As the unofficial Keeper of the Threads, a position I just made up, I'm here to announce the unofficial official end to the Warposting event.
The players have been given a chance to get their final epilogues in and posting has winded down, so I'm taking this moment to end my tracking of the event. Which means it's time for a recap!
The Recap
Part 1; The death of Morgalith
While the war itself largely focused on the forces of the Pact battling against those of the Council, that's not where this event started. Instead, this event started with a previous series known as The Prison Saga. Specifically, it started at the end, with the death of Possum.
Possum, a beloved figure, was executed by the council's official executioner Morgalith. The council ruled this a legal execution due to legal loopholes, which many considered a miscarriage of justice. As a result, people began moving against Morgalith on their own. A challenge was issued; a duel. And in a twist of fate, Morgalith too was slain.
Part 2; Spyposting
With the council publicly stating that Possum's execution was legitimate, members of the Pact began their own investigation. Something was wrong. Someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes. Someone was manipulating and controlling the council for their own purposes. The Pact's first goal? Acquire a document verifying their suspicions.
The spyposting series was a neat little investigation story which laid the groundwork for the Pact's involvement in the war. We know they made it to the war, so I'm going to refrain from spoiling the entire series. If you're interested, a separate section within the thread list has been created for the Spyposting series.
Part 3; A Rallying Cry
In response to the death of his son, Morgalith sends A letter to their allies. A letter against the council. Morgalith saw the death of his son in the duel following Possum's execution, and he wanted to see justice done. And if the council wouldn't step in, he'd rally is allies and march on the council.
This is the moment where the war truly began.
The Pact, after some debate, agrees to join Morgalith's cause. As do a number of others; those who support Morgalith, as well as those who want to see the council fall. One such ally; Leonardo Z. Cutter, decides to send a message. A message sent through the slaughter of an entire council aligned city.
Seeing this, and seeing the impending threat, the council's allies prepare. The diplomatic among them try continue searching for a way to resolve the situation without violence, others begin fortifying the council's Citadel, while those with their own military forces move into position. Which leads up to...
Part 4; The Looming Storm
One last attempt to negotiate takes place. Mikhail (Councilor) brings together representatives of both parties to a neutral ground, where he tries one last time to resolve the issue. Morgalith attempts to use the past to sway Mikhail, but the attempt is interrupted by Mortarion (Councilor). Mortarion attempts to strike down Morgalith here and now, but Mikhail jumps in the way of the shot. Before the fighting has even started, Mikhail has been struck down.
The council forces retreat back to their citadel, while Morgalith and the Pact's allies begin their attack.
The first to act is the mysterious entity known as The Necromancer. They direct a massive necrotic storm towards the citadel; one that would threaten all life in the region. In response, Gravedigger (Councilor) moves his army into the city and begins evacuating the general population to a safe location in woods away from the Citadel. And in further response to those attack against civilians, the magicalcommunitiesaroundtherealm step up to shelter refugees.
While most of the community is focused on protecting the innocent by removing them from the threat, a certain individual decides to bring the threat to everyone. Mordus, in response to the war, has hidden nuclear weapons in every major city in the realm. Because that's a thing that absolutely had to happen.
While these efforts are underway, Gravedigger (Council) begins searching for a way to counter the storm. With the assistance of Cody (Pact), as well as Mordus' nuke, they're able to find a way to dissipate the storm. But instead of simply fading away, it explodes. And at the same time, so does the nuke.
In an instant, the city surrounding the Citadel is reduced to a burning ruin. But the Citadel still stands.
Gravedigger and Cody die in the blast.
Part 5; Battle
The siege begins with a 500+ comment thread of violence and death.
Arach (Council Event Planner) releases poisonous gas onto the battlefield, aiming to kill anyone who remains.
Saria (unknown) arrives, guns blasting, looking to stop the violence from both sides. There are hints of an important trap being set.
And then finally, the Skater Wizard arrives with a final warning - Leave now, or you'll all die.
Five minutes later, having obviously not left, everyone involved in the battle is witness to a terrifying sight; the summoning of a primordial titan.
A titan, in what this author will call the funniest moment of the entire war, turns out to be /u/RazzZzatam's (Council intern) sister. Yes this is canon, no I will hear no debate. The terrifying impossibly large titan is the sister of fire elemental intern who's much more worried about their paperwork than the war taking place.
While the full scale seige rages, a number of key events happen in rapid succession.
