[LP CYOA] Epic

[Baltika9]

Esquilax: if we go to China first, what's the point of throwing men into Olympus? To do it faster? If we're going to China, what's the rush?
As to why China should come before the rift: we don't know anything about it, at all. We don't know what goes on inside of it, how time passes, or if we'll be able to get out quickly enough. Most importantly, we didn't even get close to it and even EAN has difficulty seeing and breathing on the approach. Such an expedition into the space between reality requires much better equipment, better intel and more research.
So, the best thing to do right now is close it down tighter than a nun's cunt, as in"make Cadia look like a sand fort after a rain" tight, so that fucking nothing slips through, post some automatic ballistas around the walls and gallop off to China to resolve the Immortal-Gieloth conflict before either side does something retarded (tree-form or summoning a Master retarded).
Why? Because problems don't go away when you ignore them and China is as much of one as Olympus is, except it does shit-all for our Empire, whereas Olympus is a unifying factor and a training ground for fanatical, hard-ass veterans.

Only, if we do it this way, we'd better come out alive. Marduk, Zeus and the Immortals that want in there are still alive and kicking and treave confirmed that they'll come out. And speaking of those guys, we should also have a better team then:
An Immortal Goddess of Justice that doesn't really like Ean personally.
An Immortal Goddess of the Hunt that doesn't really like personally and is trying to "out-evervirgin" Ean. The gall!
Two demigods that I would not let, at any cost, watch Ean's ballsack.
And two Gieloth, one of whom is, in addition to everything else, emaciated.

Shit, another reason for a couple Demigods of our own making/Immortal-Gieloth hybrid(s) to be produced ASAP. Who else can we trust to always watch Ean's back if not his own flesh and blood?

Edit: TL;DR: tentacles, hurr-de-fucking-durr.
Edit 2: double post fix.

 

[Baltika9]

Besides, you said it yourself: if we throw men at Olympus, we stand a good chance of killing men in vain, losing their confidence in Ean (does pissing off the only element of the Empire that fanatically supports you sound like a good idea?) and if Sekhenun or our scholars come up with a better way to traverse the miasma, they will be royally, and rightly, pissed off.

treave: since I'll never find out what a hybrid looks like the conventional way, can you at least tell me if Lil' E' would have been a badass little Cthulhu expy that would've surpassed his pop and bailed his ass out of sorts of trouble? PM me for privacy, if you must, I know how to keep it.

 

[newcomer]

treave: since I'll never find out what a hybrid looks like the conventional way, can you at least tell me if Lil' E' would have been a badass little Cthulhu expy that would've surpassed his pop and bailed his ass out of sorts of trouble? PM me for privacy, if you must, I know how to keep it.

Looks like there's a great opposition against tentacle hurr-durr club

treave count me in into this pm...

 

[Baltika9]

treave: since I'll never find out what a hybrid looks like the conventional way, can you at least tell me if Lil' E' would have been a badass little Cthulhu expy that would've surpassed his pop and bailed his ass out of sorts of trouble? PM me for privacy, if you must, I know how to keep it.

Looks like there's a great opposition against tentacle hurr-durr club

treave count me in into this pm...

I can't help but think Esquilax is still trying to enact that Ean's "honorable death by purging the Gieloth" idea he had after we resurrected him.

Ah well, I guess a human gieloth alliance doesn't figure in Terra's future. You know what that means, though, right?

Fuck just killing the Masters. Ean should take over.

 

[oscar]

A
A
A

Antioch is a good site:

Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch's geographic, military and economic location, particularly the Spice trade, the Silk Road, the Persian Royal Road, benefited its occupants, and eventually it rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the Near East. As a result of its longevity and historical industriousness, Antioch was called a cradle of Christianity

While Constantinople would be pretty cool (great defences and would benefit from both northern and eastern trade routes) I think our empire definitely is an eastern one, not a European/western one and Constantinople orients us too far west and north.

I hope we're not sapping the military's strength/loyalty to us but we really need to deal with this. Perhaps set up a pension/award/social prestige thing for people who volunteer to enter the miasma?

 

[Bloodshifter]

Wowzah you trip A folks MUST really want to stay in greece can't see any reason why you want a HAREM of teenage twits AND throw away our best trackers on a suicide run.

