Player Character: Rian Baed
SEE ALSO Last Scion Discord
Contents
Rian Baed
Clan Baed
Clan symbol: Boar
Clan colors: Orange on Black
"he is the ruler and head of household due to his wife being deceased"
You are currently the Clan Elder and Head of Household and Lily's elevation to take over those roles is an ongoing negotiation you are having centered around getting her married to the right consort and preggers.
Perhaps there is even some societal standard or Circle law that requires that she be married or have a child to become Elder to some such.
Inspirational Quote: "Led by James Coterel and three of his brothers, outlawry was just another part of the Coterel’s business portfolio."
Description
Medallion/Amulet (I called it Amulet in the narrative)
"How about if the medallion is like the Skill expert feat: "Skill Expert: This feat increases any ability score by 1 and grants proficiency in one skill of your choice, as well as expertise in one skill you already have."
Where the ability score is CHA."
Day to Day/Lifestyle
Your general fortunes have been on the rise since/despite your wifes passing and you becoming Elder (until Lilly or another Baed assumes that role) (or another of the families of clan blood be adopted to succeed if your daughters passed). This better fortune has been due to the hidden Queen trait influence on Stanton. While not greatly over your peers, you have nevertheless prospered more or weathered hardship better than most of the other Elders and that has been supplemented by your criminal activities to build assets and infrastructure and exercise influence despite their hindrance's. Stanton is small enough you can oversee all details as you wish and you know the qualities of the inhabitants as a resource you draw from and despite hard living and necessary harshness you have a stubborn people proud to be Stanton and Clan Baed and many are in on your criminal activities to one degree or another.
Privy Purse
The Clan Baed privy purse is 536gp +10gp weekly in cash. Most resources/wealth is in "kind".
You have access to other goods and resources, for example shifting the resources for your festival in Stanton to Cerdwigg instead to have your announcement banquet for the Elders at some appropriate time on the day of the equinox and also contribute to the general festivities will not cost you gold. Gold would be used for hiring/buying resources outside of assets available in Stanton.
Military
Clan Baed military - 1 2nd Ranger, 2 2nd Fighters, 18 (soon to be 16) Militia.
Your elder sons are generic npc fighter types (unless you want to make characters. Militia are generic npc commoners spears, shields, slings, padded or leather.
Your Yeoman Ranger "...Lainnae has been consuming more liquid bread than bread lately. Time to get that sword back in action (your yeoman ranger)." You saved her from a child soldier situation and gave her a safe place to grow up and has become a powerful and dedicated ally. She is a sword and board ranger and your main defense against threats to Stanton from the wilderness side in a dangerous land and would be primarily in charge of any criminal activities second only to you. Other than collecting your due protection money on the river and some related smuggling, your other 'criminal' activities are undefined.
Rian's Network
Dennis: Does Rian have any network of whisperers in the lands? If so can he discretely reach out to them to find out if there have been any notable events related to magic / other possible queens?
It is a half day journey (specifically 12 miles) from your lands to Cerdwigg. You have two runners in Cerdwigg that keep an eye out for anything going on that needs to be reported to you or to run messages, etc. You have some previously proven sources of inside information from your local connection to your traders and black market. They are a lesser player than you in many ways in that area and do not know your full scope but will have fresh news, possible coded messages, etc.
You have a frenemy among the Elders who you share information with on a quid pro quo basis mostly, a peer with which you have mutual admiration, but you know wants you dead. I had not considered what else you may have for an intelligence network so if you would have something else in place, let me know.
For magical advice you may or may not have a relationship with the Elder Clan Arun, known sorcerers, or the local actual divinely class priest in Cerdwigg.
Rian's Relationships
You say, "You leave the door open for the bedwarmer." Is the bedwarmer a device, like a pan full of hot coals, or a person, like maybe a girl from the country around Stanton?
That was left deliberately vague and open to interpretation. I have no idea what Rian's love life has been like since his wife's passing.
Criminality of Clan Baed
Other than collecting your due protection money on the river and some related smuggling, your other 'criminal' activities are undefined.
Who would be involved, who would be handling things in general that you are not overseeing directly and how you may wish to delegate. If you need additional NPC's for your roster of henchmen let me know. Generally those you don't identify wont be involved or have much knowledge about anything criminal.
