Letter Bee

Fallout: Montana (Accepting new characters)

@Andromedai, Do you have a map of the local Wasteland? I don't know much about Montana IRL.

Fallout: Montana (Accepting new characters)

I might - might - make time to join this one, if you'll be okay with having me. Is that fine?

The Ghosts of Napoleon

It's all good, I got busy.

@Dinh AaronMk

I do have a vague idea of ending the First Saudi State and taking over the Hedjaz, but I lack the time to do research on desert tactics... For now.

Edit: I also need knowledge of Hashemite Family Dynamics.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

I changed Noel's face claim in the Characters Tab!

The Ghosts of Napoleon

Ugh; I will admit to writer's block. Damnit.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Happy All Saint's Day!

Note that it's still September 25 2022 in the IC...

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Name: William Ascot Narrativia.

Age: 26 (Physical Age), 360+ (Mental Age)

Grade: N/A

Biography: "I served the God of Stories as the recorder of St. Laurel's tale, and as the loremaster of Rhea afterwards, set down the story of Lynnwell Tourmaline's fall from grace and her many numerous reincarnations. I sired a family, a large tree with branches in multiple nations, all dedicated to observing and preserving the history of the world and giving succor and aid to the heroes and romantic protagonists of each of the smaller narratives of life. That was the task of the Narrativia family, a task corrupted into stalking and skulking, intruding on others' privacy, and betrayal of others' trust. But how else to know what to save, who to damn, and how to help? Must we forever rely on blind faith in our senses and reason, and on the roaring currents of coincidence?

"I, William Ascot, once wished for a happy ending for people's stories. Part of me still does, but cold hard reality has hit me over and over again in the head, and the delightful, invigorating, and yet sometimes irksome independence of other people have doubled that wondrous pain. I no longer want to force a happy ending onto people who want to find their own paths; such hubris is beneath me, having degraded me numerous times before like a child taught not to touch a kettle, I stayed away.

"It hurts, knowing that there are many stories going on, many known only in hindsight, that sometimes, my descendants misjudge who is the hero and who is not, and that they can give the wrong boons and the wrong advice, thus their good intentions degrade into rot from which no fertile soil can come from - Ai, it is my fault, and I do not know how to fix it!

"I am still alive, wandering the earth, watching the branches of the Narrativia Family be cut down, either by outside forces having had enough of their interference or because of internal rebellion among their family members. And as I fought, retracing the steps of Saint Laurel and the original fellowship over and over again, drinking deep from the well of knowledge and seeing what could have been and what could still be and the endless kaliedoscope of paths thereof, I realized... I knew everything about heroes but nothing about being one."

"No more trying to fix everything. No more trying to undo every tragedy. Happy Endings have to be earned, and sometimes, the bitter must be tasted with the sweet to give the latter value. I am William Ascot Narrativia, the first Chosen by the God of Stories, and I have tasted the fruit of hell.

"God of Stories, let my tale end. I have served you for thirty-six decades and more - But please, if you would have it, let me learn what true heroism is, just this once!"

Powers:

Core Power: Narrative Role of the Family Head - William is immensely resistant to mind control and mental influence effects, and is utterly immune to those used by his own family. William can also detect the presence of other family members within a 100-square-meter radius. And finally, this gives him access to his Second and Third Powers (technically his First and Second for reasons elaborated below).

First Power: Enuncia! - Enuncia is a secret language taught to William by the God of Stories, a language which is not part of his Gift, and can theoretically be taught to anyone, which poses a potential threat to the world order as Enuncia is also an 'occult programming language' which is the 'Order' counterpart of Sorcery and Ritual Magic. By speaking it, William can alter the parameters of an existing object or phenomenon; he can make a barbell as light as air, fire not burn, or gravity reverse itself. The drawback, however, is that Enuncia cannot be used against a living being with a soul unless William knows their True Name (nor can it be used against their clothing or weapons they hold, either, so no loopholes), and it also cannot be used to destroy and break down an object; attempting this breaks down William's body to the same degree as his intended destruction and automatically fails.

And yes, William knows his own true name and can alter himself, his clothing, or the weapons he holds, including magical weapons which he normally cannot wield, except for Sapient Weapons unless he knows their true name, and even then some are still immune.

