A Tale of Fire and Blood

[General Tacticus]

The arrival of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent

The sun had set some time ago, but Tacticus Sanguinus, the Great God, was still gazing at something far away, as he had been for 2 hours. Gazing to the North. The majordomo was worried. The God was angry, and this was not a good time to be kneeling near Him. Moving near Him, however, would almost certainly result in swift death, and leaving without being dismissed would anyway be a grave breach of etiquette, something that would get a majordomo fired. Literally, while his heart was torn from his chest and, if he was found worthy, devoured. No, better to keep kneeling and stay very, very quiet.

Then, from the south, came the sound of wings. The majordomo threw a quick glance – it was a great feathered serpent – it was the Feathered Serpent himself, Quetzalcoatl, the Lawgiver, and once his master. Even in serpent form, there was a great scar where his heart should have been. But the majordomo had seen the Great Jaguar defeat the Great Feathered Serpent on this very place, and tear away his heart !

- I see you have found yourself a new heart, said the God.
- Your instructions were very clear. I am now ready to serve you, O My Master.

There was a blur, and there was a man where the Serpent had been. He went to stand beside Tacticus Sanguinus.

- Tell me, O My Master, what you are looking at.
- Today a few malcontent took what they could carry of their property, and started a trek North. They plan to leave my lands, cross the lands of the Atlantis half men to the North, and settle in the land of Man. I have been too busy with the Marignon campaign of late, and have paid too litle attention to my people, I fear.
- Allow me to offer my congratulations on your brillant victory, O My Master. Defeating Marignon in barely one year is truly a great accomplishment.

The God smiled sadly.

- It was only their american outPosts. And they had overextended, expanding into those Dark Vines provinces with their pesky druids. Still, I feel it was very well planed, and reasonably well executed. I am pleased with Nanauatzin, the Priest King of Tiahuanaco. Not only was he the first priest to swear fealty to me, but he has proved a reasonably competent leader as well. And the number of soldiers killed on both side is truly a tribute to my Greatness.
- Yes my lord, I was there to witness some of the desperate counter attacks from Marignon in Xique Xique. They killed two of our warriors for each of their soldier who fell, a spectacular fight ! And I have heard of the earlier encirclement in Piaui, where you surrounded half of their armies and then had their peace emissary sacrified with the full ritual, in plain view of the Marignons. That raised them to a battle fury I could feel from three provinces away.
- Yes, a good war. But my attention has strayed, and from my neglect my people suffered. 6000 of them, a fifth of the population of the capital, have left.
- What shall you do, O My Master ?
- Catch up with them, and make amends for my earlier neglect. I cannot take them back in, nor can I allow them to go to Man, but I can certainly ensure their souls a good place in my service, in their next reincarnation. Will you join me ?
- Your service is my pleasure, O My Master.
- Come then, and we will celebrate your return.

Tacticus Sanguinus, the Divine Jaguar, leapt, and started toward the North. Over him, the Feathered Serpent flew through the skies.

The majordomo carefully stood. Suitable rooms would have to be found for the new guest, and suitable servants. There was much work to do, but work was good. It meant he still lived. While those that had left their position, soon wouldn’t. He threw one Last glance to the North, but the great shapes were already out of sight.



The artists of Mictlan have put together this map for your pleasure : it shows most of the known World. Most of South America is under the rule of Tacticus Sanguinus, but there are two encroachments from the aquatic races : Atlantis to the East, and R'lyeh to the East.

The Marignon citadel in Natal has just been taken, and the victorious commanders are displayed in their glory.




[ January 04, 2004, 20:24: Message edited by: General Tacticus ]

[ExitJudas]

hehe! this is awesome! I'm still waiting for my copy of the game to arrive by mail. Keep the battle reports coming!

[Bossemanden]

Great writing. Now run those seamonsters back to where they came from.
Go Mictlan!
And those emmigrants had it comming. Should have known better than to up and flee.
Edit: Yep I knew it was a random event, but very well written on your part.

[ January 05, 2004, 16:58: Message edited by: Bossemanden ]

[General Tacticus]

For the strategically minded, here is a short run-down of my Marignon war :

I was quietly building up before attacking, when I noticed they went off to bash some indies, specifically a province with five dark vines. They lost the battle, and most of their heavy infantry (I had a scout there, and enjoyed the show). They tried again, won, and followed up by attacking two more provinces (one with vine ogres, one with more dark vines). All in a straight line from their starting provinces. Net result : they lost half of their army, including most of their heavy.

Sensing an opportunity, I had by that time brought all my forces. I had a two to one advantage in numbers on their conquering army, now split in three, and about equal quality (mictlan troops at their best being about on par with a heavy-depleted Marignon army). Plus, they wouldn't have raised provincial defenses yet.

