Every army, no matter how powerful or organized has need of solid leaders to lead their forces into the fray. The militarized nation of Rupani has entire schools devoted to the study of war. Most notable is the officer’s Academy at Beih’go Bao which is known throughout Rupani (and even other nations) as the best school to become learned in the art of war. Here, promising soldiers and children of Fraehalders are taught strategy and tactics. Besides teaching the current strategy and tactics of Rupani, the past strategy and tactics of Rupani and other nations are also taught. A well wrought education will leave an officer ready for nearly anything and able to come up with the right strategy or tactic for any situation – even if faced with the unexpected or antiquated, or so Rupani hopes.
This school of thought seems to be serving them well given that Rupani has destroyed all other nations on their half of the continent.
The military officers of Rupani lead groups of soldiers into battle – be it small brigades as a Captain or the entire army as the Commander. The officers are rarely tent-strategists well-removed from the actual battle but more often than not these officers are on the front lines marching with their soldiers. The overall army is led by the General, a man or woman that won the position through trial by combat with their second in command being the man or woman that came in second place. Commanders are then appointed by the General to command garrisons and armies, with the Commanders appointing Captains as needed.
Unlike the infantry, officers do have more freedom in their equipment. Many of the officers wear the traditional breastplate and shoulder-plates, but some also wear leather armour for more mobility. Again, many of the officers carry shields with a rapier or a kampilan, but just as many carry spears when they lead spearmoldiers or longbows when they lead archers. This variance in equipment, especially in officers with multiple skill-sets, allows for a large amount of flexibility in Rupani tactics. Recognized officers and commanders often spend their well earned gold to buy recognizable pieces of equipment to help them stand out on the battlefield. Many Rupani armies had achieved victory from a rout when they were inspired by a well known Captain entering the field of battle. Sometimes these pieces of equipment are simply shiny helms or gold-gilting of armour, other times it may be a fancy pair of boots.
The Rupani Military has its roots with its spear-wielding soldiers. Hundreds of years ago as Rupani left their swamps the only weapons they could make properly were spears made from swamp reeds. The rapidly growing reeds could be painstakingly sharpened to a fine point while still retaining their durability and light weight. Able to be thrown with deadly accuracy and durable enough to withstand most sword strokes these spears have long been the hallmark of their early success – until they found and stole better weapons of course.
Even today the Rupani army starts their soldiers off with the spear – a spearwall being easier to discipline and maintain than a shieldwall. The spears are now made from oak rather than swamp reeds and utilize a metal spearhead. The land army makes the heaviest use of the spearwalls, especially when protecting archers from charging Slahor cavalry. Spear-soldiers are also often employed on ships, using their spears to keep enemy boarders away from the allied archers and mangonels and the ship’s sails while being able to more easily damage enemy sails with the sharp metal spearheads. At short range the spearthrowing soldiers can hit as accurately as an archer and often with more force. Eventually spear-soldiers will be trained in other weaponry, such as the longbow or rapier as they show they have coordination, skill, determination and bravery.
Against Slahor the spear proves most effective as they are useful against cavalry charges. Unfortunately the Slahor cavalry archers tend to avoid the spear-soldiers, even spearthrowing soldiers. They are most useful in protecting the archers from sword-cavalry so that the archers can protect them from other archers. Against Kosekya the spear also proves quite useful against their more heavily armoured cavalry – a few soldiers lost to stop a Warden is a price Rupani is more than willing to pay. Against Narsput the spears prove as useful as a sword, and often more useful as a spearwall can stop a charge just long enough for archers to route the enemies. Unfortunately for the spear-soldiers the spear tends to be a bit too long for the jungles of Narsput but it does help defend the Rupani Baos from Narsput invasion. Against Wajanderu the spear does little as Wajanderu prefers to fight from a distance. Even when closing into melee Wajanderu’s shieldwalls balk the spearwall, and with their ranged superiority they will tend to let Rupani charge and lose any possible advantage.
Truly, the Rupani military is the most powerful nation when upon the open sea; their navy has rarely suffered defeat. Alongside the warriors a core piece of their army and their navy land is the archer. More than five hundred years before the game starts Rupani was still in the process of conquering the western half of the continent. One of the largest challenges was defeating the Heiꜩon, as they made heavy use of the longbow – able to shoot down Rupani archers from well outside of the range of their bows. The longbows of the now-fallen Heiꜩon slew Rupani by the hundreds: stopping charges and breaking their morale more often than not. Ultimately it was the vast size of the Rupani empire which dwarfed the Heiꜩon and led to their downfall.
