Dominions 5 - Rise of the Valkyries

It had been 9 months since Lord Kall had started to See. Since then, every single minute of his life, every single second, he had had that Vision in his head. That Vision of the whole world, of every place, of every being, of every power. Even in his sleep, in his dreams, this Vision was there. This was his everyday, this had become his life.

And one night, his servants got distressed by screams coming from his room. “The thrones, the thrones, the thrones !!!” was screaming Lord Kall in his dreams. Screaming until he awoke himself with his own screams “The thrones !!!!!!”. Gasping, sweating, full of adrenaline, his Vision had taken another level. He had Felt it. The thrones were in his grasp, divinehood was in his grasp, victory was at hand !

Even though he Knew, he had to take time to sort it out in a sensible way. He needed his servants and armies to make his Vision real, and had to plan it with them. So he called for an emergency gathering of the war council, with only the most trusted leaders, the top-most figures of Helheim. Everything that would be said that day had to be kept in the utmost secret. Every person entering the room had to undertake a sacred vow of secrecy, bound with magical powers in such a way that breaking it would mean instant death.

After taking such a vow, the council members were wondering what information required such extraordinary measures ! Surely, their God had his reasons and they would obey without discussion.

And so Lord Kall started to explain them his latest Vision, with mortal words suited for making a sensible battle plan. “We already control 5 thrones , including 2 of them particularly powerful. This is not much, not even half of what is required to overcome my opponents and become the only One True God of this world. However … I have Seen the world thoroughly these last months, and I have Seen that Ascension is in my grasp. Look ! Therodos controls 3 of the most powerful thrones of this land. If we were to take control of them, I’d be very close to reach the power required to cast down all these other so called gods. But … that won’t be easy. Let me get into the details”.

“To the north, Tien’Chi will soon get control of the throne of the Moon. That throne is critical as without it nothing can be done. Indeed, with the thrones of Therodos and this throne, I only need 3 more secondary thrones to trigger my Ascension.”

Listening to this report, the leaders of Helheim started to raise concern about the military consequences of such conquests. “But we can’t be at war against everybody, if we are at war with both Therodos and Tien’Chi, how can we conquer 3 more thrones ?”.

Lord Kall replied softly “A sensible remark my Lord. However you don’t have the full picture yet, let me finish and only then will we discuss it”.

“As you know well, on our western borders Marverni and Tien’Chi are fighting for the Throne of winter. I believe whoever wins will gather there a strong army, not only to protect the throne, but also to exploit the Steel Ovens. So … this throne won’t help us. We won’t have to fight Marverni in any case, the Throne of Bones to the west is too far away, and the Throne of the Pantokrator in the vicinity will certainly be constested by either Marverni or C’ti. So we won’t gather armies there.”

“As of now, our final targets are held by both Ulm and Niefelheim. And as it happens, there are quite close from our borders. Look ! The Brass Throne is just a Valkyrie day-flight away, and so is the throne of Autum. And both are still unfortified, so they are easy targets ! However, the Throne of Stability, the last target is also the most difficult to take, as it is under heavy fortification just close to the capital of Ulm itself.”

Some murmuring got into the council, getting at war with Ulm, Niefelheim, Therodos and Tien’Chi at the same time looked crazy.

“I know this plan looks crazy right now, but everything depends on How we do it. So, listen carefully, I’ve devised a plan that, if executed properly, can’t fail. First, we declare war on Therodos and take their 3 critical thrones (the Outer throne, the Iron throne and finally the Shattered throne). When these thrones are secured, we then gather secretly 4 armies, one for each of the remaining throne, and attack them all at once ! And when this is done, we claim all of them, all the thrones from Therodos, Tien’Chi, Ulm and Niefelheim, we claim them for me at the same time”.

Now, the leaders couldn’t help to express their disbelief. “Claim all the thrones at once ? How would you do that, you know well that apart from you and Skaljv none of us has the power to awake the power of the thrones ! … except if you plan to call upon the help of the legendary Bishop Fishes, but … this is madness, they only live in the deepest oceans, how could we reach them out !!?”.

