The War in the Core

[thekristhomas]

So that's Verbrek sorted (unless anyone's got anything to add all ideas welcome)

Before turning our attention to the war in the east, I wanted to drill down a bit into the detail of the Richemuloise counter offensive.

So to briefly recap the events leading up to the counter offensive:

Falkovnian forces invade from the north and north-east, the northern force lays siege to Pont-a-Museau, the other, lead by Vlad Drakov himself, marches south through the House of Sages

Jacqueline Renier becomes unwell, rumors fly round the besieged city, the consensus is that she has fallen foul of some plague carried by the filthy Falkovnians

Having pacified the southern towns (with remarkably few impalings, he really is in a good mood) Vlad Drakov arrives at Pont-a-Museau and prepares to reduce the city

The Pont-a-Museau civil defence plan is put into action, pregnant women and children are gathered up and placed in guarded, underground shelters to keep them safe from the battle ahead

Jackie releases the Becoming Plague, infecting nearly the whole city in a matter of hours and large sections of the Falkovnian besieging army.

Infected wererats directed by Jacky fall upon the remaining Falkovnians in swarms

Drakov attempts to bolt for the border

His horse is taken from under him by near suicidal wererats, he is taken to Jacky alive

He does not remain so, Jacky cuts his throat and pushes him from a stairwell onto a waiting spike, his body slides slowly down the spike as she descends the stairwell, the both touch the floor simultaneously

Falkovnia ceases to be a domain it's territory becoming absorbed into Richemulot

However, it still has to be conquered, so what happens next?

I'm guessing that retaking St Ronges & Mortigny should be pretty straight forward, maybe even do-able in a single night (I'm using black box distances, but I think I'm not far off, I'd be grateful if someone could check) as they are on a single road and Jacky has got an army of infected wererats.

How long does Jacky keep her army of wererats in wereat form? On the one hand wererats are a more effective army generally, on the other the longer they stay "ratty" the harder it is to re-establish "normality". Also, does Jacky want her new subjects exposed to the reality of the new regime?

[jamesfirecat]

So that's Verbrek sorted (unless anyone's got anything to add all ideas welcome)

Before turning our attention to the war in the east, I wanted to drill down a bit into the detail of the Richemuloise counter offensive.

So to briefly recap the events leading up to the counter offensive:

Falkovnian forces invade from the north and north-east, the northern force lays siege to Pont-a-Museau, the other, lead by Vlad Drakov himself, marches south through the House of Sages

Jacqueline Renier becomes unwell, rumors fly round the besieged city, the consensus is that she has fallen foul of some plague carried by the filthy Falkovnians

Having pacified the southern towns (with remarkably few impalings, he really is in a good mood) Vlad Drakov arrives at Pont-a-Museau and prepares to reduce the city

The Pont-a-Museau civil defence plan is put into action, pregnant women and children are gathered up and placed in guarded, underground shelters to keep them safe from the battle ahead

Jackie releases the Becoming Plague, infecting nearly the whole city in a matter of hours and large sections of the Falkovnian besieging army.

Infected wererats directed by Jacky fall upon the remaining Falkovnians in swarms

Drakov attempts to bolt for the border

His horse is taken from under him by near suicidal wererats, he is taken to Jacky alive

He does not remain so, Jacky cuts his throat and pushes him from a stairwell onto a waiting spike, his body slides slowly down the spike as she descends the stairwell, the both touch the floor simultaneously

Falkovnia ceases to be a domain it's territory becoming absorbed into Richemulot

However, it still has to be conquered, so what happens next?

I'm guessing that retaking St Ronges & Mortigny should be pretty straight forward, maybe even do-able in a single night (I'm using black box distances, but I think I'm not far off, I'd be grateful if someone could check) as they are on a single road and Jacky has got an army of infected wererats.

How long does Jacky keep her army of wererats in wereat form? On the one hand wererats are a more effective army generally, on the other the longer they stay "ratty" the harder it is to re-establish "normality". Also, does Jacky want her new subjects exposed to the reality of the new regime?

If Jacqueline wanted to be symbolic about it she should probably feed Drakov to the same (well the descendants of since they don't live forever) of the dogs that ate Claude Renier after he "tripped" and "fell" out a window, because remember Claude was the original Patriarch of the Renier family (or at least the wererat branch) and Vlad was the man who dealt them their most bitter defeat forcing them to flee into the mists.