I have pictured these scenarios:
- Your legit/known protection money operations are separated from the other and provide cover for it. You would never be bandit on those vaguely claimed lands. Elsewhere however...
- How you might use your protection or other rackets in other ways I have only conceived that you would have some other persons under your thumb due to physical or other threat.
- You could keep your criminal activity buttoned up tight under your control or delegate.
- You would have other working camp sites where you may have shelters or stashes up and down the river and in the hills including secret supply caches (e.g. the Hunting Manor).
- I guessed that you would prey on other bandits and also have your own banditry where (depends on how you would handle yourself):
- None survive the sometimes-dangerous trips to the borderlands, or if they survive just poorer and you are doing it anonymously/in disguise, perhaps under a specific bandit alter-ego.
River Protection Politics
Dennis Note: I think that Rian would have particular affection for the river traffic protection scheme, since he is likely the real long-term "owner" of it. This would be in contrast to the manor and town, which Lily may grow into taking ownership of; and/or Hari, now that her status might grow more than any of them. He thinks that Lily and now Hari are unlikely to ever really be interested in "owning" the protection racket, it's his. Under current politics Clan Baed cannot receive any "river taxes" for the burden it takes protecting the river trade in lands it lays some claims to, but it is allowed for you to collect directly from the traders and merchants and travelers on a stretch of road/portage to Cerwigg on those lands. So, I can see the other men of the family manor maybe being his confederates in the protection racket, for the same reason - they all see the protection racket as their own enterprise under the matriarchical situation.
Under current politics Clan Baed cannot receive any "river taxes" for the burden it takes protecting the river trade in lands it lays some claims to, but it is allowed for you to collect directly from the traders and merchants and travelers on a stretch of road/portage to Cerwigg on those lands.
I picture that Clan Baed has a known 'hunting' manor in a particular section of the hills and forests above the river and that is your 'false-true front'.
You DO legitimately patrol for bandits as part of the price for laying claims to those lands and your hunting manor areas you must protect it. Merchants pay you protection money directly to you for that and you cannot be denied based on ancestral land heritage upheld by the Circle. Due to the strange conditions some are resentful of this payment.
"Clan Baed is at the portage entrance, all is clear ahead.." and then coins and possibly contraband exchange hands and everyone moves along for no trouble and sometimes someone has to be explained how things work around here. You have to be careful about not pissing off someone or the wrong person too much to risk costly retaliation or harass your own shipments. Of course, you may WANT to piss someone off or selectively interfere with shipments to harm your enemies (a possible threat to the Elders).
The disagreement you have with the Elders/factions/traders is about price and payment time and method which are not codified in any way.
Some people really cannot afford an additional tax and may also try to bypass you as smugglers. Some may want credit, or to pay less, blah blah.
It pisses you off you cannot get this handled better and you know it's because they (everyone else in power) don't want you to have it.
The other Elders due to the threats to their trade and their suspicion of you but also needing the protection.
Mabryn would be happy to take this money but don't necessarily want to antagonize you. The Elders don't wish to cede that to them either and you are already doing it so why spend resources to argue that?
DM Notes
One 'traditional role' your clan had involved patrolling the main river to Cerdwigg which lies through the hills south of your territory and you receive either tax breaks or income from that. Along with everyone else in the region, you have "only found glimpses and signs" of that bandit 🙂 I am assuming methodical hits of minor unconnected traders with plenty of alibies to go around when the risk is/was warranted for the Clan. Any identifiable items are eventually fenced off at a safe distance and cash invested back into infrastructure or there are even markets and investments that can be made remotely as well if you trust such things out of your sight.
Goals/Notes
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
History
"he is the ruler and head of household due to his wife being deceased"
Your general fortunes have been on the rise since/despite your wife's passing and you becoming Elder until Lilly or another Baed assumes that role (or another of the families of clan blood be adopted to succeed if your daughters passed). This has been due to the hidden Queen trait influence on Stanton. While not greatly over your peers, you have nevertheless prospered more or weathered hardship better than most of the other Elders and that has been supplemented by your criminal activities to build assets and infrastructure and exercise influence despite their hindrances. Stanton is small enough you can oversee all details as you wish and you know the qualities of the inhabitants as a resource you draw from and despite hard living and necessary harshness you have a stubborn people proud to be Stanton and Clan Baed and many are in on your criminal activities to one degree or another.
