Hey, guys, second time poster, relatively long-time lurker. This should probably go in Stories and Tales, but I figured that since I wasn't going to be updating this like a story, it might be better to just put it here. If I am incorrect in this assumption, I apologize in advance.
So sometimes I'll play a game of Civ that I get really into. When this happens, I'll sometimes write up what happened in a little story or whatever. This was one of those times. It was my third or fourth time actually playing FfH after countless times of becoming frustrated early on when Acheron or Orthus would spawn near me and slaughter me mercilessly with their hordes. But this time I decided to go for the gusto. For whatever reason, I decided to try out the barbarian world challenge on an Eberus map with Noble difficulty (as I'm really not that great at the game). I set up thirteen AI opponents with myself playing as my own nation (Neapole, in universe an offshoot of the Bannor who I also added to the game).
In the early going, I found that Neapole was blocked in on all sides by impassible mountains save for a choke point to the north east. Stationing troops there, I was able to hold off the barbarian hordes for years while a great many of the other nations were wiped out by them. To my south were the Sidar (who died out early on thanks to the barbarians in that area), to the west were the Calabim, to the north west were the Amurites (who also died early on), and to the far east were the Ljosalfar and the Bannor (who were both killed off by Acheron and his armies). To the far south, beyond the Southern Barbarians and the Sidar were the Doviello and to their east were the Hippus who were blocked off by a mountain range making them effectively part of another continent all together. To the north on an isolated peninsula were the Elohim. North of them, on another continent were the Lanun. East of the Lanun on a small island were the Malakim who eventually summoned Basium. Separate from everyone else were the Kuriosates on the Eastern Continent.
So almost immediately we were surrounded by barbarians. To the north were the Northern Barbarians, ruled by Orthus. To the east was the realm of Acheron. And to the south were the Southern Barbarians. Three barbarian empires were on our borders, as well as the Evil Calabim who weren't too happy with us in those days because we were neutral. Orthus led his army to our gates first and we held him off and defeated him at our choke point, though the vast majority of our army at that time was lost. Later the city of Orthus Falls was founded south of the place where he was eventually killed. Using the disunity created by his death, we marched northward and captured a city from the barbarians which later became known as Stronghold because it was able to withstand constant barbarian attacks. Their survival was mostly thanks to the Heroic 23rd Warband who held off stacks all by themselves and were eventually promoted to Immortals.
As the years passed, we eventually claimed all of the northern lands for ourselves and the Doviello had conquered the Southern Barbarians, earning our gratitude and eventual friendship, but Acheron's hordes still bothered us. Oddly enough, by this time the Ruins of Kilmorph had become the dominant religion across the world and pretty much everybody (ourselves excluded) had become Good including the Calabim which had given us their friendship for several years.
So we sent the majority of our army east to claim the lands of Acheron and finally rid the continent of the barbarian menace. Led by the adventurer turned axeman Khord Guywhoslastnameidontremember, they would slay the dragon and everything would be all hunky dory. Which, as it turned out, was easier said than done. Oh we took all the land around him with ease, that was no problem. The barbarians fell to our mighty stack of doom. Acheron, however, was a bit more challenging. But seeing as Yggdrasil was RIGHT NEXT to the city he was in, we knew we had to take him. So we built our army even more. For months we grew our forces and finally, through sheer luck and numbers, we defeated the Red Dragon with Khord himself landing the killing blow to the beast. The city was renamed Acheron Falls and all was well with the world. We let our empire grow and rested from the constant warfare.
And then the Calabim decided to settle a city on our new land. Huh. Well we can't have that. So we closed our borders. Because their new city was now cut off from their main territory, they couldn't really do much to us. They didn't like that so much, but they didn't have a choice. So our relations with them strained a bit. Eventually, this led to outright warfare between ourselves and the friendly neighborhood vampires where we marched troops through the bottleneck connecting our countries and overran their troops with sheer numbers.
Oh it wasn't easy, those vampires were ready for a war. But in the end, we were able to capture their capitol and, because I had "require complete kills" on, made their few remaining soldiers (because they had no more cities) capitulate. I world buildered them up some settlers, moved their troops to the Eastern Continent, and sent their royal family into exile. Shockingly enough, while they were there they became Evil again and took up the Ashen Vail religion (which I had founded...oops). Guess we just sent all the vampires into exile and freed the humans from the breeding pits and gave the cities over to them?