Naturally, the Rupani took this technology and integrated it into their army when they destroyed that nation.
The archers of Rupani now make use of the longbow when fighting on the sea and land. On land they stand upon hills or with a solid wall of warriors and spearmen to guard them and are able to rain death upon approaching enemies. On the sea the archers are accurate enough to slay foes on enemy ships – skilled archers even use fire arrows with oil pots to set ships aflame.
Against their hated foes the Slahor the longbow proves to cut both ways. The longbow easily out-ranges anything which Slahor fields and easily cuts down the lightly armoured soldiers. However, the archers tend to be slow moving and are easily routed by cavalry which Slahor makes heavy use of. When fighting against Kosekya the longbows have a proper arc to damage the enemy forces behind their shield walls which helps offset the destructive power of the enemy donderbus. Narsput and Wajanderu prove to be the most troublesome for the archers as they both use tactics which close the range quickly allowing their shortbows and Wajan Air Piercers to wreck havoc among the archers when caught by surprise.
Pyrrhic Victory takes place in a vast world constantly at war. Yet across the war-torn lands exist those trying to survive each day. There are still natural gems of beauty scattered around the world, little pockets of untouched landscape rarely encountered but always treasured. Let us take a tour of the world Pyrrhic Victory is set in and see what remains when war is over.
During our tour we saw several ships anchored in the ports of Ilia, Beih’go Bao and Shuicheng, and saw many of the oldest and most impressive sights of Rupani
Welcome back everyone – now I know you must be wondering, what could best the marvels of Ilia or the impressiveness of Beih’go Bao? Well, I welcome you to my favourite part of the Kingdom, Shui Jintou. Shui Jintou, or the Lonely Grove, is a five century old grove of trees and plants which has remained untouched – be it by war or any other encroaching danger.
As even young Rupani know, when we die we are reincarnated; those that live bad lives reincarnate as a chou hong yu, but otherwise we reincarnate as a new person. Those of us that lived truly well in service of Rupani will remember our past lives, especially our Yundoh Lun’wui, our water casters. As we remember our past lives, we can relearn the skills, which is particularly important for Yundoh Lun’wui as they can quickly re-master even advanced techniques through their memories. However it isn’t uncommon for especially skilled soldiers to remaster the skill with their bow or sword.
Thusly then, our homeshrines are where we pay respect to our ancestors – every family household has a temple where we keep a token of memory for our ancestors. Usually we keep a lock of hair tied with a leather ribbon, but if we were unable to claim the body of the fallen then we use seaweed or hay instead. Of course, for those with Yundoh Lun’wui in our family, we keep those ancestors separate to pay special respect to these mighty ancestors. We typically keep a bowl of water by a Yundoh Lun’wui resting place within the shrine so that each Yundoh Lun’wui can still watercast from the afterlife.
Excuse me while I pay my respects to the fallen.
Thank you for waiting. Shui Jintou was once a memorial to a single fallen warrior, but has long since been a place to remember all of your fallen. I’ve had several close friends including my wife perish in wars with Slahor and Kosekya; I find it easier to remember fond memories of them when I sit in this beautiful grove. It is common for families to make a trip to Shui Jintou yearly to pay respects to fallen comrades, mothers, fathers, siblings, children – to remember them beyond the homeshrines.
Shui Jintou was originally to be the large blue leafed tree before you. Five hundred years ago, a mighty Yundoh Lun’wui died on that spot from dozens of wounds received while defending the King’s only daughter Jing’yi. Even the mightiest of casters cannot cheat death alas, for while he killed every single assailant he collapsed after the battle and never awoke. Shortly afterwards the King’s personal guard arrived and found the Jing’yi unharmed next to the fallen Yundoh Lun’wui. Around the two of them were more than two score Narsput warriors, dead. The King’s daughter was returned safely to the palace as her father declared war upon Narsput for this attack. A few years later the King stepped down and his replacement continued the war against Narsput. When the new King was killed in battle the old King’s daughter was elected and was the first King to finally crush the Narsput resistance; we’ve had peace since.