Lord Kall replied “Yes, exactly, the Legendary Bishop Fishes ! And we will contact them during our war against Therodos. They control some seas ? We’ll take some from them and I will myself get there along with a Kokythiad or a Sea king. We master the undeads, don’t we ? They will help us conquer such a place. We have all the means to do this !”. (Bishop Fish : spending their time meditating and praying in the deepest abysses, the bishop fishes have developped a particular sensivity to divine energies. As such, they are some of the few beings able to awaken the power of a Throne …)

“So let me get into details : this operation has to be completely invisible to the enemy, they can’t know any moment about what we are doing. That’s why we’ll need to hide the Bishop fishes, hide the armies due to take the final thrones. And I think you know very well what I’m talking about : we’ll be crafting several Cauldrons of the Elven Halls . Thanks to them none will figure out what we are up to until the very last moment.” (Cauldron of the Elven Halls : A great silver cauldron enchanted with the magic of the Vanir. Soup made in the silver cauldron will turn those who feed on it invisible. By the law of some unknown power the enchantment ends when weapons are drawn and battle begins)

“So let me summarize : First, we attack therodos and take their 3 thrones. Meanwhile, we get an oceanic province and call from it the Bishop fishes. When these 2 steps are ready, we gather 4 stealth armies to attack the thrones of Tien’Chi, Ulm and  Niefelheim, along with the Bishop fishes that will be tasked to claim the thrones. In that regard, both me and Skaljv will join an army to reduce the number of Bishops to call. Then, as a final step, we capture these thrones and claim them along with those from Therodos. And … this will be it … my Vision will be true … I will be the one and only Pantokrator !”.

And, slowly, all the arguments from Lord Kall became undisputable facts. What he was saying made perfect sense, this plan could work, would work ! He was the promised Lord of these lands, His will couldn’t be opposed, this was Fate, this was Destiny, and Helheim was His Godly tool to achieve His Glory.

When, finally every leader understood the stakes and what was his part in this Divine Plan, it was time to get out of this room and start the first phase of the plan. And, soon, the words were on every lips : Therodos Must Die.

The prophecy ?

After that meeting Lord Kall took some time alone and retrieved the parchment where he had written the prophecy of his youth. Until now, every single thing had come true … and so he re-read again and again the last part …

And then a new moon will rise with the colors of autumn
A brass moon that will bring peace and stability …
to you My Lord, and to the whole world …

Gameplay notes

The game required 20 points of Throne to claim victory. By turn 55, Helheim controlled 8 points :

– The Throne of Zeal : 1 point
– The Throne of Thrones : 1 point
– The Throne of the Stars : 1 point
– The Throne of Bureaucracy : 2 points
– The Throne of Elements : 3 points

With 12 points to go it looked difficult to achieve victory but … Therodos controlled 3 thrones worth 7 points gathered in a rather small area. That meant that controlling the 3 of them would give Helheim control of 15 ascension points, so only 5 were left to go for victory.

When I finally understood that, I began to wonder if I could win or not. I wanted to end the game quickly as it was eating so much of my time … So I started to brainstorm on this topic quite a lot, looking which thrones were close to Helheim and easy to take … The Throne of the Moon was obvious : adjacent to Helheim borders it would probably be an easy take and it was worth 2 points.  A mandatory conquest, indeed.

So this being thought, how to catch the 3 remaining points ? When we look at the map we see that there are some thrones in Marverni territory that are not that far from Helheim but … Marverni being so strong, it would have been a gamble with no insurance whatsoever to win. Another close throne, the Throne of Winter was an important place for Tien’Chi and quite of a gamble too.

