Sphere of Influence: Waterdeep

Waterdeep  

Why would you expect anyone here to care that like eight tons of unmarked cargo passed through the city? It’s Waterdeep. Pay the customs and you can ship severed orphan heads through here.

— Robyn Hood

  The trade capital of the entire Sword Coast, one of the greatest concentrations of wealth in all of Faerun, and from centuries ago until only very recently the most powerful nation ’till as far away as Amn or Cormyr (and this despite being a citystate), Waterdeep is one of the most famous, accomplished, and influential cities in the world.   Waterdeep is run by the masked lords and a single open lord, currently Laeral Silverhand. Laeral is personally dedicated to the Lord’s Alliance and thus, although Waterdeep’s influence over that coalition is waning somewhat in the face of the rising wealth and prominence of Baldur’s Gate, Waterdeep can be counted on to remain a committed member of the Lord’s Alliance for so long as it continues to exist and Laeral is running the city.   Laeral does not rule alone, however. The open lord and all twenty masked lords come to agreements in secret councils, the results of which are then announced by the open lord. The immediate thing to notice here is that an enterprising young autocrat needs only the cooperation of the open lord to take over the city, as the masked lords can all be killed and replaced without anyone in the city knowing that the assassinations were political. Only the lords’ unmasked secret identities would be reported dead. Of course, the masked lords are well aware of this and make themselves as hard to assassinate as they possibly can. The Shadow Thieves of Amn certainly take a stab at violent political realignment from time to time, and at one point the open lord Kerrigan the Arcanist did indeed manage to kill nearly half the masked lords before his plot was discovered and he was killed by a rival in the streets of Waterdeep.   Although they have final say over the city’s law, there are multiple other powerful influences in Waterdeep besides the lords. There are over seven dozen noble families of varying degrees of importance, who are famous (and infamous) throughout the Realms for their obscene wealth and aristocratic vanity. The merchant class also has tremendous influence due not only to their wealth, but the fact that everyone else’s wealth depends on their trade. Waterdeep is a trade nexus connecting the islands of the west, the Lands of Intrigue to the south, Neverwinter and Silverymoon to the north, and Cormyr and Sembia to the east. The merchants of Waterdeep, as a collective, can paralyze the economy of most of Faerun if they want to (fortunately for everyone, the merchants have no incentive to destroy the economy that pays for their dinner). The city is also host to a large clergy of nearly every deity imaginable, with representation for Oghma, Tyr, Tempus, Beshaba, Gond, Selune, Mystra, Silvanus and Mielikki (these two share a temple), Lathander, Sune, and Tymora. The clergy wield significant influence as many of them are the most senior and respected of their faith in all of the Sword Coast. Any one of these three groups (nobles, merchants, and clergy) stands a serious chance of staging a successful coup against the masked lords if they could be convinced to attempt one. All three together would be virtually guaranteed.   Waterdeep’s City Watch protects it within and its City Guard protects it from threats without, but perhaps its greatest military asset is the steady stream of adventurers who congregate there to receive jobs from various powers in the city. Chief among these are the Grey Hands, a band of powerful adventurers dedicated to the defense of the city, although their power is dwarfed by the sheer number of other adventurers who come to and from the city every day.   Also of note are the Red Sashes, a vigilante group dedicated to removing criminals when the City Watch won’t. While these are too weak to pose a threat to the masked lords, they might be built up into such a force should an ambitious would-be ruler manage to take control of the organization, and they could also serve as kingmakers in a civil war.   Seizing Waterdeep is no easy task. Their ground forces, while incredibly numerous, lack the skill of Silverymoon’s Knights in Silver or Baldur’s Gate’s Flaming Fists. Their greatest military asset is their adventurers, who can be bought into leaving the conflict or switching sides if Waterdeep attacked by an enemy wealthy enough to outspend them. Waterdeep’s navy is unmatched in power throughout the Sword Coast, but Silverymoon in particular has little reason to care, and Baldur’s Gate has plenty of land trade routes to keep itself supplied. Even so, the city is surrounded by quite a bit of friendly territory. Attacks from Silverymoon would have to hack their way through Triboar and Dessarin Valley, and attacks from Baldur’s Gate would first have to seize Daggerford. The only local allies against Waterdeep available are those found in Kryptgarden Forest, the Sword Mountains, and Undermountain, and all the inhabitants of these areas are either very difficult to control or relatively weak when compared against the powerful walls and sheer number of soldiers Waterdeep has at their disposal.   Waterdeep’s greatest protection against invasion from their neighbors is their economic significance. The more dangerous Waterdeep is, the fewer merchants want to go there, and the more Waterdeep ceases to be a nexus of trade for half the continent, the weaker that half of the continent’s economy gets.   Given this, anyone who wants to seize Waterdeep without damaging the juggernaut economy that makes it so valuable in the first place would be best advised to do so by either internal coup (and very quickly, before it blossoms into civil war) or a stealth usurpation by successfully doing what Kerrigan the Arcanist attempted: Becoming open lord and then killing all the masked lords to replace them with friends and cronies.  

Further Reading

    Waterdeep went through quite a few changes in the 15th century, and thus while the most complete guide to the city is 3.5e’s City of Splendors: Waterdeep, that book is tragically rather out of date and has not been replaced except in the space dedicated to it in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. Nevertheless, the book’s information on specific noble families, guilds, and other important factions remains relevant, even if most of the individuals named are no longer alive or have retired from their posts. Most of the dungeons and adventure hooks provided also remain valid, and could prove excellent springboards for a party attempting to curry favor with one faction or another within Waterdeep. While the events of any given game of Lords of Waterdeep are non-canon (and the Knights of the Shield are no longer active in the city anyway, since they were routed from it some time ago), a playthrough of that game does provide a good look at how the masked lords of Waterdeep interact with one another when the going gets rough. Waterdeep has also featured in too many novels to be listed here.  

