EMPIRE! CWBG XII: GOTY, now with optionally free Cthulhu and Pony DLC!

[Snowfire]

This is actually pretty clean by most PbP standards. We haven't even had one spoilered rant decrying the opposing side as bullies.

I think that may be because a good amount of any true anger that is coming out of this is being defused through Skype though.

Then again, no massive OOC rants = good for all of us. So something to be happy about.

[Gengy]

It seems very interesting!

@Kasa: Does that mean that the Chivalric Republic of the United Free Cities would like to send a dignitary to attend?

[TheWombatOfDoom]

@Kasa: Does that mean that the Chivalric Republic of the United Free Cities would like to send a dignitary to attend?

Ah! You're learning (even if we aren't)!

[ImperatorV]

The principal actual casus belli, though, is the assassination of Huanle, and our belief that the EoD via the Triumvirate were responsible, given they had both apparent motive and means. OOC, we know it might not be them, but IC, there's not really anyone else in the frame.

IC: Yeah it's not like Dissator named a kid after her or anything. Or the fact that strategically speaking she had no value whatsoever except as a means of ****ing off the Salterri. Which is quite obviously precisely why she was assassinated, but given that the most politically active Salterri state has been on the Concordant side since before the war was more then a possibility I don't expect any sort of detailed investigation of that possibility.

OOC: I can say for absolute certain that I was doing something completely different with my secret action. And Aedil, I hope for your sake you didn't know about this plot.

[TheDarkDM]

IC: Yeah it's not like Dissator named a kid after her or anything. Or the fact that strategically speaking she had no value whatsoever except as a means of ****ing off the Salterri. Which is quite obviously precisely why she was assassinated, but given that the most politically active Salterri state has been on the Concordant side since before the war was more then a possibility I don't expect any sort of detailed investigation of that possibility.

OOC: I can say for absolute certain that I was doing something completely different with my secret action. And Aedil, I hope for your sake you didn't know about this plot.

Oh, we're all well aware. But, really, you're kind of reaping what you've sown here. Triumval assassins have been given a lot of spotlight over the course of the game. And while it may seem unlikely to someone inclined to treat the Triumvirate/EoD alliance fairly, the Salterri and Triumvirate are old enemies and the EoD through Guilder have been dodging war with various parts of the Imperium for, what, 50 years? It may be an excuse, but it's a good one.

[Aedilred]

So basically, its your beliefs of what happened based on what happened and the evidence set before you. As in, there's a bullet hole in the body, and 3 people have guns, and its only logical that the sketchy one is the one that shot. Myrida is basically saying, "I get that you think it was us, but its not, and if you go to war without having obtained the facts and evidence that it was us, then you are basically acting to the whims of someone else.

(she also suspects it was carmine or the imperium that assassinated their own family to pin it on the EoD, and use it as a reason to get into the war, but she's currently extreamely paranoid, because SOMEONE obviously has it out for her, because she keeps touching things, and they all keep falling apart)

The above is her IC motivations, and in no way are accusations out of character.

In Jarrland (and Vennland) family is all-important. Someone killing a member of your family is cause for outrage. Killing or betraying a member of your own family is just about the worst crime possible, socially if not necessarily legally. This is why Fydias's name is mud, and why Athelwyr was so furious with his son for not being there when Elwyr blew up. It's also why Fydias wasn't executed even though he probably should have been, because it was still taboo to kill him. (This attitude has been revised in light of not executing him having turned out to be a very poor decision).

Obviously there is a kind of reasonable limitation on that, and I don't think anyone seriously expects Myrida and Torre not to go to war just because they're both distantly related (third or fourth cousins, I think), even if it would be nice. Especially since they weren't brought up in Jarrland and thus probably won't have internalised the same attitude. Expectations of Gun Huang in that respect are rather higher, given that he's both more directly connected to Jarrland customs via his mother (and he never really knew his father, after all), and he uses the Jarrow name.

But for the king in the KCS to have a member of his own family killed - excepting those members of the family who've been cast out for similar crimes, of course - would be, if not completely unthinkable, certainly unforgivable, and rather out of character. (If such a plot ever develops, you can make appropriate assumptions about that character).

IC: Yeah it's not like Dissator named a kid after her or anything. Or the fact that strategically speaking she had no value whatsoever except as a means of ****ing off the Salterri. Which is quite obviously precisely why she was assassinated, but given that the most politically active Salterri state has been on the Concordant side since before the war was more then a possibility I don't expect any sort of detailed investigation of that possibility.

