Usurping the Bookkeeper Kingdom

In the past...

The Wise Ruler: Edmund III The Bookkeeper. Yeah, he was maybe a little bit obsessive.

 
His 3 sources of power:
-A artifact: The Ledger of Life (work like the Death Note, but in reverse)
-A loyal friend: The Old (and last) Stone Giant Librarian.
-A pact with The Word Weaver Spiders.

The Consort: Galata the Poetess. Adopted daughter of the Weaver Spiders.

Their Heir: Agnes the White Feather. She consider the Stone Giant her uncle. He gave her a magic quill of giant strength. Whatever she write, once read can be done with the strength of giants.

Castle: The High Library. Long ago it was the last stone giant library. It stone walls have been converted into a strong castle.

Now... 

The Usurper: Elinor The Scissors Queen sit on the High Library throne.
Goal: she want to transform the old giant and is pushing him into acts of destruction.

Her 3 sources of power:
- She corrupted the old giant, now he live to eat books or anyone who ever read one.
- She enslaved the word weaver spiders. Forcing them to weave poisonous words spells.
- She cut the pages of the Ledger o Life with the Scissors of Fate.

Her death consort: was a gentle cloth maker. Now cursed in hell.

She married the Poetess, now mad she think that the Scissors Queen is her husband Edmund.
Goal: to shame her daughter.

The usurper heir: Garun the Needle. He is a scholar, writer and torturer (he use needles). His object of power are two magic dancing daggers (they can bound to work like scissors).
Goal: he want to protect books.

The usurper elite troop: The Silents
Goal: to destroy a important location, a secret library.

The usurper regular troop: The Blades
Goal: To capture a important location, a town still loyal to wise ruler heir.

The old guard: The Historian Knights
Goal: To protect a important location: the secret library and the loyal town.

The true heir: Agnes the White Feather is now in hiding.
Goal: to create a new source of power. I guess she is writhing something important. She will need magic ink, pages, references and stuff.  

The neutral source of power: A Sphinx. She old a debt to: the Scissors of fate.
Goal: to indirectly help the true heir to write her book.

A repressed group: the printers guild.

A advantaged group: the goblin spiders.

Usurped Kingdom Setup

Some setup procedures to create a usurped kingdom to build a sandbox around it. 

1) Establish a wise ruler, give him or her a title and color it with a word representing his or her power. 
Like High King of the Sky, Queen of blades, etc. 

2) The wise ruler reign over his or her kingdom with 3 sources of power. 
Use the wise ruler title to color his or her 3 sources of powers.

• The first sources of power is a object or a artifact, something material.
• The second source of power is a loyal servant. It could be a mighty general, a court wizard, a spirit servitor, a robot, a giant beast, etc. 
• The third source of power is a pact or a sacred alliance with a powerful group or faction. It could be a powerful tribe, a clan of giant eagles, fairy weapon smiths, secret shadow creatures, a guild of engineer, etc. 

3) Establish a consort for the wise ruler, give her or him a title and color it with a word representing her or his virtue. Link the consort with one source of power.

4) Give the wise ruler and his consort a castle reflecting their powers and their elements. 

5) Give the wise rulers a heir. Give him or her a title and color it with a variation or a mix of his or her parents elements. Link the heir with one source of power and give him or her a minor version of the linked power source.       

6) Now kill the wise ruler and place the usurper on his or her throne! Like for the wise ruler, give the usurper a title and color it with a word representing his or her power. You can twist the title or the coloring element of the wise ruler to create the usurper title.

7) As the usurper take over the wise ruler throne he also take over the 3 sources of powers.

• Choose a source of power and corrupt it. This source of power is now tainted and have changed allegiance. It will try to tempt and corrupt it former allies. 
• Choose a source of power and enslave it. This source power despise the usurper and is painfully forced into submission. 
• Choose a source of power, exile or depower it and replace it with a opposed source power serving the usurper. This new source of power should be the dark mirror of the former source of power or it antithesis, competitor or natural adversary. 

8) Give the usurper a dead consort remembered for one virtue. Now force the wise ruler consort into marriage with the usurper. The consort is bound and won't rebel again the usurper, but he or she will try to protect what remains of the old kingdom.

9) Give the usurper a heir, give him or her a minor manifestation of the usurper's power. Like a fire sword for the son of the Fire Lord.

10) Give the usurper a elite troop of stormtroopers. Those are not supernatural beings, but they have a bad reputation and are well trained. 

11) Give the usurper regular troops. Those are just regular soldiers just doing their duty. Many served the wise ruler. 

12) Disband the old guard. Those are the survivors of the wise ruler elite troops. Many are ashamed, but some are still fighting.  

13) Hide the true heir. She or he want to reclaim the throne but need to reclaim or build three sources of powers to do so. 

14) Establish a neutral source of power and color it with a word representing it power. 
This third player don't want to rule, but hope to make some gain from the situation. 
Link this neutral power to another source of power that it fear or own a favor to. 

15) Establish and repress a faction/group that was doing well under the wise king's rule. 

16) Establish and favor a faction/group that profit from the usurper rule.  

17) Roll a d6 & d4 to find the goal of each NPC or faction:

1. To destroy, ruin or shame a...
2. To control, own or capture a...
3. To influence, seduce or transform a...  
4. To help, advantage or make stronger a... 
5. To free, protect, heal or restore a...
6. To create or find a new...

1. ... source of power (the 3 controlled sources, the exiled one or maybe the neutral one)    
2. ... major NPC (the usurper, the consort, the heirs, etc) (could be the death ruler or usurper's consort)
3. ... faction or group 
4. ... strategic or important location

18) Create a quick relation map to note everything. Create a geographic map of the usurped kingdom and it neighbors. Add in some adventure locations linked to the elements of the setup. Let the players meet and work for the various factions as they wish. 

Next: I will post a example.