The Sindar

The Sindar are the supposedly extinct race of the world of Suikoden. They existed long before Harmonia, the great Empire that all calendars are based on in Suikoden. Mighty and mysterious, there are many who spend all their lives trying to discover the Sindar secrets...and dying.

So what do we know about them? Well, according to one fan-site:
"[The Sindar are] a group of people known to have been technologically advanced and knowledgeable in runes. Notable Sindars, such as the engineer Dennis Tauer and Bora Atkins created the discipline of alchemy, which led to other technical disciplines such as blacksmithing, trickmastery, and gun-power manufacturing. The Sindars are cursed by the Rune of Change [owned by their leader], forcing them to move from place to place. They are commonly believed to have disappeared without a trace, but some say they have found their "Eternal City."

So let's review: yes, their famous leaders include a guy named Dennis. At least it's not Marvin. Anyways, the Sindar ruled for an unknown time, teaching man much of their technology and likely the various rune-inscribing techniques used by Rune-Masters today. They went south, south of Harmonia, but left behind ruins all over the continent Suikoden 6 (our game) takes place on. In the continent we're on, ruins are typically stone-based, often temples of good size for different and usually unknown purposes.

In Suikoden 2, a ruin was found to grow some extremely rare herbs that gave life. In Suikoden 3, they served as a center-point to a magical ritual. In Suikoden 1 and 4, the Sindar forgot to show up. In Suikoden 5, they are said to be the ancestors of the Queen herself (this taking place in a different continent btw!), and a large castle was found in the middle of a lake...along with advanced sluice gates to control the lake's water levels. There was also another religious temple, this time in the shape and form on a very similar Egyptian pyramid, this being made for unknown purposes and being the exception to the more medieval stone-type architecture we've seen. Still, all ruins are guarded by tough monsters and bosses, possibly left behind to protect their legacy.

No Sindar people have been seen in the game. Still, the Sindar were expert architects, wizards and craftsmen - any headquarters build by the Sindar can be considered safe. But also quite dangerous...

Dwarves

Dwarves are a bit of an oddball race in the Suikoden World. They are some of the most cliche things you'll find in any fantasy world... and yet can be very cruel and conniving. There are some consistent facts about Dwarves in the Suikoden World: they have a small population relative to humans, tend to stick to societies based in mountains, live in caves, stand about half the size of men, the males always have beards, they are always good diggers, they don't like Elves and they are generally left alone by most people/races.

But there are two distinct versions of Dwarves in Suikoden. They are as follows:

Suikoden 1: In Suikoden 1 Dwarves live near in the Mountains away from the neighboring countries, content to be in a type of cold war with the Elves of the Great Forest. The two sides have been anxious to fight each other, but have not actually fought in years. Then a General of the Scarlet Moon Empire comes and seeks domination, first by defeating the more willful and resistant Elves (this, after defeating the Kobold tribes of the Eastern Forest). The Elves and the General fought many battles, but the Dwarves did nothing to aid either side.

This was a grave matter for the Elves. Despite their animosity, the Dwarves likely had the strongest army in the region. For the Dwarves of the Scarlet Moon Empire were wizards of technology, inventing Windmills, coal factories, elevators, robots, and, their most powerful, the Burning Mirror, a giant laser capable of destroying an entire forest. Eventually, the Scarlet Moon Empire "stole" the Burning Mirror, and used it to, that's right, burn the entire forest down, committing genocide on the Elves (if you're wondering, yes you need to recruit that General).

The word "stole" is in quotations, because many people, like this one and myself, believe the dwarves let the Elves die by allowing the mirror to destroy the Elves. Only after the Elves died did the Dwarves use another "secret" weapon to aid the rebellion and destroy the burning mirror. In the end, the Dwarves of the Scarlet Moon are powerful, technological magicians who prefer letting others do the dirty work. In the game, everyone else who joins your rebellion aids you directly - the dwarves do not. If a dwarf was like this, one should certainly be wary of making such a friend.

Yet, in all the other Suikoden Games Dwarves appear (III, IV and V) Dwarves have lost their side of playing in the shadows, their gray color. They are almost always cheerful but stupid, great miners and that's it, wanting to be alone but willing to help out. They play no role in Suikoden II, cameo in III and IV (with just a single miner dwarf) and in V only help when the bad guy of the game tries to kill them all because he's a xenophobic villain (noticing a theme with Suikoden?). Dwarves in these games only use axes or pick-axes, and display none of the cunning displayed in Suikoden 1.

