For Power (0.6.5.3)

[86siris]

Hi there. I´ve been playing on Wesnoth 1.13.6. Moving older Jolla to the portal seems to be bugged. Gives me some lua error about create_unit and ALL the blue team gets back to being red team. Turns run until the end with possible win.

[James_The_Invisible]

Hello. To tell the truth, I do not test this campaign so much on Wesnoth 1.13 and there are probably multiple issues on this version (I am already aware of some). Thank you for telling me, I will look into it. Well, into the Lua error because all side 2's units are supposed to return under your control at this point.
Edit: I managed to fix it on my computer but it is not perfect yet. Anyway, I will release it with next version (though I have no idea when it will come out).

[JNI]

I can't finish Treasure Hunters because I can't find Tinry anywhere.

[James_The_Invisible]

I have added this question (and, of course, answer to it) to section Frequently asked question in first post of this thread. In short, you have to reach this location: x=2, y=3-14 with Merissa.

[JNI]

Hmm its not working for me. I have Merissa walking all up and down those cooridinates and nothing.

[JNI]

Okay it finally worked for some reason and I found Tinry

[James_The_Invisible]

After a very long while, new version of For Power is out. It brings a lot of changes and some bug fixes. Also compatibility with Wesnoth 1.13 was improved a bit. There are no new scenarios in this release. Detailed changelog follows.

Changes in scenarios:
- do not rise fallen warriors in West Front if the lich is dead
- kill lich's units when he is dying in West Front
- put a limit on enemy's recruiting of lancers in Escape from Eastern Lands
- renamed some scenarios
- added some dialogues to The Underground
- gave player unlimited movement in scenario Dwarven Doors
- it is no longer possible to hit Yswniver in scenario More Undead
- improved some dialogues
- added fog to A Troubled Forest

Changes in units:
- added special notes for Jolla Crusader
- advancements add less hitpoints
- Clare, Lemyr, Merissa and Tinry can now advance into level 4 units before their transformation, then their level is 5 (except for Tinry)
- improved description of some advancements

Changes in recruit list:
- added Heavy Infantryman to player's recruit list in Chapter 2 and Bowman in Chapter 3
- allowed recruiting level 1 units in Chapter 5
- the player can now recruit some level 2 units in West Front instead of getting some for free

Miscellaneous changes:
- orchish sovereign in Chapter 1 is now just a warlord
- allowed using more modifications in MP scenarios

Fixed bugs:
- units from Chapter 1 are finally not available in Chapter 4
- fixed Clare's attacks after Undead in front of Dwarven Doors
- fixed a lua error in Cleaning Home on Wesnoth 1.13

[James_The_Invisible]

A new version is out. It fixes level and advancement of Lemyr High Paladin.

[James_The_Invisible]

Some insights into development (for whoever is interested):
I feel like Glacyn's title/position should be changed, his current one is somehow weird in my opinion. I have created an issue on GitHub for feedback.
I am also considering changing Amiwen's traits. Again, there is an GitHub issue for this.
If anyone has an opinion on these matters, please, tell me. Either here or on linked GitHub issues.
Currently I am not working on new scenarios but my current progress is on GitHub on branch 6x04-shadow-mages.

[denispir]

Hello James,

I was about to start the campaign, the very first scenario of chapter 1, but a real train of comments came up to my mind before I even had a chance to start playing ; this, probably because I had read nearly the whole thread (26 pages to day!): I find it very interesting. Having comments on campaigns or scenarios is common to me, especially about the story aspects, but experience shows that if I do not note at once then much material vanishes and worse, motivation to write down and publicly contribute also does vanish.

So, this time, I wrote down immediately, and since it's already very much stuff as you will see (again, before starting to play) I publish right now. But indeed some views may change with playing. Please note well that all this is just suggestions, even if for simplicity I use a rather direct form of sentence.

=== story ===

"It quickly became known that Clare was highly intelligent, and so her parents sent her to study magic at the Alduin Academy. She was one of the best students on the isle, and completed her studies at the young age of nineteen."

* First, I would prefere sth like "She was a talented student among her peers" (more just factual, less judgemental or competitive).

* Also, give the village a name, at best a meaningful one, it helps the player "imaging" (even more so, since the village will be a central element for several scenarios, nearly a character on its own). Maybe also name the River (possibly on maps only) and make a link between both names, as is common (eg village "Fleam Hills" if the river is called Fleam).

