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@eternal freedom

yah, well, there's a few posts off that yet, they ain't even got the goods . Just tell me where' you'd like them to drag the sleds too.
Main goods are going to be gold and furs. Figured your northern troops must get mighty nippy on the interior, and who doesn't need gold?

@Maddoc: Oh, have em go to the Eastern shore of Hudson Bay, there are a number of border posts there open for trading.

@Imperial: Oh, probably about 2-300 years ago. We generally don't do the expansionist thing anymore, we've switched to a newer philosophy of "we won't start the war, but we'll damn well finish it and there'll be nothing left standing of the enemy when we're done."

Hm. Existing for so long would definitely make Orion into a major cultural factor in the region. What is its culture like?

It's culture has developed over the years, though since the First Interregnum and Civil War (400-418 AEF) there have been consistent elements. It has always been an Empire, with the Emperor having near-absolute power. There is no state religion, and very few Orions will profess a belief in the divine or diabolic. Ours is a culture of reason and science and logic. While magical abilities are commonplace they are strictly regulated and controlled, with only certain "Sanctioned Abilities" permitted; anything beyond those is intensely studied and, if necessary, terminated.

There is little interest in democracy, though the EMpire does run on a meritocratic system. There is little prejudice against other human races or genders, though there is considerable distate and distrust for non-human species and for nations that utilise such beings. We are also rather cool towards nations that are religious (Ohio, probably Raw Sharks place) and downright hostile to anyone using necromancy.

While we have rarely fought wars of aggression, we are quite willing to use force if provoked, the general attitude being "you start it, we'll finish it."

So, think a bizarre hybrid between, say, Renaissence/early modern era levels of art, culture and science coupled with an autocratic regime that everyone is quite happy with. We're firm believers that anything can be understood, and once something can be understood, it can be defeated. There are more than a few Orions who see the Empire's ultimate purpose as the obliteration of all gods, demons, totems, necromancers and religions.

We should get along interestingly then, as necromancy is pretty well tolerated among the mages. The Synod (ruling council of the mages) even has a pseudo-lich on it. Though the mage states are also the most modern-minded of the polities, in fact they are almost technocratic. There isn't much religion outside of extensive ancestor veneration, however the city of Not!Romans maintain a simplified pantheon focused primarily on the sun, mountains, and the ocean/rivers.

Eternal_Freedom wrote:EDIT: Maddoctor, what's this about Hyenorks coming to Orion? We'll have to collaborate on them arriving at the border forts

I would speculate that continuous lines of fortification on the northern parts of Orion's border would be... prohibitively expensive compared to the value of the territory they protect.

However, I would expect the terrain to have substantial frontier forts at fairly regular intervals with healthy cavalry patrols between them.
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Imperial528 wrote:Well, then due to a combination of laziness and that the search tools suck, Simon, how old is your nation? And how old is Orion, E_F?

Ohioan culture has existed in recognizable form for roughly 800-1000 years, and is the result of nomads coming off the Great Plains (probably retreating from some other, nastier group) and conquering the then-dominant Iron Age mound-builder cultures of OTL Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, along with portions of other neighboring OTL states.

The result was a hybrid culture that spoke a language group foreign to the area and to the origins of many of the local place-names, which adopted the local star-worshiping religion while also preserving elements of their own ancestor-worshiping religion. This culture evolved along lines broadly similar to Western European feudalism.

The Ohioan Empire is a successor state to the League of the Ohio, an alliance of warrior-kingdoms which emerged along the Ohio River proper between 400 and 600 years ago, stretching most of the way from the site of OTL Cincinnati down toward the river mouth. The League became progressively more influential and powerful, with the first kingdom among equals being Ougapah,* the one centered around the Kentucky bluegrass country and the city of Kingsport (OTL Louisville, Kentucky), a critical position along the river because of the Falls of the Ohio being located there.

*Another name used by one of the old mound-builder cultures, or a debased form of same.

Around 300 years ago the League came into increasing conflict with a collection of magocratic city-states in the Tennessee river valley, most of them dominated by necromancers who ruled over the living populations of their city-states through fear and the use of the enslaved walking dead as laborers and enforcers of their regime. This resulted in a series of crusading wars during the course of which the League of the Ohio's conjoined forces developed the early forms of the characteristic tercio formation, were among the pioneers of gunpowder in warfare, and developed the practice of extensive tactical battlefield prayer which continues to this day.

The Ougapah monarchs grew more and more powerful over time, cementing their position with royal marriages and taking useful advantage of the territory cleared in the ongoing crusades to scour the Tennessee. Just about exactly 225 years ago, with the crusades (collectively known as the War of Souls) over and most of the remaining League member kingdoms either reduced to second-rate powers or vassals of Ougapah, King Louis V of Ougapah declared himself Emperor Louis I of the Ohio.

