Fables (Fantasy Tech| Fiction | OPEN)

[Thoricia]

TALES OF FANTASY AND ENCHANTING ADVENTURES FROM ACROSS THE WORLD

Why I am making Fables and what is it.

Having been on NS for some time I’ve noticed several short story threads for specific regions or for some specific tech levels. I do however know that there are several FanT players like myself that have no outlet or place to write stories that are mostly FanT so I decided to create this thread to give players like myself the opportunity to do so. Fables is a collection of short stories, sagas, or epics that have a Fantasy Tech or FanT element to them from any player’s canon or non-canon as they see fit. A submitting nation doesn't have to have FanT in their nation either, the story can be a myth or legend from their history or a tale of a cryptid within their nation.
Stories will be indexed under the submitting player’s nation name and I will try to update when I can.The setting can be from in any time/tech period (PT, MT, PMT, or FT) so long as there is a high fantasy or low fantasy part to the story.

Rules for Fables

1.Players will abide by the PG-13 rule set forth by NationStates code of conduct, if you think it pushes these boundaries please add a Mature tag

Code: Select all

[floatright][box][size=150][ [color=#BF0000]Mature[/color] ][/size][/box][/floatright]

Any submission with excessive gore or sexual content will be reported and removed

2. A story will have a title for cataloguing purposes

3. Stories should be at least three paragraphs and of reasonable quality

4. Fables is for short stories only and should not be used to conduct roleplays between multiple players, however multi part stories from multiple players are allowed but should not exceed more than six posts

5. Images while allowed should be spoilered

6. Fables is for short stories please do not use it as a Factbook dump for your nation or your nation’s characters

[Thoricia]

INDEX A - M

-submission by Buryat
Undead Night

[Thoricia]

INDEX N - Z

-submission by Salto de Victoria
The Last of Us

[Salto de Victoria]

The Last of Us

“Come here my child, I must tell you the story of our kind once more before my time is at an end.” spoke the elderly figure, he looked human with the exception of the large bird like wings upon his back.

“Do we have to again.” whined a younger voice as a small boy with sandy blonde hair reluctantly walked towards his grandfather, his feet dragging across the wooden floor of the single room residence.

“You’ve told me this story sooo many times though.” said the child as he sat down next too the elderly figure.

“I tell you this story because you must remember it, because someone will need to tell our story once I am gone young one and that someone must be you, I am sorry to place this burden on your shoulders but I have little choice my child, I must ensure we are remembered in some small way.” chastised the grandfather, his face stern but sad as his bright blue eyes looked upon his grandson.

The elder figure rested his arm over the young child’s shoulders, careful to not touch the young lad’s own wings.


“Long long ago the Engla ruled over the entire northern part of the land we, and the other natives of this land, once called Trifador. We were and always have been a proud race, placed on this world by the god Suunra himself. Why he did this and what our purpose was lost long ago, Suunra himself was slain by the ArchDevil Asmoria.

From what little we have been able to recover of our history, Suunra’s death had tragic and devastating consequences on our species. The sudden severing of the link was so traumatic that most of the adults and older children of our kind were killed instantly, those that didn’t die were driven mad, their very souls corrupted they vanished into the wilderness and slowly turned into the monsters known as the Kundra, large beasts who lost their ability to fly long ago and a taste for the flesh of intelligent beings.”

The elder engla shuddered a little at the thought of the Kundra and the memories of what they were capable of.

“Those engla that were left were but children, their binding to our god not fully completed they escaped the fate of their elders. Most of them died the first few years, the necotarian barbarians that hid in the jungles from our ancestor’s elders emerged and descended upon the helpless children slaughtering them mercilessly.

My great-grandfather was one of the older adolescents even though he was only sixty summers old at the time. He gathered what others he could and fled into the mountains with them. The first winter was as harsh on them as the barbarians. Countless more died from starvation and the bitter cold temperatures. Those that survived carved out an existence for the next several decades in the mountains. After several decades those that survived established a kingdom in the mountains, centuries passed before they slowly rebuilt their numbers and their strength.

My great-grandfather in all that time never forgot what the necotarians had done to his people and he returned upon the engla’s formed lands with a vengeful army and crushed the necotarian kingdoms that had sprung up there. As more time passed the engla empire swelled in size until it surpassed their former lands and peace settled upon the engla. Their once hated enemy the necotarians were absorbed into engla empire as productive members of our society and they became cherished allies in the years to come.

