Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
Ghood. Since I will for the most part stay inside the camp, rather than out in the bush, I might even check up the thread sometime during the week.
ENES: World of Magic II
- Thread starter Erik Mesoy
- Start date
Erik Mesoy
Core Tester / Intern
Orders still wanted from: T.G.I.L, Gladinia, Azash, Secret Nation, Secret Nation, Secret Nation, Sheep.
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
Meh. Why don't you just NPC them, or randomly make their nations decline into chaos? Civils wars, catastrophes, natural disasters, you name it! They deserve to be punished for keeping us other players waiting!
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
The OWL is AWOL!!!! (Indeed, except it's "with" 
)
Anyway, since I am home on sick leave, and I have no things to do in particular, I decided to write a pretty little story. Here it goes.
It was in the rainy days, just on the threshold of autumn. The leaves were rapidly falling off the trees, and the soggy carpet it made when it sucked up all the rainfall was like nature's own bed. A deathbed, for all living things in the forest.
It was still not fall, as could be felt in the air. The humidity made even the nights stuffy and unpleasant. It was, on the whole, a rather gloomy time of the year, with the carefree summer months spent outside in the sun were drawing to an end, and the busy harvest was about to start. Still, this season was also the time of the year when a special treat was to be found in the deep forests of southern Arkenaar: the mushroom.
The mushroom was first created by a Samarran mage named Nelrik. He was an Earth mage particularily interested in agriculture, and how to improve or make new crops in order to increase the harvest. He was also concerned about the rapid clearing of the Samarran forest, and wanted to slow the clearing of it by making every plot more productive so new lands were not needed (as much) to feed a growing population.
One thing in particular which he invented in order to stop deforestation was to make the forest itself produce foodstuffs. He wandered deep into the forest, and found there a beautiful spot where he decided to start his experiments. It was a wide clearing with a stream running through it, and all across the field was a thick, fluffy carpet of the greenest moss. Nelrik spent years in this place, trying several new types of crops every year. After twelve years, he had decided on one of his creations.
Nelrik began selling the mushrooms to the locals at once. It was a tremendous success, and made him both rich and famous in a matter of weeks. Alas, his unpaired success caused bandits and common thiefs to steal into his orchard at night and steal his crops. One night, Nelrik had had enough, and waited for the bandits to strike. When they came, he went forth with his magic to defend his property. What happened was not a decisive victory over lowly criminals.
On that night, the most feared bandit leader known for terrorizing the roads between Samarra and Arkenaar arrived at Nelrik's orchard. The recent upswing in traffic on this route had caused patrols from both countries to frequent it, and made life sour for him and his gang. They had heard of Nelrik's fortune, and decided to move here and live off the bounty of the land. Living in the middle of the forest was also ideal for making the bounties on their heads less attractive for patrols and hunters alike.
Nelrik was suddenly facing a group of five dozen armed men, in the middle of the night. His magical might was not enough to fend off this many armed men, so he quickly decided to take them with him into death. He barricaded himself inside his small cabin, and began focusing his powers. Just as the bandits swarmed his house, Nelrik drew all the magic he could to make the very earth itself rupture under them. Nothing was heard of either Nelrik or the bandits after this day.
Despite this sad story, Nelrik's efforts were not in vain. After a few weeks, some concerned locals managed to scrounge up their courage and went out to the old orchard. But halfway there, they spotted circles of mushrooms - a most unnatural sight, considering they only grew in Nelrik's orchard. As they went deeper in, they could see the entire forest was full of them, and they quickly forgot about the expedition and hauled as many as they could back home.
It was later discovered by other Earth mages that the vast energy output in the blast caused by Nelrik had greatly enhanced the mushrooms' life force, and made them thrive in the entire Samarran forest. Soon, it became a common sight to see circles of mushrooms along the road, and the news of this strange and wonderful plant reached southern Arkenaar. Now, the entire continent enjoys mushrooms, and a special mushroom festival is celebrated just before harvest time begins.
(Note: the mushrooms described here is considerably larger than those in RL. Nelrik's mushrooms were originally football-sized, although the sizes can now vary from small eggs to three feet tall spheres.)
)Anyway, since I am home on sick leave, and I have no things to do in particular, I decided to write a pretty little story. Here it goes.
It was in the rainy days, just on the threshold of autumn. The leaves were rapidly falling off the trees, and the soggy carpet it made when it sucked up all the rainfall was like nature's own bed. A deathbed, for all living things in the forest.
It was still not fall, as could be felt in the air. The humidity made even the nights stuffy and unpleasant. It was, on the whole, a rather gloomy time of the year, with the carefree summer months spent outside in the sun were drawing to an end, and the busy harvest was about to start. Still, this season was also the time of the year when a special treat was to be found in the deep forests of southern Arkenaar: the mushroom.
The mushroom was first created by a Samarran mage named Nelrik. He was an Earth mage particularily interested in agriculture, and how to improve or make new crops in order to increase the harvest. He was also concerned about the rapid clearing of the Samarran forest, and wanted to slow the clearing of it by making every plot more productive so new lands were not needed (as much) to feed a growing population.
One thing in particular which he invented in order to stop deforestation was to make the forest itself produce foodstuffs. He wandered deep into the forest, and found there a beautiful spot where he decided to start his experiments. It was a wide clearing with a stream running through it, and all across the field was a thick, fluffy carpet of the greenest moss. Nelrik spent years in this place, trying several new types of crops every year. After twelve years, he had decided on one of his creations.
Nelrik began selling the mushrooms to the locals at once. It was a tremendous success, and made him both rich and famous in a matter of weeks. Alas, his unpaired success caused bandits and common thiefs to steal into his orchard at night and steal his crops. One night, Nelrik had had enough, and waited for the bandits to strike. When they came, he went forth with his magic to defend his property. What happened was not a decisive victory over lowly criminals.
