Samos
Samos
An original Founder of The Chosen who became the Priest-King of Toreon, Samos was charismatic, ambitious, and deeply practiced in manipulation. He believed that Pythia's prophecies might identify him as the Chosen destined to rise to divine power, and he deliberately shaped his life around fulfilling that destiny. His apparent sympathy toward the Under the Bus party and his criticisms of the Chosen were calculated deceptions intended to make the party question whom they could trust. In truth, Samos was their enemy.
Overview
Samos was one of the nine original Founders of the Chosen.
He was also involved in translating the prophecies of Pythia the Mad Prophet, and eventually came to believe that one of those prophecies might refer to him.
One possible translation read:
"From among the Chosen shall rise a new power. The suffering of the servant will finally be ended."
Samos had come from among the Chosen, satisfying the first part of the prophecy in his own mind. He also referred to himself as a Servant of Demmazon, allowing him to see himself in the second half.
Rather than waiting to discover whether the prophecy would come true, Samos attempted to make himself its fulfillment.
He became the Priest-King of Toreon, making himself the most powerful ruler in the known world. His political authority and religious influence were stepping stones toward the greater power he believed was destined for him.
Samos was highly charismatic and extremely effective at convincing others that he possessed a divine destiny. His pursuit of power was not merely political or religious ambition. He ultimately sought divine power for himself, and he was willing to use deception, manipulation, political authority, and other means necessary to achieve it.
Founder of the Chosen
Samos was one of the nine original Founders of the Chosen, along with:
The Chosen eventually grew into a large organization with divisions devoted to military affairs, history, exploration, recruitment, and politics.
Samos eventually left the organization and established his own sphere of influence.
The Chosen's Account
When the party first learned about Samos from Brother Tomlin, they were told that Samos had been asked to leave because his ideas had become too extreme and radical.
This was the Chosen's understanding of the disagreement.
Samos' Account
Samos gave the party a different explanation.
He claimed that he had left because he objected to the Chosen manipulating people without their knowledge. He argued that the Chosen influenced events and decisions while allowing the people affected by those decisions to believe that they had acted independently.
He presented himself as someone who had objected to this practice on principle.
This account was deliberately deceptive.
Samos understood that the party was already beginning to question the Chosen's secrecy. He used legitimate weaknesses and questionable practices within the organization as the foundation for a more favorable story about his own motives.
His goal was to make the party doubt the Chosen while making himself appear reasonable.
The disagreement over Samos' departure should therefore not be treated as an unresolved question of which account was true. Samos' version was part of his manipulation of the party.
Pythia and the Prophecy
Samos helped translate the prophecies of Pythia the Mad Prophet.
One possible translation particularly interested him:
"From among the Chosen shall rise a new power. The suffering of the servant will finally be ended."
Samos recognized a potential connection between the prophecy and himself.
He had been one of the original Chosen, giving him an obvious connection to the first portion of the prophecy.
He also deliberately described himself as a Servant of Demmazon, allowing him to interpret the second portion as applying to him as well.
Like Stegner, Samos therefore believed that he might be the individual described by Pythia.
There was, however, an important difference in how the two men responded to that possibility.
Samos did not merely wonder whether the prophecy might describe him.
He attempted to make it describe him.
His subsequent rise to power was therefore part of his effort to fulfill the prophecy.
Ambition and the Pursuit of Power
Samos was extraordinarily ambitious.
His ultimate objective was power for himself, specifically the possibility of achieving divine power.
Becoming Priest-King of Toreon was an important milestone in that pursuit.
By the time the Under the Bus party encountered him, Samos was the most powerful ruler in the known world. He controlled Toreon and its surrounding territory, commanded substantial military and political resources, and possessed the authority of the Church of Demmazon.
He did not regard this position as the end of his ambitions.
To Samos, his political and religious power was evidence that he was moving toward the destiny he believed Pythia had foretold.
