Schwerpunkt
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Who would ever want to be king?
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Post by Schwerpunkt on Apr 8, 2013 17:47:13 GMT -6
I envisioned FR as something restricted solely to the governing factions. It was there to represent the ongoing political machinations of the court -- to determine when it was the Church that had control of the king, for instance, or when the Hokuten were able to gain enough political capital to do stuff.
When you view it in that context, giving FR to a faction that's in open rebellion simply does not make sense. Instead of FR serving as a political gauge for the government, it just becomes a national popularity contest. That's all well and good, but it's much better to use an entirely different stat (like PR) to serve that purpose.
For the sake of balance, it ought to be. If Ivalice covers 80% of the map, odds are good that even without player intervention that it'll eventually win. Include the myriad PCs that will join up (over the very foreign and unknown Ordallia) and the war would turn decisively in Ivalice's favor. But throw Romanda in, occupy Fovoham, and tie down the Hokuten and you have a much better case for a strategic stalemate that would result in the kind of peace treaty that ended the Fifty Years' War.
It'd be helpful to ferry people around, yeah. But with major conflicts in every region, players shouldn't need to do terribly much moving. If you start in Eagrose and join up with the Hokuten, it's not terribly likely that you're going to need to be in Sal Ghidos the next turn.
As a rule, I'd much rather see lower movement costs (so it might only take 2 of your 20 AP to move from Eagrose to Gariland). That reduces the need for cross-continent transport. Additionally, eliminating random battles (except for in occupied territory) would go a long way towards making an overland trek more palpable. Besides, random encounters don't add much to the game and just become an unnecessary burden on staffer time.
I'd much rather see long-range sea transportation as an option. Something like Jarak-Warjilis-Bethla-Moldora-Zeltennia (and probably a route from Moldora to Romanda), to use HoI's map, with none of the shorter sea routes in between. All of those routes on foot (except Romanda-Moldora, which would be the only way to get there) run at around a cost of ~5 AP. Cutting that to something like 2-3 AP, maybe with a gold cost, would do wonders; it'd let someone sail from Zeltennia to Bethla in 5 jumps... though it'd cost less AP to just walk. This would clearly allow cross-continent transportation without writing in (and balancing) airships. Besides, then you could totally get pirates involved, which would just be neat.
Oh, and I kind of envisioned each faction representing one of the classic D&D alignments.
Lawful Good: Nanten (Orlandeau)
Lawful Neutral: Ordallian Expeditionary Corps (Lenard I)
Lawful Evil: Hokuten (Balbanes), Shrine Knights (Folmarv Tengille)
Neutral Good: Church of Glabados (Marcel Funebris)
True Neutral: Trading Company (Baert?)
Neutral Evil: Kingdom of Romanda (Johann I)
Chaotic Good: Corpse Brigade (Wiegraf Folles)
Chaotic Neutral: Khamja (Grand Duke Barrington)
Chaotic Evil: Archaeologists (some fictional dude or dudette)
Figured that'd cover most PCs as well as give us a baseline against which to craft fictional NPCs and figure out objectives.
