PureNES: Epoch of Glory

First thing in the morning, right? (nudge nudge) :mischief:
 
OOC: Hmm... I wonder... :mischief:
 
Battle of Steldam

The waves bounced off the hull with a loud splash. David Stark sat patiently in the ship, staring blankly at the cold dark metal, quietly contemplating about the thing to come. Everyone else was nervous or just waiting in anticipation. For the recruits it would be their first battle and perhaps last. Most of the men under his command were more or less experienced though, plenty of them saw action across many battlefields.

However the green recruits still worried him. Everyone reacts differently when they first see war. The rush of adrenaline, the deafening explosions, the persistent fact that you could die suddenly and without warning in a number of painful ways. All were just a small number of reasons why newbies lost their heads and often got killed by making stupid mistakes, no matter how well trained or disciplined they were.

Winter was here. It was still a bit cold, even though they were in as Gabe said 'in the belly of the beast.' A lot was riding on this mission, he thought as a cannon shot whizzed by the ship and landed in the water close by, missing it only by a few meters. One of the men complained.

"Our own damn Navy will take us out before we even reach the docks."

"Shut up in there will ya? Get ready, we are almost there." David responded sharply.

"I'm tired of sitting in this rusty bucket. Enemies! We need enemies!"

That was James Solomon. A veteran soldier, David was proud to have him in his squad, but he was disturbingly bloodthirsty. Borderline insane actually. While he was considering what to do about him, a short figure with a long grey beard approached David.

"All right you bunch of milksops get off my ship before I load you in the cannons meself and shoot you out."

"Ultramarines you heard the man. Move out!"

It was pitch black, the moon was hidden so light was scarce. The doors on the ironclad opened and armed men started to exit it and gather on the docks. Small gunfights started. The ironclad itself was painted to a color matching the local sea, in a weak effort to reduce visibility. Nine others soon arrived and started unloading it's men. Each ship was planned to carry 100 men of the Ultramarine division for a total of 1000 men. A single company.

The barrage from the sea soon stopped, it was time to move out.

"Kowalski, stop fondling your rifle. Marcus, stop playing with your knife. Newbies, eyes on me and listen. I want to establish a field HQ in that manor over there. Resistance shouldnt be too heavy and they dont know we are coming. Try to dispatch golfs quietly if you can, but dont risk your life if you dont think you can. Just shoot the bloody bastard and be done with it. Lets go!"

They moved through the open streets with haste, unwilling to linger out in the open without cover. Clearing the buildings one by one and killing the occasional patrol or wandering guards, Starks men made their way to the large manor which was damaged from artillery fire and it seemed to host more guildies then David originally thought. He put his rifle on his back, opting to use a revolver and a knife for cleansing the manor of the guild infestation.

Giving the order to his men, they charged at the manor. Once again back to the fray of battle. Solomon was too eager though, he busted down the doors like they were made of paper and ran deep into the manor. David shouted for him to slow down but to no avail. He was in a killing frenzy as if he could taste their blood already. The rest of the squad tactically cleared the lower level of enemies with minimal casualties on their side. Solomon was nowhere to be found, Stark rushed to the upper level in hope to bring him back into the fold.

He gripped the revolver firmly in his hand, adrenaline pumping though him expecting to be ambushed by guildies at any moment. His expectations were correct, several of them leaped out of the corner shooting at him. Most bullets flew by him but one scratched him and another actually hit him, lodging in his left thigh. David fell on his knee, but reacted quick enough to pull the trigger and repeatedly hit the hammer of the revolver in order to fire off shots in a very fast manner, almost resembling automatic fire.

This technique however damaged the revolver cylinder, not that it mattered because he ran out of ammo anyway. While he did take down two of them, the third one was just barely scratched by a bullet on the left shoulder. The guildie didnt look happy and it seemed that David was about to meet his doom.

Just then a hand from behind grabbed the guildsman, it was James. With the knife he surely clutched in his other hand he proceeded to viciously stab the man from behind many times. As he did this, he kept repeating one word over and over again: Miki, Miki, Miki, Miki, Miki, Miki, Miki, Miki, Miki.....

David was unsure what the word meant, but it seemed to be a nonsense word James liked to repeat while murdering someone in hand to hand combat. When he finally stopped he released the man from his grip and he collapsed flat on the floor. The poor sod must have had at least fifty stab wounds, while James in his severely blood drenched uniformed preformed a small victory dance.

