Wrætlic is þes wealstan, wyrde gebræcon;
burgstede burston, brosnað enta geweorc.
Wondrous is the stone of this wall, shattered by fate;
The precincts of the city have crumbled and the work of giants is rotting away.
A millennia before our time the Ancients ruled over the surface of Teros in splendor and might, their technology and wisdom unmatched. Their mighty machines set to building ever grander edifices, while the lesser species of Teros prospered under their rule: from the proud Gremak who served as guards and soldiers, to the whimsy Fey that were kept safe and fed, while the sturdy Utarok moved mountains and erected towers for their rulers. It was a time of splendor, progress and unimaginable horror for those that were the fuel of the Ancients' ambitions. Till this day their ruins still testify to this golden age, with wasteful wealth and utmost beauty having gone into each monument that passed the ravages of time.
But even such times could not last forever and between plague and strife, the Collapse tore down the edifices of the Ancients, casting down the certainties and the yoke. During these times much was still built, but it was hardier, sturdier and directed towards one purpose: war. Ancients warred upon Ancients, the Gremak were bred in countless numbers, forming legions and being twisted by magic and technology alike into ever greater numbers. As war spilled over the surface, the Fey were swept up in it, the mana they soaked in poisoned by bloodshed and malice, turning them into hateful creatures that wreaked havoc upon any army trying to cross their grounds. Only the lot of the Utarok improved in these times, the tales of the families and clans recounting dangerous flights and desperate battles as they streamed away from the building sites and hid in the forests and mountains, tasting freedom for the first time in generations.
The days of the Collapse were coming to an end, dwindling like the number of the surviving Ancients, when Humanity arrived on Teros, catapulted through space and time by powerful magic and desperate technology. The Human Arrival brought lasting changes to Teros. Spread out and scattered they warred with the surviving ancients and their servants, as well as those who had feed themselves from the bondage: some came to rule others were cast into bondage themselves and as the last of them were spit out onto the shores and sands of Teros the Ancients gathered - and left. Some believe that humanity had fled from a great evil and the Ancients set out to vanquish it among the stars - while others claim that they fled the wrath of their former slaves and used the humans' knowledge to start anew somewhere else. This was nearly three centuries ago.
Today Fiends stalk the surface of Teros, city states large and small are vying for dominance on the shores of Orthin and in distant lands a mighty human empire has risen utilizing near forgotten technologies of robotics and mana-generation. Three cities, ancient and powerful, fight across the dunes: for resources, for people and for access to the ancient ruins holding treasures and pieces of ancient machines: Ishin. These warrior machines are undying, able to piece themselves together after being torn apart if given time, stand taller than even the greatest of Utarok and field diverse weaponry and specialities that depend on their history and their pilots' own impression.
But they are not the only thing of the past that is unwilling to die: whispers get carried over the great dunes of something dark and grand that is twisting minds and fueling desires out in the wastes. The slave markets of Dulkor are awash in rumors of a coming revolt and the roving Fey are calling their riders together as someone is uniting the outcasts of the desert into a grand chorus that threatens all of their neighbors.
Distant are the tales that speak of imperial purple having been seen above the southern shore, of a grand and disgraced expedition that has arrived at the shores of Orthin to conquer in the name of a hateful Emperor - while only the scribes and academics of Villos are able to note that the sleeping Servants are awakening in the ruins of the Ancients.
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For Applications simply post the three factions, in descending order, you would be most interested in playing, together with a small sentence about what interests you in them.
A turn is equivalent to one season, in Orthin this means that upon the first rain of the year three seasons of heat and cold follow, before the last season of rain ends the year.
Each turn each player can take up to three different actions, as well as military orders that are not limited by actions but by the amount of units you can attach to them. Actions can range from intrigue to research, seeking out ruins in the desert and excavating them to find ancient remnants and pieces of Ishin.
Stats & Resources
Size is a shorthand that symbolizes the expansiveness of a settlement and community: the larger they are, the more resources they can bring to bear, the more hands they can work and the more soldiers they can raise without crippling themselves. Prosperity is a shorthand for the wealth and industry of a community: how many artisans can they feed - how many merchants ply their trades and how much of it can be used for other purposes than simply survival. Manacores are sources of purified mana, the only way that humans can survive on Teros in an environment that isn't native to them at all. All cities are built on a vast human workforce and should their size outstrip the number of manacores available, mana sickness and squalor are the consequences. Ancient Alloys is a smart material created by the ancients, it can serve as currency, can be shaped into arms and weapons, or used to bolster grand projects. If nothing else it makes for great jewellry.
