[Alain]

Soooo, yeah. I figured that if anything is going to help people figure out how to get their characters in—it's this.

What is the situation in Elysia post-starting threads? Naturally, people are unsettled, and the League of Adventurers are likely to be the first leaders of our explorers (once again taking a good step into things). As a result, every guild is going to be prepping somehow at the mere thought of all these issues. So it'd be nice to know what is going on for on each organized level: such as what certain settlements/the Anyeli Empire/Fae Forest are doing about it, how the general public is reacting, and what most of the guilds would be doing at this juncture.

There will be fortification to prevent more use of that portal on the Acantha side since they will want to prevent any more invasions. How sucessful will that be? And is there anywhere other than the far east of Elysia that might be settled to provide a line of provisions to such a force (probably Anyeli, I suppose)? There is Fae Forest, but...might be a whole difference cuisine there that everyone might barf out. xP

Might help people decide how to join/rope themselves into the arc. ;(

[Xanth]

Just for you, David.

The Acanthan portal is a secret one and was guarded until Xanth sent a select group of Elysians through it to find ex-Aide Namiko a few years ago (it was one of our earliest plots, so 2007ish). However, the participating characters in that plot were sworn to secrecy, and very few people go far enough north to discover the portal by accident from this side. Before the plot, there was a guardian on both sides, but although the Nymph on this side disappeared (assumed killed by the khimaira), there was still a guardian on the other side to prevent Acanthans from coming to Elysia. (That changed in When Hel Froze Over; the "mysterious deal" was to lift the ban on either side going to the other.)

The first assumptions by most Elysians are going to be that the creatures are actually coming from Anoria (the majority of citizens won't be familiar with maps of Elysia so it may seem closer to the Chandric than it actually is) after the expedition made them aware of the mainlanders, or from another unexplored island in the Nereid Ocean. There are stories resurfacing about the events in the Finding Namiko plot, but it won't be clear that the portal really does exist until unless the participants of this plot find it.

As for staging areas, outposts and provisions for the defence, there are a couple of areas that could be used. The Empire is already heavily fortified (though mostly against its own and aerial attacks), and any army can get to the Fae Tree from the Cloud Palace just as easily as from Alexandria (better, probably, since the Anyeli are more accustomed to war and thus more organised about it). The Rowan Caverns and the Novlaira caves will also be excellent hiding places for a defending army if the invaders get that far.

There are no named places (on the map) further north, but there will be larger communes up there that are capable of staging counter-attacks if need be. Also, I don't know if you see the hill-shaped blob on the map just above the Fae boundary? It wasn't intentional when I made the map, but the elevated area would provide a bit of a vantage point over the rest of the forest and give defenders a height advantage.

(All this may be moot in the end, though. Who says this is a war plot? And who says it's not?)

My idea for Alain is along the lines of him being sent as a magistrate with the vanguard to help with the investigation. I did forget that he's not welcome in the Fae, but any Nymphs he encounters there may be persuaded to overlook his presence rather than having to wait for a replacement if the sense of urgency/danger is enough. Maybe the other Red Wardens are busy with their own jurisdictions (the less lawful groups will probably use the fact that most for the law enforcers are busy gearing up for war to go on a crime spree) and Alain is the only one available, or he drew the short straw? Or maybe Clara's in the forest and he hasn't heard from her in a while, so he joins the vanguard voluntarily to get news of her?

[Alain]

Xanth, on 26 June 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

Just for you, David.

(All this may be moot in the end, though. Who says this is a war plot? And who says it's not?)

My idea for Alain is along the lines of him being sent as a magistrate with the vanguard to help with the investigation. I did forget that he's not welcome in the Fae, but any Nymphs he encounters there may be persuaded to overlook his presence rather than having to wait for a replacement if the sense of urgency/danger is enough. Maybe the other Red Wardens are busy with their own jurisdictions (the less lawful groups will probably use the fact that most for the law enforcers are busy gearing up for war to go on a crime spree) and Alain is the only one available, or he drew the short straw? Or maybe Clara's in the forest and he hasn't heard from her in a while, so he joins the vanguard voluntarily to get news of her?

