Transcript
Garrett: hello Hello, everybody, and welcome back to episode 19 of Into the Malediction. I am one of your co -hosts, Garrett, also known as Admiral Tater. Joined by Nick and Alan.
Nick: Hey everybody, this is Nick, also known as Fetty315 in Discord.
m3rcier: Hey, this is Alan. also known as Mercer.
Garrett: And today's episode is going to be about the two articles we last got. So probably a couple weeks ago now. um from when the time this airs. uh so we're A little behind on that, but...
Garrett: We're ahead ourselves here. of of of scheduling. um So anyways, today's is about the Golden Road. and the Selegian. missives. One. So that means there's going to be multiple parts of the letters.
Garrett: I will read later. Let's see here. News, news. We got Admiral Tater. uh myself uh malediction products we should have by the time this releases 10 Seeker -specific flex rulers out.
Garrett: And these look really cool. i showed him off to nick and a little bit online on the stream on uh one of our channels. 13th Fleet. They were pretty fun to play with. and then The reinforcement packs are out, and so everybody should be...
Garrett: getting those in the mail by then if they ordered online. So that'll be awesome. Do you guys have any news?
m3rcier: No, just, uh... In the comments for the Reinforcement Pack, share what cards you like. what cards you didn't like. uh Did you scoop all of it up or did you buy parts of it?
m3rcier: And then how did you... you know. Cheers, man. comments on the discourse and discussion on the pricing for it. So share your thoughts on that in the comments also.
Nick: I do first.
m3rcier: Yeah, on the new segment. You get to tell them what the segment is too.
Nick: so Welcome to our new segment. What are the hosts doing? How's that? Is that a good talk show introduction?
Garrett: Well, I thought we were supposed to talk about the what we liked about the reinforcement pack first.
Nick: I'm sorry.
m3rcier: Oh.
Nick: i'm
Garrett: if i Did I misunderstand that, Alan? I don't know, you tell me.
m3rcier: No, i was like I was leaving that for the viewers to give us their comments.
Garrett: Oh, it's for the viewers. Okay, I thought you were talking to me.
Nick: That's okay.
m3rcier: Oh, viewers, the the listeners, listeners.
Nick: It's okay, Garrett.
Garrett: Alright.
Nick: Listeners.
Garrett: Okay, we're back.
m3rcier: Sorry.
Garrett: We're back in.
Nick: gar You and I have both officially done that now. and different episodes, so it's okay.
Garrett: That is. That is amazing.
m3rcier: Okay.
Garrett: um All right, whatever. Alan, listen, you get this. What have you been doing?
m3rcier: What have I been doing? ah Man, so I have a... ah Got an H2 printer from Bamboo. And I have a above my hobby desk that also is my work desk for when I work from home.
m3rcier: I have a... 5x7 wall of... On Maker World, it's a product called Gecko Grid that you can... 3D print. It's ah like a modular SCADIS board.
m3rcier: It's five foot by seven foot tall. I posted a picture in one of the. I think the off topic. channel in the official discord And I'm about halfway through printing the 48.
m3rcier: panels that will go in there. uh so i'll post an update picture this this coming weekend it'll be the weekend before this episode airs So I've been doing that. I've been doing a little bit of research and Amazon, Etsy, surfing.
m3rcier: to find some stuff for my Siro cosplay for Adepticon next year. I think I've nailed down the hat. And the robe. Now I've just got to figure out the accoutrement that goes on all that crap.
m3rcier: All the gold and red and all that stuff.
Garrett: gold Gold and white.
m3rcier: Yep. and then a little bit of red i think the red sash will be easy then if you gotta find all like the gold beads and tassels and all that stuff so
Garrett: let's see it look pretty
m3rcier: plan to Be it Adepticon as Zero.
Garrett: Gonna be pretty good.
m3rcier: is the goal.
Nick: That's awesome.
Garrett: Well, I'll go next because on our script, my name is next. ah So anyways. what i've been doing is we've got the bourbon city brawl coming up here in kentucky It's going to take place October 2nd through the 4th.
Garrett: a little bit south of Louisville. And we've set up. to have malediction demos there. during the weekend. Nick is going to actually do the demo work, which is going to be awesome. And then we're going to try and actually get.
Garrett: A lot of... malediction product hopefully to have to sell there directly to people to grow our the local area here.
m3rcier: Honestly.
Garrett: So that's what that's what I've been working on is just getting prep prepped.
m3rcier: Bit of a boop. Nice.
Garrett: Prep for that. and It's going to come real fast.
m3rcier: I heard some news about the... bourbon city bra bcb is the acronym it goes by
Garrett: It is that, yeah.
m3rcier: It has four golden tickets for Games Workshop is what I heard.
Nick: Yes. Yes it does.
Garrett: It does, yeah. 40k AOS and kills Kill Team. Two for 40k.
m3rcier: nice that's I'm not into that. the 40k and all that, but i I know that golden tickets are a big deal for an event.
Garrett: Yeah, I'm going to be printing. Um, 40k stuff non -stop. uh and making making tokens and such. for the for the booth uh but i'm really excited to get the malediction to go in there though because um We don't have a foothold yet in Kentucky. uh so I really want to.
Garrett: get it seen by a bunch of people, especially in the Louisville area.
Nick: Yes, definitely. It's a... You know, I know it's on it's on me as the our ah our Central Kentucky Herald. uh to really get this community going but we just haven't gotten a lot of new players. Really, it's still look kind of the same group that we play on stream.
Nick: So I'm hoping...
Garrett: Yeah, it's hard to complete with the trading card games man
Nick: Yeah. Yeah. our Our local scene is really kind of already set in. Um, between like you know you either we have game stores where they just do 40k we have game stores where they just do mad at the gathering pokemon so it's really hard to like get new new people interested in a game. But yeah, we're hoping to break into the, we well.
Nick: I'm this is going to be kind of our first thing we're doing in Louisville. And I'm trying to get in touch with a couple of game stores there. And see if we can get some events
Nick: So.
Garrett: But anyways, Nick, what what have you been doing?
Nick: Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess i I was kind of just a good segue into what I've been doing, which is working with. Same thing. Working on Burden City Brawl. we got We're going to have two tables. I'm going to try to set up four. demos.
Nick: ah And I'm working on getting some... Like. a banner made and We're going to print those reference cards. that we had at Gen Con.
Nick: And just have have some really good physical.
m3rcier: phone.
Nick: like media that we can kind of Help. show the game off a little bit. The game really sells itself when you have like all the terrain. and miniatures on the table, but. ah We don't have... all of that yet so we have to make it do with with other other devices.
Garrett: Yeah, the miniatures.
m3rcier: the car
Garrett: Those are the hard part.
m3rcier: The Corp. The cards are talking about are those like the secret thing that tells you kind of tells you how that sticker plays if it's a a easy seeker a medium seeker or a harder seeker
Nick: Not quite. ah We actually so at Gen Con. My wife made a reference card, double sided. where It goes through like the phases of the game. And then.
m3rcier: Okay.
Nick: um And just some quick rules. uh and it's kind of it's it's small it's like not it's not a card size but it's like I three by five kind of size. And. um It's just for like demos and new players so that you can kind of go through like, okay, what is deployment? How do deployment rules work? What is, you know, action phase? has like a little blurb of like channel spells. And it's just things like that, that like once you kind of learn the game, you can kind of reference this like short short form card.
Nick: to make it a little easier.
m3rcier: Yeah, so like...
Nick: gee
m3rcier: uh in armada we had those they were i think they were official they came with
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: some of the products where it just had about two of them.
Nick: Yes.
Garrett: I think it was the relaunch they came with.
Nick: Yeah, I think it was like the upgrade pack or something
m3rcier: Yeah, it was like two of them. Yeah, they were nice. I liked having those.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah, so we're going to have those printed because right now the quick start rules are... um, that come by like the secret decks. I mean, those are, not meant to be like references. Those are a full rule book that's folded up into like a.
Nick: front front and front by Front and back, 11 by 17. Size. Peace vapor.
Nick: But yeah, we have that. We have a banner. oh um Yeah, I'm making promises now. but Trying to have Banner in time for... for that.
Garrett: Listen, we'll make it happen. Don't worry
Nick: Right, right. So that's... that's Coming up. and few weeks.
m3rcier: Listen, you got Garrett. He is a ah maker extraordinaire.
Garrett: Well, we got our banner in like a in a more... time -pressing amount of time so we've we've got a spot but uh so we'll get you taken care of so all right all right moving on we're moving on Honor the Lord. We've got...
