GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 1: The Great Court

Characters:

Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Selection

The Games, held every 10 years, determined who among the earthlings, a people composed of earth and plantlife, were most suited to hold various posts and titles.  Of particular prestige were the posts of the Triumvirate, the three great leaders of their people who together held their single elector vote in the Empire.  The Game to become the Striking Vanguard, their greatest martial champion, took place over many weeks, and at long last Granmarg, also known as the Boulderstruck, emerged victorious and took his seat on the Triumvirate.  

Mielikki, meanwhile, won the mock battles that would determine the Field Marshal quite handily, as he had been exposed to wargames in his time as a diplomat in the Dwarven Undersands to the south, and the dwarves were much more advanced in their theories of war than anything the earthlings had.  Thicket took the last position, the Grandmaster Terramorpher, by creating the most detailed map of their province, The Highland Forests, down to counting every last tree in the land.

A fourth title, though not quite as prestigious as it was not part of the Triumvirate, was the Spymaster, won by the diminutive Pomegranite The Treefallen.  His time at the Imperial College, where he had studied the Path of Secrets, had lent itself well to the challenge of learning the secrets of the other competitors while concealing his own from any watchful eyes.

And so, with their rulers decided, the earthlings returned to their lives for the next 5 years, but in the background, disagreements and political incidents slowly came to a head.  Some rogue Dwarves were digging under the border and stealing the rockflower of the earthlings, and while their envoys claimed they were dealing with it, the triumvirate were not so sure.

The dispute between the Old Faith and the Imperial Faith, which differed in whether the earth god, Terra to the traditionalists or Minerva to the Imperials, was the dominant god in the pantheon, and whether they were masculine or feminine, went unresolved.  The collective will of the earthlings shaped rock over years, and the great face of the earth god carved into their high temple, known as the Mountain's Maw, was slowly becoming androgynous.

The greatest issue, though, was a simple one: they were running out of space.  Unlike the rest of the mortal species, earthlings consumed primarily trees and rocks, and the time and land required to replace them was fast approaching a breaking point.  It was resolved by the triumvirate to expand their borders, though what exactly that would entail had not been worked out.  Regardless, they would first need the approval of the Emperor, and to strike a deal with either the Imperial College to the southeast, or the Prince-Bishopric of Lumene to the east to seize some of their lands for earthling use.

Fortunately, the Great Court was soon approaching.  Every 5 years, the rulers from all over the Empire met in the Imperial capitol of Kaskorata and negotiated, spied on each other, and learned of events in the far corners of the land.  This would actually be the second Great Court that the triumvirate would be attending, having gone to the last one shortly after attaining their current ranks 5 years prior.  The triumvirate made the long journey on foot, as the earthings did not have the room to spare for grazing pack animals, and the vast majority were too heavy to ride horses.

The delegation to the Great Court from each province would be 3 representatives, due largely to the earthling's form of governance involving a triumvirate.  200 years prior, at the dawn of the Third Empire, there had initially been 5 representatives, as the Segretan League had been formed by the most powerful families in 5 great city states, but in the ensuing centuries, that power had consolidated into just 3 families, the de Segreti, de Amici, and de Torelli.

After the political marriage of Duccio de Segreti and Zaira de Amici earlier that year, this left the League with only two great families, and there might be more pressure now to reduce the number of representatives.  For now, though, all three would be going, and they could also each bring a bodyguard, though since all were disarmed, this was almost purely ceremonial.  In addition to the triumvirate, there was also the Spymaster, Pomegranite, and a pair of actual bodyguards, Bramble, brother-in-law of Gramnarg, and Garmnrag (no relation).

They came down from the mountains of their homes in the Highland Forests, across the wild and untamed arid northwestern plains of the province of Halberst, and through the fields and farmland of the Imperial province of Tauschun until they arrived at their destination: Kaskorata, the Imperial capitol, a great city built around a lake that fed into a waterfall to the south.  The Imperial palace was built directly atop the waterfall, and many verandas looked off the cliffside to the valley below.

Kaskorata

The triumvirate had been deliberately some of the last to arrive, not wanting to stay in a human city, which was generally unfit to house their large bodies, for longer than necessary.  At the edge of the city, they met with Vizier Ulrich von Varnhagen and the Knights of the Blazing Sun, to whom they handed over their weapons and magic focii, to be returned when they left.  They'd met Ulrich at the last Great Court, and to the earthlings, who lived for over 200 years, it was always strange seeing one of the shorter-lived races age so rapidly in a mere 5 years.