As for the fallen Yundoh Lun’wui? It was decided that in honour of his sacrifice and bravery in the face of such long odds, and in respect for his skill, that he would be buried where he fell. Upon his grave the King personally planted a seed from the Royal Gardens, the first ever occurrence of these beautiful trees being planted outside of the Royal Gardens. At the same time many soldiers whom had fought with him and family members planted other trees around his Lonely Grove creating what you see today. When the King’s daughter became King, she began a new tradition. Every year on the anniversary of the Yundoh Lun’wui’s death she would travel to the grove to pay her respects. Since her death, many Kings have respected the tradition and have continued to personally visit the tree and lay flowers upon the stone marking his grave. After many years the stone has shattered from the growth of the tree but the split pieces have wedged themselves, making the tree truly one with the fallen Watercaster.
The most amazing thing about the grove however is that every year upon the same day in the spring, all of the trees in the grove bloom. Likewise, all of the leaves on the trees change colour upon the same day in the autumn – as you can see now.
Pyrrhic Victory takes place in a vast world constantly at war. Yet across the war-torn lands exist those trying to survive each day. There are still natural gems of beauty scattered around the world, little pockets of untouched landscape rarely encountered but always treasured. Let us take a tour of the world Pyrrhic Victory is set in and see what remains when war is over.
During the tour we saw several ships anchored in the Shuicheng port, you can find them at: Shuicheng Tour. We more recently saw the Capital city of Rupani, Ilia.
Welcome my friends to the edge of the Nation: Beih’go Bao.
Beih’go Bao is the largest shipyard in the world, it is easily larger than Chengshi, Shuicheng and even Ilia. Beih’go Bao’s by far larger than any ports built by any other nation. In-fact, Beih’go Bao is large enough able to dock the entire Rupani Navy if we so chose. No merchant ships are allowed to dock at Beih’go Bao as the shipyards are used to construct many of our largest ships such as the Shijin class artillery ships you saw earlier in this Tour.
Now, I can’t say too much about the defences here (we can’t have other nations using that against us), but as you can see from here, the Bao has several trebuchets upon tall towers which which can launch projectiles at incoming enemy fleets. The tallest building, the lighthouse, functions as both a guide for ally ship and as a watchtower as the tall tower gives the guards a high vantage point allowing them to see incoming ships up to a day before they arrive. This gives the defenders of the Bao a long time to prepare for their guests. Besides the trebuchets, the Bao has several smaller mangonels, archer towers and fortified gates. It would take a massive army to breach this fortress.
Of course, there is also the fleet itself. The more than two score Yi’feng scoutcraft live up to their namesake and stalk the waters, keeping an eye out for any pirates or enemy fleets. The tiny ships slip away from enemies and can sail through the roughest and shallowest terrain with easy. In less than an hour our Duyunshu transports are brimming with soldiers ready to board enemy craft: perfect for capturing rogue merchant vessels or capital ships. As I mentioned, our Shijin artillery ships are constructed and docked here and their fire power matches that of the garrison when they turn their mangonels towards the enemy! We can’t complete a naval defence without the many Jianjing ramming ships which can form a blockade of sharp points and firebombs, easily ramming through fleets! Fortunately there are no more Jianjings living in the area, so the waters are safe for our own fleet.
Never once has an enemy fleet come close to the shores of Beih’go Bao, the defences are simply too mighty. But, many ask: what if they did? Well, the Bao holds a garrison of elite soldiers whom can man the gates and towers, dropping hot oil on invaders. With a complement of Watercasters to dash enemy ships against the rocks and sink their ships there is simply no retreat for invaders. Once an enemy fleet has landed the garrison archers which shot flaming arrows at the incoming ships can take up positions inside the walls, peppering the enemy soldiers with arrows as they try to breach the two gates. What happens if they manage to break down both gates of our island fortress of might? Well, that isn’t going to happen – not even the Prevluda could do it! But let’s just say that there is a surprise in store for anyone that does manage to breach the outer and inner gates and attack the inner keep to try and capture the Bao.
What is the point of all this power? Well, Beih’go Bao is both our northern defence and our major military port and shipyard. Many of our Generals and Commanders are also trained here in the academy and eventually take command of ships or land armies. Most importantly of course is that Beih’go Bao prevents any invaders from reaching Ilia from the north. With the Yao Feng Divide to the far east of Ilia and rocky cliffs the north, the only way to Ilia through the northern waters is to pass Beih’go Bao over the water. Of course, just in case we have more Baos, outposts and armies to the north to stop any sneaky enemies from marching in peace. This means that Ilia is completely safe from invaders, so if you’d like to find a place to live in peace, you can’t go wrong with Ilia; it is the best city in the world after all.
