MP Game - Yarnspinners

[Alneyan]

Turn 13 has just run (meaning turn 14 has been sent).

There has been no news from Abysia for at least a few turns, and so I will start advertising for their position.

[puffyn]

---- Arcoscephale, Turn 13 ----

I really thought it was just a slur. Ever since we got here, the villagers have been calling Golana "a den of vipers," "a snakepit," "full of cold-blooded lizards," and so forth. It turns out, though, that the residents of Golana really are lizards. It's so hard to know what to believe... though I'm trying.

Fortunately, as it turns out, the Golanoids are (oops, were) very weak lizards, certainly no match for the havoc wrought by our elephants. Alas, in their retreat they were able to kill the two mighty creatures, which left me a little sad, because I had grown attached to the beasts. I couldn't help but notice that their handlers seemed almost relieved.

The elders back home have signed a non-aggression pact with the Vans, a race of people living beyond the western mountains who have recently been expanding their territory. Apparently we gave up claim to Godsgrave Mountain as part of the peace treaty. Just like that— what was once worth dying for is traded away for a scrap of paper.

There is something... refreshing about being on this campaign. The phalanx that I now lead arrived in Oast Hills while I was gone, and some of them are old friends, from the long journey out to this excessively god-filled land. Sometimes it almost feels like we are all ten years younger, and I have had perhaps half an hour steal by without thinking at all about... more recent events. Ah, Thymbre... I can picture the way you would have laughed at me, just so, when I insisted on inspecting the corpses myself, just to be sure they were really lizards.

There is another province nearby, weakly defended, that we march toward. Hopefully by then, the men will have stopped teasing me with their odes to lizards, which are, if anything, even more ludicrous than the previous spate of butter songs. Those who have seen them in person insist that the Vans are sometimes impossible to see even if you're looking straight at them. Good men, I have no reason to doubt their word, and there are certainly strange things in this world. But when the men insist that Limmy is a huge blue giant for four arms, I know they're just playing one of these odd mind games men often play with their commanders. I mean, really, I've met the guy.

---

[puffyn]

I just wanted to say keep up the good Posts, Curious Cat... nice to have you on board.

Even for those of you who have decided you don't have enough time to write a yarn every turn, it would be nice to hear from you on occasion. You know, once in a while give a brief state of the empire summary, so we don't have to keep guessing what you're up to just from the score graphs...

[CuriousCat]

Machaka: Turn 13

Cetewayo looked up as the messenger entered.

"Master, a messenger has arrived from Caelum."

"Show him in," Cetewayo replied. He would prefer to host the first messenger of his new reign in the capital. There he could have properly impressed this emissary with his nation's culture and power. Here, in the field, he would have to settle for a display of military power. He was a bit concerned. He had just taken a valuable province which bordered the Caelum Magocracy as well as other, unclaimed provinces on the opposite bank of the river. His nation was not in a powerful position, but he had to recover from this less than auspicious beginning. In order to do that he needed to expand considerably. From the information his intelligence services had gathered he suspected that his was on of the smallest nations in the world. The only way to obtain the resources required to build a viable nation was to expand the borders of the nation. A war with another powerful, united nation would not serve to advance this goal, especially when so many unaligned provinces remained ripe for the picking.

Entering the tent once more, the functionary announced, "The representative of the Caelum Magocracy, the emissary, Chako."

The "man" entered. Of course the word man was not quite appropriate. The "being" was quite tall and rather thin, though not quite skeletal. Of course, the most unusual feature were the wings. The messenger performed the most minimal and perfunctory acknowledgement of Cetewayo's position as the God-King of Machaka.

"Chako is not a Caelumite name," stated Cetewayo.

"It is the Machakan name that I took when I studied your language. I do not expect those who do not speak my tongue to attempt to pronounce my name," replied 'Chako' with more that a little arrogance. He had been instructed not to hide his disdain for these 'people' and their 'culture'.

Cetewayo read the situation properly. He knew that he was being 'put in his place' by this emissary on direct orders from his leader. Such a low level functionary would never dare show such disrespect without explicit direction to do so.

He decided to respond with a bit of irritation himself. "Would you be interested in some Kaf?" he asked.

Chako could not suppress a slight shudder. Kaf was a hot drink that these Machakans drank on a regular basis. Something hot to drink was the opposite of what he wanted. These lands were unbearably hot without imbibing a heated beverage. He could not wait to leave this hell and return to the thin cold air of his homeland. "Thank you, but I would prefer to proceed with our business if you find that acceptable," he replied.

"Ah, yes, your people are not fond of the heat here on the plains are you?" Cetewayo responded, knowing that having this weakness openly discussed would irritate Chako.

"As your own people are not fond of the Cold of my homeland," replied Chako. He continued, "It is to that end that my Lord sends the following message: 'I hope you do not plan on crossing the straights. They would make a great natural border between our nations.'"

