A delightful romp through Erebus: Let's Play: Civilization 4: Fall from Heaven II

[Kantolin]

Latest 'active' post is found here:
05 - The Necromatic Orb (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12451556&postcount=64)
04 - Religion, and something far more sinister... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12427562&postcount=57)
03 - Exploring: Following Esperenza's Lead (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12404611&postcount=48)
02 - First Steps into Erebus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12379341&postcount=34)
01 - Embarkment (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12363385&postcount=15).

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Current items being voted on by the council
Vote began: 12/30
Vote Ends: 12/31

1 - What to do with the Necromatic Orb!
(Ignore it, Buy it and use its knowledge, or Buy it and have it destroyed to free the soul)

2 - Final religion decision?
At this point, we have recieved a ton of good reasons to remain order - Order will keep us at good relations with our various neighbors, has already spread to all of our cities without us doing anything, and is swiftly getting temples and the like. We can, however, shift to our original decision of Empyrean still, but this is pretty much the last time. I'm actually leaning towards throwing our hats in with Order at this point, but hey, up to you guys.

3 - Uh, any additional research questions?
The options we have left which got votes before are: Optics, Knowledge of the Ether, Warfare, and Poisons, so I could definitely use some more voting to be had. Unfortunately, however, I can't actually check the game until making the decision on this event, so I can't do much updating of the technology section. ^_^ Still, go look there for suggestions as I will update it to the best of my ability.
Immediate Tech options: Warfare, Knowledge of the Ether, Construction, Optics, Trade, Military Strategy, Poisons, and Festivals. (There will be more up when I next get access to Civ)

4 - What to do with our Great Engineer?
(Super Specialist, wait on a wonder, teach us a chunk of smelting(reveals iron), golden age)

I'm kinda liking putting 'this is what these things do' copy/pasted into the pictures. What do you guys think?

Remember, vote ends December 31st, since I would like to turn my computer off after that point. :P
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Greetings, Giants in the Playground!

I would like to do a let's play of Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword: Fall from Heaven II mod!

I've read a couple that sort of were going on the forums up to this point, and they seem exceptionally fun and neat. Essentially, I'll be coming to the boards and posting my progress, and asking you denizens as my advisors what you'd like me to do next! Help me make my nation into one which transcends time, or watch as we die horribly to freaking Alexis and those hateful vampires.

Unfortunately, I've only read one or two of these things ever, and certainly have no idea how to do pacing - how long do I wait for responses? How fast is too fast to step forward? Or even, how far forward do I go between posts? Not to mention I'm new at this whole photobucket thing. Still, hopefully you're all willing to bear with me on kinks like that, and feel free to make suggestions.

I'm pretty good at Civ and quite familiar with this mod, so this won't be an 'I'm just learning the ropes'. It just seems very fun to try them out with the boards guiding my actions. ^_^

I'm then exceptionally fond of roleplay in general, so expect a lot of 'fluff' and the like on posts. Similar roleplay by advisors is then quite encouraged as well. Relatedly, while I'll always focus on what the board states (I mean, that's the entire reason I'm doing this!) I'll try to have the extent to which this is the case depend on our civics - I mean, if I'm the god-king, then sometimes I obviously will know better... but if we've got everyone voting, then I have no choice but to go with what my senate tells me to do.

One of my goals is that people who aren't particularly familiar with this mod (or perhaps, civ in general) will still obtain some interest out of this. I'll summarily post an array of 'this is how things work in this mod', generally with the logic of 'If I post too much information, people can just ignore what they don't need to care about'. Think of most informational things I post as handy-references more than required reading - if you think that we should go to war with the elves as that's what orcs do, then by golly suggest it, tactics be pillar of fire'd. ^_^

This top topic will contain what the council is presently voting on, and how the votes are going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current items being voted on by the council
Vote began: 12/30
Vote Ends: 12/31

1 - What to do with the Necromatic Orb!
(Ignore it, Buy it and use its knowledge, or Buy it and have it destroyed to free the soul)

2 - Final religion decision?
At this point, we have recieved a ton of good reasons to remain order - Order will keep us at good relations with our various neighbors, has already spread to all of our cities without us doing anything, and is swiftly getting temples and the like. We can, however, shift to our original decision of Empyrean still, but this is pretty much the last time. I'm actually leaning towards throwing our hats in with Order at this point, but hey, up to you guys.

3 - Uh, any additional research questions?
The options we have left which got votes before are: Optics, Knowledge of the Ether, Warfare, and Poisons, so I could definitely use some more voting to be had. Unfortunately, however, I can't actually check the game until making the decision on this event, so I can't do much updating of the technology section. ^_^ Still, go look there for suggestions as I will update it to the best of my ability.
Immediate Tech options: Warfare, Knowledge of the Ether, Construction, Optics, Trade, Military Strategy, Poisons, and Festivals. (There will be more up when I next get access to Civ)

4 - What to do with our Great Engineer?
(Super Specialist, wait on a wonder, teach us a chunk of smelting(reveals iron), golden age)

I'm kinda liking putting 'this is what these things do' copy/pasted into the pictures. What do you guys think?

Remember, vote ends December 31st, since I would like to turn my computer off after that point. :P



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Votes thus far:
{table=head] Category|Specific Vote|Number
Nothing yet, template here|
|Template|39243
|Template|0
|Template|342
Template[/table]

Voters recorded thus far: None

Old votes for record purposes:


Vote ended 12/30: (Will update this later)

Vote ended 12/24:
City site: Sheelba Blocking then Sepulcher; Two Cities: Yes; Wonders: Heron Throne; Civic Switch: Yes.
Tech Votes: Mining 10, Hunting 5, Cartography, Masonry, Calendar, Archery, Bronzeworking, and Warfare afterwards.
Voters: Tribble, The Dark Fiddler, Obadiah the Slim, Terra Oblivion, Irashin

Vote ended 12/18:
Second City:Site 1; Gosea: Religious building or Altar(Currently religious); Apprenticeship later; Promote Lucky Scout to Combat-Animals; Nickname her Esperanza.
Voters: Shiny Rocks, Terraoblivion, Vauron, The Dark Fiddler, Obadiah the Slim, Tribble, Irashin.

Vote ended 12/14:
Religion: Empyrean; Start Location: Circle; Start Civic: Pacifism or Religion; Start Production: Scout/Warrior/Warrior; Scout explores coast, Warrior stays home, Evenly split between focus on growth and workers.
Tech Votes: Fishing 12, Mysticism 4, Agriculture 6, Education 5, Writing 2, Hunting 3, Exploration 2
Voters: Vauron, Terraoblivion, ShinyRocks, Tribble, Starsinger, The Dark Fiddler, Irashin

Vote ended 12/11 - Which Civilization should we select?
Result: Clan of Embers - 1, Elohim - 5
Voters: The Dark Fiddler, Starsinger, Lord Zarth, OzymandiasVolt, Lothorious, Tribble

[Kantolin]

We are the peaceful Elohim, and are making our mark on Erebus.

This post now contains: Civic Information, Technology Information, Wonders of the World

Civic Information:

Government (We are currently utilizing 'God King'. We will also have 'City States' as an option if we research Cartography, and will have 'Aristrocracy' as an option if we research Code of Laws):

God King - Capital City (Cahir Abbey) gains +50% Hammers and +50% money. +10% to maintenance costs, high upkeep. This is making Cahir Abbey quite productive.

City States - The maintenance costs from distance to the capital are reduced by 80%, while the maintenance costs for number of cities are reduced by 25%. War weariness is increased by 25%, however, and we also get a penalty of -20% culture in all cities. This is a lousy option for right now, but later in the game if we end up with a giant far-flung empire, it may become valuable.

Aristocracy - The maintenance costs from distance to the capital are reduced by 40%. Farms produce 1 less food, but 2 more commerce. In addition, four of the potent 'Royal Guard' units can be produced, which are useful mounted units. At the moment, the penalty to food from farms would be more crippling than the boost to gold, the maintenance is negligible, and we cannot build the Royal Guard units yet, so this is a civic to avoid right now... but maybe later it will be more valuable.



Labor (We are currently utilizing 'Apprenticeship'. If we then learn the 'Warfare' technology, we can also utilize 'Military State'):

Apprenticeship - Military units gain +2 experience when produced, but there is a -10% penalty on producing them. Experience is very valuable in this mod so early access to it is potent, but there is the drawback to note if we would like to field a sizeable army quickly.

Military State - +15% military unit production, and +1 free units (The maintenance-free unit quantity increases with size). It enables us to spend gold to hurry production in a city, and enables us to draft units - giving us unhappyness in cities but enabling instant production of a unit. It then has high upkeep, and gives us a penalty of -25% culture in all cities. This is a useful civic for wartime, but not really while we're at peace.


Economy (If we learn Calendar, we will have the option of 'Agrarianism'):

Agrarianism - Farms produce +1 food and -1 hammers. In addition, all cities gain +1 health. This means that farms on grasslands (Which don't produce hammers anyway) get +1 food with no drawbacks (It doesn't go negative), and Agrarianism is thus an amazing civic choice as it generally bolsters growth with very little drawbacks.


Cultural Values (No changes: We are 'religion')

The three we have thus far are Religion, Pacifism, and Nationhood.

Religion gives +1 happyness in each city with our state religion (When we obtain one). In addition, it gives us +10% culture in each of our cities, encouraging our borders to grow more quickly. Finally, each temple (to any religion, even not just our own) grants an additional happyness.

Pacifism increases the birth rate of 'great people' by 50% - great people slowly accrue via specialists or wonders, and are quite potent. It comes with a pair of drawbacks, however - first of all, military units are built 20% more slowly, which can make defense in the earlygame problematic. Secondly, war weariness increases by 25% - so if we go to war, it will be harder and harder to keep our people happy.

Nationhood gives a +10% military production, enabling defenders and offenders(?) to come out that much faster. In addition, it gives +1 happyness from the 'training yard' building, which is required to build most melee units. Finally, war weariness is reduced by 25%, so it becomes a little easier to be at war without our people lynching us.




Technology Information:
We have started the animal husbandry tree, stepped into the sailing tree, the education/economic tree, and the mysticism religious/arcane tree.

For a list of techs we have: Ancient Chants, Education, Mysticism, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Exploration, Fishing, Sailing, Hunting, Crafting, Mining, Bronze Working, Way of the Forests, Way of the Earth Mother, Masonry, Archery, Code of Laws, Writing, Philosophy, Cartography, Horseback Riding, Orders from Heaven, and Calendar.

Here's our next set of technology options and a quick 'does this':
Warfare (Enables Military State, Form of the Titan, and City Defender/Attacker)
Knowledge of the Ether (Adepts & mage guilds)
Construction (Build Bridges, Spread Irrigation, Workshops & Forts, Catapults and Chariots)
Optics(Deepwater boats, Privateers, +1 Sight across water, tower of eyes)
Trade (+1 Trade routes, Enables technology trading, Inns, other half of Chariots)
Military Strategy (First to learn it gets a great commander, and enables Blitz promotion and the heroic epic national wonder)
Festivals (Grants Carnivals & Markets)

More expensive options cost slightly more than the 15 turn 'soft cap' I was looking at, but they are all well within reason - getting access to some of those techs early could be invaluable.

More details are then in this spoiler.

Festivals allows us to build carnivals, which aid in happiness and culture, and markets, which aid in money. If we manage to catch a Gorilla, Bear, Wolf, Lion, and Tiger, and throw them all into cages, we can build the Grand Menagerie wonder. This is so unlikely to happen that I won't even put it in the wonders list.

Warfare enables us to utilize the Military State Civic. It also opens up a pair of promotions for our military units - City Defender, which allows a significant bonus when guarding a city (Especially for our archers), and City Attacker, which allows a similar bonus when attacking a city. Finally, it enables the Form of the Titan world wonder - which requires a high level unit to build, but then grants all of our units +2 experience when they are ubilt.

Construction lets our workers build bridges - so roads that cross rivers won't cause units to lose movement. It also lets them spread irrigation so it can extend inland. It enables workshops or forts, neither of which are terribly useful, and enables us to build catapults - if we end up at war, we will need catapults or mages with fireballs before we seriously assault someone (to bash down their walls).

Optics is the deep-sea naval tech, enabling Caravels, and if we have iron, frigates. It also enables us privateers, which begin with hidden nationality and thus can go harass and rob our enemies without us being at war. It increases our sight across water, and lets us build the tower of eyes wonder.

Trade is money, and leads to both Empyrean and Council of Esus if we get Way of the Wise/Wicked. Anyway, it gives us +1 trade routes per city (helping our commerce thus science/money), enables us to trade technologies. It lets us build inns, which also boost our trade routes. Finally, it (With construction) lets us build chariots, who are somewhat strong mobile mounted units.

Military Strategy's big point is whomever learns it first gets a free great commander. It enables said commanders to build command posts, lets us build the heroic epic in one of our cities, and enables the blitz promotion - letting high level units attack multiple times.

Knowledge of the Ether grants us the option to build Mage Guilds, which then can train adepts. These entry-level arcanists can utilize the mana we have access to. Later four techs will allow us to convert mana nodes to other types of mana, but thus far we have life, Nature, Spirit, and Water (And possibly death, if we go for the Sepulcher). The respective level 1 spells our adepts will have avaliable are: Sanctify(Purifies an AOE against hell terrain, of which there is none just yet), Treetop Defense(Fortifies units in forests), Courage(Makes units in the stack immune to fear and work as mild healers, permament boost), Spring(Turn desert tiles to plains and put out fires, rather useless for us at the moment) and Summon Skeleton(Summons a permament skeleton, one per death 1 caster).

Next post, I'll be sure to have a list of magic techs, as we're right there.



Wonders & National Wonders

Only one civ can build each wonder, and each can only be built once, so it's kind of a race. But do recall - each moment we're building a wonder is a moment we're building nothing else, and thus it indirectly hurts our city/nation as we're not producing helpful buildings or military units or whatever.

National Wonders can be built by each Civ, but are one per Civ. This makes them less urgent, but they tend to have potent effets. In case you're familiar with normal Civ, Fall from Heaven 2 has no 'two national wonders per city' rule, so you can build all the national wonders wherever you want (But only one per civ)

Wonders of the World:


We have built the Heron Throne. We have access to the Great Lighthouse. Through various technologies, we can gain access to: Pact of the Nilhorn, Form of the Titan, Bone Palace, The Great Library, and the Tower of Eyes.

The Great Lighthouse - All Coastal Cities get +2 trade routes, aiding trade. The City becomes more likely to generate great people, particularly merchants. It requires a lighthouse to build, and helps the more coastal cities we get (Right now, both of our cities are indeed coastal).

Pact of the Nilhorn - Ritual, requires Cartography. Recruits three Hill Giants - these are all strong units with a strength of 7 (To compare, our warriors are strength 3). They do not recieve defensive bonuses, but can bombard cities and start with sentry, enabling them to see further due to their size. They also begin as 'undeclared' units, and thus can attack and be attacked without declaration of war (We can declare them at any time, and definitely want to if we offer open borders to anyone lest they be accidentally killed).

Form of the Titan - Requires Warfare and a unit of level 6. New units gain +2 experience points in all cities, city is more likely to generate great commanders. Double production speed with copper (Which we have now!)

