Sorry, Artemesia, I forgot to add this to my message:
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this message are the IC viewpoints of the character Brance Indirik. Any similarity to the views or opinions of any player or real human being is purely coincidence, with no relations, implied or otherwise, to the players, developers, or groupies of this game, forum, or web site.
Brance does have a long memory. But that's part of what I like about BattleMaster. Actions that you take
matter to your character and your family, even years and years later. You forge a history for your character and your family. You don't get the instant equality of a respawn to fall back on. And that's just really cool.
And, really, get real. You sent a message to all rulers on Dwilight that specifically and directly challenged all theocracies of SA to bow before your might, and told everyone not in SA that this didn't apply to them. And then you try and say that you hope that the church doesn't get involved?
When he speaks for the Zuma unofficially I zone him out, but this seemed quite official.
As soon as Brance challenged Garret, Garret immediately backed off on his entire manifesto, with the exception of some vague claim about Turin. The entire demand went out the window with an
"Ooops, sorry, my bad, that was all my personal stuff. Feel free to ignore it all." To my character that hardly seems to indicate that this is an official Zuma proclamation.
But even if it was, who cares? (Again, speaking from my character's IC viewpoint.) These Zuma are nothing to Brance. What have they ever done that's noteworthy? They roflstomped on Barca? Please... It's not like that's exactly a bragworthy accomplishment, is it? And who do the Zuma have fronting for them? The convicted heretic Garret Artemesia, who has been outcast from Sanguis Astroism. Suddenly, out of the blue, the convicted heretic makes proclamations that directly challenge Sanguis Astroism. And we're all just supposed to roll over and go belly-up like D'Hara did?
"When the Zuma make demands ... we do what they say and don't ask too many questions."
And yes, that is a real message that my character received IC, deliberately creatively quoted (but only a little), because that's how Brance reads it. And Brance has (as far as he's concerned) the entire might of the richest, most powerful military machine on the entire freakin' continent backing him up. So yeah he is a little cocky. And he has good reason to be. Siege of Storm's Keep, anyone? Siege of Valkyrja? Destruction of Everguard? Destruction of Caerwyn? Defeat of the Raivan Empire?
Brance is going to react in a manner that makes sense for him to act IC, based on what he knows. And what he knows is that Garret is a heretic and a braggart. That's why he flat out refuses to deal with Garret. If the Zuma have something to say to Brance, they can send someone with honor. Someone who can be trusted. Rolling over and giving his belly to the Zuma, who are thousands of miles away, just because of some heretic's unsubstantiated claims? Pfffffft.... That would make no sense at all. (And yes, Brance does have access to quite a bit of information that most people don't, so he knows a good bit more about what's going on that you might think someone in Astrum would know. What can I say? People like to tell him things...)
And note that
this is Brance's IC opinion. OOC, as a player, I know that what Brance is doing could all come back and bite him in the ass. Maybe it will turn out that this really is the Zuma's doing, and not just Garret's personal vendetta. And maybe the Zuma will decide to march an army up to Iashalur to check things out for themselves. In which case Brance will probably have to be at the head of the army that meets them on the field. But, hey, even if we get destroyed, we'll have fun doing it.
As a player, I think that what Garret is doing is pretty damn cool. The mouthpiece of the Zuma on Dwilight? Who wouldn't want to do that? And the potential that Garret is using his powers as Zuma ambassador to enact a little personal vengeance against the largest and most powerful religion the game has ever seen? Isn't that what every player would dream about doing? I bet that there's about 200 players that would love to take over Garret's role. If not more.
