Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

In my long absence, I'd totally missed your thoughts on FE5 dismounting, did you ever give your thoughts on that?

Great to hear from you again! This mean I'll be seeing more of you around here again?

I still feel it's quite annoying to make your characters lose a fundamental part of what makes them good for the final stretch of the game, but I played around it more this time, so I don't remember it being as big a deal. I mostly just made sure any mounted units I seriously considered for endgame had a good sword rank, and also made sure the brave lance and dragonpike saw plenty of healthy use and weren't hoarded. I did like the effort to balance what is now a much, much bigger advantage than it used to be though, what with the mobility, cantoing, and nigh-guaranteed capture capacity that being on a horse grants.

[Emperor Hardin]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Great to hear from you again! This mean I'll be seeing more of you around here again?

I still feel it's quite annoying to make your characters lose a fundamental part of what makes them good for the final stretch of the game, but I played around it more this time, so I don't remember it being as big a deal. I mostly just made sure any mounted units I seriously considered for endgame had a good sword rank, and also made sure the brave lance and dragonpike saw plenty of healthy use and weren't hoarded. I did like the effort to balance what is now a much, much bigger advantage than it used to be though, what with the mobility, cantoing, and nigh-guaranteed capture capacity that being on a horse grants.

I'll try to, yes, and catch up on the Thracia LP.

I can understand a bit of the intent with FE5 dismount, but on the other hand, I felt that game needed a soldier unit more then any other game. I'll take a look at your party, I wonder if you recruited Xavier? Xavier is a unit that I really changed my mind on as he's surprisingly good.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Emperor Hardin said:

I'll try to, yes, and catch up on the Thracia LP.

I can understand a bit of the intent with FE5 dismount, but on the other hand, I felt that game needed a soldier unit more then any other game. I'll take a look at your party, I wonder if you recruited Xavier? Xavier is a unit that I really changed my mind on as he's surprisingly good.

Oh. Oh yes, I recruited Xavier. That was... an event. Satisfying, but... well I think I stated my opinions well enough in the writeup. You'll see.

[Emperor Hardin]

Just now, Alastor15243 said:

Oh. Oh yes, I recruited Xavier. That was... an event. Satisfying, but... well I think I stated my opinions well enough in the writeup. You'll see.

I wonder if you used him? Xavier is an incredible bow unit and together with his skills and stats, he becomes a very menacing unit.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Emperor Hardin said:

I wonder if you used him? Xavier is an incredible bow unit and together with his skills and stats, he becomes a very menacing unit.

I used him, yes, but mostly for his leadership stars. I generally found everyone else in my main army way more useful for actual combat, given that they had better move, didn't have the double-edged sword that is accost, and had way better speed. I already had a good bow fighter in Tanya, also.

[Emperor Hardin]

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I used him, yes, but mostly for his leadership stars. I generally found everyone else in my main army way more useful for actual combat, given that they had better move, didn't have the double-edged sword that is accost, and had way better speed. I already had a good bow fighter in Tanya, also.

His leadership stars are great. Xavier's generally used for the cramped indoor chapters, where movement matters less. 

Though you having Tanya is the big thing, I assume you gave her the Brave Bow, in which case she fills Xavier main niche. The big thing about Xavier besides his skills is that he is the only person who comes with a high bow rank and the Brave Bow is one of the best weapons in the game.

Accost works great with the Brave Bow and Xavier's base stats can 1 round Dark Warlords/Deadlords if he's given a Master/Brave Bow. One video of Xavier in action.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Emperor Hardin

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Emperor Hardin said:

His leadership stars are great. Xavier's generally used for the cramped indoor chapters, where movement matters less. 

Though you having Tanya is the big thing, I assume you gave her the Brave Bow, in which case she fills Xavier main niche. The big thing about Xavier besides his skills is that he is the only person who comes with a high bow rank.

Accost works great with the Brave Bow and Xavier's base stats can 1 round Dark Warlords/Deadlords if he's given a Master/Brave Bow.

Eh, I find movement matters any time you're moving forward. Especially when you're on a schedule. It's actually one of the things that's given me an idea if I ever create a fangame with SRPG studio, something to make low move less of a deal breaker:

give the player a convoy unit, like Merlinus, except instead of Merlinus being an optional deploy who can't die, this convoy is force-deployed and losing him is a game over. And then have every map have reinforcements come from behind. That would turn every map into a sort of defense chapter where low-move units would still have plenty to do to protect the convoy.

