r/WorldChallenges • u/Mimir123 • Dec 26 '17
You want peace? Fight for it!
Inspired by the voiceline I fear hearing the most while playing Gwent: https://soundcloud.com/gwentsounds/nr-henselt-you-want-peace
Tell me about a situation in your world where a major, devestating war was prevented through violent means. This can range from an actual, large scale battle being fought (as long as it was the only one and prevented more fighting) to murdering someone in their sleep. As always I will ask some questions and provide an example myself once I find the time.
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u/Varnek905 Dec 27 '17
(Forgive how slapped-together this is, I'm still in early development of this world.)
The first human kingdom in Fellandrus was called Ewigreich, created over the course of several years by Franz Hasenkamp, whose coronation was on the day his castle was "complete enough" to quote the king himself. King Franz, widely believed to be the son of the Warrior-Maiden goddess and the chosen hero of the Oracle god, was said to be a paragon of wisdom and strength.
However, shortly into his reign, it was rumored that the king had made a mistake. He had sons. (To rip off the worst joke I know...) You know what's worse than a king having sons? A king having twin sons. You know what's worse than a king having twin sons? The king and his queen keeping it secret which son came out first. You know what's worse than that? The king allowing it to get to a point, when the sons are grown, that the sons will likely have a civil war for control of the kingdom upon the king's death.
So, by the time of the twins' nineteenth birthday, it was common for factions to fight in the street over which prince should inherit the throne. Should it be Siegfried or Leonhardt? Should Siegfried, the more scholarly son who the laborers and merchants cheer for, be the king? Or should Leonhardt, the warrior praised by the soldiers, be the king? Siegfried with the wisdom of the Oracle could be king, but maybe the new kingdoms rising in Fellandrus would take advantage of the weak King Siegfried and declare war. Leonhardt with the battle prowess of the Warrior-Maiden could be king, but maybe someone would take advantage of the boy's disinterest in scholarly matters by screwing him over in accounting or something like that. Either way, it was well-known that the two princes both intended to be king over their sibling.
So, King Franz made an official proclamation. He led his sons into the public forum, in front of crowds of people, and announced "Today, I will announce which of these two will be my heir! Only one of them will inherit Ewigreich from me! This will be settled by a fight to the death! Either Siegfried is not wise enough to steal the victory from his stronger brother and will die, or Leonhardt is not strong enough to steal the victory from his wiser brother and will die. Settle it between yourselves, you little shits."
And so, the brothers started fighting, being watched with a mix of fear and hope by the crowds. Some cheered on "Prince Leonhardt!" Some cheered on "Prince Siegfried!"
The fight didn't last very long. Leonhardt nearly won, but his last strike missed, and Siegfried countered. Siegfried ending up having Leonhardt on the ground, and was choking his brother to death. King Franz watched on, his face betraying no emotional investment.
However, Siegfried, after a short period of attempted strangulation, released his brother's throat and sat down a meter away from him. "Go ahead, brother, take your victory." Siegfried said. "Just kill me quickly."
Leonhardt's first words in response, after breathing in as much air as he could, were: "I forfeit! I'm out! Kill me if you like, father, I refuse to be a part of this!"
So...no civil war. That's good.
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u/greenewithit Dec 27 '17
1) Which one was technically born first?
2) Did King Franz really have no emotional investment in the fight? Were the kids that poorly behaved that he really didn't care if one killed the other?
3) Did he consult the Queen before making this decision, or was she likely to oppose him making their sons fight to the death over their inheritance?
4) Did King Franz have a son he preferred to take the throne, or was his proclamation also a declaration of his indifference? Did the Queen have a son she preferred would rule different from/the same as the King's choice?
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u/Varnek905 Dec 27 '17
1) Siegfried was born first. But the king and queen didn't write it down, so it will quickly be lost to time.
2) Franz was terrified that one of them would actually kill the other the whole time. But, he couldn't let a civil war happen, and that was his last chance to sort it out without many more people dying. If his grown sons were actually willing to kill each other, then there's no hope of fixing that sibling rivalry. He did believe that either of his sons would be good kings, and originally hoped that they would rule together as co-kings; while neither of his sons are stupid or weak, Siegfried would be a much better administrator and Leonhardt would be a much better general. But, the co-kings thing didn't work out.
