ImmacuNES VI: Dreams and Legends

[Lord of Elves]

From: Neirygine Confederacy
To: Taha'ar League
Greetings, scale of our scale. His Eminence, the Sjaerbast of the Plurifold Clans and all the scalelords of the Clans bid you good tidings. Our people, having ventured forth into the hinterlands and unknown which mark a border between our kind and your own, have discovered your people and have been pleased to note your lack of aggression towards the Plurifold Lands of the Confederacy. His Eminence wishes to accord for time the record of our peaceful and cooperative intent towards your kind, fleshy and squishy though you may be. The Plurifold Clans propose that a border be agreed upon between our lands and that we ought by that means vouchsafe our peoples against mutual transgressions, preserving thereby the peace and prosperity of our kinds.

 

[Devercia]

I'd like to write stories for this NES, but not actually play. I was curious if doing so would step on anyone's toes, as it would necessarily be about the cultures of the players. I would, ofcourse, try to stay in the bounds of the inspiration the player provides with their nation.

Or would me being a sort of NPC-player be helpful? One thing I wished for when running NESs was for someone to act as a third party with some authority; not the mod and not a player, to fill in lore and add spontaneity to events and NPCs. Not so much be the guy the clicks the earthquake button, but hints at threats from within, things the mod or players can seize on for themselves.

inspired by one of my several incubus attacks.

Uldorna settled in her bed for the night. Her furs were a bit musty, but warm. The cedar in her hearth popping almost violently as it burned. She was not scarce of firewood. Her brother Uldus was seeing to that on the side. After their father died, Uldus had been filled with a paternalism, becoming as selflessly industrious as he was patronizing to her. When their father died, Uldus sold their shack on the outskirts of Greymark and took up the offer of the Prince of Jalderhall to settle the land nearby.

He should have waited, she thought, for the other princes soon made their own offers of land and stipends for those willing to develop their properties and pay the tax farmers.

Uldorna did not like living in the shadow of Jalderhall, nor in the hills of Broodsbarrow. This place was too much of a frontier to her preference. Jalderhall was also unnerving to her. She found [Void]kin to introverted for her trust. Her father had described them as serpents, content to lay motionless until filled with the fury of being trodden upon.

She remembered climbing the grey-green hillside to the monastery's wall, hoping to retrieve her stipend inside. She curiously found no door, so she circled the entire complex, finding only stone arrayed to block her path. She stood perplexed until she saw a man standing next to her. He spoke nothing. With a serene look on his face he seemed to fade from being as he walked through the masonry. It was one of the strangest things she remembered.

A hand reached out of the stonework, outstretched. She took it and flew through solid stone and out the other side. She realized that was not supposed to happen, as if watching a memory that had become something new. The courtyard smelled of cedar smoke and animal. The man still had her by the hand. He forcefully pinned her on the plushness of the stone wall, his eyes locked on her's. Uldorna felt naked before him and shut her eyes tightly. She could not move. When Uldorna opened her eyes, the underside of the shingles glimmering in firelight met her. Her heart was filled with fear, her limbs unmovable, an oppressive weight from an unseen source weighed on her chest and limbs. For hours to come, long after she shook herself from her unresponsive body, did the imminantly malevolent presence and the impotence of her mind to convince it was all a dream, remain unyeilding. It was still here, watching her.

 

[Vertinari118]

Patchy I think RPing it will work best and realistically I'm the one to initiate contact. Expect diplo or, if my essays go ridiculously well, a short story tomorrow about it. Now I really need to go to bed, something I should have done at least 2 hours ago.

Devercia you are more than welcome to meddle in the affairs of the Confederation, within reason, if Immac allows it too. If you do decide to write, it'll most likely be on inter-clan and intra-clan relations and interactions. I should have something detailing that up after update zero, aforementioned essays forbid me to do otherwise, though I would rather be staying up into the wee hours of the morn writing stories.

 

[Patchy]

Glad you chose RP. I was thinking with having a scouting patrol/hunter/logger wander into the Kodama forest and going from there. But whatever works with you.

@Devercia: Feel free to write stories about the Kodama (most likely just them messing with people who come into their forest) so long as you don't contradict any of the lore that has been set up around them.