[Emperor Hardin]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Eh, I find movement matters any time you're moving forward. Especially when you're on a schedule. It's actually one of the things that's given me an idea if I ever create a fangame with SRPG studio, something to make low move less of a deal breaker:

give the player a convoy unit, like Merlinus, except instead of Merlinus being an optional deploy who can't die, this convoy is force-deployed and losing him is a game over. And then have every map have reinforcements come from behind. That would turn every map into a sort of defense chapter where low-move units would still have plenty to do to protect the convoy.

Believe it or not, Xavier is actually really good on LTC runs and is high tier. The only armored units on Jugdral to rank that high.

I've heard armored units are better in Vestaria due to similar reasons, though personally I think there needs to be a way to circumvent the movement loss eventually. I liked how in Berwick Saga, the Armored unit automatically got regular infantry movement once he got to a certain level.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Emperor Hardin

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Believe it or not, Xavier is actually really good on LTC runs and is high tier. The only armored units on Jugdral to rank that high.

What tier list? I saw him C ranked on one, and lower-mid on another.

[Flere210]

I heard this thing more than once. Why Tanya or Xavier are praised for the brave bow while Selphina is ignored despite having better bow rank and bases than Tanya? 

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Flere210 said:

I heard this thing more than once. Why Tanya or Xavier are praised for the brave bow while Selphina is ignored despite having better bow rank and bases than Tanya? 

To be clear, I'm sure Tanya isn't good in efficiency. I was mainly using her because this was a non-ltc run and I liked the bonuses she gave to Orsin and wanted to make her contribute. It took a lot of doing. I only mentioned her because by the time I had Xavier, Tanya was a way better bow option.

[Flere210]

Mekkah put Thracia archers in C tier in a recent video, so i don't think using her is a terrible idea. But then, i use 80% of the cast on Thracia.

[Emperor Hardin]

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

What tier list? I saw him C ranked on one, and lower-mid on another.

Here you go.

You can see he is in the C+ rank.

Mekkah also had nice things to say about Xavier.

23 minutes ago, Flere210 said:

I heard this thing more than once. Why Tanya or Xavier are praised for the brave bow while Selphina is ignored despite having better bow rank and bases than Tanya? 

Tanya is low and Selphina is higher then her, I just mentioned that if Alastor was already using Tanya, then the Brave Bow Niche is already filled.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Emperor Hardin

[Alastor15243]

Binding Blade Day 22: Chapter 16, Take 2

And right off the bat, let's start off the day with another restart because I forgot that damned bishop at the beginning can silence Clarine for longer than I can afford her to be silenced for, because the early-game repeatable RNG seems to guarantee him a lucky hit with that thing if any magic user approaches him on turn one.

And then let's restart again when I panicked when I realized I opened the main door too soon and got Roy and Lalum away from danger too efficiently and sent Douglas heading towards my main party instead of the eastern distraction party, forcing me to send Milady over to make the eastern side the closer one again, completely forgetting that the mages over in that direction had aircalibur tomes.

Fuck me, why am I getting terrible at this game all of a sudden!?

Anyway, I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I decided to support Roy with Lalum. I figured, why not? Might as well.

Curious. It seems you can't skip Hugh's dialogue at any point, even after recruiting him. Must be a rather inelegant safeguard against skipping the recruitment choice flag.

Okay, so, my retries confirm that those reinforcements were just really unluckily timed on my part. They aren't proximity-based. This time I got there much earlier and plugged them up in time.

I'm sorry, I really don't have much to comment on here. Since there was nothing wrong with my ending strategy last time, and I just fucked up in the minor details, I'm mostly doing everything the same, with few strategy changes worth mentioning.

But now I've recruited Zeiss successfully. It only takes two turns with two units, you just have to make absolutely sure that the second unit is attacking with a weapon that's melee-only, because there's only one space where you can attack that wall from range without risking Zeiss unmaking himself upon you.

Honestly, I'm wondering what exactly Zeiss thinks he's fighting for that he's so pissed off at the princess for “betraying Bern” and at Milady for siding with her. I know why Zephiel is waging this war, but “humanity is rotten and corrupt and we all deserve to die” is a pretty hard sell to the unwashed masses, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't got Chapter Black on hand to help. I don't get a real sense of what anyone but Zephiel thinks they're accomplishing here aside from just sheer nationalist expansionism. What's the cannon fodder being told about what this war is for? I'm curious, but I also kind of feel there... isn't actually an answer to that question. Zephiel may be an interesting enemy, at least if you've played FE7, but Bern... does not remotely seem to be.

At any rate, while Zeiss doesn't seem so great, and he's really underleveled, I'm gonna try and get him up to speed. Because it would be nice to give Milady a support partner who can keep up with her, at least terrainwise. Those boots guarantee nobody will be keeping up with her at full speed.

