"Lucius Aurellion was the name I picked for the father of my first main in-game character Railius Aurellion. I never thought that I would ever get to play him."
"Or expected the resulting grudges between dynasties and players due to a scheming system that put players against each other."
Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in Dynasties Online.
….
After the world had fully reformed around him, Reginald looked around him only to hear the clanging of striking metal, and the gurgling sound of blood as, every few seconds, another death throe was added to the symphony of sounds of the battlefield. Sitting on his snorting chestnut horse on the open field, the banner of his house, a golden pelican feeding its young as they cry out for food in the safety of their nest on a background of crimson red, flew above him as he looked over the battlefield.
Below him, a golden plain of crushed wheat was flattened by the mailed boots of embattled soldiers as a coat of red painted the ground and streams of blood covered the once picturesque landscape. As one side in the battle retreated and an unorganised rout set in, black-clad knights hacked and shot at the running men as the dead's arms, legs, and bodies littered the ground.
Pleads of mercy and surrender were ignored as the slaughter continued leaving few survivors due to the flat steppe providing no cover and unorganised rear-guard actions providing little resistance to the never-ending tide of pursuers.
After a few moments of taking in the woeful sights of war, notifications appeared in front of Reginald as he looked with disgust at the massacre, even being sick, not used to the smell and death of the battlefield.
The world then disappeared again, and he appeared in a new landscape, trees sparsely populated the landscape as a craggy hill dominated the landscape. Reginald assumed he had been transported to the battlefield he would have to fight on.
[Rise of House Aurellion event started]
[3887 ASA (After Species Awakening)]
[After a lifetime of service in the army, Lucius Aurellion, father of Railius Aurellion, who started as a commoner, has become a landless noble and now leads armies on behalf of Cassius Crestier, the future emperor of the Chavarian empire]
[10 years have passed since the beginning of the great wars for unification started under the King of Chavaria and the future emperor of the Chavarian Empire, Cassius Crestier. Over these 10 years, with the help of General Drusus Dardanius, he has waged war against the 2 other kingdoms that dominate the central Alendel Steppe, slowly taking over more land each year.]
[Quest received Battle of Brunag]
[The Kingdom of Nadron, one of the 2 kingdoms which have been under attack from Chavaria, is in s fight for its life. After Drusus Dardanius destroyed their main army, his black knights massacring most of the survivors, he began to lay siege to the capital city of Nadren after what few forces that Nadron had left fortified the capital city.]
[The Kingdom of Nadron's only hope lay in a coalition army made up of the Kingdom of Pluerus, the other kingdom which has suffered heavily under that attack and the Kingdom of Otrua, a kingdom of orcs to the west of Chavaria who has become increasingly wary of the increase in power and land that Chavaria has been accumulating which could become a threat to them in the future]
[You have been sent in command of an army detachment of 50,000 with orders to intercept and stop the advance of the coalition force until General Dardanius has finished taking the capital and can come to reinforce you.]
[Your army intercepts the enemy army at Brunag, where a craggy hill overlooks a small stream which horizontally bisects the otherwise flat battlefield into two]
Difficulty: Unknown
Quest Clear Conditions: hold your position until General Dardanius arrives with reinforcements.
Quest Clear Reward: Unknown depends on the outcome of the battle.
Quest Failure Penalty: Eradication of Players Dynasty.
'What lovely options, succeed or die.'
Reginald thought to himself, recovering from the previous shock that he had experienced and once again marvelled at how real this game was as it perfectly replicated the human senses.
Before going further and dealing with the other notifications that came up, he decided to open up the character sheet of Lucius Aurellion, which was stripped down to what would be needed for the event.
…..
Name: Lucius Aurellion
Dynasty: Aurellion
HP: 45
MP: 60
Age: 35
Race: Human
Faction: Royal Army of Chavaria
Attributes:
Strength: 10
Agility: 8
Dexterity: 9
Vitality: 9
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 12
Equipment:
Lucius Aurellion's Customized medium-heavy Armor.
Fine Steel Longsword.
Composite Bow.
30 Steel Arrows.
Pelican. (war horse, destrier class)
1 riding horse.
Steel Rimmed Shield.
