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RPG: Fountains of Mana


Alex Humva

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Ever since the collapse of the First Ones, humanity has been scattered and lost over the land of Elorena.

Two thousand years of chaos and warlords reduced a once grand civilization to a motley collection of towns and cities that could scarcely be called civilizations. It would be fittingly known as the Age of Chaos, with the foul creatures that roam taking advantage of humanity's fractured status. Alliances with fellow sapients would be made and broken with every breath of the wind across the land. The Age of Cities would start when Emperor Kámen Meč unified the three cities of the Worlds Crown. During this time, humanity would cease its chaotic scrabblings, formalizing war to an art and sport rather than senseless violence. The land would be tamed, and the fantastic creatures that wandered it, subjugated. Soon, sapients began to live amongst humans, intermingling co-existing in the new nations that sprung up from the ashes of the old age. Half-breeds became common, man learned how to wield the power of the earth and create refined metals, and the art of diplomacy was perfected by the kings of the land.

Nearly six hundred years after the Emperor Mečs unification, the Fountains of Mana were uncovered. Ancient shrines from the Age of Legends, these fountains were filled with mana, a strange magical substance. It was discovered in short order that when exposed to mana for a long period of time, one gained magical abilities, capable of doing wonderous things with a mere thought. It was from this the first Council of Warlocks was formed, wizards from around the land who sought to institute a noble endeavor to grant all the ability to use magic and to bring humanity closer together. The Age of Magic had begun.

The council would promptly fail after the declaration of war between the Southern Ithu States and the Great Sea Cities. The conflict tore the Council apart and made its vision little more than a pipe dream as humans and their sapient citizens continued to exist as their own, independent, entities. Warfare had changed now, however, with magic being used to destructive effect unheard of before the Age of Magic. It would be two hundred years more until the present day arrived. The nations have more or less become stable, but now, the rulers of the land look towards the future. No empire has ever stretched the whole of Elorena, but for the first time, an opportunistic ruler could very well achieve it. The emperors of the past would be shamed by the abilities now possessed by humanity. Someone will rule the land; the only question is who.

Fountains of Mana

Hosted by Alex Humva

Co-hosted by Silvan Haven

The Game Itself

This is Fountains of Magic, a low-fantasy RTS RPG that involves players taking the role of guiding their civilization through diplomacy, military action, and cultural struggles. Rather than role play an individual, you have the daunting task of role-playing a nation. Its surprisingly easy skill to get the hang of though, so don't worry. Something of note is that, due to the size of this sort of game, the opening post simply cannot hold every wonder and curiosity. As such, in the accompanying discussion topic, there will be an FAQ post that will allow you to browse through questions that have been brought up.

The World We Live In

The world this RPG takes place in is some unspecified Earth-like planet; our slice of the action takes place in a small subcontinent area. The climate varies somewhat, with the southern-most parts experiencing more moderate temperatures and the northern-most bits experiencing harsh winters. As such the environment is more or less a consistent gradient, with a few isolated areas experiencing different weather patterns. Geography can be explained by this handy map:

]fountainsofmana.png

[Territories controlled]-[World Regions]-[Region Glossary]-

The civilizations of this world are approximately in the early first century AD, for a parallel to our own world. Bronze and iron are the mainstays of the day, with steel in its infancy but still not quite perfected by civilizations at large. Travel is as you'd expect, horses and feet making up your primarily means, allowing you to travel the world at 5 MPH. Farming does still take up a large portion of the population, with only around 20% of the population engaged in other activities. Please keep this in mind when doing your day-to-day affairs. Fantastic creatures are an occurrence in this world, but not to the degree you see in something like high fantasy. Some creatures, like dragons and treemen, still roam this world free of human interference, often secluded away from civilization in remote places. Almost all others have been incorporated into the expansive human civilizations. Sometimes these are half-breeds, combinations of humans and other races, but often they are simply another species all-together, coexisting with the human majority. As it stands there is no nation with a non-human majority, but there do exist nations with significant non-human presences.

As a player you are welcome to create your own race(s) to have exist within your nation. The mechanics of running a whole nation can be daunting, and indeed, if everyone had to manage every mundane task wed be here all day figuring things out. As such, there are a few systems in place to help players and GMs alike keep things straight. A core feature is the Economic Point (EP) system: this is how you handle things like buying armies, settling new lands, building important buildings, and maintaining your wizardry stocks. Your civilization produces a set amount of EPs based on the land(s) you currently control AND what you have done with that land. This system is cumulative, as in your EPs can build up over time to allow for larger purchases. You produce EP once every quarter year, or every 14 days in real life. You can then spend your EP on whatever you will. For you more visual learners, look at it this way:

  • You begin on day 1. You have 10 EP.
  • You build a dam for five EP. You now have 5 EP.
  • You hit day 14. You gain 20 EP. You now have 25 EP.
  • You build two dams. You now have 15 EP.

This can then be made more complex by maintenance; that is, some things cost money over time, and deducts EP out of your budget immediately. Take this example:

  • You begin on day 1. You have 10 EP.
  • You commission a hundred man army. This costs you 1 EP per pay cycle. You now have 9 EP.
  • You hit day 14. You gain 20 EP. You deduct 1 EP for your army. You now have 28 EP.

Simple enough, right? How you manage your finances is often a significant factor of play, and will require you to make decisions on what to buy and, potentially, what to conquer to pay for your expanding army. But one might ask "ok Humva, so I produce EP based on the land I own, but how do I make more cash?" It's a good question; you have the ability to make economic improvements by submitting your improvement to a GM. Tell them what exactly you want to improve and how, and they will give you an initial price and what EP increase that will net you. Keep in mind, however, that some improvements are better than others in some places. If you live in the mountains, increasing your farming production will have a far lesser gain than, say, building more mines.

Take this hypothetical example: you live in the Mythic Mountains, and your province makes 20 EP/cycle. You decide to make three economic improvements, effecting farming, lumberjacking, and mining. You devote 5 EP each to improving these. The farming increases your EP/cycle by 1 EP, the lumberjacking by 4 EP, and the mining by 8 EP. As you can see, lumberjacking and mining are the ways to go for proper economic improvement in that region. Provinces Themselves First of all, an important distinction must be made; regions are areas on the map that detail specific climate areas and facilitate the placement of nations. Provinces are nation based, though still decided by the GM. A province is an area that produces EP, and where improvements can be made. Everyone starts off with one province, their Capital Province, which produces their starting EP. As your nation grows the GMs will decide when to do redistricting and create a new province. This will be reflected in a specialized province map.

