General Info:
Civilization Name: Horrorvale
Theme: Horrorvale(game)
Day 13
Capital: Horrorvale City
Acquired Kingdoms: None
Focus: Legacy
Map(s):
As you can see, there are areas within Horrorvales bounds that aren't technically part of the geographical location of Horrorvale, these are noticeable for being decidedly un-spooky. Also, because some douchewaffle decided they really wanted a full scale McMansion in the only clear path out of Horrorvale valley(and they didn't even stay and live in it, fucker just left), the only way to exit or enter is through the Withering Woods, this is where most Wendigos live, which makes it substantially less dangerous than otherwise, if still exceptionally spooky even compared to the rest of the region.
Troops & Heroes:
Troops:
Skeleton Witches/Warlocks - Skeletons where among the first settlers in Horrorvale, back when Hades and Death themselves presided over this section of the Underworld made Overworld. While their complete lack of muscle, biological
or ectoplasmic, means they are physically fairly weak(though it does leave them significantly less vulnerable to piercing weaponry), their magical prowess is nothing to scoff at. Thus is the military, they generally serve as a combination Mage-Support unit. Slinging offensive spells such as Firebolt, Bone Barrage, and Heal, while restoring their allies strength with Decay, Death, and Poison. (2 points)
Militia - Zombies, Ghouls, Mummies, less magically inclined skeletons, anyone who isn't automatically filtered into another force for their species, but isn't joining one of the non-species based forces, joins these. While they can't be said to be particularly capable, they can be fielded in great numbers than any fully fledged military force. They most often come equipped with light armor, and simple shortswords. Additionally though, every Militia member comes equipped with one firebomb(fragile potion pouches that spray a liquid which rapidly ignites upon bursting), to be used at their discretion, or that of their Commanding Officer, who is generally a Frankenling.
Vampiric Ambush Force - Vampires, swift, graceful, deadly, able to transform into small animals and suck the blood straight from someones veins. They would be the perfect soldiers if not for their fatal flaws. Sunlight burns their skin, garlic is poison, and stakes might as well come pre-poisoned. While in a Horrorvaleans perfect world the sun wouldn't matter as people would be awake at night and sleep through the day, the average soldier of Horrorvale is well aware that this is only the case in their homeland. As such, VAF units can only be deployed after dark, and must immediately retreate to hidden/defended locations as the sun begins to rise. That being said, when they are deployed, they can be truly frightening. Moving with great speed in their leather gear, their razor sharp Crimtain daggers easily find gaps in enemy armor and creates wounds that bleed far longer than normal. Their ability to transform into small animals also allows them to sneak into tight places. This makes them excellent for limiting the enemies force before battle can begin, and for dealing decisive strikes to otherwise occupied foes in night battles. (2 points)
Wendigo Berzerkers - Wendigos, the rarest of Undead species that can truly be said to be a major part of Horrorvale society. Standing head and shoulders over the average man. Their prodigious strength, even for their size, allows them to wield exceptionally large weapons. Their flesh is tough, easily limiting the damage they take even ignoring their armor, and by feasting on meat they can heal their wounds. However, they do not take to tactics well, nor magic, much prefering the very direct solution of "Charge straight forward and cleave anybody that doesn't give up in half." Nevertheless they are an effective, and truly terrifying, fighting force. (5 points)
Ecto-sappers - Ghosts are a very common sight within Horrorvale. More than likely the single
most common race here in fact, edging out Wendigos and Zombies
combined. That being said, their unique physical traits make them awkward to fit into any un-specialized military unit. The ecto-sappers are one such unit, ghosts making full use of their ability to go intangible at will and possess objects to bypass and destroy enemy fortifications and defenses before the main force moves in. When intangible, mundane objects simply pass through them, though the same cannot be said of magic or anything enchanted, and intangibility can't be partial. Ghosts are quite lacking in physical strength on their own, meaning that when caught not-possessing an object they struggle to fight back, and even if they are possessing an object they will die when it is destroyed. Still, these spectral soldiers can turn an enemies siege weapons and fortifications into their own worst enemies given the chance. (3 points)
Frankenling Shock Troopers - The artificial undead created by the the Mayor. Stitched together from severed parts. While they are not
as strong and quick as Wendigos, they are more durable, and more tactically minded, and do trend towards a higher intelligence. Not to mention, while they may not be particularly magically capable, the natural electric charge to their bodies can be used to fire bolts of electricity at close ranges. Each one is equipped with full iron armor and proper broadswords. Frankenlings are the ideal public servants, working as everything from postman to soldier, they are born for their jobs, and they take to them with pride and skill. (3 points)
Beast-Kin Ranger - Beast-kin is less a species of undead, and more a classification. Wolf-people, cat-people, bird-people, spider-people. If it's an animal, there's a beast-kin species for it. That being said, each one possesses traits common for said animals, which very uniformly make them skilled for fighting and surviving in the wilderness. With our new crossbows, a non-magical ranged unit has become all the more viable and useful, and as such, these rangers take full advantage of that. (2 points)
Heroes:
Mayor Ludwigg... Fikleheim? Fanglefoot? Frankenfurter? Something like that- The Mayor of the town of Horrorvale, a scientist whos technological genius is decades if not more beyond that of his citizens. Yet, he loves them all the same. He was the victim of an incredibly rare condition known as 'Aging', where his body, after hitting maturity, began to ever so slowly degrade. To counteract this, he built a mechanical body, and had his brain implanted into it via brain-jar. This body stands larger than a minotaur, has strength to match, a surprising amount of speed, and can fire off blasts of lightning. Unfortunately, this is not his natural body, and thus not the one he will un-die into should he be slain. Instead it will have to be re-built.