Louis the Fifth and First (now just called "the First" as the old kingship of Ougapah is a relatively minor thing these days) was styled the Fierce, with reason. He proceeded to suppress any organized opposition to his dominance of the lower Ohio valley, distribute the remaining lands along the Tennessee to whoever he felt like, and conquered his way north (at the expense of other polities of the Ohioan culture) to the shores of Lake Erie.

His son, Louis the Sixth and Second, styled the Builder, took a deep breath at the end of his father's fifty year reign and proceeded to spend the next few decades building infrastructure, encouraging economic development, and in general trying to keep the Ohioan Empire from becoming a flash in the pan. He seems to have succeeded; the century or so after that was a period of expansion, followed by another century so of relative stasis and consolidation aside from attempts to secure frontiers that would be resistant to intrusion by outsiders (i.e. controlling the sites of OTL Pittsburgh and Chicago).

So as of 300 years ago the Ohioan Empire was a collection of semi-mercantile city-states with a feudal government along the western half or so of the Ohio River.

250 years ago it was a crusading military alliance at war with the evil and horrible overlords of the Tennessee in the name of righteousness, faith, chivalry, and not becoming a zombie.

200 years ago it was a violently expansionist monarchy that had conquered the admittedly evil and horrible overlords of the Tennessee Valley (roughly doubling their overall territory in the process) and was in the midst of conquering the areas to the north (in total, roughly tripling their overall territory compared to what it had been the century before).

150 years ago it hadn't grown much since our last snapshot, but had a respectable civil service system, a solid network of canals and roads linking up its conquests and a well-ordered, reliably funded military, at least.

100 years ago it had expanded quite noticeably, especially from the point of view of people in OTL Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois, reaching more or less its current borders. The Empire was frantically catching its breath.

50 years ago, having expanded only slightly in the past two generations, the Empire was having increasing problems securing the current frontiers, being rather overextended and having trouble finally suppressing outbreaks of piracy on Lake Erie.

Today, having gotten Lake Erie under control, the Empire appears to be starting to think with its muscles again, the main question being whether it will try to expand northeast (into Illinois and Wisconsin), north (into Michigan), or northwest (along Lake Erie and into your living room).

Well, that's the last of my pre-written content. I HOPE to finish a third post before I leave, maybe if the muses are very kind a fourth, though the third ends at a point I won't be embarrassed to pause the story at.

I hope people are enjoying it; I haven't heard any feedback. I'm trying to give at least some sense of immersion, and of Ohioan culture, along with "this is the army marching around;" the actual battle starts in the third and fourth posts.

I'm really enjoying reading it, and hope to have at least a few story posts approaching that quality by the time you get back.

Hope you like the next one, which sets the stage for the actual battle.

Simon_Jester wrote:Hope you like the next one, which sets the stage for the actual battle.

I've not been of a mood to properly read the story thread yet, but by length alone your posts seem to have some thought put into them.

On that note, I'm probably not going to post anything until tomorrow, but anybody should feel free to include me in story posts. I wouldn't mind have ideas to work off of in addition to stories pulled whole cloth from my own imagination.

Sorry, I haven't been feeling well last couple of days so I haven't been that active and now Christmas is coming up. I will hopefully get something up in the next couple of days in the OoB and other threads.

Simon_Jester wrote:Well, that's the last of my pre-written content. I HOPE to finish a third post before I leave, maybe if the muses are very kind a fourth, though the third ends at a point I won't be embarrassed to pause the story at.

I hope people are enjoying it; I haven't heard any feedback. I'm trying to give at least some sense of immersion, and of Ohioan culture, along with "this is the army marching around;" the actual battle starts in the third and fourth posts.

I'm enjoying it. It feels very much a piece of its period, or almost later. Not too heavy on the exposition and delivering motivation of the characters as things ratchet up. I'm not falling into the trap of last game of trying to match this though. ve vill not be intimidated!

Yes. Cards on the table, I spent a considerable amount of time over the past two weeks just writing those two posts, along with the others that are as yet incomplete.

I just hope I can finish the third one; it's still kind of light and I have only 24 hours or so before I leave, many of which are... very full.

If it helps, you're doing a lot better than me - I still have to finish my OOB, let alone actually writing a story post of that quality.

Like I said don't fall into that trap. I was trying to do a fun railway building exercise with dimin in the last game. Got a new job and found I couldn't write anywhere near as fast as I hoped. Just reading the story thread was burning a hour a day. It feels easier thus time. Posting is better then nothing.

I'm waiting for the edit option to come back before posting my oob.

Esquire, during times I'm playing an STGOD, writing for that STGOD becomes my primary hobby and I often dedicate an average of an hour or more to it a day even when I really ought to be doing other things. I enjoy myself tremendously... but I neglect other entertainment activities, consume relatively little of other types of fiction, and in one case I think the distraction effect of the STGOD indirectly caused me getting into some trouble at work.

