Storyline Discussion

[Ilium]

storyline

[Ilium]

Right now I've decided to go ahead and pick a setting for V1's storyline, The Fifty Year's War. That way, once V2 rolls around and we have the game working the way it needs to be, we could progress the storyline into the original PSX game's time period, along with whatever tweaks might be necessary from the storyline in V1. If anyone has any objections to this, or any other creative ideas for the story's setting, let me know.

[pendejochy]

Sounds good. I think that's what the staff had wanted to do for V3 too.

Another idea is maybe a fallen Ivalice. Except it didn't fall to demons like in V2, it fell to a group of foreign invaders who carved Ivalice up like a turkey among themselves, so you have Romanda controlling the north, Ordalia controlling the east, etc and these different factions are now vying for control over the entire state.

Ivalice's government is either limited to just Lesalia and the surrounding cities, or completely collapsed, with only some fanatical nationalists spread throughout the region remaining. These nationalists are so desperate to repel their invaders, that they're willing to make a deal with the devil(s) and have been hunting down some dark and unstable magic to revive their shattered kingdom. That might be more of an idea if this first version is a success though.

[Ilium]

That's a pretty creative idea. Let's say we continue with the 50 Years War for V1, that would be a good alternate universe storyline from the original PSX story. Instead of a truce between Ivalice and Ordalia, Romanda's invasion is a success and the two countries acquire the lion's share of Ivalice. That idea would work great, but like you said I think that would be better suited for V2.

[Ilium]

formerdeathcorps has a nice suggestion of a timeline of events of the 50 Years War over at FFHacktics, here.

Year 0: Denamda II (Age ~45) and his son Denamda III (Age ~18-20) lead their armies into Ordallia.
Year 5: Ivalice captures Zelamonia...somewhere around this time, Denamda IV is born, probably in Zelamonia to the daughter of a prominent noble there.
Year 25: Ivalice loses Denamda II (probably to diseases related to old age).
Year 26-31: Ordallia push Ivalice back to Zelamonia
Year 31-33: Stalemate (somewhere along the line...Denamda III dies, leaving his son in control)
Year 33-36: Romanda invades, but then withdraws
Year 37-40: Plague sweeps Ivalice and Ordallia, leading to mass discontent in both countries and a return of the stalemate. It may be best to assume Valowa IV dies of plague to be succeeded by his son Lenard.
Year 41: Denamda IV dies. Omdoria marries later that year. Ordallia's counteroffensive is too much for Ivalice to handle.
Year 43: Ordallia enters Zeltennia, and the official armies are helpless to stop them. The Death Corps and other peasant forces are probably activated around this time.
Year 49-50: Final treaty is signed, probably because of the economic costs of war and because the tactics Ivalice is now resorting to may upset the feudal order in both nations.

This timeline suggests that Zeltennia and Zelamonia are different cities, which was a question I had posted in the cities thread. Also, I had another idea that I would like to float around. Once we get closer to launching the game, what if we first do a beta run of the game, before jumping straight into V1?

• We could launch the game faster, with all of the basics finished we could run a beta and put the fine touches on other aspects of the game as we go.
  
• Find what works and what doesn't, balance the game where needed
  
• Generate interest in the forum and get the most amount of users possible available when we are finally ready to launch v1.

Doing this, I had the idea of running the Beta storyline during the first 5 years of the 50 Year's War, when Ivalice invades and captures Zelamonia under Denamda II. However, I had the idea of running v1 in the last 5 years of the war, so that v2 could be run during the actual timeline of the PSX game. Whatever the world and storyline looks like at that point could largely be left up to the actions of the players in v1. Anybody have any suggestions on this?

[Schwerpunkt]

HoI's problem was that it tried to do way too much. There were tons of MHs and props for individual characters, so it was sorta individual focused. Then there were the competitions between kingdoms, so you had a kingdom-level emphasis. Then you had the "woahmigawd demon invasion" arc, which essentially required rival kingdoms to more or less work together. On top of that, you had businesses and smaller organizations. So you had an individual focus, a small group focus, a kingdom focus, and a national focus. Which is to say that HoI had a lot going on at any given time.

