Rehab
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Posts posted by Rehab
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Something something ends, means, casualties, justify, something.
-Archie out for a stroll, the afternoon of August 6th 1832
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Yeah, if I can take anything from theseNo, they are smarter than you think. Their actions, while seem to be insane, brought together a large force who are ready to fight. Their tactics and strategies are totally sane. Their real goal is not to create the caliphate but to drag America to a brawl. To do that, they have to create enough chaos for the America to interfere. However, with the dead of many of the first generation of ISIS leaders, it's hard to say what is the goal of the current leaders want.
it's that while ISIS (perhaps their leadership in particular) may be murderous and extremist, their intelligence, strategies and attempts to sow division among their enemies are not to be underestimated.arguments and counterarguments on the authenticity/Islamicness? of ISIS, and implications to draw from it
On a related note, after reading those, using nukes on them sounds like an awful plan A, B, C or D to me, for fear of really giving their apocalyptic narrative the spark it wants. Picking at the weaknesses in their territorial control itself, which is essential to any claim they make at "statehood" and fitting any definition of a caliphate (which they already claim on pretty shaky grounds), with an added dash of continuing to report the god-awful living conditions, atrocities and bad governance (by the standards of, y'know, most states) there, seem to me the more obvious options, if laborious ones.
They need to be seen as the enemies of the invading troops of Rome (christendom) and all that bs, but they spend a hell of a lot more time killing Muslims native to the areas (and of many stripes) than anyone else. That needs to remain in focus. (Although I also worry about them spinning euro-american support for their enemies being perceived as us using their foes as proxies, regardless of its truth.)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMK-kajdgMA
Konami's top guy might not really want to do games any more, basically
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Did some asshole say "help out anti-Assad rebels years ago (and Syria in general) when they asked for it repeatedly and before their need for firepower drove so many of them to sectarian radicalism" yet? If nah I'll be that asshole, if yeah then good job other assholeInteresting set of arguments and counterarguments on the authenticity/Islamicness? of ISIS, and implications to draw from it, that I caught at some point, if anybody's interested
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We decide our next two shrines will be built to Chalana Arroy, as we are a
kinder, gentlerWar clan that likes to be prepared for the worst, and Maran Gor, to remind people that Ernalda Clan =/= to be fucked with.
We consult the ancestors on which we should build first.
"If you can hear us, one means Chalana, two means Maran."
Maran it is!
To be able to gain a permanent blessing, we first have to appease a god with a sacrifice of goods or cows, just to learn how to conduct the blessing ritual. If we succeed, we'll then be able to gain that blessing for about a year with an additional sacrifice at any point in the future, or of course build a shrine to gain it in perpetuity (as long as we can continue to sacrifice a few cows and goods every year to keep it going).
When there's still more than one mystery (blessing, curse or heroquest) to be learned from a god, though, it's random which one we'll learn first, so we have a 50/50 chance of getting the one that'll let us build a shrine the first time, assuming we're successful. I chose to sacrifice cows here, since relative to our population we're swimming in them, and given our goods production is slow atm + we'll need those to build the shrines anyway. 11 cattle-worth is in between the recommended bare minimum of 7 and the recommended "(almost) sure bet" of 15ish.
(We also have the option to sacrifice thralls, and each of those is worth ten cattle for sacrificial purposes, but human sacrifice is a major faux pas to the Orlanthi. And possibly also a Chaos agitator? I forget. Bad juju, anyway.)
And we indeed get it first try!
LuckiestBlessed-est Clan.
We're interrupted before we can begin construction, however.
Kulbrast, a warrior of the Vanstali clan, comes bearing "something you may have been looking for." He refers to Arkilla, the young daughter of one of your weaponthanes. "She came to our clan claiming to be an orphan, insisting that we adopt her, so that she could grow up to be a mighty warrior. We recognized your clan insignia, and reckoned that her story could stand to be checked. That's when she started the tantrum she's been throwing the whole way over here."
Our options:
1. Ask Kulbrast if his clan wants to adopt her.
2. Tell Kulbrast that you owe his clan a favor.*
3. Convince Arkilla that your clan produces great warriors, too.
4. Scold Arkilla for embarrassing the clan.
5. "This is not a matter for the ring."