On that night, the most feared bandit leader known for terrorizing the roads between Samarra and Arkenaar arrived at Nelrik's orchard. The recent upswing in traffic on this route had caused patrols from both countries to frequent it, and made life sour for him and his gang. They had heard of Nelrik's fortune, and decided to move here and live off the bounty of the land. Living in the middle of the forest was also ideal for making the bounties on their heads less attractive for patrols and hunters alike.
Nelrik was suddenly facing a group of five dozen armed men, in the middle of the night. His magical might was not enough to fend off this many armed men, so he quickly decided to take them with him into death. He barricaded himself inside his small cabin, and began focusing his powers. Just as the bandits swarmed his house, Nelrik drew all the magic he could to make the very earth itself rupture under them. Nothing was heard of either Nelrik or the bandits after this day.
Despite this sad story, Nelrik's efforts were not in vain. After a few weeks, some concerned locals managed to scrounge up their courage and went out to the old orchard. But halfway there, they spotted circles of mushrooms - a most unnatural sight, considering they only grew in Nelrik's orchard. As they went deeper in, they could see the entire forest was full of them, and they quickly forgot about the expedition and hauled as many as they could back home.
It was later discovered by other Earth mages that the vast energy output in the blast caused by Nelrik had greatly enhanced the mushrooms' life force, and made them thrive in the entire Samarran forest. Soon, it became a common sight to see circles of mushrooms along the road, and the news of this strange and wonderful plant reached southern Arkenaar. Now, the entire continent enjoys mushrooms, and a special mushroom festival is celebrated just before harvest time begins.
(Note: the mushrooms described here is considerably larger than those in RL. Nelrik's mushrooms were originally football-sized, although the sizes can now vary from small eggs to three feet tall spheres.)
RoddyVR
Veteran Board NESer
The Aiming Glass
"You remember what Czar Roddy said the First Speech of the Assembly Hall?"
"I've read it, but what's that got to do with..."
"One of the things he said was:
'the common man...too can control the magic, but he does it unconseously, through his strongest feelings, through his fears' "
"and?"
"And i thought, well, why only fears? If a man has a more 'benefitial' feeling, as strong as fear, would it not also influence the world? And it works. Arthur believes so strongly that this thing can guide his arrows that it does, well the world does, but dont tell him that its not the Glass. He cant understand the magic, so I had to place his belief in an object that he can understand. When he looks through this thing, he's sure he'll hit the target, and even if his shot isnt exactly true, the world listens to his belief, and bends the arrow's path. I mapped it, with him it can vear off as much as 2 degrees towards the target during a 100 meter flight. I assume it will vary from person to person, but can you immagine the military aplication if this works on a wide scale?
--------------------------------------------------------------
As always, the arrow struck in the exact spot Lisa had been aiming for. What surprised her, was that unlike every other time in the last two months, this time she had not had to actualy look through the Aiming Glass her father had given her.
"This here is an Aiming Glass, attached as it is to the bow, if you aim while looking through it you will always hit your target."
That's what he had said, and she had had no reason to doubt him. But now it seemed that he may have been wrong... or didnt tell the whole truth.
Lisa remembered something her father had often said when she was still a child... "believe in something strong enough and the world will make it come true".
Maybe this was what was happening. She had believed that the Aiming Glass would make her hit her target everytime, and it had come true... But now... now she had believed that she could hit the bullseye without the Aiming Glass's help, and that too had come true. She had suspected for a while now that the Aiming Glass could curve the path of the arrow slighly, so that even one that had been shot to miss the target would curve to hit it. But it didnt work for everyone, Lisa's brother had "borrowed" her bow once to try out the Aiming Glass, but he had missed, and after that he didnt believe in the Aiming Glass. He claimed that her father had lied, that it was realy just Lisa's skill with the bow that made her hit her targets, not the Glass. But even he couldnt deny that Lisa's skill had improved dramaticaly when she got the Aiming Glass. His explanation was that "it just gave you more confidence in the skills you already possesed" and now Lisa was inclined to think he was atleast partialy right.
At the very least the Aiming Glass had taught Lisa that truly believing that her arrow would strike home would make it do so... with or without the Glass.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Well ofcourse it doesnt work! The way you're shooting you may as well just stand with your back to the target and expect the Glass to turn the arrow around for you."
"But you said all i had to do was believe it would hit the target."
Sigh... "I said if you aim through the Aiming Glass you will hit the target. Your problem is that you jerk the bow up while letting the arrow loose. So by the time the arrow leaves the bow, its heading way too high, and the Glass isnt even pointed towards the target. Belief in the Glass will help, but you must have some of your own skill for the Glass to improve on."
"How DARE YOU!?!? How dare you imply that i do not have skill with a bow?!"
"That's it. I've had enough. The only thing you believe is that you are better then anyone else, and the only thing you want is for everything to be easy. You are a spoiled brat, and your father should be ashamed that he subjected me to your whining."
The young lords face was turning a deep red, and it seemed like his head was about to explode from anger. "Why I aught to have you hung... DAD!!!" The lordling ran off in search of his father.
Ivan stood waiting at the archery range, he had absolutely no worries about being hung, but he was disapointed. His father had asked him to come here and help the lord of this region with anything he needed to repay a debt the old man wanted desperately to repay before leaving for the next world. It bothered Ivan that his father had a debt like this, and even more it bothered him that "Old Ivan" would not reveal what the debt was for. This was the first time Ivan could remember that his father had refused to share information. They had always shared everything, their names, their status as Techmagi and their inventions.
Lord Byron seemed like a very nice man, and had said that he would consider the debt paid in full if Ivan made them the Aiming Glass they had heard so much about and taught the Lord's son to use it. He also would not explain where this debt came from, "it is for your father to tell you, if he wants to, it is his secret." The young lord, Ron, had seemed like a well manered young adult at first, but when he found out that Ivan was here to teach him something, he quickly changed to the role of a spoiled child who bullies his own teachers with threats of his father's power. Ivan had though of telling the kid, that if it came to hangings, it is more likely that Ivan could order the Lord's hanging then the other way around, but he figured it better to leave to the parent to explain to the brat its real place in the world.
