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Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness

Kangra posted:

Don't they have one more (minor) weakness that can be shown in the next mission with them, or was I just a victim of a massive pathfinding fail when I built 20 of them and they refused to cross the water?

The pathfinding on shallow water crossings is really funky and doesn't work well especially with larger units like stone giants.

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Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
On today's episode; MORE STONE GIANTS :black101::black101::black101:

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 18 - Youtubular

Next time, the STONE GIANT SAGA continues and we meet their very best friends! :black101:

Poil
Mar 17, 2007

Did one of the units say "oh, gently caress it" when he died? About 9:15.

nimby
Nov 4, 2009

The pinnacle of cloud computing.



Poil posted:

Did one of the units say "oh, gently caress it" when he died? About 9:15.

It is the Scottish Verunan berserker going: "No, not yet."


In this level I just built 5-6 Basilisks for defence and built a nice statue garden. It was lovely and nice and full of dead people.

ponzicar
Mar 17, 2008
Did the game ever say why Zhon was at war with Veruna?

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness

ponzicar posted:

Did the game ever say why Zhon was at war with Veruna?

Not really, unlike the other 3 nations Zhon isn't really a united kingdom or anything; Thirsha the Monarch of Zhon hasn't even been seen by anyone outside of her hidden palace for centuries and most of the Zhon tribes act as they please. Said tribes have a long history of raiding the gently caress out of Verunan merchant ships for funsies.

Again the game never actually explains this but I think that it's supposed to be implied that rather than directly working with Lokken the Zhon tribes are taking advantage of his war in Aramon to strike at Veruna: Normally Aramon would come to Veruna's aid and thus make it impossible for the tribes to attack more than the outlying merchant vessels but with Taros striking at both Aramon and Veruna there's plenty of chaos and loot to be had.


So basically because the Zhon tribes are opportunistic sky pirates.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
Today; the STONE GIANT SAGA meets an abrupt and unceremonious end when Drakes prove just how amazing they are in sufficient number and we meet Thirsha the flying Monarch of Zhon! Only one Monarch left now.

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 19 - Youtubular

Next time we swing back to the viewpoint of the Verunans as they regroup on their floating seabase and launch another doomed expedition into the heartlands of Zhon. (seriously guys stop it)

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker
Video looks good but your voice track cuts out about halfway through.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness

AJ_Impy posted:

Video looks good but your voice track cuts out about halfway through.

Bugger, looks like I accidentally hit the mute button on my mic half-way through recording. Oh well not like I had anything to say anyway :v:

ronya
Nov 8, 2010

I'm the normal one.

You hate ridden fucks will regret your words when you eventually grow up.

Peace.
Been watching a few.

The game feels really, really slow compared to TA, and I'm not really sure why, since the levels definitely take less time. Huh.

e: did the TA:K narrators take lessons from SMAC or something?

ronya fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Apr 21, 2014

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
In today's episode Veruna makes like their third or fourth consecutive attempt at landing a permanent beachhead on the shores of Zhon to pacify the native tribes, Solan Rixx also shows up to complain.

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 20 - Youtubular

Next time the cannons arrive just in time for Veruna to make yet another attempt at the Zhon coast, the prior attempt (aka this one right here) having failed completely.

Verunans are not very smart.

Veloxyll
May 3, 2011

Fuck you say?!

Neruz posted:

In today's episode Veruna makes like their third or fourth consecutive attempt at landing a permanent beachhead on the shores of Zhon to pacify the native tribes, Solan Rixx also shows up to complain.

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 20 - Youtubular

Next time the cannons arrive just in time for Veruna to make yet another attempt at the Zhon coast, the prior attempt (aka this one right here) having failed completely.

Verunans are not very smart.

Clearly they've just got to find the right spot to put up their towers. It's gotta be a location issue that is causing them to fail. Repeatedly.

Poil
Mar 17, 2007

Neruz posted:

Verunans are not very smart.
You can say that again.

Why wait for reinforcements when you can throw all your current forces into clearly unwinnable battles?

Veloxyll posted:

Clearly they've just got to find the right spot to put up their towers. It's gotta be a location issue that is causing them to fail. Repeatedly.
Well, if they were building those towers back home instead...

