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[Failbird105]

Muu goes to...
(1) Pirate Haven: Kashyyk
(1) Rolling Hills: m1895
(3) Vast Steppe: Madman, TricMagic, Failbird

The Good Doctor goes to...
(5) Rolling Hills : Kashyyk, m1895, Madman, TricMagic, Failbird

As much as I'd love to reinforce our influence, I will admit we really don't have much Muu can that allows her to put her abilities to use in the Influence zones. Best we've got is running the funerals for the Gadflies to help magnify their effects even further which... honestly wouldn't be a bad use really. She could also probably output enough ambient Good to befriend the worm hosts.

In the meantime, designs!

The Gathered worshipers of Muu looked on at the man stood before them. Just beyond him sat one of the tidepools of the Forge of Cleansing, and all present could just barely make out the unsettling mass submerged within. The man turned, a mad grin across his face. He raised his arms and spread them wide, shouting into the sky.

"Forefathers, one and all... BEAR WITNESS"

And the mass shuddered. Once, twice, and then, it emerged. Rising from the pool was a figure of flesh both human and other several times greater in stature than any man. Tentacles and arms alike locked together in unnatural ways to form three trunk-like arms, and it stood tall upon what should have been many legs, but was melded together into two of great size. And from the front of the lumpy, misshapen torso, gazed a barely human head with too many eyes.

  _{We... live}
"We... live" It spoke in multiple voices, echoing and rumbling together.
  ^{We... live}

"Uh, in this context it's pronounced lih-v, not lie-v" Responded a man who really just looked incredibly punchable, earning himself tired stares from most of the gather crowd.

  _{... Oh}
"... Oh"
  ^{... Oh}

The Sea Servants represent a key part of our forces, yet also a vast well of untapped potential. Indeed while they are a great asset in battle, we have only barely truly invested in them. Understandable given how brief our time in this war has been thus far, but still. The Sea Shamblers are a continuation and evolution of our efforts. A group of five Sea Servants are submerged into a pool of blessed brine within the Forge of Cleansing, there, their bodies are worked and molded like clay, the efforts of our ritual acolytes and the Servants own mutations reforming their bodies, flesh growing, twisting, and melting together until a single coherent mass is formed.

A Sea Shambler possesses less arms over all than a group of five Sea Servants, but the three it does have are far larger and stronger than the 10 possessed by the original group. Each arm is equipped with its own weapon. A sword in the hand on the right, a spear on the left, and a large, reinforced club wielded by the third arm that emerges from the top of the shoulder on the right side. Furthermore, the bones of the Servants used are melded together to form individual stronger bone structures around their central body and core organs, making them all the harder to damage.

And finally, while the far greater strength and durability are valuable, the Sea Shamblers possess a far more important trait. Their brains have similarly been melded together, this actually renders them of functionally human intelligence, though not particularly smart. This, plus the combined mental weight of having five souls and minds melded in one body, allows them to function as basic leaders for the other Servants, allowing greater tactical flexibility in combat, even if those tactics are rather simple.

This is not to make them sound like a flat improvement though. For one, they still suffer from the risk of "brining out", even if it takes longer due to the greater amount. Most distinctly though is just how few of them we can manage to create. As stated before every Shambler takes 5 Servants, but that's not all, first we must ensure that their minds and souls are compatible. If they aren't, the souls will fight over the body at best, or violently reject each other at worst. This means that while it's five Servants to make a Shambler, we can only make enough to have a handful of Shamblers for each horde of Servants.

Connected minds are something Muu has always been quite invested in. Indeed, these hiveminds seem to be a passion for her, perhaps even something greater. So it seemed like a natural step to invest further into this path of research. And what better way to make a hivemind, than taking inspiration from what they were named for. Enter the Hivebearers.

A human host, mutated into a living hive for a swarm of mutated insects. Their midsection is distended to make room for the swarm to live, and the area around it numbed to dull the sensations of the insects within. The insects are not especially potent on their own. They possess a venom, but it requires truly great doses to be more than simply debilitating. What is most special however, is how these insects are managed. Taking some hints from the Sea Servants, the human mind and soul of the Hivebearer is linked to those of the swarm inhabiting their body.