Bone Palace - Requires Philosophy. Units in the city are +50% resistant to magic, starts a golden age. City is more likely to generate great engineers. Double Production speed with Marble (Which we will have shortly)

The Great Library - Requires Writing, and three libraries to exist in our nation (So we need at least three cities). +1 science from all Sages/Great Sages in all cities. +1 Free Sage in the city. City is more likely to generate a great sage. Double Production speed with Marble (Which we will have shortly)

The Tower of Eyes - It is a free dungeon in every city, meaning we have less war weariness when at war and causing there to be slightly less crime. It also gives the sentry promotion to all units built in the city, making them able to see slightly further.

Wonders of the World we have already:

Heron Throne - +25% defense in the city, +1 production from water tiles, Double Production speed with Marble. If built in our capital, it'll make those clam tiles even more valuable.





National Wonders:

Deruptus Brewing House - Requires Crafting. Provides two ale resources, which boost our nation's happiness and can be traded. If the city has access to corn, rice, or wheat, its commerce is boosted by +10% apiece. Finally, dwarves get +2xp (Seriously), which may do something if we end up going with the Runes religion which has some dwarves we can build. :P

The Heroic Epic - Requires Military Strategy. It gives +100% to the military production of the city it's built in. It can only be built once, though, so we have to make sure we plunk it in a good city to build units.

[Kantolin]

Religions and Alignment:

Religions plays an absolutely vital part of Fall from Heaven 2. They give rather large bonii directly, their priests can heal, and their holy buildings give you mana which is absolutely amazing in and of itself. Each religion also has at least one religious hero, who sticks around unless you swap around religions.

I especially like orcs of the light, as that's somewhere between awesome and funny. :P Follow the light or I beat your head in! Grah!

Religions also are the primary way of changing your alignment. In a nutshell, the effects of alignment are below:

Alignment:
{table=head] Alignment|Does the following:
Good| Can build Paladins, who are strong anti-disease units who can heal. Can join the overcouncil, which works like the United Nations in normal civ - voting to do things. Hell terrain will never spread into your borders, which is very fitting for the Elohim.
Neutral|Can build Druids, who are potent terraforming disciple units with a gift for nature. Can join either the over or undercouncil and swap back and forth at leisure. Hell terrain will spread into neutral terrain, but only when the armageddon counter is moderately high.
Evil|Can build Eidolons, who are moderately strong units. Can join the undercouncil, which gives you the ability to have a series of illicit deals throughout - smuggling rings, slavers, and other lucrative operations. Hell terrain will spread into your borders as soon as it pops up.
[/table]

Finally, there is a diplomatic penalty for dealing with people outside your alignment (That is more severe if you are good/evil). This gap (particularly good/evil) widens drastically as the armageddon counter increases, so the world tends to erupt in giant good/evil wars. I generally prefer to aim for neutral (For undercouncil benifits and tasty druids) or good (As paladins are awesome and I hate hell terrain), but they all work out well enough, so I can go evil if the boards decree it to be so. ^_^

Here are the religions in brief, and some analysis from Ethne's point of view. We have selected to go with the Empyrean religion in the end.

{table=head] Religion|Alignment Change|Description
Order|Set to Good|Believers in Law and Social Order
Empyrean|One step towards good|Light and Knowledge are vital to life
Runes of Kilmorph|Evil becomes Neutral|Trust in the secrets of the earth
Fellowship of Leaves|Unchanged|The glory of nature shall defend you
Council of Esus|Good becomes Neutral|Shadows and people hold secrets
Octopus Overlords|Good becomes Neutral|The ancients beneath hold secrets amidst madness
Ashen Veil|Set to Evil|Power comes from the demons below.
[/table]

Religion info in general:
Order
Alignment: Set to good

The Order believes in law, and law... and then goodness. They very firm believers in smiting the infidels and keeping social law.

Mechanically, they get special buildings which reduce maintenance, making it easier to have a large empire. They get the Crusader special unit, which is a potent mid-tier unit that is especially helpful if fighting demons or if we lack metals. Each time you spread order to a new city, you have about a 75% chance to get an acolyte (Which becomes, once we get the tech for them, crusaders). Their priests buff their allies with bless, and archpriests completely remove maintenance costs and unhappyness from cities.

Order's two heroes are Valin Phanuel, who is a potent mounted unit, and Sphener, who is the strongest hero unit in the game, an archpriest, and skilled at life magic.


Empyrean
Alignment: Moves one step closer to good

The Empyrean focus on light and knowledge. Everything should be revealed under the pure light of the sun. They are probably the most good of the religions, as Order's slightly more... um, punch-in-face. :P

Mechanically, their religious buildings focus on science, helping boost your research. They get the useful Radiant Guard (And less useful Ratha), both of whom utilize 'blinding light', which paralyzes people in an area preventing them from moving, thus making them awesome defenders in general (Ratha are chariots that can also paralyze, and thus less useful on the defensive although they're more mobile). Their priests reveal illusions and invisible units, while their archpriests blow up enemies in an area in a method that reveals them... with the light.

THE LIGHT!

Empyrean's hero is Chalid Astrakean, who is almost certainly the best single unit in the entire game. He has some irrelevant but decent attack power and some irrelevant but decent spellcasting of sun and law magic, and then pillar of fire which does a metric ton of damage that cannot kill people to the largest stack within an AOE, and is summarily one of the hardest hitting things in the game especially when you get it. Chalid is at least half the point of Empyrean.

This is the religion we have selected for this game (At least, when it's avaliable! We probably will select another religion for the interim).


Runes of Kilmorph
Alignment: If evil, your alignment becomes neutral.

The dwarven religion of the earth, Kilmorph believes in focusing on the earth and its secrets. It, along with leaves [and sort of overlords] is one of the earliest and eldest religions in the world.

Kilmorph gets strong early. Right off the bat it gets you access to Arete, which allows a potent unique civic that lets you get more production out of mines. Their temples give you money instead of culture. It also lets you have access to soldiers of kilmorph who are essentially-axemen you get a little early, and later paramanders who are moderately strong. Finally, you get access to the Mines of Gao~dur, which gives us three iron resources getting us iron early as well as without having to go find it. Kilmorph, like leaves or overlords, are good 'passing through' religions. Their priests buff their allies, while their archpriests blow up an AOE around themselves which also unfortifies units - although it's not friendly fire.

Runes of Kilmorph's two heroes are both obtained fairly early. Bambur is potent when he pops up and has intrinsic enchantment magic early, which is helpful. The second, Arthendain, is an exceptionally potent crossbow-defender who is also an effective healer.


Fellowship of Leaves
Alignment: Does not change

The elven religion of the forest, Leaves focuses on living in harmony with the woods and nature. It, along with kilmorph [and sort of overlords] is one of the earliest and eldest religions in the world.

Leaves focus on improving trees. Their priests can plant trees, and being leaves means that trees have a chance of becoming 'ancient forests'. These offer additional defenses for those in them at their base, give health and food, and enemies who step into them have a chance of having a friendly treant spawn in the square, helping beat them up (and at least impeding them). They then get the guardian of nature civic, which makes said ancient forests grant extra happiness and give health in all the cities (And treants/ancient forests happen more often), resulting in some freaking large cities. The fawns (who can upgrade to satyrs) you get are moderately useful scout types, but aren't the most potent. Their priests can plant forests and summon permament tigers, while their archpriests can summon treants out of said ancient forests.

Leaves first hero, Kithra Kyriel, is a moderate mounted unit. Their second Yvain is then notably more potent, acting as another druid while also having life magic and being a medic.


Council of Esus
Alignment: If good, turns to neutral

Money pays, and with enough of it, you can buy miracles.

The cloak and daggers religion, Esus is essentially secret - you technically are not made aware when someone opts to follow that religion.

Esus has no priests, which is a major disadvantage of the religon. Anyway, it spreads significantly more easily than any other religion - pay 25gp with a unit in the city and it spreads, no failure chance or even removing the unit who does it. Blam, Esus everywhere. It then gives you nightwatch, which are longbowmen who both don't require archery ranges nor do they proclaim their nationality - as 'hidden nationality' units, they can attack or be attacked by whomever regardless of declarations of war. Later, they get shadowriders, which gives you 'four more knights' - except they also have hidden nationality, with the same 'attack despite peacetime'. Normally when you declare war, all your units are booted to the edge of whatever empire you've declared war with... but not if you're esus, in which they remain there, enabling vicious sneak attacks.

Esus' hero is Gibbon Goetia, who is an archmage hero and thus has access to the powerful doublecast. He also, however, can spend himself to enable us to take over an enemy civ, doing as we will with it - although watch that, as the CPU then is controlling our nation and thus will have a severe case of pants on head. :P


Octopus Overlords
Alignment: If good, turns to neutral

There are... powerful entities beneath the Aegean waves, but they are unfocused and follow a thousand diferent agendas. The disciples of these overlords dare not expose themselves directly to the conflicting commands of their masters, using the poor as intermedaries, which drives them immediately insane but that's okay - it keeps them from intervening with the message.

Octopus overlords is good for culture. You start off with drowned, undead early 'axemen' that don't require the metalworking techs but are weak to fire that are pretty impressive and walk on water. They get asylums, which give you a bonus to science for the mild inconvienience of sometimes making things produced in that city stark raving mad, and also allow you to make lunatics, who are very strong units that are stark raving mad! STARK RAVING MAD! There are also stygian guards later, who are fairly strong. You then get a few wonders which reduce mild happyness penalties in your cities.

Saverous, their first hero, is strong and beats people to death until they die. Their other, Hemah, is an archmage you get astonishingly early who can divert damage amongst his stack to keep him alive.


Ashen Veil
Alignment: Set to evil

Worship demons! Destroy the world! Blargleargle!

The Ashen veil's religious buildings give you science, through kicking puppies. A few murdered orphans help them build demon's altars, which lets you murder those orphans and military units for science and enables your orphan-murdering troops to be anti-priests. You get diseased corpses early, which can spread disease against the enemy nuns and children we'll be fighting - or cure their diseases with our priests which thus means we have good baby-eating units who are very potent. We then get the sacrifice the weak civic, which enables us to murder women and children and puppies so that each of our populations need less food to live, resulting in giant giant supercities that incidentally are filthy cesspools (maybe drowning some kittens will fix that?) We get priests who cause flames (from hell) to damage units around us, and later can make tiles (also from hell) that are so awful they don't even help us, but sure cause trouble for everyone. Especially orphans. Eventually, we get beasts of agares that eat children and Paladins. It also causes armageddon to happen and hell terrain to spawn and us to be able to summon the demons that will eat our children and our orphans and DAHAHAHAHA!

Man that was fun to write. ^_^

They gain Rosier the Fallen early, who is a potent mounted hero and Valin Phanuel's mirror. Their second hero, gained very late, ties Sphener for raw might - Mardero is a very potent hero who gets more oompf out of the armageddon counter, so if the world is closer to falling he'll have the edge over his angelic rival. The Mercurians, due to being demon-hating demon-killing types, cannot be Ashen Veil.

Ethne the White's view on the various religions:

The Order sometimes has trouble with taking things too far - despite their scriptures, mercy is not the antithesis to good. Nonetheless, their focus on law would be exceptionally helpful for our nation - a nation well managed can maintain its economy, and a nation with a strong economy can ensure its subjects are fed, clothed, and prepared for the long road ahead.

The light of the Empyrean religion is likely the most logical fit for our empire - but your council on the subject is well appreciated, as I may not be looking at the world from every angle. The focus on science will aid our knowledge - the more secrets we unlock, the more we can improve our nation's health and well being. The defensive nature of the Radiant Guard will work exceptionally well with our Chancel of Guardian's additional defense - when enemies see just how futile their attacks are, I am certain that it will bring a definitive end to conflict. In addition, I have heard that Chalid Astrakean's wisdom is unparalleled.

The earth has existed far longer than the world of men, and there are many secrets to be held within it. The knowledge of Arete brings out the best in people - many great men and women follow in the footsteps of Kilmorph. In addition, the mines of Gal-Dur will grant us a source of iron within our capital, reducing our need to seek out the metal to defend ourselves with. And, if the great healer Arthendain truly lives, his skills at retaining life would synchronize wonderfully with our own.

The plethora of trees all about us are a reminder of just how potent nature can be. Trees aid in defensive wars, which is our specialty - it will make us noticably more difficult to assault. This will also grant us several forest defenders - both the satyrs as well as the great Yvain, should we be able to reach him.

I am unfamiliar with the Council of Esus, and am unsure if it even truly exists. But finding information that others are shielding may be vital indeed - there are many who plot armageddon, after all. Perhaps their nightwatch will be helpful in removing our need to train additional longbowmen?

The view of the Octopus Overlords leaves a natural distaste in my mouth. Perhaps, however, these... things that lurk beneath the ocean's waters are merely difficult to understand, and it is easy to see that there is power in the seas that may aid us in our goals.

Little is to be gained from the Ashen Veil religion besides destruction and death. I suggest we avoid this 'religion' at all costs.

[Kantolin]

Post 4 - Kept blank in case of something I can't think of being most handy with an extra post. Formatting is helpful!

I'm done reserving posts now, though, so feel free to post.

[Kzickas]

I would advice a small map, and a large number of civs for a map of that size. This does two things. Fewer cities means it's easier for the readers to get a grip of what's going on and a smaller world means every city and every unit means more which is good from a story telling perspective. Having more civs means you'll start interacting with opponents earlier which is also good from a storytelling perspective

[The Dark Fiddler]

Not going to lie: The Elohim sound like they'd be really fun, and could be pretty interesting protagonists.

[Starsinger]

I vote Elohim. And if we're voting for religion right now, I vote Empyrean

[Kantolin]

I would advice a small map, and a large number of civs for a map of that size.

This makes sense. I was originally going to go with the largest map as I usually do, but I do think I'll shrink it down a bit and boost the civ count slightly for the reasons you've stated. Easier to manage.


Not going to lie: The Elohim sound like they'd be really fun, and could be pretty interesting protagonists.

They can indeed be fun! Especially in a crowded gamesetting. Two votes thus far for them too - although we'll see if things change before voting is closed... which uh, I'll probably do in a couple days I think? I don't want to take too long, but I also don't want to rush people. ^_^


I vote Elohim. And if we're voting for religion right now, I vote Empyrean

Thanks for the vote! You may want to hold off on religion voting until after the civ is selected, as then we'll have more specific info on 'this is what it gives to the {civ} in specific', but if you'd like to vote now you may. ^_^

I wil be adding the votes to the original topic shortly, just as a convienient log.

[LordZarth]

Ooh, ooh, I vote Clan of Embers! Never played as them but they look fun.

[OzymandiasVolt]

Elohim! MAXIMUM GOODNESS! [/Minsc]

[Kantolin]

Yay, more votes!

Seems the Elohim are increasingly popular.

[Lothorus]

Count me in for the Elohim as well. I like strange ways of conquering.

[tribble]

How can you like the Clan but not the Doviello?:smallconfused:

This reminds me I need to go do my oneshot after finals.

Voting for the Elohim, they'll allow us to showcase lots of different civs.


I can confirm that OO is Good>Neutral, not one step to evil. Falamar and Hannah remain neutral when they inevitably convert to OO.

