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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 1958321" data-attributes="member: 2020">TO SERPENTEYE  The Lord of Aliador is Leathnor.  The Lady of Aliador is Gwyndilyn.  I claim both as PCs, since they work as a team.  Since I seem to have 2 Epic PL for leaders, could we say each of these is worth 1 Epic PL?  -  TO EVERYONE  The clergy of the Theocracy of the Pale are ... well ... the clergy of the Theocracy of the Pale.  Nevermind that Pholtus has disappeared and they've lost all their powers.  They are the clergy of Pholtus, and of course they are invincible.  They prepare a message, and it goes like this:  To Iuz:    The Theocracy of the Pale is protected and empowered by Pholtus, Mightiest of Dieties, He of the Blinding Light.  If you so much as step foot in our country, he will strike you down and incinerate you in his Glory, and you will be no more.  If you dare to attack the Theocracy, the forces of the Pale shall level your empire, your capital of Doraaka will quickly fall before our Holy Might, and the Pholtus the Sun will shine once more over the Howling Hills;  your Darkness shall be banished forever.  To Aerdi:  You have no business up north, so keep your armies and your diplomats out.  We have no time or room for your heretics here.  Leave the Theocracy alone, and we will leave Aerdi alone.  Bother us, and ... pay the price.  The Wrath of Pholtus is not to be taken lightly.  Your predessors left us alone, for they rightfully feared the invincible strength of Pholtus of the Light.  We pray for your sake that you see similar wisdom.  To the Wolf God:  (no message:  the Theocracy would not stoop to speaking with humanoid rabble.)  To Nyrond:  We perceive your ambitions against the Theocracy:  has Nyrond not always sought expansionism in the north, pretending altruism and offering false aid?  We reject your TEC Pact utterly, along with your heretical audacity.  Allying with heretics is not in the Theocracys' interest, and never will we stoop to such behavior.  -  Fortunately, none of the messages above get out.  Before they can, the Elves of Aliador magically charm all the leaders of the Theocracy, by default taking over the country.  The elves do not assume rulership, but the clergy of Pholtus - under the effects of the charm - come to see it the elven way, and moderate drastically in their thinking, actually becoming semi reasonable for once.  The elves did not wish to do this, feeling that free will denied was a crime, but they also felt they had no choice.  The missive from the Theocracy would have brought the wrath of all their neighbors upon them, and they had their own innocent people, as well as the innocent people of the Theocracy, to protect.  The kneel and ask forgiveness from the Seldarine for this criminal act (they are not answered) and they resign themselves to the punishments afforded such criminal behavior which will be inflicted later on when the Seldarine return, but they charm the leaders of the Theocracy anyways.  -  TO ELUVAN  King Arlon of the Yeomanry, and Queen Yolande of Celene, along with the leadership of the Knights of Luna and the leadership in the Gnarley Forest, are asking for admittance into the League of Athyr.  They are not prepared to forfeit sovereignity, but they are willing to send their armies to aid the League of Athyr in whatever forays it undertakes, and they are willing to bow to the general dictates of the League.  (This does not mean I am giving up playing these countries.  They will remain under my control.  But if you, Eluvan, accept them as member states of the League of Athyr, they fall under the protection of your power.  Can you see why they'd do this?  They are allied with Aliador, yes, but they also seek the protection and support of their large and powerful friendly neighbor, the League of Athyr.  Aliador is in no position to protect them, and both nations face formidable foes right on their borders.)  -  TO SERPENTEYE, ELUVAN, WILLIAM, KALANYR AND OTHERS  A plea goes out to Al'Akbar and the leader of the League of Athyr, and Queen Xin of Miranda.  Aleithnor and Gyndillyn are both pleading  ... to allow Aliador to open Gates, and send it's children, and the innocent children and civilians of the Theocracy, to the safety of mighty Ekbir and Veluna.  Or to the distant and presumably safe refuge of Miranda.  Every able bodied elf and elfess is staying in Aliador.  Nobody is leaving.  Nobody is going to desert their fellow elves, their leaders, or their country.  They cherish them all, and they are not leaving.  But they want to save their children.  Surely, say the Lord and Lady, there must be a place for the children.  Surely, in the West one of the strong nations could take them and grant them safety?  Aliador will pay in money and goods whatever price is required to house it's hundreds of thousands of children, and yet more children and civilians from the Theocracy.  