When Ron ran back out of the house to the archery range, he still had anger writen on his face, but now he seemed to be gleafully enjoying it.
"Now you'll get what you deserve. Father is coming and he's way angrier then even i thought he'd be. Better get on your knees and start begging now."
Ivan laughed out loud and only had time to say "you're about to take your own advice" before Lord Byron stormed out onto the range, and turned on his son like a raging giant. "Who do you think you are, you little ingrate! A Techmagi is gracious enough to teach you something one on one and you insult him with your empty head and bad manners!" Lord Byron visibly calmed himself, turned to Ivan and was about to start apologising but Ivan could see the Lord was already suffering because of his son.
Smiling he said "Your Lordship, you do not need to apologize. Your son is on the ill manered side, but he's young. It will pass. I do have to apologize though, I should have told you earlier that the Aiming Glass requires the user to already be a reasonable archer. It is a helper, a tool, like any machine. It is not a miracle. I have given your son the basics needed to use the Aiming Glass, but he will have to improve his Archery without the Glass before it truly becomes usefull. He believes that the Glass will make him a great archer, and that is the most important part as that is what makes the Aiming Glass work. If you do not consider this enough to cover my father's debt, I will gladly do anything else in my power to make up for it."
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Good Morning. So how can this little thing actualy help me shoot better? It doesnt seem like it does anything at all."
"Good Morning Captain. I am sorry to say, that I am sure that the Aiming Glass will not help you."
"What? Why?"
"Because you doubt it. And now that you doubt it, I find it highly unlikely that you will ever be able to believe in it. You are now in a 'catch 22' with it, for it to work at all, you have to believe in it, and for you to believe, it would actualy have to do something. You may as well turn it back in to the General now."
"But he said you would teach me how to use it today. Why did you even come out here then, if all you're telling me is to turn it back in?"
"I was hoping i was going to teach you to use it, but it seems you've already tried using it, and found it didnt help, there is no way i would be able to convince you now that it does and can work. You'll never truly believe it'll work, and so it wont. The General made a mistake when he gave you the Aiming Glass with just the rumors you've heard to go on."
"DAM IT! Well then would you mind telling him that... cause he'll blame me for it, and there's no way in hell i can say to him 'its your fault realy, sir'."
"You remember what Czar Roddy said the First Speech of the Assembly Hall?"
"I've read it, but what's that got to do with..."
"One of the things he said was:
'the common man...too can control the magic, but he does it unconseously, through his strongest feelings, through his fears' "
"and?"
"And i thought, well, why only fears? If a man has a more 'benefitial' feeling, as strong as fear, would it not also influence the world? And it works. Arthur believes so strongly that this thing can guide his arrows that it does, well the world does, but dont tell him that its not the Glass. He cant understand the magic, so I had to place his belief in an object that he can understand. When he looks through this thing, he's sure he'll hit the target, and even if his shot isnt exactly true, the world listens to his belief, and bends the arrow's path. I mapped it, with him it can vear off as much as 2 degrees towards the target during a 100 meter flight. I assume it will vary from person to person, but can you immagine the military aplication if this works on a wide scale?
--------------------------------------------------------------
As always, the arrow struck in the exact spot Lisa had been aiming for. What surprised her, was that unlike every other time in the last two months, this time she had not had to actualy look through the Aiming Glass her father had given her.
"This here is an Aiming Glass, attached as it is to the bow, if you aim while looking through it you will always hit your target."
That's what he had said, and she had had no reason to doubt him. But now it seemed that he may have been wrong... or didnt tell the whole truth.
Lisa remembered something her father had often said when she was still a child... "believe in something strong enough and the world will make it come true".
Maybe this was what was happening. She had believed that the Aiming Glass would make her hit her target everytime, and it had come true... But now... now she had believed that she could hit the bullseye without the Aiming Glass's help, and that too had come true. She had suspected for a while now that the Aiming Glass could curve the path of the arrow slighly, so that even one that had been shot to miss the target would curve to hit it. But it didnt work for everyone, Lisa's brother had "borrowed" her bow once to try out the Aiming Glass, but he had missed, and after that he didnt believe in the Aiming Glass. He claimed that her father had lied, that it was realy just Lisa's skill with the bow that made her hit her targets, not the Glass. But even he couldnt deny that Lisa's skill had improved dramaticaly when she got the Aiming Glass. His explanation was that "it just gave you more confidence in the skills you already possesed" and now Lisa was inclined to think he was atleast partialy right.
At the very least the Aiming Glass had taught Lisa that truly believing that her arrow would strike home would make it do so... with or without the Glass.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Well ofcourse it doesnt work! The way you're shooting you may as well just stand with your back to the target and expect the Glass to turn the arrow around for you."
"But you said all i had to do was believe it would hit the target."
Sigh... "I said if you aim through the Aiming Glass you will hit the target. Your problem is that you jerk the bow up while letting the arrow loose. So by the time the arrow leaves the bow, its heading way too high, and the Glass isnt even pointed towards the target. Belief in the Glass will help, but you must have some of your own skill for the Glass to improve on."
"How DARE YOU!?!? How dare you imply that i do not have skill with a bow?!"
"That's it. I've had enough. The only thing you believe is that you are better then anyone else, and the only thing you want is for everything to be easy. You are a spoiled brat, and your father should be ashamed that he subjected me to your whining."
The young lords face was turning a deep red, and it seemed like his head was about to explode from anger. "Why I aught to have you hung... DAD!!!" The lordling ran off in search of his father.
Ivan stood waiting at the archery range, he had absolutely no worries about being hung, but he was disapointed. His father had asked him to come here and help the lord of this region with anything he needed to repay a debt the old man wanted desperately to repay before leaving for the next world. It bothered Ivan that his father had a debt like this, and even more it bothered him that "Old Ivan" would not reveal what the debt was for. This was the first time Ivan could remember that his father had refused to share information. They had always shared everything, their names, their status as Techmagi and their inventions.