The Sword Mountains and Kryptgarden Forest

  The Sword Mountains are, and if you’ve been reading this document sequentially you may find this a bit of a rerun, overrun by orcs. These orc armies have periodically attacked nearby kingdoms, most notably the kingdom of Phalorm that once stood where the Mere of Dead Men is now. The orcish invasion was set to successfully overrun the kingdom when Iniarv flooded the entire land out of spite. Since then, the orcs have fought primarily with the trolls who once lived there until the orcs successfully drove them out and into the Evermoors, where they lived until the giants started pushing them out from there, and have also staged two separate invasions of Waterdeep, neither of which succeeded. The orcs’ unity was shattered by this pair of defeats, as each tribe sought to assign blame to the others for the failure of the invasion and they descended into infighting.   Centuries later, that is still the current state of affairs, with the orcs fighting each other more than anyone else. They do frequently raid the High Road between Neverwinter and Waterdeep, but never muster up enough force to pillage settled lands in the Dessarin Valley, let alone attack Waterdeep itself.   Kryptgarden is home to goblinoids and dark fey, as well as a powerful, ancient green dragon Claugiyliyamatar, known as Old Gnawbones to people who hate trying to remember dragon names. The goblinoids are led by the Zartruss hobgoblin clan. The Cult of the Dragon has made alliance with Claugiyliyamatar, who rules over the Zartruss clan and their goblinoid minions, but they haven’t been able to secure the allegiance of the dark fey, who could prove a crucial ally in the fight to wrest Kryptgarden from the powerful dragon.  

Kryptgarden and the Tyranny of Dragons

  If you’re one of the lucky few to play in the epic quest for Tyranny of Dragons, you may distinctly recall that Old Gnawbones was already defeated and possibly killed, the Cult of the Dragon driven from the forest, and the dark fey of Kryptgarden have already been set at odds with the Zartruss Clan of hobgoblins. If your group wants to accept as canon the outcome of either the official Tyranny of Dragons epic quest or your local iteration of it, feel free to do so. However, since a relatively very small number of people were able to attend these events and because we want as much published material (including the Tyranny of Dragons hardbacks and Adventurer’s League pdfs) to be compatible with a sphere of influence campaign as possible, this document makes the assumption that the Tyranny of Dragons hasn’t happened yet. The Cult of the Dragon still controls Parnast and Castle Naerytar, they’re still raiding the Greenfields for treasure, and so on. Feel free to use the Tyranny of Dragons hardback as a launching point for sphere of influence quests set in the Sword Coast. The exception to this is the replacement of Lord Neverember as open lord of Waterdeep by Laeral Silverhand, since that is not a result of any player actions in the hardback and more neatly divides the Neverwinter and Waterdeep spheres of influence.   The Sword Mountains and Kryptgarden Forest have little economic value, but the strategic location of the former overlooking the High Road and the latter bordering the Dessarin Valley, as well as their close proximity to Waterdeep, means that controlling these areas is absolutely vital for anyone looking to control the Waterdeep sphere of influence. While the inhabitants are too weak to overcome Waterdeep’s massive army, organized raiding or blockading of Waterdeep’s northern trade and breadbasket could do serious damage to the city’s economy and the forests and mountains provide plentiful opportunities for ambush, chokepoints, and other combat situations in which Waterdeep’s superior numbers would come to naught. This means that the inhabitants of this region cannot attack Waterdeep, but nor can Waterdeep attack them, leaving them to raid and pillage Waterdeep’s most valuable hinterland with impunity.   The dark fey have little desire to engage in such raiding. This means a party working to protect Waterdeep could achieve this indefinitely by defeating the Zartruss clan and their draconic master, while a party working to attack Waterdeep would want to lead the Zartruss clan in an uprising against Old Gnawbones and the Cult of the Dragon. As they are seeking to summon a world-ending kaiju, the Cult of the Dragon make poor allies for anyone seeking to rule over a non-destroyed world, so one way or another a party seeking to control Kryptgarden will have to deal with Old Gnawbones.   The Sword Mountains are much more straightforward: Pick your favorite orc tribe and crush the others. Alternatively, get them all to meet up and agree to spend their forces attacking Waterdeep again, and when this inevitably fails, crush every orc tribe in the aftermath using a friendly military (preferably an ally from Kryptgarden, due to its proximity). Even a party working for Waterdeep might want to take this route. If Waterdeep knows when and where the invasion is coming, they can meet it before the orcs do any serious damage to Dessarin Valley. On the other hand, if Waterdeep doesn’t know when and where it’s coming, the invasion would do serious damage to Dessarin Valley (though it would stand no chance of capturing Waterdeep itself), which would weaken the Waterdeep economy.  

Further Reading

  These regions are pitifully underdescribed. Outside of DDEP1: Corruption in Kryptgarden, they have not appeared in any major modules, novels, sourcebooks, or video games (technically they do make an appearance in Waterdeep: City of Splendors, but only as historical notes, not fully described). Corruption in Kryptgarden covers only Kryptgarden, not the Sword Mountains, and more importantly is not publicly available. You can find summaries of the adventure’s results at various cons and a (possibly illegal) pdf of an unfinished draft online, but that’s it.  

Dessarin Valley

  Dessarin Valley is just to the northeast of Waterdeep, a fertile farmland surrounding the Dessarin River. The valley is Waterdeep’s breadbasket, supplying the city with most of its food, and it is also a sparsely settled, underdefended region dependent upon Waterdeep’s army and adventurer economy for defense. The major towns all lie along the Long Road to Luruar and the Savage Frontier (most notably the Neverwinter periphery). Amphail is a playground for Waterdhavian nobles where they carry out their squabbles and intrigue from within their summer homes. Yartar and Triboar are more heavily defended than most of Dessarin Valley, situated as they are at its frontier. This is particularly true of Triboar, which was often used to meet orcish invasions from the Sword Mountains. Conversely, towns deep within the valley like like Red Larch are badly undermanned.   The entire region is plagued by primordial unrest caused by the hidden cults of Elemental Evil. These cults (knowingly or not) seek to reduce the entire world to a churning, elemental chaos of pure fire, earth, water, and air, constantly clashing against each other and never settling or combining. As this state of affairs would be inhospitable to say the least, aligning with Elemental Evil is not really an option for any sphere of influence. However, anyone who can provide Dessarin Valley protection from Elemental Evil may be able to peel them away from Waterdeep’s sphere of influence, or at least pull them from the center to the periphery, particularly if they can provide similar protection against the Sword Mountain orcs (and the Kryptgarden goblinoids, if they ever start doing anything).   Dessarin also has a small population of Uthgardt barbarians who might be used to seize Dessarin from the locals, or the Sword Mountain orcs or Zartruss clan from Kryptgarden. The trouble with this approach is that any attack on the Dessarin Valley is undoubtedly going to be treated as an attack on Waterdeep, which means seizing the valley would inevitably lead to a full blown war against a major power on the Sword Coast. A sphere of influence not ready for that would find all their gains in the region reversed as soon as Waterdeep’s Guard reclaimed the region.   Another option is to make alliance with nobles in Amphail who have been on the losing end of Waterdhavian politics and then re-establish their political sway in the city to the point where they can prevent retaliation by the Waterdeep Guard against anyone trying to take over the Dessarin Valley. The only way they could possibly convince the masked lords to keep the Waterdeep Guard at home, however, is if the valley continues to supply Waterdeep with food, which means the valley cannot be peeled all the way out of Waterdeep’s sphere of influence using this method. Still, having Dessarin Valley on the party’s side would be very helpful to political maneuvering in Waterdeep itself, and could be useful for a strategy of overthrowing the masked lords from within the city.  