All that remains is to visit the secret shop, get a guiding ring to promote Clarine immediately and an elysian whip for Zeiss just in case (now that I have a silver card, I can just sell back at full buying price any promotion items I later discover I don't need), maybe some angelic robes if I still have a nice enough surplus of money, and then steal that delphi shield from Narcian for Milady.

Oh, that's right! He has a blue gem too! Guess we'll be waiting one more turn before Shin obliterates him.

No, fuck it, instead of Shin, let's have Rutger do it with the wyrmslayer, now that the blue gem is off Narcian's hands.

...Fuck. Right as I did that, I realized I might like to see what kind of whining shitheadery he had to say to Milady or Zeiss. Too late. He's dead. Guess I'll have to look it up.

Okay, while there's nothing absolutely fantastic here, there are some pretty amusing lines. I especially like that Clarine doesn't even remember the face of the guy who kidnapped her and locked her in a cell. Also, even Cecilia gets to throw shade at him by reminding him that he wasn't the one who beat her last time.

Well, at any rate, mission accomplished. Sorry this entry is so short, but there really hasn't been so much to say. I considered doing the gaiden today too, but nah, I don't think I'll really have time to do it justice. Just because it didn't take me long to write this doesn't mean it didn't take me long to do he chapter. Anyway, on to the ending cutscene.

Wow. King Mordred, huh? Mordred, Guinivere, Two members of two separate duos named Lance and Lot? ...Yeah, I bet the writer of this game was really pissed off that Jugdral already called dibs on Arthur.

Also, yes, this outright confirms Elphin is the prince, but I've gotta know: why the fuck won't he tell his father he's alive!?

Okay, it would have been really nice for this game to show Douglas in the end cutscene to confirm you did indeed unlock the gaiden chapter. Not that it makes much of a difference, since I've made a habit of alternating save files for every chapter I beat to make sure I have backups of the last two just in case. But not everyone has all three save files to spare.

As for my thoughts on the chapter... honestly, the gimmicks here were just tedious. If Douglas were harder to safely stall, maybe it would be more interesting to construct a strategy around baiting him around and avoiding fighting him. Alas, he is not, and so this wasn't nearly as fun to replay as chapter 11 was. Most of the risk of death came from minor fuckups and not anything that required super clever planning. At least aside from what I had to do due to my poor money planning.

But tomorrow we'll be getting our fourth legendary weapon: Areola, the Nipple of Light, or something like that.

Can't wait.

[Alastor15243]

Binding Blade Day 23: Chapter 16x

...Did they seriously just reuse that corrupt priest's mugshot with different hair colors for another corrupt priest? Wow.

Also, weird how despite liberating the king, these enemies are still labeled “Etrurian”. You'd think they'd be called something different now, like “Rebels”. Like they did with the “Remnant” that FE8 used for the remains of Grado's decimated army after Ephraim defeated Emperor Vigarde.

Also, I just noticed: the Delphi Shield has 1/1 next to it, like a promotion or stat booster item. Aren't those supposed to have no uses listed? Is this just a bit of first-game weirdness, or am I supposed to actually use the thing, like an item, to confer permanent arrow-immunity to Milady?

Well, guess I'll find out.

Apparently something I'll also find out? What the fuck these light arrow things are. I have this vague memory of arrows of light shooting down the long staircases, so I'll steer clear of those for turn one and just get situated.

Okay... Clarine... may very well turn out to be garbage. For some reason every staff user in this game has a terrible magic stat. Clarine's level 20/1, she's exactly at her magic average rounded down, and yet she only has 15 attack power with a fire tome. That is an absolute shame at this point in the game, and it would have been a shame no matter when I promoted her.

...Thankfully it looks like Priscilla has a slightly better growth and a much better base, so she'll be a lot better when I try this again in FE7. Looks like Clarine's just gonna be a staff bot and an aura bot for Rutger. But hell, that's been her job he whole game, and it's been worth the deployment slot so far. But now I really wanna get Lugh and Raigh's staff ranks up to get some more use out of advanced staves.

Alright, I can't figure out from just one arrow what exactly the pattern is, but honestly... I'm not too worried. Once again, the game very benevolently has the traps fire at the end of the turn. So I just need to heal up and there's no chance they'll be the difference between victory and defeat. Which means... more staff exp to go around!

Yet again Shin gets to put his longbow to use taking out siege tome users hiding behind thick walls. Also, apparently despite bolting saying it's 3-10 range, it can never counterattack, even against a longbowman at 3 range.

