@pandapolio Greenskins are mentioned in the lore, so having Uruk-hai around shouldn't be a problem. What sort of society were you thinking for them?
Here's my version of the current political map, showing the regions the different factions are laying claim to. This isn't the 'canon' map, as @Flagg and @The Nexerus still have final say on where we all will be when the fun starts.
Oi. Throwing my hat in the ring again, wanted to do a proto-application spiel before committing to filling out a proper sheet. Nail down approved directions to take things in. Bulk of text after the hider. Captain'll be around sooner or later to jaw on his thing.
The very basic genesis was for a Sauron/Morgoth type (depending on what overall relation Daigon had to his devils, that of a conquering Solomon type or a subordinate Faust type) who'd survived the fall of Nagath to preserve a functional and Justinian expedition-resilient state(let). Inspirations of character beside the prior referenced mold include the Buddhist fierce deities and the Dharmapala, the Asuras, Dagoth Ur, Emperor Ganishka, maybe a dash of Gilgamesh, and my vague impression of Lucifer from Paradise Lost, himself referenced in the OP. His origin is intentionally hazy in my mind, seeing that demons are anyways not as yet defined; he may have been a demon always, a man transmuted, a spirit otherwise, or whatever else, though I have my preferences; all depends on which are approved as options. A multiple-choice backstory communicated and obfuscated in parables is something that crept into my mind and will be adhered to regardless.
The state itself is a somewhat more absolutist mirror of Justinian's empire, constructed specifically in opposition to it or at least my hypothetical image of it; but likewise the personal construction of its king, a great and rigid structure, occasionally turned to clay as he sees fit. Architectural and partial cultural inspiration is Indo-Asian; a stratocracy built around the active sovereign with magisters as instruments rather than rulers by absence albeit adventurously inclined, countering Justinian's white-black feudal serfdom with black-white castes within castes, with ascension in the ladder being a matter of upper-end whim or an excess of merit, often both in combination; some barriers are untraversible, keeping to the meaning of caste as 'color.' A court of devils rides high, with men generally in the middle, and the unfortunately savage races lying at the foot of the ladder, while civilized demihumans such as Nexerus' Tshriv & familiar spirit-alike races being interspersed varyingly between. Levies, mercenaries and knighthood are contrasted by semi-professional state formations and citizen-soldiers-by-birth in the Kshatriya mold, though tribal reivers and irregulars blur the line of distinction further. The greater mundane military distinction- the remaining court devils that stretch high the limits of low fantasy power being few- than a slightly higher qualitative average or willingness to asymmetric maneuver warfare would be the use of jezails, well-trailed field guns in Mughal styling, and Mysorean/Congreve rockets. Distant reverence of the unseen god-king and direct cult worship is traded for a closer, comradely hero-worship in person and cults of aspects, incarnations, multiple faces of a many-shaped god. Pogroms and burnings are exchanged for semi-voluntary, obligatory sacrifice, for both ritual and practical purposes. The differences between the states' construction and the half-transcendent personalities involved are all intentionally fine-blurred. 'When fighting monsters,' so on.
Motivation was always quite a bit clearer than the rest; the devil-king of the Indo-state wishes to fulfill Daigon's dream in full, in dedication to his memory. Emphasis on 'memory.' The appearance of gorgenmast's Arkhagon took some of the wind out of my sails, since two Saurons would be a bit crowding. But after a bit of further thinking, Arkhagon's appearance only allowed me to further clarify where I wanted to go with the concept. Arkhagon, defined by longing, the high ideal of comradeship, and veneration thereby, refused sputtering military adventurism and half-baked Nagath reformation to seek Daigon directly, and fell into his heroic tragedy thereby. The Indo-King, of a similar stature & rank to Arkhagon (or so the record reads, for now) defied both courses, selecting instead consolidating statecraft; rather than dash himself against the rocks of suicidal martyrdom or destructive, unfulfillable sentiment, he immediately set to the task of laying long-reaching groundwork for vengeance against those who toppled Daigon and the salvation of his work, or at least a work which he would approve. The Indo-Kings' respective exoteric tragedy, then, could be called expedience, or pragmatism. The two will contrast nicely.
