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Need some help picking a storyline to follow with future armies!

758 views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Deadstar_MRC 
#1 ·
Hello Librarium >.<; I originally posted this on Warseer; but I haven't gotten much of a response there - so I'm hoping perhaps the kind folks over here could give me a hand with a small dillema I'm having!

As my first Fantasy army (Tzeentch Mortals) nears 2000pts, I am beginning to look to the future. I like to link my armies together via fluff; so for at least the first couple after this, I want to follow my main character's journey; or have a 'version' of her involved with said army.

So I see 2 basic paths I can take, which are outlined below. Its also possible to combine both; but that may be more complex than I'm wanting to go (If I'm going to write a novel's worth of text, I might as well write a good novel and not fan-fic ya know?)

So here's what I'm looking at; suggestions humbly requested!

(Note: Both of these are very patchy because well - they aren't finalized yet!)

Option 1) Yumii (a name given to her later by her patron), my Chaos Lord, was born under an auspicious conjunction of celestial bodies that, at the moment of her birth, created the sign of the 8-pointed star in the heavens. She is marked at birth on the left cheek with a Chaos star; and is born in Norsca. She follows the path of many of her people and eventually becomes a powerful lord in her own right.

In the meantime, as a follower of Tzeentch, she is exposed to a great deal of learning, both magical and mundane, and takes up a good amount of time philosophizing. Eventually she leads a raid deep into the Empire and establishes a basecamp in the Drakwald forest. She begins to believe that perhaps raiding merely for the sake of raiding is not the best way to gain the favor of the gods; indeed, what better way to bring more to the worship of Chaos than by breaking them free of the chains that bind them to their land, and showing them the glories of Chaos firsthand?

She goes on to instigate peasant revolts across the Empire and even occasionally wanders into Bretonnia when things get too hot.

This is where my Chaos army would be starting. However I want to continue her story with further Warhammer armies as I continue along...

Eventually, after years of inciting rebellions and generally unsettling the peasants; Yumii's warband is caught between Bretonnian and Empire forces. The battle is long and fierce, but eventually the Chaos warriors are forced to route, and Yumii escapes with only her closest friends and retainers.

They make a long ragged ride south and pass through Tilea, booking passage aboard a ship toward less hostile quarters. Unfortunately the ship is blown off course and the remnant warband winds up in uncharted territory. (Probably Lustria or some similar locale) By this point the remnants are rather disillusioned with the powers of Chaos, even Yumii's faith is significantly on the wane. Combined with the strange nature of their present location, their mutations and Chaos powers begin to recede somewhat. As this is happening they wander this new land, and eventually come upon a local tribe of beastmen with more feline features, instead of the goat and bull types of the Empire.

These beastmen, rather uncharacteristically,take in the survivors of the warband. I still have specifics to work out at this point - they may not be "true" beastmen at all; in fact they probably aren't; its just what I expect a former Chaos lord to see them as.

To make a very long story very short, these "beastmen" come under attack by the local savage orcs and at the same time are hard pressed against the forces of the Lizardmen as well. Yumii and her ragged band mostly join with the catpeople against these enemies.

The first stage here would be a Beasts of Chaos army (heavily converted), to show the primitive and feral people initially encountered. A second stage would be a more regimented army (possibly an Elven army) that would show the progress of these once peaceful people after many years of conflict under the tutelage of someone who's already fought with some of the world's biggest powers.

Beyond that I don't know if they story really goes much further - but that's where it ends right now.

Option 2)

Option 2 isn't nearly as long of a read; but its something else I was playing with.

It begins the same as option one, with a girl born under an auspicious star - only this time there's a cabal of sorcerers at work, trying to use her as a conduit for a ritual that would, if successful, grant them all immense power... and probably turn her into a spawn.

Unsurprisingly the ritual goes awry, and the girl is instead multiplied into 8 separate entities, 7 of which are then magically hurled throughout the known world.

At this point each separate entity grows and rises to power in the area in which they were found, gravitating naturally toward military careers until eventually two of them meet on the field of battle. They find themselves utterly unable to defeat one another as both know exactly how the other will move and fight.

Similar confrontations occur between other iterations, until one of the more magically inclined incarnations realizes precisely what has happened.

This Fluff is obviously much looser, and doesn't really have an "end" per-se; but it gives me the ability to field 8 highly customized armies with a central theme; and its a theme I can grow significantly beyond its starting point.

Basically, Option 1 is linear storytelling; while Option 2 is a bit more of a sandbox.

And I'm stuck as to which is the more interesting <-.->; because both are fairly cool; but trying to pull both off would prove... daunting.

