[FL] Fantasy Lynching Out of Character: Blood alone turns the Wheels of History

[Cracklord]

Alright, here is the plan for Tarmon Gaiden. I'll write up a list of The Dark One's army, same way I did with all the forces here. It will be obscenely powerful, given all the stuff he's got to call on.
Your job is to put together an army that can match him. All the characters from Alera of course (though you'd best do something about the Others at some point), all the armies already established (Children of the Light, Perrin's, Mat's, and Lan's, The Aes Sedei, The Asha'man, and all the rest). Together, they're a match for maybe half (!) his forces.
Unless you're evil, in which case you have to find some way to stop them from resisting, or find some way to make this benefit you. For instance, the Dark Elves wish to weaken the surface races and steal their money.
At the end of the game, we'll do a huge war scene, and if you win, Rand will confront the Dark One, and who can imagine what will happen. If you lose, then we get a new evil world for the Lynching mythos!

[doliest]

Which side is Soth on, now?

No, that's a legitimate question, before he was evil, but apathetic. Now...I'm not so sure. Eh. I'll figure it out as the game goes on. Not like he has an army now, anyway. Just a small force of now mortal men.
.
..
I just realized how De-Powered Soth is now. As he stands at the moment, he probably wouldn't have been approved on the basis of 'not powerful enough,'
Edit:On a completely unrelated note, a quick skim through 'Eragon' reminded me of something-I refuse to believe any retcon about Durza, because the 'memories' of his we see are the best written part of that d*** book.

[Colesign]

How exactly can we do something about the Others when Carnea is an entire continent away from where Tavi and friends are? New characters?

[Cracklord]

How exactly can we do something about the Others when Carnea is an entire continent away from where Tavi and friends are? New characters?

If you want. Or use some of that patented cunning plans Tavi is famous for. I'm quite easy about the whole thing.

Which side is Soth on, now?

No, that's a legitimate question, before he was evil, but apathetic. Now...I'm not so sure. Eh. I'll figure it out as the game goes on. Not like he has an army now, anyway. Just a small force of now mortal men.

He still has his magic. Like 'power word, die'. He still has his dozen men, all of whom are quite the badasses. And he still has his experience. He's just not immortal.
And Soth is now a Wildcard.

[Cracklord]

Here we go so far. About half(!) done.

The armies of the Shadow

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Sauron
Shaidar Haran
Ishamael
Slayer

Balrogs
Balrogs are gargantuan, menacing, demonic beings, with the ability to shroud themselves in fire, darkness, and shadow, and master magic far beyond that of mortals. They are armed with fiery whips of many thongs and occasionally used long swords of brilliant flame.
They cannot be casually destroyed, only the greatest of heroes may even attempt it, and they have a power and capacity for violence far beyond any mortal being.
Seven remain.

Darkling Glories
Darkling Glories are beings that serve destruction and evil. They can raise great storms and bring destruction wherever they go, throwing lightning bolts like a human might toss a javelin. Their forms are shrouded in darkness deeper than blackest midnight. They are fierce and intelligent, dangerous beyond reckoning. Flameweavers of great power can summon them, but usually also with a large sacrifice to help open the gate to the Netherworld. Beneath the shrouding darkness, they resemble great winged humans,covered in fur. Their deaths release powerful air elementals.
Three hundred serve Shai-Tan

Dragons


Chaos Oracles
The Chaos Oracles are strange beings that live in perpetual darkness. Occasionally, it clears for moments, and those that get a glimpse find themselves horrified, or even going slightly mad.
They have the ability to read the minds of all those they come near, however, cannot control this ability. They also see the future and the past at random.
A dozen serve Shai-Tan

Locus
Loci are malevolent spirits which can possess the bodies of other beings. They are interested only in chaos and destruction, particularly the destruction of the many shadow worlds. There is no way to kill them or even sense them, and they grant their hosts considerable power.
No known number exist, but they are not common.