Garrett: We've got. Malediction, the golden road. Heart. of trade Bye, our good friend. Tiago. I'm going to read the quote once.
Garrett: when there was harmony between the everlasting. the people of Selegia. saw each other as brothers and sisters. there were no borders between the nations for nations did not exist and the people were as one.
Garrett: A great network of roads was shaped by Galdrum. to connect the scattered cities of the continent and Myrkos built his towers of transposition. so that the Everlasting could quickly reach any corner of Silesia that required their aid.
Garrett: And then there was the murder of Evacra. and the creation of the first vestige. There was the everlasting war and the fall. MiraCosta's towers were torn down or sealed away.
Garrett: and most of Galdrun's great roads fell to ruin. All. except one. From the Secrets of the Golden Road. by sarav the chronicler. All right, so.
Garrett: um Yeah, so this is like a... Uh... Well, the whole time I was reading it, I was kind of thinking about, you know. after the fall of the western roman empire and That.
Garrett: There was a ah vast road system that was pretty maintained. and use to connect everything. and it History is kind of myth. This. Mythicized. A little bit.
Garrett: over dramatized how much of that stuff got destroyed um The roads were pretty used. by the barbarians afterwards. as we call them. um especially like the the jump from the fall of rome to like Charlemagne.
Garrett: It was pretty fast, but in, in the malediction. In this world, No, things are much worse. things fell apart. much more aggressively.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: um So. I'm going to let Alan, because I think he i think he was our our prime author today. of this of this script uh start us off
m3rcier: Yeah, before we get into the rest of it though, I wanted to point out we have a new character we've never heard of. So Rob the Chronicler. That quote was attributed to him. The only other one we know that we've heard is on the Winged Sandals card, you have the Yeren Chronicler.
m3rcier: So. Kind of interesting they both have the the chronicler moniker in their names.
Garrett: Yeah, do do you we think these are dead guys in the epitaph?
m3rcier: I don't know. Maybe.
Nick: I was originally, I was thinking there might be a... Conclave.
Garrett: Ooh.
Nick: Um,
Garrett: Maybe.
m3rcier: but also like
Garrett: Well, we don't know.
m3rcier: When I heard the yearn chronicler, my mind went to... in Diablo. The guy that tells us the story, I can't remember who the hell it is now because I haven't played Diablo in so long.
m3rcier: Hmm.
Garrett: You said that. I was thinking about the... I don't know why my mind immediately went to El Dorado, not Diablo. But anyways. um
m3rcier: ah so That's different.
Garrett: Uh. Yeah, way, way off, way off, way off track.
m3rcier: uh,
m3rcier: Yeah, so after the fall... Because this this article kind of fills us in on the... the economies for each faction and the economy for the continent.
m3rcier: So... pre -fall you had all of the the everlasting there wasn't really any like specific city -states or states, nations, what have you.
m3rcier: They all kind of just got along until the Everlast started infighting. So after the fall. that existing structure failed. uh Because parts of... of it that depended on other parts.
m3rcier: didn't exist anymore. So the parts that depended on the non -existent failed. Many cities that would have helped each other were put into survival mode, so they stopped helping each other. so that they could survive on their own.
m3rcier: On top of all that... You had the Primal Blood. still raiding and pillaging. and They wiped out whole cities and villages. Because those cities and villages no longer had. protection like they were either they never had it to begin with and depended on someone else Or they sent their entire military force.
m3rcier: to the siege and Of course it was lost. And then you also had natural disasters, famine and disease taking their toll as normal. without. uh the support structures to kind of alleviate what would normally happen there.
m3rcier: So just the economy. in addition to a ton of other things just collapsed after the fall But the one thing, or the... One of the things, the main thing from we get from this article that... ah Helped.
m3rcier: keep some semblance of a civilization and helped uh, put everyone back on the road. unintended to civilization.
m3rcier: was one of Galdron's Rhodes. And. ah It connected some of the cities, Iron Keep, Yennefin, and Waypoint. that become the sovereign cities, and then it expands out to the Loma.
m3rcier: and then connects Dainis, Quinvala, Paxos, and Belios, it became the Golden Road. It wasn't the golden road before the fall. it became the Golden Road. after the fall during the age of strife and it's probably part of the reason that you know We came out of the age of strength.
Garrett: Yes, economic. economic ah activity, right? Raises everybody up. um So yeah. i I wanted to talk a little bit I think about. how these sovereign cities...
Garrett: are so important. Because now, right, they're kind of the small fries. But at the time. ah They were the only thing that... Really?
Garrett: was a semblance of civilization. Because I remember when we read about the Conclave, the original... ah the sphere that becomes the warriors. I think Vertron? Verton?
Garrett: Right. They like got their namesake. doing the uh mercenary work of like defending these cities And so. They were probably a large amount of the original protection.
Garrett: ah that was required along the Golden Road. to to stave off the the primal blood attacks. um And then, of course, You know, they're they're raising a Veloma.
Garrett: Uh... not raising as a destruction but like the building of eloma because that seems to have like Come later? And so... I guess that's a good example of you know the road working.
Garrett: And so other you know, once you have. stability. other cities can rise up.
Garrett: That was you guys.
Nick: Yep.
Garrett: Are we there?
Nick: Yeah, sorry. um
m3rcier: Sure.
Garrett: Okay.
m3rcier: i'm just I'm getting more meat, sorry.
Garrett: Oh, I'm going to...
Nick: ah
Garrett: Okay.
Nick: up No, I completely – I really – These are the kind of lore articles I really love getting into. um because they're Um,
Nick: Less fantastical? Uh, and more very like. parallel with like history and and very real. you know This feels like you're reading just a history segment.
Nick: on Slegia. There's mention of magic. We talk about you know the different factions. but for the most part, it's the idea of trade, the idea of developing economies and how Like.
Nick: catastrophe can completely separate. entire cultures from each other for hundreds of years.
Nick: So.
Garrett: Yeah, exactly. um Because it's... you know because the iron keep was where the the non -order align Valkyr. live, right? the the The dwarves of our...
Garrett: of our world here. And so they were able to produce, you know, Goods and weapons, probably. and then of course the other cities were able to sustain the road.
Garrett: uh and keep it functioning because you know at at the time like the transference It's gone. And so the order is. They're up there in dinos. with They have a bunch of food, but there's no way to get the food.
Garrett: to the people who need it. And so obviously that need arises. and so you know traders and merchants come up end. fund. uh the construction of these roads.
Garrett: Or the road, I guess we should say. And then as we go along here, though, because we'll talk about it, the the other three factions really start stepping up. and things grow fast after that including like a new city right along the golden road.
Garrett: for the for the the order, the new Ostroth. Um... But okay. let's let's keep Let's keep going. So it starts with the order. Nick, you want to take that?
Nick: Yeah, I can talk about that. So. The Order of Shattered Throne. is situated in the north. um segment of Selegia in the land of Dainis. Now... This article goes into some details on how Dynast is considered the breadbasket. of Silesia.
Nick: Um, So they grow the most food. This is where we're going to get. all of the wheats and grains and sugars that the rest of the continent relies on for for as a food source.
Nick: Um, It says, and I don't know if this is more metaphorical, it says, blessed by the oath -bound light. you know, the fields of dinosaur breadbasket. So I don't know if it's ah actually.
Nick: uh being influenced by the oathbound light or if it's simply Hey. but you know, a considered just a blessing.
Garrett: I have that same question. Like, can the uh the spirits of the everlasting or Oster himself, like. Fuel. uh, you know better crops
Nick: Yeah, like this you know is is there an actual divine... like contribution being made to make the fields fertile. and the the you know all the crops. you know produce. so who But who knows? that you know we're not going to We're probably never going to get a straight answer on that.
Nick: But. ah Yeah, so they use... they're vast amount of agriculture to export ah food to the rest of the factions. and This can be to the Free Cities, this can be to the Conclave, and even... to the Legion.
Nick: um who are kind of their sworn enemies. um And I mean it's technically jumping ahead a little bit. ah Maybe we'll cover it. when we cover talk about the Legion.
Nick: Um, But yeah, so they they release or they export all this food and they take that profit and they use it to. Bye. Like. artifacts. that are recovered from the malediction.
Nick: and this Doesn't have to always be relics, this can just be... Like. architectural pieces and statues and things that you remind, you know, the order is is obsessed, right? their Their whole faith is built on the triumvirate.
Nick: and their rule and so they see the loss of Oster. Um, Yeah, the loss loss of Ostarath as... you know such a sorrowful moment.