Thus it would be an amusing/useful bit of a bookend to the entire Renier Falkovnia saga if Jacqueline's can go down in unwritten history as effectively saying

"That idiot who got us kicked out in the first place, DEAD, the bastard who kicked us out, DEAD!" and both of them by her hand, she is the unquestioned top rat.



She'll probably want to keep her army in rat form until she's dealt with all Falkovnian forces that aren't cowering in their (Falkovnian) cities, since she may only control the infected Falkovnian soldiers who invaded Richemulot for as long as they stay in wererat form and they'll need to be dealt with before they get a chance to try to fight back when they end up turning back into humans even if they do so without weapons or armor.


Jackie probably does not want the people of Falkovnia/her new subjects to realize that Richemulot is ruled by wererats, though her go to method for keeping word from getting around is probably either infect and control or dispose of anyone who knows too much, or first one then the other...

[thekristhomas]

If Jacqueline wanted to be symbolic about it she should probably feed Drakov to the same (well the descendants of since they don't live forever) of the dogs that ate Claude Renier after he "tripped" and "fell" out a window, because remember Claude was the original Patriarch of the Renier family (or at least the wererat branch) and Vlad was the man who dealt them their most bitter defeat forcing them to flee into the mists.

Thus it would be an amusing/useful bit of a bookend to the entire Renier Falkovnia saga if Jacqueline's can go down in unwritten history as effectively saying

"That idiot who got us kicked out in the first place, DEAD, the bastard who kicked us out, DEAD!" and both of them by her hand, she is the unquestioned top rat.

I thought something similar, but thought the dogs might be too "on the nose", but yeah she is definitely referencing Claude's death, but also I thought maybe she didn't want to change the method too much as it "worked" the last time, because I'm thinking that Jacky is deliberately usurping Drakov's domain.

She'll probably want to keep her army in rat form until she's dealt with all Falkovnian forces that aren't cowering in their (Falkovnian) cities, since she may only control the infected Falkovnian soldiers who invaded Richemulot for as long as they stay in wererat form and they'll need to be dealt with before they get a chance to try to fight back when they end up turning back into humans even if they do so without weapons or armor.

So, assuming that almost all Falkovnian troops are either occupying Richemulot or bogged down in Borca, once she has liberated St Ronges and Mortigny she can order infected Talons into cells to await execution (maybe she wants/plans to have some show trials to demonstrate Richemuloise "justice" to the Falkovnian masses) then transform everybody back into humans, gives a few rousing speeches about how magnificent the liberation was and how heroically everybody fought, and now Falkovnia lies open before us, onwards, onwards my brave children for our liberties that were threatened can now be extended to those who for too long have languished under the jack boot of the tyrant, onwards for Ezra, Jackie and St Ronges!

Jackie probably does not want the people of Falkovnia/her new subjects to realize that RIchemulot is ruled by wererats, though her go to method for keeping word from getting around is probably either infect and control or dispose of anyone who knows too much, or first one then the other...

OK, so if we assume that for the invasion of Falkovnia Jackie will be using a "conventional" army (untriggered infected wererats are basically humans) backed up by a "shadow" army of true wererats, then this shouldn't be a huge problem. The wererats would act as special forces/infiltrators taking out strategic points, opening gates etc. limiting the number of witnesses that need to be dealt with.

The effectiveness of the wererats would, I imagine, differ from city to city. Silbervas, for example, is practically home turf, with many of the wererat leaders having personal knowledge of the town and it's sewers, but most other Falkovnian cities do not have the extensive sewers of Silbervas IIRC. Lekar, with it's vampyre enclave and proximity to the prison (which could surely serve as some kind of redoubt) seems to me to be the most tricky to take, and might serve as a point of resistance/last stand.

What of Drakov's sons? I'm guessing most would be involved in either Borca or Richemulot, but there could be a few left in Falkovnia, some trying to rally support, some trying to change their name and slip out of the country. I'm thinking in particular of Vlad Drakov II, who might be an additional thorn in Jackie's side when it comes to taking Lekar.