Grave Hands- A unique form of undead, the Grave Hands has been employed as the Mayors personal bodyguard. Six long, powerful arms stretch from his underside into the ground beneath him, and he can burrow through stone and soil at great speeds. These arms are capable of stretching great distances, allowing them to strike foes from below at great distances, and grip them in place when needed. His body is also particularly durable, making up somewhat for the fact that he cannot wear proper armor if he is to tunnel places. As an undead, he will of course, revive if killed through most methods, in order to directly destroy him, one must target the soul itself.
Supplies:Foreign:
Gunpowder - A substance I've heard tales of from far off lands. Gunpowder is an explosive powder, typically used for the propulsion of projectiles. While we could simply make use of this directly, plans are rather to use it as a base to build off of on our own.
Domestic:
Underworld Magic - For the most part, a vague collection of rather simple spells. 'Life' spells for combat, 'Death' spells for healing, some more basic combat spells that just fire different sorts of projectiles, a variety of empowerment spells, that sort of thing. Nothing esoteric such as wishes and polymorphing, just your classic array of magic spells, with a Halloween theme. A note to make however, is that the Life and Death spells do act as they say, it's just the effects of Life and Death magics have inverse effects upon the Undead. This is likely to come as a rude awakening when they find they need to double down on Death spells to both heal and hurt while completely giving up the Life ones.
Necromancy - A major portion of magic used in Horrorvale is Necromancy. And when I say major, I mean as in like, it's the sole option for reproduction for a majority of Horrorvales natives. Skeletons, Zombies, Mummies, Wendigos and Ghosts can't have babies after all, and that's only the major examples. So instead they pluck a lost soul that has been scoured clean of its identity out of Limbo, and slap it into a new, magically formed body, which ages as normal(at least until maturity, where all but the most tragically unlucky will simply stop aging). A notable effect of this is that Horrorvales citizens can't die properly, no form of afterlife will take recycled souls, not even Limbo itself, and so they just wake up again with a new body where they last slept. This doesn't make dying any more pleasant, but it makes it less frightening. That is not the only use for Necromancy however, as it can be used by trained professionals as a way to quickly get Undead who have once again become dead back into the fight.
Reagents-a-plenty - Eye of newt and tongue of frog, wing of bat and hair of dog. The wilderness around Horrorvale is absolutely overflowing with potent Potionology reagents. From the rivers and lakes literally flowing with blood, to bushes that sprout eyes, and every type of poisonous or carnivorous plant you can think of. If it's good for potions, Horrorvale has it. This makes them some of the most accomplished alchemists in the world, with access to all sorts of useful concoctions. The fact that healing potions and poisons have reversed effects on the Undead is made all the better by the fact that they have so much access to poison.
Alchemy Forges - Through the combination of more advanced forges/techniques, and Potionology, a variety of new useful metal alloys can be made. In addition to the typical metals such as steel and bronze, this also includes metals with unique properties, these include; Flintsteel(Capable of igniting easily when struck in the right way, extinguishes quickly due to being nonflammable), Cold Iron(Iron that weakens magical effects from proximity and contact), Orichalcum(Can be sharpened into incredibly fine edges and holds them longer under use), and Crimtain(slows blood clotting, causing wounds to bleed longer. Vampires like to lick it).
