[BaW 2.0] The Liberating Crusade - a One-Shot IH RPG

**Barry Goldwater** · November 13, 2014, 06:46 PM

Dalanesti soldiers battling slavers on the Plain of Nirnuada, early 4951 AU

Map of the Slave Coast

It's the autumn of 4951 AU.

For thousands of years, the Khazadic colonies of Gas'tai, Na'mai and Ha'mor - having grown into powerful city-states in their own right since the downfall of their mother nation at Arion's hands in the 3rd millennium AU - have plagued eastern Khio Na and the shores of Anvakhano, raiding for slaves and booty from all who were too weak to repel their war parties. Even when Arion occupied much of Khio Na's eastern seaboard they dared to continue raiding the shores, confident that their mountains and the nearby Great Sand Sea on their western border would protect them (and they were right). When Arion was expelled from the continent and the Falinesti reverted to a morass of feuding petty-kingdoms, it seemed like But over time, these cities grew corrupt and decadent: their ruling merchant-princes grew fat on their ancestors' successes, increasingly relying on their walls as well as conscripted slaves and mercenaries to defend them instead of civic militias, and in striving to preserve as much of the ways and bloodline of their Khazidic forefathers (down to exclusively marrying only other members of the aristocracy, while never recognizing any bastard offspring they sired with their slaves) they have failed utterly to keep up with the evolving world. To be fair, they were mostly right just as they had been with Arion's disinterest in seriously chastising them, as the Falinesti had been too disunified to do much more than destroy the occasional slaving party; no one petty-kingdom had the strength to bring down their mighty walls or challenge their fleets, after all. But the slaver lords made a fatal mistake in believing that the situation would last forever, and then proceeded to make a second one when they dismissed the Beanique Holy Kings who did unite the Falinesti as lucky flukes who would never defeat them under the logic that if Arion couldn't do it, what chance did these uncivilized northern savages have?

One year ago, the Holy King of the mostly-unified Falinesti, Remian I marched south to wipe the slavers out of existence, putting that delusion to rest. Behind him marched 30,000 zealous warriors prepared to execute the will of their militant One God, Aba-Favra or 'the All-Father', by serving long-overdue justice to those who had built their wealth on the blood of their peoples & so many others with fire and iron. The first of the slaver cities, Gas'tai, did not think much of him; their walls had survived for thousands of years before the Savior Falinasht was a twinkle in his old man's eye (whether that 'old man' be Aba-Favra or a random Arionic legionary looking for a quick lay) and they fully expected them to stand for another thousand. When Remian sent his cousin Ildene to negotiate a surrender that would have allowed the slavers to leave peacefully, the lords of the Black City instead had the brilliant idea to torture her to death and fling her head from their black walls. Needless to say, when Remian proved that the Falinesti were no longer an easily pushed mass of rabble by actually bringing down one of said walls in an unexpected mining operation, he put the stunned slavers and their families to the sword in retaliation, while thousands of overjoyed slaves gladly aided them with the massacre of the hated old order and reinforced his ranks.

Now, a year later, the crusaders and their freedman allies are fast approaching their last target: the Green City of Ha'mor. Na'mai, the Blue City, had already been taken earlier that year; its leaders were wise enough to stand down after the defeat of their army at the Plain of Nirnuada, and as they neither killed his emissary nor forced him to waste time & supplies besieging them Remian in turn allowed them to leave peacefully - without their slaves, of course. But Ha'mor, largest and proudest of the cities of the Slave Coast, has grimly refused to walk down that path and instead bunkered down for a siege, with her slave-lords defiantly swearing that they would rather incinerate themselves, their ancestors' city and their slaves than let the Liberator and his men take them down. They have just driven away the Holy King's latest envoy with arrows when she came to demand their surrender with the heads of the lords of Gas'tai and the rings of the lords of Na'mai in hand, and it seems now that a clash between the city's 12,000 defenders and Remian's 80,000-strong host (25,000 Falinesti & 55,000 freedmen from Gas'tai or Na'mai) will be inevitable.

As soldiers in the Holy King's army, whether you be Falinesti or freedman, or as slaves working to bring down your masters from behind Ha'mor's green walls, you will have a role to play in the final stage of the Falinesti's Holy War of Liberation. Will you succeed in not only contributing to the downfall of Khaz's last 'bastard child' on Khio Na and liberating its hundreds of thousands of slaves but also surviving to enjoy your triumph and perhaps tell your children and grandchildren about it one day, or will you join the already quite populated ranks of the martyrs who perished in the name of freedom, justice and the All-Father to this day?

