[LP CYOA] Epic

[newcomer]

I agree with Esquilax . And make sure the merchants wear these lodestone pedants to convince the northeners that they are being used as accessories. And after their supply runs out, they'll buy it back in the form of a compass... at the right price of course..

D

 

[Anabanana]

Makes sense. I'm voting D.

 

[treave]

Sending men in wouldn't have worked very well and would start to cause unrest if you combined it with building a new capital.

 

[TOME]

Not sure if we should rush to map the miasma before the incursion or just wait it out and continue then. Time is a factor here but I don't think B is going to work well. We are going to take losses and we can't afford to do so before the incursion. A is risky but tempting in the sense that if we could get a glimpse of the rift, we could plan an expedition while waiting to the incursion to happen.

D. I see no harm in trading except for the time loss. I might go for A, but I don't think it has a chance to win here.

 

[Baltika9]

D. Too early for a heroic sacrifice, there's still China to deal with, and I'm not all that into throwing away lives IG style yet.

Something tells me this swarm will be the biggest we've seen yet.

 

[Storyfag]

D. Was considering it even before I read Esquilax' persuasive arguments.

newcomer: we've got only two pendants now. Wouldn't make sense to outfit the merchants with them!

Re: hivemind. Quite possibly. The things we encountered don't even have digestive tracts, meaning all they eat is extracted by something else (and then apparently transferred into the miasma, which sustains them...). They're clearly mere drones in service of a higher creature.

 

[Tigranes]

D. I'm worried that we have no clue about how to close the rift even if we got there, and nothing we see in the miasma itself seems to give any hints. We should get movign on it.

 

[Baltika9]

So, treave, having Ean bring the last piece of Vajra and being in the presence of Marduk and Zeus with it made the Olympus Rift a forgone conclusion? By the way, anything noteworthy over the Gieloth Comms lately? Also, how close are we to the "Always watching, always right" territory?

Re: hivemind. Quite possibly. The things we encountered don't even have digestive tracts, meaning all they eat is extracted by something else (and then apparently transferred into the miasma, which sustains them...). They're clearly mere drones in service of a higher creature.

Something tells me they finally evolved a Lictor. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the dear departed finally made a jail break. Or all of them. Having leveled up considerably.

P.S: after we deal with this shit, we'd better focus on increasing the Empire's culture, the lack of creativity doesn't sound all that good to me, shitty city names aside.

 

[Storyfag]

By the way, anything noteworthy over the Gieloth Comms lately?

Treave just answered a similar question from me. Nothing new.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the dear departed finally made a jail break.

Why do you keep claiming that everyone lost in the explosion (implosion?) of Olympus is still alive? Quotes or it didn't happen. As far as I'm concerned Zeus, Marduk, Hera, Shamash and who-the-fuck was there during the big boom is dead. Ares arrived later, so he possibly might be alive.

 

[Baltika9]

Why do you keep claiming that everyone lost in the explosion (implosion?) of Olympus is still alive? Quotes or it didn't happen. As far as I'm concerned Zeus, Marduk, Hera, Shamash and who-the-fuck was there during the big boom is dead. Ares arrived later, so he possibly might be alive.

Marduk and Zeus aren't getting out of the rift anytime soon. Still, congrats, we're on a one way road to alternate history land. No turning back now.

That's pretty much a confirmation right there, and until treave tells me that he retconned/changed his mind, I'm holding to this.
That was right after the Cataclysm update. "Anytime soon" is very subjective. It could be sixty years, it could be sixty thousand. Fact remains, they're coming out. Now, I remember a Shamash, Ares and Hera confirm, but can't (be arsed to) find it.

Ooh, treave, are the Spartans throwing their children into Olympus yet?
And about my paranoia: I'm just trying figure shit out before it fucks us over (the Masters' and Immortals' loyalties and motivations, the nature of the Terrasphagos, the Gieloth and the hunger and why it permeates every powerful being except the Immortals?), so we can fuck everyone else over before then.

Edit: I have a lot of theories on the Masters and something gives me the feeling that they're not screwing around with dimensions, but with time. Think about it, how else can the Voices know what is supposed/destined to happen?

 

[Storyfag]

Why do you keep claiming that everyone lost in the explosion (implosion?) of Olympus is still alive? Quotes or it didn't happen. As far as I'm concerned Zeus, Marduk, Hera, Shamash and who-the-fuck was there during the big boom is dead. Ares arrived later, so he possibly might be alive.

Marduk and Zeus aren't getting out of the rift anytime soon. Still, congrats, we're on a one way road to alternate history land. No turning back now.

That's pretty much a confirmation right there.

It can be read as "they're fucking dead" with equal validity.

 

[Baltika9]

snip

Meh. Semantics.
I guess we'll see who's right this update or another.

 

[newcomer]

newcomer: we've got only two pendants now. Wouldn't make sense to outfit the merchants with them!