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Post by Ilium on Apr 10, 2013 13:38:19 GMT -6
I envisioned FR as something restricted solely to the governing factions. It was there to represent the ongoing political machinations of the court -- to determine when it was the Church that had control of the king, for instance, or when the Hokuten were able to gain enough political capital to do stuff. When you view it in that context, giving FR to a faction that's in open rebellion simply does not make sense. Instead of FR serving as a political gauge for the government, it just becomes a national popularity contest. That's all well and good, but it's much better to use an entirely different stat (like PR) to serve that purpose. Yeah I understand what you meant. I just think it would be better to have just a single statistic to gauge this concept, and I lean towards the side of the PR, national popularity contest aspect. Favor of the king can be determined realistically through roleplay, and might even be the better way to do, as then not every faction knows in concrete which faction is king of the mountain on any given turn. One can believe it has the upper hand, when in reality that might not be the case. In its stead, I propose the idea of Influence, the stat that will gauge the overall power of any given faction amongst the three nations. The idea of influence would mean different things to different factions, but would measure the same concept. This would be a great way of getting rid of what has plagued other sims, and that is in the end-game, when the winning kingdom becomes clear, people grow bored of the game and it is ended prematurely. Using this, each faction is balanced off each other and would almost guarantee one faction does not gain insurmountable power over any of the others. To the Nanten and Hokuten, influence could mean how important they are to the Ivalice forces and also how much they are feared by other factions. To the church it could mean how much the people of Ivalice believe that faith can help them escape all the suffering. Baert and archaeologists it could determine how famous they are and how influential they are to the markets or something. Corpse Brigade, Ordalia and Romanda, how popular their cause was with the people. However it would all measure the same way, and mean the same thing mechanically. Depending on how much Influence a faction has, we could determine what ever benefits or penalties could be attributed to other areas like recruiting, combat, etc. Influence can be split into these categories: Disgraceful Utterly dispiciable and abhorrent.Infamous Notorious for their actions.Accepted Recognized for their effort.Honorable Held in favorable merit.Esteemed Regarded highly for their deeds.Venerated Honored with admiring deference.Well, my idea is to almost push the 'kingdom management' aspect of your typical sim to the side, and to fill that void with roleplay centered decisions made according to a grander scheme. If Ivalice covers 80% of the map, it would not matter as the fates of the countries would depend almost soley on the reactions of the players involved. Romanda could come ahead for instance, and be the dominant governing body in v2. Or perhaps the Corpse Brigade has their way, power is returned to the people and we begin v2 in a true feudal, kingdom vs. kingdom style of play in the vein of SimRTK. I do like your idea of having Romanda start with parts of Fovoham, to give them more of a stake on a World Map at the start, and to also make their respective faction more appealing. We can go ahead with that idea. Lower movement costs would go a long way to improving that aspect of the game yes. Sea routes would have to be implemented as well eventually. However I still like the idea of airships, if only because it is Final Fantasy tradition, it helps to add more variance both to game mechanics and city descriptions, and because to new players familiar with FF but not familiar with Tactics, that could be an aspect of the game they understand from past experience. If its simply just an unpoular idea though, I will scrap it. On the topic of monster hunts/random battles: what if they were only triggered when moving through enemy faction territory? A team of Corpe Brigade players moving through a prominent Hokuten location would have the low chance of triggering a random NPC battle, for example. The airhsip could be tied into this idea for random battles, allowing quick and painless access between Ordalia and Romanda for players not wanting to risk moving through Ivalice. |
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Schwerpunkt
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Who would ever want to be king?
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Post by Schwerpunkt on Apr 10, 2013 16:43:37 GMT -6
While I understand what you're going for with Influence, I still think it's necessary to have an entirely separate influence for the actual government. If Ivalice is fighting a war on two fronts, it's going to need to prioritize one over the other. And the only way to adequlate integrate that into the game, instead of just scripting everything, is to have player actions -- namely the gathering of FR -- facilitate weighty decisions on the part of the king.
By taking FR out of the equation, pretty much every decision will ultimately be made without player input on any level. It'll come down to whether or not staff feel it is necessary to promote the Hokuten or Nanten agenda, for instance, or have the Church stonewall everything. And the actual court wouldn't care about public opinion (especially since, as we've established with the Touten, they're not above hiring ruthless killers).
FR allows player-backed factions to be relevant. It's important for the government to have a distinct stat for that. And it's equally important for every faction (the government factions included) to have a broader popular appeal rating (which could work as you outline).
Well, I was actually thinking something vaguely like the (extremely poorly implemented) War Assets system from ME3. Basically, every time you "liberate" a place or "acquire" something useful, you'd get War Asset points -- which would ultimately be used for almost nothing in the context of the ending, but it's an interesting idea if done properly. Basically, it makes the possession of territory important. If the Hokuten get access to an extra 20 goons because they took Riovanes, for instance, that could be a big deal -- especially if the territories like the Windflats only grant like 2 goons.
Basically, map control should be important. It should result in resources of some sort changing hands. Even if the player is largely taken out of the equation there, they should have some sort of impact on the overall game. If the territory doesn't actually mean anything, if you can lose Zeakden without any negative ramifications, then there's not much point to it actually being on the map and being a place you can visit.
Have all the kingdom management take place behind closed doors, if so desired, but make sure territory has meaning. Otherwise the entire war is one scripted affair after another.
If you really want to add it, add it. Just don't make it a huge centerpiece of the game. And, for the love of all that's holy, don't add aerodromes everywhere. It should be a very limited affair. And I'd very much like to see it restricted to the Archaeologists.
