NationStates Jolt Archive

Throne Room of the Sul Anok Citadel, Mid day

"My Emperor, My Emperor!" yelled Grand Inquistor Halgrif as he dashed towards the throne, located in a beautifully adorned room with a dome top, with a spectacular peice of art, deep red banners were hung on walls, even next to the throne iwhich, itsself, was a deep blood red.

"Yes, Inquisitor?" replied Emperor Chris calmly.

"The Crimson Crusade..has taken...a course for the worse" panted Halgrif trying to catch his breath.

The Crimson Crusade was a crusade started by Emperor Chris once he discovered the barbaric rituals preformed by Heathen worshippers located in the Plains of Anok, Sul Anok being a somewhat religious nation.

"I am sorry to hear this Halgrif, i thought it was going seamlessly. My Ordinators bring back corpses along with reports from their raids outside the city. Besides, we cant afford to be losing, these heathens brutal rituals only show that if we let go they will be destructive to any and all of the people in the Plains of Anok, have you seen the hearts they cut out of people in their ritualistic sacrafices?! Imagine what could happen if they get inside the Crimson Gate and are allowed to parade through the city. I shudder when i try to imagine it."

"Well, sir, its simply true. The heathens have realized that they only lose numbers when they were remaining as they were, splintered into their own caves. Now, our ordinators have burned out a few of these caves, and the ones we discovered that we hadnt burnt out were completely empty, only inhabited by clearly abandoned blood-stained altars, and daggers, most of it covered in dust, so we knew right away that they had moved on out."

"So how do you know they didnt just run away, knowign we would come?" replied Emperor Chris

"Well, as of late, we have seen gigantic settlements. Tents made of Stone and wood, and when i say they were gigantic i mean it. They were about as big as some of our peasant settlements."

"And you think they're turning to us?"

"Most definetly, sir. In fact-" and the Grand Inquisitor was interrupted.

Suddenly 2 Ordinators burst through the door, carrying a dead ordinator on their shoulders, they dropped the dead ordinator on the floor and ran back out

"Where are you going!?!?" yelled the Inquisitor.

"Sir, the'yre at the Crimson Gate, they didnt break through, they just threw this body at the gate and stepped back a bit, but they had spears, i think the are here to fight, and theres legions of them, all armed with spears and shields. Some of them have what looks to be armor made of the skin of horses." Replied the soldier

"How many exactly?" asked the Emperor

"Oh, lord, more than our ordinator order, i dare to say, they might match the size of our standard legions."

"This is bad. Alright light the beacons, i said LIGHT THE BEACONS before i cut off your head!!! Light the beacons so that all possible nations might come to our aid!" said the Emperor, and he sat back into hos throne.

Several miles to the North (and several weeks earlier) the great barbarian Warlord Phate was assebling his troops,

"Brothers! The time has come! Our weakling cousins on the plains have called for help, and we shal answer! For too long have we sat back and watched this 'religious' 'rightous' bastards defacing our name!! Heathens they call us! our mis-understood rituals twisted into something horific by their feeble minds! Its time We taught these little boy's who they think they're 'cleansing!! Now Lets ride!!"

he was met by 100 gruff roars of triumph, this was but a fraction of his power, some of the best of his large reach of tribes warriors. pluss several slave warriors captured from the southern empires in their last raids.

"sadle up!"

He admired the large beast he had chosen two years earlier as his steed, almost completely jet black, the eyes a stunning dark red giving the warhorse an almost deamonic look. he saddled up and raised his warhammer letting out a roar. in unison at this signal the small mobile force set off, the great warhorses, bread for almost a century into something great, set off at a canter, the hooves thundering like a hundred mini-thunderstorms overlapping into one great rumble. the sound alone enough to frighten even the most hardened southen warrior, if that wasn't enough the vision of the armoured barbarians would surely scare the pants off them...

"Sir, a new tribe of barbarians seem to be arriving from the north" announced The Grand Inquisitor.

"Ah, we have spotters by the North Beacon then? Well, what seems to be the number count?" replied the Emperor

"Considerable i suppose. Nothing compared to the indiginous barbarian count. Our leigions could stand a fight if we added ordinators."