So that only left the 3 thrones mentioned in the plan. The first two became quickly obvious as they were unfortified at the time. In the end, finding the last one was a real headache. All potential targets looked too deep in enemy territory and not really prone to a surprise attack …

But, looking closely, the Throne of Stability appeared a viable target. Indeed it was close to Therodos borders and given we would be at war with them, that made sense that we could gather a force there to take it. The fact that it was both fortified and adjacent to the capital of Ulm was a concern, and it was clearly the most challenging throne. But it looked doable, indeed in case of a surprise attack I could blockade any army stationned in Ulm for 1 turn, and that would be enough time to take the fortress and claim the throne. So I decided that the whole strategy was viable and from that moment made every effort to achieve it.

The beginning of the great war against Therodos was also the time of the climax in the war between Tien’Chi and Marverni. Tien’Chi had indeed gathered a rather large army to defend the Throne of Winter, and Marverni an even larger one to take it.

In the middle of fall, Marverni managed to breach the fortress and at the end of fall launched the assault.

Grim, the Crone leading Tien’Chi had given specific orders. Everything had been planned carefully and the enemy would face many traps and challenges. Indeed, Vafur Flames surrounded the whole fortress and 10 powerful Marble Lions Sentinels had been summoned to guard the gates of the stronghold. The defending army itself was not to be taken lightly, with almost 80 sea trolls and their kings. Indeed no less than 3 sea kings and 1 troll king were on the frontline to wreak havoc amongst enemy troops. Finally, about 200 regulars troops and 20 battlemages completed the host.  May be Marverni had underestimated their enemies …

Indeed, even though they had a larger force, with about 500 units against 300, and even though 400 of them were sacred boars, they were only supported by 10 battle mages. And, they were certainly not ready to face the Vafur flames and the trolls …

The battle was long and deadly as the boars tried again and again to get through the gates. But the trolls would not let them in and the maddened animals were slowly roasted by the Vafur Flames and deadly battle spells falling ceaselessly on them … while their supporting mages were massacred by a Sea King which had been magically given the Gift of Flight. Roaming into the rears of the Marverni army he killed mercyless the poor humans one by one …

By the end of the day, victory was complete, the boar army crushed and the Throne secured for the months to come … A good thing for Helheim as it did put an end to Marverni’s never-ending expansion. However, Grim’s army was mostly unscathed, as only minor troops had been slained and Lord Kall had hoped for a bloodier battle. The weakest his future enemy would be, the better … but the most important thing was in Marverni’s defeat, which was surely a promise of peace for the months to come.

The boar will burn, death will fall on its kind

Just before the battle of Mireni, the war council was quite dissatisfied with the slow pace of the war. Sure, it was better to be cautious to avoid putting at risk the main army, but the enemy economy had to be taken down. That’s why the war had to be extended behind the enemy lines.

In order to achieve this goal, several Vanjarls were tasked to drop on enemy provinces and deny their control from the enemy. Thanks to the Cloud Trapeze spell, they could fly over enemy territory and attack unexpected places far away. Given proper equipment, particularly Vine Shields, , enemy province defenses did not stand a chance. (The Vine shield is a powerful magic item that spreads vines around it and entangle any enemy getting too close, preventing them from reaching and attacking the wielder in close combat).

The raid war would be going on for most of the remaining campaign. Taking provinces, losing them back, counter-attacking … One of the most favoured tactic was, when a pretty large enemy force of spectral soldiers took back a province, to counter-attack them with a cloud trapezing Vanjarl. Indeed, thanks to their Vine Shield and the powers given from the bless of Lord Kall, a single Vanjarl was enough to destroy the whole enemy force. And, the enemy was usually surprised by the Vanjarl coming from nowhere and forced to put up a fight they’d have rather avoided. Several forces of 30 to 50 enemy spectral warriors were taken down this way during the whole war.

Also, thanks to the ability of the Vanir people to blend into shadows, the Vanjarls engaged into enemy territory could easily avoid any kind of direct counter-attack, often disappearing completely for a month to reappear somewhere else the next one.

