1. Journals

(QW05) Fractious Factions Fight

RP

Through this adventure many factions have made themselves know. What opinion does your character have on one (or more if you'd like) and how do they think they will interact with said faction?


1) The Dead Hand

2) The Court of the Bramble Queen

3) The Cult of Talos

4) The Lords Alliance

5) The Evergreen Conclave (or what remains of it)

6) The Heroes of Leilon

Pine

Pine's thoughts on various factions are largely brief, and based on any actual interactions he's had with them, and how they might impact on his tasks.


The Dead Hand

The Dead Hand is one of the most obvious of factions for Pine to feel positive about, seeing as they are both connected to and working for the interests the Dead Three, or claim to be, and this has put Pine in the position of trying to gain their help, and help them in return.  Despite this, he is not looking to join the Dead Hand himself, as he has always been a person who worked independently unless he needed to work with others temporarily in order to complete a task.  


In many ways Pine looks up to those in the Dead Hand, for they have shown to be powerful and skilled in power, ones that he himself lacks in many ways.  They have experience in fighting against other factions too, and he has fallen foul of their power in the past, and seen evidence of it, enough to know its validity. 


Overall though, he is cautious of the Dead Hand because of that power, but also because both its members and its leader, Ularan Mortus, have shown not to be as clearly working in the Three's interests as they could be.  As Pine is linked in power and purpose to the Three former Gods, this puts him in a difficult position of trying to engage the Dead Hand, and its leader, in such a way as to redirect their cause to the benefit of the Three, rather than their own aims, and Pine is not a skilled diplomat in anything other than tactics.



The Court of the Bramble Queen

Pine sees the Court of the Bramble Queen, and the Bramble Queen herself, as a danger that should be avoided as much as possible.  He has always disliked chaos, and the fae are very well known for that.  But there is also the fact that Ularan Mortus believes her both to be powerful, and in a powerful position, and as such this makes Pine even more wary.  In general, if the group could avoid her and her people entirely, this would please him, although the chances of that are slim to none.



The Cult of Talos

The Cult of Talos is the faction that Pine has the most experience with since coming to the Sword Coast, and yet for all that he has fought them, and will continue to do so, perhaps strangely he has no particular feelings about the faction.  His tasks for the Three, and Ularan, has set him to stand against their spread of power in the area, but there is no hatred there in the former tabaxi, only the knowledge that they need to be dealt with, likely in a fatal fashion.  He considers them a danger, both to him and to the Three's plans, but he holds no particular enmity towards them.



The Lords Alliance

It is perhaps strange then that a faction he does feel more strongly about is the Lords Alliance, based on his interactions with one of its leaders, Lord Neverember.  He considers them manipulators and liars, only out for their own gain; a group who give lip-service to agreements and take all they can get in return.  In general, his opinion of the Lords Alliance is poor, and he is likely to either avoiding having anything to do with them in future, or even potentially working in small ways to undermine their efforts in an area, depending on the circumstance.  Changing Pine's mind on his opinion would be a challenging undertaking as he is passively hostile towards them at this stage.



The Evergreen Conclave

On the surface, Pine has no real interest or knowledge of the Evergreen Conclave.  What he knows of it is largely only based on his interactions with Siax, and that has both good and bad due to the elf's youth.  He has no interest or intention on seeking elves out, especially as their ways tend to not gel well with his character, but also because at the current time he has no need to do so.  


However if the Conclave in this instance includes those in Merdelain, then that is another thing entirely.  Those in Merdelain he has a healthy wariness about, not only because they were reputed to be powerful, but also because his tasks for the Three have put him in the position of having to potentially commit genocide on what remains of that elven kingdom.  Pine, at heart, does not like pitting himself against others, and yet with his commands in place by the Three, he has no real choice except to comply due to his strong opinions on agreements.



The Heroes of Leilon

Pine's feelings on the group he has ended up with are mixed, and only continue to be so as circumstances and opinions change over time.  In general he feels that each individual in the group is skilled in their own way, but the group at large does not work as seamlessly as they could.  They trust each other to look out for each other in battle, but he does not trust their dedication to a common cause, due to the widely varying opinions and drives each person has.  


He cannot, for instance, trust that they are going to act in his Gods' best interests at critical moments, because they may baulk at the necessity of actions in order to do that, or prioritise other things instead.  A key example of this was when the group prioritised checking on Leilon guards that he'd proven were alive and in no immediate threat, instead of going immediately to try and reclaim Emberlost, something that was both time-critical and necessary to stop the Talos cult from gaining that power and further destabilising the whole of the material plane.  It is this sort of illogical prioritising that keeps him from trusting the group at large, and much like the others, keep his own thoughts and knowledge to himself in order to try and minimise damage to his tasks for the Three.  


He is wise enough to know that the group is fractured in this way, but as it is still functional he maintains as good a relationship with them as possible, while trying to build other alliances and backup from other factions, such as the Dead Hand, and the lizardfolk.  He is attempting to build contingencies for if and when the group ends up at odds with his tasks.  In this, he cannot trust the group to remain on his side.

Tiaumil

By and large Tiaumil has given little time or thought into the various factions.  He cares little for politics or warring factions unless he needs to extract something from them, or they offer him something significant to engage his attention.


I think he would be mostly irritated by the mention of the Dead Hand, mostly because it was their actions that had his patron lever him out of his comfortable and rewarding position in Candlekeep.  Likewise the Heroes of Leilon would certainly not have been on his radar if not for the situation they had got themselves into with the Dead Hand that he was now being sent to ensure they actually succeeded with.


The Evergreen Conclave on the other hand he does have some history with.  He was not alive when the Conclave was still around, but their history has echoed through his life in some ways.  His opinion on it is varied and changeable depending on his mood and what is specifically being mentioned.


The other factions he has had no real cause to care about.  Although he has gone out from time to time to gather more resources, spells, or knowledge, he is powerful enough that he has largely avoided being the target for any faction, or not for long enough that he hasn't absented himself when he grew bored with them.