Second Power: Gondor Calls for Aid - William can distort time, space, and probability to call on whatever allies he has made all throughout the current RP, calling them to come to his side at his time of need. The only requirement of this is that 1.) He genuinely needs help, 2.) It is the climax of a personal story arc or an arc of the RP itself.

Third Power: Ascot ex Machina - When his help is called for, time, space, and probability distort for William so that he can come to the aid of his friends just in the nick of time; the requirement is that 1.) they call for him specifically, and 2.) they genuinely need him. Whether he can actually help is another question entirely.

Relationships:

Erisse Augusta Narrativia - How my family have fallen!

Lynnwell Tourmaline - Please stay dead.

Orpheuz - I will find out your True Name.

Lambda - Aww...

Alrune - Maybe I should pay him a visit.

Vera - Our Divine Patrons push us to similar paths.

Andras - Adorable! Erisse should stop stalking her.

Michael - Andras is the Heroine and he's not the hero.

The Ghosts of Napoleon

<Snipped quote by Letter Bee>

No the Levant-Persia and Europe gets it more or less the same time.

@Dinh AaronMk

Oh, okay.

The Ghosts of Napoleon

I have meanwhile learned we should be entering into a massive continent - if not world - wide cholera outbreak at this time.

Russia should be the first afflicted Location if it traveled the same way before it spreads west to Europe and south into the Levant and Persia

@Dinh AaronMk

So, order of the outbreak would be Russia > Rest of Europe > Levant and Persia?

The Ghosts of Napoleon

Vilayet of Egypt

Name: Vilayet of Egypt

Leader: Muhammad Ali of Egypt

History: Taking advantage of the power vacuum left in Egypt due to the departure of the Napoleonic Expedition which had taken it from the Ottoman Empire in the last years of the eighteenth century, Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Albanian commander who was part of the Ottoman forces sent to reoccupy Egypt, used the personal troops under his employ as well as his canny political skills to play the old elites and his fellow newcomers against each other, eventually rising to power as Egypt's new governor. As the Napoleonic Wars wound down, he dispatched his chief rivals, the Mamluks, through a bloody massacre that broke their power forever.

This allowed him to pass vital reforms without interference, such as the nationalization of land and the taxation of charitable endowments. Through a monopoly on trade and the improvement of Egypt's much-neglected agricultural system, he made enough revenue to not just buy Western weapons, but build factories that produced muskets and a shipyard capable of building 100-gun warships (this was IRL). He built dams, and technical schools, and allowed European Businesses to enter the country as long as they contributed part of their profits to his treasury. This allowed for rapid modernization and development, especially as he also sent students to Europe in order to make sure that he had specialists who knew how his weapons worked.

Eventually, he managed to provoke a dispute between himself and the Governor of Syria (which included everything from Antioch to Jerusalem at this time), which he used as a cassus belli for rebelling against the Ottoman Empire and invading it, bringing it down to its knees with his new modernized army, which advanced almost to Constantinople itself until the West sent an ultimatum: Back down or be broken. When he refused, he met his first serious setback, with his forces and navy being defeated and being beaten back to Cicilia, where he managed to save his conquests by making hasty diplomatic concessions, including pledging loyalty to the Sultan in exchange for continued rulership of Southeastern Anatolia and the Levant.

As he reconsolidated his position, the next challenge was a rebellion in Palestine, where high taxes and loss of power caused both peasants and local elites to revolt against his rule. Crushing this rebellion with immense brutality (a dark side to his rule), Muhammad Ali rebuilt his modern army and navy, careful to deal delicately with the Europeans so that they do not interfere. During that time, he sent expeditions south to make sure the region of Sudan was under his thumb, providing valuable gold to further finance his modernization programs while securing the best possible education for his sons and grandsons.

His ambitions were temporarily held in check by his realization that the European Powers would brook no threat to the status quo in the Middle East, and so Muhammad Ali focused on Sudan and the Levant and their development. Sudan was both brutally pacified and searched for mineral resources, while Greater Syria's cities, including Jerusalem and Damascus, were put under the new central administration. Plans were also made to take advantage of Ethiopia's troubles to the south, as that country was still in civil war...