(4th IR) Year 1 (thread 1)

[Lichtenhart]

A silvery gate appeared before the gates of the Imperial Palace in Peking and the throng of people crowding the square stirred in excitement. They had been told this would happen but it was another thing entirely to experience it first hand. Trough the gate they could see a vast open plain covered in rich lush grasses and occasional copses of trees clinging to the banks of a glittering river. The land looked beautiful and pristine.
Some of them turned to look at each others, faces drawn with starvation, the skin wound too tight over the bones of the face. Children, thin as sticks with grotesqely swollen stomaches. Men and women bent and aged before their time. Their faces betrayed both hope and fear, both longing for a better life and regret for leaving the lands of their ancestors. Some of them turned away in anguish, perhaps to return again, perhaps to stay in the home they knew and loved. But others walked towards the Gate, drawing carts with all their belongings, too small and too empty carts to define a man's lifes-work, and yet that was all they had. A steady stream of people poured trough the Gate into the plains of the western Shaar and the city that shone like a beakon in the distance.
Similar scenes took place in all the major cities of the Chinese Empire as millions of people took one step to journey to a new world. In Guangdong (Canton) the gate lead to the coastlands of Samaranch and Thindol. In Wuhan they led to Thesk, From Shanghai people arrived in Calimport, from Kunming in Chult and from Hanzhou they arrived in Maztica. All over the Meritocracy a flood of people poured in from China, day after day after day, carrying with them the food they would need to survive until harvest. Those who owned no food were given what they would need, for thanks to the Books of Domination the Meritocracy had plenty of skilled farmers and Druids.

As the flood of people arrive the Meritocracy is prepared to recieve them. New villages quickly spring up and new fields get plowed for the first time. In the tropics and subtropics the rice paddies spread over swamp, jungle, grasslands and hills and in more temperate and drier zones extensive fields of maize and wheat are soon cultivated with the aid of druids. Schools and factories are soon under construction and the Books and the Drug brings peace and happiness to all.

When the Portal opens, Krysophrenos notices it.
As people start to cross it, a huge Gold Dragon appears in Peking, a dragon surprisingly similar to the one depicted at the middle of the Nine Dragons Screen, a dragon strikingly similart o those that adorn the Emperor's vests, a dragon that looks very much like those that the tradition indicated as the Defenders of the Celestial Empire.
This colossal dragon doesn't attack, doesn't threaten, doesn' t speak.
He approaches the thone of the Emperor and kneels until his head touches the ground.
Then he finally speaks.
"Son of the Heavens, please listen to my words. There is an ancient alliance between your people and my people, and I have come to honor it. These strangers that offered you help are liars. They want to take your people to their lands, where they will feed them with a drug much worse than the opium the Europeans brought. They will strip them of their freedom, and strip you of your throne, cause when they'll take the drug they won't rever you anymore, they'll rever only the leader of the strangers. They want your people so they'll have an unstoppable army, and they'll use them to fight their own wars.
Please do not listen to them. Do not travel beyond the portal.
I can help your people, and they won't need to leave their homes. I'll protect them from their enemies while you will remain their just and holy ruler. Please listen to my words, listen to to the sincere words of one who means no harm to your people, who wants to defend them against those strangers and liars. Look around yourself. Your ancestor trusted my kind. Please trust me."

 

[Janos Audron]

Muad Dha Bin,

The Akhlaur swamp has always been part of the nation of Halruaa. Whatever reasons you might have had for claiming that swamp, surely a man of your intellect could not think such an action would go unpunished?

The Phoenix Alliance does not want to go to war with another empire. However, we do want our internal affairs to be in order. And since you illegally claimed land within our borders this is the only thing you could have expected.

We might, however, be willing to give a small compensation for your misguided actions to avoid open war.

Janos Audron

 

[Serpenteye]

Timothy:

I will sent the following letter to my friend Alarah Gomenei.

Dear Friend

I have learned aboput your new mind controlling drug. And, while I understand your reasoning behind it, I disaprrove of it, and ask that you take extreme care with that drug and do not led it fall in the wrong hands. Furthermore I ask you that you do not allow the drug to circultae outside your land, for I wish my people to still make their own decisions.

You can expect more letters from me in the coming future, for I have heard that many a disturbing has been made against you and iw ill not stand for that.

I hope this letter arrives to you in good health and that the Meritocracy may prosper forever!

Your Friend

Muad Dha Bin.

"Certainly, I understand. It was only with great reluctance, faced with the threat of the magic in this world being destroyed, that I decided to create and spread the Drug. It was necessary to preserve the peace and protect the people. Rest assured that the drug is not in any way intended against you. No, for it is both a weapon and a shield, it will strike our enemies while enhancing the ability of our people to cooperate in building our strength. Even now, thanks to the Drug, our enemies are in turmoil and shall soon fall. Even now, thanks to the Drug and the Books our people in Tethyr and Amn are fighting desperately against the evil organizations that have infiltrated their lands.