Gholam
Six gholam were created during the War of Power as assassins of Aes Sedai. They look like ordinary people but are immensely strong and have no bones. This lack of bones makes them particularly efficient assassins, allowing them to squeeze through cracks in walls and doors to gain access to those they target. Their semi-liquid composition also makes them basically immune to conventional weapons, as wounds inflicted by sharp implements will close almost instantly. The lack of any vital organ likely makes blunt force equally useless. Gholam are immune to the One Power and can detect a channeler at fifty paces.
Five may still exist.

Dreadlords


Death Lords


Knights Eternal


Others

Myrddraal
Myrddraal, also known by many other names including Fades, Lurks, the Eyeless, Halfmen and more, are man-sized and pasty white with no eyes, yet they see like eagles by night and day. Their powers stem from the Dark One, such as the ability to travel instantly to any place where shadows meet the light, appear as misty blurs in a mirror, and their dead black cloaks are not touched by even the strongest wind.
They can best most warriors in melee combat. When finally killed, they seem to "refuse to die" for a long time, thrashing about until sunset -- even when beheaded. Thus, even a Myrddraal's dead body, if armed, is deadly. Their blood is corrosive, and must be cleaned off of weapons or armor soon after exposure, to avoid pitting and corruption.
Perhaps twenty thousand.

Darkhound
Darkhounds look like pony sized dogs or wolves, and are used by the Shadow to hunt down targets. Their saliva is deadly poison; a single drop on the skin can kill. Darkhounds leave footprints in stone, along with a trace scent of sulfur, but will leave none at all in softer ground. They are faster than horses, and can maintain their speed longer than even the strongest horse.
Fifty thousand.

Draghkar
They appear as large men with bat-like wings, whose skin is too pale and whose eyes are too large. On foot, they typically wear their wings as a cloak.
Draghkar use their soft, hypnotic song to draw their prey to them. Once the Draghkar have their prey, they "kiss" them, draining away the person’s soul. After the soul has been devoured, the Draghkar then drains away life as well.
One thousand remain.

Gray Men
Gray Men, also known as Soulless, are men who have given their souls to the Dark One. After this process, they become almost completely unnoticeable. While the Gray Men are not invisible in the literal sense, they are used primarily as assassins because of their ability to pass completely unnoticed, even by alert eyes.
Exist in unknown numbers.

Trollocs

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A crossing of human (Granbetan) and animal stock, their physical characteristics are a blending of both lineages.
Order of the bull/Goat
Terrible, twisted creatures, they stand upright and appear to have the torsoes of men, but have hooves instead of feet and bestial faces which may share features with a range of creatures. Their minds too are a hybrid of man and beast; although they have the intelligence of humans, they employ it with the savage cunning of a wild animal. They hate all civilization with an unthinking fury, and desire to destroy it all, leaving the world covered in dark woods as it was before the elves crossed the seas.
The largest remaining number, they form the bulk of the Dark Lords armies, and are mostly found in the blight.

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Gorthor the Beastlord
Malagor, the Dark Omem
Khazrak the One-eye
Ghorros Warhoof
Morghur
Taurox, The Brass Bull
Moonclaw, son of Morrslieb
Ungrol Four-Horn
Slugtongue

Bray-shaman
Strange as it seems, they do have a certain connection with nature, or are capable of channeling the Dark One's power. Some have learned to use magic, in various forms, and while they have not teaching or particular power, they can still be quite dangerous.
Maybe two hundred have real ability.

Minotaur
Fearsome bull-headed monsters driven by bloodlust and inhabiting the deepest and most dangerous parts of the forest. They are less intelligent than even other Trollocs, but are unnaturally strong and powerful, tower above their smaller kin, and the scent of blood drives them to violent excess.
Maybe two thousand.

Centigor
Centigors are strong, fast creatures, formed from a humanoid upper torso and the body of a four-legged beast. They are little different from their kin, beyond that they are stronger and faster, and tend to be less inteligent.
Perhaps fifty thousand.

Bestigor
The roughest and toughest of Beastmen are known as Bestigors. Stronger than the regular Gor, they are more disciplined, and carry the very equally strong weapons and armour. They even use steel forged weapons and armor that they take from lesser races upon which they have wrecked havoc.
Perhaps twenty thousand.