Speaking of the Octopus Overlords, I once had a game where the orcs (computer controlled, I was the dwarves) beat the lanun AND the Sheaim to message of the deep and founded the Octopus Overlords. I was shocked. I was almost as shocked when the Hippus beat the Ljosalfar to the Fellowship of Leaves. They stuck with runes of Kilmorph for their religion, but I wiped them out after they foolishly took the elves' money to attack me.

[Kantolin]

I was going to wait until tommorrow, but I'm overly excited and thus will end voting now - the Elohim have won by rather a landslide, after all. :P

The first real post will go up tommorow, along with a whole slew of new things to vote on! Hopefully this will be tommorrow morning before work, but if things get too hectic with mostly-formatting it'll have to wait until after work.

There are actually two leaders of the Elohim, but I'll just select Ethne the White rather than leaving it to another vote. I'd prefer to play as her and I didn't want to overwhelm with tons of explanations on each leader and leader traits. Plus, I'd like to get started!


How can you like the Clan but not the Doviello?:smallconfused:

Outside of both having the barbarian trait, there's actually very little similar between the two. Rantine alone is rather game-changing, especially with the Clan's very interesting worldspell, and being able to warrens out acolytes, workers, and other things leads to some neat tactics. ^_^ Plus, I really like orcs.



I can confirm that OO is Good>Neutral, not one step to evil

Ah, thank you. ^_^


Speaking of the Octopus Overlords, I once had a game where the orcs (computer controlled, I was the dwarves) beat the lanun AND the Sheaim to message of the deep and founded the Octopus Overlords. I was shocked. I was almost as shocked when the Hippus beat the Ljosalfar to the Fellowship of Leaves. They stuck with runes of Kilmorph for their religion, but I wiped them out after they foolishly took the elves' money to attack me.

Whoa, talk about bizzare. I hardly ever manage to sneak OO past the Lanun unless I really beeline for it.

Tommorrow, then!

[Kantolin]

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/001%20Initial%20Embarkment/01-EthnetheWhiteProfilePicture.jpg

Greetings, advisors of the grand council. My name is Ethne - some may call me Ethne the White, but I do not see the need for such titles. I am the daughter of Gariel the Strong, descendant of Immanuel Logos. I have gathered the Elohim, to provide a force that Erebus so desperately needs after the trials of the age of ice - a force for peace and goodwill within the world.

I have gathered all of the scattered Elohim I have been able to, and finally deem us sufficient to truly stand once more. The majority of our maps are likely useless and faulty as they predate the current Age of Rebirth, but they do show one of our focal missions granted by Sucellus - the protection of the sacred sites of the world. If their locations are still accurate, then we are some distance from the Mirror of Heaven or Yggdrasil, but there is good luck to be had - we are very near to the Tomb of Sucellus, which has already made our citizens smile. The influx of sheer life will be indespensible to our pursuit of peace.

Embarking Map:
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/001%20Initial%20Embarkment/01-EmbarkingLocation.jpg

Here is a copy of our initial map, drawn by our scouts. It is a bit hastily drafted due to our urgency.

Our first decision is perhaps our most focal - where shall we build Cahir Abbey, the city that shall stand before time as 'the birthplace of true, lasting peace'. It seems we are favored in our goals - there are quite a few clams off our coast, a river to aid in transport, a guarded port to the ocean, and our scouts have reported that there is cotton, slightly further inland. I would advise we build (where the blue circle is) to make use of all these resources simultaneously, but I do leave this decision in the hands of the council.

"Don't forget a direction for me, chief."

Ah, yes; my apologies. We have also assembled a brave scouting party, who are uncertain where to go. It seems south is a dead-end, but perhaps more resources would become visible from the southern coast. Alternately, the scout could go northeast, uncovering the coastal regions first. Finally, the scout could go northwest - we have reported a mana node in that direction, and if our maps are correct the pool of tears may be nearby.

Then there are concerns at home. I will focus on ensuring our people have appropriate locations to eat and work, but I am unsure if we should focus on exploration or defenses first, and our researchers could use some guidance.

As one final note, upon building Cahir Abbey we will have access to our worldspell - Sanctuary. This ultimate declaration of peace erects a divine barrier, sealing our borders from those who would harm it. All enemies within our lands are ejected, and are unable to return for as long as the barrier lasts. I hope we do not have to utilize this potent ability - it will only work once, and thus should be saved for when the hour is most dire.

I thank you in advance for your support, and await your guidance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current Voting items (They are always reposted in the initial post):

Current items being voted on by the council

1. Which religion should we utilize?
Options: Order, Empyrean, Runes of Kilmorph, Fellowship of Leaves, Council of Esus, Octopus Overlords, Ashen Veil

2. Starting Location? (I... uh, highly recommend we start where the circle is - that is an astonishingly beautiful spot that gives us a river, both clams, and lots of beautiful green land to farm/cottage. ^_^ I didn't expect to have such a gorgeous starting spot! But just in case, let's hear it.)

3. Which starting Civic should we utilize?
Options: Religion, Pacifism, or Nationhood? We default to Pacifism, so it'd take a turn to switch - but that's a worthwhile turn right now to do so

4. Starting Technology?
Options: See the technology section. Please select your three favorite in order from favorite to least favorite, and I'll separate votes from there. So like... you could say: Education, Agriculture, Calendar. Or Exploration, Fishing, Education. Or Mysticism, Exploration, Fishing.

5. Starting Productions?
Warrior / Scout / Warrior?
Warrior / Warrior / Scout?
Scout / Warrior / Warrior?
Or a really good argument for something else? ^_^

6. Where shall our starting scout go explore? South to see what resources are hidden in the blackspace there, northeast along the coast, or northwest towards the barely visible mana node?

7. Should our warrior fortify, or go explore with our scout? (Or possibly in a different direction? Same directions as #6)

8. As a general question: Should we prioritize getting out a worker? Or focus on growing first?

9. Uh, are the colors okay? Too many voting questions at once? Not enough? ^_^ Any suggestions?

[Vauron]

1. Which religion should we utilize?
Empyrean

2. Starting Location?
Circle is fine

3. Which starting Civic should we utilize?
Nationhood

4. Starting Technology?
Options: Most: Fishing, than Mysticism, than Agriculture

5. Starting Productions?
Scout / Warrior / Warrior

6. Where shall our starting scout go explore?
Along the coast

7. Should our warrior fortify, or go explore with our scout?
Barbarians and animals scare me in this game, the initial warrior will stay in town.

8. As a general question:
Growth

[Terraoblivion]

The blue circle does indeed look good, so I'd say go with it.

More specific advice will be trickier since I don't know the mod very well and can't remember the tech tree or the resources in it. Ordinary Civ4 logic would suggest that getting Fishing early would be a pretty good idea to get those clams put to use, however, I'm not sure the same applies here.

As for where to explore. The hut up north sounds like a good place to start, as does getting another scout out earlyish to go the other way. Defense is probably a priority though, I remember the barbarians being vicious in this.

Finally, for religion I suggest Empyrean. It fits the nation the best and is the one that I like the sound of the the most anyway.

[ShinyRocks]

Whee! How fun. I've not played Civ for ages, and never this mod, so yay Vicarious Civ.

1. Empyrean.

2. Circle looks ideal.

3. Religion.

4. Exploration, Fishing, Education

5. Warrior, Warrior, Scout

6. North-west, inland.

7. One warrior stays in town, the other goes with the scout.

8. Get a worker out.

(9. Colours are fine. It's a lot of questions, I guess, but that's the nature of the game. It's not a bad thing. I'm enjoying the in-character advice-asking.)

[Kantolin]

(Posting from lunch to say that I've recorded the above votes in a kinda wonky table up top, a more detailed post comes later. I'm going 3/2/1 for the tech voting, in case of curiosity)

[Vauron]

7. One warrior stays in town, the other goes with the scout.


Unless I've completely forgotten, you start with settlers, scout, and a warrior. As such, he isn't asking what to do with the first warrior we produce, but the one we already have.

[tribble]

Don't send the warrior with the scout, guys, he won't do any better against animals, and barbarians won't spawn for like 70 turns. He'll just slow him down.
1:Order is best religion. The captured cities are in revolt? How about NO.
2:Circle, definitely. Hope there's copper in them thar hills, we'll need the production.
3:I don't care if we go for religion or pacifism, so long as it isn't nationhood. Nationhood is bleh.
4:Fishing first, it'll be a while before we can make roads to anything useful anyway.
5:No Preference
6:North-by-Northeast, AHOY! Oh, we aren't the lanun.
7:I reiterate, the warrior won't outperform the scout against animals and will only slow him down. keep him at home.
8:No Preference
9:Don't care if you want to use coloured text or no, just spoiler the screenshots please.

[Starsinger]

"Truly blessed are you, Lady Ethne. For the Heavens themselves have sent me to advise you as you set about to create an empire of peace that will span the entire globe. Before I go on, I am legally obligated to mention that my opinions and views will not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of my superiors. Speaking of superiors, while I am in all ways a superior being to you or anyone you could ever hope to meet, you must remember that my advice are merely suggestions, and should you choose to willfully and purposefully choose a less intelligent course of action, it is your prerogative to do so.

Now, Lady Ethne we shall move onto what the Heavens dema- wish of you. I am presenting you with a rigorous schedule of what decisions you should make and when you should... nevermind, I can tell by your vacant expression, that the tree which went into making this document was vastly more educated than yourself. If you are going to run a proper empire, atleast you are going to be able to read, and while we are at it, we might as well teach the common rabble as well. After all, it is much easier to rule over idiots which can read the laws of the land for themselves. Therefore, I propose that we begin by instructing everyone on the alphabet, how to read, and then writing. After the education, which even you will attend, those who managed to succeed in their classes without their brains imploding will move on to the most important step in the process. They will be taught the ways of magic, and those with aptitude will be selected for another project. (4.Education, Writing, Mysticism)

"Now then, I will leave several minutiae of running your empire to you. For example, the location of the capital and what you do with your people beyond educate them are wholly beneath my interest. I do however, recommend that you allow me to teach your people the joys of The Light, both as a tool of revelation and for smiting the undeserving. I also suggest you send your soldiers to the south, there is a mystical vibration I feel that interests me." (1. Empyrean religion, 2. The Circle is a fine start position, 3. stick with Pacifism, 5. Abstaining, 6&7 send scout and warrior south, 8. Abstaining)

[Kantolin]

Hee. ^_^ I am amused.

I'm a little too busy at the moment for a proper response, but I will update the voting tally above now.

To be clear, in-character responses such as Starsinger's are quite acceptable and encouraged! It's great to have a little fun here, and in-character responses will be neat to respond to in kind.

That stated, it's also in no way manditory to do so; simple tally-votes as the others have done thus far are also perfectly acceptable. ^_^ Really, it's whatever works.

I think I'll continue voting until Wednesday afternoon (December 14th), at some point when I get off work. I'll then have the next set up... uh, either that same Wednesday, or possibly Thursday the 15th in the morning before work. Just to set a deadline - I believe 'two solid days' is good, but if people think that may be too long/short, feel free to comment as such.

I'll have a more in-character response tommorrow, though.

[ShinyRocks]

Unless I've completely forgotten, you start with settlers, scout, and a warrior. As such, he isn't asking what to do with the first warrior we produce, but the one we already have.


Oh, oh, yes. In which case, yes, the warrior should stay at home. Yea, verily.

[tribble]

-snip-

You speak very well for one who says nothing at all. My lady, I urge you not to trust this creature. His tongue may be honeyed, but his words are vague and mysterious.He claims superiority and a higher mission, but for all that he is very careful not to name his superiors. What manner of messenger keeps secret his lord? Nay, I say to you, my lady, this is no honest counselor, but a knave and a scoundrel, and no friend of yours.

[The Dark Fiddler]

"Calm, all; there's no need to be flinging harsh accusations at each other. No, we must live in harmony, for what enemy can we stand against if we defeat ourselves?

Anyway, m'Lady, I'm quite glad you've asked our opinions. I'm sure it will be no surprise to you that I promote following the Fellowship of Leaves; we must live in harmony with the beautiful land, and it will only help protect us from those who would harm us. The region we have now seems like a good a place as any to settle in, perhaps better than others, in fact! I believe that our current ideal of Pacifism would be a good one; we should not seek fights, and having a surplus of troops would only invite them.

As much as we must live in harmony with the land, we must learn to benefit from it. As such, I recommend we begin training Hunters and focusing on Agriculture, the focus on Mysticism. As I've said before, a surplus of warriors will only invite trouble, so I believe we should train scouts before fighters. Any direction is as good as any, though I believe our scout should begin by exploring the northwest. Our first warrior should also scout, to the south, while our second (if we truly must have one) should stay at home to defend, just in case. And if we are truly to succeed, we must make sure we meet, and surpass, our needs before we focus on expanding our lands: develop our infrastructure over expanding our control.

Of course, this is merely how I feel. Do take into account how the other feel."


1. Fellowship of Leaves
2. Sure, why not that circle?
3. Pacifism
4. Hunting, Agriculture, Mysticism
5. Scout, Warrior, Warrior
6. Northwest
7. Scout the south, then fortify
8. Worker and stuff
9. I'd imagine there will be less questions once we get our basic direction underway, so the large amount to begin with aren't that annoying. The colors seem fine to me.

[tribble]

while our second (if we truly must have one)

I don't know if this is just in-character peacenikking, but if we're not fortifying the first warrior, we absolutely need to build a second one. It's like sixty turns before lairs like ruins and barrows spawn a second monster (the first one always guards the lair, and spawns around turn 30), but random events happen and we do NOT want to be caught with our pants down if some gribbly appears in our lands because the RNG hates us. Every turn without a warrior in our capital is an excessively risky one.

If you know all this and are just in character, I do apologise.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I don't know if this is just in-character peacenikking, but if we're not fortifying the first warrior, we absolutely need to build a second one. It's like sixty turns before lairs like ruins and barrows spawn a second monster (the first one always guards the lair, and spawns around turn 30), but random events happen and we do NOT want to be caught with our pants down if some gribbly appears in our lands because the RNG hates us. Every turn without a warrior in our capital is an excessively risky one.

If you know all this and are just in character, I do apologise.

Was in character, but having only played base Civ 4, I wasn't aware the wandering dangers were that prevalent in this mod.

[tribble]

I may be exaggerating slightly, but yeah, barbarians are FRIGHTENING in this mod. A single archer will generally secure a city against regular barbarians, though. Archery isn't worth rushing, though, unless you're the ljosalfar.

[Irashin]

This looks a nice place to start. It's been a while since I've played a civ game, but hopefully I can do well and have fun with you all.

"If I may interject, my Lady, the world is new and fresh in our hands - as if it were a, uh- a... a mind to mold! Like a child's! Should we not then focus on ourselves and grow? There are always little things to be done, but there is always time to have things done proper! And with such a beautiful location picked out for our Cahir Abbey, should we not then make knowledge the basis for our Fount of Peace? The people! Teach them how to work the land; have them learn a little about the world whilst they explore it; and encourage them to learn so that I- er, they may become all the more wiser!

Though the prior spaken counselor had wise words for the, uh... land... the one before him(?) - as well as, uh, of course, you're own thoughts on the matter, my Lady - seem to hold best for our empire: we should live under the light of the blinding sun, with everything out in the open! And thus, we will have knowledge and science and religion leading the way! Speaking of which, we should probably do our best to keep our people happy! Temples and religions to favor the gods! And what's more expending than- no wait, that's not the word... what is it- ah! Expanding! - than religion for peace?

