Notices and Summary:
This is what i meant when i said that today was a slow day.
TURNS:
(King Zultan : Year 343.8 )
Bleg attack Vasilikos' twin isles at night by attempting to burn them down. But their efforts are hampered by the wet conditions of the swamp.
Still several Vasilikos die, most to burn injury related infections, some Bleg are lost and some prisoners escape.
Without anything to stop it the herd of purple leaf disease infested animals continues on its path to the south spreading the disease as it goes.
(Tankkit, TamerVirus : Year 344)
((You forgot the year number, Tankkit))
Eightstone attempts to walk into Dalai, again. But is driven back by Dalai's army. Eightstone suffers immense damage as a result.
(Naturegirl1999 : Year 344.1)
Svikeðla ends up at Sjávarorm's Enclave. When he returns to his own, he finds it empty, gone.
(Kakaluncha : Year 345)
Sha'Ndara dies of old age. Sha'Fimira takes her place as the Griffons' matriarch.
Sha'Fimira prays to Nara, the great huntress and recieves some useful words of wisdom.
The Griffons attempt to establish a political alliance with their trade partners, but all of them reject their attempts.
Sha'Fimira sends some Griffons to Elysium to learn from the Elysians.
Said Griffons got a little too into it and ended up staying on Elyisum.
Also sends a demanding letter to the University.
(Naturegirl1999 : Year 345.1)
The Dwarves of formerly Vanishmountain have continued on their sky-island building.
The Golden Light has finally been given a name, known now as "Lux"
WORLD STATE:
The Dwarves of formerly Vanishmountain have continued on their sky-island building.
Jahtari Sultanate, Hamsterfolk Shamans and Dorathian Kingdom have grown into their weak territories.
Elysian Nomads have continued their travel southward, they have reached the lands of the Bleg.
RollsBleg attempt to set fire to the Vasilikos Twin Isles1d20=14
The Bleg arsonists do succeed in lighting fires on Twin Isles, but the damp swamp land greatly hinders the fires' spread and fires have a bad habit of giving one's position away, even if vaguely.
Very few Vasilikos actually died to the fire, although some did receive bad burns and without any kind medicine, died to infection later. Perhaps this is the Vasilikos way, all who die are weak, those that survive are strong? However, some members of the Jathgaro Cult did perish in the flames and the Blegs' sudden attack caused enough of a commotion that some who were held prisoner on the island could break free, mostly dragons.
However, many of the Bleg that attacked the Twin Isles, died too, killed by the Vasilikos or the cult that worshipped them.
Eightstone vs. Free Cities of DalaiEightstone 1d20=4
Free Cities of Dalai 1d20=17
Up until now Eightstone hasn't really faced much in the way of resistance on its quest to spread the desert, but those on the western continent are starting to see it as a threat and have started raising armies against it, with Free Cities of Dalai being the first to take a serious stand against Eightstone.
Perhaps expecting to simply walk all over Dalai and turn it into a desert, Eightstone was instead faced with the entire army of Dalai, equipped with blades, arrows, magic and cannons, lots and lots of cannons, with which they fired upon the great spider relentlessly, chipping chunks off of its body with each cannonball that found its mark.
Eightstone did not take the threat seriously, or perhaps it was so singleminded that it COULD not. Whatever damage was done to Dalai was by pure chance, or done by Dalai to itself, chiefly by the Liani Great Bombard on Fort Ziani. The Dalaians greatly overestimated the bombard's range, the shots fired at Eightstone's reported location in the best case splashed in the ocean, it the worst case, landed in the northernmost port city and destroyed a building or sunk a ship in the bay. Its a testament to bombard's engineering that it could even fire that far at all.
However under the combined assault, Eightstone was forced back, and out of the Dalai's lands, suffering immense damage in the process and dealing very little in return.
(Eightstone has taken 5 damage.)
Fimira prays to Nara1d20=19
The Matriarch prayed to her goddess, the great huntress, Nara and indeed did she answer, but her words were not what the newly crowned Matriarch Sha'Fimira was expecting.
The goddess told her of how the Griffons had grown weak and had forgotten what made them the greatest warriors and hunters of their homelands but postulating that it may be for the best:
"In this world, the lions and wolves who rule only by fear, The world makes them into frightened kittens and obedient dogs."Nara advised her to be "Like an eagle" in all aspects, to be a hunter not just while hunting, but at all times, to look for and to seize opportunities wherever she goes.
