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Legends

Posted By: Superfoborg (64.136.147.170)
Date: 10/22/2005 at 2:30 a.m.

[this message got much longer than I expected it to become, so I'm starting a new thread again]

: Your idea has merit but part of me says that making the
: narrator a character doesnt strike me as good. He
: should stay 'faceless'

I wasn't suggesting making him any less faceless than the narrator of TFL or M2. He was there at all the events he'll be relating, unless he says otherwise; it would make sense that he would tell his emotional reaction or some of the things he does. I wouldn't make him a major fighting character, though certainly a fighter or some sort, but nobody really important. I mean, the TFL narrator especially often talks about specific things he did... "I opened the Codex to a random page and read about the life of a man not yet born...", or "falling back before two Myrmidons I was enveloped in a greenish haze which tore me from the earth...". He's not a big name like Alric or Connacht (and maybe we should never learn his real name), but he's there and he's doing things and all the emotion of the story has to come from his personal experiences, so having him just dryly tell what other people are doing would ruin the narrative.

: I like the idea of Myrkridian bands they would be nomadic
: going across the land lead by the more closer to human
: intelligence myrkridian giants (I imagine normal myrks
: being a bit... not so smart) Perhaps killing for food
: from each village they got to but leaving them alive,
: threatening death for the whole village if they
: resisted. Perhaps the leaders owe moagim (I don't like
: them having an honor debt) fear moagim, or are
: otherwise beguiled by moagim to organize them into a
: fighting force to take on Muirthemne

I like this idea, of the Myrkridia becoming more organized when Moagim shows up. Makes a perfect transition to the idea mentioned earlier, of Bahl'al's army showing up when Moagim makes his grand debut.

Browsing through Myth 3's journals and thinking about all this stuff, I'm picturing a series of events something like this...

The Narrator's band flees from Gower to Muirthemne. The theme here is terror, sheer terror, we can't win, just run. Run across the blackened lands and don't look back, don't listen to the screams of the poor stragglers being picked off by the devils, don't stop to let the weary rest, if they fall then they will die but if you stop then so shall you. Get to Llancarfan. It's your only chance of survival. Fighting back is hopeless.

Recuperation at Muirthemne, commendations for surviving long enough to get there, and joining the city's defenses. Learning how powerless even this paradise is, how their only advantage is that they've got those ancient walls to hide behind when the Myrkridia come, but still they're only hiding. You can't beat the Myrkridia. It's hopeless.

Rumors of a hero in Gower; a team is dispatched, Damas and a few other Herons and an assortment of volunteers, including our narrator who is from those lands. The discovery of Connacht, and relation of what has been happening there since our narrator left. Gower has driven out the Myrkridia from their territories under Connacht's leadership. Maybe there is hope yet.

Connacht returns to Muirthemne, meets with the emperor, and is put in charge of training a task force to rescue other outlying villages and bring them back to Muirthemne - to start forming an empire again, working together with the people of Gower and the Northmen and the scattered bits of mankind across the lands, teaching people how to win against the devils. The people of Muirthemne no longer have to hide behind their walls when the Myrkridia come; a standing army is now able to defend those lands against them. We no longer have to cower in fear.

Offensives begin against the Myrkridia. Pushing further into the Dire Marsh. The death of a Pack-Mage. Myth 3 implies around here that people knew of Moagim already, but it's told from the heroes' perspective; we'll keep that a secret right now, from our grunt narrator's perspective, and not mention the events of the M3 level "Flight from the Dark". The heroes make some journey down into Forest Heart to read some book or talk to some dead wizard or something, but the narrator didn't know much about that at that time. (I'd say the trip to Mazzarin's crypt was probably an excuse for Myrdred to get his hands on the Codex, but somehow only Connacht was permitted to read it).

The Myrkridia begin to gather on Muirthemne en masse, break through the defenses, and force a retreat inside the walls; and then, instead of leaving as they usually do after a raid, they stay, more of them still pouring in, and wait in siege. Oh, we are so fucked. I was right, see I told you, if you don't provoke the Myrkridia, they'll leave some of you alive, but you piss them off and they're gonna devour your whole city. But did anybody listen? Noooo....