Of course, their evil status was a bit of a turn off for the Malakim and Basium and eventually they declared war on me...about four or five times. We called these the Wars of Annoyance because nothing really happened and we were still on Friendly terms with them even DURING the wars...it was just kinda annoying. Eventually we had built up enough of a navy (I swear, I always ignore my navy, that's a bad habit) and sent them north to attack Malakim shipping. Led by our flagship, the Lita, our navy destroyed all of their navy and most of their cities' defenses. In hind sight, that kinda drove a wedge between us.
Oddly enough, though, it wasn't even the actions of the Malakim that eventually led to me actually attacking their colony on the Eastern Continent. See, I had sent a Champion to guard the newly founded Calabim lands from barbarians and whatever else might attack them; the 99th Legion. They were called the Exile Legion because the chances of them seeing Neapolean shores again was slim to nil. Well we sent them out to do a bit of exploring one day. It'd been a really long time since the last barbarian stack had come to raid the towns and I was getting worried they were up to something. Well we probably sent them adventuring too far because in the end they were ambushed and killed. This sparked what would come to be called the Vengeance Crusade (Operation Ground and Pound). We would build up a massive army and send them to conquer the barbarian lands on that continent in revenge for the 99th.
Over 70 units were sent on the crusade, led by Donal Lugh, Khord, and another adventurer we had acquired named Melusine (who had been promoted to Archmage by the time of the Crusade), the Neapolean Crusaders would capture all barbarian cities in sight and create a new vassal on that continent from their remains. At the top of the continent was Bryn, the sole Malakim colony. We would capture it also because...well...when in Rome, y'know? And so we did. We marched through the lands, taking all the cities in our path until we came to a cross roads. A mountain range divided the two barbarian empires on that continent. The northern one led to the Malakim city, the southern one had Mithril. We sent the Heroes south and the main army north. And promptly became bogged down in the fighting. The Heroes captured the southern cities JUST as Basium arrived off the coast of one of the captured Barbarian cities we had given away to the Calabim.
Three angels took out pretty much the entire Calabim army and all of our musket wielding defenders. We were finally able to beat them by sending our army back to the city to defend it, but it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. We lost a lot of our troops in the fighting, but we did win. We sent our army back north, now backed by the Heroes, and granted independence to the other recently captured cities creating the Balseraphs (another Evil vassal, we're on a role with those guys). Eventually, we were able to capture the remaining cities on the continent and gift them to either of our vassals, making the Calabim go from furious at us to friendly. We also got both of our vassals to switch their religions to the Ruins of Kilmorph thus making them Neutral and ending the Malakim's want and need to DOW on us every couple of turns.
We packed up our army and sent them home to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Neapole's founding. At turn 1200, we had completed the tech tree and become the sole colonial empire on Eberus. But a new war loomed on the horizon, a war for other Heroes and a later time. The God Emperor abdicated this throne in favor of creating a Republic, slavery was abolished (even though we had an army of slaves from all the fighting and Orcs and Lizardmen were probably technically a minority because of it) and the workforce replaced with Arete, and the economy switched away from its dependence on conquest to one favor of the merchant class. And for a time, Neapole underwent a Second Golden Age.
~~~~~
In the ninth month of the third year after the Emperor abdicated his throne in favor of establishing the Republic, Neapole was a thriving nation that dominated the vast majority of two continents. From the Northern Mountains to the Southern Pass, from the lands of the Calabim to the Far Eastern Peninsula Neapole's borders controlled the world. The Blood of the Phoenix flowed through the veins of its armies allowing every man who died in combat a second lease on life and a fresh rebirth in that great city. Fresh off of the heels of the Second Golden Age, Neapole had replenished its armies from the Vengeance Crusade and acquired three new heroes during that time as well.
One, an adventurer named Bahamet the Second from the southern lands who had been trapped in a dungeon for several years before being freed, had agreed to offer his sword to Neapole in exchange for freedom. The people of the southern lands, the Doviello, are little more than an empire of barbarians who came into the good graces of the First Emperor by rising up and killing the barbarian chieftain who had previously ruled the southern lands. This barbarian civil war would have been nothing special, mind you, but the Doviello possessed a trait unlike any other barbarian tribe: they were human. Over time and through Neapolean influence, the Doviello have become more and more civilized and less barbaric. But on the battlefield, they were as vicious as any of their kinsmen, reveling in the bloodshed. For this reason, Bahamet's offer was accepted. Over the months he was reacquainted with civilized society and taught the use of the latest killing machine: the musket.