And yet, despite that, I don't regret it. Because what STGODs are, to me... is a way for me to express my natural desire to write, to express myself artistically. And I push the limits of what it is practical and wise for me to commit to that hobby and that desire. Because while it isn't financially practical for me to become an author, and I have no particular confidence of getting published if I tried, part of me wants to do that.

As maddoc says, do NOT fall into the trap of letting the 'best' become the enemy of the 'good,' when the 'best' is being written by people who are willing to sink two or three hours a day into a hobby that has no financial or up-close-and-personal rewards. Much better to post what you have time for than to try and turn your STGOD into National Novel Writing Month. Especially if you're the kind of person who wouldn't seriously consider participating in NaNoWriMo for the sheer love of doing so.

I am, but that's in large part because from all the hours I've sunk into writing for STGODs, I know I can do it.

Incidentally, I'm also a compulsive number-cruncher, and if I didn't have Big Plans for this Christmas break I'd volunteer to help you with your STGOD.
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For the record, Ohio probably fields about 15000 points of army troops, plus heavy fortifications, plus a few thousand points of armed river boats and light galleys with a galleass flagship or two at the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi. This really isn't a force intended (or adequately prepared) to threaten you. However, it serves to maintain control over the mouth of the Ohio.

It also serves as an easily redeployable reserve force in the event of trouble anywhere on the Tennessee, the Wabash, or the lower Ohio, and potentially in response to trouble in the strip of eastern Illinois that Ohio controls.

I doubt our two nations have had more than the occasional minor spat over the years. Even if the Church of the Living Stars isn't a hydrophilic religion as such, you and me... we're river-bros.

I see you've gotten to the combat now in the story thread. Excellent.

I'll try to have another post up in the next couple of days, detailing the beginnings of my people settling in their new home. Though Christmas will be taking up a lot of my time.

That was an incomplete post which I posted accidentally, and edited away because it's not DONE yet.

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

I still hope to put up my third post soon but the ones with the bulk of the battle are not ready for prime time.

However, I did at least analyze the situation well enough to be able to say with confidence that there are five remaining posts, including the third. Some of the later ones are actually closer to completion but I can't do them out of order.

I'm probably not going to be able to post a story update or a full OOB for another few days (got the whoel family visiting for Christmas). A note on my first story post, since I can't edit the damn thing, assume pirate ship, not privateer. Ignore all such mentions.

Just a notification for everyone, since some of us are interested in getting into conflict and we don't have much in the way of OOBs up yet:

The outcome of combat is to be determined either by consent between the participants or by the point value of the forces committed (or by me, in the event of a dispute), as discussed in the rules. Therefore, it would probably be best to finish your OOB before getting into a major campaign, but I don't want to force people to delay too long if they, like madd0ct0r, are reluctant to put up OOBs until the post editing issue is sorted out. So just use your best judgement, don't Godmode, and if their is a dispute over the outcome of a fight, bring it to me and I'll try to come up with a fair solution.

My first story post is up.

It deals with a raid against the elves. It's probably a typical raid in terms of size but a bit unlucky for both sides in terms of deaths. A less dramatic offscreen raid would probably result in higher percentages of wounded rather than killed, but that's why this one gets the screen time.

So, I am thinking I am going to gift a decent chunk of points to everyone else in the game (around 100,000 of my starting total distributed around) as various people in other factions who have been "touched" by the draconic prophecy my faction worries about. Feel free to use these to explain a character knowing something they probably shouldn't be able to know, survive something they shouldn't be able to, etc. The nature of their relation with the prophecy (or if the character even realizes it) is completely up to you guys. Additionally, what the prophecy is even about is something that the dragons themselves are not sure of, just that it somehow requires cooperation between dragons and "lesser species" to avoid some type of apocalyptic battle.
Basically, everyone gets like 10K points to spend on random events so they don't have to use their own points.
I will hopefully get my OoB up before the night ends.

Dark Hellion wrote:So, I am thinking I am going to gift a decent chunk of points to everyone else in the game (around 100,000 of my starting total distributed around) as various people in other factions who have been "touched" by the draconic prophecy my faction worries about. Feel free to use these to explain a character knowing something they probably shouldn't be able to know, survive something they shouldn't be able to, etc. The nature of their relation with the prophecy (or if the character even realizes it) is completely up to you guys. Additionally, what the prophecy is even about is something that the dragons themselves are not sure of, just that it somehow requires cooperation between dragons and "lesser species" to avoid some type of apocalyptic battle.
Basically, everyone gets like 10K points to spend on random events so they don't have to use their own points.
I will hopefully get my OoB up before the night ends.

Sure, I'll take you up on that offer.

It also gives you ease hooks to write a short sequence of stories around which means you can do things without needing to be overly involved 24/7.

Read your little raid, Jub, and wrote a response showing the attack and its aftermath from my peoples' point of view. No counter attack or pursuit immediately, but word has been passed to the Crown, who will reply in the usual manner (more on that later).