In our world, monsters have been a part of daily life since before history was written. Not only are they our friends, allies, source of labor, travel, and food as you would expect from more mundane animals: their unique abilities have allowed our civilization to flourish comfortably with their aid. Our streets lit up by a warm bioluminescent glow, our water supply moves by the will of specially bred creatures, our homes are warmed by the eternal fire in the bellies of our trusted hearths. As you would expect those ranchers, breeders, and trainers that allow for all the utilities provided by such creatures are well respected.
Sadly to say this peaceful co-existence doesn't extend to all monsters - nor even our fellow man. The two major nations ruling over the wilderness continent of Calvaria are gearing up for combat. While the causes of war are many, the end result is the same. We must claim the territories in the name of our homeland. Even as wilderness the locations prove valuable as breeding, hunting, and taming grounds - offering both tactical and civilian benefits worth fighting a war over.
Monster Stats
Elements: There are five elements Monsters are known to take on: red, blue, green, black and white. Each nation has its own nomenclature for each element different from the "color scheme", neutral color language has been chosen to avoid confusion on either side. Typically each element is strong against one, weak against another in a standard rock-paper-scissors way.
-Red: Associated with heat and energy production. Albadonia typically associates this element with electricity producing sealife, while Walmer associates it with the fire-spitting creatures of its mountains. Favored location is warm deserts. Strong to Green, weak against Blue.
-Blue: Associated with liquids, coolness, and water in general. Walmer thinks of the freezing glacier beasts, while Albadonia considers the myriad of life living in its seas. Favored location is oceans/rivers/ponds/etc. Strong to Red, weak against Green.
-Green: Associated with plant-life, energy absorption, and living in the dirt. Albadonia thinks of the various greenery pulled up by their nets, while Walmer shudders at the giants patrolling the forests of their homeland. Favored location is jungles/forests. Strong to Blue, weak against Red.
-Black: A strange state known as the "absence of all elements". Never occurring naturally, this state is only found in the odd occurrence that a creature inherits no element from its parents. They are said to be associated with darkness. They are a unique state that is Strong against All, weak against All, effectively acting as glass cannons that give and receive damage as if Strong leading to high casualties on both sides in protracted fights.
-White: An equally strange state known as the "presence of all elements". Never occurring naturally, this state is only found in specials that have inherited all the elements from their parents. They are said to be associated with light. They are the opposite of Darkness, receiving and dealing damage as if the "Weak" element in all cases acting as natural "Tanks".
More elements may be discovered later, or even created by targeted breeding programs.
Size: Size is a double edged sword roughly equal to complexity in other Arms races. While a battleship sized creature will be able to tear through enemy lines far better than a tiny insect could ever hope to dream, it will take a greater amount of time and resource to grow the battleship than it would for said insect. In general the higher the Size, the greater their fighting power will be but the less you can deploy and the more time it will take to get them to full size. Without taking Traits or Quirks into account, the growth chart is:
Very Tiny/Tiny/Small/Medium/Large/Huge/Very Huge
1/2/3/4/5/6/7 Seasons
Monsters can be deployed before they are fully grown, in which case they will act as the size they have grown to (so that a Very Huge creature deployed at 4 seasons would act as Medium). If deployed this way their Traits may be nerfed or not present at all depending on the particular traits.
Traits: Traits are special abilities unique to the creature, which they may provide to their offspring as detailed under Breeding. This includes such features as the ability to breath fire, armor-like hide, claws that can rend steel, the ability to freeze with their gaze, flight, and essentially any other unique aspect including more mundane things such as growing up particularly fast or needing less food than usual. The average Wild creature will have 3 Traits and 1 Quirk.
Quirk: Quirks are roughly equivalent to Bugs in other armsraces, essentially acting as negative Traits. Quirks can be things like needing to stay in the water to survive, being especially slow to breed, having a particularly weak sense, or being especially weak to a particular environment. Wild monsters will have 3 Traits and 1 Quirk. Quirks will likely be bred with Traits, see Breeding for more.
Sample Monster:
Name:Calvarian Brush Dragon
Element: Red
Size: Medium
Traits: Breaths Fire, Hardened Scales, Swift Runner
Quirk: Soft Belly
Flavor Text: The Calvarian Brush Dragon is a 4 legged predator found throughout the continent. It is relatively lizard-like in appearance, with four slim legs covered in bright red scales and a pointed mouth with a a forked-tongue darting in and out at random intervals. It is known for causing brush fires when it hunts, deliberately burning a portion of the local flora to drive out prey into its waiting jaws. As such it is considered a pest species, and is often hunted as part of training military monsters. While its scales are capable of turning away blows, it has a soft underbelly allowing it to be easily slain if flipped over or otherwise targeted from below. They will often retreat at high speeds if confronted by a larger enemy, or with significant numbers.