Further Reading

  Dessarin Valley features quite prominently in Princes of the Apocalypse, which could be used as the basis for bringing the region into a sphere of influence, though you might want to cut it down a bit if you intend it to be one small part of a sphere of influence campaign, as Dessarin Valley would not be secured until around level 15 if used as-written.  

Daggerford

  Daggerford is the geographic southernmost point of Waterdeep’s direct sphere of influence (i.e. not counting the greater Lord’s Alliance sphere of influence), a fortified town that marks the border between the civilized land of the Waterdeep region and the wilderness that stands between them and Baldur’s Gate. Daggerford is prosperous due to its location along the Trade Way, but also under constant threat from the Lizard Marsh and the High Moor.   The Lizard Marsh is inhabited by lizardfolk who usually keep to themselves, but are extremely hostile towards any who enter the marsh and sometimes raid caravans on the Trade Way. The High Moor is not adjacent to Daggerford and the Misty Forest absorbs most of its aggression, but due to the wealth of the Trade Way and Daggerford, the High Moor’s raiders sometimes make the trip around Misty Forest to raid the Daggerford hinterlands, and sometimes even attempt to sack the city itself. These raids are largely comprised of orcs, goblinoids, trolls, and ogres, although all manner of monsters live in the vast reaches of the moor.   Daggerford is an independent duchy, but while the duke is in charge of foreign affairs, local matters are usually deferred to the council of guilds. For a sphere of influence, this means that the duke is the ruler whose opinion matters even though the council of guilds manages most actual government functions. The duke collects taxes and directs the military, so for the most part he is the one you care about even if he almost never writes or adjudicates any laws.   The current duke is Maldwyn Daggerford, who inherited the position in accordance with the tradition of male primogeniture despite the popularity of his elder sister Morwen. This isn’t headed towards a succession dispute on its own, however interested parties might be able to escalate it into one if they could convince the council of guilds (who support Morwen) to take more drastic actions to pressure Maldwyn into ceding the throne. With luck, this concession might even happen without a civil war. In the event of war, Daggerford’s army is barely a hundred soldiers and a high-level party could easily provide the power a guild militia needs to match Daggerford’s professional soldiers. Whether defending Maldwyn’s claim or pushing Morwen’s, a party working against Waterdeep could provoke a succession crisis to push a treaty onto Daggerford that would see them in the party’s preferred sphere of influence. A party working for Waterdeep will want the more capable Morwen on the throne of their allied city state (not that Daggerford can really be called a city, but they’re self-governing), although they’ll want the transition to be much more peaceful.  

Further Reading

  Daggerford plays a starring role in the D&D Next playtest adventures Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle and Scourge of the Sword Coast. By default, Morwen assumes the throne of Daggerford peacefully during the course of these adventures, and this is how Daggerford is presented in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide.  

The Western Isles

  A number of island kingdoms lie off the Sword Coast. Most prominent among these is the Moonshae Archipelago. Riven by war between the native ffolk and the northlanders, neither side has yet gained a decisive advantage. Although the invasion of the northlanders has been temporarily stalled, the ffolk were too exhausted by the fight to capitalize on the advantage and it appears as though both sides will simply regroup, likely for the span of a generation, before resuming the war again. There are three notable exceptions to this general state of affairs. The island of Snowdown labors under the brutal occupation of Amn, who have repeatedly put down revolts and stripped the island of most of its resources, Oman’s Isle has been occupied by fomorian giants, and Moray is overrun by lycanthropes of the People of the Black Blood.   The other islands of major note off the Sword Coast are Orlumbor and Mintarn. Ruled over by the ancient red dragon Hoondarrh who demands regular tribute from the inhabitants, Mintarn had a brief period of prosperity when Lord Neverember used them to replace his navy, shattered after a failed war with the northlanders. The influx of gold led Hoondarrh to demand more tribute, the economy collapsed due to lack of currency, and the shipbuilding industry folded. Nothing makes a dragon stupid like the promise of gold.   Orlumbor is an island of shipwrights and the key to Waterdeep’s world-class navy. Any attack on them would most certainly be treated as an attack on Waterdeep.   There are other islands in the region, but none of them came out of the Spellplague in particularly good shape except the Nelanther Isles, and those did well because they’re full of pirates of every race and description imaginable. Lintan blew up and then phased into an alternate world ruled by dragons for a century, and while they’ve recently returned, they’re very much worse for wear. Nimbral was so reclusive in the first place that people barely noticed when it was transported to Abeir for the duration of the Spellplague.   The important islands here are firstly the Moonshaes, because they’re potentially valuable naval bases that can be used to strike against or interdict trade to almost anywhere on the Sword Coast, including the Lands of Intrigue, which means anyone who controls both the Moonshae Isles and a powerful enough navy to resist anyone who wants to take them has control over the entire Sword Coast, full stop.   This brings us to the second important group of islands, Orlumbor and Mintarn, both of which have a demonstrable capability to produce a navy worthy of Waterdeep, the greatest naval power on the Sword Coast (not including the Lands of Intrigue, as Calimshan does have a comparable and perhaps even superior navy). Controlling only one of these islands means that a rival may control the other, so the best thing to do would be to control both of them. If you are not Waterdeep, this is going to be difficult. Even if you are Waterdeep, you still have to kill an ancient red dragon in order to secure the loyalty and long term economic viability of Mintarn.   If you are not Waterdeep, you must additionally find some way to secure the loyalty of Orlumbor, which is firmly in the Waterdeep sphere of influence since their entire economy is building ships for the Waterdeep Navy. Any effort to take control of the island (even non-violently) would be tantamount to a declaration of war on Waterdeep itself.   As for the Moonshaes, the obvious route to power is to draw out some concessions for naval bases from either the northlanders or the ffolk in exchange for resolving the current stalemate in their favor. The northlanders have a powerful navy of their own and thus it would be wise to side against them simply because defeating them means one less competitor navy on the Sword Coast. That said, defeating the northlanders in a naval/amphibious war for an island chain is no mean feat, so particularly if your party needs immediate control of the Moonshae Islands in order to project naval force against another enemy (perhaps Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter or especially Waterdeep, in which case having the powerful northlander navy on your side is the only thing that will make you competitive against the Sword Coast’s naval superpower), siding with the northlanders may be a defensible choice.   Either way, Oman’s Isle, Moray, and Snowdown are largely inconsequential. Oman’s Isle would not be especially difficult for a veteran adventurer party to reclaim, nor would assisting the ffolk in their resistance against Amn’s tyranny (although in the latter case it is important to do so subtly, as a war with mighty Amn would be unwise for almost any sphere of influence on the Sword Coast), and this would help to solidify control over the region. After all, any island you don’t control is a potential naval base for an enemy. Moray might be harder, depending on just how much a taste you have for hunting down lycanthropes, but its position on the western end of the archipelago means that the only navy that can reach it without being interdicted by a Shaemoor-based fleet is one based in Evermeet or Maztica. Neither is especially likely to be a major concern, but if you have a taste for hunting the hunters, it can’t hurt to be thorough.   The Nelanther Isles could be a target, but if you don’t mind quite a bit of pillaging in enemy territory, they could also be used as a mercenary army. Some pirates might resist having even one nation’s shipping taken off the potential list of targets, but dealing with them will only prove your might to the others. If you already have a powerful navy, you can flush out the pirates from the Nelanther Isles fairly easily. Pirates never fare well against organized navies, as they are both disorganized, having no unified command above the rank of captain (and occasionally commodores of small fleets) and poorly disciplined, abandoning ship whenever the tide of battle is against them. Pirates are in it for the cash, not king and country. Even so, the pirates of the Nelanther Isles are not likely to be a high priority target. While victory is virtually guaranteed, whatever navy fights the war against them will be entangled for several years and weakened for a decade or more afterwards. With the northlanders on one side and Calimshan on the other, even Waterdeep would be foolish to weaken themselves like this (especially after it’s only just recovered from their losses to the northlander navy under the rulership of Lord Neverember).  