Due to how small and weak insect minds and souls are, they exert relatively little influence over their host. A love of floral scents and newfound sweet-tooth often being the most major of it. The host, meanwhile, gains the ability to command the swarm in its entirety, as vaguely or as specifically as their own mind can manage, and across significant distances. This means that while relatively harmless, the swarm makes for effective scouts and are very capable at harassing and distracting enemies.

Given the nature of this creation in regards to Muu's own interests, it didn't take long after the project began work that she began to make use of it herself. While she cannot directly hijack the control of the swarms like she can Sea Servants, she has instead elected to alter her body to contain some hives of substantial size. This gives her a vastly greater swarm than any mortal Hivebearer can manage.

[NUKE9.13]

Angel Team: Battle Phase T3
TURNTURNTURN
Battle Report in core thread.


Infiltration Report: Thpenos
Our new converts in the Bountiful Quarries make it clear that the current situation is not to their liking- the senseless exploitation of the workers, the relentless corruption of the overseers, the deterioration of productivity... all bad stuff. The only thing that is preventing them from fixing the situation is that there are two opposing camps for how to fix it, and they spend more time fighting each other than fighting the system. Angelic help would be just the thing to tip the scales, allowing one faction to finally get round to actually fixing the province. There is truly no hope of compromise between the two factions, but then we could only ever support the righteous
   Communalists: "Who better to protect the workers than the workers? The government is democratic, so why not industry?" While the solution they propose is radical, and might cause some short-term disruption, the Communalists believe that their new economic worldview will eventually dominate all of Thpenos, and are willing to take drastic steps to achieve this. They seek assistance in encouraging workers to unite, and preventing reactionary elements from disrupting the revolution.
   Meritocrats: "The problem with the current management is not that they stand apart from the workers, but that they are incompetent and self-serving." The Meritocrats do not seek to tear down the system, as they believe this would risk collateral damage- instead, they seek to root out the corrupt and incompetent elements, replacing them with carefully selected trustworthy and skilled individuals. They seek assistance in uncovering evidence of corrupt overseers, and ensuring their chosen candidates replace them.

((You have reached 3/5 control. Now you get to choose one of two factions to support. Your opponent will be railroaded into supporting the other. Despite what the text above says, there is not a "Good" and "Evil" option- both are equally viable. Once you have chosen (by the end of this turn), I will write up a fluff explanation of how the chosen faction was the obvious choice. This choice is mainly for aesthetic purposes, though it will have some minor mechanical effects, making certain infiltration methods slightly more/less useful, and slightly changing the rewards for infiltration.
Also, since the demon side had trouble intuiting what the factions wanted, I've added brief descriptions of the assistance they seek. As for what the already identified factions seek:))

The Assimilators would appreciate our assistance with educating the local population in the Restless Satrapy as to the virtues of Thpenian culture, and in preventing conflict that could deepen the rift between the two cultures.
The Federalists are benefiting from Demonic assistance in stirring up the local population and weakening the influence of the central government.


Infiltration Report: Xyrania
Pirates! Are of course the main concern in the region. While interacting with the pirates themselves is important, they ultimately do not control the actual mechanisms of government in the region, as the Xyranian army is too powerful for the corsairs to make inland inroads. So, to make progress, we need to join forces with terrestrial authorities. But our recent converts reveal there are two schools of thought at play regarding the pirate problem, and an increasingly bitter feud between proponents of the two options. While neither option sounds appealing on paper, the underlying morals mean we can only support the
   Privateers: "Piracy is endemic. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we can get them to work with the system instead of against it." By granting pardons and letters of marque, they hope to end the scourge on friendly shipping and coasts, and take a cut of the loot to boot. A military solution would be too costly and destructive, in their view. They seek assistance in convincing the pirates and local magistrates to cooperate, creating opportunities for ceasefires and opening backdoor communications.
   Blockaders: "The reason pirates are able to operate freely is that the Xyranian navy is a joke." Rather than piecemeal efforts to root them out on land, the Blockaders want to rebuild the navy and defeat the pirates at sea. It's a more appealing proposal to the conservative elements of Xyranian society, and they have connections to official sources of funding. There are some minor concerns of collateral damage, but it's better than negotiating with terrorists. They seek assistance in bolstering naval strength (through military/magical advances), and ensuring the population is resolved to the pursuit of victory.