* Then, i think it would be far better if an errant mage passing by the village had remarked Clare, rather than their parents just sending her to Alduin, and at the other end of the world; this sounds weird. It would also allow for the reason why she is expected to become a mage to be some kind of "mage talent" rather than just intelligence (note all kids are terribly intelligent until we tame them down!). It does not fit my fantasy that a (potential) mage is just an intelligent human; I don't mean something supernatural (but it could be), rather that "magicness" is definitely not intelligence; wisdom is closer or less far. What I see is more like connexion to nature or other underlying and surrounding principles or forces, thus with a suggested relation to (true) spirituality (also think "the Source" in some fantasy works).

* I would also add a reason for *her* to wish leaving to Alduin for becoming a mage. Even more so if she is the kind of willful person I already guess behind the lines, or rather their absence , including the dialog at the start of the scenario. There could be a short past scene (still inside [story]), with or without dialogue, between Clare and the mage (see also below on her).

* Maybe take the opportunity of intros ([story] tag) to enrich the story, depict the situation, enlive characters, deepen the atmosphere... especially at the very beginning of the campaign (also of other chapters). Here, I would mainly
- add a few notes on the overall Wesnoth Kingdom state and events at that time (eg "This all started while... and short after... "), and on the more narrow situation in the region where Clare's native village lies, and
- add a few anecdotes of Clare's life in "Fleam Hills" (mainly before her leaving to Alduin), indirectly letting us "image" better herself and her history, thus her personality as well.

[I may give some more precise suggestions on aspects of the story if you wish, whenever I know her, the situation, and her adventure better. By the way, when does this all happen ? there is a timeline of Wesnoth history somewhere online]

=== dialog ===
"Commander, a warband of Orcs has been spotted due north of here."
"due north" ... "Can you tell what their intentions are?" ...

* First, the usage of "due north" seems wrong to me. I'm no english native speaker, still it seems to mean sth like "north, as wanted/expected". Maybe "on the other side of the river, coming from the hills / at the foothills" (also, a ref. to the village name in this case)

* Second, they sound like commenting on the passage of a troop of wild animals that may make good game (I mean carnivore food for humans ), rather than a terrifying event approaching which may lead to their death to all in a terrifying manner.

[Clare:] "They never ever come here for any other reason. With all due respect, you should stop expecting something else from them, Glacyn. They are orcs after all, their only desire is to fight, they do not need any reason for it. They love to cause harm to anyone. Did you forget how many good people from our village they have killed and badly wounded?"

* This is in my view all exaggerately caricatural; Clare looks idiotic and (already) "bad" to me. Worse than the extremist one-sided views (think at foreign politics!) are her "reading their minds" for their motivation (typical rethorics to justify eg genocide); read your own words again.
Similar terms may do, since Clare looks bold, "blady", and the kind of folks that see life in black and white; but these words must be *founded*. There *must* be some (historical) base to her half-foolish views: this is another opportunity to enrich the story, here again rather the [story] part I guess. One or two past scenes would allow us implicitely understand that her anger and accusations result from a long local history, deepened by a personal traumatic experience, not "digested". Tipically, another friend of hers died, maybe they used to be 3 close friends (maybe Lemyr loved this third character especially, or Clare did, or both!).
This traumatism may also participate in explaining her later slipping on the "the wrong side of the force", lol!
Also, another character may reply here evoking this past event, maybe in a way expecting her not to (once again?) mess everything.

* More generally, we miss, say, past stuff, past substance, the roots of (present and) future. Even more because this is a tale of a personal adventure (and you present it thus right from the campaign choice menu, actually that's about all what you say ). However, not all needs to be introduced here, in the very first [story] part, before us playing the first scenario. Instead, you may distill bits & anecdotes of her history now and then, along with the progress of chapter one. Choose when, why, and how, to reveal us this or that. One trick may be to change narrator for this kind of telling about Clare and her history, possibly use Lemyr talking of her (this may also enrich or deepen him).

=== map ===

* I would add some diversity on the SW side of the river, say some hill range north of the village, with some hexes hill+forest aside the woods (the ennemy would use these spots, indeed, so in principle this may require some more balance, but the AI being what it is...).

* The woods look not nicely or naturally spread and shaped, say too "rational".

