u/Useful-Option8963

I am sorry for how I conducted myself during this, after sleeping on this for a bit, I realize that for how annoyed I felt during all of the "but the Armenians already have 3rd class archers: Caucasian Archers!" I don't think I really took enough time to properly explain the issues I have with them, and for that, I am sorry, too, as I should've taken more care into giving you a properly structured argument. I realize now that I probably did come off as fairly demanding and maybe a little bit rude, but I'm going to try to correct that in as succinct and extensive way as possible so that any confusion would be cleared up on this. I will also try to address all of the arguments that everyone else had brought up to me.

The naming terminology is honestly my biggest issue with this, every archer unit on the entire map has either their own specific archers unique to them, like the Cretans or Rhodians, or have their own culturally generic ones, Greek, Thracian, Celtic, Germanic, etc. This goes for all the ranged units, also, except for Armenia's 3rd class archers. The Spartans have helots and Skiritai, but those are clearly their slaves and one of their most historically powerful allies, the Epirotes have Akarnanian Slingers, who were one of the Greek tribes that made up their kingdom, these "uniques" as a Civ player would call them are clearly their own people or very closely aligned.

Now, instead of being named after themselves, the Caucasians are the only ones filling that role of 3rd class archer, as if they're completely favoring Caucasian mercenaries over the bowmen in the rest of their domain. It makes it look like favoritism for foreigners in a culture that absolutely would've had their own lower class bowmen able to serve! Their name in combination with their unit description only stating that their origin is "Hardy men levied from the Caucasus" makes it look like they're not Armenians living in the lands they hold in the mountains, but are Caucasians themselves, foreigners, and I just don't think it plausible that an Eastern Faction wouldn't have their own peasant archers that they could call to war, I mean, the bow and arrow is an indespensible part of the Easterner's kit both historically and the game. No other unit in their roster that explains where they came from specifically names the Caucasus, other than the Caucasian Spearmen.

Armenian Highlanders: "Fierce warriors from the Armenian highlands..."

Armenian Javelinmen: "Levied from the hamlets and villages across the Armenian steppe..."

Armenian Skirmisher Cavalry: "...well suited to the mountainous home of the Armenians"

Armenian Horse Archers: "Armenia, despite its rugged geography, is a land of rich meadows and is able to support cavalry in great numbers"

Who are they supposed to be? Are they Armenian Archers levied from the Caucasus or Caucasians taking up the bow for a foreign king? Going by the logic of the Caucasian Spearmen then I believe it's only natural to assume the latter and question the "absence" of a "native" Armenian Archer unit from the roster. This apparent "gap" becomes all the more jarring when the Heavy Archer is taken into consideration, as these guys are unquestionably native.

As for the argument that the Armenians were "technically" Caucasian or that they were primarily a Caucasian people, no, they weren't, the both of them were their own unique peoples and were sister nations, and while their influence certainly extended into the Caucasus, if anything the Caucasians could be considered an extension and culturally continuous with the Urartan Kingdom which both they and the Armenians descended from. The vast majority of the Armenian's own homeland was the Easternmost Hills, Steppe, and meadows of Anatolia to the West of the region, they were neighbors to a lot more Anatolians than they were Caucasians, their subjects for starters, the Sophenes, Lesser Armenians, and Kardukoi, as well as the Medians. The two lands and two peoples are distinct enough for both to have their own units and aesthetics.

I believe I've explained every problem I have with this unit as succinctly and fairly as possible, and I want to take the opportunity to, again, apologize for any misbehavior on my part during this incident. @Kam, I am sorry for saying that the answers you were given me were annoying, but you did respond to multiples of my comments with that exact same answer, which doesn't excuse my part in this, I'm just explaining why I felt annoyed. And I am sorry for the needless drama this has caused.

Except for that guy who accused me of trolling, seriously, I may not have behaved the best, but I will not tolerate people saying I'm coming from a place of insincerity or mockery with this sub when I have been nothing but earnest and genuine even if my conduct was bad.

EDIT: Why are Schizos downvoting my post? I explain my issue succinctly and with clear language, apologize for my misconduct and this is my reception? God it's like people here are allergic to sincerity, do the people downvoting even post or interact with the community here?

For context, I am currently developing a fanfiction called Ancient Animorphs, since December, I have been carefully and meticulously considering the worldbuilding, storyline, and characterization of the titular Ancient Animorphs. This entire setting is centered around one singular alteration that reshifts the entire nature of the setting fundamentally: That instead of Elfangor creating the Animorphs against the laws of his own people, the Andalites stole the morphing technology from the Animorphs, to whom it belonged in the first place.

There are numerous other changes that I cannot explain here without spoiling the experience.

But one of the radical changes on the ground level is that I have increased the size of the main cast: in this tale, the Animorphs will not number 5 like they had in the original, they will be 12.

Now, naturally, creating a grand total of 7 entirely new characters to add on to the team, making them just as developed as the canon Animorphs are, and integrating them into the group and story smoothly, is quite the writing challenge, one that is so daunting that I realized that I need some outside feedback in order to get the characters right, so to speak.

So, I ask. What kind of characters do you think could be integrated and add to the Animorph's group dynamics, in terms of personalities and traits?

I make this mod request as a response/sequel to the points raised by the one who made this post

But seriously, it's so clunky, and limiting for roleplay options! It's just yes or no, with no context. In order to get female scientists, or female priestesses, or female, you cannot just let them into those positions piecemeal, you unlock all of it, or none of it. Some people might not want to see female legion commanders or governors, some people might want the men to remain as the family heads.

I don't think that's fair or realistic, because if we're being honest, there is absolutely ZERO chance that any society is going to completely abandon their patriarchal ways at the drop of a hat. Realistically, it would happen, and likely stop, at increments.

If someone could make such a mod, it would make my day.

IN THE EARLIEST DAYS, the Elves inhabited and spread across the whole world as its rulers. It was a time of myths, an age of fairies and dragons and other fantastical creatures, a world of magic. And the Elves were indeed a most magical race, with powers unlike any that one man could control, what a Humans could do with their semblances, most Elves could do untrained and alone. The Elves were unique, unlike anything that came before, and if they ever went extinct, nothing approaching their like would ever follow. They were stronger, faster, and in many ways smarter than us Humans are today, their understanding of the world and ways and nature of all was unparalleled, they were a naturally peaceful race, one who ruled the world with grace, justice, and virtue beyond the capability of anything that could.

