Strategic Fantasy Crossover RPG

[Setzer]

Which means you get more points to spend on your army. Hooray!

[RogueIce]

I hope theirs decent diplomacy. I like the prewar manuvers as much as the fighting itself.

That honestly depends on the players, really.

[Setzer]

Also i've forgotten which colour on the map is who.

Red= Setzer
Royal Blue= Fingolfin Noldor
Black= Norseman
Blue= Akhlut
Grey= Dark Hellion
Light Blue= Shinn Langley Soryu
Dark Red= Pezook
Orange= Sister Miriam Godwinson
Brown= Darkevilme
Green= The Romulan Republic
Purple= Karmic Knight

RogueIce, I don't think you've requested any lands yet. There's still plenty of space on the map.

[RogueIce]

RogueIce, I don't think you've requested any lands yet. There's still plenty of space on the map.

Well I wanted to indulge in my Rome fanboyism, but The Romulan Republic beat me to that. I'll have to think about it. Maybe central Europe somewhere?

Of course I still have to figure out a way to make my technology match up with magic. Would something like Magitek be viable?

Heh, I can rip off FF7 in SDN World and then rip off FF6 in here. Although I won't be named Gestahl.

[Setzer]

I imagine it would, although your mechanical contraptions should have a high points cost to reflect their power.
Central Europe is doable. I'll put you southwest of Pezook.

[Darkevilme]

Of course I still have to figure out a way to make my technology match up with magic. Would something like Magitek be viable?

I dont see why not, the Dominion has a fleet of airships after all.

[Setzer]

And here's the latest map. Rogueice is in Yellow.

[RogueIce]

I imagine it would, although your mechanical contraptions should have a high points cost to reflect their power.

I would think something between regular soldiers but below actual battle mages. I mean they can probably take dudes with spears and swords well enough, but they have relatively basic magic (compared to real mages) and certainly wouldn't stand up to them. At least not in a one-on-one fight. Plus, they don't get to drop meteors on people's heads.

Central Europe is doable. I'll put you southwest of Pezook.

Oh good, me and PeZook can be [Shroom]Super Best Friends!!!! ^___^[/Shroom]

[Setzer]

Ah, I thought your model would be more along the lines of masses of common soldiers with the occasional magitek unit for support.

[RogueIce]

Ah, I thought your model would be more along the lines of masses of common soldiers with the occasional magitek unit for support.

Well there would be different categories of Magitek Armor I'd think (some stronger, some weaker, some models based on the design but with only physical attacks, etc). Sort of like the Heavy Troops or whatever. Not as common as regular soldiers but not quite uncommon. Maybe something like heavy cavalry or whatever?

I dunno, I'd have to work something out.

[Darkevilme]

Heavy Infantry. Possibly super heavy infantry seen as its small steampunk mecha armed with lightning shooting Chainsaws.

[RogueIce]

Is it too late to have some coastal space? Maybe that line of provinces that extends up north? Sure I could look up the name for it but I won't. Seems like a good spot, althugh it is pretty close to PeZook and Karmic Knight...

[Setzer]

You mean up near Germany and Denmark?

[RogueIce]

You mean up near Germany and Denmark?

Sure.

[Setzer]

Updated.

[Setzer]

Question? How will tactics and strategy factor into battles? Is it going to be straight number crunching, or will there be room to RP? A capable general can beat an enemy with a force that's inferior on paper.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Question? How will tactics and strategy factor into battles? Is it going to be straight number crunching, or will there be room to RP? A capable general can beat an enemy with a force that's inferior on paper.

Trouble with Medieval warfare is that creative tactics can beat out a superior enemy. However, a well-equipped and flexible force can hold back an inferior enemy in a straight up fight.

It's going to be hard to quantify how fights will go.

[The Romulan Republic]

Question? How will tactics and strategy factor into battles? Is it going to be straight number crunching, or will there be room to RP? A capable general can beat an enemy with a force that's inferior on paper.

Tactics better factor in somehow. I thought the point of the point system was as something to fall back on in the event of a disagreement, not a way to strait jacket people. If its straight number crunching, will any one even fight a single battle? Why, when you know to the decimal point what the out come will be?

Take the battle of Agincour in the hundred years war. Or the battle of Marathon in ancient Greece. Or Alexander's battles against the Persians. In all of them, smaller forces won partly through superior tactics, right?

