Announcing! Plaid Hats vs. Rios Clan!

[thenightsshadow]

This faction won't be a surprise to some of the playtesters, who have already received their card and their bio. However, for everyone else, here's the announcement.

Plaid Hats vs. Rios Clan! Here are the faction lists, and over the next two weeks I'll be displaying the text on the cards two at a time, similar to how Truth's doing the factions.


Plaid Hats Faction Deck:
1 Colby Dauch - Summoner (Posted here)
1 Cody Stevens - Champion (Posted here)
1 Cory Bullock - Champion (Posted here)
1 Mr. "C" Bistro - Champion (Posted here)
8 Fighters - Common (Posted here)
5 Marksmen - Common (Posted here)
5 Soldiers - Common (Posted here)
3 Plaid Army Events (Posted here)
2 Benevolence Events (Posted here)
2 Overwhelm Events (Posted here)
2 Attrition Events (Posted here)
3 Wall Cards
1 Summoner Reference Card


Rios Clan Faction Deck
1 Joshua Rios - Summoner (Posted here)
1 Jay Key - Champion (Posted here)
1 Jeremy Durga - Champion (Posted here)
1 Javier Stevens - Champion (Posted here)
8 Warriors - Common (Posted here)
5 Assassins - Common (Posted here)
5 Saboteurs - Common (Posted here)
3 Jerk Move Events (Posted here)
3 Repair Godshome Events (Posted here)
2 Blade Wave Events (Posted here)
1 Magic Siphon Event (Posted here)
3 Wall Cards
1 Summoner Reference Card


Pascal's Purification
Plaid Hats
1 Taylor Kowbel - Champion (Posted here)
1 Brad Minnigh - Champion (Posted here)
1 Pascal Lefebvre - Champion
5 Guardians - Common
5 Blade Dancers - Common

Rios Clan
1 James Sitz - Champion
5 Phantoms - Common
5 Mimes - Common
5 Weaponmasters - Common

Mercenaries
1 Isaac Vega - Champion
5 Bards - Common

Stay tuned for more!

[jsmkd]

Sweet I did not know I was a card!

[Elcor13]

Is Jexik going to be a reinforcement for the Rios clan or something?

[thenightsshadow]

Yes.

I'm not done with the reinforcement pack, but it's called Pascal's Purification and contains 4 Champs, 5 Commons, and 2 Mercs.

[Phoenixio]

Cody on one side, Javier on the other... Hmmm...

You did get the C vs J theme out, nice.

Can't wait to see what this was all about. I might know about a couple of cards, but I'm curious about the whole lore too. Because yes, there is a story it seems

[thenightsshadow]

The biggest reason why I wanted to make this is to give you guys (playtesters) a fun faction to play with on your off days with each other on your module.

Big dreams, sure, but there's no way that's stopped me before.

[thenightsshadow]

The world of Itharia is a vast place. There are many land masses; small ones, large ones. Land is what the many races of Itharia require and, among other things, is what wars are fought over. The reasons for this are varied: blood feuds. Purity. Vengeance, both righteous and unrighteous. Power. Symbols. And just plain fun.

In addition, every being on every land mass can traverse their way to Godshome. It is sanctity, purity, and the semblance of how things used to be. It requires no central figure, no tower of Sedecea, no stairway to reach this heaven. But regardless of the faction, nobody wishes to claim this land for their own. There are scholars trying to understand the ruins, and there are Walls that go missing every so often, but other than that, not much goes on what is universally called the Realm of the Gods.

This, however, is only to the trained eye. To the untrained, the destitute, and the impure, the happenings in this supposed legendary place can be seen, if they make it here. When they do, the last thing they see is the essence called Truth, standing measures away from them, deeming them unfit for living in Godshome. The last thing they hear is his weaponless hand carving the air in front of him. And the last thing they feel is his ghastly and seemingly formless truth, splitting their poisonous body in half.

Even so, this is not enough to kill them. The darkness of each dying soul manifests itself, and Truth's right-hand man, Hope, takes out his scepter-blade, slaying the soul from within and without, sending it not toward a Goddess Stone, but to a place unescapable by any means. The Void.

This is the reality of Godshome. Long gone are the goddesses that resided there, and what remains is the personified essence of what each goddess represented. Because they are essences, they have form, and can fully represent the goddess they were once a part of. But, because they are essences, they are beings themselves, and represent both the goddess and the antithesis of that goddess. Hope can represent Despair. Truth can represent Falsehood. Peace can represent War. The essences know that, and yet they live, themselves unwilling to give up.

Leading all of these Essences is the man called Truth. It is he that looks over the wars of Itharia. He knows the power the Goddess Stones hold, and how thankfully little of its power has been unleashed in those wars. He knows, because he is the only one of all the Essences to have a Goddess Stone of his very own. Truth was visited in a dream by the Goddess he represented, giving him the Goddess Stone of his essence, and told to enforce truth throughout the world. However, it is Itharia that refuses to listen, his reasoning states. He has proclaimed his message by distributing the Summoning Stones that once lay in Godshome, and when Itheria broke out in war, he declared his message lost to the world. He now resides only on the pedestal that his Goddess Stone once rested on, frowning upon the world of Itharia, now taking only amusement from their silly games.

