"And I do think - or else this brain of mine hunts not the trail of policy so sure as it hath us'd to do - that I have found the very cause of Hamlet's lunacy."
- Polonius
What does Thrommel do all day now that he's back in Chendl? Sit around in his room with the drapes drawn, listening to his old Depeche Mode albums and writing laments to Jolene.
CSL, how about a little analysis of some of the imagery. I'm not as familiar with exactly what happened to Thrommel as some and could use some help, especially in the third stanza. I like it but what the heck is it all referring to?
"And I do think - or else this brain of mine hunts not the trail of policy so sure as it hath us'd to do - that I have found the very cause of Hamlet's lunacy."
- Polonius
What does Thrommel do all day now that he's back in Chendl? Sit around in his room with the drapes drawn, listening to his old Depeche Mode albums and writing laments to Jolene.
CSL, how about a little analysis of some of the imagery. I'm not as familiar with exactly what happened to Thrommel as some and could use some help, especially in the third stanza. I like it but what the heck is it all referring to?
This has no basis in canon at all, it's just my personal take on things. Here's the story as I see it...
Kidnapped by the Scarlet Brotherhood, the resourceful Prince Thrommel soon escaped, but by that time he was far from home, in the wilderness on the borderlands between Urnst and the Bandit Kingdoms. He set off to return home, intending to make contact with the Furyond embassy in the Shield Lands and return home, but on the way he was accosted by a gang of meenlocks, who nearly killed him before he destroyed them in battle. Exhausted, badly wounded and under severe mental stress due to the mental attacks of the meenlocks, he left the underground ruins they called home but soon ran afoul of a yellow musk creeper, becoming infected and turned into a yellow musk zombie. His blessed status as a paladin, however, kept him from decomposing.
For six long years, Thrommel existed as little more than a yellow musk zombie, although he did not decompose as most zombies do.
The story becomes more complicated through the involvement of Amyalla Reorsa, the halfling adventuress who has featured in some of my other Canonfire work. During the Greyhawk Wars, she and her friends had separated, and she had returned to Urnst. Disguised as a human woman, thanks to her magical hat, she became a bandit leader, harassing the Bandits and the Horned Society's troops, rescuing their prisoners and gathering new recruits for her campaign. Rather than killing and robbing innocent people, she diverted her talents towards hindering the Society's and the Bandits' attempts to invade Urnst, while helping those few Shield Landers who survived their nation's destruction.
One of the prisoners she rescued was a young man from Furyondy she had 'tarried' with in her youth before her arranged marriage. He told her of the increasingly desperate situation in Furyondy, and how people were growing demoralized. King Belvor was rapidly faltering-already heartbroken over the loss of his son, he was burnt out and exhausted, and the kingdom was losing its will to fight. Amyalla took this to heart, especially as she felt a great debt of gratitude to him for certain things he had helped her with that are not relevant to the story at hand.
On one of her solo expeditions, Amyalla found herself in the same underground ruins as Prince Thrommel was buried. Attacked by the yellow musk zombies, Amyalla destroyed most of them, but then she recognized Prince Thrommel. Destroying the plant that kept the paladin lord enslaved, Amyalla used the healing magic from a clerical scroll she had picked up in her banditry to heal Thrommel and cleanse him of the musk creeper's infection, before slowly nursing him back to health over the next couple of weeks.
Unfortunately, she found that Thrommel's mind had become somewhat addled after so many years under the musk creeper's control, and he revered her as a savior. Thinking that it would help him regain his senses, Amyalla initially responded to his budding love. But then, as his senses continued to return, Thrommel began pining for Jolene, even as Amyalla tried to impress on him the need to return to Furyondy, for the kingdom itself was in danger. Thrommel, whose last though before he was infected was of Jolene, had clung to that single image, that single thought, during all those long years of enslavement. The kingdom, as it stood now, meant nothing to him.
It was then that Amyalla did what she thought she had to do. Having met Jolene before with her adventuring friends, Amyalla took Jolene's form, and spoke to Thrommel as his long-lost love, rebuking him for his neglecting his duty to his god, his father and his people, thinking only of his own selfish desires when men of lesser stature were fighting and dying to save their loved ones, shedding their blood so that he might be able to rule over them in the future. Confused, Thrommel did not understand what he thought to be Jolene's reproaches, even as "Jolene" said that he could not be worthy of her until he proved himself not only in word, but in heroic deed.