I mean for subsequent purchases (second, third, etc.). Our merchant can say that the EMPRAH looks cool wearing it & there's a boom of lodestone pedant

 

[treave]

So, treave, having Ean bring the last piece of Vajra and being in the presence of Marduk and Zeus with it made the Olympus Rift a forgone conclusion?

No. I wonder why you would think that, when you guys know of at least two choices that would have stopped the rift; not distracting Zeus from destroying Marduk, and sacrificing yourself by allowing the Vajra to open a portal successfully.

P.S: after we deal with this shit, we'd better focus on increasing the Empire's culture, the lack of creativity doesn't sound all that good to me, shitty city names aside.

Egalme is Akkadian for administrative center/palace, if I read it correctly. At any rate, Antioch won, but I saw no names proposed even though I did say:

You accept the offer of the new capital (free-form proposal: go look at the map and figure out where to put it and what to name it).

So I had to put something in.

 

[Baltika9]

So, treave, having Ean bring the last piece of Vajra and being in the presence of Marduk and Zeus with it made the Olympus Rift a forgone conclusion?

No. I wonder why you would think that, when you guys know of at least two choices that would have stopped the rift; not distracting Zeus from destroying Marduk, and sacrificing yourself by allowing the Vajra to open a portal successfully.

I remember those outcomes. I meant that if we followed with the plan of getting Marduk to Zeus so he could use the devourer and having Ean stand there would have ended the same. Or his decoy would have weakened Zeus enough for the devouring to succeed.

So, Spartans...around yet?

 

[treave]

If you hadn't zapped Marduk with Zeus's bolt, he wouldn't have been weakened badly, Zeus wouldn't have known immediately where the second piece was, and the fight would've gone differently.

Also Spartans don't exist yet.

 

[oscar]

Yeah in Greece we're talking Mycenaeans at the moment (since we're about 1800 BC). Though Greece might be too fucked up for them to have developed.

 

[Baltika9]

Another question for you, treave: if Naram could control sheep and humans can learn esoteric powers like reading their opponents, could they tame wild animals?
Essentially, is bear/rhino cavalry possible?

 

[Tigranes]

Can we retcon the name, then? Surely we can think of something better.

I actually like Antioch as it is, but maybe we can make it fit with Ean / Shinar'i, etc.

 

[Esquilax]

Yeah, I'd like to change the name as well. treave, if you hadn't noticed we were deeply involved in a very important debate about tentacle marriage at the time, so I think we should get a pass on this.

Ragarding Zeus and Marduk, they were at ground zero when Zeus tore a hole in the fabric of reality. Odds of survival don't look good. In the unlikely event that either of them are still alive, they've probably been warped to an incredibly fucked up degree from the event. In any case, not worth speculating about right now. We would first need to find the rift to even begin forming an opinion about this. Anything we say right now is just pissing in the wind.

D. I'm worried that we have no clue about how to close the rift even if we got there, and nothing we see in the miasma itself seems to give any hints. We should get movign on it.

Our piece of Vajra will give us a clue. Since we only have a single piece, it definitely won't close it outright, but it would probably react to the rift and give us the ability to traverse through it safely. It might also give us clues as to what it's like on the other side. The big advantage of A is that it's the only choice that would let us actually examine the rift before the incursion.

This is why I'm still not sure between A and D. I believe D will work, but A is the only choice that gets to the heart of the issue immediately. With B, C or D, we still have to wait it out for five years while the Terasphagos send in another swarm. A is risky, but if it's a success, it cuts to the chase immediately and allows us to get to the bottom of things sooner. We are pretty desperate for time.

 

[treave]

Another question for you, treave: if Naram could control sheep and humans can learn esoteric powers like reading their opponents, could they tame wild animals?
Essentially, is bear/rhino cavalry possible?

The 'reading' is a matter of training to look carefully and spotting certain giveaway signs. It's not esoteric. Bear cavalry is possible if you have someone with actual powers taming the entire lot.

Can we retcon the name, then?

Of course you can.

Antioch doesn't fit because Ean is not called Antiochus. Nitpicky, but it'd be like calling a place New York when there isn't even a York in the first place.

 

[Baltika9]

Hmm... well, the empire is the "Land of the Watchers". How about the "King's Eye", then? Can't seem to find the word "Emperor".
"Inu'Sarrum"?

 

[Esquilax]

Baltika9's idea for a name for the Empire prior to the time we settled on calling it Shin'ar was Ankida. I'd like that to be the name of the city. It means the joining of heaven and Earth, but I think it's fitting because our Empire is a joining of many different peoples. Plus it sounds kinda cool.

 

[Anabanana]

Another question for you, treave: if Naram could control sheep and humans can learn esoteric powers like reading their opponents, could they tame wild animals?
Essentially, is bear/rhino cavalry possible?

*shudders* Bear cavalry? Seriously? After what happened in a certain other CYOA?

 

[Baltika9]

But did they have humans capable of taming them completely, hm? Did they?
Why have superpowers if you don't cheat the game, goddammit?