The second and third heroes came from the dwarven lands to the far east where the dwarves have long lived as a minority race, first under the Bannor, then under Acheron, and now under Neapole. A skilled healer and talented crossbowman, Arthendain joined the armies of Neapole claiming to be on a mission directly from Kilmorph herself. Likewise came Bambur, a highly talented weaponsmith and soldier who claimed to be one of the first dwarves created. Whether or not these things are true is anyone's guess, but they were quickly welcomed into the ranks of the heroes.
It was in this month that Neapole was approached by the Lanun, a republic of pirates from the Northern Continent who had long been perhaps the greatest empire outside of Neapole itself, with a request for military aid. It seemed that the Lanun had been locked in a great war with the Hippus, barbarous horse lords to the south east of Neapole, for several years alongside the Kuriotates City States and now required the aid of Neapole in completing the war.
Seeking allies for the inevitable return of warfare with the Malakim, the traitorous island nation to the north, Neapole accepted and soon the whole of the Neapolean navy was sent along with the Main Army to not-so-distant shores to war for pastures new. The strategy, or lack there of, was simple. While the Lanun would maintain naval dominance of the coasts, devastating the Hippus navy, Kuriotates would attack the eastern side of the continent and Neapole would attack the center as the west was impassible due to the presence of a great mountain range.
The Southern Crusade began in short order as Neapolean troops made landfall off the coast of the Hippus city of Murousbane. In the landing battles, the Neapolean main force was met by a cavalry consisting primarily of horse archers and chariots. Though some minor casualties were inflicted on the invaders, the Hippus defenders were overrun in the battle and the shore was taken. That same month, the Neapolean navy led by the Lita opened fire on Murousbane proper, destroying its defenses.
The Seige of Murousbane lasted until the end of the third year when the 102nd Legion led the Neapolean Main Army to victory in the Battle of Murousbane. Prior to the battle, Neapolean assassins were sent into the city to kill some of the more experienced soldiers as well as sabotage the Hippus seige weapons that were in that city. As a result of their actions, the battle proved a huge success and soon the Neapolean army would find itself marching south towards the heart of Hippus itself, Altheriol-ta-Mealthiel. Due to the difficult name of this city, it was commonly referred to by the Neapolean infantry as "Horsetown" because of its proximity to a large corral of horses used by the Hippus military as well as intelligence indicating that the city was defended entirely by cavalry soldiers.
The plan was simple. The Neapolean Main Force would continue southward to Horsetown and capture it with a weaker secondary force covering their right flank. From Horsetown south to Feiss Mabdon (codenamed "Coppertown") and capture it as well. The main force would then splint in two and move north east and form a defensive Maginot Line using captured Hippus farms on a choke point, thus allowing the weaker secondary force supplemented by reinforcements to capture the remaining western Hippus cities. At that point, Neapole would negotiate the terms of Hippus' surrender which, having lost half of their land, they would likely accept.
As the third month of the fourth year began the 35th and 39th Infantry, assigned to the Neapolean Secondary Army, were attacked by and defeated Hippus cavalry in farmland northwest of Horsetown in what has become known as the First Farmtown Skirmish. The first was soon followed by the second as, at the end of the month, the Main Army was likewise attacked by Hippus soldiers. But these troops were not the guerrillas that had attacked the Secondary Army. Rather this was the standing army of the Hippus come to defend the city. While the Main Army was attacked by this "Suicide Stack," reinforcements were able to slip past the forces encamped around the city and slip into Horsetown to provide more defenders. While few casualties were inflicted upon the Main Army during the Second Skirmish, the 102nd Legion was killed in the fighting by assassins and their bodies sent home for resurrection. They had been only the second group of Neapolean soldiers to die during the invasion.