Content with the territory they had the engla began setting up trade routes with those countries that neighbored them. Over time the power and influence of the engla grew, however jealous eyes from the southern parts of Trifador gazed hungrily upon the engla empire.

Wretched beings called the zekrid gathered their armies and allies the kanriiads and they attacked the southern borders of the engla empire. The surprise attack took caught the engla completely unprepared and the zekrid were able to count many victories early on in the war. Once the initial shock wore off however and the engla were able to amass their own army they repelled the invaders back across their border.

Their defeat along with the death of the zekrid emperor caused the empire to crumble as the aristocracy turned upon itself and the empire descended into civil war. Seizing this opportunity as well were several conquered kingdoms who declared and fought for their independence from their former masters. Over time many zekrid countries formed alongside those nations they once controlled and once again an easy peace settled over the land at least until they arrived.

Humans they called themselves when they first landed on the shores of Trifadore in the southeast part of the continent. We were shocked when we first learned of their existence and how much they resembled our own physical make-up with the only difference being their distinct lack of wings. These particular humans were refugees from some great war in the lands far to the east across the ocean, lands we had never heard of or even knew existed.

They had landed in a small hikru kingdom whose name has been long since lost and forgotten to the annals of time. With them though they brought many new and exciting technologies and ideas no one Trifadore had seen or heard of. The hikru king at the time gifted a small worthless chunk of his land which sat next to a zekrid nation that constantly harassed his borders in exchange for some of the human’s technologies. Realizing they had been shorted on the deal the humans none the less set about making their newly gifted land into home. Slowly they tamed the land into a fruitful paradise that they could call their own, peaceful and content with what they had.

However the zekrid next too them viewed their land as an easy target, the humans were nothing more than farmers and laborers who led quiet lives and were not prone to violence, they couldn’t be further from the truth though.

Envisioning an easy victory the winged lizards sent one army against the humans and began preparations for a large victory feast for the end of the week, such was their confidence and such was their folly. After waiting for over a week the zekrid king had not heard from his general and he began to grow concerned. Shortly afterwards though he received his answer, several carts filled with the decapitated heads of his army were sent back to the zekrid king.

Angered over what he was certain was the incompetence of his commander the zekrid king assembled a much larger invasion force and personally led the assault against the humans himself. Expecting the attack however the humans had prepared for when the zekrid would return. Arrows blackened the sky as the winged lizards tried to fly in and attack. With their initial assualt stymied and their usual tactics hitting a brickwall, the zekrid landed on the ground and attempted to attack the humans on foot. This turned out too be an even bigger mistake as humans clad from head to toe in metal charged forth on the back of their beasts they called horses. The zekrids fought with ferocity against the humans but their training and weapons were no match against the humans who turned out to be seasoned soldiers instead of farmers as they had pretended to be.

The entire zekrid army was vanquished in one battle by the humans who then moved into the zekrid kingdom and claimed it as their own. Over time they established a confederacy of city states who traded amongst themselves and for the most part were peaceful and quiet again. Those nations that bordered them however continued to keep a nervous eye on them for several decades until time erased the memories of what befell the former zekrid kingdom. The next to challenge the might of the humans were an ambitious clan of Felxians who thought themselves strong enough to challenge the humans. They were crushed and no quarter was asked, and none was given. This time the humans made sure that any and all would remember what they were capable of doing and none would bother them ever again.

Time passed for centuries again, kingdoms and empires rose and fell, only the human confederacy and the engla empire remained untouched and unchanged through these passing seasons. Over that time period the engla were able too make contact with the humans and slowly we began helping each other and a golden time graced both of our nations as well as those allied with us. As with all things though, the golden times would come to an end...violently.

I was but a young commander in the Legion when they landed on the eastern shores of Trifadore, hailing from the same lands the other humans who had arrived on our fair continent centuries before.

These humans however were more vicious than even those that had come before them. Landing on the shores of a rather violent and warlike kanriiad country we, as well as other nations expected their visit to be rather short once the dog-men assembled their forces and set upon them. These humans however had several tricks up their sleeves that the kanriiads couldn’t comprehend much less fight against. Huge hulking machines that these new humans called warframes cut through the kanriiad army with ease, that coupled with these new humans having early firearms and cannons and kanriiad kingdom was vanquished quickly.

