Terminal

The Heavens Aflame - A Civil War Among Deities

In other news, I'm struggling to follow the history at the moment, so Dinn's history may traipse along when I get a more concrete picture of the chronology. In particular, I think Aroesus is dead (but not mentioned in the 'official history' currently posted) and that Sileon is now the top dog, but I'm not tooooo sure.

@Jig

Not quite. Sileon is technically the inheritor of Ventu's mythological role (if I interpret it correctly), but Sileon was Ventu's youngest son. If we go with Greek/Roman rules of inheritance, that would actually mean the eldest surviving child of Aroesus or else Svanus (whomever was the eldest) has the strongest legal and traditional claim to the throne of the gods, moreso than Sileon at least. Failing that, I do believe that Mysia was born as Svanus' twin, making her the eldest surviving progeny of Ventu himself. The Dowager Queen of the gods might have a legitimate claim to becoming King.

Legends of Auriga (IntChk)

Hmm..an idea I toyed with earlier, Terminal, may interest you, then. What we could have-rather than a spot on the Tribunal- is have someone that the Tribunal work with actually (perhaps somehow secretly) be a member of the Cultists. They'd probably have to belong to a minor nation/faction that was absorbed rather than a full-blooded Cultists, perhaps, and we may end up fudging lore a bit (like I haven't already done that already), but we could totally come up with something. And Ezrath- maybe tone down the badass-ness a bit. I'd like our party to earn their badass-ness through working with the Tribunal. They obviously had to be picked somehow, though, so don't deprave him of everything.

@OneEyedChurro

More than possible. Perhaps I can use the Human Chieftain from the Cultists questline? Since he'd essentially be working undercover, and since the cultists mostly work by proxy using local tribes, perhaps he can serve as an informant, sabotaging the group's efforts? Tribunal: We're heading over to the ruins to the North in order to check out an Endless Furnace of some kind the scouts found. Cultist: *Uses a Nameless Artifact to inform the Cultists* *Cultists fill the ruins with Haunts from a nearby village* That way, we wouldn't have to fudge the lore at all.

The Aesteria Chronicles

Phew. Finally posted. Sorry for taking so long, I was just utterly flummoxed about what Kuro could have possibly done. Decided to start showing off his rampant uncontrolled paranoia tactical savvy until he can actually poke his head up without it being caught in crossfire. Fallenreaper: I took a slight liberty with Helen, please tell me if you need me to edit.

The Aesteria Chronicles

Kuro swiveled in his chair, one hand gripping the handle of a pistol inside his jacket ready to be drawn at a moment's notice in perfect synchrony with the rest of the patrons in the bar actually drawing their weapons as the three thugs at the table stood up. He then took a mental tally of the other patrons and the weapons they had leveled at them - more than a dozen in total. The thugs were already dead, and Kuro's bullets wouldn't contribute much to the proverbial pyroclastic hail that was about to sweep through the space they occupied. He turned his attention to the new man - Walkins - instead. He seemed completely at ease, his voice lax, and he possessed an air of effortless confidence. He hadn't even reacted to the sight of virtually every single Guild member in the pub standing and drawing their weapons on him. Kuro immediately drew two conclusions from that observation. The first possibility was that Walkins was like him, and had simply adopted a facade intended to unnerve and intimidate his opponents. The last thing anybody would want to see on the face of their enemy was boredom, akin to what Kuro displayed, or the self-assured, lazy smirk on the man's face. Both indicated the same thing: That your opponent was not actually investing much effort into killing you. Which, if they were running you ragged and thwarting your every attack and evasion, could cause panic or at least urgency in most foes. It was a trick that almost all of the senior members of the Riders utilized - a few were so good at it that they could make you feel like a rat being crushed in a serpent's gullet (Kuro didn't really have the eyes for that look). The second possibility was that Walkins genuinely felt that he wasn't in any danger. He did not appear to be wearing heavy armor, but it was possible his clothes were enchanted, or that he possessed a rare spirit combination that made him invulnerable to conventional forms of attack. Either way, the man was bad news. Kuro didn't allow his own, creeping sense of urgency to show. He never let his mask slip. He just gazed lazily at the man, eyelids half-lowered, mouth set into a thin line, the draw of his face lax. He discreetly repeated the tally of the other patrons of the bar, and cursed inwardly that he was the only member of the Riders present. One of the first lessons he had learned as Freerider Kuro was to never permit a standoff. You never pointed a weapon at somebody unless you attacked them immediately, and you never froze if somebody drew a weapon on you. The notion of a standoff was absurd, a tactic for idiots. And yet here in the bar, he was amongst the few present who were not currently caught up in one. Still, as long as the standoff existed, he could exploit it. Perhaps the man could be negotiated with - intimidated, bullied, bargained. That option went out the window when, unseen, the boy somehow managed to snatch Eli's heavy steam rifle out from under the man's own hands as he leaped over the counter and shot Walkins in the chest. The bullet compacted from the force of its own impact and then clattered harmlessly to the floor. 'He is, at the very least, resilient to bullets.' Kuro thought idly, his estimation of the man's defenses rising. There was no doubt that he was the true threat in the room. Kuro briefly considering rolling a steam canister at him, but decided it would do more harm than good used against a singular, outnumbered foe. There were too many allies nearby to risk a blackpowder grenade. He couldn't be shot. Which left arrows and knives - blunt trauma likely wouldn't work, if the man could shrug off bullets. Even as Alan rose, gold-plated pistol pointed straight at the man (why did none of these heels ever use their weapons when drawing them?) Kuro levered his arms up onto the bar-counter behind him, lifted himself up onto it, and then slid over the edge to fall in a crouch behind cover. An aptly timed maneuver, as a scant second later all hell broke loose. The man summoned an ice spirit, the air surrounding him flashed with blinding light as no less than three spirits descended on him, and the massive golem executed what must have been the fourth most unnecessarily telegraphed attack Kuro had ever seen.