He preserved what civilization he could, established as legitimate a regency as one may find in the ruins of Nagath, and built a rump empire on lockstep dedication, on the classification of merit and the merit of classification, on insurgency, on fanaticism, and on blood-sacrifice, not in the Semitic Yahweh-Mammonish mold of cruel whimsy & loyalty-testing or the Indo-European one of destruction of the criminal and corrupt, but more the Aztec-Nahuatl mold, of the sacrificed as venerated martyrs, necessarily lost for the worlds' sake; this martyrs' spirit, overembraced by the failed adventurists and which the Indo-King spited as the empire fell couldn't be neglected forever, after all, and in a world starved for the arcane, the energy derived out of innocent, sacred blood is a high-octane fuel for the engines of old empire machinery and sorcery. All the better that those used up are sincerely beloved and mourned, the sacrifice necessary; a means to reinforce the image of the justice and sanctity of the Indo-Kings' state.
Final text block; location. This is a little bit harder to work out. Originally, when watching the interest check, I lazily thought I'd plop down right at the mouth of what I should guess is the Sea of Daigon, west of Tushiena's Isle of Shipwrecks, and snake a bit around the bay & up the fertile river. Eat a nice bit of irrigatable land. With the Red Empire occupying that mouth & one bank revision is necessary, and refinement forced like with Arkhagon's appearance. Therefore, a few projections sprung into my mind.
1: Bosphorus configuration. Snaking 'round the Sea of Daigon/shipwrecks' bay, with the capital emplaced on one or either end of the little black sea-shaped bay/lake on the southern bank. Prime though not sole agricultural territory climbs up the bank opposite the Red Empire, about the boundaries of Firukavukontok. Current preferred, modest territory claim. Hopefully doesn't squeeze gorgenmast too much, assuming the barrage is located between the two little mini-peninsulas, northwest of the Isle of Shipwrecks. 2: Peninsular configuration. A bit more insulated from other players, wrapping around the mountains of the northeast of the Claws. Same riverside as projection 1. 3: Daigon Zul midst squatter configuration. Not a strong consideration in my mind, as the city is explicitly a dead and ruined no-man's land; even a sister city in close, under the protection of a lieutenant of Daigon, would be in physical and political danger from both the beastly & sapient denizens. But a technical option, if map crowding ends up requiring it. Occupies the riverbank north of the Red Empire, half-wrapping Mount Azoth and perhaps just touching the bay/Sea of Daigon with an eastern jut. 4: Big booty borders. Projections 1 & 2 merged, providing a lot of variety as far as potential terrain types and gribbly vassals that can be worldbuilt, but also being a big blob that raises questions as to how or why the Imperium hasn't doubled down on extermination efforts, owing to the threat posed, and why the state would have stagnated in game-start deadlock with so much to draw on in resources & manpower for expansionary attempts. An option if the map needs filling out, still. A possible historical expanse for one of the prior projections, the state having suffered mutinies and withdrawals and thus these territories having fallen out of de facto control.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this text dump in detail. Awaiting approval, eager to get at sheetwriting, worldbuilding & fine detail integration if/when approved.
Just posting my not finished app here so I can get a spot on the map. Sorry about the less than desirable map coloring. Had to use paint.
Faction Name: Akagi Khanate Alias: Sea Lords, the Saltborn, Raiders of the Twin Isles, Sea Wretches.
Government Type: Khanate The Akagi khanate, as the name already implies, is a chiefdom ruled by the Khan, a vicious warlord that strong armed the various pirates clans under his domain.
At the head of the Khanate is the Khan himself. Below him are the different pirate clans that have sworn fealty to him or were forced to. The chieftains of this clans provide a portion of their taxes to the Khan and in return, the Khan offers them protection from external threats and internal conflicts. Under the chieftains are captain. Individual who own, maintain and command their own vessels of war. Usually the captains are closely related to the chieftains of each clan. Each spoils from every raid are taxed by the chieftains, usually a fraction of all the total loot being taken.
Faction Specie(s): Most of the chiefs under the Khan are Human however the khanate itself is diverse. A myriad of races dwell in the isles. From the most numerous inhabitants that are the Humans to the hardeir folk of the Beastmen. Orcs are also known to inhabit the Khanate. Most captured in battle or have ran away from their kin looking for a more prodigal lifestyle. Territory Details: *Area in Grey. Faction Religion/Ideology: There had never been a mandated religion in the Khanate. Neither had there been with the different marauder clans before the rise of the Khan. Each individual is free to worship whichever Deity they see fit. Faction Description: Faction History: Important Characters: Relations to other Factions:
Will need a bit more detail before I can approve. One note- I had conceived of Ozgad's folly as a neutral pirate city. Could easily be informally part of your Empire. Likewise, our factions' seem to have certain parallels, except that mine is governed by vampires. All to the good! look forward to seeing more.
