For Commander, will kept the story in.
Also, as part of orders next turn, we will make announcements in public to the effect that with all future games not already marketed, we will be developing them during the year and realeasing them in December.
Stories
(OOC: I don't want a story bonus for these- just doing them to develop my game ideas)
Commander Character 2: Duke of Mangar
The Duke of Mangar's primary character quirk is desire for power- this comes across very obviously in his behavior on the battlefield amongst other things. His storyline, like the others, covers five battles.
The first battle is the Battle of Calmada. This introduces the Duke's cruelty, and throughout the battle commanders he fight argue that he isn't going to get away with it. He also has a Kick the Dog moment (designed to make him look evil), where he doublecrosses his own right hand man, Hagres. A major enemy commander has agreed to defect if he can kill Hagres with his own hands, so part of the battle is luring Hagres into an ambush to kill him. (A bit of work is put into the scene to make it seem authentic)
The second battle is the First Anzar Campaign. This is a subplot, where Onardes, a woman ruler, is defending her terrortories. This is a strategically useless expedition done because of the Duke's lust, and Nacridas in particular objects. Storylinewise, the focus is on the relationship between the Duke and Nacridas given this incident.
The third battle is the Battle of Hanzarar, where the Duke and Free Peasants face the King's forces. Chalsar, an enemy commander, is dominating the field for the King. The Duke of Mangar (and with this one we particularly try to make it top the last act of evil) decides, as a countertactic, to exploit Chalsar's weakness- rashness. He thus attacks, personally, innocent peasant villages to try and draw him into a rash charge. Ultimately the battle is won. (the ploy doesn't necessarily suceed, though)
The fourth battle is the Battle of Dasdriar, where the Duke defeats the Free Peasants. Given their posistion, the Free Peasant's military posistion is supposed to be untenable (this is a case of Gameplay and Story segregation). The Duke is trying to draw them into charging his walls by catapulting the heads of their wives and children at them (this isn't dwelled upon as evidence for his evil, though).
While they are (for a fourth battle level) easy to repel, ultimately the Free Peasant commander sends a significant force behind, saying that even if they can't win, they can rid of an evil and depraved lunatic. The combined difficulty of these two effective battles is supposed to be sufficent for fourth level difficulty).
Storylinewise, the Duke is told by Nacridas and the Free Peasant commander (a named figure, who I might discuss in a later story) that he can't win- the people will never tolerate a ruler as depraved as himself. The Duke denies it, claiming that they will suffer his rule for fear of their lives.
The fifth battle is the Great Rebellion, where the peasants (though commanders the Duke has fought before are involved, they play secondary roles, both in command structure and the battle itself). Despite Nacridas's pleas that his actions are no way to run a stable government, the Duke deliberately attacks innocent villages in the area, kills his own wounded soldiers to prevent them taking up food, and proclaims that his empire was built upon his genius, and that he needs nobody. Excluding Nacridas himself, the battle becomes a lot harder when every single commander and soldier defects after various atrocities (boosting the difficulty rating up to appropriate).
Ultimately, the Duke of Mangar's storyline ends in a cutscene, where Nacridas pleads that if he continues this behaviour there is no way he can run an empire. The Duke decides to cut Nacridas's hand off for daring to contradict him. Nacridas, very angry, decides this is the last straw and kills the Duke. Dying on Nacridas's spear, the Duke asks "...Why?" Nacridas replies "There can be no peace in the land under a man like you." Nacridas removes his spear, and realeases the Duke's body, walking off as the Duke collapses...
The Other Characters:
3- Manhardar's Storyline:
Manhardar's quirk is supposed to be going on about freedom. His storyline emerges when his wife, Drides, puts increasing pressure on him to defect to the Duke of Mangar, and then does so. The dramatic focus is how he reacts.
4- Dride's Storyline:
Dride's quirk is thinking of the future (implicitly meaning long term future) in every single action. Her storyline is when the Duke pressures her to defect, arguing that, given the Free Peasant's anti-wealth attitudes, that is the only way to ensure her children get an education (cutscenes are shown with her and her children to make the player care at least somewhat about them). She thus defects and fights for the Duke.
5- Chalcar's Storyline:
Chalcar's storyline is a determination to keep his oath. For this reason, he fights for the king, even if it should cost him his life (this ends up doing so at the end of his storyline, with the Stand at La Tran). His storyline is about how he struggles not to let the King down by an excess of passion.
6- Ekendi's Storyline:
Ekendi's storyline is based around not wanting to let his father down (flashbacks to times with his father are used to give the player some empathy with this). A tension grows by his beating himself up over failure to live up to this stand.
(NOTE: The remaining four is Onardes, a woman trying to build a kingdom in the southern realms despite the fact even her own people are sexist, a man who ultimately rejects but is tempted to join the Duke of Mangar throughout his storyline, a storyline where a character tries to fullfill all he can be but is primarily driven by making the player feel like a badass, and a woman with a basic revenge storyline against the Duke of Mangar who ends up in her storyline suceeding.
The woman is of the Sworn, a group who fill in the plot hole of why Nacridas serves the Duke anyway. The Sworn have a hereditary drive to destroy the dynasty, tend to be very good warriors, and have caused chaos through the ages. This is a conflict for the woman himself)