Hopefully our words I spoke will ring true upon your ears, my Lady, as we are your most humblest advisers and wish you nothing but the best."

1.) Empyrean
2.) The starting circle seems good
3.) Religion
4.) Agriculture, Exploration, Education
5, 6, & 7.) Abstaining
8.) Growth

[tribble]

Have we forgotten the age of ice so soon? The world is dangerous, and full of monsters. Only the wisdom and power of Junil can hope to defend us against the wickedness that surrounds us!

[Kantolin]

I would like to begin by genuinely thanking all of you for your suggestions and support. While the flow of a vote means not everyone's ideas will be selected, know that I took each and every one of them to heart before the final decision. I apologize for not responding more swiftly; with a new city being built, many matters of local state have become quite taxing.


More specific advice will be trickier since I don't know the mod very well and can't remember the tech tree or the resources in it. Ordinary Civ4 logic would suggest that getting Fishing early would be a pretty good idea to get those clams put to use, however, I'm not sure the same applies here.

In a way, we are all novices to Erebus - I am sure we will learn together from both our successes as well as our mistakes. I gratefully accept your suggestions.


Unless I've completely forgotten, you start with settlers, scout, and a warrior. As such, he isn't asking what to do with the first warrior we produce, but the one we already have.


Oh, oh, yes. In which case, yes, the warrior should stay at home. Yea, verily.

And I do apologize for being unclear on the matter but yes - we do indeed have a defender in addition to our initial scout. I will make extra effort to be more clear with later explanations.


If you are going to run a proper empire, atleast you are going to be able to read, and while we are at it, we might as well teach the common rabble as well. After all, it is much easier to rule over idiots which can read the laws of the land for themselves.

(snip)

I do however, recommend that you allow me to teach your people the joys of The Light, both as a tool of revelation and for smiting the undeserving.

I... would like to thank you for your wise council. It is certain that education should remain one of our top priorities - patterns of thought lead to great and happy citizens, and a skilled populace remains one of our goals. A focus on The Light is most akin with my beliefs as well, and it seems the majority seem to agree with this ideal.


Don't send the warrior with the scout, guys, he won't do any better against animals, and barbarians won't spawn for like 70 turns. He'll just slow him down.

Ah, this is very reasonable as well - I had not thought about being slowed down. This is why I value the support of others so much - it helps ensure I am not thinking in views that are too narrow. Thank you.


Now, Lady Ethne we shall move onto what the Heavens dema- wish of you. I am presenting you with a rigorous schedule of what decisions you should make and when you should... nevermind, I can tell by your vacant expression, that the tree which went into making this document was vastly more educated than yourself.


You speak very well for one who says nothing at all. My lady, I urge you not to trust this creature.

However, please remember - peace begins with your outlook at home. We have many different opinions, views, and beliefs here - while debate is unavoidable (And frequently, in fact, necessary!), please keep your mannerisms and words civil. I believe it was stated most eloquently with:


We must live in harmony, for what enemy can we stand against if we defeat ourselves?

So please, remain calm.


And what's more expending than- no wait, that's not the word... what is it- ah! Expanding! - than religion for peace?

Where precisely to focus our cultural values does seem to be where we are most divided. I must pause and deliberate this further before acting - thank you for your advise and support.


At this point, however, the time for deliberation is now closed. Thank you all again for your support, hope, and words of wisdom. I hope to bring a pleasant report back later this eve; may the fruits of our labor result in a potent, lasting peace.


(In addition, a not in-character post will be popping up with more specifics during my lunch break, but in short: I'll get to posting after work, and hopefully will have the next vote ready by this evening. If not, it'll be tommorrow morning.)

[Kantolin]

Okay, now I have a little more time.

Thank everyone for participating thus far! I'm excited to get more Civving done - I do presume that questions will be less (And probably more general) as we get going. Debate and banter is totally okay, but do keep it civil - we don't want to actaully anger people.

Skillwise, I've actually done the majority of things suggested and had it work out before. :P Really, things will be okay.

Sorry about the screen-stretching; I will make sure to spoiler all future pictures. I have to run around immediately after work, but I hopefully will have proper time to finish off this evening. I hope to end on an event for most excitement and just leave the game on for a couple days, and I hope to remember to take lots of screenshots. ^_^

I'll finish tallying the votes later as well. Wish me luck!

[Kantolin]

Greetings! With this report, I am pleased to state that we have made our first steps into Erebus proper.

It would be unwise to ignore the gift that has been granted to us; in lieu of that, as well as the many suggestions of you our beloved advisors, we have settled Cahir Abbey in the recommended position.
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-FoundingCahirAbbey.jpg

May true peace last beyond the end.

Our cultural values are split. On the one hand, a focus on pacifism was suggested - what better way to promote peace than to make vows against combat? On the other, ignoring the divine is foolhardy, the people are quite fond of a religious focus, and this aids in promotion of the arts.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-CulturalValues-Religion.jpg

With all divided, we have opted to attempt a focus on religion at first. Already, our people have begun to clamor that we put official sway behind one focus, but that will have to come later as we learn more about the study of the Light. The advance on culture, however, sped along the expansion of our cultural influence, placing the Tomb of Sucellus again under our protection.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-BordersSpreadandLifeManafromTomb.jpg

Obtaining the first of the world's great relics has done two direct effects. First, it has made our citizens in Cahir Abbey happier - the Gods clearly shine upon us, and spirits are high.

Secondly, it has given us access to life mana. At the moment we lack actual efficiency in magic, but access to the mana allows even our herbalists to dabble, promoting the overall health in our nation. This will eventually open up our ability to sanctify the world against the ravages of hell - cleansing the land even as the denizens of the abyss poison it with their darkness.

To give a note on technology, the overwhelming suggestion by you, our beloved advisors, was fishing. Our scholars and sages are speedily working at that in particular.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-StartingResearch.jpg

First, however, comes a glance at exploration. After fishing, a nudge more in education and agriculture will be invaluable, and thus those will come afterwards to focus on more direct improvements to speed our growth.

Still, the ability to work the seas will doubtless prove invaluable almost immediately - perhaps the Elohim will become reknown as Erebus' supplier of clams?

To look into what is happening at home:

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/002%20First%20Steps%20Forward/02-InsideCahirAbbey.jpg

Our warrior is staying home - honing his skills there and simultaneously defending it against would-be invaders. All of our units are well trained to defend their homeland, granting them a significant bonus while in our borders (10%, to be precise).

We will now focus on the exploits of our courageous scout, who braved the wilds towards the coast. Almost immediately, she sent back information of a small friendly village - at our direction, she met with them. They were willing to offer us their maps of the area - which proved exceptionally valuable indeed!

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-VillagersMap.jpg

As you can see by the above maps that our scout sent back, the continent does not move as we - or at least, as I expected. Perhaps this goes to show how much I need to be aware of - nonetheless, we seem to be on a somewhat narrow peninsula. Insofar as we're aware at this point, it is also moderately devoid of resources outside of the beautiful forest, so our scout shifted northwest.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-ElephantsandWine.jpg

Near the pool of tears, our scout reported a grand source of wine. She also spotted a herd of elephants within the area - befriending the powerful beasts requires knowledge that we lack at the moment, although I have heard that hunters know of it. Elephants are very powerful creatures, however, so it's best to leave them alone, especially at first. Fortunately, they will not attack on their own either - perhaps they are a representative testament to peace themselves, given their might but unwillingness to attack?

The other icon on the map is a lair - lairs are where vicious creatures, in this case horrible skeletons, can be found. I have instructed our scout to avoid those - in the case of skeletons, we may need to send warriors to purify the location later.

"Uh, chief?"

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-Whatluckagreatprophet.jpg

"I kinda explored it already."

You did?

"Yeah. Collasped the place after I got through, too, so we won't have any skeletons on our heels."

While I am very thankful that you are unharmed - that is a very dangerous act you have attempted! It could have released a swarm of undead, and so close to our still fresh Cahir Abbey!

"I guess. But there was some prophet trapped therein - I think his name was Gosea."

A prisoner?

"I guess. He's on his way back now - he was very thankful that we rescued him."

In that case, perhaps you were being guided to save the innocent all along. I apologize for responding unthankfully, but do be more careful in the future.

"Right-o, chief."

Well, I am certain you all witnessed that interjection - it seems we will have a great prophet joining our ranks shortly. Near this time, however, we recieved a report from our second scout - who did go south to the coast. She reported that the land there was nice as well, and near our Abbey. Production would be a bit rough, but it would certainly supply plenty of food for our nation.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/002%20First%20Steps%20Forward/02-BeautifulSouthernCoast-2.jpg

Between fish and clams, are people are unlikely to be wanting for the bounty of the sea.

It was shortly thereafter that we discovered the secrets of exploration.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-Exploration.jpg

At the moment, this helps us fairly little - but fishing is our goal. It also makes hunting and cartography avaliable, which shall be detailed more in the official texts. (In the first post)

"Hey Chief, I found a second lair."

Oh? Well, be sure to -

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-SecondLair-Blessing.jpg

"It was full of corpses."

You explored this one as well?

"Yeah. Don't worry - I gave htem an Elohim burial. That's not the strange part, though - 'soon as I finished with their rites, a spirit arose from the graves. Said something about giving me a blessing, 'though I admit I was freaking out at the time so I didn't hear all that clearly."

A sacred blessing of the spirits? Well - I must concede the point in favor of what is either luck, or divine will. You may explore, or avoid exploring, any lairs you now find - the decision is now on your shoulders.

"Got it, chief! I'm feelin' really lucky now."


It was shortly after the above conversation that we discovered our northern neighbors, as we are not alone on the continent.


http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/002%20First%20Steps%20Forward/02-MeetingSheelba.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-Sheelbatalkpart2.jpg


Sheelba, half-orcish leader of the orcish Clan of Embers.

Our brief discussion was exceptionally terse - she did not wish to talk, and I did not wish to offend. While the ferocity of the orcs is well-known, perhaps we can prevent conflict through diplomatic means? Regardless, we should be sure to keep an eye on our northern border until we are able to discern how we can keep the orcs pleased with us and willing to talk.

As a gesture of good will, our scout refrained from nearing her borders - said borders block passage in that direction regardless. The world map as a whole looks like this:

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-OurWorldmapsofar.jpg

This is where we have paused once more. Things are going quite well overall - our scouts are exploring, and the progression of Cahir Abbey is coming along well. Our people are happy, and our abbey is well defended against potential assault

We have completed the training of our additional two warriors, and our city's population has swelled to nearly thirty thousand. With so many people flocking to the banner of peace, we are now working on our first worker to help develop our lands.

We have learned exploration, are soon to learn education and agriculture, and summarily have plenty to do from a technological angle at the moment. The people have begun to settle into our cultural values - our eventual goal is the Empyrean religion, but adopting a different faith first may lead us to learn more of the light. Still, even that is a small distance away.

We have met our first neighbors, and while they are warlike, this is just a test for our creed. I am certain Sheelba will be willing to reason.

Summarily, our next largest focus is on the site of our second city. With a population exceeding thirty thousand, mild expansion will help everyone involved. Here are our most likely sites thus far:


http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-StartingCitySpots1-4.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-StartingCitySpots5.jpg


Site 1 is a very practical one. Coastal in nature, on a hill for defenses, and gives us access to that entire basin of wine - which will boost our economy (and thus money and science) as well as our happyness.

Site 2 is very similar to Site 1, but more difficult to defend given the lack of hill. Still, more of the terrain is usable there overall leading to a more productive city, and it gains the extra bonus of being on a river for additional trade (While still recieving all of the wine).

Site 3 is then an interesting choice. By itself, it is not the greatest of cities due to the plethora of mountains nearby. But it gives us three advantages - first is access to the plentiful deer on the tundra. Secondly, it is a lynchpoint - far enough away that it is not an insult, but in order to reach the remainder of our domain, that point must be crossed, and thus defending that point ensures we are defended should Sheelba attempt violence. And third, the city would end up having more production (albiet less food) than much of our empire. A curious option indeed, although probably not as directly benificial as 1 or 2.

Site 4 then should only be selected if we want Site 3 as well. It is far enough away from 3 that it only lightly clashes, while still giving us much of the wine.

All four of these sites will cement the 'Pool of tears' as also in our jurisdiction. Reknown for its curative properties, resting therein will cleanse people of poisons or diseases.

Site 5, far to the south, is already well protected behind our borders. We do need to advance north before Sheelba advances south, and thus 1-4 may be more wise for immediately, but Site 5 is excellent for food and city growth and can rely on specialists or those two forests for production. Still, that site will essentially wait for us to get there, so we may not wish to rush to it.

The second question is Gosea, the great prophet. His wisdom is already spreading throughout our city, and there are three primary choices on what to do with him.

Option 1 is to, essentially, 'Save him for a religion'. If we earn the holy city for any religion (For example, if we end up temporarily utilizing leaves or runes as part of learning more about the empyrean religion later... or even empyrean itself), he can build the exceptionally powerful religious building designated to that religion. This offers us the building's mana (A powerful resource), while granting us a sizeable boost to our economy , and will spread our religion. This is probably the most directly powerful option, but it requires us to wait for some time.

Option 2 is to begin the long road towards building the final Altar of the Luonnotar, which cannot be built by those evil at heart. This wonder can only be built by several priests over the ages - more than five, in fact - and is steadily improved with each priest. At first, the direct benifits are small, but over time this grants an impressive bonus to our disciple units, happiness in all of our cities, and other potent effects. This is not an immediately potent option, but if we get more great prophets it will become more and more valuable.

(We can win the game if we get enough prophets to build the Altar of the Luonnotar, but this victory will be some time away. :P Granted, they all are some distance away right now)

Option 3 is to have him join Cahir Abbey as a super specialist, giving us a direct bonus to production and cashflow. This is the least powerful of the three options in the long run, but in the short term it will give our economy a jump-start while also giving us a tremendous boost to production, so it is worth considering.

I leave these decisions in your capable hands.

Our scholars have mentioned that we will have the option of our first labor-based civic soon as well, namely apprenticeship. This curious option does not replace anything we have thus far, and the system of mentoring grants our new units greater experience in the world, while making them slower to train.

Our lucky scout then has a pair of options - from her work in the field, she would like to try to focus on an area of expertise.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/02-ScoutwhoisLuckytonameandpromote.jpg

Option one is to focus on forestry - becoming more skilled at defending and attacking within the common trees and jungles. Using the trees to her advantage, this will become exceptionaly helpful if we step towards learning the skills of the fellowship of leaves, which would enable her to dash through forests exceptionally quickly.

Option two is to focus on combat in general. This is less potent when in a forest than forestry, but aids everywhere. In addition, it leads to knowledge of capturing animals, provided we learn the skills of hunting.

Essentially, if she sticks to trees, one is better than two at the moment. Two, however, is better in nonforests and also leads to capturing animals later.

And finally! Our lucky scout crew has requested a (nick)name - in the Elohim tradition, one becomes (nick)named once their exploits become well known, and hers are becoming increasingly famous. If any of you have a good (nick)name, do suggest it.

I await your valuable responses once more, and do apologize for the length of my discussion. I hope everything is clear; if any clarification is needed, do not hesitate to ask.

