Terran mess - Aurea disappearance

[Ehndras]

Alura Aurea here. I was in the hospital for a while and my laptop was FUBAR so I never did get a chance to come back to BM from my vacation turned medical mess. What in the bloody hell happened in the time I was gone? Did Rynn, Alura's fiancee, get married to someone else? Are Perth, Vellos, and the rest still in Terran? What happened with Mendicant, was he really caught cheating (...Big surprise.) and banned? I've heard fragmented rumors here and there, that's about it.

As for me, my account was apparently deleted in the time I was gone. Alura, Alekhthaeos, Ehndras, and the lot are all gone forever. All that awesome RP deleted forever... Or is it?

I've been informed its not against the rules to recreate my old characters since they were relatively new and I'm not really gaining anything other than the continuation of my characters' story. I made a new family, the Tenebrae, but I just requested my account be deleted so I can get back into the game.

...I figure it'll be entertaining if Alura wakes from a coma to find Terran broken, her fiancee married to another woman, and the entire world turned upside down. Beats the hell out of killing off the extensive multi-branch RP background I created for the Aurea family based off of my fantasy novel work.

If anyone can help me make sense of this mess I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Many thanks!

Mors principium est,
G. J. Struck aka Alura Aurea, ruler of Terran, marshal of the Phantarian Pride

[Bjarnson]

Rynn married Govenor General Khari of the Farronite Republic.

Terran is no more, atleast not as you know it. It has broken into Phantaria, lead by Grand Prince Kale Perth and New Terran, a theocracy that is doomed any day now. Asylon and the Farronites has also grabbed some regions from Old Terran.

Yes, Mendicant was banned for using multies, and Aurvandil has been crumbling ever since that incident.

Vellos is part of the Farronite Republic atm, but lays wounded after an assasins attack, if I understood it correctly.

[Sarwell]

...I figure it'll be entertaining if Alura wakes from a coma to find Terran broken, her fiancee married to another woman, and the entire world turned upside down.

You're in luck, since that's exactly what happened. Rynn's married off to Khari, two realms split off from Terran (Phantaria and Saffalore), D'Hara took over Saffalore, Terran became a theocracy, Phantaria is on a mission to take over Terran now, and, oh yeah, the whole continent is at war. Have fun!

Of the nobles who existed back when you were there, Alna (me!), Gareth, Harim, Kale (the new leader), Roger, Scarlett, Vigilans, and Vijsktrol (and maybe Hadrian, not sure if you were "awake" when he appeared or not) are in Phantaria, along with some new faces. Some folks ran away and joined various realms in the north, a handful are still in Terran, trying everything they can not to lose.

[Forbes Family]

I don't know... Coma is a bit lame, maybe come up with something better than that.  Ideas could be

Kidnapped by rogue forces
kidnapped by another realm
Got cold feet about marrying Rynn and disappeared into the forest

Just be creative.

[Frostwood]

Terran's pretty much gone King Karbrinski of Terran apparently gave away most of it to D'Hara, which caused some chaos in D'Hara.  Safflore was just destroyed.

See the great war thread for general war news.

[Vellos]

Here's what happened to Terran, stated in as neutral a way I can put it:

Asylon, without announcing, attacked Terran from behind. We marched north to fight them as they fled. Meanwhile, Aurvandil landed a huge army in our territory in the south. Our forces were caught all over the place and smashed while Aurvandil hammered the Chateau.

Quintus, in an RP (not game mechanics), "surrendered" the Chateau to Aurvandil. Hireshmont had some reasonable suspicions that Quintus may have done more than that, but actually coordinated the invasion/surrender with Aurvandil (never clear if that was actually true). So he began calling Quintus a traitor, etc, etc.

Then, in a pre-organized plan, Shokalom and Chesney seceded to form Phantaria (Shokalom) and Saffalore (Chesney). This may seem weird: why was Chesney in the realm of Saffalore? Well, Quintus had planned on flipping the Chateau to Saffalore. But he misunderstood the game mechanics and was not able to flip the Chateau to the realm of Saffalore. So we got Terran in Chateau Saffalore, Saffalore in Chesney, and Phantaria in Shokalom.

Saffalore quickly pissed off D'Hara and Barca, so they attacked it. Phantaria soon attacked Terran. Meanwhile Hireshmont became ruler of Terran and made himself duke and lord because Quintus deleted his character in frustration.

The Moot then kicked all the Terran nobles out of the elderships.

Hireshmont, rejected by the Moot and with a crippled realm facing rival factions on both sides, realized he could reform Terran however he wanted. So he caused it to fall into anarchy, then reformed it as a Theocracy, and he invited Astroists from elsewhere to join. They did so.

Then Phantaria attacked Terran. Hireshmont lobbied the church very hard, and got the church to declare a defensive crusade to protect Terran from Phantaria. This Crusade was a huge success and forced Phantaria to back down, BUT, it seriously pissed off a lot of Astroists who dislike Hireshmont and sided with Phantaria, or who were upset at the precedent of the church declaring crusades to defend theocracies.

In Sanguis Astroism, the main figurehead for this opposition was King Leopold of Niselur. He caused a ruckus in SA and then declared war on Astrum. He was supported by Luria Nova, Libero Empire, Asylon, and the Farronite Republic. Astrum was supported by Morek, Terran, and Corsanctum.

