Altarian AAR

from GalCiv2 Forums

Altarians are best known for being one of the most upstanding of the good races. So it comes as no surprise that one of perhaps the most controversial points in Altarian history was when, caught between three warmongering evil races, the Altarians embraced the ideals of evil and pain themselves. One famous speech by an Altarian only referring to himself as "The Prophet" moved even Eleys Mue herself.

"Friends and cousins, it is a dark time in our history. The Yor eat away at our outlying colonies, the Krynn constantly extract payments from us in exchange for their dubious protection, and the Korath, who have sold themselves to that abomination the Telenath, have cut us off from our nearest friends the Torians. Our cousins, the Terrans, claim to be our friends but send no aid, we have seen no relief come from their quarter.

We have long upheld the ideals of doing what is good and right. Where has that got us? The evil races take advantage of our good nature. They smile in our faces and stab when our back is turned. They employ dirty tactics and know that we will not do the same, and so our civilization slips more and more into their grasp.

It is clear that we're dealing with monsters that care nothing for honor. They prey on our civilization and use our own ethics as their shield. They're beating us because they are willing to go to lengths for victory that we balk at. It doesn't have to be this way! We can beat these monsters at their own game! When an opportunity comes along for victory, we must take it, no matter the cost! To do less is to accept failure. Our civilization is falling, and if we do not do what is necessary, we will end as slaves of the Krynn, food for the Yor, or simply exterminated by the Korath.

We're not casting aside our virtues. Altarians at our hearts will always be good. It is not what we do that matters, it is what is in our hearts. We must do what is necessary to survive, and know in our hearts that while our action was evil, it was for the greater good. Let us take back our world from the Yor. Let us rescue our allies, the Torians, from the Korath and their Telenath. Let us do what is necessary to save ourselves!"

 

It was a greatly changed Altarian resistance that, after months of bloody strife, finally rescued their Torian friends from the Korath. After months of doing "evil for all the right reasons", the Altarians found they had more in common with the Korath than they did with their former Torian friends, and it did not take long for tensions to flare up between the two. In the end, the mind control center the Altarians sold their soul for ended the threat of the Korath on their borders, but it also ended any hope of an alliance between the Altarians and the Torians. It didn't take long for the Torians to declare war on the Altarians, deeming them no better than the monsters they fought. It was a testament to how far the Altarians had fallen by then that the Altarians destroyed the Torian empire without a second thought to what they were doing. On the Korath front, the Altarians decimated world after world searching for the Telenath that gave them their power, but in the end Eleys Mue had to watch as Krindar i'Agohl destroyed it in his last act before the Altarian military conquered Kora, the last remaining Korath world.

 

The bloody battles against the Yor were another story, both sides employing weapons that made the watching Krynn cringe back and decide they wanted no more part of the Altarians. The border wars would go on for over a year, with the Altarian mind control center gradually toppling Yor world after Yor world. Finally, the Yor sued for peace, and the Altarians extracted a hefty price for it. However, Altarian influence would continue to topple the Yor worlds for some time to come.

Yeah, you can probably imagine what was going on in this game. Challenging difficulty, and the Yor is the biggest threat on the map. The Korath were never a real threat to me, though they could have become one had I let them alone with their Telenath long enough. The Torians liked me well enough when I was neutral and leaning good, but I saw a roleplay opportunity here with having the Altarians embrace the darkness to fight on a more equal footing against evil, and losing their path along the way.

That mind control center is overpowered, by the way. Is there really anything Good or Neutral gives that is as much of a game changer?

aars
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Will you be posting more of this, or is it a one-off?

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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The Corrupted Heart of the Heart of the Resistance

Eleys Mue sat before the Altarian senate, bored with the preceedings. The senators were up in arms about her decision to conquer the Vegans, when they landed too close to one of her worlds. She really wished the pacifist party and the war party would quit bickering and holding up the vote, everyone knew her Universalist party was going to win the vote anyway. She idly wondered if it would be worth the trouble to just kill them all and throw the Altarian Resistance back to an imperial government, but she knew the benefits of the Federation outweighed her personal annoyance.

She idly wondered where the Resistance would be now if The Prophet had not moved her people to favor doing evil for the greater good. Probably slaves or food meat by now, she decided. The only way to handle the monsters that opposed her was to treat them as they treat others.

