Pre-industrial Fantasy STGOD OOC/Rules Thread:

[The Romulan Republic]

Okay, so we'll postpone ending the winter season until the end of February.

[The Romulan Republic]

The pursuit is afoot.

[MissingAxis]

Sup, guys.

Considering joining this as some kind of merchant republic in the Chesapeake Bay, occupying the bay itself and inland out to Baltimore and Washington DC. I'm currently skimming the Orders of Battle to get an idea of the general power level of the region, but I was wondering if anyone could come up with some need-to-know info for the area and/or the roleplay before I jump in. That is, of course, assuming new players are still welcome.

[Simon_Jester]

There's plenty of room for your merchant republic in that area; the most recent iteration of the map showing "who goes where" that I can find is here:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x115 ... 0Map_2.png

Basically, the entire middle third of the Eastern Seaboard, from, oh, Philadelphia down to somewhere in the Carolinas, is unoccupied.

The prevailing technological level among human societies in the eastern part of North America is flintlock and Age of Sail level. High magic that acts as a substitute for technology is an option too. Canals are something of a killer app if you have a large hinterland, since railroads do not exist.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

...I just noticed that the western edge of the Hyenork lands borders two regions called the Borderlands and the Blight. Does the Blight happen to be an Eridium Blight, by any chance?

[madd0ct0r]

Sorry Shinn. It's the travellers original homeland before fleeing the hyenorks. Think an icy version of mirkwood with occasional ruined cities.

[Raw Shark]

And the best first post two years after registration award goes to MissingAxis...

Occupying the region around the Chesapeake, you're in an ideal position to grow tobacco, cotton, and hemp, and have abundant access to a variety of seafood. You're bordered by Ohio to the West, the Dragon Kingdoms to the South, and a loose collective of city states that can't seem to agree on what to call itself to the immediate north. (Sorry, Imperial528)

On the Great Eastern Ocean, your primary competitors right now are the Orion Empire (fast, magical discipline, and has the biggest guns), the Dragon Kingdoms (weather magic and actual dragons), the Nottomans (efficiency and durability magic), the Aztec Empire (fast and ridiculously maneuverable, plus limited precognition and probability-alteration via costly blood sugar sex magic), and the Uropians (A contentious bunch of NPCs. Not!Spain are my economic bitches, and the Orions are highly invested in the northwest, but Not!Portugal are a regional power, though currently occupied with some very bad things elsewhere).

The full details can be found earlier in this thread.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Oooo goodie another possible naval power to maybe fight wars with. Yay!

We Orions do love us a good war.

[Simon_Jester]

[Delatour sniffs, muttering about 'barbaric Spirit-deniers, unnecessary effusion of blood.']

Since we're likely neighbors...

Ohio's army is accurately and pretty thoroughly portrayed in my recent sequence of story posts.

Ohio's government works a lot like 17th century France right around the beginning of Louis XIV's reign, inasmuch as I am actively raiding that period of history for plot inspirations.

Ohio's dominant religion is the Church of the Living Stars, which reveres ancestral spirits and the stars in the sky, and works fairly well, in the "faith rewarded by works" sense.

Ohio is culturally suspicious of wizardry and most supernatural creatures aside from the angelology of their own religion. Comparatively normal 'demihuman' races are more likely to be accepted. The Church of the Living Stars itself doesn't actually care much, but it's a cultural prejudice in the culture that provides the great majority of the Church's followers, so there it is.

[The Romulan Republic]

Sup, guys.

Considering joining this as some kind of merchant republic in the Chesapeake Bay, occupying the bay itself and inland out to Baltimore and Washington DC. I'm currently skimming the Orders of Battle to get an idea of the general power level of the region, but I was wondering if anyone could come up with some need-to-know info for the area and/or the roleplay before I jump in. That is, of course, assuming new players are still welcome.

Another faction is always welcome. As I'm not aware of anything much going on around the vicinity of Washington DC, even in terms of NPCs, it would be good to have someone use that territory.

[Simon_Jester]

Posted in the ORBAT thread regarding Ohio's military. This is not a full order of battle, but it's a list and description of what the Ohioan military has, and does include orders of battle for the Navy and the nation's only significant chivalric order.

Barring any weird things like the Emperor's musketeers (hey, it's inspired by 17th century France, you gotta have one for all and all for one), just about everything fits under one of the categories I just posted.

...

I have not yet begun to provide exact distributions of military forces, but Ohio does have roughly 300000 points in the field. 30000 of those are accounted for by the navy and the Order of the White Star; the rest are land-based army forces, most of them along the lines described in the post with perhaps a handful of exceptions (like the aforesaid Emperor's musketeers or some such).

[Dark Hellion]

So, would any two factions like to volunteer to have a tiny boarder skirmish broken up by one of my big dragons. I need a battle to stop for plot purposes and would like to let others use this if they want for some story springboarding.

