Amelanchier - Nature's Guardian

We, the fallen, no longer have a place at the table of heaven. We have but this earthly paradise we have inherited. Not all understand this but I, Amelanchier of the Ljosalfar, do and I have been put here on this earth to protect it.

The trees, which are the heart and lungs of this world are our home and we are sworn to protect them. No other thing shall concern us, except to convert others of the fallen to our beliefs and to destroy those that are blasphemy to nature. If we can strive to uphold these two values surely we shall be victorious and long will the trees grow in peace and harmony to give shelter to the elven nation.

And so it begins...







Evermore, our sanctuary amongst the trees is started in Year 1 of the Age of Shadow. Our scouts are sent into the ancient forests to find signs of the inhabitants and to seek out the fallen. There have been rumours that the dark elves are also seeking haven in the depths of this forest world

Long may we continue to be Nature's Guardian.

Some general background on this one. I've never attempted anything like this, so I've no idea how it will turn out. I also don't know how much work getting something like this out there will be so who knows how regularly I will update it.

What am I playing? Glad you asked . It's the utterly fantastic Fall From Heaven mod, version 0.30 "shadow". If you've never played it before it is a very different game to Civ IV. More combat based and with spells and dragons thrown in for good measure. I'll try and highlight some of the features of the mod as I go along but if you have any queries about the game just ask and I'll try and answer them.

The game itself. I decided to play on Aboria map (all forest) which obviously plays into the hands of the Ljosalfar (all units have the elven promotion giving them double movement in forests). To compensate for this I upped the level to Emporer and stuck on Aggressive AI and Raging Barbarians. I have never played Raging Barbarians so the game may end up being a disaster. I added Faeryl Viconia as well as my mortal enemy in the game

I chose Amelanchier as he seems the most fitting of the Nature's Guardian at the cost of all else. Both the raider (+1 XP from combat, free commando promotion, +100% gold from pillaging) and defender (free homeland promotion which gives combat bonuses in your own cultural boundaries) might help with the raging barbs as well. We'll see

Finally, for all those who may be reading this who haven't played the mod, do yourselves a favour and try it. You won't regret it

Our reign is started off with good fortune as two local villages donate their resources to the cause of nature.

They speak of numerous beasts and fouler creatures that haunt the forests. Prudence dictates that we start assembling some military protection of our capital. The animals of this realm are simply beasts of nature, they are as much a part of this as the elves. Our wise men try to unlock the secrets of conveying our message to the animals to convert them to our cause, which is also their cause.

The years pass effortlessly in the world of the trees, we meet some more remote villages, some give us gifts and others show us maps of the surroundings. Hints of desecrations and foulness are found on the edges of our territory but are destroyed.



Another of the fallen is encountered.



Hannah the Irin is a dangerous neighbour. Her pirate upbringing means she is not afraid to expand the borders of her empire forceably if necessary. We will need to keep an eye on her to see that the trees do not feel the force of pirate axes.

We meet some of the forest creatures for the first time.





We will try and keep our distance but sometimes conflict is unavoidable.



The combat has taught our scout more about combat and being one with the woods.



Another of the fallen reveal themselves.



Capria can be trusted absolutley and she means well but I fear she will not heed our message.

Some villages sense the trueness in what we are seeking and help us along the path.



One of our scouts is killed by a spider. His body is left at the foot of the trees and will in time become one with the forest.

The dwarves are found also.



They will never follow the tenants of nature. They are want to pervert and destroy all of the gifts they are given. They will need to be closely watched.

Our newly built scout meets a similar fate to the old.



A travelling Alchemist offers us a new ability, we accept uncertain as to what it will entail.



Our sages have made the breakthrough we were looking for. We can now convert the animals of the forest to our cause.



Let the conversions commence.





The first step to ensure that we are proper guardians of the forests has been taken.

After every section of the story, I'm going to post an explanation as to the meanings of the FFH related content of the story, so hopefully it makes more sense.

The research path may have seemed a bit strange as Agriculture doesn't seem that good a tech. The main reason was that it unlocks Animal Husbandry. In FFH, AH gives scouts the "capture animal" promotion, that is any animal defeated by a scout is put under our control. It's part of my fiendish plan.

The build and research times may seem a bit extreme to Civ IV players. FFH is a much longer game. It is designed primarily around epic and even marathon speed games.

The first screenshot shows a barrow. If these are left undestroyed (you destroy it simply by moving a unit onto it) they will spawn skeletons, which are quite hard to get rid of.

Hannah the Irin is financial/raider. Financial is much the same as Civ IV financial. She is of the Lanum a pirate-like people.

