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Always a good start to use the wrong opening picture.

>>44651324
Vitrian politics and bureaucracy was about as interesting as every other nation’s – whatever interesting flashpoints that occurred were buried beneath a pile of time-wasting nonsense. Unfortunately for yourself, you needed to get through that nonsense if you wanted to form the fourth ruling house and then take control of the city. You had sent Gnome back to Harrowmont to continue reconstruction while you wasted much of the last two weeks going through the formalities necessary to form your power base.

That, and you’d had to meet with more people than you’d cared to. You weren’t yet sure whether the Farunese ambassador fell into that category. Your first impression of the man was that the main reason he hadn’t been able to escape from Vitria when Lady Terce had invaded was because he hadn’t been able to fit through the door.

“I must say that is most welcome to see a man of extraordinary capability and family history to step into such an important role in this city,” the ambassador says. “A line as old as yours could bring much to this region. With the resumption of trade via the sea our two states will be able to continue our long and storied relationship and I can only see things improve as you clear out the… unwelcome intruders between us.”

>continued

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>>44651352
As inexperienced as you are, you don’t know if the ambassador usually speaks like this or he’s as nervous meeting you as you are him. At least you both have one thing in common if it’s the latter – neither of you are showing your nerves, though it’s harder for you. It was hard to miss the fact that he believed that the only one to fight the Taourans was you, but you still weren’t sure if you cared to get Farun involved yet. From what you’ve heard there’s a dispute between the nations north of Vitria and working closely with Farun now would limit your options if that escalated into a war. You decide to…

>1. Push for an alliance with Farun, to gain their support against Taour. This will likely force your hand should Farun find itself at war with the other nations north of it, or else damage your standing with others.
>2. Try to get Farun involved against the vampires as an ‘enemy of my enemy’, but without working too closely. You’ll get less support from them (if any).
>3. Leave Farun out of this (for now).
>4. Custom

Also, as people likely saw, there’s a bunch of map designs at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1Qxe-FljPXpTmEwbFBDbjRuUGs&usp=sharing. This has been updated since I first tweeted it. There’s 4 main designs: rising phoenix; rising phoenix with shield; spin phoenix with normal shield (striped or not striped); spin phoenix with rounded shield. Discuss, and if there’s a clearly popular design I won’t do a vote. If there is a divide I might be able to narrow down the list of options.

>>44651371
>>1. Push for an alliance with Farun, to gain their support against Taour. This will likely force your hand should Farun find itself at war with the other nations north of it, or else damage your standing with others.
We need to incorporate Farun pronto. I've actually done some thinking, and leaving Darlesia alone for now might be interesting as we take Taour proper.

>>44651371
What's Farun's relationship to their Northern neighbours?

>>44651371
>>2. Try to get Farun involved against the vampires as an ‘enemy of my enemy’, but without working too closely. You’ll get less support from them (if any).
I like white on red

>>44651371
>2. Try to get Farun involved against the vampires as an ‘enemy of my enemy’, but without working too closely. You’ll get less support from them (if any).
slow start for a thread. We've got Banished Quest and JAQ running at the same time.

>>44651516
Aspirational posts like four updates in the time it takes for soma to shitpost and do one though, so it hardly matters

>>44651371
>>2. Try to get Farun involved against the vampires as an ‘enemy of my enemy’, but without working too closely. You’ll get less support from them (if any).
Only ask for them to support us once, at the moment we make our decisive strike against Trembin.

>>44651371
anonSpinPhoenix.png is the best looking flag design

>2

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>>44651371
>2. Try to get Farun involved against the vampires as an ‘enemy of my enemy’, but without working too closely. You’ll get less support from them (if any).

I like this flag

>>44651494
Very simplified?
There are fox people in this world, who are native to Farun.
They had a bunch of different clans.
One of the clans made a deal with the empire ruling the entire continent Farun to seize control over the other foxes, the rest of the foxes lost, were massacred and fled to this continent.

They are now refugees in the nations north from Vitria.
Lots of bad blood around.

Now to the actual decision, it's probably worth noting that, since we are kind of looking at a confrontation with the Mage League down the road, we might want to look start looking into which superpower we want to ally with and, while Farun is rather distant, that also means we don't have to fear as much immediate overreach from their side /and/ we may even turn the hostility with the foxes into a casus belli that leats us bulk up before taking on the league.

Downside is of course less fluffy tail, unless we pull some crazy stuff.

>>44651371
1
I'd rather work with the Farunese closely this time, the War last go about damaged what should have been a respectable economical state and ended up lumping it in with Vitria for a lack of anything better to do with it. Just need to convince them towards a more militaristic viewpoint without killing their king in a bloody coup

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>>44651371
This is my vote for the national emblem poll.

Why should we not ally ourselves with Farun?

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>>44651635
You mixed up Farun (a small city-state) with Pharos (an entire continent to the north-east).

>>44651494
None of them really get along, though there's nothing too serious happening just yet.

>>44651371
What's the current state of world conflict again? Magi League vs RSK, Darlesia vs Taour, Shropham supporting Taour and supported by Farun?

Also, some redtext in the loredoc
>[There might be something to add here relating to Taren Hand and Alyce’s child.]
Was this a typo for Lairos or did Taren and Alyce have a kid in the original timeline?

>>44651712
farun is about the same size as us

>>44651371
>>1. Push for an alliance with Farun, to gain their support against Taour. This will likely force your hand should Farun find itself at war with the other nations north of it, or else damage your standing with others.
We need them if we are to push against Taour in the north.

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>>44651703
>Was this a typo for Lairos or did Taren and Alyce have a kid in the original timeline?
No, that's just poorly worded. They're two different topics - Hand wasn't killed in the same way as last time.

>>44651712
The foxes have nothing to do with Farun, beyond the fact that one of them helps a monastery in their territroy (which is relatively normal). Pharos is a different continent that you haven't dealt with at all.

>>44651371
>1. Push for an alliance with Farun, to gain their support against Taour. This will likely force your hand should Farun find itself at war with the other nations north of it, or else damage your standing with others.
Wasn't the guy they had issues with kind of achump harmstrung by the fact that he didn't ahve the resorces toa ctually hold any gains he made?
Ally with Farun, make it clear that we are kind of royalist and deal with consequences.

>>44651371
>>1. Push for an alliance with Farun, to gain their support against Taour. This will likely force your hand should Farun find itself at war with the other nations north of it, or else damage your standing with others.

>>44651635
I'm not even sure how you managed to confuse Farun with Pharos but damn it if it didn't make me laugh

>>44651703
West of Darlesia is under Taour rule.
>>44651762
>make it clear we are kind of a royalist
No thanks, we decided last thread to not go down that road.
>>44651371
>>2. Try to get Farun involved against the vampires as an ‘enemy of my enemy’, but without working too closely. You’ll get less support from them (if any).
>>3. Leave Farun out of this (for now).
I don't want any close alliances yet. We should really twist it as us taking back our land basically being merc work for Farun, as we're getting the enemy off their doorstep. Make it a business relationship.

>>44651599
>>44651660

I just really dislike how busy the field is. Isn't pleasing to the eyes and would look like a muddled mess from a distance on a flag. The charge is fine even though the shield makes no sense with Saul. But a simple field of black would do better then whatever honeycomb nonsense is going on here.

>>44651870
Yeah to be honest we should probably drop the hexagon thing and just make it a tricolor or something.
Maybe just black at bottom gold at top?

So Anons, I will tell you why we should ally ourselves with Farun. We need to get more troops in order to secure the northern flank. If we get them now, then they can strike before the new Daywalker takes over the troops in the north. If they get attacked by the nations north of them, we have a perfect casus belli for swallowing those nations up.

Better yet, with Farun we can capitalize on the lack of the general while most of our own troops push on Darlesia itself.

Rereading the battle for Shropham
>The last desperately tries to fell Bael with powerful magical lances, making use of superior speed to keep away. Yet Bael does not care for their efforts, his armour glowing a faint red and shrugging off all blows.
>magic lances
>superior speed
I want to believe that Saul was one of the rogue combat magisters on Hallim's crew, before he got slaughtered by Bagel
yeah I know Saul is from the MG and doesn't have the focus to go full caster but it's an amusing thought that he might have been a nameless miniboss we slaughtered along the way

Oh yeah if it isn't too spoilerish, what class is Lairos/Alyce's kid? Knight? Mage? Spellblade, etc

>>44651870
You missed on the subtle symbolism of what is going on in most of that banner.

>>44651925
Yeah the whole dragon behind the emperor deal, got it. Still looks a mess.