Ring advice:
Minara: We must show our gratitude to Kulbrast. recommends 2.
Frithorf: Better to cook with honey than with ashes. recommends 3.
Terasarin: This child's unknowing words have brought great shame upon our warriors. recommends 4.
Yaransor and Orlgard: Her words, though foolish and without foundation, have brought shame upon our warriors. both recommend 3.
Saronil: We are a War Clan, just like the Vanstali. The child dishonors her clan and family by comparing us unfavorably to them. recommends 4.
Ingard: She does not embarrass us. We embarrass ourselves, by fretting over such a minor matter. recommends 2.
*Favors are an aspect of diplomacy I forgot to talk about earlier. They're a system of customs where in exchange for any kind of help (and in lieu of immediate payment), a clan can later repay another with about 20 cows or goods, 30 food, 3 magic points or the details of a heroquest, whichever they ask for. Like feuds, trading partnerships and alliances, every Orlanthi clan has brought to Dragon Pass histories of favors owed and due to them by others.
Rehab:Nice collar, Kulbrast.We can gain favor with the Vanstali (currentlyour raiding-focused alliessome previously-unmet neighbors known for reforming bandits and outlaws) and showcase our magnanimity by saying we owe them a favor, but they're probably more bemused than anything, so our relations won't likely be hurt too much if we make a different choice. The issue comes down to that, weaponthane morale, and whether Arkilla listens to us.
What do we do? -
:marblebust_teardrop:
Greek and Germanic peoples = friends 4 lifeso far -
Ingard is given leave to approach the dragonewts with song and dance.
Ingard is rebuffed, sadly, and we are left not really knowing what all that was about. Doh. At least our ancestors should be placated enough by our effort.
We bring in the last of our harvest, which should be enough to comfortably last us a whole year, and the season again changes to Dark.
This leaves us with a couple of turns to kill, since winter in Dragon Pass restricts us from doing much outside. Let's use the time to check out our temple situation.
Neat! It looks like selecting Normal difficulty may have let us start with an extra shrine, in this case giving us a blessing from Barntar. I believe his Vigor blessing reduces the amount of farmers needed to sow the fields and bring in the harvest, and the blessing we've started with from Ernalda, Bless Crops, basically gives a straightforward boost to the amount of food we get from crops during Earth.
A proper clan is expected to keep up more than 3 blessings, though. Help pick who we ask for a blessing next!
In addition to the deities listed in the first post, we can also build shrines to:
-Barntar, the Plowman. Son of Ernalda and Orlanth and patron of farmers, his second blessing lets us clear farmland more quickly. Though he doesn't get much flavor for himself ingame, I've heard that he has the most brute strength of all the Orlanthi gods, likely due to his unending embrace of hard labor- he apparently plows the soil manually, without any oxen. His cultists are also known as "your farmers."
The only ingame picture I could find of him has him as almost a mere detail, and is really a better portrait for:
-Maran Gor, the Earthshaker.A sister of Ernalda, Maran Gor also represents the earth element, but is by far the bigger hardass between her and Ernalda, and moreso represents earthquakes and mountains rather than nature's bounty. More feared than loved by most, we can build a shrine to her to gain the rather morbid Earthblood blessing, which fertilizes our fields... when people die fighting on them. We can also sacrifice to her to unleash a curse known as Blast Earth on another clan, which curses their fields if successful. Whereas Ernalda is the mother of cows (mystery to everybody), Maran Gor is the mother of dinosaurs (also a mystery to everybody) (oh, did I forget to mention dinosaurs are in this game? well there are dinosaurs in this game.), and is probably one of the scariest of the many reasons why you do not fuck with Ernalda and expect to get away with it.
Again, she's definitely feared more than loved by most Orlanthi, but most truly great Ernalda temples also tend to have at least a small shrine to her somewhere on the premises. Her cultists are... not much less scary than she is.
-Humakt, God of War and Death. Though a blood brother of Orlanth, Humakt severed his familial ties forever in order to impartially rule over Death, and can be politely described as One Bad Motherfucker. His blessings can seal alliances between clans, boost weaponthane morale, get us a slightly higher probability of a fight ending in our favor, and double the combat strength of our weaponthanes (!!). His cultists are the strong, silent and blunt types, and many travel the land rooting out the undead, Humakt's sworn foe, as the Urox cultists do with Chaos (albeit with less noise made).
