(June 1st, 2014, 23:25)Lord Parkin Wrote: It works! Thanks so much.
Was worried the game wouldn't load properly changing the DLL partway through, but it seems to be fine.
New DLLs only break saves if they change the amount of data that is stored or loaded, as old saves would then lack info the game was expecting. That hotfix only fixes the update-unit logic to check whether or not a unit exists before trying to give it a promotion .
(May 26th, 2014, 04:03)Qgqqqqq Wrote: I'm also looking at updating the civilopedia a little.
Wellll ... it's not about a unit, hero, building, or Wonder, but I did write something that could be used to fill an empty 'pedia entry.
What happened is: I started a single-player game of EitB to learn a little about the way it works. My random leader was Kandros Fir, my first random contact the Balseraphs, shortly followed by the Elohim, and soon thereafter ... wait, what's a Volanna? Apparently she's Svartalfar because her lines are all cribbed from Faeryl ... and for some reason that makes me sad. I check her 'pedia entry next, and ... "TXT_KEY_LEADER_VOLANNA_PEDIA."
This just seems wrong. Volanna is Shaka of the Dark Elves, and she rides a giant panther! She ought to have more background than "One of Faeryl's lieutenants from that one scenario" and more personality than "Eh, she's Svart."
So I ... uh ... wrote something. It's a bit longer than say Chapter 2 of the Beltane Cycle (though not nearly as long as Chapter 4) so let me know if you'd like me to try trimming it down.
Volanna Pedia Entry Wrote:Another successful hunt, and the Winter Court would eat richly once more, but Volanna barely acknowledged the cheers and praise of her peers at the city gates as her huntresses and Nyxkin carried in the kills. Game was growing ever more scarce, she had to lead her hunting bands ever farther to find adequate food, and as countless moons waxed and waned without even a hint of spring, the winter was only growing deeper. As she rode to her stable-grove, groomed and fed her great war panther - tasks she would leave to no other's hand - she pondered the signs she'd seen, seeking solutions or hope at least, and trying to think of ways without risk to her life and her band's of bringing such advice as she had to the attention of the Winter Queen.
She sang her war panther to sleep, crouched close beside it in the low branches of its favorite tree, her hands in its fur, a ritual to which she had trained it herself as a symbol and deepening of its trust and loyalty. Returning home, she bathed in icy water, in part to preserve a tiny portion of the city's dwindling firewood supplies, but in greater part to keep herself from going soft, from longing too much for the city. Her place was in the wilds, leading her huntresses and Nyxkin, and she had to be always ready to ride forth again. She looked askance at the gaudy court attire laid out for her by a servant, and much later, when a polite knock sounded at her door, the messenger had to be kept waiting while she finally, reluctantly draped herself to meet him. Her body no longer minded the cold; she had grown used to it. All she had bothered to do with the clothes before the messenger arrived was to carefully go through them in case of hidden needles or worse. She knew what it meant to be back in the city.
The messenger bowed to the floor, his forehead touching the flagstones of her doorstep, but Volanna only wondered what he would be reporting, and to whom, once he left her presence. She thanked him, not knowing whether to dread or rejoice in the opportunity, when he informed her she was summoned at a private hour that evening to speak with Faeryl Viconia, the Winter Queen.
*
Volanna stepped into her monarch's presence and went down at once to a knee, bowing almost as far as the messenger had done on her doorstep. In long-schooled tones of deepest respect, she said, "I obey your summons, Majesty."
Queen Viconia strode to her side, apparently alone though a dozen archers and assassins might have been within easy reach in case Volanna wished to do her harm, and said, "Rise, Commander Volanna, Chief of my Nyxkin, and walk with me."
Volanna followed obediently, beside and half a step behind the Winter Queen, alert to danger but seeking an opening to offer something - some advice or hint of the coming danger - to her Queen. Her voice calm and teasing as ever, eschewing the royal we and concealing any hint of her true emotions, Faeryl Viconia remarked, "You must feel popular, Volanna. Don't let it go to your head."
The blood froze in Volanna's veins. It could only be a warning - or worse perhaps, a prelude to wielding her as a political tool. If the Queen thought she smelled even a hint of rivalry, Volanna was grateful even to learn of it before the knife came in the night, but she knew that if so, the only reasons she had been extended this courtesy were the skill with which she led work vital to the court's survival - and the very fact of her popularity. Hoping desperately to head off either dread possibility, Volanna insisted, "The meat I bring is popular. The reflected glory I seem to wear is all from bringing it, and lasts only so long as I continue to go forth and bring it home. It would fade away like the vapor of breath were I to remain in the city."