Sorry to get so worked up, but the words "straight number crunching" scare me.

[Setzer]

Mmmkay. The points value can just be a way of objectively quantifying an army. I just wanted to make sure I had some freedom to plot and plan.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

To be honest, I think it's best to stick to the economics of a battle than go into the nitty gritty details. A lot of things can go either way really. Even a small plucky nation led by an inspired general can screw a lot of things up. Let alone some espionage. The Byzantine Empire won the last war against the Sassanid Empire in no small part because of inspired leadership and also espionage and disinformation. To say the Sassanids snatched defeat from the jaws of victory is pretty correct.

[Karmic Knight]

Central Europe is doable. I'll put you southwest of Pezook.

Oh good, me and PeZook can be [Shroom]Super Best Friends!!!! ^___^[/Shroom]

We Love King Paul Day in the middle ages?

Hm, Rogue, Shinn we need an alliance.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

While fishing around for ideas, I came across some interesting bits from Those Who Hunt Elves and The Familiar of Zero concerning the presence of modern or near-modern technology in a medieval setting. What I want to ask is, would it be too much for me to have things along the lines of a demon-possessed tank, a fully-functional flak tower guarding my capital, or a cadre of troops armed with enchanted rocket launchers?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I might resort to battlemages who use not just heavy infantry, but alchemists of the Full Alchemist fame.

Then again, I want some area effect mages for other uses.

[Dark Hellion]

Divinidavidia
Sepulcher of David, Godslayer, Lord of Judea, Uniter of the Clans

How many people would have believed that the Crusades would have resulted in the son of a peasant and his two friends becoming dread lords of a kingdom centered from the sepulchral city of Jerusalem and containing dark horrors that would drive away the beasts and madness of Christ's tomb with their own insane drives? In little more than half a century David, Lucas, and Samuel did just that, the lands of Divinidavidia becoming home to the dark armies that would drive their armies of conquest and the cowering populace reliant on these terrifying overlords for protection from the monsters Ulrich had unleashed.

To understand the kingdom, one must understand the men who would become the monsters who lead it. Three simple peasant boys, born just after the city of Jerusalem imploded. First among them was always David. The ambitious one, the leader, speaker, thinker. The heretic, betrayer, godslayer. The kingdom began in his mind, and is powered by his soul. His dark thoughts are the nightmares of the populace, and the dreams of his legion of faithful.

David

David was a bright, imaginative boy, son of surviving Crusader and a pilgrims daughter. They lived on their farm; his father head of the local defense, his mother helping her family tend the farm, and raising David to be a precocious and curious boy. He received tutelage under Father DeRoos, who found him an excellent and extremely intelligent student. By the time he was ten David was learning Latin, Greek, and other ancient languages, and had a voracious appetite for any book, especially tales of fantasy. David imagined himself as a valiant knight who would slay the monsters of the world, or a powerful magician who would wave his wand and right the wrongs of the world. Soon afterwords, his father would begin to train him in the martial disciplines, teaching him the way of the sword, and allowing him to help in the ever expanding duties of the growing community. The training under both his father and Father DeRoos would continue until he was eighteen. During this time a stream of refugees and other surviving Crusaders would flood the local community, and soon David's father had an army. With this army, and David at his side he would attempt to retake Jerusalem.

The siege of Jerusalem lasted a year before they could even breach the walls. Once inside, they fought to make a defensive position, occupying many of the temples and libraries of the city. In these places David would find books of forbidden knowledge, and encounter the first inklings of apostasy, and as their victory slowly mounted his ambitions would grow. The fighting would go on for nearly four years. David was now a proud and strong man of 22, and his ambition was boundless. His plans to retake the whole of the holy lands and reestablish the heart of Christiandom where in full swing, and the enemies within Jerusalem had been driven to their final strongholds. The last few insane defenders would not be stopped, and sacrificed themselves to summon up a swarm of beasts to fight off the renewed Crusade. These unearthly creatures would fall to no sword, and for three months David's father would find his army pushed back inexorably to their initial bastions. Regrouping, David's father would attempt to bring the fight to the enemy, with grave consequence.

