Faction Brainstorming Session 3 - Sotho

[jucklesjenk]

Now that I'm thinking about it, the Sotho Tren questline (though the work would be long and difficult - but it's just an idea) could be one made entirely out of choices and consequences. The player would choose which Tren to work for, and assist them in their struggle to be the strongest, and work up the ranks from there. In the event that the player chooses this particular Tren, they would perhaps have to take over control and restart it from the bottom, recruiting new guys and rising up from there.

Maybe (and this would make it even more complex) there could be a hint of diplomacy in there, and the player chooses which Trens to ally with and which ones to fight.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

You remind me of a quest I designed for Lingwei (the guy who actually developed the original 'choices and consequences' mod). It involved a bit of 'divide and conquer' whereby you set rivals against each other in order to get a third (and much weaker) party to rise up and claim the final victory. Lingwei has worked on ST in the past and I did his VA work for the incomplete Blackwood Company mod.

[Deeza]

These are all good ideas. As for Sotho himself, I reckon he would be standing back from all the infighting among his gang members, perhaps even manipulating them to fight each other in order to maintain his control.

The original idea was that the player wouldn't find out who Sotho actually was until they reach a very high rank. There was even an idea that Sotho turns out to be the entry-level quest giver who first gives the player missions for the Sotho Tren!

In keeping with the mystique surrounding Sotho, I think that his orders should be recieved indirectly. How's this for an idea:

Once you've progressed to the rank of a trusted operative, you start to get missions directly from Sotho. You have to go to his Bhuru shrine out in the swamps (or maybe down in the sewers), where missions are given on parchment stuck in a crack in the wall. It's implied that the crack is filled with poisonous creatures (hissing sound effects etc.) - and the player has to stick their hand in and take their mission out (via a scripted option box). The snakes are controlled by Sotho's magic and will poison anyone who is disloyal to Sotho - if the player fails a mission, they get kicked out of the Tren and can only get back in if they put their hand in and survive the poisoning (if they are strong enough to survive, they are judged useful enough to be given a second chance).

Thoughts?

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Nice. It reminds me of that sequence from the ancient SF film 'Flash Gordon'...anyone remember it?

I'd veer away from the shrine idea and move it to the sewers and the 'underground' in general.

[jucklesjenk]

Perhaps he could have a hidden base on Crimson Isle or even just a big estate somewhere - hiding in plain sight...

[Ibsen's Ghost]

True. Much of the Tren storyline is likely to take place in Soulrest...where we now have some cool-looking mansions!

[jucklesjenk]

Yes - Soulrest will probably be the busiest city of them all in terms of quests and story etc. It's also the prime spot for any business of the shady sort, so the Trens will be contesting for turf left, right and centre.

The whole prospect of Mafia-style gang wars is exciting! =)

[Deeza]

I like the idea of Sotho hiding in plain sight - I think we should go with the idea that the real Sotho is actually pretending to be a low-level grunt in his own organisation so that he can move around without attracting too much attention.

Sotho's mansion in Soulrest could be lived in by an impostor, who lives a lavish lifestyle in order to draw the attention of any assassins heading Sotho's way from the Trillium Magnata and other crime organisations.

[XXMagma5]

I love that idea. And I do have a blackrose prison breakout idea but it is extremely long and if what I've heard of Blackrose is true then I think it will take twice as long as it took you to break into the palace. Maybe longer. And is Blackrose only a prison or is it also a town. from what i've read i cant be sure.
Maybe Sotho is the one you have to rescue.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

If you're planning a long quest, you would need to have the modding skills to pull it off. My advice is to save it for now. Major Faction questlines only get claimed by those members who are clearly very much equipped for the task or have proved themselves in producing good mods in the past on their own.