In the city of Kabhalg, an old man sits by the sea. At his feet, perched against a water-filled bucket, a fishing rod lies with its bob in the ocean. The mans attention is not upon his sport but upon his game of Talva. He plays like this, alone by the sea, most days. Occasionally, an older man, often a retired soldier, maimed or scarred by the long wars would approach him curiously, reminded of someone they knew in another life.
Most days, the man varied little from his routine. He would come to the pier, place his fishing line in the water, unroll a small rug and a reclining on a cushion, talk quietly to himself while rolling Talva dice alone. Occasionally, he would catch a fish. The days passed and the man waited. He was good at waiting.
Quite unexpectedly for the elderly fisherman, his monotonous day is broken by the appearance of another man, this one dressed like a peasant. This second man strides casually up to the fisherman and, unrolling his own small rug, takes a position opposite him at the talva board.
How did you find me? the fisherman asks this new arrival.
The second man picks up the dice, rolls them and counts off the number with the dark ivory pieces. He ignores the question, Can you see them out there on the water?
Aye, the man squints into the rising sun, looks like those dirty priests finally decided to take it to the Illians. In the distance the Amurite battle fleet was advancing on the Illian capital, the vulnerable ships being screened with towering jets of wind and sea-water, powerful archmage summons
The day progressed and the two sat quietly chatting to each other, never calling each other by name, but comfortable in way only two very good long-time friends could be.
As night drew near and the fleet finally arrived at the foreign shores, a great light of bursting flame went up.
The peasant turns to the farmer and remarks, I taught them that trick.
In the distance, Garduk was burning. The overwhelming magical summons of the Amurites routed the barbaric southerners with ease.
The two men watch the city burn from across the waves, occasionally drinking coffee or nibbling on the days catch, spiced and fried in a small pan. The night passes and the two men talk. It seemed that despite their easy and relaxed manner, they had much to discuss.
Unbeknownst to them, Amurite messengers deliver a message to the Illian god-king just before dawn.
All morning long, the two men watch as Amurite forces, familiar to them in a way only years can bring, deploy around the foreign capital. Again, potent summons are sent to screen their advance prior to closing with the enemy.
An unexpected question from the man disguised as a peasant: Do you ever miss it?
The man disguised as a fisherman mulls this question thoughtfully, slowly and with deliberation Yes, he finally says.
There's lots of go-to orders but thats because we need a rally point for our forces converging on the Illians. Also, i have some builds on star mode (*) (repeat unit) because i think we're in the end game. Mostly we are building an army (some cities have infrastructure builds to finish that i inherited).
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