Hermetic Lore for FFH DI5

[Ravus_Sol]

Stolen front page, updated so I could keep track of things. Dagda hasn't posted since the 2nd and hasn't been seen since the 10th of June unfortunately. So I did this so I could have a handy resource. If Dagda returns he can steal this updated version instead of starting from scratch;

Quests
The Quests that have been given, completed or in progress;

Spoiler :

Cerdiwen

Spoiler :

- Research up to Knowledge of the Ether. COMPLETE
- Settle settler near good commerce. COMPLETE
- Research Way of Wicked before Way of Wise. ON-GOING

Junil

Spoiler :

- Protect the Bannor worker. FAILED?

Camulos

Spoiler :

- Defeat the two Hell Hounds COMPLETE

Esus

Spoiler :

- Build a Palisade COMPLETE
- Learn Trade. ON-GOING
- Set up Spymaster and Spyring JUST STARTED

Lugus

Spoiler :

- Open borders with Bannor and Amurites. COMPLETE

Sirona

Spoiler :

- Go east to island of Swanmay. Bring a warrior there and wait (ten turns, if possible). COMPLETE

Cernunnos

Spoiler :

- Respond to the meeting of the wild Centaur herd JUST STARTED

Bhall

Spoiler :

- Make a choice to be a friend or enemy of Bhall, Burn down the Bannor forests JUST STARTED

Plots
Any plots or plans you would like to let the other gods be aware of, each plot has the patron god who started the ball rolling linked to the idea;

Spoiler :

1. Esus convincing heroes escaping from hell that they have entered Esus's dimension and must escape by reentering hell via Bradeline's well and fighting their way up through it. (Ceridwen to join in by stating that people could also just destroy hell to escape.)
2. Esus providing civs with HN units to sow distrust between them
3. Sirona will try to convert evil, also spread word on how to escape the different layers of hell.
4. Camulos brings up the idea of the ritual of God summoning surviving the Illian destruction, found either on the Aifon isle or in the frozen wastes.
5. Old Arawn plot, Laroth will reward any god that helps in his aims. Grya will wish to stop Laroth and for humanity to stop using the distorted Death Magic, Necromancy.
6. Ceridwen wishes to eventually bring about the end of days. For now she is merely spreading the use of magic and setting the stage for the emergence of the Ashen Veil.
7. Junil wishes to push for a war between the Bannor and the Clan of Embers.
8. Esus tries to steal from the other evil gods vaults, possibly sparking a response in Erebus. Most likely along the lines of a religious war between CoE and Ashen Veil.
9. Lugus would like to take back the Mirror of Heaven for his chosen people, the Malakim. Currently Calabim Vampires capture and eat any pilgrims going there. Lugus will be pushing for the Dragon Cult to help and providing visions of truth to help the good people of the world.
10. Joint upcoming quest by Lugus, Junil and Sirona to push for Way of the Wise in Civilizations instead of Way of the Wicked being pushed by Ceridwen.
11. Sirona pushes for settlement of the Swanway isle
12. Esus, adding a Calabim scout to open borders for a BW war.
13. Esus bringing in criminals that could become settlers, slaves, criminals or free people of the Dragon Clan nation.
14. Cernunnos, will eventually get annoyed at the Compact and the blantent violations against it. Also the fallout of a Archangel becoming a God when he has no divine spark. He is the weakest of the Gods.
15. Cernunnos, playing with the history of the world and the past evils done in the name of Magic, including the creation of demi-humans, as many of these inhabit the Kuriotate lands but are not treated as well in other lands.

Characters
The Characters that the Gods and the Player have created. There is already a large amount which is why it is better to try to use pre-existing characters whenever possible. If there is already a named scout can you use that one? If you need a advisor to the King will Rabish do?

The List has been split up into Mundane and Divine Characters. Those in the Divine section have one or two patron gods and you should check with that god before using them. The Mundane Characters are open to anyone, they may have links to certain gods, but not openly or even knowingly.

Spoiler :

Mundane Characters
Lord Dallarin - Banished Lord, now King of the Aerie and a potential spiritual leader of the Dragon Cult.
Rabish - Advisor to Lord Dallarin, known as Dallarin's Rabbit, perfect memory and organiser for the Capital. Rabish is completely loyal to the Dragon Cult. He is therefore loyal to Dallarin as he sees him as the best ruler for the Dragon Cult people. He has no ambition for more power for himself. It would never occur to him that he is in any way linked to Esus. He just happens to see truth, lies and everything in between as mere tools to be used for the betterment of the Dragon Cult.
Quintien - Engineer, designed and built the Palisade. Now the "Grand Designer" Quintien has grown in confidence and is quite the charmer. His eye for the ladies may get him in hot water.
Ghaeru - Local Male Seer, normally found at the Elder Council. Negotiated Open Borders with the Bannor and Amurites
Gastrius - Head of the Elder Council.
Martouth - A Musteval (Ratman) scout, distrusts pure humans and follows the Dragon Cult for power.
Roarsan - Wild Centaur from the Northern Grasslands. Is distrustful of Sidar expansion and worried about the growing re-emergence of magic.
Chasthellah - Named Lamia adept. Has no facts known, Nor any patron god.
Lady Darthia - Bannor Foreign Dignitary, Currently a mystery. Could by a spy or a fall guy for another spy. May become a Divine Character if protected by Esus or Junil.
Captain Ruet - Lanun Sailor from the old Kuriotate lands of Cardith Lorda. A trader and a opportunist but with a sense of morality.