...Hm... Perhaps Sheelba will be more endeared to us if given a gift of wine as a show of good will?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current items being voted on by the council
Vote began: 12/14


1. Where do we put our second city?
Options: Site 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5?
(Should I repost the picture so it's in the first 'information' post?)

2. What do with Gosea, the great prophet?
Options: Save for religious building, Begin the Altar of Luonnotar, join city as super-specialist.
(More explicit information about these will show up in the morning tommorrow)

3. In the near future, Apprenticeship Civic or no?
Options:
Yes, switch immediately.
No, Apprenticeship sucks.
Do switch, but it's not urgent - wait for there to be one other civic so we can swap to two at once.
(Apprenticeship is -10% military unit production, but units get +2experience when built. Swapping civics costs a 1 round 'anarchy' period, and you can swap up to two civics at once for free... but that means waiting longer if you want the benifits now).

4. How to promote Lucky Scout?
Options:
- Forestry Promotion (+30% boost in forests, leads to +movement in forests if we step into the leaves religion)
- Combat promotion (+20% boost period, leads to capturing animals if we learn hunting)

5. What (nick)name do we give to Lucky Scout?
She's been stupidly lucky thus far, so that is deserving of a neat name :P

6. Formatting still okay? Anything I haven't explained that I probably should? Too much information? Was that too far / not far enough? Comments appreciated!


I will put more in the first post tommorrow; this took longer than I thought to format and post, and I've got a ton of wrapping and cooking to do for tommorrow. :P

[ShinyRocks]

My lady, it is both gratifying and encouraging to see our nation developing so steadily. It is due in no small part to your wise leadership, I am sure, although we must not neglect to acknowledge our own good fortune, and particularly that of our scout.

I urge caution in the siting of our second city. The defensive value of site 3 is indeed high, but I feel we should not take the risk of antagonising Sheelba, who is clearly somewhat aggressive to begin with. Moreover, we are still in our infancy and to fully exploit the resources available would require founding another city, as you point out. If we then wish to settle site 5 at a later date (as we surely ought to), we would require three settlers rather than two and our own resources could surely be better expended.

Forgive my verbosity. I advise against site 3, and would urge you to settle at site 1 (and in due course at site 5, should no better options present themselves).

I do not feel it would be appropriate to put Gosea to work so soon after he has been rescued from such a terrible place. We should allow him time to readjust to life and to simply enjoy the experience of freedom. His wisdom and insight will surely better serve us in the long run, if and when we seek to follow a new faith.

While I see the value of training our soldiers to be stronger, albeit more slowly, I do not feel this is appropriate at this juncture. While we are developing and expanding, speed is more of the essence. Such wholesale change will be unsettling to our people and is best saved to take place with other great changes – a clean sweep, so to speak.

Fortune has indeed smiled upon our scout, but surely everyone's luck must run out eventually. With that in mind, I strongly urge you to increase her general combat skills, as I fear the possibility of her fortunes failing and there is simply no guarantee that this would occur while in a forested area. Given her demeanour and speech patterns, and sprightly attitude, I do not feel that it would be inappropriate to bestow the moniker 'Sassy' upon her'.

Site 1, save the prophet, don't take Apprenticeship until later, train the scout in combat, call her Sassy.

[Terraoblivion]

Not going to do this in RP format since I'm rather lazy. Hope that is alright.

1. Where do we put out second city?
I believe site 1 to be the best one. While we definitely want to settle 5 down the line, it is a safe spot that nobody is going to steal and trying to grab as much land as possible will be more valuable for us. I also think that site 1 has the right mix of defense, cutting Sheelba off and being useful as a city that it is the best call. 3 wouldn't offer much more in the way of a chokepoint as going around the city, through our territory would be quite a bad idea too in most cases.

2. What do with Gosea, the great prophet?
Why not try the altar? It's something new and different that I haven't seen before and I want to see it.

3. In the near future, Apprenticeship Civic or no?
Save it for when we have another civic to switch to. It's not an immediate concern by XP are really valuable in this mod if I remember correctly.

4. How to promote Lucky Scout?
Combat. We cannot rely purely on forests and unlike normal civ, scouts are actually useful for battle here down the line. Being able to capture animals with some more promotions doesn't sound like a bad idea either.

[Vauron]

1. Site 1

2. I never got around to the altar, so I'd like to see that

3. Save it

4a. Combat
4b. Fortuna seems apropriate, considering her good fortune. Maybe Tyche.

[The Dark Fiddler]

"My lady, I think we are doing quite brilliantly under your leadership, and I pray that your great leadership continues to benefit us as it already has. Alas, we are here for business, so allow me to offer my opinions...

On the matter of our second settlement, I recommend placing the city on the first of the sites you outlined. The plentiful wine grapes would be a great boon to our society, and to our diplomacy as well. Should that not be acceptable, my second choice would be the third of the sites you outlined.

Before I discuss what Gosea should do, may I thank the gods for delivering him safely to us? Regardless, I think we should have him help us found religious buildings; great religious leadership will now doubt inspire our people and give them peace of mind (and I must say that I still recommend we follow the way of the leaves).

As for the matters of training, both our populous at large and our scout (who, by the way, I recommend we nickname Esperanza; I've been told it means hope in some language, and I do believe she deserves such a moniker, bearing the hope of our people), I believe thusly: we institute apprenticeship immediately so that our warrior may be better trained without having to fight, in the event we should need their force. Esperanza (or, as I hope she will come to be known) should improve her combat efficiency in general. Normally I would propose she train in forestry, but those elephants... I believe they are a sign. Once she learns to hunt, I believe we should attempt to befriend them. As you said, a perfect symbol for pacifism.

That should be all, for now. I do hope you continue to lead us fairly and in the proper direction, as you have been.

1. Site 1, or Site 3 if we can't do 1, for some reason.
2. Save for (leaves) religious (leaves) buildleaves.
3. Apprenticeship nao, por favor.
4. Combat Promotion and go after elephants later
5. Esperanza

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Site 2. More usable land and fresh water access at the expense of city defense bonus. If you are fighting a defensive war from your cities you are doing it wrong. Not sure how the mod is different from vanilla Civ4, but you want to kill the enemy units out in the field and not holed up in a city.

I suppose for the next one, how do you want to win. Not being familiar with the mod, I say lets go with the Altar for our win.

Next question. Again not familiar with the mod, but why spend 1 turn of anarchy for a low tier civic. Wait for a golden age or another good civic to switch with it.

For promotion I say combat. I usually give my scouts combat promotions so I can turn them into super medics (last one to defend the stack so you can't snipe him). Let's call her Jael after the story of the woman who drove a tent peg through a warlord's temple to kill him in his sleep.

[tribble]

Site number one will be most preferable. Having access to the entire basin of wine should result in a higher total food production than sacrificing the wine for venison. Besides, the venison is close enough that we should be able to keep it in our borders and gain the health bonus anyway. If we really need the chokepoint that badly, fortifying site 3 will be almost as powerful a defense as a city, and less of a risk should something go south.
Site number five should be our next expansion after establishing a border town to keep an eye on Sheelba.
I advise against ordering Gosea to build the altar in the strongest possible terms. Since we are planning (foolishly, in my opinion) to shoot for the empyrean religion already, we will benefit VASTLY more from building a shrine to Lugus than to the "One" these Luonnatar charlatans go on about. (The Altar is extraordinarily powerful, but only after you have a few levels in it. Dies Dei grants everything the level one altar does PLUS gold for every city the empyrean spreads to, sun mana, free detection within our lands, and additional prophet GPP.ALSO, THERE IS A FOURTH OPTION FOR THE PROPHET: WE CAN START A GOLDEN AGE. Not shouting, just emphasising a rather important point.)
I have no opinion on the scout, save that she be chastised for endangering herself and the entire elohim people with her rash behavior.
I advise against paying tribute to Sheelba. Her sort have ever been brutish and insatiable, and we should be ashamed to even consider compromise with her wicked ilk.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I have no opinion on the scout, save that she be chastised for endangering herself and the entire elohim people with her rash behavior.

"Now, now, I don't think you should be so rough on her. What is a great civilization without heroes to inspire its people, to write legends about?"


I advise against paying tribute to Sheelba. Her sort have ever been brutish and insatiable, and we should be ashamed to even consider compromise with her wicked ilk.

"If you find them so terrible, is it really better to leave them to their own devices? If you find them so wicked, why not work to convert them? Surely that would be the best course of action for the world as a whole, and ourselves as well."

[tribble]

"Now, now, I don't think you should be so rough on her. What is a great civilization without heroes to inspire its people, to write legends about?"


Still alive?


"If you find them so terrible, is it really better to leave them to their own devices? If you find them so wicked, why not work to convert them? Surely that would be the best course of action for the world as a whole, and ourselves as well."

People say I'm a hard man, but even I wouldn't send a man to be a missionary to those savages. Their leader was ready to assault lady Ethne on sight, and you intend to send good, honest men to live among those creatures like sheep among wolves?

[Irashin]

Ah, my fellow councilmen, we are favored in this early start of ours! With a site surrounded by plentiful fields of wine and the mountains to our backs, and with even a great prophet given to us for our religions, we must surely take hold of these whence they're given to us! For when else may we get another chance- a chance for merriment? Let the warriors relax to their own leisure, and fret not yourselves with where we shall go - we shall go where it shall go well! Soon we will be ready for the other site prepared for us (should a better one not present itself, of course). And even this test of dealing with Sheelba will seem hardly of any concern when we can look back upon it; we shall surely win their hostilities over in due time.

...Though of the matter with the scout, those animals are probably our next sign; we would be fain not to ignore them. She should begin learning how to deal with those; then soon we shall add beasts to our merriment- and aspiring empire!

1. Where do we put our second city?
Site 1

2. What do with Gosea, the great prophet?
Save for religious building

3. In the near future, Apprenticeship Civic or no?
Do switch, but it's not urgent

4. How to promote Lucky Scout?
Combat promotion

5. Abstaining
(Unrelated, Sassy the Sasquatch?)

6. The formatting and amount of information seems to fare well for the time being.

[tribble]

Why is it that all of us sound nearly exactly alike?

[Kantolin]

Thanks again for the plethora of replies!

I'll review them, take actions, and give a post tommorrow morning.

[Kantolin]

Again, I would like to thank you for your many responses. Deliberation for the good of the world as a whole is always welcome, and the Elohim people thank you for your great wisdom.


Why not try the altar? It's something new and different that I haven't seen before and I want to see it.

This and other suggestions towards the altar are good ones - it is a potent option, and may pay off in the future.



I do not feel it would be appropriate to put Gosea to work so soon after he has been rescued from such a terrible place. We should allow him time to readjust to life and to simply enjoy the experience of freedom. His wisdom and insight will surely better serve us in the long run, if and when we seek to follow a new faith.

But these are also good points - focusing on our religion(s) may be a superior option. In addition, giving Gosea some time to relax is most wise.

I will, for the time being at least, give Gosea time to think and enjoy life. This will also lean us towards focusing on our religions in the future, although I will not count the altar out just yet.


Site number one will be most preferable. Having access to the entire basin of wine should result in a higher total food production than sacrificing the wine for venison. Besides, the venison is close enough that we should be able to keep it in our borders and gain the health bonus anyway.

It seems that site one is overwhelmingly the recommended option. I would be foolish not to listen to such good suggestions from my advisors. For similar reasons, we will be waiting for a time before adopting apprenticeship as a nation - the hasty soul loses the pines, as they say.


Combat

...Though of the matter with the scout, those animals are probably our next sign; we would be fain not to ignore them. She should begin learning how to deal with those; then soon we shall add beasts to our merriment- and aspiring empire!

You both also bring up good points - general combat seems most suggested for our lucky scout, and being able to encompass animals will certainly come in helpful.


As for the matters of training, both our populous at large and our scout (who, by the way, I recommend we nickname Esperanza; I've been told it means hope in some language, and I do believe she deserves such a moniker, bearing the hope of our people) ... Esperanza (or, as I hope she will come to be known) should improve her combat efficiency in general.

Let's call her Jael after the story of the woman who drove a tent peg through a warlord's temple to kill him in his sleep.

Both of these names seemed most interesting and fitting! In the end, however, she selected 'Esperanza' for herself, so that'll be that.

"If you find them so terrible, is it really better to leave them to their own devices? If you find them so wicked, why not work to convert them? Surely that would be the best course of action for the world as a whole, and ourselves as well."



People say I'm a hard man, but even I wouldn't send a man to be a missionary to those savages. Their leader was ready to assault lady Ethne on sight, and you intend to send good, honest men to live among those creatures like sheep among wolves?

I do hope that we will be able to temper Sheelba's bloodlust in the future - being able to live side by side with orcs would be wonderful. Still, there is also a need to be practical. Let us see what the future brings.

My next report shall come moderately shortly, once all the information has returned.

As always, may the fruits of our labor result in a potent, lasting peace.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Why is it that all of us sound nearly exactly alike?

"I don't know what you're talking about; my voice is fairly high in comparison to the other advisers."

[Kantolin]

This report begins well, with our additional scout successfully managing to fend off a griffon which assaulted her. Griffons are the end of many a scout - while I would have greatly preferred being able to tame the creature, at least the scout was not slain herself.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-ScoutkillsGriffon.jpg

Shortly afterwards, she found a small village. She greeting them with traditional Elohim greetings, and was embraced into the village in peace.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-GoodyHutWarrior.jpg

After our scout explained that she was still searching through the area and updating our maps, they in fact requested to join her in her exploits. Potent warriors, she gratefully accepted their aid.

"My turn, chief! I found this really nice area - it's full of tons of wheat that just grows naturally near a natural river that grows through the whole shebang. Then there's clusters of incense in this spot to the southeast of where I sure as balor'd build, not t'mention there's mana nearby!"

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-BrokenSepulcher.jpg (I realized after this picture that I misspelled Esperanza; this has been fixed

Is... is that the Broken Sepulcher?

"The wha?"

The Broken Sepulcher! One of the Unique Features of the world, one of the locations that the Elohim are expressly tasked with protecting and maintaining!

"Oh right. Yeah that was there too."

Do you realize what this means?

"Given it's where Kylorin sealed Barbatos, probably death mana as a function of him being a nasty death mage?"

Ah, true. Still, this is one of the sacred sites were are tasked with protecting from Succellus himself, so we should be sure to pay it some attention.

We learned the secrets of fishing shortly after Esperanza's report.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Fishingtechlearned.jpg

With this, we are finally able to properly utilize the clams we began near. Fishing boats were sent out immediately.

Our area is relatively compact - but we have a second neighbor who is also sharing our lands.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-MeetingFaerylViconia.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-MeetingFaerylViconia2.jpg


I... I had never heard those rumors spread by their enemies, I must admit, but after hearing Faeryl Viconia's highly suspicious greeting, I did a small amount of research into these 'Svaltalfar'.

A popular name for them is 'dark elves'. The Svartalfar are known for their fondness for thievery, skullduggery, and other more underhanded arts. Worshippers of Esus, they tend towards the secretive and... well, underhanded.

Definitely ones to keep an eye on. First the Clan of Embers, then the Svartalfar. Nonetheless, peace will certainly prevail should we remain vigilant.

"Hey, I found a bunch of treasure in this dungeon."

