Klimino Zepehphor
Personal hackey sack to Newspaper weilders
looks good, glad to have ya
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The Zemrati Chronicles
- Thread starter Klimino Zepehphor
- Start date
Cashdash25
The Proletariat Robot
The arch-traitor returns! Run! Run for your lives!
The Glass Ninja
The High Tower's Guard
I can't declare war on anyone unless they mess with me. Tis unfortunate...
Last edited by a moderator:
Nepty
Biji YPG!
sorry for the essay
The Illitarian Kingdom
From the city of Nivereh, under the rule of the King of Kings , the Illitarian Kingdom (though, legally speaking, it is an empire, it is ruled by a King-Elect) means to see the will of Ar-Murazon exercised. Illitaria is a nation of high learning, refined culture, and built around a simple creed.
“We were born in order to die.”
This is the Prayer of Ar-Murazon, which is both a hymn, of sorts, a saying, and a creed one sentence long. The Illitarians initially began as a radical heresy of their more dominant religion. They quickly spread, and, through force of arms and mental acuity, defeated their opponents.
Illitaria is a nation of magic users. With the highest proportion of mages per capita of any known nation, the Illitarians are a sorcerer-kingdom. This has of course led to the rise of a ruling feudal elite. Sorcerous lords rule over the lowborn, illiterate freemen and peasants, who nevertheless, are not slaves or thralls, but free men with as may rights as a lord or a kknight.
One out of every three hundred animals may be eaten, but an Illitarian peasant generally eats what vegetables he grows, and what animals he can hunt. The odd deer, but mostly just sparrows, capons and eggs. They also eat quite a lot of fish. Luckily for the illitarian peasant, they have three days upon which eating meat is traditionally taboo, and it’s better to donate your animals to the local temple, for ascendance to Holy Energy than eat them. Lords eat much the same way, usually dining on richer fare, however, such as turkey or wild boar, but it is taboo to kill domestic animals, for they are the property of the King of Kings, and Ar-Murazon, teh God of Gods. In Illitaria, snails are generally raised en mass by peasants and lords alike for fair for the table.
The Sorcerers
All of Illitaria’s nobility is comprised of mages, and the literate. These nobles are organized according to illitarian feudalism. A satrap swears to defend his lords, and so on and so forth. The freemen and peasants are obliged to raise herds for their God and their King, and are also obligated to send one man of each generation to the military, to be schooled in teh ways of war, bound for the Royal Army, and glory or death.
Currency in illitaria is paid in literacy. While the Illitarians accept foreign coin and it is in circulation for the peasants, the bank trades it on as quickly as possible. Primarily, the culture uses documented notes for payment, and often trades in catalysts –large objects incised with runes, used to store magical energy- is accepted as well.
Illitarian Coat of Arms
Arms: a paile argent, a field sable (Symbolizing the white light of Ar-Murazon in a dark world)
Crest: A crowned dragon, crimson (Symbolizing the monarchy)
Supporter Dexter: A soldier, crimson (Symbolizing the illiterate masses)
Supporter Sinister: A mage, sable (Symbolizing the sorcerous nobility)
Compartment: Rayonny gold, a mount vert. (Symbolizing the destruction of those that oppose Illitaria)
Motto: “Occit Sic Boure Alre Baire” (Man Was Born to Die)
Illitarian Political System
The nobility is not set, nor is it hereditary. The King of Kings may confiscate any lands he deems at any time, and award them to another Satrep or Lord. Furthermore, when a landholder dies, his lands revert to the crown. Therefore, the most powerful lords tend to be the most learned sorcerers, as the king himself is the most learned sorcerer of all of Illitaria, save for the Covenanters.
Knights
Low-standing mages who nevertheless are gifted prized Gryphoths by the King. While the peasantry has their own heavy cavalry, in the form of Lancers and Cuirraseirs, the Knights are mages that seek to prove themselves worthy of higher offices and honors. They wear full, heavy plate armor in battle, carry lance, sword, shield, axe and the like, and are primarily concerned with close combat. Before battle, they bless their armor with prayers and magic, and the armor of their mounts. Unlike horses, Gryphoths (huge carnivores, the size of elephants, with an eagle’s head and a lion’s body) and easily can bear the weight of both a fully armored knight, and heavy armor for themselves while still running at a full gallop.
As such, knights are generally put to use smashing aside enemy formations
THE ROYAL ARMY
Footmen
Pikemen, halberdeirs and other spearmen, used in pike blocks. These formations are guarded by mages whos job it is to ward them against attacks, and their offensive capability is primarily seen in the use of runeguns.
Musketeers
arquebusiers, under a different name.
Men-at-Arms
Infantrymen who fight with short halberds, plate, swords and shields and axes.
Runegunners
runeguns are prepared by loading a rune-carved lead shot (universal caliber) charged with a rabbit’s life force, into a long musket. The trigger word is spoken as the weapon is fired, setting the shot to it’s ‘armed’ state. It will release all it’s energy in an uncontrolled explosion (the size of a 20 mm grenade’s blast. Scaled from a human’s 150mm shell) intended to blow apart formations, soldiers, and monsters. These men are as close as one could get to sharpshooters, trained to aim at the largest threats and blast them away.
Cannoneers
Men crewing large smoothbore artillery pieces
Lancers: Heavy horsemen, using long, hollow, 20 foot lances that should outrange any pike.
Cuirassiers: Heavy cavalrymen wearing thick breastplates, and armed with swords.
ROYAL ARMY PROS AND CONS
NOBLE TROOPS
Mages of the Third Order
Poorly trained mages, who are put to work in supporting roles. Each cohort (500 men) of royal troops is accompanied by twenty mages of the Third Order, roughly one per 20 men in the cohort. 10 of these mages are attached to each company (50 men) and are in charge of providing them with defensive spells during battle. 6 mages are put to use healing the wounded and sending them back into the fight, or stabilizing the badly wounded. 2 mages are in charge of magical communications between the Cohort and other formations, and the other two are there to fill in any gaps, and periodically provide offensive spellfire.
Mages of the Second Order
Mages of the Second Order are mages trained in the specific art of Driving. These mages are therefore known as Drivers to many. Drivers spend their off time mixing with regular soldiers and meditating In equal measures. The Second Order of Ar-Murazon extolls the values of patience, calm and meditation. In battle, mages of the Second Order clamber into their towering Engines –constructs of varying sizes, that are driven from within by a mage, and run on masses of stored magical energy (batteries, if you will.) They also feed their Engines off the life energy of those they kill during combat.
Deathdrinkers
Deathdrinkers are a sub-order of mages, with the sole purpose of defending formations and constructs. The Deathdrinkers stand ‘before the fore’ of their formation, guarded by a handpiked team of ten soldiers and four defensive mages. If the enemy launches magical or chemical attacks (say, a dragon breathing fire, or a bolt of mage lightning, or a gas attack) the Deathdrinker’s job is to neutralize it. Fire, for example, is simply extinguished, as the mage very simply draws the oxygen out of the air in it’s path, with almost minimal effort on his part, totally neutralizing the fire or chemichal.
Mages of the First Order
First Order Mages are primarily deployed on the battlefield to drive the massive Wicker Men, and to neutralize hostile mages (though the Witch Hunters are the best at that unenviable job) First Order mages are the most powerful as well.
Witch Hunters
Mages who’s repertoire of spells is geared specifically to fight other mages.
Wraiths
Mages who have mastered the art of being unnoticed while casting, turning themselves invisible, to scout out enemy positions, or, more commonly, killing the enemy’s mages and high command before the battle begins. They are only identifiable by the low, barley audible chanting under their breath.
ENGINES
The Engines of War are the pride of Illitaria.
Silent Slayers
The smallest of engines require very little fuel. Standing six feet tall, little more than suits of plate, their energy is easily conserved, only burnt to augment the warrior’s strength, as the armor itself is far thicker than human plate (being plated in cured wood beneath the iron, for cost purposes.) These are deployed in Cohorts, alongside the regular infantrymen, as slightly more elite troops. Their name derives from their driver’s traditions of absolute silence save for chanting. They instead communicate only through mental commands during battle.
Battle Engines
Eight foot tall Battle Engines are one of the more common engines of war, though not as numerous as the Slayers. These wood-and-iron constructs generally excel at taking apart infantry formations. They are organized into Cohorts, along with Silent Slayers and regular infantrymen. They are generally treated like elite infantry formations, and specialize in destroying enemy infantry.
Dins
Din drivers shout their ritual meditations instead of chanting them, which should be a good indicator of their temperament. Dins are large and slow engines, and deploy in groups of 20 on the wings of a Battle Engine formation. They wear massive wooden cudgels on their hips, and appear to be similar to Battle Engines in stature and build. However, while Battle Engines wear tall red plumes on their helms, Dins have none, and instead have kettle-helmet shaped heads, with large depressions that mimic their eyes, and grant the pilots better sight. In both hands, however, they carry crude cannons of brass and wood. (A tree trunk with a bell shape at the end of it, more or less) and cram the short barrels of these weapons full of small musket balls, forks, knives, spoons, nails, gravel and other tiny pieces of metal and stone. In battle, they generally fire these huge proto-shotguns directly into an oncoming formation from less than ten meters away, and then charge in with their cudgels (or simply swing their cannons around like clubs themselves.) In battle, when draining a victim of life force, they generally prefer to save it up for a short time, and the expel all that life force outward from themselves after charging into an enemy formation, causing utter havoc.
Brass Knights
Brass Knights are huge, twenty foot tall behemoths, made of wood and brass and iron, driven by some of the best drivers of the Second Order in the Kingdom. They are organized into Companions of 50, and may number only 1000 at their most, with 100 always guarding the King in his palace. These men often simply stride through combat, ignoring shot and stab alike, that skitter off their armor.
Wicker Men
The epitome of the Illitarian military is the Wicker Men. These are behemoths of truly godly scale. While the Brass Knights can simply stamp on your average soldier, the Wicker Men can stamp on them. Standing at one hundred feet tall at the shortest, and two hundred fifty at the tallest and still seemly (the tallest ever recorded was supposedly six hundred feet tall and wiped out towns with its tread) Wicker Men are fueled by livestock slaughtered by the hundreds, and great draws of energy from Vessels. Swinging censers trail off of it.
Within it’s hollow confines, are stuffed livestock or Censers, the living animals bound and mutilated to lie still, and prisoners, sentenced to die. Wicker Men stride into battle resplendent in paint, with banners flying from their shoulders, wreathed in incense, to the sound of tolling bells. Gregorian chants come from it’s drivers and attendants, and under it all is the muffled lowing of terrified animals. These behemoths wipe out entire formations when they walk.
However, Wicker Men must be driven by three mages who have combined their minds, and four more mages of the First Order defend it, with magical wards and spells. Wicker Men must also be built on-sight, and cannot be transported.
AIRBORNE UNITS
Skywraiths
Skywraiths are large hot air balloons with a crew of three. One illusionist, to render it invisible, one engineer, to make sure that the nonmagical fire that keeps it aloft is running, and one pilot-bombardier, a mage tasked with providing small bursts of wind energy to pilot it, and who is also in charge of dropping the small barrels of gunpowder over the side into the midst of enemy formations.
Godcrows
Godcrows are charged with dealing with hostile flyers. They are horse-sized constructs with large wings of boiled leather, ridden by a First Order mage who is strapped in with chains and ropes in its hollow chest. They are slaved to the mind of the mage himself, who wears the construct like a second skin, while piloting it and giving it energy. They burn through their energy relatively quickly though, and generally hang suspended upside down under Skywraiths to detach and come to life in combat, to conserve energy.
Skysharks
Enchanted, aerodynamic wooden constructs with a powder charge, and a powder warhead. Stuck into the ground, and fired like a Congreve rocket at enemy formations, the enchantments take hold halfway into the flight, kicking in and steering it towards the target area, pre-selected before the spell was cast, to detonate upon impact.
MYSTIC UNITS
Assassins: Trained to use glamors to make them appear to be someone of an entirely different race or people, and kill specific targets, with no regards to their own lives They often attack en mass, as a group, and very rarely fail, especially given that each assassin detonates their entire life energy if caught or mortally wounded.
Covenanters
The Covenant of Ar-Murazon is comprised of the most 111 most learned mages in the entire Kingdom who have decided to dedicate their entire lives to the God of Gods. They never let any of their skin show to the outside world, and wear stark metal masks. These are the Attendants of Ar-Murazon. These greatest mages of the Kingdom will guard Ar-Murazon to the last.
The Sepulcher
An unknown place in Nivereh, deep under the vaults, spoken of in whispers alone, but treated with reverence and fear, and referred to as a person.
PROS AND CONS (long long long list)
Pro: Wicker Men
Wicker Men are Titans that crush whole formations and have magical energy shields, need I say more?
Pro: Pike Company
Each company of 150 men has 10 mages accompanying it, to defend it, provide healing, fire support, etc. Each company also carries it’s own vessels and replacement vessels to recharge the mage’s power and charge the runegunner’s shots. Each company (40 musketeers, 60 pikemen/halberdeirs) has 20 runegunners and 20 men at arms, who stay in the center and guard the ammunition and equipment until the time comes for them to fight. The company fights in a hollow square during battle.
Pro: Draft
5% of the total population must be prepared to serve in the military at all times. This force, called The Divisions is much more numerous than the Royal Army, at the cost of experience.