The Tain scheme is revealed. Connacht and his platoon, including the narrator, make a run for Myrgard... not just to save the Dwarves as Myth 3 puts it, but specifically because he knows (from the Codex perhaps) that the Dwarves have a Tain, or will have a Tain (they already do, it's part of the Smiths' rituals), and he wants to use it against the Myrkridia. An alliace with the Dwarves is forged, and in exchange for rescuing them from the Ghols, the Smiths agree to lend Connacht the use of the Tain against the Myrkridia. Besides, the Smiths helped build Muirthemne, they can't just let it fall.

But instead of returning straight to Muirthemne, they head due north into the Dire Marsh, to attack the Myrkridia at their homelands and draw their attention back away from Muirthemne. In the process they kill Thalor the Black and then fight their way back to Muirthemne, imprisoning thousands of Myrkridia along the way as they all collapse back toward the Dire Marsh seeking vengeance, and Connacht arrives at Llancarfan from behind the Myrkridian army, finally reaching the walls triumphantly, as the sun sets and the last of the Myrkridia besieging the city are entombed within the Tain. Some comments here about the strange shadow that has followed them back from the Dire Marsh would be appropriate; a rumbling in the earth, and strange sort of movement back along the dim horizon.

And we awake the next morning to an army of the undead stretching as far as the eye can see, the very earth groaning under their weight, not a spot of dirt visible beyond their seemingly infinite numbers. This is the point where Moagim shows up, and suddenly the people realize that the Myrkridia weren't gathering just because we pissed them off, they were gathering for a real siege, strategically planned, backed by the undead, with Bahl'al and Moagim commanding them all, and though we may have defeated the Myrkridia we are still totally boned. I mean more than boned this is like... holy shit it's Moagim what more do I have to say? The Leveller is back. We're doomed.

This is where the Trow show up, but not as Myth 3 has it, siding with Moagim's army. The Trow don't like humans, the Trow don't like undead, the Trow don't like Myrkridia, the Trow don't like anything that aren't Trow; and as far as they're concerned this entire continent belongs to them. So this massive gathering of forces in siege of Muirthemne would stick out to them like an ant infestation in the kitchen would to us, and they'd move in to clean it up. So the Trow came not to battle WITH the Dark, but AGAINST the Dark, and it's only because of them that Muirthemne was spared; not that they spared Muirthemne, but the Trow and Dark forces weakened each other enough that Muirthemne could finish off the survivors. As far as the forces of the Light were concerned it was one huge battle of three armies and the Trow were as much enemies as they were allies; in fact the Trow were an even bigger threat than the forces of the Dark themselves were, even with the Leveller present. (I'd make it important here that the Trow wield swords, as the comic portrays, and not just hammers). Still, both armies were defeated and Llancarfan stood triumphant.

In one last move, Connacht and a what remained of the Light armies pushed against Moagim's forces who were attempting to regroup and lay siege against Llancarfan. The Light's aim: to destroy the Rod of the Callieach, and render Moagim mortal. The strategy was desperate, just like Alric at the end of TFL: to sacrifice the majority of the army to try and take out Moagim. This bit could play out almost identically to the M3 version. Some Avatara sacrifices himself, the Rod of the Callieach is destroyed, lots of people die, the Dark is 'defeated'... but Moagim gets away.

I'd probably put a break in right here, actually. This is a major victory: Llancarfan was besieged by the Leveller and yet he was held off, defeated even. I'd even go so far as so say that this parallels the pattern of TFL and M2: one major victory followed by a time of rebuilding and then an even bigger battle. So the army of the dark was seemingly defeated, Moagim was rendered mortal and thought to be no longer such a great threat... at least not nearly as big a threat as the Trow. So I'd probably put one last story or level in here, before the break: the story of Myrdred's trip into the Oghre lands, and igniting their rebellion against the Trow. Then we take a break for about thirty years or so, while the rebellion plays out, and while turmoil brews at the heart of Muirthemne... the Smiths have settled in, to begin working on an ultimate weapon to use against the Trow, but they have brought their dark ways with them. And beyond even those troubles, something dark has been stirring in the upper echelons of Llancarfan for far longer than that.

