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[m1895]

Goodwood Bows

Our archers have been wanting actual war bows for a while now, but we lacked the resources necessary to make enough. Heliel pondered this problem, and eventually decided to mutate some of the palms that surround our little oasis, creating an orchard of high elasticity "Goodwood Trees" the equal of any yew for bowyery and much more readily available to us; allowing us to mass produce longbows for our archers.

[Jilladilla]

Music is something that has become a symbol of pride and unity among our cult. Through the communion of our voices, the worries of the world seem further away and duller. All a placebo, of course; but it doesn't have to be. One acolyte with a tendency to lead our choirs developed the means to weave magic into the song. By doing so, the ultimately minor magical potentials of our cultists can be pooled together to help in fueling this magic, reducing the strain on the choir master in maintaining the effect; though of course it will need someone actually competent at magic to set up the spell-song.

While the 'Song of Soothing' has no exact set words, they nearly invariably sends a message of healing, community, of being a shoulder to cry on for those hearing, and, for the times when discretion isn't mandated for the situation, that Heliel will always be there for us, no matter our troubles. Again, so far, only placebo; this is where the magic comes in: anyone hearing the spellsong who isn't irrecoverably tainted by Evil will feel feelings of calm and serenity, that tomorrow will be a brighter day. It will give them increased mental health and fortitude to help them move past their problems. These effects are, quite frankly, relatively minor; right up until the point that they start singing along, where they will be hooked into the spell and indeed their magical potential added to the effects; though even if said potential is non-existent, they will still open a path for the spellsong to affect them directly, amplifying the effect to be much stronger.

All in all, a magic to not only bolster the spirits of our soldiers, but also those of the people as well.

[Failbird105]

Revision: Shadow Spells
Our Bright Shadows are spirits, magic is practically in their nature. That being said, not to a particularly noteworthy degree. Indeed, all they can manage is some of the most basic spells expected of incorporeal beings. With just a bit of enhancement and tutoring, we can enable our Shadows to cast proper spells on their own. Nothing more than the basics that any acolyte worth their salt could, but this is certainly better than the effectively nothing they where capable of before. With this, they can find those calling out for miracles and offer them aid directly, healing their wounds with Heliels Love or blasting possible attackers with Magic Missiles, acting as a sort of divine intervention, and directing them to seek Heliels light. Additionally, with their ability to use Magic Missile, they can turn our enemies lucrative booze business into a liability in the form of sudden detonations.
As we develop more simple spells we will of course add them to our Shadows repertoires, but we will limit our training to only simple ones for now(partly because those are all we have).

A revision to let our Bright Shadows use magic, enabling them to act much more directly, both in aiding others and acting against our enemies.

[chubby2man]

Giantslayer
A living siege weapon, the Giantslayer is a lesser angel, formed and crafted from the very power of Good itself. It has a diameter of 4 meters, bearing a large sphere, with 6 Helialian wings emerging from its side. It floats above the ground, able to move at the speed of a march (If not it can be assisted with ropes and pulled).

It’s main focus and energy is on firing a massive beam of holy power at large targets. It prioritizes the largest and strongest enemies first, but can also be used to target gates and walls. For demons and other strong creatures it will use full blasts, but if only cultists are on the field it will attempt to modulate its power to get a beam that lasts for many seconds and carve through enemy ranks.

The Giantslayer is a summoned siege weapon aimed at bringing down strong demonic creatures.

Microcherubs

And so Heliel cupped an amount of water in her wing and for a night she stared into the water. Once dawn had arrived she showed the acolytes the water. At first they saw nothing, but with a pulse of energy, small motes of light were revealed. Heliel explained that these tiny motes would save many lives.
-The Art of Doing Good Well

The Microcherubs are not entirly cherubs, despite the name, instead being a hybrid of microorganism and cherub. It can reproduce and spread without intervention, though it does need some way of traveling between bodies of water. They are incredible small, and not visible to the naked eye.

It’s main purpose is to bless the water around it, so that the water cleanses corruption and disease in those who drink it, including those snared by addiction to Bootleggers.

(Enhanced Version: Not only does it purify corruption, it inhibits the effects of alcohol, preventing any drunkenness.)

The Microcherubs do not need to be drunk themselves to have an effect. While doing so may increase their impact, it is the water itself which is blessed, so boiling the water doesn’t remove the effect. The microcherubs should live on in the water systems in which they are placed, able to subsist off what the original creature ate, as well as using ambient good energy to duplicate (helping an old lady cross the street could double a nearby population.)

Bottles of the Microcherubs are carried by cultists and dumped into wells and water systems where ever they travel, spreading resistance to corruption.

[Twinwolf]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (1): Twinwolf
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing
Giantslayer
Microcherubs

So I don't actually much like any of the influence designs, at least not for capitalizing on the ghosts? But I don't have any other ideas at the moment short of trying to redo revolutionary preachers as a design (maybe giving them a bit of that ability to cause people to feel the flow of Good?).

As for a combat design, I, of course, like my paladins, but could go either way between them and the monks of minos.

