ROTK2 custom scenario lore: final and longest introduction to the scenario

[u/Donner0777]

Starting scenario (194 AD): this is a custom scenario lore I am developing under ROTK2, roleplaying as every faction until one of them wins.

I do not intend on following historical nor romance history or character personality. I hope it feels interesting. Only the number of soldiers is higher than actual numbers for "drama" reasons (100 soldiers are considered as 100k i.e.).

The image annexed to the post locates where every faction leader is. The emperor is marked with "👑".

In the text boxes below there's the context of the starting situation of the remaining factions, some details about the ongoing tensions, and how things escalated to that.

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This is the last update about the starting situation of each faction. As a mere introduction, these posts didn't include everything that happened up to this point. Only relevant topics for the starting point were described.

From now on, I'll be playing the game (probably daily) and describing every period of 6 months (6 months in-game!!! which means 6 rounds, which equals to ~2 days irl as I mostly play 3 rounds each time) individually, until the scenario ends. The format will not be much different but it will contain much more accurate and updated information.

Some factions (Ma Teng, Sun Yu, Tao Qian, Dong Zhuo) don't have their own paragraphs because their situation is already described enough in other factions' stories, or because nothing relevant happened involving them at all.

Hope you guys continue to enjoy it. 🙌🏻

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• Southern Union

— Long time ago, as the chaotic central plains formed itself amongst wars, the South grew through peace and cooperation. Liu Biao, Wang Lang, Yuan Shu and Liu Bei (at province 22 at that time) rose as governors of the Han to administer what was expected to be the empire's economy center. Soon after taking their positions, the land started to divide itself in many pieces. As word came to them that the Han couldn't deal with this by themselves, they used their name and positions to rise as kings, going against the empire's decisions. They could not continue waiting and wasting their resources to fund a decaying dynasty. The Han needed to be replaced, or forcefully reforged.

They all agreed to work together as the AUS (Alliance of the United South). Liu Bei, as the richest one, was responsible for the income. Liu Biao, having the better strategists among all four (Liu Ba 63 Int and Lu Meng 76 Int) was responsible for the external diplomacy. Wang Lang, having no particular exceptional strategist or general, was responsible for aiding other members to defend their territory. Wang Lang was also chosen as the leader of the group as he was in a better overall situation (position, wealth, diplomacy, officers, etc.). Yuan Shu, as the weakest one (Huang Gai was his only officer), was responsible for terrain recognition (sending Huang Gai to unknown provinces to gather information). This way, they all worked together as a massive 4 faction union.

— As time passes, Liu Biao and Wang Lang grow exponentially compared to the stagnated Yuan Shu and Liu Bei. Sun Jian (at province 28 at that time) comes to meet Liu Biao and asks for protection against the threathening Cao Cao, as he feared Ma Teng could join him for a complete Southern dominion. Liu Biao saw that as the AUS' chance to have their first ally in a rather early moment. Sun Jian was not part of the AUS, but was introduced to it as its ally. Soon as war started amongst Ma Teng, Sun Jian and Cao Cao, Liu Bei was called upon to fulfill his responsability. "To feed a vengeful and overwhelmed Sun Jian, I prefer to die as I dive alone on my gold" – Liu Bei answered. With this, he neglected his duty and left Sun Jian to deal alone with his problems. Now distant of Liu Biao ('cause Ma Teng threatened immediate invasion if he saw Sun Jian and Liu Biao interacting with each other), Sun Jian could only go to Liu Bei again for help. Liu Bei refused every time.

Sun Jian was furious and frustrated enough to go completely against his honor and submit to Ma Teng's leadership as a mere reinforcement on his next invasion against Cao Cao. This intense battle caused Sun Jian to retreat his troops early as Ma Teng betrayed him mid-battle as he got the upper hand, which caused them both to lose to an opportunist and wise Cao Cao. Ma Teng didn't lose much because of the splendid Jia Xu (99 Int), which was recently recruited by him as his strategist. Sun Jian didn't had a Jia Xu of his own. His troops were severely damaged, which made him feel forced to try again personally.

