: Hey, I'm fine tuning the units in my campaign and I had
: some questions for y'all, seeing as you're so
: well-informed. Thing is, my campaign takes place
: directly after the sack of Muirthemne and I'm still a
: little hazy on the timeline, there. So: 1) How long
: was Balor active before he sacked the city? Would he
: be a well-known figure of menace, or was this his
: first public move?
"By 2181 A.E. Balor thrived in the East." That's 250 years before the sack of Muirthemne. He didn't start moving west until the year of Muirthemne's destruction, though, and I doubt he was well-known in the West; otherwise they would have worked a *lot* harder to stop him before he reached Muirthemne. He seems to have been able to just blaze in before anyone could react.
: 2) Obviously, I can't use Myrks, Trow, or Mauls, as these
: all came on the scene much, much later. But can I use
: Myrmidons? I'm assuming Thrall, Wights, Soulless and
: Fetch are good to go--am I wrong in this? What about
: Ghols?
Myrmidons were recruited around 2200, and Fetch around 2422, and the Ghols took Stoneheim the same year as Muirthemne fell. So you can use all of them. You could probably use a few Trow or Mauls if you wanted, too. We don't know exactly when the Trow were freed, so having one appear early doesn't mess with official Myth history as long as all the Light forces who see it end up dead before they can inform the province. And the Mauls were pretty well-known in the West before Soulblighter's war, so it's possible that Balor used a few and they just never got very far west. Maybe they can appear in your scenario and get horribly massacred by the player, providing an explanation for why they refused to fight for Balor for the rest of the war. Even a small surviving population of Myrks from some remote island or valley isn't completely out of the question; the Myth 2 intro does suggest the possibility that Soulblighter found a few before he got to the Tain.
: 3) On a similar level to the Myrmidons: can I use
: Berserks and Dwarves? I guess what I'm asking is were
: there Zerks and Dorfs in the armies of the Light
: before the Nine got their act together? I know that
: the Fir'Bolg and the Skrael were either opposed or
: ambivalent to the Light at this point, but when did
: the Zerks get on the bandwagon? I imagine it would be
: about the same time the Myrmidons forgot to read the
: small print on their contract with Balor. And did the
: Dwarves join up only after losing Myrgard and
: Stoneheim?
The Skrael don't appear to have ever been opposed to the Light; they fought with the Light during Balor's invasion but don't seem to have left their own territory much, so you're not going to see them unless you've set a level around the Dire Marsh or the nearby rivers and ocean. And yes, the fir'Bolg were hostile to (although probably not openly warring with) humanity during this time. The Dwarves were apparently always on the side of the Light as independent allies of the Cath Bruig, and the Berserks "for most of history have maintained military service to Cath Bruig in exchange for self-rule." So both unit types are available. GURPS notes that in earlier times the Dwarves used melee weapons, so you might enable the knife attack on your Dwarves.
: 4) I want to use the Deceiver on one of my maps (as a
: passive observer only--obviously he can't be killed
: here, it would ruin all kinds of continuity)--how much
: should the player's troops know about his history? The
: way I have it now, they knew him as Myrdred (some of
: them fought the Myrks with Connacht, as Heron Guard),
: then he kind of disappeared. When they hear somebody
: is converting good guys into baddies, they all think
: the same thing: "Myrdred? But he's been dead a
: thousand years, hasn't he? And what is he doing
: fighting for Balor?!?" Similarly, could they
: remember Soulblighter as Damas--or has cutting his own
: face off made him unrecognizable?
Can't kill The Deceiver? Why not? Killing him doesn't seem to bother him much. Kill him a dozen times if you want. :)
I don't think they know that he's a thousand years old. The Myth 2 narrator describes him as an Avatara from the [post-Connacht] Wolf Age, and his Wind Age exploit of imprisoning the Watcher has been incorrectly attributed to Connacht. I think all they know is that he used to be the Avatara Myrdred from the early Wolf Age, who disappeared a couple hundred years ago. When they see him reappear as The Deceiver, they charitably assume that he's been forcibly converted by Balor (who "bent him to his will," said the narrator).
As for Soulblighter, by the time of the Great War it was apparently an established rumor, but not a confirmed fact, that he might be Damas. Your Jmen might be certain, the rest of your units doubtful.
: I imagine a lot of these questions rush headlong into
: grey areas, which is fine--part of what I want to do
: with my campaign is fill in some of the gaps (although
: anything I claim in my levels will, of course, be
: merely my interpretation), but I'd like to avoid at
: all costs contradicting stuff that is known for sure.
: My campaign is very plot-driven and I want to be
: accurate.
What? No WWII units? For shame! :)
: Thanks for your help.
No prob. If there's anything I can do to help--Fear stuff, or plot checking, or whatever--let me know.
--SiliconDReam