Now these Dwarves live in other regions, other continents, so it's not far-fetched to simply say that the Scarlet Moon Dwarves evolved into something much more geared towards trickery and innovation. But the games do not state why, leaving us to speculate. It's for this reason that Harold, having seen both types before, is cautious about trusting the Dwarves. For if they be like the Scarlet Moon...

Session 6 Recap: Roughin' up Relos

Picking up right where the last session left off, the party marched off to the Academy to find Caesar’s precious book. We got into the library without incident used Caesar’s key on the locked door at the back to find a secret staircase leading downwards. It led us to a network of underground passages full of monsters and possessed floating books and, weirdly enough, a small zoo of sorts. There were many cages of varying size with exotic labels like “zebra,” but the only animals we found were a bunch of rabbits and a lone giraffe. The rest of the cages were deserted with no sign of where the animals had been taken. We debated releasing the caged animals, either as a distraction or just on principle, but ultimately decided to leave them where they were for now since they looked healthy enough.

Our explorations deeper and deeper underground led us to a secret second library, where we found Caesar’s Old Book Vol. 6 (Intro to Warfare by Leon Silverberg, autographed). Mildly concerned that our future chief strategist was seeking a book called “intro to warfare,” albeit one written by a Silverberg, we nevertheless secured the book and took a secret shortcut that Royce found back up to the main library.

In a stroke of luck, we noticed before barging blindly into the upper library that it was now occupied by two old men speaking in conspiratorial tones. One of them was none other than Rodin Relos, a member of the Harmonian Order of God and the man who had thrown Kuarjav in prison thirty years before. Relos addressed the other man as his brother. We eavesdropped on them for a while and heard some things that we (or at least Daisy) couldn’t fully understand about recruiting people and getting rid of others who didn’t conform, possibly referring to students at the Academy. What piqued Daisy’s interest, however, was mention of the Star Dragon Sword. Relos said that a man had been captured in Harmonia carrying the sword, which contains the Night Rune, one of the 27 True Runes. This sword previously belonged to Victor, Daisy’s father, and one of Daisy’s many goals in life is to reclaim that powerful sword for herself. Unfortunately, Relos did not give any clue as to where the man or his precious sword were being held.

Once the team decided that we had eavesdropped long enough, it was time to make our exit. While most of us snuck quietly towards the door out of the library, Harold threw a potch against a far wall and booked it out through the stacks. Relos had locked the library door behind him, but Caesar’s key still worked and we all made it out of the Academy before Relos caught up to us. We ordered the NPCs to run to the inn to find Caesar while the PCs stood and fought the powerful mage. Harold tried to stall Relos with nonsensical talk, but that didn’t last long. Relos’ first spell was almost enough to wipe us out by itself, but through a combination of healing medicines, Harold’s wonderful spell to raise DB, and Kuarjav cancelling all magic immediately after Harold’s magic was cast, we managed to best the Harmonian villain. Relos retreated into the Academy for reinforcements while the rest of us fled. The party met up with Caesar and the others outside of town, and we beat a hasty dragonback retreat.

Once more at the Liberation Army headquarters in Belhurst, we consulted our brand new strategist as to how we should proceed. Caesar stated in no uncertain terms that it was high time we had a solid, permanent, defensible base to call our own, and presented us with three options, a Suikoden first. One possible base used to be a dwarven castle up in the mountains and now stands abandoned. It’s difficult to reach for Harmonia, surrounded by dwarves who hate Harmonia and treacherous mountain paths, and our dragonback travel would allow us to come and go unhindered. Option two is an old Sindar ruin that sits on an island in the middle of one of the largest and busiest rivers in Harmonia. The river connects the Crystal Valley itself to at least four other major Harmonian cities, so while Harmonian ships could reach the base easily enough, so could we sail into the country’s very heart if we had a navy of our own. Plus, Sindar ruins are always cool. Finally, option three is an abandoned Harmonian naval base in the far north, built into the very rock. With defensible cliffs and an abandoned port just waiting to be filled with a revel fleet, this base would make as fine a headquarters as all the rest.

