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Abysia has decided to show its support for poor beleaguered C'tis by launching a sneaky, underhanded, dirty rotten backstab, in Marignon's general direction.

Sadly, it was a complete failure.

Happily, there was very little loss of life.

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C'tis welcomes Abysia's entry into the war of defense against fanatical aggression... fear not, your defeat is but a momentary thing. Marignon will find it most difficult to get much use out of its disease ridden force currently in C'tissan territory, and C'tis would also like to announce a significant victory over the Machakans as they attempted to storm one of our Fortified Cities. The defensive power of C'tis is considerable indeed, especially as it was apparent that nearly every Machakan soldier in that army (approximately 300 strong) was severely diseased.

In other news death and disease continues to ravage Machaka's home front, creating massive unrest and causing substantial losses among the civilian population. It is questionable as to how much longer Machaka can keep up the war effort in the face of such a ravaged civilian economy. Marignon is also feeling the effects of C'tissan power, although on a somewhat lesser scale.

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All Marignon is feeling is the love of Teh Bird.

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Well and after seeing the turns and reading the forums thoroughly, Marignon is feeling a bit sad and a bit holy wrath comes up. We don't know what wicket spiritii befell Abysia for doing these silly things. If Abysia reconsiders its plans and joins in the fight against C'tis, which is, as all but the blind can see almost over, as C'tis holds only little lands and his animals are deserting, they shall be forgiven. If not: Soon the victorious main force will be on its way back (or more likely rush forward through the last few C'tis provinces and end up in the back of you, Abyisa) and I hope for you, you are ready.

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As Abysia's population declines, we must look for new lands. The fair and bright cities of Teh Bird shine with the light of the stars and sun, and the people of Marignon are pure and unspoiled. What better place to live?

We are not interested in going to go live in a bunch of sickening bogs and swamps.

-- Abysia

P.S. Actually, a bunch of devils made us do it.

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The C'tissian propaganda over rates his own victory. While he loses a province a month or more, he claims victory!! Yes, the Machakans are sick and dying, but dying in honor, none the less. It is an honor to die in service to rid the world of the C'tissian menace. The Machakan force will return in greater numbers, and victory will be ours!!!!!

[Leaving role playing mode] Lwarmonger, let me give you kudos. Your sleep clouds were very effective. Perfect use of that spell. By concentrating sleep clouds just before the castle gates, my spiders all were unconscious, just standing there giving you uncontested target practice!!!! Also the rain was a good decision, as they mitigated a lot of the effects of flaming arrows. I also am not sure what you are using to spread disease and unrest?? Maybe black servants with bane venom charms??? Maybe harvesters of sorrow?? But they damn sure are working!!!!!!

Good gaming....fun to play against someone who knows what they are doing!!!!

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Lol... this is the first time I've played C'tis multiplayer (although I'm currently also playing C'tis in Origin), and after I lost the first few battles in the open field rather decisively against Marignon, I decided that fighting a defensive war of attrition was the way to go. As long as I hold my cities I can win in the end, and turtling is something that C'tis does surprisingly well. Even if I lose I think I may write up a little strategy guide detailing some of the things I learned from this game, as there is very little in terms of help in the index.

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And so the Pythium war machine roars to life!

Though Marignon offered tribute to war with Abyssia, the Machaka situation was to good to pass up. His forces marching around in a swamp getting malaria, I was at good spot in research. Abyssia on his way to getting even stronger making time my enemy. Could care less about the plight of the lizards. What's next, defending owls? I jus saw a chnace to grab some territory.

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O, won't anyone help poor, peaceful Machaka? We are saving the world from the dreaded Lizard induced Liardroccus Virus, and no one will help. To top it off, Pythium kicks Machaka while we are lying on the ground, grovelling in our own puke. O what sadness befalls the women and children of Machaka as their men valiantly stave off the malicious diseases. Defeating the lizards in droves......only to find hordes more just around the bend. O, the unfairness of it all!!!

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How looks can deceive. Marignon thought that Pythium was the only civilized nation besides Marignon. But it turned out that only the noble wild men of Machaka are pure of soul and can be trusted while Pythium showed his disgusting face. The face of an opportunistic warmonger, praying to the god Mammon, sacrificing their souls to gain personal wealth and killing the heroic people of Machaka, who we think of as our childern.
Teh Bird shall have his revenge on you, Pythium, and we hope your people are infected by the C'tis disease before they are burnt on the stake.

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Admin: It's turn 42 and some people are cutting it pretty close getting their turns in. I've changed to a 48-hour clock.

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Victory! The Machakan army currently ravaging our northwestern frontier has been destroyed. Also, the Marignon army currently besieging our capital has been defeated and the Order of the Chalice shattered. It is unlikely that Marignon will recover from this defeat and the massive wave of disease that will soon be afflicting them.