His claim to be a Servant of Demmazon served both religious and personal purposes. It provided a justification for his authority while reinforcing his interpretation of the prophecy.
Samos was willing to use virtually any means necessary to advance his position.
Charisma and Cultivated Destiny
Samos was highly charismatic.
He was capable of convincing others that his rise to power was not simply the result of ambition or political skill, but evidence that he possessed a greater destiny.
His followers could therefore regard his success as evidence that Demmazon had chosen him for a special purpose.
Samos encouraged this belief.
He cultivated the image of a powerful religious leader whose authority carried divine significance. His position as Priest-King reinforced this image, as did his repeated identification of himself as a Servant of Demmazon.
His charisma was consequently one of his most important tools.
Samos did not have to force everyone to believe in his destiny. He needed to convince enough people that the idea became self-reinforcing: his growing power demonstrated his supposed destiny, while belief in his destiny helped him acquire still more power.
Priest-King of Toreon
Samos eventually became the Priest-King of Toreon and leader of the Church of Demmazon there.
By the time the party reached Toreon, he controlled a powerful city and its surrounding political territory.
His government had established an Edict of Unification Under One God, promoting the worship of Demmazon and creating significant hostility toward non-humans and non-Demmazon worshippers.
Elves and other non-believers could encounter suspicion, hostility, or open violence in territory controlled by Toreon.
Samos also maintained secret police and other enforcement forces.
Some of his followers were former Chosen who had followed him when he left the organization. Others possessed Chosen powers and had joined Samos' cause independently.
Encounter with the Party
The party encountered Samos while conducting research at the Grand Library in Toreon.
Bishop Ward brought the party before him after identifying them as Chosen.
Samos recognized their connection to Jessenth (Uncle Jesse), referring to them as Jesse's "brood."
The party explained their investigation into the plague, the werewolves, and the ancient disk they had recovered.
Samos recognized the writing on the disk as belonging to the age of Pythia, although he could not decipher it himself.
He was also aware of the werewolf plague in the south and the vampire attacks occurring in Toreon.
Samos' Deception
Samos deliberately attempted to make the party uncertain about whether he was an ally or an enemy.
He presented himself as an alternative to the Chosen.
He revealed information about the organization's secret practices, including the connection between Effron and Tim that allowed the Chosen to monitor and communicate with Tim through the scrying pool at the Tower of Plinth.
The party had not previously been told about this capability.
Samos also demonstrated knowledge of Chosen powers that the party had not been taught.
These revelations had the intended effect: they made the party question whether the Chosen had been honest with them.
Samos then offered to remove some of the restrictions placed upon them and to enhance their abilities.
These were not sincere attempts to become their ally.
Samos wanted the party uncertain.
If they distrusted the Chosen, they were easier to manipulate. If they regarded Samos as a possible ally, they were less likely to recognize him as the threat he actually was.
His strategy depended upon a mixture of truth and deception. The Chosen really had withheld information from the party, and Samos' criticisms therefore contained enough truth to be persuasive.
But Samos' motives were not the principled motives he claimed.
The Party's Imprisonment
Samos and Bishop Ward performed a ceremony using the party's Chosen badges and a form of magical dispelling.
The ceremony removed the geas imposed by the Chosen from most of the party.
Dunno Mename failed to resist the effect.
Samos initially told Dunno that he would need to remain behind while the others were escorted away.
Bishop Ward then betrayed the party, sending the rest of them to prison rather than placing them in Samos' organization.
The party remained imprisoned for approximately a week before being forced into gladiatorial combat.
Samos did not personally appear during this period.
The episode demonstrated the danger of placing trust in Samos' organization, even though Samos himself subsequently attempted to distance himself from Ward's actions.
Samos' Later Message
After the party escaped, Samos contacted them through a programmed illusion.
He apologized and claimed that he had not intended for them to be imprisoned.
According to his message, he had expected Bishop Ward to assign the party unpleasant but relatively minor duties because of their reluctance to work for him and their lack of trustworthiness. He claimed that Ward had exceeded his authority by imprisoning them.
