The Fortress of Shadows

4 Did the city from which the assassins were sent have an Assassin's Abode?

If you guys run more experiments, I would politely request that you record the results on the forums for posterity.

Count Rupert wrote: Brandmeister wrote: The Fortress of Shadows is in the desert? It appears to be in an area of mountains and hills. The three unusual hubs are Khafkar, Nessim, and one in the far west whose name escapes me at the moment. I wrote a very detailed post in the map experiment graveyard thread. Jarru?

It is interesting that those three hubs, Khafkar, Nessim and Jarru, are some of the few hubs players are offered to send diplomatic, harvest and army missions to. They're not the only ones though, I think, there are others that offer harvesting (not all). And anyway you can always send missions by manually entering the URL: http://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/Diplomatic/Orders/XXX/YYY

I'm not sure there's a lot to find in all that though. A lot of experiments have already been conducted and their results lay under layers of dust in various sections of the forum, and we still don't know how many mysteries there actually are. But it's always worth trying of course.

From what I got it seems to me that when you manage to send military/harvesting/diplomatic units to a trade hub, the hub is treated like an empty square and nothing happens. It could just be a game mistake and perhaps those units should not be able to get there at all. Or perhaps there's something to be found. I don't know if there have been systematic research on that.

Anyway here is a scout report I got some time ago of a trade hub (the only interesting report I got from such an experiment):



From: System
Subject: FW: Scout Mission to Square [-146|241] in Norweld Completely Successful!
Received: 19 Nov 2014 09:21
Original Message:

Operation From:	Ground station	Sirius [StA]
Operation Against:	Square [-146|241] in Norweld
Operation Type:	Scout
Operation Outcome:	Completely Successful!

Mission Report:
Your diplomatic mission was undetected and completed the objective! Your units are on their way home, safe and sound.

Information Gathered:

Troop levels present, foreign reinforcements:

Type:	Unit:	Quantity:
NPC's forces from NPC Location
Army: Seelie Court
NPC's forces from NPC Location
Army: Seelie Court
NPC's forces from NPC Location
Army: Seelie Court
Division: Barrier Unforcement from the Seelie Court
Division: Barrier Unforcement from the Seelie Court
Division: Barrier Unforcement from the Seelie Court
Troops:	Moonclad Archers	1
Troops:	Moonclad Archers	49
Troops:	Moonclad Archers	37

Brandmeister wrote: The Fortress of Shadows is in the desert? It appears to be in an area of mountains and hills. The three unusual hubs are Khafkar, Nessim, and one in the far west whose name escapes me at the moment. I wrote a very detailed post in the map experiment graveyard thread.

Whilst it is true that the word torture strongly evokes pain, and in many cases death, assassins are not known for long, drawn out tasks. They are trained to appear, strike, and evade, disappearing. At least, it is the case in the large majority of works of fiction, so it could be assumed it is the case in Illyria (the references to real events, beliefs, or myths is quite prominent), and the lore is usually accurate.

When I said it clearly referred to thieves, I was discussing the answer of the gypsy fortune teller when they were sent to her:

"The gypsy fortune-teller tells your Thieves: "Beware what lurks beneath the desert sands, for though there is treasure there it is also well guarded.""

We know the treasure is well guarded. Let us think on the different locations:
-The Fortress of Shadows: We know this is in the desert. We do not know which treasure there is (I read a rumor the gypsy works for the fortress.. Maybe the "treasure" is unlocking the mind and body to the god? A bit far fetched...) but I believe there is one, as there is "much to learn", like she said to the assassins.
We also know that, as mentioned in the faction description, "only the Hashishin can take my mind. Only the followers of Ten Kulch can steal my soul." While we don't know if the process is torturous, we do know they are somehow persuaded or controlled, to an extent that it utterly wipes out their discipline. It must be a painful process, at least while the person in question resists.

-The Undying Flame: I don't have much information on the Undying Flame, only that the old, "mad", king (as depicted in the story on the front page of the herald at the present time) and his troops are harbored there. It could be assumed there are quite a few treasures following him, though I do not know if they torture.
If anyone could post a comment clearing my doubts on that point, it would be welcome.

However, I am pushing for the fact that they are all related: it is mentioned the Undying Flame is a growing threat to the players and the king, as is the heart Audrey, whilst the Hashinshin is more of a threat in lore.

Now, all three have a manner of controlling minds, persuading them somehow. Audrey steals your heart, The Hashinshin steal your soul, the Undying Flame steals your people, one at a time. (Not 100% true, just sounded cool)
Maybe all these evil forces are operating as pawns from an outer, bigger force?

I still haven't found a "villain" in the top right, but I will keep looking.

P.S. Please, I am a low level player, so I do not have much to work with. Contact me if you want to help, or join the guild I'm in (Night Shadows) - they're great!

P.P.S. What, I had to do a little propaganda, no?

I tend to rabble on, don't I?

We will solve this!!