The tl;dr of this all is that a province is a chunk of land that produces EP/cycle and the GMs draw the borders for them. Take this example scaled down and entirely hypothetical province map:

provinceexample.png

Province 1 makes 10 EP/cycle, province 2 makes 5 EP/cycle, province 3 5 EP/cycle and so forth. If you were to build mines in province 1 and make it produce 15 EP/cycle, then province 1 would be the only one that benefits from the mines. As stated before, everyone starts with one province, their Capital Province. This will produce a base 30 EP/cycle when you join the game, subject to change as the game progresses.

Waging War

War is inevitable in these sorts of games, and indeed, is a crucial part to expanding as a player. The backbone of any war is the army; for the sake of balance, theres some standardization to army costs and upkeep. A company of men, consisting of a thousand soldiers, costs a flat 1 EP to produce and 4 EP to upkeep. They take 14 real days to train. This is, however, a company of professional soldiers, equipped with some form of good armor and weaponry. You can choose to, instead of professional soldiers, rally together a levy force. These levies are the common folk, armed minimalistically and trained little. They cost 1 EP for three thousand soldiers and cost 1 EP to upkeep. They take two real days to train. You are able to, of course, upgrade the equipment that your army uses via commissioning projects, something talked about later. Maybe you produce some more swords, maybe you make a never-ending supply of bread with magic, its really up to you. Alas, for soldiers that deviate from the standard foot soldier, you will have to request the pricing specifics for that particular soldier type. Do this by talking to your local GM. In addition, units will keep their veteran status; for instance, if you rally levies up and then disband them after the war to return to their farms, you have the option of specifically calling those levies up again in the future. They will benefit from the experience and be better than stock levies.

Now, knowing how to buy your troops is all well and good, but how do you actually fight with them? This is a contentious area in RTS RPGs, and one that often produces the harshest of feelings. Often fights will devolve into "my guys shot your guys! no, mine did!" As such, its requested that civility is exercised, and to keep in mind that at the end of the day its just a game. How a typical battle should go down is player A initiating the attack, player B responding to the tactics presented, and then this will go back and forth until a victor is decided. A GM will be there to give a causality report. If the battle cannot be decided in a reasonable span of time, a GM will declare a victor in it. Above all else, use common sense when battling. The tl;dr of this section:

  • Professional soldiers (1,000) cost 4 EP to train and 1 EP/cycle to upkeep. They are trained soldiers who remain soldiers.
  • Farmers-made-soldiers (3,000) cost 1 EP to train and 1 EP/cycle to upkeep. They are farmers with swords.
  • Units keep their veteran status.
  • Battles should be conducted with some form of civility and common sense.

Magic!

This game has magic, as evidenced in the opening post. You might ask, how do I get my wizard army? Well, in order to do this you must control a Fountain of Mana; all players automatically start with one, but random ones are scattered around the map as well. You post something along the lines of I sent a guy to become a wizard, and then you wait. It will take seven real life days to create one wizard; its a very long process in-universe. Alas, you can only one one guy bathe in the fountain at a time, so you cant just pop out an army at once. Obviously, if you control two fountains then, you could make two wizards at a time. This creates some strategic drive to hold fountains. But how does your wizard work once you actually have him? Well, magic can be placed into three categories; you decide which your wizard will be and bamft, hes that type. This is a one time deal however, you cant change it once you have your wizard made.

  • Creation: These wizards are creators of life , who make creatures to do their bidding. This exists in two types;

  1. Golems: Creations made from the materials of the world itself, these are crude but cheap things, raw material held together by a creator's willpower and granted minimal intellect. They are weak, requiring minimal effort to shatter their magic and reduce them to a pile of garbage. They are also capable only of following simple orders, and must have a commander, magical or not, to guide them. They are, however, capable of being made out of literally anything, and can be mass produced by a creator/many creators.
Creatures: Creations made from a combination of raw material and a base, living, animal. These do not rely on any magical force to keep them together, but exhibit the needs for food, water, and other amenities possessed by all living things. The only limit to the monstrosities that can be made are the amount of creators involved, the materials used, and the time creating it.
  • Battlecraft: These wizards are battlemages, specializing in the art of battle. They manipulate earth and fire to devastating effect, pummeling their foes with rocks, setting things alight, or in more complex methods, raining down fiery meteors from the heavens or causing the ground itself to eat advancing troops.
  • Alchemy: By far the most diverse field of magic, these wizards are alchemists, specializing in the making of special potions to imbue effects to living things and enchantments to imbue effects to inanimate things. To define what potions and enchantments can and can't do, potions are effectively magical chemicals, causing reactions and various effects you'd expect from an understanding of chemistry. Enchantments can be placed on inanimate objects and enhance their pre-existing traits.

Wizards will likely form one of the core features of a players production base; creators can create quick armies and elite units, battlemages are obviously useful in battle, though their skills can also be used in the construction of fortresses, and alchemists obviously can do a wide range of things, from enchanting weapons to never dull to making potions that allow your soldiers not to sleep. How doing these things will work is you will fill a little form out specifying what you want to do with your wizards and send it to the GM, who will ship you back a time to produce and a cost associated, if there is one. After all, you can't create your golem armies instantly.

Managing Your Civilization

Now, we've discussed EP, but so far we've only touched on the warfare aspects of using it. You can also use it for civic improvements, and indeed, is likely what you'll be doing a large amount of the time. Civic improvements consume EP to do all manner of things, from investing in better farms to building entirely new settlements to reinforcing your walls, so forth and so forth. This is done primarily on a case to case basis; you say "hrm, I think Ill build more farms," and send the GM the specifics of how many more farms you want to build and where. The GM then gives you the necessary information and bamft youre chugging along.

Some improvements will also help your EP, costing initial EP to build but then producing extra EP as you go along. This is pretty handy for when you need to expand your economy without going on a conquering spree. You can also do things like build more smitheries, to help with weapon production and such things. Settling is a bit special: when you commission a new settlement, you need to tell the GM were specifically its going be. Depending on how far it is, you'll get a time to completion on that. You can issue only one charter of settlement at a time, however, and you must keep in mind that new towns provide no initial EP bonus, nor do they follow any sort of set formula to making EP. Often, towns are used to claim areas of the map, or to provide a place to station soldiers to guard a vital resource.

Rules of the Game That You Should Follow

1-Remember that you're still on BZP.

2-Common sense. This cannot be stressed enough in a game like this, common sense is perhaps the most important rule of them all. Just think about things before doing them, ok? It creates a lot less problems that way.