Before you try to plot out your story, you have to decide whether or not you want to retrace HoI's footsteps. HoI's crowning achievement -- and its most spectacular failure -- was that it allowed players to do so much. This required a massive amount of staffer time and energy, which naturally led to the problems we saw.

So before the development cycle goes terribly far, I'd suggest you consider what, exactly, you want this game to cover. Is this game a story about kingdoms -- or is it a story about individuals?

[Ilium]

All great and appropriate observations. I think the original staff of HoI had a good thing going with v1, before they pulled the plug on that for whatever reasons at the time. That would definitely contributed to the high staff turnover rate that game had, including myself in that list.

One thing I'm trying emphasize for at least the first version of this game, is simplicity. I think the diversity available to Heroes of Ivalice is certainly attainable, however you need to have a firm grasp on the fundamentals of which you want to achieve. They could have done that with v1, if they had continued with that version for a while longer. The level of variance HoI tried to accomplish is not a goal that I have personally at this time for FFSim.

Going back to your question of where the focus should be laid in this game, kingdoms or individuals, it is my personal opinion that it should be individual-focused. For v1, I'm hesitant to make any PC-ran kingdoms, or put any of the focus on kingdom affairs. Joining a kingdom will be ancillary to any player's goals for this game. Kingdom affairs will be managed mostly by Roleplay Masters, who will progress the storyline of the game appropriately, but leaving major plot arcs open to reactions from the PC's. In other words, for example, the invasion of Romanda will occur regardless of PC actions, but the result of that invasion could theoretically be left up to the those same PC actions.

That could all change though with v2, which is still way, way, way too far off to begin any real speculation on. However what I want to accomplish with v1 is nailing down the fundamentals of the game, even to the point of program automation of some of those aspects. That could possibly open up the opportunities that were available to players in HoI, but v1 won't be closed pre-maturely to get to that goal sooner than necessary.

So to get back to the main point, simplicity is something I would personally like to emphasize in v1. Port as much as we can from the original game, making any necessary changes to reflect balance issues needed, but the idea is to get a stable game running with routine, quick game turns. Anything in the way of making that happen in v1 will need to be scrapped or worked on in anticipation for v2.

[Schwerpunkt]

See, I like that. The individual focus is good. But I think we can do one better than having the kingdom sound like a reactionary MacGuffin (which it kinda does as you describe it). Namely by making the kingdom a faction you can join.

Now, I don't mean in the traditional sim sense where you, a nobody, join and suddenly get promoted to high office and join the leader's inner circle. I mean something else entirely. Here's what I have in mind.

To start, the kingdom is run by a single faction. This faction is not the king -- it's one of the court factions. Specifically, it's whichever court faction has the highest Favor Rating (FR). To prevent it from getting too out of hand, we'd start the game with, say, three factions: the Hawk Faction, the Merchant Faction, and the Temple Faction. You can guess what these factions represent and what they want.

Now each faction would have its own goals. But they'd also have ways of building FR with the king (or whoever). The Merchants, for instance, might send the players out on Monster Hunts to collect skins and fangs (or whatever), which they could either sell for monies or give to the crown as gifts, thus generating FR. The Hawks, for instance, may send players out on similar MHs, but with an entirely different goal: namely to bring back heads of dangerous monsters to impress the king with their dedication. I'm not quite sure what the Temple would do, but whatever. I'm just kinda spitballing at this point. The general idea is that each of the three competing factions can send players to do similar-ish missions with very different objectives.

Oh, and not all of those missions may be perfectly kosher. The possibility of the Hawks dispatching a few highly trusted agents to stage a false flag operation (such as by attacking and slaughtering most of a border fort's garrison) to stir up patriotic fervor is one that shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Even if it's revealed to be bogus in the long run (like Germany's false flag operations in Poland in '39), it can serve a very useful short-term purpose -- generating enough FR to get the entire nation into the war.

And, of course, the factions would be playing a zero-sum game. If there's a grand total of 100 FR, and the Hawks do something crazy and snatch up 40 of it, that means the other two factions are going to lose ~20 points. And when the Hawks do manage to get enough FR to make a decision, they lose those points and suddenly it's a toss-up again.