This was because they had a father, the God of Light, a supreme deity who had created all that there is, and had gifted his children with the tiniest portion of his power, and among their many gifts was one more unimaginable than all the rest: immortality. All Elves remained eternally young, once an elf reached their prime, then they remained there for all eternity.

For thousands of years, peace and harmony reigned across the world, all worshiped the God of Light, even the greatest kings and rulers acknowledged him as supreme above all, and the the Elves thrived alongside all the world in his benevolence.

But for all of it, they were not alone.

In the shadows, and the dark places, where no one is looking, the Lord of Darkness whispers whenever anyone drew close enough to hear him, the Lord of Darkness called himself brother to the God of Light, while the God of Light knew him only as an enemy. And this enemy turned any who gave him their ear away from the God of Light, spreading strife, wickedness, and ruin wherever they went.

Thankfully, this threat had been realized long ago, and the God of Light rallied great warriors from among the Elves, and forged a covenant with them and all of their descendants, to put a stop to the Lord of Darkness's chaos. After a thousand years of struggle, in time, the Warriors prevailed, sealing the Lord of Darkness within a place, far removed from all civilization, and it was away that the Elves stayed. In the years to follow, the Warriors traveled the lands, righting wrongs, putting to right that which was warped, delivering wicked Elves to the God of Light so that they may be executed, and returning the world to its perfect state.

One of these Warriors in particular had approached a tower, owned by a King, who had seen evidence of his wrongdoings in there. This tower was heavily guarded, and so the Warriors issued forth the greatest combatant of their rank to handle the situation; Ozma. And standing above all, after hours of struggle, he overcame his opponents and came find in there a girl, one who had been locked in there for her entire life, abused by her own father. Ozma took the girl, trained her, taught her how to do things, but it was all too brief, several weeks after he rescued her, he contracted a serious illness, and fell into a deep slumber.

That girl was Salem, and before Ozma, she had truly known nothing, when Ozma led her out of the tower, she had witnessed what he had done to the guards, and was deeply shocked, though Ozma comforted her through this. Unlike other Elves, Salem was different, she had implanted within her, an innate understanding of what death was, but not her species' nature as immortals. When she saw the Guards, their blood on the floor, their bodies covered in lethal wounds, she did not know that in a few days time, they would regenerate and awake. And she did not know that when Ozma succumbed to the disease that she had been an unknowing carrier of, that he would eventually defeat the illness and return to his life.

Salem in those few short weeks had fallen deeply and desperately in love with Ozma, and when she traveled into the village nearby his home to ask for help, and nobody knowing that this Elf girl was ignorant about everything, told her that it should be obvious what will happen, that she already knows. Nobody understood Salem, and she didn't understand them, however, when she got home, she found one who did understand her plight. It was a voice, a spirit, and it commanded her to travel far and wide, bringing Ozma's body with her, and he would bring her love back to life. He had but one condition, tell no one the truth of where she was going, of what she was intending to do, or why she was traveling with a dead body.

And so, she journeyed across the entire world on foot, whenever asked on her destination, she claimed to be a merchant who was traveling home, when asked of her purpose, she stated that she was a merchant who had failed a trading trip, and when asked about the body, Salem claimed that Ozma, whose appearance she had disguised with magic, had died in an accident, and was bringing him home.

Eventually, she breached the forbidden land and entered the shrine where the Lord of Darkness was sealed. And upon presenting her love's body, she was asked to break the seals, and he would resurrect Ozma. But it was all a deception.

The Lord of Shadows had orchestrated everything, Salem being locked in the tower, her ignorance, her knowledge of darkness and death, the disease that killed Ozma, even his very voice, he had implanted in her head before she had been born, and, above all, her power.

When the Lord of Darkness instructed her to leave Ozma in the pool where he was resting, she did, and with the disease coursing through his veins weakening him, and the Lord of Darkness's malice surging through his form, Ozma's Elvish immortality could no longer endure, and Ozma fell into a state between death and undeath, and the great warrior's body and spirit slumbered in the shrine, which Salem had been instructed to reseal as the two left it behind.

And with Salem none the wiser, the Lord of Darkness created a perfect replica of Ozma's body, returning it to life with his spirit inhabiting it. Ozma was dead, and Salem had no way of knowing that she had been a party to killing her love, and that the one who plunged the dagger was puppeteering his body. Afterward, the two became nomads, and wearing the face of her love, the Lord of Darkness abused the absolute trust she had in his disguise to fill Salem with wicked teachings, giving her powers that no other elf possessed, and, unique to the Lord of Darkness. As the world searched for Ozma, the Lord of Darkness' teachings eventually turned Salem evil wholeheartedly, and she became a focal point, spreading corruption as others joined the two in their rebellion against the God of Light.

In time, however, the worst outcome imaginable came to pass, Salem conceived a child with the Lord of Darkness. Shortly after giving birth, the plan to slay the God of Light was formed, and in disguise as a pilgrimage, Salem led a host to the Sanctuary of Light where the God rested, a plan to slay him nestled within their hearts. And upon entering the altar where they may present their offerings, Salem presented her own infant upon the Altar, and before anyone could stop her, she plunged a dagger into the child's heart.

The consequences of this horrific blasphemy were immediate, in the face of such darkness being committed here, so blatant and hideous, the God of Light's energy left the world, and the child's spirit broke away, crying for vengeance against the very mother that betrayed it, it attacking everything, including every Elf on the entire world.

With Ozma trapped in the state he was in, and Salem's infanticide, the Elvish gift of immortality was at last broken, though they will not age, they can starve, they can break, they can die. At first, the heretics rejoiced at the fact that they had apparently succeeded in overthrowing the God of Light, but then the world itself quaked and buckled in revulsion at the black atrocity that had been committed before all. The continent split apart, every mountain spewed lava, and the seas rose in combination with an unprecedented torrential rain fall to drown almost the entire world, cataclysmic winds buffeted the land as the Earth swallowed the civilization that had once been the first everything. The Elves within the next all perished, with only a few managing to survive in isolated locations. With the world completely ruined, and the Elves all but extinct, their ways and their power had been forgotten, and the remnants of their bodies crumbled, broke apart, and formed the substance known as Dust. Shortly after the first month, the winds calmed, the waters receded, the volcanoes ceased, and the Earth stilled, life returned from their highland retreats to reinhabit the world. However, the Elves' had vanished from the earth forever, and all magical things had been forced into the shadows and hidden places of the Earth, where they slumbered.