Some say the death of his father was the turning point in David's life. Others say it came during his journeys within the Holy Land, and some, perhaps most perceptively say that there never was a turning point, David simply made his choices from what he saw around him. Whoever is right, the death of his father would see his ambitions darken, vengeance clouding his judgment. Invoking power he didn't know he had, David would summon a revenant of revenge to kill the beasts and save the city. But the revenant would not stop at the beasts, and everything within Jerusalem fell to its power. The remaining Crusaders retreated from the city, cursing David, calling him a heretic and a monster. For his crime of passion, he would be banished from the Crusaders, never to return. With him went the ever faithful Lucas, and Samuel, who likely would have faced banishment shortly afterwords. For a decade the three disappeared into the ruins of the Holy Land, to wander while David brooded and sought a way to right what he had caused.

Ten years later they reappeared. Clad in armour of unknown black metals and the hides of fell beasts, they entered the city and slew the revenant with nary a word. They then returned to the Crusaders who had banished them, still living just outside the walls of the city. There David issued his one proclamation.

There was no god. The Madness had spread from the Tomb of Christ. The revenant they fought, the revenant that had cost him everything of his life was the souls of Jerusalem, those massacred by the Crusaders. Those who fought for God slaughtered the innocent, those who fought for god were the true sinners. Since their was no god to judge them, man would do it. And David was that man, come to judge the world, because he was the finder of truth. He sought truth in the desert and had found it. And an army. Now the blood of Christiandom would repay their sins.

With this, the three began to leave. The Crusaders rose to attack, only to find their city surrounded by the Armies of David. Disenchanted Crusaders, faith shattered; Muslim tribes scattered to the wind; peasant left to fend for their own while the Crusaders fought over relics, all those who had been disenfranchised during the Crusade, left for dead in the madness, their hate and anger made them the army David had wanted. They swooped upon the Crusaders and slaughtered them. Taking Jerusalem as his capitol, David became king.

He fought the old world to a standstill. His might was unmatchable by any warrior, and his armies grew as more people began to distrust the church as bringers of woe. And then, when he was beginning what would be penultimate campaign, everything collapsed. The Church, along with all the empires of the day brought together nearly all their power. In a clever ruse, they led Lucas and Samuel and their massive armies away, fighting David and his smaller elite with all their might. Though they lost 90% of their forces, the armies crushed David's army, and David was mortally wounded. The nightmare nearly ended there, but Lucas sensed the deception, and he and his inner circle of Praetor's, Absolvers and Dusk Knights swooped in crushing the forces harassing the dying David and sprinting David back to Jerusalem.

There, they placed him within the heart of his power, enacting the darkest of rites, and keeping their lord alive by the barest sliver. Forbidden magic began to heal his wounds, and the forces of David fell back to defend his kingdom and serve and guardians and mourners for their fallen demigod. Exhausted, most of the old empires would collapse.

Now, 600 years later, David is still locked within his private chambers, feeding on their dark energies and slowly regaining his power and stature. Every week a fresh virgin is given to him, for him to defile and thus regain a modicum of power. Lucas and Samuel have run things in his stead, regents and friends who listen to his dark whisperings and enact his bidding. His recovery in now swiftening, and only a few centuries remain until he will be ready to venture out again and finally rid the world of gods and petty men who worship them.

Lucas

Defender of the Faith. Lucas wasn't always a defender. A massive boy, Lucas was not gifted when it came to the mental faculties, and the other boys would mercilessly pick on the kind, gentle and simple boy. Until he met David, and his life would gain its purpose. David was more brilliant than Lucas could conceive and Lucas sought the boy's friendship for this reason. Astoundingly, David gave Lucas this friendship, appreciating the simple-minded loyalty of Lucas, as well as the boy's seeming inability for self-deception. Lucas knew he was slow, and knew if he wanted to he could gain the fear of the other boys. But Lucas never desired to be feared, simply to be treated according to his abilities. David would give him this. Lucas would enter the city guard to protect David, and would join him on his journey to Jerusalem. He would be by his side throughout all his banishment. During this time, David would teach him to the fullest of Lucas' capability. After the founding of Divinidavidia, Lucas would be the loyal bodyguard of David.

