140 The Stator Rebellion Part 2
"The Kingdom of Oovre is one of the darker kingdoms within Dynasties Online and, combined with the very racist elven Baernthas Principality, represent the worst of sentient societies indulging in practices that had been deemed immoral by the modern world for hundreds of years."
"It is also because of the presence of these nations that the reputation of both goblins and elves have been tarnished."
"It is just unfortunate that the arrival of players may not lead to as many revolutions and examples of good moral conduct as one may expect."
"Because many differentiate Dynasties Online from the real world and so find it easy to commit atrocities against NPC's who they see as beneath them."
"As their primary motive is profit and a better quality of life in the real world, many are willing to abandon their moral values in the game."
"And commit and partake in some of the worst practices one can imagine."
"All for the sake of a few more gold coins so they can indulge in the debaucheries of the real world."
"As I stand as one of the few who has managed to keep his moral integrity intact."
"Because it is a large part of my power and the soldiers of House Aurellion are willing to go to hell and back with me.
Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in Dynasties Online.
….
Because the Dynasty History System is no longer in operation and there is no history to base it on, Stator did not take long to enter the game. The streamer had very little to do besides customising his character's visual appearance and choosing his starting skills and attributes.
But there were a few things that players who joined later got that those who joined early did not. First, if one of your family members has already set up a dynasty and there is a character in that bloodline for you to take over, you can do so. This means that if a brother or cousin, for example, wants to join the game and you have a character they can play, they can immediately join your dynasty, allowing them access to status and resources that would usually take years to build up.
Also, as long as you and your relative have a good relationship, then it can be an excellent way to increase the power of your dynasty, as you will have one more trustworthy player to call upon if needed. This can be especially helpful if you are not like House Aurellion, who has very loyal vassals and subordinates as if you are a child ruler, then your cousin or brother that you trust can become your regent, helping your dynasty to stay in power and lessen the chaos and power struggles that inevitably come from having a child ruler.
Second, they can choose inheritable dynasties or character traits that focus more on their personal power than on things like status and money. Instead of spending their CP on things like status, they can focus it on traits that may pass down the bloodline, like enhanced strength and others that increase a dynasty's attributes.
A good similarity is the genetics programs gamers who play grand strategy games like Stratadox make where you play as a dynasty and try to acquire congenital traits like strong or quick.
However, these traits are not guaranteed to be passed down from father to son. Just as an intelligent king may have a stupid son, a player with good potential congenital traits may fail to pass them on to their descendants.
This is unlike the dynasty tradition inheritable dynasty traits Reginald chose for House Aurellion, where it is guaranteed to get skills for each member instead; it is more of a gamble like that you would take when making half races or mixing 3 races together where you get 3 random race traits out of the 9 available with the option to guarantee the humans Interspecies Human Reproduction if they so desire, but the other race traits are entirely random and out of the players control.
This means you may get offspring with all the traits you want and others without.
The only time you can choose race traits is during your initial character creation when you choose to be a half-race like Reginald. After that, when your first character dies, you will inhabit another member of your bloodline, though certain rules must be obeyed.
Stator could still remember the goblin race traits and could see why they could prolificate so much in DO even if they do not have too many nations around the world compared to races like elves, humans and dwarfs.
….
Goblins: A weaker race that relies on its high fertility and short development cycle to survive, this can become a powerful weapon as you can find yourself fighting millions of the small green-skinned creatures if you are not careful enough. Goblins are scattered throughout the world and normally short in stature; they are expert climbers; however, they are known for their devious ways of using their unique climbing ability and small stature to outmanoeuvre their opponents.
High fertility: Goblins can breed and give birth to goblins as long as the method of birth is the same. All offspring will become goblins. Also, goblins have higher birth rates and can get pregnant much easier than other races.
Effect: Allows for goblins to create offspring with any race that has a similar way of birthing; however, offspring will always be goblins. This effect can be overridden by human interspecies reproduction to create a hobgoblin, but it is very rare.
Goblins get a 20% increase to their fertility, increasing the chance that they get pregnant or of impregnating someone.
Short development cycle: Goblins have very short development cycles, allowing for very quick and rapid population growth as long as resources are available. However, due to this, they are weaker than other races and rely on numbers to maintain their power more than anything else.
Effect: Maturity within a year, -5 stat points.
Expert Climbers: Living in mountains, forests, and large rock formations, goblins have adapted to climbing rocks, walls, and trees with their hands and feet, using high elevations to ambush unsuspecting enemies.
Effect: Gain generic climbing skills at the expert rank. You will be able to traverse rock faces, walls and trees with ease.
….
As the streamer walked around the military camp he had started in, he reflected on his choices and plotted his next move. Those in his chat who had not experienced Dynasties Online were in awe of the game's graphics and realistic world. They could see why people praised the graphics as revolutionary.
Tents were scattered around, with no rhyme or rhythm. Small green-skinned goblins came and went, their hooked noses a distinctive feature of their race. Some were gathered around a large blackened iron pot holding simmering meat, waiting for their food to be ready and enjoying themselves training and playing various campfire games while enjoying ale and other alcoholic beverages.
Looking closely, however, you would see some semblance of order, as Goblins preferred to stay within their own tribe. Only large armies like these had troops from multiple tribes who regularly exercised together to help them co-operate on the battlefield.
In the end, Stator decided to be a hobgoblin, a rare breed that was usually naturally stronger than the regular goblin but also took longer to mature.
When it came to war, the goblins usually relied on numbers and their cunning to win, using their masterful climbing techniques to climb the trees in the forest they call their home and pepper their opponents with arrows and magic until their lifeless bodies collapse into the dirt.