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer
I'd like to think that having you win missions that are promptly lost in the next cutscene is an intentional statement on the futility of war.
Of course, it's accompanied by images of giant rocks smacking parrots out of the sky.

Loxbourne
Apr 6, 2011

Tomorrow, doom!
But now, tea.
Was flagship building range nerfed in a post-release patch or something? The game clearly expects you to use it more often. I don't remember having anything like this much trouble.

EDIT: I suspect the slow-movement thing (and the general pacing issues) may be tied into the same reason battles are fairly slow in most fantasy games (Warcraft 3 and Battle Realms come to mind). They want the player to have enough time to scroll over to a battle and trigger all the various special attacks and magic spells.
Building times in TA titles were always fairly long if you didn't use construction assists. I suspect the game's designers had just standardised on a rather warped tech-progression timescale.

Loxbourne fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Apr 21, 2014

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness

Loxbourne posted:

Was flagship building range nerfed in a post-release patch or something? The game clearly expects you to use it more often.

I don't remember having anything like this much trouble.

As far as I am aware it's always been way too short; I've always felt that flagship build range should be about 2x what it is.

ronya
Nov 8, 2010

I'm the normal one.

You hate ridden fucks will regret your words when you eventually grow up.

Peace.
it is hard to imagine that Age of Empires 2 got released in the same year as TA:K.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
OOPS I FORGOT A THING

:frogsiren: !!! LOREPOST WARNING !!! :frogsiren:

THE CHRONICLES OF DARIEN
MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, THE WORLD OF DARIEN WAS UNITED INTO ONE: THE KINGDOM OF KANDRA.
The Kandrans were a race as old as Darien itself, and their strict but benevolent rule stretched to the most faraway corner of their dominion. This rule was exceptional in one respect — it was not upheld by a vast bureaucracy, an omnipresent spy network or garrisons of soldiers in every little town and village. The Kingdom of Kandra drew its power from the Kandrans’ mastery of Mana, the currency of magic.

THE MAGICAL POWERS OF THE KANDRANS
The Kandrans were masters of magic — even an average Kandran was capable of such simple, useful feats as turning water into beer or dissolving an ugly body wart. It is believed that the Five Wizards of Kandra held enough power to destroy the entire universe. At least part of this power was believed to come from a secret artifact known as the Heart of Thesh. It was rumored that the Heart of Thesh gave its possessor the ability to summon a devastating force, a force
against which there was no defense.
Fortunately, the Five Wizards of Kandra were as wise as they were powerful. While they instantly knew of any trans-gression of their code — called the Laws of Life — and doled out appropriate punishments, the Wizards never abused their position. They knew that any bending of the natural rules inherent in the manipulation of Mana would have disastrous consequences. And so, any personal joy derived from their immense powers was tempered by the weight of equally immense responsibilities. Kandran Wizards practiced their magical arts at special, sacred sites that enhanced the power of the magic. These sites, marked by a circle of standing stones, probably contained extraordinary concentrations of Mana. It is an established fact that these sites retain special magical properties even today. When Mana was used on a truly massive scale, a rare mineral would sometimes result. This was known as mogrite — a substance that gives mere humans immense magical powers, as well as immortality.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
In today's episode I tell bald-faced lies about what I am going to do while masses of Verunans are mercilessly fed into the meatgrinder of Zhon.

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 21 - Youtubular

Next time Kirenna and Solan Rixx stage a daring prison break on the shores of Taros and I actually build a Trebuchet Ship for reals.

:frogsiren: !!! LOREPOST WARNING !!! :frogsiren:

THE FIVE LEGACIES
The Kandrans were quick to recognize the value of mogrite. All of the five mogrite stones ever found were incorporated into items known thereafter as the Five Legacies: a pendant, a bracelet, a scepter, a ring, and a throne. Four of the Legacies symbolized the four elements — Earth, Water, Wind and Fire — while the fifth stood for the amalgamation of the four elements into one entity: the world. Thus, the pendant containing the mogrite stone known as the Stone of Darien symbolized Earth, and the bracelet with the stone known as the Soul of Kandra symbolized Wind. The scepter topped with the stone known as Angvir’s Flame symbolized Fire, while the ring with the small but incredibly pure Macha’s Tear symbolized Water.
The biggest mogrite jewel, symbolizing the world as a whole, was known as Modron’s Eye. It was mounted on the top of the Throne of Ludd, an imposing throne sculpted from blackstone, a Darien rock as hard as steel. The Five Legacies were put in the custody of the Five Wizards of Kandra. Each Wizard was responsible for a particular Legacy for a single year. At the end of every year, the Wizards exchanged the Legacies among themselves. This was meant to underline the fact that the Wizards were not owners, but merely custodians, of the Five Legacies.