Several people have wondered about the name Beih’go – which essentially means Nose in the Rupani language. Well have you seen a map? Beih’go Bao is placed right at the nose of the Hau Chau Wan. Here, take a look – doesn’t the land look like a face, with the Hau Chau Wan the gaping mouth, an eye and then Beih’go Bao is on the tip of the nose?
Music in games is often the glue that brings the graphics and gameplay together and delivers helps immerse the player in their task. Good music therefore must should fit two criteria. First it must be recognizable – this is the music that you recognize after years of not playing a game, the first welcome home upon load and music that plays pleasantly in your head after you finish playing for the night. Secondly, music must be non-distracting – the music can’t take away from the gameplay sounds which are required to cue the player to the action, nor can the music just plain be distracting (irritating, too noisy, too chaotic, etc) that the player is unable to focus on the game they’re playing.
Pyrrhic Victory is a game of large scale – large armies on even larger maps battling to defeat or death. Each army has its own culture in the world, so each army will have its own music as well. Today we present to you all: a soundbite of the Rupani sound track.
Have you ever wanted to join a writing team, be it for a game, a roleplay or to write a book? Our junior writer Rhyss shares his experience joining our small team, and what it is like joining an indie team as we create an entire world for the player to explore.
Hello there. My name is Rhyss. I am the Junior Writer for Meraki Games and one of the newer people to the team. It has been a really weird experience for me as I’ve never worked with a game company before and I have actually never met the people I work with in real life. I’ve not been a writer for the team very long, only a few months really, but they’ve been really welcoming to me even with my family problems and time constraints with my real work. They even changed the time and date of our Writing Team meetings just to accommodate me, and helped me improve my writing skill so I can work on and improve my own projects.
Now that introductions are out of the the way my time here has been really pleasant. Working for Meraki has been a real joy. To learn from a much more experienced writer like Jenni it is almost an honour to see her work. She was the one that helped me improve the writing that got me into the job at Meraki. To get into the position I showed a creative writing post for a character named Luke Vermillion, who doesn’t exist in Pyrrhic Victory. This was used in a forum for a LARP I frequent when we’re not playing. The improvement I gained from Jenni’s help was startling. She taught me things that I haven’t noticed a lot before. I am a self taught writer as I was not taught creative writing other than many years ago at school. She really made me feel welcome and made me feel like I had a real skill for writing creatively even if I was a bit rough around the edges.
My first real project was one of Jenni’s, which was one of the parts for Fire Dance. I was only there to point out small mistakes and suggest ideas. This was my first real taste of working with Jenni. She was considerate to any small ideas and edits I may have noticed. This also taught me about some websites I should use when going into my own writing and handling simple grammar and spelling mistakes that could have been easily missed (some of which were just me being English and seeing the American spelling). It also gave me the first taste of the world that I was going to start help creating.
The people I talk to about my writing are Jenni and Kyle via a Skype conversation. They are the ones that help and give me ideas while also telling me what to write. Jenni makes sure I have my writing up to the best standard it can be. Writing my own story was going to be my biggest challenge for this world and after a few months I got the chance to finally write my own.
I was given a list to choose from. The story ideas I was given varied from battles, parables and a few other options. I was told about a crucial battle in the Kosekyan timeline. This was the battle that made the people of Kosekya change their ways and from following the god Lunale to the goddess Aurora (the story will be revealed later). What actually drew me to it is was a part where a bunch of rebels attack and overthrow the capital in a bloody battle. This is mostly because I have wide experience with this concept, except in a completely different genre.
The biggest challenge for me was the genre gap. As a writer for occult, futuristic, and horror themed stories writing a fantasy story was not completely new. This was a bit of a challenge as I had to write for a more mature audience than I was used to. I was given some tips by Jenni and Kyle to make sure I plan ahead. This meant creating a plan to my story and that’s where my three parts came into fruition. This was completely different to how I write. I normally write continuously when the ideas come to my head. This, however, did lead to problems with little to no paragraphing and run on sentences. I was also told roughly how many words I have to write per part and how many parts should be included with some main pointers for the story.
I was given a month to finish three parts of the story. That was when the full editing process came into effect allowing both Jenni and Kyle to comment on what should be edited first. I saw the comments and edited to what was obvious with continuity and normal errors everywhere. With the edited piece I was now able to work with Jenni to make sure that grammar and spelling were correct. It’s now in its final stages of editing and almost ready to be posted.