Define "enemy faction territory." If you lump all of Ivalice into one faction, the game becomes horribly weighted against Romandan and Ordallian players (to say nothing of the Corpse Brigade). If you made each faction its own territory, you'd have goofy battles where Hokuten are attacked by Nanten.
Maybe apply this to locations that are considered vital to a faction (like Zeakden and Eagrose for the Hokuten) where security would be much higher, but don't apply it to places like the Windflats or Mandalian Plains, where you're lucky to get one patrol per IG turn. I'd also add a 'Skirt' action like HoI, where you spend more AP and avoid battles in those locations.
But even then, I'd much rather see coastal travel be a thing. That was one of the most efficient ways to move around (and, economically, maritime traffic is still vastly preferable to land traffic).
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Post by Ilium on Apr 11, 2013 6:41:53 GMT -6
Temporary name for the archaeologists guild is Bunansa Braves, led by Besrudio Bunansa, father of Mustadio. If anyone has any improvements on this let me know.
To add on to this thought, Ordalia's faction are the Shield of Bura and Romanda's are the Romandan Pathfinders. Once again if anyone has any better ideas, I'm open for suggestions.
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Schwerpunkt
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Who would ever want to be king?
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Post by Schwerpunkt on Apr 11, 2013 20:34:34 GMT -6
Besrudio's Braves seems like a better name to me. Bunansa sounds like "bonanza," which just strikes me as... weird. Immersion-breaking, even, since the name is so blatantly silly.
Shield of Bura doesn't really fit the Ordallian military, really, when you consider they're busy launching an attack on Zeltennia. In keeping with the Morisco theme, maybe call their army the 'Mubarizun Host' (the Mubarizan being Khalid ibn Walid's elite infantry) or the 'Fist of Rashidun' (Rashidun Army being the broader term for Khalid's entire army at the time), possibly with religious connotations.
Speaking of religion, and assuming you like the idea of the Ordallians being like the Moriscoes, it may be interesting to have their religion be Averroism. Averroes (Latinized name) was a major Islamic philosopher who is credited with helping jump start the European scholastism movement. It may be interesting to adopt his philosophy (which, at the time, was all of one step removed from atheism) for the Ordallians, creating a sort of religious conflict undertone to the entire Ivalice-Ordallia conflict.
But I really like the idea of at least one faction using more practical naming conventions. To that end, I'd like to see the Romandan Expeditionary Corps.
And what's your take on my edited storyline? I think it adds more plausibility for the second Romandan invasion.
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Post by Ilium on Apr 12, 2013 10:36:58 GMT -6
Besrudio's Braves seems like a better name to me. Bunansa sounds like "bonanza," which just strikes me as... weird. Immersion-breaking, even, since the name is so blatantly silly. Yeah, I was struggling with the Bunansa/Bonanza similarities, and I hadn't even thought of Besrudio's Braves, which does sound better. While I am interested in the idea of giving Ordalia this kind of cultural difference, I am struggling with the naming conventions. For myself right now, I understand and appreciate the historical significance, yet they just seem as immersion breaking to the Final Fantasy universe as Bunansa Braves sounded. I think we could apply the same cultural idea to Ordalia while keeping to more traditional FF names. I like Mubarizun Host, though. What do you think of 'Buran Host' or 'Fist of Bura'? That is fair. I was just under the thought process that these factions represent the elite of their chosen profession, be it the Hokuten/Nanten as the elite arm of the Ivalician military, the Glabados Church faction members being the real ball movers in the faith, etc. To that extent I tried to think of an idea of how to represent the 'elite' arm of the Romandan Expeditionary Corps. We could go either way. It looks much better than the original, thanks for that. We should use that as our template upon fleshing out the rest of the storyline. Sorry for my inconsistent activity here the past two days, as you can imagine I am pretty busy getting settled in to Heroes of Chaos right now. I will get to your other replies as well soon. |
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Schwerpunkt
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Who would ever want to be king?
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Post by Schwerpunkt on Apr 12, 2013 14:11:06 GMT -6
Is it possible to get the threads we're actively using moved to a different forum or something? Kind of a pain to double check which threads have been used, especially since the 'New' and 'Old' icons don't seem to be very reliable with this version of proboards.
Yeah. I also like the idea of Besrudio taking point, especially since that means inherent conflict with the Baert Trading Company.
