Holding Back the Dark Tide
Posted by Apostate on 01/14/24
So the battles against the Second Reckoning are going to be grim, and victory is not to be expected, as there's a very clear and difficult choice here. Whether to attempt to defend domains, knowing that it might well be impossible to save and lose strength/risk characters in trying to do so, or just pull everything back to Arx. One thing I need to make clear now is any domain that does not explicitly have a GM'd Event of trying to save it will be destroyed. If the world is saved, it is possible it might be rebuilt (and domains with high castle levels will probably have something salvageable), but it's a specific choice now of whether to sacrifice domains or try to save them.
Any house that doesn't put in a request about trying to have a GM'd battle in the defense in a holding is going to be assumed to be evacuating their domain and pulling their forces back in defense of Arx, or if their highlord is going to try to save one of the capitals (Sanctum, Farhaven, Lenosia, Setarco, Maelstrom, Bastion), rallying to that banner.
Those battles will be extremely difficult, and character loss is likely. The outcome values will determine whether the domain survives, how much of the forces defending it survive and can then participate in the defense of Arx, and whether or not the horde is delayed long enough for refugees evacuating the domains to flee to Arx. It is going to be a near mathematical certainty for smaller domains to not survive a battle scene without forces assembled there that are far outside of their own (ie, a barony cannot survive out of its own resources, only if the force of the great house decides to use it strategically it *might*). In the following post, I'll detail the battle rules I'll be using for the battle scenes coming up, and in light of this if anyone wishes to change their mind about whether they are going to try to hold their capitals or domains, please do say so, I'll give a couple days to decide before I go ahead and schedule the first fights for mid to late this coming week.
Any house that doesn't put in a request about trying to have a GM'd battle in the defense in a holding is going to be assumed to be evacuating their domain and pulling their forces back in defense of Arx, or if their highlord is going to try to save one of the capitals (Sanctum, Farhaven, Lenosia, Setarco, Maelstrom, Bastion), rallying to that banner.
Those battles will be extremely difficult, and character loss is likely. The outcome values will determine whether the domain survives, how much of the forces defending it survive and can then participate in the defense of Arx, and whether or not the horde is delayed long enough for refugees evacuating the domains to flee to Arx. It is going to be a near mathematical certainty for smaller domains to not survive a battle scene without forces assembled there that are far outside of their own (ie, a barony cannot survive out of its own resources, only if the force of the great house decides to use it strategically it *might*). In the following post, I'll detail the battle rules I'll be using for the battle scenes coming up, and in light of this if anyone wishes to change their mind about whether they are going to try to hold their capitals or domains, please do say so, I'll give a couple days to decide before I go ahead and schedule the first fights for mid to late this coming week.