(December 26th, 2016, 13:52)shallow_thought Wrote: I came across this while trying to decide if the Grey Man of Ben MacDhui counted as a ghost or not, and couldn't resist (and that research, in turn, was inspired by Brian's name for Bean a Sidhe and a childhood memory of a really scary book). Sometimes the Internet is a good thing.
Nice! Do you remember the name or author of the book by any chance?
Also, in reference to a previous comment, I suspect OSG-26 is the Bulrathi game you were talking about. We had a lot of fun with that one!
(December 26th, 2016, 13:44)RefSteel Wrote: Cool - I do like sniping barbs long before they reach my cities, but that's usually not a priority for me while I'm entangled in a hot war, as then I usually want units to reach the front ASAP and am probably building more units that can take care of the barbs if they wander too close. (There are always exceptions, naturally!)
Enough of my babble about tactics though; let's finish catching up on these cities:
The sixth and newest city in the empire is Brocken Spectre, and its location beside a lonely mountain standing high above the rainforest perfectly matches its name: Another quite wonderful type of ghost of which an example is captured here in a photograph(!) taken by Ramon & Conxi:
"And art thou nothing? Such thou art, as when
"The woodman winding westward up the glen
"At wintry dawn, where o'er the sheep-track's maze
"The viewless snow-mist weaves a glist'ning haze,
"Sees full before him, gliding without tread,
"An image with a glory round its head;
"The enamoured rustic worships its fair hues,
"Nor knows he makes the shadow, he pursues!"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Constancy to an Ideal Object
This is the first ghost we've encountered here that I'd never heard of before, so I had to do a little research, which was great! The name "Brocken Spectre," unusually for these ghosts, is mainly used by people who understand exactly what causes the phenomenon: An optical illusion resulting from backscattering opposite a light source and the way shadows ride billowing clouds, most commonly seen from mountaintops by hikers looking down out of sunlight into cloudbanks below. Local weather conditions make this a relatively common occurence on Brocken itself (a lonely mountain in Germany) but it also contributes to the legend of Am Fear Liath Mor, the Grey Man of Ben MacDhui, on a well-suited Scottish mountain, and can appear in various other locations - like the one in Spain where the photograph above was taken.
(Coleridge, the quoted poet, was obviously aware of the real nature of this phenomenon, but it should be noted that the full poem excerpted above could be read as though it were addressed to a ghost! He is also of course most famous for what amounts to a ghost story in rhyme - or rather, in Rime.)
I first encountered mention of the Brocken in the Michael Scott Rohan novel Cloud Castles where he used the various mythologies surrounding the mountain as a centrepiece to the action in it.
Travelling on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
(December 26th, 2016, 19:33)Brian Shanahan Wrote: I first encountered mention of the Brocken in the Michael Scott Rohan novel Cloud Castles where he used the various mythologies surrounding the mountain as a centrepiece to the action in it.
That sounds really neat! And it turns out I've got a copy in my library system, too. (Though it looks like the third in a series, so I may have to dig up the first two someplace first....) The research I did definitely suggests there are a lot of different myths built around Brocken, including something collected by one of the Grimms and several used by Goethe (most famously the author of the original Faust). I'd never heard of the place before, but it seems to be thick with folklore!
(December 26th, 2016, 19:33)Brian Shanahan Wrote: I first encountered mention of the Brocken in the Michael Scott Rohan novel Cloud Castles where he used the various mythologies surrounding the mountain as a centrepiece to the action in it.
That sounds really neat! And it turns out I've got a copy in my library system, too. (Though it looks like the third in a series, so I may have to dig up the first two someplace first....) The research I did definitely suggests there are a lot of different myths built around Brocken, including something collected by one of the Grimms and several used by Goethe (most famously the author of the original Faust). I'd never heard of the place before, but it seems to be thick with folklore!
Yeah, it's the third in the "Spiral" series (I think that was the name); stands alone if worst comes to the worst (I think I read them 3-1-2). Decent writer. Well worth digging his stuff up if you can (wasn't he the "Winter of the world" guy?).
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
(December 27th, 2016, 16:16)shallow_thought Wrote: Yeah, it's the third in the "Spiral" series (I think that was the name); stands alone if worst comes to the worst (I think I read them 3-1-2). Decent writer. Well worth digging his stuff up if you can (wasn't he the "Winter of the world" guy?).
He was indeed! My first thought for "Winter of the World" was Ken Follett (a very different type of writer) but of course there have been several books with that title, and Rohan wrote a trilogy of the name: The Anvil of Ice, The Forge in the Forest, and The Hammer of the Sun. (Er, when I said "My library system," I did mean mine - the one where I work the reference desk!) And I can indeed get Chase the Morning and The Gates of Noon (the first and second books in the Spiral series) sent to my home branch from a local university that has copies! Because libraries are wonderful.
I read the Winter of the World books ages ago. Remember liking them, but finding them somewhat depressing overall in tone/theme. Interesting world-building, though. I may have to track down the Spiral books as well, now that my curiosity has been piqued. (Now look what you've done! )
It's pretty rough, as I didn't take notes or screenshots as I went through, but there may be some lessons to learn from where my strategy and diplomacy went awry.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
(December 28th, 2016, 15:12)Brian Shanahan Wrote: Sorry bout the delay on this. Forgot to play last night, and at my aunt's 50th wedding anniversary tonight. Will play tomorrow.
No problem. I'd always assumed that people would have RL commitments over the Christmas period.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
Highlights are I got lucky with combat rolls outsite Xmas Present (killed 2 Gallics, 2 Chariots and 1 Axe for the loss of three chariots), but overemphasised the Boudica threat and lost the wheat at Christmas Past to a barb archer who suicided on a chariot ran up to near the city.
Izzy popped up on turn 100 and looked for a Hindu conversion. After about a minutes cogitating I took the offer. Izzy and Mansa are both Hindu and Boudica is Jewish (Mansa will go to war for 250 gold).
The iron landed on the north west coast near Cuman but in any way that culture from there will capture it.
Have added three (unnamed) workers to our corps, whipped one out of Bean a Sidhe for overflow into an axe. We can build up a corps of them if we want to take Gergovia.
Save attached, if I get a chance I'll post a report later this evening, if not tomorrow.
Travelling on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
![[Image: IMG_4101.jpg]](https://www.rmets.org/system/files/cloudbank/Jul/IMG_4101.jpg)
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