In sadder news, the Fortified City of the North has been taken. In the end its mages were too ridden with disease to prevent its capture. However with Pythium's entry into the war the C'tissan High Command is certain that it will soon be retaken!

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The Machakan nation is no longer....

With a few remnants waiting to be destroyed, we will fight to the end.

[End Role Playing Mode] Nice work, lwarmonger. Those clouds of death are NASTY!!!! I sent my mages in Machaka out to meet the Pythium hordes in a suicide attack. Didn't even script them. I think Machaka took too many defeats in the early war with Ermor and never recovered. We will meet on the battle field at Gol Phalas (or whatever), and see what happens. But, with all of that army diseased and worse, Machaka's days are numbered.

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Well, I certainly made the right call by invading Machaka (no hard feelings, I hope). I must say, the invasion seemed way to easy, though certainly invading somebody whose already at war would seem to have that affect. I mean, the AI decided your 25 mages were to weak to merit spending gems on script to attack. What upsets me now, is you seem to have done very little in the way of site searching. C'est la vie.

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Nope....not too much site searching, and definitely no hard feelings!!!

I knew the game was over when I invaded C'tis. Got all the diseases and stuff, so my heart wasn't in it so much. Had no decent way to combat the Harbingers. Maybe spamming blindness??? But then your MR was pretty high, so fat chance. Just wasn't muchuva game for me.

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Lol... I've discovered a way to win against two opponents with C'tis... given time and no intereference from third powers I'm pretty sure I could have rolled both of you back. As things are I don't think I'm going to get to see the benefits of my victory (it is a very Russian "victory"), so now my allegiance is open to the power who is the weakest against the stronger nation remaining.

In other news, I will be in the field from Tusday morning until Thursday night, so I would appreciate a delay until Friday (at least from tomorrow).

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You know, I really do think that Middle Age C'tis is turning into my favorite nation. Nothing like a nice long campaign of attrition coupled with carefully selected and scripted battles to wear an opponent down and then roll them back. I am discovering possibly one of the best (if not the best) nations to turtle with in the game, and will be writing a little strategy guide after this game is over.

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Admin: I'll postpone the timer on Tuesday so C'tis won't stale.

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C'Tis: I don't know the state of your scouting, but keep in mind Machaka's homeland is almost entirely in my hands now, cutting him off from further research and reinforcements. Plus I destroyed some temples that might have served to push back your dominion. Keep in mind that dominions is never a static game and as you improve and adapt so do your opponents.

Plus, turtling is a loser strategy for dominions. Booming can work for long range as thats what I essentially did for the first 35 turns of this game, but trying to research better spells and finding sites for gem income while being invaded is pretty difficult.

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Those are some pretty nice Harbringers you've got now Pythium! I'm jealous of your Heroic Quickness, I almost always get crap like Heroic Stupidity. :P

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I think there are counters for everything in this game. If C'tis turtles, as in this game, there are ways to combat that. I just didn't have the strength of numbers to do what needed to be done.

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Oh Teh Bird! Have your forsaken us?! Please send a sign! Show us the way! Send us help! Oh Teh Bird! Don't we follow all the rules of the Book of Teh Bird?? Don't we clad ourselves like you said? Don't we pray in the temples each day?

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Abysia notes the passing of Teh Bird. It laid waste to much of Abysia's army, in the battle outside the walls of Marignon. But in doing so, Teh Bird's army did drop a weapon that would be its doom.

The few survivors of the carnage entered the fabled fortress of Marignon, but teh immortal bird blocked our way. It slew many of our finest warriors (stoopid Phoenix Pyre, you should be fire damage!), but in the end it was destroyed by a zap from a Spirit Helmet that Abysia's brave apprentice had only donned after the first battle.

So long, Bird! We enjoyed the pleasure of meeting you on the field of battle.

-- Darbethor, Apprentice of Abysia

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Hmmm? You saw Teh Bird?? Where! What did He say? Has He come to save Marignon? Or are you refering to that ordinary phoenix that joined our ranks for the glory of Teh Bird?

Ah, there goes Marignon. It's damn hard to find a good fire spell against those Abysians... So we are preparing for the final stand. Little hope is left to fend off the fiends from east and west.

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Admin: Game postponed until midnight Sat GMT for C'tis

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LOL. Turn is in. And this "fiend from the west" only became your enemy because you became ours!

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Well that was a damn good battle!!! Just when I was on the brink of victory, my guys snapped defeat from Victor's jaws!!! Now I have nothing left save a dozen naked archers standing valiantly against Pythium's hordes!!!