So what do you all think? I know its a long read <x.x> my apologies for that.!
 
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#2 ·
I personally like option one a bit better. Yes, as you said, it's more restrictive, but I kind of like the narrative you've set up.

As I was reading it, I thought of a few points that might help as well.
> When your stragglers first meet the beast-people, I thought the logical thing would be a trial by combat. Obviously your main character is meant to be an exceptional combatant, so she would win, and she and her buddies would be accepted into the beast-people group (whatever you want to call it) just in time to fight the various enemies that are trying to kill them.

> Possible armies: You have mentioned Beast-people, I thought a count-as Dark Elves force might be a good next step, sort of a mix of skirmishers and regimented units. Then you could go on to High Elves for a much more regimented army. I'm not entirely sure if my summaries of the armies are accurate, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.


Option two, as you said, needs a lot more work. That's possibly why I don't like it so much at the moment; it's not very well worked out yet. For me, it just seemed a little too much like the Primarchs all over again.

Anyway, there are a few suggestions for you. Not much, but I like to think every little bit helps! If I think of anything more I'll swing on by again.

~ Brett
 
#3 ·
Thanks a ton! And yeah, it does help quite a bit >.<b I was leaning Option 1 myself; but I've had enough situations where I neglect a potentially good idea without thinking it through enough; so I wanted to put out my other thoughts too.

This is VERY rough yet though - when its done it'll look closer to my Index Astartes: Red Guard article, with perhaps a bit more narrative flare (being as its fantasy and not intended to be totally expository). The biggest trouble I'm having I mentioned in the "Impossible Fluff" thread in General; namely, seperating this incarnation of my main character from her "true" fantasy incarnation in my own universe. But I'm getting more successful the more I work at it. Its part of why I like to do stuff like this really <,< its fun to see what mischief I can get up to!

Thanks tons for the thoughts, they are much appreciated, and I rather like a couple of those ideas! I hadn't even given Dark Elves a thought; but you may be on to something there... (And I've always found their list intriguing; so it suits my meta-game interest as well)
 
#4 ·
I, on the other hand, have to chuck in my vote for the second option. One character may be interesting, but two can create a dynamic. They can play off of each other and help define both. Lay down some stories of interaction and it can be fleshed out as much as the first.

I'm kind of having a hard time imagining any sort of Chaos follower fighting in ordered fashion, particularly if they have anything to do with Khorne.

Choreographed frenzy? Khorne, Lord of the Dance!
Khorne battle line -> 8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X
 
#5 ·
Rofl Slimerose <,< that's hilarious... and so wrong. So very wrong.

And this is why I post these things lol <,< To get a variety of opinion! So I guess I have to ask...

"MOAR THOUGHTS!!" <. .>;
 
#6 ·
Well, now that I think about it...

The second way of doing things does sound interesting. I mean, you're going to have to do a lot more work in the initial stages of the fluff in order to put a good, solid foundation down. I initially thought that this just wouldn't work, as I couldn't really see what the group of sorcerers would be trying to achieve, why they would be co-operating, how the spell would go so horribly wrong...

But I started reading something last night (Sorcery of the Old World, I think it's called; It could be a supplement to the WHFB Roleplaying Game, though I'm not sure.) and that's sort of made me think that this could work.

As I said, you'd most likely have to establish a firm foundation, but once you get that done I can see this idea working; having two incarnations of this woman fighting their way through their armies to face one another, only to find that they're essentially seeing a mirror image of one another... I think that's got strong possibilities as a story.

But again, I find myself a little unsure; pursuing this option allows you to build numerous armies with this character as their leader, but your armies won't ever really play against one another... and then if they do, what happens? Do your incarnations attack one another, with one killing the other? Do they find themselves unable to best one another (meaning, in game terms, that you ALWAYS get a draw?) or do they refuse to fight, and call of the attack while they work out what the hell is going on?

While your second option does sound really interesting from a story perspective, I just can't see it translating onto the tabletop. There seem to be too many complications of having different incarnations facing off against one another.

Also, if you only build and play with one army at a time, then your fluff about the eight incarnations seems a waste of time - your opponent will only ever see one incarnation, until you bring along your next army, so there is no connection between the characters, really.

As I said, the second idea seems better for a story, while the first seems more workable with an evolving one-army-to-the-next progression.

If you have the time and the determination I think you can make the second idea work, but the first one seems to make more sense and I think will be much stronger both fluff-wise and more logical as an army on the tabletop.

Hopefully that wasn't too :z inducing. And hopefully it makes sense too.
 
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