New Civilizations [IC | Closed]

[Yatzatz]

10 Days Later
The sentries were the first to spot them; riders, approaching the capital. The Politburo was warned, and the sentries were told to watch very closely. Before long, the horsemen pulled up to the base of the sentry tower, and were met by one of the guards.
"Why have you come?" the guard asked.
"We have an urgent message for the Politburo," the horsemen's leader replied.
"What message do you have that is so important that the Politburo should hear it?"
"That is a secret.
"Than why should I believe you?"
"Simple; the Politburo do not want to lose this chance."
"who the heck are you, anyway?"
"We are Yamatzon."
THAT got the guard moving.
Within five minutes, the Politburo were aware that a group of Yamatzon were here to speak with them. They told the guards to disarm the Yamatzon, and bring them in.
The Yamatzon freely gave up their weapons, and were escorted in.
The doors of the meeting room were closed, and discussion began.

[Ralnis]

Chapter 8, Part 1: The Gospel of Wealth
June-July, 2900BCE
Capital Region, Mantu Olu

Despite the initial setbacks, the development of the region was coming along smoothly and industry was being spread out from just the capital. Bob had taken upon himself to regularly go down to the newly moved and settled villages and pray or teach Voodoo to the people. Many of the tribes were starting to accept being Inocrypto and this came with programs of starting to mix the tribes up and teach them the Inocrypto culture. Acceptance has been slow but progressing with the new farming techniques and irrigation have allowed the tribes who lived by the river to be away from it and have a bigger food surplus than what they had been doing before hand.

The Republic had started to implement sharecropping as a means of collectively teaching people how to farm, keep the need of slaves down, and to start phasing out hunting-gathering practices. The use of sharecropping wasn't as effective as using debt-slaves who were on farms in the Imperium or mass slavery that can effective raise the economy of the fledging state but Bob or the Upper Council wouldn't have it. Slavery and its ideals were not to be tolerated but one thing that Bob had to explain to them was the difference in how the Imperium handled debt-slaves.

Bittertooth also didn't like to talk about it but debt-slavery was a prison sentence to bandits and rebels alike. They were guarded and used gunpowder for mines or worked in factories. Bob explained that where he came from, beyond the Imperium that the same sentence was given but they were given pay and treated better than in the Imperium. The Upper Council had to call a meeting to draft an act of allowing prisoner workers as a form of punishment in exchange for a small amount of pay and regulations to just what they can do.

This also came with more security standards that were adopted from the Imperium such as tattoos for IDs, finger prints, papers for immigrants, and national oaths for those who wish to become Inocrypto. The Vice-Executive expressed concern on adopting to many of the Imperium's standards for security and legal system but Bob expressed that the common man has his rights in their Constitution and the Bill of Rights so that sort of overbearing power that Viktor and the legal had or its people will be checked by the Lower Council.

The Act for the Legal and Commons Charter Act had increase the power of security from crime and foreign incursions in the Republic. It would be instituted as the scribes write the new laws and acts in place. It would hopefully help with keeping future crime and state security in line as the Untouchables are able to have a better edge against other spy networks trying to set up in the Republic or allies, like the Dark Realm.

Crime wasn't much of an issue, it was more in the way of community domestic disputes in growing politics in contrast with the growing industry and farming as the Republic focused on making themselves more rich than anything but the few economic experts had said that they needed to expand their reach beyond the Capital Region and try to get more access to resources and other tribes for manpower. The Upper Council knew that such expansions would be an expensive endeavor with manpower already being directed to their industry and connecting the region together. The rebuttal was that the Republic know relies on the Nubians to have strong bronze and the long-distance trade with the Somalian tribes for camels.

It was an expense that they had to live with but it was training capital so they needed to start trying to expand in order to have a better range of economic diversity. The Executive did express that the Nubians were using a large amount of land in Kenya and we don't know the southern plains as there was heard to be even more fertile than the Capital Region. The Upper Council then make a vote, each one making various disputes and how many men do they have to raise to send out a exploration force to each side. It was noted by one of the Upper Councilmen who deal with the Nubians in the outposts was that they like the Inocrypto and a deal for better mining rights using pumps and trip hammers for mining could allow the Inocrypto to spread beyond the Capital Region.

The others agree that this was a good choice and a survey and exploration force to be sent south to the Greener Plains and see what was in those lands and make themselves known. An envoy was sent to the outpost leaders to strike a deal up with them. They heard of the Inocrypto industrial technology and wouldn't mind if they share the land for developing it but they wanted a picks of the local high-grade ore or food that they make. The Council agree in the exchange of cash crops and metals that they pull from the earth but ask if they don't touch the Holy Serengeti as they wish to protect the lands in reverence to Bondye.

It wasn't something that they could ask or truly enforce as the Nubians only did sit around Lake Victoria and care not for expanding beyond what they already did but for now they respected said wishes. It was then settled as the sharing of land benefited both of them and many of the Voodoo Witch-Priests wanted to set up temples and heal the sick with what medical knowledge that they knew but many of the doctors were already training the next generation and couldn't truly spare a lot for such service. However the spread of Bondye's Teachings can help secure an ally in case they did spread into the Interior.

As the north was being prioritize, a survey and exploration force was sent down south to figure out what and who lived there. Their job was to tell them of Mantu Olu and translate the tribal tongue, Bob would come in to make a formal appearance so that they can talk for diplomatic talks. It was the best they could do as the east and south were only wandering hunter-gathers or subsistence farmers that never thought that such a thing like a developed country could be formed nearby.

In many ways, no body did until it happened.

[Yatzatz]

Two Weeks Later
A guard came in to my room. The messengers had returned from the Politburo. I told the guard to bring in their leader.
He came.
"So," I asked, "have the Politburo agreed?"
"They have. They will send 150 troops to meet with ours in the woods outside the Loyalist capital. If we succeed, then independence is ours, and Yamatzon can spread within the new Yekrenia."
"So, the Politburo have agreed on every point?"
"Every single point."
I thanked the messenger, and sent him out. Then I called Voni in.
"Voni, the Politburo has agreed. Operation Behead is on."
"Alright, Yaitz. I will send messengers to the men in the Loyalist capital."
"Tell them when the smoke starts rising from the city, the army outside should charge in and take the gate from the force that seized it."
"Alright."
Voni left, and I sat there to brood on the future.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Eddie N. Samuels- Australia, 2900 BC- Day 2

I decided to make camp there, due to it's proximity to water. My next order of business would be to find food while awaiting rescue. I made the fire a little larger to serve better as a beacon. I than thought of something, "What if the stream has fish in it? I can try that. I just need something to use as a net......" I looked around. There were some long grasses. Nah, they wouldn't be strong enough. An idea dawned in my head. I could make a cage trap type thing with some sticks and clay.

The stream was only a couple feet wide, so I found a narrow point near my "campsite". That would serve well for my purposes. That spot was maybe a foot across. I walked over to the stand of trees, and broke off a bunch of branches from a couple of the trees. I fashioned them into a sort of funnel, which led into a little cage. Making took probably an hour and a half. It was maybe five in the afternoon, going by the sun. It would be dark fairly soon, probably within a couple hours. I placed my little trap in the stream at the narrow part where it was a foot across.

I boiled some more water in my little pot, drank it, and waited. I boiled more water, and decided to spend the night in a tree again. I built a similar shelter to the one I had built last night. By the time I climbed into my shelter, the sun was already going down. I really hoped that there would be some fish in that trap come morning, because I was starving. I fell asleep, listening to the breeze rustling the tree branches and the leaves.

Day 3

I was awakened by the rising sun that morning. The sunrise was beautiful, one of the best that I had ever seen. I climbed down to the ground to check my fish trap. I looked at the trap. There was a single fish in it. I decided that I would roast it over my fire. I found a pair of Y shaped sticks, which would support the spit. I found a relatively straight stick which would serve as the spit. I used the sharp little rock I had found to sharpen the one end of the spit. That would be the end that would pierce the fish.

I placed a Y shaped stick on either side of the fire. Than, I retrieved my trap with the fish in it. To kill the fish, I hit it in the head with a rock, which killed it. I then gutted it as best as I could. I put it on the spit, and roasted it for about an hour and a half, so it would be fairly safe to eat. Once it was done, I pulled it off the spit, and dug into it with my fingers. I sunk my teeth into it. It was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. I hope rescue would come soon.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Part 5, Chapter 6: Payment in Blood

May 19th, 100 AG

From the heights of the Citadel of Watch the view was spectacular, here at the end of the day. It filled my heart with joy to see the waters of the Black Sea lit from the west in luminescent fire, orange and red light of sunset gilding the channel between continents in bronze and gold. The alabaster beneath my hands was cool to the touch, though I gripped the stone balustrade harder subconsciously than I was aware- the tension in my body was obvious to those around me, but understandable. Beside me the Governor-General and other notables looked east, where a motley handful of vessels flying the flag of the Confederation of Helios was rowing toward the harbor-mouth of Byzantium.

Today was important. They were late. And being late meant many things that I didn't appreciate, that the Emperor didn't appreciate.

"Hegemon? Eltrias will be expecting us."

My reverie was interrupted, cautiously, by the Governor's adjutant, a tall lanky man from inner Anatolia. His beard was still fuzz and patchy, but he spoke on matters of internal politics of Asia Minor with authority. A useful addition, I had found, in my brief week here. I nodded idly, and turned away from the view.

"Yes, yes. To the docks, then."

The climb down from the hill overlooking the Bosporus took the better part of an hour, and by the time the sound of the waves replaced the babble of the city, the ships from Helios had already had time to dock and start unloading. Heavy cranes of iron and wood hauled crate after crate off of the galleys that stank of the sweat of slaves and rowers, and our party approached the delegation from the Confederacy with due pomp and circumstance.

A man stood forward from the group of easterners, his beard long and oiled, his robes flowing beneath a light overcoat. His fashion was markedly different than that of the men and women who walked the dockyards and piers of Byzantium, more akin to the men of Palestine than Russia. But the men of Helios had always been strange. He bowed low as I halted the party near at hand, and spoke in the sonorous rolling language of the Georgians.

"I offer you greetings, men of the Imperium. Governor-General Ultan, we bring what has been promised, the gift of my masters to your master as a sign of friendship which has been given for generations. We also bring a gift from the Lord Givi, a special present to display his desire for peace and prosperity between us."

Next to me the tawny-haired administrator returned the bow, not as deeply as the representative of the man of the Confederacy, but still respectful. I let my gaze drift to where the cargo of the vessels was being loaded into long lines of carts guarded by companies of soldiers bearing the black and white. Their faces were hard, stony, but they did not seem overly concerned. That was good. I had never been a part of the transfer of wealth from Helios to the Imperium that had been imposed more than twenty years ago, but it appeared to be routine enough that there was little to concern even those charged with protecting the immense cargo of precious goods and metals that was the siphoned lifeblood of the strange Republicans on the other side of the Black Sea.

The niceties went on for some time, politeness traded for politeness, until I stepped forward and smiled encouragingly at the man from Helios. His speech about the values of cooperation between civilized nations faltered into silence in a moment, for my smile was both encouraging and cool, a grin with knives.

Governor-General Ultan nodded at my tacit notice that this discussion had best be moved forward.

"Master Tilikas, allow me to introduce the Hegemon of the Imperium of Man, Viktor Nemtsov. He is here to receive the gift from Lord Givi in person."

Muttering passed through the delegation from Helios, and behind me I could almost feel the Blackguards that had accompanied me to the docks tensing for action. There were many men in the world who might have cause to try and harm me. Particularly in this case. A few moments passed though, and the man from Helios merely bowed again, more deeply than he had to the Governor. I barely noticed, for at the rear of their group came movement which slowly rippled in our direction.