Recent History
Spring Review
These issues were raised by your steward during the spring review.
- Lainnae has been consuming more liquid bread than bread lately. Time to get that sword back in action (your yeoman ranger).
- Stainers in the east wood reserves (Pict squatters).
- Better yields, less spoilage. Other settlements not so lucky.
- Demand for "Northern" sheep-cheese (successfully fenced goods in Tarin, trade issues).
- Maintenance and re-opening the sluices (spring rains). Sentries have seen Ferenna Clan poking around (Asshole Mountain Clan).
- Oxen sharing with Erasei (Elder frenemy).
- Sufficient tithe for the needed Foundry stones (must negotiate delivery to Vesna, the divine priest of Cerdwigg, foundry stones being clean energy sources instead of burning trees).
- The price of salt (Mabryn trade embargo fallout).
- Mabryn fyrd and feudal payments and Shefiff visit after festival (Stanton militia commitment Mabryn warbands)
- Elder's Spring Conclave still not decided a date.
Clan Baed Elder Family and Household
- Elder Rian Baed (m)(50)
- Rodrik (m)(29)
- "Man-at-Arms". Farmer/soldier
- Brand (m)(28)
- "Man-at-Arms". Farmer/soldier
- Heir Lily Baed (f)(26)
- Dennis "Does he know any young noblemen who he might try to match to Lily?" Tell me who/what qualities you would consider a good match for Lily?
- Consider this would be a partner for your possibly legacy and all you have built and the complexity of your outlaw double life (you have not said how bad of an outlaw you are and I need that context for your social interactions).
- What qualities would you consider acceptable? Among the local gentry there will be at least one suitable match for your qualifications, but I will plant red herrings and complexity.
- As far as the guy for Lilly, this could maybe play to Rian's darker side...maybe he would lean toward someone that he/Lilly could dominate. And by extension dominate the family that person comes from.
- Dennis "Does he know any young noblemen who he might try to match to Lily?" Tell me who/what qualities you would consider a good match for Lily?
- Leif (m)(20)
- Leif the weapon master. At a young age he was entranced by a tinker showing him copper and tin and then bronze. He is a journeyman smith in Stanton after an apprenticeship. Leif is supposedly ignorant of the family's criminal activities; it is understood that he would never accept that life and Rian knows he will need to take his smithing elsewhere eventually.
- Maelona (f)(18)
- Alewife. Maelona has a talent for brewing and manages that where the settlement itself is concerned. This is mostly the household and any exports for coin.
- Enid (f)(13)
- Hari* (f)(13)
- While not a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, a seventh child is significant for its mystical significance and in a society that usually only sees families of 3 or 4 children (amend that, in the border regions the birth rate is higher).
- Rodrik (m)(29)
- Household
- Steward (Elgan, Rian's suspected half-brother) (m)(55)
- Elgan your Steward is older than you and a scribe not particularly fit or classed. He has complete knowledge of your activities and participates as needed for paperwork, planning, logistics, etc.
- Men At Arms (Rodrik and Brand?)
- Weaponsmith (Leif)
- Alewife (Maelona)
- Steward (Elgan, Rian's suspected half-brother) (m)(55)
Stanton Settlement Notes
Clan Baed
Cerdwigg/Stanton
Manor Name: Duncassit
House Symbol/Heraldry: Boars Head
Colors: Orange on Black.
Elder Rian Baed
Heir/Tanist Lily Baed
doubling up their roles as both Rian's relatives and having a function at the manor would be good. How about if the sons are called Rodrik, Brand, and Leif, and they are some of the older children so they are old enough to have roles in the household. Would it be more fun to make them the more senior folks in the household - stewart, man-at-arms, weaponsmith?
Clan Baed Elder Family
- Elder Rian Baed (m)(50)
- Rodrik (m)(29)
- "Man-at-Arms". Farmer/soldier
- Brand (m)(28)
- "Man-at-Arms". Farmer/soldier
- Heir Lily Baed (f)(26)
- Leif (m)(20)
- Leif the weapon master. At a young age he was entranced by a tinker showing him copper and tin and then bronze. He is a journeyman smith in Stanton after an apprenticeship. Leif is supposedly ignorant of the family's criminal activities, it is understood that he would never accept that life and Rian knows he will need to take his smithing elsewhere eventually.
