Gaining control over Singal - plans and ideas

We recently suffered many losses, and some of our brothers have disappeared. The Slavers control the slaves, and they are who we must face. If the populace sees us killing slaves, imagine what will be said about us. The Slavers are directly beside our chapter-house. I still think we need more preparation before taking on the Slavers.

i am not saying attack right now, but that they should be our first targets.

So you mean wait until our victory is assured, then strike? That, I can agree with.

we should in the mean time however, take steps to weaken them.

Discreetly freeing slaves is one way to do it. We should not announce our decision at first, however. Keep them wondering who's side we truly are on.

exacty, and start to poison the minds of those who are with them. maybe have some thugs assasinate some higher members of their brotherhood... or use the heretics we have in store to run a coup on them...

A devious plan. I like it. We may not even need to do that much. For our final stage of this operation, we should have multiple persons sneak into the slave quarters, free most/all of the slaves, and overturn the Slavers for good.

yes, i am sure freshly caught slaves will be overjoyed to slay their overlords if we supply the weapons.

We must take care to make sure they understand they cannot betray us....we must find a solution to that problem before the actual freedom.

tell them it is astreas will and those who fight proudly for us will be rewarded and taken in. thats a lot for men with no home or wealth.

That could work, but if they are in mind to, they could march onto Singal from the inside. All the people's wealth would be theirs.

I like the idea of pledging them to Astrea's will. They could be good fodder troops.

and who knows, there may be some with talent. it is rumoured after all that our own king rose from nothing...

And into nothing he may go, if he does not watch the other Knightly Orders. I do not trust some of them, some may be even more power hungry behind the curtains than we are.

The ones with talent will, of course, be recruited into our own special slave corps.

i dont trust the griffons. they are a bit too loyal for my tastes, and the silvermists are fuck puppets to the noldor.

It almost seems as if they are planning something...the Griffons, I mean. The Silvermists have always been and are Noldor puppets, however they did aid us in our battle.

that does not mean we should trust them. also, the griffons, and all the old baccus ones. if a claimint from the ancient empire came, they would undoubtadly betray us all.

According to Mordred around 25% of our members are secretly heretics. So 50 of our 200 knights and 75 of our 300 squires. I have not sent corrupted members north, so we still have all of them at our disposal.

After the casualties from the main event, we have 175 (180 with the 5 survivors) knights and 275 squires left. The king ordered us to go hunting with 100 knights (thanks again, Mordred ), though following how I supposed our troops are organized I would suggest sending 5 banners, meaning 49 knight brothers, 50 squires, lead by one knight captain.

One banner (10 knights and 10 squires) should be a heretical banner, giving us the chance to further our secret means in the north. I would suggest asking the king to allow us to build a small camp with wooden walls near Duty's rest, as hunting down the remaining Veccavi might take some time and 100 men need shelter. Maybe we can influence the construction of the monastery from there, including one or two secret entrances or a secret gathering room. If one of you would rather go north than participate in Singal, just say so.

That leaves us with 85 pure knights and 160 squires, 40 corrupted knights and 65 squires in the Area around Singal. We know have to decide what to do with those troops.


As we discussed things, these are the points with which I would like to start:

1. Use our network of heretics to gain intel on the city, its factions and the city council. Try to use our few followers among the nobility, merchants and slavers to put spies into our targets households.

(more or less passive activity, using the heretics of the city)

2. Ask the City council to allow the Eventide to regulate/take care of the slums around the chapter house. As the area is poor and neutral, they might agree to it. This will bind a considerable amount of our knights, until we have trained enough Ghilmen to take over these responsibilities, but it should be a clear sign to the King that the Eventide is trying to help the city's population. Also, when we command the forces watching over an area, we can still arrange for them to rarely visit certain locations, or simply be needed elsewhere when the heretics move. Remember, few of the Eventide know we are in league with the heretics, and few heretics are aware that their coven is secretly led by members of the Eventide. So this would be the ''official'' policy of the Eventide. If the council agrees we would start with a small area, policing bigger parts of the quarter as we grow in power.

Since we have to send 100 men north, I would suggest to put this on hold until we have trained Ghilmen. For now we would just enter negotiations with the City Council on this matter.

(0 knights for the moment)

3.Send a few of our corrupted knights (lead by Varys under an alias) into one of the other neutral areas of the city and start establishing our power base. I think it would be better to try to take over the neutral areas first, before we clash with the other factions, so that we can rely on enough resources and manpower. However, even then I would prefer it to settle matters silently and discretely. The less attention Singal draws to itself, the better. The knights we send will be disguised and not be recognizable as members of the Eventide. This anonymity has to be maintained at costs. Since very few people the knight's faces under their heavy helmets, few people will recognize them should one of our agents be caught. Still, we have to be very careful. I would suggest area 13 as our first target.