Further Reading

  The islands of the Sword Coast have a reasonably sized sub-section (seven pages) in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. The Moonshaes in particular have appeared in quite a few novels as well, including an entire trilogy dedicated to them.       https://chamomilehasa.blog/2017/05/24/sphere-of-influence-waterdeep/                   Sphere of Influence: Silverymoon   Posted on May 23, 2017 by Imperium Romanum   The quotes for this series come from party members from a Hoard of the Dragon Queen game I ran. A few of them come from Langdedrosa Cyanwrath, a character that the party liked so much they recruited him.      

Silverymoon

 

“The unity and goodwill in this place is suffocating.”

— Langdedrosa Cyanwrath

    Silverymoon is the political and cultural capital of the nation of Luruar. Methrammar Aerasume leads Luruar as a whole, succeeding the nation’s founder Alustriel Silverhand, who was formerly the leader of Silverymoon itself. Although the leadership of Luruar is not combined with the leadership of Silverymoon, Alustriel’s prominent position within the Silverymoon government prior to her ascension as well as the concentration of cultural, economic, and military power in the city of Silverymoon itself both led to the city becoming much more prominent and influential over the nation despite a lack of explicit legal favoritism.   Luruar and Neverwinter have been competing to be the third most powerful sphere of influence in the Sword Coast region for over a century, and they are as near one another in influence now as they were before. Unfortunately, this is not because they have maintained pace with one another but because they have both experienced disasters that set them back by similar amounts. While Neverwinter was physically destroyed and forced to rebuild, Luruar was overwhelmed by orcish invasion from the Spine of the World soon after Methrammar took over. Methrammar, lacking Alustriel’s talent for diplomacy, stewardship, and organization, led a confused resistance against the invasion. Despite the slow start, Methrammar was eventually able to form up the armies of Luruar (especially the large and powerful military of Silverymoon) and drive back the invaders, but the dwarven citadels of the north had been left to fend off the sieges by themselves for months while the mixed dwarf/human city of Sundabar had been overrun and completely destroyed.   As a result of this, the dwarves lost confidence in the ability of Luruar to provide mutual defense and saw no reason why their coffers should be drained to support a nation that couldn’t keep its promises of protection. The loss of the dwarven citadels, especially the wealthy city of Mithral Hall, was a serious blow to the prominence of Luruar and its capital Silverymoon, especially as it came simultaneously with the loss of their founder and great leader Alustriel.   While Silverymoon’s sphere of influence is greatly diminished by these events, the city itself remains an economic and military powerhouse. The city is a trade nexus between all of Luruar including the valuable mining city of Sundabar (still undergoing reconstruction) and the trade gateway of Everlund as well as two of the three dwarven citadels in the north, whose trade must flow through Silverymoon and Everlund to reach Waterdeep via Triboar. This trade nexus is maintained due to the vigilance of the Knights in Silver, Silverymoon’s powerful chivalric order which keeps Luruar free of orcs and forms a formidable vanguard for their military when marshaled for war. In addition, Silverymoon boasts the Spellguard and the High Guard, two much smaller but far more exalted elite orders dedicated to the defense of the city and palace (respectively), as well as the Silverwatch which maintains order in the streets, the Moon Garrison that serves as the rank-and-file of the city’s defenses, and the Argent Legion, a massive army supplied by recruits from all across Luruar and dedicated to the defense of all member cities.   Perhaps its most formidable defense, however, is the Silverymoon Mythal, a powerful magical ward that prevents all but the strongest willed evil creatures from remaining, including chromatic dragons, demons, devils, goblinoids, orcs, trolls, illithids, drow, duergar, and giants, while also preventing the casting of evocation spells, teleportation spells, and summoning spells by anyone not carrying a magical charm that grants them exemption. Silverymoon has no shortage of military defenses nor do they lack the ability to project force. They are quite possibly the most powerful land military in all of the Sword Coast.   Given this abundance of economic and military power, convincing Silverymoon to give up any amount of independence and be absorbed even into the periphery of another sphere of influence is a task of titanic difficulty. The orcish Kingdom of Many-Arrows has a demonstrable capability to pose a serious threat to Luruar, but that was before they took the losses they did in their previous invasion. If the dwarves could be convinced to completely ignore an orcish invasion of Luruar, Many-Arrows would have a fighting chance of overwhelming the nation. Even if Luruar survived, they might find more of their internal trade network and several member cities demolished, leaving them simultaneously in need of a massive reconstruction effort and with their primary means of funding such an effort crippled. If Luruar were rebuilt by an outside party, that party might be able to sign treaties that gave them control over trade within Luruar, possibly even to the extent of cutting Silverymoon out entirely unless they, too, cede their sovereignty to treaties that would bring them into another’s sphere of influence. Alternatively, a party might attempt to set up one of their own or a trusted ally to become the next High Mage of Silverymoon or the next leader of Luruar. Each of these offices has a (usually non-hereditary) successor designated by the current ruler. Convincing such a ruler to designate someone who spends most of their time outside Luruar as opposed to a member of the Spellguard, the High Guard, or their existing advisers would be difficult, but not impossible, nor would it be impossible to find someone from one of those organizations who would be amenable to joining another sphere of influence.   A more direct approach might involve invading Luruar. A coalition between not just Many-Arrows, but also the People of the Black Blood, the trolls of the Evermoors, the Uthgardt barbarians throughout the wilderness periphery, and the orc and goblinoid tribes of the Nether Mountains might be able to bring even the powerful military of Silverymoon to its knees.  