Unable to reach consensus, we decided that the best course of action would be to explore each of the three possible bases in turn to see for ourselves how suitable they would be. We flew to the Sindar ruins first and started hacking our way in past the monsters who had necessarily taken up residence there. The team got all the way to level 3 of the ruins, but just as we were about to meet a new recurring character, we decided to call it a night. Our adventures in the Sindar ruins will continue after the New Year. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Session 5 Recap: Spotting the Silverberg

We leapt into the promised final wave of Harmonian soldiers with the roaring challenge of Royce’s dragon in our ears, but it took less than a round to bring us down. The two Harmonian generals wiped us all out at once with one mighty Unite Attack, and when we came to hours later, one by one, the battle was long over. Kuarjav awoke first to find a warrior standing over him, who expressed surprise at finding anyone left alive. The warrior identified himself as Damien, a member of the Liberation Army. Harold was greeted by Pearl, the Liberation Army leader herself (his efforts to flirt with her failed most spectacularly). Daisy met Jonah the cowboy, and Royce the nervous Dexter.

Disappointed at their loss in battle but glad to have found organized allies at last, Daisy urged that they storm Sorrowyn prison together to free his father and her friends. Unfortunately, the Liberation Army had other ideas. They pointed out that the battle, which had been heavily skewed in Camaro’s favor, had taken a tragic turn when Priest Sasari himself had turned his True Earth Rune on the brave knights. Sasari was still nearby, Camaro’s main force was whipped or buried under mountains of dirt and rock, and the most the rebels hoped to do that day was loot as many weapons from the dead as they could before Harmonia moved in to clean up the mess. Reluctantly, Daisy agreed that it was still not the right time to save her father, and the party went back to Bellhurst with the LA once the looting was finished. Before we left, we were shocked and saddened to find that Grant was missing from the battlefield. He had been the first to fall to the Harmonian generals, and Harold told us that the crime that landed Grant in prison years ago was a killing spree that left at least twenty people dead. Had Grant run off, or been recognized and hauled away by Harmonia? With no hint of where he’d gone and no way to track him among the thousands of dead, we were forced to leave with our questions unanswered.

As it turns out, Bellhurst was in fact the secret headquarters of the Liberation Army as we’d previously heard (it seems that our Harmonian disguises on our first time through town had been too effective for our own good, and the LA had taken us for actual soldiers). We had a meeting with Pearl and many other members of the resistance to decide what to do next. Should we seek out a new stronghold, scrounge up more funds, or seek out a good strategist for the movement? Dexter pushed for the latter, arguing quite pitiably that the LA should find a better strategist than he to lead them, and we all agreed that recruiting a strong strategist should be our top priority. As a result, Dexter joined our party and we set off on dragonback to begin our search in the Crystal Valley, where Harmonia’s top intellectuals were trained at the academy.

There was much to entertain and distract us even before we entered the Crystal Valley. Outside the city gates we found a drunken old man who had not even the money to sleep in a bed. Daisy and her compatriots took pity and took him to a nearby inn, where we paid 50 potch to give him a warm meal and a warm bed. Ramza thanked us for our kindness, and when we returned to check up on him later he explained some of his history. In cryptic terms he spoke of leaving his native Toran to travel through Dunan in his younger days, perhaps doing some trading. We got the impression that he might have made some shady deals in Dunan that caused him regrets, but he would not elaborate. So we left 50 more potch to buy him another night and took our leave to continue the mission.

Of course, we had a few more tasks to accomplish in town before advancing the plot. Every weapon we could afford to take to the local smith was improved upon, and a kindly old lady provided us with the Prime Rib recipe when she gave us dinner. At a nearby Narcissist’s house, we acquired the Play Script “Imperial Love”, and we perused the armor and item shops but found them to be far out of our price range.

Finally, the party strolled up to the academy itself, hopeful but without any real plan of attack. A gentleman loitered outside the doors of the academy, muttering to himself. Daisy’s helpful directions towards the main doors were met with more good humor than one might expect, and the gentleman eventually identified himself as Caesar Silverberg. The Silverberg name is known throughout the world as the most skilled family of strategists who ever lived, and anyone who ever heard of Caesar would know that he was the primary tactician in the Grasslands’ war against Harmonia several years before. Rumor has it that Caesar was only allowed to return home after Harmonia lost the war to him because of the impeccable reputation of his brother Albert, or perhaps because Harmonia’s situation was becoming so desperate that they would accept skilled help from any quarter, even from a traitor.

