Dit is een verhaal waar ik vorige maand aan was begonnen, ik ga proberen elke 2 weken een stuk online te zetten (dan heb ik tenminste al voor 3 maand tekst, dit voor het geval indien ik een tijdje geen inspiratie zou hebben.) Ik hoop alleszins voor degenen die het lezen, dat ze er veel leesplezier aan zullen hebben. Reacties zijn natuurlijk altijd welkom (in de reactietopic wel te verstaan), en ik zal proberen er rekening mee te houden
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A short chapter of history
I am about to tell you about one of the most epic stories I know, how the, by far, most cruel society existing was changed by a Lagnarian general, an elven lieutenant, and a young woman. It is of course important to mention that the Lagnarians were the ones who lived side by side with the elves, that the elves were the arch-enemies of the Shadow Clans (they are the people I was talking about) and that women were considered unworthy by the clans. To make you understand what I'm talking about, I will have to explain you who the Lagnarians are, who the Shadow Clans are and I will have to tell you about the youth of that trio.
In the beginning humans lived in small groups, they had to collect everything they needed, they had little or no technology and some of them (who would become the Shadow Clans) believed in cruel gods and performed human sacrifices. The dwarves were closely related to the humans, but they had an instinct for technology, and they quickly began building their large mountain-cities, the elves were the last of the three races, they were a technological match for the dwarves, but they liked wandering across the lands. Some elves joined human groups, to learn them better ways to survive and after a few years the elf king Golmariën decided to give the humans what most of them wanted most, a sedentary home. Together with hired dwarf workers and humans, the elves began building their cities, grandest of them was Lagnar, which would be the largest city in the world at it's height of power .
The people prospered for almost half a century until the Shadow Clans began to revolt, the largest problem was that the elves disliked the entire idea of human sacrifice (just like most of the humans outside the Shadow Clans) and tried to ban it (the Shadow Clans obviously disliked that), at the end the Clans stole some ships and sailed away out of history, they would stay out of it for almost 3000 years.
Meanwhile the Lagnarians underwent huge political changes, the elf king decided that no race should have a leader who did not age and created the rank of Tonir, a chosen leader for the elves who would be elected for a time of one hundred years. Under the humans a human king was chosen. The king and the tonir would form the Vocatir (which was called Vocate by most of the humans) and they would rule together with the Conferatir (or Conferate or even just council).
A major advantage of the cities was that some humans now had time to investigate things, and some of them discovered they had the might, those humans went to the elven magicians and were trained as true magicians. They also formed a block, the Magisteraat* (which was also called Magisterate by the people). The Magisterate had many tasks, they helped the guards to maintain order (especially in case of criminal magicians), they held the Northern dragons at bay and they did many other things.
Another major change was the union with the dwarves, the city of Lagnar and the city of Varmond joined and the Vocate, the Conferate and the Magisterate were expanded with dwarves. In this society Lord Quinten Bajar would be born, but I will not go over this too fast. I will first tell you a little about the Shadow Clans (or the Exiled how they were called in the Lagnarian empire).
The Clans had sailed for months when they reached a large continent were the priests were content with. The continent was already inhabited so the Clan warriors killed all adult males and they took the women and the children as slaves. The priests gave the order that no struggle between Clan-members would be allowed for the first 50 years, under punishment of been impaled.
The clans were divided into two classes, the lords and the warriors. The lords only listened to the priests and had ultimate authority over their servants. The warriors, fought for their lords and would even die for them. There were also the slaves, who were used to cultivate the lands, to do the housekeeping etc. but the slaves weren't in a class, they were nothing more than property.
Another part of their civilization were the sorcerers and the priests. The sorcerers were outside the normal community, they were unpredictable and they were known to seize young children who had the power from their houses, whatever the class were the child belonged to. The only way for a slave child to be freed was to be taken by the sorcerers or by the priests.
The last great group were the priests, who had ultimate authority above anyone else. Young children of the leading and the serving class were sent to them to learn more about their obligations, the girls were learned that from their adulthood (at thirteen years old) they would be property of their community and that if they would resist they would be impaled as a heretic (they were also forced to witness an impalement, so that nobody would even think of resistance). The boys were learned how to use arms, the sons of the warriors were also learned that they would be property of their lord from their adulthood while the sons of the lords were learned more about how to manage an estate, about the nature of the gods and why they had to sacrifice to the gods.
In this society Ayella Am Quoram would be born, as the eleventh daughter of the Lord of the Quoram Estate, since she was only a girl and even worse but the eleventh daughter, it was very unlikely that she would be the one to change the entire culture of the Clans, but sometimes even the most unlikely things come true.
Er is dan misschien kans dat er een langere tijd geen stuk verhaal komt, maar ik zal nog maar een stukje posten, Dit is nog altijd een soort van inleiding, want het verhaal zelf begint pas later. Het belangrijkste personage van dit deel, is voor de duidelijkheid degene waarop ik mijn WvW-personage Quintus Bajar (uit spel 16) heb gebaseerd.