Further Reading

  The 3e sourcebook Silver Marches is about a century out of date, but nevertheless provides mostly accurate details on not only Silverymoon and the other cities of Luruar, but also the entire region. To avoid redundancy, this sourcebook will not be mentioned in other sections, however it is nevertheless the best source for closer details on every subsection within the Silverymoon section of this document.  

The Kingdom of Many-Arrows

  The Kingdom of Many-Arrows is ruled over by the unorthodox but undeniably effective Obould Dynasty, founded by King Obould, the first ruler of Many-Arrows. This orc kingdom is remarkable for its stability. There is a reason why most orc territories are simply labeled as orc territories: They are generally too unstable and their kingdoms too short-lived to bother marking them out on a map. Not so with Many-Arrows, for Obould was a cautious, long term planner even as he was a courageous and powerful warrior. He and his legacy forged a kingdom which, rather than bashing itself relentlessly against all neighbors until they eventually met their match or stretched too thin and crumbled, maintained long periods of peace with the powerful realm of Luruar. While it set the shamans of Gruumsh and their not-insignificant following at edge to ignore the wealth of Luruar to the south, Obould and his descendants released the aggression of their subjects through almost incessant low-grade warfare with the Uthgardt barbarians who lived at the periphery of Luruar, particularly in the Cold Wood and the Evermoors. The population of Many-Arrows grew, and with it grew its power and wealth.   Eventually, the drow of Menzoberranzan decided that Luruar needed to be destroyed and Many-Arrows was the instrument with which to destroy them. They began supporting the Gruumsh factions within Many-Arrows, who threw a coup against Obould XVII (Obould’s descendants are not very long lived, nor are they too creative with naming their kids) and installed the Gruumshite Hartusk in his place. Hartusk immediately led the orcs of Many-Arrows in a massive invasion of Luruar. The speed and size of this invasion caught Luruar off-guard, and led to the destruction of Sundabar and the secession of the dwarven citadels from the nation. The forces of Luruar eventually managed to rally and defeat the orcs, and in the aftermath Lorgru of the Obould Dynasty deposed Hartusk and reclaimed his throne in Dark Arrow Keep. The kingdom remains significantly less stable and less powerful than before the war.   Although weakened, Many-Arrows remains the single greatest concentration of orc power ruled directly by orcs in all of Faerun. If the Gruumshites were to place another of their own on the throne, Many-Arrows could do serious damage to Luruar in a second invasion provided that they could be convinced to ignore the dwarves and the dwarves convinced to ignore them. Although Many-Arrows would be unlikely to actually capture Silverymoon and defeat the Argent Legion, they could weaken the nation enough to leave it vulnerable to assimilation into another sphere of influence. On the other hand, if the Gruumshite faction were more decisively defeated, Lorgru would have the breathing room he needs to retaliate against orcs conducting minor raids into Luruar against his decrees, and that in turn could lead to the establishment of formal trade relations with Luruar and strengthen the economy of the entire region.  

Further Reading

  RA Salvatore’s Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf explores the recent events of Many-Arrows in great detail, albeit from the perspective of Luruar’s allies rather than that of the orcs of Many-Arrows.  

The Glimmerwood

  Previously known as the Moonwood and the Cold Wood, the two forests have grown together in recent years and are now known collectively as the Glimmerwood. The elves of the Moonwood, as much a part of Luruar as any human city, still refer to their ancestral homelands within the Glimmerwood as the Moonwood. The elves kept the forest cleansed of orcs and goblinoids, but lacked the power and the will to clear the People of the Black Blood, Malarite werewolves who lived primarily in the northern reaches. The Moonwood is also home to cells of the Eldreth Veluuthra, an elven supremacy movement that despises all non-elves. Being that the Moonwood are firm allies of the humans and dwarves nearby, this organization is completely illegal, but thrives nevertheless. Some of them have become werewolves themselves, and fight with the People of the Black Blood for supremacy over the northern fringe of the forest.   The eastern half of the Glimmerwood, formerly known as the Cold Wood, is the territory of the Red Tiger clan of the Uthgardt barbarians. Pockets of orcs and ettins fight with the Uthgardt for control of the forest. Many Uthgardt outcasts also live in the eastern Glimmerwood, as it stands at the far fringe of Uthgardt wilderness.   The Eldreth Veluuthra might make for better pawns than one might expect, given their hostility towards the kind of race-mixing that goes on in any given D&D party. While they might want to conquer all the Sword Coast (if not the world) for the elves as it was before the Crown Wars, a charismatic diplomat could persuade them to accept the Glimmerwood as their own and thus use them as catspaws to destroy the orcs, ettins, Uthgardt barbarians, and the Children of the Black Blood in other parts of the forest.   That said, a pawn who will refuse all calls to arms and does no trade is really more a neutral faction. Almost any party will be better off rooting them out and using either the Uthgardt barbarians or the orcs and ettins from the Cold Wood as local rulers. The real utility in the Eldreth Veluuthra, then, is to use them to stage a coup and drive out the Moonwood elves before subsequently destroying them with the Uthgardt barbarians or an orc-ettin coalition. This way the Moonwood is brought under the party’s control and no war is provoked with Luruar.   The alternative is, of course, to befriend the Moonwood elves by helping them defeat the Children of the Black Blood, although it would be difficult to convince them to defect from the Silverymoon sphere of influence considering they do not face serious danger from the werewolves in the northern forest (individually most elves would be in serious danger against the average werewolf, of course, but the werewolves are few enough that elves are rarely attacked in the first place). A party that was already aligned with Silverymoon would benefit from entrenching the Moonwood elves (and maybe also Uthgardt barbarians) as sole rulers of the Glimmerwood, but otherwise it would likely be wiser to drive them out.  

Further Reading

  Various Drizz’t books visit the Glimmerwood (mostly the Moonwood), including repeated visits in the Hunter’s Blade trilogy. The Glimmerwood also makes an appearance in Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf.  