(pictured: just about the only guy known to elicit anything like "fear" from Orlanth)and
-Vinga, the Adventuress. Orlanth's daughter and patron of both adventurers and warrior women (or any women taking on what Orlanthi usually assume to be "male roles"). Vinga's blessings make our explorers more likely to return home safely, and allow women to fight as footmen when our tula is attacked, increasing our number of fighters on defense albeit at the cost of slightly lower fertility/population growth. Her cultists cut their hair short and dye it red in emulation of her, are considered just about the best explorers of harsh unknown territory (followed by those of Odayla and Issaries), and are often prominent mercenaries. Her explorer's blessing, like Odayla's, is widely considered borderline necessary for any real extra-tula exploration.
(my tribe for a higher-res, non-cropped version of this picture)
Who do we propitiate?
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The two cons I've been to were pretty cool, and I didn't experience any stank. The ridiculous number of attractive shirtless guys in Kamina cosplay might've helped
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Who's this poll kidding, we were born to own this banner.
And then, well.
Uh.
A trio of strange beings has eluded your patrols. These lizard-men are probably the dragonewts you've heard legends about. For twelve hours they have been enacting a mysterious ritual on your lands.
Our options:
1. Clear the area until they leave.
2. Conduct a ritual to counter their magic.
3. Try to communicate with them.
4. Try to kill them.
5. Watch them until they leave.
Ring advice:
Minara: Let's see how well they fight. recommends 1 or 4.
not very dragon-positive, are we Minara?Frithorf: Perhaps we can communicate with them. recommends 3.
Terasarin: Dragonewts are very strange indeed. No one really understands why they do certain things. recommends 5.
Yaransor: These aren't the toughest dragonewts. These are the weakest ones. recommends 5.
Saronil: "When in the fields, a man should never move an inch from his weapons." no recommendation.
Orlgard: Let's see how well they fight. recommends 1 or 4.
whatever happened to restraint, Orlgard?Ingard: Music is the universal language. I will go sing to them, and learn why they are here. recommends 3, apparently volunteers.
Rehab: ... some non-human sentients in Dragon Pass are easy enough to relate with, or to at least vaguely understand. Dragonewts are... less so. About as much as we Orlanthi know is that they experience some kinda cycle of rebirth which ends with them becoming full-on dragons, or something, and they accounted for some portion of the emissaries sent to our ancestors by the dragons all those centuries ago.
I guess this area was kinda their backyard until we arrived, huh? Might've been a long time since we've encountered each other, after our, uh, exit from Dragon Pass.
What do we do?
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Archimedes? Anybody? Can I get a "muh circles" up in here? Syracuse investment, Military-Industrial Complex, etc? -
Speeding tickets, going by today <{
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Sometimes I have a hard time thinking of myself as part of the QUILTBAG whatever, with all the issues/struggles/whatevers that come with it, but then I remember I'd fuck a dude so that puts me in the club right -
Ah, well. If Greece had to wait a few hundred years to get free last time, it and Archie can wait a little longer. And waiting in the employ of the last guys to score on the Ottomans doesn't sound so bad.
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I play training mode, where my own story begins -
We decide that
a) Victim-blaming is for chumps,
and more importantly,
b) Nobody messes with the husbands of Clan Strongest's women and gets away with it.
This time Orlgard's party manages to find the outlaws, and despite his having suggested restraint earlier, his party manages to kill a few, which then sends the rest packing.
Don't mess with my streak.
Unfortunately, though, through a combination of finger-slips, false feedback and rushing, I failed to actually cap the screens for the whole ordeal x[ Rrrgh. Won't happen again. Better not.
This brings us, finally, to Earth, and our grain-counters rejoice.
If we're ever running out of food, we'll hopefully only need to make it until the end of Fire to catch our breath/food. As long as we get a good harvest... which we look to be getting this year.
Next, we invest a bit more in our defense, as we didn't put much magic into trading rituals this year.
The second-cheapest fortification to build, the ditch, again delays and flusters any enemies on horseback. Funny how we haven't actually been raided yet, though I'm sure our defenses will pay for themselves handily.
