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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imperialus" data-source="post: 109326" data-attributes="member: 893">I think it would all come down to how long the arms race was between the two countries before hand.  After all magical weapons and constructs are utterly devistateing but they take time to create.  What I see happeining is as follows.The LG theocracy and an either LN or N magocracy have been disputeing a choice peice of land on the boarders of their respective countries.  The clerics want to attack at the first oppertunity but are forced by their religion to seek a peaceful resolution.  The mages enter extreemly long and drawn out negotiations, all the while planning on strikeing first and prepareing as such.  The clerics prepare as well but lacking the ability to create large numbers of magical weapons or magical constructs they are quickly outstripped.The first blows of the war arn't struck on a battlefield but in the capitol city of the theocracy when several high level mage/assasins strike down the leaders of the priesthood, the paladin knights, and many other important figures.  Several of the assasins are caught and punished but the moral of the theocracy is shaken upon seeing their beloved leaders murdered.  The theocracy goes into damage control and manages to whip their followers into a vengeful mob but they still lack organization.  Meanwhile the bards in the magocracy extole the virtues of the heroic assasins turning them into a sort of folk hero martyer.The disorganized theocracy troops attack the well dug in mage troops and are decimated peacemeal much in the way many crusaders lead by quasi sane preachers were killed.After blunting the disorganized offencive the mages go on the offencive.  They had previously brokered a deal with a family group of green dragons who had been harrased for years by the theocracy, offereing them territory in the northeren part of the theocracy in exchange for aid in the war.  The well organized mage troops with dragons and constructs for backup fall on the still disorganized theocracy and they push them back through the disputed territory and well into the clerical lands.The Clerics finally begin to organize their troops, but only after they have retreated to a major paladin keep located between the magocracy boarder and the theocracy capitol city.  They fight the mages to a standstill there.The mages high councel with their differeing alignments and motives begin to bickering amongst themselves as to what to do next.  Two mages actually leave the councel after a major dispute.  One, a LG mage who was against the war from the start left after finding out that several of the other mages had brokered a deal with the dragons behind his back, while a second LE mage left after he was forbiden to raise troops as undead.  The mage advance stalls at the paladin fortress.Senceing weekness the clerics mount a major offencive to break the seige.  After raiseing and training a large pesant army eager to avenge the deaths of their leaders they break the seige on the mage troops who's conflicting orders leave them with no choice but to retreat.  In the mean time the clerics insert several agents into the magocracy population.  They begin picking apart the propaganda sung by the bards and even gaining a few converts.To combat waneing morale the mages begin dispenceing stockpiled magical weapons, and armour to fabricated hero's.  Brave Sargent Bork who slew a paladin recives a +2 longsword for his effort for example.  It works and the troops equiped with a fresh batch of magical equipment manage to turn the tide on the advanceing clerics.Growing impatiant with the slow advance the green dragons leave the army and manage to once again shatter morale in the process.  To add to the problems winter sets in and the mages have a difficult time getting supplies to the troops.  The clerics keep their troops supplied with create food and drink spells when supply trains fail to get through.  Of course they are still harrased by magical constructs, elementals, ect who do not require food or rest.  Both sides dig in and little action happens untill spring. By the time spring arrives the mage moral is positively bubbly.  They have spent the past several months holed up in comferterable accomidations, curtousy of various fortification creating spells with earth elementals doing most of the manual labour. The food problems were solved once a convoy system was worked out with magic carpets carrying portable holes and bags of holding.  The departure of the dragons is long forgotten.  The Clerics on the other hand are still sleeping in temporary, mostly wooden fortifications.  Desise breaks out in the early spring and only a disporportanate influx of clerics prevents a crippleing epidemic.The mages assult again, fireball spells make short work of the wooden fortifications the clerics were useing and the clerical army is pushed back to the paladin keep again.  This time however the mages had spent the previous winter working out a way to defeat just that.  Almost a hundred low level apprentices take to the field and simotaniously cast from scrolls of transmute rock to mud that had been scribed over the previous winter.  Upon the breach of the outer walls numerous fighter/mage shock troops are sent in with scrolls of Tensers Transormation avelable to them.As the mages advance across the theocracy heartlands they begin to enter negotiations.  After all, all they wanted was the peice of land between the two countries.  As negotiations begin in ernest the two armies grind to a halt again.  The mages begin constructing fortifications again and stockpileing magic items.  This strongly encourages the clerics to find a peaceful resolution since they would have a difficult time holding off another attack with fresh magic items.A peaceful resolution is eventually achived with the mages now holding the entire disputed zone and significant chunks of the theocratic soveren teritory.  Disputes and other small wars continue for a huge length of time.  The countries are never really at peace and the wars continue for years.</blockquote>

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