It is now the Design Phase. You have two designs. You will receive only one revision this turn.

Spoiler: Equipment (click to show/hide)

Muu: The benevolent leader of your faction, a being of immense power. There is very little she cannot do. Needless to say, she is Unique


Champions:
The Good Doctor: Venturing forth with her trusty sword Moonlight (and an unnamed parrying dagger), with traces of Truesilver flowing through her veins, the Good Doctor strikes with surgical precision at enemy weak spots, absorbing their vitality (she's definitely not a vampire). Her sword is especially potent versus non-human foes. Unique


Mundane Units:
Cultist Spears: Reasonably equipped with an iron dagger, a bone-wood-amalgam shield, and bone-wood-shaft iron-tipped spear, though still lacking training. These are not elite warriors- they'd usually lose a one-on-one fight with a real soldier-, but they're cheap and plentiful. Like regular cultists, their dedication makes them more resilient mentally than civilians. Unit Size: ~50 Common

Cultist Archers: Cultists who have some experience with a bow are valuable assets in combat, harassing the enemy from a distance. They aren't sharpshooters, and their bows are designed for hunting, not piercing armour, but they're better than nothing. Like regular cultists, their dedication makes them more resilient mentally than civilians. Unit Size: ~25 Common

Acolytes: Cultists who have begun their exploration of the magical arts, studying under their angelic patron. They can cast any Common spells (unless noted otherwise). Their physical strength leaves something to be desired, but their mental fortitude is even greater than regular cultists. Unit Size: ~25 Uncommon

Cultist Missionaries: Cultists with a modicum of charisma and subtlety, sent forth as emissaries of their eldritch master. Unarmed and untrained, they serve no role in combat. Unit Size: ~10 Common

Summoned/Mutated Units:
Sea Servants: Deceased cultists, returned to unlife by the grace of Muu. Their mind and soul bound to a hivemind, their body strengthened and transformed into a more tentacle-y version. More vulnerable to damage than humans, but heedless of pain and danger. Used both as labourers and warriors. They are more effective in the presence of Muu, as she can control the hivemind (and a limited number of individual bodies) directly. Unit Size: ~100 Common

Drakegulls: Sea gulls, on a much bigger scale. Three-piece beak, extra eyes, sporadic tentacles, claws on both feet and wingtips. Ridable by cultists, who direct the beasts in battle. Very hungry- will sometimes stop mid-battle to snack on a corpse. Too heavy to fly, though they can glide. Unit Size: ~20 Uncommon

Liquid Light Elementals: A self-propelled mass of Liquid Sunlight, bigger and stronger than a human. A Cherub forms the core of the Elemental, and only by destroying said core will it fall for good. Unfortunately, the Cherubs burn with righteousness, and refuse to dim their light, meaning they must be transported in stasis, and introduced to large barrels of Liquid Sunlight prior to battle. Unit Size: ~15 Uncommon


Spells/Rituals:
Magic Missile: Known by many names, the simple technique of blasting your opponent with raw Mana/Good/Evil is a tried and true method of making things go away. Efficacy increases with caster's mental might, and decreases with the target's. Common

Ymis Ward: A simple magic barrier that can reduce the impact of attacks both mundane and mystical- or be tuned to focus on one over the other. Opposite frequencies can be layered (with a small gap). Won't last long, but can be useful in a pinch. Common


Magical Equipment:
Bottled Sunlight: Sunlight, infused with Good, in liquid form. Can serve as a light source (either extremely bright but short-lived, or quite bright but lasting an hour), applied directly as first-aid (with risk of mutation), or thrown at enemy troops where the concentrated Good will burn Evil beings. Uncommon