Right after that, word comes around on what happened with that elves business earlier.
Occasionally, another clan may snatch opportunities that pop up with events if we don't get involved. In this case, we might have improved our relations with both the elves and Orlevings, and rose in general esteem, if we had been the ones to broker that deal. I'm sure we'll be presented with plenty of opportunities in due time, though.
To take up what I assume is the last of Earth before Dark begins, we send an exploration party into the middle of our own territory.
Exploration can turn up treasures and many special events, but sending a team out can be a very finicky business. The more men and especially weaponthanes we send with our explorer, the more likely that they'll return home okay, but also of course the more we'll lose if they simply never return. And sending clan members on our ring tends to help our odds in some way, especially if they have high Bargaining and Combat and worship either Issaries, Odayla, or the yet-unmet Vinga the Adventuress, but of course we'll be even further up a creek if one of our best traders or fighters is lost, and if it's far enough away we could be short a ring member for 3 turns or more! This can lead to their being absent for Sacred Time, which is really shit if you wanted to do some trading that year and your Issaries worshiper is missing, for example. Not fun. The faster of the three speeds up there we pick, the more dangerous the trip will be, but the slower, the longer we'll be short a ring member (or non-ring noble) and their escort. Unless we replace them while on the trip. It's complicated, basically.
Exploring inside our own tula removes a ton of that complication, though. Those trips should return immediately, so we should be much more free to send a full party and the best of our ring on the trip. Searching our own tula can also land us exotic material like gems and ivory and so on that our crafters can make more goods from, and on top of that patrolling the backyard makes it less likely that an enemy raid will catch us by surprise or that we'll get some kind of negative event related to our living space, like banditry. It's almost a no-brainer of a good idea. ("almost," because technically our fellas can still get lost...)
Anyway. Onward!
And boy, does our first trip sure find something.
An exploration party returns with a legendary treasure of the First Age, Humakt's Raven Banner. When carried into a fight, this battle standard guarantees victory in battle. However, it does so at great cost: the standard bearer is always killed.
Our options:
1. Give it to an enemy clan or hostile group as a peace offering.
2. Give it to another clan.
3. Keep it.
4. Return it to where it was hidden.
5. Trade it to another clan.
Ring advice:
Minara: This banner could bring peace with our enemies, the Orladnasti, Uroxi, or Humakti. recommends 1. [note: she's listing hypotheticals with regard to the Uroxi and Humakti, we haven't met those guys yet]
Frithorf: Any smart trader would try to dicker us down no matter what our starting price, so we might as well start high. recommends 5, of course.
Terasarin: One of the ten survivors of the Dragonkill War said that the man ordered to carry the Raven Banner into that battle dropped it early in the battle, thus ensuring victory for the dragons. no recommendation.
Yaransor: Although it is always good to get more cows, our herds are currently large and healthy. recommends 3.
Saronil: If we must give this treasure away, make sure we don't send it to our enemies. no recommendation, but I don't think he and Minara agree.
Orlgard: If we keep this banner, we will have to use it sparingly. No warrior wants to go into battle if he is certain to die. recommends 1, 2 or 3.
Ingard: This is a tough one. indeed.
Rehab: So, "guarantees victory" ain't no lie- the Raven Banner is one of the most effective (and drastic) treasures out there. However, it's not foolproof- our weaponthanes may refuse to use it if asked, I assume especially so if their morale is low, and can instead suggest that a ring member be the one to carry it. If we refuse that, (which I personally would always do unless one of our ring is old enough they could die at any time,) morale takes a further hit. (I don't think I'd blame them.)
Furthermore, the banner makes no guarantee against Pyrrhic victories with heavy losses on top of the standard-bearer (though it also doesn't ensure them). Probably not the sort of battle treasure we'd want to use to tip a close fight if we can help it, but if the odds are so grim that we think we'll lose some people no matter what, well...
It's something any martial clan would love to have. Maybe to an unhealthy extent...
What do we do?
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Please pretend my dumb finger hit W instead of Q when typing the question, thank you
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We form a rescue party, led by our war leader.
Our party is 38 strong, as many as can be sent, to ensure victory.
...If we could only find them, that is.