Gor
The most common, the vast majority are Gors. While capable of speech, they possess an intellect inferior to that of other sentient races and have proven difficult to utilize in battle unless supervised. They are carnivorous, sadistic and violent. They live in nomadic bands lead by the strongest of their kin, forming distinct tribes. They only ally with each other to raid and destroy hated 'civilization'.
Perhaps four hundred thousand.

Ungor
The most favoured Ungors might possess a spectacular array of horns, or a single, fine horn, but most have only small or misshapen versions, which other Beastmen find contemptible. Classed by their kin as 'ammunition'.
Maybe forty thousand.

Order of the Rat
The Skaven are a race of humanoid rat-men, who inhabit the caves, tunnels, mines, and sewers of the world. They control a vast Under-Empire which reaches far further then many would believe, and are perpetually at war because if not they risk over-population and mass starvation as their resources stretch beyond breaking point.
Despite their numbers and surprising intelligence, they are much too cowardly and unreliable to serve as decent soldiers, although they can be extremely useful and positively vicious.
Skaven are usually around four to five feet tall when they stand up straight, although the largest can reach six feet tall. Fur covers their bodies except for their ears, muzzles, hands and fleshy rat tails.

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Grey Seer Thanquol & Boneripper
Throt the Unclean
Warlord Queek Head-Taker
Deathmaster Snikch
Ikit Claw
Tretch Craventail
Skweel Gnawtooth
Lord Skrolk

Grey Seer
The Grey Seers are the prophets of the Horned Rat and proclaim his will for the Skaven. They are the prime agents of the Council of Thirteen, ruling council of all Skavendom. They act as ambassadors, envoys, intermediaries, and troubleshooters for the council and its name advise, coerce, threaten, and if it truly becomes necessary, murder and replace the leader of a Warlord Skaven Clan.
The Grey Seers occupy a position of great power but are regarded with strong resentment and fear by many Skaven. As a result, they often disappear or suffer "accidents" when they aren't careful enough.
They are marked by white or grey fur and curled horns, and use Warpstone to power their magical abilities
There are 169 Grey Seers. No more. No less.

Assassin
Skaven Assassins are the masters of the secret arts of Clan Eshin, trained from birth to be quick merciless fighters. They fight with all manner of exotic weaponry which has usually been tainted by warpstone.
Numbers unknown.

Warlock Engineer
Warlock Engineers are the Skaven sorcerer-engineers of Clan Skryre. To the Warlock Engineers, sorcery is merely another field of technology, and their experiments and inventions blend the arcane with the scientific.
Four hundred at most.

Beasts of Moulder
Clan Moulder has grown powerful through their mastery of the art of breeding mutant war-beasts. They are massive, bersark, and indescribably dangerous. They are also almost impossible to control.

Stormvermin
Stormvermin are elite Skaven warriors.
They are recruited among young Skaven who display black fur. During their recruitment and training they receive better food, equipment and training creating superior warriors who are bigger, stronger, tougher and braver than the typical Clanrat warriors. While clanrats carry spears, rotten shields and wear scraps of metal, Stormvermin wield deadly Halberds and wear heavy armour.
Maybe ten thousand.

Plague Monks
Plague Monks are the devotees of Clan Pestilens, and are utterly dedicated to creating and spreading disease throughout the world. They wear tattered, ragged hooded habits and bandages, favoring colors of sickly greens, purples and blues. These bright colors contrast horribly with the foul sores and bony growths which wrack their bodies.
In battle they are driven by a literally religious fanaticism for sickness and plague, and the grievous corruption afflicting their bodies inures them to pain and injury
Maybe five thousand.

Gutter Runners
Trained in the deadly skills of Clan Eshin, they are dangerous skaven who move in the shadows. They are skilled at infiltrating and scouting ahead of the main Skaven lines as well as ambushing and destroying enemy machinery or small groups of fleeing soldiers. They are also useful for cutting down exposed enemy leaders.
Maybe five thousand.

Clanrats
The average Skaven are usually fairly cunning and always malicious, but prone to cowardice - confident only in large numbers (when greatly outnumbering their opponents) and won’t hesitate to stab an opponent (or ally) in the back if the opportunity presents itself.
One hundred thousand.

