Eternal
Year 557
Arat is nearly yours...well what’s left of it anyway and even after you take it completely there is still the matter of holding it. And that will certainly be a great task, one you even wonder if you’ll live to see. The aches and pains in your body continue to get worse with age, you tire a lot easier and you get short of breath at times. Everyone tells you that you shouldn’t be anywhere close to the battlefield, but you can’t help it. It’s the only place you feel you truly belong and gives you a thrill even if you’re not doing a lot of active fighting nowadays.
To be quite honest this war has been a blessing for you as there is no end in sight. It allows you to focus on something other than mundane things like the economy or civics. It’s also allowed you to put off the task of finding your “successor” and you don’t even care anymore. You’ve come to the conclusion that when your days are done in this world whoever gets the Empire is whoever is strong enough to hold it. If that means it disintegrates and falls into the abyss then so be it. The Empire fell once before and you revived it. It can do it again.
Only four major cities to conquer and the Arat Confederacy would be resigned to the history books, but they proved to be much harder to crack mainly because of Xi AND Redcap interference. Arat is a massive warzone and now all the major players are involved.
Zo was the toughest nut to crack in terms of fighting, but perhaps the easiest in some ways as there were no other elements to make things complicated. It was a straight up battle and it only defied you mainly due to its hatred of orcs, which make up a large part of your armies. It is almost unfortunate that the entire city population had to be practically eradicated because its citizens were certainly the bravest and had the best soldiers in this war.
Valizza was next. The crimelords there practically opened the gates for you. If it was a choice between suffering Zo’s fate or being ruled by the Empire, there was no choice at all. After all crime always exists somewhere in societies no matter how hard a government tries to stomp it out. The crimelords there no doubt assumed that they could just switch sides and slither into the underworld that exists in the Empire.
Most of them were wrong. You couldn’t be worrying about petty gang violence between warring factions you needed another city on the frontlines contributing to the war effort. You immediately had all the “leaders” sized up, determined which one was the most efficient and made him “governor” while the rest were executed. “Hand Cannon” Harry was grateful and now knows that the city is ultimately run for Empire purposes FIRST. And whatever criminal activity he has going on comes second. You’re the “Boss.”
Atinil, ever the bootlicking city to Lenay of course fought back, though not very well. The only reason why it posed any problems is due to Lenay’s forces attempting to bail them out and Xi incursions which had started to become more of a problem by this point. It was during this battle that your armies had begun facing any sort of heavy Xi opposition. Semra was right, there are an awful lot of them and they attack in waves with no regard for their own lives. They also make their first strikes mainly from below; in fact that’s what ultimately ended the siege of Atinil. Towards the end, its citizens threw open the gates begging you to destroy the Xi who had managed to enter the city before you did. By the time it was all said and done the Xi had destroyed half of the city before you managed to beat back the infiltration.
Your kobold commando units have been doing a good job at blocking off tunnels or creating new ones to form counter attacks, but again there are just so many of them that for every ten you kill it seems like a hundred take their place.
To make matters worse, the Redcaps have been making excursions into Arat via their airships. You’ve only manages to catch sight of a few from a distance, but others have described them to you in greater detail. Great big oval shaped contraptions that seem to move by propellers and some sort of gas that keeps them aloft. (At least that’s how someone tried to explain it to you, really you still never got all that “science” stuff)
And just as Semra had mentioned in your visit with her, they’ve been bombing indiscriminately on the Xi AND your own troops. You’ve yet to take one of these airships down mainly because they never stay around long enough in a battle (and certainly not in any battle that you’ve personally participated in. They float in to cause destruction and then leave, though you have noticed that they’ve all been going in a particular direction. Namely towards the city-state that has always remained a mystery, Telis.
Now Lenay is all that remains of the Arat Confederacy and it’s making sure that all attackers will not stomp out its presence with ease. A magic barrier has formed around the city, and probably extends far below the earth as well otherwise the Xi would’ve gone under it.
The barrier has proven impenetrable to all known weapons and magic or at least anything your soldiers can throw at it. Given how strong it is you can only guess that Semra is having a direct hand in the matter. So much for her claims that “you” were needed to create the barrier in the first place, then again she did imply that she merely needed your help to keep her from using up all her power.
Usually a “siege” mentality isn’t very successful (certainly didn’t work for the Felkans) but the svelk seem to be content on “waiting” everything out while you and the Xi slaughter each other, they may even be building up something that will change the tide of the war. (And probably are)
So once again it’s all falling onto you. You’re the only one that has magic remotely powerful enough to bring down that barrier and even then you might need help. You half wonder if taking the barrier down is going to kill you, but if it comes to that then so be it, but there might be a more pressing concern.
The recent appearances of the gnomes and their travels towards Telis make you wonder if you shouldn’t direct your attention toward them. Semra did warn you about them and their recent actions of bombing your own troops haven’t exactly proven her wrong.
It’s just a question of what you want to spend your time and resources on. Making a long trip to Telis probably through Xi occupied territory and then face whatever the gnomes have there (which you have no sort of intel on) or bring down the barrier (And continuing to fend off the Xi in the meantime).
Both of those are probably going to result in considerable losses.
