now the problem im having with making another campaign with the rest of the lore is that some of the most interesting bits dont actually contain our 18 generals.
heres some of the really cool bits that i cant figure into a campaign
Valknu vs Rasha
Under the cover of night, Rasha and his Kurikan swept through the Grand Trianon and the Aestari Palace, ignobly murdering Sargos in his bedchamber. His warband invaded each school of the Seventh Sanctum, executing any who remained loyal to Sargos.
Valknu alone put up a heroic fight, but he was ultimately no match for the combined power of Rasha’s forces.
really cool coup d’eta by rasha and last stand by valknu
clearly destroy or defend missions
Rasha destroys the Vetruvians
As his ships set sail, many of Rasha’s staunchest supporters were beginning to doubt his sanity. But he landed all of his capital warships on the beaches of Kaero, without a single loss. To the Vetruvians’ shock and horror, Rasha’s fifty thousand troops overtook the city in a matter of days.
High Emperor Rasha and his troops unleashed a wanton orgy of destruction, slaughtering men, women, and children, pillaging the ancient city of Kaero and razing the revered Ostracon.
an easy level to introduce the campaign.
i can probably fit a vetruvian campaign starting here with ziros being a reskin/rename of zirix
Ziros Starstrider
Ziros joined with the resistance, skillfully skirmishing with their Aestari pursuers and effectively harrying Rasha’s army so that the women and children could reach safety.
Ziros proved to be a natural strategist, leading many successful forays against the Aestaris. Between his tactical prowess and his vast knowledge of the canyons, cliffs and desert water mines — and the slaughter of the other Vetruvian leaders along the way — by the time the refugees arrived at the edge of the Aymara Canyons, young Ziros had become the de facto leader of the Resistance. Ziros brought the civilian refugees through the El-Gamesh desert, sending them to Pyrae and Petra before returning to the Aymara Canyons, where he would lead a last stand against the marauding Aestaris.
all sorts of room for creativity with this. could probably get several missions out of this paragraph.
The Scions Wishes
At sunrise, three brave Scions from one of Vetruvia’s oldest clans, House Volari, agreed to a sacrificial mission to lure Rasha’s patrols to the edge of the Akram Desert before letting themselves be captured. The enemy patrol found the real crystals and saw the fake ones in the distance, gleaming in the morning sun. Even under Rasha’s horrific torture, the captured noble Scions swore those were the Star Crystal fields. Overwhelmed with his desire for the crystals, Rasha mockingly granted each Scion a dying wish before executing them, then marched his army through the night.
a (reverse) escape mission that rewards 1 of each scions wish
preparations are cheating (cheating is OP)
He had his metalmancers collect every scrap of metal that was not weapon or piece of armor, and forge them into crystalline shapes, imbuing them with a luminescent shine. He formed a squad of Orb Weavers who knew the location of every water mine in the Akram Desert, and he sent them to place the real crystals at the outer western edge of the Akram Desert while replicating the fake ones atop the deeper dunes one day’s march inside it.
could be 2 defend missions and maybe even have you make 2 decks out of 1 set of cards for extra challenge
never invade vetruvia in the summer
Rasha again ordered his men ahead without pause. They lost hundreds to the heat. By nightfall it seemed the priceless crystal fields were almost within reach. But not quite.
In the cloak of night, while Rasha’s exhausted army slept, Ziros’ squad moved and astral phased the fake crystals another day’s march east, deeper into the Akram Desert.
At dawn, Rasha insisted it must be a trick of the desert sun. He ordered his men to march yet again. That day the blistering heat took thousands.
Once more, Ziros’ men moved the fake crystals, and in the morning, Rasha ordered his men even deeper into the desert.
defend and exhaust missions that could even repeat itself. lost in the desert as a reward? 
Rashas Grave
By noon, when Ziros and his Dunecasters finally attacked, half the Aestaris were already dead; the rest driven mad with thirst. But not as mad as their Emperor, who fought on until the lifeblood of his last man drenched the sands and gave mute testimony to the Vetruvian’s vengeance. Ziros, still consumed with revenge, had his men build a monument where he fell — Rasha’s Tomb — and buried Rasha and his men inside it, cursing them to burn for eternity in the scorching desert heat.
epic battle to the death with big bad rasha. rewarded rashas curse for thematic appropriateness.
right here seems to be a good place to end campaign #2, but it isn’t
Draug invades Songhai
His northern flank largely secured, he then sent his warships on a surprise attack on the Songhai capital, Xaan, sinking the unsuspecting Songhai fleet stationed at port with little difficulty.
kaleos should get some screen time too, but he gets his ass kicked.