THE AGE OF THE DWARVES WAS DIFFERENT, however important it was, there is only one story that could be told about it. Shortly after the demise of the Elves, and the cataclysm that wiped them from the world had receded, the Lord of Darkness had free reign to recreate the whole world in his image, now that the God of Light's connection to it had been severed.

And his creations were the Dwarves, like the Elves they spread across the Earth, yet they had none of the magic that the Elves did, and the dwarves' civilization was technologically advanced, and though they lacked the long lifespans of the Elves, they were no slouches in the life expectancy department, either, living for centuries. But unlike the Elves, the Dwarvish civilization was a dark age for the earth, their population grew, and their doom was inflicted upon themselves, with their own industries they polluted the skies, water, earth, yet they were the Lord of Darkness' creations, and they never learned from their arrogance and hubris. And just before the very air was overtaken, and all things would have perished, the Lord of Darkness led a dwarvish mining crew to dig a tunnel in an extremely particular spot, they dug, and dug, and dug, chipping away at soil, and rock, and Dust, until they unearthed Salem.

Salem, due to how differently she was created from the other Elves, did not lose her immortality from the sacrifice, and when she was buried beneath the Earth, she was waiting until someone excavated her in order to regenerate. And the Lord of Darkness had primed the dwarves, master excavators and tunnelers, to believe Salem as the demigod queen prophesied to lead them all into a golden age unlike any before, and had been digging around so often in an effort to discover where she was buried. And while she was buried, the Lord of Darkness whispered in her head that that is exactly what she will become when she revives.

And surely enough, upon Salem's revival, she seized control of the Dwarvish Civilization, and they all worshipped her as a Goddess Queen, she cleansed the air, purified the water, and redeemed the earth. Salem ruled all the world as a tyrant, with utter authority and control, however, Salem deep in her heart still desired to create and raise a family, and this desire led her to procreate with her dwarvish subjects. She did this hundreds of times, giving birth to a race of beings who Salem assigned to rule the world in her name as a permanently entrenched class of nobility. These children, due to their ancestral mother, being a creation of the God of Light who had been corrupted to her core, spiritually, morally, and genetically, and their ancestral fathers being the Lord of Darkness's own creation, had chaotic bodies. When they came out of Salem's womb, these creatures were formless, shapeless, they took on the shapes of whatever they came into contact with, and it was only because Salem raised them that their bodies and minds settled into a form resembling people The Children of Chaos, as they came to be known, rather than being regarded with respect for their ancestry, and being treated with reverence, were regarded with bitter jealousy and hatred by the Dwarves, who had been made with minds and hearts that were as small and impish as the rest of them. However, Salem was not satisfied with the children she had, the hole in her heart she couldn't fill, and so when no more Dwarvish suitors came knocking on her door, she didn't take on anymore lovers, and some years after, the last of the Chaos Children had departed from her home. And these Children of Chaos were what the Lord of Darkness desired to have as his followers, and he was working to make sure that they would gradually spread across the whole Earth and replace the Dwarves entirely.

It was in this time that the God of Light made his move, he lead a Dwarvish mining expedition to unearth the place where the God of Darkness had been sealed, and when the creatures intruded upon the place and desecrated it, Ozma's spirit finally reunited with his body, and he awoke. The Dwarves, who had come to despise their savior queen, did not want anther Elf walking about, and so tried to kill him, but Ozma, even with his body dilapidated, and looking like he should be dead, slew them all. Her then journeyed across the world, beholding how everything had become alien, crossing mountains, oceans, and mourning at how this Remnant of all that he once knew is now a world of death.

He traveled incognito, until he met Salem at the door, and she welcomed him inside. The mission he had been given from the God of Light was as such, try to redeem Salem, and after years of conversing, they married, and even had 7 children. But then, one day, when Ozma tried to convince her, something inside her realized; this wasn't the one whom she had loved from the Time of the Elves. The two fought, during which, their children fled, and in the chaos, Ozma had not the Heart to finish Salem off, and Salem took advantage of his mercy, seizing the 2 youngest of his children and fleeing her palace.

Salem, feeling anger and betrayal at the Lord of Darkness, used the same knife that she killed her firstborn with to butcher the dark spirit, and in an effort to eradicate Ozma and those loyal to him, triggered a global war among the Dwarves, and the Earth was consumed by a new apocalypse. One that had even left the Moon shattered, during these perilous times, Ozma's and his daughters fled, but one of them was separated from the rest of the group as they were fleeing, never to be seen again and believed dead, but, against all odds, the Elves encountered a group of dwarves living in a mountain house who were the only good dwarves in all of existence. They allowed Ozma and his four surviving daughters to stay in their home, hiding them from the world outside, however, as they lived, and the 4 remaining daughters grew to adulthood, Salem unleashed her plan, and through a ritual conducted alongside her two children, they gathered the blood of the murdered Lord of Darkness into a pool, and summoned the soul of Salem's firstborn into it, the spirit of that vengeful child sacrificed to the God of Light. The spirit was dissolved, but the blood became animated, and from the unholy ritual, the Grimm were born, and this was to be Salem's new weapon to destroy Ozma once and for all.

The war raged, and as the girls grew up, and at Ozma's behest, the dwarve's combined their prodigious skill at craftsmanship and metal-working with his daughter's magics to create the Relics: One for each of the daughter's unique magical properties. But the creation of the relics drained them greatly, and before they could recover any of their power from the effort, they were found, and Salem sent a horde of Grimm against Ozma and his sanctuary.

At this new horror appearing on the edge of their sanctuary, Ozma ordered the Good Dwarves and his daughters to flee while he faced off against the monsters. The battle lasted for days upon days, the Grimm had spread rapidly, and grown strong due to the negative emotions and the dark souls of the dwarves feeding the abomination, allowing an army of creatures to be created from it. Ozma's strength prevailed, however, just as he would have slain the last of the Grimm, putting an end to their rampage before it could truly begin, Salem and her children surrounded Ozma, who pierced her heart with his sword, allowing his other children to slay him.