It's those individual factions that players would join. Essentially, they'd function more or less exactly like those in Morrowind (and, to a lesser extent, Skyrim and Oblivion) -- you do quests, you get ranks. Players would only be able to join one, but perhaps they'd be able to do limited freelance work for others ("Well, while I'm over there slaughtering rebel scum on behalf of the Hawks, I may as well collect a few goblin fangs and sell 'em to the Merchants"). These factions would be GMNPC run, but, like all well-crafted GMNPC factions, there wouldn't be anything preventing a really ambitious PC from somehow replacing the faction leader (battle's a chaotic place and, really, who can tell if the sword that cut the Hawk general in half was "friendly" or not?) and running the faction himself. Or simply serving as a very potent and influential lieutenant.

In addition to these GMNPC factions, you'd have other factions doing stuff. Perhaps there are a group of really buff archaeologists who delve into ruins, slaughtering abominations on the way, to retrieve glorious and sacred cultural artifacts? Perhaps there's a reclusive cadre of blue magi that value a broad and nuanced understanding of the arcane on an intellectual level as well as the practical, fireball-y level? You can sort of go wild on that point.

And, of course, you'd have PC factions in the mix, doing whatever PC factions feel like doing. Rebuilding airships and becoming sky pirates, maybe.



Alright, that was all kind of stream of consciousness. But you should get the gist of what I'm thinking would be a good direction to go.

[Ilium]

That sounds interesting. That idea of factions sending the players out on missions/propositions and the like was what I had in mind when I was thinking about kingdom interaction in this game, but your idea of factions got me thinking; we could do the Hokuten, Nanten, Death Corps., Glabados Church, etc. as the factions. Players join these independent groups in order to gain broader power amongst Ivalice. That could be an idea we roll with, and definitely represents a departure from the standard sim kingdom template. Your idea of Favor Rating is also intriguing. While I have no problem with PC's coming into leadership roles of previously NPC-ran factions, I think player-created factions should be a bit hard to accomplish, and would need approval from staff with certain guidelines met.

[Ilium]

List of organizations from Final Fantasy Tactics:

• Bart Trading Company
  
• Church of Glabados
  
• Death Corps
  
• Khamja
  
• Shrine Knights (Part of Glabados)
  
• Hokuten
  
• Nanten
  
• Touten

These are the only ones that are canon, and we can add/remove more to spice things up.

[Schwerpunkt]

The Corpse Brigade (which is simply a better name) could work. I mean, Wiegraf is a complete boss and probably the best character in the entire game. The problem is that they were only created at the end of the war -- specifically when Ivalice decided not to pay the soldiers. And no matter how you cut it, they're not going to be influencing the court. They were rebels.

And the Church works for obvious reasons. To avoid crowding to scene (and getting them mobbed), I'd also keep the Knights Templar/Shrine Knights under their umbrella.

But I don't know about both the Nanten and Hokuten. In terms of what they bring to the table as viable factions, they're very similar. The biggest difference between their immediate goals would probably just be territorial: where they fight, how hard they try to take or hold certain positions, and so forth. You'd basically have two Hawk factions. And if you wanted to be true to the lore, you'd have to add the Touten as well (which you never hear about, save that Gaffy was part of them during the war).

I suppose it would be possible to have both. Perhaps even ideal, since people will want to see them. But figuring out how to make them distinct will be hard. One option might be to have Cid be fairly honorable in his conduct (which he was) and have Balbanes be very much about getting the job done no matter the cost (y'know, the uber-ruthless type). The problem is that Balbanes was supposed to be some honorable dude (like Cid), so pulling that off basically requires a very creative interpretation of the source material. Frankly, I'd much rather see a ruthless Balbanes than a "well, I guess I'll just be a Lawful Good Paladin fellow" Balbanes. That's a big easier to work with than just using the Touten and Gafgarion as the hatchet man.

Additionally, Barrington, the guy who "raised" Rafa and Malak, ran a group of assassins called the Khamja. They might rate a faction in-game, though treating it like an assassin's guild probably isn't the best way to go (they tend to get swarmed with applications when they should be secret).