"I am invincible!"

"No James you are a damn maniac. Hand over that knife."

"But, sir....Sanity is for the weak! Knife goes in, guts go out. I need this finely crafted tool."

"I dont want to hear it, you broke from the squad and went against orders."

"Fine, here take it then. I guess I'll have to rend them limb from limb with my bare hands then."

"And hand over that handaxe you have hidden."

"Damn! Here take it."

"Good. Now start setting up the field HQ. It's your punishment for disobeying orders."

James grunted with a sound of disapproval before going away. David leaned on the wall and tried to stop the bleeding from his leg with a bandage. As much as he hated to admit it, the knife wielding maniac saved the day again. He would have to consider transferring him to the Blood Wolves division where James would fit in very well. The battle was far from over however and he stored such thoughts for a later time.

One thing was certain though. Steldam would fall before dawn and it would be purged of Guild presence.
 
I do believe it is past dinnertime on August 18th in most parts of the world....
 
OOC: I'm sure thlayli would point out Alaska as iggy loves to do ;) I have faith in him.
 
Thlayli said:
I've embraced a non-linear view of time lately. It's quite liberating. :p

Even so, those of you still bound to a conventional state of mind will see the update soon.
Click to expand...

That's what you said over a week ago. There's no excuse at this point.

(Sometimes harsh love works.)
 
OOC: Broken hearts, false promises. My, this nes is starting to sound like some of the Cantonese/Taiwanese(the island, not the country) Dramas I watch :p
 
OOC: I would not be pleased if Excelsior continues to surpass us in number of updates :p Perhaps your co-mod could help you write some of the less-interesting parts? ;)
 
I'm sorry for delaying, but no one harps on Iggy like this and he's updating slower than I am. :(

And clearly I made the mistake of doing my school work before updating for you ungrateful bunch. :rolleyes:

You can burn me in effigy if it's not up tonight. Promise.
 
OOC: School starts for you on the 30th! :p

If I, being the Chinese-American I am and thus personifying the work ethics of the finest race in the world (;)) has barely started on my dialectical journals, then you are surely entitled to not start at all ;)

We would burn you in effigy, but we don't know how you look like :mischief:
 
Thlayli said:
I'm sorry for delaying, but no one harps on Iggy like this and he's updating slower than I am. :(
Click to expand...

Perhaps it has something to do with promising specific times for the update to appear and falling short, frequent broken promises and such. :mischief:

You can burn me in effigy if it's not up tonight. Promise.
Click to expand...

I'll fetch the pig fat
 
Update III: Complications
1512​

---

Dispatch from the War of the Guilds

A light snow fell to mark the New Year. It suited Athaldius Venair, Revolutionary Commander of the Buridisian Workers’ Conclave. The white, crystalline snowflakes coated the blasted ruins of an imperialist city, and left a clean carpet of white over the ashen statues and decrepit palaces, reminders of a sickening past that the proletariat had long endured. It was almost like the powdery layer of ash that coated Alenne after the burning of the royal city. They had suffered enough blunders by the bastard heirs of a long-stagnant monarchy. It was time to wipe their mistakes off the face of the earth.

He knew the Princepii generals. Even if their vile, corrupt Lord-Dominator was dead, the Council of Regency was well organized. Compiarda’s generals and armies would be effective long after his death. They had forged an alliance with those Aeltenese collaborators, he saw. Perhaps they even had an “arrangement” with the Holy Empire of Kantic Halidom, which had its own plans. Their time would come.

Let them worry about their balances of power, and play their petty games. It was time to spread the revolution beyond Buridisian borders. Their ‘High Republican’ brethren had already liberated Callixtus for the working people, and soon their true purpose would be revealed to the world: Complete domination of the working classes.

Commander-General Venair smiled into the thickening snowstorm, as long columns of brown-coated soldiers marched to the west. First they would purify the Claidhe. Then they would liberate the workers of the world.

---

Opening Moves

The High Kingdom of Callixtus was totally unprepared. Their commanding general, Lord-Viscount Braghan, was supervising the infiltration of cavalry into western Buridisia, to support the (somewhat ineffective) rebellion of the noble houses. Princeps, as usual, ignored them, while arranging and tacitly supporting a final end to the nuisance on their northwestern border.