[Failbird105]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (1): Failbird
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (2): Twinwolf, Failbird
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing
Giantslayer
Microcherubs

On the one hand, the Paladins would help us deal with the corruption and forced mutation issues, at least somewhat. The problem is that they won't do much for us in a fight if the enemies go for a big combat unit this turn.

Also, I like the Rats

[chubby2man]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (1): Failbird
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (2): Twinwolf, Failbird
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs (1): C2M

Well going for some magical artillery and I think the Bootleggers is an absolute threat. I also like the Paladin as a design for this turn. To deal with the morale attacks we could also revise an improvement to their natural resistance to those types of mental effects.

[Taricus]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (2): Failbird, Taricus
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (3): Twinwolf, Failbird, Taricus
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs (1): C2M

[Jilladilla]

So. I, like Twinwolf, do not particularly like any of the influence options. The Paladins are a neat idea, but I feel that they're being pulled too many ways right now; elite soldier, magic caster, aura bearer... Personally would prefer them to focus primarily on being an 'aura bearer', with a side order of elite, well equipped soldier/unit/summon/whatever; enough to make it so they aren't out of place being in the frontline melee. The minomonks will address potential enemy heavy combat assets.

I did like the microcherubs a bit (not a lot, a bit), but they do run into the problem that the good they do won't be attributed to us; they'll likely slow down the demon's influence game some, but they won't help ours. If that's alright with you guys then it's ok then. (I suppose we can claim we messed with the water supply, but just look at things like today's antivaxxers; we'll get blamed for everything that goes wrong that can be linked even tenuously with the water.)

Like I said, I do not particularly like any of the influence options, even my own Song of Soothing; though at least it is very visible who is doing it and as such get us some converts. On top of the mental healing bits. Again, not entirely sold on it; this second design is meant to bolster influence, and I'm not entirely sure if this is the best way to do so? (And it's split between goals too...)

The rats... Better than the microcherubs I believe; but still more of a way to stifle them than to advance our cause, I think.

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (3): Failbird, Taricus, Jilladilla
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (3): Twinwolf, Failbird, Taricus
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing (1): Jilladilla
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs (1): C2M

[Twinwolf]

Shadow Walkers

The bright shadows are stunningly effective at information gathering, at least such as things are. However, without a physical presence, they have limited effectiveness in leveraging the secrets they learn. They cannot gather evidence, or speak to people and encourage them to take action to repent. As such, they need assistance.

From among the cultists, there are those who have reformed themselves from the dregs of society. Those who have some skills that they are not proud of and parts of their lives that should have gone differently. Heliel offers them an opportunity to use their ill-gained proficiencies for the sake of Good.

Each Shadow Walker is a member of the congregation who has some skills in guile, sneaking, thievery and infiltration. They are enhanced with the grace of Heliel, allowing them improved agility and quietness. When a Bright Shadow gains some useful information, they partner with a Shadow Walker to make use of it - the Walker will do what needs to be done. If it's possible, they will focus on gathering evidence and bringing it to authorities, or convincing the sinner to turn to Good. If they are unswayed, more drastic action might be necessary, be it blackmail or theft or more dramatic measures on those particularly guilty and immovable, or if possible even recruitment, and with the assistance of the Bright Shadow they are very competent at this task. With the secrets gained from the Bright Shadows and leveraged by the Shadow Walkers, our preachers and healers can better spread the word.

[chubby2man]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (3): Failbird, Taricus, Jilladilla
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (3): Twinwolf, Failbird, Taricus
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing (1): Jilladilla
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs
Shadow Walkers (1): C2M

[Twinwolf]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (3): Failbird, Taricus, Jilladilla
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (2): Failbird, Taricus
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing (1): Jilladilla
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs
Shadow Walkers (2): C2M, Twinwolf

[Atomic Chicken]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (4): Failbird, Taricus, Jilladilla, AC
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (2): Failbird, Taricus
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing (1): Jilladilla
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs
Shadow Walkers (3): C2M, Twinwolf, AC

[Jilladilla]

Sorry Taricus, I like this better fluffwise..

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (4): Failbird, Taricus, Jilladilla, AC
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (2): Failbird, Taricus
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs
Shadow Walkers (4): C2M, Twinwolf, AC, Jilladilla

[Powder Miner]

Sunlight Warriors
Holy Blade Winged Falcon
Monks of Minos (4): Failbird, Taricus, Jilladilla, AC
Artificers
The Slayer
Paladins of Heliel (1): Twinwolf
Virtuous Vermin (2): Failbird, Taricus
Valorous Defiance
Goodwood Bows
Song of Soothing (1): Powder Miner
Giantslayer (1): C2M
Microcherubs
Shadow Walkers (4): C2M, Twinwolf, AC, Jilladilla

The Shadow Walkers fall afoul of the exact same objections I had about the Muranids — not only may black ops of this variety simply not be appropriate for Heliel, but I don’t think that this is a great mechanism simply for establishing basic levels of influence.