[jamesfirecat]

So, assuming that almost all Falkovnian troops are either occupying Richemulot or bogged down in Borca, once she has liberated St Ronges and Mortigny she can order infected Talons into cells to await execution (maybe she wants/plans to have some show trials to demonstrate Richemuloise "justice" to the Falkovnian masses) then transform everybody back into humans, gives a few rousing speeches about how magnificent the liberation was and how heroically everybody fought, and now Falkovnia lies open before us, onwards, onwards my brave children for our liberties that were threatened can now be extended to those who for too long have languished under the jack boot of the tyrant, onwards for Ezra, Jackie and St Ronges!

Not just the Talons, she'll need to do something with the standard armed Falkovnian soldier (to use Nazi comparison that come so easily with Vlad Drakov, Talons are SS he also has plenty of "Heer" style soldiers also), now what that "something" is doesn't have to be death (though it may be the first thing that comes to mind) though on the other hand Richemulot has a fair sized Falkovnian Ex-Patriot population so if any of them have her ear they may suggest giving most normal captured soldiers a second chance/a chance to renounce Drakov and the Falkovnian way of life, though how effective that would be could very from soldier to soldier, I am sure there are some who joined up because it was the only way to get ahead/feed their families, and some who did it for one of many wrong reasons.

All depends on if she's willing to feel merciful at the moment, which given the end of Scholar of Decay... sometimes she is... though typically only when the suffering in question is in some way linked back to her own pains.

OK, so if we assume that for the invasion of Falkovnia Jackie will be using a "conventional" army (untriggered infected wererats are basically humans) backed up by a "shadow" army of true wererats, then this shouldn't be a huge problem. The wererats would act as special forces/infiltrators taking out strategic points, opening gates etc. limiting the number of witnesses that need to be dealt with.

The effectiveness of the wererats would, I imagine, differ from city to city. Silbervas, for example, is practically home turf, with many of the wererat leaders having personal knowledge of the town and it's sewers, but most other Falkovnian cities do not have the extensive sewers of Silbervas IIRC. Lekar, with it's vampyre enclave and proximity to the prison (which could surely serve as some kind of redoubt) seems to me to be the most tricky to take, and might serve as a point of resistance/last stand.

What of Drakov's sons? I'm guessing most would be involved in either Borca or Richemulot, but there could be a few left in Falkovnia, some trying to rally support, some trying to change their name and slip out of the country. I'm thinking in particular of Vlad Drakov II, who might be an additional thorn in Jackie's side when it comes to taking Lekar.

I don't think that there would be many wererats left who actually have personal knowledge of Silbervas, Jackie and her sister are probably the only ones who were there before Richemulot who are still alive, but given how much of power in Richemulot is based around what secrets you know I'm sure both Renier sisters have excellent memories, though if that applies to being able to create maps of tunnels instead of just social secrets is a fair question.

I'd need a scorecard of Darkov's sons to give effective feedback on them, it is hard to remember all of them/what they are doing.

[thekristhomas]

Just realised I was conflating Vlad II, who hangs out with the vampyres, and Vigo, minister for the Central Prison (and child of the Gentleman Caller) though both might have a part to play if the Falkovnians make a stand at Lekar.

a quick list of the Drakov boys seems in order

Vlad II, possibly in Lekar

Mircea, seneschal of Silberkopf, the palace at Silbervas

Vigo, minister of the Central Prison, near Lekar

Mikhail, minister of the Arcane, again Lekar

Sir Viktor Helsinger, Dementlieu/Falkovnia border (or to put it another way, not far from Lekar)

and however many unnamed by-blows one might care to invent.

So Lekar really is looking like a rally point for Falkovnian resitance, if for no other reason that the above sons of Drakov have every reason to suspect their capture would lead swiftly to their execution

[Resonant Curse]

I'm not sure I really understand why so many of the darklords would be "breaking cover" and unleashing their werecritter minions in the fashion you have going. Even if they were using them as a "smash the falcovnian invasion" and then vanish (in a manner like the undead in Darkon), that is a rather blatant display of everything that the various leaders have generally been keeping under wraps.

Also, just because they are a lot tougher and harder to kill, does not mean that the werecreatures are suited at all for mass combat. Certainly almost none of them will have mass combat training or the expertise to carry out a lot of the more subterfuge missions you suggest for a bunch of infected wererats, especially brand new infected wererats.