But Salem did not rise, for Ozma's sword was the same one that he always had on him, an ancient blade crafted with holy magic, anathema to the Lord of Darkness's power that kept her alive.

As for Ozma's daughters, they managed to escape, however, 3 of the dwarves died, and after recovering, they entered the war, wiping out all of the Chaos Children that they could with the power of the relics.

For the fate of the 5th daughter, she had been kidnapped and taken as a concubine for one of the Chaos Lords, however, in secret, she raised her children so that they would not become like their father, and when they were old enough, she, alongside the rest of them, slew their father. The name of this daughter was Fana, and due to the ancestry of their Chaos Lord Parents, their forms were dangerously in flux, and so, Fana took animal essences and injected them into her children in order to stabilize them, and this was how the Faunus came to be. The first Faunus were shapeshifters, and they took numerous animal forms, increasing in number, and spreading across the Earth, wiping out all in their path.

As for the four daughters, they married the surviving dwarves, and their children were the first Humans, and these peoples also multiplied under the protection of their matriarchs, and as the dwarves weakened further and further from the unending violence, the Humans invaded also. And with the combined strength of the Humans and Faunus, the Dwarves and Chaos Lords were both driven to extinction. Upon the two sides meeting, they initially fought, until the four matriarchs identified the Faunus' own matriarch as their long lost sister. For a time, peace reigned over the world, which had now become a remnant of a remnant, and the two races sought to rebuild from the devastation once more, and the world returned to worshipping the God of Light for the first time in eons.

As for the final two children, they took their mother's body back to the place where the Grim was born, and in a ritual, distilled the last of the Creatures of Grimm into their mother's chest, and the unholy substance healed the lethal injury in her heart and fused with her soul. When Salem awoke, she rose as a black veined, black eyed demon woman, more powerful than any mortal had been before, a dark queen, the source and master of all Grimm. As for the two children who had remained loyal to Salem? One of them was her only son, meaning that as the last living male Elf, the destiny of the species was entirely under Salem's control.

However, before anything could happen, the Humans and Faunus' matriarchs felt it when Salem had been resurrected, and rallied their descendants to war. Centuries had passed since the last of the Dwarves and Chaos Lords had been wiped out, in that time, they had grown in numbers massively, and they pursued the three, and with the Four Sister's relics, and Fana eventually recovering her Father's sword, they held the upper hand. Salem refused to fight back in any meaningful way, unable to spawn the Grimm, she opted to continue fleeing and living as criminals because she was unwilling to risk the future of her species in a direct confrontation.

SOON, THOUGH, SALEM CONCEIVED THE SEEDS OF THE 3RD CATACLYSM, and it had everything to do with the Faunus' ancestry. Due to the chaotic nature of the Faunus, who at this time had lost access to their natural shapeshifting powers due to the influence of their Elvish matriarch, and interbreeding with the Humans, they had a flaw. Salem and her children decided to use their powers of creation to bring into existence a plant, one with magical properties aligned closely with the Darkness. It was a small, harmless, leafy weed with a distinct, pleasant, and potent aroma, Salem and her children had, while running, planted it all over the world, and once it had spread everywhere, they used a spell on it, one that had completed its transformation.

The name of that weed was Beastnip, and once its full magical properties had been awakened, upon any Faunus smelling it, they would go berserk, their minds unraveling as they were completely and utterly overtaken by their animalistic instincts and the remnants of their Chaos lineage. The Faunus at that point had swelled in numbers to become two thirds of the whole world's population, and they all went rabid. The Faunus instantly turned on their mother, slaughtering her without any weapons, and the Four Sisters were forced to abandoned their pursuit of Salem in order to stop their own children from being slaughtered and devoured by the Faunus. While the focus of the Sisters was distracted by the crisis, Salem and her children fled, and built a fortress on the Northwestern continent, recreating the Grimm, and right as the Sisters solved the chaos, and figured out a way to break the Faunus out of their madness, wiping out the Beastnip from the world, except that which Salem had in her sanctuary, the Four Sisters had been assassinated one by one.

Just as the final sister perished, though, she used the Relic of Choice to cast the rest of the relics into the parts unknown, hiding them so that Salem and her forces would never find it. And all of mankind were reset in a new dark age as they lost all of their technology, having to start from scratch. The Elves depart for their fortress, and Salem's two children mate with each other, and have more children of their own, thus beginning the Tribe of the Dark Elves.

Ozma reincarnates at the exact instant that his daughter perishes, and it works on much the same rules it does in canon, except this time, he could choose when and where he would return, but not in who. Ozma resists Salem at every turn, organizing and guiding Human development in some lifetimes, and remaining a secret recluse in others, searching for the Relics, whom Salem believed destroyed. Eventually, he found the Relic of Knowledge, hidden deep in Mistral, and asked it 3 questions.

"Where are the other relics?"

"How can the peoples of the World be able to stand up to the Grimm and the Dark Elves?"

"How can I destroy Salem?"

Humans and Faunus alike had been reduced to ever shrinking pockets on the world, succumbing to the Grimm one by one. But in this time, Warriors with Silver Eyes emerged, leading the fight against the Grimm as Ozma finally has a plan, against all odds, he will create a world filled with thriving, powerful civilizations. He eventually determined that a world of five empires, each one covering a vast amount of territory, would be how the world would be able to properly stand up to the Dark Elves, and the Grimm. While constant conflict had kept the Dark Elve's population small, the Grimm were an existential threat. Thankfully, due to the peoples being descended from his daughters, all Humans and Faunus had auras, the magical energy barrier that protects and enables their power, and if these auras were developed enough, then they could regain a semblance of the magic that their ancestors once were able to use.

With his lives, Ozpin started influencing events so that specific nations would be put on the road to greatness. He would create these Five Empires, one for the descendants of each of his daughters, and at the apex, they would become great enough to not only endure, but legitimately challenge Salem and the Grimm. He would do things such as conquer the neighboring tribes as a Chieftain of Vale, creating a unified kingdom that would be able to stand the test of time. Create a social order that would see Mistral secure its existence, and expand great distances, in Mantle, a certain miner would dig his way deep, deep underground, discovering the ruins of an Elven City, with all the magic within it, and with that, create a nation that outclassed its rivals.