(Varys, 10 CK, 10 CS)

4. Invest a portion of our remaining wealth in ''relatively'' stable trades to slowly make some money. Protect our interest against bandits and ''rogue'' heretics (who not yet follow us). Establish one secure trade route to Sarleon and try to make money by offering merchants to travel with these specially protected caravans. This should both bring us wealth as well as appease the King.

(2 Banners, 20 Pk, 20 Ps, additional 20 Ps) [total: 60 men]

5. Start looking for an additional, relatively big building available near the chapter house to serve as barracks for the future Ghilmen. Also trying to find other needed personal; cooks, stable boys etc.

(20 pure squires)

6. Start looking for Emir Xerxes.

(Sir Malificar, 1 Banner (5 Pk, 5 Ps, 5 CK, 5 CS), additional 15 PS) [Total: Malificar and 35 men]

The slaughtered Veccavi army should have flooded the markets with cheap weapons. With the law of halves in place, weapons and equipment should be cheaper as it is, since the lords have less men to equip. Since the Eventide marched home with the army, they should know exactly what happened to the weapons and to whom they were sold. This should suffice to arm the first Ghilmen (and maybe additional heretics in case of an emergency) without consuming too much of our money.

(Both the troops travelling north as well as the caravan guards once they wait in the cities for the merchants to finish their business.)

7. Send heretic emissaries to other heretic covens and brigand bands to gain intelligence on their positions, strength and opinion about Azlanek's coven.

(Something the heretics should be able to do alone.)

8. Send out pure Knights of the Eventide to fight the criminal forces around Singal. Arrange that especially those bands who oppose the cabal of the twisted heart are found by the knights.

(30 Pk, 40 Ps, lead by 5 Ck and 10 Cs) [Totally 85]

9. Remaining in the Chapterhouse until further notice

(10Pk, 40 Ps, 10 Ck, 40 Cs, additional 10 Ck as personal guard of the Grandmaster) [Total: 110]

Please let me know what you think and check my Math. I maybe have lost track of the exact numbers while moving them around.

I believe your math is correct, and that sounds splendid.


OOC: Should I make a thread about my part? Or should I just post in this thread?

i would rather switch out all my pure knights for corrupted knights, but this seems good too. also, should we not also hire some bandits to raid the enterprises of those who oppose us? and also how about hiring some assasins or a rival gang to start fighting the slavers?

Too soon if you ask me. And I fear we are short on corrupted knights. Since your mission is more for our official appeal, you should be able to use the pure knights as well.

Let's just start and see how it goes. If you are otherwise okay with the post, one of you can post it in the city of Singal post. That is where Mordred wants our official moves.

As already said, I am off for the night. Have fun.

Dowpride, since you asked for specific instructions, but already gathered your knights to ride off, I just post it here:

Your mission is to try to find and capture Emir Xerxes. He is to be taken alive at all costs, since a carcass would probably do us little good in pleasing the king. Take along according weaponry from the armoury.

Remember that the hunter can always become the prey, if he is not careful. You will try to follow his trail, but we know little about his current resources and alliances. Should you at any point feel that you and your men are not up to the task, return so Singal immediately. Regular reports to Singal are expected, so that it is always known where you are and where you are heading.

Know your strengths, but be aware of your weaknesses. Let your brothers assist you in the questioning and investigating, let them sooth people and persuade them with friendly words if that is what it takes. The success of the mission is more important than personal glory (you will of course rp all of those knights)

Always wear the mask of righteousness, for your behaviour during the hunt will fall back on the order. This is meant to improve our standing with the king, not make it worse.

Mordred, we have posted our plans (and know that you are busy and it might a few days to respond). Should Dowpride and Varys already create posts for their characters or shall we just wait until you had time to look it all over? We are just a little unsure how exactle things will proceed from here.

Edit: Oh, and is there a way to observe Aranor crawling around the City via magical means. It would mean so much to Azlanek .
2nd Edit: Are the new recruits available right away, or should we wait for the next round before using them?

They are available now.

I know you posted the opening moves, I will deal with them when I get a chance.

Okay guys. Ideas where to put our new forces?

Sadly, I am once again off for the night, but feel free to dicuss it.

Are our recruits pure or corrupted? Do we corrupt new knights over time, or are they simply corrupted from the start?