Pro: Born in Order to Die
If overrun among enemy troops, with no hope of survival, the mages will detonate their life forces and that of their entire remaining company and those enemies nearby, resulting in a massive explosion, and enshrinement of their family names in the Hall of Heroes below the Radiant Palace, and the full names of the entire company in the Martyrs Walk in Nivereh, a high honor.
Con
Magical Army: Without their magical aide, illitarian armeis are no more special than any other infantry force, and are not trained to fight without their combined arms aid.
Con: On-sight: Wicker Men, like siege towers, must be built with supplies in the vicinity, on sight.
CIVIC PROS AND CONS: NIVEREH, THE HOLY CITY
Pro: City of Three Rivers
Nivereh is built upon three prongs of the Niveh River and it’s tributaries. Nivereh (“On the Niveh”, in Illitarian) is built for a specific purpose: To be a nightmare to take. The city is fortified all around, by walls one hundred and fifty feet high, and sixty feet thick, and each of the Three Great Gates are more like narrow channels in the sheer rock face of the walls than true gates. The walls cannot truly be broken down, nor can they be tunneled under, for the city rests upon a massive natural deposit of iron. The greatest defensive measure, however, is the Niveh itself. To besiege it, one must build a camp on every side of the Niveh, the greatest river on the Eastern Continent, and fully encircle the walls, that stretch to encompass the entire 21 miles of area that make up the “Greatest city in the world” (out of the mouths of admittedly biased chroniclers)
(Any army besieging Nivereh must encircle it totally, which requires enough men, and coordination to make 3 unconnected camps, each 7 miles long, and large enough to hold off against a sally alone (the river is too wide for the camps to reinforce one another) and must also close off all the three prongs of the Niveh and its tributary, the Yasher.
Pro: City of Water
Nivereh is a city that sits on the three prongs of the largest and most powerful rivers on the continent. As such, the material needs of the city are mostly seen to by the Churn-Farms. These are massive artificial works deep underwater that span outwards, from the island in the center of the torrent, where the Niveh and Yasher meet (and where the Royal Palace is located) out to the far bank (basically giant structures under the water) that are full of mills and fan blades, that the current turns. This energy provides mechanical torque and torsion enough to see to the needs of the entire city, in terms of grinding, smithing, and hammering and even public transportation, air circulation, plumbing and the processing of all ‘menial’ jobs, (many helped along with magic) allowing the citizenry that would otherwise need to be skilled laborers, like smiths, plumbers, cobblers, weavers and more to devote their lives to scholarly and pleasurable pursuits, and, of course, the defense of the city
Double morale on defense. Permanent garrison-in-waiting of 33% of its population as soldiers (all adult males conscripted.)
Pro: The Deep Vaults
In days of yore, the massive deep-iron slab that Nivereh rests upon was mined out to it’s limits. Now, it is punishable by death to mine the rest of the iron, that forms an underground shell protecting Nivereh from being undermined. The huge vaults underneath are now used to house both subterranean farms and the hundreds of thousands runestones upon which Illitaria takes its power from. Also in these vaults dwell the Covenant, the manservants of Ar-Murazon (who is said to live himself beneath the city, in a likely apocraphyl legend).
Con: The Centerpiece
If Nivereh falls and the Vaults are lost, and the Sepulcher sacked, and Ar-Murazon, who lives there is taken or destroyed, Illitaria as a faction ceases to exist.
Pro: King of Kings
When a portion of land is taken though either military or peaceful means, the culture is retained, and the people are allowed to remain, acting as they always have, unless otherwise compelled by the King of Kings.
(Other factions’ troops can be deployed in limited numbers (10% of the population of the area, in relation to the amount of territory taken) by illitaria, if it has taken land previously belonging to that faction through any means.
Pro: Eternal Empire
Periodically, large groups of migrants from other lands will enter illitaria to live free, rather than live a slave of another culture.
Pro: Satrapies
Illitarian land is divided into satrapies, that will provide +20% taxes for income, and a standing army of 5% of its population at all times at the expense of its Satrap.
Con: Agitations
Periodically a satrapy of the empire might withhold it’s taxes, troops or even rebel if the Satrap feels he is being treated unfairly.
CIVIC: SUSTAINABILITY
PRO: FISHERMEN
Any settlement along a river or body of water counts as a farming settlement.
PRO: Sorcerous Allure
5% of the population is mages, and so are not in short supply.
Pro: Fertility
Illitarians reproduce like rabbits, being a somewhat separate branch of homo sapiens. They can interbreed, like humans with Neanderthals, and aesthetically there is no difference, but illitarians are practically supercharged with lust.
(Illitarians triple their population every era. This pro is only lore turn effective)
Con: Expansionation
Must expand some every generation to avoid starvation (lore turn effective)
PRO GRYPHOTH KNIGHTS
Knights are numerous, and very deadly. They are primarily deployed against infantry or cavalry, and though they can enter melee with pikemen, due to their heavy armor, they would take far more losses than is acceptable. They generally decimate other mounted formations, and infantry in close combat.
(Gryphoth knights cause hellish damage to any enemy mounted units (being geared to fight themO and less, but still horrific damage to non-pike foot units when compared to other cavalry.
Pro: Diplomatic
Diplomatic bonus to dealing with NPC naitons, as Illitaria is relatively friendly and tolerant
PRO MAGICAL BATTERY (Vessels)
Vessels are compact containers that store life energy without requiring it be chanted over, and are used as batteries, of a sort, to fuel the large machines of war and industry.
(Troops take only 40 mins to set up for a pitched battle)
CON: Supply Lines
Illitarian troops need a supply line of charged runestones from the homeland, to restock their army’s stores every 5 months.
(If the supply lines are disrupted, the ‘runestone’ pro is lost for that army, and it must strip the country bare to fuel its machines. Furthermore, battle preparation time to set up war machines is increased to 5 hours)
PRO: LIVESTOCK NATION
The Illitarians place such a value on livestock (being that it fuels the vast majority of their empire) that they very, very rarely eat beef, buffalo, pig, horse or any other creature that could be repurposed. These animals are very rarely eaten, with pork being reserved for feast days, and cow and buffalo being banned for consumption entirely. Periodically horsemeat is sampled, however, though this too is a rare treat. As such, Illitaria’s magical consumption is generally manageable relatively simply, as all of these uneaten animals are rendered into magical fuel.
(See below. 2 pros are used to cover one this important)
PRO: HERDSMEN
The sheer amount of Illitaria’s livestock per capita is mind boggling. Each herding family often owns hundreds of cattle and sheep, and they breed them like mad. Animals are bred for size, and health, and most importantly, fertility. Illitaria has far, far, far more animals than it does citizens. As every farming family is required by law to either administrate to vast herds, or run the gardens. Generally the women garden, and the men herd
(Illitaria does not need to take magical expenditure into account, so long as it has its herds. 2 pros used up to make this one)
FLUFF NOTE
This has resulted in the phenomena known as “The Bastard Season,” and a breakdown the intial illitarian custom of a solemn monogamous marriage. As for a long period of time (sometime half a year) most of the nation’s peasant men are spending the vast majority of their time (often weeks or months long stretches) in with the herds in the pastures, leaving the women alone in the farms. The freeholders, soldiers and knights, though, who serve ar-murazon through warfare, not herding, remain with the women. The peasant men tend to come back to villages to find a suspicious number of their wives and daughters pregnant. Due to the prevalence of this, bastards are generally raised as a man’s own. Despite this supposed altruism, nearly all male bastards tend to be given to the military, so trueborn sons can stay home in peace and quiet, and female bastards tend to become seamstresses, consorts to the nobility, or tithes to the temple, as temple prostitutes.
PRO, The Light of Ar-Murazon
The God of Illitaria is of course a rather violent fellow, prone to conquests, with a definite sort of manifest destiny promoted by the priesthood, but in the same vein, he is also a very tolerant God. Illitarians do practice asceticism, and stark purity, but this is not for any reasons of terror of sin. Instead, this is practiced to promote approaching situation with a cool head, not acting rashly, and controlling one’s emotions. For the nobility, this meditation is accompanied by spell-chants.
In the cities, there are generally quite large and extravagant temples. Daughterhouses, and Sonhouses. Sonhouses train men given to the clergy in the art of war and toil, and daughterhouses train women in the art of healing and passion. The Sonhouses turn out warrior-preists, who exhort soldiers on the battlefield, and village priests, who give spiritual council to villages. Daughterhouses turn out nurses, to help with nonmagical healing, and temple prostitutes, who practice a different sort of art.
All of this lends to a feeling of cultural unity and joinery, and a sense of a shared world.
(200% morale on defensive battles (fight to the death, more or less)
CON: GLARING WEAKNESS
If the Illitarian cattle supplies are wiped out, as difficult as that is to do, illitarian armies are magically crippled 5 months later, when it’s runestones run out.
(military forces fight without any magical support if the herds of the heartland are all destroyed or taken, unless they can forage for enough life force on location)
PRO: MAGEOCRACY
Roughly 1 out of every 20 illitarians is an amateur mage (and thus a member of the gentry) one out of every 100 is a militarily trained mage.
(All illitarian settlements count as equipped with one 2nd order warmage per 100 citizens. Ad one First Order warmage per 1000 citizens)
PRO: Military Academy
Illitarian warriors pride themselves on being rational, not just ferocious fighters. As such, Illitarian armies led by a named officer. are tactically far more flexible than other armies. (See officer list)
(If led by a named officer, Illitarian armies are more tactically flexable, quicker to respond to troubling circumstances et al)
Pro: Battle Meditation
Mages driving war machines and casting spells meditate and chant at the same time. It’s almost a second nature to them.
(mages are not interrupted in their chanting, even in the midst of extreme chaos)
The Illitarian Kingdom
From the city of Nivereh, under the rule of the King of Kings , the Illitarian Kingdom (though, legally speaking, it is an empire, it is ruled by a King-Elect) means to see the will of Ar-Murazon exercised. Illitaria is a nation of high learning, refined culture, and built around a simple creed.
“We were born in order to die.”
This is the Prayer of Ar-Murazon, which is both a hymn, of sorts, a saying, and a creed one sentence long. The Illitarians initially began as a radical heresy of their more dominant religion. They quickly spread, and, through force of arms and mental acuity, defeated their opponents.
Illitaria is a nation of magic users. With the highest proportion of mages per capita of any known nation, the Illitarians are a sorcerer-kingdom. This has of course led to the rise of a ruling feudal elite. Sorcerous lords rule over the lowborn, illiterate freemen and peasants, who nevertheless, are not slaves or thralls, but free men with as may rights as a lord or a kknight.
DIET
One out of every three hundred animals may be eaten, but an Illitarian peasant generally eats what vegetables he grows, and what animals he can hunt. The odd deer, but mostly just sparrows, capons and eggs. They also eat quite a lot of fish. Luckily for the illitarian peasant, they have three days upon which eating meat is traditionally taboo, and it’s better to donate your animals to the local temple, for ascendance to Holy Energy than eat them. Lords eat much the same way, usually dining on richer fare, however, such as turkey or wild boar, but it is taboo to kill domestic animals, for they are the property of the King of Kings, and Ar-Murazon, teh God of Gods. In Illitaria, snails are generally raised en mass by peasants and lords alike for fair for the table.
The Sorcerers
All of Illitaria’s nobility is comprised of mages, and the literate. These nobles are organized according to illitarian feudalism. A satrap swears to defend his lords, and so on and so forth. The freemen and peasants are obliged to raise herds for their God and their King, and are also obligated to send one man of each generation to the military, to be schooled in teh ways of war, bound for the Royal Army, and glory or death.
Currency in illitaria is paid in literacy. While the Illitarians accept foreign coin and it is in circulation for the peasants, the bank trades it on as quickly as possible. Primarily, the culture uses documented notes for payment, and often trades in catalysts –large objects incised with runes, used to store magical energy- is accepted as well.
Illitarian Coat of Arms
Arms: a paile argent, a field sable (Symbolizing the white light of Ar-Murazon in a dark world)
Crest: A crowned dragon, crimson (Symbolizing the monarchy)
Supporter Dexter: A soldier, crimson (Symbolizing the illiterate masses)
Supporter Sinister: A mage, sable (Symbolizing the sorcerous nobility)
Compartment: Rayonny gold, a mount vert. (Symbolizing the destruction of those that oppose Illitaria)
Motto: “Occit Sic Boure Alre Baire” (Man Was Born to Die)
Illitarian Political System
The nobility is not set, nor is it hereditary. The King of Kings may confiscate any lands he deems at any time, and award them to another Satrep or Lord. Furthermore, when a landholder dies, his lands revert to the crown. Therefore, the most powerful lords tend to be the most learned sorcerers, as the king himself is the most learned sorcerer of all of Illitaria, save for the Covenanters.
Knights
Low-standing mages who nevertheless are gifted prized Gryphoths by the King. While the peasantry has their own heavy cavalry, in the form of Lancers and Cuirraseirs, the Knights are mages that seek to prove themselves worthy of higher offices and honors. They wear full, heavy plate armor in battle, carry lance, sword, shield, axe and the like, and are primarily concerned with close combat. Before battle, they bless their armor with prayers and magic, and the armor of their mounts. Unlike horses, Gryphoths (huge carnivores, the size of elephants, with an eagle’s head and a lion’s body) and easily can bear the weight of both a fully armored knight, and heavy armor for themselves while still running at a full gallop.
As such, knights are generally put to use smashing aside enemy formations
THE ROYAL ARMY
Footmen
Pikemen, halberdeirs and other spearmen, used in pike blocks. These formations are guarded by mages whos job it is to ward them against attacks, and their offensive capability is primarily seen in the use of runeguns.
