Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

In dark depths of history civilization of Priores was destroyed from unknown reason. Their technology and culture was wiped from history with one horrible disaster.

Only their tomb cities were left behind. In those cities survived people of Conticeos, servants of Priores. Conticeos still follow their oath to protect those tombs and wait for their masters return. For thousands of years this race has defended those holy places and not a single sign of Priores return has come to their ears. Still, they will wait and fulfill their oath.

But times are changing. Old god has fallen and new pretenders are raising. With lead of a pretender god people of Conticeos march to gather new magic and call their masters back to this world.

---

Conticeos, that is name for this new nation. It will be put to Early Era, so that I can continue this saga later, if I want.

People of Conticeos are race of humanoids that have taken oath to protect tombs of Priores, their masters. They are weaker and less enduring that normal human, but their reaction time is faster and their stamina is somewhat better than normal human's. They are very devoted for their nations oath, so they have much higher morale and magic resistant than normal people. Technology is their major advantages, but it is mostly devoted to ranged warfare and for siege warfare; yes, their armor sucks.


Basic profile:
hp - 8 (weak)
prot - 0 (they are basic humanoids after all)
str - 9 (weak)
att - 10 (good initiative, but not very aggressive)
def - 11 (good initiative and reason to stay alive)
ap - 8 (they use slow and sturdy formations and rarely flee)
mr - 11 (devoted)
mor - 14 (extremely devoted)
prec - 10 (nothing special)
mapmove - 2 (nothing special)
size - 2 (small humanoids, but not small enough to be dwarves)


Nation profile:
Strengths:
+ Troops have great morale
+ Repeater crossbows give good archery for early era
+ Versatile magic
+ Good astral mages
+ No capital only units
Weaknesses
- Troops start falling from weak breeze
- Troops are pretty slow
- No cavalry

Troops:
Citizen guard (? - ?)
Basic profile; spear, buckler, leather cuirass
"Every citizen spends every tenth day to practice military duties in Citizen guard. They practice under Council members. Training is centered around formation fighting. Every third citizen is trained in usage of repeating crossbow."

Citizen guard (? - ?)
Basic profile; repeating crossbow, dagger, leather cuirass
"Every citizen spends every tenth day to practice military duties in Citizen guard. They practice under Council members and practice formation fighting. Every third citizen is trained in usage of repeating crossbow."

City defender (? - ?)
Basic profile; sword, buckler, leather cuirass
"City defenders are professional soldiers who spend their days practising. Their skills aren't much better than City guard's and their equipment isn't much better either. City defenders aren't too costly to field, though."

Gate keeper (? - ?)
Basic profile, +1 att, +1 def, -1 ap; sword, round shield, ring mail cuirass
"Most talented City defenders are promoted to Gate keeper units. Their duty is to hold enemy at other side of city gate. When taken to other side of wall, they usually make second line of troops just after City defenders."

Tomb guardian (? - ?)
Basic profile, +1 att, +2 def, +1 mr, +1 mor; sword, round shield, ring mail cuirass
"Tomb guardians are strongest soldiers among Conticeos armies. Their eternal duty is to protect tombs of Priores. Tomb guardians are also used as protectors of Tomb priestess in battlefield."

Tomb watcher (? - ?)
Basic profile, +1 prec; repeating crossbow, dagger, leather cuirass
"Tomb watcher marksmen are collected from lines of Citizen guards. Soldiers who show better shooting skills than other soldiers in his or her units is usually promoted to Tomb watcher unit."

Engineer student (? - ?)
Basic profile; siege bonus +4; heavy crossbow, dagger, leather cuirass
"These siege units are collected from Tomb of Ancestral Knowledge's engineer students. They use their basic knowledge about engineering and mechanics to wield heavy crossbows in battlefield. They also used as workforce of older engineers as they build their siege engines."

Fallen soul (? - ?)
Basic profile, +2 hp, +3 str, +2 prot, +1 att, -2 def, +1 mr, +3 ap; berserker +3, ambidextrous 3; axe, axe, soul scream, leather cuirass
"Most tombs are dangerous but interesting places to stay at. Most souls are ripped apart and their hosts killed. Other just go mad and turn in to Fallen souls. Fallen souls are usually used as shock troopers in battlefield."

Chosen soul (? - ?)
Basic profile, +1 hp, +2 str +2 att, +2 def, +1 mr, +2 mor; sacred; sword, icon shield, helmet, ring mail cuirass
"Most tombs are dangerous but interesting places to stay at. Most souls are ripped apart and their hosts killed. Some are favored by Priores and with their guidance Chosen souls return from tombs. After their return they are taken to temples to train martial arts and holy rituals."


Leaders:
Captain of citizen guard (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 40; sword, leather cuirass
"Captain of citizen guard is senior soldier who has gained position their position from City council."

Noble captain (? - ?)
Basic profile, +2 mor, leadership 80; sword, ring mail cuirass
"Noble captains are failures of noble families. Most nobles are trained as priests or mages, but Noble captains weren't wise enough to be chosen to either of these. Most captains try to repair their pride with excellent military career, so most of them will study strategies and warfare and thus became great leaders."

City Council member (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 80; stealthy +0, spy; dagger
"City council members have very prestigous position in Conticeos hierarchy. They are used as diplomats in foreign countries and most of them are wise enough to collect some data from areas they pass."

Senior engineer (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 10; 25%AE; siegebonus 25, siegedefence bonus 10; hammer
"Senior engineers have studied ancient scriptures and have gained knowledge about powerful siege weapons."

Tomb council member (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 40; priest 1, sacred, standard +10, patrol bonus +20; whip
"Tomb council members work for religion and for law. They keep law and order in cities and military. Their presence is good reason to work much harder, as they reward those who devote themselves to Priores."

Tomb priestess (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 40; priest 2, sacred; sword, icon shield
"Tomb priestess' are very influentical women in Conticeos community. They choose members to Tomb council and also do most of religious duties in tombs."

Tomb sage (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 10; priest 2, sacred; S1 25%S 10%AS; dagger
"Tomb sages are mages that chose the way of religion instead of greater knowledge of magic. They know ancient customs and some of Tomb sages can call Priores beyond the grave."

Mage of four corners (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 10; oldage; S1 100%FWAE 50%FWAE; dagger
"Mages of four corner are elementalists who chose to follow way of foreign magic instead of ancestral knowledge. They are very versatile mages, but their skills come with price; most of them are already old and their services cost good amount of gold.

Mage of nightly sky (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 10; S2 50%S
"Mage of nightly sky is astral mage who followed way of Priores and studied magic at its purest form. Their services don't cost much, as they get favoured position in the community anyway."

Member of royal court (? - ?)
Basic profile, leadership 80; S1D1 50%SD; sword, ring mail cuirass
"Members of Royal court are most influentical people in Conticeos community. Their influence comes from kings themselves and as there hasn't been king for hundreds of years, they have considerable power. Royal court is always ready to crown new one, if so great authority is ever needed."

Summons

Sacred king (Summonable only, 3D, 25 death gems)
Basic profile, +2 hp, +2 str +3 att, +3 def, +2 mr, +3 mor leadership 120; priest 3, sacred, standard +25; S2D2 50%SD; sword, ring mail cuirass, crown
"This king was elected by Royal court, blessed by Tomb council and favoured by City council. He is a strong mage, a great warrior and a very good strategist. Only other kings are this influentical."

Longdead consort (Summonable, 2S2D, 1 death gem)
Basic profile, +1 str, +1 att, +1 def, +1 mr, +2 mor; undead; sword, ring mail cuirass, helmet
"Kings of Conticeos are usually more than two hundred years old when they get the throne and most of their past loves have died ages ago. If king has even little bit of affection towards his old loves, he might call them beyond grave to serve him yet again."

Dark prince (Summonable, 2D, 10 death gems)
Basic profile, +2 hp, +2 str, +1 att, +1 def, -2 mr, -2 mor, leadership 40; stealthy +5, ambidexterous; light repeater crossbow, axe, dagger, leather cuirass, crown
"Dark prince are executors and torturers of Royal court. They hand out law and justice that once turned them to dark beasts. If a member of Royal court does crime, their destiny is to die in horrible torture or turn in to Dark prince."

Dark warrior (Summonable, 1D, 1 death gem)
Basic profile, +1 att, +1 def, -1 mr, -1 mor; stealthy +5, ambidexterous; light repeater crossbow, sword, dagger, leather cuirass
"Dark warriors have seen and felt the justice of Royal court. Murderers are given to Dark prince, who then corrupt their minds with overdose of souls. Most of murderers die, but some turn in to shadowlike Dark warriors.

Haunted statue (Summonable - ?)
28 hp, 15 prot, 18 str, 12 att, 8 def, 7 ap, 10 mr, 50 mor, 10 prec, 2 mapmove, 3 size; mindless, magical, ambidexterous +2; axe, axe
"Soul of Priores has possesed bronze statue and now leads it to fight agains't common foe."

Weak soul of Priores (Summonable - ?)
8 hp, 4 prot, 10 str, 11 att, 11 def, 14 ap, 12 mr, 9 mor, 10 prec, 2 mapmove, 2 size; ethereal, sacred, stealthy, magical; life drain, paralyze
"This soul has been called from beyond of a grave. It is sacred for people of Conticeos. This ghost like soul isn't strong enough to do any greater decicions, so it will only follow Conticeos mages or other souls."

Soul of Priores (Summonable - ?)
9 hp, 5 prot, 10 str, 12 att, 11 def, 14 ap, 13 mr, 9 mor, 10 prec, 2 mapmove, 2 size, magical leadership 10; priest 1, ethereal, sacred, stealthy, magical; life drain, paralyze
"This soul has been called from beyond of a grave. It is sacred for people of Conticeos. This ghost like soul is strong enough to lead other souls to battle."


Ps. I need volunteers do some graphics for me! Sorry, I suck at drawing.

Pps. Does my English suck?

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Only mildy. I've seen much worse. You're more understandable than some Americans, I'm sad to say.


In the dark depths of history the civilization of Priores was destroyed by an unknown cause. Their technology and culture was wiped from history in one sudden, horrible disaster [changed for flavor, not quality or grammar].

Only their tomb cities were left behind. In those cities survive [again, flavor] the people of Conticeos, servants of Priores. The Conticeos still follow their oath to protect those tombs and wait for their masters return. For thousands of years this race has defended those holy places and not a single [sign of/rumor] about Priores return has come to their ears. Still, they wait and fulfill their oath. [passage was somewhat redundant]

But the times are changing. The old god has fallen and new pretenders are rising. With the leadership of a pretender god the people of Conticeos march to regain their old powers [regain new is kind of contradictory, since you cannot regain what you've already lost] and call their masters back to this world.

Your english is actually pretty good. You do have a tendency to forget "the"s and "an"s and so forth. Though I am not certain all of those "the"s I added were necessary, they seemed appropriate.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Thank you. I rarely get [any/so mature] feedback, so it is really refreshing change.

I made some changes to text and added King's consort unit plan. I will start coding these units really soon.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Very cool idea. I hope that you will continue working on it.

Not to discourage you or anything, but this is very unlikely to happen. Most people want to work on their own projects.

But, I'll tell you a little secret. I also suck at drawing, horribly (I'd lose to freaking 5-year old), but went and did a nation mod anyway http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...=&fpart=1.

If you look at the graphics closely (see the preview pick in the link), you will see that they are just clever hacks of regular Dom3 graphics. Just recolor it and position the arm in different location and BAM, you have a graphic. I haven't received any negative feedback on them at all, just positive ("they look Dominionsy") and they're really easy and fun to make.

What you need is GIMP (just google it) and the Organized dom3 sprites, which can be received here:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...516&Forum=

If you need to have a quick look what kind of sprites are 'available', http://www.dom3minions.com/sprites/ is also useful.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Okay, thanks Burnsaber. I will try to do some graphics. I am kinda lucky Conticeos are pretty human like, just bit smaller and so on.


Edit. Well, I am pretty happy with results. I attached image to message. It is a Citisen guard with a spear and a buckler.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

I wrote a Gimp tutorial a while ago. With this and the zip that has all the Dom sprites, it shouldn't be hard to manage some simple graphics. If you don't have the zip yet, check the last post of the mod list.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Looks very much like my first works. It's good that you're happy with it, but you can do better. Shading is crucial, but luckily it's not that hard to make. If you're not sure how to shade it, look how it is done in excisting sprites and imitate that. (that's what I did, at least) GIMP has a amazing sliding color selection for getting darker/lighter colors for shading.

That shield also looks a bit odd, it's pretty small, like a buckler. I usually just copy-pasted a shield from a excisting sprite and used it. Same thing for armors. Just open up a shielded sprite in GIMP and select the shield with the "loop" tool. Then it's just simple Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V.

Of course yuo're free to go whatever artistic direction you want. These are mere suggestions.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Is this better or worse? Does it look too armored for you?

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

That looks a _lot_ better to me. Good work.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Some balance comments now that you're moving on the artwork.

A typical early era nation has a 3 or 4 in from 2 to 3 paths, and 1s or 2s in another 2 or 3 paths.

EA Ermor, for example, gets F3D3S2A1E1W1N1. EA Marverni gets E4S4N2W2.

Now, there are a lot of balancing factors to consider - EA Niefelheim gets more magic paths than other EA nations, but because their mages are all so expensive that more or less balances out (Niefel's troops may not be balanced, but that's a distinct question.)

So if you have a nation that gets S2D2F2A2E2W2 - well, if those mages they get are very cheap for their level of magic potency, this could be very strong, especially if they also get a good selection of forts to help make a lot of them.

But, really, since your military is kinda a joke, you could justify giving them very powerful mages, and/or low level national combat spells to even the playing field somewhat.

Can the tomb priestess animate/lead conventional undead?

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

I was wondering about magical diversity, too.

Conticeos native magics are astral and death, their mages are cheap and plentiful in these paths.

Mages of four corners are going to be expensive and old aged. I was also thinking if I should make them cause unrest. They have left their homeland for years and now return with foreign magic. People of Conticeos are xenofobic and there is only one greater truth for them, path of Priorers, so it would be very thematic.

Should I boost astral and death paths?

Well, I am ready to do some balance changes later,

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

imho a repeater crossbow in EA is not good.. crossbows aren't really there let alone repeating crossbows. But that is my opinion. I see this race more as an MA race.. you could continue the story in LA and the stuff before the fall of the priores in EA then?

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Well... Where did I put my notes? There were at least one good reason why Conticeos should be based on EA.

Still, I could use my other ideas, even if I moved them to MA. And history of Priores sounds very interesting thing to write, too.

I will find my notes and write some more later.

Edit. Are these magic paths good for Middle Era? Also, how many death + astral based nations are there in MA?

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

The Mage of the Four Corners could be a heretic - this is thematic, but not actually a game mechanical drawback (it lets you take drain scale, especially if they are good researchers.)

Since you are an early-era nation, you can "steal" the nation slot from MA Ermor. This would enable your priestesses to animate and lead undead right out of the box - a significant bonus.

Other than that, I'd recommend:
Mage of the Four Corners: copy stats on the heliodramus (so he is heretic 3), give him some cool power like a research bonus (3 pts) or a forge bonus (25).
Could be: S{FW,75%}{AE,75%}{FA,75%}{EW,75%}
or even: SFAEW{FAEW,100%}{FAEW,10%}
On average he's got 4 picks, makes 10 RP / turn and is a heretic - at 250 gold (which is a lot!) he'd still be a steal, especially if you can make him everywhere.
Keep in mind that what you'd actually *do* with such a mage is have him command a communion of your other national mages to cast big elemental spells (T'ien Ch'i and Arco do this all the time) which is somewhat non-thematic. If you don't want that to happen, take away his astral, make him cost 325, and give him like seven picks of magic: FAWE{FAW,75%}{FAE,75%}{FWE,75%}{AWE,75%}.
Expensive mages with relatively weak magic are a going proposition in the late era - but in the early era it's a non-starter.

Tomb Sage: S2A1D1H1. You don't need to put randoms on everyone. With okayundeadleader and bonus undead leadership from his holy (if you do the trick with copying Ermor's nation #), he'd be a useful magician and a steal at 150 gp.

Mage of the Night Sky: 3S - could be as cheap as 90 gold if you really want people to use them; make them 2S1D and they'd be slightly less devastating offensively but more versatile.

Courtier: I'm not sure what I'd do with a 1S1D commander. He can buff himself up a bit and is survivable - if he's also got undead leadership and/or priest levels he'd be useful for commanding undead. A *stealthy* mage with astral magic has a number of clever usages, and the courtier could have seduce as well, given their political nature.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

I'd probably use Courtiers to lead up to about 30 undead (already there thanks to death magic), and cast Nether Bolt/Darts. It's like they are tailor made.

Where was the courtier in the original post, DrPraetorious? Anyways, what would be a rough cost? Cheap, Medium, Expensive?

Not only could the Courtier(?) buff himself, he could be communion buffed. A power of the Spheres would allow, late game, them to all cast Disintegrate, and earlier on they can spam frighten or dust to dust as needed. You could also give them a national combat summon based off of LE Tien Chi's Call Ancestor if you thought they needed some sort of boost in early combat. Nothing overpowering, mind you, just something that in enough numbers will act as small speed bump in combat, esp. to cavalry charges.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

It seems that I play too much Middle and Late Era. I know very little about EA's magic.

I thought out two possibilities about Mage of the Four Corners:
1. Increase his (her?) elemental randoms and make him extremely costly and old. He could cause some unrest, but wouldn't be heretic, as he still follows ways of Priores. (Mage learned basic magics of Conticeos, but then left to world to seek new magic.)
2. Take out astral and give great boost to elemental skills. Also, make him heretic and costly. (Mage left to world and didn't learn basics of Conticeos magic. He brought strange religions and ideals from foreign lands and so is heretic.)
3. Make MotFC capital only and increase his elemental skills. He wouldn't create unrest or wouldn't be heretic. His research skills could be okay, as his magics aren't gifted from Priores. (As he would have studied antient magics, unpure magic I have to say, in some hidden tomb. He wouldn't get holy magic or sacred status, as elemental magic isn't true way of Priores.)

1. Sounds okay, but that would probadly make him communion master type, right. That dosen't sound thematic, so...
2. Sounds pretty good, as you really couldn't use him as communion master.
3. Feels best, IMHO.

Hm, one question though. What is major use of astral mage? Are they good offensively or in buffing or?

Members of Royal Court should be used as summoners. Summoning Sacred King sounds okay to me. Still, not every member of Royal Court should be cabable of summoning a Sacred King, so luck (gettind D3 from randoms) or death boosters would be needed.

I think I have to divide summons to two parts:
1. Astral summons, calling souls of Priores to help.
2. Death summons, used to create those soul abonimations like Dark Prince and Dark Warrior.
Should this be other way around, though?

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

That looks good. If every one of your unit are about that level of quality, I'm sure that you will hear no complains about graphics. Once you've done a bunch of those basic troops you should have basic idea of how to do shading. That allows you to do those more "challenging" graphics later on. knowing how to do basic shading also allows you to fiddle with poses. Moving the arm around a bit allows you to do a wild number of different poses, which will allow the player the identify the troops and leaders even if they have same equipment (Ok, my leader is the guy holding his sword high up in the air).

For example, that bronze statue summon will require some hacking, since there are currently no bronze statues in the game. You could recolor the Living Statue and edit out his shield and spear to give him two axes.

About non-graphical issues, the only thing that jumps into my mind is the Longdead Consort. Why would anyone spend 2SD2 mage time to summon single glorified longdead? I'd rather just research. You need to pump him up a bit more. The flavor is good, but what kind of powers could ex-bedwarmers have? Perhaps he could summon a harem of them http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Hmm.. I got an idea. There is one "gimmick" thing that really hasn't explored in any mod so far. Fatiquecost 0 ritual summons. Basically, free rituals. It works, I've tested it. You could get a "kind of" reanimation by making a bunch of 0-gem cost national rituals summoning basic longdeads. It would be different from MA ermor reanimation by needing research, mages instead of priests (unless you make them holy summons) and a labrotory in the province where the reanimation happens.

Re: Conticeos - Servants of Priores (EA nation)
 

Actually, I was thinking that he would summon whole lot of them. I just thought that basic cost would be 1 gem per 1 Longdead Consort. Should it be cheaper, like 1 gem per 2 Consort or something? Hm, maybe they should be unbreakable or something. Or maybe have greater hp and protection, as they are most likely mummified or something. (King canditates are almost always nobles, so their lovers should be nobles too, so mummified.)

Oh, and paths come from kings paths. So, that only a king can reliably summon them. Those are just basics, though, I am ready to change many things later, if they make sense.


By the way, I finally thought out the major philosophies behind Conticeos' magic. They don't worship the death of Priores itself. They are protectors of their tombs and their legacy. Conticeos aren't there to raise Priores back to life, they are there protect their tombs until Priores raise back to life with their own strength.

So, summary:
Astral, because it is purest form of Priores magic and so most religiously devoted people study it. Priores are rarely summoned from Netherworld as Conticeos are afraid to distrupt their eternal rest. Only in most gravest situation they are called from Underworld and even then no nobles or anybody important is called, so spirits aren't too strong. They also have bad morale, as they don't wish to go back to death. Some of them possess statues or other items, as it gives them more survivalibity.
Death, because the oath Conticeos made is eternal, so most devoted of all them will serve the oath even after their death. It is great honor to be raisen from death to serve Priores yet again, so most undead of Conticeos are very brave and so on. This is reserved for nobles only, though, so no skeleton spamming or anything. Also, soul mutations are done by overdose of dead souls, so death magic it is.