It's yer handy tactics boy here again.

Kay, this is here because a lot of people've felt kinda out of the loop, wondering what's going on, why there's a bunch of really rusty looking gears hanging out on their doorstep and then asking for vodka before trying to shoot em. And since I'm abrasive enough to not care about making sweeping stereotypes like that I guess I'll be the one to do the same rundown that got given out last night in a couple of forms.

Oh yeah.. uh game spoilers and stuff.

Right now we've got Nortune pairing up with Shevat to face off against Solaris and Aveh. No wait, this is actually decent.

So pretty much.. from what I understand a few people wanted plot to move on and stuff, but that couldn't be done because this is a Muck and there gotta be some considerations for new players and not cutting off the future plots. What we have on here ain't a reinactment of XG, we know that. We kinda have to follow the game without following it and as a result we've tried to keep struggling along with the Pirates vs. Solaris for what is it? Two years now right?

That's a pretty long time. Everyone's kinda tired of it and barely remembering their Xenogears I'm betting. And we've hit the roadblock of not really being able to give back Aveh because of a bunch of logistical reasons, and yknow some people don't want to throw the GA-GS outta Dazil, and others want to be able to drive around the desert still. So we do a compromise.

Nortune hasn't gotten barely any action and Shevat's doing that whole Sinning Hermit thing pretty well up there. Some of the Solarians weren't happy about being called evil and attacked all the time, and man, the Pirates sure can't be too happy with having the do the same ol' tired fight over and over again against the same people.

Besides icly the Ministers haven't been able to do jack about Deus right? (no dont hit me again minister ow) There's been no success in hauling out the Anima/Animus and that's just no good. So because they're plotting types it's pretty logical to just switch tactics. Yeah, make friends with the pirates and try to do some sort of peaceful golden age because the Animus'll get drawn to the Contact and maybe they'll get yanked out of hiding with peace instead of war. If something keeps failing you change tactics, easy enough. And hey, everyone knows Bart has Andvari who really wants to get an Omnigear against them? Better to make friends with em because yknow what? The Ministers don't even have a beef against the pirates specifically I'm betting, they just want Deus.

Shuffle the cards a little. Nortune gets a big idea in the Kaiser's head and that's why he's been gone lately, gone off plotting this up.

Pretty much Nortune/Shevat's gonna be the new adversary for a while now coming up. Peace between Solaris and Aveh is good and works and takes the focus away from the eternal battle between em that got boring and no one was happy. It changes the playing field a little, gives people a chance to have good ol' shootouts without Domi writing up more reasons why Solarians are Americans and have cool toys. Least we'll have shootouts when troops get out there oocly. Hold onto that thought.

We all know Nortune has a survival rate of pretty much zero when going against Solaris let alone Aveh. When the two pair up it's even worse. So Nortune sees they're at the short end of the stick and gets Shevat to be its floating pairoff and help it out with tech while it helps it with resources that it needs. Nortune takes Lahan. This's also to try and give Fei a reason to do and icly it can draw Fei outta hiding, up to you if you think it's ooc motivation or ooc/ic. Gotta get a Fei for that but okay. Gotta get a Rico too, that's part of why this is going on. Go app Rico. Last I heard he's still in prison again on D Block waiting an execution order.

Nortune hangs out in Lahan and draws up the fighting borders at Blackmoon Forest and the eastern edge of Nisan's beachline. Natural resources and barriers are fun and tasty too.

Plus Nortune has a bunch of surprises up its sleeve. They have to. Otherwise it's pretty much obvious suicide to just go against Solaris like that especially by yanking out the Empress and the head of Krel's guard. Well Kislev's got.. lesse, an okay military but nothing much, lots of manpower troops but again they're at a disadvantage for an invasion because the nomads/aveh guards are gonna be on home turf in a hostile climate. They got a really young general with a ponytail that sets itself on fire but who can do tactical navigations in her sleep and predicts hostile troop movements like an oracle. They've got a big ol' submarine and people who look exactly like the Yggdrasil crew, which can run around in Aveh and Nisan pretty much and smear the pirates' reputation. Then again they're pirates so hey.