**Barry Goldwater** · November 13, 2014, 06:46 PM

Signup format

Ethnicities

Choose only one. Your character's parents can be of two different Falinesti ethnicities, but s/he him/herself still has to pick only one ethnicity to identify with.

Map

Dalanesti: The 'Children of the Waters', living on the northeast coast of Khio Na. Commonly thought of as urbane ivory-tower philosophers, but renowned as strategists and engineers in war. +2 to INT and a bonus +1 at rolls involving crossbows. Demonym: Dalanasht (masculine, 'Son of the Waters') and Dalanuat (feminine, 'Daughter of the Waters').
Birinesti: The 'Children of the Rivers', living in the lush Riverlands that were once the Edalanesti heartland. River-men thought of as ambitious and unscrupulous, but highly adaptable to changing circumstances. +1 to AGI and INT. Demonym: Birinasht (m.) and Birinuat (f.).
Mevanesti: The 'Maple Children', easternmost of the Wodanesti peoples primarily descended from the Edalanesti natives and thought to be the most 'civilized' of their kin. +1 to INT and CHA, and a +1 bonus to archery rolls. Demonym: Mevanasht (m.) and Mevanuat (f.).
Otamanesti: The 'Oak Children', an ornery forest people who live in the heart of the former Wodashiral or 'Wood Home', thought of as the most backwards and xenophobic of the Wodanesti. +2 to AGI, and a +1 bonus to archery rolls. Demonym: Otamanasht (m.) and Otamanuat (f.).
Bechenesti: The 'Birch Children', westernmost of the Wodanesti peoples, seen as standing somewhere between the Mevanesti and Otamanesti on the 'barbarism to civilization' scale. +1 to STR and CHA, and a +1 bonus to archery rolls. Demonym: Bechenasht (m.) and Bechenuat (f.).
Borvanesti: The 'Children of Winter' who find themselves at home in the icy north. Skilled whalers and hunters who are great at tracking people and moving in the snow, not that those skills are likely to prove useful this far south...+2 to END. Demonym: Borvanasht (m.) and Borvanuat (f.).
Halanesti: The 'Children of the Earth' who call the eastern half of the great mountain range termed the 'Earth's Spine' home. Tough miners and mountain men, commonly thought of as having nerves of steel and being 'quiet tough guys'. +1 to STR and END, and a +1 bonus at using bladed melee weapons. Demonym: Halanasht (m.) and Halanuat (f.).
Tyhanesti: The 'Stubborn Children' living in the western Earth's Spine. More provincial cousins to the Halanesti who are less accepting of the changes the Falinesti have been undergoing since Arion first arrived on Khio Na, almost 700 years ago. +2 to STR, and a +1 bonus to rolls involving blunt melee weapons. Demonym: Tyhanasht (m.) and Tyhanuat (f.).
Navanesti: The 'New Children' living in-between the Dala/Biri/Hala/Fa-Tela/Udala/Geghanesti. Thought of as friendly and compassionate folks, but not the sort to let those who offend their sense of justice go in peace. +1 to INT and CHA. Demonym: Navanasht (m.) and Navanuat (f.).
Udalanesti: The 'Scattered Children' who live in the southeastern mountain range called the 'Unforgiving Rocks', bordering the slavers' lands. Typically seen as cold, calculating loners with the keen ability to hold grudges for generations. +1 to INT and END. Demonym: Udalanasht (m.) and Udalanuat (f.).
Fa-Telanesti: The 'Children of the Flowers and Fields' who live in southern Khio Na, descended chiefly from the Favri ancestors of the Falinesti who came over from Mannasin Dest 2000+ years ago. Thought of as vain aesthetes, but no critic can deny their skill with horse and lance. +1 to AGI and CHA, and a +1 bonus to all mounted combat rolls. Demonym: Fa-Telanasht (m.) and Fa-Telanuat (f.)
Geghanesti: The 'Brave Children' who seceded from the Fa-Telanesti (now their western neighbors) in this century. Thought of as a race of brash, passionate and hot-tempered fighters who nonetheless usually have their hearts in the right place. +1 to AGI and END. Demonym: Geghanasht (m.) and Geghanuat (f.).
Sazhanesti: The 'Children of the Sands' whose ancestors fled to the Great Sand Sea to escape Arion's reach, and who have been plagued by the neighboring slavers the longest out of all the Falinesti. Thought of as determined survivors prepared to throw anyone who risks their lives to the wolves. +1 to INT and END. Demonym: Sazhanasht (m.) and Sazhanuat (f.).
Varanesti: The 'Horse Children', mixed-race descendants of the Fa-Telanesti and Northern Dafcikar exiles who chose to fight for the Falinesti rather than Agdu Baratun after he tore through their homeland, now living west of the Fa-Telanesti on the Dafcik border. Thought of as masterful riders, stereotypically with more than a little too much love for their horses as well. +2 to AGI, +1 bonus to mounted combat rolls.
Desha-Forinesti: One of the three splinter groups of the Cerayanesti or 'Children of the Cherry Blossoms', who live next to the Bechenesti and some of whom (the 'Gladesmen' or Hana-Wodanesti) have the most Wodanesti blood in them. +1 to AGI and INT, and a +1 bonus to archery rolls.
Naka-Cerayanesti: One of the three splinter groups of the Cerayanesti or 'Children of the Cherry Blossoms', who live on the southern border with the Dafcikar and have incorporated both blood & influences from them and the Falinesti. +1 to STR and AGI.
Dagashnesti: One of the three splinter groups of the Cerayanesti or 'Children of the Cherry Blossoms', who have the most Teisarian blood in them (and possibly Borvanesti blood as well, at least among the northernmost of the bunch) and who live on the islands just off the western coast of Khio Na as well as small parts of the mainland. They haven't been fully conquered by the Beaniques just yet, but some of them have come to the mainland to join the crusading army as mercenaries. +1 to STR and CHA.
Freedman: You're a freedman from one of the two liberated slaver cities, Gas'tai or Na'mai, who has chosen to tag along with the crusader army. +1 to END and CHA, and a +1 bonus to all subterfuge rolls.
Slave: You're a slave in Ha'mor, eager to covertly bring your masters down from the inside while the crusaders and freedmen outside bash the Green City's gates down. +1 to CHA and any stat of your choice (including CHA again if you want), and a +1 bonus to all subterfuge rolls.