THE DECLINE OF KANDRAN CIVILIZATION
The Kandrans thought that putting the mogrite Legacies under the Wizards’ care would ensure continued peace and security. Alas, they were wrong. As time went on, the Wizards realized that possessing a mogrite stone meant much more than greatly increased magical powers. Mogrite also gave its possessor such benefits as immunity to sickness, almost instant healing of wounds and injuries and incredible longevity. It also turned out that the mogrite stones incorporated into the Five Legacies were of unequal power. Modron’s Eye stood out, in particular, for it gave its owner — or custodian — practical immortality. The uniting principle behind the Five Wizards was their equality as regards one another. Now, the custo-dian of the throne with Modron’s Eye was more fortunate than the others. What’s more, the Wizards’ new, long lifespan wasn’t that pleasing to all the Kandrans. The resentment arose very slowly; the Kandrans were a people who enjoyed long lives in general — the average Kandran could hope to live well in excess of a hundred years. But after two generations of Kandrans had gone by, and the same set of Wizards contin-ued to govern the kingdom, eyebrows were being raised and questions asked. They were asked most loudly by the five acolytes chosen to succeed the reigning Wizards. It took thirty-six years to train a talented Kandran for the Wizards’ post; the training was very strict, conducted in conditions similar to solitary confinement. One set of acolytes had already died without ever putting their hard-gained knowledge into practice. And so, the candidates-in-waiting whispered and grumbled, sometimes publicly, which was a scandal without precedent in Kandran history.

THE FALL OF KANDRA
In happier times, the Five Wizards would have instantly been aware of the discontent. They would have righted the wrongs, punished the wrongdoers — if any — and things would have returned to normal. But the Wizards were increasingly involved in a power struggle. By that time, they all had their favorite Legacies, and of course the most coveted prize of all was the throne with Modron’s Eye. The final calamity struck without warning. There are no records, no evidence of what exactly led to the catastrophic collapse of the Kingdom of Kandra. Was it a Wizard making a vicious bid for ultimate power? Was it a bitter acolyte, a frustrated Wizard-in-waiting, putting his hard-gained knowledge to devious ends?
No one will ever know.

Neruz fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Apr 23, 2014

Veloxyll
May 3, 2011

Fuck you say?!

I love how you even moused over the trebuchet ship in the shipyard build options.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
I promise I will build them because you do actually need them in some missions :v:

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
In today's episode I accidentally commit henious war crimes while trying to rescue some hapless innocents! :negative:

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 22 - Youtubular

Next time the hapless innocents turn out to be neither hapless nor innocent.



:frogsiren: !!! LOREPOST WARNING !!! :frogsiren:

THE DAY OF THE GREAT CALAMITY
What we do know is that exactly 427 years — to the day — after the Wizards took custody of the Legacies, Darien was struck by the ultimate disaster. All natural laws suddenly ceased to work. Farm animals swelled and burst as their bodily fluids instantly transformed to gas. People died horrible deaths, bones snapping as their bodies twisted into impossible shapes, eyes popping clear of their contorted faces as their heads swelled and cracked open likeoverripe grapefruits. In the Kandran capital, the enormous belusa trees lining all the main streets shriveled and split lengthwise, spilling smoking sap. Seas and lakes hissed and steamed, rivers became rocky canyons, and mountains roared and crumbled into stony plains. Finally, the land itself groaned horribly, and a devastating earthquake swept Darien far and wide. It was all over in a couple of heartbeats. A terrible silence fell over the tortured land of Darien, and then a bloody rain came down and fell for three nights and days.

