Endless Night: Power Groups

ENDLESS NIGHT

A Fantasy Core Adventure

© Jerry Harris 2014

Published here as Open Game Content.

(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Adventure Overview Index

Main Power Groups in the House

This house is a battleground between several factions over different types of territory.  Several powerful, metaphysical entities have also taken up residence here.

The Seelie Court (the Elves) vs. The Unseelie Court (the Goblins)

The Astral Fey are hereditary enemies, constantly fighting over territory and for influence with the lord of the Astral Plane, the Sandman.  They will be looking to destroy their enemies and looking to recruit potential allies against them.  Azimuth House is simply another Astral battleground that both are looking to dominate.  Here, they court the Creighton family ghosts for influence in controlling the house. 

Good and evil in this milieu are not strictly applicable.  While the Goblins are generally cruel and might enjoy feasting on man-flesh, powerful warriors, such as the characters, they would likely rather recruit.  The Elves here are hedonistic, haughty, and proud, likely to kill over the smallest insult or interruption of their fun.  Both races’ interest in the characters will only be in how they can use them.  The characters will have to choose sides, but this will not be a permanent alliance.  Both sides will remember the characters’ actions, but will be willing to forget in return for an important favor. 

Neither side will figure out what the characters are up to (unless they outright tell them, which would probably only amuse them) until the end.  They can’t conceive of anyone wanting to (or being able to) destroy the astral house.    

Gillmen (maintenance, water, and sewage) vs. Ghouls (house servants) vs. Solomon the Butler

The servant classes of the house, the Gillmen and the Ghouls, are continually sniping and undermining one another for preeminence.  They serve all the other power factions of the house.  They are not looking to overthrow any of them, rather they wish to be the only group serving them. 

The only thing keeping them from declaring outright war on one another is Solomon, the Butler.  His iron-fisted rule keeps them all in line.  He routinely, randomly kills one of the staff and feasts upon them in front of everyone, to make sure the rest know their place.  The servants are too distrustful of each other and too afraid of him to join forces against him.  Solomon is way beyond the power of any individual servant, and he cleverly plays the factions off one another.  The characters, however, might have a chance.  Solomon and all of the servant groups will want the characters as allies, but unlike the Fey, they will not forget a slight if the characters choose sides.

To be somewhat impolitic, the servants aren’t smart enough to understand what the characters are trying to do.  They won’t interfere in that respect.  Their loyalty to the various entities of the house is only that of hired help.  It’s just a job.

Ghosts and various Supernatural Entities (The Residents)

Many of the rooms are haunted by powerful, supernatural creatures.  They are Azimuth House’s permanent residents.  They are served by the staff and courted by the Fey forces.  They are mostly confined to their specific rooms and preoccupied with their own affairs, but it is their presence and will that keeps this house anchored in the Astral Plane.  Ultimately, the characters will need to defeat them to cut the house’s ties to the supernatural and end its haunting. 

The ghosts may recognize immediately why the characters are there.  Some may even help in some fashion, wanting to be released.  Regardless of their disposition, they are all tied to their rooms and couldn’t coordinate against the group if they wanted to.

The Sandman

Lord of Dreams, king of the Astral Plane.  While Azimuth House is only a tiny part of his realm, it is an irritating canker, as it is still tied to the real world.  Further, the constant conflicts over it are disturbing the stability of the rest of the dream kingdom.  There are any number of haunted houses in the world, but this one’s location on the ley Lines and powerful residents make it dangerous to him. 

The Sandman cannot simply end the house’s astral connections himself without angering all of the various factions fighting over it.  Even the Lord of Dreams is subject to politics.  The characters, in this case, are his unwitting agents in destroying the links.  He cannot directly help the group, but through his ally, Carter the cat, he can provide some hints and counsel.