SSNES: Fall of Wu'di

[Kozmos]

To Ramon
From Republic of Benethrezim

Excellent! The King shall arrive on the grounds you wish to build the academy. He will write down the fire knowledge from his mind and once he has written it all down , he will return back to Benethrezim and let you finish the construction of the academy.

OOC:My orders might be a little late Silver...I have a geography test and questioning tomorrow.

 

[Azash]

The Wyrmchapel was crowded. Within it had gathered hundreds, and even more remained outside to remember the deceased, an artist, engineer and mage of great renown and greater yet wisdom. Amongst this throng, Shezmon wove his way towards the dead Disciple's family, gathered around the newly completed grave that had been carved into the stone floor. Getting closer to it, Shezmon could see that no cost had been too much to commemorate Dhuyas, the eldest, and now dead, member of the influential Sharome bloodline. Lavish gold decorations ran like the outlines of flames along the edges of the marble work that rose slightly out of the floor, a sculpture of Dhuyas upon it.

Gyros Sharome, the eldest son of Dhuyas, raised his glass in salute of Shezmon as he noticed the approaching Dragonfather.​

"I wish to thank you, Shezmon, for personally attending Father's funeral. I feared indeed that you would be too busy overseeing the great Renaissance to visit here."

"Nonsense, Gyros, I won't have it. Your father was one of the greatest men to enhumble Shaemar and bring forth its hidden potential. It is indeed fortunate that such uncanny timing was to be brought forth; never has such intelligence more needed than during this glorious period."​

"Indeed. However, that reminds me of a matter I was planning to bring up with you. As you know, Father was a very productive man, even for a Disciple; There must the hundreds or thousands of journals, manuals, manuscripts on everything between agriculture and artisanship. There is so much which he never thought of bringing forth, much that could bring the Renaissance into even greater glory. Will you take these books and study them?"

Shezmon was quiet for a while before responding. "How about this: you publish the works yourselves, gifting them to libraries and other recognized geniuses? I understand you are wealthy, as well. Could you use some of these funds to support young artists and engineers, to help us quicken this process?"​

"Actually, we had thought of such a fund as well. And it does seem to me this will be the best way to remember Father, and perhaps raise the Sharome family to prominence. If you would follow me, I will show you the collection.."

 

[Fryzer]

Orders sent

 

[Reno]

Orders Sent, story tomorrow.

 

[Silver Steak]

Nice, nice.

EDIT: For once, I haven't badgered about orders. And they still trickle in.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

IC: Story.

"Most Powerful One... the forces have been deployed for a week as of today. The scrying can begin now."
"Good. You are dismissed." Hierophant Seton of the Order of Nature Adepts of Pashawan, an enormously bulky man, waved the soldier away and growled orders to his adepts. They were testing a somewhat experimental process today. "Silver reliquary? Oak seeds? Blood vial? Hazel wand?"
"Everything is ready, master."
"Good. You know what to do; keep me and my work shrouded in as much aura of growth as you can manage." Shrugging bearishly, he took the sack of components from the younger Adept and settled down to a flat patch of ground.

"With this reliquary do I ask the Earth to aid me." he intoned formally. Seton placed the large silver bowl upside down on the ground. With his immense strength, he then began rotating it, the sharpened edge cutting through the ground until it contained a half-sphere of loam.

"With my own hands I lay the ground bare." Seton stuck both hands into the hemisphere of humus and ripped open a hole in the middle of it.

"I plant the seed of an ancient oak." He dropped an acorn into the hole. It seemed to sink in and attach itself immediately. Seton continued to recite for several minutes as he stabbed the acorn with a dagger, pushed earth over it, and traced a pattern with his hazel wand. He took out a vial of stag's blood, let it trickle out over the moiety of turf, and followed up with some of his own.

The the real magic began. With the preparations to control the magic, it flowed smoothly into the pattern he had sculpted for it. The acorn grew into a sapling, bursting forth from the bowl of sod as a perfectly straight, miniature tree in the space of minutes.

Seton made a last gesture with the hazel wand. Buds appeared on the spotless stem, rapidly turning into branches as the little tree's horizontal growth abated. A few branches protruded from the tree in seemingly random directions, and the ritual ended.

But only seemingly random. Seton began measuring the branches' length and thickness and found them to be closely proportional to the force of the armies that were encamped close by. He signalled the other Adepts to stand down and begin helping him refine the scrying process.



OOC: Silver, you said "Be creative with your chosen signature magic" on the first page, so I thought I'd find a way of scrying by nature. Basically, an Adept takes a chunk of soil and convinces it to tell him about nearby armies by means of planting an acorn and seeing where the branches grow. Since it isn't Divination, the downsides are that this takes several minutes, is almost only effective at medium range, only detects large clusters of people stomping on the ground, requires reasonably fertile ground and an acorn. Feel free to make adjustments.