[Simon_Jester]

I'm up. Ohio could be skirmishing over relatively minor and random stuff in a number of places, although we're not in close contact with most of the great powers. We certainly have plenty of hot-blooded aristocratic officers with an exaggerated sense of their own honor.

A naval squabble on the Mississippi with an Ottoman river patrol over stopping and searching merchant craft might happen- ask Esquire. Although that wouldn't be an idiot noble officer involved, since river boats are beneath their dignity.

Or something fought with one of the member states of the We Can't Think Of A Name Confederacy to the east; maybe they sent an expeditionary force to a state on the shore of Lake Erie along the stretch of unclaimed land between us (which I assume is full of minor neutral polities).

Ohio and Orion probably have some cordial mutual grr, but don't border closely enough for a fight to be likely.

Ohio and the Dragon Kingdoms is plausible- we share a border in the mountainous country of OTL northern Georgia or so. We share a border near the area Sherman marched through on the way to Atlanta, so there's a viable route for fighting. But you'd have to talk to Beo.

Just remember: French names!

[Raw Shark]

I'd be down for something like that also. Still figuring my shit out with regard to points and stuff, but a border skirmish of little consequence doesn't need all that sorted. I'm sitting just southwest of AMT and directly south of Tarn, and in very close proximity to Fusang in the northwest, with an NPC city state separating us. Some kind of misunderstanding at sea is always possible as well.

~~~~~~~~~

So, just to screw around with this and get my imagination going, I've been making up more crazy elite Serpent Skull warriors, to paraphrase Simon_Jester, floated for comment here. Too cheesy? Not cheesy enough?

Eagle Knights: 2 points each, including attached horse or llama. Chosen from the ranks of ordinary soldiers by existing Eagle Knights for exhibiting extraordinary bravery on the battlefield, this elite order of musketeers is small but ferocious and rigorously-trained. Though they often serve roles on foot, most notably the Emperor's Guard in Tenochtitlan, each is also cross-trained in riding a horse or giant llama and is capable of serving as a heavy dragoon or cavalry in the field. Each is very well-armored, in imported 3/4 mail locally enchanted to be wind-cooled, and equipped with a bayoneted musket, a flintlock pistol, the highest quality wind-infused ammo for distance and accuracy, a long lance, and a one-handed enchanted eagle-talon macahuitl that is more beater-stick than blade against regular infantry, but can be quite effective against monsters that are vulnerable to natural materials and great ceremony. When deployed in the field, they are usually accompanied by light cavalry and a battery of 6-pounder horse-drawn field guns.

Smoking Mirror Knights: 10 points each: The smallest of the orders of elite Aztec warriors, and not only because the initiation involves putting both of their own eyes out. Anybody can be chosen by them, and while no one is compelled to accept, it is considered a great honor from Tezcatlipoca, and few who they would choose refuse no matter what walk of life they come from, as they usually choose correctly. The glossy black obsidian eyes magically-implanted into the Smoking Mirror Knights see the future, if only a few seconds ahead usually, and they instinctively know exactly how to move, act, and react to any threat, mundane or magical. Within the limits of their own bodies, which they train to the peak of each individual's capability using the hours unenchanted people use for sleeping, it's almost impossible to get the drop on them or outwit one in close combat, and trying to shoot them is... extremely frustrating; they tend to position themselves in ways that almost guarantee friendly fire when possible, and as advantageously as possible when not. Each traditionally fights only with obsidian macahuitls and knives, but they know exactly how to strike so their blades don't shatter, and one of them can reliably take down five average musketeers, and has about a 50-50 shot against ten (better chance in close quarters than the open field, though no slouch either way). They traditionally fight naked and are covered in ornate black magical tattoos that serve no purpose other than to look badass and to "ground out" magical interference, making their mojo very difficult to tamper with short of flaying them. Though they started off as the personal guard of the avatar of Tezcatlipoca only, some of them have joined the military in times of great need, usually serving as the elite corps of special forces regiments; others follow their visions elsewhere, but all defend their home cities and their citizens as necessary, serving as a sort of informal super vigilante force in peacetime. Stories of the black-eyed, superhuman defenders of the night are popular among the common people, particularly the one known as Amazing Spider.

[Esquire]

I'd be up for a naval skirmish with Ohio, or with the Aztecs - come to think of it, anybody with a presence in the Caribbean could work.

Edit: and where did we land on the extra dragon-gift points, again?

[Dark Hellion]

I think that everyone has at least 5000 points to use for events/mysterious happenings/making me look good. When the first season is done and the teams are a bit more finalized I'll know the exact amount (probably comes out to about 8000 a piece). Overall, I put aside 100,000 points for this.

[Raw Shark]

I'm planning to expend all of my Dragon Points, whatever that is, on the adventures of the insanely-fortunate water-carrier. He's my Everyman hero and it would take a whole lot to kill him.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Not sure what I'll spend my dragon-points on. Perhaps for my frigate and Captain Baird with a daring engagement at 3 to 1 odds or something.

