Crystal Dimension (Post-White Cell)

((disclaimer: This only encompasses the bits of Crystal that I actually speak for; Gabe, Aurora and Travis can tack on supplements detailing the other Crystalese nations))

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Mysidia
The Mysidians have pioneered their own “socialist magocracy” model ever since Sage Vortigern’s coup d’etat, aligning the Mysidian Commonwealth with the Communist Protectorate. The Commonwealth itself was officially formed after Vortigern’s Mysidia laid claim to Silvera, occupying it in a bloodless invasion.
This precipitated two major Crystalese events: the Mysidia-Eblan War (which many regard as one of the earliest proxy wars between Guardia and Scande) and the establishment of the Porcine Republic (where the exiled Lord Snoutwit of Silvera claimed the northern Silveran Islands and established his own rogue fascist government there).
During the GA Civil War, the Mysidians largely follow Scande’s lead – necessary for them because Mysidia largely depends upon Scande for its protection. An interesting idea I toyed with back when Travis and I were first gaming out parts of White Cell was the idea that, once White Cell emerged, Mysidia attempts a reconciliation with Eblan in order to stand against Erdeny and Torstensson. They by no means become buddy-buddy, but they informally agree to have each others’ backs, which may eventually lead to some form of post-war friendship (especially as everyone in the Web rallies around post-war Scande). This comes into play when Snoutwit makes his play for Silvera, and the Eblanese help to thwart the plot (see below).
However, Mysidia does have its own problems after the war. The Cult of Milon resurges in this time, and it is rumored they have a new leader. There’s a little more to it than it seems, at first, because the necromancers aren’t just looking to bring down and destroy Mysidia as they have in times past: they’re looking to take over, and that’s because their leader is Sage Dean, reborn as a lich. (Dean, remember, is the former Elder who was ousted and killed by Vortigern) Plenty of opportunities here for kuper heroes to involve themselves in the war between the traditionalist magocrats and the black-necromancy practicing cultists… but how will it end? Will they destroy the lich, or do they somehow find him a sympathetic figure? (Dean was never a bad guy; he buddied around with Shane, Kevin and Kusader a lot, and in the years since Old Kupopolis I’ve sort of re-imagined him as Jim Rash’s Dean from Community)

Silvera
Snoutwit is, at some point during the GA Civil War, revealed to be a member of White Cell’s grand evil council. Of evil. I imagine this is a fairly common place to end up for the former leaders of member states of the Fascist Pact (qv. Hannibal), since White Cell’s mission statement and methodology are quintessentially fascist.
While at first it seems like a joke that the little piggy Hitler is joining the bad guys, it becomes much more threatening when he makes a bold play for Silvera, promising Erdeny the mineral wealth from Silvera’s mines (which not only produce silver and precious gems, but also one of Crystal’s most robust and underexploited reserves of magilyte). Eblan scores points with both Mysidia and Silvera by sending in its ninjas to help repel Snoutwit’s invading force. Snoutwit himself likely escapes, though his fate post-war I’m not clear on. (comic relief characters rarely get killed off… at least not in my world)
After the war, Silvera is reunited, and the Commonwealth is made whole again. But the Porcine fascists remain a hidden threat within the Silveran islands – perhaps allied with the Cult of Milon toward the common goal of making things difficult for the Mysidians.

Bazzakrak - The Underground Kingdom
When we last saw the dwarves of the Underground, they had cut a deal with Atreus for insulated battle armor that would allow them to enter the drow-dominated upper caverns without fear from the magnetic radiation. Unknown to the dwarves, however, is that Atreus had also made deals with the Drow city-state of Zhanduril to provide similar equipment, allowing the dark elves to field a modern mechanized army for the first time in the race’s history.
This seems to set the stage rather nicely for a drow-dwarf war in Crystal, but it never materializes. Instead, when White Cell rears its head, I dont see either the dwarves or the drow willing to agree to their terms. (I haven’t exactly talked to Aurora on this… but my guess? Drow would never ascede to a human’s request to disarm) The dream sequence here might be one that sees the drow and dwarves fighting off a White Cell invasion of the underground together – or maybe the Drow go so far as to send reinforcements to keep White Cell from occupying Toroia (with the thinking there being, if Toroia falls, that’s basically Zhanduril’s back porch).
As for the Dwarves, they honor the old alliances with the Grand Army and the surface powers, and oppose White Cell. Following the war, the dwarves are probably one of the better-off nations in Crystal (I don’t imagine the action lasted very long in the Underground, meaning that the dwarves’ infrastructure remains largely intact), but two extremely dangerous existential threats remain.
First, of course, is the Drow. The Spider’s Gate has still not been breached, but during the war (if things go as I propose above), the Drow will have had ample opportunity to showcase and gain experience with their new Atreus-made war machines. They’re still there, they still have modern weapons, and they can still attack the Dwarves whenever they feel like it.
Internally, there are the Disciples of Fire: dwarves beholden to the fire god Rubicant. In Dwarven mythos, Rubicant is the evil god of the main trinity of deities – but few know the truth of Rubicant, that he is not truly a deity, but rather, himself, a quasi-divine servant of the dark god Zeromus. Through worship of Rubicant, Zeromus has steadily drawn strength, and he has sent his Eldrakyn servants (including a resurrected Fiz’Gan’Ra) to aid the Disciples of Fire as they plot to steal the Dark Crystals. For the Eldrakyn have uncovered a dwarven prophecy, foretelling that "… the Father of Flame shall light the darkened fires, eclipse the dwarven skies in red, and shift the tides of the magma sea forever."
Another hidden plot for Kuper Heroes! The cult of one evil god leads into the machinations of a full-fledged Dark God. Beware of Eldrakyn mind control.