Musketeers
arquebusiers, under a different name.
Men-at-Arms
Infantrymen who fight with short halberds, plate, swords and shields and axes.
Runegunners
runeguns are prepared by loading a rune-carved lead shot (universal caliber) charged with a rabbit’s life force, into a long musket. The trigger word is spoken as the weapon is fired, setting the shot to it’s ‘armed’ state. It will release all it’s energy in an uncontrolled explosion (the size of a 20 mm grenade’s blast. Scaled from a human’s 150mm shell) intended to blow apart formations, soldiers, and monsters. These men are as close as one could get to sharpshooters, trained to aim at the largest threats and blast them away.
Cannoneers
Men crewing large smoothbore artillery pieces
Lancers: Heavy horsemen, using long, hollow, 20 foot lances that should outrange any pike.
Cuirassiers: Heavy cavalrymen wearing thick breastplates, and armed with swords.
ROYAL ARMY PROS AND CONS
NOBLE TROOPS
Mages of the Third Order
Poorly trained mages, who are put to work in supporting roles. Each cohort (500 men) of royal troops is accompanied by twenty mages of the Third Order, roughly one per 20 men in the cohort. 10 of these mages are attached to each company (50 men) and are in charge of providing them with defensive spells during battle. 6 mages are put to use healing the wounded and sending them back into the fight, or stabilizing the badly wounded. 2 mages are in charge of magical communications between the Cohort and other formations, and the other two are there to fill in any gaps, and periodically provide offensive spellfire.
Mages of the Second Order
Mages of the Second Order are mages trained in the specific art of Driving. These mages are therefore known as Drivers to many. Drivers spend their off time mixing with regular soldiers and meditating In equal measures. The Second Order of Ar-Murazon extolls the values of patience, calm and meditation. In battle, mages of the Second Order clamber into their towering Engines –constructs of varying sizes, that are driven from within by a mage, and run on masses of stored magical energy (batteries, if you will.) They also feed their Engines off the life energy of those they kill during combat.
Deathdrinkers
Deathdrinkers are a sub-order of mages, with the sole purpose of defending formations and constructs. The Deathdrinkers stand ‘before the fore’ of their formation, guarded by a handpiked team of ten soldiers and four defensive mages. If the enemy launches magical or chemical attacks (say, a dragon breathing fire, or a bolt of mage lightning, or a gas attack) the Deathdrinker’s job is to neutralize it. Fire, for example, is simply extinguished, as the mage very simply draws the oxygen out of the air in it’s path, with almost minimal effort on his part, totally neutralizing the fire or chemichal.
Mages of the First Order
First Order Mages are primarily deployed on the battlefield to drive the massive Wicker Men, and to neutralize hostile mages (though the Witch Hunters are the best at that unenviable job) First Order mages are the most powerful as well.
Witch Hunters
Mages who’s repertoire of spells is geared specifically to fight other mages.
Wraiths
Mages who have mastered the art of being unnoticed while casting, turning themselves invisible, to scout out enemy positions, or, more commonly, killing the enemy’s mages and high command before the battle begins. They are only identifiable by the low, barley audible chanting under their breath.
ENGINES
The Engines of War are the pride of Illitaria.
Silent Slayers
The smallest of engines require very little fuel. Standing six feet tall, little more than suits of plate, their energy is easily conserved, only burnt to augment the warrior’s strength, as the armor itself is far thicker than human plate (being plated in cured wood beneath the iron, for cost purposes.) These are deployed in Cohorts, alongside the regular infantrymen, as slightly more elite troops. Their name derives from their driver’s traditions of absolute silence save for chanting. They instead communicate only through mental commands during battle.
Battle Engines
Eight foot tall Battle Engines are one of the more common engines of war, though not as numerous as the Slayers. These wood-and-iron constructs generally excel at taking apart infantry formations. They are organized into Cohorts, along with Silent Slayers and regular infantrymen. They are generally treated like elite infantry formations, and specialize in destroying enemy infantry.
Dins
Din drivers shout their ritual meditations instead of chanting them, which should be a good indicator of their temperament. Dins are large and slow engines, and deploy in groups of 20 on the wings of a Battle Engine formation. They wear massive wooden cudgels on their hips, and appear to be similar to Battle Engines in stature and build. However, while Battle Engines wear tall red plumes on their helms, Dins have none, and instead have kettle-helmet shaped heads, with large depressions that mimic their eyes, and grant the pilots better sight. In both hands, however, they carry crude cannons of brass and wood. (A tree trunk with a bell shape at the end of it, more or less) and cram the short barrels of these weapons full of small musket balls, forks, knives, spoons, nails, gravel and other tiny pieces of metal and stone. In battle, they generally fire these huge proto-shotguns directly into an oncoming formation from less than ten meters away, and then charge in with their cudgels (or simply swing their cannons around like clubs themselves.) In battle, when draining a victim of life force, they generally prefer to save it up for a short time, and the expel all that life force outward from themselves after charging into an enemy formation, causing utter havoc.
Brass Knights
Brass Knights are huge, twenty foot tall behemoths, made of wood and brass and iron, driven by some of the best drivers of the Second Order in the Kingdom. They are organized into Companions of 50, and may number only 1000 at their most, with 100 always guarding the King in his palace. These men often simply stride through combat, ignoring shot and stab alike, that skitter off their armor.
Wicker Men
The epitome of the Illitarian military is the Wicker Men. These are behemoths of truly godly scale. While the Brass Knights can simply stamp on your average soldier, the Wicker Men can stamp on them. Standing at one hundred feet tall at the shortest, and two hundred fifty at the tallest and still seemly (the tallest ever recorded was supposedly six hundred feet tall and wiped out towns with its tread) Wicker Men are fueled by livestock slaughtered by the hundreds, and great draws of energy from Vessels. Swinging censers trail off of it.
Within it’s hollow confines, are stuffed livestock or Censers, the living animals bound and mutilated to lie still, and prisoners, sentenced to die. Wicker Men stride into battle resplendent in paint, with banners flying from their shoulders, wreathed in incense, to the sound of tolling bells. Gregorian chants come from it’s drivers and attendants, and under it all is the muffled lowing of terrified animals. These behemoths wipe out entire formations when they walk.
However, Wicker Men must be driven by three mages who have combined their minds, and four more mages of the First Order defend it, with magical wards and spells. Wicker Men must also be built on-sight, and cannot be transported.
AIRBORNE UNITS
Skywraiths
Skywraiths are large hot air balloons with a crew of three. One illusionist, to render it invisible, one engineer, to make sure that the nonmagical fire that keeps it aloft is running, and one pilot-bombardier, a mage tasked with providing small bursts of wind energy to pilot it, and who is also in charge of dropping the small barrels of gunpowder over the side into the midst of enemy formations.
Godcrows
Godcrows are charged with dealing with hostile flyers. They are horse-sized constructs with large wings of boiled leather, ridden by a First Order mage who is strapped in with chains and ropes in its hollow chest. They are slaved to the mind of the mage himself, who wears the construct like a second skin, while piloting it and giving it energy. They burn through their energy relatively quickly though, and generally hang suspended upside down under Skywraiths to detach and come to life in combat, to conserve energy.
Skysharks
Enchanted, aerodynamic wooden constructs with a powder charge, and a powder warhead. Stuck into the ground, and fired like a Congreve rocket at enemy formations, the enchantments take hold halfway into the flight, kicking in and steering it towards the target area, pre-selected before the spell was cast, to detonate upon impact.
MYSTIC UNITS
Assassins: Trained to use glamors to make them appear to be someone of an entirely different race or people, and kill specific targets, with no regards to their own lives They often attack en mass, as a group, and very rarely fail, especially given that each assassin detonates their entire life energy if caught or mortally wounded.
Covenanters
The Covenant of Ar-Murazon is comprised of the most 111 most learned mages in the entire Kingdom who have decided to dedicate their entire lives to the God of Gods. They never let any of their skin show to the outside world, and wear stark metal masks. These are the Attendants of Ar-Murazon. These greatest mages of the Kingdom will guard Ar-Murazon to the last.
The Sepulcher
An unknown place in Nivereh, deep under the vaults, spoken of in whispers alone, but treated with reverence and fear, and referred to as a person.
PROS AND CONS (long long long list)
Pro: Wicker Men
Wicker Men are Titans that crush whole formations and have magical energy shields, need I say more?
Pro: Pike Company
Each company of 150 men has 10 mages accompanying it, to defend it, provide healing, fire support, etc. Each company also carries it’s own vessels and replacement vessels to recharge the mage’s power and charge the runegunner’s shots. Each company (40 musketeers, 60 pikemen/halberdeirs) has 20 runegunners and 20 men at arms, who stay in the center and guard the ammunition and equipment until the time comes for them to fight. The company fights in a hollow square during battle.
Pro: Draft
5% of the total population must be prepared to serve in the military at all times. This force, called The Divisions is much more numerous than the Royal Army, at the cost of experience.
Pro: Born in Order to Die
If overrun among enemy troops, with no hope of survival, the mages will detonate their life forces and that of their entire remaining company and those enemies nearby, resulting in a massive explosion, and enshrinement of their family names in the Hall of Heroes below the Radiant Palace, and the full names of the entire company in the Martyrs Walk in Nivereh, a high honor.
Con
Magical Army: Without their magical aide, illitarian armeis are no more special than any other infantry force, and are not trained to fight without their combined arms aid.
Con: On-sight: Wicker Men, like siege towers, must be built with supplies in the vicinity, on sight.
CIVIC PROS AND CONS: NIVEREH, THE HOLY CITY
Pro: City of Three Rivers
Nivereh is built upon three prongs of the Niveh River and it’s tributaries. Nivereh (“On the Niveh”, in Illitarian) is built for a specific purpose: To be a nightmare to take. The city is fortified all around, by walls one hundred and fifty feet high, and sixty feet thick, and each of the Three Great Gates are more like narrow channels in the sheer rock face of the walls than true gates. The walls cannot truly be broken down, nor can they be tunneled under, for the city rests upon a massive natural deposit of iron. The greatest defensive measure, however, is the Niveh itself. To besiege it, one must build a camp on every side of the Niveh, the greatest river on the Eastern Continent, and fully encircle the walls, that stretch to encompass the entire 21 miles of area that make up the “Greatest city in the world” (out of the mouths of admittedly biased chroniclers)
(Any army besieging Nivereh must encircle it totally, which requires enough men, and coordination to make 3 unconnected camps, each 7 miles long, and large enough to hold off against a sally alone (the river is too wide for the camps to reinforce one another) and must also close off all the three prongs of the Niveh and its tributary, the Yasher.
Pro: City of Water
Nivereh is a city that sits on the three prongs of the largest and most powerful rivers on the continent. As such, the material needs of the city are mostly seen to by the Churn-Farms. These are massive artificial works deep underwater that span outwards, from the island in the center of the torrent, where the Niveh and Yasher meet (and where the Royal Palace is located) out to the far bank (basically giant structures under the water) that are full of mills and fan blades, that the current turns. This energy provides mechanical torque and torsion enough to see to the needs of the entire city, in terms of grinding, smithing, and hammering and even public transportation, air circulation, plumbing and the processing of all ‘menial’ jobs, (many helped along with magic) allowing the citizenry that would otherwise need to be skilled laborers, like smiths, plumbers, cobblers, weavers and more to devote their lives to scholarly and pleasurable pursuits, and, of course, the defense of the city
Double morale on defense. Permanent garrison-in-waiting of 33% of its population as soldiers (all adult males conscripted.)
Pro: The Deep Vaults
In days of yore, the massive deep-iron slab that Nivereh rests upon was mined out to it’s limits. Now, it is punishable by death to mine the rest of the iron, that forms an underground shell protecting Nivereh from being undermined. The huge vaults underneath are now used to house both subterranean farms and the hundreds of thousands runestones upon which Illitaria takes its power from. Also in these vaults dwell the Covenant, the manservants of Ar-Murazon (who is said to live himself beneath the city, in a likely apocraphyl legend).
Con: The Centerpiece
If Nivereh falls and the Vaults are lost, and the Sepulcher sacked, and Ar-Murazon, who lives there is taken or destroyed, Illitaria as a faction ceases to exist.
Pro: King of Kings
When a portion of land is taken though either military or peaceful means, the culture is retained, and the people are allowed to remain, acting as they always have, unless otherwise compelled by the King of Kings.
(Other factions’ troops can be deployed in limited numbers (10% of the population of the area, in relation to the amount of territory taken) by illitaria, if it has taken land previously belonging to that faction through any means.
Pro: Eternal Empire
Periodically, large groups of migrants from other lands will enter illitaria to live free, rather than live a slave of another culture.
Pro: Satrapies
Illitarian land is divided into satrapies, that will provide +20% taxes for income, and a standing army of 5% of its population at all times at the expense of its Satrap.
Con: Agitations
Periodically a satrapy of the empire might withhold it’s taxes, troops or even rebel if the Satrap feels he is being treated unfairly.
CIVIC: SUSTAINABILITY
PRO: FISHERMEN
Any settlement along a river or body of water counts as a farming settlement.
PRO: Sorcerous Allure
5% of the population is mages, and so are not in short supply.
Pro: Fertility
Illitarians reproduce like rabbits, being a somewhat separate branch of homo sapiens. They can interbreed, like humans with Neanderthals, and aesthetically there is no difference, but illitarians are practically supercharged with lust.