OOC: I can say for absolute certain that I was doing something completely different with my secret action. And Aedil, I hope for your sake you didn't know about this plot.

Well, I gather everyone has a price on their heads... although even assuming the Guild wouldn't take a contract on her then it might have gone wrong: a hit on Kyria that took in Huanle as well as her heir apparent or a case of mistaken identity, etc.

Inititally my assumption, along with several others', was that it was obviously the Triumvirate, world's leading purveyor of assassins, who wielded the knife, probably at EoD instigation. Subsequent to ensuing conversations and realisations I am now as sure as I can be OOC that it wasn't you.

[ImperatorV]

I'm not sure whether to be happy my assassins are so famous or annoyed at the trouble they are currently causing


Really though Unmarked or non-professionals makes a lot more sense if you have the information and wits to puzzle it out. Unfortunately information is practically non-existent IC and wits are often lacking.

[TheDarkDM]

I'm not sure whether to be happy my assassins are so famous or annoyed at the trouble they are currently causing


Really though Unmarked or non-professionals makes a lot more sense if you have the information and wits to puzzle it out. Unfortunately information is practically non-existent IC and wits are often lacking.

Well, like I said above, wanting to go to war somewhat disincentivizes one from too closely examining their casus belli.

[zabbarot]

Oh, we're all well aware. But, really, you're kind of reaping what you've sown here. Triumval assassins have been given a lot of spotlight over the course of the game. And while it may seem unlikely to someone inclined to treat the Triumvirate/EoD alliance fairly, the Salterri and Triumvirate are old enemies and the EoD through Guilder have been dodging war with various parts of the Imperium for, what, 50 years? It may be an excuse, but it's a good one.

The Salterri and the Triumvirate only really fought the one time though, and damn near everyone who was playing at the time was in that war against them. Since then we assisted in their civil war, but have otherwise been pretty neutral towards them. Up until the King of Carmine issued a claim I don't think they'd even really interacted for 50 years. So really, that hatchet seemed about as buried as it could be.

Not saying that negates the assumptions, just saying that I thought we were on neutral ground at worse with the Salties leading into the war starting. We had(still have?) plans for the immediate future that would suggest we were/are on good terms.

[Aedilred]

The Salterri and the Triumvirate only really fought the one time though, and damn near everyone who was playing at the time was in that war against them. Since then we assisted in their civil war, but have otherwise been pretty neutral towards them. Up until the King of Carmine issued a claim I don't think they'd even really interacted for 50 years. So really, that hatchet seemed about as buried as it could be.

Yeah, I feel like a central plank of both Salterri and Triumvirate foreign policy for most of the fifth century was to try to avoid war with each other, particularly since, before Bordeux expanded so far and absorbed Alydaxis, and the Concordat formed, they were probably the most dangerous potential threat to each other's existence. Obviously Zhuang screwed that up a bit, but he also provided a common focus for the anger that resulted, since both sides felt betrayed, and there have been intermarriages since then again.

The Imperium, and the KCS in particular, does I think have a bit of a problem with Radurja, for much the same reasons as anyone else who has a problem with Radurja does. But we've mostly been happy to deal with the secular arms of their government. The Imperium doesn't, I think, really understand republican democracy and thinks it's doomed to failure (inasmuch as the Triumvirate is a republican democracy, as the KCS is currently querying), and the Triumvirate probably has ideological question-marks over the Imperium too, but mutual lack of cultural understanding is far from unique to them.

There is also an awareness however that the Triumvirate has a bit of a mercenary streak, and recent events with Hushyarr and the Jaaku Na have raised suspicion of it to a degree, so this wasn't by any means unbelievable.

[HalfTangible]

Hey, is it possible to have techs that require a certain race in your region? I ask because I want to try and make the different races in Felitora relevant to how the Doctrine conducts war, and have each give their own advantages/disadvantages on the battlefield.

If not, I'll just raise a land battalion for each and then name them when they go off to war for flavor purposes.

[BladeofObliviom]

Hey, is it possible to have techs that require a certain race in your region? I ask because I want to try and make the different races in Felitora relevant to how the Doctrine conducts war, and have each give their own advantages/disadvantages on the battlefield.

If not, I'll just raise a land battalion for each and then name them when they go off to war for flavor purposes.