Why thank you. Too bad I didn't get to comment on it til...July. The extra info posted here was helpful for creating Rahil...though, as you might've noticed already, his profile is actually even lengthier in some aspects than Alain. IMO it's a better read/a lot more creative in some ways, so that's good, at least.

As for Alain, I'd say he would rather do some of that crime spree instead. ;O Though, I'll just state that the chief magistrate knew a bit of his background and assigned him the job as a result. The gig wouldn't normally be Clara's thing without a large amount of money involved, so that surprise will come when it comes for him.

As for war stuff...we'll see. I constantly view the Malaki more like nomadic orcs than a giant army of barbarians myself. They'd likely have a pretty militaristic structure, sure, but they'd probably have their very own culture of just scavenging/occasionally pillaging as they travel based on a survival of the fittest theme. But eh, that'll come when it comes, too. To my knowledge there isn't a large group of Malaki to govern such things anyway, so perhaps the best modern example for most people would be the Dothraki tribes in ASOIAF.

And so we go to the next topic of the vanguard business...that'll be really, really massive amount of posts of threadage at the current rate—but I suppose that's a good thing. Are we going to be split off into a sort of scout party near/in Anoria, or just sort of a stationary group nearer to Fae Forest/the secret portal. If near Anoria, will I hear a scream of "We're all going to die! We're all going to die horribly, eaten alive, and used as toothpicks, preferrably in that order!"? Because from what I read, we're actually going to RP investigation of already sacked villages. That's a morale killer. ;(

[Xanth]

Alain, on 01 July 2012 - 07:29 AM, said:

As for war stuff...we'll see. I constantly view the Malaki more like nomadic orcs than a giant army of barbarians myself. They'd likely have a pretty militaristic structure, sure, but they'd probably have their very own culture of just scavenging/occasionally pillaging as they travel based on a survival of the fittest theme. But eh, that'll come when it comes, too. To my knowledge there isn't a large group of Malaki to govern such things anyway, so perhaps the best modern example for most people would be the Dothraki tribes in ASOIAF.

Ooh, I've never heard of Dothraki or ASOIAF so I'll have to look them up. I'm surprisingly short of RPG knowledge, considering I run one.

Without wanting to give too many spoilers (that haven't been offered already in the not-so-secret-anymore pages), you're right about the Malaki being nomadic and tribal. They have to be, and their environment has forced them to be tougher and stronger. There's actually only one clan come to Elysia so far, after stumbling across the portal almost by accident (it's possible Danae did some nudging) so terms like "invasion" are a gross exaggeration of what's really happening in the forest — but the Malaki are a major threat so we'll have to see what happens when the people organising the Elysian defence discover what's really going on.

I will say, as a kind of spoiler, that another, less violent species might have stayed around the portal, taking resources in the vicinity first, for much longer (until they'd raped the land dry, at least) and only gradually advanced, but these are a people who think everyone else is weaker than them and that they have a god-given right to take what they want. Their own resources are very limited, so when they come across something as wild and verdant as Elysia's forests... no way they're going back empty-handed, and woe betide anyone in their path.

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And so we go to the next topic of the vanguard business...that'll be really, really massive amount of posts of threadage at the current rate—but I suppose that's a good thing. Are we going to be split off into a sort of scout party near/in Anoria, or just sort of a stationary group nearer to Fae Forest/the secret portal. If near Anoria, will I hear a scream of "We're all going to die! We're all going to die horribly, eaten alive, and used as toothpicks, preferrably in that order!"? Because from what I read, we're actually going to RP investigation of already sacked villages. That's a morale killer. ;(

I need a synonym for 'vanguard' that doesn't include the words "party" or "group". And gosh, I would you love guys forever and ever and ever if we did get a ton of posts for this. I need validation, y'know!

Another kind-of spoiler: Despite what I said about Anoria being one of the assumed sources of these "invaders", it doesn't actually play a 'real' part in this plot (it's only a theory certain Elysians have as part of the blame game). I've just posted the opener for Chapter One, which I think answers your questions here, but rest assured the investigation is already done by the time we actively start playing through the plot. Well, there is room for reconnaisance in C1, as one of the vanguard's objectives is to find out who these things are and what they want, but it's ultimately up to you guys which direction you head with that.