**Barry Goldwater** · November 13, 2014, 06:46 PM

Equipment

Note: Everyone will start with a knife, but from there you have to choose between ONE melee OR ranged weapon.

Melee weapons

Note: For accuracy rolls, I'll always be using a 1d6. Each weapon's base accuracy = the number you'll need the die to land on for you to get a hit in. For example, with a knife's 80% base accuracy, you'll land a hit with anything but a 1. 60% base accuracy = 3-6 needed, and so on.

Knife: A simple knife for cutting and stabbing, wouldn't be out of place in a kitchen or a hunter's belt. Everyone gets one of these as an emergency weapon. Minimum of two attacks, 1d4 damage, needs a 2-6 to hit.

Shortsword: A thrusting shortsword, the exact same kind that was commonly used by Arionic legionaries when they walked on Khio Na. Minimum of two attacks, 1d6 damage, needs a 3-6 to hit, 1d8 chance to instantly penetrate armor & shields without a need for further rolls. All characters can choose to start with one of these.

Longsword: A work-hardened long-bladed sword meant for slashing, preferred by most Falinesti warriors of long days gone by and by the nobility of today. Minimum of three attacks, 1d6 damage, needs a 3-6 to hit. All characters can choose to start with one of these.

Two-handed sword: A heavy sword with an extremely long blade that requires both hands to wield, making it impossible for you to equip a shield. Minimum of one attack, 1d10 damage, 1d4 chance to instantly pierce armor & shields, needs a 4-6 to hit. Tyha/Nava/Otamanesti can choose to start with one of these.

Axe: A battle-axe, great for hacking. Minimum of one attack, 1d8 damage, 1d6 chance to instantly pierce armor & shields, needs a 3-6 to hit. Hala/Tyha/Biri/Geghanesti characters can choose to start with one of these.

Club: A heavy cudgel used to bash people's heads in or break their bones. Minimum of one attack, 1d6 damage, 1d4 chance to instantly pierce armor & shields, needs a 4-6 to hit. All characters can choose to start with one of these.