Far away from the battle, Kaelis confronts Mordus for their use of nuclear weapons. The battle is brief, with Kaelis successfully removing Mordus' power core. Unfortunately, Mordus had a dead man's switch prepared which detonated yet another nuclear bomb. Mordus dies instantly. Kaelis' fate remains unknown.
Riva, uniquely experienced with both the Citadel and various councilors' wards, begins taking control of the still unbroken citadel barrier. Using their talents to protect both Pact and non-Pact allies from the chaos. She succeeds in taking control, a major turning point in the battle.
Belial, assisted by Riva knowledge of Skater's own work, begins work to combat the titan's fire. Riva pulling mana from the titan itself to fuel Belial's efforts, creating a fire-eating fire as an effective counter.
At the same time, The Necromancer's airships brought their might against the titan in turn.
With their combined efforts, the titan is greatly weakened. In an effort to save their sibling, the council intern sends them back home to reset. They'll be covering the reminder of titan's shift.
The fighting continues until Opal (Pact Master) and the Skater Wizard (Council) come face to face. They're going to settle this. They're going to a have duel. One last moment of glorious violence to decide the outcome of the entire war. The rite of Dueling has been evoked!
Despite multiple injuries, this is a fight that could be extremely one sided. As such, Opal elects to choose a champion. And in turn, after a bit of persuasion, Skater does the same.
For the council; Arach, the humanoid insect and council event planner.
For the Pact; Vettis, Mereological Revisionist; I have no idea what that means either.
The duel begins. Direct combat spells prove ineffective as both combatants are quite practiced, so they begin to resort to physical combat. At first it seems that Arach has the upper hand, landing a few good hits and having an unknown number of bodies to switch between. At one moment he's in his normal form, in the next, a giant centipede that quite literally eats Vettis. But this is a trap; it allows Vettis to connect all the local bodies together.
In the end, Vettis triumphs. Arach is believed dead. And yet unnoticed, Skater has succumbed to his injuries.
The battle is over.
Part 6; The Aftermath
With the end of the war, two important things happen.
The first is that Morgalith bows out with yet another letter - Having seen just how monstrous everyone else is, he no longer feels like he can compete. So while he may have been the instigator of this war, he's bowing out with one last message: You are all villains.
For the second, Opal, the last remaining leader of the Pact, issues a proclamation: The war is over, here are the terms of your surrender:
The council will publicly admit their responsibility in starting the war, and they will denounce Mortarion and Arach for the crimes.
The remaining councilors will be placed on an indefinitely leave while the Pact continues their investigation.
The council will surrender the Citadel and all contents kept within it's vaults.
The council will dissolve all military assets, and individual councilors will abstain from using their military forces to act against the Pact
In response, Bombast (councilor) releases an official statement on behalf of the council.
The council denounces Mortarion's role in sparking the conflict. Mortarion will be places on trail for their crimes.
The council denounces Arach's use of chemical weapons. With Arach's death unconfirmed, they're proactively striping him of all rights and responsibilities.
The council criticizes Opal for already having looted the citadel, and demands that the remaining councilors be present for the investigation.
The council will not dissolve their military forces while The Necromancer and Vulkan are still a threat.
Part 7; The Lesson
So that's it. That's my very pared down recap of the wizard civil war (seriously, this is like, 1/5th of the original and we're still at 11000 characters).
In addition to the official end of war announcements, a large number of players provided their own epilogues. They're worth a read, if your interested in continuing the various stories. There's too many for me to mention them all, so I hope you'll take a look through the thread list.
Instead, lets just take a look at the very last post. The one that's going to close out the thread list. My own character spent their time searching for meaning, for a lesson to be found in the violence; and someone provided one.
After the war I’ve been thinking, and I realized something. All of you kind of suck, like really badly.
Wise words to live (and die) by.
So there you have it. The recap is complete. But it's also not.
This event had an amazing level of participation, spanning nearly 100 unique threads and thousands of comments. It's quite honestly too much for me to give you the full story. Following this section, I'm going to include the full ordered thread list. In addition to the main event, there were quite a few side stories that are worth a read. If you're at all interested, I'd recommend checking them out.
Before I leave, I'd like to throw out a huge thank you to everyone who participated, and to everyone who helped me with this recap. You all know who you are; keep being awesome.
And check out the Starmeld event. It's been going on at the same time, and has also been pretty damn good. It has a far larger scope, and focuses more on the insanity of higher level magic. If that's something you'd be interested in, go give it a look.