THE HEALING OF DARIEN
Incredibly, handfuls of life survived — among them, a few dazed witnesses of the cataclysm that had just passed. They did not know why they had been spared and didn’t dare to speculate. For immediately following the catastrophe, Darien was blessed by a period of incredibly clement weather that lasted the better part of a century. New water springs burst open across the land, deserts slowly filled with seas of swaying grass and birds began to twitter yet again, perched on the branches of young saplings.
It was as if Nature had decided to nurse the world back to health; slowly, the scattered survivors of the disaster grew into clans and tribes. But however far away and out of touch they were, all those freshly born pockets of civilized life shared one belief, one attitude: an absolute abhorrence of the magical arts. Merely speaking about the existence of the Kandran plaything that had laid low the land meant severe punishment. The enormous store of magical knowledge accumulated by the Kandrans was lost. And as hamlets grew into villages, and villages into towns, there developed a new faith: a belief in the essential rightness of things as they were. If something was a certain way, that was the way it was meant to be.

THE NEW DARIEN
The healing of Darien took thousands of years. The newly emerged tribes had adopted a new calendar, starting with the day of the Great Calamity as Day One. And so we know today that agriculture became possible again in Darien towards the close of the First Millennium; that the Second Millennium ushered in the appearance of numerous new species of flora and fauna; and that by the end of the Third Millennium, most of Darien’s scars had overgrown with lush fields and forests. By the middle of the Fourth Millennium, nearly all of the tribes inhabiting Darien had reestablished contact with one another. This spurred progress, and many
areas of knowledge grew by leaps and bounds, not least because finally the various surviving crumbs of Kandran knowledge became available to all. However, one area of Kandran knowledge was left untouched. Of course it had to be the most important matter of them all: Kandran magic. To the creators of Darien’s new civilization, magic was a Pandora’s box of misfortune that would devour anyone who dared open it. By that time, laws prohibiting magic-related activities weren’t necessary. To most of Darien’s new people, admitting so much as an interest in the magical arts was the social equivalent of confessing to a fancy for gruesome murder.
This was how things were.

Until Garacaius.

Veloxyll
May 3, 2011

Fuck you say?!

Prisoner Murder is something that all Varunan's support, from Monarch to Musketeer.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
I have never lost so many prisoners in that mission before ever, even twelve year old me didn't lose that many prisoners :negative:

Rick_Hunter
Jan 5, 2004

My guys are still fighting the hard fight!
(weapons, shields and drones are still online!)

Neruz posted:

I have never lost so many prisoners in that mission before ever, even twelve year old me didn't lose that many prisoners :negative:

Twelve year old you was probably using Kirenna as the lynchpin of your army though.

Vagon
Oct 22, 2005

Teehee!
M-my god. Those prisoners. You went Stalin on that concentration camp, you monster!

ponzicar
Mar 17, 2008
I guess the problem was that neutral units are valid targets for your troops to attack, and they made it so only Kirenna could free them so you couldn't just rescue them with a parrot five seconds into the fight.

ronya
Nov 8, 2010

I'm the normal one.

You hate ridden fucks will regret your words when you eventually grow up.

Peace.
Thread title suddenly especially appropriate.

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


ponzicar posted:

I guess the problem was that neutral units are valid targets for your troops to attack, and they made it so only Kirenna could free them so you couldn't just rescue them with a parrot five seconds into the fight.

The prisoners aren't valid targets and neither was the wall behind them, it was the Tharos troops behind the wall that were being shot at but the prisoners' hitboxes actually exist for Varunan projectiles instead of being intangible like the hitboxes of other friendly units.

Rick_Hunter
Jan 5, 2004

My guys are still fighting the hard fight!
(weapons, shields and drones are still online!)

SIGSEGV posted:

The prisoners aren't valid targets and neither was the wall behind them, it was the Tharos troops behind the wall that were being shot at but the prisoners' hitboxes actually exist for Varunan projectiles instead of being intangible like the hitboxes of other friendly units.