Hammer: A war-hammer meant to smash through the thickest armor and break anything underneath it. Minimum of one attack, 1d10 damage, 1d2 chance to instantly pierce armor & shields, needs a 5-6 to hit. Tyha/Borva/Hala/Udalanesti characters can choose to start with one of these.

Spear: A long thrusting weapon that gives you the advantage of greater reach. Minimum of one attack, 1d8 damage, needs a 3-6 to hit. Udala/Hala/Meva/Varanesti characters can choose to start with one of these.

Seal club: A multipurpose weapon that combines a sharp hook and a hammer end onto a heavy wooden shaft, originally meant to swiftly kill and drag away seals. All Borvanesti characters can start with one, as can Borvanesti-blooded Dagashnesti characters. Minimum of two attacks, 1d6 damage, needs a 4-6 to hit, 1d6 chance to instantly pierce armor & shields.

Lance: A long spear meant for cavalry use, but which can also be used on foot with some difficulty. All Fa-Tela/Gegha/Vara/Sazhanesti characters can start with one. Minimum of one attack, 1d6 damage, needs a 4-6 to hit when on foot; on horseback, you have a 1d4 chance of instantly killing anyone wearing any less than chainmail that you target with this thing.

Ranged weapons

Armor

Horses

**Barry Goldwater** · November 13, 2014, 06:46 PM

r3, just in case

**Barry Goldwater** · November 15, 2014, 05:21 PM

And everything you need to make your character - profile format, ethnicities & equipment - are finally up. You can post your chars right here in this thread, folks. You think anything ought to be changed, you can say so here as well.

**Agamemnon** · November 15, 2014, 08:24 PM

Name: Hathrashel Halanasht
Age: 27
Ethnicity: Halanesti
Equipment: Knife, Hammer, Shield, Scale Armor, Kettle Helm
Biography: Hathrashel was set to become a miner, like his parents and his parents' parents, when the crusade began. However, Hathrashel didn't want to be a miner. His parents had always come home filthy and exhausted, with little to show for their hard labor. But, his whole life, Hathrashel had watched the primitive machinery used in the mines: the pumps, the pulley systems, the carts on rails, and others. Hathrashel dreamed, one day, of being the man in charge of those machines and knowing how they worked. But, being the child of miners, there was little hope for Hathrashel of the schooling necessary to become a mine engineer, and so he resolved himself to a life of backbreaking work in the mines - until, that is, the crusade began. Hathrashel signed up for the army immediately, along with many other volunteers. There were so many volunteers, in fact, that the Halanesti nobles couldn't arm them all, and Hathrashel was one of many who had to bring his own equipment (ergo his use of some equipment better suited to mines than battlefields). In the army, he at first was to serve as a simple footsoldier. However, at the siege of Gas'tai, he was the one who noticed and pointed out to his superior, a minor Halanesti noble, a weakness in the walls which could be exploited. The noble brought him to the siege engineers, who scoffed at him and sent him away. Dejected, Hathrashel began to trudge away, until he spotted an onager which had just been prepared for firing when the engineer was called away by a superior. Seizing the opportunity, Hathrashel aimed the catapult at the weak point and launched his stone square at the base of the wall, opening one of the first breaches in the wall with a single stone - a wall which had withstood countless such stones where the engineers had determined to fire. The breach was small, but Hathrashel had a plan. He found what incendiaries he could and combined them into something similar to a blasting compound often used in the mines, then braved arrows and javelins flung from the ramparts to place the compound into the small breach he had made, then fire it. He was knocked back by the explosion and lost consciousness. When he awoke, the same noble from before was standing over him with a large grin pointing to the ramparts, which, once his eyes refocused, Hathrashel saw full of crusaders celebrating their victory. The noble became a good friend of Hathrashel, and agreed to pay Hathrashel's way through the Falanesti siege engineer program. The program lasted until the week before this last battle of the crusade, resulting in Hathrashel missing the majority of the war. However, now, as a sapper with the siege engineers, Hathrashel is ready to test his mettle. Who knows, if he is as valuable here as he was at Gas'tai, perhaps his engineering skill will get him the future back home he has always wanted?