Master Tilikas stepped aside, and gestured broadly as two burly sailors dragged a man into view. His face was swollen, beaten and bruised, and his legs and arms were bound tightly with lengths of sturdy chain. His dark brown hair was matted and cut short raggedly, and his skin uncommonly pale for the ancestry of Helios that these easterners hailed from. But that, of course, was why he was of such interest to the Imperium. His eyes were unfocused when the man glanced up at my face, and I smiled at him brightly, then spoke in fine American English.

"Ah, master Amadeus. So kind of you to join us."

The gaze focused, confused for a few moments at the strange syllables emanating from my lips, before turning to an expression of hatred.

"Fuck you."

My smile grew wider. Yes, fantastic. I stood up from my slight crouch, and nodded to the representative of Helios.

"Inform your master that his personal levy has been permanently waived. On behalf of the Emperor of Mankind, I absolve him of all financial responsibility to contribute to Helios' levy for the remainder of his natural life."

More muttering, this time from both the Georgians and the men behind me. The Councilor of Ygregos was not a poor man. His fiefdom within the Confederacy was one of the richest, and to exclude it from contributing to the levy would be to substantially decrease the amount of income extracted from the nascent state that was growing within the Caucasus. But none spoke to question my commands, none even spoke in tones of dissent. That was the strength of absolute rule, which the lesser nations of our world could scarcely comprehend in their quest for "justice" and "representation".

"Bring the prisoner. The Ivory Palace has room for one more."

Some of the guards took the injured man from the grasp of the Confederates that were holding him, and I left with them and my bodyguards. Ultan could handle the rest of the negotiations. Here I had my prize, and I was quite pleased with that outcome. A few bribes placed correctly, a man who once ruled beset by indecision, men walking in the shadows with blackjacks and intent. A Deceiver, removed from the equation of our world.

[Damverland]

David Martin

Peace. Despite the posturing, war had not come between Martinia and the tribes of the west. David had managed to broker a peace between the two groups, with the advice of Elder Xu. The terms were that the Mariju would recognize the tribal sovereignty of the Kun and Zulao, and in return they would cease raids on Martinian territory. It was a shaky deal, but David assured them he would keep his part of the deal, and so the other tribes would too. This was influenced by Elder Xu, who had advised David not to take serious action. He told David he chose him to be the Doyoi's leader because he was not a bloodthirsty warlord, and many among the Doyoi shared his mindset. "Fight only in defense of your people," he had said. He forgave his actions against the Guzen because they threatened to destroy both the Tui and the Doyoi alike. In the case of the two western tribes, they grew hostile to David for his sudden destruction of the Guzen tribe. David decided to accept this, if only to ensure the Doyoi's loyalty.

Without the threat of another conflict to drag the attention of David, he was now free to focus on other matters. The construction of Nohyros (no-yeer-ohs) had been coming along smoothly. The palisade was halfway finished, with the woods surrounding the settlement being cleared off for wood. Most of those who came to the settlement with him had settled down in their huts, and now only a few were unfinished. It was arduous work. While the men pulled down trees, he had them to carve or pull off their bark. Then he got a small amount of coal found in the copper mine, and roughly carved it into a pencil-like object. He wrapped it in bamboo strips, to not get his hands all black and dirty. He tried to teach his tribe the concept of writing; what letters and words were, what they meant, what numbers were, and how important they could be. As expected, most couldn't get the hang of it, but they weren't shy from learning. He decided he would try and teach them how to write every day, in detail. He paid special attention on teaching the children; teaching them at a young age how to write - he felt - would be much easier than teaching grown men. He thought so, anyways. His writing material was rudimentary, but he hoped he wouldn't have to keep writing on the backs of tree bark for too long.

In the meantime, David had the paddy fields expanded. When he first woke up those months ago, he was not at all acquainted with growing rice (though he certainly knew how to cook it), but he learned some when he was originally with the Doyoi. Nonetheless, he ordered those with better knowledge of making it to get more people to start growing and planting the rice along the bank of the river. He wanted to phase out the hunter-gatherer methods of getting food as best as he could. Truth be told, he didn't mind eating rice all day, every day. He liked rice; it tasted decent (compared to those goddamned pinto beans), and it could be grown in abundance. Then again, the rice he ate in Texas was somewhat better seasoned than here.

The kilns he had ordered within the settlement were almost finished. He did not know how to make them himself, but he did have four Tui men who did. They had built a simple one in the old Tui village. He hoped he would be able to cook mudbricks here, in order to fortify the settlement better than it had been, but there was one use it had that was more important than mudbricks - smelting. With the kilns, he would now be able to extract copper much better than ever before. If he could do that, he'd be able to craft better weapons. Better weapons meant better killing. Elder Xu, though wise, did not dissuade David from his ambitions.

[Ulls]

Suunja,
Land of Ego, April 17th

Jeb was looking over the current reports on the frontlines as the went into Blue Lagoon. Most of the accounts from the First and Second Spears reported border outposts that were burned down and a few raiding parties had been killed thanks to the Skulk finding them out. The advancement on both fronts was something that was going ok so far but Jeb knew better. Ego only could get so far before the rebels would come up with a defensive line or try to maneuver around his Spears. To him, they already had the plan and they knew what to gain from this but the Skulk were still looking for him and for any sign to take.

Turner knew this and that's why he would be waiting, waiting for the Imperium to give the edge he needed to try and invade Ego. What was good was that the Skulk had some rough estimate of the amount of canons that Turner had and the small amount of gunpowder that they manage to get from their sources. It wasn't much but neither was theirs as blackpowder manufacturing was still small compared to other giants but it was larger than any of the California states.

One thing Jeb wanted to try and do was to miniaturize the canons now that they had the ready resources to do it, whether they win or not wasn't really an issue. The only thing that did come out of the miniaturization was unreliable fire lances but those could be adjusted with time like the rocket artillery that can explode and cause mass destruction to the enemy. Which is one thing Turner knew as well.

Still, Jeb knew that the new Gelass ships were being built after the issues about their buoyancy were fixed and the Itasca fleet would be getting a boat. It would be the first of their own ships to wield cannons and have a strong broadside that could be used for their navy. The warlord wish he had them when he did the invasion of Blue Lagoon but the Fleet was still larger and more dangerous than Turner's still so they could control the Mississippi if they wished.

Jeb still had no choice but to keep directing the forces as much as they come, mostly in destroying their smeraphone towers and supply routes, mostly since their coming from the east of Ohio and Kentucky but they should be only in the thousands so far but he hoped that the Lake King's raids in Kentucky and Indiana would give him enough time to get with the second stage of the operation.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Lagoon Company Outpost, Kentucky
April 14th, 100 AG

The Herald nodded. "Don't worry- the Lord-Commander does not fear that the river will be blocked for long. His engineers have specialized equipment for the task; the estimate I was presented with this morning based on the report of our Outriders does not anticipate the Ohio being closed for more than a day, potentially less. If urgent passage is needed, a section of the bridge can always be disassembled with relative ease to allow your ships through the middle of the river."

Xavier half-turned, waving a hand toward the rest of the horsemen. One of their number turned his steed and rode back towards the main body of the halted host, where a small party of soldiers bearing badges of rank had manifested from within the Great Company. The horseman slowed, and spoke to an officer for several moments, whose gaze even across the intervening distance to the gate of the Outpost was one of cold winter. As the conversation concluded, the officer made a perfunctory gesture, and a rumble of drums came from the army.

In unison the soldiers began marching forward again, but as the front ranks stepped off they turned to the side, moving across the roads towards the river instead of the outpost itself.

"I will inform the Lord-Commander that you can provide the dragoons transportation. As for defending this outpost, do you have the supplies available to feed a few hundred men? We would not impose on a civilian enterprise, and you will be fairly compensated, but it is likely that my master will wish to guard this place." The Herald smiled. "Assuming they don't eat you out of house and home, that is."


Gatehouse, Walls of Tabsa, Yekrenia
May 23rd

Joseph leaned forward on the battlements, thick wicker shield resting against the wall of the guardhouse that overlooked the main gate in and out of the city of Tabsa. Below intermittent men and women passed, sometimes with carts, sometimes without, the daily ebb and flow of commerce that was life in the capitol. A boring shift, staring at civilians in tunics being scanned by the gate-guards, Thomas and Vladimir below, assessing the entry tax. But you couldn't afford to be too vigilant, and next to Joseph other men loitered at various points within the gatehouse, weapons at hand. Raids from the Politburo this far into the interior of the True Yekrenia were rare, but not unheard of.

The guard was just considering what might be for lunch in the messhall when a low ringing entered his awareness. He craned his neck, and glanced over at Stephen where the sergeant sat pouring over reports for one of the Councilors about the corve assessed at the gate last week.

"Hear that boss?"

In annoyance the underofficer looked up, tilting his head to one side, and then frowned.

"Those are alarm bells. Fire bells."

The sergeant jumped up, concern spreading across his face, and Joseph ran with him a few steps to the window looking out on Tabsa. There their fears were realized; three different points of smoke rose toward the sky, and near at hand in the market square some oily flames could be seen licking at the roof of one of the public houses.

"That's a lot of fires." noted the sergeant dumbly. This was outside of their experience, seeing so many fires at once. At times a foolish artisan or smith would let a blaze get away from them, but to see so many fires... that was unexpected, unexpected in a way that immobilized the soldiers. As they stared out at the nearby fire, a small mob came into view along the main thoroughfare, dragging a man bound in thick ropes. Joseph barely had time to wonder at the strange nature of the mob, though, before a shrill shriek came from just off to the soldier's right.

A shriek which was cut off almost as soon as it had begun. Then at the door of the gatehouse came the hammer of something being pressed against it, and the fastenings rattled in their places as force bludgeoned the wooden barrier. Joseph gaped, one event outside of the cognitive framework he operated in suddenly followed by another. One of the other soldiers reacted thoughtlessly, opening the slit in the door to the top of the wall, before just as quickly slamming it and turning around in shock.

"Jack is dead. There are men out there. With weapons."

Sergeant Stephen growled, recovering from his surprise the quickest of all of the soldiers.

"We're under attack, then." An observation swiftly underscored by the sound of weapons chopping against the door to the guardhouse, the thick wood reverberating under the impact of what had to be axes and hammers. The planks creaked and strained, but held for now, and in those moments the sergeant rallied his men.

"Williams, Joseph, cut the weights. We'll sort this out once the fuckers are dead. For now, we don't know how large this attack is. Seal the gates."

A man called out from the ramparts overlooking the gateway.

"Good idea sergeant. Hostiles, some Politburo whoresons, coming out of the Beltway."

Joseph nodded, face white, as Williams scrambled over to the short axes the gate-guards held against this need. The soldier took up his own axe, and with a few hacking blows both of the men severed the counterweights. Heavy blocks swung down in their channels, ropes hauling the durable wooden timbers of the gatehouse closed even as Thomas and Vladimir dashed back through the closing entrance to Tabsa.

Then the soldiers looked back towards the sergeant, and the shuddering gatehouse door. There were soldiers out there that wanted to kill them. Joseph took up his spear and his shield again, and no man spoke as they prepared to sell their lives dearly. The door shook under the assault from the warriors, before shouts and screams filled the air once more. Beyond the entrance to the gatehouse the clash of weapons came fierce and loud, and the sergeant frowned even as he gripped his axe tight. After a few moments Joseph spoke, perceiving that some of the voices bellowing in anger were familiar.

"Sergeant? Aren't those Utija's men?"

A grim nod came from the commander of the gatehouse, and he waved at one of the soldiers in a perfunctory manner.

"If this attack hasn't taken the barracks, we need more men. There are a lot of those bastards coming. Blow the horn." The soldier saluted, and crossed the guardhouse to where a heavy horn hung on one wall- slinging it off of the peg that held it to the wooden support beam, the bearded warrior spat once, twice, then set his lips to caress the instrument. At the rear slit looking over Tabsa he blew it, the sound ringing out into the surroundings, cutting through the chaos of the struggle on the wall with a clear note of alarm.