EDIT: also, would you mind adding your territory claim to a version of the map w/o that huge orange blob at the bottom? I'm not sure whose claim that is, but it's not approved. Your territory claim (and the other claims on that map) is fine.
Oi. Throwing my hat in the ring again, wanted to do a proto-application spiel before committing to filling out a proper sheet. Nail down approved directions to take things in. Bulk of text after the hider. Captain'll be around sooner or later to jaw on his thing.
The very basic genesis was for a Sauron/Morgoth type (depending on what overall relation Daigon had to his devils, that of a conquering Solomon type or a subordinate Faust type) who'd survived the fall of Nagath to preserve a functional and Justinian expedition-resilient state(let). Inspirations of character beside the prior referenced mold include the Buddhist fierce deities and the Dharmapala, the Asuras, Dagoth Ur, Emperor Ganishka, maybe a dash of Gilgamesh, and my vague impression of Lucifer from Paradise Lost, himself referenced in the OP. His origin is intentionally hazy in my mind, seeing that demons are anyways not as yet defined; he may have been a demon always, a man transmuted, a spirit otherwise, or whatever else, though I have my preferences; all depends on which are approved as options. A multiple-choice backstory communicated and obfuscated in parables is something that crept into my mind and will be adhered to regardless.
The state itself is a somewhat more absolutist mirror of Justinian's empire, constructed specifically in opposition to it or at least my hypothetical image of it; but likewise the personal construction of its king, a great and rigid structure, occasionally turned to clay as he sees fit. Architectural and partial cultural inspiration is Indo-Asian; a stratocracy built around the active sovereign with magisters as instruments rather than rulers by absence albeit adventurously inclined, countering Justinian's white-black feudal serfdom with black-white castes within castes, with ascension in the ladder being a matter of upper-end whim or an excess of merit, often both in combination; some barriers are untraversible, keeping to the meaning of caste as 'color.' A court of devils rides high, with men generally in the middle, and the unfortunately savage races lying at the foot of the ladder, while civilized demihumans such as Nexerus' Tshriv & familiar spirit-alike races being interspersed varyingly between. Levies, mercenaries and knighthood are contrasted by semi-professional state formations and citizen-soldiers-by-birth in the Kshatriya mold, though tribal reivers and irregulars blur the line of distinction further. The greater mundane military distinction- the remaining court devils that stretch high the limits of low fantasy power being few- than a slightly higher qualitative average or willingness to asymmetric maneuver warfare would be the use of jezails, well-trailed field guns in Mughal styling, and Mysorean/Congreve rockets. Distant reverence of the unseen god-king and direct cult worship is traded for a closer, comradely hero-worship in person and cults of aspects, incarnations, multiple faces of a many-shaped god. Pogroms and burnings are exchanged for semi-voluntary, obligatory sacrifice, for both ritual and practical purposes. The differences between the states' construction and the half-transcendent personalities involved are all intentionally fine-blurred. 'When fighting monsters,' so on.
Motivation was always quite a bit clearer than the rest; the devil-king of the Indo-state wishes to fulfill Daigon's dream in full, in dedication to his memory. Emphasis on 'memory.' The appearance of gorgenmast's Arkhagon took some of the wind out of my sails, since two Saurons would be a bit crowding. But after a bit of further thinking, Arkhagon's appearance only allowed me to further clarify where I wanted to go with the concept. Arkhagon, defined by longing, the high ideal of comradeship, and veneration thereby, refused sputtering military adventurism and half-baked Nagath reformation to seek Daigon directly, and fell into his heroic tragedy thereby. The Indo-King, of a similar stature & rank to Arkhagon (or so the record reads, for now) defied both courses, selecting instead consolidating statecraft; rather than dash himself against the rocks of suicidal martyrdom or destructive, unfulfillable sentiment, he immediately set to the task of laying long-reaching groundwork for vengeance against those who toppled Daigon and the salvation of his work, or at least a work which he would approve. The Indo-Kings' respective exoteric tragedy, then, could be called expedience, or pragmatism. The two will contrast nicely.