>>44651870
I think I'll agree with you on that, How about decrease the line weight on the hexagons or decrease the opacity of the layer the hexagon lines are on. I'd say to around 32%

>>44651920
2 weeks have already passed since our clash with Taour. The new daywalker has already taken charge.

>>44651371
1

>>44651819
>No thanks, we decided last thread to not go down that road
Didn't we decide to use it to our political advantage?
Sure, we don't actually give a shit but when it wins us allies against the people that will immensely dislike us due to our Guard connections, why shouldn't we keep giving the impression we actually care?

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>>44651942

>>44651925
Not him, but I don't even like the shield and the hex/scale imagery looks clunky

I'd much rather just have the yellow spinphoenix on a black background, or if we want to keep the scale imagery, have the phoenix over a single scale/hex instead of the shield

>>44651993
We decided to use it as a way to circumvent the present obstacle, but don't want it to influence how our rise to rule is seen, we become emperor by our own mettle.

>>44651819
>No thanks, we decided last thread to not go down that road.
I thought we decided to not make a big deal about our heritage at the time. Two different things I would assume
>>44651371
>2. Try to get Farun involved against the vampires as an ‘enemy of my enemy’, but without working too closely. You’ll get less support from them (if any).
>>44651599
I love everything but the shield. If it could be removed it would be better.

>tfw the people who simply dislike the flag were entirely absent when the flag was decided upon

Y'all niggas ain't dedicated enough, you need to stick around for discussion, shit.

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>2.

“Retaking Trembin and the other lands north of Vitria is a priority but not the only one,” you say. “Given that the vampires are a clear threat to all their neighbours it would be nice to able to count on Farun’s support when I do move on them.”

The ambassador looks grim at that, but not surprised. “His majesty has had no troubles to date with the Taouran leadership.”

“Neither had Vitria, right up until Darlesia fell,” you say, having anticipated this response. “As I said earlier, I have several priorities. I represent both Darlesians and Vitrians. If Taour finds themselves in a pinch, who is to say they won’t turn on you?”

The room falls silent. You’d expected things to move swiftly, as this shouldn’t be too surprising a topic. Then again, maybe the ambassador hadn’t had the time to speak with his king to get his thoughts on the matter.

Finally he speaks, “Farun is not exactly the most militant of nations, but I do understand your point. It is not unsupported within the kingdom. Still, there would need to be something for us to gain if we were to become involved. I have no doubts that you would not wish to lose that territory to us and to spill Farunese blood for the sake of an old rival would cause significant turmoil within our currently peaceful lands.”

From there the meeting devolves mostly into some minor talk about the future possibilities – you’re not in a position to offer too much, especially given there are no guarantees as to Farun’s behaviour. At least with this meeting over you’re finally in a position to move on – there’s a dragon who has badgered you recently to visit her, and after that you can finally make your move wherever you will. You…

>1. Decide to visit Lyria now, it would be a couple of days detour in full.
>2. Wait to visit Lyria depending on where you’re going afterwards.
>3. Don’t visit Lyria now.
>4. Custom

>>44651758
WHICH OPTION LEADS TO ALLYING WITH SHROPHAM IN THE FUTURE?

fuck all you guys, I'm voting for banned, world destroying fae research to make the world our enemy

ain't nobody got time for diplomacy

>>44652095
I was here until the death of the thread and was part of the discussion. The beehive thing does look a bit busy, I agree, and the flag shape still isn't the best.
And nothing was "decided", just discussed.

>>44652095
The flag hasn't been decided on yet. That's what this discussion is for.

>>44651371
1

Just seems the best option at the moment when we need allies, even on a local scale. United pushes would secure far more on the long run then putting them off until we feel like dealing with the warring states to the north. Lyyph and the merchants have far less to offer us from many stand points, so we might as well go all in with the nation that'll benefit us the most as immediately as possible.

Plus qt warrior princess

>>44652127
Would vote for 3 because god damn women we're busy, but I'd lose, so
>>2. Wait to visit Lyria depending on where you’re going afterwards.

>>44652127
>1. Decide to visit Lyria now, it would be a couple of days detour in full.
prepare for sudden dragon sex.

>>44652127
>2. Wait to visit Lyria depending on where you’re going afterwards.
Where is she located? Also did you get my questions about thralls on the ask?
>>44652164
Who?

>>44652206
>forgetting that Asp promised no smut this time around

>>44652127
>1

>>44652127
>>2. Wait to visit Lyria depending on where you’re going afterwards.

>>44652223
He means dragon hand holding

>>44652127
2

>>44652095
What are broad assumptions for 200. Was here the entire time, didn't like it much then either. Thread was dying so I assumed we could have A normal discussion during a live thread to bang out the details. Sorry not everyone is bobbing on your cock about a flag.

>>44652248
N-no way! We aren't even married yet!

>>44652248
that's what I meant all along.
still lewd

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>>44652215
>Also did you get my questions about thralls on the ask?
I don't have any in my current list and it's not answered, so unless I deleted it and don't remember then probably not?

>>44652251
Bruh, pick the same category for 400, I'm the crossed swords flag anon, never wanted any of this silly firebird shenanigans, nor the scalie subterfuge.

>>44652295
Well, did you get MY question about the subskill buying modifications?

Aspir would you say Farun has an Elite force? Or are they more generalized troops?

>>44652127
>2

>>44652127
>1. Decide to visit Lyria now, it would be a couple of days detour in full.
I doubt Lyria would be quite capricious enough to ask us to visit her at this juncture when she only wants attention.
Odds are our next dragon power up is involved and if we don't want to get schooled by Volante in Darlesia, we'll probably need that.

>>44652295
Basically the questions were. Can only daywalkers thrall people? Is the strength of a thralling individual to the vampire? Does a thralls orders have to be something the thrall does consciously? To expand on the last one, if a thrall was told to stop breathing. Would they do so until they died or simply till they lost consciousness?

>>44652385
If we're going to Darlesia, then it's on the way anyway. We should where we want to go first.

>>44652127
>1. Decide to visit Lyria now, it would be a couple of days detour in full.

>>44652415
Prioritising other stuff an only visiting because it is convenient does not tend to sit well with girlfriends.
The fact that this girlfriend is a dragon and can occasionally peek into Saul's head does not help.

>>44652502
We're kind of building an empire.
And not dropping everything to visit, when you could've done so while earning more money if you waited one more day is a much more logical behavior that even a girlfriend might appreciate.

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Alright, as I'm doing a shit job of actually writing stuff right now, let's just quickly get the flag thing out of the way.

VOTE
Current flag of choice is at >>44651660
>1. Choose that flag as the banner of the empire.
>2. Don't choose that flag (either because you want to modify it or prefer a completely different one).

Note that the decision to have a phoenix of some sort is final.

>>44652586
>>2. Don't choose that flag (either because you want to modify it or prefer a completely different one).
Because it has to much going on. Needs to be toned down a bit but its great otherwise.

>>44652586
>>2. Don't choose that flag (either because you want to modify it or prefer a completely different one).
I'd just like for the individual hexes to be FAR bigger. Twice their current size.

>>44652586
2

Just make the background black and I'm fine

>>44652586
>2. Don't choose that flag (either because you want to modify it or prefer a completely different one).

>>44652127
>1. Decide to visit Lyria now, it would be a couple of days detour in full.
Also ask her if we should bring our other dragon along so they can meet in person.

>>44652586
>1. Choose that flag as the banner of the empire.

>>44652586
>1

>>44652586
>2. Don't choose that flag (either because you want to modify it or prefer a completely different one).

>>44652586
>>44652634
Seconding this.

>>44652586
>>2. Don't choose that flag (either because you want to modify it or prefer a completely different one).
Make the background be full black at the bottom and gold at the top, no hexagons. So the background is a bicolor. The shield isn't very good, but I have no better idea. A perfectly round circle might work better.

>>44652586
>>1. Choose that flag as the banner of the empire.

>>44652720
Agreed on the circle.

Think the emblem and red shield is fine as a shield sygil, but it does not work as a flag.

>>44652720
Honestly I could go for a circle, the shield is really meh.

I wouldn't be opposed to the field being split per bend or per bend sinister. But reusing gold when the charge is such wouldn't look too good and anymore than three colors on a flag looks muddled to me. All black field is the way to go

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Alright, so people don't want that flag. If we remove the hexagons then it looks like pic attached.

Do people like this one better? Or do people want to remove/replace the shield?

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>>44652850
Also, just to remind people that this isn't my flag - the anon who made it was nice enough to send me the .psd file so I can edit it a little bit. Normally I'd leave it to him to edit but I'm more interested in producing a flag that people want right now.