Nick: in their history. you So they're just acquiring all of these like... broken bits they can of their history and and bring them back and restore them. And I imagine you probably have things like, you know, they have full museum type.
Nick: Temples. where you can go see like hundreds of years of history. just being being kept
Garrett: We out. Well, we know they have. multiple cathedrals, right?
Nick: Yeah. so Um, Yeah, so they they do a lot of that. And then the Golden Road is... a big boon for them as well because they are Um,
Nick: proselytizing their faith. so as they trade this food, as they go out and... the priests and the you know ah i'm guessing probably like missionaries to an extent are going out, bringing food. and good tidings. They're healing the sick.
Nick: um You know, it's it's a lot of good PR. And so that I imagine a lot of the... city -states along the Golden Road are probably very Receptive.
Nick: to the Order, outside of Velloma. And. a You know, so you you have this kind of like really good favorable trade now. Of course y 'all was going to get. the kind of skeptical skeptical outlook where...
Nick: You know, when the order maybe. has periods of time where certain priests who are leading, like, the Rite of Alcaris. or maybe a little too pushy. And I start pushing people away.
Nick: And, uh... you know Then you find out what the penitents are doing and you're just kind of like, oh. I don't know. for signing up for that but
Garrett: Right, well, yeah, because like... Well, this is a classic case. It talks about the article about how... you know they saw how a disastrous the luminous crusade was at capturing land by force and then they were they learned their lesson of oh if we just give people bread.
Garrett: Um... Basically. That's how you control people um Because, you know. ah Your average person will trade. Probably a piece of their soul.
Garrett: to have. That sort of. you know, foods security, especially in like. in a world like this, where it's pre -industrial age. pre -grocery stores, pre -markets.
Garrett: right you you know you're relying on perhaps you know lords to dole out Um... food especially like, kind of like in, you know, in Rome.
Garrett: Yeah. the granaries had to be filled by the you know from the imports from Egypt, right? And so it's kind of like this system here. where they've got it. get their food out and then they can control the entire area by just supplying that Um,
Garrett: And it talks about how you know now they won't do another crusade because it's worked so good.
m3rcier: And then they did.
m3rcier: Yeah, and then they built new Ostaroth on the corpse of a former city.
Nick: yep
m3rcier: and it was a long what we call the Golden Road now.
Nick: Mm -hmm.
m3rcier: So they're trying to expand out and it seems like they're they learned their lesson with the luminous crusade instead of using force they're going to use goodwill to convert people. and expand their influence across Selegia.
m3rcier: To get outside of Dinos.
Garrett: and And we've talked about this before, but man, the... Placement of new Ostereth is super aggressive. because it is right on the Paxos Forest.
Nick: Well, and that's, you know. um and It says they you know they built it on on the... ah rebuilt a destroyed city but it doesn't say why but i mean i imagine we can all kind of figure out why that city was destroyed.
m3rcier: Yep.
Garrett: Right, right, because we've gotten flavor texts that, you know, Auric Evenhand is really concerned Thunder Steps is going to come and...
Nick: Right.
Garrett: Destroy you, Ostrath. shortly. shortly
Garrett: Which would be a huge problem. for Dynas. And then the rest of. the continent.
Nick: okay
Garrett: since, you know, there's still the breadbasket technically.
m3rcier: Yeah, but they I mean we we do know that they keep instead of going to new authorized to stack it uh they just go up to the crimson steps to try and fight directly in dynast and you know they get massacred on the steps so I think New Arstrat is only going to be threatened.
m3rcier: ah under two conditions. Thunderstep. You get to level up in IQ. and learned tactics and strategy. Or I say a level of an IQ Maybe the eye doesn't affect him so much so he can think.
Garrett: Ha!
m3rcier: Uh, Or he falls and Ingor takes over because Ingor seems... a little bit more uh
Nick: More candy.
m3rcier: Brain -minded and not I -minded.
Nick: Yep.
m3rcier: So... I think i think New Orleans threats are safe for now. just because the the individual leading the primal blood. doesn't have his wits about him.
Garrett: We'll see.
m3rcier: because of the
Garrett: Things have changed, however, remember from the last article.
m3rcier: See you.
Garrett: uh Thunderstep says. Awakened. and is doing. unusual activities now. So maybe...
m3rcier: And just go.
Garrett: maybe he's been inspired by something else maybe that fungus got in his head
m3rcier: of
Nick: ah Yeah, I mean, hey, hopefully for Dynas, right, the Order would love to see Thunder Steps just go to Malediction and stay there for a while.
Garrett: Right. Right. Um.
m3rcier: i think I think the entire continent would probably like that.
Garrett: Get stuck in there.
m3rcier: Not just...
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: the order.
Garrett: Yeah.
Nick: Yeah.
Garrett: Of course, he likes it in there.
m3rcier: even most of them Even a good deal of the primal blood would like to see that.
Garrett: All right, all right. We got, how's the conclave affecting all this, Alan?
m3rcier: Yeah, so Queen Vala, you know, the the series of islands. And then they have a few of their cities that are on the main continent. uh, we're not sure we did have some flavor text regarding uh a place called the solitons which I saw on Discord someone thinks it's those two or three cities that are part of the conclave, but... Not really, it seems like.
Nick: Mm hmm.
m3rcier: Don't know that for sure or not.
Nick: Yes.
m3rcier: ah But the largest... Export for the Conclave. Drumroll please. Not need it because it's Leigh Ostrom. if If you didn't. know that just lift the rock up and Enjoy the rest of us.
m3rcier: Uh, along with any type of magic magical implement that's empowered by Lastrum. so constructs weapons tools. ah The wards.
m3rcier: Mercenaries. All of that makes dealing with the Conclave worthwhile.
m3rcier: In addition, the mages are shrewd businessmen. uh i mean They seem like they're a mix between a mage and like a corporate executive. That's how I kind of see the spheres.
Nick: Mm -hmm.
m3rcier: ah And they pursue other adventures. One of them, and this is the one I love the most, and this the sphere that runs this is the the Precog sphere, which I can't remember what their name is.
Nick: That's for Sybil.
m3rcier: um Yeah, they trade in what they call corpse futures.
Garrett: It's cool.
m3rcier: Uh, They will come to you and say, hey. I'm going to give you $100, and when you die, I get your corpse. And then when you die, they get your corpse, they throw it into a cart along with...
m3rcier: a ton of other people that made the same agreement you did. And they sell those fresh corpses to the Legion for a hefty... uh profit uh, So that's one of their really odd. ventures that they're into.
Garrett: That's my favorite part of the whole The whole article.
Nick: ah
Garrett: So funny.
m3rcier: I think it's freaking great.
Garrett: Such a good idea.
m3rcier: yeah <unk> We're selling the corpses that the Legion obviously needs. But one of the things that people have noticed also about the Conclave is...
m3rcier: They sell a lot to the other factions, to the sovereign cities, but they don't... Bye a lot. So there's an imbalance in their trade. There's a trade deficit per se.
m3rcier: ah And this is where we as the the players, we as the readers get to know. that. All that money they're not spending buying services or goods from the other factions?
m3rcier: They're spending buying the politicians and the movers and shakers in the sovereign cities. so that they can... maintain their good. uh standing in the sovereign cities and keep the other three factions out of the sovereign cities as much as possible So they're spending that profit. But they're doing it.
m3rcier: for influence and power, not for goods and services.
Garrett: Yeah, the more we learn about these sovereign cities, the... They look small on the map. because they're just they don't have to like giant territories but I'm V. They seem to have much more. influence and wealth and power And they're just punching way above their weight.
Garrett: Um... So I'm curious to see if like... we can ever expand out from these cities. And. They get their own. Uh... their own faction type things.
Garrett: I think it's a really good.
m3rcier: Listen to it.
Garrett: ah a really good way to expand without having to like go to other continents like we've tried to do. uh because we already have like these cities who are powerful by themselves.
Nick: Yep.
m3rcier: Yeah, I mean, the the first seeker was Wiloma. an unaligned seeker i would love to have an unaligned seeker i don't know how you do that in game mechanics I'll be honest with you.
m3rcier: I don't care how you do it in game mechanics.
Garrett: Yeah.
m3rcier: That is Fabio and Nikki and Vito's job. I just want to see an unaligned seeker.
Garrett: Yeah, figure it out Cause I think it would just be really cool to have like a, you know, an iron keyed Volk here.
Nick: Yeah
Nick: Like, dead.
Garrett: Who's independent?
Nick: Yeah, and then you can run like a... almost like an like a different type of orc kind of deck where it's like maybe they do equipment and forging but You know, you can take, I guess Valkyrie are all pretty much primal in order already.