Other provinces had seen similar consolidation: the Prince-Bishopric of Lumene used to be two kingdoms, while the Grand Duchy of Wrost used to be three separate duchies.  Lumene had sort of divided again, however: after the accidental deaths of the heir, second son, and then king, the elector seat fell to the third son of the royal family, Eremon, who had already given his life to the faith, while the kingdom, which he could not hold due to his vows, went to his elder sister, Edelina.

The province of Halberst, meanwhile, was a mere 120 years old, and had been turned over to the foundation of the Imperial College after the Traitor-King of Halberst had staged a failed rebellion, resulting in his line's extermination.  On the other hand, the Kingdom of Baronde was unchanged, likely due to the famed halfling laziness, and the elves and dwarves were so long-lived that their societies saw change at a pace so slow as to be standing still.

The triumvirate stopped at their embassy on the way to the palace, a proper earthling building made out of raw stone, and discussed the situation a bit.  Emperor Friedrich had been old during the last Great Court, and the rumor now was that he was in ill health, despite the best efforts of the Magisters of the Path of Healing.  Though the Emperor had only a daughter, who would never inherit, one of his cousins, Heinrich, was the heir apparent, and from what Pomegranite and Mielikki had heard, unless something unforeseen happened, it sounded like he would have little trouble gaining the support of the electors.

Diplomacy

The dining hall of the palace was already quite full of representatives and their attendants by the time the triumvirate arrived.  The prince-bishop of Lumene, Eremon, and his sister Edelina, the queen, were flanked by a pair of angels that were under her control.  The nature of the angels was a matter of fierce scholarly debate at the Imperial College, as many Magisters considered their existence to only be possible through the Forbidden Path of Life, while others replied that Life was sealed and inaccessible.  The delegation from the College itself was led by Vasili the Wise, an old orc who had to walk with a cane.  Orcs, though short-lived, had the propensity to be great scholars due to their rapid physical and mental maturation.  As the common saying went, "the candle that burns twice as fast burns twice as bright".

Pomegranite also recognized High Magister Eva of the Path of the Void, who had been in some of his classes 30 years ago, though none recognized the other human Magister attending.  The dwarves were standing off in their own little corner speaking in dwarvish, led by the one-armed Barrend as always, accompanied by his brother, Morkral the Wall, and Fallond the High Factor.  Nearby, the elven diplomat Uthemar was congratulating Duccio de Segreti and his new wife Zaira on their recent marriage.  Duke Aginor de Torelli was also nearby, looking displeased at his rival's triumph.

A quick circuit around the room got the triumvirate caught up on what was on the agenda for this meeting of the Great Court.  In addition to their border disputes with the dwarves, a few items stood out as noteworthy.  There was to be an evaluation of how the split of the Lumene into the Prince-Bishopric and the Kingdom had gone so far, the Imperial College was petitioning to unseal and allow research into the Forbidden Paths, and the dwarves were requesting that the Imperial military, and therefore the militaries of each province, be placed under their command.

Looking to get a sense of their neighbor's opinions on the dwarves, Pomegranite headed over to speak to High Magister Eva, who was idly twirling a pipe while listening to the musicians playing on a balcony.  They made some small-talk, and, after a quick observation that decades seemed a longer time to humans than earthlings, got to it.  Turned out that the dwarves were stonewalling the College's request to unseal the Forbidden Paths, which Eva wrote off as the conservatism inherent to immortals.

The College were even willing to leave the Paths of Death and Destruction sealed to placate them, but it seemed unlikely to work.  Pomegranite made a point that perhaps the Path of Life was how they'd become immortal in the first place, and that they were gatekeeping to keep the other peoples down.  With a pledge of mutual support in the upcoming discussions, the two parted ways.

Mielikki, meanwhile, went looking to find someone from Lumene, and since Queen Edelina and her consort Louis seemed busy, found her brother, the Prince-Bishop Eremon instead, hands clasped behind his back.  He had his suspicions that the deaths in the royal family allowing Eremon's ascension were not entirely accidental, and wanted to get a measure of the man.  While introducing himself and offering his condolences of the passing of their family, Mielikki noticed that Eremon had dull red eyes, an oddity among humans.