The Kusagi rocketman bent to one knee, reached behind his back, and carefully unstrapped a blackpowder fire-rocket from the bundle of them stashed in the wicker basket he wore. He took a moment to stake its launch-rod into the ground at an angle using a small wooden mallet before reaching into a pouch at his belt and producing a piece of flint. Kuro shot the rocket. His men continued to find pieces of the Kusagi Rocketman littered around the camp for more than a week.

Flashback of the Third Most Unnecessarily Telegraphed Attack Kuro has Seen

"Golem! Ignore them, they're already dead! Attack the ice spirit, keep it off-balance!" Kuro shouted at the Harvester. "Eli, put that man into a lock - even if he can't be hurt, he can still be suffocated!" As he shouted over the bar at the combatants, Kuro hurriedly crab-walked behind the counter-top over to the rear exit and intercepted Helen, hastily grabbing her by the arm and pulling her, and the children, down behind the bar. "He may have men waiting outside the rear exits, doctor." He hissed. "Inquisitors operate in teams." He drew a blackpowder grenade and set it on the floor in front of her. "If anybody untowards comes in through that back door, use this." He indicated. "Keep your eyes open." He then began to crabwalk back down along the rear of the bar towards the other end, peeking over it and waiting for the air to clear of projectiles and magic so he could join the fray.

Legends of Auriga (IntChk)

I am very faintly interested in the Drakken and the Roving Traders. Too faintly to believe I could make high-quality efforts with either of them unfortunately.

@Terminal

well, if you're that interested in the Broken Lords, I could easily whip up a CS for another faction.

@Rtron

If you had already started writing a profile for the Broken Lords, you should probably keep them. I don't want your effort to go to waste.

Legends of Auriga (IntChk)

Do none of the other factions interest you? @Terminal

@Ezrath

I am very faintly interested in the Drakken and the Roving Traders. Too faintly to believe I could make high-quality efforts with either of them unfortunately.

Legends of Auriga (IntChk)

Since interest has already been expressed for the Vaulters and Broken Lords, I suppose that leaves me with taking the Cultists.

@Terminal

I am making an Ardent Mage but:

Faction: Any of the above besides Necrophages or Cultists.

@OneEyedChurro

unless Churro changed it but i didn't want you typing up a whole cs & then find out that they are off the market...that would be unfortunate.

@Leviathan

You're right. Drat. I guess I'm done here then.

Legends of Auriga (IntChk)

Since interest has already been expressed for the Vaulters and Broken Lords, I suppose that leaves me with taking the Cultists. Terminal is, once again, the nominal antagonist! Better start razing every village you see.

The Heavens Aflame - A Civil War Among Deities

I fixed the chronology of Dihira's history - she has now been born after the downfall of Ventu, and Svanus now dies after his downfall as well.

When Sileon finally woke up, Svanus was gone, and Sileon accepted the explanations, though he harbored questions that haunted his dreams.

HeySeuss

That is the reason why Dihira views Sileon as being 'complicit' in Svanus' murder. It's not rational or reasonable, but even the God of knowledge can have her petty moments. As far as she is concerned, Sileon helped Aroesus murder Svanus by not doing anything about it afterwards, when he was one of the very few gods who possibly could have successfully stood up to Aroesus. It doesn't help that he accepted explanations which were clearly lies without even asking around first - the other gods would probably have told him something different.

Legends of Auriga (IntChk)

There's still a lot of implicit lore you can find by reading the descriptions for technologies and unique artifacts in the game, on top of completing faction questlines. For example: The Drakken are IMPOSSIBLY persuasive. Their unique faction ability is that they can /force/ other factions to truce, peace, alliance, or war (with the sole exception of the Necrophages). While this might not sound powerful if you're familiar with more conventional 4X games like Civ5, changing your status with other factions in Endless Legend costs Political Prestige (on top of having to deal with the diplomacy AI) - so you literally sometimes cannot afford to go to war or make peace. While exploring ruins, you'll also occasionally run into a Drakken scholar who will convince you to randomly go to war with your neighbors. Their own questline is filled with even more of that. I wouldn't be surprised if a Drakken was leading the tribunal. @Ezrath, the Vaulters are actually associated with a particular party in Endless Space, so I am told. I've only played Endless Legend, so I wouldn't know all the details, but reading a little into Endless Space Lore might very well also be helpful.