Twilit Tears

((Definition of Fomor: A creature native to Uladh or Tir Na Nog, that is not a human, god, spirit, or non-sentient animal. That is: Goblins, Kobolds, Succubi, Incubi, Ogres, Trolls, Headless, Argos, Werewolves, Lycanthropes...The list goes on. Humans who have defected to the Fomor side are exactly that: Humans who defected to the Fomor side. See also:

Spoiler:

^ (Spoiler tagged just in case someone who hasn't done the generations is reading this and doesn't want them ruined. O_o )

If anything, player interaction (assuming RP's and background activity, not level-grinding/scroll cashing in that would more often than not be OOC) would probably have had an overall NEGATIVE effect on Dunbarton's attitude towards strangers and freaks. Keep in mind, for a while we were in the habit of blowing up the library about once a week. Constant civic repairs=higher taxes=unhappy people=wanting a scapegoat=THOSE FREAKS KEEP TEARING STUFF UP! ...And that's not even getting into the bloody (literally, as in blades and bows are involved) brawls in the middle of the streets we've had.

As for total time spent, assuming we're not just allowing for the "RL week=Erinn year" gaming convenience? Probably a year and a half to two years...Five or so at the most, if we count events from before Fenrir ever even hinted at his existance (IE: First appearance of the shards.) That is, long enough for Fenrir to have been getting the wheels in motion (and to make his actions seem genuinely threatening,) but short enough for it to still be relevant. Honestly, if we used the week=Erinn time to determine timekeeping, I think EVERY immortal (Fenrir himself included) would have gotten bored with this in the twenty-some-odd year stretches of NOTHING happening. xP ))

((Strictly speaking, Erinn officially has TWO rates of time passage:Native(slow) and Streamer(fast).))

Jtipton wrote:((Definition of Fomor: A creature native to Uladh or Tir Na Nog, that is not a human, god, spirit, or non-sentient animal. That is: Goblins, Kobolds, Succubi, Incubi, Ogres, Trolls, Headless, Argos, Werewolves, Lycanthropes...The list goes on. Humans who have defected to the Fomor side are exactly that: Humans who defected to the Fomor side. See also:

Spoiler:

^ (Spoiler tagged just in case someone who hasn't done the generations is reading this and doesn't want them ruined. O_o )

But, anyone who uses fomorian powers, or controlled by fomorian powers is a fomor. Since Wolves drop fomor scrolls as well.
Which would mean, Fomor is not a race, is an alliance. If not, humans couldn't be fomors. Wouldn't this also mean "fomors" can be "not fomors"? Just look at Kristell And the goblins in Ceo and Alby Arena. So, who said my civilians had to use CoD? Or such fomorian magic?

If anything, player interaction (assuming RP's and background activity, not level-grinding/scroll cashing in that would more often than not be OOC) would probably have had an overall NEGATIVE effect on Dunbarton's attitude towards strangers and freaks. Keep in mind, for a while we were in the habit of blowing up the library about once a week. Constant civic repairs=higher taxes=unhappy people=wanting a scapegoat=THOSE FREAKS KEEP TEARING STUFF UP! ...And that's not even getting into the bloody (literally, as in blades and bows are involved) brawls in the middle of the streets we've had.

Paladins would be looked down upon as well, they have added to the destructions. And many DK players (including Xeek) gets along with the NPCs, since I never got attacked when I went to Dunbarton or even Emain before. Even J would be looked down upon, since I am sure a few civilians seen or heard of his werewolf origins. Thus, proving, Erinn-borns don't look down upon fomors.

As for total time spent, assuming we're not just allowing for the "RL week=Erinn year" gaming convenience? Probably a year and a half to two years...Five or so at the most, if we count events from before Fenrir ever even hinted at his existance (IE: First appearance of the shards.) That is, long enough for Fenrir to have been getting the wheels in motion (and to make his actions seem genuinely threatening,) but short enough for it to still be relevant. Honestly, if we used the week=Erinn time to determine timekeeping, I think EVERY immortal (Fenrir himself included) would have gotten bored with this in the twenty-some-odd year stretches of NOTHING happening. xP ))

The thing is... we never set a time. We can't set a time to high, because of the NPCs and what is stated above, but we can't set it to low. Wars don't happen over seconds, or weeks, maybe month... but highly unlikely. Specially with the quantity of the people involved. I doubt Fenrir and Wolfe would just clash all their fighters over one night. (specially since it took us a week RL time xP)


So it all depends on how we look at things, I really think is possible for a group of non-fomor-hating humans and a group of non-human-hating fomors get together in one city and have a good life. Until attacked xP I, obviously, didn't think of creating a world peace. It was Xeek's idea, heck I , myself, am against Fenrir winning.

