Kinds of characters that may be played in the Atrilian campaign
A. Temporal rulers
A1. Major rulers
These are the kings, emperors, sultans, etc. of the campaign
ROLE: To protect and enrich their country and their vassals
INSTRUMENTS: Money (through tax), customary law, army, alliances, vassals
TYPICAL ACTIONS: raising/spending funds, waging wars, signing treaties,
building roads/bridges/fortifications, founding cities, settling disputes
between vassals
A2. Minor rulers
These are the dukes, governors, sheikhs, emirs, etc. of
the campaign
ROLE: To protect and enrich their city/province, to help their suzerain
INSTRUMENTS: Money, militias, help from the suzerain
TYPICAL ACTIONS: as above (A1) on a minor scale
B. Spiritual rulers
These are the high priests, high shamans, high cultists of the campaign
ROLE: to spread their faith
INSTRUMENTS: Money (through donations/tithes), devotion, faith, spells
TYPICAL ACTIONS: lobbying, sending missionaries, invoking divine help,
manipulating the faithful
C. Magicians
These are the various high-level wizards, sorcerers, etc. of the campaign
They may be either 'official' wizards (king counsellors, directors of a
magic school) or 'unofficial' wizards (exiled sorcerers, mad wizards)...
ROLE: to get even more powerful
INSTRUMENTS: spells, magic items
TYPICAL ACTIONS: spell research, enchanting items, magical scrying
D. Important social characters
These are the merchant masters, caravan masters, thief guildmasters, caste
representatives, mercenary leaders of the campaign
ROLE: to give their guild/secret society/caste a major role in the social
life of the country
INSTRUMENTS: money (through tax/donations), militias, members of the
guild/secret society/caste, alliances, discretion
TYPICAL ACTIONS: lobbying, scheming, trading/thieving/selling their swords
E. Other characters
You might play any other kind of character that you may like.
Examples: a relative (child, sibling, parent) of any of the above, a
monster (dragon, genie, ogre mage, giff) or a character from an unusual
race (githzerai, gnome, dwarf, orog, saurial).
You may also play a minor character, helping a more active PC (this suits
best close friends): chancellor of a king, apprentice of a sorcerer,
army/navy leader, court physician, court architect, whatever...
Please note finally that none of the above shall be complete by any means.
The sky's the limit.