So I cut them off with my first attack, then defeated the surrounded army, which led to total destruction since they had nowhere to retreat to. Then I divided their three remaining provinces in two isolated ones, but found out they had bought themselves more armies, and the remaining province defences were tough. So I paused a few turns to bring back reinforcements of my own, defeated their counter attacks, and went in for the kill.

It Lasted from turn 21 (first attack order) to turn 29 (Last province taken). Even with a 2 to 1 numerical advantage (at least) in all battles, I suffered heavy losses, almost always more than they did. I was fielding slaves and cheap warriors
in good numbers, plus lots of archers/crossbows, but nothing even close to heavy, and no sacred troops (capital too far away).

I clearly took advantage of an opportuniy there, if they had not lost so many troops (and the better quality one to) to the indies, I would not have attacked so soon.

Now, for the future : so far, I have mainly expanded by rushing opponents who were off balance, and funneling all resources to ensure they went down and stayed down (well, Pangea still sent the occasional Call of the Wild, but a provincial defence of 10 can handle it). My blood economy is pathetic (actually, so is my gold economy, turmoil 3 and forests and mountains don't help) My research is very backward, I have drain +1 and haven't found a library, si I have no descent researcher, the only good thing is my +1 bane +2 lamia income.

So I feel I really need to focus on building my economy for a few turns, and am doing so. Anyway, I don't want to shoot up in the province graph before I can handle it. But I also need to choose a target for my next expansion, and the choices are :

- Atlantis. They hold 3 provinces that should be mine. I can kick them back into the sea whenever I want (they are not heavily defended), but keeping them there afterwards will be difficult, and following them there is for the moment impossible.

- R'lyeh. They hold 4 provinces I want. Basically, the situation is the same than with Atlantis.

- North America, i.e. Man, Jotunheim, and Caelum. Caelum is fairly weak, but is not my neighbor. Man and Jotunheim split the rest of North America between them, and I am technically at war with both (they declared war, not me). But the new territory will be very difficult to defend, unless I aim for the whole continent. The good news is, they can be kicked out, and I won't have to worry too much about their coming back.

Oh, Atlantis in R'lyeh are ahead of me in most categories, so is Man, Jotunheim is barely ahead, Caelum is overall a little lower.


And to conclude, a newsflash of the situation in the rest of the world : Pythium has been kicked out (by Machaka and Ulm), Ulm has taken the capitals of Ermor (for which my thanks), Pythium and Vanheim (I think), and Machaka should have the other Pythium fortification. Ulm is doing very well, top in income, close to top in provinces, will make a nice challenge later... All this is from observing the graphs, I could of course be wrong. Pangea and Marignon are now bottom, and probably doomed.


Oh, and the population leaving was a random event (I have turmoil 3 and luck 1, I do get some nice gems almost every turn, but I have to take the consequences) that happened to happen (can I say that in English ?) the same month my serpent friend joined me. At which time I learnt (from his description) that he was the Lawgiver, my predecessor (from the Mictlan empire description) that I had unfortunately killed in my first post. Hence, the new heart. After all, we are both blood mages

[ January 05, 2004, 15:10: Message edited by: General Tacticus ]

[apoger]

>- Atlantis.
>- R'lyeh.

I suggest avoiding conflict with the water nations unless you have the ability to pursue them into the water. Otherwise you will have to defend yourself from endless attacks from the sea.

Frankly, if they go to war with you before you are ready, your situation is bad.


>- Man and Jotunheim split the rest of North America between them, and I am technically at war with both (they declared war, not me).

There is nothing "technical" about it. If they declared then you are at war. They are your first things to deal with, since they will attack you with armies if you and they share any borders.

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by apoger:



>- Man and Jotunheim split the rest of North America between them, and I am technically at war with both (they declared war, not me).

There is nothing "technical" about it. If they declared then you are at war. They are your first things to deal with, since they will attack you with armies if you and they share any borders.

True enough, except that the borders we share are very close to my capital and starting provinces (40 provincial defense) and very far from their recruitment centers. I am, therefore, relatively secure and can afford to ignore them a little longer. In fact, Man has been at war with me for 20 turns, and has yet to launch more than a token attack.

[SurvivalistMerc]

Apoger,

I am noticing that in my current non-Mictlan game. It is quite annoying as one sea province borders quite a number of land provinces. They can attack almost anywhere.

I am building up a sea force, but it isn't easy. And it looks as if my sea units are going to get wiped out. I haven't found those cute little land amphibians...icthyds?...despite controlling 80+ percent of all coastal provinces.

I was planning on more land conquest...but Atlantis declared me. And they have every sea province but one...the one I have.

I thought triton troopers were the way to go...but they're not. Numbers prevail over quality troops in the sea, it seems.