Epic of Vaniyera (tentative name)

[Turin]

For those who don't know, Oreb wrote a campaign tentatively titled Epic of Vaniyera dealing with, well, Vaniyera. Currently seven scenarios are written.

Now, I think the original plan was to have the campaign run through all of Vaniyera's life, ending with his death at the hands of Alfhelm. However, I don't think this is necessarily a good idea. It would make the campaign much too long - no one would want to play through it. Alfhelm is currently 15 scenarios long, and even that seems to me somewhat excessive. I prefer campaigns about the length of Fall of Silvium (7 scenarios).

The seven scenarios in the Epic of Vaniyera currently form a fairly complete story arc. Lavinians invade, Sidhe rally their army, Sidhe retaliate and push Lavinians from the land. Also, currently the time period in which the campaign takes place is ambiguous (it claims 600 SI somewhere, but this doesn't make any sense, since the Lavinians purposefully avoided the Sidhe Forests from Primus Maximus's death until Caius Regilius visited Mt. Stormkeep). So, I propose slightly modifying the campaign to take place in 115-116 SI. Remember,

[Urs]

The problem with that name, IMO, is that it sounds like you're playing as lavinians and have to rally around the emperor or give a last stand or something like that...

[Turin]

[Turin]

I'm going to call it "We Stand Against the Emperor" (WSATE). I hope there are no objections, since I already renamed the directory in SVN. (Though if you do have a brilliant idea for a name, or a reason why this name really sucks, don't hesitate to post it - it wouldn't be that much work to change it again.)

The campaign is really in fairly complete state; I could release it today, and it would be playable, but I would like to make some more improvements to it. I will definitely release it before I go back to school, though; that's on the 20nd (classes start 22nd).

And one more major change I'm considering...

Currently the main character is Vaniyera and Leithan is the advisor. I'm not really comfortable with this set-up, for a number of reasons.

First of all... take a look at this map.

It seems rather strange that Leithan and Vaniyera would be the ones to encounter the enemy. Leithan is a thunderblade of the Western March, yes, but, since there are 12 thunderblades, there are probably four Thunderblades per March (or, even if some of them have residency in Mount Stormkeep, at least two or three per March), and Leithan resides in the northern-most part of the Western March. Remember, he encounters Caius Regilius next to that unnamed Silvian village. I imagine Primus Maximus would have invaded from the south, entering Sidhe land somewhere between the text Western March and Southern March on that map. Leithan probably isn't the Thunderblade who would have been sent to spy.

Secondly, from a storyline perspective, Leithan is the most welcoming of the Lavinians in FoS. If he was the one to command the forces against Primus Maximus, and thus the Sidhe most aware of the Lavinian atrocities committed against the Sidhe, why would he be the ally of Caius Regilius? (My initial reasoning for why Leithan welcomed the Lavinians, btw, was that he was the westernmost Thunderblade and thus hated the Marauders the most, and he was grateful to the Lavinians for interposing themselves between Marauder and Sidhe.)

Thirdly; this is a very meta- concern, but I think we ought to have more Sidhe characters than Vanimaro, Leithan, and Vaniyera. It would be nice to have this campaign introduce entirely new Sidhe heroes, and tie them back in with Vanimaro, Leithan, and Vaniyera by mentioning all three of them at some point or another.

So, I'd like to propose changing the main characters of the campaign from Leithan and Vaniyera to Faolan (another Thunderblade of the Western March, one currently mentioned in FoS) and a disciple-to-be-named-later. I know this change seems like it departs rather a lot from Oreb's original plan, but my intent is to keep the basic ideas of Oreb's campaign while having it fit better into the Orbivm universe. So hopefully he won't mind.

Oreb, do you mind?

[Urs]

No offense, but I don't like "We Stand Against the Emperor" very much. The problem is is that it doesn't have the same ring to it as your other names do:

Fall of Silvium
Alfhelm the Wise
We Stand Against the Emperor
Epic of Vaniyera

Pick the odd one out.

I think Vaniyera could be the main character easily, but Leithan not the thunderblade. If I recall correctly, then Vaniyera wasn't cool with assisting the lavinians in FoS. His hatred could be fostered by the fact that he fought them previously, and then for some reason or other went to serve Leithan instead of Thunderblade X - Maybe Faolan, although I don't like the name very much...

So... Why can't it be "Epic of Vaniyera, Part I" Or something like that? Part II could be what the rest of the campaign would've been.

[Turin]

[Temuchin Khan]

My own view is that "Epic of Vaniyera" is the best title we'll be able to come up with, and that it is a good title regardless of whether it relates the entire tale of Vaniyera's life or only certain of his achievements. Not all epics end with death of the hero, after all.

Also, the resons given for not keeping Leithan as one of the heroes are cogent, but I see no reason to cut Vaniyera from this story. Why not have Faolan and Vaniyera as the heroes?

[Turin]

[Temuchin Khan]

[Urs]

Back to the name:

Legend of Vaniyera
Saga of Vaniyera

This one might work if there were more Vaniyera centered campaigns coming:
Chronicles of Vaniyera: The Invasion

[Turin]

If we change the name, it'll be to something without the word "Vaniyera" in the title. One of my main problems with the current title is that it does have his name in it, and really no other information - the title gives absolutely no information as to what the campaign is about.