The goddess did also did deliver an ominous warning:
"When there is nothing left on your ancestral hunting grounds to satiate her desire for suffering, Three that are One will grow hungry and fly west following the Griffons' scent and the One that is Many will fly east to meet her. In coming to this land, you have invited that beast to follow you. But it will not be a battle that will be fought by Griffons nor any races of this land, but a battle between two great evils, one fighting for the right to rule it, the other for the right to destroy it..." Fimira proposes an alliance to the Griffons' trading partners.In order:
ECD,
GBM, Jahtari Sultanate
3d20=2+1!+5
Despite Sha'Fimira's best attempts, all of the nations bluntly reject her proposals for an alliance.
Elder Council of Dragolia stated that the only Alliance they would be willing to accept, is the one where Sha Matrifocality are vassals to the Elder Council. They called her young and unfit to rule any nation, implying that the Griffons would be much better off under the rule of the Dragons and the only reason that hasn't happened yet, is because dragons can not leave Dragolia.
The Batpeoples' druids took her offers of an alliance as an insult, it looks like they're still salty over the previous diplomatic incident. They said that they do not want to be dragged into Sha Matrifocality's problems, and as a precaution, have withdrawn their past agreements, stopping any trade they have with the Sha Matrifocality.
The Jahtari Sultanate was perhaps the least opposed of the three to an alliance but not by much. Their reasoning largely is that they simply don't take sides, but are willing to trade anything with anyone.
Historically, Jahtari Sultanate's only allies have been the Bleg, but even that alliance is starting to slowly fade due to the Bleg becoming ever more isolationist. The Jahtari suspect that the black dragon is somehow involved.Griffons go to Elyisum to learn from Elysians1d20=18
It is quite difficult to learn much from a bunch of creatures who one cannot even begin to communicate with in any meaningful way. The Griffons learned that there is very little to Elysium's "Culture", Elysians live as ascetic foragers and their only object of "worship" is the White Tree of Elysium. At first the Griffons thought that this was a exercise in futility, but one of the Griffons convinced the others to give the Elysian way of life a try, perhaps they would learn more if they learned to live as they do. While Elysians ate fruits and bugs, the Griffons hunted wildlife, at first they refused to share their food with other Griffons or with Elysians, but over time they saw how Elysians were always willing to share theirs with other Elysians, but not Griffons.
It was then they realized that there is much more to the Elysians than meets the eye, even just their sharing of food: Its a system built on mutual kindness, they share food with those with less luck in finding food, knowing that when they'll need a helping hand, their kindness would be returned. Of course they do at times offer food as a gift. Once Griffons began sharing, did the Elysians too with them.
In time the Griffons began to meld with the Elysians culture, there was a sort of tranquility and rhythm to the ascetic lifestyle of the Elysians, living day to day, doing the same every day, yet every day being different, as they travel around the isle of Elyisum, at times settling down in a place for a while, but always moving on once their surroundings become too familiar, the only constant being the Mother Tree, by looking at her, they always knew where they were. There was a sort of purity in being between... no being both a wild animal and civilized person at once, some might call those Griffons "feral". They have long ago discarded all that they brought with them to Elyisum and decided to stay theer indefinitely, even though they still could not properly communicate with Elysians.
At one point the Griffons came across a group of dog-people that had apparently gotten stranded on Elysium after coming through a portal. And had been living on Elysium just as The Griffons do. The Griffons could be the Løkhunds' ticket off of Elysium, if they so desire.
The Griffons did learn SOME Elysian magic, even if by pure luck. Elysian magic is hardly well developed, they mostly use it to launch themselves from tree branch to tree branch or to grab things from far away, using some kind of primitive Telekinesis, but other magic has been seen such as some Earth, Light and Spirit magic, however Elysians have a much greater natural inclination to magic than Griffons.
((Sorry, went a bit overboard.))
The Phoenix's growth1d20=16
The Phoenix, still unnamed thus far, has been growing quite quickly over the last few years, which is probably an indication that the Sunbird will be quite large once it reaches maturity, if it ever stops growing.
While he will probably never grow to be as big as a lesser dragon but where Dragons tend to be slow and lumbering creatures usually, the Phoenix will be an implacable, utterly fearless, and a little hotheaded being, should his current personality hold, as Irahan does nothing to curb these aspects of Phoenix's personality.
The Phoenix has also steadily been learning the Draconic language, but still attempts to communicate with his "parents" by song... After a bit of research by one of Irahan's enclave members, it turns out that the little guy is able to sing the national anthems of the Avarrian Empire, Free Cities of Dalai, Refugio Guerra and Elder Council of Dragolia, perfectly. He also occasionally mumbles things in all these languages, as well as Arghilan, like a parrot, rather than actually understanding what the words mean. This has made teaching language to him quite a bit easier, however. Irahan also swears that the little Sunbird has some form of telepathic abilities, being, according to him instill certain feelings in him and react to things before Irahan does or says them.