My biggest concern was the status staves, and that I only have one person who can use them, and how I decided to only bring a 5 use restore staff instead of going for a full 10 because there were only 6 charges and I wanted to use this up. Thankfully, I won't need all the charges, because Lugh dodged silence twice. Also, Douglas is just a massive target for the berserk staff, but Clarine's been able to restore him, so just one more turn and the status staves will be used up.

...It just occurred to me that I think hazards in this game can kill. Fuck. Well, glad I realized that now instead of when it gets someone killed. Okay, so these hazards are pretty horseshit, if that's true. Looks like I'll have to pay more attention to where they're firing from.

Alright, I think my initial suspicion was correct that they fire from these blue things on the wall. There's been a visual tell for all of the hazards before, and it's looking like this is it.

The single-digit crit rate the enemies all seem to have on Echidna is making me nervous. I'm thinking I'll be giving her a B rank support with Lalum to remedy this.

Allen's first two level ups as a paladin have been... disappointing. Both of them were single levels, but at least the first one was speed. The second one was just HP. Given that he's already significantly behind due to that decision to waste that one early-game knight crest on Lance, a decision I have been increasingly regretting, that's not a good sign for his continued use given how he's now competing with Perceval.

On the plus side, despite rather mediocre progress with stat growth, Echidna's reached A rank axes, and is only one rank away from the one thing I'm still keeping her around for.

So, I'm at the end. The boss isn't that tough. Certainly not nearly as tough as the last Bishop boss, as this time Lugh completely slaughtered him.

Alright, we've got Aureola now. This thing had such a badass animation in FE7, though admittedly it was ridiculously long. I wonder if it used the same animation in this game? I remember Forblaze was a bit different in FE7 than in FE6.

Oh shit! Right! This is the route split point! I wonder how they're going to justify the varying decision here?

Now, it's cool that Guinivere's being so brave and willing to destroy her reputation with her homeland in order to save the world, but still, it feels kind of hollow because I don't even know beyond the most shallow of motivations why Bern as a people wants the war to happen in the first place.

...Oh. It looks like the reason we're going to Sacae is because the Etrurian traitors arbitrarily chose Sacae as the place to flee to, and we followed them. I'm guessing they flee to Ilia otherwise. Well, at least that explains why mechanically it's as arbitrary as whether I trained pegasus knights or nomads more.

Well, today I have a very short entry and more free time than usual, so sure, fuck it, I'll try to do another chapter.

 

Day 23 Bonus: Chapter 17B

Weird. So we're suddenly the Etrurian army now. After all that work, suddenly Lycia's role in the army means nothing. That's a really bizarre decision. I would've called it the “Elibian Alliance” or something.

So what do we have-

...Fog of war.

…

...Well, let's get started.

Honestly, I think it's a damned shame that traveling to a land with a drastically different culture isn't showing... well... any signs of different architecture. I remember in FE7's prologue, there were-

...Okay. In the process of looking up pictures to be sure I wasn't misremembering, I discover that chapter 18B apparently has those Sacaean huts too. Why this chapter just has straight-up castles and rest-of-the-continent-looking villages confuses me, but hey, I don't even know what the fuck the story of this chapter is! Maybe we aren't even in Sacae yet!

Milady will be going east on her own, with Clarine and Rutger bringing up the rear in case she needs healing. Now that she has the Delphi shield, and her stats are banging on all cylinders, the odds she's gonna die in a single turn have become exceedingly tiny.

I'll need to grab some more iron swords at the armory. And next time we see a shop, I'll be buying more heal staves.

Wow. That purple-haired wyvern general whose name I can't recall... Fucking savage, girl. She's just leaving the Etrurian traitors to die, because whoever's side they're on for the moment, opportunistic traitors are scum. I love it.

I don't like the look of the thief in those forests. I'm gonna have to try to kill him in case he goes for the village.

I managed to kill the thief with a silver lance from Milady before I could figure out what was going on. But there are siege tome users in this forest, and that... that is just horseshit.

But yeah, a villager informs us the thieves are in fact after the villages. Thankfully, we've secured the southern one pretty handily, and the eastern one is well on its way to being saved once Milady flies over. The thieves are still coming though, so I've gotta hurry.

Alright, I should be in the clear. I found the bastard sniping me with Bolting, and I'm neck and neck with that thief. He won't beat me to the village.

...But maybe the completely different one I didn't see will.

Fuck. WOW. Okay, so the timeframe here is completely ridiculous, and you have to know, in advance, what's hiding in the woods, in order to save that village.

...Okay. Yeah. Sure, game.

Yeah, all of a sudden I don't feel like pushing for a double chapter day anymore.

Fuck, and Milady got speed and defense too.

I'll try again tomorrow.