Divine Characters
Lothbrok - A Harbringer, mortal follower of Camulos. Encourages war and resolving problems through violence. About to either be banished or bid create a settlement for Camulos.
Morpheus - A Amurite hero whom died in the greedy pursuit of Dragon Gold. Killed by the Dragon of Fire. Currently under the sphere of Esus.
Weyoun - A farmer blessed with an expanded mind by Cerdiwen. Caused a blight by leaving his farm and his Wife Kilana. He then lead a band of settler south to form a new settlement focused on the advancement of magic and the possibility of summoning Abashi the Black Dragon.
Filisius - The Warrior who was blessed by Sirona. Now clothe'd in White.
Servant of Bhall - A servant girl violently burnt alive, possessed, then transformed into a Orc. (maybe the servant girl was an illusion to begin with?)
Yavin - The son of Cernunnos. A Satyr of ancient age and wisdom. Will be a advisor to the Calabim
Jerbane - Named Potential Spymaster. Will be ruthless and under Esus's protection.
Equas - A Female Centaur. As a Druid-in-training she wishes to help the banished people rebuild. She is shocked that the criminals were sent to the same place. She also subtly hopes that other religions will pull some of the Dragon Cultists away from their strange cult and back to more accepted religious positions. Technically under Cernunnos but not protected by him.

Terrain features
The named terrain features on the map, The Unique features have their own back stories and interactivity but can be used again by us in different ways.

Spoiler :

1. Chill pass, a pass of tundra containing a defended tower and creation node which will turn into a shadow node once conquered.
2. Midnight Jungle, which provides units with shadowalk, hidden nationality, and poison if they remain there.
3. DunDorchadas a tower which has secrets so powerful that the units that venture there will not share them. Units that go there will become barbarians and remain there.
4. Ashton, a city of Mistforms near a maelstrom. After a book was taken, it became a ruin and was absorbed by the Sidar peoples.
5. Swanmay Isle, a Isle that caused the blossoming of wisdom for Filisius under Sirona.
6. Broken Sepulcher, the resting place of the Lord of Death Magic, Barbatos, bound there by Klyorim during the Patrian Civil war.
7. Twailic's hut, home of a powerful illusionist that prefers isolation to the bustle of the city.
8. Brandalins Well, Is a passage into the Hells of the Evil gods. Esus plans to convince people that the real world is the Hell of Esus and that the passage into Hell will allow people to try to escape back to the real world.
9. Blood Coast, the Barbarian coastline to the North West of the Capital. Currently holds the barbarian city Ultigar.
10. Cenatur Grasslands, Home to a herd of wild centaur to the north
11. Harbingers Fort, found on a isle to the Southeast of the Dragon Cult lands.
12. Aifon Isle, Once the home of the Ancient Aifons. They were sea creatures, humans that had been altered by close proximity to their God of Water. They were destroyed when they attempted to perform the God Summoning Ritual.
13. Pallus, Know as the Tower of Eyes. This was the tower Kylorin imprisoned Perpenchan in during the Age of Magic.
14. Rotfang City, The cottage suburb set up by the Orc Immigrants. Located North of the Aerie.

Other ideas
None Major plots that are more for flavour then anything long term.

Spoiler :

1. Arms dealers providing poisoned weapons to one side of a war and rusted weapons to another.
2. Two masks that swap the consciousness of the wearer intermittently
3. A kleptomaniac elf scout.
4. Lanun seek letters of Marque once they have Privateers/pirates.
5. As prisoners and criminals are being sent over from the Kuriotate homeland, someone important could appear this way.

AI Civilizations
A overview on the future expectations of the Civilizations along with any gods currently acting as patron for them;

Spoiler :

Sidar - Was under the patronage of Arawn, now silent. Currently running along the basic ideas that was set out. Laroth trying to perform a take over with the Sidars help.
Bannor - Led by the Archangel of Junil and under his patronage. This nation will push for crusades against all evil nations eventually.
Amurites - Under no Patron. This nation was fathered by Kylorin, the Archmage of Patria, the immortal man whom eventually slew the God of Ice. Their inheritance of Patrian History will have some impact in their dealings with Demi-Humans.
Clan - Under the patronage of both Camulos and Bhall. Bhall wishes to push for a war against the Bannor while Camulos wishes to show the rivalry between the city states in some kind of perpetual civil war.
Lanun - The Lanun are merely a colony established on the continent. They set up one of their own outposts after bringing the outcast Dragon Cult here.
Calabim - About to found the Fellowship of the Leaves. Eventually a target of Lugus and the Malakims Crusade.
Malakim - Under the eventual patronage of Lugus.
Svartalfar - Under no official patronage. A very strange collection of beliefs. Follow the aspects of Nature, Desception and Responsibility. Their leader was once the wife of Cernunnos before he ascended to God-hood.
Grigori - Under no official patronage. The eventual founders of the Way of the One. Led by Cassiel the old Archangel of Balance who fell to earth to help mortal men realise that they do not need to play along with the games of the gods.
Luchirup - Under no Patronage. Creators of Golums and known as sky-dwarves.
Balseraphs - Led by the Immortal Mind Mage of Patria. Now gone mad. He escaped from the Pallus. While this nation is follows the Dogma of the God of Greed they are also prime targets for developing the Ashen Veil.
Elohim - A Nation of Monks, whose task is protection. Founded by a follower of Sirona way back in the age of Dragons. Technically the oldest Nation. No current plots of plans apart from reacting to any Evil Machinations.