Then the soldiers sat, and waited. It was not long before they would have to go into action once more though; before any signs of reinforcements or friendly soldiers, aside from those men fighting to see off the warriors that had sought to seize the gatehouse, the thump of weapons came from below the eyrie of the guards. Down one of the soldiers peered through the murder-holes, and his face was grim as he reported what he saw to the rest of the warriors.

"The Politburo fucks have a battering ram. They're at the gate."

"We'll just have to give them a warm reception then, Williams. Rocks, oil. Get it heating."

It wasn't normal to have the thick vegetable residue ready for action, and building the fire would take some time. But the stones stocked in the gatehouse were near to hand, and swiftly began plummeting down toward the attackers as the soldiers of Yekrenia went into action. They weren't large- nothing that would break the unexpected battering ram- but at speed falling from above they were lethally dangerous to the men who wielded the corpse of the forest giant. Through the slight passageways cut in the wooden structure the rocks fell, and on unguarded heads or those protected by mere leather caps or shoulders they had a devastating effect. Men fell stricken, dead instantly, others injured or left with cracked skulls, their numbers increasing rapidly as the projectiles fell. Soon blood soaked the dirt-packed path before the gate, but there was only so much a few defenders could do.

The gate cracked, and buckled. A force of dozens of men wielded the ram with malicious intent against the straining timbers, replacing those men who fell with fresh hands still eager to breach the city. Within the gatehouse the supply of projectiles began to dwindled; they had been meant to be supplied from within the city itself, but with the attackers on the walls, that wasn't possible.

However, relief was at hand. As the men of the gatehouse were focused on their jobs, the sounds of combat from without the strongpoint faded, and soon instead of weapons striking the door a polite rapping of a fist was heard. The sergeant looked up in surprise, before processing what that knocking meant and walking quickly over to the peephole to assess who stood without the gatehouse. A smile crested his face, and he unbarred the door, opening the battered barrier of wood with a creak of damaged hinges.

"Captain Utija. You are most welcome."

The burly black-haired warrior nodded curtly, obviously still hopped up on the adrenaline of hand to hand combat. Bodies littered the walkway behind him, a half dozen men in what appeared to be civilian clothes mixed with warriors bearing the crude uniform of the Ruling Council of Yekrenia. Other men in blood-splattered armor with notched weapons were behind the captain, but others with bows were already shooting down from the wall toward the host amassed beyond the gatehouse.

"I have orders from Commander Kurtha. The House of Meeting is under attack, and her doors have been seized by an attack from within. We did not know you were under attack here, but the Commander has ordered your unit to join with my men and Captain Tirol's warriors to retake the House. four different Councilors were within the House, and their survival is paramount. The forces without the gate will breach it soon- the commander is already preparing barricades further in towards the marketplace, and commands you abandon the gate before it is overrun."

Stephen's mouth opened and closed rapidly, once, twice, before his shoulders slumped, any protest drained by the obvious inability to countermand Kurtha. Without a word he nodded, and swiftly the gate-guards departed their positions, moving with Utija's warriors down the stairs from the wall toward the city center. Behind them the timbers of the gate fractured and parted in sections, but the soldiers marched quickly without looking back.

Tabsa hadn't originally been designed as a fortress, but the civil war had forced Koba's old hometown to adapt to the realities of conflict. Most of the houses were high walled, built sturdy, and could be turned into strongpoints in a pinch. The square within the main gate was primary commercial real estate, but had been kept clear of construction because the Ruling Council had decreed it would be saved for military maneuvering- the precise maneuvering that was now necessary as the Politburo's soldiers looked likely to break through the gate. Someone had fucked up, not noticing so many warriors moving across the border, but for now the realities would have to be dealt with before blame was assigned.

Across the three roads leading out of the square, militiamen had been assembled, motley bands of warriors called up by the Commander bearing haphazard weapons meant to provide bodies to put between the real soldiers and any invaders. Many were shopkeepers who had, only minutes ago, been busy hawking their wares, or farmers in for the day to deliver their quotas only to now be handed spears and told to fight to defend Yekrenia. But they would fight much better behind the barricades of overturned wagons and lengths of ramshackle defenses the soldiers were struggling to erect before the enemy broke the gate down.

Stephen's men slipped through the barricade as a section of it was pulled aside by the defenders, and Joseph could veritably feel the nervous energy of imminent death leaving his body as they marched on past the barricade, between the ranks of waiting soldiers. Ahead lay the danger of whatever infiltrators had seized the entrance to the Hall of Meeting, and the dark clouds of fires that filled the noon air over the city were not encouraging, but it was a damn sight better than being atop a gate about to be overrun.

[The Orson Empire]

Early Morning, Northern Indiana
April 18th

Roughly 120 miles north of the fortress of Indianapolis, the second spear marched. The armies of Ego had been organized into three "spears", heading in different directions to invade different areas of Blue Lagoon. According to intelligence gathered from the Elites, the first spear was heading west along the main highway from Tu Thancha, while the second spear was moving south from Chicago; it was still unknown where the third spear would invade. Additionally, Ego was sending its dreaded Itasca Fleet for naval combat and coastal bombardment throughout the numerous rivers in the region, while the Lake King was launching raids deep into Indiana and Kentucky.

The situation had become far more intense since the war began in March, but this time, Blue Lagoon was ready. Levies had been called to serve, swelling the numbers of the army by the tens of thousands, while regular soldiers had also been called out of reserve. Cities along rivers had their fortifications expanded drastically in order to resist an naval attack, and some ships had even been equipped with canons of Imperial design. Over the past several years, the Lagoon Company and its researchers had been working tirelessly to construct their own cannons based off of Imperial design and source their own gunpowder, and it was believed that they could begin full-scale production by the end of the year. However, until the Imperium could come to Blue Lagoon's aid and the army could reach parity with Ego in terms of gunpowder weaponry, there could be no offensives. The military would allow Ego to make the first moves within Blue Lagoon and focus on defense in depth. Ego couldn't fire their cannons without gunpowder, so raids would be launched to severely disrupt their supply lines and harass their flanks. If the cannons or rockets themselves could be disabled, that would be an even greater boon. Their numbers would be whittled down as their supply lines were cut and after countless guerilla attacks.

It was a risky move for Turner to start the war now, but with the Imperium's support, Turner had faith that he could finally pull off the conquest of Ego.

Already, raids had begun against Ego's second spear and the Lake King in northern Indiana. A portion of the second spear had begun marching south, passed a burned out village and south towards the larger settlements near Indianapolis. The village had been burned by a group of Elites the previous night, and had already been fully evacuated a week before the enemy forces arrived, to ensure the enemy would find no loot or safe haven there. In the hills and forests surrounding a small village that had been captured by enemy forces, 250 men and women waited patiently as the enemy began their march down one of the main highways.

It had rained the previous night, making the ground muddy and putting out the fires in the village, and it was still cloudy this morning. The raiding party, consisting of a mix of Elite Guards and regulars, had dug into the hillside; they had dragged fallen trees up the hill for protection against enemy fire, covering them in leaves and branches to disguise them from the enemy. Above their iron armor, the soldiers wore hemp clothing, modified to resemble the surrounding foliage as a form of camouflage. Their goal was rather simple: wait for the enemy to march past them and open fire with their crossbows, and if necessary, engage stragglers with their swords and daggers. Once the damage was done, they would retreat into the forest.

Having already defeated several of the Lake King's raiding parties, the soldiers hoped they could make the same progress against Ego, even destroying some of their rockets or cannons in the process.

Outpost 0151, Ohio River, Kentucky
April 14th

Naaga sighed in relief. Fortunately, it would take them a day at most to construct the pontoon bridge, and this section of the river was already scheduled to be closed for the day. Thus, a long term disruption of the local economy could be avoided.

As the Great Company marched on the roads around the outpost towards the river, Aranck would speak to the Administrator, who would tell him how to respond.

"We still have great stores of winter squash and maize," Aranck would say. "We are not as civilian as you think, Herald. While we do have shareholders, the Company is mostly owned by Governor Turner and the local government. Either way, we are used to dealing with military patrols throughout the area who wish to bunk here, and so we would be happy to accommodate your men."

[Ulls]

Early Morning, Northern Indiana
April 18th

Roughly 120 miles north of the fortress of Indianapolis, the second spear marched. The armies of Ego had been organized into three "spears", heading in different directions to invade different areas of Blue Lagoon. According to intelligence gathered from the Elites, the first spear was heading west along the main highway from Tu Thancha, while the second spear was moving south from Chicago; it was still unknown where the third spear would invade. Additionally, Ego was sending its dreaded Itasca Fleet for naval combat and coastal bombardment throughout the numerous rivers in the region, while the Lake King was launching raids deep into Indiana and Kentucky.

The situation had become far more intense since the war began in March, but this time, Blue Lagoon was ready. Levies had been called to serve, swelling the numbers of the army by the tens of thousands, while regular soldiers had also been called out of reserve. Cities along rivers had their fortifications expanded drastically in order to resist an naval attack, and some ships had even been equipped with canons of Imperial design. Over the past several years, the Lagoon Company and its researchers had been working tirelessly to construct their own cannons based off of Imperial design and source their own gunpowder, and it was believed that they could begin full-scale production by the end of the year. However, until the Imperium could come to Blue Lagoon's aid and the army could reach parity with Ego in terms of gunpowder weaponry, there could be no offensives. The military would allow Ego to make the first moves within Blue Lagoon and focus on defense in depth. Ego couldn't fire their cannons without gunpowder, so raids would be launched to severely disrupt their supply lines and harass their flanks. If the cannons or rockets themselves could be disabled, that would be an even greater boon. Their numbers would be whittled down as their supply lines were cut and after countless guerilla attacks.

It was a risky move for Turner to start the war now, but with the Imperium's support, Turner had faith that he could finally pull off the conquest of Ego.

Already, raids had begun against Ego's second spear and the Lake King in northern Indiana. A portion of the second spear had begun marching south, passed a burned out village and south towards the larger settlements near Indianapolis. The village had been burned by a group of Elites the previous night, and had already been fully evacuated a week before the enemy forces arrived, to ensure the enemy would find no loot or safe haven there. In the hills and forests surrounding a small village that had been captured by enemy forces, 250 men and women waited patiently as the enemy began their march down one of the main highways.

It had rained the previous night, making the ground muddy and putting out the fires in the village, and it was still cloudy this morning. The raiding party, consisting of a mix of Elite Guards and regulars, had dug into the hillside; they had dragged fallen trees up the hill for protection against enemy fire, covering them in leaves and branches to disguise them from the enemy. Above their iron armor, the soldiers wore hemp clothing, modified to resemble the surrounding foliage as a form of camouflage. Their goal was rather simple: wait for the enemy to march past them and open fire with their crossbows, and if necessary, engage stragglers with their swords and daggers. Once the damage was done, they would retreat into the forest.

Having already defeated several of the Lake King's raiding parties, the soldiers hoped they could make the same progress against Ego, even destroying some of their rockets or cannons in the process.

The portion of the Second Spear was marching down with a 7 rocket artillery emplacements being the center of the army. As the first incursions of the Spear had already been burning down Lagoon Company towns and disrupting supply routes near the fortress of Indianapolis. The Second Spear has had some recent success in their initial theater but they knew that this was a enemy that will have to rely on deception and misdirection to defeat a force bigger than them.

During the rain and under the cover of night, 300 Skulk and regulars went into the forest and hillside to keep watch against enemy guerrilla raids. They maintain the element of stealth by hiding in the trees and shadows, using sign language and animal sounds of the local area to keep the element of surprise against raiders or those who could outmaneuver them. Such techniques were trained during the various raids and battles against the Lake King and the Horse Lords of the Confederation of the Great Sky as a means of training Skulk and Knights to be more in the way of stealth and commando tactics.