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Quinten of the Colonies
Quinten Bajar was born as the second (and youngest) son of one of the eldest human families of the Lagnarian empire. Like most sons of his family he was sent to the military academy at his twelfth year, it was a beautiful summer's day when Lord Horatius Bajar delivered his son at the academy. For the first time in his live, the light-brown tanned boy with short black curly hair would not spent his summer playing games on the field. He was told by his father (a very stern man, who blamed his youngest son for the fact that Quinten's mum died during Quinten's birth) to go straight to the main square of the academy, there he was joined almost immediately by about thirty other children. That group contained all races: elves, dwarves and humans, but almost every one of them felt the same (except young Thormund, the dwarven crown prince, who was already tutored for this when he had just left his cradle).
The children talked a bit against each other until a large man came for, he motioned for silence and began to speak: "I am Major Felix Yorgan, the leader of this academy, and I will first explain a few rules to you all. You will all call me Major Yorgan, and that also counts for you Thormund." The Major said against the young dwarven crown prince ( a boy of a small 1 meter, with broad shoulders and brown shaggy hair) who was talking to his neighbor and ignored the major. "Some of you are sons of ordinary civilians who have spared enough money to pay for your education, some of you are sons of the most powerful nobles of the realm, but nobody has a rank here, you are all equals in this academy. I will now allow Captain Glotroch to tell you a bit about the more physical rules."
A stout dwarf began to talk: "This –and he pointed at a large clock- is the alert bell, if I ring that bell you have to come at this square immediately in your complete uniform and with your sword at your side. I can ring the bell anytime, during night, during a theory lesson, at sixthday (this was the traditional free day in the Lagnarian Empire), anytime. You will hate this bell when you are of this academy, just like you will hate me, but this is necessary, you can't control an army if you don't know what the soldiers think if they are forced to march at night, stand up at night and who knows what more. You will be able to march for days and after that still be able to fight. You will get a complete soldiers training together with you theory training. And you will follow me now to the storehouse were you will get your uniform and sword."
The children followed Captain Glotroch and underway, Quinten began speaking with Thormund and Jolvan, who was a long elf with a very white tan and long blond hair. "What was your name?" Quinten asked the elf (he already knew the dwarve's name). "I am Jolvan," The elf responded, "And your name?" "Quinten Bajar," Quinten responded. This received Thormund's attention, "Are you from the Bajar family!?" Thormund yelled. Quinten began to respond positively, but he was forced to silence himself when the captain snapped: "Could you worms shut up!"
From that moment on, the students marched in silence, until they reached the storehouse. There everyone received his uniform: a leather armor with a gray linen over cloth with a galloping horse on it on top of it. Everyone also received a sword (No, almost everyone, most of the dwarves and some of the humans asked, and received an axe).
After they had left the storehouse, the group continued to the barracks, were everyone had to take a bed and put his stuff next to it. Then they were allowed a few minutes to talk. After those minutes Quinten knew the names of all his fellow students, and they were all telling each other about where they came from and many other things. But the quiet conversation couldn't last, the bell rang and immediately everyone took his weapon and the group began to run towards the main square. Captain Glotroch was awaiting them and he immediately took them behind him for a dozen miles across the countryside.
When the tired students arrived back at the academy (the speed of the Captain was murderous) they still received no rest, they had to come to the arms-tutor, who began learning them the basic-moves etc. After that they received an ice-cold shower, after which they had to march towards the cantina. After a short meal (porridge and milk), they were sent towards Major Yorgan who began explaining the basic-theory of military tactics.
After 3 hours they hoped to be able to sneak off towards the barracks, but they were anticipated. In the barracks they were waited by Hayo, the elf who was their horse riding tutor. The rest of the day they spent riding on the horses (or for the dwarves, riding on ponies). Finally, after it was too dark to continue riding, they were allowed to come of the horses and they could retrieve their evening meals at the cantina.
After that day everyone was tired, but together Quinten, Jolvan and Thormund had decided , that they would not give in, they would undergo everything, but they would not complain. This was the first time when Quinten showed his iron will, but it wouldn't be the last.
Well, I could continue describing every day at the academy, how they were waked in the middle of the night, and so much more, but I was going to tell you about the changes the Shadow Clans underwent, so I will end the part of the military academy, I will only say this about it: When the trio emerged from the academy, all 3 of them had shown to be tactical geniuses although that Jolvan was less good in pre-battle tactics, Jolvan would become one of the best field officers that the Lagnarian empire had ever had. By the way, only 2 years after Thormund had left the academy, his father, king Drogmen, died and Thormund was crowned as the new dwarven king.
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Now you know how Lord Bajar became a military, but how he had risen so fast to the rank of marshal, how he became known as the greatest tactician of the empire, I still have to tell you these things, so I will.
