[LP CYOA] Epic

[treave]

Intermission: Terasphagos (~1890 B.C. / 5 A.C.)

Origins:
Unknown, but they launch their attacks from within the miasma around Olympus from which none have ever returned.


Biology:
They have been spotted feeding on any organic material. The vicinity of Olympus is now a barren wasteland thanks to the Terasphagos. For the past five years, two distinct forms have been observed: a smaller, six limbed, insectoid type the size of a cat, and a larger, four-limbed version that is the size and shape of a big hound. All Terasphagos have six eyes around their head and glowing patterns that do not serve any identifiable purpose. Current theory is that they may play a role in communication. Their bodies are covered with a hard but thin shell. Terasphagos that have been captured alive do not live for long: the oldest recorded specimen survived only up to two months after its capture. Dissection reveals a strong musculature and many redundant organs and vessels. They have a circulatory and nervous system, but despite their feeding there is no discernible digestive tract. The oral cavity merely leads into a large sac nestled within the abdomen. Reproductive systems appear to be non-existent. The amount of redundant material partially explains their ability to take massive wounds and continue fighting. This holds true for both forms.

Behaviour:
The Terasphagos demonstrate the ability to differentiate between friend and foe, but beyond that they appear to have no reasoning ability. They will attempt to eat any living thing that is not Terasphagos. Occasionally the insectoid forms will attempt to abduct living things back to the rift by swarming the target, restraining it, and carrying it away.

Countermeasures:
The Terasphagos are, on a one-to-one basis, stronger and tougher than any human. They also swarm in groups of hundreds. Basic tactical countermeasures are to deal with each as a pair, dealing with them as one would a dangerous beast, and such measures have brought about success whenever humans outnumber Terasphagos. However, if a larger group of Terasphagos catches a smaller band of humans, fatality rates are near total, with almost everyone either eaten or abducted. Terasphagos do not appear to be able to deal with fortifications, lacking the mentality to efficiently besiege a wall, and for now that seems to be the best way to contain them.

~ Sekhenun's notes on the Terasphagos.

 

[treave]

By the by, treave, I hope Ean's been getting some action, don't want him going back to being completely distracted by Athena's "assets," and tell me if feeding on people with particularly strong vices, levels that specific vice (eat a murderer, become more murderous; eat a (man)whore, become a manwhore, etc...?)
Also, how evil are we exactly now? And does the fact that Ean was a goody two-shoes all his existence have any bearing on delaying his corruption? And how far are we on the Renegade scale? Are we up to the collar-grabbing point yet?

Meditation helps.
No.
Can be a jerk and make chillingly pragmatic decisions but not outright evil.
Yes.
There is no Renegade scale.
As Emperor you grab all the collars you want, when you want.

 

[Tigranes]

I'm sticking with A too - Esquilax I think it goes too far, in personal negotiations of favours we might offer such benevolence to Athena, but we are a fairly newly created Empire and at the level of politics, such benevolence is seen as sign of weakness rather than strength in most instances. I think A is reasonable enough, especially since Athena in this setting is not a true God with some fanatical loyalty to Greek sovereignty, but an immortal who has strong ties to Greece and wants to oversee and protect it. Surely she will recognise that, especially as Artemis seems more willing to work with us.

 

[TOME]

Very well. Joining the A-voters.

 

[treave]

It looks like the A alliance has the majority vote, which does not seem likely to change. Let’s move on with the update.

***

Chapter 6.4: The Gutian Dilemma

“Queen?” snarled Athena. “You think I am here to beg you for power? You offer to turn Greece into my personal queendom and demand my loyalty in return? Let me tell you this; immortals are duty-bound to guide and protect the people, not to rule over them as you have. I know that not many of them listen to me right now, but I would much rather work at regaining their faith on my own than have you simply hand Greece over to me, in some devious plan to gain my favour – as if you had all the right in this world to do as you wish with the lands of Greece, after its people elected to trust you with their stewardship! You are a despicable schemer, Emperor of Babylon and Egypt.”
You let her rant, wondering if you had made the right choice after all. It appears that she had not desired to rule, only that you ceased your meddling in Greek lands. Still, you do not understand why she is so upset: this was surely more than she bargained for.