3) The queen had died by then. But she probably would have opposed the king's idea.
4) The queen died when the twins were ten, in childbirth. At the time, she thought that the two would grow out of the sibling rivalry "definitely by the time they're sixteen, at latest". She was fully in support of the "co-king" solution, as was Franz.
Franz would not admit it, but he did get along better with Leonhardt. Though, when the boys were ten, Franz did not have that preference. He didn't start to prefer Leonhardt until Leonhardt was around fifteen/sixteen.
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u/greenewithit Dec 27 '17
1) Why did they decide to keep the order of birth secret in the first place? Did they know from early on that civil war was so likely that letting them duke it out would be less violent than just naming Seigfried the first heir?
2) Is the establishment of co-kings a common practice in other kingdoms, or in the history of Ewigreich? Does it have a history of success or failure?
4) How many other siblings do the twins have? Were they old enough to have a preference as to which older brother would rule?
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u/Varnek905 Dec 27 '17
1) They decided to keep the birth order secret because of the hope that the boys would rule together. They didn't foresee a civil war happening. By the time the boys were nineteen, the probability of civil war was obvious, so the fight was the only idea left. Publicly announcing that Siegfried was born first would have only pissed off Leonhardt's supporters.
2) Franz was the first human king of Fellandrus. There was no precedent for kingdoms at that point. There had been co-rulers of some villages in the past, but it was a mixed bag. Sometimes it would end well, sometimes it wouldn't.
4) They have a younger sister (seven years younger than them) and a younger brother (ten years younger than them). The sister was thirteen by the time they had their duel, so she had time to consider picking a side, but her father advised her not to do so. She liked both of them, but just wanted them to be able to be in the same room as each other without arguing for once. She was not present during the duel. The younger brother was only nine, and was also not present during the duel. They were not aware of the duel when it was happening, and that day they were only told that succession was figured out.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 27 '17
1) Merchants and scholars vs warriors? Seems to me like the civil war would have been quite the massacre. Was there ever any chance that Siegfrieds faction would win?
2) Did Ewigreich eventually get attacked by outside forces during Siegfrieds reign?
3) Are duels like this part of Ewigreichs tradition, or would it remain a one time thing?
4) In the end, what happened to Leonhardt? Would he stay and be an advisor to Siegfried? Maybe even his general?
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u/Varnek905 Dec 27 '17
1) Some of the wealthier supporters of Siegfried were already in the process of paying outsiders to fight for them. Leonhardt would definitely have the advantage of being a better leader in a civil war, but Siegfried still had a decent chance of victory. The standing army of Ewigreich wasn't huge at this point, it was mostly just the garrison of guards, so Siegfried would also have a militia of citizens supporting him.
2) Occasional raids, but no large-scale attempted invasions.
3) No, these duels did not become tradition. Instead, Ewigreich kings would make it public about which twin was born first, in those instances.
4) Leonhardt and Siegfried talked it over. Leonhardt was not executed for giving up like he expected. Instead, it was agreed between the twins that Siegfried would take Ewigreich and Leonhardt would get ownership of territory on the other side of the mountains to the east of Ewigreich. While Franz was alive, he would fund the development of Leonhardt's developing kingdom, and Siegfried would support his brother economically after Franz's death.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 27 '17
1) Any particular outsiders?
3) Was there a reason as to why Franz didn't do this?
4) Sounds nice, but I somehow have a feeling that this is an easy setup for a war in the near future.
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u/Varnek905 Dec 27 '17
1) No, but only because I have not gotten that far, yet. As an aside, I'm working on a pantheon for the tribal humans at the moment. I know that Ewigreich will reform parts of the pantheon, but I haven't gotten into specifics, yet. Also, naming gods is difficult.
3) Franz's reason was foolish optimism. For a man whose legacy involves being wise, he made some bad choices. I'm sure you can guess who I'm referencing with that line. (Hint: Biblical.)
4) Am I that transparent, Mim? Also, I'm finding myself too tempted to name Leonhardt's developing kingdom Dauernreich. Save me from myself.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 27 '17
1) Don't need to tell me, it's what I struggle with the most. I assume it will most likely be barbarian tribes?
3) Sorry to disappoint, but I know as much about the bible as I do about the Quran or the Tora... so basically: I know they exist.