Race-specific techs are possible. Carmine definitely has one, though the had to introduce a resource of Arpied Mercenaries to do it.

[BladeofObliviom]

Hey, does anyone remember/know all the details of Telluris' moons? It came up in a Skype conversation and I'm realizing it's a huge gap in my OOC knowledge.

[Lord_Burch]

Hey, does anyone remember/know all the details of Telluris' moons? It came up in a Skype conversation and I'm realizing it's a huge gap in my OOC knowledge.

I believe it's been established we have three- one larger and bright, one smaller and darker but still visible, and one that can't be seen with the naked eye. I believe Elemental was the first to mention the last one, as well as being the one most likely to know about it IC.

[BladeofObliviom]

I believe it's been established we have three- one larger and bright, one smaller and darker but still visible, and one that can't be seen with the naked eye. I believe Elemental was the first to mention the last one, as well as being the one most likely to know about it IC.

Yeah, that's kind of vaguely what I remembered. Presumably the big, bright one is the Silver Moon and the subject of the Moonshroud festival, right?

[Lord_Burch]

Yeah, that's kind of vaguely what I remembered. Presumably the big, bright one is the Silver Moon and the subject of the Moonshroud festival, right?

On the first- yes. On the second, I have no idea. I'm the other guy with a moon-themed event.

[BladeofObliviom]

On the first- yes. On the second, I have no idea. I'm the other guy with a moon-themed event.

Well, according to the wiki page on the Moonshroud, it signifies a total lunar eclipse of the smaller moon my the larger one biannually. Having taken a look at the Frostmoon festival OP though, that's interesting too. Does the latter just come slightly before or after the former every time, or is it rarer? If it's rarer, why/how does that happen?


Though now that I look at it closely, the moons might well match up to the setting's major Goddesses. Silver Lady (who may or may not be the same as Bordeux's lady, I forget) would be the big bright silver moon, Yphine would be the visibly blue smaller moon, and Kina would be the shifty one who hides in the dark but gravitationally affects things from out of sight.

[HalfTangible]

To anyone who may have tried to send a Pm to me in the last ten minutes or so: I just cleared out 30 messages from my inbox.

[SamBurke]

Do what must be done, lord Sam. Do not hesitate, show no seriousness.

I... I think I will. PARODY INCOMING!

@Kasa: Does that mean that the Chivalric Republic of the United Free Cities would like to send a dignitary to attend?

Heyyyy Kasanip: Is there any chance you can attend the Trade Event, not for trade, but so that I can make my signature for your folks a sub-action. Otherwise it's still a few rounds before I can sign onto the Hospitallers.

[Elemental]

I wish I could do that! But i've worked for 32 rounds to get to a point where people actually wanted to defend me, so it seems that would only just seal me in an obsidian coffin.

I'm sure it'd be a very nice obsidian coffin.

My region came with a moat.

In 360 degrees.

And I'm leaving it, in favor of interaction and quicker conquest of all I deem to be rightfully mine.



Seriously, though, I think many people are choosing to send dignitaries regardless of War, if only to attend a useful Event I'm not trying to persuade just Elemental here, either, btw. I just want to get more people involved, because the more the merrier!

I would buy your moat, but I've got nowhere to put it.

Ultimately, it'll depend on what I end up needing to do next round. I may end up having to spend all my actions on raising troops.

... Maybe we should stop the war. I'm okay with IC drama, but this is getting really messy OOC.

I agree. If only because it'd make my life easier. I hate having to do things I'd really rather not.

This is actually pretty clean by most PbP standards. We haven't even had one spoilered rant decrying the opposing side as bullies.

Spoiler

Show

You are all pretty cool people.

The principal actual casus belli, though, is the assassination of Huanle, and our belief that the EoD via the Triumvirate were responsible, given they had both apparent motive and means. OOC, we know it might not be them, but IC, there's not really anyone else in the frame.

Here's hoping my investigators get to the bottom of this. And soon.

On that note, who has free actions I can persuade to spend on investigations? I really want some of these declarations pulled apart.

OOC: I can say for absolute certain that I was doing something completely different with my secret action. And Aedil, I hope for your sake you didn't know about this plot.

This is why I never take secret actions. Everything I've done in game has been clear and in the open. Of course, this is mostly so I don't forget what I did ten to twenty rounds ago that caused a declaration of war on my country.