Alarah Gomenei"

Dear [Insert name here]

You have no doubt witnessed the atrocity committed by undead and dragons on the face of earth. It is my convincement that we should stop anything like this from happening again, by mouting an attack of those responsible. Only trying to contain the damage done is not enough, for the beast that did this will undoubtly have more vile acts up his sleeve, and not all may be directed against earth. If anybody knows more about the people who commited this crime plz come forward and share it with the rest of Toril. I reapet, Theis evil must be dealed with, or the consequences will unaccountable.

Greetings

Muad Dha Bin, Grand Caliph of The Zakharian Empire.

"Naturally the acts committed by the Ice Queen troubles us greatly. However, at the current time we cannot commit troops against that threat as we are under attack from the Imaskari."

CONCERNING THE MERITOCRACY AND ME.

Edena, We aren't at all that powerfulll as you say we are, the combined leaders of the forces of good are so much mor powerful. and serpenteye and I haven't really done anything that can offend everyone, as I strive to make Toril a better place, using unorthodox starategies, such as allying with the athasians,but I have nuetralized the threat they posed to Topril (or tried to, no reaction yet)

True, true. It's quite possible that at least some of the agression directed against us is the result of that exaggeration of the threat we pose.

The revolt of Amn shocks me to the core, and I sent 1 army of spies to spread beneficial information about the meritocracy, and it's allies in amn, while at the smae time being on a search and destroy mission for any spies from inez hull. I will spread rumors in the armies of Creamsteak thatw ill demoralize them and make them flee their army (Forgot the word). Any pamphlets wriiten by inez will be destroyed when found.

I will send aletter to Alarah Gomeie, under extreme safety measures explaining what I have done up to know.

In return for this aid we will share with the Zakharans the secret of making the Magic Books.

I excuse myslef for any arreors made in this post, grammatical or otherwisem but I do not have the time to re read it twice like usual, becaue I have exams on monday.

Good luck with that.

 

[Timothy]

Greetings Janos!

I am willing to drop my clais of Akhuar swamp in exchange of the rights to the great wild wood, in the east of Fearun. It lies very solitary from your lands and I belive that it fits well into my future plans. If you agree with this our nations can live on in friendship.

Greetings Muad Dha Bin, Grand Caliph of The Zakarian Empire.

 

[Janos Audron]

Muad Dha Bin,

If that is what it takes to preserve peace, so be it. Take the forest.

Janos Audron

 

[Timothy]

With the aquirement of The great wild wood in the hordelands I will move one army from the greatswamp to the forest, that will then help attacking the hordeland.

I will edit my roster accordingly.

 

[Creamsteak]

"Fine then, you've just created a huge problem for yourselves. Your empire is far too large to defend appropriately, and now your doom is immediate. I'm going to crush your armies, break your enchantments, slaughter your mages, and bring about your final doom."



Gustav's Army Makeup
Leading the Armies of great King Gustav are the Gold, Iron, and Mithril Knights respectively. The Gold Knights are healers, empowered and maximized healers who have the capacity to handle a great deal of damage. The weakest gold knight is a 5th Level Paladin/1st Level Gold Knight, and can heal an average of 83 hit points per day. The stronger Gold Knights, a 5th Level Paladin/5th Level can heal 240 hit points per day. The Iron Knights are masters of Siege Warfare, the weakest of which are 5th Level Paladins/1st Level Iron Knights. They have the abilities of master Craftsmen and siege weaponry use, and will focus on the disruption and destruction of any of Serpenteyes forces. The Stronger Iron Knights are roughly 5/5 on average, and have twice the chance of effectively using siege weaponry, as well as the ability to crraft all their weapons with 1st level spells available 1/day inside them. The Mithril Knights are masters of warfare, combat soldiers who can slay their opposition resoundingly. The smite of a Mithril Knight is something powerful, averaging 63.5 damage at 6th level when using an unmodified longsword. The highest Mithril Knights are a match for any undead, and are masters of the virtues.

The Light infantry and conscripts in the army are much better equipped for fighting than any other army in history. The presence of Gustaf's Smelting system and pre-modern industry, combined with the craftsman skills of the order of the Iron Knights makes it quite easy to arm them all with at the very minimum a Longsword and Light Crossbow, and a chain shirt. This is even for the squires and peasents in aid of the army.