"Alfhelm the Wise" has this same problem, but that's because Alfhelm is really three campaigns strung together, and each of them has its own subtitle - "To Go to War", "We Fight Against the Red and Gold", and "The Dark Depths of the Forest". Kind of like "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", "PotC: Dead Man's Chest", and "PotC: At World's End".

[Temuchin Khan]

If Vaniyera is cut from the title, or even from the campaign, maybe we could (quite appropriately) rip off Classical Literature:

Anabasis of Primus Maximus

Historically, at least two ancient Greek historical works contain "anabasis," which means "military advance," in their title, one of which is an eyewitness account of the exploits of Greek mercenaries trying to get home after their employer died in battle and the other of which is an account of the exploits of Alexander the Great.

EDIT: More mundanely, of course, you could call it "The Advance of Primus Maximus."

[Turin]

OK, so all of the scenarios have been updated and the campaign is ready for release. Since Epic of Vaniyera is still the best name available, I'm going to release it on the server under that name sometime tomorrow.

[Oreb]

Ok I Have a long post, since I'm trying to get as much down as possible. Still not it all though.

First off, I'm perfectly fine with it changing timelines, etc. It sounds alot better this way, all I'll say is just make sure credit is given to Casual User for helping me out at the start.

*This would be the Campaign as is now*
Perhaps named Chronicles of Vaniyera: Anabasis of the Emperor

With deciding whether Vaniyera should be kept or not there are 2 options. Which rely soley on wether or not this will become a Chronicle about parts of his life. Starting of course back when he was a young disciple in the southern parts of the forest, and sent to dispatch the attackers, etc.

*This would be the second chronicle, 200 years before events of FoS*
Perhaps named Chronicles of Vaniyera: Retribution

After defeating the Lavinians, which turned out to be a Grand Invasion intent on taking their lands, he was promoted to a higher position, and given his own land and people to look after. But with power can also come greed. Because of his hatred for the lavinians for Reasons X (Mentor killed, Something destroyed, Just plain angry), he attacks a Lavinian Stronghold in the Arendian Pass and loses many troops to make a small and insignificant victory in the eyes of the council.

The council decides to have him expelled from the ranks of the Sidhe and banishes out of the forests for his wrong doing (Sidhe are still Xenophobic, but they still think worthless sacrifices shouldn't be made). Leithan a prominent Thunderblade at the time, convinces the council to let him dissciple Vaniyera in the Western forests away from the Lavinians and tutor him.

*Third and final Chronicle, the attack on Maruaderdom and subsequent demise by Alfheim*
Perhaps Called Chronicles of Vaniyera: The Fall

Vaniyera now a Thunderblade, after the death of Leithan, has managed to calm his rampant ways, and keeps watch over the North West parts of the forests, and the entrance to Marauderdom. Attacking whenever instructed so by the council, to take advantage of feuding houses. After a not so sucessful trip, where both houses turned on his troops, he reported of a man unifying Maruderdom under one banner. Soon, the maruaders moved southward, Vaniyera seized this opportunity even with the councils disapproval. Gaining victory after victory against a disorganized home guard, he managed to take the majority of the forests. Yet while his troops rested after the never ending battles, the Maruaders had returned, and were dismayed at what had happened. Unified to get back their homes, they attacked Vaniyera's spread forces, cornering him, and finally slaying him.

*During all 3 Chronicles key characters could be introduced as Turin wanted, who play noticeable roles. IE, Vaniyera's Mentor, Vaniyeras Disciple who would become a Thunderblade at his demise.*

The reason Vaniyera needs his near banishment is to show why he was still at a low place during FoS.

Or we could rename vaniyera to keep it much simpler.

That's it for now.

[Turin]

Makes a lot of sense. We'll probably go with that.

...

But I do want your feedback on what my idea was - namely, after Vaniyera defeats the Lavinian invasion, he and Faolan return to Mount Stormkeep, and it turns out the Sidhe Council has been called, belatedly, in response to the invasion. When Faolan and Vaniyera report that the Lavinians have been defeated and the Imperator slain, the Council gets mad both because a) it was reckless of Vaniyera to lead a counterstrike when his army was so much smaller than the Lavinians' (he just got lucky, really), and b) he shouldn't have slain the Imperator, because that will make the Lavinians retaliate against them, leading to more loss of life than if Vaniyera had waited. So Vaniyera gets transferred to Leithan.

Essentially, this bypasses the second part of your Chronicles and reduces it to a two-part series - "Epic of Vaniyera - Anabasis of the Emperor" and "Epic of Vaniyera - The Storm Breaks".

I'm not attached to this idea, but I had already written the dialogue for the final scenario of Anabasis before I read your post, so this both reduces the amount of work required to release Anabasis and reduces the total number of scenarios we have to do - both good things. Anyway, if you don't like it, I'll rewrite the final scenario of Anabasis to be more like your idea and then release it.