Such things were being tested now against their dread arrivals, the Elites as the 300 moved along the trees, keeping watch for any sign of Turner's army and any sort of man-made encroachment that didn't look normal after a storm. It didn't take very long for one of the snipers to spot the dug in and saw slight movement that gave the way of crossbows.

" I see a dugout, looks like in a semicircle fashion." The sharpshooter signed out with one hand and watching under cover.

" Think is them? Should I give the call?" The spotter signed back with her crossbow clutched to her chest.

The sniper just nod as the spotter gave off a bird chirp in a way that the rest followed back in a mock mating call as they started to get into position. The second bird chirp was in a different tone but the leading commander knew what it was as he raised his hand for the officers to stop before they continue on the road.

After the second chirp went off on repeat then his eyes opened as he looked into the general direction of the dugout but didn't have a good enough line of sight as the Skulk did.

" The enemy is in the forest!" The commander yelled," Shields up! Protect the artillery!"

The rest of the army scrambled as they formed a shieldwall with spears pointed out and arbalests had brought down their own shields around the artillery in a closed circle where they could shoot from. The Skulk gave a sharp chirp that everyone else gave in response as they descended into battle.

Summersoul grenades were thrown into and around the dugout as crossbow fire rain through cover and the Skulk ready their steel longswords if the fire didn't get them or if the Elites decided to engage them.

Southern Wisconsin,
Blue Lagoon

The First Spear had heard reports from the Skulk that the levies were already being called in. They already had a taste of the heavy fighting that the Heartland would have as raiding parties or passionate conscripts would try to fight First Spear advancements. The same tactics were being used as scouts and Skulk would look for guerrilla warfare attacks and trying to stop them or let the main army know ahead of time. They usually were in small units and learned survivalist training from what they learned in the Great War.

Still, this was being put to the test as the First Spear Reached a Command Center of Blue Lagoon proper. Mak Tan had heard reports that, while Turner's Army had around two to three dozen canons, they were still of a lower quality to Imperial mortars, but enough to give the warriors some pause. However, destroying this would be the first victory on the road to vengeance that Mak wanted.

The First Spear surrounded the military base and started to prepare siege weapons and Skulk started to move in to protect against Elites or other threat as they begin to wait for their mission of their own.

[Revlona]

Robert
The Dark Realm
29 3/4 AA

"FIRE!!!" The Commander of the Cannon battery shouted

The 10 cannons spit out there 12 pound projectiles down range.

There target was a medium sized wooden hovel surrounded by 50 human sized wooden targets.

4 of the projectiles rammed into the house, shredding the walls, on the rounds took out a support beam causing half of the house to collapse in on itself.

The other 6 projectiles landed around the house, taking out a dozen of the targets.

"An impressive display Commander, are these the only cannons we have or are there more?" The Dark Lord asked

"No M'lord, we have near 70 of these being distributed throughout the realm, many designated artillery units have already begun training with them and are already skilled at using the weapons" The Battery Commander said, he also was the leader of the Dark Realm's cannon project.

"And the Naval Guns?" The Dark Lord asked

"We have begun testing several experimental weapons on our current sloops, we have yet to settle on one but your input on the firing method has greatly helped M'lord" He said

"Very good, Your skill and knowledge impresses me, you are now my Minister of Firearms" The Dark Lord Said, "Now Minister, how come the experimental rifles?" He asked

Joy obvious on the Ministers face he replied "Slowly M'lord, we had one malfunction and explode three days ago, though the problem has been fixed. Expect us to begun production of a final model by next year M'lord" He said

"Good, Very good"

[The Orson Empire]

Northern Indiana

The 10 soldiers in the dugout, who were nearest to the road and had been planning to fire on the artillery first, suddenly found themselves taking heavy fire from enemy crossbows. They ducked behind the trees, using them as cover, while Summersoul grenades exploded around them. The grenades would set the wood and grass on fire, creating a thick smoke cloud around the dugout. The soldiers used this smoke cloud and the chaos of battle to their advantage, quickly moving to a different position on a nearby hill and taking cover behind some trees.

Fortunately, this was only one dugout among many. On nearby hills much further back from the road, the rest of the soldiers watched. Supervisor Kanti, a high-ranking Elite who was leading this raiding party, gritted her teeth in frustration.

It was obvious- the Skulk were here, hiding in the trees and shadows, watching for any signs of movement. The bird chirps gave the Skulk away- it was their method of blending into the environment. They had been deployed in full force alongside the two spears to combat these guerilla raids. She would have to move quickly, as they had already formed a shield wall around the artillery.

With the Skulk distracted at the first dugout, Kanti used sign language to give the order to her subordinate officers. Minutes later, soldiers were loading up their crossbows with special fire arrows, specifically designed for these types of raids. They were normal arrows with gunpowder and a fuse bound behind the arrowhead, covered with a piece of hemp cloth and sealed with resin. Once the fuse was lit, the arrow could be fired at the enemy. The military had desperately needed a way of countering the rocket artillery possessed by Ego; as high command was not yet willing to deploy their cannons in force against Ego, these fire arrows would be constructed instead.

Suddenly, the enemy soldiers and Skulk on the road would then be hit from above with a large volley of fire arrows as the soldiers fired their crossbows. Many of the fire arrows would strike the rocket artillery, with Kanti hoping to destroy them with fire and even cause a premature launch of the rockets themselves.

With the arrows launched, Kanti took out her sword, preparing for the inevitable melee combat as the enemy counterattack. She would let out a sharp whistle, signaling the next phase of the attack. Soldiers began firing volleys of normal crossbow bolts down at the Skulk and the soldiers on the road, hoping to soften them up before they counterattacked.

Southern Wisconsin
Fortress Iota

Villages and towns had been evacuated ahead of the First Spear's arrival at the fortress behind the Ego-Blue Lagoon border. Unlike bigger fortresses like Omicron, this particular fortress (codenamed "Iota") was much smaller, and completely made out of wood. It contained only the basic structures found in bigger forts, such as a curtain wall, barracks, armory, storehouses, etc. It's purpose would be unclear to Ego's military; after all, it did not make sense to leave such a vulnerable structure in the middle of the border. However, for Turner and Blue Lagoon's military, it made perfect sense, and was apart of their strategy for defending the border.

As intel from the Elites suggested, the First Spear would break through the border at Iota first, seeing as it was a much easier target compared to the big fortresses. As the Skulk and the enemy soldiers deployed in battle formation, it would appear to them that dozens of soldiers were manning the walls of the fort, and the fort also appeared to include heavy crossbows and even cannons in its defenses.

While the siege began, Elites and soldiers would move in behind enemy lines, targeting their supply lines and reconquering territory that had been abandoned by the First Spear. The soldiers hoped to bait a portion of the First Spear to move away from Iota towards their positions.

[Ulls]

Northern Indiana

The 10 soldiers in the dugout, who were nearest to the road and had been planning to fire on the artillery first, suddenly found themselves taking heavy fire from enemy crossbows. They ducked behind the trees, using them as cover, while Summersoul grenades exploded around them. The grenades would set the wood and grass on fire, creating a thick smoke cloud around the dugout. The soldiers used this smoke cloud and the chaos of battle to their advantage, quickly moving to a different position on a nearby hill and taking cover behind some trees.

Fortunately, this was only one dugout among many. On nearby hills much further back from the road, the rest of the soldiers watched. Supervisor Kanti, a high-ranking Elite who was leading this raiding party, gritted her teeth in frustration.

It was obvious- the Skulk were here, hiding in the trees and shadows, watching for any signs of movement. The bird chirps gave the Skulk away- it was their method of blending into the environment. They had been deployed in full force alongside the two spears to combat these guerilla raids. She would have to move quickly, as they had already formed a shield wall around the artillery.

With the Skulk distracted at the first dugout, Kanti used sign language to give the order to her subordinate officers. Minutes later, soldiers were loading up their crossbows with special fire arrows, specifically designed for these types of raids. They were normal arrows with gunpowder and a fuse bound behind the arrowhead, covered with a piece of hemp cloth and sealed with resin. Once the fuse was lit, the arrow could be fired at the enemy. The military had desperately needed a way of countering the rocket artillery possessed by Ego; as high command was not yet willing to deploy their cannons in force against Ego, these fire arrows would be constructed instead.

Suddenly, the enemy soldiers and Skulk on the road would then be hit from above with a large volley of fire arrows as the soldiers fired their crossbows. Many of the fire arrows would strike the rocket artillery, with Kanti hoping to destroy them with fire and even cause a premature launch of the rockets themselves.

With the arrows launched, Kanti took out her sword, preparing for the inevitable melee combat as the enemy counterattack. She would let out a sharp whistle, signaling the next phase of the attack. Soldiers began firing volleys of normal crossbow bolts down at the Skulk and the soldiers on the road, hoping to soften them up before they counterattacked.

Southern Wisconsin
Fortress Iota

Villages and towns had been evacuated ahead of the First Spear's arrival at the fortress behind the Ego-Blue Lagoon border. Unlike bigger fortresses like Omicron, this particular fortress (codenamed "Iota") was much smaller, and completely made out of wood. It contained only the basic structures found in bigger forts, such as a curtain wall, barracks, armory, storehouses, etc. It's purpose would be unclear to Ego's military; after all, it did not make sense to leave such a vulnerable structure in the middle of the border. However, for Turner and Blue Lagoon's military, it made perfect sense, and was apart of their strategy for defending the border.

As intel from the Elites suggested, the First Spear would break through the border at Iota first, seeing as it was a much easier target compared to the big fortresses. As the Skulk and the enemy soldiers deployed in battle formation, it would appear to them that dozens of soldiers were manning the walls of the fort, and the fort also appeared to include heavy crossbows and even cannons in its defenses.

While the siege began, Elites and soldiers would move in behind enemy lines, targeting their supply lines and reconquering territory that had been abandoned by the First Spear. The soldiers hoped to bait a portion of the First Spear to move away from Iota towards their positions.

Northern Indiana

The fire arrows hit the soldiers as they had their shields up or spread out of the way of the explosion. The troops knew of the explosive potential was smaller than Ego's own but it had it's effect as some got hit and had holes through their armor.

Very few hit the palvse and the intial explosion wasn't as deadly as the steel shields held up aganist what they had to deal with. A couple exploded near a cart and blew out a wheel, crippling it.

The Skulk noticed they had only killed a couple in the first dugout but they saw the smoke cause them to flee from the smoke. A couple of Skulk saw them run up and the trail of smoke caused by the fire arrow barrage to the main dugout up the hill.

Skulk all gave sign language to acknowledge the position and to tell the army to hold their ground. Despite given away that their in the area, the Skulk manage to come up and flank them but still had to fight an uphill fight.

The Skulk shot crossbow bolts at the main dugout and knew that some had hit the wall but the Skulk leaders and others got behind with steel as they started to cut their way through the regulars as the main force were coming over the tree defenses, taking hits from enemy regulars but started to deal their own damage against the guerrillas.

Southern Wisconsin
Fortress Iota

Before Mak Tan had give the go ahead to siege down the wooden fotress, Skulk had manage to infiltrate the fortress and saw the trap. It was a Trojan move in a classic picture which the Skulk gave the report that the fortress was rigged as a trap that would wound them than anything.

Mak took that into consideration as he gave sign to burn the fortess down like what they have been doing to every village they've came across and they did so.

Catapults fillied with Summersoul launched over the walls and at it as the fotress burned and explosions could be see as some of the canons and gunpowder caught on fire and detonated.