Hurt, ashamed and confused, Thrommel soon consented to Amyalla's entreaties. Appearing as her true self, she pretended to be a guide left behind by Jolene to take the Prince home, and she returned him to Chendl.
Thrommel returned to find a morose, depressed kingdom, mentally exhausted from the merciless assault of the Horned Ones and their Bandit allies. Order was breaking down, King Belvor no longer had the spirit to lead his troops, and the provincial lords were at each others' throats over the direction of the war, a division that the Horned Society exploited with glee. Suddenly reminded of his duties, the dynamic young prince regained his form of old. Suddenly inspired, the people rallied behind their hero, and Thrommel took the lead in the field, even as his father, rejuvenated by his son's presence, soon put the bickering provincial lords to heel and brought them firmly into line.
Thrommel's brilliant leadership saved the kingdom in its darkest hour. The paladin lord's enthusiasm and determination were deep and sincere, and no one denied the fire in his eyes when he took the lead against the Horned Ones. But in his heart, he still grieved over what he remembered as Jolene's rejection of him-his memories of the time spent with Amyalla are still somewhat hazy-and so he confronted Jolene at the first opportunity he got.
The resulting mutual accusations and recriminations were long and bitter, and what had once been love turned into bitter disappointment and anger. Jolene ordered Thrommel out of her household, and refused any further entreaties to speak to him. Thrommel, grieved and enraged by what he saw as his love's betrayal, turned his wrath against the Horned Ones, who suffered dearly for their enemy's anger.
Jolene was adamant that she had never gone to those hills...but Thrommel swears that she had been there. The lament is a summary of his internal turmoil. He's confused, lost and unsure of exactly what happened, but now he knows that he has a duty to his people and to his country, and he takes an active and increasing hand in the affairs of state, taking over from his aging father.
So then did Prince Thrommel return home, but his union with Jolene remains sundered forevermore. All that remain to him are his crown and his people, and his courage and tenacity in defending both are profound and never in doubt.
But in his heart, he still wonders what happened, that night in the hills...
Just curious, did that naturally kind of develop in your campaign from a pre-Wars starting point or did you just decide to chuck the official Greyhawk Wars party line and go in a totally different direction? I figure there have to be some people who developed major events in their campaigns and then the canon went in a totally different direction.
Just curious, did that naturally kind of develop in your campaign from a pre-Wars starting point or did you just decide to chuck the official Greyhawk Wars party line and go in a totally different direction? I figure there have to be some people who developed major events in their campaigns and then the canon went in a totally different direction.
A bit of both, actually. It naturally developed from my own thinking, and I decided to ignore whatever canon didn't suit me and go my own way.
Truth be told, I don't game, and I don't view Greyhawk as a game world. To me, Greyhawk is a fantasy world to be developed for its own sake, not to serve as the backdrop for my nonexistent campaigns. Much of what I write is as meant to serve as part of a living, breathing fantasy epic, with elves, dragons and wizards all playing their parts in a rich tapestry.
What I'm going for is a Conan/Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser setting with Shakespearean-level characterization and plots. I see no reason why role-playing novels based on D&D tropes automatically have to suck-it's the execution, not the concept, that is lacking. Sure, there are hunts for treasure, and bloody hack and slash combat, but there is also personal introspection, historic tragedy, and moral shades of grey. I see no reason, for example, why Paradise Lost or War And Peace could not take place in a D&D/Tolkien-inspired setting, for example. I don't see any reason why strong plots and characterizations can't take place in a novel set in a game world.
Of course, this is a gaming site, and if gamers can find inspiration from what I write, so much the better. I may be fleshing out the world for my own personal imagination, but if you can find inspiration from what I write for your own personal games, that's great. It's just that what I produce here is what I make up myself, with as little research as possible, except when I feel like it can help the overall product, which is unfortunately not the case with a lot of canon.
When I give an NPC a personality, I make it up myself. Same thing with history that has no basis in canon-I make it up myself. The adventuring band that discusses the City of the Gods are all my own creations-there are no players to speak of.
I see no reason why role-playing novels based on D&D tropes automatically have to suck-it's the execution, not the concept, that is lacking. Sure, there are hunts for treasure, and bloody hack and slash combat, but there is also personal introspection, historic tragedy, and moral shades of grey. I see no reason, for example, why Paradise Lost or War And Peace could not take place in a D&D/Tolkien-inspired setting, for example. I don't see any reason why strong plots and characterizations can't take place in a novel set in a game world.
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