"Well," said the Emperor "we cant be so sure that the native barbarians will side with them. They may attack on sight, these natives are very untrustworthy of other peoples. Considering that no open combat has sprung up between us and the natives, if we can attack these newcomers without interruption, our legions will surely win." said the Emperor

"Im sure we wont be disturbed while we scramble the legions. The Crimson Gate and the Crimson Walls are over 40 feet high, and dug far into the earth, nothing can penetrate that." Replied the Inquisitor.

The Warlords men spread out across the top of a hill, a double line of horsemen, he surveyed the scene, a great city, the barbarian hoards massed just out of range of the walls archers. he donned his helmet, a masterpiece crafted as a gift from an ally, he couldnt remember who or when, the mask covered his face, a golden skull, his eyes in the sokets, menacing, a fearfull sight, his warhammer over one sholder and a small shield in the other hand. his troops also donned their helmets, some of the richer members having simelar masks in bronze, of wolves, lions and other creatures. the force were'nt armoured as such, some chainmail and fur skins their only protection. they liked to stay light, fast, fast enough to outmanouver almost any heavily armoured empire shock troop... Patience he thought let them see us before we make a move

"bring him forward!!"

from the rear of the rank a naked sakeled man was pushed by a dismounted warrior, he fell to the dust below the warlord, fear in his eyes, a former captain in the Anok army, the last survivour of a small force they had come accross at a beacon of some kind on the journey.
Phate sneered at him

"tell your masters they will pay us tribute for their unacceptable tainting of our name, their obsurd smear roumors of our religions and for our time and effort killing your men and marching here!"

the captain looked in shock and rage
"what gives you the.." he started to spit before a sharp kick from the dismounted warrior

"you will do this, or we will physicly mark this message into you flesh and hurl you over the walls, which would you prefere? also, you tell you masters that if they do not obay these demands, they will never know such consiquences"

the captain spat blood and nodded.

"now go"

The captain staggered off in the direction of the city, stumbling trying to get away as quickly as possible from them.

"Sir, a report from an archer upon the north wall, it appears they have sent back one of our ordinator captains to make petty demands for 'tribute,' how should we respond?"

"Heh, if these so-called 'barbarians' were anything to actually take seriously they would have beheaded him where he stood. Emplace a catapult upon the north wall, wherever there is room for one. Barbarians dont carry seige weapons, so unless they plan to attempt to slash or crush their way through a 40 foot wall, 5 feet thick made of steel-reinforced stone, we can sit back and keep mustering our legions." replied the Emperor, "oh, and to keep those catapults company, add some ballistia, we should have a few of those to spare."

"no responce great one"

"i wasnt expecting one, but they kno we're here, that was the intention, where's the nearest peasent dwelling?"

"about a mile that east sir, still visable from the walls"

"good, Burn it down, take anything you want, any men kill, the women are for the men, children.... do what needs to be done"

a shame it has to come to this again, those damn arrogent imperialists, lets see what attention this draws he thought...

he turned his horse arround and trotted down the hill out of view from the city

OOC: problem: everything is located within the castle walls, including peasant dwellings so unless your a godmodder...you cant really randomly RP yourself in there

occ:.. ok didnt know that.... but you cant have an entire nation peasant dwellings and all within walls.... unless its very small.... i realise in this period cities had a large number of dwellings etc within walls, but even then there were still some outside... ??

im trying to draw a small force outside the walls btw

the peasants dont necessarily live in their own individual dwellings, more of a townhouse-type thing going.

ooc: ok, must be prety cramped in there..
you can make the next move then i have nothing i can do rite now, my force is too small to buid siege equipment, depends if the local barbarians will join me at my position or ignor my help.

"Sir, they seem to be formating for some sort of attack on the north wall, what is your command?"

"I want our stables stripped of their straw and hey, i want it placed in a catapult and ignited, and i want it aimed at the forces to the north." replied the Emperor

"Sir, the natives at the gate are growing restless, what should we do, they are already pounding on the gates!"said the Inquisitor, with a note of urgency in his voice.

"Alright, to deal with the natives at The Gates, i wish that one of your inquisitors take 50 unharmed natives, i want them dressed in fine linens, and announce that in exchange for hefty reparations and the 50 unharmed prisoners, they must act as mercinaries, for now, i focus our attention to the catapults. Order them to open fire when ready."

"Yes, my lord."

The Warlord was confident his troops were out of range of the walls, he watched with amusement as catapults were readied.