Like all young children, he is highly curious and recently has been looking toward the floating island to the west, Elysium, but dares not dare to fly away from his "father", Irahan.
YEAR 345.2
A sixth petal has appeared on Plantira, in addition to the five it had before:
Green,
Purple,
Red,
Blue and
Orange.
This one is a sort of a bluish green, best described as
"Jade" colored.
When The Host, the one who remained conscious somehow despite being infected with the Purple Leaf Disease and then subsequently the Red Leaf Disease, asked the Deity of Plants about it. it provided a small summary on all of the different plants.
For the
Green ones it said:
"They have seen every bloody war, every triumph, all of the world's sadness and happiness. Beings of flesh tread on them, eat them and cut them down every day, and that is just the way of nature."Of the
Purple ones it said
"They are truly alone with only eachother for company. They live only through beings of flesh and without dreams or memory."In regards to the
Red plants it said:
"The red leaves that feed off of the purple ones were created, but are only a small part of them all, most red ones lie far to the north, in the land of the Uprooters. Red ones are ever changing, never the same that they were before."For
Blue ones it said:
"They are born from the dreams of their mother, the one who slumbers high above the world. She dreams of paradise, a place known to all as "Elysium". Not all her children return to her, some dream of a paradise their own."and for
Orange ones:
"Far to the north, they are trapped in an endless cycle, and yearn for meaning."but for the
Jade ones, it could provide very little:
"They are young, so young that i do not yet know who they are."
With the chat with Plantira finished, the Red Leaves on The Host's body chimed in:
"Hey chief, you know if you don't want all of the fleshies in the world to be slaves to purple, maybe you should get a move on. If we start running now, we might still catch up. Lets go, we'll be your sword, bring the purples into our fold. South now, quickly."The Host commented:
"I would surely be much faster if i had the wings of a bird..." and began heading south.
Some time after sending her letter, Sha'Fimira received a response from the University, a scroll delivered by a Spirit Light.
The message read as follows:
Dear "Matriarch" "Sha'Fimira" the despicable tyrant, daughter of an unfathomable fool, leader of a miserable and discontent people.
Know first of all, that no Elysians have been on the University grounds for six years to the day and we have sought to find them again only to ensure their safety. Indeed, in contrary to your ill-informed misconceptions regarding our honorable guests' treatment here, everything was done to ensure their utmost comfort and dignity, we treated Elysians with nothing but the greatest respect. The Elysians were, and indeed continue to be a great inspiration to all within the University. This is why fear that they may have become victims to some vile and sickening plot. A plot we suspect to be perpetrated by you! It was your people that came to the University immediately preceding the Elysians disappearance and left after they were gone.
Even though there are no more Elysians in the University, we shall refute your misinformed and infantile demands point by point:
One, We have never so much as restrained even a single Elyisan ever for any reason, even including as a disciplinary measure. Doing so would have been counterproductive to all our efforts to form bonds with them and study them through mutual understanding.
Two, all our attempts to teach them a mutually comprehensible language were for their benefit, so that they could express themselves, their desires and troubles to us. Such teaching was never done under duress or involuntary conditions, instead being done through games enjoyed by both Elysians and those teaching them. It is regrettable that the effort eventually ceased and the Elysians regressed in their linguistic capabilities.
Three, We've never undertaken any effort to use Elysians or their magical abilities as weapons, on the contrary, everyone in the University took every measure to shield Elyisans from even witnessing violence. The University had never been a more peaceful place than when the Elysians were here. The only time anyone attempted to teach Elysians combat, it was the Dwarves from our allies, in the Waterstone Clan and that effort resulted in the greatest leap in understanding of magical casting at the time and few discoveries have come close since, to what the Elyisans taught us regarding how emotion affects magic. According to records from that time, Elysians only became happier thanks to those efforts.
Allow us to conclude our letter with an appeal:
If you truly care for Elysians, our friends, as much as you proclaim to and wish to clear your name of any wrongdoing. Please take to the skies and find out what has become of the lost Elysians, of those gone from the University. We promise leave the Elysians be where they are and adopt a strict "No Interference" policy in regards to Elysian study if you find them unharmed and we can confirm it.
Sincerely, █████ ████████, Head of Elysian Studies at the Great Scar University.
Map and Legend