Hey, does anyone remember/know all the details of Telluris' moons? It came up in a Skype conversation and I'm realizing it's a huge gap in my OOC knowledge.

According to observations made by Ashenite astronomers, Telluris has at least three moons.
The largest is a bright silvery white, similar to the Moon I assume we are all familiar with though with a less cratered surface.
The next largest is blue and orbits closer to Telluris than the other, which of course has the effect of it occasionally eclipsing the other which is considered a spectacular event when it happens at the full moon as the smaller, and fainter, blue moon is framed by a brilliant silvery white ring, hence the Frostmoon Festival.
The third moon is dark and not visible to the naked eye, which given that Telluris is only able to conduct astronomical in the visible spectrum makes it rather hard to study and all attempts to calculate its orbit have considerable errors despite the best efforts of Ashenia's leading mathematicians and astronomers. Most of what is known about it is gleaned from occasions where it passes in front of other objects and thus, they assume it's smaller than the other two, orbits on roughly the same plane as the other two and is definitely closer than the silver moon and may be closer than the blue moon.

*cough* I've yet to actually name them... *cough*

Well, according to the wiki page on the Moonshroud, it signifies a total lunar eclipse of the smaller moon my the larger one biannually. Having taken a look at the Frostmoon festival OP though, that's interesting too. Does the latter just come slightly before or after the former every time, or is it rarer? If it's rarer, why/how does that happen?


Though now that I look at it closely, the moons might well match up to the setting's major Goddesses. Silver Lady (who may or may not be the same as Bordeux's lady, I forget) would be the big bright silver moon, Yphine would be the visibly blue smaller moon, and Kina would be the shifty one who hides in the dark but gravitationally affects things from out of sight.

Huh... I've been going on the events of Frostmoon... I may need to revise the order of their orbits as it seems it changes over the course of the year... Assume magic is responsible. After all, in this universe the stars may very well be fixed on the surface of a crystal sphere.

That works. Of course, different cultures likely see things differently.

[SamBurke]

According to observations made by Ashenite astronomers, Telluris has at least three moons.
The largest is a bright silvery white, similar to the Moon I assume we are all familiar with though with a less cratered surface.
The next largest is blue and orbits closer to Telluris than the other, which of course has the effect of it occasionally eclipsing the other which is considered a spectacular event when it happens at the full moon as the smaller, and fainter, blue moon is framed by a brilliant silvery white ring, hence the Frostmoon Festival.
The third moon is dark and not visible to the naked eye, which given that Telluris is only able to conduct astronomical in the visible spectrum makes it rather hard to study and all attempts to calculate its orbit have considerable errors despite the best efforts of Ashenia's leading mathematicians and astronomers. Most of what is known about it is gleaned from occasions where it passes in front of other objects and thus, they assume it's smaller than the other two, orbits on roughly the same plane as the other two and is definitely closer than the silver moon and may be closer than the blue moon.

Deeplenses should help with that. Razdis has those, I believe.

[Morph Bark]

I believe it's been established we have three- one larger and bright, one smaller and darker but still visible, and one that can't be seen with the naked eye. I believe Elemental was the first to mention the last one, as well as being the one most likely to know about it IC.

The largest one is silver, and I believe the second one was blue, right? I don't believe I specified in the Moonshroud thread, but I thought you had in the Frostmoon Festival.

From what I remember:

Moonshroud happens once every 2 years, when the smaller moon (Wu Jingshen to the Salterri) goes behind the silver moon (Heng'e). I forgot the exact meaning of Wu Jingshen, but Google tells me it's "no spirit". Heng'e is named after a Chinese moon goddess, and in-universe that'd probably be a princess of ancient legend, or another name for the Silver Lady, or both (accounts do vary somewhat between regions when it comes to mythology).

The Frostmoon Festival is celebrated every year, but the actual astronomical event happens every 20 years (397, 417, 437, etc, so next round again in 497). In there, the larger moon goes behind the smaller one, giving a "corona" around the smaller one (iirc, that is) for which the festival is named.

It's possible that in these scenarios the smaller moons are actually different ones, but since the third moon is black and was only recently discovered by Ashenian telescopes, that would be unlikely (unless it is Frostmoon that has it, as then the black one goes in front of the big silver moon and thereby becomes visible--the moon would still not be visible the rest of the years, unless you used a telescope).