Nick: I don't know if there's any Vol 'kyr Legion. or conlave But anyway, yeah, anyway.
Garrett: Yet.
Nick: Yeah, I definitely would love to see like... Or maybe not even necessarily like. neutral faction seekers, but neutral faction cards that can kind of be Um, you know You can take them with other Seekers.
Nick: So like, you know, kind of like how ah items are... neutral faction. yeah know they're They're not. They're no faction associated.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Nick: um Having like random mercenary cards that you can kind of just put into a deck
m3rcier: Yeah, and I mean one thing to keep in mind from a lower perspective from a gameplay perspective like Laundrielle. She is order and conflict. from a lore fiction perspective, she is neither.
m3rcier: She has been banished from the Conclave. uh and she doesn't necessarily go back to the order because she wants to Fight the injustice she sees in the conclave So I would consider her a neutral seeker from the fiction standpoint. From a gameplay standpoint, she's not neutral.
m3rcier: So I think there's two aspects to that. Maybe we see a... a secret space in the sovereign cities but has ties to one or more of the factions from a gameplay perspective
Nick: Yeah, yeah
Nick: Yeah. and ah Last thing I want to say about the. But since we're talking about them, the sovereign cities. is um You know, it's easy to look at a map. on this scale and see like little points that show like a city.
Nick: or city -state even. But it's it's hard to envision. what the world really, really looks like. Because... You know, I picture and granted, you know, this is a.
Nick: much more kind of chaotic world than... what we see and like solid, you know, in our own history. But all along this road... there's going to be small towns and villages and farms.
Nick: And. Mike. you know. All these dots, you know all this land is empty land. is prob - is likely...
m3rcier: Not really empty.
Nick: Yeah. Was it?
m3rcier: I was gonna say, it's not really empty.
Nick: It's not really empty. Yeah, exactly. All this land is covered with people. And so like those city states have like a responsibility to like the people around them. uh, to to protect them. And so like that's why like I find it really fascinating how...
Nick: the order has this, you know, really this lock on Dynas where that's their that's their faction. Then they have new All -Star down here, but then... All along the Golden Road are these free cities that are just kind of like, no, we don't want anything to do with you.
Nick: Yeah. but we're willing to trade. And it makes me kind of consider like what what do the people around there think? like What is the overall consensus on like the order?
m3rcier: And I think you'll see more of those small towns and villages. The further east along the Golden Road you get the farther from Paxos you get. uh because o
Nick: Mm hmm.
m3rcier: Not zero threat, but less of a threat uh than the parts of the road that are closer to the Paxos. so
Garrett: Yeah, living in the Wistrol.
m3rcier: I...
Garrett: is probably pretty secure. Because they've got to go through multiple layers of... cities and probably private defense. forces mercenaries to make their way up there.
m3rcier: yeah And I think, i like like you said,
Garrett: And plus the...
m3rcier: nick was saying like looking at a dot on a map and I think. I mean, we can look at a dot on a map in the real world. like I can look at a dot of New York City. I've never been there. The only reason I know that it doesn't look like the city I live in is because... you know. We have the internet, we have the media, I can see pictures of New York City.
m3rcier: But if you showed a map to someone who doesn't know any of that and you said hey This is a city like where you live. they would assume that that dot on the map is exactly like where they're from.
Garrett: Yeah, and I think the Primal Blood...
m3rcier: I didn't.
Garrett: Probably aren't as... invested in attacking like these free cities, as they are the order. Like they have a... like a legitimate Um... What's it called Cassius belly against the order of the shattered throne?
Garrett: Because it's like the direct descendant of their actual enemy.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: that enslave them. Yada, yada. And so they're probably just not not going out of their way to. Attack. you know, some small town in the withdrawal. Uh,
m3rcier: I wonder if the members of the Primal Blood can freely come and go out of the Sovereign Cities. As long as you know. they don't attack and kill people.
Garrett: If. If you're like a normal Orokin, maybe. I don't know. There might be like some serious Orokin racism.
m3rcier: Yeah about It'll be interesting to see because we we know the conclave. So we know the legion the conclave in order can come and go out of all the sovereign cities for the most part order is a little bit more sticky when you get to the loma itself But we don't really have much info on if the primal can come and go I would assume...
m3rcier: It's probably less so because, you know. they raid the golden road so they're probably raiding Sovereign City Trading Caravans also.
Garrett: Yeah, there might be some Kiths who operate kind of. Normally. um Especially that one kith with the fungus. They seem like... Their whole goal is to spread.
Garrett: uh the fungi right so maybe they're going and offering healing services in these cities too.
m3rcier: Listen, i'm I'm burning that kiss to the ground the moment I know what they are.
Garrett: I, yeah, like it's gotta be the most threatening problem here, right?
Nick: ah
Garrett: like I still can't believe they introduced that idea. Um... Anyways, okay, so that's...
m3rcier: This is malediction. Here's the flood.
Garrett: yeah here's the yeah that's what we're talking about it's like the last of us um all right we're moving on so this is okay so the the last faction of course is the legion um All right, and so... Initially, after the malediction is created and the fall has happened.
Garrett: um Belio's kind of, you know, Circles the wagons. ah for centuries, keeps themselves. And. When they come out, you know they've got their... There are hordes of undead.
Garrett: Zombies and spirits. which is not like the greatest Look. especially when you're walking into the, you know, Veloma. with all your your undead things. but the The...
Garrett: Bright. silver lining of it all was They didn't lose a bunch of the knowledge that the rest of the world lost. ah because everyone is undead. but conscious in the epitaph.
Garrett: And so they maintained. uh, a bunch of technology we'll call it and craftsmanship. abilities to Create. uh you know just just things weapons uh doors machinery farm equipment who knows all kinds of stuff Uh,
Garrett: And so... Uh... The craftsmanship is so high quality because, like, let's imagine you've got this undead zombie who's been doing it for 580 years.
Garrett: He's going to make the finest rocking chair. Bye. you can buy. And even even those those uptight priests and dnos dinos dinos. They want that rocking chair.
Garrett: And so... And so. Uh... and then the people in and abisola The aristocrats, they want that fine. a wine. Coming out of.
Garrett: uh the order but they do not like each other, obviously because of the interaction of Loma. and Vorondal's defeat of their Luminous Crusade. So they're in a bit of a Cold War And...
m3rcier: Great War.
Garrett: Well, yeah, a Cold War and a trade war. Uh... Let's see what else, before I jump to that.
m3rcier: Listen, mean Maintaining Auntie Anne's cookie recipe. from before the fall probably did a lot of goodwill for them.
Garrett: I mean, probably, right? Like, because they have it.
m3rcier: Just saying.
Garrett: And so they so they sell. this information. because it's super valuable. So they up at the Epitaph, they're having... They're just writing down stuff. and If you need to know something or...
Garrett: ah family history or you know just how to do something that was done. you know, 2000 years ago. like I'm sure there's... I'm sure there's stuff. that needs maintained. even in uh dynasty conclave where the only information is available in this corpse library And so they sell that information.
Garrett: and they buy corpses of course like we mentioned the corpse futures Uh, because a lot more Alive people die outside of bellows than inside and Then we come to this. So a ton of the money.
Garrett: that the sovereign cities are making. are because... Uh... They are essentially... um conduits. They are re -exporters, I think is the as the official term.
Garrett: And so... they're taking you know goods from Have a solo. and taking it out of the boxes and relabeling it, rebranding it in Veloma. And it's selling it to.
Garrett: uh the order and they're taking stuff in the order and relabeling it selling it to Uh, the legion and this happens in real life all the time Like, constantly.
Garrett: I think Cuba is like the greatest example of. of that because like If you want to buy something from Cuba, it's really easy. And if Cuba wants to buy something from the US, it's really easy. Usually it's done through like Mexico.
Garrett: Um,
m3rcier: it's cold Well, one thing is it's like Taiwan. It's one factory that makes like Two products. but you could buy it from 50 different brands within the US s or other countries.
Garrett: Yes. So that's exact so they're making just imagine the cut because they all they all they're doing is re -exporting So that's just that's just pure gravy, man.