The forces of the Conclave and the Republic of Callixtus smashed into the Marcher Kingdom from both directions, in a surprise midwinter assault. Overwhelmed by superior numbers and morale, the cavalry-based army of the High King was bruised, bloodied, and sent reeling towards the heartland, as twenty divisions swept across the plain. The vast majority fled, owing more loyalty to the nobles (that were rapidly fleeing for Taenevix) than the discredited King.

It was only a month of sporadic warfare before the Marcher Kingdom was secured. The last remnants of the royal army fortified themselves in the ancient fortress of Daerall, surrounded by a much larger Conclave force. With this crushing victory behind them, a new Conclave was formed in Pelathir, of radical industrial leaders, Buridisian revolutionaries, and government officials from the Republic of Callixtus.

There they announced a new force in Arios: The Workers’ Republic of the Claidhe. As the repercussions of this began to spread across the continent, a brief and terse statement arrived from Jathalland’s Embassies:

“The Government of the Confederate Kingdoms declares full neutrality toward the events occurring on the Continent. His Majesty’s Government further warns that any foreign naval vessel entering Confederate waters without permission shall be fired upon.”

Emergency procedures were immediately enacted in Taenevix and Gosica. A new, hastily written treaty of military alliance was drawn up, and the Imperial Republic declared war on the Guilds, though that was merely a formality. Both nations began to mobilize their forces (and Gosica, its reserves,) for a pincer attack on the Workers’ Republic similar to the one that had just destroyed the Marcher Kingdom.

But their reactions, as quick as they were, were simply too late.

---

The Eastern Front

Setting in motion a long-prepared plan, the Conclave activated their contacts among the urban workers of Taenevix. Though the vast majority of its citizens were loyal, a wave of urban riots swept across the nation, which were put down in blood. Emperor Domnall remained calm throughout the entire episode, even when the rioters approached the walls of the palace. Before long, most of the strikers were quelled and arrested

But then, just as the situation began to calm down, the Emperor was shot in his office, at point blank range in the head. He was killed instantly. The assassin fled, escaping on a river barge, but was later killed, after a fierce manhunt that stretched across fields, forests, and ended three miles from the border with Callixtus. The man was identified as a junior member of the Foreign Service, and a committed secret ‘Clavist’. Almost immediately a Princeps-style military regency was set up, that took emergency powers from the elected government. Just as the widespread purges began, and the full fury of the Imperial Republic was about to descend on the Workers Republic, another disaster struck.

Aelten and the Holy Empire of Kantic Halidom declared war on Taenevix. Within hours, the first Aeltenese ‘Royal Cavalry’ units had seized the coal-laden borderlands that Taenevix had “stolen” from Buridisia after the last war. The light, mobile Aeltenese advance force covered the slow, inexorable march of Halidom’s vast legions. Over fifty divisions lumbered across the eastern border, brushing aside the Taenevix garrisons like a bear swatting gnats. Almost initially, the southeastern Unist Kantic provinces surrendered to the two armies, prompting some calls of betrayal from

But Taenevix still had one of the best-trained armies on Arios, and they had just completed mobilization. The war against the Workers’ Republic would have to wait, and the joint Gosica-Taenevix invasion plans were scrapped.

The counterattack was fierce. Though outnumbered almost 2 to1, Imperial Republican Army divisions exploited the gap between Halidom and Aelten’s advance to blow a hole in their front line, and then followed this up with an attack that penetrated south into Aelten, dealing a heavy blow to their newly formed military. Then Taenevix turned its attention to Halidom, which had been steadily attempting to encircle their position.

Taenevix attempted to counteract this with a “double encirclement,” attacking one encircling salient, thus pocketing it, while simultaneously blunting the other salient and leaving it exposed to further counterattack. With this strategy, Taenevix made its first advance into Halidom, using its small but effective navy for artillery support, as a Jathalland pre-dreadnought hovered offshore, observing the battle. The advance headed down the north coast towards Halidom’s crucial northern seaport of Vresten.

The Battle of Lesric Heights, where the well-supported Taenevix infantry fended off a wide flanking maneuver by Halidom’s vaunted ‘Seraph’s Eagles’ cavalry regiment, and smashed two conscript divisions attempting a frontal assault with well-positioned artillery, ended as a hollow victory. The bloody sacrifice of a Kantic army allowed a relief force from the Holy Empire’s nearly limitless conscript divisions to prevent Vresten from falling, and kept the entire northern end of the front from collapsing.