- Maelona (f)(18)
- Alewife. Maelona has a talent for brewing and manages that where the settlement itself is concerned. This is mostly the household and any exports for coin.
- Enid (f)(13)
- Hari* (f)(13)
- While not a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, a seventh child is significant for its mystical significance and in a society that usually only sees families of 3 or 4 children (amend that, in the border regions the birth rate is higher).
- Rodrik (m)(29)
- Household
- Steward (Elgan, Rian's suspected half brother) (m)(55)
- Elgan your Steward is older than you and a scribe not particularly fit or classed. He has complete knowledge of your activities and participates as needed for paperwork, planning, logistics, etc.
- Men At Arms (Rodrik and Brand are two)
- Weaponsmith (Leif)
- Alewife (Maelona)
- Your Yeoman Ranger
- "...Lainnae has been consuming more liquid bread than bread lately. Time to get that sword back in action (your yeoman ranger)." You saved her from a child soldier situation and gave her a safe place to grow up and has become a powerful and dedicated ally. She is a sword and board ranger and your main defense against threats to Stanton from the wilderness side in a dangerous land and would be primarily in charge of any criminal activities second only to you.
- Steward (Elgan, Rian's suspected half brother) (m)(55)
Immediate Family History
Rian met his wife Kiera the Elder of Stanton in his teens. She is practically royalty compared to his birthright and the affair was forbidden by her mother.
Rian excelled at his style of banditry and had accumulated assets/resources on his own, but he sought to get for himself everything that "they" had. Whether or not he intended to take advantage of her, Kiera and Rian were a successful power couple. She had a streak of ruthless practicality a mile wide with a touch of bloodlust added in.
Male children kept coming and after the second the Clan started discussion who would take over as Elder, as it is uncommon for Angharad to have more than three children. Rivals started to form among the families for who would be next in line and naturally this involved other Clans and their Elder's influence. But then before anything heated up, Lilly was born the third child 26 years ago.
Lilly was ill as a child, some ill humors of the un-blessed lands you lived in perhaps. Her illness also permanently affected her constitution. Lilly can wield a wicked dagger but will never carry a sword except to someone else. Being descended from a practical warrior goddess mother reputation this is another letdown.
Talk among the Clan was still looking for alternate more robust heirs and things turned ugly. By Lily's 5th birthday, a significant marker in Angharad society as a viable child and potential heir, there was severely reduced the number of robust cousins to compete with the girl. After a particularly brutal fight Rian's surviving gang became settled as militia farmers in Stanton. Rian's bloody or black reputation among the Elders became cemented then as did his more dour nature, which only grew fiercer after Kiera's passing.
It is at this stage that covert banditry became part of the actual Clan heritage. Some sort of outlawry was already part of the clan reputation and Rian and Kiera had been active for years and resourcing out of Stanton (and reinvesting the rewards back into the settlement) and Keira's allied family members were part of that life in addition to running the Clan.
Surprisingly, soon after solidifying rulership of the Clan, Kiera had another child, yet another boy Leif and two years later, finally a spare daughter Maelona, who was of excellent health. Five children are uncommon enough that the Circle sent an actual priest out to visit and provide blessings. Stanton prospered and the family grew older. Both Rodrik and Brand joined the covert family business in addition to farming and manor management.
Then out of nowhere Kiera became pregnant again this time with twins. Somehow, despite the availability of healing magics, Kiera passed away during that birth perhaps in some manner to ensure the survival of both daughters.
The Stanton Clan families by this time are all solidly satisfied with Rian's leadership and rally behind the family having seen how other settlements fared under other leadership. For the last thirteen years Rian has fought to maintain the settlement though various trials and challenges, but there have been no other significant events in the family history since Kiera's death.
Since her mother passed away Lilly has taken to wearing black and she is nearly as dour as her father. Rian would like to see Lilly married to a rich or capable husband that can be introduced safely to the family business. Operating a crime gang keeping the consort in the dark? Impossible. The other alternative is to go legit which is attractive, but that would potentially cut off an income stream that has allowed survival and prosperity where others have failed.