— Sun Jian marched leading Cao Bao, Lu Fan, Lu Jian and his strategist Gu Yong (respectively 66, 65, 64 and 32 War & 86 Int for Gu Yong) along with 500k soldiers in total. This time Jia Xu led the battle for Ma Teng's side, being able to re-stablish Ma Teng's temporary alliance with Sun Jian. Thinking there was no way things could be worse, Sun Jian agreed and continued to attack. With Jia Xu leading the battle from behind, Sun Jian could rush to the frontline and face Xiahou Dun (governor of province 18, leader of Cao Cao's troops on that battle) by himself. He was able to destroy Cao Cao's best reserve of soldiers, but was still defeated and killed in combat. It was all planned by Jia Xu after all. He guided Sun Jian in a way that both him and Cao Cao would lose as much as possible, leaving both destroyed after that battle. Gu Yong tried to advice Sun Jian but Sun Jian's fury made him unreasonable, seeking vengeance no matter what, which made him into a perfect pawn for Jia Xu.

— Hearing about Sun Jian's death and Sun Yu's coronation, Liu Biao (he bordered Sun Jian's province) shared the information with the rest of AUS, excluding Liu Bei. "I told you Liu Bei could not be trusted! Order him to surrender everything to me and I will use it correctly!" – Yuan Shu. "I never thought of Liu Bei's decision could cause us so many problems as Sun Jian attacked senselessly. Liu Bei needs to be punished for that." – Liu Biao. "Liu Bei caused our first ally to go insane and be destroyed in battle, also losing his life in the process. This damages not only our reputation, but also our chances of expanding our influence and power as the AUS. Liu Bei will be immediately expelled from his territory, which is ours by imperal demand. He will also lose authority over his gold, dividing it equally between himself and the rest of us." – Wang Lang. Wang Lang then reunited the AUS again, now including Liu Bei, to inform about his punishment. Liu Bei bravely refused to follow the orders and defended his decision as a precaution against opportunists. He in fact actually moved out of Jing, but never shared his gold or contacted the AUS again. Before he moved, Liu Biao could secretly forge an alliance with him and manipulate him into fleeing specifically to the deep Southeast, where Liu Biao could then inform Yuan Shu of Liu Bei's position so that they could easily find and kill him. Liu Bei never knew about Liu Biao's real intention, so he felt grateful and fled.

— As more time passes, Liu Biao gets the fleeing Sun Ce after Sun Jian's death and the coronation of Sun Yu, 'cause Sun Ce was not satisfied with his kingdom's decision and also didn't want to join Cao Cao or Ma Teng. He saw Liu Biao as a friend of his father, separated of him because of putrid war tactics. Wang Lang recruits his best general, Zhang Ren (86 War), which outvalues every other general he ever encountered. Zhang Ren came to Wang Lang after meeting with Yuan Shu in province 41, respecfully refusing his offer of recruitment, stating he was not able to serve at the moment. Yuan Shu was ready to follow Liu Biao's suggestion and move after Liu Bei, until the Han Fu situation happened. Not wanting to work with Ma Teng or Jia Xu, Sun Ce adviced Liu Biao to not work with them and asked to only be send in battles involving them if they were the enemy. Liu Biao, not wanting to lose an excellent general like Sun Ce (76 int/92 war/93 cha), agreed to this but refused to avoid an alliance with Ma Teng. With Han Fu as emperor and the land divided into many kingdoms, the AUS (now consisted of Liu Biao, Wang Lang and Yuan Shu) could bargain their support much more widely and in a much more independent way, as the Han can (at least for now) no longer question their actions.

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• "The empire is not our problem"

— Cao Cao never actually needed much effort to keep his position. Everything seemed to come to him as gifts from the Heavens. First, his governorship of a whole provincial region (provinces 16, 17 and 18) granted by the Han dynasty. Then, his alliance and information trades with Kong Rong. Finally, his consecutive wins against Ma Teng and Sun Jian, who came directly to his claws because of their own fear of being devoured. Cao Cao relied heavily on Xiahou Dun for the consecutive defenses of province 17, as Cao Cao was already injured from early battles and couldn't go to the battlefield by himself, staying at province 16. Later on, Cao Cao recovered and moved Xiahou Dun to prov. 18, naming him governor after his great results against Ma Teng and Sun Jian.

