Valkrionn
The Hamster King
Alright, a while back I found an amazing leaderhead image. Rather than make a leader arbitrarily, I decided to start a contest. We have two entries: Celia the Undying (by Tasunke) and Ophelia Rosenthal (by Korias). I'm giving this a week until the poll is closed... Vote away. 
Celia the Undying
Sheiam
Evil
Nightmarish/Minor
Ophelia Rosenthal
Bannor, Dural, or Sheiam (Multiciv leader like Decius)
Neutral
Strategist/Emergent
Spoiler LeaderHead :
Celia the Undying
Sheiam
Evil
Nightmarish/Minor
Spoiler Original Post :
Celia the Undying, Sheiam leader, traits are Nightmarish/Minor. (is a Vampire, kinda)
Nightmarish-> all Arcane units gain fear, all Disciple units gain vile touch, + 1 unhappy in all cities, +1 science in all cities
Among the the aristocracy of the Calabim, it is considered a gift to learn the dark art. For Celia, gaining the gift was much by accident, and was as much a tortuous curse as it was a freedom from her former, feeble nature. Celia had a natural talent for mind and dimension magic, although she would never learn of this until much later. Instead, she was born as a bastard to a simple farmers daughter, after having slipped away from home to see what the Balseraph revelry was all about. Unfortunately ... Celia was borne with a grandfather that spited her, if not hating her. She was seen as a demon that was proof of her mother's sins, and the Proud Farmer wanted nothing to do with her.
When a savage wolfpack came into the farm and killed her family, she decided to venture out ... very troubled and untrusting of humans. She traveled through the wilderness living like a wild animal. Occasionally people would find her, and these events were always awkward, usually ending in bloodshed. She didn't mean to kill them, she was just so paranoid, and fearful of humankin. Then eventually she stumbled upon a manor. A young calabim lord subdued her and took her to his quarters. He was planning to feast on her soul. The Lord heard a disturbance in his manor, and shut her away in the closet. The disturbance was a band of Grigori adventurers, and eventually they had slain the vampyre. As his soul was floating by her, towards the fane of lessers, her savage mind managed to absorb all of his memories. Suddenly she was cursed with the knowledge, but remained quite mortal for the time being.
Her mind was more confused than a Balseraph Jester waking up at noon. Eventually she stumbled upon an Elohim abbey, and some of the maidens there attempted to help her. For several days she said nothing, and acted as if in a total comatose. Then one day a monk came to check up on her. He had the foul luck of looking much like her grandfather, and in a rage she tore into his flesh. He was able to push her back and defend himself, although he was defeated by surprise. Unable to produce a counterattack, the man was fated to die as Celia unknowingly created a dimensional rift at his feet, causing his lower half to drop into the floor, and then be sealed into the earth and stone. She tore into his neck, eating the flesh, and attempted to perform the ritual she had learned from those strange memories, however in this situation it was not completely possible, and she was already vastly confused. The improvisations filled most of the gaps, but the ritual was still uncomplete. Regardless she was able to consume part of his soul by willpower alone, and gained a hint of the immortality and powers the Vampires know well and adore. After feasting on most of the mans neck, shoulders, face, and chest, the maidens walked in and she ended up sending them into a different rift of space completely. Eventually, after much devastation in her wake, she finds Os-Gabella who takes Celia under her wing. Even Gabella is somewhat curious how Celia finds pleasure in acts Gabella thought only enjoyable by demons and depraved undead. Regardless, Gabella didn't really care. She knew that Celia would make a fine addition to the upper command structure. She was able to have a much more "direct" diplomacy with those of demonkin, and got along with them better than she did humans.
Those humans that did end up under her direct command ended up being nearly as grotesque and consumed as she was. If they weren't being cooperative, she would feed them the memories of tortured victims. Many went mad and became near useless, other than demon food, although those that were able to overcome the rigors became the deranged and nightmarish legions of Celia, feared by all that knew of her.
Edit: "Your nightmares have only just begun, mine have spent centuries in the making." (quote)
religious weights: OO +20, AV +40, ROK -10, FOL +5, Esus +10, Empy -20, Order -40
favorite civic is Sacrifice the Weak, other favorites are Slavery, and Theocracy.
Unitpath likes to start down the arcane, then following with the divine path. Favorite tech is Malevolent Designs. second favorite, although higher priority, is mages.
AI will try for arcane or summoner traits, although will settle for aggresive or organized when the time comes.
