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COLONISERS: Season 3!!! (Colonisers of Krystel)
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That's kinda missing the point, but it's missing it in such an interesting way that I will let it slide.
Dame Ellor struck aside another errant root as she lead her scouts deeper into warrens. The southern were covered in warrens like these, which made colonization much easier. They were dry, sturdy, and well sheltered, if not exactly comfortable to live in. The only downside was the pests.
In addition to the big bugs, tiny little buggers were so prevalent, that the ground crunched with every step Dame Ellor took.
The bigger bugs were definitely the right size to make these warrens, but not the right intelligence. The warrens were structural masterpieces, complete with areas for bathing, sleeping, even underground moss farms. These bugs were, to be blunt, dumb as shit. Every now and then a stray one would attack, despite the twelve to one odds against them. Once Dame Ellor came across several of them that had all starved to death, despite the abundance of food a few rooms over.
Of course, worse than the big bugs were the little ones. They swarmed all over the tunnels, hundereds of them sometimes. But that was nothing compared to what she saw ahead of her. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, swarming across the floor, the walls, the ceiling, all heading for…
It was not in Dame Ellor’s nature to gasp, but gasp she did as she and her party rounded the corner and entered into the massive chamber at the heart of the warrens.
“A distributed counciousness?” Asked Ellor
“Imagine if everyone you knew, at birth, gave a portion of their brain to some sort of king consciousness. Some random thoughts you have, but not all of them are shared by everyone.”
“And that’s what these insects were like?”
“Not really, but I don’t see think a more technical explanation will make it any clearer for you.” An infuriating smile played across Gulvan’s face as he spoke.
“And so there king brain died, and now they are all nuts.”
“Essentially. Their minds keep on reaching out for what isn’t there.”
“And you have a solution for all this?”
“A… Partial solution. They will never again be what they once were, but I believe we can salvage their minds. If we dampen their psychic abilities, they may be able to focus on the here and now again.”
“Ok, so how do we do that.?”
“The key is these scute bugs. They have been steadily feasting on the king brain for weeks. I believe I can imbue them with a small measure of the essence of the king brain. So long as the big bugs are close enough to a large number of these modified scute bugs… Well, they won’t be telepathic anymore, but they will be sane.”
“So what you are saying is we need large bugs covered with small bugs.”
“The more the better.”
“Great,” Dame Ellor said sarcastically.
Gulvan slit open the large creature, and it squealed and flailed as hundreds of scute bugs crawled into the wound and ate the larger bug from the inside. All the while Gulvan sat back and whispered the hidden words, invoking the power of an ancient god of hate.
Moments later the beast burst open revealing Healer Gulvan’s new creation. They poured through the warrens. They would be harmless to the rest of the hive, content to feed of their psychic energy, and end their paininful shrill against the void in exchange.
Magnificent! I love people building the world I give them!
For the next elimination challenge, I present you PERSONALISED CRISES!
Each of you will face a challenge that is directly honed to your nation, and to not fail, you have to overcome it with a card.
@AxNoodle Yay, you've killed the last of the golems! But where to expand to next? Every spot you can possibly colonise now will result in political tension, so you have to pick the least worst option.
@EmolgAn You have done almost finished claiming the territory of the ally of your ally. How do you ease the political tension with the House?
@MemoryHead In this age of alliances and trade, your only real outside connection is with the Firebringers, and they've been making deals and contacts of their own. To survive, you must contend in the world concert, or you'll find your economy crippled without help from the Krystel Market.
@Lujikul KILL DEM VAMPS! You're approaching Dusk Palace. Soon is the deciding battle of whether you smite the vampires, or the vampires smite you
@kandra127 The border tensions between you and the House are reaching a boiling point. Contender Fae are rising that demand you either sign an official treaty, or charge. Which do you choose? (And no, you cannot do this in secret, the whole of Krystel is watching)
@Derain2 To arguably the strongest power, the most difficult challenge. During the arcane rituals of the day, Lady Elta done done done herself in! She ded! How does your empire react to the abrupt death of their monarch? Can the heir stand up to her responsibilities?
All for next Friday, preferably Thursday, please!
*dramatic music starts playing*
"Dreamblade?"
"Yes, Mistress?"
"Tensions are growing with house Elta. We must make an arrangement."
"But, Mistress! We cannot sign a treaty. If we want to conquer this plane, we must be ruthless."
"Who is the ruler here, Dreamblade?"
"You, Mistress"
The denizens of Slispect heard a horrid scream emanate from the Castle. Two guards watched Arima walk out of the throne room, wiping blue Ichor off the blade.