Edit: btw if the shard FOR any reason becomes "alive" *ala Anbar-Shi* he shall be named R00fles

 

[TOME]

Flopped to BA(Antioch)D.

 

[TOME]

m4davis BAD
Baltika9 BAA Constantinople
Storyfag BAC Antioch, adopt Athena
Azira BAD
Smashin Axe BAC Antioch, adopt Athena
Bloodshifter BAC Harem + marriage to Athena
Newcomer AAB1 Constantinople, Athena as main wife - Flopped to AAA
TOME BAD Antioch
Esquilax AAA, Antioch
Kipeci BAC, Antioch, Sekhenun
Tigranes BAD Antioch
ScubaV BAA Antioch
Kukulkan BAC adopt Athena - flopped to AAA
Anabanana AAA Assur?
oscar AAA Antioch

1. A - 5, B - 10
2. A - 15, 1 vote for Assur, 2 for Constantinole, 7 for Antioch
3. A - 7, C - 4, D - 4, 2 votes for adopting Athena, 1 vote for harem + marriage to Athena, 1 vote for Sekhenun

 

[Smashing Axe]

I don't envy you the task of collating all these votes together treave. I'd volunteer to assist you if I wasn't currently preoccupied with university assignments.

I really like this chapter so far, time skips and civ development has been a welcome change of pace. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all crumbles to pieces horribly.
Edit:
annnnnnnnnnnnnd TOME is awesome

 

[TOME]

Do you think China would have been any easier? Both of these problems are extremely difficult and take decades to solve, and trying to focus on solving both would have lead to us solving neither of them. We're barely beginning to deal with the rift situation, and that's while we're devoting 100% of our energy towards solving it.

This isn't something you can multi-task; the China situation is equally important, but that would have involved infiltrating and fighting a force with hundreds of Gieloth. Assuming we started this chapter by heading to China, we would still be at war with them.

I actually meant that we could multi-task. Right now we can't do shit about the rift. Just kill the Terasphagos when they attack and hunt them down if they make past the walls. I think we could leave our armies behind protecting the empire and keeping the rift under control and go to China with Edem. We don't necessarily have to solve the problem there, just scout and stir the mix if one side is winning.

It's just like with Marduk. We went to save Egypt then, because we didn't think that Marduk was so close to winning. And thanks to treave's infodump, we got there just in time to save the day. Now we are also pouring all our resources to one problem and burying our head to sand regarding the other. I hope this doesn't backfire like saving Egypt almost did.

 

[Anabanana]

That... actually makes sense in conjunction with a 1B vote. While you're waiting for SCIENCE to advance, go to China with a small team to check out the situation there. Then come back when advances have been made, and THEN go all out into the rift.

I don't think we'd be spreading ourselves thin at all, since we can just go with Ean and Edem. Maybe appoint Artemis to take over the mapping effort for us.

 

[Baltika9]

treave: can't Ean just have Sekhenun bio-engineer him a couple of heirs, a-la Project PRIMARCH? I know that the Himalayas aren't ours, yet, but still.

 

[Storyfag]

Wait just one darn moment, yall!

Weren't we hooked into the Gieloth information network? Shouldn't we, therefore, be perfectly aware of the situation in China?

 

[Anabanana]

Eh, even if Sekhenum could bioengineer heirs, she should focus on the miasma.

 

[newcomer]

treave: can't Ean just have Sekhenun bio-engineer him a couple of heirs, a-la Project PRIMARCH? I know that the Himalayas aren't ours, yet, but still.

Good idea. Myabe miasma first, but after that we can create a tentacle hybrid illegitimate child

 

[Kukulkan]

treave, how much of anatolia do we control? Is there any significant civilization or group of tribes capable of preventing annexation? Or did the Hittites in this timeline conquer all of Turkey?

 

[Baltika9]

treave: can't Ean just have Sekhenun bio-engineer him a couple of heirs, a-la Project PRIMARCH? I know that the Himalayas aren't ours, yet, but still.

Good idea. Myabe miasma first, but after that we can create a tentacle hybrid illegitimate child

Or twenty. And have that new master scatter them across Holy Terra. Where they will proceed to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and bring regions under their bootheel for easier assimilation.

