New Campaign Idea, but in need of minor plot hooks

[Mongobear]

Well, the published adventure that I am basing the whole thing off of has the King and Queen both alive at the start, and then she offs the poor guy a few adventures in due to....stuff.

In my version, I plan on this having already happened ~5 years before the PCs hook up, and the kingdom is now on the verge of falling apart but the PCs end up blundering into a situation that attracts her attention completely by chance, thus beginning a series of tragedies, coincidences, and Soap Opera plot holes the size of a small country.

So I have spent a lot of today rewriting the Pathfinder Adventure Path "Curse of the Crimson Throne" for D&D 3.5 as well as adapting it for higher levels and changing the flow of events involved to match my own Homebrew world. I would like you people's opinions on the into to it I plan to hand out to my players to give them an idea of how the "state of the union" so to speak is currently in the world.

And most of this is a simple copy/paste straight from the book, but I have adapted the timelines as well as names and events to my own worlds timeline. The kingdom itself is very Transylvanian in culture, I based it off of Barovia from the Ravenloft setting, but without any of the Ravenloft specific stuff, as well as adding "ovich" to the end of my names for a good stereotypical fantasy setting reminiscent of the original AD&D Ravenloft module.


Background History of Syldavia


Rokasia, the Jewel of Syldavia, has long sparkled on Syldavia’s southern shore. Established over 1200 years ago by a Conqueror whose name is long lost to the sands of time, the city now commands its own destiny. A line of Rokasian kings and queens emerged to rule the city, establishing an infamous seat power—the Crimson Throne. Rulers have sat upon the Crimson Throne for nearly a dozen centuries, and the city has flourished.

Yet recently, the monarchy seems almost on the brink of disaster. The farmlands, long bountiful and overly abundant, seem to be withering away, barely capable of sustaining the country side--let alone the entire kingdom. The lush forests often used for wild game and timber is seemingly warped and feral, often a danger to those entering. The Crimson Throne is cursed daily by the lower class, who barely have the means to survive, and are little more than serfs wallowing in the filth of the slums. The Middle Class and Nobility are likewise suffering from the withering of the land, many Noble families are barely wealthy enough to maintain their lavish lifestyle, some so far indebted to others, they use political weddings as a means to repay their massive debts.

What was once a prize to be won is now a curse it seems. No monarch of Rokasia has died of old age for 200 years, and none have produced an heir while ruling. Even though King Edovich II controls Rokasia more fully than any previous monarch, that control remains tenuous, and many secretly count the days until their latest king falls to what they call the Curse of the Crimson Throne.

The city of Rokasia began nearly 1300 years ago, in 407 AR, when refugees of the Rokasan Empire expanded north into the Balkarian Wilds. Here, they encountered a large tribe of primitive barbarians dwelling around an immense pyramid on the shores of a deep bay—a perfect site for a city! So as usual for most advanced cultures upon encountering a less advanced civilization, they immediately began eradicating the inhabitants of this new land to claim it as their own. Much bloodshed eventually left the primitives defeated, driven back to the harsh Balkar Mountains, and the city that grew on the site was named after the Empire they fled in fear.

Yet even as Rokasia flourished and grew, surviving even the inevitable re-invasion by the united tribes of the disjointed barbarians they defeated 20 years earlier, few bothered to ask why the barbarians had dwelt here. None of Rokasia’s citizens, from beggar to king, realized that the barbarians were actually guardians, and that deep inside the pyramidal structure destined to become Castle Rokasa, hid great and powerful relics sealing the power of a Demigod defeated on the feilds of battle in an age long forgotten. For the past 1300 years, Rokasia has grown and expanded, unaware that beneath the city’s foundation rests the languishing soul of a being of pure evil and cruelty.

Today, Rokasia’s reigning King Edovich II is feared by all the right people. His rule is steady, even if his insatiate appetites for extravagance drain the city’s coffers. His ability to navigate the rocks and shoals of court diplomacy earned the city favorable trade agreements with many neighboring countries twice Sylvanias size, but rumors persisted of the king’s womanizing habits and his spendthrift ways. Despite his fondness for a soft touch, he has to date produced no heir to the throne, the latest in a line of rulers seemingly affected by the "Curse of the Crimson Throne". Edicts proclaim Edovich II the Saffron King, likening his reign to one of abundance, in which honey and spice flood the markets. The city’s downtrodden have another name for Edovich, though—the Stirge King, a man whose squandering ways are slowly bleeding his city dry.

Whispers of Edovich II’s taste for scandalously young companionship have dogged the king throughout his rule, and thus when he finally wed, it was no surprise that his bride was barely a third of his age. Queen Natalya Ileosa was a woman of breathtaking beauty, with red hair like the sunset, chaste alabaster skin, and features so fetching many claimed her mother must have been a nymph queen, as surely no mortal woman could give birth to a beauty such as she. Most of Rokasia’s nobles worry of the dangers of placing a trophy wife within hands’ reach of the Crimson Throne, but Ileosa’s interest in the city seemed secondary to the life of luxury combined with the seemingly unstoppable "Withering" of the countryside, they haven't the time to truely voice their opinion of the scandal. Besides, with the more-than-competent Seneschal Nolan Kalepovich guarding Castle Rokasia’s interests while the true King is busy with his newest bride, these noble families feel they have little to worry about and that the withering shall soon pass.

They are about to learn how wrong they are...