Alchemy don't needs to be magical, just a slight bit fantastical.
Something like a pain blocker could be developed, IMO.
Hell, we have ancient smiths in our history who could forge steel which was happened to be reinforced by carbon nanotubes.
Yup, the big sensation of material engineering was something a group of smiths accidentally managed to reproduce during their "primitive" steelmaking procedures.

@Raijinslayer Liquid nitrogen evaporates quickly, you could try an endothermic bomb using quick ammonia evaporation but I would have to limit the actual radius of the explosion to small/tactical. And as for the legion, sorry but no.

@Willy Vereb So how will the riders attack? With small arms?

@Willy Vereb So how will the riders attack? With small arms?

With small arms, of course. They might try to carry one or two bombs to manually drop but that'd be already risky.
Aside from strict weight limitations there really aren't that much space to hang things on the griffin's body, either.
You have to leave a sizeable portion of the griffin bare to allow free movement for its wings.

Alchemy don't needs to be magical, just a slight bit fantastical.
Something like a pain blocker could be developed, IMO.
Hell, we have ancient smiths in our history who could forge steel which was happened to be reinforced by carbon nanotubes.
Yup, the big sensation of material engineering was something a group of smiths accidentally managed to reproduce during their "primitive" steelmaking procedures.

If you are referring to Damascus Steel, it wasn't alchemy that made it strong, it was a mixture of plant matter that happened to have rough, naturally forming nanotubes.

@Voltus_VentusOkay, fine with me. When I come up with anything else, I'll PM you.

<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>

If you are referring to Damascus Steel, it wasn't alchemy that made it strong, it was a mixture of plant matter that happened to have rough, naturally forming nanotubes.

Of course it has nothing to do with alchemy. I just mean that there could be always certain methods and naturally occouring materials which allow such things to happen.
For example I can imagine his nation experimenting with poisons and discover that a certain nerve poison in small dosage (usually) don't kill people but makes their pain receptors (and probably a number of other nerves) dead. The basic description on these soldiers was pretty inhumane already so I don't think he minds turning it up by a notch.

<Snipped quote by Voltus_Ventus>Of course it has nothing to do with alchemy. I just mean that there could be always certain methods and naturally occouring materials which allow such things to happen.
For example I can imagine his nation experimenting with poisons and discover that a certain nerve poison in small dosage (usually) don't kill people but makes their pain receptors (and probably a number of other nerves) dead. The basic description on these soldiers was pretty inhumane already so I don't think he minds turning it up by a notch.

It's just a bit too OP.

<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>

It's just a bit too OP.

I can already think of several realistic drawbacks for them.
Being insensitive to pain sucks.
The poison may also destroy some of their ability to think which might be a mixed blessing because they would be pretty much unable to feel the taste of food or feel pleasure the normal way.
For the above these soldiers would require handlers to look over them outside combat and occasionally also solve issues on the battlefield.

@Voltus_VentusIn my mind, the Legion is used for more of a psychological effect then that of actual combat effectiveness. While they'd be able to fight just fine, they'd be used for suicide missions because none of them will likely survive any engagement. They are usually the first ones sent to face any enemy, as a way too demoralize them because it's pretty disturbiing when a guy keeps running at you after you when he's filled with holes and laughing like a madman. What Willy said about handlers is also a really good idea for handling them off the field.

[@Ventus_Voltus]In my mind, the Legion is used for more of a psychological effect then that of actual combat effectiveness. While they'd be able to fight just fine, they'd be used for suicide missions because none of them will likely survive any engagement. They are usually the first ones sent to face any enemy, as a way too demoralize them because it's pretty disturbiing when a guy keeps running at you after you when he's filled with holes and laughing like a madman. What Willy said about handlers is also a really good idea for handling them off the field.

If that's the case, I have a simpler idea that does the same thing. Give criminals some weapons and pump them up on drugs and send them in. When not in use, keep them special cell/prisons. They'll still be able to fight well and laugh when they're full of holes. Plus they're cheaper then having to train actual soldiers and then fuck em' up with magical crack.

Also, you keep misspelling Voltus_Ventus lol

@Raijinslayer My judgement stands. Sorry bro.

Ps: It's Voltus_Ventus, you got my name switched around. XD

Edit: Clocktower, you ninja!