Within each of the Five Empires, he used his magics to develop the auras of their peoples, which culminated in the creation of the Maiden Powers, a manifestation of the Magical Gifts that the Five Daughters each possessed, one belonging to each nation.

However, despite his great power, he and his supporters could not control all of history, and eventually, war broke out again, with the Dark Elves manipulating the Five Empires to fight each other in a Great War, and the Empire of the Faunus, due to the last nation for Ozma to develop maiden powers for, and the combined might of the surrounding empires, the Faunus were eventually conquered, their land partitioned, and their people either enslaved, or subjugated, or worse. And with the despair, its heartland was overrun by Grimm, becoming nothing more than a wasteland. The loss of the Fifth Maiden was a grievous blow, one that he would refuse to speak of to all of his inner circle, and he would never be able to tell whether or not he succeeded. The Fall of the Faunus empire would be third sabotage, third historical accident, and third Ozma's own failure.

And from this, we come to the modern day in RWBY, I changed the Great War so that instead of it being like WWII in RWBY, being 80 years in the past, it would be centuries ago. Salem's faction, rather than just being a gaggle of outcasts that she manipulated into doing her bidding, are also mostly comprised of her own species, the Dark Elves, a people who are not very different from Humans, other than being shorter, having pointed ears, and looking like perpetual teenagers, though they can hide these aspects. Cinder, Hazel, and Mercury would be Dark Elves, Tyrion would be a Scorpion Faunus terrorist who would be exposed to Beastnip when he declined to join, and Watts would be much unchanged, though he would be on the side of the heroes, due to Salem in this version, having her goal not be the destruction of the world to spite everything, but to finally overcome the Humans and create a world where the Elvenkind would reign supreme.

With this change, a lot of the poorly handled racial aspects of the Faunus would be moved from the Faunus, to the more serious problems that the Dark Elves both pose and suffer from, with how much of it being their own fault and how much of it is an unfortunate consequence of their circumstance. The White Fang plotline would, instead of being a civil rights group turned terrorist, I would make them separatists and restorationists of their Empire. Sienna Kahn, after becoming shipwrecked on an island as a small child and being the only survivor, would come across the Island of Menagerie, completely uninhabited, with only a light Grimm presence. This would be significant because due to the Grimm, the majority of the world would be completely inaccessible, and exploration by both sea and land extremely risky and almost a death sentence at the best of times due to how infested the world is with Grimm. And it's why the Faunus would never be able to reclaim their homeland, which causes a great deal of resentment toward Humans as conquerors, which could legitimately endanger the stability of civilization itself.

Sienna would eventually escape from Menagerie using her Semblance, using her Semblance to find her way to Mistral, and then making her way to Vale, where she would contact the most powerful Faunus in the nation, Ghira and Kali, telling them both of the island that she saw, one that is big, with plenty of land, where they could rebuild their empire and regain their lost glory. Sienna brought receipts, too, photographs of Menagerie, and with this, the dream of self determination was born within the Faunus, and the White Fang was born.

No longer would the Faunus act on their grudges, no longer would they seek strife with Humanity, they would seek to make peace with mankind, and make the best of their circumstances, that soon, the Faunus, once they gathered enough resources, would be able to strike out on their own and rebuild their country. When Ozma, reincarnated as Ozpin in Vale, heard of this, he supported the White Fang, promoting them as a sign of good things to come and as a good influence. Though Ozpin knows nothing of their leader's separatists intentions, with his support, the Faunus in Vale had even won a good deal many of Civil Rights victories, with the segregation laws keeping them out of society finally being abolished. And with this success, the White Fang would found Chapters in the other Empires, some acting differently than others due to how they've responded to their circumstances and how their cultures turned out after centuries of oppression.

However, the White Fang would also have a militant element, they have a secret special ops force, one that would go out and secure resources by any means necessary, and they would even set up a secret base inside a ruined city where they would eventually manufacture parts for a fleet of ships that would travel the coast in order to carry the Faunus of Vale to found the kingdom of Menagerie. As well as building the city from which the rest of their Kingdom would be founded by, however, the Faunus of Atlas would be a legitimate problem, you may not like it, but, in effect, Weiss's racism would be proven right by the Faunus of Atlas and Mantle, and wrong about the Faunus of Vale, who were a different demographic with different characteristics, and that the way she judged the ones in Atlas should not be the way she treats them in Vale, as refusing to distinguish between the two has the potential to harm innocent people. When they got to mantle, the White Fang quickly turned into a terrorist organization, however, one figure among them, Adam Taurus, was the more even and level headed of them, he was taken in by Ghira in the hopes that he would eventually become the Leader of the Auroch Faunus, and lead them out of Mantle and into Menagerie, where they could finally be free. Adam in this version would be a morally grey character, like Monty intended him to be, who would be tricked/coerced by Cinder into participating in her plan in order to accelerate the time frame of the migration of the Faunus of Vale far far ahead of the expected timeframe, which would give Menagerie more of a head start to get their feet on the ground, and it would be where that Dust that was stolen in Season 1 would be used for. But in the buildup to that, people would be hearing news report of bandits wearing Grimm Masks in the outskirts of civilization, though nobody would know who they are as they would never enter civilization until Torchwick starts ordering them around, nobody would even know that they're Faunus until a group of them get arrested at the Port. And no one would really know or realize they're White Fang until the Fall of Beacon where Adam is exposed, so that fixes Blake's "former terrorist" background somehow slipping through the cracks by making it far far more obscure and a hidden fact, and by making the White Fang's actions in Vale far more surgical and discriminate.

Also, the Branwen Tribe would be a fallout from the Faunus Empire, a remnant that never stopped fighting and dreams of rebuilding their empire, they have wings and can fly, too, though Crow and Raven hide this in Human civilization with their Shapeshifting Powers, which are good enough to fool all Faunus detection devices and tests. And they would also be Crow Faunus, the only ones there are, who had regained the shapeshifting powers that their ancestors had. And Raven, rather than being the Spring Maiden, Vernal would actually be the Spring Maiden, and Raven would be the first actualized Maiden of the Faunus Kingdom. How does this heritage affect Yang? Can she gain the power to shapeshift? Will she be able to fly, also? Did she REALLY hatch from an egg?

And, that's it for the backstory. Took a lot longer than I thought it would, it is a lot longer than I thought it would be, hope you enjoyed that.