* Maybe the village is still too far from the rest (river, ennemy camp, hills in the background). I have read you reduced the map already, playing will tell me better.

~~~~~~~~
I would love to know what players think of all this, also for you having better views on what may be good to evolve or not. (And again I'm no english native speaker, so all about speach and dialog...)

So now, to playing...

[James_The_Invisible]

Hi, denispir. Thank you for your comments, they are very helpful.

First, I would prefere sth like "She was a talented student among her peers" (more just factual, less judgemental or competitive).

Well, while I really meant that Clare had much better results than most other students, this wording sounds somehow better/richer. So I will probably use it.

Also, give the village a name, at best a meaningful one ... Maybe also name the River

Sure, why not. I will think about the names.

Then, i think it would be far better if an errant mage passing by the village had remarked Clare, rather than their parents just sending her to Alduin, and at the other end of the world; this sounds weird. It would also allow for the reason why she is expected to become a mage to be some kind of "mage talent" rather than just intelligence

Well, yes, what you propose would be better.

It does not fit my fantasy that a (potential) mage is just an intelligent human; I don't mean something supernatural (but it could be) ... What I see is more like connexion to nature or other underlying and surrounding principles or forces, thus with a suggested relation to (true) spirituality (also think "the Source" in some fantasy works).

Sure, intelligence alone does not make a mage. It was not said in the campaign (yet) but Clare (well, and Lemyr) is by no means a regular human. Reveling the whole truth at the beginning would not be a good idea in my opinion (and she is not aware of it herself) but I may rewrite some story/dialogues to give a hint.

Maybe take the opportunity of intros ([story] tag) to enrich the story, depict the situation, enlive characters, deepen the atmosphere... especially at the very beginning of the campaign (also of other chapters). ...

Of course, that would be good. I will try to write something.

By the way, when does this all happen ? there is a timeline of Wesnoth history somewhere online

Timeline for Wesnoth and surrounding lands can be found on wiki. Clare was born around 540, events of Chapter 5 take place in 627, a few months after defeat of Mal-Ravanal.

First, the usage of "due north" seems wrong to me. I'm no english native speaker, still it seems to mean sth like "north, as wanted/expected". Maybe "on the other side of the river, coming from the hills / at the foothills" (also, a ref. to the village name in this case)

A dictionary says that "due north" is valid. But of course, to a not-native speaker like you or me it may sound a bit weird.

Second, they sound like commenting on the passage of a troop of wild animals that may make good game (I mean carnivore food for humans ), rather than a terrifying event approaching which may lead to their death to all in a terrifying manner.

It was not meant this way (I believe). That very sentence was written by someone else, he is quite good at English. Though I might change that if more people dislike it.

This is in my view all exaggerately caricatural; Clare looks idiotic and (already) "bad" to me. Worse than the extremist one-sided views (think at foreign politics!) are her "reading their minds" for their motivation (typical rethorics to justify eg genocide); read your own words again.
Similar terms may do, since Clare looks bold, "blady", and the kind of folks that see life in black and white; but these words must be *founded*. There *must* be some (historical) base to her half-foolish views

I did not want to describe as a bad person at this point. She is rather good (read what she says when she attacks/kills someone for the first time in this scenario), she just does not like orcs at all. The last sentence of that quote is actually meant as an explanation for her hatred. Maybe I have not chosen the best words to describe her feelings. Probably you are fight, I should write some more backstory for this.
When I was writing that speech, I wanted to express that she is not naive, she knows very well what life for humans look like in border human village in the Northlands (most importantly frequent raids by the orcs) and that she cares about her fellow villagers.

Maybe the village is still too far from the rest (river, ennemy camp, hills in the background). I have read you reduced the map already, playing will tell me better.

I have not reduced map of Clare's village yet, it is still on my to-do list. You have probably read about map of an elvish village in Chapter 2 Scenario 1. I will take your comments about the map into account when I will be changing it.

Thanks again for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I wish you good luck in the game and look forward to more comments from you.

Edit: I have opened a GitHub issue for discussion about name for Clare's village (and the near river): https://github.com/konecnyjakub/For_Power/issues/30. Feel free to post your ideas there, everyone.

[denispir]

[Clare:]

"They never ever come here for any other reason. With all due respect, you should stop expecting something else from them, Glacyn. They are orcs after all, their only desire is to fight, they do not need any reason for it. They love to cause harm to anyone. Did you forget how many good people from our village they have killed and badly wounded?"

[me, speaking of CLare talking of orcs]