3-Do not metagame. This is where you allow things outside of the game to influence your actions inside of the game. It can be innocent enough at first but very quickly ruins the game. Do not do it.

4-Going god mode, wiping out whole armies at once, not approved of unless you have the means. Being crafty, setting up an ambush, and crushing the enemy is all well and good. Sending three hundred men against three hundred men and saying you came out unscathed while they all died is rather terrible, though.

5-The GMs ruling on something is final. Continuing to pester them about it results in a slap. If you think you've been wronged, you can take it up with the other GM and things will get resolved via private decorum.

6-Speaking of decorum, be nice. Yes, these sorts of games often require a significant time investment and yes, losing horribly never feels nice, but it is at the end of the day a game. Its not healthy to get too stressed out about things.

7-Funsies apply, so go do cool stuff.

Various Bits of Paperwork

You'll find all the forms you need here for getting things done. Fill them out as required, shouldn't be too confusing.

Profile Submission Form

Nation's Name: [Whats your nation known as?]Nations Characteristics: [What are some characteristics of your nation?]

Nation's Society: [Hows your society?]

Nation's Perk: [Heres where you put your chosen national perks, which can be found here.]

Nation's History: [What have your guys been up to?]

Nation's Starting Units: [Ok, so you get to start with some pre-existing military stuff. You have 60 EP to spend here, anything you don't spend will start in your EP bank when the game begins. Keep in mind that you only start with 30 EP production in your capital province, so be careful as to not go over budget. Remember that you can have projects and specialized soldiers in here. In addition, you can start with some wizards, who cost 5 EP each to start with but have no upkeep costs.]

Spell Submission Form

Spell Description: [Yeah really I just need a basic description of whats going on]

Spell Cost & Time: [ill fill this one out]

Project Submission Form

Project Description: [Whatcha be building]

Project Cost & Time: [ill fill this one out]

Specialized soldier Submission Form

Number of Soldiers: [How many troops are in one unit?]

Soldier Description: [What sets these guys apart from your levies?]

Unit Cost: [i'll fill this one out]

Edited by Strategist Alex Humva

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC: The herald stood in the town square, clearing his throat to get the people's attention, as so many other heralds did all over Badois.

 

"Decree of the Imperial King Louis the XI, may his reign be unending," he declared.

 

"Volunteers are being summoned to build a new city at the southern tip of the Gehel peninsula, just to the south of our borders. It is high time that the glory that is Badois spreads it's wings. All volunteers will be given fifteen pieces of gold per household and eight pieces of silver for each additional family member. In addition, applications can be made for free farmland around the new city, which will be called Ville de Sol. Your King thanks the volunteers for your service to your nation."

 

He closed the scroll, then retrieved another as a table and chairs were brought, as well as a quill. Sitting down, he began to record the names of those who came to volunteer.

 

OOC: Alright, starting a new city. How much EP is that again?

Well, would you just look at that?

 

bread.gif

 

I'm a piece of toast.

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IC:

 

King Norakizza had long ago grown accustomed to the appearance of his guards, but that was untrue for others; their scaled, green skin, bright orange slitted eyes, venomous teeth, and steel sabers were far more important for the value of intimidation than for their actual ability to protect him. This became especially true when dealing with the merchants; in this case, three of them. A Lumberjack leader from Khoresh, a Goldsmith from Akitahl, and a Fishing Captain from Shial itself were all standing nervously before the King as he scrutinized them. After a moment, he spoke.

 

"Gentlemen" he began, for gentlemen they were; each was easily rich enough to retire on the investments they owned. "The three of you have all made the same request; that the Throne grant your trade the funds to expand. The Fisheries have made great strides this past year, on funds taken from the taxes of the people, but you have had your turn. The Goldsmiths are small but powerful; you are quite well off enough as it is. The lumberjacks, however, need funds with which to purchase steel from Jelvaqk, since, as you have explained, bronze axes fare so poorly against the trees of the northern jungle. To that end, you shall be receiving the majority of our funding. That will be all." The King's statement was, of course, understood to be an order, and the three merchants departed. With them gone, the King called forth for a recorder, who promptly stepped forth with sugar paper and charcoal.

 

"Send a message to my son in Jelvaqk, that he is to seek out people among the Jelvaqki with some knowledge of mining. In the meantime, prepare a trireme for a voyage some several weeks long; I want those islands to the north explored; ancient texts speak of their mineral riches and I wish this to be assessed."

 

OOC: Sending a voyage to the Deserted Isles to explore their mineral riches. Putting 10 EP into improving the Lumberjacking industry with Steel axes

Edited by Xomeron
That being said, thag thag thaggity thag thagness.

-Rover

 

"A memo was sent to Astaria asking if it would at all be possible to make a flying goat."

"The Astarians responded that making a goat fly would be trivial; making it land safely would be another matter entirely."

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Fillion IC:

 

"By order of the Good King Rhoden, the Transnational Roadway will now be started. May it bind us all closer together."

 

With those words booming overhead, the battlemage began working, calling up stone from the earth to form an unbroken road.

 

In lesser parts of the kingdom, worker parties were working, digging, smoothing and laying down materials that would form the network of roads connecting the kingdom.

 

OOC: 20 EP to the Transnational Roadway. A network of roads that connect all towns bigger then five thousand people.

 

Completion in six weeks.

 

1/2/2014- 2/13/2014

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

zsUPm2E.jpg?1

 

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IC:

Vardal, The Republic of Vardal

The Duke's Chambers

 

The Duke, and his two advising Wizards, as they did every week, had gathered in the chamber. Duke Victus Tarr was a seasoned veteran of the sea, and had spent his life up until a year ago as a sea captain. Upon the death of his predecessor, Duke Avaros Barthen, to a sudden ailment, he returned home and ran for election, winning in a landslide against several others who had wished for the title. As was tradition, the Duke temporarily exiled his competition so that they didn't attempt anything funny for a year, and then returned them home, with what they normally paid in taxes as income for the next five years. As was tradition.

 

Now was the time, however, to think of long term strategies. Duke Victus turned to his two advisers, Count Averoe Rone and Marchioness Jame Geroi, after looking at the map. It seemed that Duke Avaros had been terrible at maintaining the maps beyond the immediate borders of the land. He'd ruled for about ten years, the longest out of all the Dukes, yet had done barely anything during his rule. That was part of the reason, the current Duke mulled over, that only normal procedure had been followed. The past year had simply been a reorganizing of the old guard into the new guard, so to speak, so before now nothing could have really been done. In this case, however, it was now time for action.