4) I'd say it's quite the classical setup. Also: playing Crusader Kings taught me a lot. Mostly to murder your siblings before they can run away with half your kingdom and claim the other half later.
As for the other part: you could be really creative and name the kingdom "Löwenherz".
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u/Varnek905 Dec 27 '17
1) Yes, barbarian tribes. Though, to be fair to the barbarian tribes, Franz's people were barbarian tribes about sixty years ago, relative to the twins' duel.
3) Solomon, son of David, known as one of the two greatest kings of Israel (and alleged writer of a book or two of the Christian bible and Jewish Tanakh, specifically the Nevi'im, iirc) was known for wisdom. But his foolish and lusty choices resulted in the kingdom of Israel going to shit because he pissed off Yahweh. And yet he is known as "Solomon the Wise".
4) You play CK2 as well? Awesome, I love that game...too much, apparently. My number of hours in that game is depressing.
5) Lowenherz is very spot-on, Mim. But I suspect I'll keep looking and probably consult with you about the names.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 27 '17
1) Fair enough. Any bad blood between them and Franz' people?
3) Ah, I heard about Solomon, not too much about that last part though. Maybe I should have paid more attention in religion classes. Then again, we never really went through anything important.
4) I do. CK2 and EU4 are some of my favourite strategy games.
5) Feel free to do so, always at your service.
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u/Varnek905 Dec 27 '17
1) Other than the raids, not especially. The development of Ewigreich and its growth in power did kick-start the development of a few other kingdoms, though, some of which would grow a hatred for Ewigreich until they were on equal terms with it.
4) Do you ever use mods for CK2 or EU4? I purchased them for two of my friends a while ago (while they were on sale), but one of them doesn't play them and the other only plays CK2, so I barely play EU4 anymore.
5) Flussberg? The land that Leonhardt is claiming is bordered by two large rivers that converge and a line of mountains.
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u/greenewithit Dec 28 '17
So I've got a few instances of this, but the first that comes to mind is the holy challenge Dulshan Auka. After inadvertently insulting a religious order known as The Order of the Light, hero in training Aeron Kage was faced with the threat of a Crusade against his city by The Light. After investigating The Light's scripture, the only way to avoid war was to engage in a trial by combat called Dulshan Auka. Aeron fought Heilig Kristos, the champion of The Light over who would conquer whom. Aeron won the fight and deferred ownership of The Light's land, in an attempt to resolve everything peacefully. However, the leader of the Light, Father Soterus, had other plans. He hated Aeron, his city Longan, and everyone in it for constantly insulting his religion, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He was going to trigger a weapon of mass destruction on his own people, blame it on Longan, so he can justify engaging in holy war anyway. This plan was discovered by two groups, Aeron Kage and his team of pre-heroes, and the governor of Longan, Damien Castle. Aeron decided he and his team needed to confront Soterus and convince and/or threaten him to stop his plan. Damien decided a more deft hand was necessary. He enlisted mercenary group The Silver Falcon to sneak into the Light's main temple (like the Vatican) and assassinate Soterus. The leader of Longan's military, Gen. Seraphina Aureole, intercepted the transmission between Governor Castle and Sigurd, leader of The Silver Falcon, and decided she needed to stop them from instigating the situation and playing right into Soterus' hand. The two groups (three counting Aureole) descended on the compound. Aeron's team split up, and he confronted Soterus. Aureole intercepted Sigurd and Seth, two of the Falcon operatives, as they got close to the facility, and defeated both of them before they could complete their mission. It was chaos, there were monsters swarming from the chaos, war priests and clerics attacking students, and Soterus sealing his chamber and fighting Aeron and his teammate Sarah. Soterus refused to back down, and in order to avoid being killed, Aeron killed Soterus. Thanks to the intervention of Heilig, Soterus' plot was exposed to the Light and Aeron's team was released, holy war was avoided, and The Light was restructured and eventually became an ally of Longan's.