Fine Steel Cavalry Spear.
Fine Steel Dagger.
Skills:
Military Strategy: (Master) (Passive)
Effect: 30% increase of damage and defence for troops under your command in All formations. 15% increase in damage and defence for all troop types. As a Master at strategy and war, your opinions on strategy are always listened to and considered.
Able to be put in any position in the military hierarchy.
Swordsmanship: (Expert) (Passive)
Effect: Increases damage with sword-type weapons by 50%.
May change or be adapted into specific styles for Increased effects, and a style must be created or adopted to raise the skills rank past expert.
Skill is Limited to the expert rank.
Leadership: (Expert) (Passive)
Effect: increase the morale of troops or people under your command by 25%.
Gives choice of 4 leadership-based active skills.
Increases people's loyalty to you by a large margin.
Riding: (Expert) (Passive)
Effect: Allows easy riding on horses of all types. Increase damage with melee weapons when mounted by 10%. Increase speed while mounted by 10%.
Able to teach people and troops how to handle horses with more ease.
Archery: (Expert) (Passive)
Description: The ability of someone to use the bow and based off the dexterity stat. This is one of the primary ranged skills and affects the damage and accuracy that bows can have, and a higher rank will increase damage and accuracy from horseback.
Effect: Increase damage with bows by 50%.
Can fire from horseback without any accuracy penalty.
Spear Mastery: (Expert) (Passive)
Description: The ability of a person to use a spear which can be a very useful weapon, being easy to learn and is essential for stopping cavalry charges or equipping cavalry with longer weapons from which to use from their mounts.
Effect: Increases the damage of Spears by 50%.
Fire Magic Mastery: (Intermediate) (Passive)
Description: Anyone with access to the necessary training and resources can learn magic of any type. This particular magic is of fire, with practitioners of higher levels being able to create fire storms to lower-ranked mages who use it to create campfires on cold nights.
Effect: Increase the effectiveness of all fire magic by 30%
Protection Magic Mastery: (Intermediate) (Passive)
Description: Anyone with access to the necessary training and resources can learn magic of any type. This particular magic deals with protection and can be used to create anything from small personal shields to great shields capable of covering entire cities.
Effect: Increase the effectiveness of all protection magic by 30%
Wind Magic Mastery: (Intermediate) (Passive)
Description: Anyone with access to the necessary training and resources can learn magic of any type. This particular magic can be used to manipulate wind in the form of wind cutters, with the most remarkable feat of magic being the conjuring of an entire tornado though due to the massive amount of mana required, the person who cast it died days later.
Effect: Increase the effectiveness of all wind magic by 30%
Inspiring Rallying Call: (Active) 5 MP.
Effect: Units under your command that hear the call have their morale refilled which can lead to fleeing troops coming back to fight. Increase fighting prowess by 25% for 5 minutes as people are motivated by you to fight harder.
For King and Country: (Active) 15 MP.
Description: stoke up the patriotism of the soldiers to have them fight harder for you without a care about their lives.
Effect: increase the damage of units under your command by 25% for 1 hour but lower their defence by 10%.
Rousing Speech: (Active) 15 MP.
Description: Deliver a rousing speech before a battle pumping up your men to fight, increasing their morale and fighting capability.
Effect: increase the fighting ability of everyone who hears the speech by 1 rank up to a maximum rank of an expert while you are alive and fighting alongside them.
Never Give In: (Active) All Remaining MP.
Description: Inspire your soldiers to fight for their country and to protect their people, increasing their morale as they are motivated to protect their families from the enemy giving them great determination to fight due to their respect, loyalty and trust in you.
Effect: While you are alive and conscious, soldiers in your faction become unbreakable for 1 hour for every 5 MP remaining.
Small Protective Shield: (Active) 10 MP.
Description: A small shield made from concentrated mana which can be cast in front of the user to provide protection.
Effect: creates a small shield in front of the user with 20 defence per 10 mana put in.
Wind Cutter: (Active) 10 MP.
Description: Manipulates wind into a small sharp blade that can be shot at a target, cutting them.
Effect: Creates a blade of wind causing 20 cutting damage to the target.
Fireball Rain: (Active) 40 MP.