Infiltration Techniques:
Proselytise: Cultists go forth and spread the Good word, finding those sympathetic to their cause and slowly winning them over. Not the fastest way of gaining converts, but it keeps the cult growing. Common

Worms of Muu: Parasitic/symbiotic worms that produce a worsening malaise unless the host engages in Good-producing acts. Worm will starve if deprived of Good for a week. Encourages good behaviour in a community, and causes the affected to be drawn together by exuded pheromones, forming strong bonds between Good-aligned individuals, who will easily trust angelic operatives while being extremely hard to lure into Evil. Uncommon

Gadflies: Individuals willing to die for a cause, trained in rhetoric and infused with emotion-amplifying hexes that trigger on death. They deliberately seek to be executed for standing up against evil, using the spectacle as an opportunity to give an impassioned speech that is amplified by their death. Even if they are killed before giving their speech, the hexes will still cause a significant swelling of sympathy for the Gadfly and their cause, even amongst the embittered. Unit Size: 1 Rare
   Gadfly Funeral Expenses: By spending a (relatively) small amount of money to organise funerals for Gadflies (who specify it to be their desired funeral in their will), a large gathering is assembled where angelic missionaries can mingle with a receptive audience. The Gadfly's spirit lingers during the funeral, either instilling or reinforcing the effect of their death on attendees.

Corals of Community: Mutant coral, harvested from the waters around Tendril Village, sold as a decoration for aquariums (targeted at the wealthy). Being around the Community Coral will instil a desire to do Good and find a community, as well as rendering the customer susceptible to angelic suggestions. Uncommon


Infrastructure:
Forge of Cleansing: A magically-enhanced forge, where specially blessed water is used to make materials malleable (instead of using heat). This allows for greater use of metals, as well as the use of more exotic materials such as bone. Infrastructure

Spoiler: Tokens (click to show/hide)

3 Wealth Tokens

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

THPENOS (Influence)
Bountiful Quarries: 3/5 | 2/5
Gridlocked Polis: 2/5 | 3/5
Restless Satrapy: 2/5 | 3/5

CHEGITHA (Combat)
Sheltered Fjords: 8/8 | 0/8
Rolling Hills: 0/8 | 8/8
Deserted Urbs: 0/8 | 8/8

XYRANIA (Influence)
Pirate Haven: 3/5 | 2/5
Schism'd Capital: 2/5 | 2/5
Raiders' Roost: 2/5 | [color=red3/5[/color]

WESTERN PROTECTORATE (Combat)
Windcarved Mesas: 8/8 | 0/8
Vast Steppe: 6/8 | 2/8
Pestilent Marshes: 0/8 | 8/8

[m1895]

Coral Ensign
With all this coral lying around, it would be wasteful not to use it.
A Coral Ensign is a beautifully crafted standard, usually in the image of a deadly sea creature or goat, enchanted to create a supernatural sense of community and camaraderie, far beyond what can form by mundane means. Furthermore, it magically inspires the troops to do Good and smite Evil, always a plus. These factors combined mean, should the standard fall, the troops will fight harder than the Chegithans to recover it, recouping any deficits of skill with fervor. Now, you may have noticed that an ensign has similar properties to the living version of the coral it's made out of, that's because Working (mostly) within the confines of what the coral is built to do makes our job much easier.
Since we've discussed the effects of the ensign within a unit, now we move on to the effects outside the unit. The sense of community, obviously, does not spread outside of the unit, but the sense of a community is palpable. To a neutral observer this doesn't mean much, aside from "damn those guys are unified," but to an ally, it is a comfort. To an enemy however, facing such a unified force is quite disconcerting, and while it won't give a fanatic much pause, someone of more craven nature will be more deeply affected.
Finally of course, the coral ensign provides all the benefits of a mundane standard: providing a rally point, keeping both the battleline and war camp organized, and allowing just a bit more finesse in maneuvering. Plus they look cool.