I don't see how it would hurt to have 'Romandan Pathfinders' be a smaller, elite formation under the REC, but I'd still like to see the REC exist as-is.
What's your take on giving Romanda Swedish influences?
s'okay. I don't expect breakneck progression on these kinds of issues with HoC opening anyway.
And here's where I disagree rather stringently. A lot of the 'fantasy' element of names in Ivalice come from shoddy translations or the simple fact that this stuff had to be transliterated. "Order of the Northern/Southern/Eastern Sky" isn't very fantastical -- there were plenty of organizations with "Order" in their name in European history (Livonian Order and Order of Calatrava, for instance, to use two examples from exact opposite ends of Europe).
What FFT actually told us about most of these places is pretty minimal. Honestly, they sound very much like historical fiction when you consider the political structures. There's a king who rules over several very powerful dukes (giving us a conventional feudal system) and it just so happens that there's also an ecclesiastic organization there as well (the Holy Roman Empire, for the record, had three ecclesiastic electors to go with its four secular electors). The fact that a young king took the throne and a war immediately broke out is, again, something that you saw pretty regularly in history (who did or did not get to be regent of a young king was a huge political issue). Pretty much the only part where FFT diverts from historical precedent is claiming Ovelia is a 'threat' to the prince -- feudal kingdoms were almost universally semi-salic succession, which meant that women could only inherit if there was literally no one else available (full-blown salic succession law outright forbids females from inheriting). To give you some historic examples, the British lost the Hanoverian throne because a woman could not inherit Hanover's throne; the decision of whethe or not to adhere to full or semi-salic succession law started the War of Spanish Succession (among others with similar names).
Basically, FFT's setting is very much a Japanese interpretation of classic Western European feudal kingdoms. And that's just from what is shown. Ordallia and Romanda are never really shown or described in any real way. Hell, most of what we know about Ordallia comes from FFTA2 (which has its own problems) and FF12 (where Rozarria, on the Ordallian continent, has strong Morisco influences).
By implementing Ordallia as a distinct land and culture, I think we add a lot to the setting. Instead of it being just another feudal kingdom (which Romanda only avoids by virtue of being a de facto stratocracy), it has very clear differences from Ivalice. It explains why Ivalice and Ordallia didn't get along -- and why Zelamonia was where tensions really ignited (like how, in the broader conflict between the Habsburgs and Ottomans, Hungary was where the match was typically lit -- or how, in the 16th century conflict between the Spanish and Ottomans, most of the conflict originated out of the Barbary Coast). When great empires collide, wars tend to erupt over spheres of influence far more often than simply direct imperial contests.
One of HoI's problems with setting was that Ordallia simply did not feel distinct. It felt like more Ivalice -- like there were just extra cities tacked on in the east so that players could have more options. I think giving Ordallia strong Morisco influences really helps add depth to Ordallia and the site as a whole. Besides, it also opens the door to so many different levels of conflict. Instead of it just being a dispute over who gets to annex Zelamonia, it becomes a broader collision of culture, religion, and politics. There's just so much more to work with. And I think it would be a mistake to deprive the sim of those opportunities.
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Post by Ilium on Apr 12, 2013 14:34:47 GMT -6
Is it possible to get the threads we're actively using moved to a different forum or something? Kind of a pain to double check which threads have been used, especially since the 'New' and 'Old' icons don't seem to be very reliable with this version of proboards. Have you tried to mark the board read? I guess I'm not having the same issue. There's also the Participated link in the top right. After a few days of tinkering though I am slightly underwhelmed with this new version of ProBoards. I would like to move to MyBB or phpBB, but I would like to know if this sim will be successful before I try and find a good web host. We could do that, certainly. For some reason in my head lately I've been thinking of giving them Russian influences. Maybe its the subconscious Romanda/Russia word association I make, maybe its because they are a far North nation, I dunno. If you have good ideas on Swedish influences I'd like to hear them. See, I'd like to be making breakneck progression though. I just feel I have window of opportunity here to get the most people interested in this game now, and that window is closing. I would like to channel the activity being generated at Heroes of Chaos right now, and I also understand any of the hardcore's left over at Heroes of Ivalice are soon probably going to be done for good checking in. This doesn't mean sacrificing quality for speed though, the game will be done when it's done. The Beta shouldn't be too far off though once we get a few base mechanics pounded out. I understand and agree with all of that, it would certainly be important to give Ordalia a distinct flair that is uniquely exotic to Ivalice's culture, and I plan to do so. I guess my issue arises with the names that have been provided. Mainly I would like as much detachment from real historical names as possible. "Mubarizun Host" sounds good, but if it is the name of an actual historical group then I think that would be immersion breaking. If we could just come up with some good fictional names we'd be set. |
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Schwerpunkt
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Who would ever want to be king?