Mak Tan was not here for conquest, he was here to burn everything down, a sword of fire that won't be quenched at any surrender. The soldiers burned and he smiled at it and he heard reports after the burning of the wooden fortress that Elites had taken of their own in units to try to take back the land that was already burned down.

Mak Tan gave a green light to the Knights to begin reinforcing the supply route as the First Spear marched to Omicron.

Waystation, Southern Wisconsin

Midas and his Knights saw the dispatch units of Elites and rebels. Third Spear already was deploying rapidly as they already saw the Lake King getting deeper into Indiana and the Two Spears were starting to burn a path through Turner's lands and drawing the bulk of the guerrillas in hopes of grinding them down while the rebels came.

The spy network was already in every place with hidden eyes in nearly every organization. Bob had passed down his teachings from the Eyes to become an effective force when they were used as the blades of the Hegemon then became an ally of the Foxes against a mistake from one of the Loa touched.

Midas didn't care as he kissed his Kris-Kris as they knew what they had to do.

"They're coming our direction." One of the scouts whispered in Un-Hai.

Midas nodded as the black masks and soldiers came to the abandoned waystation and waited as they got closer.

"Fire!" Midas said as the rebel unit would meet flamethrowes being shot at them and the surrounding area, liquid fire would meet them as crossbows and swords to meet defend them.

Injud,
Domain of the Lake King

As the capital of the limited ally was busy at work with the war, a single letter was sent to the Lake King called Operation Wash with a seal of familar to only the King himself.

[Kelmet]

January 12th, 100 years AG

Arriving in the capital in the early hours with my entourage at my back we quickly passed through to the royal palace. After settling in making sure Edward had his room assigned,Records established and a new set of clothes so he would look the part as a member of the royal court.

That night as we walked quietly down the Hall of memories a memorial on the grounds the royal palace that charts out Norscas history threw mini-monuments of themselves carved into the wall, with a plaque detailing the moment in history. “So” I began, finally ending my overnight lesson on what Edward has missed in his early retirement. “ Now that you're all caught up, I supposed you have some questions?”

“A interesting history,” said Edward, “Other than the Hegemon do you have any other enemies? Perhaps angry inhabitants of Norsca?”

“Hegemon Victor is not exactly an enemy, I have met him on several occasions and even invited him to my wedding. It’s his empire I do not trust, it’s like our Rome but on steroids. As for local opposition next to none, the major bonus of our great migration to the Isles is those who did not like my rule stayed behind, giving me the opportunity to forge a new Norsca planned out from the start based on loyalty. An important note however is that when a Noble has a complaint he or she is free to address that at the Landsmeet. That's a twice a year meeting of all the higher nobles in Norsca, it allows us to keep a finger on the pulse of the nobility and keep them happy and loyal.”

“Ah, I see. I apologize I have yet to met the Hegemon himself,” said Edward as he prepares his next question, “What job do you intend for me to have? I reckon you didn't travel to see me personally without a ideal job in mind for me.”

“No worries Ted, Victor is a rather unique individual not always in a good way sadly. I understand you have quite a bit of combat experience, both on the ground and in a generalship position?”

“I was a captain of the Imperium in my later years with them,” said Edward, “So I do have some experience at being a general. Imperium's weird with their military positions. I spent most of my years fighting and managing a platoon of troops. Nowadays though I've retired to a life of a carpenter. Might be a little rusty with the whole leading troops thing”

“ I see, I could arrange for the best of my officers to help you knock some of the rust off. Until then I would like you by my side here in the capital so we can continue catching you up. I am hoping one day you can be the head of my general staff, don’t get me wrong they are all excellent warriors but no one on this earth has the strategic experience as an immortal like us.”

“That is very true, but when out of practice a person's skill is dulled,” said Edward, “I hope I can exceed your expectations soon. Now to other concerns, how will I be able to not be noticed by the Imperium? Surely they would notice a ageless man after seeing me for more than a couple years.”

“I hope so my new friend. As for the empire do not worry, I have had records of yours made up and my personal protection and those of my rangers. The same trick worked for me for about one-hundred years, only with Victor finding out my true secret. We should be able to keep you around long enough until retrieving you would be too bloody for the empires taste.”

“I might need a new identity too,” said Edward, “They found me once and I barely escaped. Fortunately I had heard the Greycloaks discussion around a street corner heading home, and was able to figure out my Immortality. I barely escaped then, and they had enough information to find and locate me. Could you make a fake identity for both our sakes?”

“Done, if that’s what you need you will have it. I will invite my Head chief of records to dinner tonight and we will get in made up as soon as possible. Greycloaks, I have seen a few on those on my trips to Mara they creep me out.”

“Wait until they start hunting you, done,” said Edward chuckling slightly, “If anything they're the world's most effective police force. I understand your military has some advancements that outpowers the scots, compared to the Imperium or rather a advanced civilization that has likely been made by a immortal. How do you think you would fare in the battles?”

“ As we speak the majority of Norscas military force on land is made of up Ironclad pikemen and swordsmen companies supported by crossbowmen and archer skirmisher companies. Our steel bombards and blunderbuss or matchlock arquebus troops are our heavy hitters. Our navy is by far the one I have invested the most time and resources into, From the stereotypical Viking longships we have evolved into a what I would call a very early version of a ship of the line. Forward firing cannons with marines for boarding actions with a melee Ram attached. Both of which I seek to consistently improve for our kingdoms survival.” Taking a deep somewhat thoughtful breath. “ I have been told by Victor that Norsca is the only nation he has seen that could rival the empire technologically but If war did happen I don’t have a lot of optimism in a straight up fight. That’s why when I heard of you I rode north immediately”

“I am impressed by your military capabilities Monroe,” said Edward, “You should hold your head up high when discussing that. As a military officer of the Imperium I would have to agree with the Hegemons judgement. You could rival them, but regardless war is not ideal. I wanted to get a good impression of your military. any military standard on communication? I believe that coordination, and communication is what makes a army a threat assuming you got the right generals of course.”

“ I have done my best to model the Norscan armed forces in the same way the Army was organized back in the US. Some things just can't be transplanted into medieval terms. Using a combinations of unit banners and sounds horns or drums. Were that doesn't work I did my best trying to emphasize individual commander initiatives in our NCO’s so individual unite’s can act independently if they have to. There is always room for improvement but I can't be everywhere at once. Again that’s why I was ecstatic when I heard of you.”

“You flatter me to much, good lord,” said Edward humbly, “A final question, what formations does your military use? Do they use the shield wall formation and other well known formations?”

“By and large the shield wall is a very popular formation, of course it all comes down the general the terrain the foe they are facing but with our lack of calvary our overall tactics are limited into infantry supported by artillery and other ranged units.”

“I see, that was all the questions I required. I thank you good lord for answering them,” said Edward, “Where to next?”

“Let’s see, we have your room taken care of, new clothing and we will have your records drawn up tonight.” A moment of deep thinking giving way to a sudden idea. “When's the last time you had a sparring match?”

“Lets see, last sparring match was with the chieftain fifteen years ago unless you count sparring with his children to train them,” Edward said smiling.

“Well well, what are we waiting for then? Dinners in a few hours and my schedule clear.”

“No thanks, good lord, for both our interests I think it's best if Norsca doesn't lose its king,” Edward said jokingly.

Both of us laughed as we headed to the sparring room.

[The Orson Empire]

Waystation, Southern Wisconsin

"They're in. We should move."

Lieutenant Nosha Hal looked up as a team of regulars moved into the waystation. Already, they were taking fire from the Skulk holed up inside of it, who used their advanced flamethrowers to light them up. The regulars could hold; they weren't Elites, but they were skilled enough to last in such a confrontation. Regardless, this was all apart of the strategy.

"Not yet. We will advance on my command," Nosha replied to the sergeant, desiring to exercise caution.

"We shouldn't stay for long. You know they have eyes on us all over these woods." He was right, but fortunately, the Elites had their own scouts positioned behind them in the forest, looking out for any Skulk spies. If their position was compromised, they could be alerted quickly.

"I'm aware. This is why we are cautious." For the few years Nosha had known Sergeant Hali, he was always ready to leap into action at a moment's notice. Nosha often joked that Hali should have been a conscript if he really wanted to be thrown into the meat grinder. After all, they weren't apart of the regular army- they were the Elites, the special forces.

Even still, Nosha had much to live up to. His father was An Hal, one of Turner's generals, and his grandfather was a chieftain that had allied with the Night Owl in the early days of Ego. For as long as Nosha could remember, he had always wanted to become a great general and tactician like his father. Nosha was six years old when his father achieved his notoriety in battles such as the destruction of the capital (the battle that had started the Great War) and Tu Thancha, but he could remember the war as if it had happened yesterday.

Nosha had entered the Elite Guard at age fifteen thanks to his father's military service and his connections with Turner. Turner had acted as a mentor to Nosha from an early age, and due to Turner's strong friendship with An Hal, Nosha actually viewed Turner more as an uncle than a mentor- Turner and An Hal might as well have been brothers due to their close relationship. Now he found himself on the front lines in the next Great War with Blue Lagoon's archenemy.

Nosha was now shaking in anticipation. This was his moment, to prove he had what it took to become a legend.

"Ready your crossbows, so we can soften them up. I will take the first shot," Nosha ordered.

As the soldiers loaded up their crossbows, Nosha revealed a much bigger one. It was an arbalest- a heavy crossbow fitted with a windlass. It had arrived in the unit straight from the laboratories of the Lagoon Company, and was the most advanced crossbow in the entire military. While it was heavy and had a much slower rate of fire than a normal crossbow, it had a much greater tensile strength, and was far more accurate and had far more range, making it ideal for sniping.

It took 30 seconds to cock and load the arbalest, and once Nosha was ready, he quickly picked out a target. The enemy Skulk appeared to be one of the higher ranking officers, as he was giving out orders to his subordinates.

"Present your bows." Upon hearing the order, the soldiers immediately began picking targets, but did not fire. Nosha would hold his breath to steady his shot, and fired at Midas's kneck.

"Bows free." The soldiers would pull their triggers, releasing a large volley of crossbow bolts on the enemy. They would reload and continue to fire.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Part 6, Chapter 6: A World of Clay

June 2nd, 100 AG

Light shoes, wrought leather from the highlands, cured and reinforced to hold back injury but allow enough sensitivity to feel the weight of an object. A mottled chestnut-brown, simply dyed and prone to fading, but what wasn't over the long years? Sturdy, broken in, comfortable as a glove not designed to be worn against hard stone and wood. I pressed my foot down rhythmically, feeling the slight resistance of the pedal, and the wheel in front of me began to spin. Upon the surface of the wheel of cracked weathered wood a lump of soil glistened wetly, and after a moment's contemplation of the whirling morass I dipped a hand into one of the bowls that sat beside me. Onto the clay, streaked with hints of red, went some moisture, and I began to shape it.

The soothing clicking of the wheel calmed my mind slowly, but effectively. In the late afternoon sun of the Mediterranean and the lazy heat of summer, one didn't feel like doing much. Outside of the many windows of the Sea Tower the gulls cried their harsh song, but even they sounded more asleep than awake; the dappled light that filtered through the few high intermittent clouds of the season here on Cyprus was more than enough to work with, and the monotonous rhythm of shaping the supple material swiftly banished all thought from my mind.

Whirr-clack

Whirr-clack

A simple device, the potter's wheel. It had made the Maran trade guilds a fortune generations ago, turning out stoneware and earthenware vessels for a voracious market throughout what I thought of as Czechia, but which the locals had called a thousand different names. Curious, how the fate of so many men could rest on so small a thing as a shape not rectangular, not triangular, but square. For years the fathers of traders, and their fathers' fathers, had hauled the tin-bearing rocks down from the mountains of the Erzgebirge to make into small glazed pots, shaped by crude handwork and to my eyes the craft of children. And for generations the amber had flowed south too, dragged on sledges like the tin glazer's wares. Tanya's brother had been the scion of one of those merchant families, and had followed the traditions of his forefathers to the letter- though, of course, he had been illiterate, so no letters had been involved.