This is in my view all exaggerately caricatural; Clare looks idiotic and (already) "bad" to me. Worse than the extremist one-sided views (think at foreign politics!) are her "reading their minds" for their motivation (typical rethorics to justify eg genocide); read your own words again.
Similar terms may do, since Clare looks bold, "blady", and the kind of folks that see life in black and white; but these words must be *founded*. There *must* be some (historical) base to her half-foolish views.

I did not want to describe as a bad person at this point. She is rather good (read what she says when she attacks/kills someone for the first time in this scenario), she just does not like orcs at all. The last sentence of that quote is actually meant as an explanation for her hatred. Maybe I have not chosen the best words to describe her feelings. Probably you are fight, I should write some more backstory for this.
When I was writing that speech, I wanted to express that she is not naive, she knows very well what life for humans look like in border human village in the Northlands (most importantly frequent raids by the orcs) and that she cares about her fellow villagers.

Very good point I guess about Clare not being naive, especially in front of facts or events of highest importance (and terrific ones) . This also participates in building her character in anticipation for her future story. Think at us playing and imagining "in immersion" (as people say at times about good games), and also at the nice english expression "make believe".

And yes, I understand that you want her to be rather good in her youth, just my remarks are not clear enough (often happens, my thinking is strange). About her seeming idiotic, I mean rather a lack of intuitive, global (sytemic), multi-sided, or empathic thinking[*], which leads to caricatural hate speech. There seems to be a lack of such ability, certainly not in Clare herself (as suggested by her reaction after first kill as you note), but in this very speech by her. Think at racist or sexist in our world; they are all bad and only bad, they are all the same, they piss on their victims' dead bodies, and they eat human babies for breakfast.

If you want her to sound like a bold and willful and charismatic person, rather than looking caricatural and stupid (for some players at least sharing my views or others), like eg a racist, her views about orcs must be justified, namely proceed from her personal story. She really has something personal against orcs anyway, and it's obvious: note that other characters don't spontaneously speak the same way, don't even add their own words after hers. All this is actually a good thing, potentially: this "special sentiment" gives flesh to her character, temperament, history... thus is worth expansion.

What do other players think?

[*] In my view, these are all natural abilities & real qualities. However in our "civilised" world, dominant ideologies may call them "weakness", and call "strength" the actual debility resulting from their repression... this, because to oppress, exploit, or destroy, lacking such intuitive and systemic intelligence is necessary.

You seem to rather agree on other points you quote from my post, very well. However, said post was really big and contains still other remarks or proposals, mostly on story/atmosphere/situation. I can only guess (may be wrong) that either they let you cold, or you don't know what to do with all that mess . In that case, maybe it's not the right form, I let you with too much work by only providing ideas, as thought out or elaborate as they may be with my limited means. Maybe I should instead feed you with ready-made pieces of text ([story] mainly, in my view), as inelaborate as they may be . This, I did not do because I have nothing of a writer (some creative design skills, albeit in other domains), english is foreign for me, and most importantly I have problems of mood or motivation (see bipolarity) which can stop me doing anything productive at any time; so better me not engaging in tasks that may last more than one day *and concern others*.

However, if I was right above and you like the idea, I *may* try and provide some bits of text concretising my ideas, each serving as raw material for you or others to refine whenever they fit your views.

Anyway, I have played the first scenario (really nice), which gave some more comments... Also, I plan (if my mood lets me) to post a kind of scenario-by-scenario description of my playing, which can serve as material for a potential walkthrough of the campaign. Tell me...

Denis

[denispir]

A few more remarks upon the very start of the campaign, which I could have posted earlier if they had popped up to my mind, then... (to come, a review of, endly, actually playing 1st scenario)

* Why and how did a peasant like Lemyr become a rider? (and a military one, for the matter? maybe not that interesting) This is another opportunity to enrich the story and enlive his character [*]. Say, the horse was one day found by young Lemyr himself wandering alone along the hill range NE of the village; and they so-to-say fell in love... i mean boy and horse . Later, he started to fight mounted along with the local militia.
Unfortunately, there is no "countryside rider" unit type, afaik, nore an outlaw one...

* When Lemyr speaks of protecting Clare, maybe have him move on the map toward her camp? (before the rest of their dialog). Plus, I like very much the rather subtle way you suggest Lemyr's sentiments for Clare, as well as her knowing them; or do i misunderstand?