Unit progression would be something like ... first adepts, then adepts + catapults (and skeletons) then either for Sorcery or Ritualists. Probably Sorcery. Much death mana, maybe entropy, and then certainly Mages, Ritualists, Catapults eventually. After that, an almost beeline for Malevolent Designs unless needing some economic techs, like Code of Laws for instance. AI should save the Grimoire until it would net Malevolent designs, even at the risk of someone else stealing an early build of it. (or if it could be taught to plan ahead ... and "think" like Xienwolfe says) .... at least that would be the gist of it. Mainly focusing on arcane and divine, using summons and seige to make up for lack of melee.
If possible, instead of the unhappy from Nightmarish, could add the weak promo to certain other units, like the melee, cavalry, or archery line for instance. Current Idea is perfectly fine though.
Has extremely high favors to create Death and Entropy mana. Will always go Necromancy instead of Alteration.
possible diplomacy music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-6q50aY4ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUxYkAFZacI&feature=related -> I like the part in the middle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lh7jQxt8Sg&feature=fvw -> best so far imo (has good intro)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFubJOV6Obo -> possible alternate ... voice could be more eeire imo, if there is a non-voice version, would be great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km4HwnN8nTg&feature=related -> interesting ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOe9rjVdgk&feature=related -> this one for me speaks to the picture (leaderhead) the most. even if it is the simplest one.
Nightmarish-> all Arcane units gain fear, all Disciple units gain vile touch, + 1 unhappy in all cities, +1 science in all cities
Among the the aristocracy of the Calabim, it is considered a gift to learn the dark art. For Celia, gaining the gift was much by accident, and was as much a tortuous curse as it was a freedom from her former, feeble nature. Celia had a natural talent for mind and dimension magic, although she would never learn of this until much later. Instead, she was born as a bastard to a simple farmers daughter, after having slipped away from home to see what the Balseraph revelry was all about. Unfortunately ... Celia was borne with a grandfather that spited her, if not hating her. She was seen as a demon that was proof of her mother's sins, and the Proud Farmer wanted nothing to do with her.
When a savage wolfpack came into the farm and killed her family, she decided to venture out ... very troubled and untrusting of humans. She traveled through the wilderness living like a wild animal. Occasionally people would find her, and these events were always awkward, usually ending in bloodshed. She didn't mean to kill them, she was just so paranoid, and fearful of humankin. Then eventually she stumbled upon a manor. A young calabim lord subdued her and took her to his quarters. He was planning to feast on her soul. The Lord heard a disturbance in his manor, and shut her away in the closet. The disturbance was a band of Grigori adventurers, and eventually they had slain the vampyre. As his soul was floating by her, towards the fane of lessers, her savage mind managed to absorb all of his memories. Suddenly she was cursed with the knowledge, but remained quite mortal for the time being.
Her mind was more confused than a Balseraph Jester waking up at noon. Eventually she stumbled upon an Elohim abbey, and some of the maidens there attempted to help her. For several days she said nothing, and acted as if in a total comatose. Then one day a monk came to check up on her. He had the foul luck of looking much like her grandfather, and in a rage she tore into his flesh. He was able to push her back and defend himself, although he was defeated by surprise. Unable to produce a counterattack, the man was fated to die as Celia unknowingly created a dimensional rift at his feet, causing his lower half to drop into the floor, and then be sealed into the earth and stone. She tore into his neck, eating the flesh, and attempted to perform the ritual she had learned from those strange memories, however in this situation it was not completely possible, and she was already vastly confused. The improvisations filled most of the gaps, but the ritual was still uncomplete. Regardless she was able to consume part of his soul by willpower alone, and gained a hint of the immortality and powers the Vampires know well and adore. After feasting on most of the mans neck, shoulders, face, and chest, the maidens walked in and she ended up sending them into a different rift of space completely. Eventually, after much devastation in her wake, she finds Os-Gabella who takes Celia under her wing. Even Gabella is somewhat curious how Celia finds pleasure in acts Gabella thought only enjoyable by demons and depraved undead. Regardless, Gabella didn't really care. She knew that Celia would make a fine addition to the upper command structure. She was able to have a much more "direct" diplomacy with those of demonkin, and got along with them better than she did humans.
Those humans that did end up under her direct command ended up being nearly as grotesque and consumed as she was. If they weren't being cooperative, she would feed them the memories of tortured victims. Many went mad and became near useless, other than demon food, although those that were able to overcome the rigors became the deranged and nightmarish legions of Celia, feared by all that knew of her.