(Illitarians triple their population every era. This pro is only lore turn effective)
Con: Expansionation
Must expand some every generation to avoid starvation (lore turn effective)
PRO GRYPHOTH KNIGHTS
Knights are numerous, and very deadly. They are primarily deployed against infantry or cavalry, and though they can enter melee with pikemen, due to their heavy armor, they would take far more losses than is acceptable. They generally decimate other mounted formations, and infantry in close combat.
(Gryphoth knights cause hellish damage to any enemy mounted units (being geared to fight themO and less, but still horrific damage to non-pike foot units when compared to other cavalry.
Pro: Diplomatic
Diplomatic bonus to dealing with NPC naitons, as Illitaria is relatively friendly and tolerant
PRO MAGICAL BATTERY (Vessels)
Vessels are compact containers that store life energy without requiring it be chanted over, and are used as batteries, of a sort, to fuel the large machines of war and industry.
(Troops take only 40 mins to set up for a pitched battle)
CON: Supply Lines
Illitarian troops need a supply line of charged runestones from the homeland, to restock their army’s stores every 5 months.
(If the supply lines are disrupted, the ‘runestone’ pro is lost for that army, and it must strip the country bare to fuel its machines. Furthermore, battle preparation time to set up war machines is increased to 5 hours)
PRO: LIVESTOCK NATION
The Illitarians place such a value on livestock (being that it fuels the vast majority of their empire) that they very, very rarely eat beef, buffalo, pig, horse or any other creature that could be repurposed. These animals are very rarely eaten, with pork being reserved for feast days, and cow and buffalo being banned for consumption entirely. Periodically horsemeat is sampled, however, though this too is a rare treat. As such, Illitaria’s magical consumption is generally manageable relatively simply, as all of these uneaten animals are rendered into magical fuel.
(See below. 2 pros are used to cover one this important)
PRO: HERDSMEN
The sheer amount of Illitaria’s livestock per capita is mind boggling. Each herding family often owns hundreds of cattle and sheep, and they breed them like mad. Animals are bred for size, and health, and most importantly, fertility. Illitaria has far, far, far more animals than it does citizens. As every farming family is required by law to either administrate to vast herds, or run the gardens. Generally the women garden, and the men herd
(Illitaria does not need to take magical expenditure into account, so long as it has its herds. 2 pros used up to make this one)
FLUFF NOTE
This has resulted in the phenomena known as “The Bastard Season,” and a breakdown the intial illitarian custom of a solemn monogamous marriage. As for a long period of time (sometime half a year) most of the nation’s peasant men are spending the vast majority of their time (often weeks or months long stretches) in with the herds in the pastures, leaving the women alone in the farms. The freeholders, soldiers and knights, though, who serve ar-murazon through warfare, not herding, remain with the women. The peasant men tend to come back to villages to find a suspicious number of their wives and daughters pregnant. Due to the prevalence of this, bastards are generally raised as a man’s own. Despite this supposed altruism, nearly all male bastards tend to be given to the military, so trueborn sons can stay home in peace and quiet, and female bastards tend to become seamstresses, consorts to the nobility, or tithes to the temple, as temple prostitutes.
PRO, The Light of Ar-Murazon
The God of Illitaria is of course a rather violent fellow, prone to conquests, with a definite sort of manifest destiny promoted by the priesthood, but in the same vein, he is also a very tolerant God. Illitarians do practice asceticism, and stark purity, but this is not for any reasons of terror of sin. Instead, this is practiced to promote approaching situation with a cool head, not acting rashly, and controlling one’s emotions. For the nobility, this meditation is accompanied by spell-chants.
In the cities, there are generally quite large and extravagant temples. Daughterhouses, and Sonhouses. Sonhouses train men given to the clergy in the art of war and toil, and daughterhouses train women in the art of healing and passion. The Sonhouses turn out warrior-preists, who exhort soldiers on the battlefield, and village priests, who give spiritual council to villages. Daughterhouses turn out nurses, to help with nonmagical healing, and temple prostitutes, who practice a different sort of art.
All of this lends to a feeling of cultural unity and joinery, and a sense of a shared world.
(200% morale on defensive battles (fight to the death, more or less)
CON: GLARING WEAKNESS
If the Illitarian cattle supplies are wiped out, as difficult as that is to do, illitarian armies are magically crippled 5 months later, when it’s runestones run out.
(military forces fight without any magical support if the herds of the heartland are all destroyed or taken, unless they can forage for enough life force on location)
PRO: MAGEOCRACY
Roughly 1 out of every 20 illitarians is an amateur mage (and thus a member of the gentry) one out of every 100 is a militarily trained mage.
(All illitarian settlements count as equipped with one 2nd order warmage per 100 citizens. Ad one First Order warmage per 1000 citizens)
PRO: Military Academy
Illitarian warriors pride themselves on being rational, not just ferocious fighters. As such, Illitarian armies led by a named officer. are tactically far more flexible than other armies. (See officer list)
(If led by a named officer, Illitarian armies are more tactically flexable, quicker to respond to troubling circumstances et al)
Pro: Battle Meditation
Mages driving war machines and casting spells meditate and chant at the same time. It’s almost a second nature to them.
(mages are not interrupted in their chanting, even in the midst of extreme chaos)
Klimino Zepehphor
Personal hackey sack to Newspaper weilders
right, first up, here is how i think your pros should be in-game rules based off their wording and whats allowed and actually necessary:
>>>>>>>NOT NECISSARY:
Pro: Wicker Men
Wicker Men are Titans that crush whole formations and have magical energy shields, need I say more?
Pro: Pike Company
Each company of 150 men has 10 mages accompanying it, to defend it, provide healing, fire support, etc. Each company also carries it’s own vessels and replacement vessels to recharge the mage’s power and charge the runegunner’s shots. Each company (40 musketeers, 60 pikemen/halberdeirs) has 20 runegunners and 20 men at arms, who stay in the center and guard the ammunition and equipment until the time comes for them to fight. The company fights in a hollow square during battle.
Pro: Born in Order to Die
If overrun among enemy troops, with no hope of survival, the mages will detonate their life forces and that of their entire remaining company and those enemies nearby, resulting in a massive explosion, and enshrinement of their family names in the Hall of Heroes below the Radiant Palace, and the full names of the entire company in the Martyrs Walk in Nivereh, a high honor.
Con: On-sight: Wicker Men, like siege towers, must be built with supplies in the vicinity, on sight.
PRO MAGICAL BATTERY (Vessels)
Vessels are compact containers that store life energy without requiring it be chanted over, and are used as batteries, of a sort, to fuel the large machines of war and industry.
(Troops take only 40 mins to set up for a pitched battle)
CON: Supply Lines
Illitarian troops need a supply line of charged runestones from the homeland, to restock their army’s stores every 5 months.
(If the supply lines are disrupted, the ‘runestone’ pro is lost for that army, and it must strip the country bare to fuel its machines. Furthermore, battle preparation time to set up war machines is increased to 5 hours)
CON: GLARING WEAKNESS
If the Illitarian cattle supplies are wiped out, as difficult as that is to do, illitarian armies are magically crippled 5 months later, when it’s runestones run out.
(military forces fight without any magical support if the herds of the heartland are all destroyed or taken, unless they can forage for enough life force on location)
PRO: MAGEOCRACY
Roughly 1 out of every 20 illitarians is an amateur mage (and thus a member of the gentry) one out of every 100 is a militarily trained mage.
(All illitarian settlements count as equipped with one 2nd order warmage per 100 citizens. Ad one First Order warmage per 1000 citizens)
>>>>>>PROS:
Pro: Draft
5% of the total population can instantly be brought up as troops if war starts.(meaning even if he got attacked that turn, they can join the unexpected fight if their near)
Pro: City of Three Rivers
the capital is harder to siege, destroy, tunnel under, and is larger then other cities( max levels is 100 only for the capital)
Pro:City of Water
increased morale on defense. 33% of all manpower produced here stays as trained garrison.
Pro: King of Kings
When a portion of land is taken though either military or peaceful means, the culture is retained, and the people are allowed to remain, acting as they always have, unless otherwise compelled by the King of Kings.
(if the population of a captured factions territory is integrated, up to 10% can be taken as that factions troops)
Pro: Eternal Empire
at random, groups of other factions people fleeing for one reason or another will seek asylum in Illitria, where they count under the King of Kings Pro.
Pro: Satrapies
Illitarian land is divided into satrapies. This well regulated system provides a .3 boost from all resources.
PRO: FISHERMEN
Any settlement along a river or body of water gets a level 1 farm for free when built.
PRO: Sorcerous Allure
5% of all new manpower automatically is mages when produced.
Pro: Fertility
during the LORE turn, population goes up massively each era for a large starting game boost in Manpower.
PRO: Gryphoth Knights
when putting Burden animals into a Military unit, they can instead be Grypoths ,giant bird like land creatures much faster and stronger then normal mounts.
Pro: Diplomatic
Diplomatic bonus to dealing with other nations, as Illitaria is relatively friendly and tolerant.
PRO: HERDSMEN
The Illitarians can have x2 level livestock in their livestock farms.
PRO: The Light of Ar-Murazon
in defensive battles within their own territory, illitarians have more moral.
PRO: Military Academy
illitaria has special commanders which give moral buffs and command buffs when personally in charge of a battle.
Pro: Battle Meditation
it is much harder to break mages concentraion.
>>>>>>CONS:
Con:Magical Army
Without their magical aide, illitarian armies cannot function as effectively as they are not trained to not expect magical aid.
Con: The Centerpiece
If the Capital falls they illitaria fall apart and scatter, ceasing to exist as a nation.
Con: Agitations
the strapapies somewhat free reign can lead to them refusing to send resources to other strapapaies, or even outright declaring independence.
Con: Expansionation
if they do no expand a large enough amount each LORE turn they will take a massive debuff to manpower.
CON: LIVESTOCK NATION
they cannot use livestock as food.
>>>>>>NOT ALLOWED:
Pro: City of Water
Nivereh is a city that sits on the three prongs of the largest and most powerful rivers on the continent. As such, the material needs of the city are mostly seen to by the Churn-Farms. These are massive artificial works deep underwater that span outwards, from the island in the center of the torrent, where the Niveh and Yasher meet (and where the Royal Palace is located) out to the far bank (basically giant structures under the water) that are full of mills and fan blades, that the current turns. This energy provides mechanical torque and torsion enough to see to the needs of the entire city, in terms of grinding, smithing, and hammering and even public transportation, air circulation, plumbing and the processing of all ‘menial’ jobs, (many helped along with magic) allowing the citizenry that would otherwise need to be skilled laborers, like smiths, plumbers, cobblers, weavers and more to devote their lives to scholarly and pleasurable pursuits, and, of course, the defense of the city.
***EXPALIANTION: a lot of this technology is highly powerful and if I allow it in one city any other city could technically have It. I mean, this would make it to where you dont need
Pro: The Deep Vaults
In days of yore, the massive deep-iron slab that Nivereh rests upon was mined out to it’s limits. Now, it is punishable by death to mine the rest of the iron, that forms an underground shell protecting Nivereh from being undermined. The huge vaults underneath are now used to house both subterranean farms and the hundreds of thousands runestones upon which Illitaria takes its power from. Also in these vaults dwell the Covenant, the manservants of Ar-Murazon (who is said to live himself beneath the city, in a likely apocraphyl legend).
***EXPLAINATION: I didnt allow cash underground farms, nor anyone random free resources they didnt actually have on the map. Dont even try to tell me they wouldn't mine the last out if it was life or death to do it.
>>>>>>>NOT NECISSARY:
Pro: Wicker Men
Wicker Men are Titans that crush whole formations and have magical energy shields, need I say more?
Pro: Pike Company
Each company of 150 men has 10 mages accompanying it, to defend it, provide healing, fire support, etc. Each company also carries it’s own vessels and replacement vessels to recharge the mage’s power and charge the runegunner’s shots. Each company (40 musketeers, 60 pikemen/halberdeirs) has 20 runegunners and 20 men at arms, who stay in the center and guard the ammunition and equipment until the time comes for them to fight. The company fights in a hollow square during battle.
Pro: Born in Order to Die
If overrun among enemy troops, with no hope of survival, the mages will detonate their life forces and that of their entire remaining company and those enemies nearby, resulting in a massive explosion, and enshrinement of their family names in the Hall of Heroes below the Radiant Palace, and the full names of the entire company in the Martyrs Walk in Nivereh, a high honor.
Con: On-sight: Wicker Men, like siege towers, must be built with supplies in the vicinity, on sight.
PRO MAGICAL BATTERY (Vessels)
Vessels are compact containers that store life energy without requiring it be chanted over, and are used as batteries, of a sort, to fuel the large machines of war and industry.
(Troops take only 40 mins to set up for a pitched battle)
CON: Supply Lines
Illitarian troops need a supply line of charged runestones from the homeland, to restock their army’s stores every 5 months.
(If the supply lines are disrupted, the ‘runestone’ pro is lost for that army, and it must strip the country bare to fuel its machines. Furthermore, battle preparation time to set up war machines is increased to 5 hours)
CON: GLARING WEAKNESS
If the Illitarian cattle supplies are wiped out, as difficult as that is to do, illitarian armies are magically crippled 5 months later, when it’s runestones run out.
(military forces fight without any magical support if the herds of the heartland are all destroyed or taken, unless they can forage for enough life force on location)
PRO: MAGEOCRACY
Roughly 1 out of every 20 illitarians is an amateur mage (and thus a member of the gentry) one out of every 100 is a militarily trained mage.