At the end of the eighth month of the fourth year, the Siege of Horsetown was finally ended when the Neapolean Main army led in the charge by the 4th Mounted Division plunged itself deep into the ranks of the defenders and won the battle. In the single largest military action in known history, the Neapolean army, using cannon fire in conjunction with a large barrage of fire balls hurled by the 13th Adept Division, broke the enemy walls to rubble and marched into the city with all barrels blazing. In the battle that followed, the streets of Horsetown became chaos as the dust from Neapolean muskets blinded all involved and, in the mayhem, the 101s Legion found itself matched against an equally talented and like-armed group of Hippus Champions. The smoke became so blinding that quickly enough the infantry divisions were ordered to hold their fire until they were able to see the eyes of the defenders. The fighting done by the Legionaries of the 101st, 102nd, and 104th involved in the battle against equally matched Champions has since been called the most intense hand-to-hand fighting in a generation. Not since the escapades of the Heroic 23rd themselves has such combat taken place.
The following month, acting according to plan, the Main Army (now supplemented by troops from the Secondary Army) attacked Coppertown and easily broke through the defenses there following the use of a maelstrom by the accompanying Adept Divisions. Led by the 19th Infantry, the Main Army captured Coppertown in spite of the shocking loss of the 2nd Armored (chariot) Division. Operation Ground and Pound II (The Revenge of the Sequel) was a success.
It was in the last month of the fourth year that what is to this day in the language of the Hippus as the "Rolling of Thunder" began. With the Maginot Line completed cutting off the remaining western cities from their eastern counterparts, the Heroes of Neapole arrived in Hippus bringing with them reinforcements and a new life for the Secondary Army. The Heroes, lead by Lucius Donal Lugh, the son of the Hero of the Vengeance Crusade (Donal Lugh), were instructed to carry out a scorched earth policy on western Hippus. Where ever their feet touched, the ground was to burn. Their approach was often marked by the raiding parties firing loud shots from their derringers to terrorize those who heard them. Initial reports by Hippus citizens called the Heroes "the Thunder Group" because of this.
The attack plan for the Heroes would be simple. There existed two small cities in the west of Hippus, one in the north and one in the south. The Heroes would march to the northern city of Conrond Mor (codenamed Cowtown) and then through the farmlands southward to Clar Marrachir (codenamed 'Shroomtown) burning the farmland to the ground all along the way.
The siege of Cowtown began in the first month of the fifth year and it would end that same month as the Heroes easily overwhelmed the meager defenses assembled against them. Their orders were clear: "Burn all that stands in your war to cinders." And they did. No man or woman, child or beast was left alive and the city was sacked and looted.
In the second month of the fifth year, the Overcouncil voted to a tie on whether or not all members should join the war against the Hippus with four voting for the declaration of war and four voting against it. As the sitting head of the Overcouncil casts the deciding vote in the event of the tie (and considering that the sitting head was Neapolean), the declaration of war became universal. Hippus was now fighting a war against the entire world.
The Heroes finally arrived at 'Shroomtown in the fourth month of the new year and quickly laid siege to it with the hero Melusine the Archmage creating a massive maelstrom which thinned the numbers of the assembled defenders beforehand. Also prior to the battle proper, Neapolean assassins were sent into the city to kill off any Hippus assassins who happened to be residing in the city in order to prevent a possible attempt on the life of one of the Hero generals. Like Cowtown before it, 'Shroomtown was laid to waste.
At the end of that month, representatives of Neapole and Hippus met at an occupied farm on the Maginot Line to discuss Hippus' terms of surrender. In exchange for peace, the Hippus gladly offered capitulation to the invaders as well as payment of reparations and the surrendering of the cities of Ukanever and Radannor (the first a coastal city besieged by the Kuriosates which was taken and then given immediately back when the Neapolean Senate realized how bloody far it was from Neapole proper and the other near a farm built atop the valuable metal known as Mithril). This agreement came to be known as the Radonnor Accords. And so it was that in the fifth year after the abdication that Neapole acquired yet another vassal state and the Great Southern Crusade was ended.
The former cities of the Hippus now were given new names. Radonnor was called Hippus Falls, as is the custom of Neapole to gloat about its victories. The former capitol of the Hippus was renamed Horseton after the old Infantry nickname for it. Murousbane became Landingboon because of the easy of the first landings performed by the Neapoleans there at the onset of the war. And Coppertown was renamed because I realized there were also sheep in a close proximity to the city and that's a way funnier name. The region itself became known as Neapole the Lesser while the mainland became Greater Neapole. And the armies of that great nation returned home to prepare for their next great campaign, whenever it may find them.