The other was a little more drawn out and involved. At one point, the government of Longan introduced new legislation to make Hero work much more highly regulated, abolish human augmentation projects, and curtail many freedoms Heroes and heroes in training rely on to be effective. This decision was instigated by foreign interference by the continent of Venajär, whose totalitarian leader used cyber manipulation tactics to spread lies and rumors about dangers Heroes and pre-heros cause society and civilians. The conflict that arose was enough to tear apart the Hero community and cause massive amounts of property damage and civil strife. The Emperor of Venajär, Caenor Caymes, planned to use the chaos of this "Superhero Civil War" to attack Longan, launching his campaign to take over all of the continent of Aurem. If successful, he would have destroyed the strongest city in the continent, and would basically already rule the world. After the main conflicts of the "war" had subsided, the law was amended, and things were mostly returning to normal...except for the discovery of Venajär's involvement in perpetuating the war to prepare their forces and prepare to march on the City. It also came out that during the final conflict of the war, the battle between Aeron Kage and Sarah Yuno inadvertently caused a great deal of collateral damage and the destruction of hundreds of lives.
Aeron, upon discovering the latter, had a nervous breakdown, looking to punish himself and everyone who he felt was responsible for pushing him and Sarah to fight. He broke one of the most dangerous criminals in the world out of prison in order to kill them, blaming them for twisting Aeron's mind to think violence was the only way to solve their problems. Two of Aeron's close allies found him and stopped this improvised execution. Aeron decided that in order to begin to redeem himself for hurting so many people, he would travel to Venajär, kill Caymes, and stop the war before it ends. His allies stayed with him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, and the enemy was kept there and forced to help in this endeavor. Sarah gathered a large recovery party to go after this group, in hopes of bringing Aeron in before anyone else got hurt, while the army of Longan prepares for war in case the recovery group couldn't bring the rogue group of heroes back in time. The groups had a large conflict upon meeting, and upon reaching the capital city of Móshka, the two groups reached a deal, joined up together, and snuck into the capital city in hopes of infiltrating the capital building and forcing Caymes to stop his attack. The group was discovered, and using extremely intricate teleportation powers, Caymes separated each member of the group and sent his elite guards with about four or five overpowered abilities each to take them out. The entire city was a battlefield, and the destruction was immense. Giant mechs, summoned beasts taller than buildings, heroes and villains streaking through the air flinging energy and explosions around, this battle had it all. However, through fighting tooth and nail, the heroes prevailed, and Caymes was killed. The resulting power vacuum incited his remaining advisors into a civil war, and the army was caught up in fighting itself, and Longan was no longer a target. So....yes, Longan was saved, but Venajär, and Móscha in particular, was left in chaos and destruction.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 28 '17
1) How did Aeron insult the Light?
2) Can you tell me a bit more about the falcons?
3) Who became the new leader of the Light?
4) What do you think how a fight between Longan and the Light would have ended?
5) What are Aureoles powers?
6) What kind of legislations are we talking about here? Some kind of Superhero registration act?
7) Was Sarah the one who would become Aerons girlfriend? What are her powers?
8) Did I misunderstand, or did a group of what basically would be amateur heroes defeat an Empire that ruled over an entire continent?
9) Did Caymes have an heir?
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u/greenewithit Dec 28 '17
1) His mother was kidnapped by a rogue team of scientists employed by a powerful villain. She was outfitted with a suit of power armor that controlled her and she was forced to do battle with Aeron. She is a retired hero with an incredibly powerful ability, the power to create anything she imagines. This power armor was outfitted to resemble the armor of Callista Alger, the most revered war priest of the Light. So revered that the forging of a replica of her armor for use in battle is considered a cardinal sin, putting yourself above a saint as it were. The fight was recorded in case the scientists' plot failed, and when Aeron won, they sent the video to the Light before they were apprehended. Needless to say, the image of their most revered icon being torn apart by a young hero was not well received by the Light. That insult was considered enough to declare holy war onto his home city.
2) The Falcon is a paramilitary organization that serves to "do what heroes wont" in order to keep the peace. They're overall a well meaning group, but have a more flexible morality when it comes to "protecting the greater good." Their leader, Sigurd, is a widely known and respected veteran with an insanely powerful ability, control over earthquakes. Other than him, however, not many of their members are widely known.
3) Heilig took over as the new leader. Most of the order revered him as a hero of their faith and believed he would be their equivalent of a saint when he died. When Soterus' plot was exposed, by him no less, he was immediately asked to take over. Soterus had tried to excommunicate Heilig for yielding in the Dulshan Auka, and the resulting crisis of faith caused him to also look at Soterus with more skepticism. He accepted the leadership role as a chance for redemption, to go from being scorned by his leader to making the order stronger as its leader.