"Send one of the slave warriors to our cousins on the plains, let them kno we are here as allies to their cause and will fight alongside them against the city that had been butchering them these last weeks they will surly welcome the aid against the city, they cannot hope to win their cause without support"

"aye great lord, we'l send someone immediatly"

ooc: are you seriously planing on opening the gates when an angry mob/army are pounding on them?? not a good idea you'l let them in the walls before prisoners are taken

...and slowly The Crimson Gate opened revealing a man atop a horse, both the man and the horse were adorned with blood red armor, they approached the crowd of native barbarians, as he approached, they all were taken aback, and suspicious at the same time, the crowd began to mumble among themselves, then the man in armor spoke to them.

"All of you are utterly ignorant to this, but, there is another tribe of barbarians to the north. They are here to plunder our city, but there is far worse tidings for you."

this created another wave of speaking among the natives

"These barbarians have come, not only to plunder us, but to take you, and brutalize you in ways i cannot imagine, far worse than any of us can concieve," he knew this was a lie, but he pressed on, knowing that he was under strict orders to do whatever possible to conscript these people, "but we can help you. We are willing to pay you reparations for your losses."

the crowd began to murmur once more, then there was silence, which was soon peirced by an angry shout,

"You can pay us with your gold, but you cannot replace the pain you gave and the lives you took!"

and right after that was said, another man yelled and charged at the Inquisitor, this was followed by many a "oh no!" and "dont go! please come back!" and as the man jumped with a scimitar drawn, the inquisitor swiftly drew a sword, and beheaded the man with one swift stroke. The crowd held their heads as if to say "We are ashamed of that foolish man, he dishonors us."

Then the inquisitor said

"What say you? will you accept our offer?"

"We said it once and again! you have shed too much blood, you cant bring life back!"

Then, with a gleam in his eye, the inquisitor said "i was hoping you would say that." and he proceeded to reveal 50 prisoners, dressed as nobles, and the crowd was shedding tears of joy.

"You have given us back our sons and made them noble?...okay, we will take our children and your money. Please, sir, show us in."

And the inquisitor turned and beckoned them, and they filed in. Then a slave-warrior appeared, the inquisitor paused, grabbed the slave by the neck and pulled him in with the crowd. The great gates closed, and locked.

OOC: the barbarians are simple, not stupid, they know that if the gates opened, there might be a legion of men waiting for them, or any other sort of trap, which is why they stepped back...

besides, they werent trying to break them down, these are massive gates, they obviously wanted attention.

"Sir, the natives have sided with us, we are outfitting them with armor, and weapons, however, the barbarians dont seem to be making any movements."

"Hmm, somethings wrong, we should utilize this! Get those natives upon the wall, adjust the catapults, and if they continue inactivity, fire upon them!"

OOC: translation? i will be attacking every 15 minutes with flaming straw weighted with iron spheres. if one hour passes, i will proclaim myself the victor. I cant plan my war around your schedule, had you told me you would leave, i could have done something about it.

The warlord sat and watched with amazement as the opressed barbarians filed into the huge city....

"fools!! What the hell do they think they are doing!? surely they realise they're being misslead"

"they are a disgrace!"
"they will be taught what it means to betray us! and other shouts from the small army..

suddenly a fireball rose from the citywall, followed by several more arching slowly in their direction trailing ash and smoke

"well my brave warriors! we SHALL show them What it means to insult US!! Prepare yourselves, we have a point to prove!!"

the fireballs landed sending sparks and flame spurting in mini-implosions wellshort as he had known they would be.

OOC: Is it alright if I RP? I'm not a human species, but I'm not a "magical-fantasy" species either. I follow medieval technology, but I'm just...you know...not human (strengths and weaknesses here).

So...um...yeah...Just say if I can post. :)

Thanks.

ooc: not human yet not fantacy.... eh? how's that work?
also my force is more of a raiding party than an army, so theres not much hope of my 'victory' realisticly, especialy now

IC "those bastard locals"

Occ: have betrayed me

"Sir, the barbarians seem to be actively forming into battle array once more" said the Grand inquisitor

"Hmm, this threat has gont unchecked long enough. Send for the Horn of the Thaar to be sounded at the eastern beacon! Allow our allies to send us aid!"

And so, by horseman a message was sent, and once it reached the East Beacon, three men got up, drew horns adorned with gold leaf, and blew them as loud as they could. This was sure to reach the ears of Sul Anok's ally at Torkin Mountain, then the battle could truly commence.