The machine upon which I shaped my creation was not much removed from that first treadle-wheel I had introduced to the city that would one day become the greatest city on Earth. Oh, certainly, there were differences. Just as there were differences between myself and the potters that had carefully hand-pressed designs and structure into square storage pots and vases. Different differences, even. Where they had been masters of their skill, backs bent by long years of labor, fingers gnarled and cracked by the clay sucking the moisture and oils from their hands, I was a rude neophyte. Hell, to even call myself an amateur would have been generous. One slip of attention to the light of the waves upon a sail, and I pushed too hard on one side of the forming creation. Into the interior of the small pot it collapsed, weak soil parting before my hands as it ought, and my foot departed from the pedal immediately.

Sloppy. Inattention. A metaphor, really, I contemplated.

It was times like these that I treasured my immortality. One man only had one life to live, unless he didn't. Would a king have wasted precious hours and days trying to learn how to create a low-value form of art purely for the joy of it? Would a general spar with his soldiers so as to retain a fighting edge? Did the Kaiser ever skip a meeting of his generals to bounce a grand-daughter on his knee? Perhaps. In my old life I had been in the upper class, certainly, but just in my formative years of independent existence. No wife, a family, but given little more regard than any skilled professional who could only just say he was no longer a learner. I knew nothing, perhaps less than nothing due to misconceptions, of how men of power spent their lives. But I surmised, speculated, that such luxuries were denied those upon who the world's fate rested. And yet here I was, a man out of time, wasting a part of an eternity in the solace of quiet creation and thought.

With painstaking effort I picked the bits of collapsed clay out of the center of my work, bonding them anew to the body with a careful application of the chalky water and pressure. The gap where they had fallen I shaped again, tediously but progressively smoothing the surface of the pot to join where there had been a rift. My hands were filthy even as I worked, crusted in dried clay, dirty water, all those things that were the potter's hallmark. But shaping anything worthwhile was always worth getting one's hands dirty. The gears of the windmill turned, stories below running a printer that fed the bureaucratic sinews which held up the skeleton of the Imperium, even as a part of that immense trammeled power of the sky rotated my humble wheel. There was a joy to creative labor, especially labor of the relative routine, that which left the waking mind free to wander beyond the confines of blood and bone even as those same muscles and joints moved in unthinking synchrony to accomplish ought which the seat of thought had ordained to come to pass.

Helios weakened. A stagnant bloated democracy, grown fat on her own prosperity but riven by her divisions. Syncretism? Factionalism. A hundred voices in a hundred tongues clamored in the streets of Arcaios, worshipers of a dozen creeds debating and shouting their blasphemous doctrines. She was resilient by her very decentralization, but none would hold her together and die for their neighbor they did not even speak the same language as when the wolf grew hungry.

Egypt supped on the blood of the south, even as men with black hearts and heavy purses undermined the power of Pharaoh. Their priests starved the poor, and the poor signed their lives away to avaricious men who seized homes and health to pay debts unmeasured. Their military spent lives as water against the burnt meant from beyond the Cataphracts, and Egypt hollowed, gluttonous but unable to be satiated.

And Scythia. Poor damned "Holy" Scythia. The poor relation of the true home of our one faith, she who had shackled the fires of the Lord in the petty bureaucracy and iniquity of their priesthood who oppressed the worker and were both tyrant and false prophet in their own foolishness. It was just, in some ways, that her missions were burned by the Wain-Riders when those men of chariot and horse swept south, and the Priest-King had never been the equal of his vanished uncle.

Humanity was beset by misrule. I bent over the pot, meticulously repairing the damage to even the interior of the thin-necked vessel. To be clean without was no substitute for good conduct in the unseen within- when buying a stoneware craft, wise men checked the inside as well as the outside, and the ignorant gazed upon an exterior slapped in cheap gilt and paint and said "I will buy!". There were thousands of souls that perished each year in likewise ignorance, the blind led by the blind groping along in the darkness. Other men crushed the clay, caring little how it was shaped, trying to force their own visions upon their own small parts of the whole without perceiving how their actions distorted and destroyed the overall project.

I was blind, in my own way. Less blind than most. More in possession of the bigger picture than most. An amateur? But there were none better.

More minutes passed, and I set aside the pot. It would win no prizes for art, inspire no archaeologists if they ever dug it up in a millenium or more. But it would serve a purpose, and it had calmed my heart.

---

Central Thoroughfare, Tabsa, Yekrenia
May 23rd

Through the gate streamed the soldiers of the Politburo, and others the defenders did not recognize. They wore clothes and uniforms of many descriptions, some captured garb of those who served Koba and the Ruling Council, others in little different than civilian attire. Their weapons were many and varied, but as they stampeded towards the Hall of Meeting they were met by men with grim faces. Some faces were those of fear, some faces were those of determination. All of them, though, stared out from behind a rough barricade of overturned carts and stalls, rubble and stakes.

Arrows flew through the air, from above the gatehouse, from the barricades that had been raised along the two other streets leading into the city. As the attackers passed through the gates their numbers were constricted into that relatively narrow channel, wide enough for a dozen to walk abreast, and soon a ferocious melee unfolded as the assailants rushed to push through the main barricade, making, as their orders detailed, for the Hall of Meeting. This was a decapitation strike, though the Loyalists would not have realized it was such, and their objective was clear. But clambering over the barricade, even where they cleared the defenders, took time- and as they fought with the men who had mounted such a makeshift defense, their kinsmen died before the gates of the Hall where they had sought to strike the head from the snake who Mat called Yekrenia.

Anon, as the defending soldiers realized what stratagem the Yamatzon employed, men on either flank began to cluster forward from the other streets, hemming in the attackers from both sides as well as the front. Spears flashed and men screamed in pain, but before long it became apparent to the commander of the Yamatzon's forces that they had taken too long- not seizing the main gate to the city had forced them to spend precious minutes battering down the reinforced door itself, and allowed the defenders time to rally their forces. The decapitation strike had failed, robbed of momentum by the curse of static defenses.

Stubbornly the soldiers withdrew, fighting a running retreat and struggling to prevent an outright rout in the irregulars and off-and-on raiders who had been called up for this venture. Fortunately the Yekrenians too had been mauled in the melee, their lighter numbers only holding back the weight of the Yamatzon through dint of breaking up their formations with the barricades and prevent the full impetus of the charge being brought to bear through flanking assaults. Many parts of Tabsa, the front of the Hall of Meeting included, smoked under the moon that night as the people of Koba counted their dead. And among the fallen were three of the Council, slain in the defense of the gates to the Hall, almost a half of those men who were purported to rule Yekrenia.

But there was no question about who was to blame once the fires were doused and the dead were mourned. Those injured who had not immediately perished, conscripts from the false Yekrenia tortured for their knowledge or Yamatzon who went to Mat with his praises on their lips, they spoke with one voice; Mat had ordered this assault on their former allies, and the faces of the Ruling Council were hot when they met the next day to discuss how to respond.

Loyalists vs Yamatzon (and Politburo)

Loyalists: [8] (200 Militia, 100 Soldiers) | +2 Defensive Barricade, -1 Quality, -1 Hastily Assembled, +3 Flanking Positions, +1 Fervor | [12]

Yamatzon: [6] (170 Regulars, 120 Conscripts, 150 Irregulars) | +2 Fervor, +1 Outnumbering, -1 Quality, -1 Restricted Entry | [7]

Significant Victory: Yamatzon defeated and forced back out of the city with heavy casualties. Half of their numbers slain or wounded in battle. Nearly one hundred assorted Yekrenian militiamen and guards slain or wounded in the assault. Moderate damage from fire to the city while the forces which would have responded to it struggled to expel the attackers.

[Leikmis]

I. The So-Called 'Reformation'

Early July
Tcotxeni City, Kingdom of Tcotxeni

In the early months after his coronation Masawa I, Dictator of the Kingdom of Tcotxeni, had created a second generation of ‘students’ in which he was to teach, as other Chieftains had before him. This body of twenty or so ‘students’ that he had assembled included Sacwa’an and his lover Iadana, as well as the master craftsman Shanaran, the Great Warrior Gozio, and a diverse variety of other important or influential figures from within the city. In reality this student body was the first of what could be many of King’s courts and advisory. Along with these twenty or so people, Masawa with the help of Sacwa’an would modernize the Kingdom, and attempt to spread the newly emerged faith of Sanctism.

The first assembly of Masawa I’s court had been to determine the “senate” court. The second assembly had been to determine the rules of succession and the structure of government, which simply degraded down to; The Dictator’s biological descendant rules as dictator. If there is more than one descendant then they rule as co-Dictators. If there is no eligible successor then the “Senate” of the latest ruler votes a replacement among themselves. No matter how hard Sacwa’an had pleaded for some sort of elected voting body, Masawa would not budge.

Tcoxteni City Riverside

It was a particularly humid Summer midday in Southern Mexico, if you could even call it summer. It never dipped below fifty degrees in the area and thus it was hard to tell what time of the year it actually was. Masawa had called a third assembly of his student court, reason being was to determine how they could ‘reform’ the city from its current state into a more modern state, similar to that told by Consulate Sacwa’an in Rome or Chicago or the legendary cities to the north, less advanced than Rome but more so than Tcoxteni, rumored to exist by far travelling traders.

The twenty-two sat in a circle around Masawa I near the river, numbering five craftsmen, seven warriors, six of the students of Chieftain Irepani who were now religious teachers, Iadana, Shanaran, Gozio, and Sacwa’an. They went around in a circle proposing reforms to Masawa I from the first person chosen. After each person had spoken questions would be raised and the reform in question would be elaborated on, with each member saying whether they agreed with or or not for so and so reasons. Sacwa’an had been chosen first to speak.

Sacwa’an stood up from his spot and cracked his neck to the side, an involuntary jerking movement he had been victim to since birth. From a leather sachel he took out a large pad of husk parchment and a blood ink feather. “So, I propose a better system of storing worth like we do with shells. After all, us storing grain in the grown and hoping it doesn't rot and then using random shells to represent certain amounts of it doesn’t work something.” Thomas held up a bucket of some rotten cornmeal from the harvest a year before. “So, as you can see with this, the amount of shells per Decixim of ixim can change rapidly becuase more rotten meal means less meal to exchange right. So, what if the harvest were to fail, like the Abequal field last harvest, and we were forced to buy our grain from another village? I dunno well ese we could give besides, but, our only offer would be Metzil and Iron, something we cannot afford to constantly make for food.” He began to scribble a picture of a coin onto his parchment, designed with the Sanctist X-cross symbol and a shell symbol, the number ‘5’ written on each of its four cardinal directions. “So to make sure our shells don’t represent rotten food, I propose that we use metal to represent worth because it doesn’t rot, and it can represent anything that is made or grown, and it’s hard to reproduce.” He drew a box labeled ‘bank,’ a coin going in with an arrow and another out, “Along with its stability, it can be stored like grain, and withdrawn. If I put in five of the metal into storage it would be stored safer than corn because it can’t rot, and then if I wanted to retrieve it I would go back n’ hand them a piece of paper I’d got when I put it there, get my metal and go do whatever.” He held up the pictures and labels on his parchment so that the court could see them all.