Elruar Mountains

  The Nether Mountains once marked the boundary between the ancient human empire of Netheril and the ancient dwarven kingdom of Delzoun, which occupied all of the territory now known as Luruar and originally delved all the great dwarven cities of the North, as well as some of the human ones (most notably Sundabar). Given that, the dwarves are surprisingly okay with Luruar’s continued existence.   In modern times, these mountains are overrun with orcs. Baraskur is a series of closely packed caves fortified together as one structure to serve as the stronghold of the Ripped Guts tribe of orcs, intermittently ruled over by the ghost of a long dead human sorceress who demands a host to possess every few years, a possession which can last anywhere from a few days to half a year. While possessed, the powerful sorceress directs the orcs to scour the Netherese ruins in the mountains for some lost item. In between possessions, the ghost is largely dormant and the orcs raid and fight with their neighbors.   Said neighbors are the Thousand Fists tribe of orcs, whose stronghold is a much more thinly spread series of caves called the Thousand Maws. These caverns are linked not by fortified out-buildings and ramparts but by runners who quickly run to nearby caverns to bring all the tribe to the defense of any one cave that should fall under attack.   The two tribes primarily fight over the Moon Pass. In stark contrast to the foreboding mountains, the Moon Pass is an abundant valley. The humans and dwarves of Luruar have been known to make their own attempts at colonizing the area. So far, the orc tribes have prevented them from seeing much success.   The most deadly threat in the Nether Mountains are the Murueme Clan. No less than a half-dozen young blue dragons led by Nahaunglaroth and Raurimm, a pair of adults who, much to the relief of all nearby, turned upon their father, an ancient blue named Kizilpazar, and killed him. Nevertheless, the unusual number of dragons in the area makes them a serious threat even with their patriarch slain. The Morueme Clan is dedicated to protecting Dalagar’s Dagger, the tallest peak of the Nether Mountains, upon which aging chromatic dragons from all across the Sword Coast fly to impale themselves. The treasure stuck between the dead dragon’s scales falls out, some dislodged from the impact, others coming loose as the dragon decays, to form a sizable hoard of its own at the base of the mountain. The Morueme Clan won’t touch a single coin of this hoard, nor will they let anyone else do so. No one knows why the dragons come to Dalagar’s Dagger to end themselves, and no one knows why the Morueme Clan don’t claim the treasure for themselves (certainly they each maintain a hoard of their own, each in their individual caverns at the eastern edge of the Nether Mountains).   A monastery to Loviator, goddess of pain, overlooks the Everlund Pass at the far west of the Nether Mountains. Ordinarily such a tiny outpost would not merit mention, but its strategic location means that it could be used, were its inhabitants so inclined (or killed and replaced by those who are), to interdict trade between Silverymoon and Everlund, which would seriously damage the economy of all Luruar (and the dwarven citadels) as practically all trade that isn’t completely internal goes through Silverymoon to Everlund and from there down to Waterdeep.   The Rauvin Mountains cut through the center of Luruar and the former kingdom of Delzoun. Three different orc tribes have taken up residence in these mountains, each one taking their name from their favored method of slaughtering hapless victims for Gruumsh: The Tornskulls, the Heart Takers, and the Red Fangs (the latter devour their victims alive). The foothills of these mountains are pockmarked by goblinoid strongholds.   A party sided with Silverymoon will have no shortage of colonists willing to push into the Moon Pass, nor will they be unable to find recruits to garrison Baraskur and the Thousand Maws. The trouble, then, is of course to actually capture these orcish strongholds and drive the orc tribes who inhabit them southwards. A party working against Silverymoon would need to seize control of one orc tribe or another, perhaps by exorcising the sorcerous ghost who regularly tyrannizes the Ripped Guts, and use them to destroy their rival. Either way, the Moruemes will have to be dealt with, and they very rarely fight alone. A similar strategy would have to be taken in the Rauvin Mountains, however this time there is no fertile valley which Luruar is eager to settle, which means the party will have to provide incentive or permanently garrison troops in the Rauvin Mountains to retain control after driving out the orcs and goblinoids. Alternatively, they could pick their favorite tribe and lead them to victory or unite the goblinoids and lead them in an uprising against the orcs who raid and extort them regularly for cannon fodder and slaves.   Further Reading   The Northern Marches remains firmly recommended for more details on these mountain ranges. The Nether Mountains in particular still have lost Netherese ruins hidden in them. While these are unlikely to prove critical to a sphere of influence due to their lack of strategic importance, a party might take a break from world domination to plumb their depths for personal wealth and magic items. In this case, Netheril: Empire of Magic is an excellent sourcebook to the ancient empire, and the sections of Lost Empires of Faerun dealing with Netheril may also prove useful. Although these books are old (Empire of Magic is from clear back in 2e), Netheril was already an empire thousands of years fallen when the setting was first released, so information on it from any real world year of publishing is all equally valid, as they are all dealing with a fallen empire (although it should be noted that some sourcebooks mentioning the Netherese are referring to their 15th century successor state, who are descended from the original empire but otherwise unrelated).   The Evermoors   The Evermoors are a lumpy bog with hills rising irregularly out of largely stagnant, brackish water. Their primary inhabitants are trolls and giants, who do not get along with one another. The trolls used to be the sole inhabitants and largely kept to themselves, however a frost giant incursion (with hill giant lackeys) has pushed the trolls into the outlying regions, much to the distress of the outlying regions.   Delzoun and Netheril alike created cairns out here for their dead, and these ancient tombs remain, completely sealed by thick stone slabs to prevent the remains from being disturbed. The tombs were so frequent and so weighed down with magical treasures that, for a brief time when the bog water began eroding most of them away, people could actually make a living panning for magic rings in the Laughingflow as it flowed out of the moor. These days most of the cairns have been looted or flooded, but a few still remain undisturbed and packed with treasure.   Prospectors believe that the hills of the Evermoors are extremely ore-rich and that it would be a mining location as valuable as the Spine of the World were it not for the giants and trolls occupying it. As such, although its strategic position is questionable due to how incredibly difficult it is to get an army through it on any kind of reasonable timetable, the Evermoors would quite possibly be a valuable addition to a sphere of influence. Mining rights to that area could potentially be a powerful bargaining chip in negotiations, particularly with the nearby dwarfhold of Mithral Hall. Any sphere of influence that did not already have the dwarves on their side could easily lock them into beneficial treaties with such valuables to offer.   The issue, of course, is the giants in the north and the trolls in the south. As the giants are already quite handily winning the war, they have little incentive to make any concessions in exchange for assistance in the fight (though they might still be willing to hire mercenaries for a one-time payment in treasure), which leaves two options: Either rally the trolls or enlist outside aid for an invasion. The only outsiders in any position to attack are Luruar and the dwarves of the north, both of whom are still fairly depleted from their recent war against Many-Arrows. The good news is that armies of both giants and trolls tend to be relatively small, numbering in the dozens rather than the thousands, due to the much higher supply needs of such large creatures. As such, adventurers who can slay even a small number of the creatures might make a serious difference on the battlefield, and may provide the edge needed to lead Mithral Hall and/or Silverymoon to victory. Of course, if the resources of the Evermoors were intended to be used as a bartering chip to bring Mithral Hall into a sphere of influence, that sphere of influence would have an extremely difficult time convincing the dwarves to then also do most of the heavy lifting in securing those resources.   Further Reading   RA Salvatore’s Rise of the King is the only recent depiction of the Evermoors, and the attention paid this region by the otherwise fairly exhaustive Silver Marches sourcebook for 3e and 5e’s Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide have little (though not nothing) to say about it.                   GM’s Guide: Sphere of Influence Campaigns   Posted on July 19, 2017 by Imperium Romanum  