Faeryl Viconia met her eyes with the dangerous, teasing smile that had won and broken so many hearts - and stopped nearly as many, just one of many possible distractions she used to conceal the faint taste of poison or the silent motion of a knife. "Perhaps so," said the Winter Queen. "Would you tell me that their fleeting love does not please you, then?"
Carefully, praying that the faint hope of an opening she saw might be more than an illusion, Volanna answered, "It surely would, but that I fear for them lest I someday fail to bring all that they need. It grows ever more difficult to find game, and we must travel ever further afield to track any at all. Unless we can spread a wider net or find ways to subsist on less..."
The Winter Queen moved her head, the barest fraction of an inch, and Volanna fell silent, terrified lest she had displeased her monarch, made herself seem more expendable, or both. Yet the Svaltalfar must survive, and it was unthinkable to Volanna to play at politics with her Queen when the survival of all their people might lie balanced on a knife's edge. Softly, softly, in the same teasing voice as ever, Faeryl asked, "Did you think this unknown to me?" She flashed her beautiful, teasing smile, more dangerous than a serpent's fangs. "Every hunting trip takes longer to return than the one before, and no huntings bands but yours are now still worth the cost to outfit them. We need to seek out other possibilities." Again the smile. "Or do you think you're different? Perhaps alone, without a whole Court to feed, you and those loyal to you would thrive better in this winter world."
Volanna sank to a knee once more, bowing her head above clasped hands. "My queen, if it were so, I could not abandon our people. I could not abandon you. So long as it is in my power to help, I..."
"Volanna," the Queen teased, haughty, "is it for you to tell me what you can and cannot do?" Before Volanna could muster an answer, Faeryl Viconia went on, "If you would please your Winter Queen, you'll go back to find the places where good game is not so scarce, but this time follow the trail instead of bringing the scraps back here. Find a place where the endless winter is milder and our needs will not dry up on us, and ready the ground for us to join you there." She winked and teased, "Well, Commander? Will you tell me now you can't do this for me?"
No answer was possible - none at least could be permitted - and so Volanna said only, "I obey, my Queen."
*
Eight full moons had waxed and waned in their ride away from the city before Volanna told of the mission on which they were truly bound. She surveyed the group she had assembled, their loyalty and trust in her forged, tempered, and hardened to steel in battles' heat and the endless winter's cold. She had disposed of two assassins among them who had tried to act in the first month of the journey, when they thought she was unprepared, when they supposed the watches she set had been meant only to watch for danger from outside the camp. There had been no other attempts, but Volanna had dealt with three separate sleeper agents of the Winter Queen since then. In the city, in spite of her training, indispensible to a Commander or indeed an officer of any rank, she felt surrounded and uncertain, unprepared for assassination or betrayal that might strike from any side. Here though, she was in her element: No secrecy, no promises, no loyalty purchased at any price, from the confines of the Court and the city, could survive a moonspan in the wilderness under Volanna's watchful eyes.
The first she told was Lyrae, her chief huntress, who approached with another report, much the same as the last. "The woodlands, where they stand at all, remain more fruitful than the icy plains, but there is no trail to follow to temperate climes. As far as can be told or known, in all directions, game is scarce and growing scarcer, dwindling with the snow-choked plants of this frozen land. There is no distant place with less-punishing weather; there are only the wilds, with game here more plentiful only because we are far from the home of any hunter but ourselves, and so what little is here has not as yet been despoiled."
"I know it, Lyrae," Volanna answered. "I have known it, as I think the Winter Queen herself knew, all along. If by a miracle there somewhere lies a place of mild winter, then by all means let us find and claim that land, but I doubt if we shall find it, for I doubt if it exists, and while we search, in vain or not, we have a greater task."
The huntress Lyrae stirred, not with the discomfort that would have taken her in Court when she was forced to swallow disagreements with ranking courtesans there, but with the passion of her knowledge. "Shall we be required then to also bring down the moon for her, and stars to light her bedchamber? All while proving ourselves against such tests-in-name as agents sent to betray us from our midst? The winter grows colder everywhere, the game more scarce, not less. Ere long, it will be task enough for us to survive in these frozen lands."
Volanna set a calming hand on Lyrae's upper arm, a gesture that would have been almost unthinkable in Court. Lyrae met her Commander's eyes, and drew a steady breath, her passion soothed almost at once by the familiar sense of kinship that she found there. Softly and with sorrow, Volanna answered, "It shall indeed be task enough, and that is why it is our task. Not alone are we endangered by the freezing of the land, for the Court itself long since now has run out of lesser cities from whose stores to steal, whether by stealth or tax. Its own stores are depleting, most of all now that we're gone. Ere long now, should this winter hold, they shall be forced to scatter to the wilds, and leave the over-hunted wastes that now surround their city, in packs like ours that stand a chance at least of finding food enough to keep the few in each small pack alive."