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Post by Schwerpunkt on Apr 12, 2013 20:37:48 GMT -6
I have, but the whole thing's hit or miss. It worked earlier today, but it didn't work before that. Probably won't work tomorrow.
And you should probably decide whether or not the beta version of the game is here or not. proboards has something of a stigma and few people will want to play here. If the HoI guys were serious about finding someone to take over, you could talk to them when it's time to go to beta.
My plan was basically to model them after Gustavus Adolphus' Sweden with less advanced technology. That's why I named their king Johann in the storyline.
Russian influences aren't common, but when they're there, they tend to be annoyingly blunt about it. I don't know if that's a Cold War relic or not, but every time I've seen something inspired by Russian culture it's always been "hey, look at us! We're Russian!" rather than, well, something that adds to the setting.
It can be done right, sure, but I think Swedish is the better culture to borrow from. Less exposure and less hassle dealing with Cyrillic.
You're still talking about developing somewhere on the order of 30 fully fleshed out GMNPCs (one-dimensional GMNPCs was another problem HoI had a bit too often), hammering out the kinks with regards to jobs, figuring out how to scale XP/JP properly, crafting a proper storyline, getting everything prettied up and well-organized, reviewing the possibility of a board transfer, advertising, finding staff, figuring out how to deal with maps, determining whether or not you want to try and find someone to make tools, and on and on. A month is probably the bare minimum for getting everything done well enough to push through to beta. And that's probably being generous.
Basically, I wouldn't hold my breath on maintaining the breakneck pace. Sim dev typically takes longer than most people think.
I don't normally do this, but I feel like I need to argue from ignorance here. Exactly how many people are going to connect the term "Mubarizun" to a 7th century Arabic warlord? Think about it. I know about it because my minor was in Comparative History (the actual BS being in World History; figured I'd just go for World and Comparative History if I ever wanted my Ph.D.). I'm the extreme minority. Even people who are familiar with Arabic history aren't likely to know it -- just like most people familiar with Diadochi history probably don't know the difference between the arrgyraspides and sarissophoroi without actually looking it up. That's the kind of thing you really only know and recognize if you're intimately familiar with the subject at hand.
But if it's that big a deal, change the name to something like the Dhalarizun. It literally has 0 hits on Google.
Addendum: I like "Dhalizun" over "Dhalarizun."
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Post by Ilium on Apr 12, 2013 21:51:49 GMT -6
I have, but the whole thing's hit or miss. It worked earlier today, but it didn't work before that. Probably won't work tomorrow. And you should probably decide whether or not the beta version of the game is here or not. proboards has something of a stigma and few people will want to play here. If the HoI guys were serious about finding someone to take over, you could talk to them when it's time to go to beta. I've heard of the ProBoards stigma however I feel that opinion is of the (vocal) minority; if its a good RPG, people will participate regardless. I was thinking of staging the beta here, unless I find enough support to migrate before that happens. And are you talking about literally taking over the Heroes of Ivalice board? I never thought of that as an option. Do you think they would go along with that? I'm all for it. Currently I don't see the time for myself to look into the history so I would have to lean on your knowledge to make that happen. Let me speak on each of these points if I may: - NPC's: Even less than thirty, as I'm envisioning the beta taking place in only small section of the map so to localize all player interaction and maximize variable testing. I was thinking maybe Zeltennia and Ordalia, and that's it. Also for the beta NPC's would only need to be varied enough so to be able to test balance issues amongst them.
- Job Balancing: basically the point of the beta, the plan is to create rough templates of each class, do quick balancing changes to things that really just pop out at us as being broken, then allow the beta to find all the minute bugs. I even expect balancing to continue into v1 if necessary.
- XP/JP: same as class balancing.
- Storyline: well with your help we seem to be making good progress on this front already, what's left is to really just begin to write it out in story form.