Defiance
The Guardian colony here (on Crystal IV) is likely the main anchorhead in the battle against SAGA during White Cell. I imagine that at least one of the major battles here involves SAGA trying to occupy Defiance and running up against its defenses. Relatively recently (some years before the boards went down), a big show was made on the boards of how much Guardia had invested in Defiance’s defenses. The name itself should be a clue to this; but SAGA doesn’t take the hint, and fails spectacularly to capture this colony as layer after layer of its defenses are revealed.
This is not to say Defiance takes no damage in the fighting, as Crystalspace remains a critical theater in the war, but it serves as one of the Guardian Space Fleet’s main rallying cries (“FOR DEFIANCE!!!”) as the space battle against SAGA kicks up.
The colony remains during the post-war Web, although back at home there’s an ongoing political fight over control of the base, as the newly-elevated GATO partners (Chorras, Porre and El Nido) lobby to get partial ownership of the Gatian powers’ colonial wealth.
GSF, and Admiral Thames, are ardent opponents of any deal with the Chorrans and Porreans. Defiance is too important to the GSF to bargain with, and the GSF is still sore at Chorras because its cloaking ships delivered a few stunning losses to the Gatespace fleet during the Guardian Civil War. (as a matter of fact, Thames is in favor of Guardia taking full control of most of the shared Gate colonies… but that’s not news, Thames has always been kind of anti-Medina) Because of how highly militarized Defiance is (a larger than usual share of the population are fleet personnel and their families), anti-Chorran sentiment is extremely high here.
The Prefect of the colony is still Sir Tancred of the Shield. Second in power to him is the Admiral of the Crystalspace fleet, Krogstad. Nearly everyone else within the power hierarchy of the colony is either a knight or a GSF officer.

New Lunaris
In the old days, there was a moogle named Kusaku. Kusaku was a dragoon, and at one point he transformed into a human and was renamed Kainsaku. He might also have been half-Lunarian – as many of you know, the early Great War era was full of silly things like this. Anyway, Kainsaku established a small kingdom on the surface of Krolunaris. This kingdom was called New Lunaris – named for the Light Moon of Crystal, which had been rendered uninhabitable aeons ago during the war that created the schism between the Lunarians and the Eldrakyn.
New Lunaris was to be a shining beacon of light and hope on Krolunaris, a mighty fortress where Lunarians and other good races could stand against the forces of Zeromus. Unfortunately, it was not to be: New Lunaris is overrun, and Kainsaku was heroically killed in the battle.
An idea I had sort of kicked around after Sahl Endeberg returned from the afterlife was having him take up Kainsaku’s mantle. Backstory would accompany this move: of course, Sahl Endeberg and Kainsaku were once great friends, perhaps they had even studied under the same master Dragoon (though Sahl Endeberg was still, of course, the youngest Dragoon ever in history).
After White Cell, Sahl Endeberg is inspired to return to New Lunaris and rebuild it as a great symbol of goodness and light. He takes his newfound sidekick Jay Peterson with him, and they have great adventures. But perhaps it doesn’t go so well; perhaps an Eldrakyn plot threatens the success of this venture, and only the Kuper Heroes can assist the beloved Sahl Endeberg in honoring the beloved legacy of his beloved friend, the beloved (though less-beloved than Sahl Endeberg) Kainsaku?

Ooooh, excellent. I have some thoughts on my segments!

Fabul, Toria, Damcyan, and Baron (IE, the Transbaron Continent) stayed out of the war. Toria and Fabul’s oocupation of the formerly Communist Damcyan meant that they did not want provoke Scandian aggression, as both had been soundly beaten by the Scandians and only saved by the REF’s attack on Nikeah in the Leviathan War. Then, they did not want White Cell to run roughshod over them. Fabul made vaguely supportive noises for White Cell, but wouldn’t quite commit, especially as the Sky Riders and nascent United Crystal Space Force weren’t with White Cell. Toria wanted to stay the hell out of, as did Baron.