Songhai Conquered
Draug moved past Xaan and conquered Kaido, consolidating his power over the entire continent of Xenkai.
yup, kaleos (maybe reva or shidai) is getting his (their) ass kicked
right here seems to be the beginning of campaign #3
cassyva is actually a vetruvian, a starstrider even, which makes things complicated. but i’m imagining a ziran with curly ringlets for hair and sajj’s clothing. could be a ziran or sajj reskin
Cassyva and co. leaves home
After a tearful farewell, the sisters of Akram travelled to the continent of Xenkai. The people were devastated, and the Songhai government in ruins. The sisters helped where they could, but Cassyva grew increasingly frustrated. Helping people one at a time was not making a difference fast enough. They were powerful nobles with extraordinary abilities, and Cassyva impatiently decided they had to work on a broader scale, as part of an organized effort. So the sisters decided to seek answers to their questions by embarking on a journey into the Saberspine Mountains to find the only Old Empire institution still left standing, the Chakri Monastery.
an intro mission or two followed by an escape the mountains.
Draug tortures Serpentis
Draug tried to question the serpentine creatures with his Mindwarpers, but sensing his true nature, they refused to speak to him. Under torture, they eventually revealed that Draug was in the peninsula of Ixus, on the continent of Styxus, and that they were the surface-dwellers, the Serpenti. When Draug asked what lay below the surface, the Serpenti grew even more afraid and more reticent. Only after the most painful interrogation did the terrified creatures tell him of the darkness that lay underground. Slipping in and out of consciousness, the Serpenti described scenes almost beyond Draug’s imagination, with giant subterranean cities made entirely of crystals.
STAHP TEH SERPENTI TORTUR
i imagine a special mission where you have to get all the serpentis down to 1 hp with grasp of agony and komodo hunters
Rook is actually a bad guy
The Vermillion Legion and their Storm Rooks tore through Petra Fortress like dry paper, battering through the ancient walls of the once formidable citadel. Ziros and his army fought valiantly, but they were severely outmatched.
turn 1 rooks are scary especially when there’s a lot of them
bits like this messes with a simple campaign. this looks like the best point to end campaign #2, after campaign #3 started
Ziros's Last Stand
Draug and his army were unstoppable, sweeping virtually unimpeded over Vetruvia. Ziros nobly sacrificed himself, remaining behind to delay Draug’s forces by activating a blockade of protective Obelysks while what was left of the Vetruvian army fled through the plains of El-Gamesh.
this is where i wish we had longer boards. i imagine a bunch of obelysks on the board while you have to make a bunch of civillan units escape as an endless horde of neutral units attack
Draug wrecks the Lyonar
While the other nations kept silent, in awe and in fear, the Lyonar Kingdoms finally took a stand against Draug’s aggression. Alone, they were no match for the Vermillion Army, and in a matter of days both Windcliffe and the longstanding Opaline Gates were toppled by Draug’s superior forces.
its not just kaleos who gets wrecked, argeon can get curb stomped as well
Final Stand of the Lyonar
The Lyonar fell back past the Forbidden Steppes through Agenor’s Pass, where General Trajan from Sunforge took their last stand — but Lyonar itself was no more.
hide your kevins, hide your powinthekissa’s they killin errybody out there
Vaath could have an entire campaign of his own with this one paragraph in the codex
Vaath led an assembled host of powerful Leviathans, long-range Spirit Harvesters, fearless Phalanxars, and a devoted Veteran Silithar force as it landed in an epic clash that left tens of thousands dead. Known as the Battle of Serpent’s Coil, the battle lines pitched back and forth, at times approaching, but never reaching, the Amberhorn Citadel deep in the continent. Eventually, Vaath’s combined forces pushed the Vermillion Army back to the foothold where they Khahad first landed, a place henceforth known as Draug’s Landing. On a final day of battle as ferocious as the first, Vaath’s forces drove the Vermillion Army back onto their warships — and out of Magaari — for now.
far too much campain potential for a single paragraph to go unnoticed. tentative campaign #4??
Back to campaign #3
Cassyva and co. training montage
The sisters fell in love with the Monastery. After long days helping the needy, they would pore over rare books and priceless manuscripts, drinking in knowledge.
They incorporated many of the Chakri Avatars’ teachings and became something wholly new, the Keshrai Fanblades.
For the sake of the entire world, Consular Draug had to die.
filler levels with songhai rewards
Cassyva is the James Bond of Duelyst
In Aestaria, Consular Draug remained sequestered in a heavily guarded palace. While overseeing the crystal mining operations in Ixus, however, he was much more vulnerable. Cassyva and her sisters decided that was their only hope of getting to him. They stowed away on a supply ship to Shar, and under cover of the bloodmoon night slipped into the unfamiliar shadowy ruins.
infiltration missions are fun to plan
Assassins Creed makes killing people look easy
With deathstrike-imbued blades and mana-rich crystals hidden beneath elegant gowns, they hurried to the dock.