 

"Well" the Duke said, "We need to establish new settlements SOMEWHERE and we have next to no knowledge of the frontier at the moment" the Duke continued, his earlier conversation not really meaning anything in this moment.

 

The Count, Averoe, responded, "Milord, we've tried to find records, but it seemed any information regarding the tribes of the frontier has mysteriously vanished. I would bet that the last Duke sold them off to sustain his life style to merchants looking to travel west or east, instead of doing the right thing and renting it out after copies were made."

 

The Marchioness sighed and said, "Yes, but we can't do anything about that Milord. We can simply send several scouts in all directions to see where we can put some of the poorer peasants and enterprising businessmen and nobles can grab some land and establish a fort there for protection."

 

The Duke nodded, "Well then, I suppose that is all true. Do as you say, rally men to scour our immediate vicinity and figure out the lay of the land, so to speak, in a way that doesn't leave us vulnerable, if you will." He had to be cautious. If there was a growing threat in the wilderness, he'd need to find out one way or another.

 

"Dismissed" the Duke said, ordering the pair out. As they left, the Duke looked at the map of the Kingdom. This was going to be an interesting year. The year of the Hound.

 

OOC: Scouts are sent to the surrounding areas to determine the size of the bandit, tribal, beastmen, and other situations. Areas where new settlements should be founded are also given priority in order to determine where they should settle. The scouts are sent out with weapons, and in groups of three, led by a professional soldier. Over twenty groups are sent out. Searching for resources is also a priority. If resources are found, more scouting groups are sent.

Edited by Zhangku
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OOC
No EP cost for settlements, merely time it takes to get there and time it takes to grow.

 

IC [@Xom]

 

The voyage to the Deserted Isles was swift, the seas calm at this time of the year, though the heat was scorching. Indeed, the first thing the sailors found when they stepped ashore was that the sand was blisteringly hot. It was totally vacant of any trees to speak of, a truly odd sight to say the least for an island. In the distance they did spot some sort of canopies, perhaps from trees that had adapted to the sandy soil that this place possessed. The occasional shrub or small fruiting bush could be scene, but other than that... the island was simply sand and rock.

 

Hours would pass as the men hunted for any sort of geological feature, but the only thing they could find was an occasional hill. One man went further inland, and, in some minor annoyance of the lack of anything that would indicate mineral deposits, kicked the hot sand beneath his feet. Luck had shined upon him, as he knelt down, slowly shoveling the sand away with his bare hands. Beneath the sand there were gem stones; thousands of tiny, sand sized gem stones. He cried out to his companions to come and see this find; though by the time they found him, the man realized it was a small deposit, yet still enough to make even the King himself jealous. The island had something, apparently.

 

IC [@Zhangku]

 

Scouting the land was a long and hard process, but the scouts were quite successful in their jobs. Working outwards, the scouts along the northern river found that fertile land extended for some ways along the river, while those in the east found interesting stone cliffs, perfect for cutting stone bricks. Those in the west encountered something they didn't quite expect, however.

 

The trio of men wandered through the forest, trees spaced far apart but still a hazardous place to trip in. That last night they had heard hunting calls; now, they proceeded carefully. It wouldn't do to run into a bandit camp and be ambushed. There was, of course, also the problem of what creatures run amok in these uncivilized woods. Tales of winged savages had scared the local farmers from ever going this far out. A superstitious lot, and it was not lost on these men. But they were resolved not to be eaten by any such winged barbarian.

 

They were shocked, then, when a woman appeared, walking towards them slowly. While their first instinct said that this was harmless and one of their own, humans had not survived as long as they had without learning to recognize their own kind. Something in the back of their minds knew that this woman walked differently than a human, like it was trying too hard to appear natural. They readied themselves, but the woman stopped perhaps five meters away, calling out towards them.

 

"I mean you no harm," she said softly, though with an odd chord to her voice. "I must ask, though, why you are in my forest."

voidstars.png


1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89


"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC:

 

The three men had been scouting for a long time for the Republic, generally in the triad that they had arrived in the forest as. Captain Tirana was an accomplished scout in his own right, having been conscripted into the army from his home village of Tir, hence his name, and staying with the army even after his particular band was disbanded due to lack of activity. He was around thirty-five years of age, and he was about five years into his current deployment as a "scout" although the four years preceding this one had been nothing but patrolling, which had gotten old. This was exactly what he, and his two men needed.

 

Privates Garrett and Paulzon were cousins from some podunk village near the western border of the Republic. They were both very superstitious about "signs" of evil, mostly due to the fact that in their youth their village had been raised by seabourne raiders, which themselves didn't last very long afterwards due to the voracious navy of the Republic. They had both been under the Captain's command for two years now, almost through their five year conscription, and they had proven themselves to be excellent scouts, although for diplomacy, such as the current issue at hand, they were useless.

 

The Captain spoke for the group, his weariness of the inhuman qualities of the person in front of them obvious in his stance, although it softened once he spoke, "Madame, I am a Captain in the Republic's Army. My current task is to simply scout the frontier of my land and report what I find. I am also supposed to seek out any unencountered peoples...such as yourself, and entreat with them. The Duke himself has sent me here, to investigate the rumors from the farms, such as winged peoples taking roost in the forest here, as well rumors of far more...threatening peoples at our border that we've ignored. If this is indeed your forest, I represent my lord, Duke Victus Tarr, in opening relations with you. We do not come with harm intended either, we simply wish to talk to those at our borders."

 

The Captain hoped to the Gods that he wasn't about to be struck down, not for his own safety, but because of the two young teenage men behind him. They would not last long if he was gone, still cowardly after all. He stood fast, and awaited a reply.

 

OOC: "We come in peace, who are you?"

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IC [@Zhangku]

 

"Winged peoples? Hmm, I have not seen them for centuries. I doubt they're much of a problem anymore. But yes, your own kind live here, the 'threatening peoples' you speak of. Their intents are very clear to me; I imagine those not a thousand paces from here would not take kindly to men of your profession. I don't suppose any reputable men such as yourselves have dared to come this far... truly, a new era is in the air." She remained motionless as the trees warped and twisted around the group, creaking so loudly it hurt as they did so. It was as though a great wind had come through the forest, but no such thing had happened. All around them, the trees grew larger and lusher. "I am the Forest Incarnate; I live and I breath with this forest, I gave my life so that it may fuel this land. I have no wishes for settlers to plague this land; will your Duke respect that?"

voidstars.png


1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89


"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC: [Deserted Island]

 

The gemstone deposit was quite enough to make the voyage a success on its own; however, the Captain wanted to assess the exact wealth of the area. After discussing with the man who had found it, the captain sent men out to search for any similar deposits, by the same method that he'd found it.