>>44652850
Well now it looks flat. I don't like it either way.

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>>44652850
Except not such a shitty yellow color.

>>44652920
Huh that actually isn't bad. I'd be down.

>>44652920
This looks like the same logo Porsche uses? Or was it Ferrari?

Fuck if I know, it looks like one of those high end cars no one buys for any real reason.

>>44652920
If you could make the red brighter, I'd be cool with it.

>>44652920
This is closer

>>44652920
Darken the yellow to near the same colour as the birds outline (kind of orangy?) maybe? Or the same yellow as its interior filler.
Should work.

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>>44653001
It looks like the flag of Holy Roman Emperor, you mean.
>>44652920
Tried making the black darker, not sure if the top outline of the shield should be colored gold as well though.
>>44653039
I tried that but it looked like shit (to me), might be paint's shittiness.

I wouldn't have an issue with the 'scales' if it didn't make it so busy.

Something that actually looked like scales/scale mail, that was true black on a background of dark grey would be fine. From a distance it isn't an issue but up close there's that subtle texture. The hexes really weren't doing it for me.

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Back to the quest

>2.

Lyria had given you no indication that visiting her was a high priority so you decide only to drop by if your next destination takes you past her location in the Marnn mountains. To decide on that was your next priority, so you gathered Lynn and made your way back to your study and begin a meeting with a few select officers.

“The news is as grim as you’ve heard,” Cormann’s voice says over the sending device from Harrowmont. “For whatever reason the resistance in Darlesia has decided that the RSK is their best chance, despite the fact that the Seraphs are being hammered by the latest League push. Unless they can muster up a massive army before Haylsburg falls then the League will be on the doorstep of Passau without any chance of the Seraphs helping Darlesia.”

“After that, the League seizes Darlesia, or at least most of the land around it, simply for supply line reasons,” you say, then pause for thought. “How do we know they won’t do that to us should we seize Darlesia?”

“We don’t, but we’re less on the nose than a pack of vampires. Violating our sovereignty is considerably more serious,” Cormann says.”

“You did hear the news about how I took power in Vitria, right?” you say dryly.

“Mage Guard nobility or not, it’s still a big deal. I doubt the League would want to make more enemies during a push like this,” Cormann says. “And the Taourans are incredibly unlikely to fight back – but us? Who knows.”

It was food for thought. You still weren’t certain that turning your back on Trembin was a good idea, given the forces mustered there, but Darlesia was of great interest to you and relatively open. There was more to worry about, however.

>continued

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>>44653075
“There is another possibility,” Maloric says. “The RSK is readily mustering enormous numbers from the northern provinces, which isn’t exactly a popular approach. With the League pushing against them, there’s the opportunity to move against the RSK and not outright pick a fight with them.”

“Using Cormann’s thoughts, I suspect that violating the sovereignty of Worremburg’s princedom would be seen rather poorly,” you say.

“It would, and would strain relations, but I have it on good authority that so long as you don’t push much further south than Gratsee you won’t face much resistance.”

“Good authority that happens to be your contact within the RSK?” Gnome says, her voice also on the far side of the sending device.

That gives you a few approaches, though you’re not quite as keen on interfering with the RSK. The simplest approach would simply be to move north and finish what you had started in Vitria, but Darlesia was an appetising piece of land and city.

>Discussion. Major possibilities are to take Darlesia or Trembin, or else to move on open RSK land. Or a mixture, or something else entirely.

I’ll leave it up to others to work on the flag, as it’s distracting me enough while trying to run (given I’m a bit off as is).

>>44653065
Problem that folks had with that was that scales are hard to do by all accounts.
Really its a job for a more skilled anon.

>>44653113
Take Darlesia

>>44653113
We need to aim for Darlesia, other areas can come and go as politics change, but if we lose D then its going to be a real bitch to get it back.

>>44653113
See, I really want to take Trembin now, preferably with the support of Farun, and push right on into Taour. As it stands, we can't really turn our backs on the threat, and the front is too large. If we do not take Trembin, we'll have to leave significant forces guarding the region.

>>44653113
Let's ally with the vampires against RSK

>>44653113
I cant see moving on the RSK as working to our advantage when the counter attack comes. Trembin while important and home to a large Taourian force. Darlesia is the biggest target and the most potential gain. Go for Darlesia.
Bit of a thought but seeing as how the RSK has had one of their biggest generals in the area injured, what if the league actually starts winning the war here?

>>44653222
Nominally what we aim for is this: tenuously take Darlesia then we make a deal with them to allow millitary access across our land, thus if the vampires attack us, they defacto attack those crossing our land, basically using them as a shield against reprisal, we then high tail it back and assauly Trembin while this is going on. With any luck we can clean up Trembin before they cancel their millitary access agreement and we can round on taour.

>>44653294
Letting other nations march their troups through your lands is a phenominally bad idea.
You might as well just declare yourself a client state.

I've just had a mad idea. This is a terrible idea and I should feel bad about thinking it.

There's actually a way to solve the Darlesia problem. Taour is not stupid. They should know full well they can't expect to hold Darlesia against the League. We can actually play on that. Tell them that we will allow them to retreat freely from the city and have those forces still intact. We will march in and take the undefended Darlesia. The League would probably be far less willing to attack a Darlesia held by us, seeing as the Guard might step in if one of its former nobles was attacked.

If both sides need to save face, we could make them leave a token force, that we could crush. That way, it will seem like they actually put up a defense, and we are seen taking it.

>>44653271
Wow, new thought. I don't like it but it's new

Aspirational what are our forces like, where are they, and what are the forces like in Trembly and Darlesia? I think we should make a treaty with Farun to invade Port Trembly if they attack Vitria, and go after Darlesia in the meantime.

Or agree to join the Seraphis as an ally once we gather all the land in the contested region in exchange for their assistance and noninterferance

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>>44653359

>>44653364
Also a good idea but I don't know if we can allow them to keep their forces

>>44653346
Not really much of a choice have we? Unless you fancy magicking up an extra army out of thing air or unless we can convince our dragon to get off her giant tuccus to guard darlesia for us.
Millitary access agreement for a dedicated corridor of allowed movement should be fine. It'll have political problems, but we can worry about that when we have a nominal claim to the land by owning the citys.

Just, dont let them in the citys.

>>44653390
The current color of the shield clashes too much with the black. Could you brighten the red, please?

>>44653390
I like this one.
>>44653381
We declined an alliance with Farun.

The yellow-black flag is too austrian. I dislike it. We might be a king but our jaw is still regular sized!

>>44653410
It isn't ideal, but then again this entire situation isn't ideal.

>>44653113
I think we should take Trembin as soon as possible, while contacting the RSK about Taour having taken their soldiers to attack us with thus gaining promise of them not attacking us when we take Darlesia.
Oncw we have Trembin, leave it with just enough soldiers to hold, then very quickly march to Darlesia and strike.
They wouldn't expect us to move so quickly, and if we take out Volante then we massively weaken Taour, which means we won't need as many soldiers at Trembin anyway.

>>44653422
I'm using fucking paint. Someone with photoshop or something can do it.

>>44653410
We literally can't.
We need to take the apart piecemeal or call in someone else to help us.
If we let them pull back we not only lose a lot of our vampire slayer rep (which is currently our ONLY rep) but we're looking at a concentrated enemy force we simply cannot take on.

>>44653458
That's a pipe dream and ignores the fact that it's the Mage League who are going to be taking Darlesia while we're in Trembin.

Here's a crazy idea:

Why don't we befriend the vampires? They don't seem too bad to me

>>44653381
>Or agree to join the Seraphis as an ally once we gather all the land in the contested region in exchange for their assistance and noninterferance
I like this idea

>>44653535
That's why we get the RSK to be neutral to us, so that they'd rather we have Darlesia than the Mage League.

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>>44653294
Allow military access for who?

>>44653381
You're mixing up names too much here for me to know what your strategy is.

>>44653364
Negotiation with Taour is a possibility, if a long-shot. Working with them in any way could backfire, of course.

>>44653458
The RSK already knows about the thralldom issue they had and there's no guarantees that Volante is in Darlesia (it's speculation that he's gonig there after mustering more troops).

>>44653543
Befriend the vampires, alienate everyone else.

>>44653562
The RSK is currently neutral to us.

>>44653583
As long as we have the vampires, do we really need anyone else?

>>44653562
The RSK is in no position whatsoever to do anything at all about Darlesia.
If we don't march for it now the League is going to take it and noone will in any position to stop them or take it back.

