Nation Building BeckonCall's Fantasy Nation-building RPG thread

[Prince Vaethorion]

My weekend is really nice so far. A day with my infant twins, made belgian waffles with nutella, bananas, berries, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, hung out with a Saudi friend of ours and a nice Armenian girl.


Yes, I hope the Amaryans do not eat their fellow colonist.

 

[KamiKahzy]

That's all wonderful news Prince! I'm happy for your family and your new additions. Are they fraternal or identical?

 

[Prince Vaethorion]

Well, it's certainly a surprising move for both the enemy and us

It was my plan initially to charge them and break the column. The parley was meant to occur before blood shed, to see if the Mud Elves were agreeable, but now that I know there are Dark Elves in the mix, they need to ALL die.

 

[Prince Vaethorion]

That's all wonderful news Prince! I'm happy for your family and your new additions. Are they fraternal or identical?

thank you! Fraternal, a boy and a girl. They just turned 4 months.

 

[Beckoncall]

UPDATE IS POSTED. Will rest before moving to process Highborn/Ratfolk Island expedition... THIS POST IS HUGE and may take more than one sitting to get through -- I thought it more important to get it posted than to take more time to parse and spellcheck it, but I will eventually polish it a little. I think I got everyone's actions in... but if I missed anything you can tell me and I *MIGHT* rev-con if it's important enough.. still I don't think I did.


And The Aymarans complicating things aren't in the simple way you imagine -- surely everyone envisioned a full frontal assault by a bunch of ravening croc-men... but read the POST to see how because of the Aymarans something got VERY weird... very fast. xD

 

[Beckoncall]

As you might notice, there were some really great rolls and some pretty shitty ones all around, but circumstance bonuses and penalties due to some good ideas and RPing made a difference here and there. Once all casualties are tallied I hope nobody busts out crying, but that's still up in the air...

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

Damn, so much stuff happened. I'm giddy from all the developments.

 

[Beckoncall]

I'm happy if you're happy, @Heyitsjiwon -- I hate making people wait, but I need a REALLY good space, time, and atmosphere to realize everyone's individual agency and creativity. I'm jazzed to see where we go from here... and unravelling all sorts of mysteries like WHERE THE HELL THE MAJORITY OF YOUR GEAR WENT DURING THE BATTLE. xD

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

Hmm, if Caelis is incapable to lead for a while, then I suppose that Lothar would be the next logical one to take command. He's going to be making things much more interesting if that's the case.


Edit: Some Ayamarans are going to have a bad day too. I imagine that pendant of retribution is going to add some casualties among them.

 

[Beckoncall]

Yes, I will be sure to factor in that one of the Scarred effectively threw himself across the battlefield... though the other grazes you got might barely register to a brute, even if they were well-felt by a human...The one that bit you was probably horribly mauled, but horribly mauled means something much different in the face of cold-blooded physiology...


Also, Caelis has been through the ringer -- but he's still of sound mind. You're right that it might be foolish to have him taking the field or traveling awhile... but I did not want to give you the impression Caelis is mortally wounded. He looks and feels like 20 miles of bad road, but he could still fight if he had to, cracked rips or no... especially if he's willing to take Opium for pain. xD

 

[Beckoncall]

Also... if you want magic items or devices to be factored into a fight, make sure in post or PM you mention it to me... minutae (especially with gear and DOUBLY SO for gear that is expendable) I will be very likely to overlook, or leery to spend without express stated intent.

 

[Prince Vaethorion]

the big question remains, do we press our advantage and attempt to destroy the routed Mud Elves, or do we lick our wounds?

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

The Attolians aren't going to be very helpful without proper equipment. Plus, with Caelis down at the moment, there's no clear leadership. Still, there are 2 Sundered Kings up and they are cavalry, so they can certainly continue pursuit. My largest concern are the 3 witches though. Who knows what other magic they have.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Indeed, the witches will be a problem. But right now they're distracted on two fronts: they're retreating and they're frantically trying to get their sister back to them. Right now they don't have the time or the concentration to do anything big, so whatever magic they have on standby is likely going to be used to stall the current forces where they are and keep them from advancing any further.