A craftsman named Adoeette, possibly around twenty-four in age, stood up to put his input on the proposition. “If we use metal to represent worth then it doesn’t really change anything does it? If the crop fails then the metal is worthless too, how are you going to fix that?” Sacwa’an began to doodle a bit more, speaking in the process, “Sooo, oh yeah, basically instead of using food to represent that, we use gold and gems instead.” In the middle of the process of drawing a bar of gold and silver, another man interjected, this time a part-time miner who had led the last few expeditions up river to look for metals. “Metal don’t have any worth, we use it to make tools which we don’t always need, we always need food. I say we aint need it… ‘lot of hassle for little gain!” Sacwa’an finished his drawing and held it up a bit, Iadana, now thoroughly annoyed by the interjections of the two men and who was also a craftswoman and jeweler rose her voice a bit to answer the miner’s question, “Well, you stand up when you want to talk first of all, and then if you could would you own that nice hat on Masawa’s head? Only a few people can make something like that, y’know, or really any good craft. You only get the rock and hand it off to the forge workers, y’wouldn’t be able to make a bar of metal even if you wanted to.” The miner grumbled and held his piece. Masawa, annoyed by the fact that members of his court were speaking without permission and out of order told them both to hold their mouths and wait their turn, as he had his own questions. “Sacwa’an, if we do this then will we still store grain as we used to, or will people be forced to buy each other's grain? It seems like some people will be without grain if their crops are harmed, either by someone or they rot.”
“Dictator Masawa, where I used to be from we have something called ‘taxes,’ it’s sort like how we collect all of the grain at the end of a harvest and store it except only some of it is taken and what is taken is not grain, it’s the metal stuff were proposing. Basically you use this money to pay for things like building, helping people who have lost a lot, or other things like protecting your city. Problem is that we need to have somthin’ called ‘property’ also. Property is basically land and items under your name, you own it and can do whatever you want with it including selling it. In our city you guys share everything like cropland, meaning you can’t really take anything but everything.”

“Why do we need ‘property’ then, if we are doing perfectly fine right now, it seems like ‘property’ would also make people resent each other, people would also buy eachothers land until only one person owned it all.” “Dictator Masawa people don’t have to sell it if they don’t want to, it also solves those ‘who farms what’ arguments people get into every season, like between Ahote and Ayiana just a while ago, y’could also tax people based on how much they owned and how much wealth they got every year from like shops, to stop people from burning other peoples land you use the taxes to pay people to protect the city and put out fires, like the warriors of our city already do.” Dictator Masawa leaned back, the palms of his hands now pressed against the ground to support his lean, “I see, i’ll think it over then. Any other questions over this? Raise your hands if you do.”

One of the religious men, whispering with others of his like, raised his hand. He was a former follower of Irepani with a nasal tone to his speak and a cut on his mouth that made his lip droop. He was one of the newer lorekeepers of the village. “We cannot allow all this talk of ‘taxes’ and ‘property,’ and especially not the unholy ‘metal’ shells you speak of. As children of Cuerauaperi, we have been given the grain and meal straight for the teet of the goddess, to stop its use would be to entirely betray her! And then forcing people to fight over land would be to violate the great land she hath given us! ... Totally unacceptable, think of the horrible droughts we would endure.” The loremaster composed himself after his angry bout and addressed Masawa. “As loremaster I am firmly, against this ‘reform’ Father Masawa, and as the speaker of the gods you’d best check their opinion lest we all parish.”

Masawa, still with his pseudo-christian identity a secret, assured the loremaster that he would see through that he would meet with the gods to find their opinion. In all honesty he had little care anymore for the six gods, saints to him, as long as their leader cared. He obviously did, the man who only spoke to helped to create the reform after all, but he would still have to see that it be implemented to help the village, else he would ruin his reign less than a year in.

The discussions over banks and money and various other ideas for laws and infrastructure would continue over two whole days, Reforms that had a clear majority among the court were ones to build and renovate old buildings, make new roads, more mills, etc. One of the more interesting infrastructural ideas that had come up and been widely accepted was a design that entailed using a “staircase nail” in a pipe to transport water from the river. It had been proposed by a potter named Ahanu, a friend of Gozio.

Law and policies that had been discussed was minorly requests for guaranteed rights and some privileges, with discussion being dominated by the half of the court that agreed with adding banks and taxes and minted money, about how property should be split and how much money should be minted, as well as what the coins would look like.

All of these votes among the court were not decisive on how Masawa would choose to ‘reform’ the city though. On the last day of meetings he had told them that he would think over each proposal that night and report to them in the day his decision.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Eddie N. Samuels- Australia, 2900 BC, Day 3

I had the three of the four things needed to survive for now. I had food, water access, and fire. I just needed a more permanent shelter. I decided I would make a makeshift lean-to, using wood mostly. It's surprisingly easy to make a shelter without rope. You just have to know what to do.

I found a long stick nearby. It was maybe 10 feet long and 3 or 4 inches thick. It was fairly heavy. I nestled it in the crooked lower branches of a nearby tree. That would form the "spine" of my shelter. I gathered up a bunch of smaller sticks. These would form the sides of the shelter. I leaned them up against the larger branch, on either side. To secure them, I buried their ends in the dirt.

After that, I boiled some more water and took a break. I checked my fish trap, which was empty, unfortunately. I would eventually have to find a more reliable food source. I looked up at the sky. There wasn't a sign of any sort of aircraft. Just the occasional bird. I stood back up, and walked over to the stand of trees. It was maybe noon, or 1 PM. I found a stick with bark that looked like it would be pliable and come off easily.

I used my sharp stone to start peeling the bark off in long strips. I could use these strips as a sort of tie strap. The stick was pretty fresh and wet, so hopefully my bark tie straps would shrink as they dried, and secure it better. I walked over to my shelter. I used one of the bark strips to help secure the branch to the tree. I would have to use leaves or long grasses to finish making the sides of the lean-to.

I began gathering grass and leaves to insulate the shelter. By the way, the shelter's entrance was on the tree side. I was about 75% done with the insulation when night came. I climbed into my shelter, and fell asleep, on an empty stomach. This was much more comfortable than lying in a tree.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Southern Michigan, Wild Lands between Blue Lagoon and the Dominion of the Lake King
May 20th, 100 AG

From the woodlands ahead of the marching Great Company came the sound of men shouting, and the distinctive twhip-twhip of repeating crossbows. A horn sounded, and at a double tempo some of the soldiers in light steel plate in the vanguard broke away from the main formation into a skirmish line, a procedure often-repeated in the many miles since their crossing of the Ohio River. The main column continued on through the low valley, rippling waves of black and white broken up by the terrain where it would be impractical to maintain their formation, their objective firm. Only a few short kilometers further into the underbelly of Michigan lay one of the primary raiding outposts used by the overland marauders that served the Lake King- with it burnt to the ground, supplying the bands that invested the eastern portion of Lagoai Governate would be made markedly easier.

Near Franklin, New Jersey
A new form of fishing ship, based on the copied designs of the Imperial trade vessels that put in regularly at the nearby mining endeavor, has been completed in the small slipways and dockyards of Franklin's port. It proves sturdy and capable of traveling great distances out to sea and up and down the coast, and may make trade with nearby tribes significantly easier, as well as swelling the food supply of the burgeoning city.

Lake Victoria, Africa
From the north Nubian envoys come to the outposts near the people of P'kunk, some carrying messages for the local notables, others bearing missives addressed to the lord of P'kunk herself from one of the Nubian warlords. It seems the Egyptians have begun a long-awaited campaign to seize some of the Cataphract Forts that bar the passages of the Nile, and their armies are uncommonly well-led and armed compared to those Nubia has managed to field against them. They appeal for aid from the foreign men of Tanzania, for mercenaries or armies to march north, offering trade concessions in exchange.

Northern Ireland
One of the chiefs of the many kindreds of Ireland has begun forging iron weapons of the quality of the Norscan arms provided to friendly tribes in southern Ireland, and these weapons have have allowed him to integrate a small but increasing amount of other kindreds and tribes beneath his banner in the fertile north. This political threat to Norscan hegemony upon the Emerald Isle is slowly coalescing, and may have ramifications for the northerners' ambitions to dominate the region.

[The Olog-Hai]

Near Franklin, New Jersey
A new form of fishing ship, based on the copied designs of the Imperial trade vessels that put in regularly at the nearby mining endeavor, has been completed in the small slipways and dockyards of Franklin's port. It proves sturdy and capable of traveling great distances out to sea and up and down the coast, and may make trade with nearby tribes significantly easier, as well as swelling the food supply of the burgeoning city.

Franklin, New Jersey

It was sad, that what Abraham would have taken delight in was only completed during his absence. Washington and Adams watched the ship pulled down the slipway by straining fishermen, all excited to be the first to be on this new creation, and venture where none of the tribe had gone before. It would be time before they would be proficient enough with the ship to take it on the sea proper, Adams believed, but eventually Abraham's plans of a trade city, located on an island he named "Manhattan," would be brought to fruit. Hopefully the deals he was planning to negotiate with Ego would come to fruition soon, the deal with the miners of the Imperium to acquire horses had already been extremely useful, making it much easier to transport non-waterborne goods.

"I'll go make some more copies of these plans," Adams said, gesturing with the pieces of parchment he had in hand, of the carefully detailed and dimension plans they had worked on and remade as the ship came into being. It was a beauty, really."

"Yeah, sure," Washington said, as he stared at amazement of how this plan of theirs had actually worked, it floating on the water. "I should probably help them figure out how this works, fishing is not like sailing, from what Abraham said."

Around the Dominion of the Lake King, Michigan

Abraham wiped the sweat off his brow as he kept up a steady pace on the terrain. As long as he hadn't lost his way, and the maps were still accurate, he'd be reaching Ego soon enough. That was good, and important, as this journey had already taken several months, months he could ill afford to waste, with the threats in this region and the Imperium breathing down his neck.

As Abraham crested a low slope, he noticed a plume of smoke in the distance. That had to mean one of two things, people, or a forest fire, and this wasn't really the right area. People could be dicey, but Abraham had gotten good at blending into nature over his time in this land. "This'll be more interesting than just walking," he told himself, and carefully began moving towards the smoke.

[Yatzatz]

I was eating lunch in my room, when the messenger arrived. I was told he had news of Operation Behead. I called him in, and asked him.
"Sir," he said, "The operation succeeded. We took extremely high casualties, but we killed nearly half of the council."
"Great," I replied. "Go send a messenger to the Politburo with the news that the Loyalist side will be disorganized, and that they can invade now."
"Ok," he said , and turned to leave. He reached the door, and turned around. "I almost forgot. One of the soldiers told me to give you this." He reached into a bag that, I now noticed, he was holding.
He pulled out a head.
A disembodied head.
I could see its eyes. They gazed at me disturbingly. They said You did this. You did this.
"It is the head of one of the council members," the man said proudly.
"Give him a proper burial," I managed to get out. "He is dead; there is no point in humiliating him further."
The man nodded, and left. I collapsed into my bed.
What have I done?

[Ralnis]

Lake Victoria, Africa
From the north Nubian envoys come to the outposts near the people of P'kunk, some carrying messages for the local notables, others bearing missives addressed to the lord of P'kunk herself from one of the Nubian warlords. It seems the Egyptians have begun a long-awaited campaign to seize some of the Cataphract Forts that bar the passages of the Nile, and their armies are uncommonly well-led and armed compared to those Nubia has managed to field against them. They appeal for aid from the foreign men of Tanzania, for mercenaries or armies to march north, offering trade concessions in exchange.

News reached the Executive as he had came back from meeting with another tribe in the southern jungles of Tanzania. The Republic had been growing prosperous with the building of the first blast furnaces powered by waterwheels and allowing the making of mill towns for the purpose of making cast iron. This, in tandem with their irrigation for more farmland, allowed for more tribes to migrant and join as Inocrypto with some number.

Still, the mayors and others who sail the great Lake Tanganyika and do trade with the villages and nomadic tribes who heard of the Voodooists had some hesitation. They had heard about the Egyptians and how large an army they could pull despite being at somewhat equal levels. However, trade concessions did alleviate some and even got others to try and use the newly made Sapper Guilds to experiment with what little gunpowder that they have.