Kuriotate Cities

Spoiler :

Aerie - Capital and Polytheist, holds an Academy led by Magister Cultuum which looks into and spreads Dragon Lore. Holy city of the Dragon Cult
The Emyrs - Settlement to Cerdiwen. Led by Weyoun, they research plants and Magic and the possibility of summoning Abashi.

 

[Derf]

Just one Terrain Feature missed. Southeast of the Kuriotate lands there's an isle I put a fort on named Harbinger's Fort, with a couple of units in. No story to it yet, and there won't be unless someone stumbles over it, or decides to do something with it. It may be something revealed later on, a means by a good god to irritate Camulos, etc.

 

[apenpaap]

For my next bit, I want to show Ceridwen trying to gain allies who want to help her cause Armageddon. After all, she is the godess of connections and communication, and linked up their hells in the first place, so it makes much more sense for her to get others to help out. Mammon has gone quiet and Lpate and I already discussed how Ceridwen might bring Esus to her side, but it'll have to wait until his schemes have been set further into motion. So I'll be contacting Camulos and Bhall. I guess you could both respond either in the main thread or here (in the second case I'd edit your responses into my post for when I make it)

Camulos:

Spoiler :

Ceridwen appeared in Camulos' hell. She saw it was once again just the way he liked it: an enormous battle raging. Demons and only partially demonic humans chopped around with weapons designed to cause as much agony as possible, mauling each other again and again, as it was impossible to kill anyone in Hell. Deep below, the screams of the endlessly tormented prisoners of war sounded. The land itself was a horribly scarred, broken land.

Ceridwen calmly moved through the melee. Anyone who swung their weapons at her always found she was somewhere else than where they'd thought she was, and so she reached the largest, most ferocious fighting figure without ever being touched. Camulos was fighting with more ferocity than anything else here, raging and crushing entire groups of others with a single strike. Ceridwen always thought it amusing that many of the gods felt the need to take such gigantic forms, as if to show their power off to mortals. Ceridwen found her human-sized form much handier.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked, letting Camulos know of her presence.

He swung one of his many giant weapons at her, an club thrice her size with axes and morningstars sticking out of it. Of course, it landed beside her new place. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" the God of War spoke, "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY?!!"

"Yes..." Ceridwen said with a smile. "But wouldn't you rather be this... 'busy' in Erebus? With mortals? They're delightfully squishy, you know, and unlike this lot feel real fear. But I have a plan that would let you, and your friends here, do your thing on Erebus."

Camulos took another swing at her, but this was to be expected when talking to him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! HOW?!"

"Let me worry about the details; Dimensions are my precept like yours is War, after all. But in large lines: we need to weaken the borders between worlds. We can do it by having lots of mortals die, like in the razing of their cities, or by having our servants perform specific rites. The weaker they get, the easier it will be for your anger and war to enter Erebus and cause yet more war. And if we keep it up, we'll be able to let your demons, or even your archangel, into Erebus. All you would need to do is something you'll enjoy doing anyway: make sure as many wars as possible rage over Erebus. Especially wars the servants of our enemies will lose. What say you? Will you join me?"

Bhall:

Spoiler :

Ceridwen appeared in Agares' hell and instantly felt the despair around her. That same despair was the reason she was not here to visit Agares: Ages of wallowing in his own despair had made him too desperate to do much of anything. Instead of Agares' dark throne, she headed for a brightly burning sea of flame. Despair was much less powerful in the flames. She reached the heart of the flames, where the burning godess Bhall was collecting demons of her own.

"I love what you've done with the place," Ceridwen remarked.

"What do you want?!" Bhall spoke with a fiery voice.

Ceridwen decided to get straight to the point. Bhall was not a patient godess, after all. "Will you join me in burning Erebus? Think about it: the entire world set in flame, to burn for all eternity, much like mortals sacrificed to you. Not only would it be a glorious tribute to the godess of Fire, but it would also be revenge as well. Revenge against all the mortals who denounced you when you wisely joined the winning side, the good side. Even your own followers, the treacherous Bannor, turned their backs on you... Right now, Bannor children are being taught to curse your name and revere Junil's. We can get back at them, you know. All we need to do is to weaken the boundaries between worlds... Get your followers on Erebus to go to war, especially with traitors like the Bannor and the Malakim, things like that. And we must teach them the proper ways to worship us; that will weaken the world as well. Will you join me, Bhall?"

If either of you doesn't agree with the way I portrayed your god, please tell me, of course, and I'll change it before I post it in the main thread.