In the east, a courier approached the throne of Emperor Henry. "Sire, our allies to the west have sounded the horns. They call for our aid." Henry pondered this fact for a moment, then announced, "Then the time has come. Alert the readied troops. The caravans are to be loaded to the brim with warriors. Oh, and bring me my armor of war."

Bowing profusely, the courier dashed out of the chamber, eager to proclaim these tidings of war to the masses.

"men! you hear the sound of the horn of triumph!! such is our reputation! such is the fear in these un-nobel warriors that thay call for re-enforcements!! they outnumber us by atleast 50:1 yet they call for more men! what foes are these that they must still call their allies to do their work for them!?"

He was met by a huge roar of voices.

"in battle we cannot hope to win at such odds! but the victory is clearly our victory! that they are so afraid that they hide behind their city walls and as much military response they take is to call for more men!"

the echos of the warchant could be heard across the plains sending birds flocking up in fear.

"i do not want to waste your lives in such a meaningless battle my brothers, we shal leave these lands for now, our point has clearly been made, they have disgrased themselves enough, if they were not hiding behind their walls maybe we could make our point evem clearer, in blood!!"

more cheers

"but it is not to be, we will come back to these lands to haunt this christian dictatorship and claim our prizes, for now.... BURN anything on the plains which looks to be theirs!! crops! farm buildings! even the bridges!"

"My leige, the barbarians are retreating!"

"HAH, nows the time, take the legions we have amassed, open the gate and route them, try to meet up with Thaars forces if its on our path!"

and The Crimson Gate swung open, and tens of thousands of mustered crusaders atop horses strode into the wind, and, alongside them, an ironic ally, the heathen warriors adorned with armor forged with the materials that comprise a shell, layered, making a fearsome sight and protective armor.

All of the crusaders drew their scimitars, and pursued their enemy...

The caravans of Thaal Anok arrived on the outskirts of the battlefield to see the barbarians razing the scenic countryside of the plains of Anok. Furious, Henry strode out in his armor of war, ready to face the barbarians in mortal combat. His armor, made of silver and gold reinforced with steel, served as both a powerful guard against any weapon and as a weapon in itself- the pauldrons, gauntlets, and Breaves, bedecked in razor-sharp spikes of diamond, could easily puncture the primitive armor of the barbarians. With speed that defied the seeming encumberance of the armor and of his size, around six feet and built muscularly but also huskily, he led his men to the battlefield.

the warlord laughed at the persuing armies eagerness...

fools, they know as little about war as they do about their god
"we have company my brothers! now ride! show these bastards what we're made off!!"

the cavelry continued to 'flee' looking over their shoulders everynow and then to gauge distance. as they disapeared over the brow of a hill the slave warriors broke off, 10 on each flank swinging arround the hill. the main force continued on.

the slaves, taking the enemy army by complete suprise at their sudden appearence on their spearheads flank faltered, the slave warriors smashed into the kingdoms cavelry on both flanks, the sheer power of the charges although only a score of men was enough to halt and fell a good number of the enemy cavelry, axes swinging, shields blocking they carved their way into the enemy rank. they took few casulties initialy, the suprise and power of their charge working to their supreme advantage.

the warlord continued on with his best warriors alongside him, just a little further he thought to himself....

ooc: to the re-enforcements... have you read your telegram?
also... realisticly that armour is both impractical and way to expensive to ear into battle... plus its more fantacy than medievil


also do you have rtw? or RTR maybe we could settle this through that, that way its more our leadership skill rather than narrative fantacy that will decide the victor of this?

Rakus Cosmeris, imperial Inquisitor was on the battlefield, Rakus had been promoted to High Inquisitor for conscripting the natives, and now he was atop his horse, pursuing this enemy.

Remembering this path from when he was a child, running down this path to play and frolic in the yellow tallgrass, so, instinctively, he knew what he had to do if ever he were to stop the retreat.

He sheathed his scimitar, drew his bow and one arrow from his quiver, tied his hankercheif right below the head of the arrow, grabbed a torch from the native nearby him, lit the arrow.

