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I'm definitely down for apping. Is there any difference between the north and south, or are they both tabula rasas for the players to define?
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Mar 5, 2015 14:26
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Bjorn Olofson In the far south are a land of ice and mountain, these lands once were the home of barbarian tribes that raided throughout the southern half of the continent. Eventually, the empire sent forces to crush the local and bring civilization. That was many years ago, and for centuries the land was ruled by imperial nobles, some of whom were fair and just, most of whom were decadent and corrupt. Bjorn Olofson was born into this situation. Born to a modest farming family, Bjorn joined the imperial military and served in combat across the empire. He was an average soldier, not particularly strong or smart, but he was tenacious and possessed of the right mix of courage and caution to keep him alive. He fought in many bloody battles,never earning a commission or honor, but accruing deadly experience. He was already a well-seasoned veteran when the empire’s power started to wane and civil war seemed near. When he heard that his homeland had risen in rebellion, throwing off the chains of the nobility, Bjorn deserted the imperial army to return to his homeland. Returning home he found a land free of imperial control, where the people long-suffering under the lash of the nobles sought to try and new way of doing things. His reception was mixed, on the one hand he was looked down upon and mistrusted for having served in the Imperial Army. On the other, he had skills that they sorely needed, as the people were mostly farmers and peasants, and a smattering of mercenaries and the nobles’ former guards. He was offered a commision in the People’s Army and he accepted. The mercenaries and local guards did not particularly want to associate with him. So, at his suggestion he was tasked with forming his own unit. He went across the icy land and found bandits, thieves, deserters, murderers, all of whom faced the hangman’s rope. His offer to them was simple, join his brigade, submit to his training and command, and after a period of five years they would receive a pardon and a reasonable sum of gold. He explained to him that if they accepted they would be given the most dangerous and difficult missions, as they would be seen as expendable, but he would fight beside them and he had no intention of dying. Trading certain death for the possibility of life was an easy deal to make for most prisoners. No doubt some of his new recruits had thought to use the opportunity to escape. However, when he led them into the freezing cold of the mountains, far away from any settlement or source of supplies they realized that he was deadly serious. The discipline he imposed was harsh, and the recruits learned he was serious about it after he summarily executed a few of the more serious rulebreakers. They no doubt resented the discipline and the intense training he oversaw, but they also noticed that he was with them every step of the way, and he never gave an order he was unwilling to do himself. When they came down from those mountains months later they had been trained and drilled under the harshest conditions, when battle came they would hold. It was only after their first battle that his troops truly came to respect and understand the importance of what Bjorn had taught them. They were sent to the frontlines, and given the most dangerous and deadly missions. There were casualties, but their training paid off, and they managed to beat back their enemies at every turn. Gradually they earned a fearsome reputation, and whispers grew among the other soldiers that they had never broken ranks in battle, even when under the sort of pressure that would make any normal soldier break down and flee. As their legend grew, they came to be known less and less as the 1st Penal Battalion and more and more by their nickname, Iron Wolves, becoming veritable heroes to the people for their repeated successes. As the war against the imperial legions ground on, the Wolves soon became the most battle-hardened and decorated unit in the rebellion. However, Bjorn’s newfound fame did not sit well with everyone. Various factions saw Bjorn as a threat to their own power, he was popular with the people for his military victories. However, as the civil war grew and the empire splintered the threat to the far-south diminished and stripped of fresh victories the people’s enthusiasm curdled. The factions used this moment to strike, they agitated the mob against Bjorn and the Wolves, reminding the people that they had once been bandits and criminals. Eventually, the people’s court found them guilty of all sorts of crimes, and the rest of the army was ordered to capture and if necessary kill them. This came as quite the shock to Bjorn, who had always been more focused on winning the war than on the politics of his homeland. They attacked at night, for they still feared the Wolves ferocity. That would have been the end for Bjorn if not for the bravery of the Wolves. Half their number, including Bjorn’s second in command volunteered to stay behind so that the other half could escape with Bjorn. Bjorn protested, but he was knocked out by his second and sent off. The holding action of the Wolves will go down in legend and song. Outnumbered 20 to 1, they managed to hold for two straight days. When dawn broke on the third day, the Wolves who had stayed behind were all dead, but the army that had attacked had lost nearly a third of their number, and was in such a state of disorganization they were in no condition to pursue the escaped Wolves. Now wanted fugitives once more, the Wolves fled headlong back into the mountains where they had trained. Tired and low on supplies they fought against the reinforcements sent to stop them, but eventually they were driven into the ice caves. It was here, when all hope seemed lost that Bjorn discovered the Gauntlets of Strength. Deep in the cave system they were hiding in, he had found the ancient tomb of the last of the great barbarian kings. He his tomb had been secreted away from the imperial conquerors all those centuries ago. Realizing immediately what he had found, from the songs he had heard many times when he was