>>44653056
You weren't kidding about the holy roman flag. I like it.

>>44653605
Nope. NHMK best unit.

>>44653605
Dragons and vampires.

Everything else can get btfo

>>44653566
>Allow access
Mage League

Sorry for not being clear.

Get the agreement signed and witnessed by several nations representatives (essentially stating the mage league agree, internationally, that its our land and are loaning the right to cross it), should disuade them from trying to pull anything dodgy due to the hit to diplomatic reputation they would suffer for breaking it.

>>44653631
Blackwater riding Lairos into battle when?

>>44653605
Yes

The Mage Guard, the RSK, the Magi League, and any one of the three lords could still crush us if we joined with the vampires

I'd rather the vamps working for us instead of with us.

We become a vampire and ally with Taour, yea or nay?

Nay

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So I brightened the red a bit. I'm not quite happy with it, so I'll be tweaking it for a little bit.

Vampires are Love. Vampires are Life.

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Alright, so three moves right now. I'm going to roll the cunning plans to seize Darlesia or Trembin first into choosing to attack that area (the idea being that votes for the next move (like giving military access to the League) happen after taking a city.

VOTE
>1. Take Darlesia first.
>2. Take Trembin first.
>3. Take Darlesia and Trembin at the same time (either by convincing the Taourans to abandon Darlesia or else splitting your forces and working with Farun in some way).
>4. Custom

>>44653746
I'll back whatever this anon comes up with

>>44653774
>3. Take Darlesia and Trembin at the same time (either by convincing the Taourans to abandon Darlesia or else splitting your forces and working with Farun in some way).

Gimme both

Anyway, our best bet right now is still to take Trembin.
Darlesia at least is situated next to the conflict of two very big players, so it's less stable and less beneficial to us in the short ter,- With Trembin we will have made a nice defined line between Taour and us, and got a nice border with Farun.
If we manage set up a good defense line in Trembin, we can later start working on getting Darlesia, hopefully before one of the big players "ally" with Taour, or take Darlesia themselves.
If we must we can always take RSK land next to it and bet on the League's pressure being enough to have Taour pull their forces back a bit so we can storm it.

>>44653774
>>1. Take Darlesia first.

>>44653774
>1. Take Darlesia first.
>4. Reach out to the RSK

>>44653774
>1. Take Darlesia first.

>>44653774
>> 1. Take Darlesia first.

>>44653774
>1. Take Darlesia first.

>>44653642
If we're not going to be placing enough troops in Darlesia to hold it against Taur and are relying on the presence of passing through Mage League to keep them out, we are de facto not the ones holding Darlesia.
Even if they agree to the deal when it's patently obvious that it'll be in vampire hands again after a week and they can then take it, this would be giving up so much of our sovereignty we might as well give up on that whole empire business and go back to being a mercenary.

What we need to do is take Darlesia, do whatever it takes to make sure Volante dies there, do whatever it takes to get Farun to keep the vamps in trembin too busy to take advantage of our absence in Vitria and then march on Taour once Darlesia is dealt with.

If we're going to be making any access deals with the Mage League, we need to get at least get a similar concession, because everything else is a massive loss of face.
Intersting would be to bypass the Wall of Lesia, but I'm not convinced we can pull off that diplomatic coup with our background and recent decision to use it.

>>44653774
>1. Take Darlesia first.

>>44653774
>>2. Take Trembin first.
>>Discuss with politics experts about whether the RSK would agree to provide us some material support at least in exchange for us securing their Darlesian border

>>44653774
>1. Take Darlesia first.

>>44653796
We literally can't get Darlesia except now.
That's the entire point.
If we don't take Darlesia now, it'll be League territory until someone takes it from the League, meaning we can't get it until we either start fighting the League or we can't get it until the RSK takes it from the League and we start fighting the RSK.

>Wanting to give the nation backing the vamps access to our land
masterful tactics

>>44653902
Leaving Trembin means they have a huge open border to march on Vitria through.

>>44653902
I'll be honest, I don't really care if we won't be able to take Darlesia for a long while. It's not that big a territory, and we'd have to go against the league anyway once we run out of territory. This just makes us do it a tiny bit sooner.

>>44653961
You forget about the river? Or that Farun might possibly help us? The slightest pressure from Farun would mean that Taour wont push south.

>>44653961
We can come back to defend Vitria but if we don't take Darlesia now we lose it

Aspirational, I want to know our the numbers of our soldiers, our presence in Vitria and near Darlesia, and the vampires numbers in port trembly and Darlesia.

I want to know how many could match on Vitria while our attention is in Darlesia

>>44653961
It just means we need to use delay tactics. Keep our hit and run units to guard Vitria and go take darlesia.

Considering Virtria's feet dragging in letting us into power, a little scareing would probably do wonders for us getting shit done.

Without Darlesia then taur need to decide: do we attack and hope to gain supplys from raiding, or do we pull back to guard our capital?

>>44653961
Maybe that dumb noble kid will get killed trying to intercept the vamps, win-win

>>44653908
I think it's kind of stupid as well, but to be fair, it's Stropham backing the vamps with the League as a whole not willing or capable of making much of a fuss about it.
Sure, we'd need to be hella careful that whoever we're actually negotiating with and commands said troops is actively displeased with or at least not loyal to Stropham, but as long as we'd actually get something worth it out of the deal and don't look like the League walked all over us it could be fun.

The key point is that there's enough internal politicking going on that we may find someone willing and in the position to screw over Taour and by proxy Stropham without actually having to get their hands dirty.

>>44653961
Yes, that's an existing risk.
But we're not in a position where we can afford not to take risks.
We just have to hope that Volante's temporary (and hopefully soon permanent) absence from that front, the few troops we leave in Vitria and the hesitation movement from farun hopefully causes is enough to hold that front until we're done here.

>>44654025
>It's not that big a territory
Except it is. Not to mention the population, economic and military boosts it gives us. If we do go to war with either the RSK or the Mage League it is the best local staging area. It also gives a buffer zone between either nation and Harrowmont.

>>44654047
Oh, we could publicly announce that we leave the defense of Vitria to him, as we're sure the task isn't above him.
Even if he doesn't die, he won't be able to actually take Trembin, so we'll still be the one who came back and took back the Vitrian homeland.

>>44654025
Darlesia is way more valuable than Farun et al though, because Farun is the boonies.
Not to mention that losing Darlesia also hurts our emerging reputation as the guy who fucks up vampires and avenges all the people they fucked over.
Getting anyone with Darlesian sympathies to see us in a more favourable light is pretty damn useful, but it doesn't really work as well if the League are the ones to liberate Darlesia.
That makes us seem a lot more like the opportunistic guy who used the vampire situation to carve himself an empire, which is true, but a lot less palatable of a public image.

>>44654135
>Giving Mr Retard control over our garrison
There's already a small risk of him massively fucking things up for us just by using his existing authority.
No need to encourage that shit.

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>>44654132
>Except it is
Not really? Even if we only take what I outlined around Trembin, it's less than twice the territory of that.

>>44654174
Remember that the Vitrians want their rightful clay back, probably more than they care about Darlesia.

Okay, so here's what I suggest. We can keep Taour from attacking by merely getting Farun to posture. Have several rather public meetings with the embassador, have their army staged on the border, but tell them that is the extent of what we want. Then, we leave some of the less experienced Vitrians to hold the front while we take more of our troops to Darlesia proper.

>>44654217
>rightful clay
go home Belka, you're drunk. you need an escort back to /aceg/?

>>44654201
Darlesia is quite a lot more valuable than many other places regardless of its size by territory and it's not like we permanently lose out on Trebin, unless we actually lose.
Giving up on Darlesia is giving up on one of the three or four places that actually count as a major city in the entire non-superpower area.

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Alright, 1 wins. That also means you'll be visiting Lyria on your way there.

>1. Take Darlesia first.

Darlesia isn’t territory you want to lose the opportunity to hold. A city, even a ruined one, is valuable and so too is its value to the Darlesian soldiers under you. Holding their capital will give them a big morale boost and also make you the sole credible power that can and will stop Taour.

That did leave Vitria relatively open, which meant you couldn’t take too much of your force away from it. You could try to convince Farun to help you keep Taour busy, but that would also mean you would have less assistance from them later when actually trying to take Trembin. You could also try to gain assistance from either the League or RSK in taking Darlesia, but that would involve declaring yourself on one side of the war and make taking Darlesia potentially dangerous.