Description: Creates a storm of fire over a large area which drops in the form of fireballs causing great damage over that area.
Effect: Deals 20 to any target hit by one of the fireballs.
Race Traits:
Adaptable: One of the most adaptable species in the world. Humans can adapt to various climates and landscapes and adjust their lifestyle and features to the type of terrain they are used to. Making it a race that can be found in most places around the world.
Effect: 25% increase in survivability when settling in places with hostile environments. 20% decrease in the effect of hostile environments on members of this race.
Versatile: Humans have various skills and crafts and are not specialised in any one thing allowing them to pursue what they enjoy and leading to well-rounded cultures and nations. However, they will lose out to more specialised races who are good at specific fields.
Effect: balanced stat distribution at Character Creation, allowing for more customisation and extra customisation when deciding nation and faction specialities. However, will find that effects are not as potent compared to other races but have fewer downsides and allows for more choice as well as more stat points to be assigned by the Player.
Interspecies Humanoid Reproduction: Humans have high compatibility biologically with other races leading to many diverse offspring and genetics as long as they have similar ways of giving birth to new life.
Effect: Allows for the creation of half races, such as half-elves, half dwarfs and other half races, which the Player could choose to become, allows for you to pick which characteristics of each race that he prefers if there are multiple generations of intermingling races, then a bloodline which inhabits 3 different races attributes can be created as long as there is enough genetic material available however certain effects may be decreased due to not having a pure genetic makeup.
Character Traits:
General of Chavaria:
Description: As a general of Chavaria, you are able to command any units in the kingdom as long as you have the sufficient military seal and is one of the highest ranks for someone who is not a landed noble to hold and with it comes to influence and power.
Effect: Able to control and command armies throughout the Kingdom of Chavaria, and with his military position. Has authority over any nobles under his command, no matter the rank.
May be seen with suspicion by those who are in high positions of power due to your significant influence in the military.
Gives you all the status and privileges that a noble would normally get and, in some cases, more.
Commoner Background:
Description: comes from the family of a commoner, which can lead to problems when dealing with the nobility and will make them think that you are an upstart if you end up having any power. This will happen even if you eventually become a noble or even a landed noble conservative nobles may not see you as what they would call a "True Noble. Royal families, however will prefer to employ you as you will be bound more to them.
Effect: Some nobles within the kingdom will see you with contempt. Will be harder to gain positions of power due to your commoner background and status.
Royalty will be more likely to employ you as you will have few ties with the nobility and to help increase or balance the power of powerful nobles.
Noble House Founder (Landless):
Description: The founder of a noble house is seen as the ancestor of the noble house and dynasty. It sets up the family as nobles and enshrines their status for generations to come. Also, how the founder created and establishes the house significantly affects what disciplines the noble house will focus on.
Effect: Grants the status of noble across the world, granting you more rights and privileges and allowing for better networking.
Grants the trait Landless noble to all future generations of the Dynasty as an Inheritable Dynasty Trait.
Can lead to more Dynasty traits being gained depending on the exploits of the founder.
…..
After looking over the character sheet that he was given for the father of his main in-game character, he was ecstatic that he could have a brief look and play with some advanced skills and see what higher-level skills look like in the game. Still, he frowned when he saw that his active combat skills were locked as he had to discover and make his own when in the game, allowing various playstyles and not locking a character into a specific class or skill set.
After that, he went and got up his character's portrait to have a better idea of what his character looked like.
Standing 6 ft 2 with charcoal black hair and a scarred face, Reginald saw dark brown eyes look back at him wearing a mix of mail and plate, the pauldrons on his shoulder shaped into a pelican's head as a gold and red surcoat covered the armour at his chest. It was only now that he began to feel the great weight of the armour as he rode on his horse towards what would soon become a battlefield. A large and imposing man with a bow and arrows strapped to either side of his horse, sword sheathed and connected to the left side of his belt and spear in hand, he looked like a man forged in war.
"General?"
Someone said next to him as Reginald ignored the man looking at the character sheet and portrait in front of him, admiring all the small details in the facial structure and the thematic feel his armour brought.
After the man called again, Reginald became alert and acknowledged the man as he looked over the battlefield and began to collect information.