What can a Fire Cult offer moles/ double agents / etc.

[johnbragg]

So I'm putting together an Antagonist Pentagram (N, NE, NW, SE, SW), where there are five factions, each one hostile to the two adjacent factions, and cooperative with the two more distant factions.

At the same time, within each faction, there are subfactions. The Serpent King has to take time out from his plans of apotheosis into a dragon to managing frictions between his (nerd) kobold trapmakers and (jock) lizardman brutes. The Faerie Queen's two suitors spend half of their time promoting schemes to spread the Faerie Queen's influence and power and win her favor, and the other half sabotaging their rival's schemes. The Necromancer has agents in two or three other factions, because the Necromancer can offer undeath-after-life.

I'd like the "Queen of Fire" to have a few "assets" in other factions. But what can the cult of fire offer to non-pyromaniacs, non-smiths, non-chefs, to turn against the bandit chief or Serpent King or even the Necromancer?

[InvisibleBison]

If the Queen of Fire has a lot of smiths and chefs in her faction, then presumably she can offer people high quality metal items and food.

As another option, perhaps the Queen of Fire's power extends beyond literal fire. If your setting ascribes some sort of mystical/theological/alchemical/etc significance to fire, then the Fire Queen would naturally have influence over that significance, which could open all sorts of doors for her.

[johnbragg]

Oh, I have at least a partial answer.
You know who's going to be inclined to sell out everyone and everything for some sweet, sweet fire magic?

Cold-blooded lizardmen and kobolds.
So the Queen of Fire can definitely have some agents planted in the Serpent King's crew.

[Anonymouswizard]

I see a few ways to go.

First the metaphorical, what if she and her underlings has the ability to make passions burn brighter? It would at the very least make negotiations easier, and I'm certain that many would jump at the possibility of their rivals being more prone to mistakes.

Secondly, fire destroys. You want to dispose of something without leaving a trace? There will be a price, but she'll do it (I imagine the turncoat witnessing said destruction).

Thirdly, fire and it's warmth are likely an important part of society. I can see her having the ability to just make your life that little bit more comfortable.

Then there are more narrow ideas. For example, kobolds know that an egg kept at a certain temperature is more likely to hatch a sorcerer. This is very difficult, but kobolds try anyway because sorcerers are useful. Guess who has a cantrip for maintaining a specific temperature? (This could very much lead to the defection of entire tribes, but also just smaller groups or individuals.)

[MrZJunior]

Secondly, fire destroys. You want to dispose of something without leaving a trace? There will be a price, but she'll do it (I imagine the turncoat witnessing said destruction).

I was going to suggest aid in committing insurance fraud or covering up mistakes. Which then nets the cult blackmail material to help keep their new agent on side.

[Duff]

If the Queen of Fire has a lot of smiths and chefs in her faction, then presumably she can offer people high quality metal items and food.

As another option, perhaps the Queen of Fire's power extends beyond literal fire. If your setting ascribes some sort of mystical/theological/alchemical/etc significance to fire, then the Fire Queen would naturally have influence over that significance, which could open all sorts of doors for her.

She might simply offer wealth. A small weekly donation from every baker and smith in the land to keep the fires at the right temperature and there's a lot of money to spend on spies

[Sapphire Guard]

Ace in the hole magic items or skills. The ability to light fires in pouring rain could be life or death for a bandit caught in the open. The necromancer's minions want a backup plan if their creations turn on them. The serpent king minions need to keep their nests warm, so that more hatchlings survive. These are small advantages that make a big difference in the long term.

So Queen of fire has a trade in minor magic items or is willing to teach its followers useful fiery tricks.

[Psyren]

So I'm putting together an Antagonist Pentagram (N, NE, NW, SE, SW), where there are five factions, each one hostile to the two adjacent factions, and cooperative with the two more distant factions.

Sounds like Magic The Gathering's color wheel if you're looking for inspiration.


At the same time, within each faction, there are subfactions. The Serpent King has to take time out from his plans of apotheosis into a dragon to managing frictions between his (nerd) kobold trapmakers and (jock) lizardman brutes. The Faerie Queen's two suitors spend half of their time promoting schemes to spread the Faerie Queen's influence and power and win her favor, and the other half sabotaging their rival's schemes. The Necromancer has agents in two or three other factions, because the Necromancer can offer undeath-after-life.