 

[newcomer]

Or twenty. And have that new master scatter them across Holy Terra. Where they will proceed to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and bring regions under their bootheel for easier assimilation.

Then they proceed to rape & mindrape both immortals and gieloth (including the so-called celibate Greek goddesses), and using mind control and proper child education curriculum, build the Shin'Ari Empire and works to prevent armageddon from masters.
And thus we have the Eyeless White and cannibal children

 

[Baltika9]

treave: I believe this is an old question, Esquilax asked it if memory serves, but had we chosen to play as Naram/Shulgi, how would Ean have ended up as a character? What plans did you have in store for him as an NPC?

 

[Bloodshifter]

Lol yea why isn't Ean hooked up to gieloth.roofles.hackz

 

[treave]

My thanks to TOME for the counting.

***

Chapter 6.10: Lodestone and the Rift

Construction of the new capital – named by your scholars in another astonishing lack of creative thinking as Egalme in the old Akkadian language – proceeded smoothly, as the workmen expanded on the bustling town that had already sprung up there a few years after the roads were built. Though it produced little goods of its own, the town was sited at the nexus for several major trade routes throughout the empire and beyond. Egalme became a splendid city over the decades, serving as the center for administration and trade throughout the empire. As you had accepted their proposal, both Nabukudzur and Akilptah were pleased. Despite that, you stayed above whatever politics they had planned – not a hard thing to do with your network of informants – and they soon gave up their attempts to manipulate you via the consorts you had taken. As for the consorts, no fruit was born of your unions, though it was not for lack of trying.

In the meantime, Terasphagos activity continued to decrease as the empire neared its fiftieth year in existence. Unfortunately, the drop in their activity seemed to coincide with an increase in the expansion of the miasma. The rate at which it grew became faster as the years went by, and mapping efforts were greatly hindered. Even with the use of the filters, normal humans could not stay in the miasma for long. There had been no way to contain the miasma – it and the Terasphagos were entirely alien to the immortals and even the Gieloth, who had no record of anything like it in their many thousand years of wandering.

Soon after the empire turned fifty, Terasphagos raids began to increase again. Interestingly, your scholars found that this corresponded to a decline in a rate of the miasma’s expansion. It was clear that there was a pattern related to the miasma and Terasphagos activity. You stepped up the patrols again in response. In the next five years, the records were conclusive enough that Sekhenun warned you of the possibility of another incursion in twenty years’ time. Though it was still a long way to come, preparations began early. You strengthened your fortifications. Under your orders, priests began preaching of the danger of these ravenous monsters, reminding them that it was only through your divine grace and the arms of their fellow citizens that the empire was being kept safe. It appears that your men might have done too good a job of keeping the monsters at bay, as outside of Greece, few were concerned. Many of the populace had never seen one with their own eyes, and even those that had seen the displays of individual Terasphagos saw nothing more than a strange if aggressive animal that posed no threat under the watchful eyes of a dozen armed soldiers. Taken away from the miasma for a long time, the Terasphagos would weaken and eventually die, and it was only these that you could show in an attempt to demonstrate that the threat was real.

In the seventieth year of your rule, the northerners gave you an additional gift that year to commemorate your long partnership together. They had recently discovered iron that could attract other iron, a simple curiosity. Calling it lodestone, they had made two small pendants of it, and presented it to you. You immediately sent one of it for study. Barely a month later, one of your brighter scholars came to you and showed how it pointed always north, if left to hang freely in a horizontal position. The northerners had seemed unaware of its uses yet, instead treating it as a toy. You sent scouts out to search for areas where you could get more. This was just what you needed – the ability to orient yourself within the miasma.

They found a large deposit in a particularly dangerous location; one of the last strips of contested land between the miasma and your reclaimed territory, around Olympus. Terasphagos activity had been severe in the past few years, with bands of thousands roaming the area at any given time. They assaulted your fortifications in numbers that were less than the tens of thousands that had streamed out of the miasma nearly fifty years before, but still greater than any Terasphagos horde that the empire had ever recorded. Mapping activity had all but stopped, nearly a third of the way to the center of Olympus, as without a method of orientation there were too many roaming Terasphagos for safety lines and markers to do any good.