Skavenslaves
Skavenslaves, sometimes called Clanrat Slaves, form the very bottom rank of society in the hierarchy of the Skaven Clans. They occupy a cruel and miserable position, but an essential one, for Skaven society is run by their unceasing labor. They carry out all menial labor, including mining, tunneling and food production.
During wartime they are put to use as expendable cannon fodder, driven to the fore of an assault, mainly to absorb enemy fire or to tire the foe before the "real" attack. If some of them manage to take down a few of the enemy, this is considered a bonus.
Maybe six hundred thousand.

Siege Equipment
These devices include Doomwheels, Warpfire Throwers, Ratling Guns, Warplock Jezzails, and Warp-lightning Cannons.

Order of the Serpent
Pantathians are a race of serpent men, who worship the Dark One, and intend to see him freed. Unlike the other Trollocs, they are extremely inteligent and dangerous without leaders, long-lived, and capable of magic. They are also cold-blooded creatures.

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Serpent priests
The mainstay of the Pantathians, they were green robes and are each capable of magic, channeling Saidan. However, they cannot link, and so are only dangerous to small numbers of enemy channelers. They also cannlt channel as much as humans can, raching their peaks at far smaller ammounts.
Perhaps four thousand are left.

Order of the Tiger

Moredhel

Evil Men

Thirdlings

[doliest]

One thing you forgot about Balorgs.....THEY SHALL NOT PASS!
.
..
Oh look, I'm going to be out of here before the tomatoes are thrown.

Also...that's a lot of army. A LOT of army.

Oh, and thanks for the Soth info. I thought the magic left with the curse, meaning he was a normal knight severly out of practice. Thanks for the clarification.

[Cracklord]

And Balrogs have wings. I forgot to mention that.

Anyway, yes, it is obscenely big. However, that's the really tough portion. The other parts tend not to be so obscenely powerful, though it all adds up.
Anyway, better start finding those terrible weapons and big armies. Also? Elves. This looks like a job for Glorfindel .

[Colesign]

As soon as Industrious can post regularly again, I've got a few ideas for Tavi to utilize.

"Hang Gliders for Channelers, Crafters linking with Ashaman, stealing away a portion of Ja-Jang's armies by bribing them with food, mainly 'Croach' plus early harvest wood-crafted food. Getting an Ashaman over to Carnea so as to have a portal link to Alera. Gateways with one mouth leading to active Volcanos, and the other end suspended in the air. Gateways with one mouth placed in the Ocean, to similar effect.

All of the tricks used during the Vord War: En Masse Fury-spheres launched with catapults and dropped via aerial bombardment, Earthcrafting to draw oil sulfur, and coal up from beneath the Earth to create flammable 'killing grounds', Fury-sphere tipped arrows for crossbows, formations designed to complement the strengths of the different 'good guy' species, specialized "Walls of Fire" that allow maximum fields of deployment for the various schools of offensive magic the good guys possess (Furycrafting, Channeling, Ritualism, etc.) and archery/cannons too...

That's all I've got at the moment. "

[Cracklord]

And that's why we need Tavi for the front lines.

[Corvond]

"stealing away a portion of Ja-Jang's armies by bribing them with food, mainly 'Croach' plus early harvest wood-crafted food."

Let me deal with Richard's men, though. I have an awesome plan for Gaborn meeting Richard.

[Draxx]

Tell you what. I'll have my enigma help out Tavi next.

[Colesign]

Cool! Thanks, Draxx.

Now if only your Avatar wasn't so creepy...

[Cracklord]

Forcibles. Are they useful or not? They are potentially incredibly so, but also, as you pointed out, incredibly flawed. I’ll tell you a little of the strategies.

A man with the strength of two. Is he therefore as good as two ordinary men? Not really. But let’s pretend so for the sake of your argument. The book addresses that. That is what we call a warrior of 'unfortunate proportion'. One who has all his eggs in one basket.