Marching Order
We break into the enemy country with heavily armored mounted soldiers armed with multiple repeating crossbows (drop when empty and grab another from the holster), and a variety of Lances. This unit is made up of Iron Knights, with a Mithril Knight commander in every rank. We charge through the enemies cities and country, breaking up their formations. Under the cover of this Heavily Armored Invasion, they have the guise of the Divine Might to follow them up. Once a block or so is secured against heavy fire from 'lethal' targets (mages, knights, clerics, druids, sorcerers, wizards, and special traps), the Gold Knights follow in, healing those they can and channeling the purification of the bodies and minds of civilians as best they can. Civilians are then evacuated back to the Kingdoms nearby, to be taken better care of.

Dauntless Design
In an effort to once again establish to my enemy why he shouldn't have done this, I'm going to steal these 'drugs' he is freshly distributing, and attempt to hit him right upside the head by shipping it, in mass, back to my homelands for treatment. Meanwhile, we are going to pick off the leadership and generals of his army, including Alexei himself, and attempt to drug those who stand against us.

Crushing the Iron Maiden
Gustav will personally break up his enemies armies in the Moonsea Region by using his defensive armies (6 Total) to fight against them, under the guise of a second fighting style. Instead of allowing the enemy to fight their traditional way, he will create gates for celestials to come in from all over the region. These will absorb any difference in number, and then Gustav will follow through by marching his forces around in every region to crush the enemies. Bards are much more plentiful along the moonsea, so their songs will be used to do everything the do so spectacularly. In turn, the Moonsea will also strike the heart of the enemy with an arcane barrage of trap spells. One particularly important trap: Temporary Teleportation circles that drop the Meritochracies troops and soldiers right into the Prisons of Iron Castle (Gustav's New Home).

Serpenteyes
The other plan we have is to deliver a pair of fresh Red Dragon Eyes to the table of Alarah, to represent the death of the dragon. It is accompanied by this note...

You've dominated my friends and family, and then call me an evil person? You've stolen my home-land from me, with magic and poison. You've made this personal, and call me an invader of my own home. This is why you will learn to respect your betters. I respected you, and thought you would understand, now I know your just a greedy accountant. Prepare to recieve your first loss.

Defensive Positioning
Just in case it wasn't clarified above, any armies he moves into my home regions will fight the 6 Armies I've left to defend the country. They will move and shift to defend those areas that are being attacked, using the tactics noted in Crushing the Iron Maiden.

 

[Timothy]

Creamsteak, this here is the roster you put up.

Zhentil Keep (PL 7) (Moonsea League) - - - - - > 1 Armies (Remaining Defenses of the Moonsea League)
The Zhentarim (PL 10) (Moonsea League) - - - - - > 1 Armies
Yulash (PL 2) (Moonsea League)
Hillsfar (PL 5) (Moonsea League)
Phlan (PL 3) (Moonsea League)
Melvaunt (PL 5) (Moonsea League)
Thentia (PL 3) (Moonsea League)
Hulburg (PL 2) (Moonsea League)
Mulmaster (PL 6) (Moonsea League) - - - - - > 1 Armies


Armies of the Imaskari Empire Withheld from war, preparing the cities and countries against a demon led invasion.
Damara and all Cities Therein (PL 10) (Imaskari Empire) - - - - - > 1 Armies
Mulhorand and all Cities Therein (PL 15) (Imaskari Empire) - - - - - > 1 Armies
Murghom and all Cities Therein (PL 3) (Imaskari Empire)
Narfell and all Cities Therein (PL 5) (Imaskari Empire) - - - - - > 1 Armies
Semphar and all Cities Therein (PL 4) (Imaskari Empire)

You indeed have 6 armies but they are positioned in the places where you have put them and Serpenteye is attacking you at different locations. As am I. I can take the hordelands and Murghom without any trouble because you have no armies there. You can couteract that you do have to spread out your armies as you are being attacked from too many sides.

So please note what armies will defend what territory instead of stating that your armies will defend everywhere.

 

[Kalanyr]

Going to bed now at this insanely late hour please don't destroy too much While I'm away.

 

[Creamsteak]

OOC: I'm sorry, but what are the Horde-lands? Also, I don't plan on being everwhere. What I explained above is that I'm going to crush your armies one at a time like good old Alexander the Great would have. Note that if you follow your 'concept' that you can't fight anywhere you don't position armies, you just made it a pain to expand your empire. See, if Serpenteyes is spread so far, and can't move over a six month period, then everyone who wants to can conquer his territories one at a time. It's also true the contraverse, if you state that you can't move armies during the turn, then Serpenteyes (if nobody fights him) will be able to march over the continent like in risk, by crushing one target/player at a time. And, I do think it wise to really understand that Edena makes all decisions. Nomatter what you and I think, Edena will decide what happens, and how it happens. We can give direction, and while I 'claim' that I'll smash your armies, probably I will have a great deal tougher time with it than I 'act' like. The same applies to you attacking me, and me attacking serpenteyes.