- Organization: that will all fall into place right before the beta, and it will be the easiest and quickest to focus on that then. I'm already trying to create semi-final drafts of the first few rules threads, adding details through revision as necessary.
- Board transfer will happen if the beta proves successful, even before then depending on circumstances.
- Advertising: I've already begun to do this, however it is not my priority at this point.
- Staff: Same as advertising, though this is a little more important.
- Maps: believe it or not this is my main issue. My photoshop-fu is not strong >.<
- Tools: honestly this is my expertise, and one of the main reasons why I think this iteration of the FFT-style sim will succeed. I expect to eventually have most aspects of the game automated, though this is not a priority to accomplish before or even during the beta. I have stated in the past it would definitely help to have another programmer to help me out though.
I'm flattered that you think I could roll out the beta in even a month, lol. I was imagining 2, 2 1/2, maybe 3 months before the beta is prepared, minimum. For a lot of people, that's a long time in 'sim attention span' already, so you could perhaps see where my urgency arises from. Simply because I don't feel it is creative, to be honest. It wouldn't matter if no one had heard of the Mubarizun, to be inspired by the history to Mubarizun is one thing, but to lift not only the history but also the name, I might as well develop an ancient civilization sim based on those historical events. This goes back to what you said about Russian conversion earlier in your post, which is true. How would this be any different? In fact it might be worse, as I was not imagining direct literal adaptations of both history and title. It would not be hard at all to just change a few names. |
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Schwerpunkt
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Post by Schwerpunkt on Apr 13, 2013 21:38:25 GMT -6
I'm actually referring to the very last line in Jar's post in the farewell topic: "So long as there are people willing to play and run this game, or any version of this game, I will do my best to ensure you always have a place here to do so." Taking over HoI obviously is an option.
I think it should go without saying that having a successful beta would do wonders for convincing Jar (and any remaining staff) that you have "HoI v3" (v4?) on hand, if you will. Granted, I don't know anything about the potential financial aspects of it (like, whether or not you'd have to figure out hosting fees). That's something to talk over with Jar.
Well, alright. I planned on chatting with a Norwegian guy I know to hammer out all the little nuances (like the whole av vs. af thing), but I think I can work out the rest. I can probably come up with a reasonably detailed description of Romanda within a week or so.
I actually planned that list more as a "this is all the stuff that needs to be ready for launch" because, in my experience, lengthy betas (or even just a wide gap between beta and full launch) tends to be bad for the site. WotD recently did a PA-based beta, but popularity dropped off crazy fast (partially because it was the second beta, partially because it was so narrow in scope). I'm not interested in that mistake.
For maps, I know a guy who is pretty good at them and also into sims. I think that, if we know what we want the map to look like, he can knock it out in a day or so (and give us the map layers in GIMP, so it would be extremely easy to change a city's block color to reflect ownership).
And as far as tools go, I know another guy whose brain you might be able to pick on the subject. He's basically developing Warlords all on his own to be what is essentially a hyper-automated game (to the point where actual staff requirements are primarily problem resolution and RP). Granted, that model won't work here (Warlords has a simplified battle system even compared to the other Three Kingdom sims, whose battles are often a lot less nuanced than HoI's), but he may be able to offer some insight. And, from my extremely brief tenure as a programmer, I can say that having that second pair of eyes to look over your code is hugely helpful.
And 1 month was "assuming you do nothing but rip from the BMG, and magically find staff, this is the best case scenario." I think 2 months is a lot more reasonable -- and 2 months also puts us in June, which means we catch the afterschool blitz. That said, however, I think the sim community as a whole is older than your average online community, so release date isn't hugely important (I'm pretty sure most of us have jobs, if not careers, at this point).
I think the sheer degree of separation and the obscurity of the reference make the two issues very, very different. But I see your point; Mubarizun, while an interesting term in its own right, fundamentally isn't creative. Dhalarizun can basically serve the exact same purpose with the added benefit of being both unique (like I said: 0 hits on google) and reminiscent of the name I proposed for Ordallia (al-Dhalya).
On the subject of the beta, I'd like to see it set in Zelamonia. It gives us a chance to introduce a radically different area from most FFT-derived games (I was thinking giving it Byzantine influences, which would basically mean a weird Greco-Latin hybrid), also gives us an opportunity to introduce the Morisco-inspired Ordallia, and features a relatively limited group -- we'd only really be dealing with the Nanten, Ordallia, and some sort of Zelamonia faction. The beta could also be set starting around year 47-48 of the war, when the broader Ordallian offensive begins -- or a bit earlier (years 35-40), so the actions of PCs during this time can be more effectively integrated into the storyline prior to the war breaking out.