Military:
Ishin are warmachines of the past, created by the ancients or adapted by the early humans before their technology failed. Each is an unparalleled forces that can only be held back by hundreds of warriors or by another Ishin facing it. The great machines that are sometimes found beneath the sands reminds us thou, that the Ishin were once just seen as sturdy recon machines, able to repair themselves and life of the land - today they are titans among mortals. Ancient-Era Ishin are the most artful and were built in times of peace for other purposes. Collapse-Era Ishin were created by the Ancients for one purpose only: war. Arrival-Era Ishin are products of the early humans, who created sturdy and rugged machines with their remaining techbase to face the remnants of the ancients in battle. Fiends are Ishin created from pieces and bits of different-Era Ishins, their parts grown together into Frankenstein-ish but usable creations.While they are the weakest of all Ishin, they work well enough to terrorize today's warriors.
Militia/Warbands are the mainstay of most communities: warriors and soldiers drawn from families and guilds to defend their homes and loved ones. Companies are professional soldiers and warriors, whose days and training is dedicated to being able to face any enemy in battle. Corps are units of specialists, be it by magic, science or both. While they might not destroy a company on their own, they heavily bolster their side's support and firepower.
[Intact] -> [Damaged] -> [Scattered] -> [Destroyed]. Each turn, without any further action taken, a unit recovers one level of damage. If a unit was destroyed this simply means that their banner and name are picked up by new recruits - or an Ishin begins the long process of recovering itself from what pieces were recovered from the battlefield.
Ruins
Ancient Laboratories, Human-Arrival Capsules or fortresses of the collapses. The sands of Orthin have buried many remnants of the past - some were plundered, others still slumper untouched and guarded by Sleepers inside of them. When exploring the hexes of the map, there's a chance you will find a ruin, with them being made up by the following information:
Era: - Determines what tech level can be found Type: - Determines what can be found Danger: - risks Depth: - how many successful expeditions can take place. Explored Depths: - how many have so far.
When an ruin is explored in full, it can still be converted into an Alloy Mine.
The Ancients have left little on the surface of Teros, but beneath it their sprawling ruins hold centers of learning, archives of wisdom and great halls of industry. Their size alone makes them appear like giants, but no living nor dead ancient has ever been encountered. The Fey claim that they have descended from among the stars; the Gremak sing of a great warhost of the Ancients leaving Teros for them and the Utarok swear to never be in bondage again for this is their memory of these ancient times. Their magic and technology has, till this day, been unparalleled and every community on Teros is painfully aware of the riches and dangers their ruins hold to this day.
The Sleepersare bio-mechanical constructs empowered and held together by magic and ancient technology. While the Utarok pity them as eternally bound slaves, the Gremak sing songs of warriors who have ascended into these ranks in ancient times. Even with their masters gone, they remain slumbering in facilities around Teros, guarding and protecting their secrets. The awakening of large groups of Sleepers is often in reaction to damages and intruders and might lead to whole regions being given up.
Fey claim themselves to be the first beings to have walked the surface of Teros - a claim none of the other original inhabitants take seriously. There might be some truth to it, for they seem intrinsically bound to the energies of Teros. Organized in matriarchal clans, they stay close to mana wells, the energies of different regions shaping them both in appearances and powers. Only the yearly get-togethers where brides and gifts are exchanged affirm that they are indeed one - very varied - species. At birth their appearance resembles those of the ancients with two arms, two legs and eyes - or as less gracious fellows might say: humans.
Gremak slither across the land with mighty tails, ignore the weight of the sun's rays thanks to their glistening scales, awe their surroundings with their magnificent crests and bite down with the weight of a viper. There is a saying that two of their eyes peer into the past and two into the future, for each Gremak can trace their lines for generations, to great warriors, famous poets and powerful nobles. Warlike and aggressive they claim to have been the favored warriors of the ancients and many of their brethren roam the dunes of Orthin as nomads, raiders or slavers. The only ones seemingly unaffected by the different sources of magic, they often claim it to be a sign of their form having been perfected long ago by the ancients.
