Bright_Ops

House of the Wayward Heroes. (DCU)

Interested. Going to be working on a CS but I thought I would let ya know I've got my eye on this.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

I'm sorry, but I might just drop out as well. I've just been having a hard time getting into rp'ing at the moment and I don't want to delay anyone further.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

@Genni

Fair enough. I'm happy for Vasha to know that the bakery is connected to the Widow's and thus the message will be kicked upstairs sooner or later... but haven't mistaken which one of the owners was the Widow because... well, Women are much more likely to join and have actual power then a man would.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

@Genni

Oh sorry. I've met some people who... well, would push for that kind of thing in a PM to be canon.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

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?

Heirs of the Dark Lord

...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.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

“There are the people of the day and the creatures of the night. And it's important to remember that the creatures of the night aren't simply the people of the day staying up late because they think that makes them cool and interesting. It takes more than heavy mascara and a pale complexion to cross the divide.” ― Terry Pratchett, Soul Music

Staring out over his city from the window of his personal study, Vasha tapped his bony middle finger against the solid wood of his desk in thought. A piece of parchment lay on the desk before him, an ink pot close at hand with the quill in his grasp, but he wasn't using it just yet as he contemplated what he wished to put down on paper.

He had put off writing this message for long enough having been interested in taking a more 'Wait and see' approach to see if anything actually came from it; The results were no doubt interesting, but now it had reached a point where he needed to see if the rewards for allowing the experiment to continue could balance out the positives of ending it and claiming the resources for other projects. After a few more minutes of contemplation, he finally put quill to parchment.

It didn't take long to write out the full message, but as he took a moment to reread it to ensure that it was readable enough that the average orc could take a crack at understanding it, he rolled the parchment up and sealed it closed with a wax seal baring his mark. Content with his message, he reached out to ring a small bell on his desk. Within moments, a well dressed goblin women was standing behind him, offering a curtsy as she softly asked "Yes my lord?"

Vasha turned to offer the goblin woman the rolled up message, gazing at her through unnaturally glowing blue eyes as he instructed "Take this to the bakery on third street. Tell the woman behind the counter that it is to go to the Sisters. She'll know exactly who you mean." Thinking for a moment, he seemed slightly less serious as he suggested "Help yourself to a bun if you want. Do not let me detain you."

The dice was cast as the goblin woman curtsied again, this time to respectfully leave his presence. Now how things played out was going to depend on the answer he received from the Widows.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

@Genni

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.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

@Genni@Senor Herp

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.

Heirs of the Dark Lord

Tushiena

Faction Name: Tushiena
Alias: The County of Tushiena
Government Type: Dictatorship
Faction Specie(s): Tushiena has become something of a melting pot for various races, but the two primary races that make up the bulk of it's land based population are humans and goblins. It's underwater extensions are primarily populated by the 'Deep Ones', fish men who live in the sea and who survive off of a largely meat based diet... alongside hybrids of land based races that have grown their gills.

Territory Details: The Isle of Shipwrecks is a surprisingly fertile land. Its soil is able to support quite a wide range of different types of edible plant life, the ocean around it filled with plentiful fish life and the few rivers... are so clogged up with sludge while traveling through the single giant city of Tushiena that if you're quick enough you could run across its surface without the soils of your shoes melting at certain times of the year. The city itself is huge, covering all the islands in the Isle and connecting the various districts that this makes via grand stone bridges.

And that is just the parts of the nation above sea level. In the murky waters around the Isle of Shipwrecks live tribes of 'Deep Ones', fish men that have lived in the oceans for aeons; It is unclear if they were another race created by the Dark Lord in ages passed or if they spawned naturally from some dark corner of the sea (Through everyone agrees they are likely why the Isle is called what it is), but regardless of origin pacts and alliances of old have long brought the Deep One's of the Isle of Shipwrecks into Tushiena's fold.

Faction Religion/Ideology: Tushiena is not a religious nation; It does have a district dedicated to the building of temples, shrines and churches for those who are, but they are generally far to busy scrabbling with each other over ideology and possible converts to actually try and get involved in the political landscape of the city. There is even a small church dedicated to God-Emperor Justinian, through it is a very minor cult compared to several more native ones (And in the event of a lack of sacrifices for the other cults and an offering is needed in short notice, the first port of call).

Tushiena itself is a nation of magic and technology; While it's ruler is a powerful lich, Count Vasha has always felt that for a nation to grow powerful it needed to be willing to plumb the depths of the occult and the arcane while also researching and experimenting with the mundane.

Tushiena has a proud naval tradition, it's ships some of the greatest in the world and its merchant fleet prepared to sail in the name of profit far and wide. This is as much pragmatism as it is national pride; The only means for any of those who wish to plunder Tushiena directly requires the invader to travel by ocean... and it can't do any harm if said invading fleet is reduced to a burning wreck that is sinking to the bottom of the sea with all hands lost.