Garrett: They've got to be making an absolute killing doing that. Plus.
m3rcier: yeah and then
Garrett: Plus charging for transportation and shipping.
m3rcier: And then Thiago did share with us when when we did his interview. The reason Belios knows so much about the culture of the entire continent from before the fall is A lot of the battles...
m3rcier: During the Siege of Ossrath. actually happened in Belios. He specifically mentioned uh ferritus cravinia and the ash roots which are the three territories there Those are three of the four territories. The fourth part is the Umberlands.
m3rcier: But that's where a lot of the battles were fought a lot of people died That's why the necropolis is so full, because there were tons of battles there. Sorry. People from all over Selegia died in those battles there.
m3rcier: The Legion. either froze them Or resurrected him and then froze him. So they have people from. pretty much all over the continent that they can tap. for cultural knowledge.
m3rcier: So if you're from the Paxos and you're not primal. And you want to know how your ancestors lived there. You could go to Belios and find out. We might not make it there, but...
Garrett: Yeah. Well, it's pretty nice there, okay? Oh, the last thing I want to talk about is my my second favorite thing in the article was... If you're having an inheritance dispute, you can hire a necromancer.
Garrett: Dude. revive the dead party and settle the legal dispute. I just thought that was really funny.
m3rcier: Right. You necromancers are also lawyers.
Garrett: Yeah.
m3rcier: Love it.
Garrett: um Okay, we got the primal. Nick, back to you.
Nick: Yeah. So... um The primal's focus here isn't so much on trade. because the primal themselves do not
Nick: uh,
m3rcier: I beg to differ.
Nick: they Yeah.
m3rcier: They consider it trading
Nick: because you're trying to get
m3rcier: They're trading. They're trading something for goods
Nick: Yes.
m3rcier: Might not be what you want to trade, but they're trading.
Nick: and there
Nick: They they are um They are coming to villages around Paxos and and into... DUN kind of. areas around the free cities. And they are looking to trade.
Nick: ah for food and and foodstuffs, but the only export they have is violence. so Um, The Primal Blood are... very quick to just kind of go out and raid on farms farmland and caravans Um,
Nick: But, you know, and they're not it's not completely. ah bloodthirsty savages it's a lot of it is you know. it's tribute right and there's villages that know that it's better to just give them Uh, cartload of of food and grain and bread. than it is to them. try to fight them.
Nick: So I imagine there's ah you know there's a major, there's it's there's probably an implied. Um, you know military control where When... there's not enough military. forces to keep people safe.
Nick: All right. the prompt blood will go out there, they'll get a whole bunch of stuff, they'll bring it back home. and you know it's just raining we see this all the time throughout history with bandits and The Vikings.
Nick: And...
m3rcier: In New York City in the mob.
Nick: The mob. if I was going to say the Mongols. be but night
Garrett: This the Silk Road
Nick: Yeah, so you know it's just anytime you have trade, you're going to have people who... take advantage of the The easy path.
Garrett: All right, beautiful. Okay, so next. Um... we're moving on to The second article. And this is just a... exchange between Countess Merida.
Garrett: And our boy, Stevis. stevis stevis uh,
Nick: stay Stavis?
m3rcier: That is Roald Dahl.
Garrett: Vorendal.
Nick: Yeah.
Garrett: um Okay. All right, we're good. Alan Redar. is Start us off here.
m3rcier: Oh. i was just gonna I didn't know we were going to read all the way through it. yeah It's basically...
Garrett: Oh, we can we could, I don't know. It's pretty funny and it's very short. I don't know. How do you want to approach it? We can just talk about it.
m3rcier: i don't know i was gonna like i kind of like go read it it's maybe a two -minute read. like Maybe we give a gist of of of each letter.
Garrett: Yeah, it's pretty short.
m3rcier: I mean...
Garrett: Okay, okay.
m3rcier: The second letter, it's it's one sentence long. the first So the first letter. is literally, oh, well one thing that we found out here, and we kind of did this beforehand. I think Patan. P T A N.
m3rcier: It's just a title within the Legion. It's not like Patan Ravlum. Her name wasn't Petain Ravel. It was Ravelum. Tan is just the title she's given.
m3rcier: Because we have the current queen is called pretend Octavia But this letter is a letter from... ah Vorton Hall to Marina. basically saying hey On behalf of the Queen, you will send me 10 score of...
m3rcier: stitched and then you will have two more of those ready. and then he takes some quiet jabs at her about all this other stuff so it's it's It's him requesting military and then also...
m3rcier: Uh, some interpersonal relationship of him being in An A -hole to her. And I very much like how confident and...
m3rcier: Uh... Bye. she doesn't really engage him. She kind of just ignores him, but very confidently in her replies. And I love that.
Garrett: I didn't. I didn't realize Vorndahl... With such. A. Uh... Corporate loser. So i I'm gonna call it.
Nick: No.
Garrett: um
Nick: aye
Garrett: He's so passive aggressive. um also before we move on for the first letter i just think it's really funny that he ordered
m3rcier: the
Garrett: 10 score units, which is like 200 units. And so are we is each...
m3rcier: So how many is the score then?
Garrett: Is each steps a unit? Yeah, or is it...
Nick: Scores.
m3rcier: How many?
Garrett: Score is 20.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: The 20.
Garrett: Score is 20.
m3rcier: Oh dude. Jeez.
Garrett: So is this like an attack on the clone situation where they're like, we got 250 ,000 ready with a million more on the way, and everyone's like, how can you possibly fight Clone Wars with 250 ,000 clones?
m3rcier: Oh, it was... it was It's 10 score units. for immediate. so he said post haste and then two more shipments of equal strain so he ordered What?
Garrett: Six six six hundred.
m3rcier: 10, 20, 30 score?
Nick: 600.
Garrett: 600.
m3rcier: Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh, stitched.
Garrett: ah So... Is each unit like a hundred zombies?
m3rcier: and the for the in the coming months.
Nick: Well... Well, I was going to say, a unit unit is a... is an um organization. term. you know, How many?
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: Yeah.
m3rcier: So how many is it?
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: This is really 3 ,600 zombies like wow, okay
Garrett: Man, she is she is pumping out. Uh... Zombies.
Nick: Yeah.
Garrett: Like, holy. Holy smokes.
Nick: And it does I do like that they...
m3rcier: Ready?
Nick: um they do He does specifically call out negotiating Lee Ashton shipment from the Conclave.
m3rcier: from a conclave to buy more of it.
Nick: Um, and you know
m3rcier: to do it.
Nick: we did We did kind of get that from her backstory about the Soul Stitcher. The idea of weaving Leastrum. ah with the Anishinaabe. But this is just kind of. seeing it written like this.
Nick: in such plain terms within the world really confirms it's like oh yeah like they are making the stitch the stitch are like a unique Lee Asterman fused. fallen. Right.
m3rcier: they have to go to her for. And then he does take a jab at her.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: uh bringing up the Uh huh. rumored wedding preparations with uh one of the houses that's trying to court her uh which I just love.
m3rcier: well does one of allll it's It's a one -sentence reply, so we can read that letter. Does one of y 'all want to read that?
Garrett: Yeah. she she She answers back. She says, to the Lords. Stevis, Stevis Vorndahl. The letter has been received and acknowledged. Um... Man.
m3rcier: yeah Now, keep keep in mind, she said to Lord Stevis Vordenhall. i'll bring that up because later we're gonna we're gonna Revisit how she addresses him later.
Garrett: What? Go down. He responds back.
Nick: Yeah. Yep.
m3rcier: Nick, you want to take the response?
Nick: Yeah, his response. Yeah, his response, ah I just love this opening line. Your response was less than appropriate to a royal decree from the queen herself. ah that It's just he's.
Nick: yeah Again, taking a jab at her. um These letters, again, these are so it's such a short, it's such a good read. I really would recommend you guys go, if you're listening to this, go read this right now because it's...
Nick: You don't want to... I don't wanna spoil it. it's There's a good fun tongue -in -cheek here. Um, That is just it needs to be a ah experienced in full. So you have...
Nick: Vorndahl just kind of... poking at her again saying like oh so are you just so Busy with the Eldris. have you forgotten your manners i i remember a time when you knew how to use proper etiquette
m3rcier: but you
Nick: All right.
Garrett: man he keeps hiding behind the queen too he's like as a representative of the queen
m3rcier: Yep.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Nick: Yeah. what's the only It's the only leverage he has on Morita.
m3rcier: Nope.
Nick: is...
Garrett: Oh man.
m3rcier: Yep.
Nick: Yep.
m3rcier: And then... ah He wrote hold on that was her
Garrett: I don't know. My favorite part is when So he told her, like... He needs the info so that the queen can start lay ass from negotiations. And then she snaps back with. The Lay Asteroom is already on the way.
Garrett: um And the stitch has already started to get created. Uh, i don't know about you guys but i've definitely sent these emails before and it's really funny
m3rcier: Oh yeah, these are work emails between two co -workers that hate each other.