The engla as well as others assumed that these humans would be content with what they had acquired like those humans that had come before them. We should have known better when they began building fortresses and more war machines, we should have known better when their warships left and brought more of their kind back, we should have known better when they expanded their borders slowly. We however were content with our peace and prosperity and foolishly we thought they would become happy with what they gained.

Others however not content with being patient with the hope that the humans would become satisfied. Terrified that the humans would continue their march across the land several nations combined into a massive coalition of felixians, kanriiads, hikrus, and zekrids. A gargantuan army was fielded and they launched one of the largest attacks ever seen in our lands. They were likes waves crashing across the cliffs. The humans had been expecting such an attack and were prepared for it. Secretly they had built factories that churned out their firearms and warframes and fortifications that turned the land into slaughterhouses against the coalition army. Broken and defeated the coalition forces retreated back to their lands, unfortunately the humans followed them and easily conquered those nations that had attacked them.

Suddenly the veil of willful ignorance was lifted from our eyes. We knew they would not be content with what they had and that they thirsted for the entire continent. A panic set upon the engla empire and her allies, armies upon armies were conscripted and formed. Those humans that had come before were equally distressed and they contributed too our war effort by contributing what technologies and knowledge they had. Even these were woefully behind the new humans technologies however and we set about making defensive fortifications for what we knew would be inevitable.

Years we waited for the attack and for months we prepared. Even with all of our preparations we still were not ready for the attack that came. Warframes, cannons, and armored vehicles called tanks descended upon our fortified lines, our biggest shock however was their machines that flew in the skies that easily cut down the engla sky forces. We fought with tenacity and courage, but flesh and bone can only do so much against warmachines made of steel and fire.

Steadily they clawed their way through our allies territory, the human confederacy, and our empire. Nothing we fielded could put a chink in the human’s armor. Realizing that the cost of life would be for nothing and that we would lose anyways my father the emperor sued for peace with the humans. Their demands were simple, a complete surrender of the engla empire and the handing over of our entire holdings to the human conquerors.

The rest of the nations on Trifadore folded quickly after our surrender. Pockets of resistance would flare up from time to time, each one was put down brutally and without remorse. Over time more and more of the humans who called themselves the Iron People arrived and spread across our land. Those natives that were not humans were treated like livestock and property. Every species was enslaved by the Iron People and those humans that were already there were turned into servants for them. Necotarians, engla, kanriiad, hikru, felixians, and zekrids were all segregated away from the humans and forced to live in hovels on reservations. Myself and several other engla were not content with being treated like second-class citizens so we formed a resistance movement several other species. Decades they chased us across the continent they had renamed into Salto de Victoria, always we managed to somehow stay one step ahead of the colonial forces that had been tasked with our destruction.

Unfortunately the Victorians became more and more curious as to why the engla were able to live for a millennia or more. At first engla families would just vanish into the night. The official stories where that they had been relocated into parts of the country and for awhile we were content with that explanation, again our willful ignorance was our undoing.

One night myself and several other resistance members attacked a lightly guarded colonial militia motor pool. The motor pool however turned out to be nothing more than a front for a research facility that was experimenting on engla in an effort too unlock as to why we lived for so long and if the longevity could be harnessed by the Iron People. Our disgust and fear at what we discovered caused an uproar amongst the engla and we revolted against the humans rule. We were put down mercilessly and those that didn’t escape were placed into camps for the Victorians to experiment on when they felt like it. Those engla that weren’t captured went underground and desperately and futilely tried to rescue those that were captured.

Slowly over time our numbers dwindled, your mother was one of the last to be captured as she tried to lead an attack on a militia army base rumored to have your brother. Your father, my son in his grief led an attack on the governor's palace. He almost succeeded in his attack to before the palace guard captured him.”

Tears welled up in the elder engla’s eyes as the painful memories were revisited and he pulled the younger child closer to him for comfort.

“Now my child you and I are the only ones left that are free, I do not know if there are any others alive but it has been decades since there have been any rumours of any engla being in captivity and with my time growing nearer and nearer to the end you are the last of us.”

**********************************

Nearly a century later four figures laid hidden on a sand dune that overlooked a miltia military outpost. Two of the figures were easily identified as kanriiads while the third one was a felixian. The fourth however looked human with the camouflage cloak that hid him from the eyes of the humans down below. Minutes later explosions rocked the small outpost and dozens of small figures emerged from the sand around the base. Minutes passed before an all clear came from over the radio from the hikru resistance members that had attacked the outpost. Quickly the four figures made there way down to the outpost. As the “human” and his companions arrived several trucks driven by felixians and kanriiads and the resistance group quickly began loading whatever weapons and supplies they could salvage from the outpost.