A warrior with the strength of one, the grace of one, and the metabolism of one could easily take out four ordinary men. He has twice the skill of an exceptional warrior (if he wasn’t one, he wouldn’t be made a Runelord in the first place), perceives the world at half the rate (ages quickly, though), and is twice as strong, so they’ll be unable to parry. It could take as many as ten to take him out. More, if they came at him one at a time.

Now imagine a typical Runelord knight. Four of strength (they don’t strengthen your bones, so any more tends to be largely useless), three of grace, one of metabolism, two to six of stamina. He can keep on fighting indefinitely, he moves twice as fast, he is three orders of magnitude more skillful, and his blows are so strong that you can’t even think of parrying. Ordinary men can’t even compete, no matter how many of them there are. And if you have a lot of them, working in concert, it’s utterly incredible.

Also, weapons change in proportion. They fight with lances made out of steel, tipped with diamonds. They shoot bows made out of steel, that fire bolts faster then bullets, accurate to nine hundred yards, at three times human rate of fire. And there are other weapons I won’t mention here. Then, the forcibles can be used on horses, to the point that you literally have biological cars. Raj Ahten even used Force Elephants, but that’s stretching it a bit, since they’re so hard to take care of.

Then think about the Runelords themselves. Two score endowments at least. Ordinary humans can’t even think of competing. Hell, some of them don’t even bother to fight, they just use their voice and glamour to instantly overwhelm the ordinary people, and make them beg to be used as fuel for more forcibles.

So what is the weakness? The men who provided the endowments. Runelord strategy is get a man in there and butcher them all while they are helpless. Or butcher a select few and leave said lord suddenly without grace, stamina, or metabolism.

Yes, it takes men out of commission, but it is a massive advantage. Problem is, it takes considerable resources to keep the men out of commission, and all the rest.

[Colesign]

Just to be clear, then: when a person uses a forcible to 'donate' his strength to another person, the donator and receiver are still connected, so that if someone kills the donator, the receiver is suddenly bereft of their strength?

[Cracklord]

Yep. Of course. Which is why people take such care of them.

And fair enough with Varg's hunters. The only reason I put that up was because your men were all due to arrive in a minute anyway.

[Cracklord]

Anyway, the game has stagnated a little. Tonight I'll post a few posts as the antagonists and other characters to get the story rolling a bit.
It's a ponderous story, and occasionally it slows.

[Draxx]

Yes, Jarlaxle is about to get a horrible Wake-up call. He is well and truly out of his league.

By the way, Tygre, have you ever heard of this?

[Cracklord]

Yes, Jarlaxle is about to get a horrible Wake-up call. He is well and truly out of his league.

Ha. Ha ha ha.

Oh, this is not going to go well for Jarxle. Not a bit.
And it means I get to play Vimes again.


So is he going to try to strong arm businesses, or organize a revolution? Wait, don’t tell me. It’ll be funnier if you don’t.

[Colesign]

I wouldn't say that it's stagnated: it's just that some people are posting slower than others, for perfectly understandable reasons.

I feel that the plot's actually been picking up in the last few weeks.

[Cracklord]

On the origins of D'Hara:

It was settled in the final stages of the second age, by Andal adventurers who colonized the lands, and married the daughters of those already there.
They became distinct tribes, and became seven kingdoms, populated by culturally distinct people. For the most part, they bickered, pushed one anothers borders, and glared, but otherwise went their own way. The founder was Jorsin Alkestes, the first High King and was later styled Emperor. He was largely benevolent, as much as a conqueror can be, and was an abnormally powerful channeler, although he never had much opportunity to really hone his talent, given that he had to broaden his abilities in many areas given his precarious position. He did, however, uncover several valuable artifacts, and imitate them.
His closest comrade was Ezra the mad, an archmage himself, the equal of The High king, but able to focus on magic to the exclusion of all else. He went on to found the house of Rahl, and ruled the land when he died, however in respect for his memory never took the position 'King'.
Acaelus Thorne, a legendary trickster and swordsman, and close companion of the High King. He conned the Casterlys into giving him Casterly Rock using naught but his wits, stole gold from the sun to brighten his hair, and founded the Lannister family, before vanishing. The Lannisters quickly became the richest family in D'Hara, due in large part to the many gold mines under their control.
The Great War sprug up in the last stages of the first kingdom, a fierce conflict fought between wizards of the New World and the Old World, that ended in 2,960 BCB. With the creation of the Towers of Perdition the two separate sides of the war were effectively closed off from one another, and the conflict effectively came to a close.
Each side of the war was continuously looking for breakthroughs in magical warfare, making use of skills they did not really understand to cause their enemies harm. Experiments on other wizards or human beings were seen as an effective way of creating new weapons to use against the opposition, and this lead to some of the most fearsome weapons ever built. Most, fortunately, would never see widespread use.
After the war and the death of Jorsin Alkestes, Alric Rahl, the first of the Lord Rahl's, created the Bond that would bind all D'harans together. It has since then been passed down through the generations of gifted Lord Rahl. He recognized that this would allow him to retain his control in the sudden power vacuum, and prevent any of his line from being deposed by a rival warlord, or even wizard.
Two hundred years later, the house of Rahl had become corrupt, weak, and decadent, and the land was splitting apart, his hold on the noble families slipping. The line of magic had been preserved by means of having as many progeny as possible, only recognizing the gifted and ignoring the rest, their ability to actually rule was in doubt. But before the inevitable collapse of the country into warring states could occur, Aegon Targaryen, noble of Melniborne, and his two sister-wives Rhaenys and Visenya landed with their army on the east coast. With very limited manpower, the Targaryens knew that their full-grown dragons and command of magic would be their ultimate weapon.
Thus Aegon I Targaryen, now known as Aegon the Conqueror, took control of six of the Seven Kingdons. Aegon had the swords of his foes melted and reforged into his seat of power, the Iron Throne, and began construction of 'The People's Palace'.
The Targaryens were prone to madness, due to their Melniborneian blood and incestuous practices, and had a habit of infighting and civil war, but the dynasty itself seemed eternal.
The fall of the Targaryens would not come about for generations, and occurred due to a complex series of events. Most telling, perhaps, was that their dragons fell into deep sleep from which they could not be awoken, and the successive generations were small and stunted, losing much of their power, and not living nearly as long. By the time of Rhaegar the Dragon Prince, they had all perished, and the house of Rahl began to rise in prominence once more.
Panis Rahl killed Rhaegar by unknown means (his wife was murdered as well as the majority of his extended family in one night, but his two children escaped over the sea), and, once more in charge of his nation, revived forgotten practices, such as the Devotion, and turned his eyes to the conquest of the Midlands. He was killed by Zeddicus.

[Colesign]

Wow. You managed to merge Song of Ice and Fire and Sword of Truth together into one setting.

That merits some respect at least.

[Cracklord]

And the Night Angel Trilogy. Giving me one good setting, one mediocre setting, and the sword of truth rolled into one.

[Colesign]

And Moorcock's "Young Kingdoms" series: almost forgot that too.

[Cracklord]

Well spotted.
Anyway, then there is the what-have-you in regards to Darken Rahl and Jaime, and here we are.

The remaining families are the Starks, the Baratheons, The Greyjoys, and the Lannisters. The others fell out of favor.

The reason I do this is so that their are characters who can actually be reasoned with mixed up with the badguys. You know, since you need every man you can get.

[Viera Champion]

I suddenly find myself wishing I had never quit this, but at the time I just didn't have the kind of time to do this kind of thing, and I didn't wanna drag the RP down by leaving my characters indeterminately dormant while I took a break.

Oh well, at least I can still follow along, it's very interesting, like a book.

[Cracklord]

If you want we can start you up again with a minimum of trouble. Most of your characters have been preserved.

[Viera Champion]

If you want we can start you up again with a minimum of trouble. Most of your characters have been preserved.

Oh really? Only if it isn't too much hassle, and I promise I'll make it through this time.

Also I may need someone to catch me up on the plot.

[Cracklord]

Now that will be too much trouble
Seriously, a lot has happened, we have subplots now. Subplots!