Another part of working with them is the writing meetings. These meetings are normally on a Sunday morning for me at 1:00 am. This was changed as I never have any shifts that are overnight which allows me to juggle the two jobs. The meetings can vary from helping each other write stories, including the editing, from seeing concept art and helping decide on what designs would be perfect, giving ideas for countries, names, and places, plus a lot more wide variety of writing that needs to be done within the game. This is predominantly frequented by Kyle, Jenni, and I. I was struggling at first trying to catch up with all the information but asking them gave me enough information to help even a little. I want to make sure I’m as helpful as possible as they’ve been to me.
That’s mostly about it. In retrospect, I would have regretted it if I didn’t take this chance working for Meraki games. I was honestly scared because everyone else was trained in making games in some kind of way or had been doing it for a while. I’m learning quickly even if I still make a lot of silly mistakes due to my writing style (the irony is that there were probably a lot of mistakes in this blog before they were edited out). They have been very welcoming. They’re very hospitable people and welcome everyone to the team even if they’re inexperienced. I am excited to show you my work soon and I hope you enjoy them just as much as Jenni’s.
Have you ever daydreamed about your own imaginary country? Those of us at Meraki Games have or else we wouldn’t be in the business we’re in! What kind of terrain would each country have, who would live there, what kind of government would rule? We had to answer these questions plus many more we’d never before imagined in the creation of our world of Zevestok for Pyrrhic Victory.
We knew what kind of game PV would be but before we could start the artwork or programming we had to develop all the details of the world. Kyle tasked each of us on the writing team to create two of our own countries. We had to think of the physical aspects like geography and climate. Next, we explored the people and their culture. We met numerous times over the last several months to reveal and discuss our new countries with each other as well as to fill the many holes. Finally, we had to come up with names for everything. That was probably the hardest task of them all!
We used a bit of experience with our own countries, to start, in helping to decide what the world would look like. Take Rupani for example. This was one my babies. I live in south-central United States so using that as an example was easy. Rupani is a diverse landmass ranging from deadly swamps to highly fertile plains, and finally, north to the colder territory of Ngahn Laahng. The mountains of Yao Feng Divide on the Eastern border of the country closely resemble the Rockies but with an Alps flair. This basically means they’re roughly the same altitude as the Rockies but match the Alps when it comes to the huge amounts of ice and snow.
One of the biggest questions was, obviously, what kind of people would live in each country? I imagined Rupani housing a small but sturdy and fierce race of people who respect their ancestors so much it’s as if they never died. As the running pattern here, and following the typical advice of start with what you know, I decided that each citizen would serve mandatory military service for a time. There is a bit of a twist though. When I say each citizen I mean both men and women. When it comes to government the idea of a king and queen with a democratic election process is fascinating. Granted, King would be title only whether a man or woman is elected. Yes, that means his or her spouse would be called Queen.
Once we decided on the basics of each country the Writing Team met each week for many, many months to discuss them with each other. The main reason was to hash out any missing details or fill holes that the country creator couldn’t see. And there were so many holes, which is why it took so many months to finalize the world! It did get frustrating at times, but I can honestly say that I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished through that hard work and look forward to releasing more World Tours with our trusty guide Tsai Shan, though his expertise may not be as profound in Slahor or Wajanderu. We shall soon see.
As you may have noticed most of our names for Rupani have a Cantonese background. Ahn Wuh, for example, translates to Eye Lake. Granted this may not be grammatically correct, for those of you who actually speak the language, but we took a bit of artistic license there. The same goes with Beih’go Bao. It indirectly translates to Nose Fort because, well, that peninsula looks a little like a nose. We had a bit of fun with that one. That is basically the theme throughout our naming process. Each country has a base language we modelled their speech after. We used English to name everything and artistically translated into our choice dialect. Not only did we have fun naming things, but it also helped us learn a few words here and there in different languages.
When we first started creating Zevestok I thought it would be the easiest part of creating Pyrrhic Victory. Was I wrong or what! It has been the lengthiest part of the game development to date, but the details of what we’ve created is fairly epic.
Pyrrhic Victory takes place in a vast world constantly at war. Yet across the war-torn lands exist those trying to survive each day. There are still natural gems of beauty scattered around the world, little pockets of untouched landscape rarely encountered but always treasured. Let us take a tour of the world Pyrrhic Victory is set in and see what remains when war is over.
During the tour we saw several ships anchored in the Shuicheng port, you can find them at: Shuicheng Tour.