You also are giving a number of darklords military ambitions that they either have never shown any real significant desire for or aptitude for. Jaqueline Ranier may be charismatic and able to maneuver politics and lead a bunch of nobles, but she is hardly a skilled tactician or trained military strategist. Small scale assasinations, sure, but a whole military campaign? Doubtful. I would imagine she would maybe unleash the plague on the falcovnians, let their army destroy itself and then maybe slowly, piece by piece deal with each city/town on its own. She has a lot of infighting trying to corral her own herd of cats (or in this case wererats) back on her home turf to leave them plotting for any real length of time and is short on subbordinates she can really afford send too far out of her eyesight for any length of time.

[Resonant Curse]

Assuming things go as stated though, I imagine you'll have some strange allies of convenience as I can't see Gondegal and the resistance against Drakov really letting a swarm of wererats pour across the border.

[thekristhomas]

I'm not sure I really understand why so many of the darklords would be "breaking cover" and unleashing their werecritter minions in the fashion you have going. Even if they were using them as a "smash the falcovnian invasion" and then vanish (in a manner like the undead in Darkon), that is a rather blatant display of everything that the various leaders have generally been keeping under wraps.

It's really only Jackie and Alfred, and IMHO Alfred has never been one for keeping his werewolves under wraps. Jackie on the other hand, I can see your point with, but TBH the "Becoming Plague" was never going to be a quiet affair

Also, just because they are a lot tougher and harder to kill, does not mean that the werecreatures are suited at all for mass combat. Certainly almost none of them will have mass combat training or the expertise to carry out a lot of the more subterfuge missions you suggest for a bunch of infected wererats, especially brand new infected wererats.

I think you're right that the infected wererats might even be less effective than humans in mass combat, but their sheer numbers should be enough to overwhelm the invading forces. The subterfuge missions would be carried by true lycanthropes, not infected, I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear.

You also are giving a number of darklords military ambitions that they either have never shown any real significant desire for or aptitude for. Jaqueline Ranier may be charismatic and able to maneuver politics and lead a bunch of nobles, but she is hardly a skilled tactician or trained military strategist. Small scale assasinations, sure, but a whole military campaign? Doubtful. I would imagine she would maybe unleash the plague on the falcovnians, let their army destroy itself and then maybe slowly, piece by piece deal with each city/town on its own. She has a lot of infighting trying to corral her own herd of cats (or in this case wererats) back on her home turf to leave them plotting for any real length of time and is short on subbordinates she can really afford send too far out of her eyesight for any length of time.

Again, only really Jackie and Alfred, Drakov's military ambitions are well documented, as are Malochio's and Ivan's. I've inferred a military ambition for Harkon Lukas as part of his desire to achieve recognition. Alfred's desire for expansion is really more about sticking it to dad. Jackie's ambitions for the Becoming Plague are, to some extent, canonical, if anything, we've toned it down to only affecting Richemulot (Richemulot proper, not Greater Richemulot). The least canonical of the ambitious is Gerda von Aubreker, who is being manipulated by Celeste. I take it that none have expressed military ambition before now due to the sheer pointlessness of such, and it is the opportunities that have presented themselves (Vlad using Malochio to enter Richemulot, the death of Gabby) that have stimulated this response

That being said, you are quite right to point out the difficulties that Jackie will be facing. Certainly having an army of obedient infected wererats might help keeping the scheming natural wererat population in line, but wererats is wererats. I'm not sure I agree on your analysis of Jackie as a military leader, my reading of Gaz III suggests that she has structured the militia specifically to face Falkovnia troops and tactics, and if she herself is unable she seems able to employ those that are.

But I would agree that the taking of Falkovnia might be a far more protracted affair than any of the previous campaigns.

[thekristhomas]

Assuming things go as stated though, I imagine you'll have some strange allies of convenience as I can't see Gondegal and the resistance against Drakov really letting a swarm of wererats pour across the border.

Ooooh, Gondegal and the Knights of Shadow! another potentially major player steps onto the field!

[Resonant Curse]

Assuming things go as stated though, I imagine you'll have some strange allies of convenience as I can't see Gondegal and the resistance against Drakov really letting a swarm of wererats pour across the border.

Ooooh, Gondegal and the Knights of Shadow! another potentially major player steps onto the field!