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Esperanzafindstreasure.jpg

Yet another one?

"Figured this one'd be fine, heh. Looks like it got flash-frozen in the age of ice, but the jewelry thawed out. Sent it back to help our coffers."

Let us hope your good fortune maintains! Our other scout found a second village - again peacefully, she approached the mountainfolk. They had been wracked by famine, and thus she offered them respite within Elohim lands. Gratefully they returned, and offered us curious information.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Themountainvillagersknewofsailing.jpg

Why the people of the mountains knew of sailing is anyone's guess; the Gods work in mysterious ways. Nonetheless, we are very grateful for their knowledge.

As she continued in that direction, she found Odio's prison. A bit of a tragic story, Odio is an angel who refused to listen when the gods agreed to the compact, continuing his war against in this case Kilmorph. His protections were removed, and the angel found himself partially pulled into the earth, left as stone as a reminder to those who would disobey the gods.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Scoutkillswolf.jpg

It is another of the sacred sites we are requested to guard, but due to its near proximity to the Svartalfar it is unlikely that we will be first to it. We must ensure that we request that the Unseelighe court care for the site should they recieve it.

It is said that, despite being stone, he is still well aware of the world about him. Perhaps he would enjoy having someone to speak to?

There also are quite a few beasts within the area, however. Our scout discovered a bear den, which she wisely avoided.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-BearDen.jpg

This area may be useful for later, however; Esperanza or other scouts may be able to tame bears within this area later on.

"Wish you could tame lizards."

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-EsperenzavsLizardman.jpg

"Freaking lizardmen jumped me. I'm pretty sure it's the ruins I passed on the way over. Glad I had the river on my side or I'd have been a goner. It's not the dungeons I'm worried about..."

Unfortunately, this information came with a stroke of bad news. A few survivors of a second attack occured as our second scout and warrior were rushing back home.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-ScoutandWarriorwereslain.jpg

As a reminder of just how dangerous Erebus can be, and despite both of them taking great care to the contrary, both were eaten by separate groups of bears.

May their brave souls be at peace, and let us remember the danger our explorers face.

We recieved a part of a scroll from a foriegn scholar named Bede, which listed many of the nations in the world based on their technological advances.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-MostAdvancedCivilizations.jpg

Unfortunately, the scroll was heavily damaged when it was recieved; we could not read the names of the majority of the entries. Still, we seem to rank near the top - there was a '3rd' by the Elohim - so this hopefully bodes well.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-EducationLearned.jpg

Perhaps fitting with the above information, we learned education (And its prerequisite of agriculture). With this, our scouts can build smaller towns near our larger ones, which will help our economy (And thus both money and science) greatly.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-GlensofKillybegsfounded.jpg

Shortly thereafter, our second city was founded - the Glens of Killybegs.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Sheelbawasgoingtowinetoo.jpg

And not a moment too soon! Sheelba also had her eye on the site, but fortunately we were able to arrive quickly.

Our creative people swiftly have expanded our borders. Our worker had pre-emptively built a road to the area, thus connecting the city to our capital immediately - this will aid with trade to and from the locale. As a reminder, this also grants us access to the pool of tears - its curative properties are a boon to those who rest there.

Sheelba seemed to be having trouble with crime within her borders.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-CrimeupinRenegadeHill.jpg

Hopefully this problem does not spill over into our lands.

In addition, our extended scouts have notified us that Orthus has been seen in Erebus once more.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Orthus.jpg

He is not an official part of the Clan of Embers, but is a devastating external force. We are fortunate that he was reported some distance away from our home.

We learned animal husbandry shortly thereafter.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-AnimalHusbandry.jpg

This has allowed Esperenza to learn the animal handling skills we'd been hoping for.

"Not that I'm anywhere near good enough at it to get an elephant yet - things are really tricky, and I don't wanna get stomped. Maybe bears, though."

In addition, we have discovered a herd of horses near our abbey!

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-BarbariansandHorses.jpg

This will help with the city's production as well as giving us the option of potent mounted units, should we learn towards the way of the horsemen.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-MysticismTechLearned.jpg

We learned the secrets of mysticism shortly thereafter. This does open up an option I am hesitant towards, as placing as much power as that of a god-king on one woman may lead to hubris, but it does become a potent option, with the advances it would grant to Cahir Abbey.

That is where we have selected to pause - as from here, there are an array of additional technologies to learn. In addition, the people have returned to clamoring to officially adopt an early religion, as we prepare for a study of the light.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-FinaleCahirAbbey.jpg

Here is an overview of our abbey at this point. We are utilizing the clams well; already our children are becoming excited about being fishermen. We are just learning to tame the wild horses, while some of our scholars suggest that there are advantages in cotton for the near future.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-FinaleGlensofKillybegs.jpg

Here is an overview of the Glens of Killybegs, our second city. Note to the northwest is its near neighbor, the Clan city of Renegade Hill. The Glens are doing well - although at the moment, we lack the knowledge and supplies to actually utilize that wine, which shall hopefully be swiftly rectified with basic knowledge of crafting.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-FinaleElohimNation.jpg

This is an overview of the entire Elohim nation at the moment, which hopefully will cut down on any potential miscommunication as to what is where. Esperanza is presently resting in the Glens of Killybegs after some barbarian goblins assaulted her, but she will go uncover the yet unexplored areas to the south of the Glens and by our northeastern coast once she is rested.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Finaletheworldasweknowit-1.jpg

It does seem that this is the full extent of our current reach, however. To our north we are halted by Sheelba of the Clan of Embers, while past the mountain range at the bottom edge of the continent is Faeryl Viconia of the Svartalfar. The world ends in the west, making it clear that Erebus is flat (much like scholars have surmised). The sites posted in the map will be mentioned below.

At the moment, this is a healthy area to expand. Later, we will need boats if we are to grow further, but for now this should be quite sufficient.

This has also opened up several additional city locations.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Goodcityspotsomewhere.jpg

There are several very potent resources by the Broken Sepulcher. The Sepulcher itself offers death mana, which I do not find terribly appealing but does remain an option - and it is our site to guard. Wheat enhances growth, there is additional mana there, and incense is a wonderful tool for keeping our populace happy, especially given its uses in religious ceremony.

We could also build between the Glens and that Site first, if only to ensure we arrive at the sacred site before Sheelba. I frequently worry about the state of the Dragon Bones within her domain.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Cityspotsomewhere.jpg

A second decent spot is to the south of the Glens, between us and the Svartalfar. While the resources there are relatively slim, the land is flat and beautiful, and that could easily become a wonderful city for an array of cottages, aiding our economy greatly.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Finalenortheastlocale.jpg

Third, we could conisder a coastal city on the northeastern coast - while again there are a lack of special resources there insofar as we are aware, it is a helpful site for a second coastal city with the hills about.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Site5Again.jpg

Of course, we have not built in the previous site yet. Horses have appeared there, and while we will most logically end up building our city directly on their pastures to prevent clashing, that is still an additional resource to aid.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-FinaleOdiosPrison.jpg

I would love to have a city near Odio's prison, but I do not believe this is feasible at this time - it's a bit of a distance away, and the Svartalfar are very close to it. Nonetheless, it remains an option.

Where shall the Elohim go next?

In addition, should we prioritize getting two sites ASAP? We do have limited land and many places to expand to, especially with Sheelba and Faeryl on the move... but if we overexpand, it will be difficult to maintain defenses or our economy.

Ah yes, one final potentiality. We do have access to two wonders of the world, namely the Great Lighthouse and the Heron Throne.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/03%20-%20Following%20Esperanzas%20Lead/03-Finalewondersoftheworld.jpg

The defenses bonii are fairly useful should enemies come to Cahir Abbey, but the primary bonus would be that the three ocean tiles nearby would become more valuable (Particularly our clams). However, we do not have a full array of ocean tiles to work with, so it may not be the most valuable of options - but every boost does help.

Secondly, the Great Lighthouse will boost our economy in coastal cities. It does require a lighthouse (Granted, we'll want one of those anyway), but the big flaw is that we don't have terribly many coastal cities at the moment. If we do plan on building the two potential ones that are planned (By the northeastern coast as well as down south), it will become more of a boon.

Finally, we now have access to both god-king as well as apprenticeship - shall we switch over to both at once? The effect of both civics will be listed in the additional help above, of course, so you may wish to look there for more information.

As always, I await your responses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current items being voted on by the council
Vote began: 12/19


1. Tech tree decisions!
List your top three as before. I have posted information about our technology options; please refer to the second post. As a note, however, we will begin with learning crafting so we can actually use all of that wine we're sitting on unless someone has an absolutely stellar reason not to. :P

2. Which city site should be next?
Realistically, we have: Broken Sepulcher site, Sheelba-blocking site, Middle Site, Northeast Coast site, Southern Site 5. There's also the Odio's prison site, which is kind of far off though.

3. Shall I get two cities out pronto?
Having more cities will begin their growth quickly, aiding our empire... if we can defend them, and if we can keep our economy up. This can be prioritized, though - how quickly do you want us to dive on more cities?

4. Wonders?
Our capital can head for the Heron Throne or the Great Lighthouse. The former would give us additional hammers on our clams, the latter would boost trade routes on our coastal cities. However, building either locks down our capital for awhile - we won't be able to build other things during the interim, for example, so we can't get warriors and settlers up, or build other helpful buildings. (more information on post 2)

5. Now switch to both god-king and apprenticeship?
We do have a couple other options coming up depending on techs - if we go with Calendar, for example, we could pick the agrarianism civic instead of one of the above two. Now, however, we do have two options and thus can swap. (More information on post 2)

God-King gives the capital city a massive +50% boost to both hammers and money, which will help us out. In exchange, it does have a high upkeep cost, and does increase maintenance - but it's a very powerful civic and will give us quite a jump start.


If there's anything else I missed, feel free to ask - or if there's some obvious set of somethings I didn't put pictures to. Do remember - while RP-style posts are encouraged, there is absolutely nothing wrong with not doing so and just posting a list. ^_^

Sorry that there isn't terribly much in the way of decisions... I actually played for kind of a long time this time since there were pretty much no decisions. I'm a little surprised we haven't had any neat events pop up yet, as I do have it set to 'more events' to try to prompt them.

Owell, maybe that means excitement's just around the corner. :P

O-o Yigads, this took me almost all day to finish up.

[tribble]

We should pursue the secrets of Mining, that we may arm our warriors with better weapons than sticks and loose rocks. This news of Orthus troubles me. Is he on this continent? Because if he is, we can expect him to go after Faeryl Viconia or us. Until he is accounted for, I advise against founding new cities, and recommend we train as many warriors as we can. 'Twould be a great tragedy for a train of settlers to set out from their homes only to be slaughtered by that monster.
I mislike this talk of God-Kings and apprenticeship. It smacks of deceit to me, tools used by the weak to hide the power of the strong from their own eyes.

(1:Mining, then either archery or bronzeworking, 2/3:Don't found new cities until we know that orthus isn't targeting us or that he's dead, 4:Build warriors until we know orthus is targeting someone else or is dead, 5: We already have multiple cities, so God-King is a liability and a drain, and I dislike apprenticeship as a civic, especially if we're running pacifism. Our army is training too slowly already.)

[Kantolin]

This news of Orthus troubles me. Is he on this continent?

I apologize for my lack of clarity on the subject; Orthus is definitively not on our continent. Our brief records of his exploits showed him some distance away to the northeast, so we should not be in direct danger from him.

(For a general explanation: when Orthus or any other unique unit appears, it glows yellow on the map where he is - since our map is large due to us having information of all the unique features, it showed that Orthus in particular was some distance away.)

[The Dark Fiddler]

"Hello again, M'Lady. Thank the gods that we are still here to have this discussion, and thank you as well. Without your leadership, we would be nothing.

I cannot stress enough that we begin studying hunting. My belief that we must ally ourselves with the plentiful animals we have encountered is no secret, so this is surely no surprise. After this, I would recommend we begin working on our cartography, as proper map-keeping will surely help our nation, and it will lead to us trading with our neighbors, a vital step in securing their alliances. After that, I would recommend we learn to mine and smelt metals, in the interest of having our warriors (when the time comes that we must use them) be at their best, to prevent a larger loss of lives.

As for the location of our next city? I have no strong feelings towards any location, though I would choose to protect the Broken Sepulcher if you forced me to choose. If we are to expand, however, we would best do it quickly. The sooner we can expand, the sooner we can keep the land from falling into the hands of others.

I do believe we should build the Heron Throne as soon as is possible. The Great Lighthouse can wait until we gather more resources for it, but the Heron Throne will help us tremendously.

I do believe now would be the proper time to institute apprenticeship, M'Lady, and may the gods ever bless your rule."


1. Tech tree decisions!
Crafting, of course, but hunting, cartography, and mining after that.

2. Which city site should be next?
Broken Sepulcher.

3. Shall I get two cities out pronto?
Get to our next city!

4. Wonders?
Heron Throne

5. Now switch to both god-king and apprenticeship?
Yes, both god-king and apprenticeship.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Is gold as powerful as it is in vanilla? If so I suggest we settle that double gold site and research mining tech to exploit that high commerce goodness.

[Terraoblivion]

1. Tech tree decisions!
I'd suggest Mining, Masonry and Calendar for now. They're basic worker techs and will help us like that. Especially Mining is important as production seems to be quite low for us in general so being able to make use of mines would be useful. Masonry is mostly for getting the Marble at the Sheelba-blocking site in use.

2. Which city site should be next?
The ones most in danger of being taken by others are the Sheelba-blocking site, and I definitely want her as crippled as possible, and the Broken Sepulcher site, so I suggest taking those first.

3. Shall I get two cities out pronto?
Grow as quickly as you think you safely can. Our continent isn't very big and it will take a bit before we can effectively colonize other continents, so we want to grab as much of it as possible while we can. Same reason I suggest taking the Sheelba-blocking site.

4. Wonders?
The Heron Throne sounds like it would be useful once we have the Marble from the Sheelba-blocking site. However, with the resource speeding it up fairly readily available we probably shouldn't make it yet.

5. Now switch to both god-king and apprenticeship?
I don't know how much God-King raises the maintenance with, but switching to them seems like a decent idea.

[tribble]

Oh. Well, if we don't have to worry about Orthus, that changes things. Let's go for the sepulchre and site 5. Send warriors along with the settlers, because barbarians are out in force now.

Yeah, I'm not going to roleplay such a short post. I maintain that we should research mining, and decide whether to go for archery or bronzeworking from there. I must admit I've never had much interest in the recon branch of the tech tree.

[Irashin]

"Ah... The presence of another... less-than-favorable neighbor has me a little worried. Though with the gods for us, of course, we should be okay. Still, I believe we should hasten to the Sheelba-blocking site, as this will help save us in procuring the Broken Sepulcher.

After learning to work the vineyards (among crafting other things, of course), perhaps we should then turn our attention towards the earth! Or below it, rather- learning to mine the hills for their rich metals! Then we should work to understand warfare, for I- no, I am one step ahead of myself, already. The animals! We shouldn't forget about their gods-send; and we should take up hunting! Without fear of being attacked by wild beasts, but rather with them on our side, our scouts would be safer while they're about! It is after that that we should work to understand warfare better, so that we may better defend ourselves! Just- just in case, of course.