 

[Derf]

Heh. I was going to make a few suggestions to changing the way Camulos appeared, but actually I rather like how he sounds.
The incidental of the wars is nothing new, that'll happen anyway - sending dear little Wrath for a vacation to Erebus though...
I'll come up with a more story-sounding response once I get back, but you've got Camulos. It isn't hard to please a god who is as Ravus so eloquently put it, 'just a little kid with a stick poking things to see if they fall over'.

I love that description of him.

 

[Lplate]

Stolen front page

Thanks for putting that together.

The Marsh of Confusion was renamed as the Midnight Jungle when the map was revealed as it fitted better with the Grigori.

Regarding the characters I've named:

Rabish: Rabish is completely loyal to the Dragon Cult. He is therefore loyal to Dallarin as he sees him as the best ruler for the Dragon Cult people. He has no ambition for more power for himself. It would never occur to him that he is in any way linked to Esus. He just happens to see truth, lies and everything in between as mere tools to be used for the betterment of the Dragon Cult. He will feature in most, if not all of my updates so isn't really available for use by other Gods. If there are stories/plot hooks that you would like him to mention in his reports, just let me know in this thread.
Quintien: Quintien has grown in confidence and is quite the charmer. His eye for the ladies may get him in hot water. He is available to anyone who would like to use him in a plot.
Morpheus: Morpheus is defined by the Mega Plot story. He isn't available for use in any other plotlines.
Chastellah: I haven't any plans for Chastellah yet I just wanted to get across that an attempt had been made to conceal the level of information on the vellum. She's free for anyone who'd like to use her.
Lady Darthia: Lady Darthia has potential as a significant character. I have not decided if Lady Darthia is a spy, has been framed or is a spy who happens to have been framed. If Bad_Player makes it known that the Bannor are among the civs that will never use spies then that will settle it. Other than that, I'll wait for Verdian's response and then try to work it out.
Jerbane: He's my favourite choice for the Spymaster role as it will allow me to provide (mis)information to Verdian from a different source than Rabish. It will all depend on Verdian whether he develops or vanishes. If he gets the job, expect him to be quite ruthless. If he's Spymaster, he won't be available for use by other Gods but I'll feed stories/plot hooks for anyone if you let me know here.
Captain Ruet: He is what he appears to be. His opinion of the Kuriotates will obviously be effected by any offer Dallarin makes relating to the criminals. He's available as a character for anyone that needs people or plots transported by ship.

 

[Lplate]

Ceridwen decided to get straight to the point. Bhall was not a patient godess, after all. "Will you join me in burning Erebus? Think about it: the entire world set in flame, to burn for all eternity, much like mortals sacrificed to you. Not only would it be a glorious tribute to the godess of Fire, but it would also be revenge as well. Revenge against all the mortals who denounced you when you wisely joined the winning side, the good side. Even your own followers, the treacherous Bannor, turned their backs on you... Right now, Bannor children are being taught to curse your name and revere Junil's. We can get back at them, you know. All we need to do is to weaken the boundaries between worlds... Get your followers on Erebus to go to war, especially with traitors like the Bannor and the Malakim, things like that. And we must teach them the proper ways to worship us; that will weaken the world as well. Will you join me, Bhall?"

I like what Ceridwen is doing. Given that she is the Goddess of Relationships (I think, could be wrong on that), I think she would approach Bhall slightly differently. I don't think Bhall is someone you ask to "Think about it", rather you appeal directly to her emotions. The persuasion centres on vanity, vengence and treachery so I think you're 90% of the way there. I think you might be able to tweak the wording a little - sorry I don't have a specific suggestion.

Edit: 4 lines saying use emotional language and I manage to get "think" in 6 times.

 

[Ravus_Sol]

To Ceridwen

Is it possible to insert my own "God Communication" Into your intervention with Bhall, so as to not have too many stories progressing at once? I figure it wouldn't change much, just add an amusing middle section where Cernunnos gets owned by Ceridwen.

While doing this I noticed the comment by Lplate (Esus) so I also polished the persuasion up with some other bits from the lore. You can change that bit back or alter it in a different direction. But its some ideas of other things to bring up etc.

Bhall & Cernunnos & Ceridwen:

Spoiler :

Ceridwen stepped through a tear in space and appeared in Agares' hell, she instantly felt the despair around her. That same despair was the reason she was not here to visit Agares: Ages of wallowing in his own despair had made him too desperate to do much of anything. Ceridwen was the true unspoken leader of their coalition.

Instead of Agares' dark throne, she started to head for a brightly burning sea of flame until a whoosh of sound left notes of music and the rustle of trees in the air.

"Ceridwen!" Roared the Horned being that stepped through her slowly closing portal. "I have tracked you through the dark spaces in between worlds, I knew you would eventually visit a Vault. I would-"

"You would do nothing." She sneered. Such ungraciousness from this pathetic being nearly snapped her control.

Cernunnos stepped up to her, as if trying to use his height to tower over her. "You will stop violating the compact. We all heard you, even if the others do not dare call you on it. I will."

A effort of will pulsed through the air forcing the God of Nature to back away. "You speak to me of daring Archangel? Why I'm surprised you have the daring to step foot in this vault. We all know what happened the last time you were here... Your son killed before you, your dark twin born before your eyes."