So Nortune's got a heck of a lot of immunity right now because Solaris's trapped itself in needing the parts for Deus. Do they know that? Maybe they do, maybe they don't but sok. Also Solaris can't nuke Nortune outta the sky entirely right now because the balance of world power in order to solidify peace with Aveh demands a foreign country, esp one that's got traditional hostilities with Aveh. (Ministers did it in the game because of the Contact I'm pretty sure not because Nortune was just good for a BBQ. Mebbe I'm wrong, dunno.. probably I'm wrong. Eh if I am I'm not gonna replay the thing just for that and the point still stands for political purposes anyway).

Solaris kinda has to tolerate Nortune doing this and shutting them out even if it means they tear their hair out a few times over it. Gotta let the world spit out Animas and also keep the intent of the public happy by bringing peace for now in Aveh regions and stuff.

Solaris's miltiary force is also tied up right now in protecting Nisan. It's the symbol of peace and Jasper's there so Solaris pretty much has it as their token ground turf right now. It's good, we like resources and it means the Soylent levels can start to go down (see we're not really bad we're just underresourced. So give us yer land and we'll get better) because that's just an embarrassing thing to try and explain. Solaris can hang out anyway there and let Bart show off his stuff as a ruler in Aveh while his advisors lend a hand, Aveh has the ground troops which complement the air resources of Solaris. So like it or not Solaris can't really move from Nisan without it being a politcal backtracking of their claims for peace.

But Nortune's immunity doesn't extend to Shevat. If Nortune didn't have Shevat then Solaris would just have to nuke em though, political statement and all and a message to people who'd just randomly try and mess with higher government during negotiations. But Shevat's there so it's moot. Shevat sacrifices a huge portion of its defenses by staying in one place but it gains it back in resources and the Nortune defenses too. Shevat's defensive shields are dumped over Nortune's upper skies and the sensors on the floating city are set to pick up hostile movements in. (Why did Shevat also decide to move? Not just because it was threatened by Aveh going out with Solaris but also because the Ethos restructured itself and the Solarian influence in Aquavy near Babel was strengthend. Y'know, all these things tie in together.)

Why not just shoot it outta the sky? Well there's this big ol mirror that Zephyr's been dropping on people left and right over public remember? Babel isn't exactly open to people visiting if you read the sign outside and there's this big hole in the side of it right now. Oh yeah and gravity or something *reads notes just handed to him* I'm not smart enuf for this, go ask someone else about that. But yeah. Pretty much you got a whole set of really delicately balanced conditions that have to sort of sit back and set up the field for other stuff to show up. Gotta have certain climates for things to happen.

Oh yeah, and there's the whole Krelian vs. Zephyr and various people's plot historys and some hefty Deus plot going on and hey even personal plot I guess. But this's just setting the stage for other stuff to go on. Gotta do something with humanity it's just not measuring up yet. See no one can get annihilated just yet without destroying a link in the balance of the world power that's currently helping to drag Deus out as well as breaking out of the conditions that are just hindering growth/change in various countries.

Far as I know, the team that got together to try and throw this together took like a month outta their own ooc time to try and think of everyone. I know I was there for some of it and drawing on napkins. Have a little faith guys. You were represented yknow, have a little faith in people who're trying to come up with things for everyone. Get some faith.

Okay and just in case no one feels informed. I don't think ANY of us know wtf's going on with anything going on yknow? Only people I figure might have a chance are Domi and Luc but they spend none of their time doing anything else and this is like a job for em not fun. And one's graduating and the other's sick (wave wave heya you two sup?) so we've all got stuff going on. Don't take it personally if you didn't get the whole detailed rundown, we'll all playing hopscotch trying to catch up to each other. And if you have any hefty comments about things on this list like why you think the whole thing's a load of mud then do a favor and like note me or Domi or Luka or Liete or Bart or.. yeah everyone instead of starting up a debate on here that'll cause everyone headaches. Believe me, can't say it enough when I say that whatever it is it's probably already been worked out and I just forgot to explain it on here cuz I didn't feel like it. Let's note each other. Notes're cool. Yeah. So are chocolate milkshakes.. kay, I did my analysis now time to go out and get some sun and fresh air.

By Asher on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 08:18 pm:

Thank you kindly, info-master Har. I'm in your debt, for certain.