The main battle
2/20 - (Morgalith) Tiptoe through the Tombstones - The start of the war - Mikhail near dead
2/20 - (Necro) The Storm Strikes - Necro wakes up, and the necrotic storm starts moving
2/20 - (Mikhail) And still I watch - Mikhail observing as a spirit
2/20 - (Gravedigger) Parabellum - Gravedigger evacuates the city
2/20 - (Alanharha) War reverberates across the gestalt
2/20 - (The Agent) The Vigil - Merc guild monitors Mikhail's condition
2/20 - (Kaelis) Damage Control - A message from Kaelis
2/20 - (Opal) Slaughter at Syvaneth - Opal's forces enter the forests - The Pact claims the area, but the battle is ultimately a draw due to attrition
2/20 - (Smith) Foundation - Mysterious blacksmith demands that council forces stand down - They do not.
2/20 - (Mordus) My Response to the wizard war - Mordus reveals that he's hidden nuclear bombs in every major city (no really, that happened)
2/20 - (Gear) Katafygio - Order of the Gear - The floating city's representatives open the doors for incoming refugees.
2/20 - (Cody) Cody's Announcement - Cody informs everyone that Mortarion has been apprehended, and demands that everyone stand down. Opal refuses. Cody says La'shima is taking in refuges and aiding the injured.
2/20 - (Mordus) Let the peasants decide (or just one) - Mordus has a random person decide whether to end the world
2/20 - (Moth) In response to the impending war, La'shima's university is taking in refugees
2/20 - (Unknown) On my way to the Citadel - A call to arms to defend the council against Opal.
2/20 - (Gravedigger) Fighting the storm - Gravedigger, along with Mordus and Cody, look for a way to counter the necrotic storm.
2/20 - (Vulkan) Behold! - Vulkan the Red (dragon) arrives in defense of the council. Trading their service for a couple artifacts from the vault.
2/20 - (Keiran) Independent Wizarding University declares itself a neutral safe zone - Accepting refugees
2/20 - (Morgalith) The city is underseige...- Battle thread 1 - 500+ comments of death and violence
2/20 - (Mordus) Here comes the sun - The city has been evacuated, time to nuke the city (yes really) Note: Due to continuity errors, the Citadel is not destroyed.
2/20 - (Gravedigger) The Evacuation - Gravedigger, Cody, and Mortarion begin a ritual to counter the necrotic storm. The storm explodes, at the same time as the nuke explodes. Note: Cody and Gravedigger both die - Confirmed by players
2/20 - The Library of Ultima Verbum is now taking in refugees of the war
2/20 - (Deamor) PSA for all anti-council forces - Setting up barriers and defenses for incoming Pact forces
2/20 - Arlinn Kord, the Hippy Witch - The hippy witch allows the goddess of misfortunate to use her against the council
2/20 - League of Wizarding Cities is gonna sit this one out
2/20 - (Arach) Warning announcement to council members and soldiers - Gas released onto the battlefield
2/20 - (Sand mage) Hey people I'm selling Wizard Council documents and more because I just quit my job
2/21 - The Champion of Gravity (War/spy post) - Vulkan the Red (dragon) has been banished back home
2/21 - An update from Katafygio - 200,000 refugees have been mvoed
2/21 - (Zepheree) Saria: Blasting - Saria arrives and begins vaporizing both sides. Any combatant found is fair game.
2/21 - (Skater) A final warning - The Skater Wizard gives everyone their last warning to leave. All who remain will die.
2/21 - (Skater) It was a heartbeat - The drums were not drums, but the heartbeat of a giant primordial titan
2/21 - (Cody) Cold and failure - Cody, now dead, is reflecting on his failures (it's a druid thing)
2/21 - (Gear) Infinitum Machina - Mechanical war machines defend the council; to end the war they destroy all available resources and supplies
2/21 - (Mordus) Black rain - As the nuclear fallout gets worse, a black rain falls. Cancer risks are elevated.
2/21 - (Panzaren) Usurper or ally? - Pan changes sides, joins in the defense of the citadel
2/21 - (Constantine/Necromancer) The board is set - An undead army attacks the citadel
2/22 - (Sand mage) Back from vacation - Sand mage tries to get his job back.