Utarok are calm and powerful giants, whose history is stepped in tragedy as their oldest songs sing of their bondage beneath the ancients. Living in tightly knit family groups they are wanderers and shepherds when free, but even today are valued as laborers and farmers when forced into it. Resembling oversized Fey or humans, they often stand twice or even thrice as tall as these smaller species, with heavy boney ridges across the top of their head and a penchant for bright colors that they work into their hair, their clothes and even their skin as intricate tattoos identify their families and allegiances for all onlookers. Just like the Fey they tend to adapt to their surroundings by the mana they absorb, with some taking on more rock-like skin in the mountains, verdant leaves in the forest or even a more human look when living among them in their cities.
Humans are - if the old myths are to be believed - strangers to the world of Teros. Under most circumstances they are pitiful beings, their body unable to stand the raw mana of Teros for longer times, forcing them to spend their lives clustered around large mana-filters and generators that turn the surrounding mana into something that actually nurtures them. While they have brought with them urban cultures and advanced technologies, much has deteriorated or been lost in the last centuries.
Imperials are newcomers to the shores of Orthin. Claiming to hail from the place where humanity first set foot on Teros, they have brought with them ancient technologies and more modern adaptations of them. While the average imperial citizen lives a more stable life than any other commoner in an independent city, the true wealth of society is concentrated among the great houses, where magic-cybernetics allow for the implantation of miniature mana cells and other improvements.
The Roving Fey
Type: Tribe Confederation
Advantages: Desert Experts
Disadvantages: Slaver Raids
Size: 3
Prosperity: Stable
Manacores: 0
Ancient Alloys: 0
Military:
"The Sandworm" Collapse-Era Ishin
3 x Fey Warbands
2 x Outrider Companies
1 x Sorcerers Corps
The Roving Fey live in the dunes of the north, coming together at the oasis to trade and celebrate marriages. Their matriarchal clans are spread out hunting game and herding animals that nourish themselves on the mana of the region. The proximity to the City of Woe in the west has kept them ever guarded and ready to repel raids coming their way. Their sorcerers and riders have kept the slavers at bay for generations and none are as able as them to strike from the sand and slip away under the cover of storms and wind.
Still, their life is a hard one and a generation has suffered under ever more persistent raids, with people and cattle being stolen to be sold across the ocean. What has kept the clans that make up the roving Fey together has been the need to defend themselves and most importantly, the sole ancient Ishin in their possession. The last of a trio of sister machines, the Collapse-Era "Sandworm" is a machine adapted to warfare in the dunes, able to rest beneath its sands for days to ambush its prey. Well-worn mana-circuits have kept its temperament steady and traces of its many pilots make it both a shield and a venerated object where the ancestors are commemorated.
The Sandworm
Era: Collapse Speciality: Dune-Ambusher History: Said to have been one of three Ishin that protected the Roving Fey in the distant past, it's a well worn protector, adorned with mana crystals and painted in the colors of its past and present controllers.
The Shepherds
Type: Family Groups
Advantages: Remote Households
Disadvantages: Overpopulation, Crop Failures
Size: 2
Prosperity: Suffering
Manacores: 1
Ancient Alloys: 2
Military:
2 x Utarok Companies
"The Oak" Arrival-Era Ishin
"The Promise" Ancient-Era Ishin
The Shepherds are less of a collective than they are a collection of tightly knit Utarok families that have divided the ranges of the north eastern mountains among themselves. While a semi-permanent settlement exists at the shores of the grand lake beneath the mountains, the majority of the families prefer to live in the mountains, herding their livestock and creating orchards and terrasses with hard labor and earnest work. Having only settled three generations ago, they trace their origin from beyond the sea. Their ancestors had served for one human principality or another and were able to march into freedom with their weapons and a small mobile manacore that to this day keeps a group of human artisans alive and well at the shores of the lake.
While they enjoyed safety in isolation this has led to an ever expanding population, both human and Utarok, that the land simply can't feed anymore. Sudden rain torrents had also destroyed much of the modest harvest and killed many of the livestock necessary for survival. The heads of the families gather to decide on a course of action to handle this crisis.