So, possible factions

Government - Hokuten (Hawk?), Nanten (Dove?), Church (incl. Shrine Knights)
Non-Aligned - Merchant's Guild*, Khamja, Archeologists Anonymous
Anti-Government - Corpse Brigade, Royal Ordallian Army**, Romandan Expeditionary Corps*.*

* = I'm figuring something in the vein of the Baert Trading Company. But since I can't find mention of them being involved in the war, the company's history would need to be rewritten. Or an entirely new company created to serve the same purpose.

** = Archaeology is just a super-convenient excuse to send people cave-diving. Or to just find mysterious clockwork (ie, steampunk) artifacts. Like guns.

*** = I have exactly zero basis for this organization's name or existence. But Ordallia needs an army.

*.* = Romanda's invasion and the Corpse Brigade don't take place at the same time, but there's really no reason why this site's timeline needs to be held so rigidly to Ivalice lore. Especially since Ivalice lore is extremely vague on this point.


So, at the start of the game, we're looking at three major conflict arcs.

1. The Ordallian invasion from the east. According to canon, the Ordallian invaders reached Zeltennia. The Nanten would be doing much of the fighting here. This arc would cover the regions of Zeltennia and Limberry.

2. The Romandan invasion of Fovoham. This would be where the Hokuten are most heavily involved. According to canon, the Khamja were primarily responsible for stymying the Romandan invasion, so they could also be involved here. This arc would cover Fovoham and Gallione.

3. The late-war Corpse Brigade revolt. The Touten, which we know almost nothing about, get called in to deal with the conflict. This conflict would cover most of Lesalia.

Meanwhile, Lionel (as the seat of the Church) gets to sit pretty and safe from most of the action.

Annotated Map

An interesting approach may be to blend this with what pende was saying. If we stage this late in the war, and Ivalice is really reeling from the Ordallian invasion (and Romanda's second invasion), there's definitely a lot of quest potential there. After all, people in that position typically try to find a 'wonder weapon' of some sort to salvage their position. You could easily write in a cult of magi who are trying to harness the power of the Lucavi and then send in the Shrine Knights. This gives you a fourth major plot arc (this one covering Lionel) to play with.

On top of all of this, you'd have the semi-independent AA and Trading Company mini-arcs, which would probably be tied into the above arcs through an assortment of different props.

Thoughts?

[Ilium]

Apr 5, 2013 21:16:39 GMT -6 Schwerpunkt said:

The Corpse Brigade (which is simply a better name) could work. I mean, Wiegraf is a complete boss and probably the best character in the entire game. The problem is that they were only created at the end of the war -- specifically when Ivalice decided not to pay the soldiers. And no matter how you cut it, they're not going to be influencing the court. They were rebels.

If we were to go along with the Favor Rating idea, for the Corpse Brigade it would have to mean something like how much favor their cause has with the population of Ivalice, and if they had the highest FR that meant the country was in open rebellion. We could certainly take some liberty with the timeline here, and because v1 will probably take place towards the end of the 50 Years War, their appearance would make sense. I would have to say though that they would have to be an option as a faction, they are one of the most popular ones from the game.

And the Church works for obvious reasons. To avoid crowding to scene (and getting them mobbed), I'd also keep the Knights Templar/Shrine Knights under their umbrella.

Yeah, have two different ways people could progress through the church. MOJ's will go the priestly way, POJ's will join the Shrine Knights.

But I don't know about both the Nanten and Hokuten. In terms of what they bring to the table as viable factions, they're very similar. The biggest difference between their immediate goals would probably just be territorial: where they fight, how hard they try to take or hold certain positions, and so forth. You'd basically have two Hawk factions. And if you wanted to be true to the lore, you'd have to add the Touten as well (which you never hear about, save that Gaffy was part of them during the war).

I suppose it would be possible to have both. Perhaps even ideal, since people will want to see them. But figuring out how to make them distinct will be hard. One option might be to have Cid be fairly honorable in his conduct (which he was) and have Balbanes be very much about getting the job done no matter the cost (y'know, the uber-ruthless type). The problem is that Balbanes was supposed to be some honorable dude (like Cid), so pulling that off basically requires a very creative interpretation of the source material. Frankly, I'd much rather see a ruthless Balbanes than a "well, I guess I'll just be a Lawful Good Paladin fellow" Balbanes. That's a big easier to work with than just using the Touten and Gafgarion as the hatchet man.

