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Independent City of Anvala, and why nobody will touch the place.

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Pickle:
Where has the thread with the map gone? - can we have it as a sticky?

Lord Dick Tim:
http://i.imgur.com/jVubc.jpg

Map link.

Pickle:
Thanks LDT.


Perhaps it's just strategically untenable to hold the city? - so an uneasy neutrality has broken out.

Charon:
As far as what I've read, Anvala's canon is that it is a large, well defended city, both in walls and weapons. Mounted heavy weapons are placed all about the place, and are presumably well hidden. The city is known for producing incredibly skilled gunners, as those mounted weapons are fabled to engage first, and ask questions later. This city would appear to be semi-isolationist.

Rightly so, if we take a look at the map. While they may be in hotly contested territory, they're also atop a large mountain, if declination is to be believed. They've presumably cleared out miles of vegetation in each direction, which would make foot-mobile advance difficult, and that's without counting the possibility of defensive patrolling operations in the region, and ground defensive positions. Following KOCOA, these guys have it made.

Key terrain? Hell yeah. It's a mountain.
Observation? Better believe it. With whatever optics are available at the time, at a height otherwise reserved for airships.
Cover/Concealment? They've made it themselves. The armor that makes these airships tough to crack likely pales in comparison to the armor afforded this shelled-in city. It doesn't have to be able to fly, after all.
Obstacles? With cleared fields in a 360 degree span, the world is your oyster. Minefields, wire, hedgehogs could all be employed in various patterns to channelize, frustrate and defeat enemy advances but the other truth here is that there probably aren't a great many awesome routes up this mountain. You'd better believe that taking any decent route will end in death.
Avenues of approach? For ground troops, this would be easy to shape. For air traffic, there's likely a challenge/pass system in effect, with incorrect signaling leading to a devastating volley. These challenges are likely rotating, as are the answers. Recovery of any data from ships friendly to Anvala will probably result in a long, arduous and frustrating series of attempts to crack this cipher, or that cipher, and even then you're probably guessing as to the rotation of that challenge/pass.

This makes Anvala a costly assault to make, in and of itself. But, let's also consider why Anvala appears to be so capable. How did they acquire all these resources? Why do they appear to be a literal hub for the region? They would likely be the source of a large percent of the world's legitimate dealings, making them a near necessity. Hitting the wrong target within Anvala could be akin to the destruction of the great library in Alexandria.

Isolated, likely neutral, probably supplying the majority of the world with various tough-to-find commodities; Anvala could very well be a "made" city.

Wazulu :

--- Quote from: Hubert PIckle on April 15, 2013, 03:55:20 am ---Where has the thread with the map gone? - can we have it as a sticky?

--- End quote ---
I've actually seen a version of this map with the borders of each faction highlighted. For our military aspects this will be more useful to see terrain, but I'll refer to the other map for political assessment. By the way, that was a pretty awesome set of theories on Anvalan defences. My next point of curiosity is how they defend the rest of the Burren, in effect, how that area hasn't been taken, bit by bit.

It could be a cultural 'line in the sand', if you cross it you're officially at war. However, I think it is a combination of the previous idea + geographical limitations- The Burren is surrounded by natural defences, around which the borders are set:

The Yeshans are on the other side of the Wastes and a mountain range
The Baronies are on the other side of the Eastern ridge.
The Angleans are on the other side of a Northern mountain range.

While I'm not overly confident with this theory, this arrangement may have occurred due to history:
While airships and flight were being researched, there was no easy way for any faction to enter the 'bowl' shaped area of the Burren effectively enough to conquer it- getting over mountain ranges have been historically disastrous for attacking forces (Hannibal). The Baronies have to get over a mountain by default, they have no way around. The Angleans will have the trouble of crossing the ocean* and then over a mountain, unless they enter through Millersweald (see map). The Yeshans have the Wastes in their way, which is suggested as some post-apocolyptic disaster site. They would most likely enter through Yannock or Yunin or even the Three bays route if they planned for a Southern assault, perhaps a Southern and Eastern. However, I think these routes were just simply too far for the Yeshans, as they would have had to conquer along the way to maintain a supply line. I think the Yeshans have been wanting to grab the Burren for generations, and with each they slowly capture the villages and towns on the way that they need, this process sped up by the invention of air travel. Also, these areas are effectively choke points, where to quote Leonidas, 'their numbers won't count for shit'. I also imagine earlier Yeshans were not well equipped to fight the conditions, as they were probably used to fighting with the early Arashi. As such, I can easily imagine an outgunned, outmanned Burren, divided as it may be, surviving until the point where we pick up the game.

Annoyingly, I forgot one key faction, the Guild. I'll need to do some research before I start to identify whether or not they would involve themselves in an Anvalan conflict.

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