The Oak
Era: Human Arrival Speciality: - History: Clad in armor and handling a heavy two handed sword, the Oak has been adapted for Utarok use from an advanced human design, making it stand even taller than the already towering Ishin of smaller species. While it has no defining features, it is a reliable machine well maintained by the human artisans and has been the object of many family feuds and negotiations when it comes to ownership.
The Promise
Era: Human Arrival Speciality: Uplink History: While the Oak has been fought over by many families, the Promise has been kept locked away outside of emergencies and only seldom pilots are bound to it. It is said that it had been gifted to the families by an Oracle that had led them out of bondage and into freedom. For centuries it has been taken care off and in turn many pilots have reported whispers that had saved their lives and their people.
The Outcast Chorus
Type: Bandits & Outcasts
Advantages: Renown Raiders
Disadvantages: Known Raiders
Size: 3
Prosperity: Shortages
Manacores: 1
Ancient Alloys: 0
Military:
"Ravager" Fiend-Ishin
"Hatchet" Fiend-Ishin
"Butcher" Fiend-Ishin
6 x Outcast Warbands
The Chorus is a motley collection of the desperate, the outcast and the exiled. Fey, Gremnak, Humans and Utarok rejected by their families are bound together by a simple purpose: get another meal and another ration of water. Once nothing more than disparate bands of raiders, they were hammered and bound together by a greater will, their self-style autarch claiming that they plan to lead them to richers, glory and more.
Ravager
Era: Fiend Speciality: Duelist History: Cobbled together from the remains of older machines, the Ravagers mismatched silhouette has struck fears into many caravans. More nimble than its disparate parts may appear, it has a variety of bladed weapon systems used to cut up infantry and Ishin alike.
Hatchet
Era: Fiend Speciality: Shocktrooper History: Once the property of the Autarchs last rival, the Hatchet new serves as executioner and line breaker, its humpbacked form hiding its ability to quickly propel itself forward to bring its twin hatches to bear.
Butcher
Era: Fiend Speciality: Ranged History: Once the property of a bounty hunter, the oversized crossbow of the Butcher new serves the Chorus, bringing much needed heavy spines to the fight that seem to slowly regrow in its arms with time and patience.
The Cities
Dulkor, City of Woe
Type: Rapacious Republic
Advantages: Markets of Flesh
Disadvantages: Masters and Masses
Size: 6
Prosperity: Shortages
Manacores: 4
Ancient Alloys: 8
Military:
"Gremaks Pride" - Collapse-Era Ishin
2 x House Companies
4 x Freeborn Militias
The flesh markets of Dulkor are ever busy, not even as night do they rest - they merely exchange the wares offered. Those who enter the city do so between the towering ancient statues that mark each entrance into the city, the foundations of an ancient outpost expanded upon and decorated by more modern architecture in a wild collection of marble, alloy, timber, bricks and straw. Rising on the hills of the city are great estates with artful sand-gardens and hunting grounds that belong to the leading lines of Gremak that control the city since its foundation. With a Senate made up by these influential families, freedom concentrates in the hands and tails of just a few hundred - while thousands work for them in chains and under the threat of the whip and the spear.
The oldest of the cities of Orthin Dulkor often calls itself the First, even if Kyradar has been growing to surpass it in recent years. Despite this wealth and force still go side by side with the arrival of humans having brought countless slaves into the hands of the Gremak houses who make good use of their inability to flee beyond the confines of the mana-generator's influence. As such they have formed a malleable and desperate workforce for whom flight can only end in death out in the dunes. This has allowed the Gremak nobles to construct ever grander projects: arches, harbors and streets connect the city and its surroundings, where the traditionally yellow clad slaves work on fields and irrigation networks.
Still, all control is ever brittle.
Gremaks Pride
Era: Collapse-Era Speciality: Drones History: Draped in flowing finery and crowned with golden leafs and vines, the Pride is a squat machine with advanced sensors and the ability to project the pilot's voice across the battlefield. It does so because its broad back hides what must be a miniature factory, one able to spit out a series of Gremak shaped mechanical dolls that surge onto the battlefield with swords and spears in perfect synchronicity and precision. These clockwork ranks have been used to quell slave rebellions and purge noble houses that conspired against the Senate. Venerated as a sign of the Ancients trust for the houses of Dulkor, it spends most of its days at the entrance of the Senate.