"Open the vault. I need the One."
"But, Arima-"
"And organize a strike on house Elta. Nothing will stand in our way."
As she walked through the halls toward the Royal Vault, Arima smirked.
"Long Live the Queen"
Two of the Three greatest candidates for winner are INFIGHTING?! POPCORN!!!!!
Speaking of which, I've been noticing, that if I try to abstract myself, I find my scoring system is very loose, compared to things like Planeswalkers's Journey. So I ask you, what fo you think about changing that S4 and on?
I have set up a handy survey on Google Forms for you to fill out if you have an opinion on this subject: https://forms.gle/XDzJsggnfqpaJAF88
͡
Th͠ey ̕fi͞l͝l yo͠ur͞ ͜minds.
̡
Th҉e͏ ͠S͘courge͞ ̴ha͟s҉ ͡b̨e̡e͘n for͡g̢ot̛t̀e̢n.
̨B̛uţ E͝dgeri̢m, ơur͟ ho͠rro̕r b̶inds͠.̛
S̷i̵gn͢s ̸o̵f̕ ̀i͘nv̧a͡sio͢n.
̡Nowher͠e ͜in s̸ig͞ht͘.͞
͝
Exce͢pt ̧the͠ inf͠l͞u͞e̴n̡c̡e͜ ̴of̷ Fa͜rn͏i̷k.
͞
̛I̢t sp̵r̢eads,̸ l͠ik̸e͜ un͏d͘e͝a̸d͜ bl͟ight.̕
S̶o̸me͞th͘in͡g͢ a͏pp̕roaches.
I̟̼͖̗ͪ̂̑t̩̹̦̭̝̆ͤͧͭ̿ͭ͑ ͔̞̮̱̼̂ͤ̅̂ͭ͐ͧī͖̖̩̻̦͜š̠͇̑ ͈͇̰̔̊́ͧ̆́ṉ̮̻̽ͬ̑̓ͮͨȍ̥̪̉̊ͯ̀t̹̖͇̭̑́ͧ ̲͓̲͌̀̇ͤͨ̀ũ̖̠̳̥̯͊̿͗̈ṣ̭̫̙͔̥ͨ̉ͦͅ.̴͔̝͓̽ͬͥ̏̏
We know of many old powers.
The eldrazi. The phyrexians. Marit lage. Quo'aqo. Uhthulc.
The scourge itself is one.
Settlers beware.
Something is coming.
It may be time to interfere.
Farewell colonisers of krystel.
We will be back.
Nearly every member of her family was there as Dame Almer and her mother carried the coffin through the street. Even Vorek had returned from the frozen north. A soft snow peppered the roads, which seemed appropriate.
Dame Almer never knew her aunt as well as she should. When Dame Almer was a child, Lady Elta scared her, and as she grew older Dame Almer grew to resent her, and the mantle she would inevitably pass on to her. She should have been grateful. Every breath Lady Elta took not only protected her people, but also Dame Almer’s brief period of freedom.
Looking back, Dame Almer realized she resented her mom and sister for loving their country more than her. Lady Elta died performing a ritual to bless the land with more favorable weather. She was literally leaving the nation a warmer place than she found it. Lady Elta’s relationship with the people was a love affair. Dame Almer’s would be arranged marriage.
After the words were said and the body was buried, Dame Almer and Lady Kren were swarmed by mourners and sycophants. Dame Almer felt numb as she heard the hollow words of sympathy, and she whispered back equally hollow words of thanks.
Dame Almer snapped out of her daze state as she recognized Norvin speaking. “Would you mind giving me and Dame Almer a moment?” He spoke to the others surrounding her. “There is something we must discuss in private.”
The other family members shuffled off. “What do we need to discuss?” Dame Almer asked.
“Nothing,” Norvin smiled sheepishly, “But you looked like you could use a bit of a break.”
Dame Almer released a sliver of a smile. “Thank you.” Over Norvin’s shoulder she could see Vorek chatting up Lady Kren. Perhaps he thought she would be the new power with Lady Elta gone. Perhaps he was right.
“You could just run you know,” Norvin chuckled a little. “Steal one of the ships, sail the world.”
Dame Almer laughed at the joke. “No I couldn’t. You’d find me.”
“Ah, one of the many benefits of communing with the Vast. You know Vorek wants me to convince you to join the order.”
“But you don’t?”
“As a ruler you’ll have no private life. You should at least have your private thoughts.”
Dame Almer nodded. “Do you miss it? The way you were before? Being a complete person all by yourself?”