They reached the dock just in time to see Draug and his cadre of Sworn Defenders at the top of the walkway. Hundreds of Draug’s soldiers were watching the sisters. Scores stood between them and their target.
“Consular Draug!” Cassyva called out as he was about to disappear into the ship. He paused at the sight of five distant beauties in resplendent gowns approaching the blocked walkway. There was no time for Cassyva to use the Star Crystals, to consult with her sisters, or even to think things through. There was only time to act. In a single motion she pulled five blades hidden in her sleeves and cast them with as much magical force as she could summon. They spiraled and sliced through the air with deadly accuracy toward Draug…but at the last moment ricocheted harmlessly off an invisible magical barrier surrounding him. As it was, he watched impassively as the magically siphoned blades instead skewered his elite Defenders as they crumpled into the water with unceremonious splashes. Draug smiled and said, “Kill them.” Then he was gone.
failed assassination attempts are misleading when writing mission objectives
Metal Gear Solid make escaping enemy patrols look easy
The Five Sisters valiantly fought their way against the back of the Bonemaw Mountains. Surrounded by Draug’s soldiers and with nowhere else to turn, they fled into a cave and were chased deeper and deeper, into a vast network of underground caverns.
it would be so nice to tie this in with the lilithe/breath of the unborn lore, but unfortunately none of cassyvas sisters are named lilithe
Cassyva and co. get eaten
The creatures were Inxykree, the female counterparts to the merciless male Inxikrah. Six adults tended a dozen infants, all pure white and reptilian with large faintly glowing cloudy eyes, intelligent but inscrutable. The adults turned and hissed, displaying needle-like fangs and razor-sharp claws. Cassyva paused. They had sworn only to use the Star Crystals to stop Draug, but they couldn’t do that deed. Cassyva shouted “Now!” raising the crystals and infusing the five sisters with magical energy. But it was already too late. The Inxykree struck without hesitation, their keen claws tearing the sisters into bloody shreds before they could expend the magic they had absorbed.
Then the Inxykree and their young consumed them.
this defend mission wont last very long
the new abyssians are badass
An Inxikrah male entered, glaring at them. “You are not Inxykree,” he said, baring his cruel fangs. “This is not your Abyss,” he shouted and attacked. The Inxykree had lost their talons and fangs, but had kept their speed and strength — and had gained the skills of the five sisters. They seized the bloody weapons from the floor and slayed the Inxikrah. “He’s right,” they said in one voice. “We are Inxykree no more. We must find an Abyss of our own.”
easy intro to abyss fight
can songhai get a campaign mode too?
Their mission was to gather libraries of ancient texts and manuscripts, including any artifacts that survived from the Seventh Sanctum and the Ostracon. The Age of Chaos was coming. Valknu and the Chakri Avatars intended to preserve the collected knowledge for posterity and to save it from the madness to come.
tentative campaign #5?? kinda like a filler campaign to see all the places on the map that arent in the other campaigns
Draug vs the Inxikrah could be its own campaign
As the prophecy foretold, darkness reigned in the form of a protracted war between the ascendant forces of Draug and the Inxikrah. With every indication that the conflict was headed to an inevitable cataclysmic battle
The churning seas claimed a quarter of them. But those that landed fought ferociously, viciously, sweeping across Aestaria, consuming their victims and growing smarter each day. The Vermillion Legion, all but leaderless, was easily conquered.
an epic battle that unfortunatly doesnt include anyone even close to the 18 generals
could be a campaign of its own, but its rather thin on material to draw from
Draug gets ritually murdered and eaten
** Though victorious, the Inxikrah were weakened by the battle as well. But when Aq’Toth unceremoniously dismembered and consumed Draug, he mind melded and learned of the impending blooming of the Weeping Tree of Eyos, and the great power soon to be released within the Monolith.**
SERPENTI AVENGED
this one seems like the hardest (both to make and play) but also the most fun to theorycraft
The Final Battle
The Abyssians and the Magmar fought alongside the Bloodbound, whose peerless magic countered the Inxikrah’s debilitating clouds of toxin. Throughout the night, Good’s Heel seethed with clashing combatants, a cacophonous cauldron of violence bathed in the extraordinary light streaming from the Monolith. As dawn approached, the Inxikrah finally broke under the combined might of Mythron’s champions, and so begun their retreat over the blood soaked ground, littered with the twisted bodies of their fallen. Valknu was torn: should he chase them down to secure Aperion’s clandestine location and risk leaving the Monolith vulnerable? Then, to his astonishment, he discovered not a single Bloodbound or Magmar or Abyssian had been lost. The Weeping Tree was safe – and so was the secret of Aperion’s location. The was was over.
the hardest battle of all. you have to last till exhaust and you cant let ANY of your friendly minions die. not sure which general to use for this battle since it could be cassyva, starhorn, valknu, or even a vanar general. kinda hoping for a 2v2 situation, but thats unlikely.