Facing these losses, the enemy tried to counter the Vanjarls with Melias   equipped with Stars of  Thraldom . With this, they were trying to kill the expensive Vanjarls with their own elite warriors, tasked to do their job in the cheapest way. As soon as these appeared, the raiding tactics changed to avoid them and a mercenary company was hired to hunt them down. Rozul Raptors made a fantastic job to hunt down and kill the Melias for more than half a year … until the enemy offered them more gold and sent them on a suicide mission.

Also, thanks to a breakthough in the Conjuration magic school, the Hangadrotts the most skilled in Death magic were now able to summon Wraith Lords. These were spirits of ancient warlords called back from the dead to serve Lord Kall. And these spirits were not only very skilled warriors and generals, but they also had a deep knowledge of Death magic, allowing them to use it for good results on a battlefield. Their favorite tactic was to create a Soul Vortex around them to drain the life from their enemies while cutting them down with their powerful Bane blades. Another tactic often used with high success was to temporarily give life to numerous skeleton warriors  and send them to fight the enemy.

But the Wraith lords had another quality that made them invaluable. Indeed, the mage summoning them would bind their soul to the land where it was summoned. Usually a grave, or a crypt was used … and by doing that, it was like giving them immortality, as even if they were killed in a battle, the soul would go back to its binding place and reform a new body. Thanks to that, the lords could be sent into dangerous missions without too much fear of losing them, as this loss would be only temporary.

Due to these new threats, the enemy tried new tactics . Calling upon the forces of the Earth, they called some huge Earth elementals to assassinate Helheim’s commanders. Sensing the presence of a powerful being, the creatures came straight out of the earth to engulf their target. A very powerful and effective tactic against most human mages. However, their attempts against the Wraith lords failed as they were really too powerful to fear these masses of rocks. But, when Therodos started to target the main armies of Helheim, the battle mages and commanders started to be threatened in their life. So, given the monsters could only attack beings they could sense, meaning beings with their feets right on the ground, orders were given to craft even more rings of Levitation  to protect the most important leaders in a war party. Indeed, floating above the ground all the time, they could never be found by the rocky beasts and were completly safe … Also, emphasis had been made on Bottles of Living water , giving a Water elemental as a bodyguard to the leaders unprotected by rings of levitation. All in all, despite some small successes, the enemy assassination campaign was mostly a failure …

So, in the end, with this never ending raid war, the enemy slowly lost a large part of his gold economy as well as quite a number of gems, and all these resources strenghtened even more the ones of Helheim.

Mind hunting frenzy

With the presence of the Queen of the Lake, also named the Acid Queen due to her tactic to use an Acid storm against enemy armies, Lord Kall had decided to get back to his favorite hobby : hunting the minds of his enemies. An Ether Lord named Benedictus had been summoned a few months ago, and his skills in Astral magic had made him a hunting buddy for Lord Kall. Together, they had tried to take down Megalesius the Telkhine and Thalassa the Queen of the Sea, but sadly without success. Obviously the enemy had learned from the death of the first Telkhine and was better prepared for such attacks.

So, now that the Acid Queen was out, both Lord Kall and Benedictus were searching for her soul like madmen. Several secondary enemy commanders fell dead to their frenzy search but Limne had so far managed to survive …

Later it was known that the enemy had indeed prepared traps for the hunters. Several lizard shamans cloaked with Shademail haubergeons had been dispatched in the provinces where he expected them to strike. Thanks to their knowledge in Astral magic, the shamans could indeed feel the presence of the hunter and severely damage their minds. Indeed, a hunter caught that way was sure to end his life as the legendary Hodor : a man whose mind had been damaged by a magical accident and had since became feeble-minded. That fate could have happened to Lord Kall … a disaster of such a magnitude that one can only rejoice it never happened … but Fate was on his side and both he and Benedictus luckily escaped the enemy traps.

Massacre of the Hekaterides

After the capture of the Iron Throne, the steps to get to the Shattered throne, the last objective of this war, were plain and simple. First take Machaka and open the path to the Throne of Stability near Ulm, then get the Misty bogs and finally assault the throne itself.