So sometimes I'll play a game of Civ that I get really into. When this happens, I'll sometimes write up what happened in a little story or whatever. This was one of those times. It was my third or fourth time actually playing FfH after countless times of becoming frustrated early on when Acheron or Orthus would spawn near me and slaughter me mercilessly with their hordes. But this time I decided to go for the gusto. For whatever reason, I decided to try out the barbarian world challenge on an Eberus map with Noble difficulty (as I'm really not that great at the game). I set up thirteen AI opponents with myself playing as my own nation (Neapole, in universe an offshoot of the Bannor who I also added to the game).
In the early going, I found that Neapole was blocked in on all sides by impassible mountains save for a choke point to the north east. Stationing troops there, I was able to hold off the barbarian hordes for years while a great many of the other nations were wiped out by them. To my south were the Sidar (who died out early on thanks to the barbarians in that area), to the west were the Calabim, to the north west were the Amurites (who also died early on), and to the far east were the Ljosalfar and the Bannor (who were both killed off by Acheron and his armies). To the far south, beyond the Southern Barbarians and the Sidar were the Doviello and to their east were the Hippus who were blocked off by a mountain range making them effectively part of another continent all together. To the north on an isolated peninsula were the Elohim. North of them, on another continent were the Lanun. East of the Lanun on a small island were the Malakim who eventually summoned Basium. Separate from everyone else were the Kuriosates on the Eastern Continent.
So almost immediately we were surrounded by barbarians. To the north were the Northern Barbarians, ruled by Orthus. To the east was the realm of Acheron. And to the south were the Southern Barbarians. Three barbarian empires were on our borders, as well as the Evil Calabim who weren't too happy with us in those days because we were neutral. Orthus led his army to our gates first and we held him off and defeated him at our choke point, though the vast majority of our army at that time was lost. Later the city of Orthus Falls was founded south of the place where he was eventually killed. Using the disunity created by his death, we marched northward and captured a city from the barbarians which later became known as Stronghold because it was able to withstand constant barbarian attacks. Their survival was mostly thanks to the Heroic 23rd Warband who held off stacks all by themselves and were eventually promoted to Immortals.
As the years passed, we eventually claimed all of the northern lands for ourselves and the Doviello had conquered the Southern Barbarians, earning our gratitude and eventual friendship, but Acheron's hordes still bothered us. Oddly enough, by this time the Ruins of Kilmorph had become the dominant religion across the world and pretty much everybody (ourselves excluded) had become Good including the Calabim which had given us their friendship for several years.
So we sent the majority of our army east to claim the lands of Acheron and finally rid the continent of the barbarian menace. Led by the adventurer turned axeman Khord Guywhoslastnameidontremember, they would slay the dragon and everything would be all hunky dory. Which, as it turned out, was easier said than done. Oh we took all the land around him with ease, that was no problem. The barbarians fell to our mighty stack of doom. Acheron, however, was a bit more challenging. But seeing as Yggdrasil was RIGHT NEXT to the city he was in, we knew we had to take him. So we built our army even more. For months we grew our forces and finally, through sheer luck and numbers, we defeated the Red Dragon with Khord himself landing the killing blow to the beast. The city was renamed Acheron Falls and all was well with the world. We let our empire grow and rested from the constant warfare.
And then the Calabim decided to settle a city on our new land. Huh. Well we can't have that. So we closed our borders. Because their new city was now cut off from their main territory, they couldn't really do much to us. They didn't like that so much, but they didn't have a choice. So our relations with them strained a bit. Eventually, this led to outright warfare between ourselves and the friendly neighborhood vampires where we marched troops through the bottleneck connecting our countries and overran their troops with sheer numbers.
Oh it wasn't easy, those vampires were ready for a war. But in the end, we were able to capture their capitol and, because I had "require complete kills" on, made their few remaining soldiers (because they had no more cities) capitulate. I world buildered them up some settlers, moved their troops to the Eastern Continent, and sent their royal family into exile. Shockingly enough, while they were there they became Evil again and took up the Ashen Vail religion (which I had founded...oops). Guess we just sent all the vampires into exile and freed the humans from the breeding pits and gave the cities over to them?