***

A. Sekhenun’s predicted time of incursion is just five years away. You have no time to lose – you have your own pendant fashioned into a form suitable for navigation, and venture into the miasma without the support of your army. The rift had to be found, even if you did not know how to close it.

B. You have your men fight to establish a base where the lodestone could be obtained. Securing a supply quickly would allow your men to keep their bearings almost everywhere. This would help greatly should there be a need to push the coming incursion back into the miasma.

C. You have your men continue to search for other places where you could get a supply of lodestone. There is no hurry – you will hold against the incoming incursion. If the theory holds true, as long as you manage to hold out, their activity would drop afterwards, allowing you to navigate in greater safety.

D. You order purchases of lodestone from the northerners, though they will certainly be curious about your sudden need for it. This will take time, but the supplies should arrive before the Terasphagos swarm from the rift in greater numbers.

 

[treave]

Regarding the questions:

1) I currently have no plans for a immortal-Gieloth hybrid offspring. I'll think of something if it ever manages to get to that point.

2) Sekhenun could probably grow you an 'heir' but it would take quite some effort, and currently she's working on advancing the empire as a whole as well as researching the Terasphagos. It's going to take a lot of trial and error too.

3) The Gieloth network is long range. As most of the ones that matter are in China, they aren't using it much nowadays. What news you know is usually sourced from Artemis. If there is no news, there are no changes to the situation.

4) There are no tribes or kingdoms that can contest your supremacy of the Anatolian plains for now. The road network + the amount of soldiers you can bring to bear at a swift rate, not to mention the "superheroes", mean that there can be no meaningful resistance to the Empire for long.

5) Ean would've been a do-gooder, King Arthur-ish character according to his own will, but his personality could change depending on what you did to him. Just like Shulgi.

 

[oscar]

B. Allows us to maintain this tech advantage and gets us to work that much sooner.

 

[Kukulkan]

A

 

[Esquilax]

treave, I'm curious about how effective the IG rush strategy from the previous update would have worked. It seems that it would have been rather futile. Probably better that we held back.

Anyways, on to the vote. I don't think we have time to fuck around here. I'm still contemplating between A or D. C sucks.

I'm not so sure about B. Forty years have passed since the previous update, meaning that we've managed to accumulate quite a bit of Northern steel over the years for our Olympus garrison. Assuming we haven't lost too many men within the miasma over the years, we should have enough equipment to outfit ~4,000 men. Unfortunately, we didn't go for praetorians and most of our men are still under-equipped, so I think we'd take a lot of losses here.

D might be the better option between the two. We have a great road network, so we would get the lodestone in time. Yeah, we'd risk giving up some tech, but we wouldn't have to waste any men before that. Plus, we'd be playing to our strengths given that we have some of the best merchants in the world:

The merchants of the empire are some of the best in the world thanks to the education that the state has mandated, but as most trade cities are within the empire now, they usually compete against each other, with lines being drawn depending on the kingdom they are affiliated to.

I have a feeling that our merchants are so good that they could swindle the Northerners into giving away their lodestone for far less than it's actually worth. They might not even realize what we're actually using it for - they may just think it's a mindless distraction for wealthy, decadent Southerners. After we arrange the deal, we'd use our road network to get it back to Olympus before the incursion. All without losing a single man.

I understand that it isn't very bro, but it certainly seems a fuckload more effective than having to deal with another Terasphagos swarm after already having lost a ton of men in the previous assault. We would be at full-strength and well-equipped to deal with the Terasphagos. We might even be prepared enough to head off to China while Athena/Artemis deal with the incursion.

Off-topic, but I have a theory on the Terasphagos:

Soon after the empire turned fifty, Terasphagos raids began to increase again. Interestingly, your scholars found that this corresponded to a decline in a rate of the miasma’s expansion. It was clear that there was a pattern related to the miasma and Terasphagos activity.

Interesting. Storyfag/CappenVarra stated that we were probably up against some sort of hivemind, and I'm inclined to agree. The miasma functions sort of like Zerg Creep, so I think that the "Queen" of these creatures has limits to her abilities; either she focuses on spreading the miasma further, or she focuses on breeding. Doing both at once is too taxing for her.

What I'm getting at is that after she's finished one phase of breeding, she's likely to be more vulnerable because she's going to be focused on spreading more miasma rather than creating more Terasphagos.