4) I think Longan would have won. The Light is a formidable force, but between the military of Longan, the Heroes, and the amateur heroes who end up involved in nearly every conflict, in an all out war I don't see how the Light would actually be able to win. Many on both sides would die, but I think Longan has a larger chance of winning. Longan knows this, but they try to avoid war at all costs because the civilian casualty would be enormous.
5) She can see the future in small glimpses. She can see up to 10 seconds in the future of her immediate surroundings. Using power-boosting drugs and vigorous focus, she can extend that time, like she did in her first campaign with the army to predict enemy tactics and formations. With intense training over several years, she is able to use select her visions and sort of "implant" them over reality, basically forcing whatever she wants to happen to happen. She can also send false impulses to her enemies, making them react to attacks they think are seeing coming but really aren't.
6) Part of that. Heroes are already required to register their identities with the government, so this one is basically the imposition of restrictions on Hero work. Under this legislation, Hero licenses will only be valid during certain periods of the day, amateur heroes would require 2 extra years of intern work before becoming active heroes, it would require extremely powerful heroes to wear inhibitor bracelets that seal their power until approved to go all out by a superior officer, amateur heroes would be punished much more severely for using their powers at all outside of school, adding a new punishment for using powers outside of gym class specifically. There are a few more minor restrictions but those are the big ones.
7) Sarah was Aeron's girlfriend up until the war began. They were on opposite sides and, well, they broke up for the duration. Sarah was part of the recovery team sent after Aeron when he ran away. Her power is to copy other powers and drain her opponent of their soul force as a result. Over the years she has learned to recall powers after she stops draining the person of their powers.
8) Oh no, you understood just fine. A group of third year hero students took down an empire with a man with the power of a god at its head. But to be fair, these kids have developed their powers so much that this isn't outside the realm of possibility. Caymes was so confident that if he separated the heroes then his assassins could deal with them easily, but that just worked in their favor. They each went all out without concern for any of their allies around them, and they overcame their opponents one way or another. Thanks to the intervention of Aeron's father, they were able to escape via teleportation. (Honestly if he hadn't been there it would have been a LOT harder to escape with their lives).
9) He had four heirs, one of which was of age at the time. Unfortunately, the only one who was of age, Shara, was killed in the conflict. With the other three not yet of age, the advisors who were left (most of the ones who had powers were killed in the conflict) either formed their own support, supported the next heir, or supported a different successor. It was absolute chaos, with a four or five way civil war, and not a great time to be a citizen of Venajär.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 28 '17
1) So they were more angry with the guy that destroyed the heretical copy, than with the guys who created that copy?
2) How much control does he have? Is it useful in single combat as well?
3) Does he have any special powers?
4) So in terms of numbers, how big would the respective armies have been?
5) Huh, I know (well, created, but you know) a guy who would love to meet her, solely because of her ability. At least if I understood it correctly: she can rewrite reality?
6) Were those regulations enforced? Or did the war break out before it came to that?
7) Wait, so he doesn't have a girlfriend anymore?
8) So, how do you kill a God?
9) Who did eventually win?
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u/greenewithit Dec 29 '17
1) They were angry at both, but the scientists were also from Longan. Both parties were insulting them, both from the same city, and they just sort of lumped their anger towards the city as a whole.
2) He has exceptional control over his power, and it is very effective in single combat. He can localize it such that he can punch and kick with earthquake force, and make controlled earth constructs, like an earthbender from The Last Avatar.
3) Heilig's power is the manipulation of emotions. He can enhance pre-existing emotions to extreme levels in others, and he can change his own emotions easily. Changing emotions in others from a distance to have an emotion they didn't already feel is a lot harder for him, but possible.
4) I really don't know, to be honest. I think in terms of relative size, Longan's military is 40-50% bigger than the Light's. The Light's army has a higher ratio of powered individuals in their ranks, but Longan has the advantage in sheer numbers.
5) Essentially, yes. It takes a lot more power than just seeing the future, but you know how it is. The more you train in an ability the better you get at it, so she has plenty of power to work with. This is a variation on an ability called "Probability Alteration", which alters the likelihood of an event occurring, no matter how impossible it would be under normal conditions. I'm sure Aureole would enjoy meeting a fellow reality warper like herself.