I would imagine that the sects of the church of Ezra would leave off their various pet projects to stem the tide of a wererat swarm boiling across the core as well.

The Van Richten Society would also presumably attempt to stem the tide, by dispensing knowledge if nothing else since they would be outclassed.

[Dark Angel]

Assuming things go as stated though, I imagine you'll have some strange allies of convenience as I can't see Gondegal and the resistance against Drakov really letting a swarm of wererats pour across the border.

Ooooh, Gondegal and the Knights of Shadow! another potentially major player steps onto the field!

Isn't the resistance more arrayed in the east? I would see them doing what they could to fight back, but with a sea of wererats and masses of fleeing humans in between seems more like an opportunity to expand and hold their territories rather than leading charges in Southwestern Falkovnia. During World War II the two major factions of China that were engaged in a civil war called a temporary cease fire while they fought the Japanese. When the war ended, they resumed (with the communists winning). The kobold forces in the east could form a temporary alliance against any aggressors with Gondegal's forces. The Knights taking on the larger hazards (wererats and organized soldiers) and the kobolds leading raids and setting up like a counterinsurgency plan against true lycanthropes. Depending on how large and organized all of this is, they could forge a few small nations with Falkovnian refugees coming to escape the 'hairy scourge'.

[thekristhomas]

Just want to make it clear that I am not imagining the "Becoming Plague" to be the boiling mass of fur and teeth that spills over the entire core that it could potentially be, essentially being limited to the population of Richemulot at the time of it's release (it made sense to me that it would be limited to the domain by the DPs). Add to that that every time it is activated Jackie has to come up with some excuse for the bout of mass amnesia, and I'm imagining it as a one shot, save the country bomb, rather than an ongoing calamity

[thekristhomas]

Assuming things go as stated though, I imagine you'll have some strange allies of convenience as I can't see Gondegal and the resistance against Drakov really letting a swarm of wererats pour across the border.

Ooooh, Gondegal and the Knights of Shadow! another potentially major player steps onto the field!

Isn't the resistance more arrayed in the east? I would see them doing what they could to fight back, but with a sea of wererats and masses of fleeing humans in between seems more like an opportunity to expand and hold their territories rather than leading charges in Southwestern Falkovnia. During World War II the two major factions of China that were engaged in a civil war called a temporary cease fire while they fought the Japanese. When the war ended, they resumed (with the communists winning). The kobold forces in the east could form a temporary alliance against any aggressors with Gondegal's forces. The Knights taking on the larger hazards (wererats and organized soldiers) and the kobolds leading raids and setting up like a counterinsurgency plan against true lycanthropes. Depending on how large and organized all of this is, they could forge a few small nations with Falkovnian refugees coming to escape the 'hairy scourge'.

Do we think that Gondegal might side with the remaining Drakovs then? As the leader of the Circle of Shadow I would imagine he at least suspects the Reniers of lycanthropy, and any reports coming out of Richemulot while seeming crazy, would support that notion. Given that Gondegal has some respect for the Falkovnian military tradition, might he be willing to negotiate with Vlad II.

I wonder...might the remainder of Falkovnia be folded into the Knights of the Shadow? Maybe the Circle becomes RLs version of the Teutonic Knights

kobolds vs wererats seems kinda perfect to me, but that might just be cos I think they both look like skaven

[jamesfirecat]

Also, just because they are a lot tougher and harder to kill, does not mean that the werecreatures are suited at all for mass combat. Certainly almost none of them will have mass combat training or the expertise to carry out a lot of the more subterfuge missions you suggest for a bunch of infected wererats, especially brand new infected wererats.

You also are giving a number of darklords military ambitions that they either have never shown any real significant desire for or aptitude for. Jaqueline Ranier may be charismatic and able to maneuver politics and lead a bunch of nobles, but she is hardly a skilled tactician or trained military strategist. Small scale assasinations, sure, but a whole military campaign? Doubtful. I would imagine she would maybe unleash the plague on the falcovnians, let their army destroy itself and then maybe slowly, piece by piece deal with each city/town on its own. She has a lot of infighting trying to corral her own herd of cats (or in this case wererats) back on her home turf to leave them plotting for any real length of time and is short on subbordinates she can really afford send too far out of her eyesight for any length of time.