“This is the offer that I make, Athena. You may dislike it, but do you disagree that this gives you the best way to reconnect with your people?” You respond calmly only after she has stopped talking, not wanting to interrupt her.

“Athena.” Artemis laid a hand on her shoulder.

“I know, Artemis. It pains me to admit this, but this scum is right about the resources we do not have… I just needed to express myself. You have my apologies for the outburst, Emperor. We will accept your offer.” She removes her helmet and bows her head to you. When she raises it, however, her eyes are full of scorn. “I will be Queen of Greece, and I will show the people just how misplaced their trust was in you.”

***

You crowned the new Queen of Greece before you returned to Sumeria. Although you were certain Athena would be doing her best to undermine your authority in her kingdom from now on, you also knew that she would not do anything to endanger the lives of the men defending Greece from the Terasphagos. As Queen she had authority over the men of Greece, but the soldiers stationed around Olympus were mostly Egyptian and Sumerian, and they still answered to Akilhotep and Nabuchasar – which was to say, they answered to you. If she was a general of your empire, directly under your command, things would be different, but immediately granting command of Egyptian and Sumerian soldiers to a Greek queen would be a tricky matter to explain. For now, you decide to keep Athena removed from the chain of command of the defending armies until you can have her meet with the kings of Sumeria and Egypt.

Upon your return, you find that things with the Gutians had not gone well. The mountain tribes of the east had somehow been warned of Gudersu’s arrival and ambushed him before he even reached the Assyrian city of Ashur. They did not have much liking for his tribe, seeing them as having deserted the Gutian country to live a life of luxury as a Babylonian lapdog. When you reached Ashur, Gudersu was still in critical condition. You brought Sekhenun with you to see what she can do for his condition. His wounds were severe, and one of his legs had begun to rot. She removed it. Gudersu remained feverish for the next week, and then, testament to his fortitude, began to recover. The big guy would survive. His fellow tribesmen were baying for blood against their Gutian brethren, angry at this sudden turn of events. The years spent wandering in Sumeria, separate from the other Gutians, had hardened their hearts against the ones who they think abandoned them to flee back into the mountains, fearing Marduk’s wrath. In the mean time, the Gutians had continued their raids against the Assyrian farmlands and trade caravans.

***

A. It looks like Marduk had the right idea. You begin a campaign of extermination against the Gutians. Gudersu’s tribe are more than happy to help, as they almost lost him and definitely lost more than a few of their own in the ambush.

B. You lead a few punitive raids personally, showing the Gutians why exactly they should not be messing around with you, but progress no further than that.

C. You offer diplomacy to the Gutians – it worked well with the Greeks in the end, surely it would work well with them. You set a date and time for a meeting at a neutral place, asking their leaders to come and speak with you.

D. You do nothing. You are a lazy emperor.

 

[Baltika9]

Told ya he needed more bodyguards, thankfully Sekhenun was back home and it didn't come to needing bodyguards in Greece. Sadly, much as I want to exterminatus the morons, now that we have an almost rebellious queen in Greece (by the way, she's just like young Ean. Isn't that just cute?), losing which would be a great blow to our reputation and by chain our rule. So would doing nothing.

B. But make it brutal. And then tell them to surrender to us or fucking die. Nobody messes with our men and gets out scot-free.

 

[TOME]

B. We can try diplomacy after we have shown we have nothing to fear from them. If we go straight to diplomacy with barbarians it just shows we are scared.

 

[newcomer]

Looks like someone is behind the Gutians...