Alas, we arrive at the best city in the world! Ilia, the capital of Rupani, the seat of power and home to King Jingyi and Queen Zhou. Ilia is twice the size of her little sibling Sui Hingdaih, and larger than every other city outside of Kosekya (but their fortress cities are cheating). Ilia is a massive ocean-side city that can easily dock two hundred ships, both mercantile and military, although there are not many ships in this portion of the docks today. The city rests on the western side of the Rupani lands and is guarded by the might of Beih’go Bao to the north and Chengshi to the south. And for any would be invaders we have more than enough of a home navy and militia to repel you! The capital has multiple levels due to the rolling hills upon which the city was built. The hill we are on now overlooks the western and middle of the city, although it spans out of sight past the buildings to our left. There are several other hills which hold various important parts of the city as well.
Gaze upon the Royal Palace, for all that is important happens there! The Royal Palace shimmers with the blue of the sky and ocean as they are our most important symbols, and towers above all else in the city. The tallest spire of the Royal Palace rises thirty two floors, and from base to roof is nearly six hundred and fifty handlengths tall! The other spires are not quite as tall, but are equally as important. The spire in the middle, the Da Fanzou Tah, is the realm of the current King and Queen. Both live within the main building and can observe their domain from the heights of the spire while working with ministers and Fraehalders, the General and Commanders on the lower levels. The Da Fanzou Tah is also where the King and Queen hold audiences. I’ve only once had the opportunity to have an audience with King Jingyi, and she is as beautiful as she is wise. The King and her husband Queen Zhou have brought much prosperity to Rupani with the trade between Rupani and Wajanderu, with the schools and monuments setup between the two nations lands.
The other two spires, Guo Tah and Nu Tah house the remains of past Kings and Queens respectively. Every turn of the moons, the King and Queen visit the spires to honour past Kings and Queens, gaining strength and wisdom from the dead. The ancestors of the King and Queen remain at their family’s ancestral home, including any children whom die while their parents are ruling. Anyone that serves as King or Queen can be placed within Guo Tah or Nu Tah, even if they were not ruling during their death.
Behind the palace lies a great green hill, and behind that rests the military centres of Ilia. Here is where Commanders are trained to lead armies, and the children of Fraehalders are taught the ways of war and governing so that they may defend the land the King gifted to their family. The best horses from across Rupani, and occasionally from other nations, are brought to our corral in order to breed the finest horses our nation has. These horses are gifted upon commission to Commanders and Generals, and the very best is reserved the King and Queen and their children. Occasionally one of the prized horses is purchased by a particularly wealthy Fraehalder with the permission of the King. It is truly an honour to have a horse of your family selected for breeding by the royal horse breeders, and it is common for a soldier that acquires the offspring of one of these prize horses to visit the family with gifts of thanks from the horse’s maiden battle.
See the brown coloured houses? That is the poor district, the least safe part of town. Those that live in the poor district tend to be down on their luck merchants whom cannot afford to pay taxes to the city. The strict rules of the poor district mostly prevent crime, but there are always dissidents in that district. The buildings are brown as the citizens are forbidden from painting the temporary houses, and also because few citizens wish to live there long enough to call any house a home. As people regain financial stability, they typically move to the middle district again. Houses in the poor district are small, especially for families, and afford no room for ancestor rooms. Thus, there are dedicated buildings where remains are kept for many families, and up to fifty families will honour their families together while they live in the poor district. Some houses have multiple tiers with one family living on each floor – often these houses are inhabited by an extended family, such as the married child living on the second floor with their children and spouse while the rest of the family lives on the first floor. The poor district has its own docks as well, to keep them from getting in the way of those that are making ends meet. Those that make no effort to improve their station are encouraged to leave and seek out a town that will take them in.
Those with jobs and money live in the middle district. This is also where the market and all trading occurs. The citizens here paint their houses a bright crimson, to contrast with the blue of the Royal Palace. Most merchant ships dock here, and goods often travel along the wide roads of the markets, with vendors displaying their wares to all passersby, enticing them into buying anything from trinkets to food to clothing or weapons. This is also where you will find an inn and tavern if you want to sleep in a bed for the night. With plenty of warehouse space, large family homes, and small bazaars, the middle district is always busy and full of people. Just be sure to stay off the market roads during the turn of the moons, the celebrations fill the streets to the brim!
Be sure to take a break at one of the taverns. I recommend the Swift Current, which has local ale that is so strong it is barely legal! Before we leave there will be time to visit the market roads and bazaars, so this is a great time to pick up souvenirs for your family!