Well, we can only be glad that none of those prisoners were berserkers or none of them would have survived to execution even.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
I have to say, this process of taking alternate sides and annihilating the opposition is not doing wonders for my hope there could be survivors.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
Well I never did promise there would be survivors, just that there might be. At the very least today there is one less survivor who apparently deserves what is coming to him. Why exactly we felt the need to force the prisoners to fight with their chains and not give them weapons I'm not sure though.

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 23 - Youtubular

Next time we go back to Zhon because there are some really stupid people in Darien who just cannot take a hint.



:frogsiren: !!! LOREPOST WARNING !!! :frogsiren:

THE BABY IN THE WOODS
It was a special day — the last day of the Fourth Millennium. Pesco the fisherman was busy poling his boat along the thickly wooded shore. It wasn’t easy — a mist had settled on the water, and Pesco had to watch out for floating, dead wood, a task made even more difficult by the occasional screen of reeds. He was in a great hurry though, because the evening was to be full of festivities to mark the coming of the New Millennium, and this hurry was his undoing. The flat-bottomed boat suddenly reared up like a startled horse as it struck a half-submerged trunk, and Pesco got very wet.
The water wasn’t deep. Pesco stood submerged to his waist, spitting out curses and wringing out his cap. When it was dry enough to put back on his bald head, he did so, and took stock of the situation. It quickly dawned on him that all the fish he’d caught earlier were enjoying newfound freedom — he’d humanely but unwisely left them alive. He was about to start cursing again when he heard the baby cry. He listened, staring wide-eyed into the mist; the cry came again. He waded through the water, then hesitated, standing knee-deep before a twisted tree bending from the shore; he had never seen a tree like that before. The third cry came.
Pesco was suddenly seized with a grim foreboding of something about to happen. Dark-eyed with fright, he didn’t even notice the drops of water that ran out from under his cap and down his face. The clammy air was still. Then Pesco’s arm shot out as if of its own accord and grabbed an overhanging branch. Moments later, he was treading carefully through the moss and tangled grass — he was barefoot, and the ground was covered with sharp, dry twigs. He found the baby almost right away — he practically stepped on it after he pushed past through a pair of prickly bushes. The baby lay on a patch of open ground, naked as nature had made it, with nothing but a tiny leather pouch tied by thongs to the baby’s foot.
Pesco’s thick, scarred fingers untied the thongs with amazing deftness. He pulled the pouch open, peered inside and reacted as if he had just looked death in the face. He jerked his head back and flung the pouch into the forest as far as he could. Those pale, softly glowing grains — they had to be something magical! The infant had a pouch of some unnatural substance attached to its foot! Pesco’s breath came in ragged gasps as he scrabbled around, looking for a suitably large branch or rock. He found his weapon and stood over the baby, trying to summon the determination he needed.
The baby! He could see it was a little boy. He already had nine children of his own. Even if he’d found this one untainted by evil… he just couldn’t afford another mouth to feed. But he could find someone else to take care of it, couldn’t he? But there wasn’t any sense thinking about it. The pouch… Pesco grasped his club firmly. He raised it and held it high for a moment.
But…the baby! The baby, the baby, the baby!
With a shriek of dismay, Pesco threw the makeshift club after the pouch, hearing it crash and tear through the shrub-bery. He cursed as he picked the baby up, cursed as he carried it back to the boat, and cursed most of the long way home.
Pesco had always cursed a lot, and that was why he fished alone.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

Glazius posted:

I have to say, this process of taking alternate sides and annihilating the opposition is not doing wonders for my hope there could be survivors.

It's not all hopeless... Until the expansion.

Poil
Mar 17, 2007

How the hell have those idiots managed to survive for so long? :psyduck:

ultrabindu
Jan 28, 2009
When do we get to the part where you have to sim city the poo poo out of everyone?





I was promised some sim city in my total annihilation.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
There's not so much sim citying in Kingdoms and I'm trying to avoid sim citying too much unless I have to because there are plenty of missions later on where I do have to.

We're about half-way through the main campaign now, and there's another 25 missions in the xpak after that.


The real sim citying will come in the next LP when I tackle SupCom.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
And now back to Zhon where Joreth is taking advantage of the situation to 'find' a catapult and break down the walls surrounding the Heart of Thesh. What? How does he know where the Heart is and that it's surrounded by walls and how did he know there would be a battle here and that he could find a catapult and get the Heart? Good questions.

