Tournament Echoes, Unorthodox Spells, and the Looming War
Dated: 14 September 2026
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Greetings, Illyrians!
Greetings Illyrians!
Quite a lot has happened since my last article, as it has been over a month. Please grab a seat and prepare.
Tournament Echoes
Firstly, I’d like to touch on the Dragon Tournament. The poem Questions of a Reading Worker by Bertolt Brecht comes to mind for me:
Wer baute das siebentorige Theben? In den Büchern stehen die Namen von Königen. Haben die Könige die Felsbrocken herbeigeschleppt? Und das mehrmals zerstörte Babylon Wer baute es so viele Male auf? In welchen Häusern des goldstrahlenden Limas wohnten die Bauleute? Wohin gingen an dem Evening, wo die Chinesische Mauer fertig war die Maurer? Das große Rom ist voll von Triumphbögen. Wer errichtete sie? Über wen triumphierten die Cäsaren? Hatte das vielbesungene Byzanz nur Paläste für seine Bewohner? Selbst in dem sagenhaften Atlantis brüllten in der Nacht, wo das Meer es verschlang Die Ersaufenden nach ihren Sklaven. Der junge Alexander eroberte Indien. Er allein? Cäsar schlug die Gallier. Hatte er nicht wenigstens einen Koch bei sich? Philipp von Spanien weinte, als seine Flotte untergegangen war. Weinte sonst niemand? Friedrich der Zweite siegte im Siebenjährigen Krieg. Wer siegte außer ihm? Jede Seite ein Sieg. Wer kochte den Siegesschmaus? Alle zehn Jahre ein großer Mann. Wer bezahlte die Spesen? So viele Berichte. So viele Fragen.
Which roughly translates to:
Who built Thebes of the seven gates? The books list the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the blocks of rock? And Babylon—destroyed so many times—who rebuilt it so often? In which houses of gold-gleaming Lima did the builders live? Where did the masons go on the evening the Great Wall of China was finished? Great Rome is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whom did the Caesars triumph? Did much-sung Byzantium have only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled Atlantis, on the night the sea swallowed it up, the drowning cried out for their slaves. Young Alexander conquered India. He alone? Caesar defeated the Gauls. Did he not have at least one cook with him? Philip of Spain wept when his fleet went down. Did no one else weep? Frederick the Second won the Seven Years’ War. Who won besides him? A victory on every page. Who cooked the victory feast? A great man every ten years. Who paid the bill? So many reports. So many questions.
TOUR won the tournament with 570 days of occupation time. SMA took second at 418 days, and Roads landed in third at 272 days. While the occupation times and battles were great, do not forget that it was a group effort on all fronts—even with the “lesser man” contributing greatly, at much cost to himself. Do not forget those who are not figureheads. Congratulations to all!
My second point on this tournament regards a rather specific incident. Sources have sent me a battle report showing that a Chill member hit TOUR on the Kem square. It seemed to cause quite an uproar in the TOUR alliance chat. Apparently, the Chill member was being sat by someone in SMA, and discussions about it from the TOUR member were met with immediate blocking by that SMA member.
Unorthodox Spells
The second topic for discussion today was sent in via email from a reader. To me, this is another form of “Battle Magic”—just not on the battlefield:
“…regarding Rune, I thought to renew past issues I have with him for attacking me when I was a small 7-9 noob vs their many accounts in RUM that they used to fight us …I had decided it’d be very funny to overpower all of Runelord’s spells with giant 100M mana iron and clay spells which become 2B spells as a level 20 mage tower 20x’s the spell so the only way to stop it is by casting the worst of the geomancy spells, an earth spell for food as the food has the highest base mana power so a 100M powered food spell will always beat any other resource spell. It has 2K range so I casted it on every single one of his towns to slow his push and make it impossible without extra effort… I did this as he caused harm to myself in the past, he has paid slightly here for his past advantage he gained over others by malpractice.”
More was sent to my email, but it mainly rehashes previously discussed topics in the IllyQuill, so I left it out. This, however, is quite an interesting strategy and I wanted to share it. Submitter, I applaud you for this move—crafty indeed!
The Looming War
As for the realm War Watch… It appears the Chill/BRUTE tension has subsided for now. While there has been a lot of mudslinging and trash talking in Global chat, the two alliances agreed to a Non-Aggression Pact on 9/9. As of this writing, it is no longer active, but I am not entirely sure when it dissipated.
In other War news: Bagno has claimed the 20 x 20 area around Centrum, dubbed Super Centrum. The player Sunflower placed a city within those boundaries, causing a whole hoopla both via IGM and in Global Chat. Things seemed to settle down a bit, but then GM Jejune dropped a forum post all but stirring up a server war for the squares closest to Centrum [here].
Wheels are in motion with MULTIPLE alliances at this point, and the tournament off-season will see bloodshed in the coming weeks—I guarantee it. Losing cities, especially sentimental ones, keeps most players from partaking in wars, but consider the other side of that coin: losing cities in a real war is a badge of honor. It’s like a Purple Heart in this game. If there were a way to do it without it being gamed or exploited, I’d love to see players awarded a medal for each city they lose.
Closing Manners
In closing, it appears on the Illyriad Discord that the player known as Lola has returned. Though, truth be told, she may have been here all along.
Please also remember to keep on your best behavior in Global Chat. There have been a lot of toxic conversations lately, and the DEV team is bringing down the hammer. Please review the rules outlined in the official post [here].
Until next time,
— The IllyQuill
The Quilly 