With how "mature" Cinder was compared to the other girls in the school, I remember it being theorized that she was actually an adult, and I saw someone even suggest that she might have a kid.

Is there any artwork of that floating around?

Currently, it seems the Total War scene is undergoing a map making renaissance. Between mods like Dawnless Days reshaping Attila, to even the Empire fans getting a map modder on their side in the Pirates Uber Alles Discord, not to mention one madlad who's trying to recreate the whole PLANET EARTH in Shogun 2! That left me wondering, how close are we 2nd Romans to getting in on the action?

I know that the Campaign Map editor is already operational, but that the Battle Map Editor is what's being more difficult to decipher, how close is the dude working on the battle map editor to cracking the code so to speak? For how much longer will we be left behind?

Flashgitz, you can't do us like this! you mean to tell me that THE PSYCHO TITANS are not Mechs, but COLOSSAL PSYCHO WARRIORS?!

At first, this was just going to be pointing out the contradictions of the Chee, but then as I wrote, it evolved into this. Well, here are my honest observations and thoughts everyone, hope you enjoy or at least find this engaging.

I had come to this realization when thinking about the final arc, specifically, involving one of the most major plot twists in the entire story: that the Animorph's hometown was the ground zero for the entire invasion, and not only that, but that they had successfully confined the infestation to their home for 3 years, and that the Yeerks weren't spreading across the Earth. Meaning that their guerilla resistance wasn't a losing battle like they thought, but rather that they were fighting the invasion to a draw.

Now, I have some problems with this revelation to say the least, but that's not the issue I'm here to talk about. This was the starting point to my realization about the Chee, I ran the logic through my head:

How in the Time Matrix did the Chee, who had enough infiltration intel gathering moxy to sniff out top secret projects and schemes from Visser 3 himself, not realize that the Invasion was by all practical purposes confined to one single City in California? And if they did know, why keep this information from the Animorphs?

If I was an Animorph, one of the first things I would've asked the Chee would be "how strong is the Yeerk presence in space, and how far has the infestation spread?" And if the Chee did know about this, then them not telling the Animorphs is one of the most damning condemnations of their character because there is not a single good reason I can think of as to why they'd keep this information from the Animorphs. They can't hide behind the excuse of their programming, either, and I can prove it.

The more I think about it, the more contrived and contradictory the Chee's Pacifism Programming becomes. Yeah, the Chee are prohibited from causing harm, sure on the surface that sounds like a reasonable way to balance out the absolute power advantage that the Chee would have brought the Animorphs otherwise. But what how far does this prohibition against causing harm really extend?

The Chee leak Yeerk plots to the Animorphs all the time, who they know full and well will do something to the Yeerks that will very likely result in injury and death for either party. The Chee's holograms go a long way in solving problems, however, when the most damning contradiction to their Pacifism Programming and characterization comes in Book 26: The Attack. By the book's end, it is revealed that Erek has been deliberately withholding vital information about the Howlers, that being that they were psychologically toddlers who live only for 3 years, and their omnicidal rampage across the galaxy is because Crayak had designed them so that they would consider the total extermination of all they came across as a game. When Jake morphed into a Howler, and discovered this truth, the first thing he does is wheel on Erek for not informing them of their true nature, and the explanations that Erek give are rooted not in the peaceful (which is in truth, harmless) ways that the Pemalites had instilled into the Chee, but in vengeance. He denied this information to the Animorphs, which he knew would have resulted in them seeking a way to defeat the Howlers that didn't involve killing them, in order to slake a deep seated need for vengeance that had been festering ever since the Howlers murdered his entire world, wiped his creators from the face of the galaxy, and made fugitives of the Chee.

To reiterate, Erek wanted the Howlers to be punished for what they had done, so he withheld information that he knew full well would lead to a less violent outcome, even if it would have resulted in one or more of the Animorphs dying.

As these two examples prove, the Chee are able to give information that they know would cause harm, and are completely capable of withholding information with the intent to avoid a less violent outcome, which stands in blatant defiance to everything that the Pemalites instilled into their androids!

It would be one thing, if Erek lied about using the crystal to reprogram his pacifism programming back into himself in the book he was introduced, then these contradictions would make sense: Erek is selectively upholding the ways he lived by not by programing, but by choice. But no, his programming remained in full effect for the rest of the series!

If the Pemalites were competent (and considering that they had the most technologically advanced society in the entire galaxy, so much so that if they wanted to, they could conquer and rule the entire galaxy, so being competent enough to build and maintain such a society is not even in question), then they would've logically seen the issues that leaving a gap in the programming that would allow their creations to engage in the indirect warmongering that the Chee do in the series and nipped it in the bud. "Though shalt not speak or withhold words that would knowingly cause physical or psychological harm."

The Pemalites were naive, but they weren't blind and they weren't stupid, even without the Howlers rampaging across the stars, as seen in the Ellemist Chronicles, the galaxy is a dangerous place, practically a dark forest where aliens could emerge and screw you up if they ever got the chance. The Pemalites were also one of the most ancient races in the whole setting, being directly created by the Ellemist to spread life across the stars, he more than likely would've told them of these dangers, and ensured that they had technology powerful enough that any violence committed against them by any outsider would never be able to harm them. In the Animorphs universe, if you're blind or stupid, then you don't get to survive for very long, yet the Pemalites lasted for millions of years. With that in consideration, how could the Pemalites not deny their creations, which are strong enough to turn Hork-Bajir into guacamole with their bare hands even thousands of years without maintenance, the ability to use their words or deny information to cause harmful outcomes?

Even though the Pemalite Homeworld was a peaceful utopia, no matter how perfect it was, there had to be some level of drama and strife taking place on that planet, and even if everything went right, violence would had to have broken out on there on occasion, it would've been rare, but no matter what happened, it would not have been impossible.

However, this contradictory characterization of the Chee is a symptom of another problem that the authors have: they're unable to kill their darlings. What I mean by that is that there are four "Author's Pets" all throughout the series and worldbuilding, and K.A. Applegate's treatment of all of them get in the way of the execution of the story and even the development of the characters. In other words, it's favoritism, sure, K.A. Applegate is not afraid to have bad things happen to her darlings, but unlike with the Andalites, Yeerks, or even the other Animorphs, the pets are spared from a truly critical eye, unlike everyone else, criticism is not leveled against them.