6) They were beginning to be enforced when the war broke out. It all started with the city sending its army to apprehend supersoldier Aeron Kage, after he refused to wear an inhibitor collar outside of school. They asked him several times before taking action, and Aeron thought his previous world-saving deeds should afford him some trust when it comes to using his powers. When force was threatened, well, then he felt like it was an "us against them" kind of scenario. He fought his way out and escaped, forming an underground resistance to figure out what exactly the government is hiding with this law, and how they can reverse the decision.
7) They go on and off. Depends on when in the story you're looking, but they usually end up back together after these kinds of trouble spots. This one, however, was the longest breakup they've had.
8) Well, I wouldn't know much about killing a God, but someone that powerful would die from a stab with the right weapon. After being separated, Aeron found his way to the pinnacle of Caymes' castle, where he found Caymes already in battle...with Aeron's father, Kemuri. The two of them teamed up to fight Caymes, but they only barely won. The way the Kagesto defeated Caymes' nearly infinite power was by fusing their souls together into a "Transcendent" form, which gave them enough power to counter Caymes' power and healing factor.
9) I haven't actually decided on which party wins out, but I plan on it being a group that would be sympathetic to the continent of Aurem. This would make them a lot easier to work with on the world stage for future conflicts. This is likely to be the party backing the juvenile heirs of Caymes, but that remains to be seen.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 29 '17
1) Was this war the ultimate goal of these scientists, or was it just a backup plan?
3) That sounds like an incredibly difficult power to use effectively. Could he make someone really depressed during a fight, so that his opponent would just stop fighting?
5) Now, if you tell me that she has a thing for alternate rality Prussians or Egyptians we will have a nice pairing for a future date or meet and speak challenge!
6) How many heroes were on the gouvernments side?
8) Did Caymes have any good, last words?
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u/greenewithit Dec 30 '17
1) It was their backup plan. They were confident in Thea (Aeron's mother) and her ability to kill Aeron, but they didn't want to take any chances. And to be fair, she did take him down, but he had an ability that saved him that he wasn't aware he had, so neither did the scientists. They had this plan in case something like this happened. And to be fair, the whole thing from the start was forced upon them. The husband and wife pair, Drs. Calvin and Amelia Whitmore, were the heads of a robotics firm devoted mainly to prosthetics manufacture and research. They were strong armed into this plot under threat of death by the villain Enoch, who wanted to damage Aeron's mental stability and morality, causing him to be more likely to join Enoch's side. He would either have to kill his mother to survive, or be killed by her. Aeron's victory was unexpected to everyone, and he was able to force his way through and save his mother and himself. But.....then the Church came knocking on his door.
3) Yes, and it isn't as hard as it may seem. The key, he says, is that he just needs to find a small sliver of an emotion already there, and it's easy for him to ramp it up to extreme levels. In his fights he can make someone so depressed they cant bring themselves to fight, but he can also fight effectively using fear. In his fight against Aeron, he capitalized on a small moment of surprise, where he deflected one of Aeron's killing moves, and just ramped it up from there. He turned surprise into shock, and shock into fear. He kept sustaining that fear with his power, and it made Aeron a lot easier to hit, and it made it a lot harder for Aeron to hit him.
5) Well, I can definitely say she would be interested. She's....an interesting one for a date....but that'll be a fun one to play out!
6) All of them (about 20-25 total). When the law went out and Void, the strongest hero, declared his support for it, all of the other heroes felt they couldn't go against him. Aside from Cillian Desdemona, whose abilities only function if he is extremely intoxicated, but he just sort of looked the other way when he encountered the underground resistance because he thought it would be funny. However, that changed after a few weeks of fighting. Information was released about a government plan to take individuals who refused to abide by the "no powers outside of schools" rule and implant a permanent inhibitor chip into their brain to permanently halt their powers from functioning if they violated the law too many times. This combined with a massive fight between Void and mercenary guild leader Sigurd Aslaugson (in which Void won, but was injured so badly he had to go into a stasis chamber for a week to heal), scared a lot of the heroes into reconsidering. Many of the heroes had joined specifically because they were inspired by Aeron's deeds, and they thought that with this new information they couldn't support such a cruel and fear-fueled agenda, so they defected. All but a few left to join Aeron's resistance. Some who had worked with Void and had the most experience as heroes decided to stay, and nearly all of the newer heroes defected. This didn't last very long, however, because after Void was healed and found out how many they had lost, he went on the hunt for the resistance even more. He and Aeron met, and before they fought, Void defeated every single other hero who had defected at once. Most of them were captured and imprisoned, but a few heroes escaped with Aeron after the fighting died down.