Doh. Yaransor might have been a better choice to actually find them, being a worshiper of Odayla the hunter, but the outlaw women are tough enough to beat that even our strongest would get a run for their money. I guess every streak has to end sometime.
And then the men return.
Hendrick and Jarnandar, the two young men who were carried off by outlaws come back to the tula at dawn. When asked what happened, at first Jarnandar says, "Nothing." Then Hendrick chimes in with an elaborate story of their escape from the outlaw women, who meant to sacrifice them on a bloody altar to Gagarth, god of outlaws. The women suspect Hendrick and Jarnandar are both lying, and that they committed adultery with the outlaw women. Adultery is a serious crime among the Orlanthi.
Our options:
1. Convince the women that nothing untoward happened.
2. Do nothing.
3. Question Hendrick until he admits adultery.
4. Question Jarnandar until he admits adultery.
5. Send a war party to drive off the outlaws.
6. Send a war party to slay the outlaws.
Ring advice:
Minara: Only the women want to press this issue. I can convince them to let the matter rest. recommends 1, volunteers. Frithorf: A sleeping alynx* is best left undisturbed. no recommendation. Terasarin: You cannot blame the young fellows; what they did, they did while captured. recommends 2. Yaransor: Errarth tolerated adultery, because he was tempted towards it himself. Thus began the chain of events that made him the tragic king. recommends 3 or 4. Saronil: They are obviously lying, but it will be hard to prove. Hendrick is the cleverer of the two, but is likeliest to trip himself up with his runaway tongue. recommends 3. Orlgard: We can bluff the outlaws into fleeing, but should avoid a battle to the death. recommends 5, volunteers. Ingard: The truth has many virtues, but it does not help you sleep at night. recommends 1.*Orlanthi have alynxes, which are kinda like plus-size bobcats, that basically fulfill the role of dogs. Don't tell an Orlanthi that, though, they generally consider dogs vermin and enemies of Orlanth's brother
Catboy SupremeYinkin.Rehab:
Funny how Minara's the one specifically downplaying the concerns of the women. Also, note how Minara and Yaransor's lore citations conflict.Doing nothing will probably leave morale tense at best for a while. Successfully convincing the women nothing happened could smooth things over, and Minara does seem to feel up to the task, but things could get even worse if it fails (and, well, whatever happened, it probably wasn't in fact nothing). If we question one of the men until they admit adultery, Orlanthi law is strict enough that we'll probably be forced to outlaw them, which strips them of our clan's protection and exiles them. Fighting the outlaw women may or may not actually help our current morale problem, but maybe it's the principle of the thing for us.There are times where Orlanthi law is decidedly not-fun.
What do we do?
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One of my old pocket buddies from tf2 or killing floor
also I'm stoly's Black Cat (not his MJ though)
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Why I [or rather the staff, at my and some FESSers' urging back in tha day] killed post counts, and why they had it coming:
Should a poster not be judged by their posts and social capital, as opposed to some arbitrary external incentive, my friends?
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With Orendal so far ahead, it looks like we can call the poll early.
I didn't even know that could happen, so infrequently have I picked that choice, but it landed us 30 more cows! Nice job, guys!
Then another event fires right after the first one ends:
Two handsome young men of the clan are captured by outlaw women! The women ride quickly onto your tula, grab the men, and ride off. Both men are married.
Our options:
1. Conduct a divination. [As in, ask the spirits what we should do. Spends magic]
2. Do nothing.
3. Sacrifice to Orlanth to strengthen your hand against outlaws.
4. Send a war party to rescue the men and kill the outlaws.
5. Send a war party to rescue the men.
Ring advice:
Minara: Good King Oskul was born to an outlaw woman who once captured his father. recommends 2. Frithorf: I have heard of these outlaw women. Every now and then they kidnap fine young men and have their way with them! no recommendation. Terasarin: It is better to drive off a foe than to kill her, for mercy begets mercy. recommends 5. Yaransor: We must learn the motives of the outlaws before we decide what to do. recommends 1. Saronil: The kidnapped men are married. If they dally with these outlaw women, they commit a grave offense! recommends 5. Orlgard: If we fight to drive them off, we risk less, but will get the same result when we succeed. recommends 5. Ingard: Do nothing, and they will soon be home. They will be sheepish with their wives, and proud among the men. recommends 2.Rehab: Uh. Clan morale may be involved here, but I'm not quite sure of the details.