Of course, their evil status was a bit of a turn off for the Malakim and Basium and eventually they declared war on me...about four or five times. We called these the Wars of Annoyance because nothing really happened and we were still on Friendly terms with them even DURING the wars...it was just kinda annoying. Eventually we had built up enough of a navy (I swear, I always ignore my navy, that's a bad habit) and sent them north to attack Malakim shipping. Led by our flagship, the Lita, our navy destroyed all of their navy and most of their cities' defenses. In hind sight, that kinda drove a wedge between us.
Oddly enough, though, it wasn't even the actions of the Malakim that eventually led to me actually attacking their colony on the Eastern Continent. See, I had sent a Champion to guard the newly founded Calabim lands from barbarians and whatever else might attack them; the 99th Legion. They were called the Exile Legion because the chances of them seeing Neapolean shores again was slim to nil. Well we sent them out to do a bit of exploring one day. It'd been a really long time since the last barbarian stack had come to raid the towns and I was getting worried they were up to something. Well we probably sent them adventuring too far because in the end they were ambushed and killed. This sparked what would come to be called the Vengeance Crusade (Operation Ground and Pound). We would build up a massive army and send them to conquer the barbarian lands on that continent in revenge for the 99th.
Over 70 units were sent on the crusade, led by Donal Lugh, Khord, and another adventurer we had acquired named Melusine (who had been promoted to Archmage by the time of the Crusade), the Neapolean Crusaders would capture all barbarian cities in sight and create a new vassal on that continent from their remains. At the top of the continent was Bryn, the sole Malakim colony. We would capture it also because...well...when in Rome, y'know? And so we did. We marched through the lands, taking all the cities in our path until we came to a cross roads. A mountain range divided the two barbarian empires on that continent. The northern one led to the Malakim city, the southern one had Mithril. We sent the Heroes south and the main army north. And promptly became bogged down in the fighting. The Heroes captured the southern cities JUST as Basium arrived off the coast of one of the captured Barbarian cities we had given away to the Calabim.
Three angels took out pretty much the entire Calabim army and all of our musket wielding defenders. We were finally able to beat them by sending our army back to the city to defend it, but it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. We lost a lot of our troops in the fighting, but we did win. We sent our army back north, now backed by the Heroes, and granted independence to the other recently captured cities creating the Balseraphs (another Evil vassal, we're on a role with those guys). Eventually, we were able to capture the remaining cities on the continent and gift them to either of our vassals, making the Calabim go from furious at us to friendly. We also got both of our vassals to switch their religions to the Ruins of Kilmorph thus making them Neutral and ending the Malakim's want and need to DOW on us every couple of turns.
We packed up our army and sent them home to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Neapole's founding. At turn 1200, we had completed the tech tree and become the sole colonial empire on Eberus. But a new war loomed on the horizon, a war for other Heroes and a later time. The God Emperor abdicated this throne in favor of creating a Republic, slavery was abolished (even though we had an army of slaves from all the fighting and Orcs and Lizardmen were probably technically a minority because of it) and the workforce replaced with Arete, and the economy switched away from its dependence on conquest to one favor of the merchant class. And for a time, Neapole underwent a Second Golden Age.
~~~~~
In the ninth month of the third year after the Emperor abdicated his throne in favor of establishing the Republic, Neapole was a thriving nation that dominated the vast majority of two continents. From the Northern Mountains to the Southern Pass, from the lands of the Calabim to the Far Eastern Peninsula Neapole's borders controlled the world. The Blood of the Phoenix flowed through the veins of its armies allowing every man who died in combat a second lease on life and a fresh rebirth in that great city. Fresh off of the heels of the Second Golden Age, Neapole had replenished its armies from the Vengeance Crusade and acquired three new heroes during that time as well.
One, an adventurer named Bahamet the Second from the southern lands who had been trapped in a dungeon for several years before being freed, had agreed to offer his sword to Neapole in exchange for freedom. The people of the southern lands, the Doviello, are little more than an empire of barbarians who came into the good graces of the First Emperor by rising up and killing the barbarian chieftain who had previously ruled the southern lands. This barbarian civil war would have been nothing special, mind you, but the Doviello possessed a trait unlike any other barbarian tribe: they were human. Over time and through Neapolean influence, the Doviello have become more and more civilized and less barbaric. But on the battlefield, they were as vicious as any of their kinsmen, reveling in the bloodshed. For this reason, Bahamet's offer was accepted. Over the months he was reacquainted with civilized society and taught the use of the latest killing machine: the musket.