The world of Pyrrhic Victory has changed quite as we created new nations. Conceptually the land was once round with nations occupying equal shares of land around the continent. Alas, not every nation is as interested in land, nor powerful enough to protect it. The nation of Rupani has dominated the entire left half of the continent, holding onto it with a strong navy to defend the coast and a nigh impenetrable mountain preventing armies from invading by land.
On the southern half of Rupani lands is the Wu’kay Yu – deadly swampland. The swamps are full of large insects, poisonous spiders and deadly reptiles. The nation of Rupani started in this land and the toughness of ancestors is still seen today. Shuicheng was the first city they created after leaving the swamps. In the middle of the Wu’kay Yu is the Gai Focao – a deadly area where no one ever returns and little is known. There are also three forts within the swamps, partially for punishment for soldiers but also to ensure Slahor soldiers don’t sneak north while providing backup for Shuicheng and Chengshi.
The far north of the land is the Ngahn Laahng, tundra wherein little lives. The frigid land has only the city of Romik at its edge, with Mah Bao watching over the road. While this part of the land is more open to invaders, the landscape itself is barren of most life and hard for an army to march through. Occasional raiders might sneak down but rarely in any sort of large groups.
Between the swamps and tundra lie the plains called the Pihng Deih – these plains are the heart of the nation. Most of the food that Rupani eat, as well as their livestock, are grown in this part of the nation. For the most part the plains are flat and empty of danger – with small foxes being the most common worry. Most of the cities of Rupani, including their Capital Ilia and the little Capital Sui Hingdaih are here, as well as the Lonely Grove Shui Jintou.
To the east of Rupani land is the Yao Feng Divide which prevents large armies from crossing unseen and has its own challenges. To the north, west and south of Rupani lie the various seas of the world. With Rupani natural nautical mastery, they are difficult to attack by sea. The Rupani nation has the most powerful navy in the known world with Yundoh Lunwui (Casters able to manipulate water) able to give them even more of an edge with their long tradition of shipbuilding.
We’ll be going over the story behind the other landmarks on the map in the future, such as Gai Focao – the swamp of death where no one who enters returns, and Shui Jintou, the lonely grove which was born from the sacrifice of a great hero.
Stay tuned for more info on the Rupani lands and the rest of the world! We’ll be posting the map with our future tours in order to help you locate where it takes place.
Be sure to check back in on Friday for the next part the tour – we travel to Ilia, capital of Rupani. You can keep up to date with us on our twitter or facebook as well.
Pyrrhic Victory takes place in a vast world constantly at war. Yet across the war-torn lands exist those trying to survive each day. There are still natural gems of beauty scattered around the world, little pockets of untouched landscape rarely encountered but always treasured. Let us take a tour of the world Pyrrhic Victory is set in and see what remains when war is over.
The first part of the tour showed us Shuicheng, the very first city which the Rupani nation built when they migrated out of the swamps. The tour of Shuicheng began here, and you can see the rest of the sights of Shuicheng at https://merakigames.ca/category/world-tour/shuicheng/.
Welcome back, hopefully everyone has had their fill of touring the Chu’shi Mae? We have time to see one more ship before this caravan moves on. Quick show of hands, the ramming ship just pulling into the south end of the dock, or the scouting ship on the north end?
Ramming ship it is! This is the Zhujing – one of our newer versions of the Jianjing class ramming ship. For those not from Rupani, the jianjing is a large sea whale which stalks the deeper reaches of the Zitan Morai. While their pods don’t tend to come too close to our shores, it is quite common for them to smash ships to timbers if they stray too far. When Rupani first moved to the coast the jianjing were uncommonly aggressive and were hunted and killed in self defense. Alas, as their numbers dwindled they became even more territorial and aggressive and are likely to smash any wood, boat or otherwise which they find floating in their waters. The jianjing is deadly by all measures – nearly as large as the Chu’shi Mae and with a long horn in the center of it’s head – the beast can smash most ships to pieces, or drag them with it into the depths while skewered on their horn.
Why do I tell you all this? Well, the Zhujing is inspired by these masters of the waves! What better inspiration than a whale that can destroy even our mighty ships when riled up?
The Zhujing has a thick hull in the front to allow it to bash into approaching enemy ships, often splintering and floundering ships in a single hit. Like her namesake, the Zhujing has a jianjing horn attached to her hull to skewer an enemy ship, holding them in place if need be, or withdrawing and leaving a wide hole in the hold. As if that wasn’t deadly enough the Zhujing has a pair of oil pots on her prow, allowing her to ram the enemy and leave them ready for flaming arrows from the archers on her deck.