What do we do?
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Hehehehe, nice nice.
"Claiming reliability is just a way of admitting inability to experiment. And do I ever have experiments to perform..."
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Though I must confess that the poem choice is one of my personal favorite interactions with another clan, the ring has decided to follow the ways of our ancestors and raid-
wait what
Aw, sticks. Sorry, fellas, it looks like the event was lost- in the smartphone version at least, when you exit the game in the middle of an event, you can apparently get plopped back to the menu like it never happened on restarting. Since this version of the game also moderates savescumming by only letting us go back to the end of any previous year, losing events like that generally means "they gone." (This is one of the reasons why I won't be doing much reloading even during bad times.
at least not intentionally) (This also means I'll have to let my phone and KoDP run on standby for a couple days whenever I get an event X{ )Our game does say we still succeeded at those last two cattle raids, though, so this could also be considered us bumping into an unintentional exploit to get more actions out of one season and dodge events we don't like. We'll try to avoid repeating ourselves here.
Just this once, we console ourselves with the knowledge that we'll be able to raid our Orladnast neighbors for cattle once more this Fire.
Hot dang, Orlgard, you really are on a roll. I assumed I would've gotten the chance to explain the combat system by now.
And right after that, another event fires! I'll try to not lose it/call the poll closed earlier this time.
A milk-white calf has been born into the herd of one of your carls [TN: average-to-high-wealth farmers], Orendal. A white calf is considered a creature of great good omen.
Our options:
1. Let Orendal tend to the calf.
2. Sacrifice the calf to Orlanth.
3. Sacrifice the cow to Uralda, the Cow Mother.
4. Take the calf into the chief's herds.
5. Trade the calf to another clan.
Our ring's advice:
Minara: We could gain great magical benefits by sacrificing the cow. recommends 2 or 3.
Frithorf: Orendal wishes to seem generous, but does not want to give up the calf. no recommendation.
Terasarin: When Uralda's favorite calf wandered into the land of the dead, it turned white. When Ty Kora Tek returned it, Orlanth's tribe rejoiced. recommends 2 or 3.
Yaransor: This is no ordinary calf. Whoever owns it gains great good fortune. recommends 3 or 4.
Saronil: We can argue that it is Orendal's duty to give up the calf, provided that the whole clan will benefit. no recommendation.
Orlgard: Orendal will understand if we take the calf from him. no recommendation.
Ingard: I don't know. thanks, Ingard.
Rehab: We may get a treasure with a finite lifespan if we simply take the calf, cheer the farmers if we leave it to Orendal, or gain magic and possibly additional good luck if we sacrifice it. Or we could just trade it for more cattle/goods.
What do we do?
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And it is good! I think. False alarm. Probably.
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Archie likes how this wind is blowing. To Vienna he flies!
What to do about ISIS
in Serious Discussion
Posted · Edited by Rehab
The U.S. in particular may not be necessary, but apparently they refer in their propaganda to a literally apocalyptic narrative where the "armies of Rome" (now that the pope doesn't have an army the meaning of this is up to interpretation, but could mean anything from Constantinople/The Eastern Roman Empire/modern-day Turkey & Istanbul to any infidel/Christian forces, like maybe that of the U.S.) meet defeat at their hands, get pushed back to and out of Constantinople, then come back and force the 5,000 remaining Muslim warriors to hole up in Jerusalem, where Jesus will return and lead them to victory, and then *apocalypse* or something (lack of actual expertise showing here), and it's complicated, supposedly. (Ctrl+F "Rome" on that page.)
That, and when some of their guys tweeted stuff like one of their dudes thought he saw an American soldier fighting... somewhere around there in the area, some months ago, their social media hype machine apparently went into overdrive, like "first of many!" and all that.
What move they actually want anybody to make and what their propaganda puffs about may not necessarily line up, of course, but they sure did put a lot of effort and celebration into gaining hold of territory in Dabiq, a farmland region of questionable-at-best strategic value, which is where they'll supposedly beat "Rome."
Neither I nor the article are a primary source, of course, so, y'know. Go figure. I don't have a hard time imagining they're at the least eager to wring out all the symbolic weight they can out of... just about everything, though.