The idea of the becomming plague is that you get more infected wererats than the enemy has soldiers, especially if a number of the enemy soldiers have become your infected wererats.

It does not help at all that wererats are a chemical and substance bane variable type of lycanthrope IE they are not all vulnerable to silver/gold/bone/wood/whatever it changes from wererat to wererat completely at random, so Falkovnia can't just issue silver pikes to everyone and be ready to go. Do they have enough magical weapons for every soldier to have one? Because a soldier who can't beat Lycanthropic DR is going to be in for a rough time.

The subterfuge missions however, those would be jobs for natural wererat commandos rather than infected wererats.

As for if Jackqueline is a skilled military leader we now fall upon something I have long derided, we know NOTHING about what happened the two times Falkovnia invaded Richemulot. It's perfectly cannon (or at least does not rub up against anything that exists in cannon/there's nothing in canon to invalidate the following argument) to say "Jacqueline Renier was instrumental in coming up with the strategies that lead the the Falkovnian armies getting over extended, having their supplies cut off, and then torn apart by wererats the two previous times they invaded."

If anything if that were true it would help explain the "Maternal Protector" image she has among her subjects, and also why it was so easy to explain her becoming the new Renier in charge of Richemulot when Claude died, even though she was by no means the eldest/most obvious choice if we go by bloodline alone since her own mother /Claude's daughter was still alive at the time.

Maybe the fact that Jacqueline had already beat him twice was why Vlad didn't make a move on Richemulot in the wake of Claude's death despite the fact that in theory Richemulot should now have been ruled by a "weaker" (female) ruler and with the reins of power transitioning unexpectedly been a good time to launch an invasion. But he didn't... maybe because the power was now firmly in the hands of a woman who had already proven herself a capable leader on the battlefield even if Vlad doesn't want to admit it.


Basically, we really, REALLY need to have a new cannon book come out and put some flesh on the Boderlands War of 716 and the Executioners Campaign of 724. (And I really want a pony for Christmas)

Because I'm sure, SURE there's an interesting story to the Boderlands War and how you explain (to the actual human members of the domain, I know behind the scene it was "for every 10 citizens of our nation, we have an eleventh who is a wererat, kekekeke...) a nation that at the time I don't think even had militias managing to repulse a force belonging to the Core's most aggressive militaristic Domain.


Allons enfants de la mère Patrie....

[thekristhomas]

So I'm thinking the Spawn of the Lizard will at least take Vulchardwatche Castle to threaten Morfenzi, but probably not much more than that, they are only kobolds after all

That might be enough though for Gondegal's Shadow Insurrection to encourage rebellion in Morfenzi, placing the city, and it's control of the nation's meat trade, under the banner of the Knights of Shadow

Aerie, distant as it is from the capital and overly oppressed by it's Stadtfuhrer, might also be a target for rebellion, but it's proximity to the border means that it is likely to fall to Richmuloise liberators before the Knights can act

Silbervas will be the city taken first by Renier's forces, and I imagine the new seat of government. The defense of the city would I imagine fall to Mircea Drakov, caretaker of Silberkopf, whom I imagine would fight to literally the last man.

Stangengrad could go one of two ways, as it is the most militarized city in Falkovnia, it may have been mostly "cleaned out" by the invasions of Borca and Richemulot, with only the students at the academy to organize any defense. If Gondegal has somehow managed to turn some of the instructors or influential students, it may become the second city to join the Shadow Insurrection. If the Academy remains loyal to the regime in Lekar though, I think it unlikely that Gondegal would wish to cement his reign with the blood of children.

Lekar as the seat of power, home to the Ministry of the Arcane, guarded by the Central Prison & Draccipetri, seems unlikely to fall quickly to rebellion once news of Vlad Drakov's death and the counter-invasion reaches it. If Stangengrad remains loyal then a besieging force might well have to contend with a relieving army (albeit youngsters and hastily conscripted citizens, but led by veteran instructors). Also the FoS is IIRC heavily invested in the Radiant Tower, might they lend a hand in it's defense?

Gondegal would be left with an interesting choice, ally with the heirs of Drakov against the foreign enemy, which, given that each should have a pretty awful rep, seems unlikely, or, attempt to reach some accommodation with Renier. The third option, that of refusing to deal with either, seems unlikely because of Gondegal's experience of losing a city because of encircling foes.