That being said, thag thag thaggity thag thagness.

-Rover

 

"A memo was sent to Astaria asking if it would at all be possible to make a flying goat."

"The Astarians responded that making a goat fly would be trivial; making it land safely would be another matter entirely."

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IC:

 

Shocked, the Captain got on his knees and the other two did the same. He wasn't about to insult the Forest Incarnate herself. Captain Tirana rose from his position. He knew exactly what to do as the other two remained on their knees. He bowed his head and nodded, putting his fist to this chest, "I promise on behalf of the Duke that none of his people, nor the rest of my group, shall settle upon your land. It is yours and it is sacred. However, a bandit infestation of your forest is something we can offer our support to eliminating. I, along with my men, will go back to our regional headquarters and marshal a number of men to eliminate them. Is this agreeable with you? Shall we have your support in this endeavor as well?"

 

While he didn't have the authority to make this proclamation completely, he still was going to do this. He did have the deputized power to deal with this, so there was no reason that he had to disagree with this offer on her part.

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IC: Settlement was underway, with Ville de Sol continuing to grow. The King was pleased, and turned his attention to other projects.

 

Long had the mineral rich foothills just to the west of Badois been neglected. No more. The King decreed that mines would be dug, and laborer a hired to mine the foothills, bringing much needed wealth to the Kingdom.

 

In addition to this, a few diplomatic ships were sent out, to find the nearest major kingdoms and open trade with them.

 

OOC: Ten EP to building mines.

 

Anyone who's ready for some contact can greet an arriving Badoise ship. :)

Well, would you just look at that?

 

bread.gif

 

I'm a piece of toast.

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IC [@Xom]

 

The men would begin to find more of the small little gem deposits, and indeed, it seemed as though the King's men had struck an extremely lucrative site. Night was falling though, and their expedition was hardly over; they would have to sleep and resume their prospecting in the morning.

 

IC [@Zhangku]

 

"But why would I want that? I accepted them into my forest, provided them shelter... and yet they must persist in bothering the locals. I tried to warn them of their ways, even enlisted the help of a wandering priest, but to no avail. I do not wish for an incursion, they are of no concern to me. I suppose I will turn a few more of them into pigs and see where that gets me. I do dislike it when the locals try to purge them from my forest. They're rather... clumsy."

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC:

 

The Captain nodded in understanding. There would be no need to do so, but it seemed that the dispute here would be settled in some other way. So be it. He bowed his head again and backed up, "Very well, Milady Forest Incarnate. Just...make sure they behave, if you could".

 

Backing off, he and the other two scouts went on their way, back to the agreed upon camping area.

 

The reports found their way back to the Duke within a matter of a day or so, well within the time needed to act on them accordingly. They would secure the brick-laying cliffs later, the waters to the north were a more fundamental starting point. Using the map drawn by the Marchioness based on the report, a new fort would be developed just north of the confluence of the two rivers. It would lay the foundation of a new city, one that could project their power up the river. Perhaps one day it would house a great trade center, but for now it was only an idea. Duke Victus Carr finally settled on his orders.

 

Securing the ground would be simple, and aside from a few extra patrols in the west, nothing was else to be done. They could only secure one base at a time. The bricks could be looked to at a later day, to the east, where it began to get mountainous. The settling fort would be manned by 500 professional troops and the region settled by 3,000 of the levies and their families. The area would be a new border and as far as he was concerned there was no threat to the north. The new fort would be called Fort Confluence. What it would be called upon getting enough of a population for a full blown city once properly developed would be seen to. For now, however, more scouting was needed.

 

A group of scouts would be sent to follow the coast to the east and to the west, to determine if there was any good places to secure a future city nearby the cultured territories of Vardal.

 

OOC: Discussion with the Forest Incarnate ends peacefully, Fort Confluence is sent to be established north of the two rivers meeting, and scouts are sent up both coastlines to see the area thoroughly.

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IC: The air hung thick with smoke over the city of Xkaladiem. Or the imperial city of Xkaladiem as it was more commonly being called. It had allied with the invading Shiali all those years ago, and had been their foothold in the nation to ship troops and supplies. As such it had become the capital of the new regime. For its loyalty...and its steel. It wasn't that Xhaladiem was richer in the strange black sands of the territory or that it sat on a particularly rich seam in the rocks beneath them. No, Xkaladiem's secret was its trees. The coastal winds gave the area more water, which made the area more suitable for trees. More than the rest of the rocky wastelands anyway. More trees meant more buildings and more fuel for fires, which together meant more smithies. Hence all the smoke, as those industrious smiths manufactured the axe heads Shial had ordered.

Above the smoke of the external city, inside the palatial complex built into the cliff-face that shadowed Xkaladiem, sat the ageing king of all Jelvakqo, Dogavit the First, admiring the industry of his people while slumped on his throne-slash-bed.

 

"Remind the Shiali godwhelp that we'll need some share of the wood those axes cut," he said, eyes leaving his window temporarily to ogle a concubine, "Their demands ate up more of our lumber than the usual quota, our fires need to stay stoked somehow. And on keeping the forges going, I would feel much safer if we had other sources of iron. Our current supply dies, so do we. No-one will trade for rocks. Send scouts north, into the Crowns, bound to be something there."

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IC [@Zhangku]

 

Alas, good port locations were hard to come by for the scouts; while they did have brief encounters with some merfolk, the coast lands were simply too unstable for permanent ports. Further up along the river there was limited success; good lands for building ports, but it would come at a cost, as it was right in the flooding range of the river.

 

IC [@Kothra]

 

A strange thing came with the morning mists that rose from the ocean around Sendai. From the fog emerged the shape of a small Herronian vessel, cutting across the waters gracefully with it's seemingly silk sails. It approached the dock and folded its sails, ropes flying out to attach itself to a mooring point. From it emerged five men dressed in long black sick ropes, which with their hair grown long and woven around their necks, various bits of jewelry hung in the odd hair scarfs. Perhaps most odd of all was the intricate markings that ran down along their arms. Each man possessed a different kind, though they all were similar in design.

 

Finally, a woman stepped out of the boat, in similar attire and style of the men. Unlike the men though her arms were completely covered in tattoos, a mesh of color and symbols denoting her status. The group looked around at the gawking dock workers, then proceeded onward to the inner city. They had been here before; they knew the way.