I'd like the "Queen of Fire" to have a few "assets" in other factions. But what can the cult of fire offer to non-pyromaniacs, non-smiths, non-chefs, to turn against the bandit chief or Serpent King or even the Necromancer?

The biggest draw for Fire would be limitless energy and engineering (think Fire Nation from ATLA.) That doesn't have to mean machines, it can even be more medieval stuff like forges. What level of tech is your setting using?

[Kraynic]

How underhanded do you want the "cult" to be? Maybe they sell "protection" from fire.

[KillianHawkeye]

There's the idea that maybe fire is seen as purifying in some way, metaphysically speaking. Burn away the impurities and you're left with what's within. Or to go with the smithing angle, their spirit can be tempered and/or forged into something stronger.

And of course, offering to smite one's personal enemies (or give you the means to smite your own enemies) is always a desirable option.

Fire is also used for sacrificial rites, so it would make sense if any fire-related rituals empower the Fire Queen directly no matter who does them or why.

[johnbragg]

Sounds like Magic The Gathering's color wheel if you're looking for inspiration.

Parallel thinking anyway. But my pentagram here is not a principle of cosmology in the setting, it's just an easy way to make it clear that the factions and warlords aren't aligned on any consistent good-evil or any kind of red-blue axis. The Queen of Fire isn't hostile to the Faerie Queen because of deep-seated ideological grudges, they're just neighbors who covet each others' turf. The Queen of Fire isn't cooperative with the Serpent King because they're sympatico, they just have a common enemy in the Faerie Queen's sylvan hosts.

There is kind of a civilized kingdom vs unruly disordered warlords axis ("Bandit Country". But There Are Rules (TM), pretty much everyone agrees to refrain from crossing certain lines lest things escalate out of control. (Think along the lines of Dune, pre-Emperor Paul Atreides. Plots, schemes, raids, but not all out open warfare). The civilized kingdom probably has the raw wealth, military and magical power to crush all five factions and establish order over Bandit Country, but that would be a huge, very expensive undertaking, and bring the kingdom right up against the decidedly uncivilized and not-nearly-as-reasonable monsters and hordes beyond the warlords' fiefdoms that currently constitute Bandit Country. Much cheaper to pay bribes/tribute to keep the warlords reasonably well behaved, while allowing freelance adventurers to operate in Bandit Country using frontier towns as bases. (Adventurers who survive long enough often retire to take positions in the kingdom's military, and have to start taking orders).

Similarly, the five warlords will usually avoid open, all-out warfare among themselves, just because it's risky.

Part of what makes/keeps the kingdom civilized is the political-science-magic of citizenship, the binding force that keeps dragons and giants and mummies and elementals and demons and devils and treants and high-level independent spellcasters from popping up on This Side of the well-marked, magical border road. Every generation or two, due to great exertions, the border is moved in one direction or the other.

So anyway, the point is, the Queen of Fire is a successful pyromancer and cult leader, with a bound efreet, some elementals, lair effects, some lesser pyromancers, fire-goblins, pyromaniac cultists, and some smiths and bakers. She's not Flame Incarnate or Hephasteous or Apollo or Helios. (But, if she can find the right artifacts and craft the right ritual and gather the right number of worshippers, who knows?)


The biggest draw for Fire would be limitless energy and engineering (think Fire Nation from ATLA.) That doesn't have to mean machines, it can even be more medieval stuff like forges. What level of tech is your setting using?

TEch level is complicated, but base is prosperous-fantasy-medieval. The civilized kingdom is prosperous-fantasy-medieval because everybody (90-99% anyway) prays at the harvest festivals and the feast days and whatnot, creating a pool of mana usable by the kingdom for public works like ensuring good harvests. The warlord zones are probably the same level on average, but with much greater variation--you can have pretty impressive tech, magitech, craftsmanship in the warlord's headquarters, but in the outposts in between it's pretty squalid.

Anyway, I do like what I ended up with--the Queen of Fire has some sleeper agents in the Serpent King's organization, because she's put them through a ritual that gives them the ability to generate their own warmth, which is a personal and social asset for cold-blooded humanoids.