Stats:
Strength: 2
Agility: 3 (0 after armor)
Intelligence: 4
Endurance: 2 (9 HP Armor)
Charm: 1

I have one suggestion. Halanesti characters ought to be able to have hammers, and probably in return ought not to get 2h swords. Their backstory is mining, and it makes way more sense for miners to bring picks and hammers from home than for them to suddenly get greatswords, especially as (unless my view of them is incorrect) they aren't the wealthiest of people.

**Iron Aquilifer** · November 16, 2014, 04:03 AM

If you will have me:

Name: Ordessa Geruut
Age: 31
Ethnicity: Otamanesti (+2 Agi, +1 archer roll)
Equipment: longbow, dagger, leather armour, kettle helmet (4HP -1Agi)
Stats:
Strength - 2 - years of training with a bow, and living off of the land has built up his muscles.
Agility - 3 (+2 - 1): 4 - he has lived a life of moving fast, striking when others cannot.
Intelligence - 3 - Keen eyes and a sense of self-awareness allows him to pick out dangers no one else can see. Living off of the land has also allowed him to test out new ways of healing wounds.
Endurance - 2 - he is a survivor, but he is not someone who can take more than a simple beating.
Charisma - 0 - he is not shy; he just hates most people.
Biography:
He had not thought much of his life, training with bow each day and wandering the forests for food at night. Life was boring, any outsider could see that. However Ordessa did not see until an adult that he lived a life devote of meaning. He was simply surviving. For a brief period he settled down with an older woman, siring several strong children before hearing from a now-returned friend of the Holy Crusade. While his family, friends and neighbours thought him strange, Ordessa set out to join the army. For the initial conflicts he served as a sort of messenger between the archers and the infantry they supported, before he realised that fighting with a bow up close to the enemy was all he wanted to do. Now, instead of standing with the archer formations, he accompanies the infantry, right in the front ranks.
He has few friends, and does not care much about the men around him. All that interests him is the loot to be taken, and stories to make for his people back home.

**Barry Goldwater** · November 16, 2014, 07:42 AM

@Aggy Good point, I've now switched the Halanesti over to hammers & Navanesti to 2H swords to replace them.

@Iron Aquilifer Welcome! We're definitely glad to have you

**Barry Goldwater** · November 16, 2014, 02:19 PM

Cerayanesti bonuses & ability to use longbows have been added. Technically they haven't been entirely conquered by the Beaniques at this point in time, but for the sake of convenience (and since most Falinesti who don't live near them/are not educated scholars on the topic aren't likely to be able to tell the difference between the different Cerayanesti peoples at this point in time) we could prolly just refer to all of them as Cerayanesti, if that's cool with Xion.

**Pericles of Athens** · November 16, 2014, 02:54 PM

Name: Fengud Verner
Age: 24
Ethnicity: Borvanesti
Equipment: Knife, Seal Club, Chainmail, Helmet
Biography: Fengud was born into a large Borvanesti family in the lands of ice and snow that their people traditionally call home. He was the second eldest of four brothers and had five sisters as well. His father taught him and his brothers all the things they would need in life, as long as they never left the far northern winter lands, how to run over snow quickly and quietly without leave a trail, how to track others making their way through the snow, how to track beasts (like snow bears, elk, seals, and the like) and how to kill them, even how to slay leviathans. Together they provided for their family and traded what they did not need within the community for other goods they could not acquire, life was simple and good. That was until the crusades came and the Children of Winter were called to war once again, his elder brother had been chosen to join the expedition but Fengud offered himself up in his place. To him the south has been a very strange place filled with wicked and power hungry men on both sides of the conflict, but luckily he need not become rapped up in that as a simple soldier he need only kill those he is ordered to kill by day and drink until he cant stand by night.

Stats:
Strength: 5 - Years of hunting whales and hauling seal corpses really put hair on a man's chest.
Agility: 3 (0 after armor) - Neither particularly fast nor particularly slow.
Intelligence: 0 - He isn't a stupid man rather he doesn't know much about the lands outside those perpetually within winter's grasp.
Endurance: 4 (+11 HP from Armor) - He can take a beating if he must, not that he'd allow it.
Charm: 0 - A life of snow and ice, a diet based on blubber, and a long history of violence doesn't breed charming men.

Fengud

**Barry Goldwater** · November 16, 2014, 06:39 PM

Fixed the Cerayanesti up as per Xion's instructions since I misread them earlier, now they've been split into the appropriate groups with their own stat bonuses.