Lord Byron seemed like a very nice man, and had said that he would consider the debt paid in full if Ivan made them the Aiming Glass they had heard so much about and taught the Lord's son to use it. He also would not explain where this debt came from, "it is for your father to tell you, if he wants to, it is his secret." The young lord, Ron, had seemed like a well manered young adult at first, but when he found out that Ivan was here to teach him something, he quickly changed to the role of a spoiled child who bullies his own teachers with threats of his father's power. Ivan had though of telling the kid, that if it came to hangings, it is more likely that Ivan could order the Lord's hanging then the other way around, but he figured it better to leave to the parent to explain to the brat its real place in the world.
When Ron ran back out of the house to the archery range, he still had anger writen on his face, but now he seemed to be gleafully enjoying it.
"Now you'll get what you deserve. Father is coming and he's way angrier then even i thought he'd be. Better get on your knees and start begging now."
Ivan laughed out loud and only had time to say "you're about to take your own advice" before Lord Byron stormed out onto the range, and turned on his son like a raging giant. "Who do you think you are, you little ingrate! A Techmagi is gracious enough to teach you something one on one and you insult him with your empty head and bad manners!" Lord Byron visibly calmed himself, turned to Ivan and was about to start apologising but Ivan could see the Lord was already suffering because of his son.
Smiling he said "Your Lordship, you do not need to apologize. Your son is on the ill manered side, but he's young. It will pass. I do have to apologize though, I should have told you earlier that the Aiming Glass requires the user to already be a reasonable archer. It is a helper, a tool, like any machine. It is not a miracle. I have given your son the basics needed to use the Aiming Glass, but he will have to improve his Archery without the Glass before it truly becomes usefull. He believes that the Glass will make him a great archer, and that is the most important part as that is what makes the Aiming Glass work. If you do not consider this enough to cover my father's debt, I will gladly do anything else in my power to make up for it."
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Good Morning. So how can this little thing actualy help me shoot better? It doesnt seem like it does anything at all."
"Good Morning Captain. I am sorry to say, that I am sure that the Aiming Glass will not help you."
"What? Why?"
"Because you doubt it. And now that you doubt it, I find it highly unlikely that you will ever be able to believe in it. You are now in a 'catch 22' with it, for it to work at all, you have to believe in it, and for you to believe, it would actualy have to do something. You may as well turn it back in to the General now."
"But he said you would teach me how to use it today. Why did you even come out here then, if all you're telling me is to turn it back in?"
"I was hoping i was going to teach you to use it, but it seems you've already tried using it, and found it didnt help, there is no way i would be able to convince you now that it does and can work. You'll never truly believe it'll work, and so it wont. The General made a mistake when he gave you the Aiming Glass with just the rumors you've heard to go on."
"DAM IT! Well then would you mind telling him that... cause he'll blame me for it, and there's no way in hell i can say to him 'its your fault realy, sir'."
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
Great story, Roddy! 
RoddyVR
Veteran Board NESer
the mushroom story inspired me... well, it inspired me to go get a mushroom pizza more then anything else... mmmm mushrooms.
dam i just reread my own story.... yikes... some parts even i have trouble reading. i realy should double check my spelling/gramar. there's atleast 2 spots in there that i changed how something was phrased, but didnt make sure it still made sense with other parts of the sentence.. :shame:
will fix it little by little.
dam i just reread my own story.... yikes... some parts even i have trouble reading. i realy should double check my spelling/gramar. there's atleast 2 spots in there that i changed how something was phrased, but didnt make sure it still made sense with other parts of the sentence.. :shame:
will fix it little by little.
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
RoddyVR said:
Who cares, really? Most forum posters have no sense of grammar anyway. I consider the NES forum one of the better ones, for that matter.
RoddyVR
Veteran Board NESer
i know, that's why i only ever realy write anything on the internet... cause i cant stand to rewrite anything (my english teachers always wanted "rough drafts" and "final drafts", but they never got any, or they got same thing twice). but in this case i was just horrible... tought instead of taught, it took me a minute to figure out what i meant when i reread it, lol.
i've fixed it up a bit now (mostly the part with Ivan)
wierdly enough this is nowhere near the story i planned on writing when i did the orders... so i may do another one in the near future, though i'm still having a problem getting it to come together in my mind...
(sorry for the spamming... i'm too used to postng on a spam forum, cant keep myself from answering a post directed to me)
i've fixed it up a bit now (mostly the part with Ivan)
wierdly enough this is nowhere near the story i planned on writing when i did the orders... so i may do another one in the near future, though i'm still having a problem getting it to come together in my mind...
(sorry for the spamming... i'm too used to postng on a spam forum, cant keep myself from answering a post directed to me)
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
Interesting idea, though. Clever use of the "Magic = Human Will Bending Nature" concept of this NES.
Erik Mesoy
Core Tester / Intern
...and THAT, everyone, is why the first human refugee-settlers very very quickly stopped using guns after the first time one backfired and killed its user.
I have now begun working seriously on the update since so many orders are in.
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
Look Away!
Erik, you'll have to NPC me for the month of October, as I will be several thousand kilometers away from home.
Continue killing, expanding, raising a few liche when necessary. If I face defeat somewhere, leave under the sea and attack elsewhere.
That kinda stuff. Basically, temporarily NPC.
Thanks!
Continue killing, expanding, raising a few liche when necessary. If I face defeat somewhere, leave under the sea and attack elsewhere.
That kinda stuff. Basically, temporarily NPC.
Thanks!
Erik Mesoy
Core Tester / Intern
Update 10
A.Y. 206
Peaceful Nations With Few Events Of Note:
Iceland – lots of ground settled and a trade route started with Kenyata.
Blood Elves – Temple almost complete.
Zhiki – More fortifications along every border.
Orioch Nomads – somewhat pissed at Rolangaregorol for their expansionism.
Rolangaregorol – special peninsula stuff.
Seleucia Novus – democratic, peaceful, industrious, fragmented.
Lahmia - trading, stats need fixing, a PM will come.
The rest with more interesting events will be listed more or less from north to south.