[TricMagic]

Light of the Soul
All is connected. In this case our acolytes perform a mesmerizing chant to link the will of an army together, bringing the power of the soul to the surface to protect from magical attacks. It's mostly used before combat as it requires a large number of souls to truly start up, but can allow others to bolster the weaker-willed among them. It notably does not protect from physical attacks, as the tune is in line with the Ymis ward's frequency. Sounds very disturbing to normal people. Note that this shield is eventually beaten back on an 'individual' basis rather than a communal one, and can't be refreshed until the soul recovers somewhat. The light of the soul comes in many colors, so it's quite pretty, and the soul of a Good person radiates outward to others.

And yes, I've watched Rwby. Kinda need some magic resistance yeah?

[m1895]

Hydrometallon Mine
While it may look like just two runecarved pipes, The Hydrometallon is a fully functioning if relatively slow mine. The first tube causes any water pumped through it to leach out a valuable metal from ore, and the second pipe sucks the metal from the water and deposits it in whatever container it is connected to. The benefits over standard mines are threefold, first it can be used on veins largely inaccessible by current mining techniques. Secondly, it has much lower running costs than a standard mine, particularly important with the most dangerous, and therefore the most expensive to run, and thirdly extracting out just the metal skips the smelting stage entirely. The only real problem is uh, they can only extract one metal per pair, meaning a mine with notable ore veins of several different metals would require several pairs of Hydrometallon to work at peak efficiency.
While we, of course, will retain a decent number of these for our own purposes, the Hydrometallon is intended as an export to our allies to boost their metal production. This has particular import to the Quarry, where superior production rates can prove the superiority of one ideology or another.

[EuchreJack]

The Good Earth
A Common Spell that terraforms the Earth.  This could be Soil, Rocks, Trees, Roots, and Vines.  This spell can both clear out a path for our forces to advance, or put various obstacles in the way of an opposing force.  Instant Fortifications! Also good for turning water/swamps/etc. into land, or visa-versa.

Explanation: It has become clear that in our Battle Zones, we trade one advance for one withdrawal.  This spell capitalizes on that by helping our advancing forces take more territory while helping our retreating forces lose less territory.

[Quarque]

Okay, reading most of the battle reports I see two factors play a big role:

1. Exploding skeletons. The ones that explode prematurely caused a lot of damage on the Demon side, but the ones that suicided in our midst caused terrible damage on the Angelic side.
2. Gulls. They made a huge difference in battles.

So here are a few ideas.

1. Improve bottled sunlight with an additional spell or alchemy to make suicide skeletons in range explode instantly.
2. Improve magic missile, such that it deals additional damage on undead and makes them explode prematurely, maybe even in a chain reaction.
3. Improve the seagulls to make them fully capable of flight and maybe better in control of their primitive urge to feed on corpses during the battle. The riders could drop bottled sunlight from above.
4. Improve the saddles of seagulls so that they can carry two people, and train our spellcasters to cast "from the backseat".

@Nuke: could you please comment on the viability of these ideas? I'm not sure yet what does or doesn't work in this universe.

[NUKE9.13]

@Nuke: could you please comment on the viability of these ideas? I'm not sure yet what does or doesn't work in this universe.

Sure can.

1. Improve bottled sunlight with an additional spell or alchemy to make suicide skeletons in range explode instantly.
2. Improve magic missile, such that it deals additional damage on undead and makes them explode prematurely, maybe even in a chain reaction.

Bottled Sunlight already deals more damage to undead. While you could further refine it to specifically target the Recallers, I would discourage you from doing so- hard counters are not possible, so even in the best case scenario you'd have spent an action to not fully negate an enemy action.
Similarly, Magic Missile could certainly be improved to be extra effective against the undead- but causing a chain reaction amongst the Recallers is basically not possible, as they are generally spread out within a unit of Rememberers (who are not explosive- blame the demons for the confusingly similar names), precisely so that they can't set each other off.

In general, I'd suggest avoiding overly specific counters. More flexible solutions that solve multiple problems at once (and ideally create new problems for the demons) are both more entertaining, and more effective.