Mechanical Weaponry- Crossbows and their variations, as well as catapults and other siege weaponry, have been a notable part of warfare for quite some time. It speaks a lot about the peace in our lands that we have yet to develop such things. Now however, it has gotten to a point where there is simply no reason not to.
Advanced Alchemy Forges- With further advancements in alchemical forging, two new types of alchemical alloy have been made. Silverweave is very light and rather flexible, similar to cloth, but nearly as sturdy as a metal sheet of similar thickness. Adamantite meanwhile, is heavy, and incredibly durable for its thickness.
Crash Powder- A hybridization of gunpowder and various alchemical reagents. Crash Powder is nearly twice as potent as gunpowder, meaning that far more powerful weapons can be made, or equally powerful weapons using half the propellant.
Crash Powder Weapons- Weapons made to utilize the new crash powder. The Type 1 Machine Cannon, which replaces the shell and propellant automatically so long as the reloading racks are full, and the Type 2 Crash Cannon, a large weapon, with immense power, using as much Crash Powder as a normal cannon would use Gunpowder to fire its shots with truly massive amounts of stopping power.
Projects:
Horrorvale [8]- The city of Horrorvale, named for the valley in which it resides. Once, this land was fraught with horrible monsters and unspeakable beasts. Now the monsters are polite and the beasts just undead. Still though, Horrorvale has been built from this time, as such the city is practically a fortress. Every single external wall is thick and made of dark stone bricks, and the city is entirely surrounded by even thicker walls, and the ground is paved in many areas. It is, of course, still a city though, so traps are practically nonexistant in the streets, and siege weapons can be wheeled right through the gate and past the walls entirely if no attempt to stop them is made. Still though, the gates are the only actual weak point in Horrorvales walls. (Makes the Capital of Horrorvale double as an exceptionally sized Fortress, though with the problems that come from being a city)
Reagent Harvest Standardization [3]- A project to standardize and optimize the harvesting of Horrorvales natural supply of Potion reagents. Thus allowing them to easily be accessed when needed by those who need them. (provides the 'Reagents-a-plenty' Supply)
Standardized Ghost Unit [2]- The innate physical weaknesses of being a ghost and their only occasionally corporeal nature lead to them being rather awkward to fit into existing military groups. While they could float through walls or attacks, in doing so they would simply float out of their equipment. This requires ghosts to have specialized Units made to optimize their usage. The Ecto-sappers are merely the first example of such a unit. (provides 'Ecto-sappers' Troop)
Military Frankenling production and training [2]- In anticipation for coming potential conflict, Mayor Faffenpaffers production of Frankenlings has shifted steadily towards military focus. There is some worry about the ethics of creating thinking, unliving people for the singular purpose of war, but the ease of which they integrate into normal Horrorvale society has done well to assuage fears. (provides 'Frankenling Shock Troopers' Troop)
Frankenling Combat Armor [2]- Proper armor dedicated for Frankenling use. Where their iron armor would diffuse the Frankenlings electric bolts causing them to fly off course and wasting a decent portion of electricity, their new armor has been specially crafted with inlaid copper wiring leading towards the fingertips. This means that electrical attacks come out more focused and accurate, with much less of the power diffusing out into the rest of the armor. A pair of lightning rods have also been added to the back, which can channel what electricity does diffuse back into the Frankenling, completely erasing the power wasted in the act of firing bolts. They also allow loose electricity to recharge the Frankenling in small amounts. (upgrades Frankenling Shock Troopers with more accurate and powerful lightning attacks, and greater energy efficiency)
Advanced Metal Forging [3]- With Mayor Frankfurters technological advancements, we've managed to develop a variety of alloys, combinations of different metals. Particularly, through the addition of potionology, we've developed several magical alloys with unique effects. We expect these in particular will see great use in the future, for a variety of purposes. (Unlocks 'Alchemy Forges' supply)
Simple Mechanisms [3]- While mechanical contraptions had already seen a good bit of use. They had always been fairly large, and used for fairly large scale things. Stuff like Horrorvales gate, or the elevators in Mayo Furklefoots lab. With this, proper mechanisms are becoming more and more common in everyday life, and are even beginning to find their way into the weaponry utilized by our developing military. (Provides 'Mechanical Weaponry' Supply)