The “human” approached a group of hikru who had the sole surviving human tied up and on his knees. His markings on his uniform identified him as the commander of the outpost and a smile crossed his lips as he watched the other “human” approach him.

“So you’re the one responsible for all of these attacks, a human turning on his own kind and aligning themselves with these beasts.” said the commander as he spat at the “human”

“That’s where you’re wrong you fucking piece of shit.” said the figure as he violently kicked the commander in the ribs. “I know what you and your soldiers have been doing too the hikru in this area and I have come to put a stop to it.”

The “human” removed his cloak and revealed the pair of wings on his back. The commander’s eyes doubled in size as fear gripped him and he realized who and what stood before him.

Pulling a knife from his belt the engla leaned down next to the commander and whispered into his ear.

“I’m not going to kill you because I want you to deliver a message for me, I want you to tell them that Ezriel Windhorn the Third, last of the engla was the one that did this to you and I am going to unleash my vengeance upon you Victorians here in Trifador until all of you are dead for what you have done to my people.”

[Buryat]

Undead Night

Berivoj was barely sixteen when the local village administrator had rounded him up with five other boys his age and had them conscripted into the Buryat army. The Republic was always in need of more soldiers with the constant civil wars that seemed too erupt every year threatening too rip the country apart. And every time one of Buryat’s neighbors would see this as an opportunity to claim some more territory and every time the civil war would stop so the foreign invaders could be repelled. It was a seemingly endless cycle of violence that had become a way of life for the past three centuries.

He had been given a rifle and barely any training, but what training he was given he had remembered religiously and clung too. It was all he had for the last three months at the border fort he was stationed at that overlooked the demilitarized zone between Buryat and it’s northern neighbor Lichmoor. He faced out towards the endless expanse of dirt that was covered with barbed wire above the ground and had several mines below the ground. Darkness had slowly descended upon the border and a full moon slowly raised into the sky. Berivoj looked down at his watch to see how long before his relief came and stamped his feet too get the blood circulating again. The distinct clunk of boots could be heard as Berivoj’s relief came on duty. No words passed between either soldier as Berivoj got ready to head towards the mess hall so he could get something to eat and then get some sleep before his turn to be back on the wall the next day.

The distinct thump of the mortars could be heard suddenly and bright flares illuminated the sky and the desolate dirt field. Berivoj could hear the other soldier whisper a curse as he turned and he looked out towards the border. Adrenaline shot through his body as he saw what the others saw. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead decaying corpses shambled across the border slowly making their way towards the fort.

Suddenly countless more flares arced into the sky as far as Berivoj could see all across the border. The flares were followed quickly by the distinct thump of artillery cannons firing from their hidden locations well behind the protective network of forts. Mortar launches could be heard as well and multiple explosions ripped into the advancing zombie horde.

Berivoj shouldered his rifle and aimed down the sights towards the oncoming horde. A hand on his shoulder stopped him from firing the shot and he looked towards the owner of the appendage. The familiar face of his sergeant caused Berivoj to stand at attention.

“Save your damned ammo, don’t be a stupidfuck firing off all your bullets before those fucking corpses get close enough for you to actually hit them.” growled the grizzled non-com as he walked down the wall the barking orders at the other green troops.

Berivoj strained his eyes as he tried to see what was happening. Explosions from the artillery still ripped through the ranks of zombies but they continued to come in an endless stream of rotting flesh. He could see some of them get tangled up in the barbed wire but eventually the coils become so clogged with bodies that the ones behind them just crawled over their fallen comrades. Next came the mines, a special type constructed just for mass attacks by the undead such as these. A distinct ping could be heard as the shambling corpses set off the mines motion detectors and the mines launched themselves into the air, roughly head height before they exploded into huge clouds of shrapnel that cut through the hordes. Next the angry sounds of the machine guns could be heard as the horde began to get closer and closer.

“Fix bayonets.” was suddenly heard and Berivoj’s fingers trembled as he grabbed the blade out of it’s sheath he clumisly placed it on the end of his rifle. Fear grabbed ahold of him as he through that him and the others would be ordered to charge to their deaths in some bizarre attack. Rifle cracks could be heard next and again Berivoj shouldered his rifle and looked down the sights.

Aim, exhale, squeeze.

The rifle bucked in his hands a little and he watched the undead monster’s head explode as he nailed his target.