I've not thought out the second half of this nearly so much as the first... but first let me take a brief tangent here and mention, I've thought up a name idea. If we're gonna break this into two parts, and model it after Myth TFL and Myth II, I say we name it likewise. Don't call it "Myth 3: The Real Story" or anything. I say we call it Legends. Similar in meaning to Myth, plus it's the name of our site here, and that way, we can call the first part "Legends of the Wind Age" or some such, and the second part "Legends of the Wolf Age" maybe. Or perhaps "Legends: The Wind Age" and "Legends II: Moagim" or something. We can talk about this more and get it hammered out.

So, for the second half, I think we should put a lot more emphasis on the Spider-Cults and the Smiths of Muirthemne. Have the story begin with the investigation of strange murders and disappearances within the city, slowly leading on to the realization that the Smiths are behind this, culminating in a battle in their forges beneath the city. Maybe tie this in to the strange carvings in the crypts beneath Llancarfan, and the notion that the ancient Smiths who build them were spider-cultists even back then. This has a lot of Illuminati and Stone Mason type of feel to it, seeing how it's a secret cult amongst a bunch of builders and masons with highly advanced, secret technologies. Anyway, in the end of this portion, the when the Smiths themselves are finally confronted, they all flee into the Tain, maybe summoning out some great spider (who is *not* in any way an actual spider-goddess, just a big frickin' spider queen) to cover their escape. But they are defeated and cleaned out from under Muirthemne, and the Tain and the Sunhammer are recovered and brought out of the tombs below.

Then, we go on campaign against the Trow. The battle with the Oghres is finally over, and the Trow have thrown down their weapons. Seizing upon this opportunity, Connacht falls on them with the Sunhammer. I think it's important here that we make some significant modifications from Myth 3, to mesh with what TFL says is true, but that requires that we piece together how exactly something like this would happen. Basically: the Trow are imprisoned in the vaults beneath Rhi'anon, which implies that they were somehow forced into the vaults and trapped in there. Secondly, the Trow cities were "melted into the ice" according to canon texts. It make sense that such far northern lands should be frozen, and so perhaps the Trow built their cities on top of glaciers or something? But the whole thing doesn't really make a lot of sense. This bit needs rethinking a lot, just about the logistics. One way or another, we've got to run into Bahl'al in the Dire Marsh on the way up there, and probably again on the way back down.

After the battle with the Trow is where the game or story (still not sure if we're planning on making a scenario out of this or just a great fan fiction) turns back toward Moagim and the forces of the Dark properly. The notion I'm thinking is that for the past thirty years, as the Light has rebuild the East and not thought much about Moagim but for an idle worry in the back of their minds, he has been busy out in the west, beyond the lands of men, recruiting an army of the undead any any others that would serve him. The people of the forest Ermine have been turned to his side, strange bone cults worshipping death and sacrificing to the spirit thereof, whom we call the Leveller, but they know as b'Y'laggo. (Perhaps they were a part of Mjarin and Bahl'al's dark ritual to resurrect Moagim?). This could also be the origin of the enmity between men and fir'Bolg; the fir'Bolg and bre'Unor descend from the same sort of people, the fir'Bolg turning back toward the light after the fall of the Leveller but still enemies with the normal humans beyond the Ermine.

Anyway, the notion in my head is, there's this great army of the dead waiting in the west that's about to start spilling over the passes. The Leveller this era was supposed to rise in the west anyway, so maybe that's where the bulk of his forces have always been amassing. For some reason, Bahl'al and some sort of undead army are already in the east, and have begun ravaging the regrown Downs while Connacht was dealing with the Trow. His forces are fought back by Myrdred, back to the Nornpass (Stair of Grief), and he is imprisoned in stone there. From here things can go pretty much as they do at the end of Myth 3: the Emperor is slain, Moagim is pursued and slain, and the armied of the Dark collapse. On the way back Mjarin tries to deal with Connacht, and is also defeated. Connacht can think that Mjarin is the Leveller all he wants, but he's still wrong, and our narrator (now in present tense) knows this.

Mjarin and Bahl'al were just Fallen Lords, and between them they brought Moagim back into the world, but even without Moagim, a thousand years of darkness reigned between his first and final defeats. And look at the cycle now: we may have defeated Balor and had a few decades of peace, but again, the Darkness returned, and lo, we have defeated it again, but see how dark the lands now grow, the Myrkridia back among the wilds, no cities left to stand but Muirthemne and even it a mere ruin, the Dream of Unlife well known amongst lesser necromancers far and wide... and once again, two Fallen Lords are missing. We think we have won but we haven't. This age is Dark, and it'll be another thousand years before someone the likes of Connacht comes around to save our asses.

