[Fantasy(?)] The mercurial land of Rhye

[SolemnGolem]

I'm thinking of making a campaign setting out of the fantasy land of Rhye, occasionally glimpsed from the lyrics of songs by Freddie Mercury and Queen.

There are some songs that clearly deal with a fantasy world ("Seven Seas of Rhye", "Lily of the Valley", "March of the Black Queen").

Others feature characters and situations that could be worked into a fantasy world ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "Kashoggi's Ship", "Death On Two Legs").

Already there is a video game based on their characters and imagery ("Queen: The Eye") and a jukebox musical ("We Will Rock You").

So what would a fantasy world look like? What characters, even one-off mentions, could be made into NPCs, enemies, or allies in this world? What would the hook be?

[SolemnGolem]

The land without a king

One possibility is a kingdom fragmented after the loss or incapacitation of a ruler. (Lily of the Valley has the lyrics "Messengers from seven seas hath flown to tell the King of Rhye he's lost his throne".) The kingdom splits into several principalities, each representing a separate philosophy or ideology of rule, and the PCs must travel between them.

Many squabbling provinces

The goal of doing so could be similar to that in Ultima IV - they must study and come to embody the virtues of each province. Or it could be closer to that of Highlander or DnD's Birthright - they must challenge, defeat, and absorb the power of each princeling to their name in order to claim the throne themselves.

Possible provinces and rulers (seven would correlate nicely with the number of seas, though not necessarily):

• The Baroness: representing the royal court in disarray,
• Delilah and Bijou: lead concubines and shrewd directors of the influential eunuchs ministry,
• Mr. Fahrenheit: preserving the remnants of the crumbling academic institutions,
• Khashoggi: rogue admiral leading the navy unchecked by political restraint,
• The Prophet: populist demagogue spreading his hands over the multitudes,
• Great King Rat: ruling over the lawless bandit outlands,
• The Titan: leader of a non-human vassal race, eager to regain independence after the disastrous Ogre Battle.

[SolemnGolem]

Two squabbling widows

Alternatively, a dualistic struggle of good vs. evil might be represented by the White Queen (virginal, sorrowful, ailing) and the Black Queen (sensuous, militaristic, lively), possibly as widowed inheritors of the split kingdom. Under this rubric most named characters in Queen songs would likely be working for one side or the other, such as The Hitman, Death On Two Legs, the Lily of the Valley.

A simplistic campaign could have the Black Queen as an adversarial figure and the White Queen as a patron. Depending on the flavor of the campaign desired, the balance of power between them could vary considerably. As written, something similar to the d20 "Midnight" campaign setting could be fitting - where the forces of darkness have already secured their signal victories and the forces of light are forced into hiding.

A more Daoist or Manichean campaign could play off the two queens as non-moral ideologies: change vs. stasis, elitism vs. populism, authority vs. freedom. A truly bleak campaign could portray them both as equally depraved and ruthless, feeding off each other in a vicious cycle of civil war.

[The Colonel]

...and spellsingers. Very definitely spellsingers - notably in the service of the Titan I suspect.

[SolemnGolem]

There are senators, too, I'd forgotten. They are shady and apparently wear shoes.

An interesting possibility with the harem and eunuch (which could probably be used in any setting): the concubines were chosen not only for their beauty, but also as a representative from all the far flung tribes and provinces. They had to demonstrate facility with the arts and graces, as well as a familiarity with their home provinces. While the king was around, they remained largely vacuous odalisques, but now in his absence they are slowly becoming a diplomatic body of their own, drawing on their connections with their home provinces. This could even become a proto-representative body.

There could be a tribe of people who, like the Glass Sailors from the Taladas region of Dragonlance, sail land boats across a desert or volcanic glass landmass. This would be known as "riding the wild wind".

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by SolemnGolem

I'm thinking of making a campaign setting out of the fantasy land of Rhye, occasionally glimpsed from the lyrics of songs by Freddie Mercury and Queen.

There are some songs that clearly deal with a fantasy world ("Seven Seas of Rhye", "Lily of the Valley", "March of the Black Queen").

Others feature characters and situations that could be worked into a fantasy world ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "Kashoggi's Ship", "Death On Two Legs").

Already there is a video game based on their characters and imagery ("Queen: The Eye") and a jukebox musical ("We Will Rock You").

So what would a fantasy world look like? What characters, even one-off mentions, could be made into NPCs, enemies, or allies in this world? What would the hook be?

Not sure Bohemian Rhapsody fits, unless Rhye actually has its own version of Bohemia.

Maybe it's got a shoreline...

[mhd]

What about Mustapha? Got any room for him?

[AmesJainchill]

Don't forget Ogre Battle!

[SolemnGolem]

I wonder if there could be three Queens - the White and the Black Queens have legitimate claims to the throne, and the Killer Queen has somewhat less legal methods of enforcing her claim.


Ogre Battle sounds pretty much like the Titan and his troubadours might have led a battle against the human kingdom in the distant past. It didn't go so well for them and now they're locked in an uneasy peace - now that the king's missing, the time is ripe for secession.

[SolemnGolem]

Originally Posted by mhd

What about Mustapha? Got any room for him?

Sure - one of the outermost provinces could be a recently-assimilated region populated with mostly Arabic- or Muslim-styled people. Or could be the edges of a vast caliphate empire with tantalizing trade routes along the shores of the sea. "Rhye" could transliterate into "Rai" quite feasibly there.