The campaigns for the year ground to a halt with the onset of the first winter storms roaring out of Thule. The armies of Taenevix and Halidom were frozen in the act of trying to encircle each other’s advance positions, as Aelten reformed its shattered army further to the south.

---

The Southern Front

The featureless sands of the desert extend for miles. Then they slowly merge into a long row of bleak, shallow hills, covered in scrub. To the south, they gradually ascend into the craggy, ancient mountains where countless Barabar armies met their deaths. But to the west, a new battle is raging.

Dreningen’s engineers have methodically extended a long line of trenches, protected by rudimentary land mines, and fortified with a new type of wire covered in tiny razors. The Princepii-Gosica advance has slowly ground to a halt, as attrition begins to take its toll on the sweltering soldiers. Some whisper that Dreningen has turned its mines into fortresses, and that the trenches are connected to deep tunnels with endless stockpiles of food and water. Dreningen was always the most military-minded of the guilds, and it stood to reason that they were well prepared.

Anyway, both Princeps and Gosica had other issues on their minds.

---

The Northern Front

As the triumphant soldiers of the United Republic of Alhaven raised their Silver Star over the final fallen Metti port city, the Gosican commanding officers felt confident. With their homeland fallen, the guilds were in retreat. Alhaven was cleared of their presence, and even though Dreningen’s Hadiran colonies were putting up more resistance than expected, it was only a matter of time before their money and supplies ran out.

But naval battles were strange…they had gone far too easily. It seemed almost like the guild navies were nowhere in sight. And regular patrols near the long chain of guild island bases in the center of the Terian Ocean revealed strong defenses, but no sight of major fleets. It was almost as if they were hiding. Also, Guild Kuurel’s armies had barely been spotted for the entire war. Perhaps they might soon offer peace.

The people of the Tuevic Peninsula, an ethnically Guipikan area in northwestern Gosica, woke up one crisp fall morning to a living hell. The guilds had finally struck. And they had struck on Gosica’s home soil. Not just Dreningen, they saw, but Verkel, Zaanmar, Brachten…practically all the minor guilds had assembled their fleets. There were even some exiles from Elstadt that hadn’t escaped through the Gates of Fire to Telerius.

And Kuurel. Kuurel had finally arrived, with almost one hundred airships. Circling over the Gosican ports like a flock of giant, inflated birds of prey, they dropped lines of explosive bombs, crippling harbors and docked ships, and pounding the minimal coastal fortifications into dust, before the landing boats disgorged thousands of hardened Dreningen mercenaries. Soon, airships were bombing almost all of Gosica’s coastal cities.

Gosica immediately recalled its expeditionary force from Hadir, and rushed soldiers to the north, to deal with this new threat. Metti airships sank over one third of the transports before Gosica’s own, smaller air fleet was mobilized to drive off the invaders. After the burning wreckage of a Metti “K-3” dropped into the ocean near the Gates of Air, the guild air fleets concentrated on maintaining air superiority over Gosica’s western coast.

Just as elements of the Gosican Army began to contain the invasion force, yet another catastrophe occurred: A massive Claidhe army had invaded, using Taenevix’ distraction to their advantage. Coordinating with the guilds, the hastily organized invasion threw a massive army across the northern border, pummeling the weakened Gosican defenses. It soon became clear to the Gosicans that both armies were driving down the northern coast to link up.

With almost no available resources in the area, the Gosicans frantically pieced together an army, throwing it into the field just in time to prevent the two enemy forces from meeting, at the bustling (and now panicking) port of Alboa.

As the Battle of Alboa began, about 30,000 Gosican soldiers faced a Dreningen army of 25,000 to their east, and what appeared to be a Clavist conscript force of 60,000. The Gosican commander, Field Marshal Georg Versen, realized that his position was weak. If he divided his forces, they could only stall the enemy, and they would link up to the south of the city. He had to choose one of them to engage, and hopefully salvage enough of his force to defeat the other.

The Gosicans moved east, attempting to outmaneuver the Clavist soldiers, who began a general assault. Seeing this, Field Marshal Versen cleverly angled his right flank further out, elongating the column so it stretched southeast in a diagonal. He then enticed the advancing enemy forward along the coast, and finally pulled around his right flank, hammering them up against the ocean with nowhere to go. (OOC: Using the elevation to his advantage, it was something like the OTL Battle of Lake Trasimene.)

