Sunstriker Clan



Eriviar and his Sunstriker bandits have ruled the Whitetail Mountains for years, becoming rich off raiding and pillaging their Pony and Griffon neighbors. Having become such an issue, the Emperor was forced to deal with them personally. The Emperor and Eriviar struck a pact; the bandits would receive weapons and funding from the Emperor in exchange for swearing fealty to the Empire and keeping the Republicans and Ponies busy. However, many political dissidents and opponents have used this opportunity to move into Whitetail. A clash between these forces might be unavoidable.

A Raiding way of Life
While the collapse of the Griffin Empire in 978 was a disaster for many griffons, in the ensuing chaos some found opportunities to prosper. F or the griffons in the Whitetail Mountains raiding had been a way of life for centuries, even at the Empire's peak. When the Griffonian Empire collapsed the lack of social order allowed the griffons of Whitetail Mountains to escalate their raids.

The largest of these bandit groups and the one that had the most authority over the Whitetail Mountains was the Sunstriker Clan, named after their infamous leader Eriviar Sunstriker.

The Emperor Intervenes
The bandits raids became so serious to the Empire that the Emperor, Grover V personally had to find a solution to the bandit raids. However, due to the chaos engulfing the Empire, Grover V was unable to marshal troops to deal with the bandits, forcing him to make a deal - as long as Grover V was alive the bandits would stop raiding the Empire in exchange for their support in weapons and funding. Eriviar for his part accepted the deal as he was starting to face political opposition at home. With the Empire's support Eriviar was able to drive the Republicans led by Runa Teafeather into the Griffonian Republic and the Communists under Guntbert Greyfeather into hiding.

The End of a Deal?
While raiding has made the griffons of Whitetail Mountains quite wealthy it has caused a number of issues.

The excessive banditry has made foreigners and even its own people nervous about being in the Whitetail Mountains. As a result, skilled professionals such as scientists, engineers and artificers have emigrated to its much safer neighbours.

As a collection of bandit clans, it lacks the bureaucracy, law and administrative powers of a nation. Revenue from raiding is not as fair, consistent or sustainable as tax collection. If the griffons of Whitetail Mountains ever want to be more then just bandits then they must build themselves into a modern proper state.

Eriviar has ruled the Whitetail Mountains without opposition for years. However, when the life of Grover V ends so does the deal the bandits made with the Empire.

With imperial support gone it would be a great opportunity for Eriviar's many political opponents to once again challenge his rule...

Starting Situation
The Sunstriker Clan starts the game as a nominal vassal of the Griffonian Empire. They will become independent shortly after Grover V dies. They begin in an extremely difficult position with poor research ability, a crippling economic national spirit, and weak industry. Worse, their core population is only 970k and will struggle to get enough ponypower to face the might of the Griffonian Empire.

Sunstriker Clan starts with a small military of 23.50k deployed men in 4 divisions.

Fortunately, the country can play to its strengths - it's terrain is mountainous and defensible, whilst border conflicts (raids) allow it to easily gain stability, war support, and political power.

Sunstriker Clan's focus tree allows it to get cores on the nearby states of Windford, Lostgates, and Elf Lakes. However, time is of the essence and the Sunstriker Clan must balance the must balance conquering and conquering new land with industrial focuses to hold off the Griffonian Empire. With their low strength every little bonus from their focus tree counts.

Threats and Opportunities
Griffonian Empire is the biggest threat to the Sunstriker Clans. Being in the north the Sunstriker Clans will be among the first group of countries the Griffonian Empire will target after annexing its vassals. Sunstriker Clan can mount a successful defense due to its mountainous terrain but due to its lack of pony power lacks the ability to advance into the Empire itself. They often have to rely one of the Griffonian Empire's major enemies such as Aquileia to defeat the Empire while they help by occupying some of the Empire's troops.

Griffonian Republic is the Sunstriker Clan's neighbour to the west. Sunstriker Clan has the option to wage border wars for Windford and Lost Gates. However due to their strength it can be difficult to win the border war against them unless the player is sufficiently prepared. .

Northern Tribes are located north of the Sunstriker Clan. Sunstriker Clan has the option to wage a border war for Elf Lake. If playing an expansionist Sunstriker Clan, then they are generally the first target for expansion.

Dread League will typically defeat the Arcturian Order and get a border with the Sunstriker Clan. However as the AI Dread League will never take the Finis Omnium Vitarum focus they will not pose a threat to the Sunstriker Clan.

Raiding Mechanics
As experienced bandits, the Sunstriker Clan gets special decisions to launch raids on their neighbors. A raid must first be prepared by selecting a decision. The raid will take 30 days to prepare, after which the player has 30 days to start the raid or it will be cancelled.