As evidence of Ward's punishment, the illusion showed Samos holding Ward's severed head.
Samos acknowledged that the party would probably not believe him and would likely never trust him, but presented them with a gift and returned their possessions as a gesture of good faith.
This was consistent with his larger strategy.
Samos continued to cultivate uncertainty about his intentions rather than openly presenting himself as the party's enemy.
The Aegisstaff
Samos became one of the party's major obstacles in their efforts to use The Aegisstaff against the werewolf plague.
The party eventually recovered the Aegisstaff and used it to cure much of the plague in Toreon.
Samos and his followers demanded that the staff be surrendered to the Church of Demmazon.
The party refused.
The conflict over the Aegisstaff became another point of tension between Samos and the party. His forces pursued the party and attempted to recover the artifact, while the party kept it moving with their elven allies.
Relationship with the Chosen
Samos' relationship with the Chosen was central to his manipulation of the party.
He had helped create the organization and understood its methods intimately.
He also knew where its weaknesses lay.
Rather than simply attacking the Chosen openly, Samos used their genuine secrecy and questionable practices to undermine their credibility.
His criticism of the Chosen was therefore effective precisely because it was not entirely fabricated.
The party independently discovered that information had been withheld from them and that the Chosen had capabilities they had never been told about.
Samos exploited those truths to conceal a larger lie about himself.
He wanted the party to think:
- The Chosen might not be trustworthy.
- Samos might have left them for legitimate reasons.
- Samos might therefore be a potential ally.
- The party might need Samos' resources and knowledge.
The actual situation was simpler. Samos was their enemy.
Intended Endgame
The surviving campaign material does not contain the complete final confrontation with Samos because the Under the Bus campaign was not played through to its planned conclusion.
His antagonistic role was nevertheless established in the campaign's underlying design.
Had the campaign continued, the ambiguity surrounding Samos would have progressively disappeared. His attempts to manipulate the party, acquire greater power, and pursue the destiny he believed Pythia had foretold would eventually have made his opposition to them explicit.
His goal was not merely to rule Toreon.
He intended to continue rising in power until he achieved the divine status he believed was his destiny.
Legacy
Samos represents one of the darker possibilities within the Chosen.
He began as one of the organization's founders and eventually used the knowledge, abilities, and influence gained through that organization to build a personal power base.
His interpretation of Pythia's prophecy gave that ambition a sense of destiny.
He became Priest-King of Toreon and the most powerful ruler in the known world, but regarded that achievement as a step toward something greater.
His greatest weapon was not simply political authority or Chosen power.
It was his ability to make other people believe in him.
Samos could present ambition as destiny, manipulation as guidance, and self-interest as service to Demmazon.
The Under the Bus party encountered exactly that deception.
Known Information
- Name: Samos
- Role: Priest-King of Toreon
- Religious affiliation: Church of Demmazon
- Former affiliation: The Chosen
- Status within the Chosen: Original Founder; later departed
- Political position: Ruler of Toreon and its surrounding territory
- Chosen: Yes
- Known abilities: Chosen powers, enhanced ability to detect other Chosen, visible manifestation of Chosen power
- Major associates: Bishop Ward, followers within the Church of Demmazon
- Major interests: Pythia's prophecies, political power, divine power
- Primary motivation: Acquisition of power and fulfillment of the destiny he believed Pythia had foretold
- Relationship to the Under the Bus party: Enemy; initially concealed through deliberate manipulation
Uncertain Information
The surviving material does not establish:
- Samos' race.
- His age.
- His exact class or level.
- The complete nature of his Chosen powers.
- The precise circumstances of his rise to Priest-King.
- The full extent of his political territory.
- The exact nature of the divine power he ultimately intended to obtain.
- The complete final confrontation that would have occurred had Under the Bus reached its planned conclusion.
- Samos' ultimate fate.