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Lol... I'm lucky that when you retreat you don't retreat back into the fortress, otherwise I would have been screwed. I think the nice thing about the nature of my battle magic is that it forces a larger number of morale checks than most.

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"Hordes?" What a crude way to describe the finely tuned battle machine that is the Emerald Empire Expeditionary Force (EEEF for short). Plus, I think you had a shot at knocking off the one sieging force. It wasn't very big and did not have significant mage support. I guess you thought it best to defend the fort you took from C'Tis. Meanwhile, I can not wait until your gone so I can start spreading my domain with gusto. On a similar note, what happened to your capital. It was under 20 000 when I took it.

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Lol... C'tis happened to his capitol. Marignon as well. And most of the rest of Machaka's most fertile provinces.

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Omikron, I don't know WHAT C'tis put in there, but it was nasty!!! Lwarmonger, now that game is over...was it a Harvester of Sorrows??? Disease Demon??? I have stuck a bane venom around the neck of a black servant before, but I don't think it was THAT effective!!! It was a good move what ever you did!!

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Game isn't quite over yet... once it is truly over I will be writing a little strategy guide though, and will explain exactly what I did and why.

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OK...well I am finished, you could send me a PM if you feel comfortable doing that. I won't ruin it for the rest of the crowd here. It was nice work, anyway. Congrats. Of course.....you will have Pythium to deal with. He is no pushover with those Harbingers.

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Hosting interval set to 120 hours because OmikronWarrior is having PC trouble.

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Let me confirm that they were indeed Harvesters of Sorrow, sans any equipment. He had 6 of them operating in my territory, all of which ran head first into a patrol and were presumably killed, but as the creature has flying some might have retreated. Not sure what C'Tis hoped to accomplish by throwing 120 death gems worth of summons at me like that. A lot of those patrollers are now diseased, but not enough to stop me from taking the fortress, and not enough to justify the expenditure.

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Not your territory yet, and yes that was a significant error on my part. What happens when I'm a bit tired when taking my turns. However that being said I crippled Machaka and hurt Marignon with them, so they weren't a complete waste.

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As I'm almost eliminated in this game and am going out of town for a few days, I set myself to AI. Thanks for the game everyone. It was big fun and may Teh Bird guide my trooper well. GO Friar GOOOO!

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Thanks cupido2, it was a pleasure to have you in the game!

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I set Machaka to AI as well. Good luck guys, and I will be checking the thread from time to time.

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AHA! I may have been fatally weakened by fighting you both at once, but C'tis emerges triumphant! Our Lizard Liberation Army parades triumphantly down main street! We suffered a mere 80% casualties in our pursuit of victory, however our morale as is strong as ever... well, kind of strong... well, rumors of desertion from our ranks are greatly exaggerated. However we have no fear of further interlopers as our disease ridden marshlands stand ready to repel any further aggression from our neighbors, and our pitiful, erm... lean armies stand ready to defend our citadels! All hail our Dear Leader as he is in perfect health and will continue to lead our armies to glorious rearward advancements!

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There is a disease causing parasite in my territory. I have little choice but to prepare to retaliate unless somebody comes forward with a swift apology and a promise to remove him according to my directions.

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Abysia has but one unit cursed with misery; Makabiel the Heliophagus, and he is currently fortifying the homeland defense to deal with the large build-up of Pythian soldiers in Cimri. You should be able to see he is clearly in my castle.

Are you sure it's not a random event?

-- Abysia

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No, "a deadly disease is spreading in province X" is not a random event.

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Well it certainly hasn't been mine... my style is more like having five or six of those little buggers ruining your lands in a semi-systematic manner. Using one in that fashion is counterproductive, and merely provokes without significantly damaging.

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Speaking of which, in a few days (meaning by the 7th of February) we will either need to go on a month long hiatus, or I will need to begin looking for a sub. Since it is just the three of us preparing for a final showdown I would rather just stop for a month, but I understand if you two don't really want to.

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lwarmonger, I can stop for a month when you go, just remind me when you're about to leave, please.

OmikronWarrior, how about you?

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In the end, I just can't pull the retaliation trigger unless I'm 95% certain of the culprit, though I'm 80% sure. Regardless, as neither stepped up and admitted culpability, the moment I catch the stealthy bastard (and I will) the offending nation will take an pounding. Bring poison bringers like that is a declaration of war.

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lwarmonger, are you back?

Next turn due: 15:20 GMT on Thursday March 12th

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Back! Running into a little problem with my game though. Could we delay the turn until Friday (I'm getting a four day this weekend so Thursday is now my "Friday" and I'll have time to deal with it then).

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No problem, I've added 48 hours to the timer.

Next turn due: 15:20 GMT on Saturday March 14th