Nope I don't know either.

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 24 - Youtubular
Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 24 Intermission - Youtubular

Next time we return to Aramon and take part in HIGH TREASON! :black101:




:frogsiren: !!! LOREPOST WARNING !!! :frogsiren: (It's all about the boats man)

THE HUMBLE FISHERMAN
It is recorded that on the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixteenth year in the Fifth Millennium, a youth named Garacaius passed the final examinations at the Ugarit Academy and left this famous school under a cloud. Before graduation, each student was required to submit an essay on an extracurricular subject. The subject didn’t really matter — what mattered was the student’s ability to argue a point in a logical and convincing manner. Prize-winning essays included “The Joyful Fly: An Examination of the Relationship Between Selected Household Insects and Wildberry Jam,” and the sensational “Stories My Mute Father Never Told Me: Adventures in Carpentry.” Young Garacaius, however, had dared to write a treatise on…Mana, and the role of magic in the natural world!
To many, this confirmed Garacaius as a suspicious character. To start with, it was well known that he attended the Academy through the help and protection of the Leimar clan, which practically ruled Ugarit. Yet he had repeatedly stated that he was not a member of the clan, most recently when tensions between the Leimar and the Balistan clans briefly flamed into armed hostilities. When asked about his birthplace, Garacaius claimed to come from a fishing village south of Ugarit. But a couple of students passing through that very village quickly found that none of its inhabitants had ever heard of Garacaius. In short, he was already somewhat suspect by the time he submitted his scandalous paper. All over Ugarit, doors leading to prospective employers firmly slammed shut.
Garacaius did not ask for anyone’s help. He left Ugarit and made his way to the fishing village he thought he’d come from. His Leimar “relatives” had told him about the poor fisherman who couldn’t afford the upkeep of a child. He found Pesco, by then bent with age, though still cursing as fluently as ever. To his chagrin, the old fisherman refused to answer any questions about Garacaius’ origins. Garacaius had nowhere to go, so he stayed. He went out fishing with old Pesco — the first person ever to do that — and the old man was quietly grateful for a companion who did not object to his rude manner and helped with tasks he found increasingly difficult. What was more, before long the young man showed a flash of talent that amazed the fisher-man.

THE BOAT THAT CHANGED DARIEN
The boat Pesco used had a flat bottom, like all Darien craft. Its shallow draft meant it could easily skim the waters on calm days and penetrate any encountered river with ease. However, the slightest storm could be extremely dangerous. After a lot of nagging, Pesco agreed to help Garacaius build a new boat with a revolutionary design featuring a deeper draft. Almost half of the hull was to be underwater! Pesco argued a boat like that would be difficult to steer, slow to gather speed and slow to stop, and that the submerged hull would never be watertight. But his arguments were in vain — Garacaius was as stubborn as a mule, and in the end the old man gave up.
By the beginning of the next fishing season, the boat was ready. To everyone’s amazement, it was almost as easy to maneuver as the traditional flat-bottomed craft. What’s more, its superior stability allowed the use of a sail in relatively strong wind. Before long, Garacaius and Pesco were making long voyages to hitherto inaccessible fishing grounds. It was during one of these longer trips that Pesco finally told Garacaius how he had found him, as a baby abandoned in the forest. It isn’t clear whether he mentioned the magical pouch. What is known is that Pesco and Garacaius began returning from their trips with immense hauls; in one voyage, they would net more fish than all the remaining fishermen in the village.
For the first time in his long, hard life, Pesco had enough money to spend every weekend in the village inn, drinking as if there were no tomorrow and pinching any shapely female bottom within reach. One weekend, staggering back home after a night of libations, poor old Pesco fell into a roadside ditch half full of water from a recent rain. Mean tongues said he was asleep before he hit the water.
But there were also whispers that Pesco said Garacaius had used unnatural talents to secure a rich catch on every fishing trip, and that there was an ugly argument, a fight. The fact is, Pesco the old fisherman was dead drunk, and drowned in ankle-deep water. Suddenly, Garacaius found himself resented. Pesco’s family held him partly responsible, although just a month earlier they couldn’t praise him enough for his role in turning around Pesco’s fishing fortunes.
A week after Pesco’s death, Garacaius loaded his few belongings onto his boat and sailed west out of the village harbor and into the open sea. The fishermen mending nets
at the end of the pier glanced up from their work from time to time and looked at the solitary sail. It grew progressively smaller, lingered as a white spot on a sea lit golden by the setting sun, then disappeared.