Cetewayo was taken aback. He knew that this was the opening salvo in a negotiation, but it was a rather extreme demand. Assenting to such an agreement would constrain his empire to a thin strip and leave his nation absolutely at the mercy of the nation occupying the opposite bank of the river. This would take some thought. "Thank you for the message," he stated dismissively. He continued, "You may return to your icy lands. I will send a messenger with my reply after due consideration."

After the messenger left he pondered the situation. His current position could be seen as threatening. His forces were in a territory that would provide direct access to the Caelumite province of Mukhtadir. Of course, he had no designs on the province. He was much more interested in absorbing the unaligned lands.He would send scouts into the surrounding territories to gain more information. He would take Babu and his army and expand the empire himself. If things went well there, Babu could receive further authority.

[Sedna]

Turn 14, R'lyeh

Well, gosh, if that didn't just ruin my whole month. And it was going so well... There's nothing quite like the taste of archer in the morning, and their bows are really useful for picking things out of your teeth, or, you know, dislodging bits of limbs that got stuck in your tentacles... anyhow, it was a really good meal. And just next door, my worthless chattel fought a force that outnumbered them, and they actually managed to defeat it. And nobody died. Well, nobody important.

So life was really going well, and I was in a great mood, 'cause of all the money and the food. Forest people just have this delightful hickory smoked taste to them, I think. And I swear there were some hints of maple, too, and some really subtle flavors...

But I tried to talk to Mr. Flibbles, but he wasn't there, and then I tried again, but he still wasn't there, and now he's gone... all gone... nobody left to talk to, they're all so scared of me, but Mr. Flibbles wasn't, he was my friend, but then he got mad at me, and now he's not my friend anymore, he's not anyone's friend, and why couldn't he have let me eat him if he wanted to die so much? I would've done it, for him.

So what do I care if someone found some air gems in Minto Strait? I don't even know where that is. I think I'll just send them to other people. It's not like they'll make Mr. Flibbles come back. Ever ever ever again.

Not many fishies left, not many fishies...

So, I think I'll go attack this province, and, you know, kill everyone there with horrible sucking death. But I won't enjoy it.

[Alneyan]

As usual, I have forgotten to post the notice that turn 14 has run (we are now playing turn 15).

I cannot manage to write anything these days (related to Dominions or not; an attempt at writing someting for Space Empires does not seem to have much success either), and so you should not expect Man to produce some yarns in the foreseeable future. If someone needs to know something about Man (R'lyeh?), do ask me and I will give the details.

On another matter, Atlantis seems to have gone AWOL. Does anyone have news about them?

[puffyn]

Alneyan,

That's a pity. I was hoping to find out what happened to Ilneoa... but so long as you keep hosting the game, I'll be happy.

[puffyn]

---- Arcoscephale, Turn 14 ----

Late spring in the southern marshes

The news recently has been all good.

Lussan fell easily beneath the spears of my Silver Shields. To celebrate the victory, I will raise a temple to Apollo, patron of the intellect, leader of the Muses, and source of the Oracle at Delphi which Thymbre loved so much. Over its arches I will etch her name, and there it shall remain while this world remains unbroken.

Balachandra and his siblings have finally gotten around to doing some useful research on construction techniques. It's not science exactly, but it's probably the best I can expect out of these unenlightened folks. I'm sure Balachandra is wise, and Amshula gained some valuable experience leading the attack on Skelde Henge (in fact, she is bringing some newly trained elephants to swell my ranks this turn), but they're still all basically crazy. Balachandra has plans to "project his astral self in an attempt to locate sites of Astral power". Fine, whatever he does in his spare time is his own look-out. But apparently this nonsensical ritual takes a full month, during which he won't be pursuing his very interesting thoughts about the construction of light-weight armor.

Divikar, always the copy-cat younger brother, plans to do a similar thing, pouring oil on a sample of soil brought back from Golana to see "hidden sites of fiery powers". I must be misunderstanding the ritual somehow, because I know it does not take a full month for a small oil fire to burn.

And finally, Limmy apparently finally lost his mind completely and attempted to attack Skeldmarsh all by himself. Needless to say, he died. I guess I'll miss the blue freak, but this will certainly quell the campfire rumors that he's the "8th incarnation of the immortal Vishnu", or whatever the locals think this week.

My butter supply is undisturbed tonight for the first time in a long while. Tonight I will go sit on the high flat rock which will soon be consecrated to Apollo, spread butter on freshly fired bread, and watch the stars.

---

[Alneyan]

puffyn said:
Alneyan,

That's a pity. I was hoping to find out what happened to Ilneoa... but so long as you keep hosting the game, I'll be happy.

She has just won the prize at the Pretenders' lottery: a single ticket to the otherworld, as a few arrows have just killed her. I guess that will remind me why Air-5 isn't quite the same thing as Air-9 when you want to fight half the world on your own. Oh well, she will just come back eventually, slightly more bitter and overeager to share her experience of death.

[magnate]

Sorry folks, been away for a few days. Will catch up with the scores tomorrow. Hope you're all having fun ...

CC