and so it begins: turn 11
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The special sword markers indicate the capital of Midgård and possible locations of the capital of Marignon.)
The overall strategy was to gather information, weaken the enemy with my deadly dominion, and strike where it would hurt the most. First strategic goal was to secure the four population centers surrounding the home sea. Unfortunately, Marignon had already taken the one in West. It came clear during the turn 10 that R'lyeh and northmen from Midgård would be fighting each other for the city located at the Southern coast of the sea. The great cities in East and North remained untouched at the time (at least as far as we knew).
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I love how this champion belongs to a herse caste, the caste not allowed to perform religious activities and here he is, div blessing the warriors of the North!)
Midgård was faster – maybe the northmen didnt believe I would land, or they just were unlucky... but, they entered the city first and had to fight the city guard. As we can predict, for the prophet Kirk Van Houten – in charge of the northmen army – it was easy victory. But, maybe it was good for us, that northmen were not fresh when our ancient, proud and noble race surfaced with their slaves and crazy cultists to take over the city from hairy, smelly primates.
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They call it Mind Blasting)
It was a blessed day, Cthulhu fthang! Unfortunately Kirk Van Houten made his escape to rally fresh levies from the chilly hills in West. The leader of the horde, Illithid Lord Zagauba decided to stay, and build a strong presence in the city. Equipping the new cultists with sophisticated weapons he subdued rare fools trying to still resist the Dreamlands.
This landing was intended to be permanent, and lots of effort was put in play to make the city secure for the Dreamlands' cult. The province defence was lifted as high as 51.
The mad arab also moved out and started site searching to compensate the tax losses from Death Scale.
Because some areas under the waves still resist the cults, the Starspawn Council made plans to move through those areas in near future, in order to finally reach the opposite shore and capture another population center, like the city secured this turn (The Land of Our Lord).
The prophet of the mad arab, Robert Olmstead, had wandered afar, occasionally stopping to write down notes, sometimes stopping to preach for those willing to listen. So he went on.
He had reached a vast town – a city if you may – far to the West of home waters. A strange thing captured his attention. Midgård had secured both sides of the city but wasnt able to take the city it self. Robert Olmstead stopped to study Midgård's fighting habbits. There must be some vile magic in work here, otherwise the strange situation would not have been possible. The prophet needed to know what it was...
One aspect, however, needs to be clarified herein. While the Dreamlands as a nation and religion doesnt trade nor collaborate with others, the fact doesnt mean that we could not – or even should not - take any diplomatic actions.
So, I chose a thematic approach on diplomacy.
For example, I made plans to deliver accurate as well as misinformation for other players, in a form of short, edited Lovecraft story adaptions. The very first one was to reveal the location of Midgård's capital to his neighbours. It would serve my purposes if any of his neighbours would turn against him, especially now that I drove him off, secured a fat booty in front of his nose and thus made most certainly an enemy for the rest of the game.
So, to get started with the information war, I sent this message to Caelum and Marignon both (the edition is adapted from The Terrible Old Man by H.P. Lovecraft):
. . .The Terrible Old Man is, in truth, a very strange person, believed to have been a captain of East India clipper ships in his day; so old that no one can remember when he was young, and so taciturn that few know his real name. Among the gnarled trees in the front yard of his aged and neglected place he maintains a strange collection of large stones, oddly grouped and painted so that they resemble the idols in some obscure Eastern temple. This collection frightens away most of the small boys who love to taunt the Terrible Old Man about his long white hair and beard, or to break the small-paned windows of his dwelling with wicked missiles; but there are other things which frighten the older and more curious folk who sometimes steal up to the house to peer in through the dusty panes. These folk say that on a table in a bare room on the ground floor are many peculiar bottles, in each a small piece of lead suspended pendulum-wise from a string. And they say that the Terrible Old Man talks to these bottles, addressing them by such names as Jack, Scar-Face, Long Tom, Spanish Joe, Peters, and Mate Ellis. And, on the wall, hanging from a single pin, is a timeless, brown document with strange resemblance with a map - but the features drawn with wildly shaking human paw are unlike in any other map known to man. In the middle of the drawing is a small icon of a dark red flag wrapped around a bastard sword, and three grotesque words written under it: Midgård capital (69). The Terrible Old Man must have seen many strange, unspeakable places.