Terran actually won its first battle against Phantaria and FR in this war, but there was no way they could hold out forever: so they are flipping their lands to D'Hara and going north to join Astrum. Astrum has won its first big battle against Niselur too, but is getting looted as well. Luria Nova and Morek haven't fought any major battles, just some lotting, but look to be brokering peace anyways.

So that's how things stand. Because of how widely diplomatically enmeshed Terran was, its implosion has caused ripples that have set all of Dwilight ablaze.

[Anaris]

Because of how widely diplomatically enmeshed Terran was, its implosion has caused ripples that have set all of Dwilight ablaze.

Just as a side note: From my perspective, at least, I think that's a bit Terran-centric.

It looks to me more like large chunks of the continent were just looking for excuses to start their own little regional wars, and the various ripples that Terran's implosion did cause have given them exactly what they wanted.

[Daimall]

I don't think you can claim that the crusade was a huge success, the crusade achieved its initial goal, yes, but that almost literally the only 'positive' thing it accomplished. Considering the end result in the longer term is that Terran gets destroyed anyways, (just in a more prolonged fashion,) the rift in the church's diverging forces are exposed and there is a break in the Astroist federation in the north along with a good amount of disenchantment with the church, I do not think you can make a claim that the crusade was a "huge success".

[Vellos]

I don't think you can claim that the crusade was a huge success, the crusade achieved its initial goal, yes, but that almost literally the only 'positive' thing it accomplished. Considering the end result in the longer term is that Terran gets destroyed anyways, (just in a more prolonged fashion,) the rift in the church's diverging forces are exposed and there is a break in the Astroist federation in the north along with a good amount of disenchantment with the church, I do not think you can make a claim that the crusade was a "huge success".

No, the Crusade was a huge success. It achieved its goals without having so much as a battle.

Because eventually something bad came of it doesn't mean it was a failure. You can win a battle and lose a war; you don't say that a won battle was actually lost because the casualties sustained in it lead to you losing a battle two months later.

Just as a side note: From my perspective, at least, I think that's a bit Terran-centric.

It looks to me more like large chunks of the continent were just looking for excuses to start their own little regional wars, and the various ripples that Terran's implosion did cause have given them exactly what they wanted.

This is probably true. But Ehndras was playing in Terran anyways, so Terran-centric explanations make sense.

[Daimall]

No, the Crusade was a huge success. It achieved its goals without having so much as a battle.

Because eventually something bad came of it doesn't mean it was a failure. You can win a battle and lose a war; you don't say that a won battle was actually lost because the casualties sustained in it lead to you losing a battle two months later.

Vellos, I believe that what you described is called a Pyrrhic victory. Its a victory, technically, but the cost outweighed the benefits.

[Vellos]

Vellos, I believe that what you described is called a Pyrrhic victory. Its a victory, technically, but the cost outweighed the benefits.

It's an inexact metaphor.

Pyrrhic victory implies you suffer so many losses you can't go on. That isn't what happened. The war was won without losses.

It's like the Alamo. The battle of the Alamo was a total defeat for the Texans in the Texan war of independence. It wasn't even really a pyrrhic victory for the Mexicans: it was just a victory of about the casualty ratio you' expect from taking a well-defended fortified position.

But it became a rallying cry. That doesn't mean it was anything less than a clear win for the Mexicans, just as the crusade for Terran was a clear win for Terran's side.

I guess that means Phantaria is like Texas. I think Perth would like that analogy, whenever he gets back from his honeymoon.

[Vita`]

I'm rather sure that Phantaria attacked Terran *before* it became a theocracy.

[Vellos]

I'm rather sure that Phantaria attacked Terran *before* it became a theocracy.

Depends on when you think Terran became a theocracy.

If you go by when Hireshmont proclaimed it one and changed titles, no, they attacked after it became a theocracy.

If you go by when the period of anarchy finished, then they attacked before it became a theocracy.

Whatever the case, they attacked well after it became clear that Terran would in fact be a theocracy.

[Sarwell]

Saffalore quickly pissed off D'Hara and Barca, so they attacked it.

Is that what happened? I thought D'Hara and Barca just attacked Saffalore with a low blow while it was vulnerable for purely territorial reasons. That's more realistic, anyway.

I'm also anxious to see if any of the Saffalorians come north to Phantaria, since we did say we'd take them in. Good for total military power, bad for what is already a very noble-dense realm. By Dwilight standards, of course - 11 or 12 in 5 regions is light for some areas, but on an island where probably the majority of realms have more regions than nobles to rule them, that's like Tokyo to Wyoming.

[Graeth]

To give an Asylonian perspective to all of this since it was our initial battle that kicked most of this off...

We had already perceived Terran and D'Hara as becoming SA puppet states and were afraid of the regions around us forming a stable SA alliance.  Aurvandil told us they were going to attack Terran and wanted our help.  We saw this as a golden opportunity to mix up the region a bit and so readily jumped on board. 

Afterward Asylon and FR were going to divide up Phantaria land.  FR nabbed two or three regions and we got one too.  Around this time we also got into contact with Perth.  He assured us he had no strong feelings towards SA.  We also felt sympathetic towards another underdog realm (though it can be argued we are hardly an underdog now, historically Asylon has always been pretty powerless) and also they didn't seem like they would become a threat anytime soon.  We thought it would be more interesting to let them stay than split their lands with FR (not without dissent on our side) and FR didn't really seem to care too much and so we recognized their sovereignty. 

Not too long after this is when their problems with new Terran really manifested politically, though of course it was inherent in some form since old Terran's collapse.