 

[mgsmuhammad]

From: Neirygine Confederacy
To: Taha'ar League
Greetings, scale of our scale. His Eminence, the Sjaerbast of the Plurifold Clans and all the scalelords of the Clans bid you good tidings. Our people, having ventured forth into the hinterlands and unknown which mark a border between our kind and your own, have discovered your people and have been pleased to note your lack of aggression towards the Plurifold Lands of the Confederacy. His Eminence wishes to accord for time the record of our peaceful and cooperative intent towards your kind, fleshy and squishy though you may be. The Plurifold Clans propose that a border be agreed upon between our lands and that we ought by that means vouchsafe our peoples against mutual transgressions, preserving thereby the peace and prosperity of our kinds.

From: Taha'ar League
To: Neirygine Confederacy
Well met, beastmen. Though your appearances are distasteful, our Chief nonetheless sees no need for punitive measures.
The great mount, surely a bastion of the gods themselves, serves as an obvious sign of their intentions to hold us back from mutual conflict.
We have no desire to disobey the will of the gods.
As such, we shall make it plain - make no attempts to move to our side of the peaks, and you shall find us amicable neighbours.

 

[Immaculate]

I'd like to write stories for this NES, but not actually play. I was curious if doing so would step on anyone's toes, as it would necessarily be about the cultures of the players. I would, ofcourse, try to stay in the bounds of the inspiration the player provides with their nation.

Or would me being a sort of NPC-player be helpful? One thing I wished for when running NESs was for someone to act as a third party with some authority; not the mod and not a player, to fill in lore and add spontaneity to events and NPCs. Not so much be the guy the clicks the earthquake button, but hints at threats from within, things the mod or players can seize on for themselves.

inspired by one of my several incubus attacks.

That sounds great to me!

I also like that players are providing their explicit permission- so maybe focus on stories about those player's nations first?

 

[Arrow Gamer]

To the Ixii
From the Malakai

Send us a tribute of fifty men and fifty women each year, and we will not take thrice that number each month.

 

[mgsmuhammad]

((OOC @ Devercia: Feel free to flesh out the Taha'ar League. I reserve the right to render anything noncanon, but - well, they're a pretty diverse bunch, with varying viewpoints. I shouldn't have to do so, in most cases.))

 

[Seon]

Feel free to flesh out Celestia. They are, however, a relatively homogeneous and centralized people.

 

[merciary]

Feel free to write about Aketua.

 

[Immaculate]

1) I will not be accepting orders before the update

2) EXCEPT I will accept outlines of UUs requesting a cost structure for them. UUs should be presented without stats- only with descriptors- training types, weapons, whether they use magic or not... stuff like that. You must have 5 culture points available to do so (I think you all have that rather low bar cleared).

3) Your populations are probably between 50,000 and 500,000 depending on the race. Faster breeding races will have more and the slower breeding races will have less. Territories are usually 300-500km at their widest.

4) I can answer questions about your local terrain if you want. Just ask.

 

[Devercia]

I'll be waiting for update 0 before starting to get a baseline.

 

[hbar]

To the Ixii
From the Malakai

Send us a tribute of fifty men and fifty women each year, and we will not take thrice that number each month.

You are welcome to try, meatsacks. Our warriors will dance in the smoke of your funeral pyres.

 

[Seon]

I like how people are sending diplomacy before update 0.

It's almost like they know for certain that they aren't immediately going to be eaten by monsters.

 

[mgsmuhammad]

Spoiler :

Plot

Spoiler :

Armour

 

[LDiCesare]

How large is a warband?
I think danaan warband unit is too strong. So is the military quality if it refers to units (but not if it refers to individuals). The coercion power is mostly used by the warleader to force his comrades to actually fight. Without it, there wouldn't even be a unit, but it's not really useful as it just circumvents a racial weakness. The illusions might help, but those who are powerful mages are using their power to coerce the rest into fighting together, so again it's not very useful. It's just a potential for units to be developped later, at the cost of much gold.
Danaans are really bad at (offensive) warfare. Their heroes are top-notch, but they cannot fight together very well. (On the other hand, invading them would likely be a nightmare for each danaan would fight to death for the glory of it and persuaded that the 1000 who died before her were simply weaker than her.)