They discussed changes in the Empire, and agreed that, in the event of Emperor Friedrich's death, stability of the provinces and good relations between the electors would be of paramount importance.  Mielikki turned the conversation towards the attempted dwarven subordination of the imperial military, but Eremon seemed unconvinced that it was an issue.  The Order of the Blazing Sun, the knightly order charged with guarding Kaskorata and the Great Court itself, had originally been based out of Lumene, but were given over to the Emperor a century ago as a sign of good faith.  Cooperation between the members of the Empire was very valuable.

At any rate, they did not know why the dwarves wanted this, and it would be best to wait and see.  Over the next several minutes, Mielikki was able to make several points about the nature of the dwarves, focusing on the border disputes as a sign of their intransigence, and swayed Eremon to the voting against the proposal, though the Prince-Bishop noted that he could still be convinced if the dwarves made a powerful enough argument.

Granmarg had gone off in search of The Young Heron, the new elven Blademaster he'd heard tell of, said to be the greatest swordsman ever to live, but when he finally was able to speak to an elf, a woman named Claeira, he was disappointed to learn that the Blademaster had declined to attend.  Claeira mentioned that he had seen unfit to part with his sword, which prompted a rejoinder from Granmarg that one who considered himself lesser if parted from is weapon was no "master" at all, and rather made the weapon itself the "master".

Claeira laughed good-naturedly, and said that she'd love to tell The Young Heron about this, as the two warriors clearly had a very different philosophy.  With that out of the way, Granmarg continued on to discussion of the activities of the dwarves, in particular their incursions to steal rockflower.  She made no commitment either way, but heavily suggested that, despite Barrend's famous stubbornness, the dwarves were reasonable and it could be resolved in time.

Thicket had been sampling the rockflower on offer, and avoiding talking to anyone so as to not cause an incident with his virulent earthling supremacist views, but decided he was bored and interrupted a conversation between the elf diplomat Uthemar and the Magister he didn't know to ask about the dwarves' request for military command.  The Magister walked away, and Uthemar looked around before replying in a low voice the he had his suspicions that the dwarves believed another demon war was due.

As it had taken place two or three thousand years ago, in the time of the First Empire, Thicket knew little more than the name of the conflict, and the earthlings themselves referred to the demons as the "Tree-eaters".  Uthemar continued to explain that the last demongate was in dwarven territory, and that these incursions by demons happened on a loose cycle, and they were close to due by his count.  Of course, it could always be something else; you never knew for sure with the dwarves, tight-lipped as they were.

Grim Tidings

The halfling delegation from the Kingdoms of Baronde, led by King Neville Tallfellow and the Chief Dreamer, finally arrived, shortly followed by the orcs from the Grand Duchy of Wrost and their Poet King Dragomir.  5 years ago, Dragomir had been Archduke, but apparently felt he had outgrown the title, and was perhaps taking advantage of the Emperor's illness to satisfy his vanity.

Ulrich, the Vizier, appeared on a balcony overlooking the dining hall and made an announcement: the usual councils and meetings would be delayed until the next day, as Emperor Friedrich's health was truly dire, and it was unknown if he would recover.  Tonight, any delegations who wished would be brought before his bedside for private council, as he would be unable to attend the Great Court in person.  For the rest of the evening, they were welcome to enjoy Imperial hospitality, and with that he walked away.

The triumvirate quickly reconvened to discuss their course of action and agreed to petition the Emperor for personal intervention on the border disputes with the dwarves.  Pomegranite spotted Barrend and Uthemar heading to the veranda overlooking the waterfall and shadowed them.  He attempted to listen in on the conversation over the roaring falls, only to be stymied when they turned out to be speaking dwarvish.  All he was able to make out was that their tone was neutral.

Back in the dining hall, as the other earthlings had just finished arranging to be granted the fourth audience with the Emperor, Grand Magister Vasili the Wise and several of his Magisters went off to the Emperor's chambers for the first meeting.  High Magister Eva stayed behind, and was attempting to argue in favor of opening the Forbidden Paths with Halimath the elf.  It was entirely fruitless, though, as Halimath was, rather bluntly, stating that he and the rest of the elves would never even consider such a thing.

Pomegranite returned and, upon seeing this, got talking with the others about the College's looming request for opening the Paths.  Mielikki, ever the traditionalist, didn't care; according to him, the "Paths" model the Imperial College used wasn't even accurate, as they insisted that "Terra" was actually "Minerva", which was clearly wrong.  Thicket opined that perhaps if the Paths did exist, they could try to meet personally with Terra.