“There are things I miss, but if went back to the way I was there would be more things I’d miss about the way I am now. Hopefully you will feel the same way too someday. A lot of things are going to change Dame, but they aren’t all going to be for the worst.”
“Thank you.”
“Speaking of which I can hardly keep calling you Dame. Have you put any thought into what your new title would is going to be?”
“Lady was good enough for my Aunt.”
“Lady is the title for the head of a house. All the other houses are dead, or a long ways off. I think it’s time we call our rulers what they really are.”
“I think her majesty is a bit pretentious.”
“Well then don’t let people call you that, my queen.” Norvin offered a mock quarter bow, walk three steps backwards, and rejoined the rest of the party.
Dame Almer laughed quietly to herself as he left. Norvin was such a joker. Still though, she did like the sound of that.
(I was hoping to start this kind of cycley-thing earlier like with the spies, but the challenges proved it difficult to fit them in)
To those in the lands of the Blessed Army.
Forget your aggression.
There is no need for violence.
Your faith in your religion is strong.
Keep your beliefs.
But also see the need for peace.
Join us.
(I am trying to expand there next.)
“It is confirmed. The fae have struck several of our outlying farms, seized the treasury in the town of Ulsar, and collapsed our bridge over Whiterun,” Lady Kren said.
“The Fae were never much more than a nusance before this. What changed?” Norvin asked.
“All we know for sure is that there queen is dead,” said Vorek. “We don’t know how or why, but whoever is running the show over there isn’t any fan of ours.”
“All conventional weapons and tactics are useless against them. They fly over our walls, they slip beneath our armor, they have no supply lines to disrupt, no fortresses to raid. We are going to have to completely rethink the way we wage war,” said Lady Kren.
“I don’t suppose the Vast will be able to pick any of them out in the forest, but if we manage draw them out…” Began Queen Almer.
“About that,” said Vorek. “The Vast are… reluctant to engage in warefare, they find the concept of organized and deliberate violence… troubling.”
“They didn’t seem to mind hunting us down like we were fish bait,” said Lady Kren.
“That was about survival, not politics.”
“So is this,” said Queen Almer.
“They don’t see it that way,” said Vorek. “But perhaps if you were to commune with them again yo-“
“The Queen is privey to too many secrets to share her minds with you and your beasts,” interrupted Lady Kren.
“I can speak on my own behalf mother. You have brought before me a list of problems, I presume you have brought solutions as well?”
“We need to ditch the platemail. Until this war is over I want every one of my soldiers in leather armor. We don’t have to stop hammers and blades, just the poisoned pinpricks of their blades. Any attempt to amass our armies would be folly, since they can simply be where we aren’t. We should distribute our soldiers amongst our settlements, clear out all the brush, and keep constant watch. Each of our soldiers are worth five of theirs in a straight fight. If we are careful, we can take from them every advantage they have.”
“It seems to me,” said Norvin, “That if you are defending, you are losing. I think we can take the fight to them.”
“Sending soldiers into the forest would be lunacy,” said Lady Kren. “They know the terrain, they can hide better, they can live off the land. They would have every advantage over us.”
“Not if we burn it down,” said Norvin.
A grim silence hung across the room. “That forests game has been feeding our people since we first arrived on this plane,” said Vorek.
“Well, now it’s harboring thieves and murders,” said Lady Kren. “There would be risks. A fire that big would be awfully hard to control, even with ritual magic, but if could be done.”
Vorek shook his head. “If you do this, my Queen, you can never take it back. We have to little information to take such a drastic action.”
“Do you have an alternative?” Queen Almer asked grimly.
“The common folk have been interacting with these fae for years now. I can interview them. Just give me some time to investigate what the hell is going on, and I can bring you an alternative.”
Despite the important nature of his task Ambassador Slen walked calmly and serenely through the woods. Over the course of the last few years he'd spent living with the Striders, he'd learned to slow everything down. He ate more conservatively, thought deeply, and acted slowly, much like most of his neighbors.
He wasn't walking in a particular direction. The Striders leadership always seemed to sense when he wanted an audience. Maybe they could tell by the way he walked. Sure enough a great stag stood before him.
"Your grace," Ambassador Slen offered a low bow. "It is my sad duty to inform you that the fae of Slipispect have launched a coordinated, violent, and unprovoked attack on my people. It is with a heavy heart I must ask you to honor our defense pact and come to our aid."
I hope you realise how difficult your position is. You have a defense pact with BOTH the Fae and the House. Which one to honour, which to break?