(All illitarian settlements count as equipped with one 2nd order warmage per 100 citizens. Ad one First Order warmage per 1000 citizens)
>>>>>>PROS:
Pro: Draft
5% of the total population can instantly be brought up as troops if war starts.(meaning even if he got attacked that turn, they can join the unexpected fight if their near)
Pro: City of Three Rivers
the capital is harder to siege, destroy, tunnel under, and is larger then other cities( max levels is 100 only for the capital)
Pro:City of Water
increased morale on defense. 33% of all manpower produced here stays as trained garrison.
Pro: King of Kings
When a portion of land is taken though either military or peaceful means, the culture is retained, and the people are allowed to remain, acting as they always have, unless otherwise compelled by the King of Kings.
(if the population of a captured factions territory is integrated, up to 10% can be taken as that factions troops)
Pro: Eternal Empire
at random, groups of other factions people fleeing for one reason or another will seek asylum in Illitria, where they count under the King of Kings Pro.
Pro: Satrapies
Illitarian land is divided into satrapies. This well regulated system provides a .3 boost from all resources.
PRO: FISHERMEN
Any settlement along a river or body of water gets a level 1 farm for free when built.
PRO: Sorcerous Allure
5% of all new manpower automatically is mages when produced.
Pro: Fertility
during the LORE turn, population goes up massively each era for a large starting game boost in Manpower.
PRO: Gryphoth Knights
when putting Burden animals into a Military unit, they can instead be Grypoths ,giant bird like land creatures much faster and stronger then normal mounts.
Pro: Diplomatic
Diplomatic bonus to dealing with other nations, as Illitaria is relatively friendly and tolerant.
PRO: HERDSMEN
The Illitarians can have x2 level livestock in their livestock farms.
PRO: The Light of Ar-Murazon
in defensive battles within their own territory, illitarians have more moral.
PRO: Military Academy
illitaria has special commanders which give moral buffs and command buffs when personally in charge of a battle.
Pro: Battle Meditation
it is much harder to break mages concentraion.
>>>>>>CONS:
Con:Magical Army
Without their magical aide, illitarian armies cannot function as effectively as they are not trained to not expect magical aid.
Con: The Centerpiece
If the Capital falls they illitaria fall apart and scatter, ceasing to exist as a nation.
Con: Agitations
the strapapies somewhat free reign can lead to them refusing to send resources to other strapapaies, or even outright declaring independence.
Con: Expansionation
if they do no expand a large enough amount each LORE turn they will take a massive debuff to manpower.
CON: LIVESTOCK NATION
they cannot use livestock as food.
>>>>>>NOT ALLOWED:
Pro: City of Water
Nivereh is a city that sits on the three prongs of the largest and most powerful rivers on the continent. As such, the material needs of the city are mostly seen to by the Churn-Farms. These are massive artificial works deep underwater that span outwards, from the island in the center of the torrent, where the Niveh and Yasher meet (and where the Royal Palace is located) out to the far bank (basically giant structures under the water) that are full of mills and fan blades, that the current turns. This energy provides mechanical torque and torsion enough to see to the needs of the entire city, in terms of grinding, smithing, and hammering and even public transportation, air circulation, plumbing and the processing of all ‘menial’ jobs, (many helped along with magic) allowing the citizenry that would otherwise need to be skilled laborers, like smiths, plumbers, cobblers, weavers and more to devote their lives to scholarly and pleasurable pursuits, and, of course, the defense of the city.
***EXPALIANTION: a lot of this technology is highly powerful and if I allow it in one city any other city could technically have It. I mean, this would make it to where you dont need
Pro: The Deep Vaults
In days of yore, the massive deep-iron slab that Nivereh rests upon was mined out to it’s limits. Now, it is punishable by death to mine the rest of the iron, that forms an underground shell protecting Nivereh from being undermined. The huge vaults underneath are now used to house both subterranean farms and the hundreds of thousands runestones upon which Illitaria takes its power from. Also in these vaults dwell the Covenant, the manservants of Ar-Murazon (who is said to live himself beneath the city, in a likely apocraphyl legend).
***EXPLAINATION: I didnt allow cash underground farms, nor anyone random free resources they didnt actually have on the map. Dont even try to tell me they wouldn't mine the last out if it was life or death to do it.
Klimino Zepehphor
Personal hackey sack to Newspaper weilders
@Anaxial @cashdash @admiral9 @The Glass Ninja @Melissa
both @Nepty and @Nyq still need time on their sheet.
i dont want to be unfair to the rest, but if everyones ok with it i will withhold starting til wednesday.
however for those done you can go ahead and send in your LORE orders, so i might start working on it, so hopefully we can still start earlier then otherwise.
please respond if you are ok with this or not.
both @Nepty and @Nyq still need time on their sheet.
i dont want to be unfair to the rest, but if everyones ok with it i will withhold starting til wednesday.
however for those done you can go ahead and send in your LORE orders, so i might start working on it, so hopefully we can still start earlier then otherwise.
please respond if you are ok with this or not.
Melissia
August Personage of Jade
I'm okay with it. They have interesting ideas and I'd like to see them fully developed.
Cashdash25
The Proletariat Robot
I'm fine with a delay.
Anaxial
Making America Great Again.
What all should our Lore post encompass once again?
Klimino Zepehphor
Personal hackey sack to Newspaper weilders
Lore posts should be 10 longer orders, each order being an entire Era of history leading up to the actual start of the game.
this should be, thigns like:
era 1) send 100 men south to take hold and found a city on the Gems, send 100 northward to found a town on the iron, fortify and grow our city with what i s necessary to sustain our future population and growth. etc.
they can each be as long as you can think of but the longer it is the less likely it is all to be done. unlike with normal orders where all of those things would be seperate orders, this one is simply 10 groups of orders.
in the Lore Turn, resources wont be taken into account for building and upgrading, except of projected manpower during any fights that may happen, though do keep in mind and build what you think you will need once the Lore turn is done as resources will then be necessary.
this should be, thigns like:
era 1) send 100 men south to take hold and found a city on the Gems, send 100 northward to found a town on the iron, fortify and grow our city with what i s necessary to sustain our future population and growth. etc.
they can each be as long as you can think of but the longer it is the less likely it is all to be done. unlike with normal orders where all of those things would be seperate orders, this one is simply 10 groups of orders.
in the Lore Turn, resources wont be taken into account for building and upgrading, except of projected manpower during any fights that may happen, though do keep in mind and build what you think you will need once the Lore turn is done as resources will then be necessary.
Nepty
Biji YPG!
Sorry about the unfinished sheet guys, it's sort of a patchwork of 2 different ideas I didn't have time to complete. Expect the next one to be more achaemaenid themed and less 'mess'
Last edited by a moderator:
Klimino Zepehphor
Personal hackey sack to Newspaper weilders
thats fine, glad to see the effort you put into it though it had its problems.
Anaxial
Making America Great Again.
Resources are unknown though right? How do we know what to order
Klimino Zepehphor
Personal hackey sack to Newspaper weilders
actually i thought i sent you the resource map.
if not ill send it to you, as it is revealed once you have locked in your location.
gimme a second to send you the map then if you do not have it.
if not ill send it to you, as it is revealed once you have locked in your location.
gimme a second to send you the map then if you do not have it.
admiral9
Schicklgruber was a great dad
I'm fine with waiting, and assume my lore orders are fine and received.
Nyq
Fighting for turtles since the begining of life
I think that i've just finished my cs
Nepty
Biji YPG!
@Nyq @Anaxial
I got the okay from klim. We've got a Zemrati skype chat going on where we discuss stuff in real time, including issues, etc. It might be easier for you guys if you wanted to join it. Contact "Nate_Norman_Acharya" (That's me) on Skype, and I'll add you. You can use a regular skype account or a username one or what have you. Currently Melissa, Admiral, Glass, Klim, myself and Cash are on there, and I think it'll help us smooth out any outstanding issues.
I got the okay from klim. We've got a Zemrati skype chat going on where we discuss stuff in real time, including issues, etc. It might be easier for you guys if you wanted to join it. Contact "Nate_Norman_Acharya" (That's me) on Skype, and I'll add you. You can use a regular skype account or a username one or what have you. Currently Melissa, Admiral, Glass, Klim, myself and Cash are on there, and I think it'll help us smooth out any outstanding issues.
Nepty
Biji YPG!
The Illitarian Kingdom
From the city of Illitar, under the rule of the King of Kings, the Illitarian Kingdom (though, legally speaking, it is an empire, it is ruled by a King-Elect) means to see the will of Ar-Murazon exercised. Illitaria is a nation of high learning, refined culture, and built around a simple creed.
“We were born in order to die.”
This is the Prayer of Ar-Murazon, which is both a hymn, of sorts, a saying, and a creed one sentence long. The Illitarians initially began as a radical heresy of their more dominant religion. They quickly spread, and, through force of arms and mental acuity, defeated their opponents.
Illitaria is a nation of magic users. With the highest proportion of mages per capita of any known nation, the Illitarians are a sorcerer-kingdom. This has of course led to the rise of a ruling feudal elite. Sorcerous families rule over the lowborn, unsourcerous freemen and peasants.
GARB
Generally, peasants wear colorful clothes of all sorts, as do soldiers (preferring reds, oranges and blacks) but the nobility wear long white robes and chitons of silk, being able to afford bleaching them.
APPEARANCE
Illitarians are a swarthy dark-eyed people, as are all those humans who live north of the steppe and south of the K'veki isles.
DIET
One out of every three hundred animals may be eaten, but an Illitarian peasant generally eats what vegetables he grows, and what animals he can hunt. The odd deer, but mostly just sparrows and capons and the like. They also eat lots of fish. (like in the middle ages, their meat diet is primarily birds and fish) Luckily for the illitarian peasant, they have three days upon wich eating meat is traditionally taboo, and it’s better to donate your animals to the local temple, for processing than eat them. Lords eat much the same way, usually dining on richer fare, however, such as turkey or wild boar. In Illitaria, snails are generally raised en mass by peasants and lords alike for fair for the table.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
For any capital offense, from murder to treason, to lying to the King of Kings or the Satraps is punishable by being drained of your life energy, and for it to be re-purposed.
The Sorcerers
All of Illitaria’s nobility is comprised of mages. These nobles are organized according ot illitarian feudalism. A king swears to defend his satraps, and so on and so forth. The freemen and peasants are obliged to raise livestock, in the huge illitarian life-farms for their lords, and are also obligated to send one man of each generation to the military.
Illitarian Coat of Arms
Arms: a paile argent, a field sable (Symbolizing the white light of Ar-Murazon in a dark world)
Crest: A crowned dragon, crimson (Symbolizing the monarchy)
Supporter Dexter: A soldier, crimson (Symbolizing the non-sorcerous masses)
Supporter Sinister: A mage, sable (Symbolizing the sorcerous nobility)
Compartment: Rayonny gold, a mount vert. (Symbolizing the destruction of those that oppose Illitaria)
Motto: “Occit Sic Boure Alre Baire” (Man Was Born to Die)
Feudal Higherarchy
The nobility is not set, nor is it hereditary. The king may confiscate any lands he deems at any time, and award them to another. Furthermore, when a landholder dies, his lands revert to the crown. Therefore, the most powerful lords tend to be the most learned sorcerers, as the king himself is the most learned sorcerer of all of Illitaria.
Society
Society is divided between the Three Classes
The warriors, lesser lords and aristocracy
The priests, scholars and learned mages
and the peasantry and freemen.
Background
The Illitarians first discovered the abandoned city of Nivereh thousands of years ago, as pastoral goatherds and cowherds. The city had long been overrun by the forest, but it’s majesty and splendor were something to behold. A few of the –the literate leaders- explored deeper into the depths of the mysterious city. There, they discovered Ar-Murazon, the God of Gods, asleep in his Palace. He gave them Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Gift, known to others as Magic, and bade them spread it to the four corners of the world.
At least, that is what the stories say.
What is known for definite, is that the Illitarians emerged onto the world stage some few hundred years ago, expanding rapidly from their home, in the fortress-city of Nivereh. At some point along the way, following an internecine struggle of some sort, they dropped their polytheistic religion, and elevated one god, Murazon, above the others, acclaiming him the One True God. Granted the honorific “Ar” (King) he was hailed in fact as “King of the Gods” and Lord of All the Multiverse.
Eventually, with the subjugation of the Aalenite peoples, who lived across the river from the Illitarians (Niverehns, at the time) the Illitarians rose to control the Niveh river basin, and the battel that won them this, the Battle of the Water attained a scripture-like quality. gave rise to the title of “King over Kings.” Eventually, this became “King of Kings” and the Illitarian Nation was born.
On Nivereh
Nivereh is built upon three prongs of the Niveh River and it’s tributaries. Nivereh (“On the Niveh”, in Illitarian) is built for a specific purpose: To be a nightmare to take. The city is fortified all around, by walls one hundred and fifty feet high, and sixty feet thick, and each of the Three Great Gates are more like narrow channels in the sheer rock face of the walls than true gates. The walls cannot truly be broken down, nor can they be tunneled under, for the city rests upon a massive natural deposit of iron. The greatest defensive measure, howver, is the Niveh itself. To besiege it, one must build a camp on every side of the Niveh, the greatest river on the Eastern Continent, and fully encircle the walls, that stretch to encompass the entire 21 miles of area that make up the “Greatest city in the world” (out of the mouths of admittedly biased chroniclers)
(Any army besieging Nivereh must encircle it totally, which requires enough men, and coordination to make 3 unconnected camps, each 7 miles long, and large enough to hold off against a sally alone (the river is too wide for the camps to reinforce one another) and must also close off all the three prongs of the Niveh and its tributary, the Yasher.