The raid will take place in the form of a border war. In a border war, the frontage is 80 (subject to modifiers) and both sides can get up to 80 width of troops in combat by sending them to the frontier. The game selects the troops committed from nearby and chooses the commander for the conflict. The player can observe but not control or stop the border conflict once under way, although troops can be added if less than the full combat width was committed at the start of combat. If the relative strengths are very unequal, the conflict can end quickly, so it can be worthwhile to send 80 width of good troops to the border in conflict, fully prepared for combat.

It is recommended to raid Watertowns as they are the weakest neighbour. A good strategy is to activate force attack before entering the border conflict and use units with high soft attack (high artillery units) - the organization will not be a factor as they quickly rout the enemy under the influence of force attack.

Should the player be victorious in the border conflict, they will receive 2-6 loot, depending on the target's industrial amount. Loot can be used to gain stability and political power, extra ponypower, or build a single civilian or military factory.

National Focus
The Sunstriker Clan focus tree is locked until a few days after Grover V dies.

Army Reforms - gives typical military bonuses including good doctrinal and special forces research. The player can select Superior Firepower or Grand Battle Plan, with a bonus +10% attack for SF and +10% defense for GBP.

Construct the Brantbeak Airport - gives standard air bonuses, notably the Aerial Raiders Focus which increases ace generation 10%, air experience +0.05 daily and air superiority attack +5%.

Industrial Buildup - gives typical industrial bonuses and is needed to reform to Substantial, then Developed, Science base. Notable bonus is the Extensive Mining Operations national spirit which gives Resource Gain Efficiency +10% and Production Efficiency Cap +5%. Expand the Whitetail Crystal Mines  unearths farther crystal resources useful for magical infantry in crystal starved Griffonia. Dig For Gold gives The Whitetail Gold Mines national spirit which initially only decreases consumer goods by 2%, however a set of decisions to expand the mine will unlock. A fully expanded whitetail gold mines will decrease consumer goods factories by 10%.

Political Tree
With the death of Grover V and the lost of imperial support political dissidents are taking the opportunity to challenge the rule of Eriviar. The Republicans under Runa Teafeather have returned from the Griffonia Republic and the Communists under Guntbert Greyfeather have come out of hiding. The winner of the power struggle will determine the political path. The political tree initially has 3 different paths. All political paths will, give a research slot, fix the economy, give a national spirit that gives bonus to recruitable population and various military stats.

Eriviar is overthrown
I f Eriviar is overthrown then the  Banditry Based Economy  national spirit is replaced by  Shattered Economy  and only the political focus can be done until the economy is back on track

In the  Harmonic  path Runa and the republicans succeeds in overthrowing Eriviar Sunstriker. After dealing with the remaining bandits and communist they will focus on rebuilding the country into the Whitetail Republic. The focus  The-Pan-Griffonian Referendum  gives a event where the country can either be annexed into the Griffonian Republic ( will end the game ) or remain a independent republic. Notable bonus is the  Brantbeak Constitution  national spirit which increases stability by 5% and political power gain by 10%.

In the Communist path Greyfeather and the Communists succeed in overthrowing Eriviar Sunstriker. After dealing with the remaining bandits and republicans they will focus on rebuilding the country into the Whitetail Socialist Republic. Notable bonus from this path is the Ministry of Public Safety national spirit which will increase stability, decryption, and encryption by 5%

Eriviar stays in power
However if Eriviar stays in power then he will initially cut down on the banditry. The Journey of the Centre of the Mind focus will start a event chain where Eriviar will fall into a coma. During the coma Eriviar will receive a vision of Maar asking Eriviar to serve him. Whether Eriviar chooses to serve or reject Maar will determine the next political path.

In the Supremacy path Eriviar chooses to serve Maar and comes out of the coma a changed griffon. He will focus on creating a Kingdom that will serve Maar. Notable is the addition of a total of 6 free units each with 10 battalions of griffon knights and a recon company. 3 units of these units each are given from completing the  Maar's Chosen  and  The Father's Favored Son  focus respectively. Also notable is the focus Maar's Favor  will unlock the Raise the Dead decision which is extremely helpful due to Sunstriker Clan's low pony power. At a cost of 75PP and 9999 state population it gives 20,000 ponypower.

In the Non-Aligned path Eriviar rejects Maar and comes out of the coma as a more rational griffon. He will work on building the country into a proper Kingdom with a judicial system. Notable is this path gives the most factories at at 3 military and 4 civilians factories.

The focuses at the end of each political path Proclaim the Whitetail Republic, Proclaim the Kingdom of Whitetail, Proclaim the Whitetail Socialist Republic will change the name of the country to the name in the focus, give 150 PP, and give claims on Windford, Lost Gates, and Elf Lake.

All political paths have a shared branch at the bottom. This path allows the newly proclaimed country to wage border conflicts for Windford, Lost Gates, and Elf Lake. Further focuses allow these states to be developed and cored.

Staff and Designers
Political Advisors

Tank Designer

Ship Designer

Aircraft Designer

Materiel Designer

Industrial Concern

Theorist Chief of Army

Chief of Navy

Chief of Airforce

Military High Command