In Duskmist, in a secret chamber, a few Pale Masters have been researching the artifacts from the Ancienst. Perhaps “researching” is the wrong name – with a hundred and twenty near identical items to discover the meaning of, a great deal of time and a small deal of money, their time has been mostly spend reading magical literature and poking at the artifacts occasionally. The conclusion so far is that they are self-repairing uniforms, probably with some additional powers that the Ancients invested in them. They would make excellent guard uniforms, as they do not need washing, mending, stitching or replacement.
More seriously, now that the last bit of threat from the undead has been purged, the citiziens are crying out for an expansion of the Mythal – while Duskmist may be safe, it is also a somewhat stratified society, and its leaders are not especially endearing to a people forced to live within magical walls on old lands.
North of Kenyata, on the Larian Peninsula, the undead return. They are avoiding combat, instead spreading plague, filth and disease throughout the lands. For lack of of an intelligent leader, with only vague directions from Nekros, they are ravaging the land.
The Kenyatans, who are able to keep their own lands safe, have constructed fortresses along their northern border too, with which they hope to prevent the undead from entering by force. An uneasy truce is maintained – the various ghouls and zombies do not have the planning required to attack Kenyata, and their taint is blocked by the Nurturers of Kenyata. But the Kenyatans will not venture north beyond their fortresses, to the regions where the land itself is alien to them.
(+1 northern border problem)
Nekros himself, and his viceroy Khorshad, are attacking. Nekros raises corpses and fortifies his army with magic (Nekros +5000 warriors, -492 corpses due to rot), while Khorshad lays waste to many of the Cammane City-States. (CCS -12 000 population, -732 infantry, -12 TTSNBs, -3 Biomancers, +5000 militia, -1 set of orders that never arrived. Khorshad -2405 warriors, +6500 corpses.)
The Church appears to satisfied with its conduct of war against House Leonhard, and begins readying itself for conflict with the undead Hordes of Nekros. The entrie country is bent to this purpose. Old burial customs are thrown out in favor of compulsory mass cremation. Eshva travels the land, exhorting people to change their ways rebuild their homes for defense against the Host of Evil. Fortifications are built every few miles, as the military leaders expect the undead hordes to overrun the first and second and third defense system of anything they can build in the newly-conquered lands. (+1 new project)
New Berlin, once the dark and powerful capital of House Leonhard, is now a dark and brooding center of nowhere. After the Church's troops sacked it and lost a hundred of their men in the process, few are willing to go there any more. Some heroes search for the treasures said to be hidden in the Beholder Tower – supposedly objects that would allow any man to control a Beholder – but such rumors serve only to enhance the general fear of the place. No two who return from the place can agree on what the dangers were – one says that the warslain were still there, waiting for vengeance, a second that the Leonhard's traps set for the Church are still in operation, a third that the undead hordes have crept into the city, and a fourth will say anything, provided you buy him a drink.
House Leonhard, meanwhile, and their vassal Lokianica, are on the move. We may now speak of the Akratian Leonhards, located in Dangal to the east, and the Orthodox Leonhards, far off to the west. The former are doing moderately well, as their population is largely civilian and their march has explicitly not been one of conquest. The indigenous population of Dangal are still the same intoxicated, carefree people they have always been. They sympathize with the refugees, listen to their stories of terror in the north, and offer them a smoke. The Orthodox Leonhards, however, are not doing as well. Rejected by the Cammane City-States, only recently finished warring with The Church, their youths and greybeards having taken up swords, dragging a hundred thousand farmers with them, and travelling the Dark Ways take their toll. (-1 in several areas, no spending points gained this turn)
Arkenaar, prosperous country. Tribute from Samarra continues to flow in, and the little country is now effectively an economic appendage of Arkenaar. Traders have begun to visit Lahmia, and the Shalms have mapped out the continent to a degree unmatched by any other nation. Without wars, the liberal arts have flourished. However, the capital of Arkopolis has become a touch decadent. In cultural news, the Mushroom Festival has been imported from Samarra in exchange for the earlier Bell Festival from Arkenaar. (Also, see PM to come...)
On the continent of Olimpus, the last remnants of the Dark Fae have finally been purged. The Olympian Gods have expressed satisfaction with this. (-1 Dark Fae, Olympus -34 Wurm Riders, -120 infantry, +1 Culture)
Telvanni.
It is the very beginning of a year.
Wraith's rebels are raising another army to replace the one crushed by the Romans. Their Illusionists continue to train new recruits, and perhaps a dozen of them are ready to earn the rank of Master. Emperor Morgan is ordering troops out left, right and center, calling up militias wherever they form, drafting recruits where militias don't form.
It is later in the same year.
Two Masks are in Tel Vos. Carefully, carefully, every so slowly, they move from one position to another, attempting to enter a specific position of power. This will take them a year, because they will have to learn the family history of every person they replace as they approach their stations.
It is early in the next year.
Wraith has had to flee along with most of his retinue, as the Romans attacked, burned, razed and salted the earth of his previous location. His plans are only mildly set back, and he suffers almost no losses. The Illusionists spirit everyone away and slow the Romans, but the illusions are incapable of harming the Romans seriously, and so they resort to repeated catapult fire at anything that looks hostile.
It is the Midsummer Festival of that year.
A few firkins of good wine and a slightly encouraged “slip” of the tongue gets one of the Masks in Tel Vos into position; he is now imitating the Wall Warden, with authority to open and close the gates.
It is an unusually bitter winter.
Five of the Illusionists-in-training graduate by leading Roman troops into a blizzard, confusing them, and pointing them to their deaths.
It is Empire Day, anniversary of the crowning of the first Emperor of Rome Reborn.
The Romans are unusually brutal. Thousands of their troops continue to stamp out opposition wherever it is found.
It is early thaw.
The second Mask in Tel Vos commits another murder, disfigures a body unrecognizable, throws it into an alley, watches scavengers dismember it, and assumes the position of the man he just murdered. Wraith's plans are coming to fruition.
It is late thaw, and the ground is firm enough for marching.