On Aesthetics
The Illitarians are an artisan people, as well as an empire. Their art is flowing, yet jagged at once, and their armor and clothing appears strange to Aumen-Mende (Illitarian for Foreigners, or “Hordes from Elsewhere”). Tall helmets are favored by those soldiers native to the Nivereh basin and the Yasher Plains that make up their current territory. Their uniforms are of cloth-of-saffron and madder-dyed red, worn over a leather chest bracer, and worn under a shirt of sew scales, and a segmented iron breastplate. Their carry shields slung around their neck to fight in melee, and swords for when the fighting gets too close for pikes.
Their firearms are made all of similar sizes, but each one sports unique scroll and metalwork around the barrel. Beastly mouths are a favorite.
An image very similar to my conceptualization of Illitarian troops
(Think of them with a very Mesopotamian theme to them)
On the King of Kings
The King of Kings can live for hundreds of years, and is the most learned mage in the entire Kingdom. He generally uses rejuvenation magic unique to the illitarian high classes to live for centuries longer than is common.
The King of Kings as of the year 0 is Artaxerxes IV
On Militarization
Illitaria is a militarized nation partially out of perfectly justified fear. Living on flatlands, with xenophobic mountain tinkerers to their east, steppe hordes to their west and Drall to their south has prompted a philosophy of aggression.
Mere, Mere, Tekeh, Eupharsen
(Number. Number. Weight. Division)
“In the Year of Ar Murazon, the King of Kings, furious at the profanation of his temple, sent a cowled messenger, who’s hood was empty, to wander the streets of Reveh, shouting for all the world to hear: Mere. Mere. Tekeh. Eupharsin. Number. Number. Weight. Division. ‘Ar Murazon has numbered your days, and they are at an end. He has weighed your lives, and found them wanting. Now, your empire, and yourselves will be divided by the peoples of the Niveh.’ That very night, the Illitarians, who lived by the Great River’s connection, and the Ummanians, who lived by its headwaters and Ehremaits, who lived by its mouth, descended upon Reveh, and divided the kingdom, the emperor, and his sons into three pieces.”
Logistics
Troop Types
Hetairo (Companions)
The most land in Illitaria is owned by the Hetairo, landed warriors who ride gryphons or Eagles into battle. Their ferocious mounts are trained to defeat other mounts in the field, using their talons and teeth to deadly effect. These men are the cream of the elite shock cavalry of Illitaria.
1 iron per 200
(full plate for them and their gryphoth)
Pikemen
Foot Soldiers are the simple front line of Illitaria. These men are kept in a standing army, and work in coordination with musketeers to fight the enemy. Foot soldiers serve in the military for ten years, before the next generation comes up to replace them, unless they choose to serve with the Old Guards. They are armed with pikes, shields and swords.
-1 iron per 500
(Breastplate, greaves, spaulders, helmet, gauntlet, sheild, sword, pikehead.
Musketeers
The youngest soldiers in the army serve as musketeers for a few years before entering the pike formations. Young, fit and well trained, these men are still professional soldiers. They and the pikemen fight as one, in the Pike Square, a hollow box.
Lancers: Light cavalry, armed with long, hollow lances to outrange infantry pikes.
-1 iron per 1000
(breastpate, helmet, greaves, sword, musket)
---Elite Infantry
Old Guard
Veterans over the age of thirty five and still fighting are put into the Old Guard. This is more or less, a more elite formation of pikemen and musketeers, better disciplined, and better trained.
-1 iron per 500
-Highly disciplined, and skilled in combat
Silver Spears
The Silver Swords are an elite force of shock troops who fight where the fighting is thickest, and expect the heaviest casualties. They are those children that are of debtors, criminals, rebels, or sold to the Fatherhouses, or given to the King of Kings as tribute. These soldiers are not rare, like The Bastards or the Royal Guard. Rather, where each Satrap maintains his own army, this army is of the King, and Nivereh. This army is comprised of soldiers who begin their training at seven, and complete it at fourteen. This force of Royal Guards and Royal Soldiers is utterly loyal to the king. For these men have no parents that they recall (a crude form of magical hypnotism wipes their memories) nor will they have children, or be tempted by any woman, for these men, so feared on the battlefield, are eunuchs.
The Silver Spears are rendered infertile by a numbing and magical castration of both testes and penis through a secretive process that leaves them still able to preform their bodily functions.
-1 Iron per 500
Tiamatairoi
(Dragon Warriors)
Tiamatairoi are the best foot soldiers that Illitaria can field. Armed with long pikes, with shields strapped to their arms to facilitate proper movement. Each soldier carries a short hacking falchion as well, for close combat. Formations of Tiamatairoi are flanked by musketeers. They wear golden-painted armor of scale, and all of their weapons and armors are inscribed with runes. The Tiamatairo themselves are mages as well, but just learned enough to speak the incantations and inscribe runes. Their armor and shields are enchanted to deflect missiles away. Their pikes are enchanted to disrupt enchantments, and their swords to cause huge, gaping wounds, often resulting in bifurcation.
1 iron per 250 (very heavy armor)
Notes-
(Tiamatairoi were, like the Silver Spears, instituted as a way to keep the King of Kings in power. As Satraps are not permitted to hold Tiamatairoi, their own Engines are vulnerable to the disrupting effect of the Tiamataoiroi pikes, which are designed to destroy constructs and strip away magical enchantments.)
Godsguard
An elite force, trained for war from birth, of several hundred soldiers. These men are the bodyguards of the King. They are also his sons. Due to the system of elective monarchy, their lives (See Con: Sucsession) depend upon the King of Kings staying alive, and so they will fight to the death to protect him. They are all highly trained mages, and carry 2 vessels into battle, as well as large two handed longaxes.
Cannon: Field cannons and siege guns.
MAGES
All those high in the illitarian priesthood are mages, though not all those who are mages are preists. Magic study is a holy pastime, however, and there are no ascetic vows to be said. Mages are thought of in illitaria as theologian-scholars.
Mages of the Third Order
When one is accepted into the priesthood, one joins the Third Order. Here, a mage is put to work in supporting roles. Each cohort (500 men) of royal troops is accompanied by twenty mages of the Third Order, roughly one per 20 men in the cohort. They are in charge of providing them with defensive spells during battle. 6 mages are put to use healing the wounded and sending them back into the fight, or stabilizing the badly wounded. 2 mages are in charge of magical communications between the Cohort and other formations, and the other two are there to fill in any gaps, and periodically provide offensive spellfire. The remaining ten provide defensive spells.
Mages of the Second Order
Mages of the Second Order are mages trained in the specific art of Driving. These mages are therefore known as Drivers to many. Drivers spend their off time mixing with regular soldiers and meditating In equal measures. The Second Order of Ar-Murazon extolls the values of patience, calm and meditation. In battle, mages of the Second Order clamber into their towering Engines –constructs of varying sizes, that are driven from within by a mage, and run on masses of stored magical energy (batteries, if you will.) They also feed their Engines off the life energy of those they kill during combat.
First Order Mages are primarily deployed on the battlefield to drive the massive Wicker Men, and to neutralize hostile mages (though the Witch Hunters are the best at that unenviable job) First Order mages are the most powerful as well.
Makairaphori (Deathdrinkers)
Deathdrinkers are a sub-order of mages, with the sole purpose of defending formations and constructs. The Deathdrinkers stand ‘before the fore’ of their formation, guarded by a handpiked team of ten soldiers and four defensive mages. If the enemy launches magical or chemical attacks (say, a dragon breathing fire, or a bolt of mage lightning, or a gas attack) the Deathdrinker’s job is to neutralize it. Fire, for example, is simply extinguished, as the mage very simply draws the oxygen out of the air in it’s path, with almost minimal effort on his part, totally neutralizing the fire.
Artoxos (Vermin-slayers)
Powerful mages charged with hunting and killing other mages in battle.
Roxos (Wraiths)
Mages who have mastered the art of being unnoticed while casting, turning themselves invisible, to scout out enemy positions, or, more commonly, kill the enemy’s mages and high command before the battle begins.
King of Kings
When the King of Kings takes the battlefield, he is probably without a doubt the most learned mage on the field.
(single man unit, ridiculously powerful warmage. Accompanied by Godsguard.)
OTHER CREATURES/CLIENT FACTIONS
Houkun (Eagles)
The Eagles of the Islands are native to the sea-stack like mountains of the Niveh River. These huge beasts are relatively common in the heartlands as personal mounts, but many train them for war.
An Island Eagle is the size of a small whale, and can be ridden by one man in medium to light armor. Generally, the riders carry lances and cast spells. The art of training the Houkun falls to the island people, who are part of the Illitarian nation.
ENGINES
Sparatoi (Slayers)
The smallest of engines require very little fuel. Standing six feet tall, their energy is easily conserved, only burnt to augment the warrior’s strength, as the armor itself is far thicker than human plate (being plated in cured wood beneath the iron, for cost purposes. These are generally deployed in Cohorts, alongside the regular infantrymen, as slightly more elite troops.
Tall Men
Eight foot Tall Men are one of the more common engines of war, though not as numerous as the Slayers. These wood-and-iron constructs generally excel at taking apart infantry formations. They are organized into Cohorts, along with Silent Slayers and regular infantrymen. They are generally treated like elite formations.
Dins
Din drivers shout their ritual meditations instead of chanting them, which should be a good indicator of their temperament. Dins are large and slow, and deploy I groups of 50 on the wings of a Tall One formation. They wear massive wooden cudgels on their hips, and appear to be similar to Tall Men in stature and build. However, while Battle Engines wear tall red plumes, Dins have none, and instead have kettle-helmet shaped heads, with large depressions that mimic their eyes, and grant the pilots better sight. In both hands, however, they carry crude cannons of brass and wood. (A tree trunk with a bell shape at the end of it, more or less) and fill the short barrels of these weapons chock full of small musket balls, forks, knives, spoons, nails, gravel and other tiny pieces of metal and stone. In battle, they generally fire these huge proto-shotguns directly into an oncoming formation from less than ten meters away, and then charge in with their cudgels (or simply swing their cannons around like clubs themselves.) In battle, when draining a victims of life force, they generally prefer to save it up for a short time, and the expel all that life force outward form themselves into an enemy formation, causing utter havoc.
Akkadians (Brass Warriors)
Akkadians are huge, twenty foot tall behemoths, made of wood and brass and iron, driven by some of the best drivers of the Second Order in the Kingdom. They are organized into companies of 50, and number only 1000 as it is, with 100 always guarding the King in his palace. These riven constructs often simply stride through combat, ignoring shot and stabs alike.
Nira Hatara (Wicker Men)
The epitome of the Illitarian military is the Wicker Men. These are behemoths of truly godly scale. Whie the Brass Knights can simply stomp on your average soldier, the Wicker Men can stamp on them. Standing at one hundred feet tall at the shortest, and one hundred fifty at the tallest in service (the tallest ever recorded was supposedly six hundred feet tall and wiped out towns with its tread, and legens are still told about it, and the dread king who commissioned it) Wicker Men are fueled by livestock slaughtered by the hundreds. Swinging censers trail off of it, and five mages drive it, though it has a queer animal intelligence all of it’s own.
Bumblebees
Enchanted, aerodynamic wooden constructs with a powder charge, and a powder warhead. Stuck into the ground, and fired like a Congreve rocket at enemy formations, the enchantments take hold halfway into the flight, kicking in and steering it towards the target, to detonate upon impact.
MYSTIC UNITS
Assassins: Trained to use glamors to make them appear to be someone of an entirely different race or people, and kill specific targets, with no regards to their own lives They often attack en mass, as a group, and very rarely fail, especially given that each assassin detonates their entire life energy if caught or mortally wounded.
Covenanters
The Covenant of Ar-Murazon is comprised of the most 111 most learned mages in the entire Kingdom who have decided to dedicate their entire lives to magic. They guard his temple and his holy form with their lives.
Godsguard
Super elite bodyguards. See pros and cons list.
PEOS AND CONS
Pro: Nivereh is extremely difficult to besiege, being built on 3 banks and an island, with a constant source of water and huge walls.
Pro: Logisticos
The Illitarian military academies pride themselves on teaching not only strategy and tactics, but logistics., and use their nation's massive amount of grazing lands to their benefits in helping the war machine along.
All illitarian troops ride horses and carts to and away from the battlefield even if they are not cavalry (infantry dismounts to fight), making them among the most mobile forces around, and very hard to catch unawares. Each foot soldier also carries 6 Vessels in his pack, and generally brings 2 into battle with him. Mages carry more, as to the Engine-handlers, who carry dozens, and strap them into the Engines.
Pro: Ar-Murazon
The God can be brought out of the Temple and asked, in times of need, to work certain, massive spells that only He knows, but their life energy draw is generally huge.
Con: The Centerpiece city
If the God is destroyed, Illitaria ceases to exist, and becomes a riot of civil wars and successor kingdoms.
____________________
Pro: Eastern Armies
The forces of Illitaria look exotic and strange, yet uniform. These armies though are just as effective as their western counterparts, and maybe even moreso.
(---Illitarian armies are made of professional soldiers, so all regular soldiers EXCEPT levies should be treated as professionals.)
Pro: River Basin
Nivereh counts as a port city
Pro: Buried Vaults
-The vaults under the city contain mindbogglingly massive stockpiles of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Vessels (post lore turn effective)
Con: Born Free
Slavery is prohibited, and cannot be practiced by Illitarians.