Kyradar, City of Silver
Type: Home of the Merchant Lords
Advantages: Long-Trade
Disadvantages: Feuding Guilds
Size: 6
Prosperity: Shortages
Manacores: 3
Ancient Alloys: 10
Military:
"Phidin" - Collapse-Era Ishin
"Fortuna" - Arrival-Era Airship
8 x Guild Militias
Situated at the south-western tip of the coast, Kyradars minted silver dolphins are the most trusted coinage across the region - and beyond it as its trade ships carry goods and wares from far and wide. Famous for its artisans and craftsmen, powerful guilds control the city with its silverwork and shipyards renowned along the routes of the long trade. Set behind strong walls its population labors ceaselessly with the stark contrasts in wealth only fueling the rivalries between the different guilds that can lay claim to leading the city in its council.
With both money and political power concentrated in the guild masters and mistresses, it is of little surprise that the same goes for the military power. Of utmost importance is the airship dubbed "Fortuna" that is able to carry both the city's sole Ishin and up to two of its militias. While they can be deployed around the city to preemptively strike at threats, the militias tend to prefer staying inside of the walls with each being raised from the artisans able and compelled to both buy weapons and engage in regular training.
Phidin
Era: Collapse Speciality: Giant Slayer History: Once the Phidin had been known as the Gremaks Wrath, an Ishin used by the city of Dulkor in punitive expeditions and slave taking raids. Two generations ago Kyradar had rejected to continue paying tribute to the older city and had instead raised mercenaries and recalled the exiled and outlawed to defend its independence from the older neighbor. Captured at the end of the Siege of Kyradar, the Wrath had been lured into a trap and its pilot starved out, allowing its renaming and repainting into the verdant silver of the city's coinage.
Armed with a halberd even taller than itself, the Phidin has proven is worth in defending the city from gigantic monsters and ancient sleeper war machines that stalk the Dunes.
Villos, City of the Ancients
Type: Religious & Research Centre
Advantages: Wisdom of the Ancients
Disadvantages: Whispers of the Abyss
Size: 4
Prosperity: Stable
Manacores: 4
Ancient Alloys: 6
Military:
"Chains" Ancient-Era Ishin
1 x Cyber-Shaman Corps
2 x Holy Companies
2 x Zealot Militias
Villos isn't so much a city as it is a mausoleum of one. Inhabited and ruined houses are spread throughout a vast ancient complex, crumbling city walls clinging to the enduring monuments of those that came before, while ever new constructions seem to dig deeper and deeper into the city's past. In its center lies the Archive, the most holy of places for all those that revere the ancients wisdom. Here glowing screen still freely share knowledge and stories, while trials and tribunals spread throughout the city invite the daring to court harm and even death in exchange for being recognized as able enough to learn more of the mysteries.
Among the grand ruins of Villos various cults and prophets have gathered over the generations, all of them believing in the greatness of the ancients, claiming that they are fighting a just war among the stars to defend the world - or have left this world to them as their inheritors, while others again await their return. But there are also darker talks of cults hearing whispers far darker than what they thought the ancients capable of, whole expeditions disappearing in its depths only for maddened survivors to be found amidst gruesome scenes of human sacrifice and worse. It seems as if the light of the Ancients was mirrored by a shadow that seemed to blanket the city's darkest corners ever more.
Chains
Era: Ancient-Era Ishin Speciality: Trapper History: Polished and gleaming, worshiped and adored, the "chains" are an elegant design so at odds with those that came after and with its own rather straightforward name. Found generations ago it has not only made sure that the vibrant and diverse settlements that made up the city of Villos remained independent from outside threats, but also enabled them to deal with sleepers and other dangers.
Equipped with electrical chains and shooters, it is perfectly able to subdue up to Ishin sized threats for later study.