Wraith arrives at Tel Vos, defying the Roman occupiers to discover him. Days later, his army arrives, hidden by Illusionists.
It is the first day of spring.
The Telvanni flag is hoisted above Tel Vos. Roman troops running to investigate this anomaly find that the tower in question has been sealed up. While they go to fetch a battering ram, the gates are opened. As a few more troops run to close the gates, this turns out to be an illusion. During the ensuing panic, the gates are opened for real.
“Don't worry, we can escalate.” - Roman commander to his soldiers.
Bells and whistles, signal flares, messengers on horseback are sent out. A few of them even make it more than a mile from the capital. Tel Vos is captured by a thousand irregular Telvannian troops that seem to spring from nowhere. They proceed to summarily hoist the pennants of Telvanni from every
“Don't worry, the reinforcements will arrive soon and crush the rebels.” - Roman soldier to his comrades.
Within the day, every Roman in the city is executed, as are several Telvanni collaborators. Seeing their freedom at hand, citiziens are only too happy to point out who's been working with the Roman forces. Wraith, himself, is not seen anywhere in the city, but his name is whispered down every alley and at every corner.
“Don't worry, it can't get worse.” - Roman civilian to his family.
It is the fifth day after the liberation of Tel Vos.
It gets worse. The first divisions from the nearby cities have begun to arrive. They besiege the city. Emphatically. The later divisions appear to be delayed by attacks by Telvanese irregular troops.
It is the tenth day of the liberation of Tel Vos.
Emperor Morgan appears to have been making his own plans even as Wraith moved to take Tel Vos. The Roman reinforcements that have arrived begin walling in Tel Vos and catapulting it with intent to destroy. Coordinated systems of signal arrows, flares and messenger animals are too complex for the Illusionists to mimic effectively. On the way, the reinforcements repel the Telvanese irregulars with extreme force.
It is the third day of the siege of Tel Vos.
Wraith has slipped out. The city is filled with rubble. The Romans are myriad. The Telvanese rebel troops attempt a sortie during the night, with the Illusionists to back them up. They escape the city and reach the surrounding wilderness, as the Romans respond to the sortie simply by drawing into larger groups that are too large to be outfought.
(Telvanni Rebels -2705 militia, -412 troops, -1 Mask, -12 Illusionists, -1 Tel Vos. Rome Reborn -2490 draftees, -1774 infantry, -4 Legionnaires.)
And five days later, Tel Vos is in ruins.
(Telvanni rebels -1 capital, +2000 militia. Rome Reborn -48 infantry.)
And now for the last major set of events. Furey's Dominion, testing the waters over the border conflict with Roddyna, has, after much deliberation and many diplomatic missions, “invaded” a small area claimed by Roddyna two years previously. The “invasion” consisted of an expeditionary force of about 300 infantry and five Wofters. With a week's warning (enough for the Roddynan troops to leave but not enough to call for reinforcements), the expeditionary force strolled through the area, claimed it for the Dominion, planted the flag, gave ceremonial gifts to the local leaders, and then sat down to expect a response. Czar Grisha of Roddyna is being swamped by this and a multitude of other affairs (see random event below), so has not yet mustered a proper response. This is in part due to a situation on the west coast...
The Illyrian Rebels and the Illyrian Majestic Council of Twelve have both started “colonizing” parts of the Roddynan continent. The MJ12 insists that they “will leave as soon as the rebels are put down, we would not dare to violate Roddynan sovereignity, this is strictly necessary and we apologize”, while the rebels declare that the MJ12 has been attempting to “hem us in, control us, and their expansionist policies would claim Roddyna too, if you help us establish our independence, we will leave as soon as possible”. Again, the rebellions are strangely low-grade with regard to military matters, with much blustering and little fighting...
(All Illyrian parties -100 infantry or so.)
Random Event:
“They say the earth holds the past. But the Ancestors lived in what must have seemed like the future, so such a discovery as this one is not entirely strange.”
In Roddyna, an artifact of the Ancestors has fallen from the sky. It is a house-sized device with what look like motors on the sides and a great number of protrusions, including mirrors, pipes and fly-swatters. Perhaps “fallen” is not the right word, for one of the Techmagi sighted it in the sky five days before it landed, and it was observed for most of the descent. The artifact was able to control its descent to some degree, but still it descended and landed with a crash, and all manner of noises, fluids and vapors eminated from it for a week after it landed.
(Roddyna +1 artifact, in case it wasn't clear.)
Phew. That was a lot of work and writing and Secret Nations and long PMs, more than a page from several people. (Anyone want to own up?) Map, story bonuses, reply PMs, spy reports, casualties, stats and all that crap will be done tomorrow, once I can merge it coherently.
I don't think all of you appreciate what's going on behind the scenes here...
Good night!
A.Y. 206
Peaceful Nations With Few Events Of Note:
Iceland – lots of ground settled and a trade route started with Kenyata.
Blood Elves – Temple almost complete.
Zhiki – More fortifications along every border.
Orioch Nomads – somewhat pissed at Rolangaregorol for their expansionism.
Rolangaregorol – special peninsula stuff.
Seleucia Novus – democratic, peaceful, industrious, fragmented.
Lahmia - trading, stats need fixing, a PM will come.
The rest with more interesting events will be listed more or less from north to south.
In Duskmist, in a secret chamber, a few Pale Masters have been researching the artifacts from the Ancienst. Perhaps “researching” is the wrong name – with a hundred and twenty near identical items to discover the meaning of, a great deal of time and a small deal of money, their time has been mostly spend reading magical literature and poking at the artifacts occasionally. The conclusion so far is that they are self-repairing uniforms, probably with some additional powers that the Ancients invested in them. They would make excellent guard uniforms, as they do not need washing, mending, stitching or replacement.
More seriously, now that the last bit of threat from the undead has been purged, the citiziens are crying out for an expansion of the Mythal – while Duskmist may be safe, it is also a somewhat stratified society, and its leaders are not especially endearing to a people forced to live within magical walls on old lands.