[[ Oooohohoho, crap. My mistake on that part. BIG mistake. The succubus in question was Kurohi and that was only supposed to have been done in Emain. Couldn't cover both towns at once and Emain WAS the main target at the time. Huuuuuge typo/mistake on my part. I am SO sorry for that everybody. DX;;; How's that gonna affect things overall though? I don't think anybody really acted on Dunbarton's kids being stolen anyways, but... *Headdesks, can't believe he did that and it went unnoticed for so long. Epic fail.* ]]

((Well, actually . . . Dunbarton, as a whole reacted.))

A force of roughly 1,800 marched on Dunbarton. Met with closed gates and a lone man barring the way outside the northern, a dark knight among the mixed soldiers stepped forward to learn of the town's response. After the knight's blood was spilled at the end of a negotiation ended in violence, it was revealed that a good number of Fenrir's knights were the stolen children under the dark armor's influence.

Demoralized by the idea of having to fight their own offspring, the town surrendered after a minor resistance from two RPS members that refused to give in. Where the two disappeared to amidst the chaos is unknown; but their bodies weren't found among those slaughtered. As the sun set and Requiem's flag was being raised over the clock tower, the souls of the fallen knights mixed with tainted auras from their dark armors rose in a flurry of lights before dispersing in three different directions - toward Rabbie, Math, and Peaca, where the armies that surrounded Dunbarton had initially emerged from.

((So, Dunbarton's entire reason for surrendering in the first place was because their own children were being used as weapons against them. And, also, there was a justification given for how the Requiem *did* cover both cities with the children-stealing music. So, everyone's children in both cities have been used as weapons against those people. Which, considering the size of both those cities, I'm guessing the human population on Uladh either lost a child or is related to a lost child or least has *friends* who lost a child.))

In their search for the missing children, the paladins came across clues leading them into the aqueducts. Apparently, both Dunbarton and Emain Macha are connected by them, and both to Rundal’s dungeons. Where exactly from there the children were taken from there is unknown and searches are still being conducted. During the investigation though, another note from Fenrir Eir had been slipped in among the numerous missing person bulletins:

((Also, Fenrir didn't take the older kids, he took the younger ones.))

Those on the streets or over the age of ten appear to be safe and accounted for; but no one can remember anybody who stood out that was coming or going during the incident. No one even saw the children passing the gates. Further investigations leave it to be the work of a succubus acting outside the boundaries of the dungeons, possibly something linked to what happened in the sky the previous month, and most likely the work of the rogue Fenrir Eir with all things considered. Paladins have stated that they are on the case and have put locating the missing children as their top priority.

((So, like I said, I have to think that with a huge number of children being kidnapped and used as weapons against their parents and families, those same parents would likely not be happy with Fomor in general and anybody associated with Fenrir in particular (Which, by definition is Xeek, one of Fenrir's soldiers and, at least, the fomor guards of Dunbarton, who are *also* Fenrir's soldiers). You can make a case that the new citizens are all from Tailteann and the cities just switched populations for . . . some reason, but saying that they're not filled with complete horrified fear and total disgust for the actions of the Requiem is like saying that if you turn all the children of California into rabid killing machines that stab their families, that Colorado will still be just fine with you.

I understand that they had little choice (except by moving there in the first place), but I *really* think that humans, as a whole, will be a great deal less likely to trust the Requiem in particular and Fomor in general, since the Fomor are perfectly willing to use humans as soldier farms to kill more humans. Just saying that when the Fomor population drops, you'd see more resistance until Fenrir shows up with his 1k of troops to crack down.