He preserved what civilization he could, established as legitimate a regency as one may find in the ruins of Nagath, and built a rump empire on lockstep dedication, on the classification of merit and the merit of classification, on insurgency, on fanaticism, and on blood-sacrifice, not in the Semitic Yahweh-Mammonish mold of cruel whimsy & loyalty-testing or the Indo-European one of destruction of the criminal and corrupt, but more the Aztec-Nahuatl mold, of the sacrificed as venerated martyrs, necessarily lost for the worlds' sake; this martyrs' spirit, overembraced by the failed adventurists and which the Indo-King spited as the empire fell couldn't be neglected forever, after all, and in a world starved for the arcane, the energy derived out of innocent, sacred blood is a high-octane fuel for the engines of old empire machinery and sorcery. All the better that those used up are sincerely beloved and mourned, the sacrifice necessary; a means to reinforce the image of the justice and sanctity of the Indo-Kings' state.
Final text block; location. This is a little bit harder to work out. Originally, when watching the interest check, I lazily thought I'd plop down right at the mouth of what I should guess is the Sea of Daigon, west of Tushiena's Isle of Shipwrecks, and snake a bit around the bay & up the fertile river. Eat a nice bit of irrigatable land. With the Red Empire occupying that mouth & one bank revision is necessary, and refinement forced like with Arkhagon's appearance. Therefore, a few projections sprung into my mind.
1: Bosphorus configuration. Snaking 'round the Sea of Daigon/shipwrecks' bay, with the capital emplaced on one or either end of the little black sea-shaped bay/lake on the southern bank. Prime though not sole agricultural territory climbs up the bank opposite the Red Empire, about the boundaries of Firukavukontok. Current preferred, modest territory claim. Hopefully doesn't squeeze gorgenmast too much, assuming the barrage is located between the two little mini-peninsulas, northwest of the Isle of Shipwrecks. 2: Peninsular configuration. A bit more insulated from other players, wrapping around the mountains of the northeast of the Claws. Same riverside as projection 1. 3: Daigon Zul midst squatter configuration. Not a strong consideration in my mind, as the city is explicitly a dead and ruined no-man's land; even a sister city in close, under the protection of a lieutenant of Daigon, would be in physical and political danger from both the beastly & sapient denizens. But a technical option, if map crowding ends up requiring it. Occupies the riverbank north of the Red Empire, half-wrapping Mount Azoth and perhaps just touching the bay/Sea of Daigon with an eastern jut. 4: Big booty borders. Projections 1 & 2 merged, providing a lot of variety as far as potential terrain types and gribbly vassals that can be worldbuilt, but also being a big blob that raises questions as to how or why the Imperium hasn't doubled down on extermination efforts, owing to the threat posed, and why the state would have stagnated in game-start deadlock with so much to draw on in resources & manpower for expansionary attempts. An option if the map needs filling out, still. A possible historical expanse for one of the prior projections, the state having suffered mutinies and withdrawals and thus these territories having fallen out of de facto control.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this text dump in detail. Awaiting approval, eager to get at sheetwriting, worldbuilding & fine detail integration if/when approved.
Great stuff! Look forward to hearing more. PM me or find me in discord if you want to hash out any points. Also, I'm happy to move my own faction location (this also goes for other players) to make life easier. If you think the peninsula and territory north of Daigon Zul would be best for the faction, I can easily move my territory.
@Senor Herp If you’re going for a well established empire developed enough to have its own architecture I’d recommend setting up camp as far to the east as you can get, to avoid the attention of the Justinian Imperium. The peninsula north of the Isle of Shipwrecks, south of the Akagi Khanate and east of the Red Empire would be the best choice for that.
On a side note, if both the Indo-King and Count Vasha (@Bright_Ops) have been around since the time of Daigon, how have they dealt with the Castigati, who were mentioned in Arkhagon‘s (@gorgenmast) profile?
So far I’ve dodged the topic with the Weeping Widows, rationalising it either as the demon-slayers not being interested in Daigon’s concubines, or that the Castigati know that the cult are charlatans and haven’t bothered wasting their time with them. Yet.
No need to move, the northern coast end is too chilly for faux-Indian shenanigans; it wasn't even a territory projection I considered. I'll throw some questions together later to clarify what's what. Glad that the base concept is well received.
Edit @Genni: Eastern positioning was the focus of territory projections 1 & 2, yeah, and on that note both positions are quite neighborly to Count Vasha. Not to speak for Bright_Ops, but I imagine the two might uncomfortably break bread now and again on the finer points of running regency states of questionable morality and to some degree diametrically opposed sociopolitical methods. And the whole 'technically I should be your de jure overlord but Greek Fire is too much of a pain so fuck it, let's talk tariffs' thing.