For a vague idea, the Empire has been taken out, The Black Company's surprise attack and the Faceless man killed Galbatorix and Murtagh, and all is chaos. The Varden would be taking over, except for certain difficulties, namely, the PC's.
Gaborn Val Orden brought Soth back to life (in an awesome display), Mat showed up with an army, and Lord Angmar is now seeming to be the main badguy.
For a more detailed description, you'll have to wait.

As for your characters, I'm afraid I kinda worked over them, since the nature of the game changed. Moraine & Thom (we restored continuity for the sake of the End of the World) are readily avaidable, found Gaborn, and are in D'Hara.

Mumm-Ra, The Ever Living is still alive, and raising the New World order an army of undead, lead by Gilgamesh, King of Heroes.
And as for his minion:

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Skaven
"Lament, brothers! Tragic news!" The room was suddenly as silent as a grave, not so much as a squeak from the assembled horde.
The skaven who spoke was a figure out of a nightmare. It was a skaven, the oldest imaginable, and decrepit beyond imagining. Most zombies looked healthier. It was skeletally gaunt, with gnarled paws and matchstick arms sticking out of the sleeves of it's dirty gray robes. It's paper-thin flesh was stretched taunt over it's angular, spade shaped skull, and horrible cysts and warts grew from shriveled, scabrous skin gone mostly bald with mange. Only a few clumps of whispy white fur clung to it's head and arms. It stood with the aid of a tall metal staff topped with a glowing green stone. Two curled horns sprouted from either side of it's heads, like a rams. It bared broken, chipped stumps of teeth as it surveyed the meeting.
It was only made up of the leaders of the horde, of course, but none of them trusted each other quite wisely, and so had brought as many of their bodyguards and flunkies as could be squeezed into the cavern, so that there was a veritable press of furred rats-bodies pressed together. only he was alone, in order to showcase his total confidence in his own power.
Grey Seer Thanquol ran his eyes over them all, his rivals in this war.
The monstrously obese skaven lounged on a palanquin born by rat ogres. He tried to meet the Grey Seer's burning gaze and could not, so instead the Moulder Packmaster ran a paw over the largest of his pets, a creature so massive it had to stoop in the cavern and made it's fellows look small. The creature bellowed it's pleasure as the Packmaster fed it a tasty tidbit of human fingers.
Beside him was the rotting form of the Low Abbott of the plague monks of clan Pestilens, who stood alone, well apart from any other skaven. From within the abott's cowl, puss-filled, fearless green eyes met his own. The plague monks were quite mad, and quite easy to antagonize. The plague monk blew his nose on the sleeve of his moldering robe. A huge bubble of foul green snot swelled on his wrist and then burst.
Next in line was the armored form of the master warp engineer of Clan Skyre. He was small by skaven standards, dwarfed by his retinue of jezzail-armed bodyguards who ringed him and his companions. Around him, standing in a half circle stood his acolytes, all wearing hooded-goggles and bizarre, protruding muzzle-bags over their faces, paws clutching staffs forged from a riot of skaven technology. Crackling energy and sparks played across gears, jutting forks and rusted prongs, and they seemed to make the air greasy.
Then there was the Clan Eshin Deathaster, a black cloaked shadow in rags, eyes blindfolded, back hunched and shoulders stooped, as if the murk was an extension of it's very being. Though the gutter-runners had been thwarted, their were other, deadlier skaven, adept at sneaking and appearing suddenly unexpected. Thanquol felt a sudden prickle at his shoulder-blades, and had a suspicion one was already creaping silently towards his back, blade raised...
"Mighty warlord Rattaro Stabb has fallen, killed in a tragic accident involving a loaded crossbow and an exploding donkey."
Straight away, all the skaven began to chitter amongst themselves. It only stopped when the Grey Seer raised a paw and let a warning glow of energy play around it, exuding menace.
"Now, we will prepare for the next stage of the master-plan. In the sad absence of lord Stabb, I will assume direct control."
"With greatest respectfulness, Grey Seer Thanquol, that is not the case." The booming voice of the Moulder Packmaster filled the chamber. "As senior skaven here, it is my duty to assume direct responsibility. Clan Moulder has generously provided many warptokens to fund this effort, and I must see they are spent wisely."