It didn't occur to her that the Torians, whom she defeated the year before and turned into slaves for her people, had been a good people, nor did she think that enslaving their entire race was unnecessarily evil. Her trophy personal slave and trophy from that conflict, Tlas Kzientha, sat beside her, naked of anything besides the shackles she forced him to wear. To be honest, she could often hardly be bothered to remember his name, except when he got into one of his moods and started demanding his freedom. At those times, he often proclaimed who he used to be, but those 'moods' were coming less frequently as she wore away at his will and spirit. Another act she didn't think twice about. She was a good ruler at heart, that's what mattered.

The destruction of the Korath Clan was satisfying. She only regretted that the Telenath had been destroyed, she had wanted to put it to use. For the greater good, of course. Any price could be paid to secure the future of the Altarian Resistance. Again, it did not occur to her that the future of the Altarian resistance was becoming darker and darker as her people compromised their values more and more.

Her empire was expanding by the month. Her mind control center was constantly refining its techniques for pushing the borders of her empire outward, forcing nearby planets' peoples to join her empire, expanding her influence further to enthrall even more planets. It was a slow process, but it was steady, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. The mind control was subtly woven into all her peoples' broadcasts and trade goods, and made any civilization nearby to her own more susceptible to her influence. She didn't think that forcing other empires' people to rebel and join her was unnecessarily evil. She was doing what was necessary for her people to survive. To survive, they had to use any tool they could acquire to defeat the monsters that forced them to this. Her people were a good people. They only did what they did for the greater good. To fight against evil, one had to use evil's own tools against it. She had learned this from hard experience.

She was roused from her musings by what appeared to be the end of the debate and the beginning of the vote. She stood to make the final remarks before the voting started. "Universalists, I know that you'll vote my way for... various reasons. Each of you knows what your personal reason for obeying me is. As for the rest of you, you'll have enforcers arrive at your families' homes to collect your reasons for obeying me soon enough. The Vegans will make good slaves, and we're destroying another monster that would use our morals and ethics against us. All for the greater good. Now let's get this vote over with."

As she sat to await the results of the vote, she chanced to look toward Tlas, and saw something resembling pity in his eyes. "You've truly lost your way," he said sadly.

Irritated, she turned the control to his pain transmitter up a few notches and watched without remorse as he writhed on the floor. "You need to learn your place, slave," she said. She would have to break him a little more, he still had some spirit.

More on the Altarians' descent into evil. This game is still in progress, so as I find occasion to I'll post more on it. This game is being played with surrenders disabled (because I'm getting more than annoyed at empires I'm whittling away at suddenly flipping wholesale to join the worst possible side), specials disabled (so my super organizer special for the Altarians isn't coming into play here. Would be interesting, though, to RP a reaction to the Yor coming to our aid if we get attacked), immense map with loose clustors, abundant stars, planets, and habitables, very slow tech rate (or someone probably would have won a technological victory by now), 9 computer opponents (the Drengin, Korath, and Torians have been conquered, the latter two by myself), challenging difficulty. If I manage to finish this out and win, I'll probably move up to playing Tough maps. At this point, we're about 450 turns in.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I love this! The Altarians are evil, but pretending even to themselves that they are doing it all for the greater good. Ok, if this were not an AAR I'd say that the Torians rebel and the Terran Alliance steps in to aid them, as the Terran Alliance does. Maybe some of the other 'good' races join in as well, and it's insurrection on all fronts for the Altarians as slaves are freed and planets liberated. In response, the Altarians commit some terrible atrocity...maybe killing all slaves to stop them from being liberated? Turning their mind-control device to maximum, and forcing everyone under its power to fight? Then the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance...

 

But since this is an AAR, there is always the chance evil will triumph. At any rate, I don't think this game accomodates the kind of developments I've  just descirbed. It would be so awsome if it did though!!!

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

I love this.  It's awesome.  XD

It's really something to see the Altarians turn evil for "the greater good", as they try to justify themselves.  It's especially crazy to see their leader having killed off the Torians, and using their leader as a slave....When they were trying desperately to protect them before.  :)  People can flip flop pretty crazily, huh?