The second and third heroes came from the dwarven lands to the far east where the dwarves have long lived as a minority race, first under the Bannor, then under Acheron, and now under Neapole. A skilled healer and talented crossbowman, Arthendain joined the armies of Neapole claiming to be on a mission directly from Kilmorph herself. Likewise came Bambur, a highly talented weaponsmith and soldier who claimed to be one of the first dwarves created. Whether or not these things are true is anyone's guess, but they were quickly welcomed into the ranks of the heroes.
It was in this month that Neapole was approached by the Lanun, a republic of pirates from the Northern Continent who had long been perhaps the greatest empire outside of Neapole itself, with a request for military aid. It seemed that the Lanun had been locked in a great war with the Hippus, barbarous horse lords to the south east of Neapole, for several years alongside the Kuriotates City States and now required the aid of Neapole in completing the war.
Seeking allies for the inevitable return of warfare with the Malakim, the traitorous island nation to the north, Neapole accepted and soon the whole of the Neapolean navy was sent along with the Main Army to not-so-distant shores to war for pastures new. The strategy, or lack there of, was simple. While the Lanun would maintain naval dominance of the coasts, devastating the Hippus navy, Kuriotates would attack the eastern side of the continent and Neapole would attack the center as the west was impassible due to the presence of a great mountain range.
The Southern Crusade began in short order as Neapolean troops made landfall off the coast of the Hippus city of Murousbane. In the landing battles, the Neapolean main force was met by a cavalry consisting primarily of horse archers and chariots. Though some minor casualties were inflicted on the invaders, the Hippus defenders were overrun in the battle and the shore was taken. That same month, the Neapolean navy led by the Lita opened fire on Murousbane proper, destroying its defenses.
The Seige of Murousbane lasted until the end of the third year when the 102nd Legion led the Neapolean Main Army to victory in the Battle of Murousbane. Prior to the battle, Neapolean assassins were sent into the city to kill some of the more experienced soldiers as well as sabotage the Hippus seige weapons that were in that city. As a result of their actions, the battle proved a huge success and soon the Neapolean army would find itself marching south towards the heart of Hippus itself, Altheriol-ta-Mealthiel. Due to the difficult name of this city, it was commonly referred to by the Neapolean infantry as "Horsetown" because of its proximity to a large corral of horses used by the Hippus military as well as intelligence indicating that the city was defended entirely by cavalry soldiers.
The plan was simple. The Neapolean Main Force would continue southward to Horsetown and capture it with a weaker secondary force covering their right flank. From Horsetown south to Feiss Mabdon (codenamed "Coppertown") and capture it as well. The main force would then splint in two and move north east and form a defensive Maginot Line using captured Hippus farms on a choke point, thus allowing the weaker secondary force supplemented by reinforcements to capture the remaining western Hippus cities. At that point, Neapole would negotiate the terms of Hippus' surrender which, having lost half of their land, they would likely accept.
As the third month of the fourth year began the 35th and 39th Infantry, assigned to the Neapolean Secondary Army, were attacked by and defeated Hippus cavalry in farmland northwest of Horsetown in what has become known as the First Farmtown Skirmish. The first was soon followed by the second as, at the end of the month, the Main Army was likewise attacked by Hippus soldiers. But these troops were not the guerrillas that had attacked the Secondary Army. Rather this was the standing army of the Hippus come to defend the city. While the Main Army was attacked by this "Suicide Stack," reinforcements were able to slip past the forces encamped around the city and slip into Horsetown to provide more defenders. While few casualties were inflicted upon the Main Army during the Second Skirmish, the 102nd Legion was killed in the fighting by assassins and their bodies sent home for resurrection. They had been only the second group of Neapolean soldiers to die during the invasion.
