[LP CYOA] Epic

[oscar]

A
3

The Guitan raids are, all things considered, quite a minor problem that Gudersu has a fair chance of solving on his own anyway.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Knowing treave the Gutian threat will be much more than it at first appears. That said, I would really like some other immortals onside with us, but they may not be willing, considering that unlike us, they'll be subservient to the voices. We should try diplomacy, but I don't like the thought of 2 vs. 1. That said, I also like the idea of Sek teaching more.

Going to tentatively vote A2. I can be convinced to vote pretty much anyway as things stand. There's obviously more going on than just a couple of Gutian raids, that or it's a complete red-herring...

Edit: Oh, and those two will make the perfect addition to our immortal breeding program.

 

[Kattze]

A2, better to have back-up.

 

[Azira]

Ho hum. Interesting update. I could probably be swayed but my gut feeling says
A, lets try and be a bit diplomatic here. Athene was rescued by Artemis. Might be she has shared her interest in us, so they won't be too overtly hostile. We don't want conflict here, we want to heal the wounds caused. Having other immortal not hostile to us, to help guard the grecian lands can only be benefecial. And Guderso's competent. He should be able to deal with the Gutians on his own.
3, we really want the scientists this kind of project can spawn. Having Sekhenun along with us is always nice for the tentacle lovers, but Artemis and Athena are not like to take a kind view of Ean if he is shown to be a tentacle lover.. And again, Guderso is competent. No, let Sekhenun continue her project, show her that confidence and respect.

 

[Baltika9]

I just remembered: Ares was nowhere to be seen this whole time and I see one of two outcomes.
1) Athena and Artemis are with him and drawing us out (really, we weren't discreet about the whole Runi thing)
2) He's the new Gutian warlord.

Here are my proposed addendums to A3: pick five hundred of the best soldiers from both Egypt and Babylon (I'm talking combat veteran good, not flashy honor guard good). As for Gudersu: have him go out with a strong escort of his own, handpicked Gutians, dressed as a Gutian King to show his kinsmen that he has not gone "soft and cultured."
And, of course, give Sekhenun a farewell kiss, for luck, of course. Hers and ours. Since treave is being such a cocktease, it falls to us to see where we stand with her.

 

[TOME]

A3

 

[JarlFrank]

We need to whip out the old Sumerian/Babyloanian/whateverthehell-ian dictionary and find some cool words. I wouldn't make the name too Babylon-centic as who knows where we will end up expanding.

We need JarlFrank or someone with a degree in this stuff to help us out.

Oh hai there I got my Akkadian dictionary just here beside me on the table, what kind of name would you like?

 

[Storyfag]

A3

 

[JarlFrank]

General naming conventions of Empires in ancient Mesopotamia are: take the name of the city-state that founded this Empire; this is the name of the Empire. The word empire itself would be, very roughly translated, belutu. It's only the word's secondary meaning though, primarily it means ownership. It could be used to refer to empires, but it wasn't really used for the names of empires. Names generally did not contain any specifiers such as "Empire" or "Kingdom" or "Republic", just the name of the city-state and that's it.

 

[Kattze]

How about a Mesopotamian translation for the 'land of three rivers' (representing Nile, Tigris and Euphrates)?

 

[Esquilax]

Thanks for the info, JarlFrank. Well, since a large portion of our new country isn't in Mesopotamia, perhaps we can break the convention a little bit.

Okay, first of all, let's not worry about conspiracy theories or whether the Gutian raiders are led by Ares/Shulgi/Ares disguised as Shulgi. The raiders are probably just raiders.

Instead, I think I have a plausible theory on the situation. I believe that the Olympians think we intentionally caused this whole mess, and that we're just as bad as Marduk, if not worse. Look at it from their POV: we baited Ares back to Olympus, and he returned to find a new Eye of Terror opening up where all of his friends used to be. Then shortly after, they find out that we've come to "help" with the Terasphagos situation, and that we're now God-Emperor of both Babylon and Egypt. The remaining Olympians likely think we're some sort of evil tyrant, and it's easy to see why they would get that impression.

So if we meet up with Athena/Artemis, get ready for a fight before we even get the chance to parley. We'd have to kick their asses a little bit before they're calm enough to start talking to us. However, the problem is this: for the last choice, we chose to control our hunger instead of going for a power-boost, so going it alone here makes it an extremely risky prospect. We're going to be up against two immortals who hate us and may not initially be willing to parley.

An alliance with the Olympians would be amazing. If it works out, we'd finally have someone available to reinforce the Chinese Immortals against the impending Gieloth invasion. Having a brilliant strategist like Athena and an all-around bad motherfucker like Ares in China would buy lots of time for Ean to close the rift before the Gieloth begin to strip Earth of all its resources. It's awesome.

On the other hand, Sekhenun's project is way too important to pass up:

Sekhenun was currently busy converting the massive numbers of Sumerian astrologers into astronomers. She was also imparting a method of thought and inquiry to the scholars of your empire.