The Indo-King's (working title™) hazy origin and thus early status and thus demon hunting attention given notwithstanding, I imagine that after getting established he's dealt with more than his fair share of demonslayer assassins by various and mostly uncharitable means & measures. For the most part, insulating yourself at the center of a militarized hero-cult police state makes for an excellent immune system. Personally hacking them to pieces or breaking their spirits with preternatural swordsmanship and sorcery that most the world hasn't the least idea of is a good second line, meanwhile. I imagine Brights' Vasha, again not to speak for him, is likely to be fonder of the indirect Tomb of Horrors approach. Makes for less interrupted research if the assassins reduce themselves to ashes and get swept up automagic like.
Most the rest of the demons that didn't shack up with Indo and the infernal court or some other coherent, secure state in my mind made the mistake of consuming themselves in a proverbial charge of the light brigade against the just-born Justinian Imperium and its occupiers in Nagath back when things were a little more Second Age in power scale, scattering into the wilderness to live like beasts or get hunted down, starting petty backwoods cults and almost definitely getting hunted down, or are squatting in a big black magic circlejerk within the depths of Daigon Zul and many a forgotten elsewhere, where nobody in the Castigati gives a shit to follow them except the ones that do and don't ever return. Maybe a scarce few of the more mannish sorts rove as low fantasy adventurer types. Conan with cloven hooves. Or more appropriate to the time period, Henry Morgan, or Edward Teach/Blackbeard if you cheat and stretch a century onward.
Vasha isn't quiet a Tomb of Horror's Lich, but the Castigati have long had a hard time dealing with him... Largely due to the aforementioned Greek Fire and the Deep Ones that live in the sea around the Isle of Shipwrecks. There is a system in place so that the Fishmen under the waves can recognize ships that are allowed to travel to Tushiena and what route they are meant to be on; If a ship doesn't have approval or is found sailing on a route it's not meant to be, it gets sunk pretty damn quickly and the Fishmen aren't known for taking survivors for questioning.
It stops the Castigati and other powers from launching an invasion fleet, so the demonslayers attempts are limited to trying to sneak onto accepted ships to get to Tushiena... at which point they have to sneak through customs, try and avoid detection by the powers that be in the city and enter Vasha's private keep... any that actually get -that- far are now facing a very old, very powerful lich who likely isn't very pleased to have unwanted house guests and his personal guards.
To be fair, Vasha likely has made arrangements with his neighbors to allow 'approved' ships to sail through his waters without being sunk into two categorizes; Those who sail and trade with Tushiena itself and those that merely have to sail through it's waters to go elsewhere.
@Bright_Ops Is Count Vasha one of the stupid lichs who likes to keep his relinquary on display in a sealed vault under his palace, or one of the smart ones who used magic to place it in orbit or on a nearby moon, totally inaccessible to anyone without special training, magical powers and/or a space programme?
Vasha is the kind of lich that isn't going to tell anyone where he put his relinquary. It -might- be in a vault under his palace, but it's more then likely that is a decoy.
May I suggest a potentially elegant solution to @Senor Herp's location question? How about your faction controls the area around the Bride's island fortress, with the Brides having a certain status in the Indo-Empire's social structure? This would give the cult a base nation to operate out of/protection, and the indo-empire desirable land that fits its requirements.
Being associated with such a powerful nation would cause a great deal of complications for the Widows.
In order to operate most effectively they'd need to be seen as impartial and weak, and if they were known to be associated with the daemonic Indo-King and his technologically advanced army of daemon-spawned elite soldiers it would make them look anything but weak.
Also, what would the Indo-King's stance on the charlatans be, since he'd know they weren't truly the consorts of Daigon?
I agree with Genni that for practical reasons grafting the two together doesn't quite work; the monastic state shtick requires them to look poorly, world-weary, and not like the sort of organization poised to act as a (more obvious) fifth column. More importantly, it's my impression that the Widows were established rather middlingly or late as these organizations go, whereas the Indo-King clawed his way up early even if not immediately, sometime in perhaps the first two centuries of four since Justinian wrecked everything and retired to his throne, going by the 'Justinian, who has ruled his people for at least four centuries' line.