Also, I don't think it's unfair to say that any attempt to make nice with the humans would come off as patently fake. Especially considering you'd have (statistically speaking) about 2/3rds of your human population with missing/dead children, under the age of 10, because Fenrir thought it would be a good idea to stick a Fomor in them. I mean, if anything, Fenrir's actions make a really strong case for justifiable genocide, not "oh well since our kids go to the daycare that used to be the center of our spiritual lives which has now been stolen from us, everything's peachy-keen".

Maybe I'm misreading the tones in your posts, but it sounds like some of the Fomor PCs are under the impression that they're being accepted, when I would think that the human's thoughts would be along the lines of: "You take our children, turn them into *killers*, kill *us* with our *children* take over our cities, live in our houses, declare martial law, take away our religion, have *no* ability to provide security (since the attacks continue on guards) and prevent us from providing our *own* security by taking our weapons, burn down our *library*, and you think a freaking *daycare* and not stabbing us on sight is going to make up for it?"

Sorry for the long post, but I think that it's really just ridiculous to expect anything but the worst anti-fomor feelings in the history of Erinn to be the outcome. There are a lot of comparisons in human history where we can draw parallels, but they're all politically and emotionally charged, so I'll leave it to everyone's own recognizance to realize them.))

// I believe Liiam and J have successfully pointed out the gaping hole in the plot logic. I also believe that Requiem's peacekeeping effort in Dunbarton should be a complete failure.

// Farming tools can be effective substitute weapons.

[[*Cracks knuckles* Oi, internet craps out on my while trying to explain things last night and I come back to this. I'ma hafta get the extra-superglue for this one...]]

[[Will be back to look over all this and fix things after classes today. In the meantime, I'm gonna lock the thread down to avoid further OOC spam. If you have other questions, please PM them to me and I'll get back to ya ASAP/add it to the clarifications here.]]

[[Back on track now. Sorry it took longer than expected to post this. Things got busy.]]

Status of Emain Macha

Tension between humans and Fomors continue, though the heavy increase in army presence when reinforcements arrived leave the civilians doing whatever it takes to keep themselves off the chopping block. The dungeon has been reopened (and really, I didn't say anything about boarding it up to begin with. I meant closed off to the public as in Fomors standing around going "NONE SHALL PASS." D:<), though is still under heavy guard, as are the outskirts.

The earlier problem Requiem had with keeping people from escaping was solved once backup arrived. After the ambush and while forces were unable to fully cover the entire town, a small number of people were able to get away and spread word about the injustices the army; but there have been no more fugitives coming for some time now. Aside from a few small parties dispatched to harrass Tailteann from the south and heavier patrols to counter the "wolf infestation", Emain Macha has been eerily quiet.

Laws in Place (So people know exactly what to expect):

- Curfew at 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM - all citizens were to be indoors during this time. Any spotted outside between these hours will immediately be sentenced to public execution.

- The paladin training grounds, islands, moon gate, church (what's left of it), castle (also what's left of it), Bean Rua, and Rundal Dungeon are off limits to civilians. Any found trespassing without permission will be sentenced to public execution. (And in this case, the only way to have full, unquestionable permission would be to have a Fomor or Dark Knight escort present.)

- Civilians are not to carry weapons or any item that may be seen as contraband. This includes but is not limited to: bladed tools, blunt objects weighing over 10 pounds, goddess wings, holy water, any item bearing the emblem of a deity, and clothing or literature of religious nature. Tools for harvesting will be supplied by guards watching the fields and are to be returned when work hours are completed. Penalty for non-compliance is death.


Status of Dunbarton

Xeek's attempts at uniting races may have had problems during the restoration project for Dunbarton (and naturally, alliance talks were completely ignored) ; but Fenrir's disgruntled arrival sent chills through everyone. The arrival of Requiem's forces the day after had the city in a panic again. While attacks from the phantom animals were kept from reaching town by larger numbers patrolling the fields, the presence of so many Fomors along with the Dark Knights who were once their children, rumors of further attacks, and hostilities between the races caused things to boil over.

What started with a parent trying to plead with the kids led into a riot after a Fomor got too rough shoving him away. Civilians versus soldiers however was little contest and the end result was a bloody mess at the southern end of the town square. After the event and to ensure it didn't happen again, Fenrir invoked placed laws down; and in an attempt to keep the youths protected, Xeek employed his personal guard to keep watch over public buildings they used.