North of Kenyata, on the Larian Peninsula, the undead return. They are avoiding combat, instead spreading plague, filth and disease throughout the lands. For lack of of an intelligent leader, with only vague directions from Nekros, they are ravaging the land.
The Kenyatans, who are able to keep their own lands safe, have constructed fortresses along their northern border too, with which they hope to prevent the undead from entering by force. An uneasy truce is maintained – the various ghouls and zombies do not have the planning required to attack Kenyata, and their taint is blocked by the Nurturers of Kenyata. But the Kenyatans will not venture north beyond their fortresses, to the regions where the land itself is alien to them.
(+1 northern border problem)
Nekros himself, and his viceroy Khorshad, are attacking. Nekros raises corpses and fortifies his army with magic (Nekros +5000 warriors, -492 corpses due to rot), while Khorshad lays waste to many of the Cammane City-States. (CCS -12 000 population, -732 infantry, -12 TTSNBs, -3 Biomancers, +5000 militia, -1 set of orders that never arrived. Khorshad -2405 warriors, +6500 corpses.)
The Church appears to satisfied with its conduct of war against House Leonhard, and begins readying itself for conflict with the undead Hordes of Nekros. The entrie country is bent to this purpose. Old burial customs are thrown out in favor of compulsory mass cremation. Eshva travels the land, exhorting people to change their ways rebuild their homes for defense against the Host of Evil. Fortifications are built every few miles, as the military leaders expect the undead hordes to overrun the first and second and third defense system of anything they can build in the newly-conquered lands. (+1 new project)
New Berlin, once the dark and powerful capital of House Leonhard, is now a dark and brooding center of nowhere. After the Church's troops sacked it and lost a hundred of their men in the process, few are willing to go there any more. Some heroes search for the treasures said to be hidden in the Beholder Tower – supposedly objects that would allow any man to control a Beholder – but such rumors serve only to enhance the general fear of the place. No two who return from the place can agree on what the dangers were – one says that the warslain were still there, waiting for vengeance, a second that the Leonhard's traps set for the Church are still in operation, a third that the undead hordes have crept into the city, and a fourth will say anything, provided you buy him a drink.
House Leonhard, meanwhile, and their vassal Lokianica, are on the move. We may now speak of the Akratian Leonhards, located in Dangal to the east, and the Orthodox Leonhards, far off to the west. The former are doing moderately well, as their population is largely civilian and their march has explicitly not been one of conquest. The indigenous population of Dangal are still the same intoxicated, carefree people they have always been. They sympathize with the refugees, listen to their stories of terror in the north, and offer them a smoke. The Orthodox Leonhards, however, are not doing as well. Rejected by the Cammane City-States, only recently finished warring with The Church, their youths and greybeards having taken up swords, dragging a hundred thousand farmers with them, and travelling the Dark Ways take their toll. (-1 in several areas, no spending points gained this turn)
Arkenaar, prosperous country. Tribute from Samarra continues to flow in, and the little country is now effectively an economic appendage of Arkenaar. Traders have begun to visit Lahmia, and the Shalms have mapped out the continent to a degree unmatched by any other nation. Without wars, the liberal arts have flourished. However, the capital of Arkopolis has become a touch decadent. In cultural news, the Mushroom Festival has been imported from Samarra in exchange for the earlier Bell Festival from Arkenaar. (Also, see PM to come...)
On the continent of Olimpus, the last remnants of the Dark Fae have finally been purged. The Olympian Gods have expressed satisfaction with this. (-1 Dark Fae, Olympus -34 Wurm Riders, -120 infantry, +1 Culture)
Telvanni.
It is the very beginning of a year.
Wraith's rebels are raising another army to replace the one crushed by the Romans. Their Illusionists continue to train new recruits, and perhaps a dozen of them are ready to earn the rank of Master. Emperor Morgan is ordering troops out left, right and center, calling up militias wherever they form, drafting recruits where militias don't form.
It is later in the same year.
Two Masks are in Tel Vos. Carefully, carefully, every so slowly, they move from one position to another, attempting to enter a specific position of power. This will take them a year, because they will have to learn the family history of every person they replace as they approach their stations.
It is early in the next year.
Wraith has had to flee along with most of his retinue, as the Romans attacked, burned, razed and salted the earth of his previous location. His plans are only mildly set back, and he suffers almost no losses. The Illusionists spirit everyone away and slow the Romans, but the illusions are incapable of harming the Romans seriously, and so they resort to repeated catapult fire at anything that looks hostile.
It is the Midsummer Festival of that year.
A few firkins of good wine and a slightly encouraged “slip” of the tongue gets one of the Masks in Tel Vos into position; he is now imitating the Wall Warden, with authority to open and close the gates.
It is an unusually bitter winter.
Five of the Illusionists-in-training graduate by leading Roman troops into a blizzard, confusing them, and pointing them to their deaths.
It is Empire Day, anniversary of the crowning of the first Emperor of Rome Reborn.
The Romans are unusually brutal. Thousands of their troops continue to stamp out opposition wherever it is found.
It is early thaw.
The second Mask in Tel Vos commits another murder, disfigures a body unrecognizable, throws it into an alley, watches scavengers dismember it, and assumes the position of the man he just murdered. Wraith's plans are coming to fruition.
It is late thaw, and the ground is firm enough for marching.
Wraith arrives at Tel Vos, defying the Roman occupiers to discover him. Days later, his army arrives, hidden by Illusionists.
It is the first day of spring.
The Telvanni flag is hoisted above Tel Vos. Roman troops running to investigate this anomaly find that the tower in question has been sealed up. While they go to fetch a battering ram, the gates are opened. As a few more troops run to close the gates, this turns out to be an illusion. During the ensuing panic, the gates are opened for real.
“Don't worry, we can escalate.” - Roman commander to his soldiers.
Bells and whistles, signal flares, messengers on horseback are sent out. A few of them even make it more than a mile from the capital. Tel Vos is captured by a thousand irregular Telvannian troops that seem to spring from nowhere. They proceed to summarily hoist the pennants of Telvanni from every
“Don't worry, the reinforcements will arrive soon and crush the rebels.” - Roman soldier to his comrades.
