> > I played the Vadeli as more subtle than Greg described them. ...I
> > tried to make their traders someone you'd be tempted to deal with,
> > having items out of season, or otherwise rare and unusual.
> I played in this game and I thought it was a nice take; the Vadeli actually
> seemed more evil with the silky finish. I've always wondered what would
> have happened if we had taken that early Spring freighter at the super-attractive price...
We ran into some Vadeli after we reenacted the fall of Malkonwal on the hero plane (with us as the attackers, of course). They came to bargain, but not with us. The forces of goodness and light (not us) had been attempting to suppress the hungry ghosts that inhabited our home island after a sorcerer nuked it. The wandering undead were, of course, our kin, so we were on their side. The forces of the greater good had been sacrificing perfect girls as part of their ritual. There is one of these girls born every year and each is destined to become a queen of a people.
The Vadeli came calling because they wanted one. As their queen. They approached us with 100% honesty, telling us what they wanted and what they would give for it. This led to a lively debate. We couldn't really afford to fight the Vadeli, too. So we negotiated with them. We agreed to give them supervised access to one of the perfect girls we had saved. If she agreed to go along with them, then they could have her. We were thinking they would do something horrible and thaty would make our decision for us. Or thay she'd be disgusted and that would make our decision for us. But the Vadeli ambassador just sat down and talked quietly with her. She started crying. After a while, she agreed to go with him. We checked to see whether he had coerced her in any way. They explained that they had no coerced her, but had simply explained what would happen if she came with them and what would happen if she did not. Apparently, the alternative was too horrible, so she went with them willingly and became queen of the Vadeli. Nothing esle ever came of it (that we know).
They pretty much left us quaking in our boots. We had always assumed that the Vadeli would be so morally repugnant in every respect that we'd just have to die fighting them. But they were honest, stuck to their word, used no force or aggression, broke none of our taboos (OK, maybe that's not saying much when you have a zombie as a butler), and engaged in nothing that appeared morally or even culturally blameworthy. If they were so willing to go against the nature we all assumed that had, then their plot had to be truly dire!
Chris Lemens
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