OOC, if this counts as a special operation, Aliador will pay in PP/PL whatever it takes to save it's children, and the children and non-combatants of the Theocracy.  Also, Aliador opens gates to Ratik across the mountains, now isolated and facing obliteration, and offers to take all the children, civilians, and anyone else unwilling to stay and face the impossible situation there.  Aliador once more requests that the West receive these refugees.  Aliador once more promises to pay whatever amount is demanded for the safe housing of the refugees of Ratik.  (If you look at Ratik, it is unclaimed, and facing obliteration from three directions on Turn 1.  Many elves live in Ratik, along with faerie and forest beings.  The elves of Aliador know this, and they care about these cousins across the Rakers.)  OOC, if this counts as another special operation, Aliador will pay in PP/PL whatever it takes to save the people of Ratik who wish to flee their desperate plight, and save their children.  Saving the lives of innocent children and innocent people comes first, for the Elves.  Protecting their homeland, with their own lives, comes second.  They cherish their fellow elves as much as the drow hate their fellow drow.  Elven men and women, youths and maids, all take up their weapons and armor, in sadness and pain, understanding all too well what the horrors of war mean, understanding all too well they may never again see their children.  TO EVERYONE  If one of the Western Powers says yes, it is a great victory and also by sad necessity a monumental loss, for the Elves of Aliador.  There is SEVERE pain among the children who are leaving, who may never see their parents again.  There is great pain among fathers and mothers watching their children go.  It is an agonizing scene of heartbreak, many elves collapsing in tears, others reeling and being helped away by others, and sad faced elders trying to keep from breaking down themselves.  In solemn ceremony, Leathnor and Gwyndilyn sign the TEC Pact.  It is a joyless ceremony, but Leathnor and Gwyndilyn put the interests of their people over their own personal feelings.  In an equally solemn ceremony, Leathnor and Gwyndilyn sign the Miranda Pact.  There are some smiles here, and both seem relieved that powers of the Light are allying in the face of the massive threat hanging over everyone.   -  As per the TEC Pact, the drow ambassador and her people go marching into Aliador.  The Guardians do not stop them.  The trees do not bend down to crush them.  The Faerie watch solemnly, and stay their hands.  The Drow, under Geas from Eclavdra, nod courteously and respectfully to all, and continue on their way.  Inwardly, though, they smirk and sneer at these snivelling fey amidst their tall green weeds, frightened like pathetic goblins at the mere sight of drow might.  Right to the gates of the city of Varna, the drow march.  They halt before the great oak tree that is the main gate, until the elves admit them.  Gleeful in victory, marching into the most secret and treasured place of these wretched, pathetic elves, good only to be tortured and enslaved if they are good even for that, the drow march in triumph through the hallowed halls and cathedral chambers of living wood, their armor glinting in the green light, their footfalls echoing loudly throughout the Heart of the Tree.    The elves and elfesses just watch, in apathetic horror, as the Drow Enemy comes marching into the very heart of their realm, into the place that had known thousands of years of safety and secrecy.  There is nothing they can do.  The Lord and Lady have decreed the TEC Pact is to be followed, they all understand the reason for the TEC Pact, and they stay their hands.  All the while, on the surface respectful and courtesy, the drow sneer and scoff at the weakling elfies and their pathetic wooden hovels.  It gets worse for the elves.  Melkors' vampires eventually come.  Once more, the Guardians open the way, and the tramp of undead feet thunders across the living wood of the heart of Aliador.  Later, the demons of Iuz come, probably sneering openly, laughing at the weakling elves, and once more the men and women, youths and maids, of the Elves of Aliador have no choice but to watch as the Enemy marches into the very innermost heart of their Realm.  And still they come, a parade of evil beings and monsters.  Mighty humanoids riding hellhounds.  Towering giants.  The Minions of Ivid.  Succubi.  Assassins from the Scarlet Brotherhood.  Swaggering barbarians serving the Tempest of Hell.  Sahuagin from the Solnor.  Devils in formal armor.  All of them parade into Varna, capital of Aliador, into the most cherished, treasured, and secret place of the elves on Oerik.  A stonefaced Lord and Lady allow them in, with full due as ambassadors, and give them full and proper accommodations.  Even with the friendly ambassadors from Nyrond, the Iron League, the Ulek League, Aerdi, Miranda, Gigantea, Hyperboria ...  It is a truly Dark Hour for the Elves of Aliador.</blockquote>

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