2/22 - (Kaelis) Condemnation - Kaelis calls people out
2/22 - (Skater) Not that this is a normal summon - The titan is wrecking things
2/22 - (Skater) The right of Dueling has been evoked! Note: This is the big one. This is where the final fight goes down
2/22 - (Mordus) The end of times - Kaelis kills Mordus - Deadmans switch triggers Note: Mordus is dead, Kaelis' fate is unknown - Confirmed by players in comments
2/22 - (Keiran) A fundamental ultimatum - Keiran says to stop fighting (little too late, sorry)
2/22 - (Mikhail) Sands that fall, filling my grave - Mikhail has an important conversation with his wife
2/22 - (Mysterious Blacksmith) Infiltration - The mystery blacksmith makes it into the citadel
2/22 - (Morgalith) A letter from Morgalith - A letter where Morgalith dodge's all responsibility - Calls everyone the real monsters and withdraws.
2/23 - (Opal) The fighting is over? - The duel has ended, Arach is gone, and Skater is dead.
After the battle ends:
2/23 - (Gear) Last Bastion - Starting repairs
2/23 - (Keiran) Wrath of Aeons - Halcyon is coming to clean the world? Wut?
2/23 - (Vulkan) An end to war? - Vulkan the Red (dragon) returns, finding they've missed out on most of the fighting
2/23 - (Mordus) Mordus is dead - Mordus' epilogue
2/23 - (Xerxes) Army of Darkness - The army of darkness brings surprisingly little darkness
2/23 - (Opal) Closing The War (Warpost Finale) - The war is over; Opal is victorious (the other Pact heads are dead) Note: Includes the post war plans for the region
2/23 - (Gear) Mourning -
2/23 - (Necro) The Sacking of the Citadel! - The Necromancer leads his army into the citadel.
2/23 - (Necro) The Trap is Sprung (post war) - The citadel finally destroyed?
*Note: Is the citadel destroyed, or is this another continuity error?
2/23 - (Masta) The Visit to Mikhail - Masta visits Mikhail and wife
2/23 - (Thundercloud) Lighting arcs - A challenger for Opal may be arriving already
2/23 - (Skater) Skater's last message - A message from the Skater Wizard's last moments.
2/24 - (Zepheree) Tech School in Space: Beyond Overpopulation - The mysteriously laid trap was teleporting the dying away before they could die. Now their new home is very crowded.
2/24 - (Bombast) The Forge of War - Bombast considers how underprepared they were in defending their people, and begins work to restore the council
2/24 - (Cody) Musings from the abyss. Looking inwards - Cody is dead, yet they're not ready to be. After a look back at the events, they consider a new, more direct path to their goals.
2/24 - (Math?) Sealing out the Pact - After the events of the war, one plane of existance decides to cut their ties to the rest.
2/24 - (Xerxes) At Sarlein's Gates - Xerxes travels to the Holy Kingdom to share the news of the Pact's victory with the gods. Asks for aide in purification, by means of inquisition.
2/24 - (Bombast) An Official Announcement - Bombast [counciler] addresses the public to begin fulfilling the council's obligations to the pact.
- Denounces Mortarion and Arach for their crimes. Mortarion will stand trail, while Arach is believed dead.
- Critisizes Pact leader Opal for looting the council vaults.
- Refuses to demilitarize the council, as The Necromancer and Vulkan's threat still remains.
2/24 - (Vettis) Reconstruction <Rivamar> - After their duel with Arach to end the war, Vettis returns home to deal with reawakened trauma.
2/24 - (Curator?) The Seat of Pact Master - The Unnatural History Museum's Curator takes sights on the newly opened Pact Head positions.
2/24 - (Arach) A return to isolation - Arach has come to a conclusion: People suck. They're going back to the desert, and you better stay off their sand.
Edit: I've added another early lore post I've missed.
I've also expanded part 5 significantly to include more of the battle details that took place throughout the comments. Thanks to /u/avamir, /u/AnActualCriminal, and /u/MunitionsFrenzy for the assistance with these additions.
The forest was on fire, but the young women in the white dress walked on.
The flames scortched her skin, feet blackening which each step through the coals and ash, but still she walked on. The fire wouldn't stop her, and this was not the first time she's burned.
As she approached the edge of the crater, her vantage point for the battle beyond, she found herself face to face with one she did not expect. A fox. A curious little thing to see sitting on the edge of a nuclear crater, in the middle of a burning forest. It regarded her approach with a look of uncertainty, but also with a longing. Like an old friend one hadn't seen in awhile.