The Outsiders
House Asteria, Imperial Memories
Type: Imperial Conquistadors
Advantages: Imperial Calling
Disadvantages: Stuck at the Periphery
Size: 3
Prosperity: Stable
Manacores: 4
Ancient Alloys: 20
Military:
"Dreamer" Arrival-Era Ishin
"Awoken" Arrival-Era Ishin
"Lepidus" - Arrival-Era Airship
"Gemellus" - Arrival-Era Airship
2 x Imperial Companies
1 x Warbot Company
1 x Technomancer Corps
House Asteria, ancient and venerable, storied and grandiose - exiled and forbidden from returning to the shores of the Empire at the penalty of death for every noble born of their blood. If they had simply backed the wrong pretender they might have returned to court and grace with a show of penitence and tributes. That they had backed the widowed Empress, that she was of their blood and that House Asteria had sent out its venerable Ishin to fight under her banner till the news of her death reached them had been too much to be forgiven. As such they had been sent out to expand the Imperial border or to die trying.
Now the House, followed by its servants, retainers and technomancers, finds itself cast upon the shores of Orthin at the very end of a long supply lines reaching all the way back to the Imperial Heartlands - from where one can expect little but orders, demands and ever new threats aimed at making the house run itself into the ground.
Dreamer
Era: Arrival-Era Ishin Speciality: Illusions History: The Dreamer is an honored machine, well cared for by the Technomancers and equipped with projectors, loudspeakers and small drones that can be hooked up to this system. The Dreamer alone can simulate whole armies marching up, can hide itself and others in a first of its own making and project the voice and images of brilliant orators or past battles over the heads of opposing armies to show them the hopelessness of their fight.
Awoken
Era: Arrival-Era Ishin Speciality: Shield History: Equipped with a towering shield and a wicked spear, energy coursing through it, the Awoken is draped in Imperial Purple for it was part of the late Empress Praetorian guard. While the purple is stained by marks of past battles the maintenance crews are unwilling to swipe away, the Ishin itself is in perfect shape, well cared for and with coinage bearing the images of past imperial family members attached to its armor, giving it a shimmering look underneath the sun. Each of them promises a sliver of attention of the deified and its seen as good look to touch them before battle.
The Heart, Awakening Gods
Type: Awakened Sleepers
Advantages: Ancient Mastery
Disadvantages: Ancient Corruption
Size: 1
Prosperity: Resplendent
Manacores: 10
Ancient Alloys: 30
Military:
"ATD" Ancient-Era Ishin
"DCM" Ancient-Era Ishin
"PEM" Ancient-Era Ishin
1 x Sleeper Corps
1 x Infiltrator Corps
The Heart lies deep beneath the dunes of Orthin, nestled into half forgotten chambers and half-emptied armories. Deep within it vaults have begun to slowly awaken, releasing the Sleepers from millennia of frozen time into a world lacking their masters and re-creators. But any disorientation only lasts for a moment and untiring hands grasp ancient weapons and armours anew. There's no place for doubt in the sleepers actions - or there shouldn't have been. For all their mastery of arms, for all their knowledge of the ancient technologies, they have soaked in the dark whispers in their years of sleep and today thoughts and orders come unbidden. How may one differentiate the holy whispers of the ancient masters from the falsehood of their stellar enemy? Why were the Sleepers awakened: What was the threat that warranted their deployment? Only silence answers them as their masters are long gone…
"Automated Training Device"
Era: Ancient-Era Ishin Speciality: Anti-Infantry History: Equipped with a multitude of high voltage weaponry, the ATD-line of Ishin was developed as response to riots among the border-sapient test subjects. Tall and intimidating it can coat itself in a storm of power to serve as less-lethal weaponry or to quickly neutralize whole areas of hostile targets. Having spent the last millenia in stasis its pilot craves to finally begin moving it again - and get the sand of the half broken ceiling out of its limbs.
"Data Caretaker Machine"
Era: Ancient-Era Ishin Speciality: Sorcery History: Stalking on four legs, the DCM is able to climb nearly sheer walls and interface with the programming of the world. While it was primarily intended to interact with the vast underground archives, its programs have also been expanded to use the naturally occurring mana to engage in both offensive and defensive magic in support of its allies.
"Plant Examination Machine"
Era: Ancient-Era Ishin Speciality: Energy Weaponry History: Designed to withstand the high energy environment of the ancients power plants, the PEM-Line stands hunched over on spindly legs, its dull armor gleaming in the blue shine of its heavy energy gun. Re-used as heavy support unit its gun is able to threaten most Ishin and can make short work out of more mundane fortifications and targets.