* Justify the presence of a local militia. No chance this may actually be, as suggested by their types from the loyalist faction, a force of the kingdom! Do you think the king of Wesnoth sent a force just to protect a handful of peasants in a faraway village against orcish raids? Far, far too much, and not the way kings or nobles in general act, not at all... The fighters may rather be a local militia of "peasant fighters" (thus of the outlaw "race", which is often used for "countryside fighters"). This fits and follows the suggested history of orc raids, plus possibly other threats to be evoked (undead as in mainline, angry elves, wandering trolls...), maybe retrospectively after this battle, thus in the [story] tag of next scenario. [Note that quite similar events and facts are told in Liberty, and they also end up with a force of the outlaw faction; in UMC campaigns as well.]

[Glacyn:] "Very well, but be careful. You mages are too valuable to lose."
[Lemyr:] "Worry not, Commander - I shall protect her."
* Others will help, not only Lemyr, since Clare can recruit. Thus, first the dialog must justify this fact, which is easy with an additional sentence or two by Glacyn and maybe a reply by Clare. Plus, and accordingly, Lemyr should then just say "I shall HELP and protect THEM as well." Note: Either Lemyr is an idiot and subject to "über-pride", to the point of pretending to defend the "magic gang" alone against 2 parties of trained orcish warriors, or... what? But, Lemyr may still say "her" instead of "them", if you mean suggesting him being blinded by his sentiments for her... dunno (I don't know the rest of story enough).

"How could I forget? However our village has always been open to anyone with good intentions before. But if it is so now..."
* I guess you mean here anyone of any race (else, what can it mean in the context?). If so, you may reword and expand, for this "humanly" very important remark by Cladyn, revealing a pretty good character as well as a pretty good local mentality, to make full sense for us and *not pass unnoticed*. Note that we will have more "local" scenarios, right here in the village.

[Clare:] "Some of my friends also long to help out."
* Justify that, I mean her friends here. Well, just, how comes other mages are here? Are they all travelling together from Alduin, say to each one's village of origin? Also, or rather alternatively, was she in Alduin a rather popular apprentice mage (despite and/or thank to her boldness) so that others wish to travel with her after their training? Or, and maybe it's the best choice, does she have that kind of very charismatic personality that drives others to follow someone: I think this last view fits quite well her future story, and helps justify a bit her leading role in the present battle. All of this may well be, but all of this needs fundaments: still another opportunity to enrich the story and her past (here, more recent).

* Precisely, why does the local "fight leader" Glacyn trust Clare for leading a whole force (a "side")? Ok, maybe just expand on her leading mages, since they are here with her and she knows the local situation better, with a protecting force for them; plus she is a natural (and good) leader. Maybe some past anecdote of her story in the village would help us readily share this last opinion of his, about her.

* Far NW on the map, where the kind of partially enclosed prairie lies, you may replace 2 human houses in good shape by kinds of shepherd shelters, like the typical stone ones placed SW of the orc camps (see pictures in wikipedia FR [https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergerie]).

[*] Note that, in our world, and Wesnoth heavily relies on money or property as well, being a rider warrior costed very much, so that only rich proprietaries could afford that: having a horse and the rest of the equipment to become a knight. This is the first and main reason why higher noble warriors initially gave the profit of land pieces to their vassals --the future chivalry. Having a lad costed much less in comparison! In middle feudal times, the global cost to just be a knight is estimated to the profit of 500ha (5 km2) of land in average! Peasants did not use horses for work, rather their own energy, or by rich owners, beeves.

[James_The_Invisible]

About her seeming idiotic, I mean rather a lack of intuitive, global (sytemic), multi-sided, or empathic thinking[*], which leads to caricatural hate speech. There seems to be a lack of such ability, certainly not in Clare herself (as suggested by her reaction after first kill as you note), but in this very speech by her.

I guess that you are right here. I should change this part of dialogue.

If you want her to sound like a bold and willful and charismatic person, ... her views about orcs must be justified, namely proceed from her personal story.

When I started writing this story, I did not honestly think too much about her personality. But now, I definitely like the idea of her being like this.

note that other characters don't spontaneously speak the same way, don't even add their own words after hers.

I guess that others are just not as bold as Clare .

However, said post was really big and contains still other remarks or proposals, mostly on story/atmosphere/situation. I can only guess (may be wrong) that either they let you cold, or you don't know what to do with all that mess .

Well, yes, I was not completely sure what to do with those idea when I was writing my previous post. But in the end I decided to use some of them. I have created an issue so I will not forget about them.

english is foreign for me

May I ask what is your first language? Maybe we can come up with something via personal messages here. My first language is Czech and I also quite understand Slovak.