You don't even need to dope up the criminals, give them shit weapons and have them run at the enemy, if they retreat backwards, do what the soviets did and shoot at them until they start attacking again.

Or just give out some sort of drug that acts as artificial adrenaline, maybe? It would numb pain and improve physical performance, though it wouldn't create invincible hulks. The idea of giving soldiers drugs to dull pain/make them tire less/improve performance is not a new one. I think I read somewhere about fighter pilots in WWII actually doing methamphetamine before dogfights. Improved their reaction times and lessened their fear, apparently.

I'm very interested in this, is there room for another?

I'm very interested in this, is there room for another?

Even if weren't we have plenty of colony worlds and such so if you don't mind to build on somebody else's nation app RP-ing as a colony or in one case a recently conquered nation is still an option.
But that's just a fallback idea of mine.
There's no comprehensive political map posted yet but I think there are still spots on the map which nobody claimed.
So you're still fine, IMO.

Alright, I'm gonna work on my nation assuming there's a reasonably large bit of unclaimed land somewhere. Let me know if I turn out to be wrong.

I'm a little uncertain of what races and creatures this world has exactly. I saw the mention of Dwarves and the mention of a Giant Birds for some form of air cavalary. Mixing that with World War I/Interbellum technology seems a bit odd, but doable. So if one of you could be nice enough to give me a minor heads up on what's what, I might join once I know what i'm working with.

I'm a little uncertain of what races and creatures this world has exactly. I saw the mention of Dwarves and the mention of a Giant Birds for some form of air cavalary. Mixing that with World War I/Interbellum technology seems a bit odd, but doable. So if one of you could be nice enough to give me a minor heads up on what's what, I might join once I know what i'm working with.

You can read the characters page of this thread for starters. It has almost everything we discussed before.
Anyways, I'm pretty active in this thread and I don't remember giants or dwarves ever being mentioned.
My race has elves as the ruling class (but human majority for various reasons, and 10% "other" races which yes, planningly involves some dwarves). Check out my nation app to see what elves in this setting are going to be like.
Everyone else's nation app only humans in the characters page albeit a few players plan using other races, never mentioned which race, though.

As for giant birds, my elves have the tradition of riding griffins almost like what horses are for other races. Griffins aren't really that amazing in battle, though. Griffins can't carry much weight and if you match them against a typical WW2 fighter you get a massacre of big birds. They were quite terrifying back in the middle ages, though, albeit shooting ground targets from the skies was far from the most effective method. Basically they were used mostly for the psychological effect and because they could get anywhere faster than other means.

As for giant birds, my elves have the tradition of riding griffins almost like what horses are for other races. Griffins aren't really that amazing in battle, though. Griffins can't carry much weight and if you match them against a typical WW2 fighter you get a massacre of big birds. They were quite terrifying back in the middle ages, though, albeit shooting ground targets from the skies was far from the most effective method. Basically they were used mostly for the psychological effect and because they could get anywhere faster than other means.

-prepares the grill-

hmm... chicken...

I'm a little uncertain of what races and creatures this world has exactly. I saw the mention of Dwarves and the mention of a Giant Birds for some form of air cavalary. Mixing that with World War I/Interbellum technology seems a bit odd, but doable. So if one of you could be nice enough to give me a minor heads up on what's what, I might join once I know what i'm working with.

I agree that it's an odd combination, but so far there hasn't been much of the magical sort. Aside from the elves and griffins, there are a few fantasy metals that people have made and such. Nothing overtly magical or extreme. The focus of the setting is more on technology than on magic.

<Snipped quote by Sven the Silent>

I agree that it's an odd combination, but so far there hasn't been much of the magical sort. Aside from the elves and griffins, there are a few fantasy metals that people have made and such. Nothing overtly magical or extreme. The focus of the setting is more on technology than on magic.

Griffins in the age of airplanes isn't any more odd than cavalry being used in both WW1 and WW2.
We even have these cavalry on rare (stupid) occasions attempting to charge at tanks. With the expected effect.
I can see some chivalry-obsessed cavalry reader attempting to outdo Messerschmitts in a dogfight.
Imagine "flying horsemen" armed with rifles and maybe submachineguns trying to shoot down fighters that fly twice as fast as them.