Your force is:
>200 Black Dragon Knights under Ser Lynn
>200 Flying Mage-Knights under Captain Malaine
>750 Arcane Archers under Captain Moss
>200 Pharosian Mercenaries under Captain Jirou
>500 Noble Knights
>250 Battlemages under Archmagister Maloric
>2500 decent general soldiers
>3500 weak general soldiers

Taour has:
>at least 5000 soldiers around Trembin after being reinforced
>at least 2500 soldiers in Darlesia
>at least 7000 more in their territory, plus whatever they’re recruiting currently under Volante

>last bout of discussion regarding splitting forces

Less about specific numbers, more about the general size of the forces you'll leave in Vitria, take to Darlesia and any elites.

>>44654247
Yes this sounds the best. Requires little of the Farunesse and creates loads of pressure on Taour.

>>44654247
That works, just so long as we promise good trade relations etc and make a big show of giving our word and such, this will trick any spys into thinking the whole charade is serious. It'll buy us time at least.

>>44654247
Yeah, this more or less seems like the thing to do.
Odds are the guy who's in command for Volante's absence will either hesitate or charge Farun like a retard.
Either way, we can make do.

>>44654282
How do the noble knights compare to the Black Dragon Knights?

>>44654282
Take a some what larger force to Darlesia. We want to take the city hard and fast. If Taour has a response army march from the north we need to able to react quickly and we cant do that with most of our forces in Vitria. Have Farun posture on the border to create pressure on Trembin.

>>44654336
The BDK have larger penises.

Right, so does anyone have thoughts on our odds of giving access through Darlesia to the League in return for access to their land in order to bypass/encircle the Wall of Lesia?
If we could somehow pull that off, we could go for Taour itself before having to deal with Trebin, meaning we wouldn't care as much that Farun spent their load on keeping Trebin busy now.

>>44654282
I'm thinking take
>all BDK
>125 FMK
>500 AA
>200 PM
>150 BM
>1250 dgs
>1000 wgs
Leave all the Knights here to protect their homeland.
While we're away and on the way, make the ones left behind start sort of guerrilla warfare against the force at Trembin, make them do quick high power raids on enemy supply lines, and generally be an annoyance. Make it seem like we're readying a siege. Meanwhile try to strengthen defense along the borders.
If possible, have Farun do some posturing like previously mentioned, flaunt good relationship, etc.
On the other hand we march directly to Darlesia, and attack quickly and decisively, I'd prefer to do it from the mountain but that's probably impossible.

I thought twice about taking Pharosians because they're good at raids which would help at Trembin, but we need them more against Volante's cavalry.

>>44654400
Depends on if the leauge have something else they want, or if access would be so worthwile.

Undoubtably the cost for such an agreement would be something extra on us. Maybe inquisition agents? I doubt we could fob them off quite so easily this time as well.

>>44654419
Thoughts on this? Any changes to suggest? Obviously numbers aren't exact just meant to show proportion.

>>44654419
I'll back it

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>>44654336
They're weaker in pretty much all ways, as you'd figure given I don't separate the orders of noble knights like I do with the BDKs.

FARUN VOTE
>1. Try to get Farun actually try to keep Taour busy with their forces
>2. Just try to get Farun to posture near the border with their forces to put pressure on Taour.
>3. Don't use Farun's support yet as you want it later.
Note that there'll be a roll after this to see if Farun actually helps you and how much.

FORCE SPLIT VOTE
>1. Send a force of around 3.5k to Darlesia that is heavy on elites, with the rest defending Vitria. Similar to >>44654419
>2. Send a larger force of around 5k to Darlesia including almost all elites, with the remainder defending Vitria
>3. Custom

>>44654458
Honestly, the main issue I'm seeing myself is that whoever we make the deal with would have to be someone:
1. We can trust.
2. Who trusts us.

And we have no real contacts in the League, no reputation they can rely on and our recently revealed background actually causes problems on that front.
Unless we somehow luck out massively and we get to leverage Gnome being with us for unbelievable value or we're talking with Lynn's half-brother, Lynn's half-brother is actually really enthusiastic about hacing a sibling, Lynn's half-brother is in a position to help us and we get this chain of coincidences running in spite of the massive risk of family drama, it's not going to work.

So it's not really a workable plan A, but it might be worth a minor consideration and very few points in favour of a plan that at least enables the possibility.

>>44654544
>>2. Just try to get Farun to posture near the border with their forces to put pressure on Taour.
>1. Send a force of around 3.5k to Darlesia that is heavy on elites, with the rest defending Vitria. Similar to >>44654419 #

>>44654544
>1. Send a force of around 3.5k to Darlesia that is heavy on elites, with the rest defending Vitria.

>>44654544
2
1

>>44654544
>2. Just try to get Farun to posture near the border with their forces to put pressure on Taour.
>1

>>44654575
Really any such deal would be banking on how hard we can blag having us as a potential ally being valuble to them.

>>44654544
>2
>1

>>44654419
So that's ~3500 men for Darlesia and ~4675 men for Vitria. Combine that with Farun's posturing, and I think we'll be able to keep Trembin busy.

Fuck, this is difficult. Even after this campaign they'll still have another 12,000 men MINIMUM. That's without Volante's forces. That's arrayed against our probable 8 or 9 thousand.

>>44654544
>1. Try to get Farun actually try to keep Taour busy with their forces

>1. Send a force of around 3.5k to Darlesia that is heavy on elites, with the rest defending Vitria. Similar to >>44654419


I'm honestly thinking we want Farun to do more than simple posturing.
Posturing alone is not be enough and while we'd probably miss their help for taking Trembin, it's probably better for our emerging reputation if we do the actual conquest without much help from them anyways.
We're probably a lot better off preventing Vitrian losses or even an invasion, than having Farun on hand for taking Trembin.

>>44654544
>2. Just try to get Farun to posture near the border with their forces to put pressure on Taour.
>1. Send a force of around 3.5k to Darlesia that is heavy on elites, with the rest defending Vitria. Similar to >>44654419

>>44654544
>2. Just try to get Farun to posture near the border with their forces to put pressure on Taour.
>1. Send a force of around 3.5k to Darlesia that is heavy on elites, with the rest defending Vitria. Similar to >>44654419

>>44654614
They have a lot of chaff, that's for sure.

>>44654617
Let me put it this way. If there were even 3,000 Farunese troops on the border, they're sandwiched between two sizeable armies. If they march on one, the other will be at their rear. They can't afford to march on Vitria if Farun even looks like they're going to help us.

>>44654641
We will need to ally with the RSK

>>44654544
1
1

Farun posturing isn't going to do shit.
The vampires are not retarded, they know Farun is weaksauce, they know we've just pulled a lot of troops out of Vitria and they'll know we can't afford to be invaded in Vitria right now.

So we really need to /make sure/ they can't invade Vitria with nealy as much as they want, by actually having Farun tie up forces instead of only pretending.

>>44654544
>>2. Just try to get Farun to posture near the border with their forces to put pressure on Taour.
>1. Send a force of around 3.5k to Darlesia that is heavy on elites, with the rest defending Vitria. Similar to >>44654419

>>44654661
RSK pls go

>>44654660
The Farunese army isn't going to intimidate them into backing off, even if they actually believed they are really going to attack.
Everything they've seen since taking Darlesia indicates that the people in this area aren't going to actually do shit to help their neighbours, so they'll rightfullyly expect the Farunese threat to be empty.

>>44654714
But we mix the table up bigtime. If the ambassador is seen talking with the new king, and the army marshals on the border, doesn't that mean something? They CAN'T risk it being true.

>>44654700
No! We came out of the closet as a noble, we might as well use it

>>44654759
Course they can, because the Farunese army is chaff and the Vitrians are hardly better.

>>44654768
We can use it witohut actually siding with the RSK.
I'd actually kind of like to just fuck over everyone.

>>44654796
>Course they can, because the Farunese army is chaff and the Vitrians are hardly better.
That's 500 noble knights on their southern border, and probably enough mage knights up there as well.

>>44654796
Eventually, yeah but let's get the power up while it's still useful to us

>>44654796
>I'd actually kind of like to just fuck over everyone.
Same. Unless we really have to I want to just conquer them all ourselves. This gets tricky when we have to kill beings like the Lords though. How do we kill someone like Ember or Alyce without someone of equal power?

>>44654846
I meant that more in the sense that we can already use the noble name to stabilize our rule, boost our legitimacy and integrate existing nobles of the areas we conquer more easily.
RSK involvement isn't really necessary for us to make use of it and we can even make us of it if we end up snatching territory away from the RSK after all.

The fact that we fit more easily into one of the two warring ideoligical super powers doesn't mean we have to join up with either isntead of being that annoying asshole who takes advantage of weaknesses and opportunities wherever he can.