[Emperor Hardin]

27 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Binding Blade Day 23: Chapter 16x

...Did they seriously just reuse that corrupt priest's mugshot with different hair colors for another corrupt priest? Wow.

I think every Bishop boss uses that portrait?

[Alastor15243]

7 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

I think every Bishop boss uses that portrait?

Hm? If there were others before now I didn't notice. But that brings up another question: why is light magic tied to religion? Why is every light magic user in the GBA games, even the despicable scumbags, at least superficially affiliated with some kind of generic "goodness and love" deity? If the gods either can't, or don't care to, stop any old scumbag from channeling holy power, why is it tied to the church at all? Either it isn't actually holy in origin, in which case, why is it exclusive to the church, or the gods just let anyone use it, in which case, what the fuck? The only possible exception is I think Riev? I can't remember if he was ever a follower of the gods of Magvel, but he's pretty clearly a priest of Fomortiis by the time the story starts. So will any faith at all do? What's going on here?

[Interdimensional Observer]

20 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Fuck. WOW. Okay, so the timeframe here is completely ridiculous, and you have to know, in advance, what's hiding in the woods, in order to save that village.

...Okay. Yeah. Sure, game.

I, much against my own instincts, let it burn because of how tight it is. It's too tight to get to, and the reward? Eclipse. Not worth it.

 

22 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Why this chapter just has straight-up castles and rest-of-the-continent-looking villages confuses me, but hey, I don't even know what the fuck the story of this chapter is! Maybe we aren't even in Sacae yet!

Elibe's political divides are pretty clearly indicated by mountains usually, and once in a while rivers, or ocean for the Western Isles.:

As you can see, Lycia is defined entirely by mountains and whose idea was it to place the capital right on the Etrurian border?. More mountains separate Nabata from Etruria, Etruria from Ilia and Sacae, Ilia from Sacae. Bern-Sacae is partly separated by mountains, with Bulgar marking the political border on the open plains.

Can someone explain why easternmost Sacae goes off the map? This annoys me, even if Tellius is even more annoying for the same reason.

 

 

Speaking of Sacae, how about a history lesson! Courtesy of Civilization VI's Civilopedia, which has a playable Scythia, represented by the very likely fictional Tomyris.

With a little hair dye, I could pretend she is a middle-age Lyn.

Saka- in FE "Sacae"- is another name sometimes used for Scythia, or at least a specific clan of Scythians.

 

Sacae isn't likely very accurate in its depiction of Scythias, no 60 Crit Wo Dao Swordmasters or +30 Atk Res-targeting Druids. But the generalities of Scythia definitely very much aligned with the nomadic life on the plains their many successor Central Eurasian ethnicities: Mongols, Manchus, Turks, Turkmen, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, and Kazakhs to name some enduring modern ones, would live.

 

A brief history, inasmuch as we can know of the Scythians, as written in Civ VI for historical context:

Spoiler

The Scythians were a loose (very loose) confederation of illiterate nomad-pastoralists who wandered about the steppes of Central Asia for about a thousand years. Most of what is known of them comes from a handful of ancient “historians” – the likes of the Greek Herodotus and the Roman-Greek Strabo and a few Hindu texts – and that’s not much. At their peak, the Scythians ranged across the whole of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and beyond, from what is today the Ukraine to the borders of Manchuria. They sat astride the Silk Road, grew wealthy from the slave trade, developed a distinctive artistic style, and left civilization legends of centaurs and Amazons … but not much else.

Modern scholars note that the term “Scythian” was used by ancient writers to refer to a wide range of horse-warriors from the steppes, otherwise unrelated but sharing a few similarities in life-style and language. Herodotus states that the Scythians originated in the eastern steppes where they warred with the closely-related Massagetae, but “with ill success.” Therefore, the Scythian tribes migrated west, crossed the river Araxes, and within 30 years displaced the Cimmerians (who themselves migrated into Assyria and raised hell there). Being masterful horsemen and skilled archers, the Scythian tribes spread out across the region and spent their quality time raiding Macedonian and Persian settlements.

From archaeological evidence found in the great burial mounds, known as kurgans (about the only permanent structures the Scythians built), around 470 BC it appears that the chieftain Ariapeithes (a Greek moniker; who knows what his actual name was) managed to unite a number of the Scythian tribes and proclaimed himself “king.” His successors would rule the confederation until circa 340 BC, when the dynasty was overthrown by the great Ateas (another Greek name). According to Strabo, having united all the Scythian tribes between the Danube and the Maeotian Marshes, Ateas soon came into conflict with Phillip II of Macedonia; in the ensuring war the 90-year-old Ateas was killed in battle c. 339 BC and his “empire” fell apart. A decade later, however, Phillip’s son Alexander was fighting the Scythians again, winning a “decisive” battle at the river Syr Darya to end their depredations along the frontiers so the Greeks could march south and into glory. In the aftermath, the encroaching Celts displaced the Scythians from the Balkans. Guess horse-warriors didn’t do as well in the mountains as on the steppes.