Garrett: Yeah.
m3rcier: ah So... You covered her reply back about the Leihstrom. uh And then he replies back about the Queen blah blah blah. um And he brings up, i'm sad I'm saddened to hear there will be no wedding.
m3rcier: but i'm not surprised so he takes another jab at her Her response, this is what we alluded to earlier. To Lord Stavis. Vorden Hall. The dreadful. She changes how she addresses him.
m3rcier: to take a jab back at him, which is hilarious.
Garrett: but
m3rcier: And she, at the end of that... reply She said she would rather marry an actual vermin. than consider his proposal ever again.
Garrett: And then she throws shade at it. at House Eldridge.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: And she's like, they may live among the dirt, but I'd rather marry an actual vermin. They consider proposals again.
m3rcier: was
Garrett: I'm like, man, what they do. They're just trying to bury you.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Nick: And that's the way.
m3rcier: And then in the...
Nick: That's the last letter
m3rcier: Yeah, last letter and then It says, rumors in the upperlands claim that this last letter... which is from the Countess to Vordenhall, so it's wherever Vordenhall is.
m3rcier: was answered with a black gift box. smelling of iron and death. and the head of the messenger sat inside was disposed of so the messenger that came from Ernie at the Vorden Hall.
m3rcier: went back to Meridia as only a head in a box. Which is hilarious.
Garrett: Oh man.
Nick: Vornal's got no chill.
m3rcier: Yeah. that
Garrett: Dude, Vorndahl, like...
m3rcier: Yeah, there's there's
Garrett: This made me like him a lot less. Way less cool. He's what a loser
m3rcier: Yeah, I mean, I still... as
Nick: I think it's...
m3rcier: I still like him and he's still hilarious, but he is an a -hole.
Nick: I think it's entirely... believable and in character for him based on how we've read his ah his lore and everything about him.
Garrett: Yeah, he's such he's such a whiner. But yeah, he can't even like...
Nick: Yeah.
Garrett: Hold is cool. General of the Army, such a man. and i'm trying to Who does he remind me of?
m3rcier: I mean, but to to to be fair, he is the he's the first commander of the army. He's like... The queen's number two. Does he need to?
Garrett: Yeah, he does.
m3rcier: Like he doesn't have to
Garrett: He that's the problem though.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: He doesn't He shouldn't have to. like Keep bringing that up. to prove that he has power.
Nick: That's literally in that letter when Mortis says greatness need not announce itself.
Garrett: Like he's...
Garrett: Yeah, it's so like and then she called him out on it.
m3rcier: Yeah. She's irreplaceable, he's not.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: Yep. So, I mean, it's it's in his character. It's in his nature. I don't fault him for it as much as I fault. him it is It is who he is.
Garrett: I'm falling for it.
m3rcier: Not in.
Garrett: follow before I had a lot more respect for him before this.
Nick: Oh, fuck.
m3rcier: well What do you mean you had respect for him before this?
Nick: Man. Hmm.
m3rcier: Did you not read his lore?
Garrett: His lore was fine. this this This really showed his his true colors, alright?
m3rcier: He's all It's obvious.
Nick: how pet how petty he was
Garrett: Yeah, what a passive aggressive, petty.
m3rcier: He's always been a hole.
Garrett: what a little What a little baby.
m3rcier: uh yeah i mean this this one was short there's not a lot of lore there but i would say this is probably
Garrett: my channel
m3rcier: I would bet money that the Golden Road is probably Nick's favorite lore article because he loves like the the... the economy, the history to it. This is probably when my favorite lore article, even though it doesn't have a ton of lore in it.
m3rcier: it ah It very much focuses on two of the characters. in the relationship between the two of them. So this is probably my favorite little article so far.
m3rcier: Which only sets up to the the other missives have to be good
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: If you're hearing in that, Chicago, the other missives better be this good.
Garrett: Yeah, I like how it's labeled 1. Okay, awesome.
Nick: I want to see one. I want to see one between Orc and Thundersteps.
m3rcier: Oh!
Garrett: Oh, this was by Clarice.
m3rcier: Oh, we missed it.
Garrett: From Franca.
m3rcier: We... We don't know who that is. This is the first article by Clarice.
Garrett: Is she in the lore primer?
m3rcier: Now we're
Nick: for this front.
m3rcier: ah let's Let's look.
Nick: Franca?
m3rcier: i have the lower I have the lower primer pulled up because I was looking at the mat.
Garrett: Yeah, she's in here. She's in here She's part of the team.
m3rcier: ah Which part of the team?
Garrett: the world building lore. Hi, Clarice.
m3rcier: Alright. All right, so George, Clarice, Arthur, and Thiago.
Nick: Hello.
Garrett: What?
m3rcier: Okay, so we've we have never had one from her.
Garrett: Yeah.
m3rcier: I never interacted with her. uh
Nick: There we go.
m3rcier: yeah so that's pretty cool i like that first article and it's my favorite one so take it Take it for what it's worth.
Garrett: Um,
Nick: I just want to see any missives that involves Thunder Steps. So it's just like a gargled...
m3rcier: no
Nick: Literally.
Garrett: It's...
m3rcier: Okay.
Garrett: Just random words
m3rcier: Well, no, so...
Nick: It would be the voices of thunder.
m3rcier: so it's it's
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: yeah it's it's gargled and then it's the voices of thunder bullshitting at everybody and then more gargled and then oh hey we really didn't mean go that way we meant Go that way. a
Garrett: ah
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: Oh man. Okay, okay.
Nick: The great...
Garrett: We're running out of time here.
m3rcier: All right
Garrett: All right, we got one section. We got a section left. uh, All right, Alan, you have to sing it.
m3rcier: Hold on.
Garrett: You have to sing it.
m3rcier: ah o
Garrett: Sing it now.
m3rcier: Screw that noise. I'm not singing it.
Garrett: What?
m3rcier: You said you would sing it. Hold on.
Garrett: I don't have the...
m3rcier: I'm going to send you the...
Garrett: I don't have the script. of the of the words
m3rcier: yeah you It's in chat. You have it now. Sorry, buddy.
Garrett: Oh my gosh. What is this supposed to be, two?
m3rcier: the damn it we went over this uh it's to the
Garrett: You still like mission some. Christmas song I've never heard.
m3rcier: It's to the... It's to the tune of Silver and Gold. It's a Christmas song I've never heard of either, but I have the YouTube link to it.
Nick: That's the one from, ah is that from Rudolph?
m3rcier: Maybe.
Garrett: ah Do you know it Nick?
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: I haven't listened to it yet.
Garrett: I don't know the tune.
Nick: Okay. I mean, i can't I can't remember singing it. It's been so...
Garrett: See, this is this is one of these things but we're supposed to prep before we record.
Nick: long.
Nick: Now it's funnier to do it live
m3rcier: Well, sweet.
Garrett: Alright.
m3rcier: Yeah, we we tried to prep and we failed. So we're just going to wing it and then we'll all be prepped for the next time.
Garrett: Um... Okay. what what What do you think the real word, what's the song called?
m3rcier: Where is the sound? Biggs just made this shit up dude.
Garrett: Now the...
Nick: Silver and gold.
Garrett: the Silver, thank you.
m3rcier: Yeah, silver and gold. Sorry.
Garrett: It is for Rudolph.
m3rcier: Oh it is? Okay.
Nick: Yeah, because it's the the minor guy singing about silver and gold.
m3rcier: I didn't know that
Nick: Yeah. Go watch a Rudolph.
m3rcier: That is a good idea. I don't know I can sucker my kids into watching it with me. I watched Disclosure Day yesterday. Don't waste your money on it.
Garrett: okay i got I got the gist. I got the gist. Okay. Alright, here we go.
m3rcier: Alright, let's go.
Garrett: Uh -huh. Coaster our gold Coaster or gold. Nothing more precious than coaster or gold. How do you measure its worth?
Garrett: just by the meta it gives i think that last part's wrong because i didn't listen to the rest of the video so We'll get it next time.
m3rcier: All right. Today's coaster of gold is... We're going to do three of them, guys. So mine is Cessnaur of the Silence.
Nick: All right, Alan, is Sestanar a coaster or is he gold?
m3rcier: Hi.
Garrett: Isn't it a girl?
Nick: She. Gold.
m3rcier: e ah Even though she has spell immunity, I'm going with Coaster. I've used her. ah She never pays for herself. She can maintain my coffee.
Nick: No. Poor Cessna.
Nick: I... I agree. I think at 9. Sestanar misses out because Legion has so many other unique Units that... don't die as easily. Um,
Nick: And have more utility. spell
Garrett: He's got dash, right?