Lyrae looked out across the snow, toward the distant horizon, far beyond which lay the Winter Court and the city that served it still. "We could have helped them," she told Volanna. "Were it not for our Queen's orders, we could help them still. We could teach them the secrets of the wild lands and of survival, train them to do without the luxurious habits they now suppose are necessities, prepare them for the cold and the hunger of the trail, the joy and the skills of the hunt, and one by one help them form among themselves the bonds of trust and true loyalty that are as necessary to survival in the wilds as they are impossible to form or prove in Court within the city." She turned and met Volanna's eyes. "Could we not return in secret, and help them still? We could find their other hunters, far beyond the city's reach, and train them to the pitch of our own abilities, train them to teach the Court in turn and all the people of the city!"
A moment passed in silence - the pure silence of the wilds when every sound is muffled by the snow. At last, Volanna whispered, "I feel my heart crack to know it, but we cannot now return. The other hunters cannot stray beyond the city's reach, for they are of the city's reach themselves. If even one returns, our Queen will soon enough know all, and even if we turn them all, and all stay with us in the wilds, we steal from our own people the best guides still left to them."
Lyrae nodded soberly, sadly looking down. "I fear I see your meaning. No matter how we seek to aid them, it may seem to our Queen's courtly eyes a mere move in her great political game - perhaps even a prelude to revolution. So we continue on our mission as though there were hope of success - continue and survive as best we can?"
"It is where every one of us, hunter, Courtesan, mage, and Queen, must soon turn all our strength." Volanna turned her steady eyes on Lyrae. "It may yet be that none of us shall see another spring. We, the hardiest, starting soonest, the most skilled in all the ways of this snowy wilderness, are the best hope left for Svaltalfar survival. There is nothing more important than preserving that best hope."
With another grim nod, Lyrae murmured, "I wonder if our Winter Queen would agree."
Volanna perked one ear at the distant cry of a hawk - but she knew no hawk had made that sound; she knew the crier by voice and name, and knew the call meant all was well to the south, with no further sign of frostlings. As her attention returned, she asked Lyrae, "And yet how could she not? Some at least must be preserved of all her people, come what may, and surely she would say so and agree, 'tis better that our band survive than none of us at all if ever we reach that point of misery. What's more, I think our Winter Queen herself a true survivor, and if it comes to that and any from the city ever reach us to survive with us in distant lands, I know the one to reach us would be she."
Lyrae shifted in the snow and pursed her lips. "No doubt we'll make it easier on her," she answered. "If once we learn our people are scattering from home, striking desperate into the wilderness, then at least we may find and teach such of them as we can find and who separately are willing to learn. And perhaps hidden in some such group, we'll find the Winter Queen, and she will greet us as her friends and subjects, all else having failed." She met Volanna's eyes again and a fire seemed to burn behind them. "Perhaps she shall. What then? Hand over the reins of your panther steed and let a pampered daughter of royalty rule us all, spreading her special Courtly brand of betrayal and jealousy? Will our band then live longer than the Court she rules today - the court from which she exiled those who best could teach its people to survive?"
At first, Volanna could not answer; she long had felt herself free of the Court and its baelful influence, deep in the wilderness that she knew, where she was strong, but she discovered of a sudden, by the burning light of the fire in Lyrae's eyes, that she was free indeed as she had never been before. She drew a long, deep, cleansing breath, and looked around her camp with pride and pleasure and new eyes. She knew each huntress, each Nyxkin, even each still-surviving manservant, more deeply than any mere Courtesan cared - apart from their political weaknesses - to know anyone at all. When at last Volanna's eyes returned to Lyrae, they shone with the light not of fire but of her smile. "Then, chief huntress Lyrae," she answered finally, "Then I think we shall find out, in this time and in this place, in this camp among our people, who holds the right to rule the Svartalfar."
(One thing I like here is that the story secretly admits of many scenarios: If Faeryl is in the game but Volanna is not, perhaps she missed a sleeper agent after all! In the opposite case, it looks like Volanna and Lyrae were right. If both are in a game, then with the ending of the Age of Ice, the political dance resumes ... except that now Volanna has a power base that matches Faeryl's own! And in the Sundered Court scenario, the Age of Ice has ended, and with the long dearth ended at last, Faeryl has proven she can hold her Court together and keep her people alive after all; Volanna and her following, no longer a threat to Faeryl since the people's need for their skill at hunting is less dire in milder weather, bow to her right of rule and are accepted into her Court once more. None of which is to say that, after the scenario is over, they won't be secretly plotting to cut each other's throats at the first opportunity. They are Svartalfar after all!)
But wait, there's more! Remember, what got me started on this in the first place was seeing a stranger speak Faeryl's lines. I know single player isn't really the point of EitB, but even so, in case you're willing to add a few lines of text to an XML file for her...