The Zhujing is significantly smaller than the last two ships as she needs to be swift in the current. Unfortunately this means a real jianjing would shatter her pretty easily, but enemy ships don’t stand a chance. The Zhujing works perfectly against nigh any enemy ship. Of course, this doesn’t include the Kosekyan navy – with their cheap floating shipwrecks, they can easily waste a few to take out a Jianjing class ship without being bothered or slowed.
Pyrrhic Victory takes place in a vast world constantly at war. Yet across the war-torn lands exist those trying to survive each day. There are still natural gems of beauty scattered around the world, little pockets of untouched landscape rarely encountered but always treasured. Let us take a tour of the world Pyrrhic Victory is set in and see what remains when war is over.
The first part of the tour showed us Shuicheng, the very first city which the Rupani nation built when they migrated out of the swamps. The tour of Shuicheng began here, and you can see the rest of the sights of Shuicheng at https://merakigames.ca/category/world-tour/shuicheng/.
Look far over there, at the other end of the docks. See the massive rowboat? It’s hard to tell from here, but she is even larger than the Xunsu’yu. Come, Driver, take the caravan closer so we can all take a look. This is a wonderful and fortunate day for us all indeed!
Look in awe upon the famous Chu’shi Mae, the oldest Artillery ship still in service. This relic has shattered and battered more enemy fortifications and ships than any ship in the Navy’s history, although it seems she has all of her spoils of war below deck at the moment. With no less than four Yundoh Lun’wui on board to guide and manoeuvre the ship, the Chu’shi Mae can bombard enemies and escape before the stones land. The Chu’shi Mae has no sails but she does have many soldiers and slaves manning the oars – between them and the Yundoh Lun’wui the ship glides quickly forward and is rather manoeuvrable for her size.
She has the deadliest stone throwers our shipcrafters and siegemasters can attach to a ship. The Chu’shi Mae hauls three mangonels and at least thirty shots a piece in order to quickly bombard an enemy ship or position. Each mangonel can be aimed and fired independently to maximize the area under siege. Not even the lunatic pirates or Kosekyan navy would dare sail directly into a hail of stones from the Chu’shi Mae and her sister ships.
Pyrrhic Victory takes place in a vast world constantly at war. Yet across the war-torn lands exist those trying to survive each day. There are still natural gems of beauty scattered around the world, little pockets of untouched landscape rarely encountered but always treasured. Let us take a tour of the world Pyrrhic Victory is set in and see what remains when war is over.
The first part of the tour showed us Shuicheng, the very first city which the Rupani nation built when they migrated out of the swamps. The tour of Shuicheng began here, and you can see the rest of the sights of Shuicheng at https://merakigames.ca/category/world-tour/shuicheng/.
Welcome back, it seems everyone is accounted for. I can see from your faces that some of you made a trip to Z’in Seafood like I suggested to receive a proper Rupani welcome! Excellent, be sure to bring friends and family and show them how delightfully tasty the Open-Faced Fish Sandwich is, hmm?
I see some of you are eyeing the ship behind me – that is the Xunsu’yu. She is a ship of our unstoppable Rupani Navy! Unfortunately we can’t get a tour of the inside of the ship, a security measure for which I’m sure you understand. The Xunsu’yu is an infantry transport, and as you can see she has both oars and sails. Both the sails and oars are necessary to give her the speed and maneuverability necessary to catch enemy ships or to quickly dock at a port for a seaside invasion.
As the Xunsu’yu carries no weapons, archers on board shoot arrows at enemy ships while soldiers leap from the deck onto enemy ships. With almost a dozen hatches for infantry to charge up on deck, our soldiers can remain safely away from enemy arrows until the time they’re needed. As our soldiers are adept in the water, there is little fear of them drowning even if they miss the ship or the enemy ship sinks – but we try to capture enemy ships if possible. If nothing else, the supplies help lengthen a campaign and the ship can be modified into something closer to a proper Rupani vessel. If an enemy ship is simply too big to capture, or it is a Kosekyan vessel, then we simply use flaming arrows from as far away as possible. I’m not allowed to tell you how big the Xunsu’yu is, but I can say that there are no rivals in any other nation except Kosekya.
Before we leave Shuicheng, we shall tour some of the other ships in the Navy; we should be able to find at least one of the four main ships in the port somewhere.