Breeding: So you got monsters. How exactly do you "Make More"? While it isn't like you can design them as easily as a weapon, you can sculpt their "evolution" using a series of simple breeding practices such as "We take the one that is best at breathing fire and make more that are good at breathing fire", Capturing Wild monsters to bring in new blood with desirable traits to help that process go smoother. It would seem that all Monsters are of the same species and capable of interbreeding to produce viable offspring with few exceptions. Asking how exactly this is done only yields awkward looks from the breeders, most people have given up asking long ago.
Breeding follows pseudo-Mendelian genetics. Once Bred, a bloodline will list "Dominant" and "Recessive" traits. This is often a misnomer if you compare it to mundane biology, as the "Dominant" traits are what is expressed, while the "Recessive" traits are the traits from the parents that where not expressed. Despite what you may think you do have some control over this process with what we call "Conditions", a set of more-or-less scientific artificial selection combined with old wives tales to get the desired result. For whatever reason, a set of Conditions will always produce the same result. Conditions can only effectively pick one trait to be Dominant (barring special circumstances), the rest will be randomly rolled. The Parent's Dominant traits have twice the chance to become Dominant than their recessive traits. In general there is a small chance of increasing the number of Dominant traits in each new breeding. There is also a small chance that a "Mutation", or new Trait/Quirk not derived from the parent, will occur as either a Dominant or Recessive Trait. The chance of mutation can increase if the Conditions are set to make more Mutations.
Example: Lets say we want to breed the Brush Dragon with the Calvaria Great Horse:
Name:Calvarian Great Horse
Element: Green
Size: Medium
Traits: Strong Legs, Extra Docile, High Stamina
Quirk: Coward
Flavor Text: A beast of burden popular for its easy-to-tame nature and intelligence, the Great Horse has been employed plowing fields and moving carts for as long as anyone can remember. It never seems to tire even during long runs, and they say they could kick another Great Horse's head off in a single blow if you somehow got them to fight. Unfortunately their prey instincts are very strong, they turn tail and run at the slightest sign of conflict making them unfit for frontline combat.
Now wouldn't it be great if we could get the speed and strength of the Dragon combined with the high stamina and easy-to-train nature of the horse? We could have some pretty cool cavalry if that ends up working out. Lets go for it!
Breeding Proposal: Calvarian Dragon-Steed (Calvarian Great Horse + Calvarian Brush Dragon)
Conditions: The strongest fire-breathers among the Brush Dragons will be chosen, with the eggs incubated in the warmth of campfire ashes in the Desert to insure they are properly attuned to the element of red. (Breathe Fire Dominant)
Flavor Text: The Calvarian Dragon-Steed is an attempt to breed a suitable warhorse for our front line forces. The end result should be a Brush Dragon in roughly the shape of the Great Horse, with the scales, claws, and head shape as the Brush Dragon.
Lets send it in and see what we get!
Result: Calvarian Dragon Steed
Element: Red(D) Green(R)
Size: Medium
Traits:
D:Breathes Fire, Extra Docile, Strong Legs
R: High Stamina, Hardened Scales, Swift Runner
Quirks:
D: Soft Belly
R: Coward
Flavor Text: The Calvarian Dragon-Steed is an attempt to breed a suitable warhorse for our front line forces. The end result should be a Brush Dragon in roughly the shape of the Great Horse, with the scales, claws, and head shape as the Brush Dragon. Its scales offer comparatively little protection, and while its legs are capable weapons it lacks both the speed and stamina of its parents. It remains remarkably easy to tame while throwing off the cowardice of its forefathers, allowing it to be deployed relatively quickly.
Not perfect, but perfectly deployable once these little guys grow up a bit. If we decide we like these we can always Breed more next round with the same conditions, if we want to go with something more specialized we can pick out different Conditions to end up with a different result even if we choose the same two breeding targets.
Capturing: The fact that Calvaria is mostly wilderness means that we are surrounded by untapped potential. There are many monster species that nobody has seen before, others spoke about only in legends. Capturing is how you introduce new traits into your breeding program. When Capturing you give the name and flavored text of the desired monster, with up to three Traits you wish for it to have. Every trait past the first introduces a penalty into the capture roll. If you roll well, you get what you wish for. If you roll OK, you get something close to what you wish for. If you roll really poorly, you get something vaguely close to what you asked for. Generally the name and flavor text will remain mostly the same, with the Traits being the changing element.
Example Capture Order:
Name: Calvarian Dartbat
Trait: Flight, Medium Size, Super-Fast
Flavortext: The Calverian Dartbat is a large nocturnal animal that zips through the woodlands at night devouring insects as it goes along. It is large enough for a man to comfortably ride, should they be able to withstand the high speeds at which it is accustomed to operating.
Good roll: Exactly that lol
OK roll: Medium size, Trait: Flight, Echo-location, Sonic Attack
Poor rool: Small size, Trait: Flight, Echo-location, Sonic attack
Flavortext: The Size of the Dartbat was unfortunately overestimated by those who claim to have seen it, it is quite difficult to see these little buggers in the dark. While much larger than ordinary bats they are unable to carry a normal human during flight. They do, however, make up for their lack of speed by using echo-location to detect their prey followed by a sonic burst stunning their target insect allowing them to feast despite their relatively normal speed. This sonic attack works just as well on larger opponents, at least up to a point.