In the meantime, a collection of Scythian tribes (now known as the Indo-Scythians) under the chieftain Maues migrated southeastwards into Bactria, Sogdiana and Arachosia. There they had largely supplanted the Indo-Greeks in the Punjabi and Kashmiri regions by the time of Azes II, c. 35 BC. But, so far as can be determined, he was the last Indo-Scythian king, for soon after his death the Indo-Scythians were overrun by the Kushans; and soon after that, the Parthians invaded from the west and the Scythians disappear from Indian records.

Westward, across the steppes of the Crimea and Ukraine, the remaining Scythian tribes survived relatively unchanged for another three centuries, riding and raiding. And even settling down in places; the city known as Scythian Neapolis (near present-day Simferopol) served as the trading center of the Crimean Scythian tribes. But the expanding Roman Empire would ultimately doom the carefree Scythians. The Goths displaced the Sarmatians from most of the Roman frontier, and in turn the Sarmatians overran the Scythians, although it was more a process of assimilation than conquest. But, in the middle of the third century AD the Goths sacked Scythian Neapolis, officially ending the Scythian civilization. (Although, the Romans and Greeks had the distressing habit of referring to any nomadic steppe people as Scythians, as when Priscus, a Byzantine emissary, continually called Attila’s followers “Scythians.”)

Thus the Scythians disappear from history, leaving behind only mounds of sod scattered all over the steppes to mark their passage. Ranging from small hillocks for the common warriors to the “royal” kurgans that housed the remains of chieftains and great warriors, these tumuli weren’t just piles of dirt and refuse heaped over bodies, but layers of sod built over a central chamber – the sod meant to provide grazing in the afterlife for all the horses buried with the deceased. In one such, archaeologists found over 400 horse skeletons arrayed in a geometric pattern around the deceased chieftain. Nor were only horses slaughtered upon the death of a notable Scythian, but consorts and retainers also had the dubious honor of accompanying the deceased into the afterlife. The largest of these kurgans is the height of a six-story building and over 90 meters across at the base. Quite a feat of engineering for a bunch of unlettered barbarian horsemen.

Herodotus reports that the internment was a spectacle to behold. Mourners would piece their left hand (they certainly weren’t foolish enough to maim their bow-hand) with an arrow, slash their arms and chest, and sometimes even cut off portions of their ears. On the anniversary of the burial a year later, for some chieftains 50 horses and 50 slaves would be killed and gutted, then impaled on upright posts around the kurgan, with the dead slaves mounted on the dead horses. Such ostentatious displays may also have been the basis for – or at least contributed to – the Greek legends of the Amazons. Many of these mounds, as much as 20%, along the lower Don and Volga rivers contain females dressed in battle armor and armed with bows and swords “as though they were men.” While they may not have been real Amazons, it has been speculated that Scythian culture had a place for female warriors, as evidenced by the tales of Tomyris.

If so, they had to be fairly stout-hearted, for the ways of Scythian warriors were horrifying to their more “civilized” neighbors. Unshaven and tattooed, the Scythian mounted archers were usually armed with a short composite bow, firing barbed arrows meant to tear a wound open so it wouldn’t heal. They tipped their arrowheads with a mixture of snake venom, putrefied blood, and horse dung to insure those wounded would die soon enough. According to accounts, after battle the Scythians would drink the blood of their slain enemies, then decapitate these to claim their share of the booty; only those who presented such a grim voucher got a share. While the former practice (drinking blood) wasn’t uncommon among the uncivilized, the latter was certainly a unique way of proving one’s deeds in combat. Scalps from dead enemies adorned bridles and shields and quivers; the skulls of particularly valiant (as Scythians judged valor) enemies were gilded and used as honored drinking goblets.

The Scythians evoked such terror among the Greeks that they are credited with inspiring the myth of the centaurs, four-legged beasts that were deadly archers. So notorious were the Scythian horse-warriors that scholars believe the Biblical prophet Jeremiah was speaking of them when he warned the Israelites that warriors would descend upon them who “are cruel and have no mercy, their voice roareth like the sea and they ride upon horses, every one put in array.” Speaking of which, the Scythians did have a pantheon of gods, all the usual ones – sun, moon, war, death, hunting and so forth – one would expect of unenlightened pagans, but they don’t seem to have been overly faith-ridden. The pronouncement of their gods seem to have been more flexible guidelines than laws scribed in stone.