 

[Silver Steak]

So, basically what you want is to have Adepts along the border to grow scrying trees whenever they suspect the enemy to be close? Or do these acorns sprout trees when the enemy is nearby? Do they only grow to a proportional size with the army, or do they grow as they close as well?

I approve of your initiative. Needless to say, I will allow you to experiment a lot since you have high Adept training. But I will need more info about the branch of magic so I can rule strategies utilizing it in the future.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

a row of scrying trees along the border

No, nothing that ridiculous.

Or do these acorns sprout trees when the enemy is nearby? Do they only grow to a proportional size with the army, or do they grow as they close as well?

No, it's not continual - the sapling grows branches once, and that reveals the approximate number and position of men (both friendly and enemy) that were nearby at the time the scoop of earth was taken. It's like a single sweep with a low resolution, people-only radar, with a few minutes' time lapse.

The earth has lots of people standing on it, which impact it. The Adept gets a freeze frame of who's standing on it. Clear?

 

[Silver Steak]

Is there any particular reason for you wanting these single-use radar sweep acorns instead of detection trees? Cause it's much easier for me and your Adepts to do that.

EDIT: For one thing, the people only thing sounds a bit shady. For all I care, the Steppes might be filled with hordes of bisons, rendering it useless. Besides, you will be able to detect movement (impact of feet/hooves) and not units that are stationary. This means you will be able to detect marching armies, but not necessarily standing ones. Unless you scan the entire countryside, of course, and calculate the pressure created by an army standing reasonably tight in one area (which I think will only give minuscle differences and impossible to detect). Lastly, I feel it kind of pointless when you need to collect a soil sample from the vicinity in order to scry. Then it's cheaper to have a few detection trees that turn shocking pink when an army marches past them.

 

[Kozmos]

Or he can just have a man on a horse patrolling the border.

 

[Silver Steak]

True, but that wouldn't be fancy/weird enough for Erik.

Which brings me back to your UUs, Erik. Pashawari Winged Heralds are basically Light Cavalry with faster and stronger horses, suited for skirmishing in both open and rough terrain. They are indeed the fastest ground unit in the NES, if you don't count magical ones.

 

[Azash]

By the way, lol @ Erik's stats (The desc still says "Pashawan")

 

[Silver Steak]

By the way, lol @ Erik's stats (The desc still says "Pashawan")

I have no idea what you're referring to. Anyway, I'm not about to change every mention of Pashawan!

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Is there any particular reason for you wanting these single-use radar sweep acorns instead of detection trees? Cause it's much easier for me and your Adepts to do that.

Fine, do that - I had no idea that that was easier. You're the boss of how magic works here.

EDIT: For one thing, the people only thing sounds a bit shady. For all I care, the Steppes might be filled with hordes of bisons, rendering it useless.

Oops, by "people only" I meant that it can't tell the difference between infantry, riders, caravans, and doesn't pick up on whether people are wearing armor, or whatever.

Besides, you will be able to detect movement (impact of feet/hooves) and not units that are stationary. This means you will be able to detect marching armies, but not necessarily standing ones. Unless you scan the entire countryside, of course, and calculate the pressure created by an army standing reasonably tight in one area (which I think will only give minuscle differences and impossible to detect). Lastly, I feel it kind of pointless when you need to collect a soil sample from the vicinity in order to scry. Then it's cheaper to have a few detection trees that turn shocking pink when an army marches past them.

Bwahahahaha.

Well, whatever. I just had a cool idea. Implement it however you see fit.

 

[Silver Steak]

Sure. I will give you magical acorns that sproud shocking pink trees whenever they detect a large number of animals (i.e. invading army) moving past it. OK?

 

[Azash]

Why shouldn't the guardian trees see stationary troops as well? I'd imagine they still move around while in their cosy encampments.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Well, to be stationary, they first have to move into position.

Sounds great, Silver.

I can imagine the lookouts now: "Sir, the forward trees have turned pink! We have incoming!"

Must be rather disconcerting for the enemies, too.

 

[Betrayed]

@SS, I need the answer for my question, before I can start writing the story or orders.

EDIT: Oh well, I've got no more time to wait. I'll go write the orders now.

I won't be able to write the story before the update...

 

[Kozmos]

Order will be written. My head hurts. No story this turn sorry.

 

[Silver Steak]

No problem. Umm. I might not be here anymore until I start the update tomorrow. If I don't say anything else, assume that I'm gone.