Teaching our people the Scientific Method would be an incredible legacy to leave behind. It'll change everything and bring about a surge of innovation and enlightenment. It's also awesome.

But sadly, I don't think we can have both. Going it alone to parley with Athena and Artemis is a risky proposition at best, and once Anbar-Shi is drawn, somebody is getting hurt. We need Sekhenun there to watch our backs, but more importantly, to gauge the situation so that it doesn't escalate. So while I hate to give up spreading the Scientific Method to our people, I do think that the China situation is a far more imminent threat and we need to gather our fellow Immortals to handle it.

A2

 

[JarlFrank]

eqel nari would be land of rivers
šalaš is the numer three

Not entirely sure about the grammatical form when a number is included in a phrase (we didn't talk about that much in our course) but I think it should be eqel šalaš nari.
Or eqel šalaš narim if you want the Old Babylonian form, the other would be Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian.

 

[newcomer]

A3

As long as Aphrodite is not there, I guess it's safe enough to go alone...

 

[Tigranes]

A2, I agree with Esquilax that we don't necessarily need to curbstomp those two. Besides, they wouldn't make such a public bid to the people if they didn't think they could stand a chance against us.

 

[Azira]

What do these immortals know about us? If Ares met up with them, they will know that we humbled his twins, set his troops to running but never confronted him in person.

As to Olympus, they probably know that Zeus went to take the battle to Marduk after "something" happened, then "something more" happened and Olympus blew up. How and why would they know that we were even there?

[EDIT] Oh, Artemis might know a smattering about us, as she saved Aphrodite, and Aphrodite seemed intrigued by us. But apart from that, I'd say they're guessing just as much as we are.

 

[treave]

Wait, uh, unless my memory fails me, where did I write that Athena had some interest with us? I did recall mentioning that we would gain her respect if we successfully led Egypt's armies against her on the battlefield, but that was in another branch which we didn't go down - we went to Sumeria to look for Sekhenun.

This post I think.

Staying in Egypt back then to rejoin the army in view of the war and not hunt for Sekhenun would've also given you the possibility to stop Egypt from allying with Marduk if you did well at strategy and basically succeeded in not losing and doing heroic shit like earn Athena's respect by outwitting her on the battlefield.

Well, at any rate, you'll find out just exactly what they think of you when you meet them.

 

[Azira]

I was an idiot and wrote down the wrong name. I meant Aphrodite. My above post has been edited.

 

[treave]

Not a problem, just wanted to make sure I didn't mind-fart and start mixing up alternate timelines.

 

[Baltika9]

But sadly, I don't think we can have both. Going it alone to parley with Athena and Artemis is a risky proposition at best, and once Anbar-Shi is drawn, somebody is getting hurt. We need Sekhenun there to watch our backs, but more importantly, to gauge the situation so that it doesn't escalate. So while I hate to give up spreading the Scientific Method to our people, I do think that the China situation is a far more imminent threat and we need to gather our fellow Immortals to handle it.

I don't think that bringing a malnourished, weakened Gieloth, of all things, to meet two, most likely three Immortals is a bright idea. For one, a Gieloth just destroyed Olympus. Two, they're still bound by their voices (granted, since they fled, their batches may be defective, like ours, but there's still the general prejudice). And Ares...hoo boy, he'll do nothing to us, but Sekhenun will, at the very best, get severely wounded. At worst, she's dead.

An elite guard of about five hundred hard-ass veterans will do the job just fine. Besides, by the time we get there, they will probably have assembled a warband.

 

[Anabanana]

Makes sense. A3.

 

[Esquilax]

As to Olympus, they probably know that Zeus went to take the battle to Marduk after "something" happened, then "something more" happened and Olympus blew up. How and why would they know that we were even there?

Regarding Ares, the problem here is that they'll fill in a lot of the blanks regarding our intentions with their own imaginations. Here's what Ares knows: Runi lured him out of Egypt, then when he came back home, Zeus and Marduk were dead and Olympus became the Eye of Terror. Then Runi declared himself God-Emperor of Babylon and Egypt. They'll interpret these actions as far more hostile than you're suggesting. At worst, they'll think that we caused the Cataclysm intentionally to snatch up Greece.

Another thing they know is that we are allies with a Gieloth. Aphrodite knew that from way back:

“Well, what do we have here? Do you know you travel with one of those disgusting things? No, that doesn’t matter… it fended me off to protect your mind. Clearly it thinks you are useful, or important.” She lets go off your arm, giggling.“It will be extremely interesting to see where this partnership ends up. I think you will entertain me more by continuing to travel with that monster, rather than being by my side.” Her voice drops into a seductive purr. “Of course, a man who can attract the protection of his mortal enemy certainly attracts me. Who knows… I might even close up this little shrine and come with you. The best of both worlds… isn’t that a good idea?"