The words seemed to beat into the young god like whips of malice. He flinched and looked away showing weakness and the older god smiled in satisfaction. slowly Hell was stirring. Realising that their was an uncorrupted godling walking amongst them. Ceridwens eyes flickered to the south and Cernunnos followed her gaze. There, standing tall atop one of the burning mountains was a dark horned shape, gazing at them.

Slowly, it started to make its way across the expanse to them.

"You will never be one of us." She whispered to the young god.

Then she turned and walked away. Unafraid. Knowing that Cernunnos would be too busy fleeing from his Dark Twin, Hyborem, to pester her some more. As she entered the flames she felt him jump back through her portal just before it collapsed. Maybe it was the flames, or maybe the loss of the Archangel pretending to be a God. But the despair was much less powerful in the flames. She reached the heart of the inferno, where the burning godess Bhall was collecting demons of her own.

"I love what you've done with the place," Ceridwen remarked.

"What do you want?!" Bhall spoke with a fiery voice.

Ceridwen decided to get straight to the point. Bhall was not a patient godess, after all, and she'd had enough time wasting from Cernunnos.

"Will you join me in burning Erebus? We have worked well together in the past, when I bound your traitorous Archangel Brigit in starlight. Agares is wallowing in his despair, he has so little time, even for the ones he loves."

Emotion flittered across the Fire Gods eyes.

"We can show him the way again. Set the world aflame, bring mortal souls in the thousands to the vaults of Hell. It would be a tribute to both of you and a fitting revenge against those that denounced you."

"They will all burn in the end! Time matters not!"

For those on Erebus... But even now some of your angels shelter under Lugus. Hiding in his vault. Junil has stolen mortals from your vault and his Archangel leads them himself! He even named them Bannor as a slur to you I'm sure. Right now, Bannor children are being taught to curse your name and revere Junil's.

Right now we cannot enter Erebus. The Compact we created has locked the world away from us. But if the compact and the boundaries between worlds was weakened... Then we could get back at them, you know.

If we have your followers on Erebus to go to war, especially with traitors like the Bannor and the Malakim, things like that, have them attempt to summon things into the world like the followers of your Dragon, then the boundaries will weaken. We could even make Archaon swear fealty to you instead of biting your hand like he always does. But we must teach them the proper ways to worship us; that will weaken the world as well.

Will you join me, Bhall?"

 

[Ravus_Sol]

Thanks for putting that together.

*snip*

I'll add all that to the list. I'll keep doing that now and again. Top of page 12 isn't as obvious as a first page list but at least its there.

Damn the captain was a man? I thought it was a woman. We really need some stronger female characters in here.

Character Ideas
Equas - A Female Centaur, she can arrive by boat from the Kuriotate mainland seeking to help the displaced criminals find a new place and is surprised that the criminals were sent to the same place as the Dragon Cult. She had not known.
Yavin - The Favourite Child of Cernunnos, I might have him mentor the Vampires if they develop a more ruthless version of the Fellowship of the leaves.

 

[apenpaap]

@Derf: Glad you like it and want to join. Any change to Camulos' protrayal you want I can make, of course.

@Lpate: Good point, I guess using more emotional language with Bhall would work best. And you're right, she is the Godess of Relationships among many, many other things. (Honestly, I think Ceridwen has the most titles of any god in FFH. Goddess of Magic, Stars, Relations, Connections, Dimensions, Pain, and I've possibly forgotten yet more)

@Ravus Sol: That's a splendid addition to my story! Both the Cernunnos bit and the improvements to the stuff with Bhall. My original one was intended as only a rough draft (and quite rushed, since I was hungry and wanted to get breakfast), and you've made it much better. If axecack agrees with Bhall's portrayal, I'll be using that in my final post.

 

[Calavente]

I just want to point out that in more Naval and Magister's modmod, there is an option to release cities taken from a civ to a "puppet state" of the same civ.
thus you take one city from the clan and release it as puppet state... you create a novel "clan" civ without palace. (and most likely a different AI behaviour)
so this way you could create a second clan civ:
create clan cities, capture them with dummy kurios units, free the cities to a puppet state : you created the new civ.
then the hard part (that I wouldn't know how to do) is to make them once again independant .. in the same turn ... or give them as puppet state of the clan... ... but the proceedings would have to be different....

 

[Ravus_Sol]

I just want to point out that in more Naval and Magister's modmod, there is an option to release cities taken from a civ to a "puppet state" of the same civ.
thus you take one city from the clan and release it as puppet state... you create a novel "clan" civ without palace. (and most likely a different AI behaviour)
so this way you could create a second clan civ:
create clan cities, capture them with dummy kurios units, free the cities to a puppet state : you created the new civ.
then the hard part (that I wouldn't know how to do) is to make them once again independant .. in the same turn ... or give them as puppet state of the clan... ... but the proceedings would have to be different....

I'm pretty sure "Puppet" has the same mechanics as a vassal and thus can be changed in the worldbuilder relationships section. Most likely on the very turn they are captured and then Puppeted.

@Ravus Sol: That's a splendid addition to my story! Both the Cernunnos bit and the improvements to the stuff with Bhall. My original one was intended as only a rough draft (and quite rushed, since I was hungry and wanted to get breakfast), and you've made it much better. If axecack agrees with Bhall's portrayal, I'll be using that in my final post.