_________________________-
Pro: Levee-en-mass
The King of Kings can levee up to 10% of any Satrapy’s population to form a temporary drafted army.
Pro: Royal Taxation
The King of Kings can gain 25% more taxes and resources from a satrapy of his choice when he chooses.
Pro: Polygamy
The King of Kings can marry as many times as he wishes concurrently. His sons form the Godsguard, an elite force of soldiers who live opulently, and will fight to the death for their king (their comfortable lives depend on their father staying in power)
(The Illitarian King of Kings is EXTREMELY difficult to assassinate)
Con: Succession
Upon attaining the Throne, the new King of Kings has all but three of his predecessor’s sons put to death. The remaining three (the youngest) are allowed to live to carry on his family legacy.
(The Godsguard is disbanded for 2 years following a king of king's death)
______________________________
Pro: King of Kings
When a portion of land is taken though either military or peaceful means, the culture is retained, and the people are allowed to remain, acting as they always have, unless otherwise compelled by the King of Kings.
(Other factions’ troops can be deployed in limited numbers (10% of the population of the area, in relation to the amount of territory taken) by illitaria, if it has taken land belonging to that faction.)
Pro: Eternal Empire
Periodically, large groups of migrants from other lands will enter illitaria to live free, rather than live a slave of another culture.
PRO: FISHERMEN
Any settlement along a river or body of water counts as a farming settlement.
Con: Resentful Lord
If the King of Kings levees or taxes too much from one satrapy, or from too many satrapies, or too many times, or provides an ugly bride, the Satrap’s opinion of him will be decreased, and for one turn, the Satrap may either withhold his troops, withhold giving the King of Kings his resources, or even declare open rebellion.
____________________________________
PRO: Magecraft
-The use of magic and hidden knowledge is the bread and butter of Illiria. They know more lore, secret science and magic.
PRO: Sorcerous Culture
5% of the population is mages, and so are not in short supply.
Pro: Fertility
Illitarians reproduce like rabbits, being a somewhat separate branch of homo sapiens. They can interbreed, like humans with Neanderthals, and aesthetically there is no difference, but illitarians are practically supercharged with lust.
(Illitarians triple their population every 100 years (lore turn effective)
CON: Forbidden Foods
-No matter how many cows and livestock animals illitaria has, it can never use them as food, even if starving.
___________________________
Pro: Within God’s Writ
Illitarian forces fight twice as well defending areas that Illitaria has within its de facto borders (including conquered areas)
Pro: Diplomatic
Diplomatic bonus to dealing with all nations and factions, as Illitaria is relatively friendly and tolerant
PRO: Vessels
Vessels are compact containers that store life energy without requiring it be chanted over, and are used as batteries, of a sort, to fuel the large machines of war and industry.
(Troops take only a short time to set up for a pitched battle and carry extra life energy with them)
CON: Law and Order
Drafted soldiers can only be held for 6 months before they must be sent home for at least 2 months.
__________________
PRO: MAGEOCRACY
Roughly 1 out of every 20 illitarians is an amateur mage (and thus a member of the gentry) one out of every 100 is a militarily trained mage.
(All illitarian settlements count as equipped with one 2nd order warmage per 100 citizens. Ad one First Order warmage per 1000 citizens)
PRO: Irrigation and Riverine
Illitarians are extremely adept at riverine warfare, using rivers to move their troops and supplies (especially the heavy Engines, that can't be carried on horseback) from place to place. They also take comfort from the waters, wich remind them of their fertile homeland.
Illitarian troops are twice as effective in fighting and mobility in places near rivers.
(THIS ONE IS PENDING)
Pro: Battle Meditation
Mages driving war machines and casting spells meditate and chant at the same time. It’s almost a second nature to them.
(mages are not interrupted in their chanting, even in the midst of extreme chaos)
Con: The Great Choosing
When a King of King dies, there are 5 options to vote for, who will be listed, with their traits. Each player can vote for one once, and the GM twice. Whoever is elected becomes the next King of Kings, and the Illitarian player must do his best to represent his character.
(Say, if a cowardly guy were elected, Illtaria would be less likely to enter any war)
From the city of Illitar, under the rule of the King of Kings, the Illitarian Kingdom (though, legally speaking, it is an empire, it is ruled by a King-Elect) means to see the will of Ar-Murazon exercised. Illitaria is a nation of high learning, refined culture, and built around a simple creed.
“We were born in order to die.”
This is the Prayer of Ar-Murazon, which is both a hymn, of sorts, a saying, and a creed one sentence long. The Illitarians initially began as a radical heresy of their more dominant religion. They quickly spread, and, through force of arms and mental acuity, defeated their opponents.
Illitaria is a nation of magic users. With the highest proportion of mages per capita of any known nation, the Illitarians are a sorcerer-kingdom. This has of course led to the rise of a ruling feudal elite. Sorcerous families rule over the lowborn, unsourcerous freemen and peasants.
GARB
Generally, peasants wear colorful clothes of all sorts, as do soldiers (preferring reds, oranges and blacks) but the nobility wear long white robes and chitons of silk, being able to afford bleaching them.
APPEARANCE
Illitarians are a swarthy dark-eyed people, as are all those humans who live north of the steppe and south of the K'veki isles.
DIET
One out of every three hundred animals may be eaten, but an Illitarian peasant generally eats what vegetables he grows, and what animals he can hunt. The odd deer, but mostly just sparrows and capons and the like. They also eat lots of fish. (like in the middle ages, their meat diet is primarily birds and fish) Luckily for the illitarian peasant, they have three days upon wich eating meat is traditionally taboo, and it’s better to donate your animals to the local temple, for processing than eat them. Lords eat much the same way, usually dining on richer fare, however, such as turkey or wild boar. In Illitaria, snails are generally raised en mass by peasants and lords alike for fair for the table.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
For any capital offense, from murder to treason, to lying to the King of Kings or the Satraps is punishable by being drained of your life energy, and for it to be re-purposed.
The Sorcerers
All of Illitaria’s nobility is comprised of mages. These nobles are organized according ot illitarian feudalism. A king swears to defend his satraps, and so on and so forth. The freemen and peasants are obliged to raise livestock, in the huge illitarian life-farms for their lords, and are also obligated to send one man of each generation to the military.
Illitarian Coat of Arms
Arms: a paile argent, a field sable (Symbolizing the white light of Ar-Murazon in a dark world)
Crest: A crowned dragon, crimson (Symbolizing the monarchy)
Supporter Dexter: A soldier, crimson (Symbolizing the non-sorcerous masses)
Supporter Sinister: A mage, sable (Symbolizing the sorcerous nobility)
Compartment: Rayonny gold, a mount vert. (Symbolizing the destruction of those that oppose Illitaria)
Motto: “Occit Sic Boure Alre Baire” (Man Was Born to Die)
Feudal Higherarchy
The nobility is not set, nor is it hereditary. The king may confiscate any lands he deems at any time, and award them to another. Furthermore, when a landholder dies, his lands revert to the crown. Therefore, the most powerful lords tend to be the most learned sorcerers, as the king himself is the most learned sorcerer of all of Illitaria.
Society
Society is divided between the Three Classes
The warriors, lesser lords and aristocracy
The priests, scholars and learned mages
and the peasantry and freemen.
Background
The Illitarians first discovered the abandoned city of Nivereh thousands of years ago, as pastoral goatherds and cowherds. The city had long been overrun by the forest, but it’s majesty and splendor were something to behold. A few of the –the literate leaders- explored deeper into the depths of the mysterious city. There, they discovered Ar-Murazon, the God of Gods, asleep in his Palace. He gave them Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Gift, known to others as Magic, and bade them spread it to the four corners of the world.
At least, that is what the stories say.
What is known for definite, is that the Illitarians emerged onto the world stage some few hundred years ago, expanding rapidly from their home, in the fortress-city of Nivereh. At some point along the way, following an internecine struggle of some sort, they dropped their polytheistic religion, and elevated one god, Murazon, above the others, acclaiming him the One True God. Granted the honorific “Ar” (King) he was hailed in fact as “King of the Gods” and Lord of All the Multiverse.
Eventually, with the subjugation of the Aalenite peoples, who lived across the river from the Illitarians (Niverehns, at the time) the Illitarians rose to control the Niveh river basin, and the battel that won them this, the Battle of the Water attained a scripture-like quality. gave rise to the title of “King over Kings.” Eventually, this became “King of Kings” and the Illitarian Nation was born.
On Nivereh
Nivereh is built upon three prongs of the Niveh River and it’s tributaries. Nivereh (“On the Niveh”, in Illitarian) is built for a specific purpose: To be a nightmare to take. The city is fortified all around, by walls one hundred and fifty feet high, and sixty feet thick, and each of the Three Great Gates are more like narrow channels in the sheer rock face of the walls than true gates. The walls cannot truly be broken down, nor can they be tunneled under, for the city rests upon a massive natural deposit of iron. The greatest defensive measure, howver, is the Niveh itself. To besiege it, one must build a camp on every side of the Niveh, the greatest river on the Eastern Continent, and fully encircle the walls, that stretch to encompass the entire 21 miles of area that make up the “Greatest city in the world” (out of the mouths of admittedly biased chroniclers)
(Any army besieging Nivereh must encircle it totally, which requires enough men, and coordination to make 3 unconnected camps, each 7 miles long, and large enough to hold off against a sally alone (the river is too wide for the camps to reinforce one another) and must also close off all the three prongs of the Niveh and its tributary, the Yasher.
On Aesthetics
The Illitarians are an artisan people, as well as an empire. Their art is flowing, yet jagged at once, and their armor and clothing appears strange to Aumen-Mende (Illitarian for Foreigners, or “Hordes from Elsewhere”). Tall helmets are favored by those soldiers native to the Nivereh basin and the Yasher Plains that make up their current territory. Their uniforms are of cloth-of-saffron and madder-dyed red, worn over a leather chest bracer, and worn under a shirt of sew scales, and a segmented iron breastplate. Their carry shields slung around their neck to fight in melee, and swords for when the fighting gets too close for pikes.
Their firearms are made all of similar sizes, but each one sports unique scroll and metalwork around the barrel. Beastly mouths are a favorite.
An image very similar to my conceptualization of Illitarian troops
(Think of them with a very Mesopotamian theme to them)
On the King of Kings
The King of Kings can live for hundreds of years, and is the most learned mage in the entire Kingdom. He generally uses rejuvenation magic unique to the illitarian high classes to live for centuries longer than is common.
The King of Kings as of the year 0 is Artaxerxes IV
On Militarization
Illitaria is a militarized nation partially out of perfectly justified fear. Living on flatlands, with xenophobic mountain tinkerers to their east, steppe hordes to their west and Drall to their south has prompted a philosophy of aggression.
Mere, Mere, Tekeh, Eupharsen
(Number. Number. Weight. Division)
“In the Year of Ar Murazon, the King of Kings, furious at the profanation of his temple, sent a cowled messenger, who’s hood was empty, to wander the streets of Reveh, shouting for all the world to hear: Mere. Mere. Tekeh. Eupharsin. Number. Number. Weight. Division. ‘Ar Murazon has numbered your days, and they are at an end. He has weighed your lives, and found them wanting. Now, your empire, and yourselves will be divided by the peoples of the Niveh.’ That very night, the Illitarians, who lived by the Great River’s connection, and the Ummanians, who lived by its headwaters and Ehremaits, who lived by its mouth, descended upon Reveh, and divided the kingdom, the emperor, and his sons into three pieces.”
Logistics
Troop Types
Hetairo (Companions)
The most land in Illitaria is owned by the Hetairo, landed warriors who ride gryphons or Eagles into battle. Their ferocious mounts are trained to defeat other mounts in the field, using their talons and teeth to deadly effect. These men are the cream of the elite shock cavalry of Illitaria.
1 iron per 200
(full plate for them and their gryphoth)
Pikemen
Foot Soldiers are the simple front line of Illitaria. These men are kept in a standing army, and work in coordination with musketeers to fight the enemy. Foot soldiers serve in the military for ten years, before the next generation comes up to replace them, unless they choose to serve with the Old Guards. They are armed with pikes, shields and swords.
-1 iron per 500
(Breastplate, greaves, spaulders, helmet, gauntlet, sheild, sword, pikehead.
Musketeers
The youngest soldiers in the army serve as musketeers for a few years before entering the pike formations. Young, fit and well trained, these men are still professional soldiers. They and the pikemen fight as one, in the Pike Square, a hollow box.
Lancers: Light cavalry, armed with long, hollow lances to outrange infantry pikes.
-1 iron per 1000
(breastpate, helmet, greaves, sword, musket)
---Elite Infantry
Old Guard
Veterans over the age of thirty five and still fighting are put into the Old Guard. This is more or less, a more elite formation of pikemen and musketeers, better disciplined, and better trained.
-1 iron per 500
-Highly disciplined, and skilled in combat
Silver Spears
The Silver Swords are an elite force of shock troops who fight where the fighting is thickest, and expect the heaviest casualties. They are those children that are of debtors, criminals, rebels, or sold to the Fatherhouses, or given to the King of Kings as tribute. These soldiers are not rare, like The Bastards or the Royal Guard. Rather, where each Satrap maintains his own army, this army is of the King, and Nivereh. This army is comprised of soldiers who begin their training at seven, and complete it at fourteen. This force of Royal Guards and Royal Soldiers is utterly loyal to the king. For these men have no parents that they recall (a crude form of magical hypnotism wipes their memories) nor will they have children, or be tempted by any woman, for these men, so feared on the battlefield, are eunuchs.