So yeah, we're going to have a rocky reception initially, to say the least.

I don't think that bringing a malnourished, weakened Gieloth, of all things, to meet two, most likely three Immortals is a bright idea. For one, a Gieloth just destroyed Olympus. Two, they're still bound by their voices (granted, since they fled, their batches may be defective, like ours, but there's still the general prejudice). And Ares...hoo boy, he'll do nothing to us, but Sekhenun will, at the very best, get severely wounded. At worst, she's dead.

An elite guard of about five hundred hard-ass veterans will do the job just fine. Besides, by the time we get there, they will probably have assembled a warband.

I thought that we were going to parley with them. You don't traditionally bring a retinue of five-hundred men to people that you want to make friends with. Your alternative is to meet "two, most likely three Immortals" alone. How is this better? Sekhenun knows how to hide her presence. They aren't going to know she's a Gieloth unless they attempt to attack us, which Sekhenun, with her diplomatic skills, will be there to help us avoid. And as I've said, they already know that we have a Gieloth associate, this is hardly going to be a surprise.

A2, I agree with Esquilax that we don't necessarily need to curbstomp those two.

I have no intention of fighting anybody. I want to go there and explain our actions in Egypt and Olympus in hopes that we can establish some trust and start working together to deal with the Terasphagos threat instead of fighting against each other. Whatever we do, it's important to avoid drawing our sword and escalating the situation further:

It's more of a figure of speech, but putting hunger in the sword means that you are far less hungry and can exert near total control when the sword is not in use.

We avoid drawing the sword, and we'll remain able to keep our cool.

 

[ScubaV]

I can see your points Esquilax and I agree, but I can't in good conscience have Sekhenun abandon the Scientific Method in its infancy. It's time for Ean to put on his big-Emperor pants and learn diplomacy.

A3

 

[Baltika9]

I thought that we were going to parley with them. You don't traditionally bring a retinue of five-hundred men to people that you want to make friends with. Your alternative is to meet "two, most likely three Immortals" alone. How is this better? Sekhenun knows how to hide her presence. They aren't going to know she's a Gieloth unless they attempt to attack us, which Sekhenun, with her diplomatic skills, will be there to help us avoid. And as I've said, they already know that we have a Gieloth associate, this is hardly going to be a surprise.

Yes, we are. They aren't, for one. It is unfitting of an Emperor to come anywhere without an escort, besides, these men are just there to "reinforce the Olympian garrison," not to strong-arm them into anything. Really, these guys should be there for crisis control, this is, after all, a treave LP.
Aphrodite detected Sekhenun no problem, even when she shielded herself and Athena's respect will be won on the battlefield by cunning maneuvers.

Edit: ScubaV is right, time to learn diplomacy and stop relying on others to pull our dead weight, no more tippy-toeing. Bro, you wanted to be the God Emperor of the Land of the Watchers, now's the time to start. Bringing troops to Greece, in addition to damage control, will also allow us to tell and show the Immortals and the Greeks that we're committed to keeping Greece safe from the Terrasophagos.

Hell, let's take it one step further: take an entire disaster relief envoy with us: builders, carpenters, foodstuffs, water, booze, hookers and nightclubs. Let's rebuild their devastated cities (unless treave can say whether or not they're already rebuilt, or if I'm just taking this too far (hope I'm not asking too many questions as to make your brains bleed, bro; I also wonder how much of this you come up on your own, and how much is inspired by our paranoid discussions)). The Greeks will be won (and don't delude yourself, this is a battle for the hearts and minds; if they fight, it will be guerrilla warfare with support from the local populace, just like our campaign in Babylon) and we will show the Immortals that, yes, we indeed do give a fuck about their nation. And if they attack a relief envoy, well, they lost. Period.

And also, I still insist we at least give Sekhenun a good luck kiss when we depart, I must know how she'll react. I hope it's not against Gieloth etiquette and social order (and if they have a "you kissed/fucked it, you bought it" thing, then )


Edit2: Oh, and since Aphrodite was saved by Artemis, she most likely told her about Ean, the part about Sekhenun included. So, yeah, she'll be on the lookout

Edit3:

WTF? Romance in this lp being asked for? I expect this shit out of Bioware Social Network.

Don't worry, it's all out pragmatism (and for lulz). One, marriage for alliances. Two, gieloth-immortal hybrids. Three, once Sekhenun is worshiping Ean (or his cock, at least), I doubt there's anything she wont give us/ do for us. Four, most importantly, general lulz. Ain't I a devious bastard?

 

[Kukulkan]

WTF? Romance in this lp being asked for? I expect this shit out of Bioware Social Network.

 

[treave]

You are already giving all the aid to Greece that you can manage without taxing your own kingdoms which are still recovering from the war.

Also, you paranoids aren't going to lose Sekhenun's project forever by pulling her off it for a month or two.