Unfortunately for them, things have not gone well.

Toria: While it’s the most prosperous, the nearly twenty year occupation of Damcyan has been an economic drain. Toria wants to get Damcyan on its feet, as its economy needs to stop going into Damcyan. It did well as a regional power, rebuilding Baron and western Damcyan, which injected money into its economy and increased prestige. The matriarchy, unfortunately, still has an unwieldy government. It’s had challenges implementing democratization, and hopes of Tasnican support vanished as Tasnica’s prestige diminished.

It’s also been in a cold war with Fabul since 52 WR. For Toria, the occupation of Damcyan is a drain; for Fabul, it has been a source of labor, a forced market, and a huge source of energy. Fabul doesn’t want an independent, friendly Damcyan; it wants a province under its control. This has led to Toria establishing a much more free and open southwestern Damcyan, centered around Kaipo, in partnership with Baron. Unfortunately, eastern Damcyan – including the traditional capital – bordering on Fabul is the opposite. Toria has been considering declaring Damcyan’s independence, but doesn’t want to fight a land war with its erstwhile ally.

Fabul: Fabul is a mess. It has retained a reclusive fascist government, and didn’t openly support White Cell mostly because it would have entailed Torian, Baronian, Mysidian, Guardian, Eblanese, and Scandian aggression on it. The economy is doing okay, but it’s based on sucking the part of Damcyan that it occupies dry. The Fabulians have developed a technology to power their capital and much of the surrounding region through magitech drawing on their crystal. This isn’t enough to help – so they’re doing it to Damcyan’s crystal, too, and piping it in.

Their army is disproportionately large and disproportionately bored. They get support from the Neo-Returners, as they’re the only fascist state left, and the army is calling the shots. The economy revolves around building the army up for… something. No one is sure, and the only real use would be striking either the Torians or the Communists. The cost of such a war is keeping them in check.

Damcyan: Damcyan is split in two. The eastern part of the country is occupied by Fabul; this is a nasty area to live, with industries based around extracting resources to send to Fabul, and poverty and suffering are rampant. The Fabulians use their large army as an occupying force; Fabulian cruelty towards civilians causes outrage in Torian headlines, and concern in other parts of the Web. The capital is still, basically, a Fabulian military camp.

The southern and western parts of the country are “occupied” by Toria (and to a lesser extent, Baron), but effectively self-ruled. These are nice places to live; the local governors and police force are nice, there are working institutions, and trade with the rest of the Web. They’re hit by a bad refugee problem, and freedom fighter groups here slip across the border into Fabulian Damcyan. The popular belief is that if they can liberate the capital, Damcyan can be an independent nation again, as an equal member Toria and Baron’s Crystal alliance.

The problem, here, is that five years ago, Fabul built a similar crystal-based power plant… and is sending all that energy via pipeline into Fabul. This powers (and thus feeds) much of western Fabul. If it goes, the region goes with it. The people of Damcyan want their crystal back – and an independence movement, with covert support from Toria and Baron, are looking into blowing the pipeline up. This is maybe an angle for our heroes to work with.

Baron: Baron was an isolated hellhole taken over by Figaran refugees. In the late 40’s, Rast Baron Harvey led an insurrection that threw them out, and has made a constitutional monarchy. They’re poor and underdeveloped – their army consists of ancient Grand Army hand-me-downs, salvaged Dark Wrath material, and a few old EU surplus sold to them by the Torians. Toria has helped them rebuild, though, and they’re rising up. They’ve looked into reestablishing the Red Wings, are helping the nascent United Crystal Space Force, and even have established some ties with Damcyan. Life is okay, and King Rast hasn’t been a bad guy, even if he was originally a mercenary jerk.

Minor point of order, Tex: for consistency’s sake, let’s keep the original FF4/2 translation of the name “Toroia.” I always thought that extra syllable made it sound… I dunno, more fancy. And based on everything we know about the character of the place, fancyness kinda fits.

I have two addenda to offer, re: Gabe’s Crystal Corner:

[quote=“Tex”]Fabul: Fabul is a mess. It has retained a reclusive fascist government, and didn’t openly support White Cell mostly because it would have entailed Torian, Baronian, Mysidian, Guardian, Eblanese, and Scandian aggression on it. The economy is doing okay, but it’s based on sucking the part of Damcyan that it occupies dry. The Fabulians have developed a technology to power their capital and much of the surrounding region through magitech drawing on their crystal. This isn’t enough to help – so they’re doing it to Damcyan’s crystal, too, and piping it in.