No worries, it was a nice way to slide in my own story hooks. Plus I was in the middle of my lore reading when I spotted it. axecack should get the final say in it all though, how Bhall responds to Cerdiwen as she talks and the final outcome.

 

[zbelg]

Stolen front page

Great post! I was hoping somebody would make something like this. You missed the Balseraphs, however.

 

[Derf]

Well, could change how Camulos comes accross, I kinda picture him a little differently, and most of the gods similarly because of it. Since they never actually grew up and are used to having power, even if limited once by the One and then again by the Compact, I think of them as spoiled children.
Camulos, from there, seems to me as the kind of god who'd be shamelessly egging on all sides of a fight with a similarly shameless bias for whichever side happens to be winning at the time. For some reason, I never really thought of him getting involved as such, but maybe once in a while he gets bored and just has to go bash something.

Anyway.
Here's a slightly re-written piece from Camulos' side of things.

Spoiler :

Camulos had tired of the endless commentary and incidental 'accidents' that befell those he didn't support. Some of the undying souls fought better than others, but he alone fought better than the lot. You didn't go through existence as the God of War without picking up everything, after all.

He was vaguely aware of another God arriving in his Vault, but was too distracted by the raging battle to care. Whoever it was clearly had an interest in finding him, so he silently nudged the war toward them in the hopes they'd give up and go away. A simple and completely ineffective plan.

"Enjoying yourself?" the voice came from somewhere below, and was instantly recognisable as Ceridwen. Almost absently he swung one vast weapon at where her voice had come from, though it found naught but empty air - and a careless soul. Ceridwen stood beside where the weapon had stopped, completely unconcerned by his reaction or the twitching remains of the soul.

She'd chosen to stay on the same scale as the mortals, he noted. He'd never understood why some gods did that - what was the point of being a God if you didn't get to show off?
"What do you want?" he demanded ungraciously, absently sending a stray demon back into the war with a backhand strike. "Can't you see I'm busy here? Wars don't make themselves, you know."

"This is your Vault," she pointed out. "Wars always happen here because you want them to, even if you're not here. Besides," she added with an arch look. "Wouldn't you rather be this... busy over in Erebus? With all the squishy mortals and their true fear?"

Camulos grunted, taking another swing for her. There was nothing personal intended by it and she knew it; this was a battlefield, he was the God of War. "The Compact-" he started darkly, but was cut off.

"Is but an inconvenience. I have a plan that will work around it so nicely, and let your friends and later you have all the fun you want there."

She waited for him to answer that. It took him a while as the nearby battles, left unaffected by his distracted attention, returned around them. When there was a rare clear moment, he finally rounded back on her and almost roared, "Well don't just stand there, how do you plan to do that?!"

"Let me worry about the details; Dimensions are my precept like yours is War, after all. But in large lines: we need to weaken the borders between worlds. We can do it by having lots of mortals die, like in the razing of their cities, or by having our servants perform specific rites. The weaker they get, the easier it will be for your anger and war to enter Erebus and cause yet more war. And if we keep it up, we'll be able to let your demons, or even your archangel, into Erebus. All you would need to do is something you'll enjoy doing anyway: make sure as many wars as possible rage over Erebus. Especially wars the servants of our enemies will lose. What say you? Will you join me?"

His expression had not changed until she made mention of Wrath. The Archangel had been trying to find a to Erebus for some time. So far only a few lowly demons had managed that, and never where anyone knew about it.

"I'm in," he growled with a broad and, to the nearby souls, deeply unsettling vicious grin. "Now get out; you're keeping the fight away from me." Then his attention was gone again, entirely focused in the eternal war around him.

 

[Lplate]

Ravus Sol,

Junil's first quest was a definite Fail. I confirmed that the worker was there in the save that Verdian said he used. Verdian just didn't get there in time.

Derf,

Small idea for the Camulos settlement/city, inspired by Sparta. The young boys can be evicted from the city and forced to live ferally outside it for a few of their formative years. Any of the men who find them beat them (sometimes fatally). It's dangerous for anyone to travel near the city as they may be attacked by wild boys (leading to potential international incidents if close to another civ's borders).
If Verdian allows the practice to continue then any melee units built in the city get extra xp or a specific promo.

 

[axecack]

.....

 

[zbelg]

Also I noticed the Calabim are right next to the Letum Fridges and are probably going to be plagued by Blizzards the entire game. I'm not very optimistic that they will turn out well.

What exactly do those blizzards do? Odd that that feature is so close to the desert with the Mirror of Heaven. It's also an interesting turn of events that the Calabim are about to found Fellowship of the Leaves. Can anybody give an idea of what FoL vampires would be like, lorewise?

For clarity, assuming Veridian pursues my crusade against the Calabim, I think I'm going to give him the opportunity to have my settler a little early, near the Calabim, so that he has a base to attack from. Perhaps even some supplies as well. It would be a very difficult war otherwise. My idea was to plant a castle close to the Mirror of Heaven where the pilgrims are being held, and the prisoner that he could return to the Malakim would be a Great Prophet.

 

[apenpaap]

Great to hear you're in too, axecack. From what I can remember, Agares, Ceridwen, Bhall, and Camulos are the main deities of the Ashen Veil, so it seems we're close to completion. I'll post our combined story, along with some other things and some changes I have to make, tomorrow.