Edit: "Your nightmares have only just begun, mine have spent centuries in the making." (quote)
religious weights: OO +20, AV +40, ROK -10, FOL +5, Esus +10, Empy -20, Order -40
favorite civic is Sacrifice the Weak, other favorites are Slavery, and Theocracy.
Unitpath likes to start down the arcane, then following with the divine path. Favorite tech is Malevolent Designs. second favorite, although higher priority, is mages.
AI will try for arcane or summoner traits, although will settle for aggresive or organized when the time comes.
Unit progression would be something like ... first adepts, then adepts + catapults (and skeletons) then either for Sorcery or Ritualists. Probably Sorcery. Much death mana, maybe entropy, and then certainly Mages, Ritualists, Catapults eventually. After that, an almost beeline for Malevolent Designs unless needing some economic techs, like Code of Laws for instance. AI should save the Grimoire until it would net Malevolent designs, even at the risk of someone else stealing an early build of it. (or if it could be taught to plan ahead ... and "think" like Xienwolfe says) .... at least that would be the gist of it. Mainly focusing on arcane and divine, using summons and seige to make up for lack of melee.
If possible, instead of the unhappy from Nightmarish, could add the weak promo to certain other units, like the melee, cavalry, or archery line for instance. Current Idea is perfectly fine though.
Has extremely high favors to create Death and Entropy mana. Will always go Necromancy instead of Alteration.
possible diplomacy music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-6q50aY4ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUxYkAFZacI&feature=related -> I like the part in the middle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lh7jQxt8Sg&feature=fvw -> best so far imo (has good intro)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFubJOV6Obo -> possible alternate ... voice could be more eeire imo, if there is a non-voice version, would be great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km4HwnN8nTg&feature=related -> interesting ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOe9rjVdgk&feature=related -> this one for me speaks to the picture (leaderhead) the most. even if it is the simplest one.
Ophelia Rosenthal
Bannor, Dural, or Sheiam (Multiciv leader like Decius)
Neutral
Strategist/Emergent
Spoiler Original Post :
Template borrowed from Opera's Orbis "Create-a-leader" contest.
- (Civilization) The Bannor, The Dural, or The Shieam (Another Freaky Leader like Decius)
- (Quote) "I have been through hell and back- do not tempt me to show you the horrors I have seen."
- (Name) Ophelia Rosenthal
- (Traits) Aggresive/Emergent (If Possible, AI will actively seek out Expansive, Arcane, Organized, or Raiders as a secondary trait)
- Possible Alternative Trait Strategist Provides Tactics I instead of Combat I. Doubles the relationship benefit for "We share a mutual military struggle."
- (Leader Relations) -1 BaseAttitude
- (Unique Personality) Ophelia is an all or nothing strategist, and will, hopefully, build Military from the start and spark an early Crusade (if Bannor) or early wars. However, she's a Strategist, and will plan to broker in an Ally if she is in any way able to do so. If possible, she would also bribe allies into wars without actually joining in, keeping her empire safe at the expense of others. I would also sense a perpetual WHEOOHRN (We Have Enough On Our Hands Right Now) going on with her.
- (Favorite Civic) Military State
- (Favored Religion) Council of Esus
- (Attitude Towards "Evil" Resources (IE: Death Mana)) -1 for Entropy Mana, +1 for Dimensional Mana ("You understand my Point of View")
- (Gender Bonus to Attitude) No
- (Alignment) Neutral
- (Favorite Tech) Deception or Military Strategy
- (Favored Unit Types) Mounted Units / Recon Units
- (Favorite Wonder) The Tower of Eyes
- (Hated Civic) Foreign Trade
- (Defeat Quote) "Have you no remorse in your heart, sending me back into the Hells from which I escaped?"
- (Religious Weights) Order: +10 FoL: -30 RoK: +20 Empy: -20 CoE: +40 OO: +20 AV:+10 Ordo Mechanos: -20
- (Diplomacy Music) "Love Theme" from the Metal Gear Solid 4 Soundtrack
- (Pedia Entry)
Spoiler :They had left her.
They had escaped where she had remained. Lost, cold, and alone, Ophelia had seen the bloodshed caused by both man and demon alike, and in this hell, the memories faded together where she could neither separate the demon from the man. Even Donal, the one whom had stayed behind, was as brutal and if not more lethal than the demons that chased her through the wastes.
But neither demon nor man would ever find her. Having been abandoned, Ophelia had abandoned many of the Bannors fanatical approaches to survival. And it was because of this that for the first time since she had fought alongside Capria as a Secondline-Woman, she had felt the surge of hope that was nonexistent in the place like this. In this hell where she had been abandoned, she had adapted.