Nick: She's got hit it and run.
Garrett: That's what it is
Nick: Yeah. uh so yeah ambush 2 is nice getting to deploy in debt but the thing is like it's it's She's probably only good if you're playing with Death Shroud, which is a good terrain, so it's not...
Nick: Unlikely. Spell Me New is fine. I just... I think you're it's a competitive spot. and a deck
Garrett: it's ah it's a it's ah It's a bid card. Mostly. I mean, I... You gotta be swimming in. You gotta to be swimming in Echo to deploy this unit.
m3rcier: So. Closer to Gold, Garrett. meet Me and Nick said coaster.
Garrett: It's still a coaster. I just I it's nine and it's nine echo
m3rcier: Let's hold up your coffee.
Garrett: Would 8 echo make it better? Would 8 echo make it better? Only one less?
m3rcier: Ugh. I don't know, because you have to deal with draft. Champion of Drav.
Garrett: it's true it's so fast
m3rcier: The new boy on the block.
Garrett: facet.
m3rcier: All right, so we're go we're we're going with coaster for c Sestanar.
Garrett: all right
Nick: Yeah.
Garrett: Yeah, man, we need to...
m3rcier: If you disagree with us...
Garrett: We need. We need better arguments.
m3rcier: put Post a comment.
Garrett: Let's see.
m3rcier: I think we're going to get into it with this next one.
Nick: All right. Yeah. i so There's not an argument because we all agree.
Garrett: All right, here we go. Yeah. it's like We're bad at this. All right, next.
Nick: Yeah. All right, so... My coaster. Um, Is is everybody you're going to hate me on this one. Warfront Commander.
Nick: Ah. i I don't like it. um Sitting at six echo. uh yeah battle cry is great it's a it's always a good ability inspire is good uh plus two for your tax within Six inches.
Nick: It's fine. That's a 10 % chance to turn a graze into a hit. In practice, I don't feel I can inspire. really does much meaningfully. And.
Nick: battle cry like when i look at battle cry on warfare commander i'm thinking I spent six Echo. for this guy to Make something else attack.
Nick: Um, what. other card could this have been instead? Um, you know a lot of order decks you know i do you run warfront commander with g griza ah you know he's not spirit he doesn't really benefit from all the other stuff you could just have another spirit that you run with sigrith you already have so much echo putting into like Knights of Astares. Maybe you're trying to get a Herald of Salvation or Rogarth out.
Nick: Um, I just think the Order has so many expensive units already. Um, that Warframe Commander is better suited to either take a cheap basic unit a cheaper basic unit, save the Echo.
Nick: Or... Take a spell. Fed. is going to give you some kind of utility that he's not offering.
Garrett: I'm gonna say it's gold. I'm gonna say it's gold because... I think he's essential if you want to run cross women.
m3rcier: Yeah, i I'm going with gold.
Garrett: to really get the use out of them.
Nick: I can see that i can see I can see it with the crossbows. I don't like the crossbows personally. i so I think the Crossbows are good units. I just don't like them.
Garrett: Well, that's...
Nick: them. personally.
Garrett: that's another episode Hold on.
Nick: But that's, yeah, yeah.
Garrett: Calm down.
Nick: Oh, no, I get what you're saying with the crossbows, but...
Garrett: Yeah, and i think i think he's I think he's worth it.
m3rcier: But...
Garrett: um I think. Because he gets to do Battlecry twice. Aye. And I think the inspire is actually pretty. pretty useful. um, When you're really trying not to graze.
Garrett: I know you say that not in practice, but anytime I have some sort of buff that.
m3rcier: Awesome.
Garrett: increases my accuracy, it always comes into play for me.
Nick: Hmm.
Garrett: Mostly because I make really poor decisions. on on. on the field. And so when any time I've got a secret. plus two sits somewhere. It comes to my aid. But, no, I...
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: But the other thing is he's elite So the battle cry is great. There's so many units that it applies to around him.
Nick: Yeah, anything but your uniques, basically. And your Seeker, of course, which, again, when you run Sigryth, you have... you know you Warframe Commander can't command Sigroth, but...
Nick: Yep, so.
m3rcier: Yeah, I mean, I think i think he's gold. he yeah I mean, his armor's made out of gold. and he's carrying a gold standard. uh,
Garrett: Okay, now we're just now we're just lying. Because we don't know that.
m3rcier: Listen.
Garrett: We don't know it.
m3rcier: i Mean look at it it look at the art. It's gold. Maybe it's gold plated But it's still gold.
Garrett: It's... It's plates polished. It's polished.
m3rcier: But ah ah yeah, I mean, an elite battle cry, you can push your battle masters, you can push your true stones.
Nick: It's polished. polished
m3rcier: I mean, it's it's for me, it's about movement too. This guy helps your slow units that need to be up front. Get up front. Aspire 2 is great. Is it going to make a difference everywhere? No, but especially if, you know, a whole Vordenhall standing there, this guy can negate Vordenhall.
m3rcier: So you have a six a six cost. elite unit negating an ability from a seeker. Uh, and'll I mean, I'll take plus two. to my attacks all day because you know my dice aren't always all that great.
m3rcier: So I think he's gold. Plus, he has flavor text that I like. so you know more gold
Garrett: All right, all right. Alan, we need to rewind. we' we're so we're We're making some of these choices of cards off of some statistics. Where did we get these statistics from?
m3rcier: Yeah, hold on. let me I don't want to say is the name wrong. Uh... Hold on. I know I should have this. i didn't have it pulled up sorry
m3rcier: ah I know where to find him though. It is Josh.
Garrett: I thought I thought
m3rcier: of I'm sorry.
Garrett: Josh.
m3rcier: up is josh his name is josh he is the guy that runs malediction stats dot app I asked him earlier. So within three hours he got me the data I was looking for. I said, Josh. We have to do segments.
m3rcier: And I need to know. What are the least used cards in the game based on your database? So his database. is you know the data that's in his website. The cards we have are based on the percentages that they're used within the decks they're eligible for.
m3rcier: Okay. So if a card is like telekinesis. Uh, It's eligible for Polinor. Liana. More to Laundrielle.
m3rcier: So of those four seekers. He has 300 decks on record. Telekinesis is only in 151 of them. So we're we're we're using his stats to kind of pick cards out.
m3rcier: uh not the best not not exact stats but that's what we're kind of you know using as our reference to pick cards and we've focusing in on the cards that are used 30 or 50 % of the time.
m3rcier: could We figured that would be a good area to... to play in. Because some of these cards, you know... like i think warfront commander why Why is Warfront Commander not used more? Uh, If you ask Nick, it's because it's a shit card.
m3rcier: If you ask me or Garrett. These stats are wrong.
Garrett: Should be more. Okay, so so that was important because... My card. is seize the initiative. And it is in the... According to the statistics, the coaster zone.
Garrett: It's only in 4 .3 % of the decks. available.
m3rcier: Listen. I utterly hate this card.
Garrett: Yeah, okay, so listen listen
m3rcier: I've had someone...
Garrett: Hold on. Oh, this is my this is my car to calm down ah this
m3rcier: Go ahead. I'm taking your card. I hate this card so much.
Garrett: It's an easy initiative. Alright, it's a primal card. It's three points. It's an elite swift spell. uh it's as an opponent declares first player to activate on the round you may gain initiative and choose the first player to activate the stick. this card is Awesome.
Garrett: ah especially like for any primal deck. I think it's essential. It's crazy to me that people are not running this. ah Because... People are constantly bidding. expensive cards.
Garrett: And... For three points, you could potentially beat off like, you know. a nine or an eight or a seven. Uh... And you throw off their whole flow because they think they just got initiative. And then right when they're getting going, you just slap this thing down.
Garrett: the only thing that's annoying right is it can be stopped by you know, blue blue blue players. but Um. It's... It's great. It infuriates Nick whenever I use it.
Garrett: it's
m3rcier: oh
Garrett: It's good.
m3rcier: So Garrett's saying this is a coaster.
Garrett: It's gold.
m3rcier: Okay, gold.
Garrett: It's gold.
m3rcier: goals.
Nick: Gold.
Garrett: gold gold gold
Nick: Yeah. ah I... I... Man, I'm i'm torn. Um, I don't know that I would take Seize the Initiative in a private deck. Because...
Garrett: wild behavior. Wild.
Nick: it like Look, it costs three. And it gives you initiative. In a... Typical game, you're playing four to five, maybe six rounds. If you're playing primal, you're probably not making it six rounds.