Under his breath, he muttered an apology to his country and the tallgrass that meant so much to him, and shot the arrow ahead of the barbarian forces, lighting the tallgrass, creating a raging inferno, stopping the retreat.

ooc: your tied up with the slaves slowing you down, your not in range of arrows

occ: so im tied up with this grand legion of 10 slaves on each flank? whos eyes my archers could put out? whos heads my soldiers could cut off without even taking the time to stop?...10 doesnt cut it, im sorry.

ooc: it was 10 on each flank, which would be enough to slow your cavelry down, or at least a large number of them, for a few mins anyway and your infanry would be way too far behind anyway. but fine, you still have a large number of cavelry fairly close

IC: an arrow with a flaming hankerchief on the tip glided up over their heads, he swore under his breath surveying the tall grass ahead of them, the slaves had done well, carving a small swab out of the advancing foe, hoevere the shear numbers of opponents had meant that the delaying tatic hadn't worked quite as planned, the arrow lannded infront of them, the dry grass ignighting slowly, he smiled Too little, too close he thought, this will work to our advantage. the small fire spreading quickly ahead of them was aproaching quickly, spuring his horse on it leapt over the flames sending sparks and ash flying, the horse brayed in anoyance at the task and swished its tail which was slightly singed, the other horsemen behind did the same or went arround the flames which were spreading alarmingly quickly, blocking the path of the ememy troops, the cavelry he wasnt so sure of...

ooC: ok guy's i have to go to a developers meeting on IRC now for a mod. i'l be back either later on or 2moro.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=79

IRC channel for our mod :

quakenet.org

#Imperia_romana

OOC: ...your godmodding so much here its worth closing this post.

i dont think a horse could jump clear over a six foot wall of flame, it DOESNT HAPPEN and even if by some divine intervention he did manage to go even half a foot above it along with a singed tail he would have a fired liver, you see, that much fire is HOT. And, ill even pretend he did clear the fire, his troops couldnt go around the fire, it simply spreads too far too fast, this is hundreds of acresof pure, dead, tall grass, basically as tall as a stalk of wheat.

So congratulations, your a godmodder who still managed to get out-rp'd. Considering i dont RP with godmodders, ive decided to leave this little story as it is. its not worth finshing when you have magical winged horses that can clear 6 feet of searing flame.

ah, also, armor such as Thaar had, is quite possible. Why? HES A FRIGGIN KING, look at his nations economy stats, he has hordes of money to spend, and in the middle ages, armor was a damn good investment.

In fact, ill even cap this off, because its just getting to retarded to continue on with.

IC: Rakus saw that he had obviously struk enough fear into the barbarians feeble hearts, and cut down enough of his army, that the empires of The Plains of Amon didnt need to push any further point. He orderd the halt command, and slowly, each regiment got the order across the vast numbers. They decided to collect heads, and head back to the castle, to drink the finest ales, burn the heads in a bonfire in front of The Crimson Gates, and perhaps, for the last time ever, share a feast and enjoy the peace that has ensued between the heathens and the Empire, however temporary.

--------END, have fun, godmod

yes im the god.. whatever... with winged horses... then so are you....

The arrow flame starts a fire thats so wide i coulnt ride arround it, and so tall i cant have the large powerfull warhorses jump it within a couple of seconds of it landing, i realise i have no experience of bushfires living in the UK, but still...even in terrain like that a fire takes a good 30 seconds to reach any size (trust me ive seen a fire start in a simelar terrain) which would be quick enough for the horses to reach...and jump/ride arround.... and if the flame spreads that quickly why would you start it?

and you just hapened to have the ability to light the hanky in the middle of a charge after barbarians (which you needed to call allies against and mass legions in a city thats ssooooooooooo huge it can fit all those legions in living with no settlements anywhere else in the nation....

also... those heathens? learn something about barbarians + religion 1st (whole point i sent my party) then you burn the heads of my (20) fallen wrriors?? heathen yourself!


ok so i have no experience with rpg's, but i know a little about this sort of warfare from modding, so dont give me that s**t you sad little person.



thankyou goodbye :sniper:

and also you say the barbarians are running in fear why do you say fear? i would of said it was common sense.... .theres 80 of them and a full (stupid) ammount of legions after them... again i say.... you know **** about warfare and use of prefessional/acurate tactics... either that or YOUR the scared one.... so scared of a handfull of barbarians you send a full army after less than 1/100th of my force....

your weak

yeah... warlord... um... you f**king s**k at rping, so don't give us any of that bs. also... if you knew anything about this type of warfare, you'd realize that not only would the dry grass of the plains easily catch fire and instantly burn like hell (and don't argue it i've started fires like that myself), you'd also realize that a king with resources like mine could easily have armor like mine.

You = > :eek: :mp5: < = me

yea whatever m8...