If the smaller, blue moon has an irregular path around Telluris, that might explain some things. Or if its path is at an angle with the other ones. Considering Frostmoon happens on odd years and Moonshroud on even ones, it is definitely curious.

[moossabi]

My guys can't see the moons from where they are.

So therefore I am currently irrelevant.

Also, I'm having suspicions second thoughts about attending the event. Sorry 'bout that.

[Lord_Burch]

Here's hoping my investigators get to the bottom of this. And soon.

On that note, who has free actions I can persuade to spend on investigations? I really want some of these declarations pulled apart.

I can. I mean, I was doing projects, but those can go on the back burner for a bit. Besides it reminds there was another investigation I was going to do.

Huh... I've been going on the events of Frostmoon... I may need to revise the order of their orbits as it seems it changes over the course of the year... Assume magic is responsible. After all, in this universe the stars may very well be fixed on the surface of a crystal sphere.

That works. Of course, different cultures likely see things differently.

Yes. Magic is definitely at play. Also, I never bothered to actually explain how it works. It just does.

The largest one is silver, and I believe the second one was blue, right? I don't believe I specified in the Moonshroud thread, but I thought you had in the Frostmoon Festival.

From what I remember:

Moonshroud happens once every 2 years, when the smaller moon (Wu Jingshen to the Salterri) goes behind the silver moon (Heng'e). I forgot the exact meaning of Wu Jingshen, but Google tells me it's "no spirit". Heng'e is named after a Chinese moon goddess, and in-universe that'd probably be a princess of ancient legend, or another name for the Silver Lady, or both (accounts do vary somewhat between regions when it comes to mythology).

The Frostmoon Festival is celebrated every year, but the actual astronomical event happens every 20 years (397, 417, 437, etc, so next round again in 497). In there, the larger moon goes behind the smaller one, giving a "corona" around the smaller one (iirc, that is) for which the festival is named.

It's possible that in these scenarios the smaller moons are actually different ones, but since the third moon is black and was only recently discovered by Ashenian telescopes, that would be unlikely (unless it is Frostmoon that has it, as then the black one goes in front of the big silver moon and thereby becomes visible--the moon would still not be visible the rest of the years, unless you used a telescope).

If the smaller, blue moon has an irregular path around Telluris, that might explain some things. Or if its path is at an angle with the other ones. Considering Frostmoon happens on odd years and Moonshroud on even ones, it is definitely curious.

See, now, I love it when people pick apart my random justification for something cool I wanted to do. I mean, if someone can make sense of it, cool, but I'm not knowledgable enough to try.

[HalfTangible]

The dragon's eye festival is apparently an event where all 3 moons eclipse the sun every 150 (or 160) years.

With the Pink Tide, Frostmoon, and Moonshroud, we have 4 lunar events that are nigh impossible to reconcile.

Some theories thrown around:
-one moon orbits one of the others, so while rare they're still likely to eclipse each other in different ways
-Pink Tide is when the two moons bang, and the black moon is the gothic teen moon.
-Since moonshroud and frostmoon occur in the winter and Dragon's Eye in the summer, the difference in the planet's tilt presents the moons at a slightly different angle that allows for different types of eclipses throughout the year.
-MAGIC!!!

[SamBurke]

-MAGIC!!!
-MAGIC!!!
-MAGIC!!!
-MAGIC!!!

At least we have 4 plausible options. I'm sure one of them will work.

[Morph Bark]

The dragon's eye festival is apparently an event where all 3 moons eclipse the sun every 150 (or 160) years.

It isn't though. It's a solar eclipse specifically during the summer solstice, every 150 years, yes.

[SamBurke]

It isn't though. It's a solar eclipse specifically during the summer solstice, every 150 years, yes.

So, to Morph... (off topic totally) is the marriage of Wesley to a Salterri Princess still a go? Would you like to PM/Skype a bit?

[Morph Bark]

So, to Morph... (off topic totally) is the marriage of Wesley to a Salterri Princess still a go? Would you like to PM/Skype a bit?

I'll send you something specific on that tomorrow eve or on Saturday. Just dropping by for a bit, but Imma be pulling an all-nighter to finish an exam-equivalent paper.

[HalfTangible]

So, to Morph... (off topic totally) is the marriage of Wesley to a Salterri Princess still a go? Would you like to PM/Skype a bit?

Given the pm chat we've been having, this makes me laugh so hard.

... well, inside, anyway