I think both the Hokuten and Nanten would work. I'm expecting more POJ classes, particularly Knights and Lancers and the like, so having two POJ focused factions could work to give more of these players things to do. I like the idea of having conflicting personalities between Cid and Balbanes, to further divide the two groups. Touten can be reserved for RP situations involving NPC's, and wouldn't require their own fully fledged faction.

Additionally, Barrington, the guy who "raised" Rafa and Malak, ran a group of assassins called the Khamja. They might rate a faction in-game, though treating it like an assassin's guild probably isn't the best way to go (they tend to get swarmed with applications when they should be secret).

Having Khama as a secret faction would be a good idea. Make the right connections IC, and you get a PM invitation.

So, possible factions

Government - Hokuten (Hawk?), Nanten (Dove?), Church (incl. Shrine Knights)
Non-Aligned - Merchant's Guild*, Khamja, Archeologists Anonymous
Anti-Government - Corpse Brigade, Royal Ordallian Army**, Romandan Expeditionary Corps*.*

* = I'm figuring something in the vein of the Baert Trading Company. But since I can't find mention of them being involved in the war, the company's history would need to be rewritten. Or an entirely new company created to serve the same purpose.

** = Archaeology is just a super-convenient excuse to send people cave-diving. Or to just find mysterious clockwork (ie, steampunk) artifacts. Like guns.

*** = I have exactly zero basis for this organization's name or existence. But Ordallia needs an army.

*.* = Romanda's invasion and the Corpse Brigade don't take place at the same time, but there's really no reason why this site's timeline needs to be held so rigidly to Ivalice lore. Especially since Ivalice lore is extremely vague on this point.

That all sounds good, and I like the idea of an archaeologist's guild. I'm also floating the idea of an airship guild for Fluorgis in Ordalia, as that city's history in FFTA2 has airship ties. I'm also hesitant in giving Romanda its own faction, only because their is only room on that map of Ivalice for like two or three cities for them. Keeping Romanda NPC while giving players access to Ordalia would probably be easier to handle anyways.

So, at the start of the game, we're looking at three major conflict arcs.

1. The Ordallian invasion from the east. According to canon, the Ordallian invaders reached Zeltennia. The Nanten would be doing much of the fighting here. This arc would cover the regions of Zeltennia and Limberry.

2. The Romandan invasion of Fovoham. This would be where the Hokuten are most heavily involved. According to canon, the Khamja were primarily responsible for stymying the Romandan invasion, so they could also be involved here. This arc would cover Fovoham and Gallione.

3. The late-war Corpse Brigade revolt. The Touten, which we know almost nothing about, get called in to deal with the conflict. This conflict would cover most of Lesalia.

Meanwhile, Lionel (as the seat of the Church) gets to sit pretty and safe from most of the action.

That's a good concise summary of the major theaters at this point, thank you for that. We can come back to that as a reference when developing the storyline.

[Schwerpunkt]

I didn't actually intend the Corpse Brigade to have a FR. FR was more of something that only the three governing factions (Hokuten, Nanten, Church) had -- it was their way of having the king decide to do things they wanted, to get the government to adopt decisions that were favorable towards them. The Corpse Brigade, being beyond the scope of the actual government, wouldn't have that. They'd probably have some other value (like Popular Support), which they'd gain by doing Robin Hood-esque things and lose by massacring captured troops. Things like that.

Yeah, have two different ways people could progress through the church. MOJ's will go the priestly way, POJ's will join the Shrine Knights.

It might be interesting to give every faction an awarded POJ and MOJ (except the Traders, who would logically get a civilian-esque class like Merchant Prince or something). This would give us something like 17 faction-specific awarded classes. I figure that should cover most of what is needed.

