Dolmenwood Factions #05: House Guillefer

18 Jul, 2024

Welcome to House Guillefer, a faction that avoids conflicts, shirks responsibilities, and plans to exit the mortal world. Let's explore what this means!

Goals

House Guillefer is less detailed and doesn't come with predefined goals like other factions. Here are three goals that align with their interests, making them an intriguing addition. I like the idea of them appearing to others as aloof and dreamy individuals, but in reality, they are small, skilled players in intrigue who achieve their goals by outsmarting others and avoiding direct conflict. This approach dials back their whimsical nature slightly and differs from their portrayal in the book¹. However, it is challenging to assign them actual goals if their only aim is to "just chill". Alternatively, you can exclude this faction from the Turns entirely and make them static observers on the sidelines.

• 🐵 Distance Themselves from Noble Responsibilities: Gradually relinquish control over their domain to avoid conflicts (e.g., the Nag-Lord threat) and focus solely on achieving their secret goal².
  • Avoid getting dragged into the conflict in Prigwort.
  • Transfer responsibility of Odd and Meagre's Reach to other parties.
  • Cause Blackeswell to be abandoned or destroyed.

• 🙈 Acquire Dream Enhancing Magic and Supplements: Obtain powerful magic by making deals with the Drune, specifically in the village of Odd, or by hiring adventurers. These are essential to maintain prolonged contact with the Duke Who Cherishes Dreams.
  • Obtain spells or items that enhance their dreaming.
  • Learn about rituals to prolong contact with Hypnagogia.
  • Further improve relationships with the Duke Who Cherishes Dreams.

• 🙊 Integrate the Hall of Sleep into Hypnagogia: Become part of its domain and officially align and pledge fealty to the Duke Who Cherishes Dreams.
  • Decide on a path to either use the anomaly in Odd or help Meagre's Reach.
  • Successfully find a way to resolve either issue.
  • Integrate the Hall of Sleep into Hypnagogia or become part of its domain in the mortal world.

Resources

House Guillefer excels in political maneuvering, setting them apart from other houses. They are spymasters and information brokers, crucial for achieving their goals and avoiding entanglements.

• Small Elite Guard: A highly trained guard focused on protecting their lords and ladies during long sleeps³.
  • Protect their holdings.
  • Conduct surgical strikes.
  • Worth more than average soldiers.

• Network of Spies and Informants: Operating in key locations to keep House Guillefer out of conflicts.
  • Gather information on political happenings in Dolmenwood Nobility.
  • Influence decisions that negatively affect the House.
  • Leverage information against opponents.

• Magical Sleep-Induced Items: A small arsenal of artifacts for enhancing dreams, inducing sleep, or causing nightmares⁴.
  • Enhance the capabilities of their forces.
  • Control or incapacitate enemies.
  • Aid in rituals concerning dreams and sleep.

Actions

House Guillefer’s actions support their ultimate goal: integrating their home into the fairy dreamlands of Hypnagogia.

• 📔 Negotiate with the Drune for dream magic⁵:
  • 🕵️ Victor Cardell
  • 📝 Establish contact by talking to the inhabitants of Odd.
  • 📝 Arrange a secret meeting with Drune representatives.
  • 📝 Have Lord Guillefer negotiate terms in secret.

• 📔 Accelerate the decline of Blackeswell⁶:
  • 🕵️ Silas Stepwell
  • 📝 Investigate Paronax's research and needs.
  • 📝 Facilitate a meeting between Paronax and Johannes Klepp.
  • 📝 Propose Blackeswell as an ideal location for their research.

• 📔 Infiltrate Chateau Mauvesse⁷:
  • 🕵️ Nancy Goodwin
  • 📝 Send an undercover agent to Meagre's Reach.
  • 📝 Integrate the agent into the local community.
  • 📝 Secure employment at the Chateau to gather intelligence.

Further Thoughts

There are two main ways Lord Guillefer can achieve their ultimate goal. They could either solve the temporal curse in Meagre's Reach⁸ and please the Duke Who Cherishes Dreams⁹, allowing his realm to extend into the mortal world. Alternatively, they could discover the dimensional anomaly in Odd¹⁰ through their dealings with the Drune and collaborate to integrate the Hall of Sleep into Hypnagogia.

Getting rid of Blackeswell, even though it is mostly forgotten, is something the House would appreciate. Linking it with the adventure "The Fungus That Came to Blackeswell", which ultimately leads to its destruction¹¹, could be intriguing. House Guillefer could be responsible behind the scenes, enabling Paronax and Klepp to conduct their experiments with the Myconom¹². They might have planned to leak these experiments to the Church, hoping to hasten Blackeswell's decline¹³. This adds a sense of urgency, as the village's destruction becomes a ticking clock.

Though it's stated that Ygraine and House Guillefer are on good terms¹⁴, their spy network would likely monitor her closely. This could lead to various outcomes: sabotaging Ygraine's Nodal Stone¹⁵ to stop the temporal binding of Meagre's Reach, leveraging information with the Drune¹⁶ to potentially cause Ygraine's downfall, or helping Ygraine solve the curse and stabilize the village in the current timeline¹⁷.

Potential Allies

House Guillefer seeks reclusive alliances to achieve their goals. Here are potential allies:

• Ygraine Mordlin: Already on good terms, Ygraine could assist with dealings in Hypnagogia or help House Guillefer become part of it, in exchange for resolving the temporal curse or the looming conflict with the Drune.
• The Drune: House Guillefer might ally with the Drune, who can help them integrate into the Fairy Realm, albeit at a high cost. They might also trade magic items in exchange for giving up control of Odd.
• The Duke Who Cherishes Dreams: Ultimately, they aim to become part of his realm. Before that, they could form an alliance by helping the Duke deal with Meagre's Reach.

Example

House Guillefer suffers from the random action for each turn. Despite making good progress, they spread their efforts across multiple tasks. This means they might not progress missions as quickly as others but could eventually complete several missions in quick succession if nothing interferes. High risk, high reward. Personally, I like this approach, reflecting how I portray this House as careful planners.

I've not decided which route I will take with the House. Will they go down the ruthless road aligning with the Drune, try to convince Ygraine, or play multiple sides at once? My plan is once a critical mission or task is complete, like finding out about Ygraine's secret Nodal Stone, I will make a reaction roll and decide the outcome based on that.

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun with House Guillefer. They offer intriguing possibilities, being both a blank slate and hinting at interesting details in the book.

With this faction, you must choose between being a ruthless House that disregards friends and obligations or taking a longer, more cooperative path to achieve their goals. Either way, it will be fascinating to see how this influences the setting!

This is all for now about House Guillefer; next time, it will be House Harrowmoor!

References

#dolmenwood #faction turns #legwork