With artillery shells exploding directly in their position, the Claidhe were getting slaughtered. Knowing this, their commander ordered the front of his column to break through the Gosican left, which they attempted to do, and failed. Knowing that the city couldn’t be taken, he ordered all units to charge, which turned out to be a suicide march as the conscripts advanced uphill to be decimated, breaking on heavily fortified Gosican positions occupying higher ground. The surviving half of the Clavist army broke and fled to the east, where it rejoined the larger invading force.

The Gosican army then tried to deal with the Dreningen force, but their able commander had taken advantage of the bought time. They had already begun shelling Alboa from the southwest, and the city was stormed before Marshal Versen could pull the main body of his army back. With more Claidhe approaching, he opted to withdraw to the south, unbeaten but outmaneuvered.

Now, with the Clavist and Guild armies establishing a solid front against the Gosicans, those optimistic predictions have fallen very flat indeed.

---

Economic Troubles

Arios has been plunged into yet another war, but the economic effects are causing serious damage across the continent. As the Guilds were forced to end all trading operations to fight Gosica and Princeps, imports from Karai were cut off. Though the upper classes are annoyed by the lack of luxuries, Dreningen’s operations provided many nations with coal, lumber, precious metals, and other commodities. Kuurel sold them a great deal of heavy and complex machinery. The industrial capacity of Gosica and Taenevix isn’t enough to pick up the slack, and the pinch is already being felt.

A once little known trading firm, by the name of Doria, has begun to expand its Torenze trading operation to the Celian and Terian Oceans, with the quiet support of Princeps. Because it is a ‘neutral’ operation, its heavily armed vessels are (reluctantly) ignored by the Guilds, and by Telerius as well. This near-monopoly on foreign trade is beginning to make the Doria family, rumored descendants of Torenzi (and perhaps even Justician) princes, fabulously wealthy. The palatial villa owned by Jacob Doria, the reclusive leader of all Doria ventures, is a potent sign of that.

---

The Flame Burns Inward

In the 1500’s, an era of machines, metal ships that cross the horizon, and the powerful empires of Arios that constantly surpass each other, it’s difficult to remember that they were once a collection of city states and petty kingdoms, awed and outshone by the richest, most powerful dominion of the medieval world: The Caliphate.

The Alqazar dynasty is but one of many that has carried the caliphal banner across Hadir and beyond. Her armies are the Sword and the Flame, and they carried the fires of Alamya across the continent. They were never humbled and turned back only at the gates of Kantas itself, after utterly routing every mob of knights and crusaders sent against it. Even after they were pushed back to their southern province of Sinnarah, they remained wealthy and powerful, accepting the vassalage of the Walakim, the tribute of the Suziran lords, and an endless stream of alms and taxes, thrown into the coffers by devoted Alamyans.

It was a long, slow decay, like a building collapsing in slow motion. Sinara was abandoned to the Kantics, who soon landed armies in Hadir itself! A long string of jihads left Halidom’s emperors with only a toehold, but the damage had been done. Mettlingen, Palantina, and countless others began to nibble at the edges of the Caliphate’s domains. But the first true disaster came when the Suzirans publicly renounced Alamya, embracing a new sect that preached tolerance and goodwill, even to heretics and apostates! Worse still, when the vast, avenging armies of the Caliph arrived to put them down, they were shattered by Suziran infantry using rifles and cannons, and trained by Metti advisors! The dominance of the Caliphate was over. It was only a matter of time (seventy years since then,) until they realized it.

With this latest defeat at the hands of Princeps, Emperor Khalad IX retreated to his palace, drowning his sorrows in alcohol and music. That vile Compiarda…he would have killed him first if he could. He was being treated not as an enemy, but as a temporary obstacle, like a large and unnecessary boulder to be demolished! If those wretched Princepii ever decided to conquer this land, it wouldn’t even be a challenge for them. How far they had fallen.

Just as he lifted his wine-sodden head, an idea entered his head that might have saved him, and everything he knew. But right then, the silken tapestries of his bedchamber burst into flame. With reddened eyes open wide with terror, he ran to the door, and finding it locked, let out a horrified scream, filled with the knowledge of his impending death. The flames immolated Hadir’s most powerful man, and with his death, they spread, engulfing the palace, the capital, and the world.

Now, three emperors were dead. Soon, no one would be able to stop them.

OOC: If outside powers want to know exactly what’s going on in Hadir besides rumor and hearsay, they’ll have to send diplomats or explorers. And that will take some stories.