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>2 and 1

After letting Cormann, Lynn and Maloric know how you wanted to split your forces, namely leaving the noble knights and a small force of battlemages and flying mage-knights to assist a larger force of general troops, you organised a discussion with the Farunese at the highest levels. If you wanted them to take any action whatsoever against Taour you’d need to convince them at the top.

Which is exactly why you were surprised at the voice that came over the sending device that afternoon.

“Having heard the situation, I decided that it would be better if your words came through me rather than to be first heard in the echo chamber that is my father’s cabinet,” says the voice of Princess Annette of Farun. “My father is a peaceful man, who prefers a peaceful kingdom even when that isn’t necessarily possible.”

“I’m not exactly asking your kingdom to breach that peace,” you say, leaving the unsaid ‘yet’ out of the discussion.

“Taking a provactive approach towards Taour is breaching the peace regardless, especially as we’d need to all but declare war against them to be taken seriously. Not everybody can take advantage of being a relative unknown to avoid the formalities of war,” Annette says, with a touch of bitterness. “Still, although I believe that taking a stand against Taour is in our interests before they decide that enthralling the nobles is easier than fighting you, not everybody will be in agreement.”

>continued

>>44654899
Superior tactics and clever counters.

>>44654899
Level up, level up, level up again and then level up some more.
Only then will we actually start hitting our "natural level cap" which we then proceed to capbreak with weird and unique dragon familiar shenanigans and then we are one of those super beings.

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>>44654928
Not everybody meaning ‘almost none of the fat, lazy nobles’, is how you read that. You’d need to offer something, even if it was token – it’s not like you were asking them to really do anything so it could be small.

“Knowing that you’re supporting a future empire that will be kind and generous to its friends is not enough? Or of supporting a fellow noble?” you say, figuring you might as well try it on.

”You might give people the wrong idea with that sort of offer,” is the surprisingly cold reply.

Well, that leaves a couple of choices.

>1. Stick with that offer. You have no reason to offer more given they’re saving their own skin as well.
>2. Offer future tariff cuts to Farunese traders and goods, given the importance of trade between the kingdom and Vitria.
>3. Offer a future alliance should things go well, which will be of use should Termina to the north cause issues.
>4. Custom

>>44654899
you don't

>>44654943
Reminder that our natural limit in our Magic stat is just below Alyce's.

>>44654949
>3. Offer a future alliance should things go well, which will be of use should Termina to the north cause issues.

>>44654949
>3. Offer a future alliance should things go well, which will be of use should Termina to the north cause issues.

>>44654968
Which is where the weird nd unique capbreaking stuff comes in.
Our natural limit is going to be literally irrelevant for dozens of threads to come and once it becomes relevant we'll in all likelyhood be powerful and influential enough to have access to several different capbreaking mechanisms.

>>44654988
>>44654991
No!

>>44654949
>>44654949
>3. Offer a future alliance should things go well, which will be of use should Termina to the north cause issues.

Should have just gone with the alliance in the first place.
We get their support now, we get a legitimate reason for war in the north afterwards.
And everything's peachy at the end.

>>44654949
>>2. Offer future tariff cuts to Farunese traders and goods, given the importance of trade between the kingdom and Vitria.
A temporary one, however, for a number of months/years after we secure the region, and if Farun requires our help then we shall renegotiate the length of those tariff cuts.

>>44654949
>3. Offer a future alliance should things go well, which will be of use should Termina to the north cause issues.

>>44654949
>>2. Offer future tariff cuts to Farunese traders and goods, given the importance of trade between the kingdom and Vitria.

Just for u bby.

Now do what we fuckin' told you to do.

>>44654949
>>3. Offer a future alliance should things go well, which will be of use should Termina to the north cause issues.

>>44654949
>2. Offer future tariff cuts to Farunese traders and goods, given the importance of trade between the kingdom and Vitria.
we must establish out eco.

I mean, we're going to gobble up Farun eventually anyway, right? The tariff thing really won't matter after that, while the alliance might force us in a difficult situation.

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>>44655016
Well, this 'future alliance' is predicated on the support Farun provides and doesn't get formed yet. It will still have the downsides should you still form it later but you'll lose less standing should you not form it than if you formed it now and betrayed them later.

>>44655079
Tarif cuts don't really help with that.

>>44655079
THIS
Hell, boosting our trade will be useful since we're about to take Darlesia as well.
If we don't have an official alliance with Farun then we can use them as proxy to get useful loot from other countries that we don't have a super great relationship with at this point.
>>44655104
They encourage trade.

>>44655100
We can just make them the key power in their region this time, instead of Lyyph, and still make them our vassals

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So I've been adjusting this on and off and came to the conclusion that the best thing would be to have a slightly different colored border, but that's outside of my capability to make. Instead, have this, the best I could get it.

>>44655104
They encourage trade, which if done with a more developed nation, encourages development in all fields. Even if Farun itself isn't all that ahead of us, they still trade with other more advanced countries, so the technology would get to us through them. We need to level up our territory, not just expand it.

>>44655100
Ah, so the previous decision means we are not "locked in" until they actually do something, but we're also not as likely to actually get their help?

>>44655140
I'm ok with it

>>44655140
To be honest, can someone try this without the shield? To see how the bird on the bicolor looks? Probably make it have a white outline or something.

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Also, this is the mixed-colour flag that an anon thought up but with a circle instead of a shield (and slightly different tones of the colours so they don't clash as much). Next time I call a vote (probably next thread) it's going to be 'choose a flag from those available, the end'.

Anyway, this is 3. Writing.

>>44655223
Ooh, now THAT is an emblem. I dig.

>>44655138
Personally, I might even argue for marrying the princess in order to integrate.
We're not larger than life Talon this time around, so noone expects us to live forever or has accepted years ago that we're going to be sleeping with dozens of powerful women.

Succession is actually something people will care this time around and having no legitimate children or even worse only dragon children is going to be incredibly problematic.

So, yeah, succession ensuring marriage to a human of decent pedigree should probably be a thing at some point and while this girl isn't really one of the world's movers and shakers that also means signficantly less marraige related in-universe drama.

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>>44655223
Adjusted red to clash less with the black.

>>44655275
Actually a good point

>>44655223
Perhaps we should be using complementary colors with the flag, which black is not a good color for.

Green and red make eachother pop out, for example.

>>44655289
I like the other one

>>44655275
I'm not actually a fan of succession by family at all. I'm actually more in favor of a nominative monarchy. As in, we decide who our heir would be. I'm actually liking the idea of nominating Sarah initially.

This gets rid of the issue of royalty vs mages, and gives the empire a good degree of control over who the next ruler will be. Hopefully the strongest would always be chosen.

This also lets us marry Lyria without people freaking out too much.

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>>44655289
That's too bright.
>>44655223
After the thread please try different colors. Like full white phoenix and black circle with gold and red background, white circle, no outline phoenix on white circle, etc.

I still say it looks better with proper black.

>>44655296
Only thinking a bit about it right now, of course, and technically we already have a decently neutral option with that Vitrian girl we rescued (though given her youth that option is probably more of a "get the political side of marriage past us and don't really deal with actually being amrried for a few years" option) and we don't know if there'll be any /big/ opportunities partly dependant on our marital status.

>>44655327
The other one hurts my eyes with the red on black. The red is far too dark.

>>44655379
Your red is far too bright. Are you sure you don't have flux turned on?

>>44655359
Yeah, I've been considering a more quasi-roman "succession by pseudo-adoption" approach myself, since that could be pretty cool, but I don't know if there's any real historical backing or precedence for that kind of system in this setting, because if not we might need quite a lot of clout to actually push this through without cauding more problems than it's worth.

>>44655448
I still expect us to achieve immortality

How did Talon do it again?

>>44655469
Astral power, probably

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>>44655289
I wouldn't say that clashes less at all.

>>44655372
At this point I don't care enough to keep screwing with colours and shit. Red, black and gold seems to work well enough.

>3.

“There’s always the strong possibility of an alliance, should our joint effort against Taour go well,” you say after some thought, and you hear a sharp intake of breath through the sending device. “You have future threats at home, after all.”

“That’s a strong position to take,” Annette says slowly. “I hope you realise that predicating the alliance on our cooperation could produce issues by itself.”

“I hope you realise that having the princess discuss such important matters rather than the king creates a very specific impression,” you respond.

“I’ll let you know how things go, but I’m certain we’ll be able to provide the military support necessary,” Annette says. “Just don’t assume the vampires won’t see through your feint.”