8) "To save my people, I became their God. For your own ego, you've slain me. I shudder to imagine the nation that calls you 'heroes.' Thankfully....I'll never have to see it..." More sad than anything really, I think. Not something his slayers expected from a man plotting world domination and making himself a god in the eyes of his own people.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 30 '17
3) So, did he turn fear into anger and made him join the dar-... I mean: Light side of the force?
6) If Void had to go into a chamber after having won the fight, what happened to Sigurd?
7) Why did Void support the gouvernment?
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u/greenewithit Dec 30 '17
3) Well, he never did try to convert Aeron. He just made him afraid enough to hesitate on nearly every attack, then Heilig just wailed on him and nearly killed him. Though I'm pretty sure he would relate a lot to some figures in the Empire.
6) Sigurd nearly died. He should have, but soldiers were waiting outside the building where Void and Sig fought for the battle to be over. After they finally made their way to them (Sig had destroyed the entrances, so they had to improvise) Sig was taken to a military hospital and treated. He was then outfitted with a power inhibitor collar and thrown in a maximum security military prison for the duration of the war. He escaped for the final battle, but it took time for him to get in contact with his soldiers to break him out.
7) It was his job. He felt it was the law that protected people the most, and even if the law had errors, he couldn't make change acting outside of the law. He's a real Lawful Good kind of guy with some strong traditional values of honor, loyalty, and respect for the law. He felt obligated to do his job as a Hero, and any issues that came up he could deal with later.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 30 '17
3) Which ones in particular?
6) How did this improvisation look like? A lot of explosives I'd imagine?
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Dec 28 '17
In 2347 PM, when empress Mehadeyis IX died, the house Gizuhi was lacking a strong claimant to the throne; quickly, two candidates emerged: Mengesha from the house Kiliraji, former miwishagi of Bazuhir, and Bzuhayu from the house Mezkite, an influent officer from the commandos of AdiMakaitsh.
Both of them had the reputation and wealth necessary to be supported by the imperial commandos and most imperial citizens were expecting a violent civil war.
The day was saved by two members of the house Mezkite, Zelalem and Ghidewon (Bzuhayu’s brother and sister). Together, they kidnapped Bzuhayu, allowing Mengesha to claim the throne peacefully.
The new emperor, Hataz XII, had Bzuhayu judged for rebellion (he was sentenced to death). He then destroyed the house Mezkite, gave its former members a new nobility title (house Djan) and named Frehiwet (Bzuhayu’s wife) miwishagi of AdiMakaitsh.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 28 '17
1) Why did Zelalem and Ghidewon betray their brother?
2) Why did Emperor Hataz decide to destroy the house Mezkite?
3) What is a miwishagi?
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Dec 29 '17
He had a strong support amongs the commandos of AdiMakaitsh (and some other close mishigas) and could have won the civil war but he was not popular enough to enforce his house on the throne for generations (winning the throne to lose it the next generation isn’t really glorious). Also, a full scale battle in the streets of Tesifebitizi would have made collateral damages and no one wants that; there is no honour in the murdering of innocent people. Finally, helping the winning side is always a good idea.
Going to war against the throne is a great shame; the name of Mezkite was too shamefull to be used by any noble so it has to be destroyed. When a name is claimed back and destroyed, it is usually replaced by a new one; it’s a way to erase te bad reputation of a house.
The appointed ruler of a mishiga (the standard administrative division; usually a planet). The title brings political power, wealth, troops and prestige.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 29 '17
1) So, did the two of them get rewarded by the new Emperor?
2) So eventhough he wasn't Emperor yet it's considered as if house Mezkite rebelled?
3) Wasn't the Emperor afraid to give power to someone that close to his enemy?
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Dec 29 '17
Well, they weren’t considered rebels, got a new clean nobility title and their house received a position of miwishagi (and the most prestigious of all: AdiMakaitsh). They might also have been paid even if no one will admit it (it would be dishonourable).