As for FoL Calabim, for the most part they work quite well, actually. Fellowship of Leaves is about letting nature have its way, survival of the fittest, respecting every part of nature. Presumably the Fellowship conveniently forgets about the rather unnatural origins of the vampires and focuses on claiming their practices are simply a natural state of things, and that it is the holy duty of the humans to either accept their being a prey or try and become a predator themselves, but under no circumstance try to subvert the system by getting rid of the vampires.

 

[Derf]

Small idea for the Camulos settlement/city, inspired by Sparta. The young boys can be evicted from the city and forced to live ferally outside it for a few of their formative years. Any of the men who find them beat them (sometimes fatally). It's dangerous for anyone to travel near the city as they may be attacked by wild boys (leading to potential international incidents if close to another civ's borders).
If Verdian allows the practice to continue then any melee units built in the city get extra xp or a specific promo.

A nice idea, I'll admit, but I've had this idea since before the DI started and now I get the chance to wreak havoc with it. The original reward I was going to give him was just the option to settle Lothbrok by founding a Command Post, but since he didn't ask for divine aid I upped it to include the settler - but with worse results ultimately. Read on and see what I mean.

Spoiler :

If he keeps Lothbrok, the war-camp he'll insist on founding with the Settler is going to be at best rudimentary settlement prone to being rowdy, aggressive and threatening. They're going to cause no end of issues for him to keep them in line, let alone that I'm going to create a 'cult within a cult', in which some of the most fanatical and warlike cultists are going to take the idea of the Dragon Cult to extremes by insisting that as much of the world as possible should bow to the Kuriotates - with or without draconic aid.

They're occasionally going to go off on independent 'holy' missions from the concealed leader of that chapter of the Dragon Cult, which (Probably much to the amusement of Esus) they'll insist aren't anything to do with them but will naturally affect relations as other nations can plainly see these independent agents have Kuriotate Origins.

Dallarin will inevitably have to deal with these radicalized Cultists, and he'll have to make a choice - take their side and gain a fanatically loyal, if erratic and sometimes unpredictable, powerful fighting force (not too powerful, of course. Not going to unbalance things) but taking this side will cause a significant drop in relations with all nations, met or not, as word spreads. The Cultists will still plague him though, as they'll keep pushing Dallarin to go to war and beat up as many enemies (everyone) as possible.
On the other hand, he could side against them, in which case he'll discover the leader of the radical chapter of cultists (Lothbrok, but not on Camulos' orders) and after a series of blistering ultimatums from them, will have to stamp them out by razing the settlement or risk them turning on him.

 

[Lplate]

Ravus Sol,

I'd planned on letting a Calabim scout loose close to the Kuriotates lands in the next God Turn to make sure that the Kuriotates had at least met them before the war with the Amurites started.
Seeing as the Calabim are about to found FoL, it's probably a better story if a Disciple of Leaves has chosen to try and introduce the other civs to FoL. Lanun were the first port of call. From there he caught a boat which drops him on the coast somewhere between the Sidar and Kuriotates but not too close to the barbarians.

It might not be necessary for the Mega Plot, if the Calabim and Kuriotates meet in the next 50 turns but let me know if Cernunnos would include this in the next God Turn if the two Civs have not met at that stage.

-----

I'd suggested that Esus would try to get other Gods to break the Compact. If that has happened already/is happening as part of the evil Gods' plan then Esus might need to put a bit of a twist on it. Getting the evil Gods to break an agreement does not sound like enough of a challenge for Esus. Getting Junil to break the compact, after he has been so careful to keep Sabathiel out of creation sounds more like something that would interest Esus. If the God of Oaths breaks an Oath, would that be enough to make him fall?
On the Vault side of things, Esus could meet Junil to drop hints that the Compact was already broken and therefore no longer binding on anyone - could start with the draft meeting I did earlier and then develop a few more.

So far the gods that have openly bent the Compact are;
Bhall - Possessed a woman in the mortal plane (potentially broken the compact, especially in reguards to zapped city, unknown at current time.)
Cerdiwen - Sent a bold message to the mortal plane via Dreams
Lugus - Sending visions to the mortal planes
Sirona - Sent Angels to the mortal planes to intervene in her stead

Odds are Junil is not going to fall for it (unless Bad_Player decides to take things in a completely novel direction).
The second part of the plan would be for Esus to work on some of the Bannor people - to them he'd also be pointing out the breaches of the Compact that have already been performed, how the evil Gods are going to bring hell to Erebus unless Junil actively intervenes but how his hands are tied by his oath. These Bannor cultists would be told they have the power to free Junil from his oath. If they can get their hands on the ritual for summoning a God into creation from the Aifon Isle, then they can summon Junil into creation. Junil would be brought unwillingly into Erebus and as he did not choose to enter, he would not be breaking his oath. Junil would then be able to lead the cultists and the rest of the Bannor in cleansing Erebus of the taint of evil.
This would set up the Bannor as the people who are going to try to actively break the compact by summoning a God. The first conflict from this would probably be with the Elohim, who are determined not to let the Gods War start again, once they work it out.
I think the Aifon Isle is the water mana source to the west of the Malakim. If it comes within anyone's territory during the game as currently positioned, it will probably be the Elohim. If this plot is a runner, it might be worth repositioning the Aifon Isle. Ideally I'd like the Aifon Isle to come within the borders of an evil civ, maybe the Balseraphs. Then the cultists within the Bannor would push for open borders with the Balseraphs so that their sages can get to the Aifon Isle to do their research.
In game effects:

• Move Aifon Isle and label it
• Open Borders between Bannor and Balseraphs
• Create a held Bannor Great Sage on the Aifon Isle and leave him there until the Kuriotates have had a chance to see him
• Create a bit of diplo malus between the Elohim and the Bannor
• War between Elohim and Bannor?