growing up, Bjorn put them on immediately. As the Gauntlets’ power flooded into him, he was transformed. His body and muscles growing as the Gauntlet’s strength and fortitude soaked into his very being. When he stood panting after the transformation was complete, he looked more like one of the barbarian kings of old than the physically average soldier he had once been, still he was clearly recognizable as the same man who had put the gauntlets on moments before. It was then he swore, he would have vengeance on those who had betrayed him and who had taken half of his unit. The factions had feared he might turn on them, use his military might and popularity to become leader. They had been wrong before, but now their betrayal had opened his eyes to the chaos and foolishness of the mob. He would become exactly what they had feared, and their own had would be responsible for him becoming so. He would bring bloody vengeance on those who had betrayed him, and he would bring the strong hand the mob required to be controlled. When he was finished, he would be as the barbarian kings of old in more than just appearance.  Domain: Gauntlets of Strength[+2] - Once belonging to the royal line of the Barbarian Kings of old, they are a set of nigh-indestructible gauntlets wrought from thick metal of an intimidating design. Mentioned in many tales and songs still sung to this day, it is said they were forged from the bones of the king of the gods, slain in the final battle of ragnarok. The songs tell of the monstrous strength and fortitude the Gauntlets grant their wearers. The songs also ascribe other powers to them as well. The ballad of King Asmund told of a farmer, who having saved the king's life from an assassin's blade was transformed by the king from a sickly weakling barely able to tend to his crops into a mountain of a man who went onto become one of the greatest warriors in the kingdom. Just as they can give strength to others, the songs tell of their power to sap a man's strength and turn a warrior into a stunted weakling. These marvelous gauntlets were thought lost to time until they were found by Bjorn, in the ice-caves of the far south. Foible: Brutal [-2] - Bjorn was always a harsh man, but the betrayal he has hardened into an outright brutal one. He no longer possesses any compunction against using violence against those who oppose him, and no patience for softer methods in the service of his ends. This hard-edge can have its advantages, but just as much it can be a liability, alienating potential allies and closing opportunities for peace. Troop: The Iron Wolves - Made up of former bandits, murderers, and thieves, they were given the option to avoid the hangman’s noose if they joined up. Under Bjorn’s harsh training and discipline, they were remade into a well disciplined and skillful unit. They have seen more combat than any other unit, being sent on the most dangerous and deadly of missions, and they have never once broken ranks. They suffered many casualties, but those that survived became some of the fiercest and most deadly soldiers in the war. They are fiercely loyal to their commander, not just because he gave them a second chance at life, but because he leads from the front, never giving an order he would be unwilling to undertake himself. He earned their loyalty on the bloody battlefields of the war with the Empire. The Wolves once numbered roughly one thousand men, but by the end of the war only two hundred survived. The two hundred remaining were the most battle hardened and deadly soldiers in the South. When they were betrayed by the people they had fought so long and ferociously for half their number volunteered to stay behind and hold off the army sent to destroy them and capture their leader. That valiant hundred held off an army of two thousand for two days and two nights, and when the day rose on the third day they had all been killed, but they had managed to take five times their number with them. Now, the remaining hundred have fled to the southernmost mountains to hide and plan their next move. Betrayal: Bjorn’s success in battle made factions of his homeland fear his military prowess and popularity would allow him to become dictator. Whether from patriotism or their own lust for power, they agitated the mob against him, and had troops sent out to destroy him and his soldiers. Half of the Wolves died buying Bjorn and the rest of the Wolves time to escape, and in the process they spurred Bjorn to become exactly what they feared he might be. Side in the civil war: Neutral: Bjorn’s homeland in the cold and snowy far-south was an imperial conquest for centuries, but as the empire started to fracture they rebelled. Bjorn joined his people’s battle to remain free from imperial domination, but as the civil war truely began, the empire had more important things to worry about than a rebel province on the empire’s edges, and Bjorn’s people were content to let the two sides of the civil war batter themselves apart against each other rather than getting involved. 2 things to do in the game:
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Mar 6, 2015 03:12
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The only things necessary for my backstory to work is that the Empire had to be in serious decline. Decline enough that border provinces could start to rebel, and the Empire would be unable to put down the rebellion prior to the start of the Civil War Also, just as a note, the geography of the Empire makes no sense from a political perspective. Endal you can write off as being small and mostly coastal in terms of importance, but the Land of Fruit and Flowers is smack dab in-between the two power centers of the Empire, and it's landlocked with no means of water access, but somehow it was never a part of the Empire? This means either it's not worth taking, which from a strategic perspective alone doesn't make a lot of sense, or it was somehow powerful enough to hold off the Empire at its height, which means it declined pretty significantly too means it should be the major power player in a post-breakup world.
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Apr 1, 2015 05:43
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Hey Zombie, any ETA on the update?
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Apr 24, 2015 18:42
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