Well, that’s why you were leaving a significant army behind. It takes you another day to wrap things up and be ready to march, finally leaving Vitria behind. It had taken you far too long to get the mess in the city taken care of – Lady Hawkins only helped so far, given that you wanted to seize power from her. Not that you could complain too much.

Leaving your army to march towards Darlesia, you set off to the foot of the Marnn mountains. You…

>1. Invited Gnome to join you, figuring it was time she met Lyria.
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.
>3. Went alone
>4. Custom

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>>44655428
Final offer.

>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.
>>44655502
Good

>>44655502
This is literally the German flag with a circle in place of one of the stripes. Bird added for posterity.

>>44655488
>>3. Went alone
Let's make Gnome a bit jealous~
Plus taking her along would require us to take a detour to Harrowmont, wouldn't it?

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

>>44655469
Who actually rules after we do or whether we achieve immortality is pretty much irrelevant though.
What actually matters is that people aren't going to be terrified of us dying and leaving the empire in the hands of a dragon/noone/half a dozen bastards who start waging war against each other.

Talon could more or less avoid this by being Memes The Man.
To the large majority of people he was such a ludicrous larger than life figure that noone really expected him to die and people were largely willing to not bother worrying about the possibility for now.
I doubt we'll get to pull off the same, simply because Talon established his rep before he became emperor, but all we do from now on will be colored by being "that emperor with no clear heir".

>>44655563
no she is with us

>>44655540
>>44655547
>>44655549
>>44655560
>>44655586
Gnome I can understand.
Why Lynn? We have no reason to think Lyria would want to meet her, nor is she one of our most trusted companions. Plus, you know, I thought this would be time for some alone time with Lyria.
This rushing of the relationship is exactly what happened in the first AEQ as well, you're playing Saul way too trustingly.
>>44655488
>>1. Invited Gnome to join you, figuring it was time she met Lyria.

>>44655488
>3. Went alone

>>44655599
Gnome was sent to Harrowmont to continue construction.

I just want to be climbing the mountains with Gnome, when all of a sudden a dragon lands in front of us. Gnome steps in front of us to protect us, but we run up and hug and nuzzle the dragon's snout. The look on her face would be priceless.

>>44655488
3 alone with the waifu

>>44655488
>1. Invited Gnome to join you, figuring it was time she met Lyria.
or
>3. Went alone
Don't care that much, honestly, BUT LET's nto bring fucking Lynn, please.

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

It's a bit private, but that also makes this a show of trust and Lyria was on the one hand rather interested in Lynn and on the other also rather interested in Gnome's large... hands.
So while she might be somewhat annoyed I doubt she'll mind too much.

In any case, we've been at least a bit standoffish to Gnome and unwilling to talk about stuff we consider personal, which is understandable but also not really how Champion and/or Familiar relationships are remotely supposed to work.

As for Lynn, she has enough issues that she probably needs a show of trust sooner rather than later, if we want her to let us close enough to get the opportunity to help with them.

>>44655488
>>1. Invited Gnome to join you, figuring it was time she met Lyria.
It would probably not be a good time to tell Lynn. Just keep her as she is until we can figure out what to do with her.

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

>>44655488
>> 3. Went alone

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

>>44655653
Lynn does not need a show of trust right now, it will be more apt after the siege of Darlesia at the earliest.
She doesn't even know exactly how this thing works, and I think it's more appropriate to let our champion be the first one to really learn of and meet Lyria.
>>44655488
>>1. Invited Gnome to join you, figuring it was time she met Lyria.
Or alone is fine if others don't want Gnome.

>>44655488
>>3. Went alone

>>44655488
With Gnome or alone, don't care which.

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

>>44655488
>1. Invited Gnome to join you, figuring it was time she met Lyria.
>3. Went alone
I have no idea why people want our first time actually seeing Saul and Lyria interacting to be weighed down by not only Gnome but Lynn as well.

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>>44655563
They can meet you at the foot of the mountains.

Anyway, 1 wins because there seems a decent contingent that doesn't want Lynn but there was overwhelming support for Gnome (probably should have done separate votes for Lynn and Gnome). Let's do a final flag design vote before I'm kind of sick of it and it won't matter too much in the end - plus I'm eating lunch.

FLAG DESIGN VOTE
Note that adjustments to colours/tones will be decided after the design.
>1. Tri-colour with circle >>44655223
>2. Tri-colour with shield >>44653390
>3. The original design with hexagons >>44651660

Vote for a second preference too if you don't want to risk your vote being wasted.

Not gonna bother with the rising phoenix design as at worst it will just split a couple of votes (wasting them)

>>44655608
Lynn is the dsughter of Lairos

It just seems badass to me

>>44655710
Opportunities for a large show of trust don't show up whenever they're narratively convenient and Lynn just gave us one by revealing her entire background /and/ the resulting daddy issues.

>>44655766
1

>>44655766
>1.

>>44655488
>2

>>44655782
>Lynn just gave us one by revealing her entire background /and/ the resulting daddy issues.

We rolled for it, doesn't count.

>>44655766
ya I only wanted to bring lynn and not gnome

>>44655766
>2. Tri-colour with shield >>44653390

>>44655488
>2. Invited both Gnome and Lynn to join you.

>>44655782
And we revealed our secret as well. Lynn didn't take us to meet Lairos, rightfully so, and nor do we have to take her to meet Lyria. They will meet, eventually, but it is no rush.
>>44655766
My preference is 1, with secondary preference being 2.
The circle in 1 makes it easy to put on various items as a symbol in and of itself.

>>44655766
>1. Tri-colour with circle >>44655223

>>44655766
>3
Out of honour for that anons hard work.

>>44655766
>3. The original design with hexagons

>>44655766
1

>>44655766
3

>>44655811
Rolling well isn't mind-reading or mind-control anon.
Lynn decided to lay all her secrets bare to us.
That's not something we should jsut ignore.

>>44655766
>1

>>44655858
We didn't ignore it:
Don't act like we owe her something, that's not how relationships work.

>>44655858
Doesn't count

>>44655858
>Rolling well isn't mind-control anon.

You're right. that's what rolling poorly is for

:^)

>>44655766
Thanks Asp

>>44655874
I'm not saying we did ignore it.
I'm saying that you can't counter "She gave a large show of trust and we should respond" with "we rolled well so she didn't give a large show of trust".

If you want to argue that we did enough, that's an entirely differnt line of reasoning and argument, which needs to be adressed independantly.

Personally, I think we should do more not because we owe it to her or something.
But the secrets she told us are not only secret because they're dangerous to spread, but also because she has some serious issues and hang-ups with her parentage.
Giving that sort of thing causes feelings of emotional vulnerability and stuff, which is all the more problematic when you already have self-worth and self-identity issues.

So here I'm seeing an opportunity to make her feel at least somewhat better about the fact that she gave away the security blanket of secrecy simply because she got trust in return and I'm willing to take that opportunity because I don't really think Lynn is going to be a blight on our meeting with Lyria.

>>44655766
1

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1 wins flag design then.

>>44655838
His spin phoenix design (with the modified outlines and fills I can see in the psd) is still there and is fantastic - I'm not sure if he's a different guy to the one who created the outline in the first place either, who deserves respect anyway. I also think his colour choices (not using a flat black, his modified golds and reds) are the best chosen.

>1. Invited Gnome to join you, figuring it was time she met Lyria.

You’d had the time to set up camp by the time Gnome joined you at night. Offering her some of the stew you’d cooked, you slunk back into your thoughts while your Champion settled in.

Gnome eventually interrupts the silence, saying, “You’re considerably different than I expected you to be.”

It’s hard not to frown at that, so you just let your facial expression form naturally. Gnome responds with a smile and you suspect she’d ruffle your hair if you weren’t on the other side of the fire. You don’t need to say what you’re thinking, as Gnome continues.

“You’re far more thoughtful and calculating than it first seemed. The same goes for the fact you’re not all that dynamic – you appear to be fast moving and thinking but that’s only your outer appearance and battlefield behaviour. You’re a mage through and through, whether you like it or not.”

“I suspect there’s plenty of mages who aren’t thoughtful,” you reply.

“There are, but they often don’t get too far unless they’re overly reliant on natural talent or their family name,” she says. “And though you do have an important family name, it’s not what got you this far. In some ways you’re superior to Alyce, merely because you plan a lot further ahead than she does.”

>continued

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>>44656116
“You’re rather cynical towards one of the most powerful people on the continent.”

“Alyce is in her 60s. She’s from one of the oldest and most honoured families on Gauron and has talent and power far beyond almost anybody else,” Gnome says. “Unlike her master, she flitted it away for decades and then did an about turn when she suddenly saw how big the world was. She’s a great woman but if you had what she had I suspect the first Magi Rebellion would have ended differently.”