New Laws in Place

- Curfew at 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM - all citizens were to be indoors during this time. Any spotted outside between these hours will immediately be placed under arrest - the penalty for resisting is death.

- Civilians are not to carry weapons or any item that may be seen as contraband. This includes but is not limited to: bladed tools, blunt objects weighing over 10 pounds, goddess wings, holy water, any item bearing the emblem of a deity, and clothing or literature of religious nature. Soldiers under Requiem are permitted to carry "un-blessed" weapons, but none of the items deemed as contraband.

- All passing through the gates are to submit themselves to a thorough customs check. The above-listed items will be confiscated for those who do not have permission to carry them. Travellers, merchants or other non-civilians and soldiers will have their items returned upon departure from the city limits. Those outside the limits who do not comply will be orderd to turn around, those within face arrest and death if further resistance is given.

- All arcane arts with the exception of healing are prohibited without written permission from Requiem's mage council inside city limits. Illegal use of magic will result in an immediate arrest - the penalty for resisting arrest is death.

Status of Bangor

Fomors have been toiling night and day to removed the rubble from the entrance to Barri Dungeon. While normally this would have taken just a few hours for the ogre warriors has gone into weeks due to the watchtower over the dungeon having collapsed on the town. The defense is still strong - archers manning every high point in the hills and canyon, gremlins and poison kobold warriors lurking among the rocks to ambush enemies they may slip by; and grotesque, armed statues of obsidian have been placed about in a pattern that makes it appear like they were prepared to cast judgement on any who trespassed.

Status of Barri

After learning from a few workers sent to scout the lobby after it collapsed, the mages and alchemists put their heads together to think of a strategy. With the primary way to get into Erinn blocked off and the alternate route being too risky at the moment, the trapped forces were left to hole themselves up in the dungeon and wait. Scouts were sent out into the other world to search for other passages into Erinn, and in the meantime, the chamber for the sealed door would always be guarded by a team of archers with two gargoyles replacing the statues on either side of it. Anybody coming through who wasn't scheduled for it was to be met with a face full of arrows.

Status of Iria

Zardine and Rano are still considered danger zones. More and more shipwrecks have been appearing on the coastline south of Quilla; and those being sent to scout Raspa Volcano are no longer returning.

[[ There, think that's everything and all up to date. If I missed something or anybody have further questions, either make it brief here or drop me a detailed PM. ]]

[[Also, sidenotes about the wolves - I think its safe to say soldiers adapted to the attacks by now. Not only are they scheduled, but after the first few strikes, I'm sure they'd be making countermeasures to make themselves more ready for encountering them. Like larger groups - as I've mentioned, positioning themselves where the sun causes less interference with eyesight or shielding their eyes, carrying alternate light sources, switching tactics from trying kill to trying to endure, etc.]]

[[ Just a note on the effects of twilight and why some of those tactics are useless for reasons that should be clear to anyone who is driving at those times of day. Sun effects - there are none since the sun is behind the horizon but the sky is still very bright. Light sources are also useless since the bright sky-glow negates the effectiveness except at close quarters where the added light helps with reading and colour vision. Twilight is that level of brightness that limits daylight vision due to lack of light but prevents the use of night vision due to the overall brightness. No matter the race the defenders are at a disadvantage on spotting anything visually. Add the property of the enemy being shadowy and translucent, cold (no heat vision to spot them) using the terrain to their advantage, it is still very scary even when you know they are coming. No sight, No sound except that of your companions under assault leads to heightened stress and paranoia.]]

[[The tactic of going full defense and enduring the assaults will be effective on reducing fatalities but casualties will still result. Not using blessed weapons and armors will add a disadvantage to the defenders as well.]]

[[ Luckily for the forces in Dunbarton that the attacks have not penetrated the walls as yet.]]