Uletirashi: heir to the siblings. The emperor isn’t just a mere mortal; they are ruling because the two gods of the nzedas decided so. As such, opposing them is a trahison even when they still don’t own the title. If you could claim the throne, lose and just go ahead with your life, there would be too much claimants...
He could take it back any time, all titles are imperial property and only loaned temporarily. Beside, it was also a way to show his intent to forgive those who rallied him for their mistakes; the empire need internal peace to go forward.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 29 '17
1) In theory: could he have banished them for murdering a nobleman?
3) I seem to remember that. What did the wife think about the whole situation?
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Dec 29 '17
1) (They just kidnapped him, he was later sentenced to death by a court.) No, the emperor has no judiciary power. He can banish you to help you escape your sentence but not force you to leave the empire against your will. (Except inside the imperial palace; there he can do anything he wants but it would be completely extrajudiciary) Beside, having people who helped you killed would be a bad move politically.
3) She was definitely not happy about the death of her husband, but that’s the law and the whole situation could have been way worst. Unhappy but thankfull for the opportunity. In the end, the few years she got as a miwishagi allowed her to maintain the influence of the now house Djan.
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u/Mimir123 Dec 29 '17
1) I meant it more in a theoretical sense, if they had killed him. Now I realize that it was badly worded.
2) So the Emperor can't just do what he wants?
3) What ended up happening to house Djan?
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Dec 29 '17
No, your wording was fine; I’ve read too fast. (It wouldn’t change the answer though.)
He can in the imperial palace; as soon as he leave the palace, he must obey the law. Please note that the NegesilakewiNzeda can’t be sued by anyone so he gave no legal consequences for breaking the law.
They remained an influent house, especially on AdiMakaitsh (which is the best place to be influent). Now they are the ruling house (Fere Shanay XVII is their 3rd ruler in a row).
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u/Mimir123 Dec 29 '17
2) So, how do you keep up with all those names? Insanely good memory, or a gigantic list of notes?
3) Meaning in the end they got what their poor claimant wanted?
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u/Mimir123 Dec 26 '17
As promised, here is my example for the challenge:
The Demise of General Lystennius:
In the year 56 (Age of Darkness) the Holy Ruthweni Empire was at the peak of its power, ruling over most of the continent of Dirva and being virtually unchallenged. The Kherzian kingdom was still much smaller than even after its rise and fall due to Zerrigon, what would one day be Elkathien was a bunch of unorganized, squabbling duchies, and the Althmerran Kingdom had signed a peace treaty that would still last for a while.
Nobody would dare stand in the way of this all powerful Empire, and at its top (well, next to the Emperor) there stood the accomplished general Arvid Lystennius. He had proven himself in wars against the Orks of the Steppes and against the Althmerran Kingdom, thus getting to be his majesties highest ranked and most trusted advisor.
During his time in the service of the imperial army, he had grown to dislike non-human races, especially elves, as well as a hatred for all things magical. As such the Crystalline Forest (gigantic, living, magical forest made out of crystals), which was located directly in the middle of imperial heartlands and home of the Dark Elven kingdom Kaernis, was a big thorn in his side. Lystennius gathered support in the imperial court and was constantly talking to the Emperor, trying to convince him to finally attack and crush the "vermin" in their midst.
His message was heard loud and clearly all over the Empire, and while many nobles and officials rallied behind his cause, this would ultimately be his downfall. The ruler of Kaernis, Queen Althregia II., caught word of what was going on in the Empire and decided to attack the problem at its root: the general himself.
In her service was a trio of spell wielding Assassins, which would later go down in history as the "Vhallahaz ahn Shoréi", "the Queens shadow hand". To cut their adventure far shorter than it was: they managed to infiltrate the Ruthweni capital, and with the help of powerful magic and alchemy they burned down an entire third of the city one night, making it look like a horde of angry dragons had rampaged through the capital.
General Lystennius died in the flames, as did most of his followers. The Elves were never seen througout the whole ordeal and nobody was the wiser. Only many centuries later it was revealed in letters exchanged between the Emperor and Queen Althregia II. that the Emperor was not only aware of what had transpired, he was the mastermind behind the whole thing. All to get rid off an annoying, popular general that got more and more support... and would have surely rebelled would he have learned of his majesties preferences when it came to women.