Of course, it wasn’t all scalps and skulls after a battle; there was the loot. The Scythians acquired gold and silver from their frequent raids on the Persians and Macedonians, as well as in exchange for slaves. Scythian artisans had an eye for design, particularly animals – wolves, stags, griffins, leopards, eagles, and of course horses – locked in deathly combat. Animals of all sorts appear on most of their artwork, pottery, bronzewear, graven idols and the like, often in repose (when they aren’t locked in deadly combat). Both depictions frequently appear on the plethora of broaches, belts, helmets, earrings, necklaces, torques and other trinkets found in the kurgans.

There are many theories (the main product of scholars) concerning the reasons for the decline and disappearance of the Scythians. After all, no civilized people wanted to live on the steppes. Some academics suggest that they increasingly began to settle down, marry those from nearby areas, and abandon herding and raiding. A few kurgans dating to the late 3rd Century contain stoves, symbolic of home and hearth; it’s enough to make a true Scythian roll over in their grave. Other theories propose a prolonged drought or equine plague that drove them to settle down. Others posit that the Scythian fondness for alcohol (remember Spargapises?) contributed to their demise, as grazing land was turned to growing grain.

Whatever the truth, the Scythians certainly kept things lively on the steppes, setting a standard for sheer barbarity and bloody-mindedness that late-comers such as the Sarmatians, Huns, Mongols, Timurids and Cossacks could only aspire to match.

And, Scythia in Civ VI gets as its unique military unit the Saka Horse Archer, the history behind it is listed follows:

Spoiler

The term “Saka” may refer to the Persian and Sanskrit word for the Scythians, or it may refer to a specific tribe among those horse-barbarians to the north of Assyria. Most of the confusion seems to be the ambiguous usage of Saka among the ancient “historians” – Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and that lot. Herodotus states that the Saka were horse archers, riding without saddles or stirrups, and distinguished by wearing quilted trousers, open tunics and “high caps tapering to a point and stiffly upright.” These horse archers were feared in the open, mostly for harassing a moving column or raiding the baggage trains, but not very good in a stand-up fight. As Alexander the Great had shown at the battle of Jaxartes (329 BC) the Saka had no staying power, and could be readily driven off by massed infantry in depth supported by ample numbers of foot archers, whose greater range and rate of fire gave them a distinct advantage over the mounted ones.

Just wanted to offer some optional fun facts to make Sacae feel a little more alive, or something.

[Emperor Hardin]

3 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Hm? If there were others before now I didn't notice. But that brings up another question: why is light magic tied to religion? Why is every light magic user in the GBA games, even the despicable scumbags, at least superficially affiliated with some kind of generic "goodness and love" deity? If the gods either can't, or don't care to, stop any old scumbag from channeling holy power, why is it tied to the church at all? Either it isn't actually holy in origin, in which case, why is it exclusive to the church, or the gods just let anyone use it, in which case, what the fuck? The only possible exception is I think Riev? I can't remember if he was ever a follower of the gods of Magvel, but he's pretty clearly a priest of Fomortiis by the time the story starts. So will any faith at all do? What's going on here?

I think churches have a monopoly on Light magic tomes.

Also Light Magic is powered by faith according to a support from somewhere. Even Riev was once a member of the Church before being excommunicated. Riev and a boss in FE7 who worships Nergal, seems to indicate any faith will do for empowering Light Magic.

Can I ask who is in your current army?

[Alastor15243]

24 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Can I ask who is in your current army?

Roy, Lalum, Echidna, Lugh, Raigh, Milady, Perceval, Allen, Lance, Shin, Rutger and Clarine. That's my main army. Astore and Merlinus usually tag along too.

 

@Interdimensional Observer Seriously? All that for an Eclipse?

...Hmmm... I haven't actually restarted yet... maybe I should just continue with that file... a spd/def Milady level is a spd/def Milady level after all...

Edited February 26, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Eltosian Kadath]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, Douglas is just a massive target for the berserk staff, but Clarine's been able to restore him, so just one more turn and the status staves will be used up.

Its because when Douglas is recruit he acts like he is in the last deployment slot, and his staff avoid is too low to deter the AI from targeting him (and thus moving on to the next deployment spot).