Captincrunch wrote:[[ Just a note on the effects of twilight and why some of those tactics are useless for reasons that should be clear to anyone who is driving at those times of day. Sun effects - there are none since the sun is behind the horizon but the sky is still very bright. Light sources are also useless since the bright sky-glow negates the effectiveness except at close quarters where the added light helps with reading and colour vision. Twilight is that level of brightness that limits daylight vision due to lack of light but prevents the use of night vision due to the overall brightness. No matter the race the defenders are at a disadvantage on spotting anything visually. Add the property of the enemy being shadowy and translucent, cold (no heat vision to spot them) using the terrain to their advantage, it is still very scary even when you know they are coming. No sight, No sound except that of your companions under assault leads to heightened stress and paranoia.]]

[[Lighting, I was referring more to the morning hours just before the light peaked or night right after sunset, but I get what you mean. I thought they were attacking all through early morning and dusk, not just those few minutes when the sun's rising and falling over the horizon. My bad. And I have experiemented with this when driving too. It's actually easy to gain some visibility by making a bit of shade. Saved me from many an accident on the road. It doesn't provide perfect vision, but it increases chances of knowing when something's gettnig close. For me, roughly 8-10 feet. I also noted the army would be using terrain as well. There's plenty of hills and shade from buildings, trees, etc. to the east and west of the towns in under attack. I don't see how anybody wouldn't use those to their advantage against an enemy like this, or raise alarm to those that don't see what they see when under attack. North and south shouldn't have too many problems as far as visibility goes.

Lack of blessed weapons is a problem yes, but if the wolves are being kept from reaching town that's all that matters. Objective is simply to draw attention away from the cities until the time passes by posing a bigger threat to creatures that seem to be attacking based on instincts. Pest control. This doesn't put things on even ground; but as you said, it does limit casualties. I just wanna make sure we're on the same page so we can gage how much from it.]]

[[Methods to attacks by the ghosts in general also made me wonder something, but I'll PM you about that when I get home. For someone requesting brief explainations here, I've drolled on too long. ]]

(( *brings back the useless ghost swords* ))

[[ Can't make or use them since Holy Water is illegal ]]

It was a morning patrol that found the goblin at the farmhouse.

It had been Hung by its neck with an iron chain, its belly sliced open and a wooden placard hammered into it's chest. It read:

"This is the fate of traitors and tyrants!"
Below that was carved the image of a Wolf's head, it's eyes replaced with dice

a pair of interested eyes watched from the wall as the patrol made the discovery

"Think anyone will recognize it?" the human said

The elf beside him shrugged "Maybe Fenrir and a few of his old troops. But its been while since then, and most of the troops he had back then are dead. It'll be a new thing for Xeek and his men, that's for sure."

"well, security does seem a bit tighter than it was back then."

The elf grinned "the more the challenge of the kill, the greater the thrill when it is achieved"

They both chuckled, spared one last look at the farmhouse, then resumed their patrol along the wall

Rumors of quiet rings of revolutionaries rising and efforts of sabotage in Dunbarton. It amused him really. He would've thought people would be more interested in staying alive, but constant efforts to distract his troops from the inside while they were trying to protect those very same people against dangers encroaching from the outside. Little damage was done physically, but the attempts were steadily chipping away at his mens' patience. He'd let it happen. If the people needed another riot crushed to keep them under control, so be it. If Emain Macha's more oppressive and lethal laws needed to be laid down, he'd give the order to his men. They'd probably love him for it.

Trained falcons had been delivering reports from Emain Macha directly to him. Crows seemed less reliable after he'd heard about the events after the ambush on that city so a change was in order. Pity - the theatrics provided a flock of black birds raining messages of dread on society were entertaining, but the new messengers were indeed more trustworthy. The news they delivered however, was aggitating. A few years ago, a few chips off the seal near the city had been brought to him; and now larger pieces of it had just been dropped off to show its state. People were breaking and with it, more "blessings" were being granted to them in the form of those stones breaking to give "hope". One final push, whether it was because of him or some other threat to Erinn, would probably make them crumble.

Expected, but he had hoped to gain more control before then. With Bangor somewhat buried, he lacked the forces for that control. At the rate things were going based on updates he received, everything would be ready soon, but not soon enough for that one last push needed.

Fenrir heaved sigh from his perch on Dunbarton's belltower. Running out of time... he thought. And then he grinned as it ran through his mind again. Running out of time. Maybe it's their answer.