David's interest in enhancing humanity would meet it's greatest success in Lucas. First and foremost, David sought to enhance the mind. Lucas' mental abilities grew and grew, until soon he was smarter than David had been at the time of the summoning. David would enhance himself as well, always staying above Lucas, although Lucas' enhanced intellect did nothing to deter his fierce loyalty. In many ways, it simply made his introspection more potent, forming Lucas into the man he is today. Along with this mind, Lucas was given a nearly invincible body, bones of the unbreakable Stygian metal, capable of regenerating almost any wound. His might in combat was unmatchable by anyone but David, and then only because of David's prodigious magical abilities.

Lucas is a frightening individual, evil in the same way as David. Both have complex systems of morality, telling them the value of human life, and giving them moral imperatives. Both choose to break it. They do not make excuses, they do not pretend that in the end the ends do justify the means. They simply seek the ends they wish, and do whatever is most efficient to reach them, good or evil. They are not cruel men. They simply do not see any point in being moral in a world filled with such insanity. Lucas is given to being gentle, kind, and generous when it does not interfere with his plans. He is capable of pity and remorse. This only makes his decisions that much more evil. He knows what he does is wrong. He doesn't care. David's kingdom and David's vision are his dream. He is the herald of these nightmares. He seeks nothing but to bring it about. By whatever means necessary.

After David's fall, Lucas has served as the Grand Commander of David's army and is officially the Defender of Faith. He could be the most powerful man in the kingdom should he choose, but he has no ambition to rule, and leaves the politics and management to the Regent Samuel and the Praetor's.

Samuel

Samuel's life as a boy was exceedingly plain. Perhaps this would influence the excesses of his later life. Son of pilgrims, Samuel was a neighbor and friend of David and would be on the track to entering the seminary when he would travel with David to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem Samuel would find books of forbidden pleasure that would disgust and interest him. His obsession with these books lead to a great distrust from the other seminarians in the crusade. When David was banished, Samuel helped him raid Jerusalem for books of dark knowledge, and leave with David.

While banished, Samuel would get to enact the rituals the books whispered, and experience all the delights that could be offered from the profane texts. Like Lucas, Samuel was an enthusiastic patron of David's wishes to enhance humanity. Elegant and unearthly beautiful, Samuel is viciously intelligent and deceptively strong and tough. He is a very powerful user of magic and utilizes his physical superiority to maintain fear over the Praetor's below him.

When David fell, Samuel enacted many of the rites that kept him alive and healed him. He is regent of the kingdom, making nearly all political decisions of importance and ensuring the empire runs smoothly.

Unlike Lucas and David, Samuel does not believe he is evil. He believes that himself, Lucas and David are simply making the hard decisions humanity cannot make. A hedonist, he makes excuses for his own excesses. As such, he utilizes criminals and slaves for his pleasures, although he takes little care to truly vet them, simply picking anyone he feels looks like a slave, or utilizing his ability to pass any law by fiat to make those he desires a criminal to feed his voracious appetite. Despite their philosophical opposition, Lucas and Samuel are quite good friends, because of Lucas' loyalty and Samuel's respect for Lucas.

The Kingdom

Divinidavidia is a strange and nightmarish place. The heart of it is still the old city of Jerusalem. Now it is the Sepulcher of David, seat of his power, home of the elite units of his army and the inner council of Praetor's who command the army. Each province is protected by a Praetor, who's duty it is to defend the cities of David from any threat. They are charged with overseeing and making sure that the leaders of each town provides for the towns defense. Lucas and his selected Praetors brook no corruption, and those who cannot ensure defenses are ensured decades of torment. As such, much of the territory consists of fortified hamlets surrounded by farms. The economy is bent on fulfillment of David's dreams, nearly all material is used or reused in building infrastructure or support of the army. Since every citizen is considered part of the irregulars, each town's leader is tasked with the job of feeding it's populace and providing them with basic necessities, under threat of being punished as apostates (a fate worse than death). Some of the more self-aware Praetors would comment on the irony that a kingdom built on the back of a demigods misanthropy would take better care of its citizens than many other empires that claim virtue. Divinidavidia has suffered centuries of dark ages after the defeat of David and the necessity to pull back and rebuild the infrastructure that various empires had attempted to collapse. It has experienced about a hundred years of prosperity and is now pushing out beyond the boarders of its original expansion.

Armies

To be completed

[PeZook]

Oooh...Rogue, we can have wars over Pomeranian amber