Let's get the flagship example out of the way. Cassie: The Gardener in a War she wants nothing to do with, a nonviolent person who abhors violence is forced to fight and kill or lose everything she loves. This is an absolutely wonderful premise for a character, but looking at the whole situation from afar, it is clear that the Authors love Cassie too much, giving her preferential treatment in the story. She never does anything that is wrong, and even if she does and something horrible happens to her, it all works out in the end regardless of how colossal of a F-up it is or how permanent the consequences of this event would be. Sure, there is the moment in Book 19 where she realizes she becomes so desensitized to the killing that she felt nothing when she killed Aftran's brother, but beyond that, Cassie's morals are not really tested or questioned in any way, like, yeah, having to share her head with Aldrea for a few days was harrowing, but she, seemingly on a spur of the moment whim, outright fabricated a takeover situation to get that Andalite girl back into her bottle, needlessly making her an enemy when there was a great chance that Aldrea would've left on her own, departing on amicable terms with the Animorphs. And there was the moment where Cassie turned into a Nothlit, something that should've been permanent and the repercussions of which should've reverberated throughout the entire series even if the Ellemist brought her back in the Attack as a reward for the Animorphs like what happened in Alternamorphs 2. Cassie's not actually forced to confront the weaknesses of her beliefs, and though she evolves as a result of the war and her experiences, she never really actively changes herself nor does she really develop her beliefs.

The second such pet are the Hork-Bajir, their tale is a tragedy and is a sympathy machine, and this being juxtaposed with their fearsome and scary appearance is a clever subversion of the tropes, where they turned out to be gentle giants rather than killing machine soldiers. They got conquered and their entire species became enslaved by the Yeerks, however, they're too good at being victims despite their otherwise great strength, an entire race of woobies who have it rough, the free Hork-Bajir let the Animorphs hide with them when Visser 3 roots them out from Human society, they raid a single specific Yeerk settlement in order to grow their numbers, slowly draining Yeerk manpower. And they are part of a plot by the Last Arn to found another HB colony on the homeworld where they will be able to launch a resistance against the Yeerks there. After Jara and Kett are freed, the Colony is forced to relocate several times, and Jara is eventually killed, but other than that they're generally on an upward trajectory despite their disadvantages.

Third are the Mercora, with their only appearance being in Megamorphs 2 when the Animorphs Animorphed in the Cretaceous. They're another example of a pacifistic alien culture being put in the forefront of the story, though the most minor example of all the pets on this list, with the least amount of screen time so to speak. They're key allies for the Animorphs with the most advanced forcefield tech, providing sanctuary to them and bailing them out when they attacked the Nesk base, and, of course, their species were the ones on the chopping block. The Animorphs, namely Tobias, due to his own knowledge of how the timeline goes, sets the Mercora up to die, sabotaging the nuke they stole with Ax's aid and slipping out by the time the asteroid hit the planet. They were the pets who had been screwed the hardest, but the only real problems I have with them is that they should've figured out that the Animorphs were natives of this world they're trying to stake claim to from the context clues, and that I think their doom is contrived. With all the interrupted conversations, and the fact that they're working together to send them back to their own time on this very planet, they should've at least suspected their true origin, and I wholeheartedly believe that had the Animorphs explained themselves fully, the Mercora would've willingly left the planet in the future to find another home after destroying the comet, and they wouldn't even have had to devastate the planet in order for the timeline to be restored as the Ellemist could've ensured that things turned out correctly after the Mercora leave, or a celestial collision would've happened naturally. But really, I am only listing them here to demonstrate the pattern of aliens and people who spout the author's beliefs being regarded kindly by the story.

Fourth are the Pemalites/Chee, who I am considering the same species for practical purposes. Do I need to introduce the Pemalites, whose utopia was so great and incredible that it only took the Howlers, the absolute gods of destruction that they were, to take them out. Unlike the Andalites, there is no criticism leveled against them at all, the Chee don't really cause any problems at all for the Animorphs (no, them being disabled during The Exposed was an attack levied against them and does not count, nor should they be blamed for the trouble that incident caused), until the ending. But aside from the 2 book arc where they're given front and center attention (which was awesome, by the way, I wished the Hork-Bajir got a similar followup after the Prophecy), the Chee are non-entities presented as moral agents, the only one of them that actually does anything in the story as characters is Erek, and as the representative of the rest of his kind, for only 3 books is he more than just a plot device. Besides from those 3 books, they're not written to have any agency of their own, nor do they have any lasting impact on the story beyond gossiping to the Animorphs about things that the Yeerks are doing. They don't give David shelter or try to steal the Cube before the situation escalates, they don't help hide the Hork-Bajir Colony beyond that one book where Marco fakes their death, they don't try to help hide freed hosts or assist in freeing people from the Yeerks, they don't make their Andalite disguises authentic by holographically masking them as Andalites. They're just a plot device with no connection to the broader story until the very end, and all of their actions until Erek draining the Pool Ship's weapons, which absolutely did not help the situation, makes no sense from a character perspective, and shouldn't have been possible in the first place.

Now, I will close this by clarifying that I don't hold this against K.A. Applegate, not entirely, that is, the problems with the Chee are in part due to the nature of Animorphs being a monthly serialized publication with a usually episodic story, and the unending grind that writing it was. The two clearly had a vision when making Animorphs, and their vision and the pantsing part of the writing process are both part of the story's identity.

The Chee are disconnected from the overarching narrative, but this criticism can be levelled against most factions in the series. In effect, the only ones who actually matter to the narrative playing out are the Animorphs, Yeerks, and the Andalites. Heck, I'd even argue that you could even subtract the rest of the Human Race outside the Animorphs entirely, and have the Animorphs just be the last remnant of mankind trying to rebuild on an uninhabited planet and the main story plus its ending would only require minimal changes to fit the absence!

Sure, the narrative would be worse off, but the Free Hork-Bajir? The Yeerk Peace Movement? The Chee? The Arn? The Helmacrons? The Mercora? None of them were properly integrated and don't have any impact on the main overarching story (the Mercora are the least at fault for this, they are by nature victims of the narrative), and only a couple of them matter to the ending that the authors wanted to have. And this is one reason that I suspect that they wrote the final book first, before book one, and when the time came to publish, they edited it slightly so that the tone and events would be squeezed to fit what happened in the rest of the series without changing anything that happened in the ending. And in that light, the YPM Hork-Bajir acting to save the Animorphs in the last second, and Erek draining the Pool ship might have both just had those two characters slapped onto scenes that didn't have them in there when they were first written.