---

"How is it?" the mage asked. There was a sharp edge in his voice when he spoke to the blacksmith. It had been longer than expected since the entrance to Barri collapsed. Being stuck within the underground again for so long grated his nerves. He hated being cooped up within the dungeons.

The goblin blacksmith was busy cooling newly tempered steel and seemed just as annoyed when he turned to address the mage. "It is." came the tense and incomprehensible reply. While he was grateful they decided to build him a workshop in the dungeon after the entrance to Barri collapsed. The constant demands and little rest lately were getting to him too. Aside from general orders for tools and weapons, this had been the seventh attempt at creating the item the magicians sought. While they had the material, the person who knew how to work it had lost contact with them and on top of that, the fomor was a blacksmith, not a jeweler! "I do what I can, but--"

The fabric about the mage rippled as his temper began to flare. He was drawing mana for a spell of some sort - the goblin knew. It wasn't the first time this particular robed figure came to visit him about these project.

The smithy's eyes narrowed as he continued. "--I can't make it something that will last. Blades made with crystal rarely do."

"It doesn't need to last, it just needs to be recreated. We don't have many more resources to give, so do what you can. We're running out of time."

"Feh!" The goblin turned to go back to work with a huff. "When did we ever have enough time?"

The drums sounded sometime in the afternoon. four beats, one right after the other, repeated several times over. at the sound of the beats, soldier at around Tail, whether they were drinking at the bars, talking with the civilians, or simply relaxing, all dropped what they were doing and filtered down to the south beacon tower. there they clustered around the base, sharpening weapons, shoeing horses, fixking harnesses and checking supplies. every now and then, someone would glance towards the top of the tower, where Wolfe was speaking to Silver


"Dare i ask why we are helping someone who betrayed us?" Silver asked, the distaste plainly evident in her tone

"because the rewards he offered for our help are far greater than what we lost thanks to him. Look" he said, rolling out a map "he says we may have all the territories we take in this campaign of his. all he asks for is Dunbarton, a city which is highly dependant on trade from the east" he gestured to emain on the map"

"and that brings up another snag" she said, looking over the camp " four hundred troops isn't exactly a conquering army"

"ah, fortunately, we have that taken care of. According to Xeek, his and fenrir's troops have been having a bit of trouble with vigilantes. Namely, ones killing like White did back when Fenrir first took the city"

Silver's head snapped up at that, a gleam in her eye "you mean.."

"yes" Wolfe replied, waving his hand over the area around Dunbarton "Somewhere down there are a thousand troops just waiting for us. Its time to bring this war to a close, before it turns all of uladh into a wasteland. we leave tomorrow. see that everyone is ready to ride by then"

TWWolfe wrote:east"

((West, I think))

[[West, and didn't Wolfe and Co. escape to Iria? O.o]]

((Twas his plan, but he never sent anything to me about pulling it off, and given the fact that he'd need to make a push through Bangor, it would probably be hard to do anyway.))

((plus, there be giant sea monsters shutting off the sea trade, i hear))

[[Ah. I thought they were going with the moon gate to port thing. And the Rano region isn't the only place to touch land at from see, but eh. Works. XP]]

[[-cough- So will we be having another trip to the Filia arena this weekend?]]

[[ Wolfie is also too much of a scardy cat to use that offer of assistance he was given, even if it does have at least one string attached ]]

[[Don't be jealous Capt' it's unbecoming of you ;o]]

[[Fenrir has an announcement to give all the players within Requiem. As I know I won't be able to say it without interruption (yeah, that's right - I know ya'll too well XP), ye shall be receiving a PM in which I would like a response too. Justified since it's a private meetin' anyway.

Following characters to get a PM are:

Auramune
Xeek
Thomas
Shinnichi
Xenny

If you are within Requiem and I forgot due to lack of interaction in recent times, lemme know by tomorrow if you want the message too. ]]

((Xenny's with the Requiem ._. What's with the question mark?))

(( alright i didn't got half of what this is about and yes im too lazy to read 15 pages but if i guess right it's basically 2 armies figthing off in emain dunby bangor ect... (aka all of errin) right?seem lik a storylineplot...might join in if i seem to fit XP cause it seem fun ;o))