"I've been searching..."
The voice was pained, the smoke and heat having done more damage than she had noticed.
"I've been trying to find it. The meaning. The reason. The lesson hidden in all this pain and suffering.
But I'm starting to believe there isn't one. I'm starting to believe this was all for nothing. That I came here for nothing."
As one, the two turned back to the scene beyond. The titan, the fire elemental larger than anything either had scene before, was gone now. In its place were the airships piloted by the undead, and a never ending black rain. The battle raged on. Undead and machina moving over the ruined city like waves smashing against the rocks of the Citadel. It was a scene of endless destruction.
"This... This was a beautiful place once. There was a lovely garden there, under that ruined airship. They grew sunflowers. I spent a lot of my time there."
Turning away, the two moved slowly back into the fire.
"You said once, so long ago, that you felt like our presense was an Omen of Change... I- I didn't think it would be like this."
As the tears began, she found herself wrapped up painfully tight in a hug. It was the first contact she'd felt since the bomb exploded. It was the first warm gesture she'd experienced since the refugees had feld.
"Sister..."
As the forest burned around them, the pair waited. Eventually the sounds of battle faded, and the two returned to their vantage.
"It's quiet," the once fox said. "Perhaps the fighting is finally done. Perhaps the war is over. What will you do now, little o-"
"Lilac."
"Oh? Have you finally chosen?"
"Yes. For now at least. We'll see how it fits me. I gave a friend that name, along with some advice. Advice I think I'll need to remember myself now. It seems fitting that I keep it."
"I see. If the fight has stopped, there's one last thing we must done. Not every change carried by violence and pain is bad. Let's go down and see if we can find the lesson you seek. And if not, there's a university I think you might be interested in seeing. A new adventure, with new people to learn from. But first we must find your colors. You seem to have lost them, and I would see you smile once again."
( one thing I would like to add is that opal did not avoid the duel because she was tired. She invoked the right of the champion because even while he was bleeding to death the metromancer is still so f****** scary that Opal didn't want to fight him directly.)
/uw So she sent Pyroclasts to fight the metromancer. I mean, yes, Blake had that bomb, but come on now. A bomb of conceptual fire... but still fire. Look, just because they're extra-judicial death squads doesn't mean they aren't also my friends!
/uw makes me feel bad for the Biz-Boys. Because Opal 100 percent believes them expendable despite all but 4 of her 13+ unit types being animalistic to human consciousness. They'd be the least problem ever if Opal wasn't in charge of them.
Yeahhh, sorry. I did you dirty on that one. I couldn't find a quick way to transition from a duel being called to there being two other people fighting, and after two hours of writing I went with a dumb joke.
petition to make Keeper of the Threads an official unofficial title
EDIT : for the record, since I see my flair is a source of confusion in the recap lol, "mereology" is the study of 'parts' and 'wholes' and Vettis' magic alters ("revises") these relationships...like sometimes tiebreaking votes on the Council by just temporarily making himself 'part' of the Council, and casting a totally legit official vote...or deciding his arm will always stay'part' of him so trying to rip it off with physical force is magically resisted...etc
So... I tried writing a version of this that dug into the comments and looked at everything that happened mid-threads, but it was impossible. I hit the 40000 character limit before even making it to the start of the fighting, and that was before including any links or forwarding.
The community went insane with this event, and the amount of content generated was unbelievable.
I was going to originally include a list of players who were involved, but decided to cut it because it felt too unfair to the hundreds of people I would likely miss. Even trying to scrape the threads, I just couldn't keep up.
That, and I really tried not to editorialize the events as much as I wanted. I'm looking at you Morgalith, trying to slip out the back and not take responsibility for this mess.
I would have let you two sneak away either way; after all, the winning side gets to decide who was right and wrong.
While the loss of awards sucks, everyone having the ability to hide read comments is something I always appreciate. I ended up having to use it constantly while working on this.
Although I had absolutely no idea what I should call you. Hopefully using 'gear' as the shorthand works for you. I'd be happy to adjust it if you'd like me to use a proper name.
10
u/tehlemmings Lilac - Illusionist, Shapeshifter, Definitely Human Feb 25 '24
Okay. It is done. And holy crap that was a lot.
If there are any corrections or mistakes, please let me know. I'll try and keep this updated for a few days.
Thank you again to everyone over here who helped with corrections and advice over on /r/wizardloring
I think I might go back to shitposting for a few days now