Building Sphere of Influence Campaigns

  A sphere of influence is a form of empire-building used in ancient Greece and the modern day whereby the imperial capital uses economic dependence, military alliance, and/or influence over the leadership of outlying territories to exert control without directly administering those territories. For example, Daggerford’s entire economy is based on trade with Waterdeep. If Waterdeep cuts that trade off, Daggerford will collapse. Waterdeep would lose the valuable link to Baldur’s Gate and Cormyr, but would be able to keep itself afloat off its trade with Neverwinter, Luruar, across Anauroch to the Moonsea and Cormanthor, and all along the Sword Coast using its port. This economic asymmetry means that Waterdeep has a lot of influence over Daggerford, and can make Daggerford do almost anything. Daggerford will do whatever Waterdeep says unless their relationship gets so bad that Daggerford would rather be destroyed if it meant they could spite Waterdeep on the way out.   Daggerford isn’t the only town in this position with Waterdeep. The Dessarin Valley, Triboar, Secomber, and others besides are similarly dependent. On top of that, all the Lord’s Alliance, covering the bulk of the Sword Coast and a few places beyond, have a military alliance with Waterdeep, which means they’d all like to keep Waterdeep happy enough with them to continue that alliance. Waterdeep doesn’t have nearly as much influence over them as it does over Daggerford, but it has some influence. Luruar has much stronger military ties between its cities, with Silverymoon effectively governing the other cities by virtue of the others being dependent upon Luruar for military support, even though their economy is independent by way of trade with the nearby dwarven strongholds of Felbarr, Adbar, and Mithral Hall. Zhentarim Keep, back before the Netherese razed it, controlled many Moonsea cities via planting infiltrators throughout the government such that the leaders answered to their hidden conspiracy even though the cities were all nominally independent. Economic dependence, military dependence, personal loyalty of the leadership, these are what make a sphere of influence.   Alright, so poli-sci 101 aside, why do we care? We care because a sphere of influence campaign allows for players to take over the world without doing an awful lot of mass battles. In a sphere of influence, players are more concerned with things like clearing ancient mines overrun by monsters that contain valuable treasures (the mines, not the monsters) in order to secure an economic treaty with towns in the area, winning the personal loyalty of the king of the next kingdom over by saving his kidnapped daughter from a dragon, and killing the champions of a rival power so that they can no longer guarantee the safety of an important border town, thus forcing the government of that town to turn to you for help or else be overrun by a horde of orcs headed their way (and also subsequently defeating that horde of orcs).   With the exception of the parenthetical, none of these are major battles, but all of them expand the section of the map that players control, and that’s a sphere of influence campaign in a nutshell. It has the advantage of being extremely flexible. Since you’re not occupying any territory, you don’t need an unbroken supply line to your territory which means you can jump all over the map as the mood suits you. Standalone adventures, whether published adventures or ones you made for earlier campaigns, can be slotted in wherever, and so long as the plot has serious implications for the military, economic, or political landscape of the area it takes place in (very likely), you can come up with a sphere of influence-related plot hook and you’re golden.      

