shylarah

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

OH whoops, missed a part. Why lie? Because Lord Varya consumes all, but in reality, a nation that is going to have the same fighters die in battle executed following a surrender, as well as their ruling family, is a LOT less likely to surrender. Especially Lanostre, though they did have their goddess do that...might be some conflict internally because of that.

T'sarae surrendered before even fighting, and they were the first, so perhaps they didn't know what would follow. Actually, I guess...given that the other two are one unclear and one fighting to the bitter end, it's conceivable that killing everyone in those groups is feasible. It's just that people tend not to like that sort of thing. Most people don't surrender when surrender means death, and other people tend to get angry about it (though that's in our world, where there's a standard of not killing those who surrender). @Lovejoy

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Lovejoy oh definitely, I remembered about the nations. As for the assistance...it's not entirely clear so far just how much civilization is out in the wastes, so I calculated the three days from Magnagrad. It's possible they had some intermittent shelter, perhaps even a little transportation. Perhaps even among the Godless, or "suburban" towns, such as they are in this world. It's why I kept the 15 miles a day instead of decreasing it to something more reasonable for eight-year-olds lead by a twelve-year-old. But the help wouldn't have been everywhere. And I had fun with the math.

And it makes Rose a BAMF. ^.^

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Lovejoy Come to think of it, would the ruling houses of a surrendering nation -- particularly T'sarae -- have been slaughtered in the first place? Then again, it might be spoken of as a slaughter, and recorded that way (history written by the victors, etc) and in reality the members not taken as slaves were just kept as "guests" (read: prisoners) and otherwise kept from having further children. It'd put an effective end to the family outside of the Scarlet House, and over time the truth would be forgotten.

It's more an academic point than anything else, though.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Assuming the train travels about as fast as modern trains, and assuming that it took a fairly direct path, three days of travel is roughly the time it took me to take a train from Chicago to California. This is ~ 2000 to 2500 miles -- and that's after leaving the city itself, which I suspect is massive, given that the city seems to include most of the populated area of Varya, more like a city-state than merely a simple city.

Assuming a generous 15 miles a day for the children -- who not only have shorter legs than the adult hikers I'm using for reference but were unused to hard labor, and who likely didn't have enough supplies at the start for the entire trip, and so on -- the trip would take ~ 133-167 days, between a third and a half of a year. Given these conditions, I expect the trip took half a year or more, perhaps even a full year. That is one AMAZING child, to have planned it and gotten the two through it. And kept them all from freezing in the process.

Wow.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Lovejoy Pfft. Ilya just dropping in~

Ohmigosh, this post. Right, where did we put the various ranks? We need to put it in a lore post somewhere easily findable... High Inquisitor is just the command tier, right?

I'm not surprised about the ladies being taken. I am surprised about the kids. I mean, why would Varya want royal kids of other nations? The houses aren't still in power, so it doesn't really legitimize Varyan rule (and I'm not sure that it would to start with). The kids are kept there, so they're (probably) not being raised as loyal Varyans -- that'd be more effective by putting them in a family. So why deliberately breed royal kids? It seems like this'd cause Varya more trouble in the long run.

*shrug*

Do our chars have any idea how long ago Ifrit graduated?

Now I wonder if that kid soldier knew about these guys. I'm guessing no. But it would explain the idea that people were coming here to find something. A little more odd that it's only Omestrians, but I guess they're more oppressed. Or maybe just noticed more.

I'm horrified by the implication that Essa extracted her own ether. Dear gods.

I wonder how long ago those kids escaped -- and if they're being hunted.

Nice way to avoid Ziotea killing people. Probably.

I do wonder, though -- oh! Three bedrolls -- the kids', not Essa's. Right. Cool!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMyst Which one?!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

SPEAKING OF! Alexis Royce is a friend of Tricia's, a similarly excellent artist, a similarly wonderful person, and she's got a special going on as of today. I nearly mentioned her in my last post because *squealing* (I've commissioned her in the past with spectacular results) and I'mma shamelessly plug her too. She's a full time artist right now, so I try to signal boost her where I can. It's totally related! ...Right?

click for details

I can get bigger image of the examples, or there's a bunch of other examples on her site. _{Honestly I'm just a huge fan of these guys. Did I mention Alexis and her wife have webcomics? And that with Tricia and her husband they did one based on a WoD: Mage game? That Alexis ran? And Alexis is a mind-blowing DM? and--}

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Lovejoy

>used by an actual artist
First off LISTEN HERE! You are most definitely an actual artist. Your art is wonderful. Okay? Okay.

The first image is by Baklava, who is on this very site! I don't believe she's currently taking commissions, but you can certainly keep an eye out for when she is. She says she wants to finish the ones she's got already before taking any more.

The second is the amazing Tricia Bayfield, who draws the most incredible stuff. I've learned so much from her and her livestreams, and she's a lovely person in general. Cannot recommend her highly enough. And I should note that gold stuff? It's shiny! She'll do deals on a certain type of art every now and then, and she livestreams speedpaints, and *general flailing* Definitely worth saving up to commission her. I've never been disappointed.

I mean look at these!

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

I think I found baby Wyth, and he is adorable.

youtube.com/watch?v=xQ49jtlz_3I

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Okay guys guys GUYS.

They're not finished yet.

BUT LOOK!