Arat is nearly yours...well what’s left of it anyway and even after you take it completely there is still the matter of holding it. And that will certainly be a great task, one you even wonder if you’ll live to see. The aches and pains in your body continue to get worse with age, you tire a lot easier and you get short of breath at times. Everyone tells you that you shouldn’t be anywhere close to the battlefield, but you can’t help it. It’s the only place you feel you truly belong and gives you a thrill even if you’re not doing a lot of active fighting nowadays.
To be quite honest this war has been a blessing for you as there is no end in sight. It allows you to focus on something other than mundane things like the economy or civics. It’s also allowed you to put off the task of finding your “successor” and you don’t even care anymore. You’ve come to the conclusion that when your days are done in this world whoever gets the Empire is whoever is strong enough to hold it. If that means it disintegrates and falls into the abyss then so be it. The Empire fell once before and you revived it. It can do it again.
Only four major cities to conquer and the Arat Confederacy would be resigned to the history books, but they proved to be much harder to crack mainly because of Xi AND Redcap interference. Arat is a massive warzone and now all the major players are involved.
Zo was the toughest nut to crack in terms of fighting, but perhaps the easiest in some ways as there were no other elements to make things complicated. It was a straight up battle and it only defied you mainly due to its hatred of orcs, which make up a large part of your armies. It is almost unfortunate that the entire city population had to be practically eradicated because its citizens were certainly the bravest and had the best soldiers in this war.
Valizza was next. The crimelords there practically opened the gates for you. If it was a choice between suffering Zo’s fate or being ruled by the Empire, there was no choice at all. After all crime always exists somewhere in societies no matter how hard a government tries to stomp it out. The crimelords there no doubt assumed that they could just switch sides and slither into the underworld that exists in the Empire.
Most of them were wrong. You couldn’t be worrying about petty gang violence between warring factions you needed another city on the frontlines contributing to the war effort. You immediately had all the “leaders” sized up, determined which one was the most efficient and made him “governor” while the rest were executed. “Hand Cannon” Harry was grateful and now knows that the city is ultimately run for Empire purposes FIRST. And whatever criminal activity he has going on comes second. You’re the “Boss.”
Atinil, ever the bootlicking city to Lenay of course fought back, though not very well. The only reason why it posed any problems is due to Lenay’s forces attempting to bail them out and Xi incursions which had started to become more of a problem by this point. It was during this battle that your armies had begun facing any sort of heavy Xi opposition. Semra was right, there are an awful lot of them and they attack in waves with no regard for their own lives. They also make their first strikes mainly from below; in fact that’s what ultimately ended the siege of Atinil. Towards the end, its citizens threw open the gates begging you to destroy the Xi who had managed to enter the city before you did. By the time it was all said and done the Xi had destroyed half of the city before you managed to beat back the infiltration.
Your kobold commando units have been doing a good job at blocking off tunnels or creating new ones to form counter attacks, but again there are just so many of them that for every ten you kill it seems like a hundred take their place.
To make matters worse, the Redcaps have been making excursions into Arat via their airships. You’ve only manages to catch sight of a few from a distance, but others have described them to you in greater detail. Great big oval shaped contraptions that seem to move by propellers and some sort of gas that keeps them aloft. (At least that’s how someone tried to explain it to you, really you still never got all that “science” stuff)
And just as Semra had mentioned in your visit with her, they’ve been bombing indiscriminately on the Xi AND your own troops. You’ve yet to take one of these airships down mainly because they never stay around long enough in a battle (and certainly not in any battle that you’ve personally participated in. They float in to cause destruction and then leave, though you have noticed that they’ve all been going in a particular direction. Namely towards the city-state that has always remained a mystery, Telis.
Now Lenay is all that remains of the Arat Confederacy and it’s making sure that all attackers will not stomp out its presence with ease. A magic barrier has formed around the city, and probably extends far below the earth as well otherwise the Xi would’ve gone under it.
The barrier has proven impenetrable to all known weapons and magic or at least anything your soldiers can throw at it. Given how strong it is you can only guess that Semra is having a direct hand in the matter. So much for her claims that “you” were needed to create the barrier in the first place, then again she did imply that she merely needed your help to keep her from using up all her power.
Usually a “siege” mentality isn’t very successful (certainly didn’t work for the Felkans) but the svelk seem to be content on “waiting” everything out while you and the Xi slaughter each other, they may even be building up something that will change the tide of the war. (And probably are)
So once again it’s all falling onto you. You’re the only one that has magic remotely powerful enough to bring down that barrier and even then you might need help. You half wonder if taking the barrier down is going to kill you, but if it comes to that then so be it, but there might be a more pressing concern.
The recent appearances of the gnomes and their travels towards Telis make you wonder if you shouldn’t direct your attention toward them. Semra did warn you about them and their recent actions of bombing your own troops haven’t exactly proven her wrong.
It’s just a question of what you want to spend your time and resources on. Making a long trip to Telis probably through Xi occupied territory and then face whatever the gnomes have there (which you have no sort of intel on) or bring down the barrier (And continuing to fend off the Xi in the meantime).
Both of those are probably going to result in considerable losses.