When we ran into him outside, Caesar was debating whether or not to meet Albert in the academy as per his brother’s request. Dexter drooled over Caesar in admiration as we talked, and the Silverberg eventually agreed to join us for dinner that evening and abandoned his plans to see his brother, who he didn’t seem to care for. The rest of us wandered through the academy for a short while but didn’t see anything interesting, save for when we spotted Albert Silverberg himself (who does have a face) chatting with the academy’s headmaster.

Dinner with Caesar Silverberg moved very quickly. It didn’t take long for the famous strategist to catch on that we weren’t exactly sympathetic to Harmonia, and when he insinuated that we would know more of the Liberation Army than he we did not deny it. In spite of his flirting with Daisy, Caesar did not agree to join us right away. Instead, he set us a test of courage and resourcefulness. There was a book (Old Book #6) that he desired, and it was locked away in the basement of the academy where it was sure to be guarded and swarming with monsters (for some reason). Now, if we can acquire that book and bring it back to him, he will agree to join our cause. If all goes well next week, we will have recruited a Silverberg to our side… albeit not one that inspires the greatest confidence in those of us who have played Suikoden III.

Session 4 Recap: Battling Brothers

Session Four was a smorgasbord of battle. Our first plate was handed to us by Harold’s brother (Harry?), who challenged us to a fight the moment we stepped out of the bar that night. It was a bloody struggle, but we prevailed in the end and (Harry?) fled screaming into the bar for his guards. We took the chance to escape and led our band of escapees to the next town over from Belhurst, Norbank to the north. We spent the night there in the inn (Harold slept for free, courtesy of the enamored innkeeper). As we discussed our plans the next morning, we were overheard by a Camaro Knight General named Gregory, who informed us that they had already taken over Norbank, the Orbel mines and even Belhurst. Sadly, Captain Windamier had managed to flee, leaving his captured troops behind. Gregory put two and two together and guessed that we were the prisoners missing from Orbel; assuming we would therefore harbor ill will against Harmonia, the general asked if we would join forces with the Camaro knights and help them in their next offensive in the vicinity of Sorrowyn Prison. We agreed, on the condition that the prisoners who could not fight would still be protected and harbored by the Camaro forces.

The PCs and the NPCs with faces headed back to Belhurst to resupply. They had a smith, item store, tutor, etc., but nothing that we needed, so we just met up with Gregory and set off for the battle. The meat of our session was an army battle in the fields near Sorrowyn prison: 8,000 Harmonians vs. 15,000 Camaro Knights. But since we were still level 10 nobodies with no titles or power, we commanded no forces and simply fought the Harmonians one by one (or rather, nine by nine). We fought two back-to-back battles of nine Harmonian soldiers each: three fighters, three archers, and three mages. By the end of the second one, only Royce, Daisy and Harold were still standing, and we are promised that we face yet another wave next week. I think we may be in over our heads here.

Session 3 Recap: A Eulogy for the Enemy, or, Mourning Miles

A session of deep emotions and wrenching decisions, our third session found our heroes reaching the top of the mountain path. We had a few random fights along the way and spotted a hibernating bear in a cave (we let the bear sleep). Kuarjav also acquired a Wind God’s Hat.

When we reached the clearing at the top, a few dozen people were waiting for us there led by a woman named Gloria. These were all escaped prisoners, the ones Miles had commanded us to help him drag back to jail. And so, we faced our first great choice: did we bring the prisoners in as instructed, or ditch Miles and join the prisoners in escaping? Daisy, for one, was much too freedom-loving to go along with the former, but others, like Kuarjav, were wary of taking such a risk and leaping into the unknown.

After much debate, we resolved to flee with the prisoners and abandon Commander Miles. The commander did not take it well and challenged Harold to a duel, which was won soundly by the Narcissist. Unfortunately, this also ended in Miles’ death. The players were rather shocked at the sudden death of the only NPC we’d started to learn the backstory of (it didn’t help that he was so pathetic a fighter as to be almost adorable, like a helpless yappy puppy). Our characters took Miles’ death with varying degrees of emotion; Harold was mostly unfazed but spouted a rousing eulogy, while Daisy took pity on the deceased commander and helped heave a boulder into place to serve as a headstone. The reactions of the other characters are unknown.

And so, now joined by the well-meaning but insufferable Gloria (who ended up in prison for tax-evasion), the much-enlarged group headed back down the mountain with the intention of freeing the rest of the prisoners in the camp and seeking out a group of rebels to join. Before we could leave the mountain, however, Royce’s nemesis dropped out of the sky on her dragon and used a rune to send Vasuki into a mad frenzy once again, much like the method in which she helped capture Dragon Knight Royce and Daisy a few days before. The party was forced to fight Royce’s dragon to stop her rampage, which left Vasuki gravely injured. The nemesis flew away, her purpose accomplished, leaving us with a dying dragon and no way to help her.