A potentially interesting idea I had was to give each of the four armies a distinctive cavalry-esque awarded class. So you might get a Cuirassier for the Nanten, Uhlan for the Hokuten, Dragoons for the Romandans, and the Awasira for the Ordallians. The first two are basically mounted versions of existing classes (knight and lancer, respectively), while the third would be a high-move class that has to dismount to use its special abilities. The fourth (named for the Sassanid nobles who defected to the Arabs) would be sort of like horse archers.

I think both the Hokuten and Nanten would work. I'm expecting more POJ classes, particularly Knights and Lancers and the like, so having two POJ focused factions could work to give more of these players things to do. I like the idea of having conflicting personalities between Cid and Balbanes, to further divide the two groups. Touten can be reserved for RP situations involving NPC's, and wouldn't require their own fully fledged faction.

Well, I'd like to see the Touten as a fully fleshed-out organization. But I wouldn't want them to be a joinable faction.

That all sounds good, and I like the idea of an archaeologist's guild. I'm also floating the idea of an airship guild for Fluorgis in Ordalia, as that city's history in FFTA2 has airship ties. I'm also hesitant in giving Romanda its own faction, only because their is only room on that map of Ivalice for like two or three cities for them. Keeping Romanda NPC while giving players access to Ordalia would probably be easier to handle anyways.

My thought was to have Romanda's second invasion actually prove fairly successful. Have them snatch up most of Fovoham (perhaps being in the process of laying siege to Riovanes as the game begins). That'd give them two (or three) territories on the map at the start of the game, plus one or two across the straight. Up to five territories puts them on par with Limberry (Zeltennia only has four).

And, as a rule, I'm not a fan of airships in this setting. As a rule, airships tend to be implemented poorly. If you want to include that as a faction, I'd make sure it's an emerging faction. Possibly as the result of the AA prop chain. That might be the most interesting.

But if you're really set on scotching Romanda as a joinable faction, I'd probably add another joinable faction. I like the idea of nine factions, each one broadly representing one of the classic D&D alignments.

[Schwerpunkt]

So, revised storyline for our purposes.

Year -10: Ordallian occupation of Zelamonia begins. Zelamonian Resistance supported by Ivalice.
Year 0: Citing dynastic claim on the Ordallian throne, Denamda II (Age ~45) and his son Denamda III (Age ~18-20) lead their armies into Ordallia.
Year 5: Ivalice liberates Zelamonia...somewhere around this time, Denamda IV is born, probably in Zelamonia to the daughter of a prominent noble there.
Year 25: Ivalice loses Denamda II (probably to diseases related to old age).
Year 26-31: Ordallia push Ivalice back to Zelamonia.
Year 31-33: Stalemate (somewhere along the line...Denamda III dies, leaving his son in control).
Year 33: King Gustav IV, citing marriage alliance with Ordallia, declares war on Ivalice.
Year 35: The Khamja successfully assassinate Gustav IV and his heir, Magnus, in Yardrow City. According to popular legend, the assassin was dressed in motley and beat the two men (and their four guards) to death with the king's own scepter.
Year 36: Internal troubles brought about by the death of the Romandan king and his heir, compounded by civil unrest over the imposition of war taxes, force the Romandan forces to withdraw.
Year 37: First cases of plague crop up amongst Zelamonian refugees wintering in Sal Ghidos. From there, the plague rapidly spreads back to Zelamonia and into Ordallia as well as into the rest of Ivalice.
Year 38: King Valowa IV becomes the plague's most notable victim (giving it its name, the Valowan Plague). He is succeeded by King Lenard I.
Year 39: In the face of insufficient garrison forces, the war-hardened Ordallian Expeditionary Corps is withdrawn from Zelamonia and tasked with crushing the peasant revolt around Bura.
Year 40: Noting the decreased Ordallian presence, the Hokuten begin a new campaign to 'liberate' Zelamonia while the Nanten ties down the Ordallian defenses near the capital. Zelamonia is occupied later in the year.
Year 41: Denamda IV dies. Omdoria marries later that year. After successfully crushing the Nanten delaying action, the Ordallians launch a concerted campaign to reoccupy Zelamonia.
Year 42: Resolution of Romandan Succession Crisis; Johann I crowned King of Romanda. The Ordallian Expeditionary Corps routs the increasingly understrength Hokuten force in Zelamonia.
Year 43: The Hokuten, unable to form a cohesive line at the border, are pushed back across the Zeltennian border. With no other option available, Commander Zalbaag authorizes the mobilization of a peasant militia in a vain effort to stem the flow.
Year 44: Ordallian armies brush aside the hastily-formed Corpse Brigade and lay siege to the Trade City of Sal Ghidos.
Year 45: Johann I of Romanda announces intent to honor the Ordallian-Romandan Alliance and declares war on Ivalice.
Year 46: The Trade City of Sal Ghidos falls to the Ordallian Expeditionary Corps. Ordallian forces begin to march on Zeltennia Castle. Meanwhile, Romandan forces make landfall in the Yuguewood.
Year 47: Johann I attacks Yardrow City at night, taking the walls by dawn. The city capitulates before noon. Incensed, Grand Duke Barrington of Fovoham rallies his army, enlisting the aid of the Corpse Brigade. The Siege of Zeltennia Castle begins.
Year 48: Fovoham and Romandan forces clash in the Yuguewood, ending in a tactical victory for the Romandan forces. Grand Duke Barrington withdraws with his army intact to fight another day. Citing their inability to lend him victory, Barrington refuses to pay the Corpse Brigade.
Year 49: The Siege of Riovanes begins. After investing the castle, Johann I leads a small force and captures the Windflats west of the city. The Corpse Brigade revolts, slaughtering the garrisons at Mount Bervenia, the Lenalian Plateau, and Zeklaus. The Hokuten effort to relieve Riovanes is frustrated by the appearance of "brigands" in Lesalia and Gallione.
Year 50: The game begins as the Siege of Riovanes enters its second year and the Siege of Zeltennia enters its fourth year. The Hokuten and Touten begin counter-insurgency campaigns against the Corpse Brigade. The Nanten prepare to assault Mount Germinas.