Keeping his mouth shut, as a fully graduated Magister, Pomegranite had reached into the Paths many times, and had never touched a god who was supposed to live there.  In fact, there were some very few at the College who suggested that in fact there may be no gods at all.  They discussed whether they wanted to go spy on the Emperor's bedchambers but decided against it; Pomegranite may have been a Magister of the Path of Secrets, but he didn't have his foci and had never been top of his class.

While they were still debating, Vasili the Wise returned from his audience and the delegation from Wrost was summoned.  As soon as she saw him re-enter, the Chief Dreamer of Baronde ran over to the Grand Magister's side and began a hasty conversation that the others couldn't help but eavesdrop on.  Apparently, the Path of Prophecy was no longer working, and the halflings relied on it rather heavily.  The Chief Dreamer's speech accelerated as she went on, warning that as the source of most of the Empire's food supply, this was going to cause a huge crisis unless the College had some way of dealing with the sudden disappearance of a Path.  Vasili successfully convinced her that it was under control, though the Earthlings weren't convinced.  

Meanwhile, Fallond and Morkral of the dwarves had gone to the ballroom, and Mielikki followed them to discuss the border disputes.  By the time he got there, Morkral was already off in a corner talking to the Imperial Marshal, Hans Hessen, who was immediately identifiable thanks to his enormous white mustache.  After a moment, he spotted Fallond in the crowd that were standing around and gossiping; apparently Duke Aginor was dancing with the newlywed Lady Zaira, which was quite scandalous.

Mielikki sidled up to the High Factor, startling him slightly, but once the dwarf had recovered they got to discussion over the border incursions.  Fallond was pleased to inform him that the perpetrators had been caught; the ringleaders were to receive a death sentence, while the rest would get a term of imprisonment followed by hard labor.  He even apologized for how slowly things had moved, but it was simply the nature of his people.  Having lived in dwarven lands for a time as a diplomat, Mielikki suspected that the death sentences would all be commuted to at worst mutilation (it's best not to give cause for a blood feud when everyone involved is immortal), but at least Fallond seemed geniune.

They moved on to the subject of the Forbidden Paths, and though Fallond was more gentle than his brethren, it was very clear to Mielikki from the way he spoke that the dwarves fundamentally opposed unsealing them, with all of their being, and would be willing to back a candidate for Emperor based solely on their stance on this one issue.  They would be willing to go to war to see this through, and what's more, Fallond was utterly confident that they would be able to draw out such a conflict long enough that they would win.

Audience

Before he cold pry much more, though, the Earthlings were summoned for their audience and guided to the Emperor's chamber.  The bodyguards were left outside, and the triumvirate entered.  Inside, bedridden, they found the sickly frame of Friedrich Von Kastrop, Emperor of the known world.  Once a great man, it seemed likely that this illness that had so reduced him would end in his death, but his eyes, at least, still seemed sharp.  The triumvirate kneeled and presented their gift, an amphora of purest mountain spring water, and the Emperor greeted them by their names.

Granmarg suggested the water would aid in fighting off the sickness, and the Emperor smiled, said he'd inform the Magisters of his suggestion, and asked what the proud Earthlings wanted from this audience.  Mielikki spoke, requesting recognition that borders extended below ground as well, to prevent the dwarves from stealing their rockflower.  The Emperor nodded and, after a brief coughing fit, said that he agreed with their case, but had hoped that the dwarves could have solved this on their own.

Sometimes, though, they needed a push; he would see to it that a law was passed formally recognizing borders as extending underground.  He started a thought that the Segretan League would likely take issue with that, but trailed off.  Mielikki replied that they were pleased, bowed, and moved to leave, but Granmarg interrupted: he wished to speak out against the petition of the dwarves to transfer military command to them as an unacceptable attack on the sovereignty of the earthlings.

The Emperor replied in a way that was very reminiscent of what Uthemar had said to Thicket earlier: the dwarves weren't usually so rash, and so they likely had a good reason.  He understood their objection, but it was his duty to hear out the dwarves regardless.  Further, the earthling military was already under Imperial command, by their own decision during the founding of the Third Empire centuries ago.  Regardless, he was certain that there would be further open discussion over the next few days of the Great Court.

With that, the triumvirate rose, and left the Emperor's side, returning to the halls of the palace, getting Pomegranite back up to speed as they walked.  They passed the dwarven delegation on the way to the dining hall and ignored them.  Granmarg was looking forward to speaking with Hans Hessen, who Mielikki had informed him was in the ballroom, but when they made it back, Thicket noticed that the Knights of the Blazing Sun standing guard in the dining hall were now bearing sheathed swords that they'd not had earlier.