B and if they refuse to surrender, A

And it seems that previously choice B whould've worked

 

[Esquilax]

B is a bad idea because it's a half-measure, it isn't going to stop the raids. Either pick A and wipe out the Gutians as Marduk did or remain in Greece with D (which is what I think that this option really entails). There's a reason why Marduk chose to supress them so brutally, and that's because their raiding was a nuisance to his authority.

Marduk had the right idea here:

His fellow tribesmen were baying for blood against their Gutian brethren, angry at this sudden turn of events. The years spent wandering in Sumeria, separate from the other Gutians, had hardened their hearts against the ones who they think abandoned them to flee back into the mountains, fearing Marduk’s wrath. In the mean time, the Gutians had continued their raids against the Assyrian farmlands and trade caravans.

The other Gutian tribes fled after Marduk was wiping them out, they'll do the same now.

B

 

[TOME]

B is a half-measure but it is the best option here. I don't want to wipe them out, but I believe C won't work without a show of force. We should find out what they want and hire them if possible. What would be a better way to find a way to china than employ whole tribes of hardy and nomadic barbarians?

 

[Baltika9]

treave, will we be able to make a choice about the Gutians after this update, or should those of that want it just go ahead and vote B ->A? Basically, I want to remind them who exactly they're fucking with and tell them that they work for us now and if they don't like it, well boo-fucking-hoo. Should have never attacked BROdersu then.

 

[treave]

You can see how they react and respond accordingly after this choice.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Oh well, looks like the last A was a bad idea. Athena's hard to read. I'm in favour of B with the contingencies newcomer listed.

B

I'm kind of concerned however that this is a trap devised by another immortal designed to lure us out, either as an ambush or to take control of the empire while we are campaigning. We'll have to see.

Edit: I've since become convinced that this is an evil Shulgi trick. The best course of action is to do nothing.

D

 

[Anabanana]

We should've gone with Esquilax's F.

A. This is the best way to ferret out whoever's behind the Gutians, I think. With Sekhe remaining behind to keep an eye on the empire, we should be all right. Hopefully.

Switching to B.

 

[treave]

Reasoning was that it's hard not to think you're being made a fool of when you know you have some trouble getting support among the Greeks yet this guy offers to just make you their queen. It smacks of a political ploy to her, where you just want your very own Greek god to use as a puppet to rule Greece. Of course, being the puppet she can at least work against the system from within it, so she accepts it. Regardless of your actual intentions, noble or not, that's what she thinks of this deal.

Edit: preemptive explanation: when I namedrop Marduk's genocide, I do mean A will have Ean wiping out every Gutian man, woman and child he can reach and doesn't bend two knees to him. No half measures.

 

[TOME]

Why do you suspect there is a immortal behind these raids? Gutians were afraid of Marduk and fled, and once they learned Marduk had died they came back. Not necessarily Shulgi's devious plan to get us.

 

[newcomer]

Why do you suspect there is a immortal behind these raids? Gutians were afraid of Marduk and fled, and once they learned Marduk had died they came back. Not necessarily Shulgi's devious plan to get us.

Because someone warns them of BROdersu's arrival, which means at the very least they have some spies (Marduk's priests? Or maybe some unknown tentacles?)

And don't worry about Athena, she's just being tsundere.
One day we should invite her to our breeding program.

Btw treave , did we send any of them to China?

 

[treave]

Offscreen stuff: No, but you've discussed it with them, Artemis tells you she has a way to get in contact with China, and basically says leave it to her. You probably can't make her go against her will since she'll just up and disappear into the woods, now that you've made Athena queen she won't leave Greece, and the Terror Twins would rather get their balls cut off than listen to your orders. So unless you want to send someone else, you're going to have to trust Artemis on this.

 

[ScubaV]

Saturday update?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbzouFaMJU4

treavebro, the LP king
treavebro, the LP king
treave, treave ,treave ,treave ,treave ,treave
treavebro, the LP king
Epic rules

Oh, and voting B. Barbarians won't respect us unless we prove ourselves in battle, but killing women and children won't engender respect, only hatred and fear.

 

[Kukulkan]

B
Genocide is like wrong guys.