The lack of connective tissue between the elements here, and the fact that the authors can't bring themselves to kill their darlings, hold the series back.

And any screen adaptation, if it is to excel, should learn from the mistakes of both the books and the original TV Adaptation, and morph the story, worldbuilding, and characterization in such a way that they all interact with each other.

I mean, the mod working the same across both versions of the game might not be possible, but I'm just posting this here because if it's not too out of line, then I think the possibility of there being two Divide Et Imperas, one for pre-Pantheon, and one for Pantheon, is worth discussing.

... because of their high reproductive rates allows them to demographically steamroll every other species.

Yes, they're weak, yes, they look pathetic, yes, they probably aren't even all that smart, but there are stronger, competent, and smarter ones among them. Their threat comes from sheer numbers, and in war, that advantage is a game changer. It doesn't matter if you can absolutely slaughter an enemy in a war, killing hundreds of thousands of them with each battle, winning ten battles in a row, but you only have one army, they only need to win once, and other races would feel the attrition even if they won. It's just that the Psycho Warriors make inflicting this attrition unusually painful for them, but as was proven with Captain's Crusade video, and Xavery, that Messenger who "I don't have long! I come bearing an important message!" died on the way to getting there, the Blapblaps do pose some level of threat to the Psycho Warriors.

I don't think that Genobomb was wasted on those 20 billion Blapblaps at all, even if it was used inappropriately.

Here is the situation I have for this planet.

• Harsh annual scarcity seasons, IE, winter
• Low amounts of food resources to begin with or extreme competition
• Predators being WAY too good at picking off swarms of unprotected young, much better killers than on Earth

What other sorts of conditions do you think would be able to justify a scenario where k selected species are the majority, and there isn't an r selected species larger than a rat? At least on land.

I was perusing it, and I noticed that it wasn't listed among the religious traits, or anywhere in the traits section on the Invictus Wiki.

I just got really curious. I've seen the girls as Spartans, I've seen Ruby in a bunny costume, and I've read that comic someone made where a Chibi Virus started going around turning everyone at Beacon into small pranksters, but I'd genuinely like to see someone explore this concept!

I mean, if the unit was removed for being ahistoric, then would a good compromise be that this is a cultural fusion unit? Illyro-Thracian, essentially?

Specifically, this should be possible within the provinces of Macedonia, Hellas, Ionia, Pontos Et Bythinia, Sicily, and Magna Graecia. I mean, if they are Greek phalanxes for hire, then why would you need a port in order to recruit them in the lands that they are native to/heavily colonized?

I just think it makes sense for them to be easier to recruit in their own home provinces... if my suggestion isn't too outrageous or difficult to implement, that is. I mean, it's entirely up to the devs to decide if this is a good idea to implement in the next update.

Rapax, one of the MOST despised parts of ever using a Legion, this dishonor is one of the great dark spots on even Invictus gameplay.

It's a story that if you play the game long enough, is guaranteed to happen to you. You're sieging down a city, or assaulting it, looking to earn that legion distinction that grants bonuses to attacking fortresses and instead of that distinction, you get a warning.

The legion has plundered a bit too much from the city, and it is starting to concern the leaders. Demand oaths of allegiance seems to be the obvious solution, so pick that, problem SEEMS to be solved. Then, when you siege a fort city down again, there it rears its ugly head: Rapax.

You didn't ask for this, you only had one warning for it, there's no way to control whether you get it aside from not taking over cities using your legion, which absolutely sucks as depending on how urbanized the enemy land you're conquering is, you probably cannot even avoid it. The culprit might be all the techs you picked that increase enslavement efficiency, but if that's really the case, then the game is simply punishing you for optimization and using legions alongside it because there is no way to control the severity of the plundering of cities in every army except your own capital levy. And making matters worse is that there is no way to get this dishonor removed, and even if such a method does exist, when have you ever seen it actually come into effect?

OPTION 1: Remove from the game entirely. This is the most simple and straight forward solution, and one that many, including myself, are rather fond of. I may wish for the consequences of wanton plunder to be reworked, but I would not mind at all if Rapax was removed.

OPTION 2: Make it so that when a legion conquers a city, they get the popup event just like if a ruler conquers a city if the Legate or Legion Commander in charge of it is above a certain loyalty threshold, and consistently choosing the "Let None Hide" option (if they're under your control) that nets you a ton of gold repeatedly will give the Legion this dishonor, or if the leader of the siege has negative character traits that make such plunder more likely. This method I feel is simple and effective, it would allow some control back into player hands.

OPTION 3: Character traits are able to mitigate or increase the chance of it happening. Getting Rapax on a Legion led by a commander who is merciful, cautious, and good natured just isn't right, man. But putting in charge a man who is a deceitful, greedy pillager should make it more likely. If you went with this option alone, while you won't be able to directly control when it happens, you would at least have a chance, man.

OPTION 4: Make being awarded with the dishonor far less likely to happen in enemy cities, but far more likely if the legion plunders your own cities. This is just logical, I mean, if it's an invasion of a foreign country, then by all means, most of the time the plundering should be acceptable no problem. However, in the case of a civil war, where the core cities can be in the line of fire from your own armies? That's the situation that should be most likely for a legion to get the Rapax honor. Imagine you're Rome, and you got a civil war, and all of Italia except for Rome itself is an enemy, the conquering and plundering that happens as a result would make sense to be punished with such a dishonor.

OPTION 5: Make certain culture groups or nations, such as the Illyrians, Sennones, or Assyria, not eligible to receive the shame of the Rapax and replace it for them with a distinction that is an honor, instead. This is sort of like Option 1, but lighter? It would help a little bit.

OPTION 6: Implement Options 2-5, or whichever combination of it is the most possible. This is the one that I am the most in favor for, by doing this it would if not solve, it would heavily mitigate the issues people have with the Rapax Distinction.

There are multiple species to choose from, most common are the Dogs and the Cats, but there are also horses, birds, even frogs! I would like to see Goji Center's take on this trope, I think it might be creepy, but definitely cool to watch them break down just how exactly such hybrid peoples would work!