---

Celian Upheavals

The New Telerian Empire had truly begun to shine. Ambitious new colonization projects were being sent out, and modernization was proceeding at an incredibly rapid pace, thanks to the (partially coerced) advisors from Guild Elstadt assisting the Emperor. The only black mark on a spotless decade had been the humiliating defeat of the Imperial Telerian Navy to Princeps’ forces.

But with the death of the Lord-Dominator, stability replaced expansion as the chief goal of the Dominion of the Princepii. And the Council of Regency was more than willing to negotiate an armistice, in return for recognition of Telerius

Seeing an opportunity, a small Telerian army was sent to the aging Saranir, who were now under a swift assault from the Anski and Sakani Khanates. Despite the assistance of the modernized Telerian armies, Emperor Ta-Erach soon realized that his problem was bigger than a determined raid of tribals.

The Khanates were not simply moving armies. They were moving their entire nations. Yes, thousands of troops were slowly advancing down the river. But behind them followed entire tent cities of women, children, animals, and even priests, with mobile canvas temples exploring the mysteries of the Sevenfold Path on the move. The only advantage was their slow advance.

At the wedding ceremony between the eldest daughter of the Telerian Emperor and Crown Prince Ta-Kabal, held in the grandiose but decaying capital of Jarashi, Ta-Erach revealed to the stunned Telerian delegation that his army was too terrified to engage the hordes, so large had the horde grown. He would need more soldiers, and fast.

Across the ocean, a truly dumbfounded admiral sent word, by messenger bird, of the recapture of Hespiron, if it could be called that. The entire province was deserted. Not one Darian soldier was present. The cheerful, liberated Hespiroi told the Telerians that they had simply retreated the day after the Darian Emperor’s death.

It was hard to see anything sinister in total victory, but the complete silence from the Darians was…slightly disquieting, to say the least.

---

Forest at Dawn in the Mournful Coasts, by Rupert Cavendish of the Royal Cartographic Society:

Spoiler :
Mournful_Coasts.PNG


---

The death of the Khan’s son in Arg’elat has led to a rise in speculation on the strength or weakness of the ruling dynasty. The growing influence of the ambassadors of Jathalland and Cyrusicum are starting to disturb many of the tribes, and roughly half did not even manage to declare loyalty to the Khan at his last inauguration ceremony.

There is a growing rift between a small minority of Argai who believe their people need to modernize to survive, and the rest of the nation, which is strongly attached to its tribal ways. But only time will tell what the outcome will be. That decision lays firmly in the hands of whoever the Khan’s heir will be.

---

The Great Southern War/Jin Bo Rebellion

As the southern plains turned from a mud-covered impasse into dry, windswept grassland, the three great powers prepared to strike their final blows. Conscription reached unprecedented new levels, and every last coin was squeezed out of the economy. Huge new armies were assembled, and all placed under the leadership of experienced, dedicated generals. There was no more playing around with skirmishes and maneuvering. This war had finally gotten serious.

Things started slowly. An overwhelming 5 armies slowly pushed into the Jin Bo heartlands, meeting fierce resistance and excellent firepower. But the Yun could afford to take the casualties, and they held their New Model Army in reserve…for the true battles to come. The Jin Bo concentrated on solidifying their hold in the north. While the Yun had managed to finally isolate and kill the most famous of the rogue generals, Zhou Shikai, the Jin Bo had crushed several noble houses that were stubbornly loyal to the Emperor.

Of course, Shevien had withdrawn its informal support for the Jin Bo, but Telerian and other merchants continued to sell them weapons and supplies.

The Yun won the first major victory of the year’s campaigns, finally destroying all Jin Bo resistance in the Peninsula, except the fortified city of Baoli, once capital of the Hai Dynasty. It was surrounded by half a million troops that awaited its capitulation. But the Jin Bo showed no signs of surrendering. They were well supplied by the sea.

Soon the Telcari had reduced the last of the stalwart fortress cities in the south, pounding many to rubble with their new, long-range artillery. This freed up thousands of soldiers to fight further to the north. But the Yun had not yet lost the initiative. Deploying a new, elite army that operated separate from the conscript divisions, the Yun opened a broad offensive in the south, attacking southeast parallel to the Great Southern Wall. It failed to reach the southern coast and cut off the Telcari invasion force, but it seriously damaged their supply lines and threatened the Telcari Empire itself after an important victory that recaptured the ruined city of Di’ya.