Aim, exhale, squeeze

Again the rifle jumped a little as he decapitated another corpse. Fearful cries could be heard and Berivoj immediately saw why. They came running towards the fort on all fours like ravenous beasts descending hungrily upon its helpless prey. Huge packs of ghouls raced across the terrain whose multiple traps and stops had been defeated or used up against the mindless zombies that still shambled forward unaffected by the death of all their comrades. Tracer fire acred out again from machine gun nests and chewed through the ghoul packs. Undaunted by their losses they continued their charge across the field until they reached the fort of the wall.

Aim, exhale, squeeze

Berivoj leaned over the edge and fired down below into the pack. A moment of terror took ahold of him as his rifle clicked. His fingers fumbled as he ejected the rifle’s magazine and slammed another home and racked the action. Again he fired into the pack below. A roar pierced the night and Berivoj looked up and saw them running across the open expanse. Huge constructs of flesh and sinew, a gleam of malevolent intelligence in their eyes as their huge strides carried them across the battlefield. Almost twice as tall as a man, the huge intelligent flesh golems called frankken were constructed by the lichs as shock troops for their undead armies. They moved forward amongst their lesser undead brethren. Mortar fire rained down amongst the golems who seemed unaffected by the explosions that rained down on them.

The rifle fire across the rampart increased in staccato as fear seemed to take over the soldiers. Walking tanks of destruction, the frankken neared the walls and several of them each scooped up the nearest smaller undead creature and launched them towards the top of the fort’s wall.

Aim, exhale, squeeze

The rifle jumped in Berivoj’s hand again as he fired off a round at the zombie suddenly launched through the air headed straight towards him. He ducked at the last second as the corpse sailed over his head and into the fort behind him. Berivoj turned around to see which way the zombie landed and was relieved too see three other soldiers swarm the corpse, before it was back on its feet, viciously attack it with the bayonets on their rifles. A cry too his right grabbed Berivoj’s attention and he swung his rifle in time to see one of his comrades be torn to shreds by by two ghouls that had been launched onto the rampart.

Aim, exhale, squeeze

Berivoj pulled the trigger on his rifle, squeezing until the rifle stopped firing. The remaining ghoul turned it’s baleful gaze towards Berivoj and let out a scream as it lunged towards the young soldier. Berivoj reacted without thinking and held his rifle up in defense and the ghoul impaled itself on the bayonet. Falling over backwards the young soldier kept a steel grip on rifle and held the shrieking creature away from him as best he could. Searing pain shot through his arms as the creatures long gangly arms reached his own and it’s razor sharp fingernails tore into his forearms. The rotten smell of decaying flesh made Berivoj sick as he screamed and held onto the rifle with what strength he could muster. The creature shook as several bullets impacted it and it’s head exploded into millions of fragments.

The familiar face of his sergeant came into Barivoj’s view and the man grabbed the young soldier by his uniform’s collar. Dragging him down the rampart the sergeant raised his sidearm and fired several rounds into a zombie that had managed to get to its feet. Berivoj meanwhile managed to come out of his shock and he ejected the magazine and loaded his last one.

Aim, exhale, squeeze

Barivoj tried to rely on his training but the pain was too much for him and he could wildly fire from the hip as more of the undead landed onto the rampart. Suddenly he felt himself flung from the rampart and he landed on the ground below. He scrambled to his feet and looked up in time to the sergeant jump as well and land next to him.

“Get the fuck down.” screamed the sergeant as the distinctive scream of incoming missiles could be heard. Seconds later explosions burst in the air outside the fort and the undead horde was cut down in huge swaths. Republic gunships swooped in right behind the missile attack and cannon fire mopped up the remaining horde that was left over. Sensing they were defeated what remained of the ghouls and flesh golems turned tail and headed back towards Lichmoor.

Rifle fire could be heard as what zombies that remained in the fort were mopped up. The sergeant stood up and slapped a hand on Berivoj’s back.

“You handled yourself well comrade.” exclaimed the sergeant. The non-commissioned officer’s eyes traveled down to the younger soldiers forearms that were cut to ribbons.

“How did that happen?” the sergeant asked as his smile faded.

“That damn ghoul clawed me too shit when it attacked sir.” replied Berivoj

The sergeant nodded his head solemnly. “Well let us take you to the infirmary and get you patched up.” the sergeant said as he slid the clip out of his pistol and checked the chamber too make sure there was at least one round remaining.