Spiders are only visible to recon units like a scout. If a warrior had wandered there it would have been attacked out of the blue.

Woodsman is a much more powerful promotion than in Civ IV.

Capria is Spiritual and Industrious, much the same as Civ IV. She is of the Bannor, a good (in alignment) warrior people.

Garrim Gyr is Financial and Defender. He is of the Luchuirp, a good dwarven race.

All captured animals start with hidden nationality. I think I'll keep this spider hidden and cause some havoc.

Excellent, I enjoy playing the elves and look forward to this story.

yeah, good on ya, oz ~ will be reading

*MUST LOVE TREES AND NATURE*

*SO HUNGRY*

*BAD SPIDER BAD SPIDER*



*TREES ARE GOOD, BLOOD IS GOOD*

*NO NO MUSN'T*

*WHAT'S THAT SMELL?*

*AIIIIIEEEEEIIIIIEEEEE*





*NOT HUNGRY ANYMORE. LOVE ALL TREES.*

*MUST SLEEP*

Arboria with Ljosafar? That's almost as easy as playing Lanun with OO (for non-FFHers: OO is a religion) on archipelago... Which winning you are going to get? Try getting victory that is more interesting, like Towers of Mastery, not domination or conquest

Just wait ''till Acheron comes. He'll destroy the map.

Rex rgis of Ter said:

Just wait ''till Acheron comes. He'll destroy the map.

Click to expand...

Not looking forward to his arrival at all

As for victory, I was probably looking for a religious victory for Fellowship of the Leaves but that's a long way away.

FYI- Ancient Forests can't burn. Everyone elso will be set on fire though...
Edit- Nice LoTR reference with "Ungoliant the Destroyer"
DoubleEdit- and Shelob

There are great disturbances in the force of nature to be found, some are close to our homeland as well.



Great numbers of beasts and fell creatures are to be found. Some are converted to our cause.







Others are dispatched without mercy.



The creatures seem thicker in the north and sure enough the likely cause of the corruption is found hiding here.



We pretend to be friendly but start planning her demise.

A second settlement is started as we try and expand our influence in this world.



We find Dain as well. He is a potential ally in the conflicts likely to come.



The spiders are hard to control. Their nature is not as peaceful as the trees they live amongst. Luckily, we find a way to channel their secret desires.



The years have flowed without end it seems, with only conflict to report on. We have much work to do in order to unite the races under the banner of nature.



I have instructed the sages to try and find the soul of the ancient forest we live in. Maybe that will convince the others of the righteousness of our cause.

That spider is cute I have a soft fuzzy hand puppet very much like it, 16 in/40 cm in size

We pretend to be friendly but start planning her demise.

Click to expand...

Are you sure you aren't playing Faeryl?

The years go by, seemingly endlessly, mush as they have previously, with barbarian hordes threatening our borders but our warriors holding resolute.

We hear rumours of a barbarian overlord roaming the forests, just as news of the death of our finest scout filters through the leaves. We dispatch our most seasoned warrior to investigate.



Our sages make a small breakthrough in their research as to the essence of nature.



A barbarian encampment is discovered just outside our borders. It must be the soource of the incursions we are facing.



More are discovered further away.



As our spiders reak havoc in the lands of our enemies, we hear the barbarian overlord has been overthrown.



The barbarians start taking over the lands of the foul Faeryl, with some slight help from our spiders.



We capture the nearest barbarian city to expand our empire.



And add some more, while destroying undead barrows.







Our marauding spiders are slowly killed off until only one remains. It finds an unusual object lying about. Even our finest sages have no idea as to its purpose.



It seems the other fallen are squabbling amongst themselves. Let them tear each other apart, we do not care.



For we are focused on our efforts to understand the nature of the ancient forests and to determine its very essence. At long last we are successful.







Now is time to spread word of our discoveries amongst the others...

Hammer time with the spider!

reverend oats said:

Hammer time with the spider!

Click to expand...

Except it doesn't seem to do anything and if the spider picks it up it gets dropped IBT.

The Hammer is produced by the Luchurip World Spell. When used in a city it hurries production.

Rex rgis of Ter said:

The Hammer is produced by the Luchurip World Spell. When used in a city it hurries production.

Click to expand...

Aah! Thanks for that, must send a warrior over to pick it up then.

Ozbenno said:

Aah! Thanks for that, must send a warrior over to pick it up then.

Click to expand...

Also, I believe it can only hurry buildings, but I am unsure. Other Luchurip cities probably have the hammers. Collecting them could be a nice challenge in the name of Cerunnos.