In the matter of wondrous, more civilized arts, the Heron Throne - though enticing in its possible aspects - seems like it would take long to complete. And, were our neighbors were to get wind of our project, it would be best not to leave ourselves open to whatever their jealousy may bring. On a similar note, it might be wise to delay Apprenticeship in favor of numbers; perhaps when we learn warfare, the benefits would outweigh the costs. I am also unfamiliar with how the maintenance costs would truly affect us. So for this, I abstain."

1. Tech tree decisions!
Crafting (of course); then mining, hunting, warfare

2. Which city site should be next?
Sheelba-blocking site, then the Broken Sepulcher site

3. Shall I get two cities out pronto?
At least get quickly to the Sheelba-blocking site

4. Wonders?
Heron Throne

5. Now switch to both god-king and apprenticeship?
Unsure of the costs and dangers of each given our two neighbors; abstaining

[Kantolin]

Huh, these are actually two more questions I can answer.


Is gold as powerful as it is in vanilla?

Indeed. I believe it's a bit more valuable, actually, as some other resources which used to also give commerce have halted doing so. The one flaw is it's way over there...


I don't know how much God-King raises the maintenance with...

God-King civic raises maintenance by 10%.

Hm. I'm actually gonna be really busy tommorrow, so it may be late tommorrow if not Friday that the next update goes up. Hopefully this time it's more eventful.

If time does appear tommorrow, however, I'll hop to it. :P

[Kantolin]

Greetings once more! This report is primarily a... status update, as much of what has occured did not need additional input. Nonetheless, our scholars would like some information, suggestions are always welcome... and a good deal of what has happened needs to be put forth for review.

First and foremost, we recieved a report which was cause for worry: That of a vicious red dragon moving into a city.


http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-DragonandKalocly.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-AcherontheRedDragon.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-DragonisAcrosstheSea.jpg


Fortunately, the dragon is across the sea - the ocean as a barrier should ensure we are safe from its ravages. Still, perhaps immediately across is not a safe point to expand to once we run out of room in our home.

Esperanza then... well:

"My go? Alright - These townsfolk knew a bunch of stuff about taming animals, specifically elephants!"

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-GoodieHutforXP.jpg

"Yeah, they taught me a bunch."

"...oh right! Then I found someone else trapped since the end of the age of ice. An acolyte!"

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-AcolyteoftheOrderfound.jpg

This is indeed an amazing windfall - the secrets of The Order had been lost for some time. We have been doing research into rediscovering them, but the arrival of this acolyte gives us an amazing jump start - at this point, the more ancient religions of the Runes of Kilmorph and the Fellowship of Leaves had not been founded yet either! It seems Junil agrees with Tribble in supporting the Elohim.

As he hurried back, we did discover crafting.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-DiscoveredCrafting.jpg

Our worker swiftly went to work building wineries about, although they were interrupted by the array of barbarians.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-BarbarianAssaults.jpg

The sheer volume of barbarians has begun to give our workers some issues - he frequently had to dash to the Glens in order to avoid conflict. Fortunately, however, our defenders in each city are more than capable of handling the assaults thus far.

This is about when our acolyte friend arrived in Cahir Abbey, and spread knowledge of the order to our nation. Swiftly, mostly to assuage the unhappy populace in our capital, we officially switched over.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-HolyCityofOrder.jpg

The largest drawback of switching over this early is that, due to our research being a bit behind this windfall, we don't actually have the information to build any infrastructure for the Order. None of our masons have any idea how to build a temple to the order, for example, nor do we know how to train additional acolytes.

However! Knowledge moves on, and we learned the secrets of mining.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-DiscoveredMining.jpg

From this, during the period where the great tree was in prominence, we discovered that the Sheelba-blocking site has valuable copper, making it more important to retain.

We /also/ discovered, however, that:

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-GreatTreeSheelbaandOrder.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-FaerylViconiaconverts.jpg

Sheelba also has been granted knowledge of the order.

And, shortly thereafter, so did Faeryl Viconia. The latter opted to promptly switch to the religion, which was a dramatic change from their previous more evil behaviors - presumably we will get along much better now that the Svartalfar are also, surprisingly, good. Hopefully Sheelba also swaps over - this will make it well worth ensuring she gets more of the religion through her cities to encourage her to swap.

"Oh - hate to interrupt, but I caught a bear!"

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-CapturedaBear.jpg

A bear?

"Yeah, happened near when Inishbofin was popping up - swung at me from 'cross a river. He was just worried, though - mate'd died, problems with cubs, yadda. He's helping us out now - really friendly when he's not ripping your face off. Kids love'm."

That's actually somewhat atypical behavior for male bears, but I'm certainly not complaining. Thank you, Esperanza; the bear will be an invaluable companion and ally. Speaking of Inishbofin, that is the city we built where there is marble, copper, mana, a river, and a block for Sheelba.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-InishbofinFounded.jpg

However, immediately across the river is a lizardman ruin which is moderately difficult for our warriors to evict. We have attempted pacible communication, but the unfortunate result is that Inishbofin has been assaulted by barbarians almost constantly.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-InishbofinBarbarians.jpg

Our increasingly-well-trained-warriors are not in danger of being unable to protect the location, but it is a nuisance. Hopefully, as we increase our locations, we'll be able to remove that particular ruin to encourage the lizardmen to at least stop attacking our city.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-SuddenlyWayoftheEarthmother.jpg

Esperanza, then, discovered the secrets to Way of the Earthmother in a small village.

(This actually confuses me a little bit as I... I didn't think you could found religions from goody huts. O_o From dungeons sure, but I didn't think you could found the techs in a hut. But... okay then. I checked the difficulty again to make sure I wasn't snarking something with all this luck - we are on noble (the neutral difficulty) as normal/expected, so we're just really lucky here.)

Our good fortune has been very encouraging - due to earning not one but two religions quite quickly, I opted to follow the earlier suggestion of The Dark Fiddler and focus our research into the Fellowship of Leaves.


http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-WayofForestsFounded.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-FellowshipofLeaves.jpg



And with that, a trio of religions has been founded within the realm of peace. We have remained order, however, due in part to our neighbors both having heavy influences from that religion, but as always, any suggestions to do otherwise will be taken into account.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-OctopusOverlordsElsewhere.jpg

The last of the early religions has also been founded elsewhere. We are some time away from the Empyrean religion if we still opt to go that route, as a note.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-GemsinGlens.jpg

Adding to our good fortune, we found a source of gems in the hills near the Glens of Killybegs - this has made our entire nation happier and more prosprous. Hopefully, Inishbofin gets off the ground swiftly enough to be a high-production area, however - although between God-King, the Heron Throne, and the mines that do exist within Cahir Abbey it is producing things quite swiftly.

We had discovered hunting a short time before (Esperanza was swiftly promoted to a hunter as soon as a hunting lodge was built to train her), and it is around now that we built our first hawk. Hawks can fly out and explore areas, although they are noncombat units - they can 'base' themselves in cities, or follow our scouts/hunters. This hawk will spend much of its time accompanying Esperenza as she travels. Still, first we searched across the ocean towards where Acheron the dragon is, and found something far more sinister.


http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-MeetingOsGabella.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-MeetingOsGabella2.jpg


Os-Gabella, of the Sheaim.

As the Elohim promote the safety and sanctity of the world, the nihilistic Sheaim focus on just the opposite. Their historical goal is to end the world as swiftly as they can - both through dark rituals that unstabalize Erebus, and a fondness for demons. The Sheaim are our polar opposites - our researches are working on relearning our 'Hallowing of the Elohim' which helps place us further from armageddon, while the Sheaim are known for having a dark ritual which does nothing except place us closer to armageddon.

Now, that said - there is an ocean between us and they, so we are presently safe from them... but this is a very unpleasant stroke. I had not believed the Sheaim had survived the age of ice.

Well! Onto more pleasant news than our polar opposites, Slane was founded, cementing the Broken Sepulcher as ours to shield.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-SlaneattheSepulcher.jpg

It is also being assaulted by barbarians, but Inishbofin is the centre of conflict at this time. Still, Slane is a bit new - slowly working on stepping into the world as a whole, although our creative people have already expanded our influence.

We learned bronze working at last:

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-DiscoveredBronzeWorking.jpg

And have begun a training yard in Cahir Abbey. Our hawk has noticed that Sheelba has a surprisingly large amount of archers about her lands, which makes it likely that she is preparing for an assault. The Glens of Killybegs and Inishbofin are preparing for such a potentiality, and the addition of axemen will aid in this endeavor.

At the moment we are of the order religion, although we still cannot build acolytes nor temples. Faeryl has switched to order, and thus we are getting along surprisingly well for the time being. Sheelba still has not converted, although this may change with some diplomacy if we can spread more order through her cities. Os-Gabella, across the sea, has been becoming increasingly furious with us.

We are shoring up defenses in the Glens and Inishbofin pre-emptively, in case Sheelba opts to march in those directions as it seems she is gearing up for an assault, and the best preventative measure is having proper defenses. We do have access to copper, and are working on building a training yard so we can train advanced melee defenders.

Cahir Abbey is doing exceptionally well.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-CahirAbbey.jpg

Despite its size, the people are content and healthy due to our many resources and the presence of our religion. It is also fairly productive, due in largest part to those mines and horses. We will need calendar to utilize that cotton, but we do have several cottages present already.

The Glens of Killybegs is now well built up - we have all of the wine therein, and its culture has expanded to include the deer. Our workers have just arrived at Inishbofin, and are working as speedily as they can on granting us that copper, which will improve all of our warriors as soon as we can distribute the additional weaponry.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-InishbofinandGlens.jpg

As you can see, there are still some barbarians near both cities. Our defenders are well geared towards handling them, fortunately, so we should be in good shape - although our workers sometimes have to hurry away from danger.

Slane is still very new.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-Slane.jpg

We will definitely be diving on both the wheat and the incense as soon as workers can safely arrive there, however.

"Oh, one more thing from me, Chief!"

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-Esperanzatwoelephantshawk.jpg

Elephants?

"Two of'm! With all that skill from hunting, it's a heck of a lot easier to tame the huge things than I figured it would be. They're on their way to the Glens now - I'm really getting a knack for this animal-taming business. Getting a lot of helpful recon from this hawk, too."

Well, I am pleased to see our growing relationship with the animals thriving!

We did, as a note, recieve one piece of cautious information from the scholar Thucydides.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-MostPowerfulCivs.jpg

If Sheelba also recieved this information, it may explain her shift towards mobilization - and also why we are spending more of a focus on defenses.

Here is an overview of what the world as we know it looks like:
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-Worldasweknow.jpg

Site 5 is still an option (and we will probably be going there next as it's been suggested before), but an additional city between us and the Svartalfar may not hurt, and there's then the northeastern coast for an additional coastal city. After that, we'll have to go sailing... and probably not to where the Sheaim and dragon reside immediately across the ocean.

The Sheaim... *Shakes head* And despite the ocean, so close to us... I worry for Erebus' safety.


We're very light on the questions this time around - but enough had happened that a status report was needed.

We're currently very unexpectantly order, which was also suggested by tribble (and have the order building, as I totally didn't expect us to then promptly spawn two more religions). We do have the holy cities for leaves and runes as well if someone thinks we should temporarily switch, but Faeryl and Sheelba have a lot of order about now.

We can, as a note, still go Empyrean later. Or we can remain order, or switch to something else. Astonishing to have snagged order before anyone got leaves/runes, though.

The main actual questions now are technological. If we hurry towards learning the actual order tech, then we can build acolytes and temples and the like. Alternately, however, we have other technologies that are more immediately useful. Check the second post for our options, heh.

In addition, from previous votes Site 5 is next on the docket as we've obtained the Sepulcher, but we can go to the northeastern coast or between us and the Svartalfar.

Finally! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and similar. ^_^ Even though this is short on questions, there won't be much in the way of responses tommorrow for obvious reasons - but this is indeed low on questions, so I'll try to jump back on Monday or Tuesday with another post.

Again, anything that needs clarity can recieve it - don't hesitate to ask!

[The Dark Fiddler]

"Ah, Esperanza's deeds bring joy to my heart. The "discovery" of the Fellowship of the Leaves (though why you couldn't just ask me to explain its tenants I will never know) does as well. Despite what that scrap of paper may say, I believe our civilization to be doing quite well! The possible invasion from Sheelba, of course, does worry me somewhat. You have started trade with her, yes? A little wine can start a long friendship.

Although it pains me to admit it, even with our best efforts, war may come to us soon enough. As such, I recommend that we begin training our people to ride horses and fire bows and arrows. A mounted warrior is one who can outmaneuver his foe and escape if needed, and an archer can fight without being put in danger. After that, perhaps we should start focusing on the mystic?

Oh, and though I know nobody will agree with me, do not discount the possibility of peace with Os-Gabella. War benefits nobody; even if waged with good intentions it will only bring pain to the world.

[Terraoblivion]

Archery seems like a good call to study if Sheelba is going to head south against us as opposed to a possible, unseen enemy to the north. Lumbermills and the bonus to chopping doesn't hurt either. I also think that heading towards picking up Empyrean would be neat, it just seems fitting for us and it sounds like there is useful stuff on the way.

As for cities, I'd prioritize grabbing as much land as possible, leaving site 5 and the two cities we can squeeze in on the coast north of Cahir Abbey for later.

[Irashin]

"It is good to hear that we are making use of the vineyards and that wine shall soon flow freely through our cities! And with blessings all around, we are favored, my friends! Er, council-friends, sorry.

With one of our neighbors turning to us, we should be more relaxed- at least with them. The land between us is now riper than ever! We should make haste to take it up before they, our competition, does! Er, do! The lands- our lands to the northeast and that southern site shall wait patiently for our use. There is no rush to them!

And with things running smoothly, our citizens should be able to start satisfying their curiosities! They- Oh! Despite the amount of ruffians running around- though... maybe that is incentive as well - the people should learn how to handle themselves with a bow! That should create some fun competitions to watch! And safer cities too! Then we should take to the ocean - explore and find out what else is out there. With such blessings at home, surely there will be great things for us to find elsewhere too! Ha ha! Then we should probably finish deciding the textual standard for ourselves so that our cities can come together and start teaching me proper! Er, that is, better communicate between themselves - er, coordinate when researching... So that we can better learn, of course...

A-hem! Pardon my wine-talk..."

1. Tech tree decisions
Archery, optics, and writings

2. Which city site should be next?
Probably the middle site (which I'm assuming is between us and the Svartalfar? Pardon if I missed it while reading once over)

[tribble]

This is a sign from holy Junil himself! With the ancient master of entropy loose upon the world, it is clear that Junil has chosen us to be his champions in defense of the world! No soldier shall defend us as mightily against the predations of Os-Gabella and her demons than the ordained of Junil! We must work to codify and canonise the teachings of holy Junil into a coherent scripture with all speed! Furthermore, we must oppose the Sheaim in all things. There can be no compromise with diabolists.

With regards to the expansion of our blessed land, I believe the council's suggestions would be from a wiser perspective if lady Ethne were to provide a complete map of our mother continent.

1:Research Order, duh. We should make sure we pick up poisons on the way and train some devouts. Once we research priesthood, we should upgrade the devouts into priests (it's cheap as chips) and have them learn the destroy undead spell. It's a must when fighting the sheaim, especially since the ocean means we aren't likely to have a great deal of mobility fighting them. Destroy undead^four or so confessors=what burning corpses?
2: I want to see a map of our continent before deciding on further expansion.