Nick: um You know, you're playing. On. a few bids that are going to be really pivotal for your game. you don't you know You don't need to bid every turn. And so instead of having a card that just says, I get initiative.
Nick: You could just have like a five or six cost unit. or spell. That. you could just bid with. and get the initiative, deploy first, and and just have initiative.
Garrett: Yeah, but but this is guaranteed plan.
m3rcier: ah Do it the normal way.
Nick: Well, I get that. I get that. I get that i just...
m3rcier: It's...
Nick: It could be. It could be more...
m3rcier: to draw it.
Nick: it could It could be... You could, yeah, you could draw it and you could have this, instead of holding Seize the Initiative in your hand, you could just... have a different spell that could be flexible or useful to you in that moment. Or it can be a bid.
Nick: Um, And I think that's why we're not seeing Seize the Initiative. Very much. It's a neat card. It's like one of the only cards that interacts with the initiative token. Um,
Garrett: Wow, he he used the word neat. He used the word neat on me.
Nick: No.
Garrett: um
m3rcier: Meet me.
Garrett: Savage. Savage.
Nick: Yes.
Garrett: ah But I...
Nick: I just don't
Garrett: I think but I think but it it adds to the whole like ability to control your initiative because Either you're pulling this card. or you're pulling one of your nines or eights that are just sitting there you're pulling sestinar so you can throw it away Like you're going to get one of these cards.
Nick: Yeah, i just I'm just not sold.
m3rcier: Where?
Nick: I'm just not sold on it.
m3rcier: and Where are you going, Nick?
Nick: It's annoying and I hate it. It's annoying and I hate it.
Garrett: Us.
Nick: I just don't know if i could say i don't know if I can say it's gold.
Garrett: This is wild.
m3rcier: ah
Garrett: This is wild.
Nick: Don't know. Uh,
m3rcier: Uh...
Nick: Because it's really frustrating to to when it when it's it's as a thing it sucks when it's played on you But I just don't see myself building a deck with it.
Garrett: Well, Alan.
m3rcier: Well, Nick's got to say it. He's got to say one of the two words
Nick: I'm going to have to give it a coaster.
m3rcier: poster so
Garrett: dang
m3rcier: Yeah. I am, oh man. i I'm mixed here because I agree with Nick. However, I have had too many people play this card and steal initiative from me when I stole initiative from them with an 8 -9 point card.
m3rcier: ah And it infuriates me, and I hate this card more than any other card in the game other than Enforced Balance. So for that alone, I have to give it gold because while it may not be that great for a Primal player to have it in their deck,
m3rcier: Boy howdy does it piss me off when someone uses it on me.
Nick: No.
Garrett: All right, that's what I'm talking about. Two to one.
Nick: Man. This segment's going to be rough for me moving forward.
Garrett: being Beat up.
m3rcier: No, it's just for the cards we picked.
Garrett: Nick.
Garrett: Yeah, yeah.
m3rcier: I mean, I agree with Nick.
Garrett: Okay.
m3rcier: I think it... From a primal player, it is a coaster. But if someone who's had it played against me and I utterly hate that card, it is gold to use against me.
Garrett: Alright. All right. Next is, ah you know what it is? Hit it. Hit it, Alan.
m3rcier: Oh yeah.
m3rcier: Yeah. we Yes, we have we have Jason on every episode episode now just to do that, guys.
Garrett: Is it you? If you...
Garrett: Thank you, Jason. You're the community spotlight. Absolutely not.
m3rcier: Listen. It's not me. It is my... region. Uh...
Garrett: I'm going to go use the refresher as they say in Star Wars.
m3rcier: So we are we're running out of, I mean, the the community. Excuse me. The community is larger than just the content creators, the podcasters, the YouTubers.
m3rcier: the bloggers should some of those appear. Alright. It is the communities in our... in our in our regions, in our areas. So in addition to content creators, we're going to try and focus on the different regions that we can get some info on.
m3rcier: and the heralds of it. uh are trying to develop those regions so uh shamelessly just like garrett i'm gonna plug my region the Texas, Oklahoma.
m3rcier: ah New Mexico. region. We're going to add Arkansas in there as soon as I can convince Bodie. of But... we have a total of eight or nine heralds if you count uh the arkansas heralds with roughly 30 to 35 seekers.
m3rcier: covering Roswell, New Mexico, Oklahoma City. Love it, Houston. Dallas, Austin. ah you know cover the entire region. We have roughly 35 regular seekers. It fluctuates up and down. with eight or nine heralds.
m3rcier: You should give a shout out to him. Sikath is our Austin. There's another Alan. in the Dallas area. And then we have Christian. in Dallas, Katie in Houston.
m3rcier: And then I don't know. Cryptofan's name. He's from Lubbock. And then Ryan, or Father Nature, is from Oklahoma. And then Jaquel is from New Mexico.
m3rcier: uh and i love this he's from roswell new mexico the name of his store is alien city tabletop
Garrett: Hell yeah
m3rcier: I love it Uh,
Garrett: Yeah. Well, big thanks to all these heralds and all the hard work they put in. Except Alan.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: the one and The one in Houston, not the one not the nice one.
m3rcier: ah
Garrett: Not the Dallas one.
m3rcier: Yeah, they they're all doing a great job. ah You know, I'm i'm sure katie she has Katie has to deal with me, so she probably has the hardest job out of all of the Heralds and in our region.
m3rcier: Uh,
Garrett: Facts.
m3rcier: But our annual events, and I will be reaching out to some of the other heralds in the regions to find this stuff out, but our annual events. that we know of as right now of course our lone star open and warzone houston that we will have every year for the foreseeable future.
m3rcier: Uh huh. I'm running them this year. That doesn't mean I'll run them every year. Some some years I'll step back and let one of the other hales run them so I can play. But if you're another Herald, another region, I'm looking at you, Colorado, Utah.
m3rcier: The Kentucky area guys. uh I'll be reaching out to get info on. all the heralds in your area. uh you know kind of how many seekers you have and any annual or regular events you want to give a shout out you know we want to We want to spotlight our... communities. uh they're not necessarily ones they don't have to be ran by a herald it'd be great if you have a herald But if it's just a group of seekers.
m3rcier: Uh, know reach out to us i'll try and find you in discord you can shoot us an email We want to spotlight the community also, not just the content creators.
Garrett: Flannel. uh Do we have events that we need to talk about?
m3rcier: Well, we do uh so This will air on the 8th, so by then the trials with Everlast in September would have already started. Again, it's our... normal monthly three round tournament except for this time you'll be able to use reinforcement pack content because it's officially released So nothing super new there.
m3rcier: the big The big one. I would say for online play is. October, November, we're going to merge together. because later in November is holidays. People don't want to play except for in the US.
m3rcier: or It's going to be called the Veloma Grand Championship. It is going to be the capstone to all of the trials of the everlasting that we've had this year. So it'll be like the online annual championship.
m3rcier: It's going to be five Swiss rounds. And the winner walks away with $50 in store credits to the Malediction online store. I will have in the show notes, I'll have links to all of these events to the New Play Network so you can sign up.
m3rcier: The next one is... Sick half that Austin Herald I was talking about earlier He's running Learn to Plays at Millennium Con in Temple, Texas.
m3rcier: Harold Kavija. I think that's how you say the name is On September 19th, running a Clash tournament at The Forge in Chaska, Minnesota. I'll have a link to that.
m3rcier: On September 26th, we have three separate events across the country. I'm running a clash in Houston at Warzone. I don't know who the Herald is, but...
m3rcier: In Helsinki, Finland, they're having a Clash tournament. I'm not going to try and say the name or. yeah i'm not gonna i will butcher that but it's in helsinki finland i'll have a link to it and Then also on the 26th, we have that Black Knight Games. They're having their monthly September tournament.
m3rcier: That is ran by The Greatest Herald. Steve B. on the discords he has an amazing mustache and he is hilarious love the guy never met him in person but i love him uh And then the only other one is... Harold father nature or Ryan out of Oklahoma Wanted me to give a shout out. He's trying to plan an event for quarter four, probably be early November or early December, but he's trying to get.
m3rcier: People from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico. If Kentucky guys wanted to come over, you could. bit of a jaunt He just wanted to put out there he's going to have an event ready. He'll have more info later.
Garrett: Awesome. Okay, well, I think that's everything we wanted to say. Nick, do you have any passing final words?
Nick: It's passing. final words.
Garrett: I'm gonna say no. Alright, well I've been Garrett.
Nick: I've been Nick.
m3rcier: And I've been Alan.
Garrett: Okay, goodbye.
Nick: See y 'all
m3rcier: Yeah.
