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<blockquote data-quote="s/LaSH" data-source="post: 686259" data-attributes="member: 6929"><p>Let the pre-war brainstorming continue...</p><p></p><p>If I were a Cresian...</p><p></p><p>I'd suspect that the Jongan homeland would be full of rough, tough warrior types, all with big swords, possibly fortified. Having interrogated the soldiers about Jongan fortifications and plant growth, I'd consider a few interesting tactics.</p><p></p><p>First, the tow-ship. With animal control, you can harness whales or seals to pull your ships even without wind, giving Cresian naval vessels a great advantage at certain times (and with their abilities, I'm sure the Cresians would pick the calmest time of year to launch any attack). Sails and oars supplement this ability, but to hook up a whale and sail off into the sunset... the Jongans never see that one coming.</p><p></p><p>Second, they try to influence the Jongans to gnaw themselves to death (metaphorically speaking). On an island, their resources are naturally limited, so they resolve to destroy all the wood and crops on Jonga. It's really a simple proposition: launch quick strikes on the island during calm periods, when the tow-ships are most effective. Each strike lands at night, hides the ship in a remote area, then when Jongans pass nearby they use their own plants against them and run like heck.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, they reason, the Jongans will start burning down their own forests just to avoid being trashed by sneaky Cresian raiders. If they don't, then the Cresians will slowly distort and destroy the availability of straight wood necessary for shipbuilding. When Jongan trees are no more, of course, is when the Cresians launch a full-scale assault on the Jongan fleet in harbour, shaping every hull into useless shapes, and retreat, now with naval superiority.</p><p></p><p>With command of the seas, the Cresians can happily raid the Jongans for a few years until they surrender.</p><p></p><p>Now, the wood raiders is a risky proposition, and it relies on being able to quickly eradicate the Jongan wood supply. If their island is too big, however, Cresians are more at home in the wilderness than the industrious Jongans, so they're capable of hiding out and sending the local animals on raids on Jongan cities. If the Jongans are well-fortified, well, then there's no quick solution... the Cresians would do better to just build a fleet and start training whales.</p><p></p><p>Third... After a little while, and a few unfortunate accidents during training, it becomes apparent that whales are actually very effective combatants. A small corps of attack whales is trained to seek out and crush Jongan ships; to protect their own vessels from these free agents, the Cresians adopt a special hull design with underwater ornamentation. (And whales aren't too tough to control... if they put up a fuss, sharks are much easier to control in large numbers, and that gets the whales right in line.)</p><p></p><p>Given time, the Cresians would discover the true bounty of the sea, and with their magical abilities, they're quite capable of setting up aquatic farms with sharks or dolphins herding fish or whales. Especially keen on shallow waters where nets are useful, they also promote kelp growth in an effort to create an aquatic version of their rose barriers... and kelp doesn't burn so well.</p><p></p><p>However, these plans and possibilities are just plans so far.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The Jongans, meanwhile, are experimenting with summoning magics. They quickly discover the disadvantage of summons: a short duration. This means that summons are best employed in the attack; if employed in defence, the enemy need simply withdraw and the summon will be wasted. A new battle drill is developed, wherein the arcane caster and his strike group advance to the front of battle, summon monsters into the heart of the enemy formation, and withdraw. Not only are the enemy disrupted, but the Jongan troops are fortified by the song of the caster during the advance and retreat. The theory is that the enemy will be totally outclassed at that point, and so the summon striker is tasked with breaking enemy strongpoints and fortresses.</p><p></p><p>A more disturbing fact is this: the official summoning lists (those creatures easiest to summon by non-Druid casters) are, at lower levels, largely fiends. All summons have the ability to communicate, albeit briefly (Celestial and Fiendish templates give INT of at least 3). And here's the order of sentients: Level 2: Formian worker/Lemure, Level 3: Triton/Azer/Salamander/Dretch. Now, the tritons could make an interesting ally in that they're sea-based and the Jongans will need to fight by sea in future. However, Azers, as elemental smiths, are a much more useful ally, and the rest of them are just evil. I see the Jongans allying themselves with Dark Forces in the future... and the Dark Forces jumping at the chance to gain a foothold on this world. They'll eagerly help the Jongans, maybe even sending some mighty champions to help them (of course, that completely destroys the historic order, as any fiendish faction capable of sending its members across the planes has to have access to high-level spells like Plane Shift which neither side of this was are likely to develop for centuries or millenia).