And frankly, if I were an Aymaran, I would be very tempted to charge forward and make the forces flee for their very lives. Not to kill them, but to make sure that they understand this is NOT an enemy to be trifled with. To put a fear in their hearts that their plans will not always work and that they face a force that is competent and dangerous.


Send them crawling back to their hole to lick their wounds, think about what they've done, and buy the colony time to recover and prepare.

 

[Beckoncall]

What's a hype cookie?

 

[KamiKahzy]

Not entirely sure, but for me it means I'm hyped to see how the situation resolves.

 

[Beckoncall]

@Heyitsjiwon :


Not that it really puts a dent in your point, but an additional witch was blasted out of the sky at the end of the battle -- so it could presumably be 2 witches. It is worth noting though that the withdrawing unit did not seem to be effected by the loss of an additional witch...

 

[SpiralErrant]

Either way this makes the second serious licking that the mud elves have taken in a few weeks. If we deliver the heads to the gnolls after we could possibly buy ourselves some serious time.


After all the gnolls asked for a few baskets worth. If we deliver what sounds like a whole cart load they might be like "Daaamn these guys are bad asses! Woof."

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

Well, if we can stop the brutes from eating all of the head, then yes xD .

 

[KamiKahzy]

I've actually got a much better idea for appeasing the gnolls, but it will require you keep the captured witch alive until I can get my rats back to the mainland.


I'd elaborate more but I want to keep this a secret for fun.

 

[Elendithas]

First of all, there will almost certainly not be any heads left if you guys don't start grabbing them up immediately. Second, you might want to keep that witch away from any Aymaran, especially Quetankha. He really likes to break magic and would love to see what happens if he breaks any magic inside of that woman. Also I think the Tyren coming into the 'Platz don't even know about the newly arrived Aymarans. Looking forward to their reaction of seeing giant crocodile-men tearing corpses to shreds in the shadows of the 'Platz.

 

[Beckoncall]

First of all, there will almost certainly not be any heads left if you guys don't start grabbing them up immediately. Second, you might want to keep that witch away from any Aymaran, especially Quetankha. He really likes to break magic and would love to see what happens if he breaks any magic inside of that woman. Also I think the Tyren coming into the 'Platz don't even know about the newly arrived Aymarans. Looking forward to their reaction of seeing giant crocodile-men tearing corpses to shreds in the shadows of the 'Platz.

All very meritous points... especially about heads vanishing very quickly on the battlefield... it's rough to estimate at this point, but the number of mud-elf dead in the platz is estimated at: 20 x 4 skirmish Units = 80 (20 of which are reasonably insulated from brutes in the healer's guild)


Plus approximately 125-150 dead from the Bulwark Regiment. -- considering each Aymaran can eat approx. 2 mud-elves before dragging a third off, an estimating about 80% of them still have an appetite at this stage of the battle (wounds of varying degrees) that's 40x3 = 120 heads that will vanish off the field if nothing is done to stop them. that still leaves about 100 heads in the platz, but that is assuming:


1) You find each head -- Elven swordmasters may have sent some flying clear over the cliffs...


2) You consider a head of a CAPTURED mud-elf a trophy... approxmately 20 mud-elves were siezed (mostly by exiles) during the battle)


3) You actually want to dedicate labor and time in a period of crisis to finding out where a bunch of cannibal heads wound up.


4) Dealing with the expected reaction of brutes and other Aymarans when they see the other races pulling what they see as carrion, which is anybody's game.


5) etc.


Sidenote: Lack of care for whom the Aymarans eat threatens to considerably curtail the amount of loot recovered from the battle. They're not likely to EAT a magical sword (even a brute has a good chance of not absentmindedly eating a magical sword) -- but gems and other finery are GARNISH.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Also to elaborate on my statement, I think that as many heads as possible should be gathered for that debt to the gnolls. But in my opinion a live enemy is worth more than a simple head, because then the gnolls can take their time and do with the captive as they will.

 

[Beckoncall]

It is undoubted that a live captive represents a great value strategically in the eyes of most forces. There is no guarantee the Gnolls will see it that way though. If somebody owed you 80 bucks, and they brought you 40 bucks and information on where you could easily (with minimal risk!) get 100 bucks, how enthused might you be?

 

[KamiKahzy]

Which is why I think that giving them the required number of heads as well as any live captives we can muster should be the ideal goal.