One way Bob and Bittertooth had started to sway the Upper Council with the idea that the Pharaoh did enslave the Nubians in their raids against them. This was confirmed by both a couple of Councilors and the Nubians themselves as some of the Nubians had became Inocrypto and were former slaves. The Council's vote was still a limited success but they did offer one of the closer allies, the Dark Realm, for assistance as their cultists are dedicated to justice and are more military-minded than the industrious minds of P'kunk.

An envoy was sent and told the Nubians that they will throw in armed support to defend the Nubians and punish the Egyptians for their slave raids. It will be a hard war to fight against, but the Inocrypto had a few advances and countermeasures that could help beyond the very limited use of gunpowder by their Sappers.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Part 7, Chapter 6: Whispers of the Past and Future

July 19th, 100 AG

It wasn't as impressive as I had expected, I reflected. Of course, the year was twenty-nine hundred before Christ, after all. Indeed, from atop the swaying back of the horse that carried my scrawny carcass up the steep approach to the hilltop town, very little of grandeur was visible. It was more dusty than made of gold, the pale brown chalk-colored landscape scattered with light green vegetation and scrub-trees as we made the ascent. Still, the feeling swelling in my chest was not one of disappointment- not quite.

The natives known as Jethals had been quietly bemused, I had read, when explorers from the coastal lowlands had first showed up in their small city very interested in its history. There was no history here though, as one would expect. No writing, little in the way of oral tradition. Indeed, there was little to say that this particular settlement was, indeed, Jerusalem. My own recollections of the layout of the Holy Land were good, but the landscape was much changed from what memory could recall, and the landmarks nonexistent.

Close enough, though. At least, for the purposes of the Imperium, and my own. It was close enough to where the city the Explorator's Guild had searched for on a whim, and something in my heart told me we were right.

The top of the sloping path approached, and traffic increased. Men and women wearing garb that made them look like extras out of some production from the 1800s, a grandiose black and white historical fete. Their language was foreign to my ears, but not to my mind- another gift which I gave thanks for frequently. My entourage was noted, "princes", "outsider king", which I found somewhat hilarious. No part of my visit had formally been announced, and the amount of guards I traveled with was few, but apparently even the few dozen warriors, skirmishers, and adjuntants that were in the caravan before and behind me marked me out as some person of great importance to these locals.

It mattered not, truly. They could gossip as they wished. As I passed between the two walls of stone that delineated the city center, high above the Palestinian plains below, their concerns faded away. It was a simply place, a quiet place. Perhaps a few hundred souls lived here, at a quick glance, simple herders and hunter-gatherers that gained a portion of their importance from this region's place bestride the trade routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt. It stank of humanity without sanitation faintly, less so due to the dryness of the climate than might be expected. Humble walls adobe, mud-brick, and ramshackle wooden construction, and brightly colored fabrics adorning doorways and market stalls.

As I dismounted I considered the possibilities.

---

July 2nd, 100 AG
Outskirts of the Town of Wae'na, Dominion of the Lake King

James finished the tedious process of threading the needle, and carefully affixed the black patch over the rent in his hauberk. Balanced on one leg, with hands callused by the use of his sword the warrior began the slow process of repairing the garment- in and out the small length of stainless steel moved, snicker-snack, snicker-snack, ebony thread binding the patch to the cloth bit by bit.

Out into the darkness the soldier looked, contemplatively, towards the crimson glow that lit the nighttime horizon. His fingers worked without guidance, the routine familiar as his sword-strokes. Not a bad way to earn a few extra Imperials in the quiet hours when most men were asleep, needlework. Always in demand in the barracks, that was for sure, men getting uniforms snagged on weapons, or rents in coats from the arrows of primitives. Plenty of that work recently.

A sentry passed, his long waxed mustache drooping past the sides of his gorget. A nod in the near darkness, from the tailor sitting in the small pool of torchlight to the man watching for anything untoward. It was a surfeit of caution, to be sure, but James felt better for it. The minions and raiders that had been thrust south from... wherever it was people came from around here... hadn't troubled the Thirteenth unduly. They were clever, trying to take the Great Company unawares at night or in the woods, but they knew little of subtlety and how to actually execute the plots their minds conceived of. Obviously the raiders were mainly practiced against men of their skill, tribals scarcely able to forge a sword. At any rate, it had been rather like a mouse trying to ambush a lion these last few weeks. Intermittent war-whoops from stands of trees and stone-tipped arrows clanking off of plate, the crackle of gunfire and skirmishers dispatched into the copses to clear out the savages. Routine, really, more irritating for needing to keep one's armor on at almost all times than anything else.

That, and putting holes in hauberks. Some of the cloaks James had had to deal with had been in unlucky places, and looked more like cheese from Helvetia than army-issue fatigues. Still, this would be the end to it, or so the rumor was. One more glance at the red glow to the north. That had been a city, once. Oh, not by the standards of a man from Hispania, but big for this part of the world- a thousand souls, give or take. Burned to the ground, her people taken captive or fled north back to the heart of their barbarous nation. Only the latest in a line of settlements razed on Lord-Commander Hather's orders, and indeed the supply of ambushers was already dwindling.

Back south, scuttlebutt said. Back to the lands that mattered, where there were armies to fight instead of warbands. That would give James work to do, and no mistake. The tailor put aside the finished garment, pulling another from the pile at his right hand, and began setting a new length of thread.

---

Lands of the Tribe of Ithwi, Northern Marches of Koshitsu Confederation

It came from the north- a man, if a man he could be called, tall, hairy, savage. At his back was the smoke of a thick blackness the people of Ithwi had not seen before, and many warriors, dozens, each as tall as their leaders and with expressions of dour barely-caged violence. His bellowing cries shook the windows of the chief's house, and curious men and women peered out into the street of the village, while the tribe's warriors fingered spears and gazed at the northerners with pale faces.

Out the chief emerged, the muscled bruiser that was their protector, swaggering forward to speak to the newcomer. With each step, though, Chief Rei seemed to sink into himself, to walk with a little less confidence, his eyes straying frequently towards the cloud of deep black smoke on the horizon. By the time he stood face to face with the brute his shoulders were veritably sunken in on his body, and his eyes were nervous. A tongue flicked out to wet his lips, and the chief opened his mouth to speak- before a burly hand from the northerner stilled his tongue.

"I am Houjo, lord of the Kirochi. Listen, before you speak foolishly."

A wide wave of that hand, towards the warriors which followed the barbarian.

"We are the conquerors. Look to your skies, and see how your sister tribe has paid for their foolish unwillingness to bend the knee. They are gone now, ash on the breeze. No song, no life, no lineage to call their own. I have cut them out, as my lord Maeo the Blood-Drinker commanded, and they are no more."

"Kneel, and you shall live."

The chief's eyes flickered from face to face in the village. His men were relatively well armed, for soldiers of the Confederacy... but they were few. A handful, against this host, would be death. The stranger bore weapons that glittered with the stolen hearthfire of the Koshitsu, a thing that Rei had thought impossible, but now found was far from. They would slice through flesh and bone and cloth armor like nothing, and much blood would be spilled if he did not submit.

A predatory gaze watched the chief's thoughts flicker across his face, a gaze which saw much and missed little. It was hard, the eyes of a man who had killed so many times he barely even gave thought to the matter. The savage spoke again, this time his voice softer, but more menacing.

"Kneel. I will not ask again, chief."

Slowly Chief Rei sank to the ground, and bowed his head, provoking a cold smile on the stranger's face.

"You have chosen wisely. Send word to the others tribes. Those who swear themselves to the Kirochi shall live. Those who do not, will die."

[Pax Nerdvana]

Eddie N. Samuels- Australia, 2900 BC, Day 4

I woke up to an excellent sunrise that morning. I was still rather hungry and thirsty. I was also beginning to lose hope that I would ever see rescue. I'd been here, what, 3 days plus this morning. I checked my fish trap, and found a single little fish. I gutted it, and cooked it over a fire, that I had started with my glasses. At the same time, I boiled water over the fire. I greedily bit into the cooked fish. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

I finished my shelter that morning. It wasn't pretty, but it would do the job. With that out of the way, I decided I'd better try to lay a snare or two, see if I could catch some small mammals to eat. While I was out, I also decided I should see if I could find some edible plants. I tore some bark strips off a tree, and wove them into a rope of sorts. With a slip knot tied in it, it would hopefully function as a snare. I repeated this process two more times.

I boiled more water in my pot. Once that was done, I slung my snares over my shoulder, grabbed my sharpened stick and my pot of water, and began walking downstream. I would look for a possible game trail to set my snares along. I walked for a while until I found what looked like a game trail. I placed my snares along it, spaced about 35 feet apart, and headed back upstream. I decided I really should start looking for edible plants to add a little variety to my diet. I still hadn't seen many large animals, which was odd.

As I was walking, it began to drizzle a little bit. A little rain would be welcome. Hopefully my shelter would hold. I arrived back at my camp and decided to build a permanent fire pit, so as to decrease the risk of starting a forest fire. It was maybe 1 or 2 PM. Essentially, I just put a bunch of rocks in a circle around where I had been lighting my fires. I finished around 3 or so. I than boiled some water, checked my fish trap, found a fish, cooked it, and ate it. I attempted to make a better stone knife. I broke chunks off of it, until it was a bit sharper. After that, I drank some more water, and went to bed, as it was dark by than. As I was heading to my shelter, I noticed a strange glow maybe a mile away. It looked like a campfire. I quickly stomped out my fire, so they wouldn't notice it, if they hadn't already. I didn't sleep well that night. I would check it out come morning.

[Ralnis]

Chapter 9, Part 1: On Foreign Soil
P'kunk, Capital of Mantu Olu, Tanzania

Bob was looking at the camels being loaded with wagons covered in cast iron. They marched in hundreds, pulled from farmlands or construction projects all over the province to improve the industry of the small country that ruled on the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika. The Executive had made peace with tribes in the Southern Jungles, found a paradise and waterfalls. Expanded with little impunity to make sure that they can keep building and make connecting infrastructure between the villages and settling down nomadic groups.

Intelligence was sketchy at best when it came to the Egyptians. To the reports and rumors from traders, it seem that the Inocryptos had them matched in tech but their population outnumbers the combined force. Over the past three months, Bob had been allocating what resources and industry that they had. Crossbows had grown to become more military standard against heavy armor, repeaters were coming around as prototypes and Bob had started to bring in "sniper" variants to be used for defensive sieges as Bob had saw how devastating they were in Ego's civil war and if they were used against the Egyptians then it may counter the large numbers.

Other important counters were what gunpowder that they had, which was mostly allocated with incendiary weapons for terror attacks. The other that they had was the camel, which was able to be a counter against horses as the very smell can chase them away and chariots to some extent. However, when it comes to a more concrete counter, war elephants have become a worthwhile solution. Enough to capture them and try to train them despite the African Bush Elephant not being historically trained for warfare or labor.

Bob didn't care when it comes to making new history if it meant to stop the Egyptians. How he was to go about was another issue. In his timeline, the bullhook was a tool to lead an elephant and trained them, but such tools are more harm than good. Bob believed that treating and training them as the smart creatures that they are will help in fostering better partnership for military elephants and labor. They can learn quickly and retain instruction then any of Bondye's animals. Armoring them with iron and metal tusks will allow for them to have heavy cavalry and powerful shock units until cannons and guns are developed to dominate in a pitch battle.

As of right now, the relief force was far away from the African interior in the lands of Nubia to fight against the Egyptian onslaught in hopes to stem the tide of the Pharaoh's "Blessed Troops". They waved the Face of Bondye, the Mask of their Creator God, in the relief for the bronze scourge that they call friend.