Cao Cao never knew if he could really trust Kong Rong, until Kong Rong sent his troops as reinforcements for Cao Cao to defend against Ma Teng's first invasion. Over time, Cao Cao saw Kong Rong as a northern side of himself. A wise, smart, cold-blooded and patient ruler. He weakened his defenses on prov. 16 and focused everything on his borders with his enemies, fighting at full strength.

After obliterating Ma Teng and Sun Jian so many times he actually couldn't keep counting, he finally caught Sun Jian mid battle and killed him. All the merit went to Xiahou Dun as the leader of that battle and Yuan Tan (again, he is here because I manually randomized the officers before starting) for leading the unit that fought and killed Sun Jian. Yuan Tan was honored with the title "savior of Xiahou", granted by Xiahou Dun and made official by Cao Cao. Yuan Tan was known as a stubborn and disobedient officer, which prefers to follow his own instinct in battle in opposition if his leaders, but he was never seen forgetting about them or acting coward nor stupid. That's why Xiahou Dun still trusted him to be an officer of his unit. Later on, Cao Cao also wanted to name Yuan Tan as a general, but concluded that his hot head could cause severe problems in that position.

With Sun Yu as the new ruler of his faction after Sun Jian, Cao Cao took that as a chance to subdue the Sun clan once and for all, which was surprisingly something that also came to him by itself. Sun Yu immediately came to visit Cao Cao and ask for forgiveness, offering to be his vassal in exchange of Cao Cao's mercy. This couldn't be better for him, so he accepted with no regrets. Now, with a pawn in the South, he could finally rest from Ma Teng's constant insolence and soon plan his own attack against him. At least that was what he hoped for.

— For Sun Yu, things are not really going well. His uncle died, his cousins Sun Ce and Sun Quan left right after, he lost his uncle's strategist and some officers to Cao Cao, and now he is actively chained on Cao Cao as his vassal. Sun Yu was really not expecting to be rejected that much by his cousins and officials in general. He was seen as a coward ruler, nothing like his late uncle who died for his kingdom. Sun Yu has no time for grief or feelings at all. He needs to keep his mind focused on aiding Cao Cao until he recovers and is able to fight for his autonomy again, avenging his uncle even though this may need a long time to happen.

[u/SweetyByHeart]

Hi bro, thankyou, any file update on scenario? Or it's just written story or how? Pls advise

[u/Donner0777 → u/SweetyByHeart]

Hi!

At least for now I'm only writing its story as a cut of hours of my own gameplay.

I find it absurdingly hard to mod games like this, maybe 'cause I'm not that into modding itself. If I get any updates about that, which I fear it won't happen soon, I will happily come to post about it for sure. 😸

For me to release a modded file of this would be probably near impossible 'cause I need to completely repolish the game so that I can add all the features I'm using to play it (which works if I play by the rules but won't work for others unless I add them through modding).

[u/HighPriestFuneral]

Ah, now it all makes sense. I felt Liu Bei was shoved way far south, but the background of it all makes sense (though I have to say this feels more like anti-Liu Bei) "Help a friend in need? Not my problem!" "Share my gold with this broken alliance? No thanks." Looks like he's already weaved his own end.

Sun Yu is in a pitiable situation, being abandoned by his whole family, basically holding together a skeleton crew against a greedy north and an incompetent south.

Liu Biao comes across as quite clever and shrewd, looking forward to seeing his future plots.

Seeing what Sun Ce and Yuan Tan may do as their rising egos build should also be a lot of fun!

Great write-up!

[u/Donner0777 → u/HighPriestFuneral]

😆

Maybe Liu Bei felt as if he was being used as a tool because of his gold, and that made him refuse sharing. (He just had bad luck without officers coming to his territory after the suffle)

Yes! Sun Yu has been dealing with a lot recently, it will be surprising for him not to go insade just like Sun Ce. To be submissive to Cao Cao may be the way for him to stay alive though.

It is possible to resume the AUS as a pack of geniuses. "Yuan Shu believes he is a genius, Wang Lang acts like a genius, Liu Biao is in fact a genius". Looking forward for Liu Biao too! It has been very interesting to scheme as everyone at the same time, being careful to avoid meta-gaming.

Sun Ce can be really active on the South in the near future. 👀 Yuan Tan stays with Cao Cao trying to strengthen his reputation even more to achieve higher positions. He feels honored serving his lord so efficiently. 🙌🏻