Out of nowhere, a hooded woman calling herself Miss Grey appeared and offered us a piece of advice. She instructed us to use the combined power of our Unity Rune to heal the dragon, and to our surprise and relief, it worked. The mysterious woman explained that she had felt the Unity Rune choose a new bearer and wanted to see for herself what had happened. When questioned, she said only that she tries to keep track of the True Runes as much as she can. We noticed that she knew our names without introductions. And with our thanks, she was gone.

Still pursuing our plans, we made our way back to the prison camp. Daisy, the only member of the party with even a hint of training in large-scale combat strategy (funny because she is permanently berserk and unthinking in close combat), suggested that Harold run to the camp with a forged letter from Miles requesting assistance in the mountains to deal with the escapees. Harold carried out the plan perfectly, and soon the camp had largely been emptied out as the bulk of the soldiers and prison guards hurried away to the mountain. Once reinforcements had left for their imaginary battle, Daisy, Harold and Kuarjav strolled into camp while Royce flew ahead to free the prisoners. Harold talked his way in to see the ranking officer and explained the situation to him frankly, and the supervisor was wise enough to surrender the camp without a fight. We busily set about arming, clothing, and supplying as many prisoners as we could so as to make our escape.

As we debated our next move, a Harmonian soldier blundered into camp with news of the fall of Ordon castle to Camaro. We learned as much as we could from the soldier about Camaro’s forces and Harmonia’s defenses, then locked him up with the other guards and fled the camp. Gloria’s information suggested that we might find some information about the Liberation Army in Runehurst, so we went to the town to try and learn where to go next. In one of the bars we stumbled across a boastful Narcissist who was quickly identified as Harold’s brother, Captain Windamier. His brother tried to have his Harmonian forces arrest Harold as a traitor to Harmonia, but Harold’s quick tongue convinced the soldiers that their captain had simply had too much to drink and ought to be put to bed. Ranting and raving about his traitorous brother, Captain Windamier was hauled off to sleep it off. To finish the night, we all had a drink on Windamier’s tab and, once we felt that it would not attract suspicion, we made our exit. As of yet, there is no sign of this Liberation Army and no reason but Gloria’s word to believe it exists at all.

In Memoriam: Miles

(Told from the viewpoint of Harold Windamier via speech while traveling down the mountainside)

And lo, we stand here today in this most dreadful of ceremonies, in this air that has grown stale with disease and chaos, where all the birds dare not sing, for otherwise they be perceived as basking in the tragedy that has occurred, we come here to honor the majesty of the man who accompanied us for all of these two or so days, the great Senor Commander Miles.

Miles was an affable, oh yes my friends, oh so affable, a man who could be tricked into thinking that dogs were cats, that prisoners were soldiers and that demotions could be salvations. You, whose armor glowed like the sun itself, whose face burned like a marshmallow, you, whose arms shook like grass attacked by the four winds, you were oh so young to die!

Oh but hear us, dear Senor Miles! While your armor still lies over this grave, we shall gain vengeance for you by slaying the almighty great villain of these times. For this, we make an oath to your most sacred armor, to slay the man, the demon, the creature that they called Marcus Aurelius. We will repent for your cowardly, oh so cowardly ways, by defeating him, just as a bee would sting its foe for their queen.

Oh Miles, shall we not forget your handsome face, your tumbling spear, your oh so dashing mustache that was clearly an imitation of my very own! No Miles, we will not forget your heroically letting us do all the fighting, how you continually gave us weapons due to insanity, how you continued to whimper about. You were our pet, our colleague, and almost our dearest of friends! We who are about to step onto this cruelest of worlds, this beast of a land, shall one day join you, but only after we have honored yourself and your true passions!

Senor Miles, we may have dashed by accident your hopes, your dreams, your loves and uh, your life, but if we could go into the way-back past, where the future was but a haze, where the birds still sang, would we, could we, we would and bring you to our arms, to hear your loveable miserly ways that would make the hobos of the Crystal Valley laugh with glee. Senor Miles, may your grace and charm forever go down in history! So say we all my dear friends! So say we all!

Goodbye, Senor Miles. Goodbye.