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Looking for a Middle Earth big bad
Ginger McMurray:
I'm looking to start a Rolemaster campaign set in Middle Earth and the basic idea of that there is some sort of baddie looking to sow chaos and war. The way they're doing this is through the spread of warring ideologies. [some sort of item] is designed to give the user/carrier/picker-upper knowledge of one of two governmental ideologies:
* fascism (couched as benevolent dictatorship) and
* extreme egalitarian socialism
I'm doing a prequel to teach the rules, during which a group of explorers come across one or more of these items. They fight, then split up and go out into the world around Gondor, spreading farther as time passes. The socialist faction becomes the Cult of the Spider in Minas Ithil ca. 1650.
Now for the question: what sort of bad guy would this fit? Is there a specific entity in Middle Earth lore who liked sowing such discontent? If so, who and where are they usually based?
In the infant stages of the idea I was thinking Shelob as she's a powerful Mentalist and could definitely create the items. The power is there, but the motive doesn't really fit. If the big bad doesn't have the magical oomph needed to create the item on his own, it's possible he bargained with her to have it made.
Thot:
In general, Middle Earth works as a campaign world with two types of big baddies: Either Melkor's lot (Melkor himself, leftover servants of him like Sauron, leftover minions of Sauron like the Witch King) or people who find powers that they are not supposed to have and get corrupted by them (like Saruman who, in the books, wasn't a minion of Sauron, but merely an ally with his own agenda).
Personally, I have done the "leftover minion of Melkor" thing already, so I'd probably try the other one - perhaps even set in the late Fourth Age, when people try to find old magic and no elves are left to ask.
As far as ideology of the enemy goes, fascism works much better for the evil boss, because it will make HIM the leader, while with any type of egalitarianism, things can get out of hand quickly, and a big bad leader wouldn't want that. Unless he's genuine about it, in which case he probably doesn't qualifiy as a bad guy.
Ginger McMurray:
It's not so much that the bad guy is trying to spread egalitarianism. Rather, he/she/it is using it as a means of sowing chaos and confusion. For example, if a socialist movement starts up in an otherwise feudal city like Minas Ithil, bad things happen. The government finds itself focused on quelling the ideology politically, militarily, or both. While the focus is elsewhere, the bad guy can conduct his schemes. In this case, using the internal conflict to weaken the power structures enough to let one of his puppets take control.
I see a few possibilities:
* Sowing the seeds of socialism in a monarchy to trigger a revolt.
* Raising a fascist dictator to power under the guise of benevolent dictator. This either gets the puppet ruler into place directly or possibly triggers a revolt.
* Neighboring regions with diametrically opposed ideologies tend to quickly find themselves in direct (military) or indirect (cold war) conflict.
Now imagine that all of the power players in a region are puppets. Take, for example, a socialist uprising in Minas Ithil. If the city steward is a puppet and the uprising is quelled, the queen's power is likely to be given away, at least in part, in order to make the steward's job easier. If the uprising succeeds and the leader of it is a puppet, then our big bad also has his way in.
Because what's at war is ideologies and not necessarily specific people, it doesn't matter if any one puppet dies. Anyone who has been "shown the light" that proves to them that their particular brand of government is best can be molded. Tell someone they're righteous and then prove it to them with victory over their enemies and you can easily make them do whatever you want as long as you couch it in terms that make it looks like it matches their beliefs.
The players' job is to 1) quell chaos locally, 2) realize there's something more than ideologies at play, and 3) stop it at the source.
Thot:
--- Quote from: Ginger McMurray on December 01, 2019, 01:51:14 AM ---It's not so much that the bad guy is trying to spread egalitarianism.
--- End quote ---
But with, say, a republican ideology to undermine Gondor's monarchy, he might end up with a Republic Of Gondor that fights him even more fiercely, while with "away with born kings, let leaders be the strong!" he can undermine the monarchy just as well, and directly harvest the dissent by becoming that new strong leader. It's just a lot more effective for his goals.
Then again, it's your game after all. If you decide it won't backfire, then it won't. :)
Ginger McMurray:
Let's assume it won't unless the players find a way to make that happen. :)
Who are the canonical evil folks who fight with whispers and strings running around in the middle third age? Perhaps Rên the Unclean or Adûnabêth. Both have powers, at least in MERP, which would aid in spreading such things.
Of course, the Witch King would also work, but I'm thinking a 60th level foe might be a wee bit too much for a climactic battle. :D
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