"What nonsense is this?" The plague Abbott inquired, the words bubbling phlemishly from his ruined throat like a death-rattle. "If any is to command here, it is rightfully me. It is, afterall, our plagues that shall bring about the downfall of these human cities. We have great plans. Great plans!"
"No, no! I disagree!" chittered the reedy, high-pitched voice of the Clan Skyre Master Engineer. "It is our machines that will make victory possible, and so it is up to us to see they are correctly implemented. Naturally, as the ranking representative, it is my duty to take command."
"This war shall be won in the shadows." The Clan Eshin Deathmaster noted, his voice so soft it was practically a whisper, a paw caressing the murder instruments strapped to it's bandoleer of criss-crossed belts almost lovingly. "It is clan Eshin that takes the risks, and therefore needs a subtle hand directing them, that only I can provide."
"This is a vile usurpation of Clan Moulders privileges!" The Moulder Packmaster roared. The rat-ogres, hearing the anger in his voice, bellowed with barely suppressed fury, and began straining forward. The sound of their wrath echoed across the cavern, growing deafening. "Mutinous behavior cannot be tolerated! NO! For the good of the force, I will warn you once that one more word of such treachery and my warriors will execute you all!"
There was a clicking as the jezzail teams cocked and leveled their weapons, lining them and bringing them to bear on the Packmaster. "Your warriors? Your warriors? There speaks a mad skaven! by what right do you name the warriors of my command your troops?"
"Both of you are trying my patience." The Plague Abbott burbled. "Seeing my two senior lackeys bickering in such a runtish manner cannot help but demoralize my army. Cease this treacherous behavior at once or face the hideous and eventually fatal consequences." He flexed his paws menacingly, and suddenly there was a package of filthy stuff in his paws. Nobody could doubt it was dangerous.
A score of shadows detached from the wall behind deathmaster, spreading out and forming into cowled skaven, all dressed in black and slinking silently forward so that they seemed to glide. They paused behind their leader, drawing rusted and ill-kept, single edged blades coated in a luminescent green slime. Most held two, but a few even held three, with the additional one coiled in their tail. The deathmaster straightened, hands clasped behind his back. "Enough. If you cannot conduct yourself in a manner worthy of leaders, I will be forced to vacate your positions to other, more qualified representatives. I cannot abide such foolish behavior among my soldiers." The whisper shook with unsuppressed menace.
Grey Seer Thanquol looked on with baffled rage and barely suppressed glee. A considerable part of him wanted to sit back and watch them come to blows, and laugh as they slaughtered each other. But, unfortunately, he needed them. So it was time to put a stop to this nonsense.
"Consider this. Until Rattaro was put in command, The Council put me in command of this army. Therefore, it is only logical that the leaders place in the rear must again default to me. Of course, if any of you wishes to challenge The Council's ruling, I will notify them at once."
That did it. The council was a place of intrigue and bickering, with so much politicing and back-stabbing almost nothing was achieved, but one thing they agreed on was dealing with anyone foolish enough to question their authority. And their paws were long.
"Of course, you are correct, Grey Seer Thanquol." The Engineer chittered, recovering masterfully. "It is only, as your second command, I felt that these others were over-stepping the bounds of their authority."
"I know not how he can claim to be your second-in-command, Grey Seer, when all know my respect for you is boundless, and my devotion to your cause is without limit." The Packmaster said, settling his ogres with soothing strokes.
The Plague Abbott merely coughed enigmatically and said "It pains me to see these overbearing oaths challenging your rightful authority, Grey Seer. Surely the power of my clan and my proven dedication to your person must mean I rank second here."
That was more like it, thought Thanquol. Let them bicker over the scraps while the glory belonged to him.
As was only right.

So yeah. It might be easier to start fresh, if you'd prefer.

[Viera Champion]

Hmmm... Yeah... Starting from scratch may be a good idea if you give me a little bit, I can have new characters up in half an hour tops. Okay?

[Viera Champion]

Toshiro Hitsugaya

Spoiler

Show

+Master swordsman

+Shikai: Hyourinmaru

+Also Bankai is kick as powerful ice attack awesomeness!

-Young

-Limited power control

I think I'll just do one character.