**Barry Goldwater** · November 16, 2014, 06:57 PM

Also, @Perry Would you be interested in controlling slaver NPCs? Like, assassination targets or higher-ranking enemy captains for people to fight during assaults/sallies. It'd mean I have fewer people to come up with orders for

Also, if you have the time, can you give me a rundown of what Khazadic warfare is like so I can find decent pics & strategies for these guys later? Just keep in mind that we're in the equivalent of 950 AD (so like, Viking Age stuff) and the slavers are pretty conservative folks who have been trying to keep themselves as close to the memory of old Khaz as possible.

**Pericles of Athens** · November 16, 2014, 08:17 PM

Yes, I can control the slaver NPCs. Also keep in mind that Old Khaz was extremely religious (practicing human sacrifice) and superstitious.

Khazic warfare is based on strict military discipline and the phalanx formation used in conjunction with heavily armed and armored cavalry (mostly nobles not wealthy enough to afford a cushy desk job in times of war

) with ranged units (mostly archers) serving in support roles. The average soldier is armed with a spear, a hoplon-like shield, cast body armor, and a short stabbing sword. In ancient Khaz mercenaries, mostly from northern barbaric tribes, were used to cover the flanks. The closest real world equivalent would be Macedonian styled warfare circa 330 BC. An important thing to note is that in ancient Khaz their legions were made up of free citizens of the republic not slaves, in fact slaves were unable to carry arms or armor outside of extreme circumstances (during the third and final Khazic War against Arion the Senate unanimously voted to arm a large portion of the male slave population to defend the city, well technically one person did vote against it but his fellow senators tore him to pieces), though with corruption setting in over the centuries this likely changed in Khio Na's colonies. Two final tidbits - Khazic Rangers are an elite nonconventional unit serving as frontiersmen, spies, assassins, and secret police and the Legion of the Dead is an order of Khazic warriors who have given themselves up for dead (metaphorically, but in a very superstitious/religious culture such as the Khazic one these things are taken very literally) in order to safeguard their city without fear.

Also I haven't written it up yet (probably wont until I can find the time), but instead of having it survive into the "modern" age the City of Khaz will have been destroyed by a non-seasonal flood in the aftermath of the Third Khazic War. A flood that destroys the city and the entirety of the occupying Arionic Legions, to those of Khazic blood its seen as divine retribution. By this time the ruined city will have become a sight of pilgrimage for the brave amongst the colonial Khazic population and more importantly a massive (and militant) leper colony. Also by 4951 there will be a number of prominent cities back across the sea that have banded together into a "Second Republic" and while they are wealthy and powerful they are nothing compared to their former selves.

Don't forget the Khazad are a "traditional", gruesome and pragmatic bunch so expect crucified slaves, poisoning near by wells (at least the one outside the city) with human corpses, torturing and flinging treacherous slaves, spies, and emissaries at the crusading encampment. Khazad emphasized protection for its citizen's rights (to have a voice in governance, to trade freely, to own property, to not be tortured unfairly, etc.) unfortunatly that doesn't extend to slaves or 'barbarians' of any sort, after all they're the inheritors of one of the oldest civilizations in the world which must make them superior.

**Barry Goldwater** · November 17, 2014, 09:17 PM

Thanks! This will help a lot. I figured the slaver cities will maintain small standing armies of proper citizens but conscript slaves in times of emergency, like now: the former would be like 5-6,000 strong per city I think (individual late Dark Age armies seemed fairly small, ex. the Battle of Civitate had ~9k men total and that was with one side being led by the freaking Papacy; for reference the Falinesti already control around half of the continent and can still barely scrap together 30k men for this crusade, or equal to the higher end estimates of the Muslim army at Yarmouk) and the latter could swell that to double or as many as four times the original standing army's number depending on the # of slaves at hand & how much the masters trust their slaves. The rangers I'd imagine could survive as a tiny elite force of maybe a few hundred guys who've come to specialize in slave raids & harassment against enemy supply lines/patrols after the slaver cities' millennia of isolation from Khaz, and the LoD could be around as an elite guards unit deployed to defend breaches, wall sections that are about to fall or in the worst case scenario, the city square. I've set the strength of the Third City of Ha'mor, the one that this game will center around, at 12k men with 6k being citizen-soldiers and the other half being slaves - that OK, or do you want to adjust the numbers?