For the sake of simplicity, I simply gave the Romandan monarchs Swedish names (Gustav and Johann, to be exact). I have no idea what their final culture will look like, but eh. Sweden was one of the earliest feudal kingdoms to turn into one of the early model monarchies (leading to Sweden's military hegemony in the Thirty Years' War), so I figured they'd be a good baseline. We can change that later.

[Ilium]

Apr 7, 2013 8:46:26 GMT -6 Schwerpunkt said:

I didn't actually intend the Corpse Brigade to have a FR. FR was more of something that only the three governing factions (Hokuten, Nanten, Church) had -- it was their way of having the king decide to do things they wanted, to get the government to adopt decisions that were favorable towards them. The Corpse Brigade, being beyond the scope of the actual government, wouldn't have that. They'd probably have some other value (like Popular Support), which they'd gain by doing Robin Hood-esque things and lose by massacring captured troops. Things like that.

If there were two different stats for counting roughly the same effect, how would we balance them? Why not make Favor Rating an arbitray stat, not assign any kind of meaning to that number specifically, and define what that FR meant according to each specific faction? FR to Glabados meant how much Ivalice believed in the faith and its ability to end the suffering, FR to Hokuten meant how much they have the ear of King Ondoria and thus being the dominant fighting force, FR to the Corpse Brigade meant how much the country was sympathetic to their cause, etc.

Well, I'd like to see the Touten as a fully fleshed-out organization. But I wouldn't want them to be a joinable faction.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

My thought was to have Romanda's second invasion actually prove fairly successful. Have them snatch up most of Fovoham (perhaps being in the process of laying siege to Riovanes as the game begins). That'd give them two (or three) territories on the map at the start of the game, plus one or two across the straight. Up to five territories puts them on par with Limberry (Zeltennia only has four).

If we did that then yes, Romanda may serve as a stand alone kingdom.

And, as a rule, I'm not a fan of airships in this setting. As a rule, airships tend to be implemented poorly. If you want to include that as a faction, I'd make sure it's an emerging faction. Possibly as the result of the AA prop chain. That might be the most interesting.

It was just an idea to help add some variety to the game. If it proves too difficult to pull off then we'll scrap it. However I had an idea of using airships as a means for players to cross the country in one game turn, provided they meet requirements to do so.