Typically Captured creatures will not be enough in number to deploy-you will only have enough to run a breeding program.
While all Monsters must go under extensive training to be any use to humans (barring those that are naturally inclined for the job we give them), Training allows for specialized customization of single units. This can be introducing a new Trait or reducing the downsides of a Quirk. Training is rolled, with a bonus or penalty based on the difficulty of the action and the Traits of the creature. Using the running example, we could attempt to Train our unit of Dragon Steeds to defend their bellies (reducing their Quirk), or we could attempt to regain lost ground by training them to have better speed or stamina. Since we have a Trait making them better to train, we are likely to come out on top with any of these choice. As a learned trait this can't be passed on to the next generation or even a second unit: only this unit will gain the new trait.
Deployment: By default, each Unit has three Sections that may be deployed either separately or together. Loss of Units typically result in loss of Sections, leading to its elimination if all three sections are removed. How big a section is depends on the Size of a creature, particularly large creatures may represent all three sections by themselves. Even if a Unit is destroyed, you will usually have breeding stock remaining of that species and can use that species as normal in Breeding. Units can be deployed to three Regions, detailed later. Regions have four Modes of control: No, Partial, Major, and Full. Your access to the region depends on how much control you have over it, dominating a region will allow you to utilize all of its resources. Once a Region is under Full Control you may launch an assault at the enemy's capital directly, winning the game once you achieve Full Control of it. You may express any tactics and strategies each unit is to use in each region during this phase.
Regions:
Left: The Ulrest Desert. Sandy, open combat broken up only by the occasional dust storm, cactus, and Monster attack. This region is ruled by the Red element, Red monsters fighting here will receive a bonus. Partial control allows for Desert Conditions, allowing for a boost in Red Monster Breeding. Major control gives access to the Rivers and Oasis, allowing for a powerful boost in Blue Monster Breeding.
Center: The Orthan Forest. Combat in the forest and jungles of the center region, with thick foliage blocking line of sight and most attacks. This region is ruled by the Green Element, Green monsters fighting here will receive a bonus. Partial control allows for Forest Conditions, allowing for a boost in Green Monster Breeding. Major control gives access to the Orthan Volcano said to have made this region fertile, giving a Large Boost to Red Monster Breeding.
Right: The Yukan Swamplands. A muddy, flooded region alternating between open waters and forested swamp conditions. This region is ruled by the Blue element, Blue monsters fighting here will receive a bonus. Partial control allows for Swamp Conditions, allowing for a boost in Blue Monster Breeding. Major control gives access to the Swamp Heart, a location known for its rare plants where ancient mud houses a fallen Monster of great power feeding the local plant-life its energy, giving a Large Boost to Green Monster Breeding.
Albadonia: A nation by the sea, consisting mostly of coastal towns and villages. They have default access to the Ocean, giving a small bonus to Blue Monster breeding, and the Albadonian Flash Storm giving a small bonus to Red monster breeding.
Walmer: Sitting high in the mountains, the Walmer people make their home on the pine-forested hills to the far north. They have access to the Walmer Woodlands, giving them a small bonus to Green, and the Hotsprings, giving them a small bonus to Red.
Season: Each Turn/Season follows this pattern:
Capture Phase
Breeding Phrase
Training Phrase
Deployment
With a Combat Report Following Deployment. Turn 0 will instead focus on creating the first 3 Monsters for each nation, one for each element. This will be considered a single phase.
Now you say, "Stirk, what about the People? You keep talking about the monsters, but what if we want to make something else?"
Generally, the current state of warfare revolves around a small amount of humans deploying and commanding large amount of monsters. Both nations are considered rural, with little manpower to waste compared to the vast amount of monsters available to them. If one side's forces are depleted, the remaining humans are likely to surrender if unable to flee, and will be detained until the end of the war. Mundane technology is around the black-powder era, with smooth bore muskets with detachable bayonets being common among hunters. Most monsters can be felled by concentrated small arm/cannon fire, and smaller creatures can be felled by melee weapons. Humans are expected to fight alongside their monsters until the fight becomes unwinnable. Generally humans deliberately targeting other humans is considered ungentlemanly, historically such strategies have unleashed hordes of angry combat monsters on everyone in the general area making everyone's day worse on more populated continents. Things could change on Calvaria based on your orders. If you wish to upgrade the human's equipment, the best way to do that would be by making a monster that is meant to be used as equipment - either breeding a small creature with a usable ability or making a larger creature who's value lies in its parts. In this case "deploying" them would represent slaughtering them and creating said parts. "Training" can be used to give Monsters specialized equipment, including equipment either made from or that is other monsters.
I reserve the right to rewrite these rules should this somehow not work out. Without further delay, let us begin!
Albadonia IC
Walmer IC
Author
Topic: Calvaria - Monster Breeding Armsrace (Turn 1) (Main OOC) (Read 1902 times)