Risk Legacy: War Five

So we now have the drafting rules, which means that instead of going first based off of a role, everyone has to choose between the following: turn order, placement order, how many coin cards, and faction choice.

Matt: 2nd turn, 8 toops, 4th in placement, 0 coin cards, Khan Industries, started in Western United States
Logan: Mutants, 2nd placement, 8 troops, 1 coin card, 4th turn, started in Central Africa
Ben: 1st placement, 10 troops, 3rd turn, Enclave of the Bear, 2 coin cards, started in Southeast Asia
Nathan: Imperial Balkania, 1st turn, 6 troops, 3rd placement, 0 coin cards, started in Ural

Year One
Imperial Balkania changed the culture of Russia, permanently, making them a full military culture. They expanded into Yakutsk (which had the city called The Phillipines) and Afghanistan (named city here). They reaped the resources from the cities that they could. Khan Industries took over all of North America. Enclave of the Bear took all of Australia and Afghanistan from Imperial Balkania. Khan Industries permanently radiation poisoned East Australia. The Mutants took all of Africa, glorying in the fallout wasteland that was North Africa.

Year Two
 Imperial Balkania took Siberia and Kamchatka and then tried to break into Alaska, but failed. They then took Scandinavia. Khan Industries took Kamchatka, Yakutsk, and Siberia from Imperial Balkania, but couldn't take Ural and the HQ that was there. Enclave of the Bear took China and Mongolia, and then took Kamchatka and Alaska from Khan Industries. The Mutants, whose brains somehow evolved in the face of all the radiation of North Africa, took all of South America.

Year Three
Imperial Balkania took Afghanistan back from Enclave of the Bear. The two factions then forged an agreement to leave each other alone and pursue their own agendas. Ural was reinforced. Khan Industries tried to take back Alaska from Enclave of the Bear, but failed. Central America was then reinforced, in anticipation of the incoming Mutant invasion. Enclave of the Bear, who had been quietly gathering resources, revealed a surprising number of armies and began a campaign against The Mutants. Down went Egypt, the freshly bunkered East Africa (which required two missile salvos to take down), Madagascar, South Africa, and then Central Africa (along with the HQ in it). The Mutants took back Central Africa and their HQ, but reinforced Venezuela. An upsurge in popularity gave Enclave of the Bear even more volunteers, which they used to reinforce their forces.

Year Four
 Imperial Balkania expanded into all of Europe. Khan Industries took back Alaska, at great cost, and then went back into Kamchatka. They then attacked and took Icleand. They then put their forces into Greenland. Imperial Balkania attempted diplomacy, calling them out for the uncalled-for attack. but their entreaties were ignored. Enclave of the Bear attacked but were driven back in a hail of missile fire. They retook Central America from The Mutants, regaining that HQ. The Mutants broke into Central America and tried to take the Western United States, which was Khan Industries' HQ, but lost. They then withdrew back to Venezuela.

Year Five
Imperial Balkania retook Iceland. Khan Industries retook Central America and Iceland, with heavy losses. Enclave of the Bear took Siberia, Yakutsk, and Kamchatka from Khan Industries. The Mutants retook Central America, put a huge force in North Africa, and then reinforced Venezuela.

Year Six
Imperial Balkania summoned a small, but effective, surprise fighting force. They retook Greenland, with heavy losses, but then took Greenland, Ontario, and then the Western United States (which is where Khan Industries' HQ was). Khan Industries took Western United States and Ontario back, but the damage was done. Enclave of the Bear, pulling out more volunteers from seemingly nowhere,  took advantage of Khan Industries' weakness and took Alaska, Alberta, and then the Western United States. Wearied, everyone ended the war.

South America became known as The Mutant Defense.

Everyone simmered in their faux peace.

The War: Sessions Zero and One

Session Zero

Bleak Spirit advises that you get as specific as you need to when creating the world, because, once the gameplay starts, players cannot discuss the setting anymore. So Kyle and I decided to make setting building for this game its own session. And, while we didn't get into too much detail, we did set up a solid framework to run the first session on.

The setting revolves around the conflict between the God of Light, Ahura Mazda, and the God of Dark, Ahriman. Their conflict was so destructive that the world sealed itself away from them as much as they could, offering sacrifice to the two gods so that they would stay away just far enough so that the world could continue on. The sacrifices were conducted at The Castle of Twilight, a two-keep castle situated over Twilight Gorge, a bottomless window into the abyss, where you could see Ahura Mazda and Ahriman fight. Straddling this abyss is The Bridge of Vigilance, where the sacrifices were cast in to drive away the conflicting gods.

The main character, we decided would be an armored man called Orpheus, with cut vocal cords. He wielded an ornamental sword with a blue stone in the pommel. The blue stone allowed Orpheus to sing spell songs, of undetermined power and scope. The sapphire, when activated, covered the affected area in a strong blue light.