Edited by Strategist Alex Humva

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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Fillion

 

IC: The kingdom was stable. The lords were quiet and happy with what they had or at least knew better then to try an steal more. The merchants were happy with their trade. The surfs keeping the lifeblood of the kingdom going.

 

It was time to expand.

 

Hundreds of scouts were sent south and west over the land, searching for a good place for a new settlement or anything else that might be important.

Edited by Silvan Haven

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

zsUPm2E.jpg?1

 

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IC:

The oceans were vast, calm, and full of fish.

Perfect for the nation of Ignomia to harvest.

A small fishing vessel lay off the coast of Ignomia, approximately twenty miles away from the furthest island. The ship had hauled in quite the number of fish, enough to feed everyone on the crew, their families, and maybe even a large enough surplus to sell on the market. The Captain was satisfied.

He began to steer the ship back to the island nation of Ignomia. A voice rang out somewhere on the ship, however.

"Captain, ship approaching on starboard!"

The Captain turned to look, and saw the ship approaching. It was a small ship, to be sure, but was only slightly smaller than the fishing vessel. The Captain turned to one of the fishermen, and told her, "Notify the others we have a ship incoming. We will attempt to open diplomatic relations. They may just want fish, after all."

"But sir, what if they're hostile?"

The Captain pondered this for a second. "We will have to fight them off, then."

OOC: That would be a Badoise ship.

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Steam name: Ehksidian

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IC: Reacting to the news of a lackadaisal amount of good ports on the coastline, the scouts returned and just spoke of more sources of potential bricks. For now, the settlement of Fort Confluence, which would later be renamed, would by the center of growth for the nation. It was their frontier and for now it would stay that way.

 

OOC: I'm just ruling that Badois ships would take a very long time to arrive to my nation and won't respond to that for a week.

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IC: The Deserted Island

 

The deposits of gemstones were all marked on a quickly drawn map, and, after a short debate, the captain allowed each man to fill his tankard with his own stock of gemstones. With each man happily carrying his own division of stones, the ship set out back to Shial; soon, merchant ships would arrive to exploit the stones.

 

OOC: Sending ships to gather the gems, and men who know more about mining to search for other mineral sources.

That being said, thag thag thaggity thag thagness.

-Rover

 

"A memo was sent to Astaria asking if it would at all be possible to make a flying goat."

"The Astarians responded that making a goat fly would be trivial; making it land safely would be another matter entirely."

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IC: The Badoise ship hailed the Ignomian ship as the navigator checked the latest maps of the area(although they were quite outdated).

 

In rough Ignomian, he called out a greeting, hoping it would be well-received.

 

OOC: I'm assuming we have some knowledge of each others' languages...

Well, would you just look at that?

 

bread.gif

 

I'm a piece of toast.

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OOC: I can roll with that, but I doubt the fishermen would understand Badoisian.

IC:

"Captain, the other ship is calling us over!"

The Captain found it odd. He was a simple fishing ship, after all. Why would a ship call them over? It didn't look like an Ignomian ship, either...

No matter, the other ship was well within hearing range-and possibly cannon range-now, may as well go to them the Captain thought. He heard a heavily accented voice call out:

"Hello ship fellow! Good fishing to you!"

The Captain was stunned. More than likely it was a traveling ship, who just wanted to talk to the small fishing ship...maybe for directions? That could explain the accent and very strange greeting. No matter now.

"Hail, fellow ship! Why have you called us over?" The Captain yelled to the other ship.

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Steam name: Ehksidian

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IC:

A Badoisian diplomatic ship, calling down a fishing vessel? The Captain found this very odd.

"I see...are you attempting to get to Ignomia? We are just a simple fishing ship, after all, but we could help you to get there."

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Steam name: Ehksidian

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IC: "That would be appreciated much," called the navigator as the ship pulled alongside the Ignomian vessel. The Badoise ship was somewhat smaller than the fishing vessel, but quite a bit faster. It had no mounted weapons, however, and in a battle would have to rely on the few onboard soldiers. With how well this was going so far though, that seemed unlikely.

 

The captain gave orders for anchors to be lowered as the crew of each ship inspected the other.

 

OOC: Badois is the name of the country, Badoise is the demonym.

 

What do Ignomians look like? Humans from Badois look like people from southern France.

Well, would you just look at that?

 

bread.gif

 

I'm a piece of toast.

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IC: As the Horranian party reached the gate to the inner city they were stopped by a pair of guards.

 

"What is your business in the inner quarter?" asked the senior of the two.

Two more guards looked down upon the group from their posts atop the wall. The wall wasn't particularly designed to hold of armies. It served more to simply separate the commoners from the nobility and the seat of government.

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IC [@Silvan]

 

It had taken several weeks of journeying, but finally, a Horranian delegation had reached the outer gates of Lornketh. Riding up through the surrounding hamlets on strong true-bred horses, they were for the most part concealed by their cloaks, maroon things that seemed to be made out of some sort of odd plant fiber. Their hair was free but concealed behind the hoods of the cloaks, only some stray strains falling out. When the group stopped at the gates, the delegation leader handed a rainbow-colored pearl to the guard, signalling that they were indeed the delegation.

 

IC [@Kothra]

 

"We are here to see your minister of foreign affairs, in the name of the Sacred Council of Horran." The woman handed a rainbow colored pearl to the guard. "The specifics are not of your concern."

 

IC [@Zhangku]

 

From upstream came a small vessel, cruising along with a considerably sized sail for a boat of its size. The flurry of activity that surrounded the new Fort Confluence paused for a moment as the dark-sailed vessel moored itself on the shore. Three passengers lept out, dressed in close-fitting maroon silk, though some sort of padding underneath was obvious, perhaps a form of armor. They definitely did seem to be some sort of warriors, with swords that seemed to be made of pearl strapped to their waists, as well as shortbows on their backs. Their hair was even cut short, an odd sight indeed for a Horranian. After making sure the immediate area was secure a final man stepped out from the boat, dressed in glossy black silk robes, of which did not wet when he walked through the water. His hair was separated into what seemed like a hundred different strains, denoting some importance to the man.

 

The odd group advanced towards the fort, while the boat remained roped on the shore.

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC:

 

The current leader of the outpost, Colonel Grigam Jeung watched the small group apprach the fort from the seacraft that they'd managed to take down the river. Whoever they were, they looked somewhat civilized. Looking to his left, his second in command, Captain Vertus Greer nodded, recognizing the type of craft and distinctive hairstyles from an old book that had once been in his possession.