Within the day, every Roman in the city is executed, as are several Telvanni collaborators. Seeing their freedom at hand, citiziens are only too happy to point out who's been working with the Roman forces. Wraith, himself, is not seen anywhere in the city, but his name is whispered down every alley and at every corner.
“Don't worry, it can't get worse.” - Roman civilian to his family.
It is the fifth day after the liberation of Tel Vos.
It gets worse. The first divisions from the nearby cities have begun to arrive. They besiege the city. Emphatically. The later divisions appear to be delayed by attacks by Telvanese irregular troops.
It is the tenth day of the liberation of Tel Vos.
Emperor Morgan appears to have been making his own plans even as Wraith moved to take Tel Vos. The Roman reinforcements that have arrived begin walling in Tel Vos and catapulting it with intent to destroy. Coordinated systems of signal arrows, flares and messenger animals are too complex for the Illusionists to mimic effectively. On the way, the reinforcements repel the Telvanese irregulars with extreme force.
It is the third day of the siege of Tel Vos.
Wraith has slipped out. The city is filled with rubble. The Romans are myriad. The Telvanese rebel troops attempt a sortie during the night, with the Illusionists to back them up. They escape the city and reach the surrounding wilderness, as the Romans respond to the sortie simply by drawing into larger groups that are too large to be outfought.
(Telvanni Rebels -2705 militia, -412 troops, -1 Mask, -12 Illusionists, -1 Tel Vos. Rome Reborn -2490 draftees, -1774 infantry, -4 Legionnaires.)
And five days later, Tel Vos is in ruins.
(Telvanni rebels -1 capital, +2000 militia. Rome Reborn -48 infantry.)
And now for the last major set of events. Furey's Dominion, testing the waters over the border conflict with Roddyna, has, after much deliberation and many diplomatic missions, “invaded” a small area claimed by Roddyna two years previously. The “invasion” consisted of an expeditionary force of about 300 infantry and five Wofters. With a week's warning (enough for the Roddynan troops to leave but not enough to call for reinforcements), the expeditionary force strolled through the area, claimed it for the Dominion, planted the flag, gave ceremonial gifts to the local leaders, and then sat down to expect a response. Czar Grisha of Roddyna is being swamped by this and a multitude of other affairs (see random event below), so has not yet mustered a proper response. This is in part due to a situation on the west coast...
The Illyrian Rebels and the Illyrian Majestic Council of Twelve have both started “colonizing” parts of the Roddynan continent. The MJ12 insists that they “will leave as soon as the rebels are put down, we would not dare to violate Roddynan sovereignity, this is strictly necessary and we apologize”, while the rebels declare that the MJ12 has been attempting to “hem us in, control us, and their expansionist policies would claim Roddyna too, if you help us establish our independence, we will leave as soon as possible”. Again, the rebellions are strangely low-grade with regard to military matters, with much blustering and little fighting...
(All Illyrian parties -100 infantry or so.)
Random Event:
“They say the earth holds the past. But the Ancestors lived in what must have seemed like the future, so such a discovery as this one is not entirely strange.”
In Roddyna, an artifact of the Ancestors has fallen from the sky. It is a house-sized device with what look like motors on the sides and a great number of protrusions, including mirrors, pipes and fly-swatters. Perhaps “fallen” is not the right word, for one of the Techmagi sighted it in the sky five days before it landed, and it was observed for most of the descent. The artifact was able to control its descent to some degree, but still it descended and landed with a crash, and all manner of noises, fluids and vapors eminated from it for a week after it landed.
(Roddyna +1 artifact, in case it wasn't clear.)
Phew. That was a lot of work and writing and Secret Nations and long PMs, more than a page from several people. (Anyone want to own up?
) Map, story bonuses, reply PMs, spy reports, casualties, stats and all that crap will be done tomorrow, once I can merge it coherently.I don't think all of you appreciate what's going on behind the scenes here...
Good night!
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
I knew you would not fail me, Erik!
RoddyVR
Veteran Board NESer
YaY!!! thanks.. cant wait for the map and other stuff...
seems like i'm being "sort of attacked" from more then one side... lol. knew i should have crushed those dam dominion buggers a few turns back...
seems like i'm being "sort of attacked" from more then one side... lol. knew i should have crushed those dam dominion buggers a few turns back...
Erik Mesoy
Core Tester / Intern
Map has arrived!
Story bonuses:
The Strategos -1 Roman eco point
Silver Steak +1 eco point and +1 Mushroom Festival
RoddyVR +1 military education
Random Bonus of the Day:
Zhiki +1 Culture
Random Trivia of the Day:
In wars, the Armal Training stat applies only to common troops, while Military Education applies also to Mages and Unique Units. Armal Training is also discounted one level more.
From Rome Reborn
To Olympus
You request for a trade route is politely declined, as we are currently in the midst of a war.
Story bonuses:
The Strategos -1 Roman eco point
Silver Steak +1 eco point and +1 Mushroom Festival
RoddyVR +1 military education
Random Bonus of the Day:
Zhiki +1 Culture
Random Trivia of the Day:
In wars, the Armal Training stat applies only to common troops, while Military Education applies also to Mages and Unique Units. Armal Training is also discounted one level more.
From Rome Reborn
To Olympus
You request for a trade route is politely declined, as we are currently in the midst of a war.
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
Great! Will I be receiving a PM shortly?
Will I be receiving a PM shortly?
Erik Mesoy
Core Tester / Intern
Yes. You have now. And you just gave away that you're doing something in need of PMs. 
Also, PC stats should be updated. PM me if you feel something is missing.
Also, PC stats should be updated. PM me if you feel something is missing.
Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
You revealed that yourself:
Not much of a secret, and I expect nearly all of the other players to plot and scheme behind the scene as well. Don't you?
EDIT: PM replied.
Erik Mesoy said:
Not much of a secret, and I expect nearly all of the other players to plot and scheme behind the scene as well. Don't you?
EDIT: PM replied.