Session One

The Twilight Gorge had a bottom, contrary to popular myth, a swamp that goes on and on and on. But somewhere in this morass is an awful and nasty hole, which leads to the World of Night. It stands unguarded. No one goes in, and no one goes out; who would want to enter and who could leave? And, for untold aeons, no one did. Until one day, when Orpheus crawled out, into the Twilight Gorge Swamp. Lumbering through the swamp in his heavy armor, Orpheus heard a hissing behind him, calling out to him by name.

"Orpheuuuuuuuuussssssssss...... Ooooooooooooooooorpheusssssssssssssssssssssss...."

Orpheus ignored the call, and climbed up the cliff, onto the The Bridge of Vigilance. At the top of the bridge stood a figure in full armor, identical to what Orpheus was wearing. Staring at him for a moment Orpheus sang a song that required all that heard it to give him their true name. Nothing happened. A song of abjuring all Nameless things followed. Orpheus doubled over in pain, and the armored figure collapsed.  After a moment of rest Orpheus entered the Keep of Darkness, pain slowly fading. 

The gate doors swung wide onto a scene of absolute carnage. Desiccated corpses of drakes lay upon desiccated corpses of drakes. Draconic heads on plaques adorned the walls of the courtyard. There was one blank plaque on the wall, with an inscription: Arthkurn the Relentless. Orpheus looked at the main entrance to the keep, alone in his thoughts. He looked to his left and saw the stairs to the nearby tower. He took the stairs.

All of a sudden Orpheus was pushing his way through the keep gates again. The corpses were on fire, and the the plaques were all empty, except for the bleached skull on the wall; it was Arthkurn the Relentless's skull. Orpheus came to, slumped against the wall, next to the stairway. He got up and trudged up the stairs.

As he climbed Orpheus saw winged monstrosities, in the form of twisted dragons, wheeling about above him. The song that followed set these aberrations on fire and brought one of them crashing into the stairwell in front of Orpheus. The stairs began to slowly retract into the wall. Orpheus tried to freeze the flaming form, but nothing happened. He tried to superheat the flaming form with a Song of Light, but the song wouldn't come to him, dying on his lips. Finally a song of heaving cut through the blue light. The burning corpse flung Orpheus over him, into the tower, as the stairs finally retracted into the wall.

As Orpheus got to the top of the tower he looked out at the world around him; the world was one vast, grey fog. There was nothing beyond The Castle of Twilight, nothing at all. Orpheus was not surprised at this and barely paid it any heed. There was a slot in the wall. Orpheus put his sword in the slot. The whole castle shook as the stairs in the walls began to slide back out; Orpheus's sword was being sucked into the slot. Orpheus just barely managed to retrieve his sword, and the stairs slid back into the wall. 

Orpheus looked around. The Keep of Darkness had a few holes in the roof, and Orpheus looked through, into the darkness. In the back of the Keep of Darkness Orpheus saw a desiccated corpse of an enormous dragon, staked down. To the right of the Keep was a small courtyard with a shining fountain.  Orpheus lay down and crafted a song of longing, of loneliness. Something cold and long dead appeared, in Orpheus' peripheral vision. Orpheus did not look at it. A few seconds later he heard the SNAP of the slot taking a sword, and the stairs slid back out. Orpheus got back out; he was alone. He walked back down the stairs the way he came. 

The courtyard was completely clear of everything as Orpheus came back down the stairs. The perpetual twilight of the the world had become a hot and humid high noon. A purple light was shining through the gates that led back to the Bridge of Vigilance. Orpheus looked between that gate and the doors that led into the Keep. In his mind Orpheus made up his mind: he had to stop his past self, he needed to! He threw the gates back open, rust flying off of the hinges and, bathed in that purple light, Orpheus strode out to meet himself, swearing an oath through a now-intact throat that he would would stop himself before it was too late.

Orpheus saw himself on the bridge. There was still a world at this point. He called out to himself, begging him to stop it. The war needed to go on, the world needed to continue, it wasn't too late to stop what he was up to! His past self replied that  it was too late. Orpheus commanded himself to give up the gems, which his past self found confusing. Orpheus wrenched his foe's hands open: there was a blue gem and a red gem. Orpheus told him it could stop. His past self responded back that he would never stop. Orpheus drew his ceremonial blade and cut his foe's throat. Both of them fell back as a huge cut appeared on their throats. His foe grabbed Orpheus and pitched them over the side, into the roiling chaos that was the battle of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. As they fell Orpheus sang one last song: he broke the red and blue gem his foe wielded, and protected his enemy's fall. The swamp snapped into existence suddenly. Orpheus's  neck broke in the fall. His foe crawled away as the valley coalesced into the swamp. 

Up above the grey fog broke and the world came back into existence, and the swamp broke open, welcoming the return of the slumbering Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. Far away, in the Keep of Darkness, the lone dracolich Arthkurn broke free from his constraints and flew away into the newly renewed world.