 

"Colonel" the captain began, "I think those might be Horranians."

 

Blinking a few times, the Colonel raised an eyebrow, "Horranians? I heard there was a somewhat civilized group to our north but I thought they weren't connected to this river?"

 

Captain Greer responded, "Must've brought the boat with em from a station somewhere far up river. Maybe even dragged it's pieces across land, Sir."

 

Sighing incredulously, he motioned for his second to go and see what they were here for, "They must be here for a reason. After some kind of fugitive that fled southwards? Sign some sort of Treaty? Ask for our surrender? I don't care why they are here, speak to them."

 

The Captain nodded, taking a small, but obvious armed group to meet the foreigners. Speaking a bit slowly in what was obviously extremely rusty Horranian, the Captain yelled out, "Hello! Are you perchance Horranians? I suppose you've come here for a reason?" He didn't really remember much in their language, so his attempt at speech might sound...grating.

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OOC: I knew I forgot something, I'll probably add this into the profile ASAP.

Ignomians look like Inuit people, though a bit more heavyset and with a bit of Norwegian in them, too.

anyways

IC:

The Captain nodded. "We have a few maps available, but not too many. They're quite expensive in Ignomia, but they are of excellent make." He pulled his own, somewhat-worn map out. "You can look at this map, and plot your course accordingly. We are around this area here, currently facing west." The Captain pointed to their current location on the map. "The capital of Ignomia is around here, as well. This is more than likely your goal, yes?" He pointed to one of the southernmost, central islands.

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Steam name: Ehksidian

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IC [@Zhangku]

 

"Greetings officer." The robed man said in more-or-less competent Vardali, making a slight bow at the Captain. "I am Councilor Guterson, representing the Sacred Council of Horran. We were on our way further down river to your capitol city, but saw this fort and decided we should have a look. It was not here last time we passed through; are our republican brothers expanding northward?"

Edited by Strategist Alex Humva

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC:

Captain Greer nodded and bowed back to the Councillor. If one of the rulers of Horran was here to speak diplomacy, then it was good news. He had been expecting a general wishing to parley and demand the surrender of the fort, which despite it's new structure would not be an easy task with a small army. It was far more than a bandit's keep at this point, which would be difficult on it's own to dislodge.

 

"We are currently moving up this river, that much is true. The Oxos River is a mighty one and finding a fork in it proves that. Two strong rivers together make a powerful whole. I represent Vardal in this matter, as in the same way you represent Horran. We simply have too many people in some of our towns and we must expand. There is plenty of farmland, good farmland, on this river, so for now this section of it must be kept safe from brigands so our people can feel safe here. Would you perhaps like to tell us your reason for going to the capital?" the Captain resumed in Vardali. So they understood his language, that was good. It was rare to see outsiders speak Vardali, but it was refreshing.

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IC [@Zhangku]

 

"We like to keep up with the political affairs of other nations; while we cannot get out as often as we like, we've found that keeping in touch with these sorts of things does help one in the long run." The councilor looked around, raising an eyebrow at a passing worker carrying supplies. "The world is increasingly a dangerous place; I would be careful about the river guardians in this region. The barbarians speak often of them, from what I am told."

 

IC [@Power]

 

By now the scouting parties had been in the moutains for weeks, having found little to nothing but shrubbery and rock. A scouting party in the northern most regions did find something of interest, though: a tranquil mountain spring, trickling down and supplying a small oasis of foliage. The men drank the water, amazed at it's pureness; the wells in their homeland never brought water as clean as this. Indeed, it was enough to make them decide to make camp and stay the night in this little pocket of green.

 

When the night passed, however, one of their own was gone.

 

IC [@Xom]

 

In the Cliffs of Insanity, a loud rumble could be heard. Rocks cascaded down into the ocean, and birds flew in any direction that meant away from the cliffs. It was a sound that the locals had figured out meant very bad things.

 

Inside of the cliff, the lumbering beast of a dragon awoke, coughing out a few sparks as it dragged itself along. Eventually it began to shrink, morphing slowly until it was replaced with a man of tall stature and golden hair, who limped along into the main chamber of the cave. There, nearly a dozen women were present, doing one thing or another. He pulled a ready-made cup of wine off a small table and collapsed into a chair he thought was made of sheep wool, but wasn't entirely sure about. After a long drink, he muttered something inaudible and then seemed to rouse more, his eyes becoming more alert.

 

"Good morning dears." He said, still in a mumbling fashion.

 

"Good morning," they responded in an unceremonious manner.

 

"I keep waking up with a sore throat. This is the jungle, right next to the ocean. The humidity is enough to drown in and yet my throat is still sore. I think I have an infection of some sort."

 

"Perhaps you should drink more," one of the women responded as she walked past with a large bundle of... something.

 

"Perhaps." He yawned, pulling himself up and heading for the exit. "Well, take care while I'm gone. I feel like meeting the emperor."

 

"You know you frighten the people everytime you fly over," another said as she worked on a painting of some sort.

 

"Yes, that's why they keep throwing me sheep and women such as yourself. I need to keep up appearances." He slid back the thick veil and stepped out onto the warm stone, overlooking the ocean. "I'll be back for dinner; a merchant should be at that little village, selling lobster. Lobster would be great tonight."

 

With that he closed the veil and leaped from the cliffs, shifting as he fell until once again the dragon took shape, giving an earthshaking roar and swooping into the air at frightening speeds. It would not be long before it reached its destination.

Edited by Strategist Alex Humva

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC: Raising an eyebrow regarding the mention of River Guardians, he raised a finger, as if to point towards the rivers, "We haven't met any river guardians on our trek northward, nor any barbarians. It seems they avoid the civilized region to their south, but I am also curious as to where exactly both might be. Where up the river are the River Guardians and how distant are these groups of barbarians from here?" said the Captain, curious since they hadn't met any during their scouting missions.

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IC [@Zhangku]

 

"Probably watching us right now, though I imagine the guardians do not interfere often with passerby travelers. A fort though, that may well attract their attention. Nothing your men can't handle, I am sure." The councilor turned, looking to the river for a moment, his hands twitching for a moment. He turned to one of the guards, whispering quietly to him in some dialect of Horranian. Then he turned back to the Captain as the guard sprinted off towards the ship. "I am fairly certain of my own protection, if you are so concerned. As for these barbarians, they are small tribes, perhaps a half a week's journey by foot north. Reclusive folk, might even be beastmen."