It was this gradual turn of events, spread over almost two millenia, that causes another Goddess appear to someone in a dream, begging him to bring back Hope to Truth. But this does not go unnoticed by Truth, and before Hope can take the Goddess Stone off of his Goddess' pedestal, he is caught and sentenced to a lifetime of servitude, and for almost a full decade, this is the case.

During this time, Hope plays the role of the villain, pulling pranks on other essences, making friends and enemies along the way. Those who are willing to listen to his story understand why he has done this, and side with him. Hope spends this time cautiously, garnering allies out of the reach of Truth.

And about ten years later, he begs the Goddess to give him the Stone that so eluded him before. That night, she finally gives him the Stone, asking him to once again right the Truth.

But Hope realizes that all of his pranking has given him a new and unique combat style. Something that Truth will never see coming. Instead of setting off on his mission, he is willing to put it aside for now and be a jerk, unleashing every Jerk Move in his arsenal. He has pranked so many that ordinary essences won't do. To him it would be the ultimate Jerk Move to defeat the Truth, and prove that it is Hope, and not Truth, that holds true power.

So as Hope marches toward Truth, chains unshackled, his own army in the palm of his outstretched hand, Truth is already ready with his own Goddess Stone, ready to defend his leadership and his right. To him, it appeared Hope had someone steal his Goddess Stone for him, and was going to make jokes and problems the new way of Godshome. Truth didn't need his essence to tell him the truth: this was wrong. He knew that his lackey's Jerk Moves wouldn't work on the Flagbearer.

Truth jumped down, raised his hand, and split the air, as he had always done to the wicked beings that sometimes made their way up into Godshome. But, to his surprise, it was parried by the scepter-blade of Hope, who struggled for a bit before pushing the ghastly force away. It was then that they both realized: this was going to be a War of beliefs, honor, and power. It was going to be a War of hatred, vengeance, and purity. And yes, it was going to be fun.

But they had forgotten their original mission. It was not going to be a War for the Goddesses.

============

Summoner of the Plaid Hats - Colby Dauch
Attack Value: 3 (Bow)
Life Points: 6
Ability Name: Flagbearer
- If Colby Dauch can be attacked by an enemy Unit, when that Unit attacks, Colby Dauch must be attacked.

Colby Dauch, the personified essence of Truth, has long been the Flagbearer of the entire Godshome, taking the blame when anything goes wrong, and receiving the praise when anything goes well. It is he that holds the Goddess Stone of Truth, and he respects the power it has given him. He has made a rule for himself that he is only to use it in self-defense, and with Hope marching against him, that rule is invoked.

But he won't Summon just anybody to the field. They must be loyal, and only loyal to him. Otherwise, there is no point.

---

Summoner of the Rios Clan - Joshua Rios
Attack Value: 4 (Sword)
Life Points: 7
Ability Name: Jerk Move
- Whenever Joshua Rios destroys a Unit or Wall, if that card would be placed in your Magic Pile, it is placed in your Discard Pile instead.

Joshua Rios is the personified essence of Hope. But try telling that to the ordinary citizens of Godshome. Too often has the coming of Hope over the past few years been anything but. In fact, Hope has caused so much despair, it is as if he were doing it on purpose.

He is. If everyone can rally behind a common goal, he reasons, then there is a Hope in the future, and he will be there to rally it again. So for now, he must use the negative side of himself, and turn everyone against him. For the future.

[prometheuslkr]

Interesting lore... I don't really see the point of a summoner with Protector. I mean, what are the odds that a unit adjacent to an enemy summoner would even want to attack someone else?

[Phoenixio]

It would work against certain players, like Jexik. He has the tendency to kill everything and keep the summoner for the end, even when that summoner is relatively open for potshots. It isn't the most wonderful summoner ability, but it still could find a use once in a while. And we don't know about their events either: maybe he can heal.

[thenightsshadow]

If you look carefully, Truth's version of Protector actually affects ranged Units as well. This is where the distinction lies. You can use your Summoner to protect a key Champion, or Commons that hold a key position on the board.

But the main reason is that 3 Ranged Attack and 6 Life means that the Summoner has to have a useful ability, but not a strong ability. It's the strongest stats a Summoner's ever had besides Grognack's 4 Melee Attack and 7 Life, which is what Joshua Rios has. A Protector variant that works on Ranged Units does exactly that.

However, there are combos. Colby works well with the Fighter Commons, can work in tandem with Cory Bullock, and from the reinforcements, there's the Guardian Commons and Pascal Lefebvre.

Edit:
Unfortunately, even if Colby had an event that allows him to heal, Josh can prevent it.