</p><p></p><p>And, anticipating that their new weapon is fairly useless on the defensive, they begin to plan for yet another invasion...</p><p></p><p>...but it's only a plan so far.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="s/LaSH, post: 686259, member: 6929"] Let the pre-war brainstorming continue... If I were a Cresian... I'd suspect that the Jongan homeland would be full of rough, tough warrior types, all with big swords, possibly fortified. Having interrogated the soldiers about Jongan fortifications and plant growth, I'd consider a few interesting tactics. First, the tow-ship. With animal control, you can harness whales or seals to pull your ships even without wind, giving Cresian naval vessels a great advantage at certain times (and with their abilities, I'm sure the Cresians would pick the calmest time of year to launch any attack). Sails and oars supplement this ability, but to hook up a whale and sail off into the sunset... the Jongans never see that one coming. Second, they try to influence the Jongans to gnaw themselves to death (metaphorically speaking). On an island, their resources are naturally limited, so they resolve to destroy all the wood and crops on Jonga. It's really a simple proposition: launch quick strikes on the island during calm periods, when the tow-ships are most effective. Each strike lands at night, hides the ship in a remote area, then when Jongans pass nearby they use their own plants against them and run like heck. Eventually, they reason, the Jongans will start burning down their own forests just to avoid being trashed by sneaky Cresian raiders. If they don't, then the Cresians will slowly distort and destroy the availability of straight wood necessary for shipbuilding. When Jongan trees are no more, of course, is when the Cresians launch a full-scale assault on the Jongan fleet in harbour, shaping every hull into useless shapes, and retreat, now with naval superiority. With command of the seas, the Cresians can happily raid the Jongans for a few years until they surrender. Now, the wood raiders is a risky proposition, and it relies on being able to quickly eradicate the Jongan wood supply. If their island is too big, however, Cresians are more at home in the wilderness than the industrious Jongans, so they're capable of hiding out and sending the local animals on raids on Jongan cities. If the Jongans are well-fortified, well, then there's no quick solution... the Cresians would do better to just build a fleet and start training whales. Third... After a little while, and a few unfortunate accidents during training, it becomes apparent that whales are actually very effective combatants. A small corps of attack whales is trained to seek out and crush Jongan ships; to protect their own vessels from these free agents, the Cresians adopt a special hull design with underwater ornamentation. (And whales aren't too tough to control... if they put up a fuss, sharks are much easier to control in large numbers, and that gets the whales right in line.) Given time, the Cresians would discover the true bounty of the sea, and with their magical abilities, they're quite capable of setting up aquatic farms with sharks or dolphins herding fish or whales. Especially keen on shallow waters where nets are useful, they also promote kelp growth in an effort to create an aquatic version of their rose barriers... and kelp doesn't burn so well. However, these plans and possibilities are just plans so far. The Jongans, meanwhile, are experimenting with summoning magics. They quickly discover the disadvantage of summons: a short duration. This means that summons are best employed in the attack; if employed in defence, the enemy need simply withdraw and the summon will be wasted. A new battle drill is developed, wherein the arcane caster and his strike group advance to the front of battle, summon monsters into the heart of the enemy formation, and withdraw. Not only are the enemy disrupted, but the Jongan troops are fortified by the song of the caster during the advance and retreat. The theory is that the enemy will be totally outclassed at that point, and so the summon striker is tasked with breaking enemy strongpoints and fortresses. A more disturbing fact is this: the official summoning lists (those creatures easiest to summon by non-Druid casters) are, at lower levels, largely fiends. All summons have the ability to communicate, albeit briefly (Celestial and Fiendish templates give INT of at least 3). And here's the order of sentients: Level 2: Formian worker/Lemure, Level 3: Triton/Azer/Salamander/Dretch. Now, the tritons could make an interesting ally in that they're sea-based and the Jongans will need to fight by sea in future. However, Azers, as elemental smiths, are a much more useful ally, and the rest of them are just evil. I see the Jongans allying themselves with Dark Forces in the future... and the Dark Forces jumping at the chance to gain a foothold on this world. They'll eagerly help the Jongans, maybe even sending some mighty champions to help them (of course, that completely destroys the historic order, as any fiendish faction capable of sending its members across the planes has to have access to high-level spells like Plane Shift which neither side of this was are likely to develop for centuries or millenia). And, anticipating that their new weapon is fairly useless on the defensive, they begin to plan for yet another invasion... ...but it's only a plan so far. [/QUOTE]
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