...alright, so the second half still needs some work, but I'm pretty happy with the first half. I'd like it if someone a bit more familiar with Myth 3's story could go over this for consistency, at least chronologically. The historical records may have recorded the wrong things but they probably wouldn't screw up the dates. Looking at the dates on the M3 journals it doesn't look like too much hope of matching up those events... but maybe we can come up with some excuse why the shrine would have the dates all off too.

I'm tired now and going to sleep.

P.S. - I've decided to screw the naughty words filter and remove it so I can use whatever dirty words for emphasis that I want. It's not like we get a lot of fucking cunts causing all sorts of nasty shit around here anymore, you people are all well behaved, so use whatever words you want. Boo censorship!

Messages In This Thread

  • Legends
    Superfoborg (64.136.147.170) -- 10/22/2005 at 2:30 a.m.
    • Re: Legends
      General Pepper (69-161-36-85.sbtnvt.adelphia.net) -- 10/22/2005 at 9:53 p.m.
      • Re: Legends
        Seraph (AC5-Webproxy64.direcpc.com) -- 10/22/2005 at 11:34 p.m.
        • Re: Legends
          General Pepper (69-161-36-85.sbtnvt.adelphia.net) -- 10/23/2005 at 1:38 a.m.
          • Re: Legends
            Superfoborg (64-136-147-170.dsl.static.dock.net) -- 10/23/2005 at 10:22 p.m.
      • Re: Legends
        Superfoborg (64-136-147-170.dsl.static.dock.net) -- 10/23/2005 at 9:44 p.m.
        • Re: Legends
          Superfoborg (64-136-147-170.dsl.static.dock.net) -- 10/23/2005 at 10:02 p.m.
        • Re: Legends
          Seraph (adsl-71-131-210-134.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net) -- 10/23/2005 at 10:07 p.m.
          • Re: Legends
            Superfoborg (64-136-147-170.dsl.static.dock.net) -- 10/23/2005 at 10:29 p.m.
            • Re: Legends
              Superfoborg (64-136-147-170.dsl.static.dock.net) -- 10/24/2005 at 2:12 a.m.
          • Re: Legends
            c?J?Iilk Man (069-064-230-161.pdx.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 1:03 a.m.
            • Re: Legends
              Superfoborg (ip68-6-104-131.sb.sd.cox.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 12:34 p.m.
              • Re: Legends
                Seraph (adsl-71-131-210-134.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 1:27 p.m.
              • Re: Legends
                c?J?Iilk Man (069-064-230-161.pdx.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 6:38 p.m.
                • Furthermore:
                  c?J?Iilk Man (069-064-230-161.pdx.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 7:12 p.m.
                  • Re: Furthermore:
                    Superfoborg (64-136-147-170.dsl.static.dock.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 8:17 p.m.
                    • Re: Furthermore: *PIC*
                      HorusReborn (62-64-200-4.dynamic.dial.as9105.com) -- 10/26/2005 at 9:11 p.m.
                    • Re: Furthermore:
                      General Pepper (145-222-pool1.P-POOL.MARIST.EDU) -- 10/27/2005 at 10:51 p.m.
                      • Re: Furthermore:
                        c?J?Iilk Man (069-064-230-161.pdx.net) -- 10/28/2005 at 2:53 p.m.
                    • Re: Furthermore:
                      Gothmog (ool-43562f06.dyn.optonline.net) -- 10/31/2005 at 6:18 p.m.
                • Re: Legends
                  Superfoborg (64-136-147-170.dsl.static.dock.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 8:07 p.m.
                  • Re: Legends
                    c?J?Iilk Man (069-064-230-161.pdx.net) -- 10/26/2005 at 9:07 p.m.
                    • Re: Legends *PIC*
                      HorusReborn (62-64-200-4.dynamic.dial.as9105.com) -- 10/26/2005 at 9:14 p.m.
                      • Re: Legends
                        Gothmog (ool-43562f06.dyn.optonline.net) -- 10/31/2005 at 6:25 p.m.

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