I have problems of mood or motivation (see bipolarity) which can stop me doing anything productive at any time

I suffer from this too .

Also, I plan (if my mood lets me) to post a kind of scenario-by-scenario description of my playing, which can serve as material for a potential walkthrough of the campaign. Tell me...

Yes, please. That might be helpful some other players (and me as well).

After reading the second post, I see that you have a lot of questions. They all are justified, I will try to answer to all of them.

Why and how did a peasant like Lemyr become a rider?

Good question! I never really thought about it (and probably also not anyone who played this campaign before you). It would be good to have some explanation. (A bit off topic, I would like to write a campaign about Lemyr that would take place before and during first chapter of For Power (where this might be explained) but I have no time for it.)

Note that, in our world, and Wesnoth heavily relies on money or property as well, being a rider warrior costed very much, so that only rich proprietaries could afford that: having a horse and the rest of the equipment to become a knight. This is the first and main reason why higher noble warriors initially gave the profit of land pieces to their vassals --the future chivalry. Having a lad costed much less in comparison! In middle feudal times, the global cost to just be a knight is estimated to the profit of 500ha (5 km2) of land in average! Peasants did not use horses for work, rather their own energy, or by rich owners, beeves.

Yeah, I know a bit about medieval knights/nobility.

When Lemyr speaks of protecting Clare, maybe have him move on the map toward her camp?

It is not so bad idea. I will think about it.

Plus, I like very much the rather subtle way you suggest Lemyr's sentiments for Clare, as well as her knowing them; or do i misunderstand?

Spoiler:

Yes, he is in love with Clare.

Justify the presence of a local militia.

It is a village on borders of the earldom (yes, we are not in kingdom of Wesnoth). Having militia is a necessity. Maybe it was not said?

Others will help, not only Lemyr, since Clare can recruit. Thus, first the dialog must justify this fact, which is easy with an additional sentence or two by Glacyn and maybe a reply by Clare. Plus, and accordingly, Lemyr should then just say "I shall HELP and protect THEM as well." Note: Either Lemyr is an idiot and subject to "über-pride", to the point of pretending to defend the "magic gang" alone against 2 parties of trained orcish warriors, or... what? But, Lemyr may still say "her" instead of "them", if you mean suggesting him being blinded by his sentiments for her... dunno (I don't know the rest of story enough).

He says it mostly because of his feelings. But he really is very proud (he will become a paladin and his pride will only go higher).

I guess you mean here anyone of any race (else, what can it mean in the context?). If so, you may reword and expand, for this "humanly" very important remark by Cladyn, revealing a pretty good character as well as a pretty good local mentality, to make full sense for us and *not pass unnoticed*.

That is correct, most of them do not care about your race as long as you cause no harm (though there are some exceptions like Clare). I will write something more there. (With Cladyn you meant Glacyn, right?)

Note that we will have more "local" scenarios, right here in the village.

I am not sure I get what are you pointing at here.

Justify that, I mean her friends here.

In this part, Clare can recruit only peasants and woodsmen, so they could be other people from the village.

Well, just, how comes other mages are here?

I have not thought about this too much originally. But if I had to choose, I would rather have them follow her. For the story, it is better to have Clare stay in her village rather travelling with other people.

was she in Alduin a rather popular apprentice mage (despite and/or thank to her boldness)

Well, yes, she have had a good reputation there because of her intelligence, abilities and charisma. However this campaign (for now) does not say much about her stay at the Academy.

Spoiler:

You will meet someone else from the Academy in a later chapter.

Precisely, why does the local "fight leader" Glacyn trust Clare for leading a whole force (a "side")?

Oh, another thing that I did not think about. I will try to make up something but suggestions are welcome (like for any other issue).

[denispir]

Justify that, I mean her friends here.

In this part, Clare can recruit only peasants and woodsmen, so they could be other people from the village.

I mean mostly her mage friends, which I can only guess also come from the mage school in Alduin Isle. But how and why did they end up being here, in Clare's village, so far away? Thus the long paragraph trying to find coherent reasons for this, ending with privileging Clare's charism; even if it's not enough reason alone. I also thought at a great tour new Alduin mages would (optionally) do after their (successful) training, like in the real world young craftsmen of some arts, especially masons, used to do in various countries. They may have chosen to do some of this tour together, passing by their home lands (and still maybe under Clare's influence). too much stuff just to justify a point of the story? OR a goos opportunity to enrich it, as well as Clare's history and personality?

About Clare's recruitment, I have written some words already (which seem enough for me).

EDIT : Sorry, I had not seen your second reply to this very point, just below. Never mind...

Good night,
Denis