“There are no self-proclaimed villains, only regiments of self-proclaimed saints.”
– Glen Cook, The Black Company
The Tribunes, the heirs of the False Rohins, are among Adosaye’s most principal antagonist. They are the result of the Council of Five’s sorcerous and depraved experiments in creating lieutenants and soul-vessels, and so they are all marked by the dark legacy of their forebears. Aside from this shared general origin, which itself is wrapped in much mystery, the Tribunes have few unifying traits. Some were fashioned much as golems and constructs are; others were powerful mortals subjected to rituals and experiments; others still may have been conjured from great beyonds. Great creativity, malicious as it was, was applied in the creation of the Tribunes. Their powers exceed that of most creatures on Adosaye, for they carry in their being twisted fragments of the Red Soul itself. Walking blasphemies, their predations are a prominent theme of Adosayean history since the Council’s demise; for the Tribunes have dark wills and dark ambitions of their own.
At least three Tribunes maintain notable presences in Caradocia and its environs, and their shadows are long and dark. Much to humanity’s fortune, the Tribunes work poorly together. Plans, schemes and not least egos clash, and they tend to be resentful of their “siblings” more than anything else. Some rivalries between Tribunes are the stuff of legend. Tribunal alliances, even temporary ones, are threats of the greatest magnitude. A coordinated offensive between two Yric the Glaive and the Leveler almost brought Caradocia to its knees.
Tribunal power has its luster for some mortals. And it is true that the Tribunes have access to lore otherwise forgotten. They are no teachers like them when it comes to dark and blasphemous sorcery and adjacent “arts”. Some mortals even recognize the Tribune’s religious mandate as legitimate and hail them as true prophets and genuine successors to the Red Soul. Such talk is considered offensive, heretical and malignant by most faithful Synodists. Many Tribunes actively cultivate an image of mystique and power; human pawns are part of the Tribunal modus operandi. The exact relationship between the Tribunes and the fragment voices of their creators carried through the Witchstorms is unknown and assumed to be fraught and complicated.
For the past half century, the Tribunes in Caradocia have been mostly quiescent – mostly. The Tribunes are no strangers to schemes and shadow games, after all.
Inspirations and Thoughts
The Ten Who Were Taken from Glen Cook’s The Black Company series; the awnsheghlien of the Birthright campaign setting; the Nazgûl; villains post explicit and implicit in Kevin Crawford’s Godbound TTRPG; bosses and creatures from the Dark Souls series of video games.
Villains! Villains are cool because they create story almost just by being. I like the idea of the scattered, bitter, and powerful heirs of the former Dark Lord(s) still making trouble out there, and it seeds some adventure material both on the political/Company level and the personal level. They represent the option of slightly more fantastical, larger-than-life threats and opponents – or allies of unscrupulous characters. I think that settings with a lot of potential for moral greyness and moral ambiguity benefits from human (or at least, relatable to us humans) villains are almost, almost entirely purely evil. Depending on what mood the campaign swings, the Tribunes can individually be irredeemable Sauron wannabes, or they might turn out to be slightly more complex. We’ll see.
Yric the Glaive
Strategist and general par excellence, Yric the Glaive represents the apex of the Council of Five’s genetic tampering to create a dispassionate corps of bodyguards and lieutenants. When Yric’s helmeted visage overlooked the battlefields of Caradocia, she wrought tremendous destruction – but for now, she is planning and cultivating alliances with the yuan-ti warlords who may despise her, but see great potential in her battlefield skills and strategic insight. Yric is a scourge to northern Caradocia in particular, and seems to have a particular affinity for the Witchstorms. Her pocket domain is well-guarded, but she has at least surface respect for the pleasantries of diplomacy, etiquette and some semblance of decency outside the battlefield. To her detractors, she is a principled but ruthless and dangerous warlord; to those who take a disciple’s view, she is the embodiment of perfected military discipline and an inspiring leader who can remake society into something strong, mighty and orderly.
The ArchEidolon
The ArchEidolon has, as far as the stories tell, little sophistication of mind, but it is a colossus in stature, a veritable walking apocalypse. Most are glad it is currently dormant, supposedly somewhere in the Dawnlands. Those interested in seeking out the ArchEidolon are less interested in serving or allying with it, and more interested in its uses as a weapon. It is known that the ArchEidolon is not unintelligent, and in its dormancy it can still extend and project its will in esoteric ways. But its exact nature remains a mystery. A handful of cultists seek to reawaken it, believing it would usher in some doomsday event alluded to in apocryphal Synodist texts and prophecies.
The Leveler
Said to be a tall hierophant with a head ever sheathed in ruby flames, the Leveler by all accounts, believes that he is truly a righteous prophet and genuine successor to the Red Soul. His cult is one of the most active Tribunal religions, where their dark whispers of power and ancient magical lore ensnares those of little faith. His sorcery focused on the fire, the forge and the fiendish, and he is an accomplished crafter and summoner. Cruelly, he seems to have mastered a less sophisticated version of the Council of Five’s Tribune-creation rituals, and a cadre of twisted wraith-lieutenants do his bidding. Rumor has it that he is in love with a human. The Leveler’s library is supposedly the stuff of legends.
The Knight of Brass
A particularly vicious and mad Tribune, though an indisputably brilliant fighter and Witchstorm adept, the Knight of Brass once ruled a sizeable domain after conquering most of the realm of Bezent, southwest of Caradocia. The locals’ call for help were largely ignored by the Denevs to the south, who were preoccupied with calamities of their own, but an alliance of Caradocian knights, mercenaries and petty nobles pooling their resources (and aided by Synodist champions) launched an assault to counter the Knight of Brass. The Tribune was defeated and destroyed, and the Bezentian March was established – in other words, the liberation would have unforeseen consequences and be a source of future conflicts all on its own.
Augury Ignored 