Orichalcum Refit [2]- With the creation of Orichalcum, a metal than can be sharpened incredibly finely and retains its edge even through extensive use, tools in Horrorvale have developed to new heights, trees can be felled at greater speeds when wood is needed, stone can be carved at a greater pace, animals can be skinned and butchered with greater efficiency. It is only natural that such a metal would find its way into the military as well. The brave men, women, and others of our militia have been equipped with new Orichalcum swords, which can cut through far tougher materials than their basic iron weaponry ever could. (Upgrades Militia weaponry to Orichalcum, making them capable of doing increased damage in melee combat)
Mechanized Weaponry [2]- Weaponry using simple mechanisms to function rather than pure strength. While this sort of weaponry may be less useful for our more physically adept soldiers, being that they cannot make use of their prodigious strength with it, for our other forces these should prove invaluable. Already we have begun the creation of a proper force to make use of these new weapons, which should allow us to deal dangerous strikes at range without relying upon magic. (Unlocks 'Beast-kin Ranger' Troop)
Crimtain Refit [2]- Crimtain also presents to us a design of use. While civilian-wise it is at best a novely for vampires, for military use it allows our weapons the bleed out enemies with far lighter injuries than would otherwise be necessary. Naturally, Crimtain knives make a perfect fit for our Vampiric Ambush Force. Allowing them to strike unseen and leave their targets crumpling to the ground bleeding.(Upgrades Vampiric Ambush Force with crimtain weaponry, causing foes cut by them to bleed for much longer, greatly increasing the risk of bleeding out)
Further Alchemical Materials research [3]- Through the combination of metalworking and potionology, two new forms of alchemically enhanced material have been created. The first, silverweave, is thin and flexible, and incredibly light, comparable to particularly durable cloth, while it may not be able to stop more powerful weapons, it is very light and should be easily useable for things that would be unable to handle the weight of traditional armor. The other is Adamantite, while heavier than iron, it is also more durable by far, capable of taking much greater punishment before giving. This undoubtedly will be very good for making armor.
Bodyguard; The Grave Hands [3]- The newest hire, a unique undead. Capable of tunneling through the ground at great speed, six powerful arms stretch from the underside of his body, and can stretch great distances. He has currently made several spots all around the laboratory and Horrorvale Heights from which he acts as a living security system.
Other:
Click to go to Day 0 for the Other. Got this idea from PirateJoe
Troops:
550 Skeleton Witches/Warlocks (1100 Unit Points)
1065 Militia
60 Beast-Kin Rangers(120 Unit Points)
50 Vampiric Assault Force troops(100 Unit Points)
355 Ecto-sappers (915 Unit Points)
355 Frankenling Shock Troopers (915 Unit Points)
169 Wendigo Berzerkers (665 Unit Points)
Total: 5400
Recruitment:
25 Militia
20 Beast-kin Rangers (40 Unit Points)
20 Vampiric Assault Force troops(40 Unit Points)
25 Skeleton Witches/Warlocks (50 Unit Points)
5 Ecto-sappers (15 Unit Points)
3 Wendigo Berzerkers (15 Unit Points)
5 Frankenling Shock Troopers (15 Unit Points)
Total: 200
Supplies:
Underworld Magic
Necromancy
Reagents-a-Plenty
Alchemy Forges
Mechanical Weaponry
Projects:
Mobile Assault Type 1 (0/2)
Mobile Destroyer Type 2 (0/2)
Completed Projects:
Horrorvale [8]
Reagent harvest standardization [3]
Military Frankenling production and training [2]
Standardized Ghost Unit [2]
Frankenling Combat Armor [2]
Advanced Metal Forging [3]
Simple Mechanisms [3]
Orichalcum Refit [2]
Mechanized Weaponry [2]
Crimtain Refit [2]
Further Alchemical Materials research (3)
Recruit Bodyguard (3)
Improve Gunpowder [3]
Advanced Projectile Weaponry [3]
Log:
Log AABY-013: The Crash Powder is complete, according to testing, it should be roughly twice as potent as Gunpowder, which means two things. First, the same power in smaller amounts, Second, double the power in the same amounts. Additionally, I have completed two different types of weapons making use of this new substance. The Type 1 Machine Cannon, which uses a clever mechanism to automatically load in new shells and Crash Powder allowing it to fire off shots less than a second apart from each-other, and the Type 2 Crash Cannon, a more typical single shot variety cannon using as much Crash Powder as a normal cannon would use gunpowder, giving its shots a truly outrageous level of stopping power, though this requires the cannon to be made out of adamantite in order to survive the sheer force, I doubt even the sturdiest armor would allow its wearer to survive the force of a direct hit from a Crash Cannon.
With these weapons having been made, I have begun work on a pair of new projects, and I have big plans for the future. Though, for now, those plans will have to wait.