THE GOOD FORTUNE OF THE MERCHANTS OF IRGIRON
Irgiron, an island located right in the center of Darien, had always been an important trading center. At the dawn of the Fifth Millennium, Irgiron was home to a dozen trading houses that kept a firm grip on most of Darien’s intercontinental trade. The merchants of Irgiron weren’t as well off as they could have been, because the flat-bottomed trading vessels in use at that time were notoriously unseaworthy. As a result, the merchants lost as many goods to the sea as they managed to trade. Therefore, the appearance of a young man who claimed to have invented a truly seaworthy boat excited a lot of interest.
Within a short time, Garacaius had all the support he needed to begin building an ocean-going ship. He retained the oarsmen — Darien craft were traditionally powered by seamen’s arms rather than wind — but added a large square sail. As he explained to the merchants, the stability provided by the ship’s deep draft allowed the use of a sail in almost any weather. Furthermore, the deep hull offered the possibility of large cargo holds — Garacaius claimed his vessel would be able to carry as much merchandise as half a dozen of the traditional craft, and carry it in safety.
He was right. Within a few years, Irgiron’s population doubled. New manufacturers popped up almost weekly, and the Irgiron merchants grew fat and happy.

Neruz fucked around with this message at 14:14 on May 15, 2014

Veloxyll
May 3, 2011

Fuck you say?!

Joreth picked up not thinking things through from his time in Veruna. Because Veruna loves making bases on Zhon that get wiped out.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
Meanwhile back in Aramon OH poo poo UNDEAD! Also LP production values skyrocket!

Let's Play Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Episode 25 - Youtubular

Next time we continue the tale of treachery and treason.



:frogsiren: !!! LOREPOST WARNING !!! :frogsiren:

THE RISE OF GARACAIUS
As for Garacaius, he had established trading posts of his own in all the principal ports of Darien and became one of its richest citizens. He established his center of operations in Estoril, Irgiron’s largest town. He built a magnificent house for himself, containing what was said to be the biggest library in Darien. But Garacaius did not seem to enjoy the fruits of his efforts — more and more he left business affairs in the hands of trusted associates and disappeared for months on private expeditions. He explored all of Darien’s seas and was rumored to have set foot on some of the unexplored, strange lands beyond Darien. He made long voyages inland — on one of those, he reached the lost city of Waleph; its inhabitants had been cut off from the rest of Darien for five thousand years.

THE STRANGE VOYAGES OF GARACAIUS
The men who accompanied Garacaius on these voyages were very close-mouthed. On occasion, especially when they had just returned from another journey and the relief had loosened their tongues, they described many extraordinary things. They spoke of ghost cities, and stone houses along paved avenues populated by no one but birds and wild animals. They described strange creatures, some half animal and half human, and others that clung to life although their eyes had rotted out of their sockets and most of their flesh had decayed and fallen away. The men spoke also of strange places — circles of immense stone slabs where the very ground glowed with a soft, moist light.
But the very next day, when asked to explain or to elaborate, the men that had sailed with Garacaius would shake their aching heads and mutter denials. However, one thing they were all happy to say, whenever asked, was that Garacaius was an exceptional man and that they trusted him with their bodies and their souls. This strange mention of the spiritual sent shivers down the backs of most inquirers, and discouraged further questions.
The longest of Garacaius’ expeditions, which took him to the heart of Zhon, lasted nearly two years. When he returned, his retinue was increased by a new companion: a beautiful woman, as dark-haired and dark-complexioned as Garacaius was fair. Normally this would have excited much comment, and Lasha, the dark-haired beauty, would have been the object of many inquisitive stares. But times had changed during Garacaius’ latest absence. Things weren’t normal.
The whole of Darien had been swept by the flame of war.

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Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
Do you get veterancy from killing cows or other wildlife, or is it just for the amusing sound they make when they die?

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