Ostia
Jun 13, 2017 4:09:32 GMT -6
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jun 13, 2017 4:09:32 GMT -6
Overview
For most of the Lycian League's existence, Ostia was her leader, in times of strife and in times of peace. First among equals, the stern bastion of Lycian power bore discipline, strength, and wit in equal parts. Always known for its military strength and even handed leadership, few knew the true might of the great march - not simply a bunch of muscle-minded meatheads, Ostia hosted the greatest intelligence network in all of Elibe. Ostian spies often knew the conditions in each march before the marquess did, and it is believed that Ostia even employed assassins to maintain the balance of power, though as with all rumors it is difficult to verify these claims. Historians believe that it is this network that took them from regional power to lasting superpower - the march was never THAT far beyond Araphen, Santaruz, and Pherae in raw military might, but led better than any of them could and retained its power with an iron grip.
But then Bern sacked Ostia, and then Etruria obliterated the proud march, desecrating even the graves of Ostia's fallen and leaving the once proud march a desolate wasteland full of corpses and ruins - and something that the Etrurians did broke something in the world, centered in Ostia. The dead began to rise to feast on the living, and it is said that it is from Ostia that the dark plague of monsters came to spread across all Lycia. And then, as if making up for a thousand years of hegemony, even darker forces arrived in Ostia - a terrible and powerful warrior known as the Madness, a fell being with the ability to create even worse monsters who slaughtered intruders and added them to her rising army of the damned.
Over the last few years, Ostia went from wasteland to hellscape and finally went dark completely; as the tide of dead grows ever more overwhelming in scale, it is no longer possible for spies and even armed forces to venture into Ostia safely, and lone adventurers and small groups are right out. Hundreds and thousands of creatures of black magic spill forth into the neighboring marches of Thria and Worde, and some say that a great citadel has begun to be constructed deep in within Ostia, perhaps a tomestone for its demise - or a monument to an even greater storm, one coming for all of Lycia rather than just its fallen king.
It is no longer possible for players to enter Ostia outside of plot events due to the extreme danger and sheer quantity of undead spilling forth. A much larger force would be needed to invade and investigate, but Lycia as a whole is too fractured to do so... at least for now.
For most of the Lycian League's existence, Ostia was her leader, in times of strife and in times of peace. First among equals, the stern bastion of Lycian power bore discipline, strength, and wit in equal parts. Always known for its military strength and even handed leadership, few knew the true might of the great march - not simply a bunch of muscle-minded meatheads, Ostia hosted the greatest intelligence network in all of Elibe. Ostian spies often knew the conditions in each march before the marquess did, and it is believed that Ostia even employed assassins to maintain the balance of power, though as with all rumors it is difficult to verify these claims. Historians believe that it is this network that took them from regional power to lasting superpower - the march was never THAT far beyond Araphen, Santaruz, and Pherae in raw military might, but led better than any of them could and retained its power with an iron grip.
But then Bern sacked Ostia, and then Etruria obliterated the proud march, desecrating even the graves of Ostia's fallen and leaving the once proud march a desolate wasteland full of corpses and ruins - and something that the Etrurians did broke something in the world, centered in Ostia. The dead began to rise to feast on the living, and it is said that it is from Ostia that the dark plague of monsters came to spread across all Lycia. And then, as if making up for a thousand years of hegemony, even darker forces arrived in Ostia - a terrible and powerful warrior known as the Madness, a fell being with the ability to create even worse monsters who slaughtered intruders and added them to her rising army of the damned.
Over the last few years, Ostia went from wasteland to hellscape and finally went dark completely; as the tide of dead grows ever more overwhelming in scale, it is no longer possible for spies and even armed forces to venture into Ostia safely, and lone adventurers and small groups are right out. Hundreds and thousands of creatures of black magic spill forth into the neighboring marches of Thria and Worde, and some say that a great citadel has begun to be constructed deep in within Ostia, perhaps a tomestone for its demise - or a monument to an even greater storm, one coming for all of Lycia rather than just its fallen king.
It is no longer possible for players to enter Ostia outside of plot events due to the extreme danger and sheer quantity of undead spilling forth. A much larger force would be needed to invade and investigate, but Lycia as a whole is too fractured to do so... at least for now.