3. Improve the seagulls to make them fully capable of flight and maybe better in control of their primitive urge to feed on corpses during the battle. The riders could drop bottled sunlight from above.
4. Improve the saddles of seagulls so that they can carry two people, and train our spellcasters to cast "from the backseat".

Both of these options are viable, though the improved version would likely have a higher cost (that is, a smaller unit size or higher rarity)(you'd still have access to the original, and your forces would likely deploy a mix of old and new).

[Quarque]

OK. I think it would be cool to have an elite unit of gulls that can actually fly and bombard the enemy with droppings sunlight, but does anyone else actually like the idea?

Light of the soul sounds interesting, are you sure you only want it to be a morale boost for the Angel side? It sounds like something that would also lower the morale of the enemy, or at least confuse them or something?

Good Earth - sounds powerfull, are you sure this is a common spell? Terraforming sounds more like uncommon or rare? Does have a lot of uses and I love the idea of transforming a plain of ashes into a lush paradise with happy rabbits and whatnot. Could also be used to win over some people for our cause if we can use it to refertilize terrain and solve hunger..

[TricMagic]

For LotS it's specifically resistance to magic, giving all our ensouled army a boost before combat. Not magical morale, though standard morale from having a song would be nice..

Right no that spell shreds our sea servants. A bit of extra help against that would be useful, and magic resistance is just a generally good thing to have in combat, even if it's infeasible out of major combat for most. Which should hopefully reduce difficulty.

Radiates outward can have many different effects though.

[Iris]

What I was thinking of in the Discord was a mounted unit using spears enchanted with Bottled Sunlight to deal greatly increased damage against Evil, but I wasn't 100% confident in the concept.

[Quarque]

Sounds good! The gulls are a weird sort of cavalry, riders with lances are classic shock troopers.

[Iris]

I have written this so far. Feedback would be appreciated - it's not great so far, and the unit still needs a name because I am not terribly good at naming things. I was also thinking that plain cultists were a bit too vanilla, and was contemplating some form of summoned or mutated humanoid.

The [Mounted Spearthrowers] are designed as mounted cavalry capable of throwing the new Spears of Light (see further below). While Drakegulls are currently the only mounts that the forces of Muu have access to, the [Mounted Spearthrowers] are trained with the possibility of other mounts in future. They consist of cultists who have been given special training in using the Spears of Light as a lance and a thrown weapon.

The Spears of Light themselves are made of bonewood amalgam that has been introduced to grown coral in the Forge of Cleansing with the attempt to create a polearm that is strong, yet flexible, and able to take enchantment well. They have a single spearhead that is of roughly pyramidal shape, and they have been weighted to allow them to pierce modest armour. Additionally, some Bottled Sunlight has been used in creating them to allow them to have greatly increased lethality against Evil-aligned beings. This has the side-effect of making the Spear shine brightly, hence the name.

[TricMagic]

Coral Turtles

An interesting adaptation that has come to lie in the surrounding waters are the coral turtles. Our mutated coral has in some cases ended up migrating to the shells of babies and replacing them, intertwining with their system. Amusingly, this variant has no trouble surviving, as it can not only eat the coral around it and on it's back but absorb the passive good to help with it's growth. Possessing a long serpentine neck and limbs it can retract, along with a frankly insane coral regeneration/growth speed to anything that tries to eat it, Muu's become rather found of the ten-foot coral turtles. Picking up a few and training them, along with enchanting the coral shells with the corrosiveness of liquid sunlight should see them as an extremely effective wall of troops. One thing to note is that while they can dim the coral to preserve energy, they aren't that fast. A smooth undershell provides a method for them to push themselves along at walking speed on land, though it's also a weak point if anything manages to flip them and their cornucopia of coral somehow.

TL:DR Turtles with a coral shell tend feet long and with a pretty strong bite and growing corrosive coral. Glides along land at walking/running speed, and has a tough enough accumulation of magical coral to brush off anything but concentrated efforts. Coral Regen keeps it tanky and pulls in anything dumb enough to get close to feed the coral turtle. Kinda the definition of HP Sponge.