[Kantolin]

Sorry for the delay again - holidays plus a divided focus have mixed together, heh. Catching up on some questions...


The possible invasion from Sheelba, of course, does worry me somewhat. You have started trade with her, yes? A little wine can start a long friendship.

I actually had not yet - I was considering it, but the council seemed against the action. Shall I?


[COLOR="Green"]Oh, and though I know nobody will agree with me, do not discount the possibility of peace with Os-Gabella. War benefits nobody; even if waged with good intentions it will only bring pain to the world.

Spoken quote eloquently. I, too, hope that even the Sheaim can see the error in their historical ways, and focus on the pleasant aspects of beautiful Erebus as opposed to whatever they despise about the land.

Unfortunately, the darkness of the Sheaim will prove more difficult than the ferocity of the orcs to talk to pacibly...


As for cities, I'd prioritize grabbing as much land as possible, leaving site 5 and the two cities we can squeeze in on the coast north of Cahir Abbey for later.

The land between us is now riper than ever! We should make haste to take it up before they, our competition, does! Er, do!

It does seem the council is generally united in this view, however. I will step towards new land first.


With regards to the expansion of our blessed land, I believe the council's suggestions would be from a wiser perspective if lady Ethne were to provide a complete map of our mother continent.

Absolutely; I apologize, as I sense that my previous maps were unclear.

Here is a quick overview map of the world as we know it, and its resources and cities:
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-Worldasweknow.jpg

And here is a more detailed map which shows border-lines between the nations:
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-MoreDetailedWorldMap.jpg

Finally, here is the more detailed map, but at half the size of the above:
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/003%20-%20Religions%20and%20Rivals/04-Finale-MoreDetailedWorldMapMiniature.jpg

I hope these are helpful!

For reference:
To the north is Sheelba, of the orcish Clan of Embers (In orange)
To the south is Faeryl Viconia, of the dark elvish Svartalfar (In white)
To the east across the ocean is Os-Gabella of the Sheaim (in purple)
We, of course, are Ethne the White of the Elohim (in blue)

[The Dark Fiddler]

I actually had not yet - I was considering it, but the council seemed against the action. Shall I?

"Although ruling by council is certainly a good thing for countless reasons discussed by countless scholars in countless eons past, I would advise keeping in mind that we are here to advise you, and that you actually hold the power. Do not let the prejudices of my fellows get in the way of a peaceful relationship with our neighbors.

[Kantolin]

I would advise keeping in mind that we are here to advise you, and that you actually hold the power.

Thank you for your advice. I have opted to indeed pass along our gift of wine - Sheelba didn't seem particularly interested at first, but I'm sure she appreciates the gesture.

This section begins with discovery - in this case, Masonry!

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-MasonryDiscovered.jpg

With that, our workers swiftly shifted towards obtaining the marble resource near Sheelba's borders. We learned Archery shortly thereafter. Things went smoothly there; our workers were able to properly mine the copper that was also near Inishbofin.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-Nowusingcopperweaponry.jpg

With this and our knowledge of bronzeworking, all of our warriors (and later axemen) are now weilding bronze weapons, making them that much more effective at their duties. Hopefully, we will not lose any more of our courageous defenders with this new promotion.

Our elders in Cahir Abbey then have cited Tilonas Sals as a great engineer of tremendous magnitude.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-TilonasSalsAbilities.jpg

He's very eager to get to work, and presented a list of potential options. His preference was to join with Cahir Abbey as a super-specialist, boosting our science and production. He also can work with our scientists towards the smelting tech, hurry the production of a world wonder, or grant us a temproary golden age.

The above picture has a reminder of these.

Oh - as a note, the last displayed option of 'Sanctuary' is our worldspell as the Elohim. It isn't something that specifically requires a great person to utilize - literally any of our units can do it - and is merely on there as a reminder that we have it. We can only use it once, so we of course should be careful to avoid using it until the need is most dire.

Anyway! Our informants gave us an interesting tidbit of information about the Sheaim, who have been quiet as of late.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-MaybethereshopeforOsGabella.jpg

Perhaps there's hope after all for Os-Gabella. She did not, however, adopt Order as her national religion, but we can hope for the future.

We discovered writing next.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-WritingDiscovered.jpg

And with this, libraries are beginning to be built in our various towns. It is refreshing to see how many of our youths line up in front of Cahir Abbey's library daily to look into any new books.

This is when we were approached by a series of inspired missionaries of the Order.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-OrderMissionaries.jpg

While their enthusiasm is certainly wonderful, Faeryl Viconia informed us that her entire nation followed the Order, and thus while the missionaries were free to enter, their job had already been done. (And thus, the bottom two options were greyed out).

Still, this enabled us to spread order through our own borders. It seems Junil is indeed taking good care of us - this surge of religion also brought several acolytes into our cities, where they act as healers and medicine men.

Two technologies followed: Philosophy and Calendar.


http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-PhilosophyDiscovered.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-CalendarDiscovered.jpg


The latter enables us to utilize the cotton and incense within our lands, which has helped our nation's morale, while the former has gotten our people thinking - primarily about 'what does it mean to be good'.

Faeryl Viconia utilized the legendary worldspell of the Svartalfar. While I'm not too familiar with it for obvious reasons, I believe it makes all of her units shielded from sight. I will check up on this and return with more detailed information when we can recieve it from Faeryl, who has become quite fond of us as neighbors.


http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-VeilofNight.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-HappySvartalfaropenBorders.jpg


She also extended the hand of friendship officially, enabling free passage and free trade amongst our cities. I readily agreed - this will aid both our economy and our relations greatly.

Next, horseback riding was discovered.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-HorsebackRidingDiscovered.jpg

Several of our people have also taken an interest in our elephants, requesting the option to ride them. This will help them be noticably more directed should conflict occur and enable them to attack if necessary, although it does make them slightly less ferocious, so it's something to think about for the future.

And not a moment too soon - our hawks noticed that Sheelba seems to be massing quite a force.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-SheelbaArmyworries.jpg

But she has, for the moment at least, paused - likely due to the gift of wine. Our border-cities are well fortified just in case, however.

"My turn again, chief! Finally managed to clear out that lizardman lair that kept attackin' Inishbofin - we gave them tons of warnings, y'know, but they kept on sluggin' us. But!"

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-Nearbylairdestroyedanddistanttreasure.jpg

"Deep inside, they had directions to a hidden treasure on another continent!"

This surprises me somewhat; I was unaware that lizardmen had long-range communication or travel.

"Maybe it's before the Age of Ice?"

Perhaps. Thank you for removing that lizardman lair as well, Esperanza - the constant attacks of Inishbofin should slow down now.

We discovered code of laws next.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-CodeofLawsDiscovered.jpg

And building courthouses may be a good idea in the near future - our maintenance costs are beginning to grow, so being able to shrink those costs will aid our economy, especially as we continue to grow.

Sadly, the Glens was then struck by a potent wasting disease.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-UnfortunateWastingDisease.jpg

Unfortunately, our healers could do very little for the victims outside of ease their passing - we lack the appropriate body mana which would otherwise aid us. Sadly, we ensured that whatever family they had that remained were well cared for through these troublesome times.

Through these trials, however, we did discover the way of the wise.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-WayoftheWiseDiscovered.jpg

With this, we can now build our reliquaries - these are potent Elohim traditional buildings that enable each of our units to be truly blessed, so even in death their skills will pass on to ensure that other Elohim defenders can maintain.

Secondly, we finally have enough knowledge to undertake the Hallowing. This powerful ritual makes the world remain further from armageddon each time it is utilized, lowering the counter by 5. At the moment, it would take us awhile to utilize the ritual, but it will get easier with time. Fortunately, right now we are very far from the dangers of armageddon; I will remind the council when armageddon becomes more of a worry - which hopefully will be never.

"As a quick aside, I finallyfinished that inventory y'asked for, chief."

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-Esperanzamorepolarbears.jpg

"With that polar bear, that means we have two bears - grizzly'n a polar - and two elephants. Too bad I'm locked away from that bear den - I'm really fond of the things. Oh, and my good ol' hawk keepin' a lookout for me."

This itself led to our meeting with our next nation: The Doviello!

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-MettheDoviello.jpg

Astonishingly, the secrets of the order had spread to her lands, and she leapt at the chance - thus the history of evil bloodshed of the Doviello seems to have been set aside, at least temporarily. With so many other civilizations following the order, it may be most wise to remain with this religion - I could not have forseen this much support, even from Junil.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-MahalaBorders.jpg

Mahala swiftly asked for open borders, which I agreed to.

(Although as a quick note... uh, in a slightly funny way of things, Mahala's borders expanded so she's near our treasure chest. :P So she's actually on the other side of the Sheaim and thus nowhere near us, and it's a little curious that we thus know where she is. But hey - open borders still helps relations)

Finally, we learned the proper methods of Orders from Heaven.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-DiscoveredOrdersfromHeaven.jpg

Finally, we can build temples to the religion we have been up to this point, and spread it manually through acolytes.

In addition, we could do research into Valin Phanuel. There is only one of this potent hero, so now is when we should decide: Junil has shown us quite a bit of favor and has been most helpful on the path of peace. Do we switch to the Empyrean religion as was our original goal, or accept the guidance of Junil and remain with the order? I find myself leaning towards the latter, as order is easily most prevalent among our lands so far.

Cartography came next.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-CartographyDiscovered.jpg

If given a moment, we will search for the Pact of the Nilhorn ritual, and its focus on friendship with the hill giants. Especially due to the following:

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-PowerfulCivsagainPliny.jpg

I fear that Pliny's work explains Sheelba's growing array of archers. Still, at this point I find the work curious - we are definitely able to defend ourselves against any potential assault by the orcs with the units we have now. Perhaps this is an unfounded worry.

However! This has then led to a phenominal discovery from a traveling dwarven merchant. I will have him explain the find.

"Greetings, your highn.... uh, members of the council? Your councilness? Anyway, we dwarves of the underhome found this."

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j477/Kantolin99/Lets%20Play%20%20Fall%20from%20Heaven%20II/005%20-%20Stepping%20forwards%20The%20Necromatic%20Orb/05-SeamlessIronOrb.jpg

"As you can tell from holding it, it's much heavier than it looks. Probably an artifact from long ago, and we figure Patrian researchers bound a soul to it. While only mildly useful for us, we figure that if there's Patrian information to be had, it'd be best in the hands of the Elohim - we don't want nothin' to do with soul binding stuff. Or if you want to destroy it, or whatever - I don't know what you Elohim do with things like this. Either way, its yours for a paltry 92 gold."

At the moment, we do have the funds to afford such an orb if the council wishes it. The knowledge of long past may be valuable, but purifying the orb and releasing the trapped soul is obviously my preferred response. Still, I present this before the council, as discounting knowledge is not something to be done lightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


So! You guys will have to hurry about this slightly, as I basically can't turn off my computer until a decision is made. Due to this, I'll be ending the voting tommorrow - preferably some time in the evening. Very few questions regardless:

1 - What to do with the Necromatic Orb!
(Ignore it, Buy it and use its knowledge, or Buy it and have it destroyed to free the soul)

2 - Final religion decision?
(At this point, we have recieved a ton of good reasons to remain order - Order will keep us at good relations with our various neighbors, has already spread to all of our cities without us doing anything, and is swiftly getting temples and the like. We can, however, shift to our original decision of Empyrean still, but this is pretty much the last time. I'm actually leaning towards throwing our hats in with Order at this point, but hey, up to you guys)

3 - Uh, any additional research questions? The options we have left which got votes before are: Optics, Knowledge of the Ether, Warfare, and Poisons, so I could definitely use some more voting to be had. Unfortunately, however, I can't actually check the game until making the decision on this event, so I can't do much updating of the technology section. ^_^ Still, go look there for suggestions as I will update it to the best of my ability.
Immediate Tech options: Warfare, Knowledge of the Ether, Construction, Optics, Trade, Military Strategy, Poisons, and Festivals. (There will be more up when I next get access to Civ)


Oh, and sorry - we did learn archery in there. Consarnit, I forgot to screenshot that. :P

4 - What to do with our Great Engineer?
(Super Specialist, wait on a wonder, teach us a chunk of smelting(reveals iron), golden age)

I'm kinda liking putting 'this is what these things do' copy/pasted into the pictures. What do you guys think?

Remember, vote ends December 31st, since I would like to turn my computer off after that point. :P

[The Dark Fiddler]

"Hello, once more, M'Lady. I hope you don't mind if I am a bit concise today, as I've fallen under the weather and would like to return to resting as soon as possible. I believe we should ignore the artifact offered to us by the dwarves; the less involvement we have with such ill-doings, the better. Although I still hope that we can adopt the way of the leaves, I've come to accept it will not happen (I suppose I'll have to continue being in the religious minority, then). That said, I believe we should, as a nation, continue following the way of the Order, so we may maintain positive relations with our neighbors. I believe we should continue our path towards becoming a nation of trade, which also involves increasing our sailing capabilities. Afterwards, we should work on improving our knowledge of magic, as it is a potent force. I fully recommend having our engineer work on securing a technological advantage."

1 - What to do with the Necromatic Orb!
Ignore it

2 - Final religion decision?
Stick with the Order

3 - Uh, any additional research questions?
Go with Trade, Optics, and Knowledge of the Ether

4 - What to do with our Great Engineer?
Teach us some tech, yo.

5 - I'm kinda liking putting 'this is what these things do' copy/pasted into the pictures. What do you guys think? (Is very nice)

[Irashin]

"Ah, as I've said before, we should take to the seas and begin exploring the world! And with few present threats and already friends abroad, what better time for mapping and adventure? Surely there are great things out there for us! We should then begin reaping the fruits from our neighbors' prospers- establishing markets and guidelines for trading so that we come off richer, better ahead, and more well-stocked! And if I may, I too suggest that we begin trying to understand magic. It is a bit of a... curiosity... that may be fun- ah, help us later on if we start now!

Moving on to the national- to the matter of our national religion, I also believe we should stick with Order. Who else would've imagine the blessings of Junil to be so great so far? Who's to say there aren't even more blessings just about to come, ha ha! We would be wise to not tempt with the powers that be, especially when they've already provided so much wine and luck for us!

Oh! Speaking of temptation, should we not possess and study that iron orb? Those scholars, trying to avoid that death that comes to all things- who better to learn what not to do than from the fools of the past? Ha ha! Ah, but surely they must have some actual things to tell - things that would be of use to us! Else, why seal themselves away? And moreover, why would it be presented first to us?"

1) What to do with the Necromatic Orb!
Buy it and use its knowledge

2) Final religion decision?
Stick with Order

3) Uh, any additional research questions?
Optics, Trade, Knowledge of the Ether

4) What to do with our Great Engineer?
Unsure, though could I give a half-vote towards super specialist? In the end, something linear is better than something static, especially if we get at least one more and they stack, and the amount of turns isn't unreasonable; plus there's production. If I'm wrong about how they work though, ignore this

[Kantolin]

<Selection made for the orb, proper post will come later. Sorry for the very short notice, but I gotta turn off my comp. ;P Hopefully next neat event comes not at the holidays.>