Volanna Accepting Diplo Wrote:Though we take what we need, this at least we can spare for the convenience that you offer.
Volanna Declaring War Wrote:You have shown your true stripes; run now, for this time you are my prey.
Volanna to One who Refused her Demand Wrote:You failed that test, [CT_NAME]. It was unwise of you. I do not say to watch your back, for even if you try, it won't avail you.
Volanna Demanding with Equal Power Wrote:Are you worthy of the trust we share, so needful to our peace? Then give me proof more tangible than merest promises.
Volanna Demanding with Greater Power Wrote:I seek everywhere for prey except among my loyal servants. I ask but this as proof that you are mine.
Volanna Demanding with Lesser Power Wrote:Do not imagine you can take us by surprise; we all are too familiar with betrayal. You cannot deceive us with mere pretty words of peace; give this instead as proof that they are real.
Volanna Making First Contact Wrote:What have we here? A loyal hunter come to bow and serve? Or game that thinks itself a predator?
Volanna Declaring No Deal is Possible Wrote:You might try to make an offer for the Winter Throne itself with such temerity. There is nothing you possess that I would take for what you seek.
Volanna Angrilly Declaring No Deal is Possible Wrote:By what right do you even ask? We claim what we need on our own behalf, and you have nothing meaningful to offer.
Volanna Greeting a Visitor Wrote:I grant you welcome to my realm. What bring you here to offer me this night?
Volanna Angrilly Greeting a Visitor Wrote:Think carefully before you speak; if you won't bend your knee, then the price may be your head.
Volanna Refusing Peace Wrote:So may the captive woodmouse beg peace of the hunting cat. You are my prey, and words avail you not.
Volanna Accepting Peace Wrote:It is well, for now at least. The world holds other threats and other prey.
Volanna Responding to Peace on First Contact Wrote:You know your place then, or so say your words, but know that I will watch your every move.
Volanna Refusing to Talk Wrote:It's far too late for words, my prey. Begone now, or you perish at my feet.
Volanna Rejecting Diplomacy Wrote:If you would approach again, bring something of value to give me. I have no further patience for your begging.
Volanna Thanking a Diplomat Wrote:Better this than honeyed words; you have done well, [CT_NAME]. I trust you'll soon return with further signs of loyalty.
And just to differentiate her AI flavor a bit more from the Winter Queen:
Proposed AI flavor changes for Volanna Wrote:Favorite Civic: Apprenticeship
Favorite Wonder: Tower of Eyes
(...and hey, why not, if - and only if - these kinds of changes can easily be made too...)
Can be bribed to declare against another civ only below: Pleased
Will declare war only below: Friendly
Demand weight: 10 (or whatever the maximum liklihood of making demands happens to be)
Special refused-demand penalty (a'la Catherine).
She's much more likely to make war on her own behalf than to submit to a bribe and fight for another, and she values loyalty but (true to her Svart heritage perhaps) thinks everyone owes it to her, and tests it constantly....
I hope this helps some. If I have time, I'll look at some of the blank 'pedia entries you listed too (and write them some, um, shorter entries.) (I'll post them here as I write them if I do, to make sure I don't duplicate efforts with Bob or anyone else who's interested.)
Lunatic Wrote:"If I am mad, it is mercy! May the gods pity the man who in his callousness can remain sane to the hideous end!"
- H.P. Lovecraft, The Temple
And one more that I spent the time to research instead of making one up from whole cloth: Unfortunately, we'll probably have to use...
Valkyrie Wrote:Southward we ride, witnesses to victory,
Contending armies on every side;
Heroes in battle and heroes now fallen:
We lead to Valhalla the victorious dead!
- Richard Wagner, The Valkyries
(Translation by Google, interpretted to ~verse by me. I'd rather use lines from some of the original sagas than Wagner's chorus, but I can't find any that really feel like they match the FfH Valkyrie unit. My best attempt is in spoilers below.)
Valkyrie Wrote:Now the terrible blood-red clouds
Descend upon the horizon;
Behold the sky drenched in warriors' blood
As we sing our battle-cry!
- Njal's Saga: The song of the Valkyries
(Translation is my interpretation from various more-exact but mutually-inconsistent translations around the web.)
Thanks, Q! I just now edited three or four words in Volanna's story (I once misspelled Nyxkin and wanted to make a couple other lines a bit clearer) by the way, but I promise to leave it alone now.
As for Njal's Saga, good point! I'd actually much rather use that one if you think it fits the idea of the FfH Valkyrie. My amateurish translation/interpretation of the Wagner is probably more grating to a German speaker than my English version of the lines from Njarl's Saga would be even to a modern Icelandic speaker anyway, in spite of the fact that I took even more creative liberties with the latter than the first.
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