Also to Hydrometallon, spend some coin? Increasing their quality could prove useful for a bonus to the roll.


Coral Archers
Give them the means so they may hunt the dark.
One issue we are facing is their own specialist mages. The longer the battle goes on for, the stronger they get. So, why not do something about our archers equipment. By giving them enchanted deadcoral arrows, we can enchant them with a number of effects. The common one is the Magic Arrow, which grants a shot near unlimited range so long as magic is infused into it at launch. The enchantment focuses it's ability to accept magical energy to improve the natural qualities of an arrow. The other is the Breaker Arrow, which an enchant that makes use of Ymis research designed to cause interference once it lands, often explosively. Both can be charged over longer periods of time to increase the effects, up to 30 seconds. We've also designed a Coralbow made of wood, coral, and crystals sources from our friends in the mines  as a combination focus and being a very strong bow in it's own right, Those who barely make the cut as acolytes can be focused on developing their magic pool purely to empower their shots, and their archery to make full use of the Coralbow. The unit itself is rare though given that the bows are quality and the training harsh. All Coral Archers also receive protective equipment for their hands and arms, bowstrings are dangerous under normal conditions, let alone when they are coralcrystal strings.

Wealth Token: Crystals~ High quality in both clarity and strength, melded through the forge as the end tips to help channel charge down the coralcrystal string to the arrow. Melded seamlessly into the wood/coral bow, they're as much works of organic art as weapons. One might think buying crystals is rather expensive, but the raw forms of them are actually preferred, since they can be washed and melded without introducing the cracks cutting them could cause. They're still expensive, but not to the level a processed one might be.

[Iris]

Hussars of Muu now have a name!

The Hussars of Muu were once cuttlefish that have been twisted into humanoid form. They retain many of the abilities they once had - specifically, they are able to use their suckers to latch onto their mounts, and they can emit clouds of obscuring ink - the better to ambush and flank with. The Hussars are designed as mounted cavalry capable of using the new Spears of Light (see further below). While Drakegulls are currently the only mounts that the forces of Muu have access to, the Hussars are trained with the possibility of other mounts in future. After their mutation (which has imparted an instinctive set of combat skills), they have been given intensive training on mounts and the use of the Spears. The Drakegulls that are in use are likewise specially bred for the task.

The Spears of Light themselves are made of bonewood amalgam that has been introduced to grown coral in the Forge of Cleansing with the attempt to create a polearm that is strong, yet flexible, and able to take enchantment well. They have a single spearhead composed of iron that is of roughly pyramidal shape, and they have been weighted to allow them to pierce modest armour when thrown or used in a charge. Additionally, some Bottled Sunlight has been used in creating them to allow them to have greatly increased lethality against Evil-aligned beings. This has the side-effect of making the Spear shine brightly, hence the name. It is hoped that each Spear of Light will be able to be produced in sufficient quantities to arm each Hussar with half a dozen - yet the use of Bottled Light in their manufacture, combined with the intensive training of the Hussars, create a bottleneck on the Hussar's numbers. Each use of the Spear of Light consumes some of the Bottled Sunlight used in its manufacture; while it is not projected to run out in a battle it will periodically have to be sent back to be reforged if not used. When thrown or on the end of a charge, the stress of impact will cause the Spear to release all of its stores at once, creating an intensive effect that is very damaging in a cone in front of the Spear and essentially burns out the Spear (making them single-use).

The Hussars of Muu are reasonably armed with an iron sabre along with their Spears as well as protected by a simple leather vest and a teardrop bonewood shield designed to protect them from gullback. Their Spears of Light, when not in use, are strapped to the gull; and there is also a "cup" in the saddle to allow a Spear to be used like a lance.

Due to the multiple intensive costs involved in the training and equipping of the Hussars of Muu, we are spending a Wealth Token to hire trainers, obtain additional mirrors for dedicated Bottled Sunlight production, and breed the Drakegulls needed.