If an established state surrounded the Widows' fortress home, then there's no balkanized intertribal shitflinging to motivate their formation into a sham Daigonist organization to ward off other nomads from kicking their heads in. And there'd have been no reason for the Indo-King not to take that mean fortress isle for his own, centuries before the Three or the preceding tribe they puppeteered ever arrived. And I'm not so sure about the 'daemon-spawned elite' part as far as the literal level, but I suppose the Bakiraka were a thing in the Ganishka line of inspiration. Time will tell as things fill out.
I'd like to stick to the original territory projections, clarification of the extent of which were one subject in my PM to Flagg, as those boundaries do not as yet squeeze anyone save (probably) Gorgenmast and do not interfere with anyone elses' foundational myths. The Red Empire was too unruly to reintegrate as they exploded outwards to meet the Indo-King's own expansion, Tushienna was able to immediately secure itself and batten all hatches, and Arkhazon's dreamseeker project- and the barrage he'd claimed- was left to its own devices, partly out of respect and partly because the two devils were too equally matched (or worse, unequally) for Arkhazon to be brought to heel. And if the borders end up stretching far enough northerly, the Akagi Khanate is too prickly to consume and potentially too useful as corsairs anyways. Geographic-conceptual synthesis in these games is a delicate process, but I think I have the right of it already. I'll join the discord sometime later today or this evening I hope and make some really shitty black-circling-line-only prospective territory claims, trusting a better cartographer to hack out a properly, transparently painted boundary. Get that all sorted.
To answer on the Indo-King and the Widows; he is not happy. Not happy that they're charlatans, not happy that they're everywhere and getting their gutter-espionage in everything, not happy that throwing together a casus belli let alone the kind of force to spare to deal with them if he had one is as yet impossible with his states' probably frontiers far too far from their heartland anyways, not happy at all. He knows their story is exceedingly dubious, he smells a certain dishonesty in the presumably tighter-lipped and more reserved nature of the inner circle Handmaid or Sister types he's met as envoys versus the drugged up outer circle fanatics and laymen & women- both of whom he has a respectively somewhat and far higher opinion of, mostly secularly informed and a bit on the clerical side- but he simply cannot pin anything down.
So he insulates their cults' branches heavily and stymies their growth somewhat in favor of his own myriad mystery cults, allows their charity, tries to keep tabs on which Widows' houses are the prime spy dens and which are mere urchin watchposts- hardly much distinction between a small pigeon roost and a big one if there aren't Widows with their own ears personally to the ground, but still- and abides their existence. Publically he will proclaim his knowledge of many concubines of Daigon, but of no special 'Three,' while nonetheless giving praise to the charitable deeds and good faith of the cults' boots on the ground. Maybe gives the odd hackneyed quote about man 'not living on bread alone' and intonations about heroic duties to the external world of their own to warn away from overreliance on them and their material charity. Exoteric lukewarm skepticism, esoteric antipathy. The Indo-King can't keep them from getting news out that would reach the state public, but he can keep them thoroughly out of the inner-middle workings and from getting more than vague impressions on what direction the state is swinging its weight from the lowest-level magisters & officers. Good state security is one of the means by which he's avoided death by the Castigati after all, as previously stated, and it works well enough on Widows.
Just so everyone's aware, Count Vasha just declared war on the Weeping Widows.
To the 'Brides' of Daigon,
For some time now you have stationed the heart of your cult in the Saltwater Sea, sending out your missionaries and servants to help the downtrodden and the desperate. While I know for a fact that these actions have made you an often praised name among the lips of the lower orders of Nagath, praising you for your good deeds is not the purpose of this message.
Since the establishment of your little cult, I have generously protected the heart of your order from those that would wish you destroyed by preventing those that would do you harm from being able to access the Saltwater Sea, sinking countless ships over the centuries out of mutual good will and to watch with interest how your order developed.
While at first the proud citizens of Tushiena was more then willing to shoulder such a burden, as of late the subject of redefining what the relationship between our nation and your cult has arisen. Many of my court have expressed the opinion that our nations generous offers of protection and trade have been... taken for granted. Some have even questioned why we continue to allow you to exist as an independent power, since Tushiena provides the bulk of your fortress' defenses from invaders as well as controls the supply routes going into and out of said island fortress.