Slavery is illegal in Tushiena; Those taken alive during pirate raids are either auctioned back to their people of origin, channeled towards the Cult distract to be offered up as sacrifices to anyone who needed them or just flat out offered to the Deep Ones to devour.

The Cult District is an island of Tushiena that was set aside largely because Vasha acknowledged that if he wanted people to be happy, they needed somewhere to pray and make offerings to their gods... or goddesses... or things with teeth and tentacles. Not wishing for any one religion to actually gain any real power in Tushiena proper, he set one of the Islands aside and welcomed all faiths to set up shop there on the condition that they kept -all- religious affairs on that island. Preaching or doing works for your faith on any other island in Tushiena is a quick way to end up as an offering to a cult following the law or fed to the deep ones if no ritual sacrifices are coming up.

Vasha does offer the cults in the Cult District access to sacrifices if their cult requires it, starting off with survivors from pirate raids who can't be ransomed back to their people and criminals in Tushiena jails. In the unlikely event that there is more of a demand for bodies than the Tushiena government can provide, the followers of God-Emperor Justinian are generally the first port of call. If that isn't enough, the cults in question will generally start attacking weaker cults in order to get the bodies they need. If this gets bad enough Vasha will order a lock down on the Cult District, closing the bridge and having deep ones patrol the water ways until the civil war takes care of itself. This has only happened once in Tushiena's history.

Faction Description:
The former bread basket of Nagath and the Dark Lord Daigon's empire, once the Dark Lord had died and his nation fell apart Tushiena became an independent city nation that has largely been untouched by war over the centuries due to the combination of its powerful and feared navy, the fictionalized nature of Nagath post Dark Lord keeping local threats too focused on closer enemies and the Justinian Imperium simply being too far away to really make the effort.

Originally the Isle of Shipwrecks was colonized by humans and goblins under the leadership of the newly appointed Count Vasha by Dark Lord Daigon himself sometime during his reign in order to secure a great source of food in order to feed the Dark Lords armies, but after it became an independent nation it became something of a merchant dictatorship under Count Vasha... that people from various races and walks of live wanted to live in. Tushiena's indifference to matters of religious faith and its views on slavery (that it just wasn't worth it in the long run) combined with its impressive range of businesses, industries and the opportunities of its trading fleets to earn a living makes it a highly appealing place to live in Nagath.

The key to Tushiena's unmatched naval power is a combination of its infamous flamethrowers, fire grenades and the Deep Ones 'Marines'; At some point in the past, the Tushiena alchemists discovered a recipe for what they called 'Daigon's Flame', a substance that sticks to what it hits and burns until it is turned to ash and long afterwards that is also highly resistant to being put out by water. Tushiena's navy deploys this dangerous weapon via ship mounted 'flamethrowers' that spray the substance where the nozzle is pointed and the fire grenades, which explode on impact after being primed.

The Deep One Marines, who are naturally a race that lives underwater, have major advantages when it comes to ship to ship combat since they can literally assault the ships from underneath were most enemies cannot defend. All it normally takes is a bit of drilling, a primed 'Daigon's Flame' grenade and the unfortunate ship is usually sunk before they know what's going on, the crew devoured by the Deep Ones and the cargo secured.

Faction History:

Important Characters:
Count Vasha.
The current and so far only ruler of the city of Tushiena is the tyrant Count Vasha, a powerful lich who according to legend was appointed as the Count of the Isle of Shipwrecks by the Dark Lord Daigon himself several centuries ago; The only one who knows what the truth is for sure is Count Vasha himself and few people are on close enough terms with him to ask. While Count Vasha is the tyrant of Tushiena and is thus free to do whatever he wanted, he is rather lawful in nature and tends to focus his powers (both magical and legal) on the well being and growth of the city rather then his own personal gain.

He has also invested a great deal of time, money, effort and magic into creating an information network within his lands (and a spy network outside of it) to ensure that he is not only up to date on current events while they are happening, but also aware of what is going to happen ahead of time so that it can be accounted for and dealt with as appropriate.

Vasha is one of the few land dwellers who can actually enter the deep one part of Tushiena due to his undead nature. His relationship with the fishmen is actually somewhat friendly; The tools and weapons from Tushiena allow the Deep Ones to sink ships much easier and the fact that the land dwellers occasionally offer them a free meal and somewhere safe to create and raise hybrids and in return the Deep Ones assist the Tushiena navy as Marines, retrieve treasures lost to the sea to bring back to the city state and ensure that Tushiena's fishing nets are always full. It is a business relationship that has gone on for centuries and both sides are pretty happy to continue it.

Relations to other Factions: