A Tale of Fire and Blood

[General Tacticus]

Tacticus Sanguinus’ governing style has its downsides : being chaotic in nature, it results in permanent turmoil in the Empire ; and many people are sacrified while they could still be usefull. But when it comes to implementing radical changes of policy, it is very hard to beat.
So it is that all available resources were shifted to researching Enchantment : traditional researcher, site explorers, and blood hunters alike joined in this quest (althoug a minimum service was maintained in Entre Rios, in deference to the earlier neglect of its population).

Simultaneously, plans were made to ensure that the necessary casters would be ready as soon as the research was completed. The Dispel would be cast by Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, himself ; but that would only dispel the Burden of Times spell, not reverse its effects. So a Nature 5 mage had to be found, to cast Gift of Health. All existing king priests being currently out of easy reach of their laboratories (searching for sites and leading the armies against Man), a new one was recruited and would receive intense training in Nature magic. He would also forge himself a nice thistle mace. This would make him ready just in time to cast the spell. Fortunately the gem reserves, particularly in Nature, were very high.

Apparently, the fact that this was a particularly bad time to bring bad news to the God quickly circulated in all the empire. The generals won victory after victory, destroying Man’s armies in North America, sieging and breaching his castle. A local baron gifted the Empire with a new fortress, then a new lab. Jotunheim and Caelum fought each other, and pretended Mictlan wasn’t there. Only Man, always the spoilsport, dared to claim a small victory : not in the main theater in North America, but in Caracas, in South America. There he unleashed a dreadful weapon, something to give nightmares to generations of Mictlan children : an angelic host ! Under the command of an archangel, this unspeakable army took control of the province ; and for several month, subjected it to its horrible mismanagement.

An unrelated piece of gossip : His Holiness the personal majordomo of the Magnificent God, was seen at the slave markets at about that time, buying an great number of unskilled slaves, soon after these news reached Teotihuacan.

After 4 moons of intense activity, the rituals were finally ready. Failure was unthinkable, and everything possible was done to insure success. Thus it is that 123 astral pearls were used in the dispel (base cost : 30), and 150 nature gems in the Gift of Health (base cost : 40) – in both cases, the entire stockpile. The final assault on man’s castle was also scheduled for the same day, ont that the astrologers had marked as particularly favorable. And indeed it proved to be, as everything was succesfull this day ; and more : a library was found, finally giving the God easy access to some serious research potential. It took three more months for the God’s voice to come back, but thanks to the majordomo’s foresight, nobody really important died.

After all this excitement, the following years were uneventful (turns 52 to 72). Blood 7 and Construction 8 were researched ; R’lyeh’s Wrath of the Sea was dispelled ; the angels were defeated ;a asuccubus was sent against a independant vampire count (who would have made a nice addition to my forces) but was defeated ; Vanheim was attacked and their pretender permanently banished by our glorious armies ; Marignon also disappeared at about the same time ; and some nice artifacts were forged : the Alchemist’s Stone was given to an alchemist that was hired, and the Orb of Atlantis was placed in the teasury for future use.

Mictlan now holds most of America. Caelum holds the Western coast of North America, Jotunheim occasionally raids from Greenland, and Atlantis and R’lyeh retain their small footholds in South America, but the rest is ours. We are now in first place for provinces, neck by neck with R’lyeh and Tien Ch’i. We are still rather low in gold income and armies, but ahead in forts and gem income.Ulm seems to be doing very well in Europe (where only Man still resists) ; Tien Ch’i is big in Asia, and Machaka in Africa. R’lyeh is also doing very well somewhere (in addition to the Pacific), or just possibly a little bit everywhere, and the other races are second rate powers at best.

The obvious next target is Caelum, followed by Jotunheim. Preparations for a conflict with the aquatic races is quietly proceeding. An attack across the oceans, using ships, is also a possibility.

To be frank, I am surprised at how well I am doing. My other tries at 17 impossible AI’s in the World War scenario, notably with Ulm and Pythium, were far less successful (although I have learned a few valuable lessons and would probably do better now).