But these steps were under the constant danger of the Queen of the lake that could counter-attack at any time. The army had been trained for this event with new tactics that would be able to bring her down, but surprises were still possible.

Also, an eye had to be kept constantly on the growing enemy army in the fortress of Gol Phalas, just 2 provinces away from the Shattered throne. Every scouts and scryers told the same thing : the enemy was building an army there, a huge one, and sooner or later they would be on the move.

So Skaljv marched cautiously on Machaka. And, to the surprise of most, intercepted a party of enemy Hekaterides . These were the most skilled mages of Therodos, and so were quite precious. So what were they doing there, all alone, without escort, in one of the most dangerous place in the world for them ? Most probably a battle plan that had failed due to poor planning. The successful mind huntings of Lord Kall and Benedictus had probably helped to disorganize the enemy, killing the commanders that were supposed to escort the ladys … but what happened was later called the Massacre of the Hekaterides, as 5 of them were eaten alive by a horde of hungry Jotun wolves … a good thing for the rest of the war as these mages could have otherwise been quite dangerous.

Machaka falls and the Acid queen is repelled

The walls of Machaka were stronger than most fortresses and the whole army of Skaljv alone was not strong enough to breach them in only a month. However, when devising the Plan to victory, the necessity to breach enemy fortresses in a blink was outlined as vital. That’s why the smiths in the Banefire forge had started to craft some Gate Cleavers . These huge and cumbersome axes were devised for one thing : destroy doors, destroy walls, make the most powerful fortress look like a sand castle … They could also be used as the most fearsome weapons on the battlefield, their mass and magical properties making them laugh of any armor and cutting through it like butter.

A few of them had already been built and were given to some Vanjarls, with too objectives. First of course breach the fortress as fast as possible, and second, if the Acid queen attacked again, fall on her with the mighty weapons and cut her to pieces.

So, thanks to the cleavers, the fortress was quickly breached and the army prepared for the assault. And, as feared, the Queen came in to try to stop them. This time, she was accompanied by a Lizard shaman holding a powerful Staff of Storms . Indeed, she wanted to cast her Acid storm and didn’t want to be interrupted by any flying valkyrie this time ! And the raging storm brought by the staff ensured no Valkyrie would get into the air … but … this was to no avail as the War council had decided that is was of no use to sacrifice more Valkyries into this fight. Instead the strategy was to send every wolf to eat her up, supported by the few Vanjarls equipped with the Gate Cleavers. This tactic was decided when the mages understood the secrets of Mass Regeneration, a powerful battle enchantment that gave every unit in the army the power to heal very fast. Thanks to this powerful Nature magic, the enemy Acid storm would be much less dangerous and this reduced considerably the risks for unwanted losses.

So, the battle started as expected by both sides. Mixing water and fire magic, the Queen raised the most corrosive vapours and waited for Helheim’s army to dissolve unto it. As soon as the spell was ready, the Lizard shaman teleported away with his precious staff of storms and let the Queen finish the job (it was known later that due to poor planning he ended up in Therodos itself, under the sea, without any mean to breath, and drowned …) … Meanwhile, as planned, Mass Regeneration was gifted to all Helheim’s units. As soon as the acid started to dissolve the flesh, it was reforming with incredible speed thanks to the power of the spell.

And while this weird acid/regeneration fight was going on for every living being on the battlefield, the Jotun wolves ran like crazy to tear down the queen. Her own regenerative powers were far beyond the ones of the spell used by Helheim’s enchanters, and as soon as a part of her body was torn apart by the jaws of one wolf, it reformed almost instantly. But … there were a lot of wolves, and the more the acid hurt their flesh, the more angry they were and the more lethal were their strikes. Soon, the Queen saw herself on the verge of collapse and decided to flee. Climbing on her Flying Carpet , she barely managed to espace the voracious beasts …

But there she had fled again. Lord Kall cursed his commanders for letting her escape. Indeed, if they had been more aggressive, they could have cut her last way to retreat and cornered her like the Queen of Thunder during the battle of Mireni. But a wandering Melia had opened a way to let her espace to the south in a land named Panuonia where she could heal her wounds and prepare for a new fight …

Despite this minor setback, the gates of Machaka were wide open and the army let herself lose in slaughtering the defenders without mercy.