The Yun had another success when they finally convinced the Huyue to join the war. In reprisal, the Telcari bombed and occupied the Huyue coastline, but this sparked a series of raids into the Empire’s northern borderlands that pulled troops away from fighting the Yun. They would at least be a useful distraction, and after all, the Huyue once toppled fortresses with their cunning.

The Telcari and the Jin Bo had struck a series of nonfatal wounds to the Yun Dragon, but now they were finally prepared to tear out its heart. And the heart of the Dragon was the Imperial City, Luanyi. Protected by the Weishui River and fortified to the teeth, it would be a monumental task. So, they brought a monumental army.

The Telcari offensive began with Shensen. They were used as cannon fodder, sent to soften up the Yun positions while the artillery lay down a flaming carpet of explosive shells. Though lightly armed, the Shensen fought like demons. They jumped into Yun trenches with only bayonets and sabers, ripping into the packed conscripts like wolves attacking a flock of sheep. Following that came the main Telcari advance, which punched a hole through the Yun defenses and swept aside their last army south of the Weishui.

Despite their best efforts, the Telcari advance ground to a halt in front of the last line of defensive fortresses before Luanyi. But then came the Jin Bo. For the past two years, the Golden Junks had been in a standoff with the Imperial Navy at the entrance to the Tàiào Bay. But now, they finally smashed their way in. The Battle of Taiao Bay ended in a disaster for the Yun, with 150 of their 200 war junks destroyed. Roughly the same number was sunk on the Jin Bo’s side, but several hundred ships remained. All along the bay, cities were taken by amphibious assault…but the full force of the invasion fleet hit the Weishui Delta, landing 200,000 Jin Bo soldiers who began to invest the capital.

The navy of the Jin Bo forced its way up the Weishui, taking massive casualties from the guns of the fortress cities. Improvised mines were thrown into the river, blowing holes in many of the ships and causing mass chaos. But the fleet eventually reached its destination: The Telcari army, waiting to be transported across the river.

They were ferried right into the fortified city of Changxi. A fanatical effort by the defenders threw the first two waves of Telcari back into the river. However, the Jin Bo managed to break the chains preventing entry into the harbor, and sailed their fleet in, dropping hundreds of soldiers at the base of the fortress. What followed was an intensely difficult uphill battle, where thousands were killed attempting to break the Yun defenses. Finally, after the fourth attempt, the Yun defenders were cleared from the beaches, and the walls were breached with high explosives.

The road to Luanyi was open. Jin Bo and Telcari soldiers soon surrounded the Imperial City on two sides. Supplies from the north, and communication with the three other Yun-held fortresses, were tenuous, and disrupted by artillery attacks. But the casualties had been so horrendous simply approaching the city, that it was unknown whether the besiegers or the besieged would fall first. But the Second Siege of Luanyi had begun.

(OOC: The first siege was during the Argai War, several hundred years previous.)

The next year of battle would decisively decide which nation would ultimately survive.

---

Diplomacy:

From: The Telcari Empire, Jin Bo
To: The Yun Empire

Surrender now, and we promise generous terms.

From: The Saranir Empire
To: The New Telerian Empire

The situation is very grave, and my hold on power is tenuous. Please send more aid.

From: The Workers' Republic of the Claidhe, Holy Empire of Kantic Halidom, Kingdom of Aelten, Mettlingen, Assorted Guilds
To: The Kingdom of Gosica, The Imperial Republic of Taenevix, the Dominion of the Princepii

Given our crushing victories, we hope you are ready to discuss peace terms.


OOC: Yes, thank you for waiting. Nylan, alex, and company, please go jump into a spiked pit. With alligators. That are on fire.

From now on, if you’d like to discover out more about what’s going on in a certain area, i.e. Hadir or Daraj, you’ll have to send diplomats, some type of expedition, or obtain information in some other way. This is the industrial age, not the information age, so it’ll take some tangible effort (like stories) to get the information you need. Very major wars and other world events are exceptions, because that type of news spreads around the world in a year and is easy to find.

Writing extra stories to get more information could definitely give you an extra advantage. This could potentially be used for things like espionage, as well.

Players wanted for: The Workers’ Republic of the Claidhe, (aka the Conclave,) The Dominion of the Princepii, The Federated Lands of Naia, and Mettlingen (aka the Guilds)

Please PM me, or NK, for more information. From this point on, NK is in charge.

Map is on the next post.
 
My fears were correct I see

Also, thank you for making me eat my words Thlayli :)
 
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