That’s embarrassing praise, even for you. And unearned. You say as much.

“I’ve been around long enough to recognise those that will go far, and those that will go further. I can’t recall the last time I’ve met somebody with ambition to match their talent – most spend their youth finding an ambition to match their talent, once they realise they can do so much more than everybody else.”

There’s not much to say to that, so you change the topic to…

>1. Gnome’s former master, Taren Hand
>2. The current head of the League, Archmage Alyce
>3. Herself and her history

>>44656146
>>1. Gnome’s former master, Taren Hand

>>44656146
>3. Herself and her history

>>44656146
>3. Herself and her history

>>44656146
>1. Gnome’s former master, Taren Hand

>>44656146
>> 1. Gnome’s former master, Taren Hand

>>44656146
>Herself and her history
Hey, she brought it up, with having lived long enough to blahblahblah

>>44656146
>1. Gnome’s former master, Taren Hand

Was Hand Alyce's master too?

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This look about right for Volante, aspir?

>>44656146
>1. Gnome’s former master, Taren Hand

>>44656146
>2. The current head of the League, Archmage Alyce
need info about her.

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>1.

“You said that Grand Magister Hand was different to Alyce?” you ask Gnome, figuring this was a natural topic to move onto.

“In quite a few ways,” Gnome says, stoking the campfire before resuming. “I’ve known him since he was a mere boy, as that’s when he summoned me. His ambition has never been like yours and Alyce’s, though I’m not certain of the latter’s. He merely wanted mages to be about actively helping people, rather than merely doling out aid in exchange for assistance from governments. To do that he knew he needed to ascend the political ladder, which requires time, influence and magical talent. There’s not as many shortcuts to the top if you’re not going to seize power.”

That last remark seemed particularly targeted at you. You remained silent and waited for Gnome to continue, not feeling that there was much to say about it. The reality as that your ambition was not one that could be achieved by working within existing systems, so you merely had to make your own.

Looking amused by your refusal to rise to her bait, Gnome continued, “Taren’s talent was spread across many disciplines – he even toyed with enchantment as a magister before he realised that although enchanters were respected and influential, they were never the sort to be given any power. The most influential mages are those that focus on channelling, and to them an enchanter’s duty is to support their power. I suspect this attitude is the reason why your friend Maloric has no real respect for the towers – mages are not egalitarian or meritous, despite their protestations. Taren abused this fact and put himself into a position of influence in Ahm. He helped shape a lot of the growth that has been seen across the continent over the past century, where mages helped solved much of the famine and disease problems that were virtually omnipresent.”

>continued

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>>44656605
“Then he started a rebellion against the RSK and was disappeared,” you say, bringing the discussion back to reality.

“Is that how it’s told?” Gnome asks you, surprised, but then her face grows grim and distant. “Hand wasn’t disappeared – after he surrendered after the battle at Bisrum, due in no small part to Alyce’s surprise disappearance after Lairos disrupted her own battle to the west, Taren returned to Ahm. There the King of Ahm had him ambushed by the Seraphi Tallorn, the elite anti-mage soldiers of the RSK – most likely Fenix wanted my old master dead and convinced the king of his idea.”

You stare at Gnome in shock at the news. The disappearance of Hand had been speculated on for as long as you could remember – assassination had been on possibility, but the fact nobody could find proof meant it was often dismissed. One of the most commonly cited reasons that Hand wasn’t killed was due to the close relations between Ahm and the dwarves, cemented by Gnome. For Hand to have been killed, that means… You’re not sure whether to say it, as you can tell that Gnome is troubled by this talk.

>1. Ask Gnome whether she was killed at that time.
>2. Leave the topic as is for now.
>3. Custom

>>44656306
More or less, though he has red resin in his visor instead of a red glow. I likely subconciously based Volante's design on FZ Berzerker.

>>44655469
Talon had Astral power. So it was something like his mental image wouldn't let him age at a certain point and since he was an astral being he could make his soul last forever.

Saul is a sorcerous being which generally can't influence the soul as easily as an astral being can. I'm pretty damn sure though there is methods even for them to have true unaging.

We know liches exist and we know the infernalist likely had a way, The source used by a true mage can give real immortality as long as you live in the area as long as you deage.

Off the top of my head the big thing Saul needs is a method to replenish his soul of astral power.

>>44656632
>> 1. Ask Gnome whether she was killed at that time.

>>44656632
>1. Ask Gnome whether she was killed at that time.

>>44656632
>2. Leave the topic as is for now.

>>44656632
>ask what happened to Alyce after Lairos interrupted her battle.

>>44656827
1. We already know and meta fishing for IC info is kind of a shitty thing to do.

2. How the hell is Gnome supposed to know? She wasn't even at the same battle as Alice and in all likelyhood died shortly after her Taren.

3. She just told us the truth about how her previous master, the boy she was summoned by in his childhood and she watched grow into a great man over decades, was murdered right in front of her eyes with her unable to save him and which likely cost her her own life as well.
Have some freaking tact, because this is sure has heck not the place and time for random inquiries about Alyce's misadventures.

>>44656632
>>1. Ask Gnome whether she was killed at that time.

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>>44656827
>ask what happened to Alyce after Lairos interrupted her battle.
"She appears to have survived but I know nothing more about what happened. She hadn't re-emerged by the time Taren and I returned to Ahm in defeat."

>1.

“That’s when you died, isn’t it,” you say, positing a question more as a statement. It’s obvious enough – for Gnome to know what happened up until Taren’s final moments but not any more recent history meant that she had to die before Taren. Any other situation would result in her becoming incorporeal and returning to her Place of Power beneath the Sithran Mountains.

“It is,” Gnome says, her face grim. Her usually piercing green eyes stare into the campfire.

You remain silent for some time, waiting to see if something changes in Gnome. It was difficult thinking up words to say to such an ancient being – death should not be new to her, but her own was a different matter. A howl fills the air from a distant wolf, breaking the silence only momentarily.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” you mutter, catching her attention. “If they killed Hand, then you would be unsummoned. It doesn’t seem right that a group of anti-mage soldiers would focus on an elemental when it would be easier to kill the mage. For such a fantastic melee to avoid attention also seems odd.”

“That’s because there wasn’t a fantastic melee,” Gnome says with a sad smile. “Knowing that the king wanted him dead, for there was no other way for a company of Tallorn to enter Ahm in such force, Taren surrendered to avoid causing untold damage and death to those nearby.”

“Why did you die?” you say, almost shrilly.

>continued

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>>44657082
“I don’t know. Perhaps it was spite as I’d killed so many of their comrades in the rebellions. Perhaps Fenix or Ahm was worried somebody else would summon me and reveal the truth,” Gnome says and you note that she appears to be avoiding explicitly speaking about her death. “In the end, it doesn’t matter. I’m here now and that’s it.”

That’s it? Hardly. Now that you knew, you could use it – you sincerely doubted the dwarves, who revered the pure earth elementals, would be happy to know that the king of the RSK ordered the meaningless death of one of their idols. Still, you’d leave it at that for today. Tomorrow you’d see Lyria and perhaps see what she thought of it.

Now that you think about it, when should you approach Lyria? You were only a few hours hike from her cave so far as you could tell, especially with Gnome’s help and your flight magic. Early morning would be easiest for you, but she might be a bit grumpy. Lunch would be normal, but boring. Late afternoon might have her in a different mood – she had always been unpredictable to talk to at that time. You decide to visit Lyria at…

>1. Early morning
>2. Midday
>3. Afternoon

>>44657106
>> 1. Early morning
Wakey wakey dragon

>>44656670
Strangely enough if we knew more about the lords that might be an excellent place to search for immortality. They did figure out a way to transmutate the soul which would be pretty useful.

Necromancy likely is another place we could search and we do have the basic mage immortality granted via learning channeling from Maloric as a stop gap. We could also have blackwater help assuming we could get a basic back scratching alliance.

Just depends on if we want to quest for immortality or not. I'd say we should though just because it feels pretty logical.

>>44657106
>2. Midday

We can drive Gnome away before the afternoon mood shift and keep the dragonfu from doing anything awkward.

>>44657106
>>1. Early morning

>>44657106
>>2. Midday

>>44657106
>3. Afternoon

>>44657106
>3.
Afternoon would Give a different impression on Gnome. As it would seem that Saul has the dragon around his fingers. Early morning would show that Saul is somewhat subservient to Lyria, and Lunch would put it at a equal stance.