Edited by Strategist Alex Humva

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC: "Ah, thank you. We hope to find a peaceful agreement with these tribes and perhaps figure a mutually beneficial way for the two of our groups to interact properly. It has been a long time since our people have spoken or looked for Barbarians, so it would be good to try to find them and talk trade with them. Crafts for crafts, that's how trade generally works. Thank you for information the River Guardians, we shall keep aware of them. We are more used to battle than we look." The Captain looked a bit worriedly towards the water. That would have to be investigated if true. Scouts to meet the barbarian tribes as well, they would be left alone if they demanded, but knowledge was power. "Is there anything you need while you are here? A warm meal, shelter for the night?"

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IC: Shial(Town of Kelvatu)

 

Kelvatu, the town closest to the Cliffs of Insanity, was, of course, home to plenty a priest; it was easily the religious center of the nation. The Dragon-Priests and the faithful, on hearing his roar, had grasped their tokens of faith and run to the roofs of the cathedral, hoping to catch sight of the beast. The more sensible and sane people took to their homes, staying out of sight.

 

Miles away, in Shial itself, the Emperor had finished dictating a message to one of the local lords; however he, forgot quite what he had sent as soon as a runner arrived, yelling that the dragon was circling the city. The Shiali emperor had an odd mix of reactions to this; the first was instinctive, taking up the steel mace that was both his weapon and badge of office; this was only sensible. The second was to call for a Priest; those learned in the lore of dragons would be quite needed if the dragon chose to attack. The King looked to the two members of his Firetongue Guard who were present; their expressions, impossible to read in their scaled faces, betrayed nothing. He turned away from them.

 

"Send word to the barracks; bring up a body of soldiers. At least a hundred, but as many are ready, quickly as you can." Once the messenger had dashed away, the King turned to his two guards.

 

"Somehow I doubt he will attack with you in the city...if it is truly your father. But he is not the only Dragon in the world. I won't try your loyalties; your company will hold my palace against the press of panicked bodies who may seek it for shelter." At the guard's nod, the Emperor dashed off, to see to his men.

That being said, thag thag thaggity thag thagness.

-Rover

 

"A memo was sent to Astaria asking if it would at all be possible to make a flying goat."

"The Astarians responded that making a goat fly would be trivial; making it land safely would be another matter entirely."

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IC [@Zhangku]

 

"A meal would be nice, yes. Salted fish loses it's taste after a few day's voyage." A scream was let out, and all involved turned to see one of the guard being flung through the air by a serpetine arm of water. Seemingly out of nowhere a cloud appeared, the guard slamming into it but slowing his descent enough that he was not seriously harmed on landing. The councilor pulled a wooden staff from his back, slamming it down on the ground to secure his footing. Next to the Horranian boat rose from the water a seemingly humanoid being, towering twenty paces in the air and made entirely of water. Fish could even be seen swimming about in it. Tentacles whipped all around it, and the Horranian ship was battered away, crashing somewhere on land.

 

"River guardians," the councilor said in an annoyed fashion. "Similar to sea guardians; I fought one when I was but an apprentice. Ready yourself officer, this will be... difficult."

 

IC [@Xom]

 

The dragon would roar, bellow some fire, put on some general theatrics. Inside of its head, it sighed, but knew it was necessary to keep up appearances. It had no particular love of this, but if word was to get out to others that it simply walked in and said hi to the humans... it would ruin its reputation. So after about ten minutes of scaring every peasant and making the conscripts question if the military pay was truly worth it, the dragon landed on a balcony not quite large enough for its frame, looking into the royal palace.

 

"Emperor!" it bellowed out. "How goes the land?"

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC: As soon as the creature sprung out of the water, Captain Greer yelled out, "CREATURE! EVERYONE AT ARMS!" and within moments several men stormed out of the small fort and hurried their way to the river. The Captain and his men were the most heavily armed of the few of them, but had no idea how to fight such a creature. It seemed to be made completely of water and they didn't have any wizards here on the border, they were at the capital. This would be a terrible fight. Rushing forward, the Captain and his men, numbering a total of 30 at this point while more soldiers prepared themselves inside the fort, charged the creature, unleashing a short volley of spear throws before drawing their swords and actually closing in on the beast, "FOR THE REPUBLIC!" they screamed, almost in unison as they attempted to strike down the River Guardian.

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IC [@Zhangku]

 

The guardian merely swiped at the oncoming soldiers, shrugging off their pathetic spears as it sent them flying several paces each. It's intangible form seemed to be impervious to any blunt attack, as the men quickly realized as they pulled themselves up from the now wet and muddy ground. From that mud, though, blobs floated through the air, then went flying at the guardian, knocking it back in confusion. The councilor stood there, his arms moving as he continued to will the earth and water towards the creature.

 

"Officer!" He yelled at the Captain. "Gather your men and fall back to the fort! If there is any artillery, use it! Find your food supplies, we need salt to properly stop this beast!"

 

The Horranian guardsmen were helping the soldiers back while the councilor said this, dragging them towards the fort while he advanced, keeping a never-ending wave of mud flying at the creature. So long as it had to keep forcing the earth out of its system, it wouldn't be able to advance.

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC: The captain had never before felt so useless in battle as his men were flung aside. Seeing Privates Angko and Horja smashed into the ground dead by a creature that didn't seem phased by the monster, he led his men, along with the Horranians, back into the fort. It wasn't that long of a jaunt, especially when they were in such a hurry. Artillery...they did have a few ballistae installed, as well as a catapult, but at the moment they weren't ready. Salt? Why did they need- wait. The Salt Licks. Storming up the steps past the Colonel, who was ordering his men to close the gate as soon as the foreigners got within, the Captain began yelling orders to pack the catapult with the salt blocks. There weren't too many of them, but they were numerous enough to get out a few shots.

 

"Men!" he yelled out, "Load the catapult with the salt licks. I don't care how long it takes, just do it, men!"

 

His men scurried below, hoisting several salt licks into the catapult, the engineers who came with the soldiers slowly putting it into the right position, "Men, fire!" he yelled, waving his sword as the salt licks were catapulted into the creature. Hopefully the Horranians weren't lying to them about the weakness of the creature.

Edited by Zhangku
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Fillion

 

IC: The guard looked down at the pearl in his hand then turned and shouted for his sergeant, prompting a door to open in the wall, another man stepping out.

 

The new man had a slightly more ornate uniform, brown and white braids hung off of each shoulder of his leather tunic. Catching sight of the group waiting at the gate, he hurried over before saying,
"You the diplomatic group? I'll send a squad to escort you to the castle."

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

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