Possible tie ins for Verdian:

• A former cultist flees into Kuriotates lands as he fears for his life. He gives the quest to go to the Aifon Isle and kill the evil men trying to research how to summon a God back into Erebus.
  When Verdian realises that its the Bannor he could go ahead and attack, starting a war or resort to diplomatic means. Sabathiel would probably crush the cult if Dallarin brought it to his attention giving a massive boost to Bannor/Kuriotates relations.
• Elohim see the Dragon worshippers as the lesser of two evils and ask for Verdian's assistance in locating part of the Godslayer to stop Junil if he comes into creation (quest).
• If a war starts, there's always choosing what side, if any, you're going to be on.

Any thoughts, especially from Bad_Player?

 

[Ravus_Sol]

Alrighty, here's my response. I like the idea of an Armageddon alliance but I'm not sure which civ would be the one to summon the infernals. I suppose the Clan could but there are three evil civs so anything could happen. Also I noticed the Calabim are right next to the Letum Fridges and are probably going to be plagued by Blizzards the entire game. I'm not very optimistic that they will turn out well.

Lots of different Civilizations could potentially found the Ashen Veil, do you specifically want one to do it?

It also doesn't have to be the evil Civ's. Personally I think the magic using Balseraphs or the Amurites have the most potential for the Ashen Veil. The religion is linked to magic naturally and these two successors to the Patrian Empire could easily go down the same path.

What exactly do those blizzards do? Odd that that feature is so close to the desert with the Mirror of Heaven. It's also an interesting turn of events that the Calabim are about to found Fellowship of the Leaves. Can anybody give an idea of what FoL vampires would be like, lorewise?

Apenpaap gave some examples. For myself, The idea of Nature Respecting Vampires is growing on me. I plan to steal "The Hunt" ritual, which i'm not sure is real or just a myth. But I will have Flauros allow one of his Human Cattle the chance to escape or prove their worth. They will have to flee from his Mansion all the way to the local town through the woods at night. If they make it then they will be showered with riches and freedom and any boons Flauros can offer. If they don't... Well, food is food.

I think during one of these hunts I will have Flauros meet Yavin, the Son of Cernunnos who will become Flauros's spiritual guide. There can be a fun rivalry there as both are powerful beings that respect each other but dislike each others methods.

The FoL is the worship of Nature, not a specific god, Although all of them revere Cernunnos to an extent, So any gods can feel free to meddle in it and its followers. I see the Vampires as followers of Camulos and Junil. Flauros will have been a man of his word since the Age of Ice and his Oath to protect and provide for the Humans in exchange for their servitude. The Druids will have a sect of the FoL that follows Sucellus and Amathaon, the gods of Life and Fertility.

Ravus Sol,

I'd planned on letting a Calabim scout loose close to the Kuriotates lands in the next God Turn to make sure that the Kuriotates had at least met them before the war with the Amurites started.
Seeing as the Calabim are about to found FoL, it's probably a better story if a Disciple of Leaves has chosen to try and introduce the other civs to FoL. Lanun were the first port of call. From there he caught a boat which drops him on the coast somewhere between the Sidar and Kuriotates but not too close to the barbarians.

It might not be necessary for the Mega Plot, if the Calabim and Kuriotates meet in the next 50 turns but let me know if Cernunnos would include this in the next God Turn if the two Civs have not met at that stage.

Well as the Calabim are researching the FoL for this next turn they must have hunting already. I thought you would be releasing the scout/hunter this turn, That way we could write about the founding of the Religion next turn without worry.

For next update If you wish to have a Disciple of Leaves on a pilgrimage then I can work with that. I was planning to have a Female Centaur Druid-in-training arrive from the Kuriotate homeland. This could happen at the same time as a Vampire Disciple arrives. Thus causing a clash as the Vampire espouses the Circle of Life and the honour of a predator in the wild. While the Centaur pushes the idea of growth and tending the garden of creation.

So yes I'd be up for the "Journey of the FoL Disciple" but I'd still like to have a Vampire Hunter wandering around in the Sidar area this turn so that next update I can write About the meeting between Flaouros and Yavin.

Any thoughts?

-

Things that need updating:

• Pallus, needs deleting the two on the map and one placed by the Balseraphs
• Ancient Tower of some sort placed near the Dragon instead
• Vampire Hunter placed outside Sidar Borders
• Unnamed settler West of the Aerie needs deleting
• Story: Why the small island is on fire (this is for me in particular)
• Story: The settling of the Orc Town (I can make use of this and will give it a name)

EDIT: Updated the Content List