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Schwerpunkt
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Post by Schwerpunkt on Apr 16, 2013 20:48:55 GMT -6
It's about to get complex.
Prior to the fifty years' war, Ordallia and Ivalice are ruled by monarchs from the same family. For the sake of simplicity, we'll be referring to this dynasty as the Atkaschid Dynasty (Atkascha being the surname given for Ovelia and Omdoria). The Atkaschid Dynasty has two principle branches: the Ivalician branch and the Ordallian branch. The Ordallian branch shall be considered the younger of the two branches (the "cadet" branch, to use feudal parlance). The Romandan dynasty, the Karsids, will factor in later.
For additional simplicity (we'll probably change this later), I'll be referencing dates relative to the beginning of the Fifty Years' War. So something that happens one year before the war begins with be Year -1; something that happens 1 year after it begins will be Year 2). Just like there's no 0 AD/BC, there will be no Year 0. The Fifty Years' War, for our purposes, begins at Year 1.
And now it's going to get really ugly.
So we rewind to Year -150. Denamda (I) the Great, having united the quarreling feudal duchies of Ivalice, settles down to consolidate his gains. Further east, Varoi (III) the Sage, faces a quandary: he's too old to sire additional children and, thanks to the deaths of his sons, only his daughter remains. But under strict Salic Law, she cannot inherit. Varoi III then extends a marriage offer to Denamda: Denamda will give him a son and he will give the new King of Ivalice legitimacy.
So, on the Year -145, Denamda I's second son, Rurik, marries the daughter of Varoi III and becomes the Crown Prince of Ordallia. Varoi III dies in -140 and Rurik becomes Rurik I of Ordallia. Denamda I dies a decade later and Devanne IX ascends to the throne.
This gets us to Year -140. The Atkaschid Dynasty has brothers on the two biggest thrones in the region. Meanwhile, across the Straight, the Karsids begin planning. Nothing important happens for another two decades.
In -120, Devanne IX of Ivalice and Rurik I of Ordallia, on a pilgrimage to Nelveska, are caught by a tsunami generated by the Cataclysm and lost at sea. Devanne I is succeeded by Ondoria I. Rurik I is succeeded by Varoi IV. Hereafter, "Devanne" is considered a name of bad luck and is no longer given to young males of the Ivalician branch. The tsunami that slew both kings was also responsible for the near-total destruction of the Grand Temple of Nelveska.
In -100, Varoi IV and Ondoria I disagree over the disposition of Zelamonia. Zelamonia, traditionally held to be within Ordallia's sphere of influence, attempted to break away. Ivalice, keen to support anything that weakened the enormously powerful Ordallia, attempts to back Zelamonia. Unwilling to allow the precedent of Ordallian authority being undermined by external powers, Varoi IV responds with an overwhelming show of force, deploying the elite Dhalizun Host and smashing the Zelamonian Guard to pieces. By -95, all of Zelamonia is under Ordallian occupation. The Zelamonian nobility, however, fled to Ivalice.
In -85, Varoi IV visits the war-torn province for the first time. He is assassinated by a Zelamonian nationalist with links to Ivalice. His successor, Varoi V, demands an immediate apology from his cousin Ondoria I as well as the heads of all nobles connected to the plot. Ondoria I refuses. Ordallia launches a punitive campaign, sacking Sal Ghidos (allegedly where most Ivalician support for Zelamonia originated), and returned to its own borders within a year. Ondoria I, unwilling to escalate the issue into full-blown warfare he would likely lose, sends the heads of three noblemen to Viura. Appeased, Varoi V orders the Dhalizun Host back to Viura.
In -75, Ondoria I dies and is succeeded by Onduria II. Onduria II, whose wife was of Zelamonian nobility, would find himself predisposed to aiding the "Zelamonian plight." He privately sponsored propaganda and even funneled military supplies into Zelamonian hands. Varoi V, facing instability in his eastern provinces, does not respond with a military campaign; instead, when the city of Burstel rebels with the help of Ivalician "volunteers," he puts the entire city to the sword, tears down the walls, and sows the fields with salt. Varoi V's ruthless response earns him an ignominious reputation, but stops the Zelamonian insurgency cold for a full decade.