I have trouble reading the map. If I get it well, I'm in a desert/forest area? Are there plains, savannahs or otherwise areas which are neither forested nor desert?

Regarding Fishing. I wrote a possible economy about agriculture with unknown level, but got a high level fishing instead. That doesn't fit what I expected. Danaans aren't rivermen or sailors. I'd rather have them be afraid of large bodies of water actually. I'd prefer them to know how to use the plow than the fishing rod.

Finally, could you edit stats in posts 7 and 8? The stats in these have lots of blank space which make them hard to read as one has to scroll to read all the stats, whereas those in post 6 are fine.

 

[Arrow Gamer]

You are welcome to try, meatsacks. Our warriors will dance in the smoke of your funeral pyres.

I can only echo your words, as they describe your fate more than ours.

 

[Seon]

I'm sorry. I can't resist.

 

[Immaculate]

How large is a warband?

It varies depending on the what sort of troops it represents. Generally i think that the faster breeding races with shorter lifespans probably have bigger units than do the elves and such. I haven't considered exact numbers but am open to suggestions.

I think danaan warband unit is too strong. So is the military quality if it refers to units (but not if it refers to individuals). The coercion power is mostly used by the warleader to force his comrades to actually fight. Without it, there wouldn't even be a unit, but it's not really useful as it just circumvents a racial weakness. The illusions might help, but those who are powerful mages are using their power to coerce the rest into fighting together, so again it's not very useful. It's just a potential for units to be developped later, at the cost of much gold.
Danaans are really bad at (offensive) warfare. Their heroes are top-notch, but they cannot fight together very well. (On the other hand, invading them would likely be a nightmare for each danaan would fight to death for the glory of it and persuaded that the 1000 who died before her were simply weaker than her.)

I apologize- i misunderstood. I have made changes to your stats and removed your racial unit. I hope this is more in keeping with your expectations?

I have trouble reading the map. If I get it well, I'm in a desert/forest area? Are there plains, savannahs or otherwise areas which are neither forested nor desert?

No- you are on coastal plains with light forest to your north. The south is a bit dryer but certainly not desert. Again my apologies for not making the map more clear. A true yellow is desert but the ground occasionally has yellowish tinge (i use a color jitter to produce a textured look and perhaps it added a bit more yellow than appropriate?)

EDIT: I realize what it is. Your national color was yellow so it makes everything inside your circle look a bit more yellow.

Regarding Fishing. I wrote a possible economy about agriculture with unknown level, but got a high level fishing instead. That doesn't fit what I expected. Danaans aren't rivermen or sailors. I'd rather have them be afraid of large bodies of water actually. I'd prefer them to know how to use the plow than the fishing rod.

Again my apologies. I hope i have fixed it to your satisfaction.

Finally, could you edit stats in posts 7 and 8? The stats in these have lots of blank space which make them hard to read as one has to scroll to read all the stats, whereas those in post 6 are fine.

I did not feel that was a good use of my time so i did not bother to fix anyone else's stats but i did go and fix yours. You'll just have to use your scroll bar to read other people's stats.

 

[Seon]

Celestian Priestess in her traditional red garb. Most female magi in the Kingdom of Celestia opt to follow a religious career. In fact, only female are eligible to serve as full-fledged clergy.

Celestian Crowning Ceremony, viewed from a distance. After the death of the old King, the new Would-Be-King would conjure the Crown of Flames upon his own head to signal the Passing to all of Celestia. All magi who sees the newly arisen Crown are then obligated to swear their loyalty to the new King, the new owner of the Crown. The conjuration of the Crown is an incredibly difficult magical feat that none but the most powerful magi can perform.

Coast of Celestis, the Sacred Lake of Celestia. Each year, the Priestess of coastal settlements gather and throw sacrifices into the lake to buy the favor of the Goddess.​

Celestian Priestess leading a sacrificial ceremony, where offerings and sacrifices are burnt in order to appease the Goddess. The peasantry of Celestis collect the ashes of the burnt offerings and scatter them over their crops. This is said to bring about good luck and a good harvest.

Spoiler Warning, large image. :

Sacrificial ceremonies viewed from afar.​