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Hm? If there were others before now I didn't notice. But that brings up another question: why is light magic tied to religion? Why is every light magic user in the GBA games, even the despicable scumbags, at least superficially affiliated with some kind of generic "goodness and love" deity? If the gods either can't, or don't care to, stop any old scumbag from channeling holy power, why is it tied to the church at all? Either it isn't actually holy in origin, in which case, why is it exclusive to the church, or the gods just let anyone use it, in which case, what the fuck? The only possible exception is I think Riev? I can't remember if he was ever a follower of the gods of Magvel, but he's pretty clearly a priest of Fomortiis by the time the story starts. So will any faith at all do? What's going on here?

I recently went on a bit of read through the primary sources of information on Elibian religion (Yodel and Saul's supports), and I think I have an answer for why their deity doesn't intervene directly from the Saul-Igrene support:

Spoiler

...

Igrene: Yes, I know. I used to believe in God as well. Although it is a
different God from yours, I think I was fairly serious about it.
Saul: Really? Why did you stop believing?
Igrene: Several years ago…I stopped praying. It was after I lost a loved one in battle.
Saul: …I see.
Igrene: Those who pray to God expect something in return. But they will never receive anything, and that causes them to hate God. I think that it would be a lot less trouble to think that no such being exists in the first place.
Saul: …… Yes, you are right.
Igrene: …Is it all right for a priest like you to be saying that?
Saul: It is all right, I am an open-minded person. However, Saint Elimine did say this: ‘God does not help us because He believes in us.’
Igrene: Believes…in us?
Saul: Yes.

A Support

Igrene: Father Saul.
Saul: Oh, Igrene! What is the matter? Ah, so you finally decided to give in to the urge to come see me…
Igrene: It is about what you said the other day… You said that God does not help us because He believes in us.
Saul: This is what Saint Elimine said… God, who created this world, is all-powerful. He can change people and the world. He can alter us humans so that we would not be fighting like this. However, is that really the right way?
Igrene: ……
Saul: Humans that act according to God’s will alone would only be mindless puppets. God believes that we humans can change, that we can learn from our mistakes. God knows that we can overcome our hardships to achieve peace and harmony.

As for why religion seems to be tied to light magic use, it is a bit more guesswork, but I would theorize that the church specifically seeks out those with the talent to do so to teach them. There is evidence from the Dorthy-Yodel support that the ability to use staff is partially tied to a "god-given" talent that can't be taught (although those with the talent can be taught how to use better staff), and I would assume light magic is very similar.

Spoiler

 

Dorothy: Bishop Yodel?
Yodel: Ah, Dorothy. You do not look so well. What is the matter?
Dorothy: Do you know why I can’t use the sacred healing staves?
Yodel: Hm…
Dorothy: I want to help injured people by using the staves like Father Saul and you do. I’ve been praying every day, and I don’t think I’ve done anything particularly bad, either.
Yodel: Yes, your faith is an example to us all.
Dorothy: But I still can’t help hurt people… I want to heal them, but I can’t. Will I never have that power? Am I not worthy to be God’s servant?
Yodel: No, that is not the case. Do you know the story of the owl and the eagle, Dorothy?

 

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

  Hide contents

 

Dorothy: Bishop Yodel?
Yodel: Ah, Dorothy. You do not look so well. What is the matter?
Dorothy: Do you know why I can’t use the sacred healing staves?
Yodel: Hm…
Dorothy: I want to help injured people by using the staves like Father Saul and you do. I’ve been praying every day, and I don’t think I’ve done anything particularly bad, either.
Yodel: Yes, your faith is an example to us all.
Dorothy: But I still can’t help hurt people… I want to heal them, but I can’t. Will I never have that power? Am I not worthy to be God’s servant?
Yodel: No, that is not the case. Do you know the story of the owl and the eagle, Dorothy?

 

Did you mean to put more text here?

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 minute ago, Alastor15243 said:

Did you mean to put more text here?

No, I just didn't want to cut it off midsentence, the fact that Dorothy is explicitly stated to be incapable of learning how to use staffs despite wanting to, and having multiple people capable of teaching her was what I was getting at. The support continues to share one of the parables of St. Elmines life that one is suppose to contemplate the meaning of. If you are curious about the religion of Elibe almost all of the Yodel and Saul supports give glimpses of its core tenet.

[Espurrhoodie]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Seriously? All that for an Eclipse?

Okay, it's probably because I'm tired, but I got really confused for a moment because I thought you were talking about an actual eclipse until I realised you were probably referencing the Berserk Eclipse.

@Interdimensional Observer Thanks for the history facts! I didn't know the Scythians existed!

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Espurrhoodie said:

Okay, it's probably because I'm tired, but I got really confused for a moment because I thought you were talking about an actual eclipse until I realised you were probably referencing the Berserk Eclipse.

Eclipse, the dark magic siege tome which in this game has ten goddamned hit.