Goblins are some of the best ambushers in the world, with only elves being superior to them in the woods. They use their small stature to get into even the smallest nooks and crannies of the world, using poisoned arrows to pick off their opponents.
Some say the goblins are dishonourable as they slowly wear their opponents down, weakening them until they eventually die of the many vicious poisons forcefully inserted into their nervous system by their iron arrowheads.
But through these tactics, they have survived.
And even thrived, establishing this kingdom and permanent home for their race.
Something not every race had.
However, hobgoblins were different and larger than their compatriots, towering over them. They gave up their fertility for physical strength and power comparable to that of an average human, acting as the powerful heavy infantry for the goblin kingdom that helped to hold the line in battle while the smaller and more moveable normal goblins outflank them.
Goblins are also far more intelligent than the more muscle-headed orcs, but this intelligence can sometimes be used for depraved means. Unlike other races who have to procreate with a person of the same species, goblins do not have to, but unlike humans who create half-races and combine their race traits with that of their sexual partners, goblins do not, with each child being a pure-blooded goblin.
While not as primitive or evil in Dynasties Online as they usually are depicted in other fantasy mediums, they still retained a sense of barbarism, but anyone who thinks that they are a dumb, evil existence who has no concept of morality would gravely mistaken as some of the greatest thinkers have been goblins.
Even Nathia has had a goblin prime minister in the past who helped to establish a golden age, but as with all races, countries and religions, there are those who indulge in darkness and depravity.
Unfortunately, The Kingdom of Oovure was a rather primitive country. Because goblins need to breed a lot to maintain their strength, they routinely enslave others to help increase their population, essentially turning them into baby incubators, a terrible fate that one would not even wish upon their worst enemy. While this practice is frowned upon by many, without the strength to enforce their own moral values on these goblins, this practice continues as it allows the kingdom to keep its strength up as goblins can regularly die from hunting, let alone the hundreds of thousands to millions that die in their constant wars with the dwarven Kingdom of Vogdan to the south a rich dwarven kingdom who have created one of the most prosperous port cities in the world being their main rival and most ancient enemy.
In Nathia, thanks to its cultural advancements and interracial nature, which is foremost in the world, this sort of practice has long since become illegal, but in Oovure, who dislikes outsiders, it was all too common.
In a dark twist of fate, it also helps to satiate any sexual urges the goblins have, lowering the crimes that they do against the goblin women and helping to keep social harmony as they take out all their evil thoughts and notions on those they deem not to be citizens and nothing more than objects to satisfy their lusts.
After all, in their eyes and in the eyes of many around the world, the notion of human rights is a foreign concept, and while there are some basic rules around warfare, it has more to do with the principle of doing others what you would have them do to you than any kind of political or ideological stance. For any scholar of history in the real world would tell you that throughout human history before the 19th century, the evil practice of slavery was accepted worldwide and has been around since the earliest civilisations existed.
From China to the Far East, to the Aztecs who resided in modern-day Mexico, to the Ottoman Empire, and even to sub-Saharan Africa itself, this abhorrent practice was common and accepted for hundreds of years.
For slaves were not people but property no different from a chair, albeit one that can talk and work, so why would they care or treat them like ordinary citizens?
The choice to become a hobgoblin was made mainly because Stator wanted a powerful character and because Oovere is not the most welcoming of outsiders.
Hobgoblins were different from goblins in various ways, being larger and physically stronger than their smaller brethren, towering over them, and having a size more akin to their human parent than their goblin one. They gave up their fertility for physical strength and power comparable to that of an average human, acting as the powerful heavy infantry for the goblin kingdom that helped to hold the line in battle while the smaller and more moveable normal goblins outflank them.
Not every nation was as multiethnic or cultural as Nathia. In fact, many are dominated by one race, which holds all the positions of power. Beyond the tribalistic nature of all sentient beings, apart from humans, no other race could integrate by creating families amongst each other. Instead, they would most likely segregate themselves within their own cultural groups, inevitably inciting conflict between the two once peaceful peoples as their values clash in ways that are not always peaceful.
Stator did not forget his mission or lofty, ambitious goals, quickly opening his Basic Solider Starter Kit to get his crude weapons, crude iron, mail-mixed armour and a bit of starting money, sighing when he saw their stats compared to some of those revealed by overzealous players. While Goblin craftsmanship was far better than that of orcs, it was worse than that of Humans, so compared to the weapons and armour that would be given to soldiers in Nathia, the armaments given to Stator could only be said to be inferior.
[5 gold coins acquired]
[Crude Small Iron Machete acquired]
[Crude Iron and Mail Armour acquired.
….
Crude Small Iron Machete:
Description: A crudely made weapon mass-produced by the Kingdom of Oovere for their average soldiers but still sharp enough to kill most lightly armoured opponents with enough swings. It is not the best weapon, but it is better than nothing.
Damage: 30
Special Features: None
….
Crude Iron and Mail Armour:
Description: A crude black iron amour with iron plates covering most of the body. The endings of the amour, however, looked more mail-like, combining aspects of both a crude iron amour used by primitive tribes and traditional light mail while ensuring that manoeuvrability is not lost.
Armour Type: Light
Armour Weight:Light
Defence: 20
Special Features: none
….
While unhappy with his initial equipment, once he began his rebellion and killed some higher-ranking officers, he supposed he could get their much better equipment instead of his current loadout, which was more of a basic grunt than a conquering general.
Stratos smiled as he planned his next move, hoping to use the goblin kingdom's primitive and tribal culture to his advantage to take it over as he retrieved his crude sword from his tent and held it tightly in anticipation of what was to come.