Treachery

A thought flashed through their minds: though the Knights were now under Imperial authority, they were an order originally seconded from Lumene, as Prince-Bishop Eremon had said earlier.  Someone was clearly making a play, but they didn't know who, or what.  Pomegranite covertly pocketed a pair of dinner knives; they'd have to fill in for his ritually-paired Imperial knives that were his usual focus.  Mielikki, meanwhile, eyed a nearby bench, which he supposed would substitute for his preferred weapon of a tree trunk.

Thicket looked around for a length of wood that resembled his staff, but, seeing nothing fitting, sighed and prepared to break a leg off of a chair.  It was that or try to steal Halimath's wooden leg.  Granmarg was entirely out of luck, as his focus was a rather unique golden chain he wore around his neck, with a spike that rose up from his spine to "catch the lightning".  Bramble and Garmnrag were similarly unarmed, as they found no suitable replacement for their flail-gauntlets and extra-long nunchaku.

They hurriedly discussed what they were going to do.  Defend the Emperor?  Try to fight their way through the city of Kaskorata and grab their weapons, then flee north?  Jump into the river below the veranda and swim across to the other side?  Perhaps they cold even try their luck with the waterfall...  They found it difficult to decide when they were almost entirely in the dark.  What if this was Heinrich, or one of the rival claimants, attempting a coup while the Emperor was weak?  If worst came to worst, they were fairly confident they could fight their way out.

Ultimately, Granmarg's urge to reclaim his irreplaceable focus shaped their strategy, and by a vote of 2-1 (Mielikki was the dissenter), they prepared to have Thicket use his magic to level any wall in their way and rush the gatehouse where there weapons were stored.  At that moment, Ulrich Von Varnhagen appeared on the balcony he'd addressed them from earlier, and, after a blast from a herald to gather the crowd's attention, announced that Emperor Friedrich was dead.  As a result, the Electors must now vote to determine the next Emperor.  He put himself forward as the prime candidate, and declared that all those who did not vote for him would be put to the sword.  The Knights of the Blazing Sun drew their weapons.

Notes:

Earthlings are the race of the PC faction, created in a pair of worldbuilding sessions we had before the game proper.  They're some combination of magical rock and plants, average 7-8 feet tall and wider than a human, and live to 200-250 years.

Granmarg is mostly rock, with a burnt and split tree growing out of his left side, and a beard made of brambles.

Pomegranite is mostly rock, with a big bushy beard that grows pomegranates.

Mielikki is a collection of vines coiled around a solid wooden torso.

Thicket is all rock, with recessed eyes and an extremely large mouth (with very kissable lips).

The sealing of the Forbidden Paths of magic dates back thousands of years, to before the First Empire, and Barrend the dwarf as well Uthemar and Halimath the elves were present at the time of the sealing.

"Rockflower" is just what the earthlings call gems.  Apparently they taste delicious.

In west Lumene, close to the border with the Highland Forests of the Earthlings, is a holy mountain called Mont Villay.  It is a temple to the god of the sun (Astraeus) and also the goddess of the earth and sky (Minerva).

Neville Tallfellow does not seem remarkably tall compared to the other halflings, but then again, the PCs are mostly like 7-8 feet tall.

Orcs live to only 40 or so, halflings and humans until 70, and dwarves and elves are immortal.

Originally, an important part of the game was going to be political marriages and alliances, but the players chose for their race to be sentient piles of rocks and trees.  We did settle on them reproducing sexually, and that whether they're compatible with the other species is unknown.  Pomegranite suspects that he's as short as he is because one of his parents is secretly a dwarf.

Dwarves tend to take on roles in society that interest them, and since they have such long lives, they tend to have broad skillsets.  The average dwarf is a much more capable warrior, general and spy (and baker to boot) than those of the mortal races, though thankfully for the mortals, there are far fewer dwarves.

Dwarves and elves are long-lived, but they're not immune to injury and the older one is, the more likely they are to have suffered some grievous injury in the past.  Of those present, Barrend is missing an arm, Fallond an ear, Morkral his nose, and Halimath one leg at the knee.

The Segretan League is an imperial province, based on the power of a collection of city-states built atop entrance to a massive underground dungeon complex that stretches for hundreds of miles.  The power brokers of the cities are largely funded by the "adventuring industry" of those that venture down into the Labyrinth, and may keep whatever they find with only a modest tax.

The Emperor dies right after meeting with the dwarves?  Awful suspicious if you ask Pomegranite.