Building a Sphere of Influence

  Each nation on the world map has one of six attitudes towards whatever nation the players control. From most to least positive attitude, these are occupied, military alliance, trade agreement, neutral, closed borders, and at war. The goal of the campaign is typically to have every nation be at least neutral or better or else to have a certain number and/or specific list of nations have at least a trade agreement. For example, a Faerun-based sphere of influence campaign in which the players control Waterdeep might have the goal that all nations be at least neutral, necessitating that something be done about Thay and Calimshan and so forth, or else that at least nine of Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, Silverymoon, Neverwinter, Amn, Calimshan, Cormyr, Hillsfar, Halruaa, Chessenta, Mulhorand, Aglarond, and Thay be a trade agreement or better, in which case the players don’t necessarily have to defeat all of Waterdeep’s greatest enemies (and the biggest threats to Faerun in general), just enough of them to become a dominant power on the continent and defang any remaining hostile nations. Perhaps instead there’s a specific list of targets who must be brought into the sphere of influence with a trade agreement or better, like Amn, Thay, Hillsfar, and Menzoberranzan.   Convincing a neutral nation to enter into a trade agreement or military alliance is just a matter of coming up with a relevant adventure and then the party goes there and does the adventure. For example, in the Lost Mines of Phandelver the party secures a valuable mine and makes friends with the dwarves who run it, which gives them all the leverage they’d need to convince the Triboar Trail to enter into a trade agreement with them. In the opening to Rise of Tiamat, Greenest is the latest victim of the Dragon Cult’s raids through Greenest, and the party might deal with the raiders as a show of good faith in order to convince Greenest to make a military alliance with their own nation (and then that simple raider hunt turns into a plot to save the world, but you can cut down the scale of the raiding if you just want to use the first few chapters as an adventure to turn neutral Greenest into a member of BLUFOR).   Rather than having adventures associated with them, some nations might not have any troubles best addressed by a band of 3-6 very strong people stabbing things in the face, but they’ll still be part of trade networks and if enough of their trade network joins a trade agreement, it starts to become very foolish for them not to sign onto that agreement. For example, Phlan, Hillsfar, Thentia, Mulmaster, and Melvaunt are all part of the Moonsea trade network. If three out of those five cities all joined a trade agreement, the other two would probably follow – unless one of those two is Hillsfar, who are striving to establish a sphere of influence of their own over the Moonsea and can’t be bribed into giving it up.   This brings us to dealing with hostile nations. Generally speaking, a nation attempting to build their own sphere of influence will close their borders to rivals, and a nation who’s closed their borders are far less receptive to signing treaties with helpful adventurers. Some of them might be brought to the negotiating table by sufficiently lucrative trade deals, but the majority are going to have to be dealt with through other means. Nearly every throne in the world has someone or other who thinks they deserve to sit on it more than its current owner, and who’s willing to stake their life on making it happen. Backing these pretenders to the throne can put someone much more sympathetic on the throne. In many cases, this will be someone who’s willing and eager to sign an immediate military alliance. In others, the only viable pretender the party can find might plan to take a neutral stance and stay out of the (potentially cataclysmic) clash of titans that’s brewing altogether. Sometimes it may even be a radical isolationist who plans to close the borders entirely, but at least they’ll close their borders to both the party’s nation and their rivals. Tchazzar, the mad dragon who claims ownership over Chessenta but has been exiled to the Sea of Fallen Stars, is probably not going to be particularly friendly to Waterdeep, but at least he’ll be equally unfriendly to Thay.   If assassination and/or internal rebellion aren’t an option, there’s always outright invasion. The players might not be able to convince even allies with a military alliance to participate in an aggressive action, so even when players have 60% of the map in their sphere of influence, they can’t necessarily pose an overwhelming military threat to literally every nation outside that sphere. Players who’ve locked down the entire Sword Coast down to Calimshan, for example, might still find themselves locked in a pitched battle with Hillsfar, just because Silverymoon and Neverwinter and other powerful allies won’t send troops to invade a distant city. Even though Hillsfar is full of xenophobic imperialists who no one on the Sword Coast would want to be neighbors with, they aren’t neighbors, so they’re probably happy to let them be someone else’s problem. All this to say that mass combat adventures to invade hostile nations aren’t necessarily a foregone conclusion just because it’s the endgame and players control a lot of the map.   Supply Centers and Lieutenants   Hostile spheres of influence don’t sit around waiting to be toppled. What distinguishes them from isolationists or neutral nations is that they, too, are attempting to expand their sphere of influence. An enemy sphere of influence – we’ll call them REDFOR – has at least one supply center, which supplies one lieutenant. This lieutenant can attempt to convince neutral nations to join their sphere of influence or foment rebellion within the party’s own sphere of influence just like they can. For example, a lieutenant of Szass Tam might be sent to Kryptgarden Forest to convince the creatures there to join forces with Thay, placing a powerful enemy on Waterdeep’s doorstep. The party must then choose whether they’re going to try and foil the lieutenant and preserve the sphere of influence they already have, or go on a quest to expand it.   REDFOR will usually have just one supply center, but if they have two, that means at least one of their lieutenants will be completely unopposed in their nefarious work. Fortunately, the party’s sphere of influence is not completely unable to look after itself. Each nation has a DC between 5 (for a place that’s practically in anarchy already) to 30 (for a superpower nearly impervious to subversion or attack). Most nations have a DC of 15 or 20, with 15 representing a nation that’s just a bit on the weak side and 20 just a bit stronger than average. Bear in mind that the most famous nations and city states of a setting are not average. Baldur’s Gate and Waterdeep are at least a DC 25 and very possibly a DC 30 to subvert, while DCs 15 and 20 better represent places like Elturel, Cormanthor, and Icewind Dale. DCs 5 and 10 should be reserved for sparsely populated areas like the Triboar Trail or places that lack a unified will to resist outside influence like the Border Kingdoms on the Lake of Steam.   Each REDFOR lieutenant has a bonus to subverting nations that will be between +2 and +17 depending on their competence, with most gravitating towards a +11. An unopposed lieutenant rolls a check against the DC of the nation they are attempting to subvert, and if they meet or exceed that DC, they succeed. Just like the party, they might not always be able to get exactly what they want, perhaps installing a ruler who washes their hands of both sides or causing the place to collapse into a useless anarchy instead of installing a ruler who signs a military alliance with REDFOR. At minimum, if the lieutenant was targeting a BLUFOR nation, they will have left BLUFOR, and if they were targeting a neutral nation, that nation will join REDFOR. If the lieutenant fails his check, he is defeated and cannot be deployed by REDFOR until they regroup. Win or lose, the havoc caused by the lieutenant usually decreases the subversion DC of the nation by 5 points.   D&D has a revolving door afterlife. When the party confronts and kills a lieutenant backed by a powerful enemy with mid- or high-level clerics and plenty of gold, it’s usually not the last they’ve seen of that lieutenant. Even if the party takes pains to make sure the body stays out of enemy hands and REDFOR doesn’t have a high enough level cleric to can raise someone without a body, it’s only a matter of time before REDFOR finds a replacement. However, whether they’re recruiting a new lieutenant or waiting for the old one to walk off their injuries/death, REDFOR does have to take time to regroup and reorganize their defeated lieutenants before they can deploy them again, finding new targets, arranging very long range transport (even if they can teleport, they’re rarely familiar enough with places very far away to teleport there safely), and concocting new schemes. A defeated lieutenant remains defeated until REDFOR takes the time rally them, and during that time REDFOR cannot use any of their other lieutenants (if they even have any) to advance any other schemes. Players have a chance to go on a quest to advance the interests of their own sphere of influence without having to worry about attacks. Regrouping like this only restores one lieutenant to ready status. If REDFOR has several lieutenants and wants to restore all of them to ready status, they must give the party a chance to go on an adventure unopposed for each defeated lieutenant they wish to revive. Powerful enemy forces with several supply centers can be relentless while they still have lieutenants to spare, but they’ll be dormant for a long time regrouping after the party finally hacks through all of them.   The party can have lieutenants of their own. The first supply center they capture is used for the party themselves, but if they capture a second supply center, they gain a lieutenant. Just like a REDFOR lieutenant, the party’s lieutenant can be sent to neutral or hostile nations, rolls his subversion check against the nation’s DC, and if the lieutenant succeeds, then at minimum a REDFOR nation will leave REDFOR and a neutral nation will join BLUFOR. Just like REDFOR, BLUFOR lieutenants who fail their checks are defeated, and the players must spend a turn regrouping their subordinates in order to bring one of their lieutenants back to ready status, during which time neither they nor their lieutenants may undertake any missions. If REDFOR isn’t regrouping at the same time, they will be able to act unopposed.   Some lieutenants are particularly skilled at using intrigue, mercantilism, or war to bring down a nation, and likewise some nations are particularly resistant to or weak to certain methods of subversion. A lieutenant who is particularly skilled at a method that a nation is weak to gains advantage on their roll, but one who is particularly skilled at a method their target nation is strong against takes disadvantage on their roll. Not all nations or lieutenants necessarily have to have these strengths and weaknesses.