Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

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Daeron
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Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Daeron »

Greetings Tyrants!

It's time for another topic of the week. Both 9th Age and AoS are still rewriting the fluff for the Dark Elves, and ... well... We kind of have gained a "do what you want" card with the old fluff. I remember a coup for leadership of the Dark Elves was the occasional fun debate during our WFB times. Now, we can even choose to create an entirely new society around such a feat.
If you could pick a new leader, for our sinister society, who and what kind of leader would she or he be? How would this leader rule the Dark Elves, and subsequently the world? What kind of changes would this leader bring to our society?
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Darkprincess »

Well my choice for a new leader would (surprise, surprise) be Lonicera - our very own special High Sorceress, as developed by the Druchii.net membership some 12 years ago, prior to the Storm of Chaos campaign.

Yes I do have a vested interest in making her the leader because technically, she's my own creation (at least as far as her fluff goes - many others from the 7th Convent initiative team worked very hard on her rules), and, perhaps most importantly (especially for the 9th Age guys), she is free of GW's IP restrictions, and thus free to use for anyone designing an alternative system.

For those unfamiliar with Lonicera and her rules, they should take a look at the July 2004 Druchii.net Monthly, as it's all in there; http://druchii.net/initiatives/monthly/issues/Jul04.pdf

OK, so she's Slaaneshi by nature, so the guys looking for an IP-free and open-source version will have a bit of tweaking to do, but otherwise I think she should make a great leader (at least for the Cult of Slaanesh / Pleasure / Lust or whatever they're going to be calling it), which would be a major feather in the cap for Druchii.net, would please me, and annoy Gav all at the same time - what's not to love? :twisted:
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Calisson »

Lokhir, of course! Who else?

In 8th, he had been unfairly maintained at hero level, but the End Times restored his whole potential, well above Fleet masters and on par with Mathlann.
Besides, he is one of those who have not been killed.
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Haagrum »

To answer that question with a question: Why only one? Dark Elven culture has never been a monolith, and the competitive nature of the Druchii/Exiles/Dread Elves is such that acquiescence to a single leader (in the absence of Malekith and Morathi) would be... unseemly to me. The beauty of the End Times shake-up is that there is no need for a single nation any more. It stands to reason that the darker side of the Elven race would have a few different facets, each of which could have their own figureheads and leaders while competing for overall dominance with the others (complete with alliances, betrayals and intrigues). Their ambitious nature, coupled with the relative freedom within the settings as they currently stand, mean that many who would otherwise not advance within the society might simply secede from it. Why struggle and toil for another's gain, after all?

Taking AoS as one example: my Exiles forces tend to be either seafarers or non-Khainite. As a long-standing defender of the suddenly-playable Fleetmaster, the fluff I'd prepared about the Black Ark Spire of Blissful Damnation works perfectly for entire fleets of Exiles. They might be held together by the prospect of plunder and domination of the lesser races (as well as revenge raids on the degenerate landlubbers who worship Chaos). Similarly, there could be a group of Exiles in Azyrheim whose principal focus is to keep their own culture and hatred for Chaos alive through the long years of the Age of Chaos. The leaders of that group would be more priest-like - their job being to preserve cultural cohesion and traditions of the surviving Druchii as well as maintaining the rage, so to speak - but more than capable of handing out a beating where necessary. I could even see the likes of Malendris (cheap self-plug!) being such a figurehead, although I think she'd be a Shadowdancer under AoS rules.

In short, I wouldn't pick just one. We are not the stiff-necked children of Ulthuan or the degenerate tree-worshippers of Athel Loren! We should celebrate Druchii diversity in all its glory, knowing that it is this ambition and lack of restraint which makes us the true Elves/Aelves! The strong will prosper, the weak will perish, and all will have what they may grasp and defend from the world!

(At least, until Malekith/Malerion comes back... but I'm sure he'd be cool with that, as long as no-one tries to knock him off.)
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Shadowspite »

I'm with Haagrum. I'd prefer to see the druchii return to their black ark raider roots, with each black ark being its own little floating city with its own culture and loyalty only to its own leaders. Some might be covens of secretly-Slaanesh-worshipping sorceresses and pleasure cultists. Others might be blood-crazed devotees of Khaine who seek to bring the dead, shattered husk of their god back to life through sacrifice. Others might be ragtag bands of pirates with no attachment to any cause save plunder. Others the loyal followers of a highborn who seeks to return the glories of lost Naggaroth, with a strict code of martial honour that sits uneasily alongside their more vicious impulses.

Or some combination of any or all of the above. The black ark Arhathalau has both a small temple of Khaine and a tower haunted by a daemon prince of Slaanesh (named Shadowspite), but its captain and most of its inhabitants don't give a fig for any god and roam the fog-shrouded oceans of Ulgu doing what they please (although Shadowspite might be manipulating them via the captain's prophetic dreams). The captain and his sorceress twin sister are also the last scions of the noble house of Nanelthyirah (Duskweaver), which was already old when Aenarion drove the daemons from Ulthuan, and are appropriately proud of their heritage (even if Daddy was technically a bit of a traitor and Mummy was an asur)...
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Killerk »

No contest it should be ME
Also known as Kanadian
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Saintofm »

All in favor or Spite the Coldone, say Aye!
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by toots »

rakarth, monsters are getting a boost in 9th boo-ya
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Shadowspite »

Rakarth would make sense. He is a ripoff of Alexander the Great, after all... ;) (The story of his taming Bracchus is taken from Alexander's taming of Bucephalas.)
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Rork »

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"Fellow Decepticons Dark Elves, as your new leader..."
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Shadowspite »

"Malekith? Is that you?"

Malerion: "Here's a hint!"
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Re: Topic of the Week - If you could choose a new leader...

Post by Saintofm »

Shadowspite wrote:Rakarth would make sense. He is a ripoff of Alexander the Great, after all... ;) (The story of his taming Bracchus is taken from Alexander's taming of Bucephalas.)


I wondered where that come from. Although I thought Malekeith had more Alexander in him.
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