Water Queen Robbery

Lord Kall was still furious that the Queen had escaped her fate. Twice he had devised plans to take her down, and twice she had made it out. This time she would not escape his mind hunt as both him and Benedictus started to search for her soul. Benedictus was the one to find her … and still exhausted from her last fight she was taken unaware. He swiftly severed her soul from her body … and this was the end for her as she returned into the Elemental realm.

At last ! She was dead ! The road to the Shattered throne was now wide open and the armies marched to the Misty bogs to take the last enemy stronghold standing in its path.

Meanwhile, Persephone the Kokythiad had summoned a Sea King to help her call upon the so important Bishop fishes. But as soon as the news from the banishment of the Queen of the Lake came in, the Sea King was ordered to use his knowledge in Water magic to summon her back. Indeed, elemental Queens and Kings were living in their Elemental realms, and only a part of their power was incarnated when summoned into the matter world. So, it was easy to summon them back if they were slained …

That was a bet, as it was very probable that the enemy would try to get her back too. But a bet that had to be taken as having her on ones side was a game changer. So, when the news came in of her accepting to join her former enemies, Lord Kall couldn’t hide his joy ! Turning the worst enemy weapon against himself, that felt good, very good …

Misty bogs stormed and the shattered throne breached

The times to unfold the final steps of the Plan were becoming very close. Lord Kall ordered Skaljv to accelerate the operations and take the Shattered throne as soon as possible. So, instead of letting the main army storm the fortress of Misty bogs, only a handful of Wraith lords were left for conquer it while the main armies marched directly unto the Shattered throne.

It was made certain that the enemy army in Gol Phalas could not intervene and save the throne. A Vanjarl was sent to capture Ockerjab, the key province between Gol Phalas and the throne. And as the operation succeeded, the only available path for the armies of Therodos to save it was secured. It was now assured that the Throne would fall.

So the army laid the siege and easily breached the fortress. Helheim’s was only one step from achieving the first part of the Plan.

No hope for the ghosts as the messengers of death bring their sentence
They will lose their power, and give it to the True one

Ecclesiarchy from the Depth

While the Sea King was summoning the Acid Queen, Persephone called unto the second Bishop fish. In this early winter, with 2 Bishops already summoned, only 3 were left to be called to be ready to unfold the Plan.

However, the enemy had launched a counter-attack in Nuptia, a Sea province just close to Lake Seaweed where the Bishops were being called. Indeed, despite several setbacks in the south, Atlantis had finally managed to secure the bordering provinces of Lake Seaweed and the summonings could be done safely. So, that counter attack was a problem as it opened a way for the enemy to uncover a part of the very secret Plan. If that small army managed to attack, they would see all the recently summoned bishops and that information was to be kept secret at all cost.

So a Vanjarl was equipped for that very special mission : intercept and destroy the enemy army before it could move out anywhere. Well, that kind of mission was pretty common … but this time it had to be done in the depths of the Ocean … Thanks to a ring of waterbreathing, he could survive and fight in that pretty uncommon environment. So, riding on the clouds he found himself hundreds of meters above water, ready to fall and dive to the enemy hundreds of meters below water …

For any who could have seen it, it was magnificent, plunging into the water, riding into it he finally got to meet the spectral soldiers and make them flee for their lives. Lake seaweed was secured, the last of the Bishops could now be called.

So the three of Persephone, the Sea King and the Acid Queen made the call and a whole party of 3 bishops answered it. The Ecclesiarchy from the depth was now complete, the final phase of the Plan could begin.