The Silver Spears are rendered infertile by a numbing and magical castration of both testes and penis through a secretive process that leaves them still able to preform their bodily functions.
-1 Iron per 500
Tiamatairoi
(Dragon Warriors)
Tiamatairoi are the best foot soldiers that Illitaria can field. Armed with long pikes, with shields strapped to their arms to facilitate proper movement. Each soldier carries a short hacking falchion as well, for close combat. Formations of Tiamatairoi are flanked by musketeers. They wear golden-painted armor of scale, and all of their weapons and armors are inscribed with runes. The Tiamatairo themselves are mages as well, but just learned enough to speak the incantations and inscribe runes. Their armor and shields are enchanted to deflect missiles away. Their pikes are enchanted to disrupt enchantments, and their swords to cause huge, gaping wounds, often resulting in bifurcation.
1 iron per 250 (very heavy armor)
Notes-
(Tiamatairoi were, like the Silver Spears, instituted as a way to keep the King of Kings in power. As Satraps are not permitted to hold Tiamatairoi, their own Engines are vulnerable to the disrupting effect of the Tiamataoiroi pikes, which are designed to destroy constructs and strip away magical enchantments.)
Godsguard
An elite force, trained for war from birth, of several hundred soldiers. These men are the bodyguards of the King. They are also his sons. Due to the system of elective monarchy, their lives (See Con: Sucsession) depend upon the King of Kings staying alive, and so they will fight to the death to protect him. They are all highly trained mages, and carry 2 vessels into battle, as well as large two handed longaxes.
Cannon: Field cannons and siege guns.
MAGES
All those high in the illitarian priesthood are mages, though not all those who are mages are preists. Magic study is a holy pastime, however, and there are no ascetic vows to be said. Mages are thought of in illitaria as theologian-scholars.
Mages of the Third Order
When one is accepted into the priesthood, one joins the Third Order. Here, a mage is put to work in supporting roles. Each cohort (500 men) of royal troops is accompanied by twenty mages of the Third Order, roughly one per 20 men in the cohort. They are in charge of providing them with defensive spells during battle. 6 mages are put to use healing the wounded and sending them back into the fight, or stabilizing the badly wounded. 2 mages are in charge of magical communications between the Cohort and other formations, and the other two are there to fill in any gaps, and periodically provide offensive spellfire. The remaining ten provide defensive spells.
Mages of the Second Order
Mages of the Second Order are mages trained in the specific art of Driving. These mages are therefore known as Drivers to many. Drivers spend their off time mixing with regular soldiers and meditating In equal measures. The Second Order of Ar-Murazon extolls the values of patience, calm and meditation. In battle, mages of the Second Order clamber into their towering Engines –constructs of varying sizes, that are driven from within by a mage, and run on masses of stored magical energy (batteries, if you will.) They also feed their Engines off the life energy of those they kill during combat.
First Order Mages are primarily deployed on the battlefield to drive the massive Wicker Men, and to neutralize hostile mages (though the Witch Hunters are the best at that unenviable job) First Order mages are the most powerful as well.
Makairaphori (Deathdrinkers)
Deathdrinkers are a sub-order of mages, with the sole purpose of defending formations and constructs. The Deathdrinkers stand ‘before the fore’ of their formation, guarded by a handpiked team of ten soldiers and four defensive mages. If the enemy launches magical or chemical attacks (say, a dragon breathing fire, or a bolt of mage lightning, or a gas attack) the Deathdrinker’s job is to neutralize it. Fire, for example, is simply extinguished, as the mage very simply draws the oxygen out of the air in it’s path, with almost minimal effort on his part, totally neutralizing the fire.
Artoxos (Vermin-slayers)
Powerful mages charged with hunting and killing other mages in battle.
Roxos (Wraiths)
Mages who have mastered the art of being unnoticed while casting, turning themselves invisible, to scout out enemy positions, or, more commonly, kill the enemy’s mages and high command before the battle begins.
King of Kings
When the King of Kings takes the battlefield, he is probably without a doubt the most learned mage on the field.
(single man unit, ridiculously powerful warmage. Accompanied by Godsguard.)
OTHER CREATURES/CLIENT FACTIONS
Houkun (Eagles)
The Eagles of the Islands are native to the sea-stack like mountains of the Niveh River. These huge beasts are relatively common in the heartlands as personal mounts, but many train them for war.
An Island Eagle is the size of a small whale, and can be ridden by one man in medium to light armor. Generally, the riders carry lances and cast spells. The art of training the Houkun falls to the island people, who are part of the Illitarian nation.
ENGINES
Sparatoi (Slayers)
The smallest of engines require very little fuel. Standing six feet tall, their energy is easily conserved, only burnt to augment the warrior’s strength, as the armor itself is far thicker than human plate (being plated in cured wood beneath the iron, for cost purposes. These are generally deployed in Cohorts, alongside the regular infantrymen, as slightly more elite troops.
Tall Men
Eight foot Tall Men are one of the more common engines of war, though not as numerous as the Slayers. These wood-and-iron constructs generally excel at taking apart infantry formations. They are organized into Cohorts, along with Silent Slayers and regular infantrymen. They are generally treated like elite formations.
Dins
Din drivers shout their ritual meditations instead of chanting them, which should be a good indicator of their temperament. Dins are large and slow, and deploy I groups of 50 on the wings of a Tall One formation. They wear massive wooden cudgels on their hips, and appear to be similar to Tall Men in stature and build. However, while Battle Engines wear tall red plumes, Dins have none, and instead have kettle-helmet shaped heads, with large depressions that mimic their eyes, and grant the pilots better sight. In both hands, however, they carry crude cannons of brass and wood. (A tree trunk with a bell shape at the end of it, more or less) and fill the short barrels of these weapons chock full of small musket balls, forks, knives, spoons, nails, gravel and other tiny pieces of metal and stone. In battle, they generally fire these huge proto-shotguns directly into an oncoming formation from less than ten meters away, and then charge in with their cudgels (or simply swing their cannons around like clubs themselves.) In battle, when draining a victims of life force, they generally prefer to save it up for a short time, and the expel all that life force outward form themselves into an enemy formation, causing utter havoc.
Akkadians (Brass Warriors)
Akkadians are huge, twenty foot tall behemoths, made of wood and brass and iron, driven by some of the best drivers of the Second Order in the Kingdom. They are organized into companies of 50, and number only 1000 as it is, with 100 always guarding the King in his palace. These riven constructs often simply stride through combat, ignoring shot and stabs alike.
Nira Hatara (Wicker Men)
The epitome of the Illitarian military is the Wicker Men. These are behemoths of truly godly scale. Whie the Brass Knights can simply stomp on your average soldier, the Wicker Men can stamp on them. Standing at one hundred feet tall at the shortest, and one hundred fifty at the tallest in service (the tallest ever recorded was supposedly six hundred feet tall and wiped out towns with its tread, and legens are still told about it, and the dread king who commissioned it) Wicker Men are fueled by livestock slaughtered by the hundreds. Swinging censers trail off of it, and five mages drive it, though it has a queer animal intelligence all of it’s own.
Bumblebees
Enchanted, aerodynamic wooden constructs with a powder charge, and a powder warhead. Stuck into the ground, and fired like a Congreve rocket at enemy formations, the enchantments take hold halfway into the flight, kicking in and steering it towards the target, to detonate upon impact.
MYSTIC UNITS
Assassins: Trained to use glamors to make them appear to be someone of an entirely different race or people, and kill specific targets, with no regards to their own lives They often attack en mass, as a group, and very rarely fail, especially given that each assassin detonates their entire life energy if caught or mortally wounded.
Covenanters
The Covenant of Ar-Murazon is comprised of the most 111 most learned mages in the entire Kingdom who have decided to dedicate their entire lives to magic. They guard his temple and his holy form with their lives.
Godsguard
Super elite bodyguards. See pros and cons list.
PEOS AND CONS
Pro: Nivereh is extremely difficult to besiege, being built on 3 banks and an island, with a constant source of water and huge walls.
Pro: Logisticos
The Illitarian military academies pride themselves on teaching not only strategy and tactics, but logistics., and use their nation's massive amount of grazing lands to their benefits in helping the war machine along.
All illitarian troops ride horses and carts to and away from the battlefield even if they are not cavalry (infantry dismounts to fight), making them among the most mobile forces around, and very hard to catch unawares. Each foot soldier also carries 6 Vessels in his pack, and generally brings 2 into battle with him. Mages carry more, as to the Engine-handlers, who carry dozens, and strap them into the Engines.
Pro: Ar-Murazon
The God can be brought out of the Temple and asked, in times of need, to work certain, massive spells that only He knows, but their life energy draw is generally huge.
Con: The Centerpiece city
If the God is destroyed, Illitaria ceases to exist, and becomes a riot of civil wars and successor kingdoms.
____________________
Pro: Eastern Armies
The forces of Illitaria look exotic and strange, yet uniform. These armies though are just as effective as their western counterparts, and maybe even moreso.
(---Illitarian armies are made of professional soldiers, so all regular soldiers EXCEPT levies should be treated as professionals.)
Pro: River Basin
Nivereh counts as a port city
Pro: Buried Vaults
-The vaults under the city contain mindbogglingly massive stockpiles of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Vessels (post lore turn effective)
Con: Born Free
Slavery is prohibited, and cannot be practiced by Illitarians.
_________________________-
Pro: Levee-en-mass
The King of Kings can levee up to 10% of any Satrapy’s population to form a temporary drafted army.
Pro: Royal Taxation
The King of Kings can gain 25% more taxes and resources from a satrapy of his choice when he chooses.
Pro: Polygamy
The King of Kings can marry as many times as he wishes concurrently. His sons form the Godsguard, an elite force of soldiers who live opulently, and will fight to the death for their king (their comfortable lives depend on their father staying in power)
(The Illitarian King of Kings is EXTREMELY difficult to assassinate)
Con: Succession
Upon attaining the Throne, the new King of Kings has all but three of his predecessor’s sons put to death. The remaining three (the youngest) are allowed to live to carry on his family legacy.
(The Godsguard is disbanded for 2 years following a king of king's death)
______________________________
Pro: King of Kings
When a portion of land is taken though either military or peaceful means, the culture is retained, and the people are allowed to remain, acting as they always have, unless otherwise compelled by the King of Kings.
(Other factions’ troops can be deployed in limited numbers (10% of the population of the area, in relation to the amount of territory taken) by illitaria, if it has taken land belonging to that faction.)
Pro: Eternal Empire
Periodically, large groups of migrants from other lands will enter illitaria to live free, rather than live a slave of another culture.
PRO: FISHERMEN
Any settlement along a river or body of water counts as a farming settlement.
Con: Resentful Lord
If the King of Kings levees or taxes too much from one satrapy, or from too many satrapies, or too many times, or provides an ugly bride, the Satrap’s opinion of him will be decreased, and for one turn, the Satrap may either withhold his troops, withhold giving the King of Kings his resources, or even declare open rebellion.
____________________________________
PRO: Magecraft
-The use of magic and hidden knowledge is the bread and butter of Illiria. They know more lore, secret science and magic.
PRO: Sorcerous Culture
5% of the population is mages, and so are not in short supply.
Pro: Fertility
Illitarians reproduce like rabbits, being a somewhat separate branch of homo sapiens. They can interbreed, like humans with Neanderthals, and aesthetically there is no difference, but illitarians are practically supercharged with lust.
(Illitarians triple their population every 100 years (lore turn effective)
CON: Forbidden Foods
-No matter how many cows and livestock animals illitaria has, it can never use them as food, even if starving.
___________________________
Pro: Within God’s Writ
Illitarian forces fight twice as well defending areas that Illitaria has within its de facto borders (including conquered areas)
Pro: Diplomatic
Diplomatic bonus to dealing with all nations and factions, as Illitaria is relatively friendly and tolerant
PRO: Vessels
Vessels are compact containers that store life energy without requiring it be chanted over, and are used as batteries, of a sort, to fuel the large machines of war and industry.
(Troops take only a short time to set up for a pitched battle and carry extra life energy with them)
CON: Law and Order
Drafted soldiers can only be held for 6 months before they must be sent home for at least 2 months.
__________________
PRO: MAGEOCRACY
Roughly 1 out of every 20 illitarians is an amateur mage (and thus a member of the gentry) one out of every 100 is a militarily trained mage.
(All illitarian settlements count as equipped with one 2nd order warmage per 100 citizens. Ad one First Order warmage per 1000 citizens)
PRO: Irrigation and Riverine
Illitarians are extremely adept at riverine warfare, using rivers to move their troops and supplies (especially the heavy Engines, that can't be carried on horseback) from place to place. They also take comfort from the waters, wich remind them of their fertile homeland.
Illitarian troops are twice as effective in fighting and mobility in places near rivers.
(THIS ONE IS PENDING)
Pro: Battle Meditation
Mages driving war machines and casting spells meditate and chant at the same time. It’s almost a second nature to them.
(mages are not interrupted in their chanting, even in the midst of extreme chaos)
Con: The Great Choosing
When a King of King dies, there are 5 options to vote for, who will be listed, with their traits. Each player can vote for one once, and the GM twice. Whoever is elected becomes the next King of Kings, and the Illitarian player must do his best to represent his character.
(Say, if a cowardly guy were elected, Illtaria would be less likely to enter any war)
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Klimino Zepehphor
Personal hackey sack to Newspaper weilders
as of now the game is started and positions are closed.
we will not be accepting anymore players.
we will not be accepting anymore players.