Their army is disproportionately large and disproportionately bored. They get support from the Neo-Returners, as they’re the only fascist state left, and the army is calling the shots. The economy revolves around building the army up for… something. No one is sure, and the only real use would be striking either the Torians or the Communists. The cost of such a war is keeping them in check.[/quote]

So, some years back, when I was introducing and doing things with Mysidia and Silvera, I had Snoutwit abscond with half of the Silveran Islands and establish the fascist Porcine Republic. Snoutwit did this with Fabulian backing, after sending members of his Porcine party north into Fabul to train in the martial arts (kung fu pigs!). Likely, Mysidia and Silvera were only able to take the Porcines back after Fabul signalled that it didn’t really care and wouldn’t really do anything about it.

Actually, you may like this one: over in the Merge Dimension thread I mention that a group of mercenaries helped defend Worus from the Merge League. Well, that “group of mercenaries” consisted of Kusader, plus all of the various heroic-type characters from the various “adventure” plot lines we did (with the exception of Ross, who I didn’t include because he actually went on to do stuff after the adventure folded). So Rast actually appeared in the preliminary Defense of Worus posts on the boards, and presumably had a hand in fighting against the Merge League. If you don’t mind that actually happening, then he returns home to reclaim his birthright after becoming a hero of the Water Kingdom over in Merge.

Oops! Forgot that; Toroia is A-OK with me.

Sweet. I like it. I don’t plan to do much with Rast, but I figure… hey, if we need a guy to show up as a king to visit, people could do so! Also, I figure he became a paladin because c’mooooon.

Part of my occasional series on crime syndicates…

Yakuza
Crime Syndicate
The Yakuza are small, but very disciplined, and overall, their approach to organized crime reflects quality over quantity. The Yakuza drug labs were the first outside of the Gate Dimension to replicate Pyra; the quality of their forgeries and counterfeit monies are considered as good as the real thing; and their hitmen have an unparalleled reputation for lethality.
Yoshiko Shokansi –affectionately known as “Okusan” or “older sister”, or “Okusan-sama” if we’re being properly respectful—has emerged as one most important Yakuza oyabuns, partly because of her skill with summoning magic. In addition to well-known summoned Espers, Yoshiko has also been able to summon a cadre of oni to act as her enforcers and bodyguards. Yoshiko prefers to apper in public in elaborate geisha dress and make-up.
(Ed note: Yoshiko is supposed to be the same person as “Yue Okusan”, who was referenced in old NPs and such, but never actually appeared.)

Eblan is coming. Really. Once I watch youtube.com/watch?v=OFKpBT7eb5k enough times to put me in the mood.

[quote=“Celiose”]Part of my occasional series on crime syndicates…

Yakuza
Crime Syndicate
The Yakuza are small, but very disciplined, and overall, their approach to organized crime reflects quality over quantity. The Yakuza drug labs were the first outside of the Gate Dimension to replicate Pyra; the quality of their forgeries and counterfeit monies are considered as good as the real thing; and their hitmen have an unparalleled reputation for lethality.
Yoshiko Shokansi –affectionately known as “Okusan” or “older sister”, or “Okusan-sama” if we’re being properly respectful—has emerged as one most important Yakuza oyabuns, partly because of her skill with summoning magic. In addition to well-known summoned Espers, Yoshiko has also been able to summon a cadre of oni to act as her enforcers and bodyguards. Yoshiko prefers to apper in public in elaborate geisha dress and make-up.
(Ed note: Yoshiko is supposed to be the same person as “Yue Okusan”, who was referenced in old NPs and such, but never actually appeared.)

Eblan is coming. Really. Once I watch youtube.com/watch?v=OFKpBT7eb5k enough times to put me in the mood.[/quote]

Had Asgar become a thing, I could have seen dealings between Eblan and Wutai. Wutai is more or less “mish-mash of whatever Asian culture is necessary for plot,” but heavily Japanese. There are various Yakuza syndicates in Wutai, of varying sizes, some of which are legit/legal, others of which are criminal. The Saitou Yakuza I mentioned in my post about Asgar is one of the more successful ones, having gone legit and handling corporate security for the Zaibatsu.

Once Kupop Reborn gets its feet under it, I kinda wanna start slowly phasing in Asgar somehow. But that’s for later. Once I get my feet wet in Kupop again and once the story is rolling.

I’ve got a couple primordial soup ideas on incorporating that and my proposal, if you feel like discussing it at some point.

I’ve got a couple primordial soup ideas on incorporating that and my proposal, if you feel like discussing it at some point.[/quote]
Definitely interested, but I need to recover my notes from my old laptop before I start making any plans. Plus I feel I should touch on what happened to my established characters in the wake of White Cell, so I’m not abandoning them completely.

Please say that Damcyan will have spoony bards, which inspire people with their songs of freedom.

I feel like there should be an awesome Damcyan rock band called The Spoony Bards.

The Spoony Bards are now canon, having been mentioned in City of Heroes (episode 1)…now they have a wiki article and everything!

Woo! I approve.