Recent content by Abbas-Al-Morim

Hey Halisme, I'm going to try and answer your question but please not that I am not a historian, and that most of my knowledge on the subject comes from my own research, which may or may not be flawed. If the main force of your army consists of levies (i.e. non-professional soldiers) then...

Actually, there's plenty of examples of people colonizing areas near to them that were considered terra nullius before the colonization. Russia's colonization of Siberia - a remote area inhabited by low tech natives until the Russian colonization and other Northern territories is a good example...

So here's the deal. My story features a certain someone who's female (biologically) but who looks amorphous. It is impossible to tell if "she" is man or a woman. She wears male clothes but is very lithe in shape, with a "wiry" musculature that doesn't really point to either gender. Her face is...

How about extortion? Just threaten to pop their air balloon. Fire a few warning shots if necessary. I think civilian vessels wouldn't mind paying a tithe to stay airborne. Even if those civilian vessels have guns, they'd most likely prefer paying some money than risking an engagement. Although...

Dragon Age Origins was truly great, one of the last (semi) old school BioWare RPGs made. Dragon Age II was an average game and a poor sequel. I hate the new art direction and the combat was too unrealistic for my tastes. Even Kill Bill had less gore in it than ten seconds of DAII combat. I...

Double envelopment is a good technique, and you don't even need disciplined troops to do it. You just put the mellowest soldiers at your center, have your enemy push inwards (so your line becomes concave) and then the sides of you line will wrap around his. Hannibal Barcas used that technique at...

Oh wow, I sure missed on that first question. Leningrad was only two years and a couple of months if I recall correctly. That's only a difference of nineteen years or so. Oh well!

1) I think that'd be the Siege of Leningrad in WWII. That would also be the bloodiest siege in history. Or perhaps the Siege of Troy, but then again, that city wasn't really sieged continuously for 10 full years (according to several historians). 2) That's quite hard to answer. Because if...

Sauron seems like the best example, since he never really appears in the story - at least not in corporeal form. There's the occasional shot of the Great Eye in the movies, but I wouldn't really count that as a stage presence. In fact, the whole plot of Lord of the Rings revolves around...

Actually, from what I heard, the bombard was pretty ineffective. It took a really, really long time to reload, it overheated (so it couldn't be fired around the clock) and it didn't do that much damage to the walls. The walls weren't breached until the final assault and I think the infantry did...

It's not really the critique that's bothering me, because that's one individual expressing his opinion. I just wonder if the general public (or a segment thereof) can accept realistic fantasy. Because obviously, it's a bit less spectacular at first sight. Things are still spectacular - but you...

I recently had a work critiqued and while the critique raised some interesting points, it also made me question one of the fundamental qualities of my work. I like to pride myself that my Fantasy is realistic. You won't find super-ninjas or Die Hard action in my story. And a lot of the critique...

Also, I really think the opening sequence is pretty darn good. Better than Vikings and almost as good as GoT. I love that hurdy-gurdy sound, it's very piratey.

I don't get why everyone is so quick to compare shows to GoT. Yes, GoT is by far and large the best series I've ever seen. It has amazing actors and is brilliantly written and directed. The source material it's based on is even better (or so I've been told - I'm not reading the books till the...

I find it ironic that you speak out against stereotype, but your races do conform to standard tropes. I don't mean to criticize your creativity, but it's just something I noticed. Elves are often portrayed as elegant warriors with a proud - almost arrogant - attitude. Dwarves are rarely...