Perhaps you are more like that fool Donal than you care to admit, Ms. Rosenthal. The voice was quick to shatter her mood as she spun around, the blade in her hand chipped and stained with the blood of many. But it pointed at nothing but the dusty winds, no foe whispering in her ear, no beast that warranted her sword through its chest. Her eyes darted to and fro, seeing nothing on the horizon.
Seeing nothing but hearing the sounds of rope tearing, rocks tumbling against one another and the inevitable shattering as her traps had been destroyed by something. The sounds echoed across the broken fields, as Ophelia stood there watching precious hours of her labor be destroyed. As the last rock tumbled down from her makeshift rockslide, she knew that this would go on. That fleeting moment of hope was gone.
It had been replaced by something far more sinister. A cold burning sensation on her soul. Perhaps it was the machinations of countless generations that had pushed her to this edge, or perhaps it was something else. But escape was the only option. Her head filled itself with ideas, plots, theories that she hadnt conceived before. But each idea, each thought, was foreign and malicious.
And it was these ideas that had whispered in her ear the only way out of hell, was to be gated out. The path up Mulcarns domain was too slow- she needed to be free of this wretched place. The seductive whispers of freedom filled her mind as the wastelands grew smaller to her, each step no longer taking the effort of a hundred and each day spent in the red haze she had been left in grew shorter as she found herself taking an almost macabre ecstasy from breaking each demon not of their strength, but of their will. She relished in the confusion and frustration as the enemy lost her trail, and laughed at their incompetence as she followed the whispering winds of the hells.
Time held no meaning for Ophelia as she slipped from one vault, moving in the shadows and slipping by unnoticed. Demons no longer paid heed to her, mistaking her for another petitioner as she pushed between vaults and into her ultimate goal- the Vault of Cerdiwen. The whispers had told her where to go, how to get there, the sigils and mysteries she would need to decipher and ultimately, the way to navigate the vault. But no whisper, no false hope, no burning desire could prepare her as she slipped into the unmentionable abyss. She saw everything in the maelstrom and webways, secrets that pushed her mind to break and then break again, her perceptions shattered every instant. She perceived Furias torture from the view of the Balseraph angel, gazed through the eyes of Nemed as he twisted and writhed in excruciating pain under the will of Os-Gabella, and felt Flauros pierce her flesh as Taerry, the poor Calabim girl whom was nothing more than a plaything the aristocrat. But to Ophelia, she was all of these people and had seen everything through their eyes. Their pain, their fears, their sorrows, but also their hopes, their dreams, and the futures that could have been. Ophelia didnt know if this was from the whispers or from Cerdiwen herself preying upon the trespassing Bannor, but she no longer cared as her lungs were filled with cold, crisp air. She was on Erebus again. But she had seen the visions of millions of souls, gazed into the very Avatar of Wrath as he was being formed. Things a mere mortal was never meant to see. And her very being was no longer part of her. Her gaze, where it had once been both frightened but and hopeful was now left sinister and distant. Her voice was controlled and her tone pert and quick, her temper now short but her reactions to be thought out and executed with precision. She was no longer Ophelia Rosenthal, but rather the sum of what she had seen.
- (Diplo Text)
- First Meeting I have seen many people walk through the palace doors- what is your reason?
- Pleased Response I am... glad that we were able to envision a beneficial deal between our peoples
- Annoyed Response I cannot see how that would be be the wisest course of action.
- Pleased Greeting Welcome once more, friend. Have you experienced few hardships since we last met?
- Cautious GreetingI see you have returned. What brings you back into my view?
- Annoyed Greeting I do not wish to see you. Be quick so that I need not gaze upon the face of one such as you.
- Pleased Request Perhaps you will see that this is what both of us need.
- Cautious Request There are things that this world should never be forced to lay its eyes upon.
- Annoyed Request I have seen things that would make even the most stalwart cower. There are things that I would make you do to see things from my perspective, if I must.
- Refuses to Talk Leave my sight before I make you see things that would shatter your perceptions.
- (Leader Specific Relations) See Below (If they were ever to occur in the mod
)- -2 to Os-Gabella, Flauros, Charadon ("I have seen what you have done.")
- +1 to Beeri ("I have seen your courageous actions")
- -3 to Capria and Sabathiel ("You left me in hell!")
- +1 to Furia ("I understand your plight.")
- +2 to Perpentach ("You understand my point of view.")
- -1 to Hannah the Irin (If Not OO) ("I have felt the pain of the dreamers.")
