A goodbye and thanks for running this game also from me Iituem!
Well, concerning the Gm-question...i would be willing to jump in as Gm but there are several problems with it. I am horrible with Game Mechanics and honestly i doubt that i could gm it alone. I think the idea with somebody taking care of Game Mechanics and (in my opinion) several people taking care of story and battle gming is actually great and as big as this has gotten propably the only sane way to keep this thing going.
I will be honest, i have the tendency to start such games and let them drop after a few days or weeks and i doubt that i can Gm this thing in the same quality like Iituem can but if you want to bear with me i would be willing to do this...
Concerning the timeline:
the 100 years time advance seems fine with me (although i did like to play on as the Manskinner ) however technologically i think we would be doing easier(mainly due to the massive changes gunpowder weaponry would have on the Battle Mechanics) if we restrict the technological advance to crossbows and gunpowder siege weaponry or we do the full plunge and advance the Technology to 18th and 19th Century Volley-Fire Muskets and Bayonet Charges, as the stuck in the middle "lets have handgunners and barbarians with battle-axes" take on seems to me as ,like a german saying goes, neither fish nor flesh.
EDIT: however i would be also fine (read: i would greatly prefer it) if we could continue this
You guys think I kept notes? Ha! Hahaha!
But seriously, I had little planned in advance because I wanted players to lead the plot. The only thing I was keeping close beyond the motivations of certain powers (SCTG, Archbishop Thring mainly) was what was happening to the Dead Plains. Since we're either doing a new world or a timeskip, I'll reveal what would have happened up to a point and then we can decide how far it went after that.
When Pompulion summoned the shadelings from the shadow realm, some he rebound and some escaped south to Weyland. The rest remained in hiding in the Dead Plains, feeding off what little life remained there and hiding themselves in an initially limited cave network under the Plains during the day. Then the war with Preston happened. Refugees fled north into Weyland and were driven even further north by the hostile clansmen, where they were predated by the shadelings for food and reproduction.
One such refugee was the second youngest Trubaldsome heir, Game von Trubaldsome (the lame). Exiled into the Weyland by his eldest brother for his 'protection' (in the hope of being killed by Weylanders), Game managed to sneak across Weyland unseen and into the Dead Plains. Then he met the shadelings, who offered him a deal.
Flash forward a few months, and another set of refugees arrive - skilled engineers and a few soldiers fleeing Preston. Game, who has been made leader of the shadelings (themselves not terribly smart), spares them in exchange for service. Several then raid neighbouring Aching for slaves and pigs, whilst one journeys south with a massive bodyguard of shadelings as the Night Trader. Of course, travelling at night the shadelings are invisible - had Manskinner attacked the Night Trader instead of welcoming him in, he would have had to face a couple of Shadeling units ambushing him and his men.
Over the next couple of years the Night Prince (as Game would become called) would continue to capture or buy slaves and livestock, feeding his minions with either and using the slaves to either construct fortresses and lightless complexes for the shadelings to rest in, or to dig silver from the mines to pay for constant new acquisitions.
Unfettered, the Night Prince would eventually raise an army of shadelings and attempt to enslave the entire Mirish Coast and beyond. Killing the superpowered Trubaldsome would effectively end the shadeling leadership, but there would still have been dozens of shadeling units to deal with. I reckoned this could work because it would mainly happen as a result of players funding and supplying the Night Prince with slaves to carry out his plans.
Actually, the post-Reformation era where muskets are starting to become a valid weapon but swords and melee fighting are still valid is a really interesting one. Even to the 18th century, swords were still being used albeit most commonly for duelling (such as the smallsword, which I am presently training with). Rapiers continued to remain in use up until just before this time, mostly because it was the only weapon civilians were able to carry (apart from license issues, until the Renaissance forging techniques and steelmaking were not quite good enough to make swords affordable for the public). On the other hand, Maurician tactics are coming well into play to overcome the limitations of muskets (form several lines, first line fires and goes to the back, rinse and repeat to overcome long loading times).
So all in all, around the 16th-17th century in terms of culture and technology seems about right.
Edit: I'm not sure invading a neighbouring thread is a valid response to the Malthusian problem, and I'm pretty sure trying to colonise DF Discussion is right out...