At the end of the eighth month of the fourth year, the Siege of Horsetown was finally ended when the Neapolean Main army led in the charge by the 4th Mounted Division plunged itself deep into the ranks of the defenders and won the battle. In the single largest military action in known history, the Neapolean army, using cannon fire in conjunction with a large barrage of fire balls hurled by the 13th Adept Division, broke the enemy walls to rubble and marched into the city with all barrels blazing. In the battle that followed, the streets of Horsetown became chaos as the dust from Neapolean muskets blinded all involved and, in the mayhem, the 101s Legion found itself matched against an equally talented and like-armed group of Hippus Champions. The smoke became so blinding that quickly enough the infantry divisions were ordered to hold their fire until they were able to see the eyes of the defenders. The fighting done by the Legionaries of the 101st, 102nd, and 104th involved in the battle against equally matched Champions has since been called the most intense hand-to-hand fighting in a generation. Not since the escapades of the Heroic 23rd themselves has such combat taken place.
The following month, acting according to plan, the Main Army (now supplemented by troops from the Secondary Army) attacked Coppertown and easily broke through the defenses there following the use of a maelstrom by the accompanying Adept Divisions. Led by the 19th Infantry, the Main Army captured Coppertown in spite of the shocking loss of the 2nd Armored (chariot) Division. Operation Ground and Pound II (The Revenge of the Sequel) was a success.
It was in the last month of the fourth year that what is to this day in the language of the Hippus as the "Rolling of Thunder" began. With the Maginot Line completed cutting off the remaining western cities from their eastern counterparts, the Heroes of Neapole arrived in Hippus bringing with them reinforcements and a new life for the Secondary Army. The Heroes, lead by Lucius Donal Lugh, the son of the Hero of the Vengeance Crusade (Donal Lugh), were instructed to carry out a scorched earth policy on western Hippus. Where ever their feet touched, the ground was to burn. Their approach was often marked by the raiding parties firing loud shots from their derringers to terrorize those who heard them. Initial reports by Hippus citizens called the Heroes "the Thunder Group" because of this.
The attack plan for the Heroes would be simple. There existed two small cities in the west of Hippus, one in the north and one in the south. The Heroes would march to the northern city of Conrond Mor (codenamed Cowtown) and then through the farmlands southward to Clar Marrachir (codenamed 'Shroomtown) burning the farmland to the ground all along the way.
The siege of Cowtown began in the first month of the fifth year and it would end that same month as the Heroes easily overwhelmed the meager defenses assembled against them. Their orders were clear: "Burn all that stands in your war to cinders." And they did. No man or woman, child or beast was left alive and the city was sacked and looted.
In the second month of the fifth year, the Overcouncil voted to a tie on whether or not all members should join the war against the Hippus with four voting for the declaration of war and four voting against it. As the sitting head of the Overcouncil casts the deciding vote in the event of the tie (and considering that the sitting head was Neapolean), the declaration of war became universal. Hippus was now fighting a war against the entire world.
The Heroes finally arrived at 'Shroomtown in the fourth month of the new year and quickly laid siege to it with the hero Melusine the Archmage creating a massive maelstrom which thinned the numbers of the assembled defenders beforehand. Also prior to the battle proper, Neapolean assassins were sent into the city to kill off any Hippus assassins who happened to be residing in the city in order to prevent a possible attempt on the life of one of the Hero generals. Like Cowtown before it, 'Shroomtown was laid to waste.
At the end of that month, representatives of Neapole and Hippus met at an occupied farm on the Maginot Line to discuss Hippus' terms of surrender. In exchange for peace, the Hippus gladly offered capitulation to the invaders as well as payment of reparations and the surrendering of the cities of Ukanever and Radannor (the first a coastal city besieged by the Kuriosates which was taken and then given immediately back when the Neapolean Senate realized how bloody far it was from Neapole proper and the other near a farm built atop the valuable metal known as Mithril). This agreement came to be known as the Radonnor Accords. And so it was that in the fifth year after the abdication that Neapole acquired yet another vassal state and the Great Southern Crusade was ended.
The former cities of the Hippus now were given new names. Radonnor was called Hippus Falls, as is the custom of Neapole to gloat about its victories. The former capitol of the Hippus was renamed Horseton after the old Infantry nickname for it. Murousbane became Landingboon because of the easy of the first landings performed by the Neapoleans there at the onset of the war. And Coppertown was renamed because I realized there were also sheep in a close proximity to the city and that's a way funnier name. The region itself became known as Neapole the Lesser while the mainland became Greater Neapole. And the armies of that great nation returned home to prepare for their next great campaign, whenever it may find them.