In -65, Varoi V dies and is succeeded by Devanne I. Devanne, like his Ivalician counterpart, is sympathetic to the Zelamonians. He ends numerous restrictions on military posts, eases sanctions, and ends the widely-loathed "war tax." These actions, intended to appease the Zelamonians, are construed as a sign of weakness by Ondoria II, who promptly resumes his support for the rebellious factions.
In -60, the city of Istel revolts. The Dhalizun Host is dispatched and, after the Ordallian general threatens to "re-examine the lesson of Burstel" for the rebels, they promptly lay down arms in return for amnesty. The Dhalizun Host returns to Viura.
In -55, Ondoria II is slain by a crossbow bolt while hunting with his falcon. While the assassin is never found, it is widely believed that the assassin was Zelamonian and angry over the sudden lack of support after the bloodless 'Siege of Istel.' Ivalician support for Zelamonia temporarily dries up as Orinus II ascends to the throne.
In -40, Devanne I pronounces the "Zelamonian question resolved." The boast would prove to be entirely erroneous. Simultaneously, Devanne I proclaims the 'al-Dhalin Seraskiera,' commonly translated as the 'Empire of Ordallia.' Devanne I also orchestrates the marriage of his son, Devanne II, to Princess Anett of Romanda.
In -30, Orinus II and Devanne I meet at Zeltennia to discuss the resolution of minor border disputes. They sign a treaty that sees the transfer of a few dozen kilometers of land to Ordallia and enhanced fishing rights near Nelveska for Ivalice. The 'Accord of Zeltennia' marks a high water mark of relations between the two kingdoms. Devanne I dies shortly thereafter and is succeeded by Devanne II.
In -25, Orinus II is brutally murdered by one of his own guard captains in a coup attempt. The coup fails and Denamda II ascends to the throne. Meanwhile, Devanne II suffers from a radical decline in health shortly after inspecting a gemstone recovered from a meteorite impact. His young son, Devanne (III), becomes Regent of Ordallia.
In -20, Devanne II dies. Devanne III ('the Just') ascends to the throne and begins developing civil projects, shying away from military expenses. Sensing weakness, Denamda II resumes sponsoring Zelamonian nationalists. Finding the movement to be underwhelming after generations of Ordallian rule, he quietly exports convicts and demagogues to Zelamonia to incite tensions.
In -15, Devanne III is facing another rebellion in Zelamonia, this time in the inland city of Kaldemar. Rather than dispatching the Dhalizun Host, he sends mediators. The rebels perceive this as weakness, execute the diplomats, and send the heads back to Devanne III on silver platters.
In -10, Devanne III dispatches the Dhalizun Host to crush the Kaldemarian Revolt, which has now spread to Istel and Yorenai. The Dhalizun Host arrives, smashes the Kaldemarian Revolutionary Army to pieces in the Battle of Kaldemar, and lays siege to Kaldemar. The city falls the following year. Denamda II's support continues through this period.
In -5, the Dhalizun Host has succeeded in pacifying Zelamonia (again). Rather than be recalled, however, it is ordered to barrack in Istel. The proximity of the Dhalizun Host to Limberry causes consternation in Ivalice; Denamda II responds by deploying the Nanten in force to Mount Germinas and ordering the Hokuten to take up position in Zeltennia.
In -2, Devanne III dies of the influenza. He dies without an heir being immediately obvious. The Dhalizun Host is ordered to return to Viura to prevent coups; its departure marks the eruption of another crisis in Zelamonia.
In -1, the Dhalizun Host crushes a coup attempt in Viura. Facing a national crisis, compounded by the significant Ivalician military presence on the border, the nobles elect Varoi VI, Devanne III's cousin, to the throne.
In +1, Denamda II claims that the throne should have legally passed to him and declares war on Ordallia.
I'll probably re-edit the Fifty Years' War timeline to reflect some changes here.
Also, I figured that having three kingdoms would be kind of bland. Building on Ordallia's status as the big eastern empire, I made it a Seraskerate ("Seraskiera"), derived from Serasker, which was a title of the Ottoman Empire reserved for Viziers who commanded armies. I neglected to write much about the Karsids (Romandans) because they didn't really get involved until fairly late in the timeline. I'll probably do their history separate.
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