[Simon_Jester]

I think I'll defer spending mine; Ohio is not without its own supernatural protectors, who have their own agenda, after all.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That's just given me an interesting thought. As best I can recall, Orion is the only nation without some form of supernatural beings/deities/spirits protecting it. We stand alone, with faith only in our guns and our cold steel, holding the line against the darkness. I like that, I shall have to work it in to a post somewhere...maybe part of the Officer's Oath of Allegiance or somesuch.

[Raw Shark]

I think it's a little generous to say that supernatural entities protect the Aztecs. Consistently, anyway. Bat us around like a bored cat, maybe...

[The Romulan Republic]

That's just given me an interesting thought. As best I can recall, Orion is the only nation without some form of supernatural beings/deities/spirits protecting it. We stand alone, with faith only in our guns and our cold steel, holding the line against the darkness. I like that, I shall have to work it in to a post somewhere...maybe part of the Officer's Oath of Allegiance or somesuch.

Well, you do have magic.

My people have no divine protection, but lots of magic. So they're not that far off from yours' in that sense, even if they're technologically more primitive.

[Crazedwraith]

The Goblins have no supernatural protection or explicit magic. They're just unnaturally good at mining...

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Magic in the Heavenly Kingdom of Fusang is a complex thing, with no less than four different schools of thought regarding it.

Shugenja and wu jen are the most prominent classes of magic users in Fusang. In a broad sense, they both practice elemental magic, though they fundamentally differ in what they define as elements: Shugenja believe in the Godai (earth, water, fire, wind, and void), while wu jen believe in the Wu Xing (wood, fire, earth, metal, water). No matter the guiding philosophy, however, the end results are usually the same; in practice, wu jen tend to lean more towards offensive applications of magic, while shugenja tend to lean towards defensive applications of magic.

A third class of magic users, the priests, derive their power from ancestral spirits rather than the elements. Apart from their religious duties, priests are also expected to serve as healers, diviners, and (if/when the situation calls for it) exorcists.

The fourth class of magic users, the blood sorcerers, are the least numerous... and the most notorious. Whereas shugenja, wu jen, and priests study to gain their magical abilities, blood sorcerers have innate magical abilities; while the majority of blood sorcerers are born with these powers, it is possible for a human to gain such powers through arcane rituals involving blood (either their own or that of others). Blood sorcerers who use the blood of others to gain magical power are granted a host of abilities beyond those of the average shugenja, wu jen, priest, or "pure" blood sorcerer, but they also become prone to a particularly insidious form of physical and mental corruption euphemistically referred to as the "Taint." Tainted blood sorcerers have always been few in number, but many of them have achieved notoriety such that their mere existence has cast a long shadow over their pure counterparts.

Full disclosure: Most of the above was informed mainly by Legend of the Five Rings and Oriental Adventures. If it works, it works.

[Raw Shark]

On Taking the Semi-Domesticated Chupacabra to Sea:

The challenges presented in the care and maintenance of Chupacabrae and in seafaring are in many ways not very compatible. Nevertheless, the Aztec Empire has overcome the associated hurdles in some aspects. Each ship of the line has a kennel housing a murder of Chupacabrae for aerial surveillance somewhere amidships, and a trio of Owl Knights to ride and direct them. Some captains keep one as a pet. The humble Chupacabra only truly dominates, however, on the ships known as kennel frigates, floating menageries, Cabra-carriers, and a host of other names.

Keeping a large number of obligate hemovores at sea alive and in fighting shape for a long time is problematic, at best. The kennel frigates are an attempt to minimize these problems, while utilizing the Chupacabrae for multiple benefits. Each is completely stripped of ship-to-ship weaponry, and never operates alone. The area that would normally be the gun deck is devoted to kenneling a dozen murders of Chupacabrae, the animals that slake their thirst, and the quarters for their caretakers and the platoon of owl Knights who ride them. A dozen 1-pounder swivel guns split between the forecastle, quarterdeck, and poop are all there is for close defense (anything bigger startles the animals). Besides the crew, that is.

Were-Jaguars who want to join the navy tend to get channeled toward this kind of ship. The logistics of feeding obligate hemovores and obligate carnivores on short voyages kind of work out in some ways, and, unlike most cats, Jaguars like water and swim very well. As a result, all of the marines and about half of the ordinary sailors on the typical menagerie ship are were-Jaguars, and there are owl Knights underfoot stabbing you into the Achilles if they're not all airborne, which makes boarding one of these boats kind of nightmarish.

Floating menageries are especially employed as terror weapons against Old Córdoba, but every major fleet has at least one. Not only do they provide surveillance, counter surveillance, and harassment capability, they also facilitate communication when the wind spirits are jammed or uncooperative, guard against airborne threats, and provide dietary variety in the form of Chupacabra milk, cheese, and veal (which are generally-regarded as acquired tastes, at best, but better than hardtack) to the entire fleet in exchange for their livestock or crew's blood on longer voyages.