Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

On that note, how about an even mightier hydra? NatSum: Chaos Hydra. Con 9, blood 8/astral 8 (or if not random, see below: Con 9, blood 7+fire5/water5/air5/earth5/nature7/death7/astral8(or ideally, holy 3 for the chorus hydra if holy spells can be swung that way, modding-wise). Pythium's greatest sorceror-kings have experimented with magically breeding sacred hydras with captive elementals, undead, virtues, demons, horrors, and beasts of the void. Most of the experiments have failed miserably, fatally, even explosively, but a few have been great-if unstable-successes, creating new hydra breeds with fell powers over life, death, and the elements. Chaos Hydra: a sacred beast which, instead of spreading poison, spreads fire (Pyro Hydra: hydra + salamander, explodes if slain), cold (Cyro Hydra: if damaged a lot, diminishes into egg with hp 30, prot 15, chill 30, immobile), lightning (Nymbus Hydra: breathes 9 lightning bolts per round, 6 points shock damage +1 armor-negating each, doesn't spread anything, when slain, explodes), disease (Death Hydra: undead hydra, pretty simple, lifedrain as per vampire, no second form, no regeneration), insanity (star-hydras are the results of breeding hydras with horrors and void monsters. They have 12 heads which observers/victims always recognise as their own relatives, surrounding a central mouth which seems to open into the very Void itself. Bites from the 12 heads cause horror-marks, and a bite from the central mouth causes insanity. If slain, the star-hydra shapechanges into an etherial egg (hp 30, prot 15, etherial, mindblastx3, insane). Egg attacks friend and foe alike and must be slain in order to slay star-hydra. Star-hydra is insane and wanders as per Eater-of-the-Dead.), or holy power (Chorus Hydra: smiting undead en-masse, providing holy combination spells can be implemented at some point, hydra would have awe and do 9 smites instead of physical attacks, slaying the hydra would cause it to transform into an insane ashen angel, who would attack friend and foe until slain), Vine Hydra (nature hydra, stats as per normal hydra, with normal poison cloud, except bite causes entanglement instead of poison, and hydra is affected by mossbody and regenerates twice as fast, if damaged a lot, shapechanges into insane Darkvines, Darkvines then attacks friend and foe, must be slain in order to slay vine hydra) or the mighty Rock Hydra-larger than it's fellows (size 6), tramples, doesn't spread anything, bite is still poison unlike other chaos hydras (injects victims with liquid mercury), is blind with great prot, diminishes to egg if slain, egg (hp 30, prot 30, harmless) must be destroyed to destroy Rock Hydra. If random, depending on which of several random chaos hydra types you got, the spell could be something like Ritual of Five Gates, except instead of getting 5 demons, you get 1 of a bunch of different types of hydra. I'm not sure, modding-wise, if randomized summons can be implemented, but you could always have different spells for each type. Randomized would be better though, and it can be done, since upper-level demons are somewhat random.

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

You forgot the Vorpal Uber-hydra that can change the .map file to erase enemy provinces.

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

I laughed for like five minutes after reading that. Thanks Zepath!

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

no the Vorpal Uber-Hydra is the serpent cult's pretender, and it eats enemy provinces 9 at a time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rant.gif

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

a little idea for serpent cult, could you add a lizardman unit or two? perhaps as a sacred, or at least as an auxiliary.

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

upstreamedge, that is a good thought. It may be in keeping with the lore since Pythium was part of the Ermorian empire that used lizardman auxiliaries.

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

What if the Varangian Guard, already mercenaries hired from outside the empire, were Ctisian heavy infantry?

During the late period, the Ctisian capitol has moved entirely back to the desert lands, leaving the Swamp Guard protecting nothing but the imperial fringes. I could easily see them breaking off and hiring out as mercenaries.

Them or Ulmites really.

-Frank

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

EA Ermor had Lizard Auxiliares, MA Ermor has Zirru the Grand Thaumaturg (hero, C'tissian) as the last of them in Ermor... They could be reinstated, but it's not a new idea by any means. It would fit the Marshmaster theme; Swamp Guards, a Marshmaster hero, Nature/Water paths and perhaps a rare 5-path random (Nature and Water, of course, Death and Astral from C'tis, Fire from Theurgs).

Marignonese troops (Great Swords and improved armor?) might work. Ulm would be fine, of course. Atlanteans would work but are already divided between three nations in LA (R'lyeh, Atlantis, Mictlan).

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

The Verangian Guard are already in game! They just changed the name to "Emerald Guard."

As far as giving the Emerald Guardsman a badass Ulimish profile, let's compare base stats (before equipment):

Unit,HP,Mor,MR,Enc,Str,Att,Def,Pre
Emerald Guard,13,14,10,3,12,13,12,10
(Ulm) Guardian,14,14,9,3,12,12,10,10
C'Swamp Guard,13,10,12,4,11,11,11,10
So the Emerald Guard is an elite ulmsman already. I really don't see any reason to adjust this unit - trading them for C'tis guards would make them more useful in tandem with the hydras, but at that rate you'd be a "human" nation in a very limited sense.

Now, if you wanted to just make the Emerald Guard sacred, and immune to poison (from all their snake handling), and equip them with poison swords, and give them an overland move of 2, that'd be pretty nuts.

Re: We Need Serpent Cult
 

Are you going to come back to this one Zepath?