 

[Tigranes]

A is ridiculous and way out of order - they haven't done anything near bad enough for such strong retribution and besides, we really don't want to set such precedents.

treave does D definitely mean staying in Greece? I wouldn't be opposed to the idea, though B seems the best to quell this threat for the moment.

 

[treave]

You're currently in the Assyrian city of Ashur, as mentioned in the update. Doing nothing means you do nothing about the Gutians. Running an empire, there's always other things to occupy your time. Cities to visit, people to inspire etc.

 

[Baltika9]

You're currently in the Assyrian city of Ashur, as mentioned in the update. Doing nothing means you do nothing about the Gutians. Running an empire, there's always other things to occupy your time. Cities to visit, people to inspire etc.

Oh, we'll inspire them alright.

Some Greece questions: What is the general opinion of Ean and his Emprie right now (I know Athens is just keeping their mouths shut and sharpening knives when we're not looking, but what about the others?); What is the state of most of their cities (perfect condition/mostly repaired/kinda repaired/shithole)?; Has our Empire invented a public school system and/or orphanages (I think there's a good opportunity right there) yet?

Also, the guy behind the scenes is probably Naram, still having a hissy fit after the "Scepter of Ra" incident.

 

[Esquilax]

Not surprised that making Athena Queen wasn't such a good idea. If we gave an offer without any strings attached, she would have been much more willing to trust us. People were talking about how we had the upper hand in the negotiations and they were treating the situation like a hostile business takeover instead of a way to establish trust with the Olympians and heal old wounds from the Aegean War (i.e. killing Zeus). I hope we'll have some opportunities to turn things around from our bad first impression.

B is a half-measure but it is the best option here. I don't want to wipe them out, but I believe C won't work without a show of force. We should find out what they want and hire them if possible. What would be a better way to find a way to china than employ whole tribes of hardy and nomadic barbarians?

Why is it better than A? We know that the fire-and-steel approach worked quite well for Marduk, and it will work well for Ean. However, I definitely see how it sets a bad example for our people - perhaps we shouldn't go so far.

Anyways, I doubt that there's any immortal involvement in these attacks - the Gutians simply figured that with Marduk gone, Assyria was ripe for raiding again. It's far more likely that a few remaining Marduk loyalists in our administration got the word out that our men would be heading to Ashur. In fact, I've got a pretty good idea of who was behind this:

Dapimsin – leader of the lawmaker priests, a boastful and arrogant man second in rank only to Ibilsin himself. In charge of the administration and bureaucracy of the empire.

... In the chaos of the attack on the temple, the Grand Priest of the Sons of Marduk had been trampled to death but the chief lawmaker Dapimsin was still missing, along with him other prominent members of the Sons of Marduk.

Dapimsin is the only major player from the old guard that is still alive at this point. He very likely has contact with a few Marduk sympathizers that we retained in our administration. From there, all he had to do was pay off some Gutian mercs and use his old contacts to find out where our army would be so his Gutians could ambush them.

I really think we ought to go with the "silver or lead" approach. The other Gutian tribes are well aware that Ean is fond of their people and has raised them to high positions. If they're given the choice between bending the knee or being slaughtered, they are far more likely to join us than they did Marduk.

Our Gutians are eager for blood, which makes diplomacy with the other tribes an unattractive option because it will alienate our bros.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I think this is a plot to lure Ean out into the mountains so Shulgi can cause a landslide and bury us and then proceed to takeover. It's happening guys, he's coming for us. The only way to counter him is to do what he least expects, which in this instance is nothing. Well, that's not true, I get the feeling from A that we won't be personally leading the effort, the scale of the operation sounds like it'd be hard for Shulgi to coordinate his rockslide so it might work. When fighting Shulgi his success depends on us doing what he expects, bravely leading a charge to fight off some Gutian dudes sounds like what he's expecting us to do. So I'm going to vote D.

And before you ask, yes, I've lost it.