Some have even gone so far as to make rather compelling arguments about claiming the fallen fortress and the seawater sea in the name of Tushiena, presenting plans for the fortress island to become a trading hub for the more land locked powers of Nagath who lack the naval ability to partake in trade, as well as offering the Deep One citizens a chance to colonize the sheltered Seawater Sea in order to expand their holdings and secure a safe place to spawn and raise their young.
I am not an unfair tyrant through, thus why I am sending this message. I am giving you this opportunity to convince me that leaving you as an interdependent power on a rock in the middle of an inland sea is to Tushiena's best interests. A chance to tip the scales about if we should claim what is ours in all but name in your favor.
...It wasn't a declaration of war. It was a 'What sort of service can you provide in exchange for not going to war with you?' note... You know, Politics.
To Count Vasha,
Thank you for your threat. Please notice how one third of your trading caste were recently murdered by their staff during their sleep.
-The Weeping Widows
As the drumbeat quickened the rowmen likewise hastened their pace, sending the ship barrelling through the waves towards the distant target. The captain had called for ramming speed, intending to destroy the small trading vessel without giving it a chance to fight back, no matter how small of a threat the schooner posed to his mighty warship.
Below decks one of the crew made his way through the vessel, the torch gripped firmly in his hand as his eyes gazed forward with a divine purpose. Approaching the armoury he pulled out a dagger, plunging it up into the guard's heart before he even had a chance to react. Quickly searching the man's body, the crewman pulled out the keys and unlocked the armoured door.
Pulling it open he gazed at the row upon row of volatile fluids stored carefully in well padded jars. Moving down the rows the man began to pull jars from the shelves, letting them fall shattering to the deck unheeded as hge made his way to the back of the room. Finally he lay restfully against the bulkhead, a moment of true peace in his otherwise hectic life.
Finally opening his eyes for one last time, he muttered softly to himself as he loosed his grip on the torch. "For the Widows."
The fireball split the warship in half, great flames exploding outwards as the mighty vessel quickly sank between the waves. The deadly oils stettling on the surface continued to burn, preventing all but the luckiest of the crew from making it clear of the wreckage and carnage.
In the distance the small sailing ship turned away. On the deck a veiled woman smiled gently as she likewise turned her back on the enemies of the people.
I do believe that the actual declaration of war was on you.
I also think it's somewhat... wrong that you somehow have an army of zealots in -every- other nation on the map, prepared to give their own lives just because one group of nutbags tells them too in exchange for the odd slice of bread... even more so males since they are quiet clearly treated like second class citizens by said religion.
Not entirely sure what's up here. Let's keep IC interactions in the IC tab, and if there is conflict, both players ought to agree with how any conflict is playing out. @Genni, Vasha's note is provocative but certainly allowable. Pretty normal NRP stuff. A threat, but not a declaration of war.
I think we need to rethink the response- there's a cool story to be told here, but we can't jump to murdering huge swaths of another factions citizens in a single sentence. Perhaps this is an opportunity? Vasha's threat provoking a terror-insurgency/assassination campaign in Tushiena...is a cool plotline, but we can only do this if both players are willing to cooperate.
Conflict in this RP can't proceed by IC one-upsmanship plus OOC hostility. The opposite please. IC viciousness needs OOC friendliness and cooperation.
Please note as GM I won't allow anyone's faction, however weak, to be conquered wholesale w/o that players consent.
I decided to send the actual letter that Vasha sent via a Pm. Maybe we should link a GM to such messages in the future?
Not needed. PM interactions are fine if they will eventually be revealed ICly. I dont need to be in on everything. Players just need to coordinate their conflicts OOCly so all parties are comfortable with what's being done to their factions. It goes without saying that players need to be comfortable with their factions losing for this to work.
Looks like I may have kicked a hornet’s nest here. I didn’t intend anything said in PMs to be canon, since I considered it as two players chatting not actual IC action. If my intentions were misconstrued I humbly apologise.
I copied the letter on this thread since I thought all players might need to be aware of activity influencing IC actions, even if their avatars wouldn’t be aware of it.
That having been said, threatening a site considered sacred by a zealous cult might not have been the shrewdest political move Vasha’s ever pulled off.
Worst case scenario for the Widows would be evacuating the Fallen Keep, leaving it empty when the Tushieni arrive. This would leave them without a defined location for other factions to target, and give them a symbol to fight for.
I also think it's somewhat... wrong that you somehow have an army of zealots in -every- other nation on the map
I also think it’s somehow... wrong that you have total, unassailable naval superiority.
