring party going into troll territory on behalf of the
group..
The group is well funded by Crassus the Crass, so these funds can be
replaced, or even increased to 30,000 silver pieces with about three
weeks of warning. This is petty cash to Crassus, so there will be
few problems getting it.
Crassus has been know to lend the group a small moonboat, to fly other
members about in, if necessary.
A number of solar temples are known to sympathize, and will provide
divination and or training support.
For a really big operation, the group could go to Crassus or a
sympathetic temple and get a magic item or two.
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Organization
This group is not yet well organized. It has an ideologist,
Daxos; an administrator, and a group of people who write letters to
each other, exchange information, and try to influence other groups to
see the world the way they do.
They also have a financial backer, Crassus the Crass, who is believed
to be using the group for his own purposes. Crassus, as well as
the rest of the group gets reports from its instrumentality. The
instrumentality is, however, a separate group on its own.
It is not well controlled in the service of the larger group, and could
easily do something people in the larger group would end up regretting
Membership Keyword
| Membership
Requirements: |
In theory, this
group is open to anyone “concerned about the troll situation”. In
practice, joining this group is by invitation only, and you will only
be asked to join if you are seen to be interested in Daxos’s message,
and are in a position of influence in another organization.
When you join, you will asked to swear, to some usually solar, deity
that you believe the coming Hero Wars will be between light and
darkness, that is, between the humans and the trolls, and that humanity
and the Empire need to prepare for war with the trolls.
The new member will then receive gifts, theoretically from the
organization itself to give to others to increase the character’s
influence. In practice, the gifts are from Crassus, the only
really rich member of the group, and a little skimming off the top is
expected. Members also receive copies of intelligence
reports on the trolls, etc
|
| Skills
taught: |
Solar
Political Clout, Lunar Political Clout, Know Solar Pantheon Myths,
KnowLunar Pantheon Myths |
| Typical
Personality Traits: |
Conservative,
Troll Hating, Political |
| Magic: |
Theistic,
usually Solar, sometimes Lunar or Humakht
|
Guardian
The group does not yet have a guardian spirit. Etherius is
planning to lead a HeroQuest to get one.
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