The Khazic world over on Anvakhano is kinda beyond the scope of this game, but we could have Ha'mor magistrates or nobles occasionally reference them. Since old Khaz Proper is gone and these guys have prided themselves on keeping the old ways alive (to the best of their ability) for millennia I'm thinking they might view the Second Khazadic Republic as Arionized upstarts or something, not that they can do much of anything about it nowadays besides griping in their palaces since they're under siege or already conquered lol.

And yeah, I expected as much

Since we're on the third and last city, as I wrote above the crusaders will already have seen more of Khaz's 'old-school' atrocities than most of them care to stomach, and will have already established a record of retaliating in kind (case in point, brutally massacring the entire slaver nobility of the first city - down to children and infants - as an answer for those dudes' war crimes, which included torturing a diplomat & cousin of the Holy King sent to negotiate their surrender ala Genghis Khan vs. Khwarezm). The nobility of the second city, Na'mai, has already gotten off relatively lightly with 'only' exile to Anvakhano without their slaves or most of their treasures since they declared Na'mai an open city instead of bunkering down for a siege after their army got smashed on the open field (which would have made further resistance both pointless and short-lived anyway); you could have them head back to the Second Republic, if those guys are willing to allow a bunch of apparent cowards who've disgraced their ancestors by running away in, but no matter what happens they're pretty much out of the game. That will most definitely not be happening with this siege of the third city of Ha'mor, who've resolved to stand and fight to the end.

**Pericles of Athens** · November 17, 2014, 11:09 PM

It all sounds good to me.

**Barry Goldwater** · November 18, 2014, 09:19 AM

Aight folks, we'll start once at least five players have registered their characters.

**Dirty Chai** · November 18, 2014, 06:34 PM

I'm just not really sure what to do here. Might take me a while to decide. Sorry guys.

**Barry Goldwater** · November 18, 2014, 08:12 PM

Hmm, well what do you mean? All you gotta do is make a character (or two, if you want); there are three PCs already up that you can use as examples. If you have any questions about how to make a character, ask away.

**usuno** · November 18, 2014, 08:35 PM

Name: Wallain Odemund

Age: 22

Ethnicity: Otamanasht

Equipment: Knife, Two-Handed Sword, Scale Armor, Helmet.

Biography: Wallain grew up roaming the great forests of his homeland, following his father and his small warband as they patrolled the waterways and hunted or fished every meal they ate. Though the bow was essential to day-to-day survival, Wallain grew up strong and tall, and found himself better suited to swinging a rhomphaia, like the berserkers of old. He proved his strength and martial valour in border skirmishes against the other tribes, or sometimes interlopers from beyond the Wood Home, but this didn't sate Wallain's thirst for glory. He wanted a great enemy, a war to fight akin to those the heroes of song had earned their immortality in. One day while his father traded furs in a border settlement, Wallain caught sight of a notice posted in the mead hall. A literate villager read to him that some king in his high seat had called for mercenaries from all the tribes to join him in a great crusade to... blah blah blah. The details lost him, but he'd understood enough. This was his sign, his call to immortality! A war awaited him, and as his father watched with mixed sadness and pride, Wallain rode off with a small contingent of other eager Otamanasht to the lands beyond. Several fierce battles later, Wallain has earned admiration and respect among his company for his battle fury and eagerness to open up "just one more helmet," but the war has also been an eye-opener for the forest-son. Many men stronger, cleverer, and faster than him have perished before their blades were drawn, killed before their legends could truly begin. New ways of killing and different means of fighting seem to leave little room for a hero to shine, and though a man may emerge victorious, more often he lived not for his strength of arms or his courage, but simply by chance. For now, he quells his doubts by sharpening his blade and readying himself for the next battle.

Stats:
Strength: 4
Agility: 2 (+2 from background, -2 from armor penalty)
Intelligence: 1
Endurance: 2 (+7 HP from armor)
Charm: 1

**Agamemnon** · November 18, 2014, 09:13 PM

Well hello there, welcome to IH!

Thread: [BaW 2.0] The Liberating Crusade - a One-Shot IH RPG

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[BaW 2.0] The Liberating Crusade - a One-Shot IH RPG

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