It was the year 2400, when out of nowhere, the pirate raids begun. At that time it was unknown were those pirates came from, but they would keep on raiding the Lagnarian realm until the Lagnarian navy finally smashed a large fleet of pirate ships. The following years, the pirates would begin their raids over and over again, but they never became a real threat, until they chose to attack the empire over land, and with every soldier they could muster.
At this time, Quinten Bajar (who was now 2 meters long and had long hair bound together in a ponytail) had become an army colonel and he was ordered to patrol the northern borders (although the northern borders were the borders with the least chance of an attack). The fact that this border was so peaceful, was the reason that Bajar only got about 5000 men (and 200 horsemen), to patrol the entire border.
People could call it luck, fate or whatever they wanted, but the only reason Bajar knew of the raiders who had come ashore to the north, was that a hunter was at the bay of the landing. When the hunter arrived at Bajar's camp, carrying the word that over a hundred-thousand troops had landed, Bajar acted immediately. He ordered his cavalry to remove every civilian behind the Felochs (a mountain range in the north of the empire), he sent his scouts out to keep a look-out for the enemy, and he removed his army to the Thorach mountain pass (the only way through the Felochs). He also sent a courier to the city of Lagnar for reinforcements.
Arrived at the Thorach pass, Bajar ordered his troops to construct a palisade, to dig for defenses and he sent a large parts of the dwarves to do some work up in the mountains. After that, he just had to wait for the last civilians to cross the defense lines. At the evening, his entire cavalry had returned escorting the last civilians to safety. Now Bajar began his last minute preparations. The pike men were ordered to dig themselves in at the front, the heavy infantry was ordered to line up behind the pike men, the archers took place behind the palisade, and the cavalry was kept in reserve.
When some of the elven-scouts returned to the defense-works, many soldiers began praying to the spirits of war, others began moving their sword a bit. Or better said, the soldiers were nervous, they knew that many of them would not survive, and all hoped not to be with them. Bajar, who preferred telling his soldiers the truth instead of easing their moods with lies, told his army the news of the scouts: "I don't believe in sending soldiers to a battle without giving them an impression of the strength of the enemy. So I will tell you this, the enemy is with more than 100.000 soldiers. But know this, if we don't stop them, they will reach the northern villages. Many of you have family there, you now fight for those people. You fight for the realm, for Lagnar. We will not give in, the enemy will not pass!"
The soldiers received more courage, and none of them even thought at fleeing. It was a few minutes later when the first enemy battalions could be sighted by the soldiers. And the battle begun, the first wave of enemy soldiers swarmed towards the defenses, the archers began shooting the first ranks (this held the wave at bay for a time) but after a few seconds, the first enemy ranks reached the lines of pike men. The pike men were pressed, but they held for a few minutes.
But the next wave of marauders had begun the assault, the pressure on the pike men increased, till at last, the line broke. The pike men retreated after the heavy infantry, those trained core troops proved their worth. They threw their javelins in the enemy ranks, and after that, the enemy was greeted with cold steel. The divisions of light infantry commenced an attack upon the enemy flanks. And at last, the enemy retreated, the first victory was for the Lagnarians. Over 5000 marauders were dead on the field, 400 Lagnarians had fallen as well. This meant that for every fallen Lagnarian more than 10 enemies had died, but that wasn't enough.
A few hours later, the enemy returned, the remaining pike men had positioned themselves before the ranks of heavy infantry, Bajar had sent a message to the dwarves who had been working up the hills. His cavalry was been kept ready for a charge and the infantry... Well, they just waited upon the enemy to arrive. The first enemy wave arrived at only a few meters distance, weakened by the archers, but still almost unstoppable. The javelins, which had been recuperated during the time the enemy had retreated, had formed large gaps in the enemy lines, but the enemy still managed to reach the pike men and heavy infantry, the infantry let the enemy bleed, but at the end, even the heavy infantry lines were about to break.
At that moment, Bajar ordered his cavalry to charge, the horsemen forced the enemy troops back and the infantry began the retreat. When the infantry was far enough, Bajar ordered his cavalry back, this was a signal for the dwarves upon the hills, to let the avalanche go. A massive wall of rocks tumbled into the pass, over 30.000 enemy soldiers died at only a few seconds time. The heavy infantry returned and commenced an attack upon the few enemies who had managed to get through the pass. Those soldiers were routed quickly.
Colonel Bajar and his officers knew that the rock barrier would hold the enemy for at least 2 days, they gave the soldiers permission to rest. At the next day, the reinforcements arrived. King Thormund had arrived with 50.000 regular soldiers and his own royal guards. When the enemy broke through the rock barrier, Thormund and his army assaulted the enemy lines, Bajar's remaining soldiers were only a few meters behind, and the enemies were crushed.
When Bajar and his remaining soldiers, 2349 soldiers to be exact, arrived at the capital, they were honored as none were honored before, every surviving soldier was awarded by the vocate with the Medal of Courage, Quinten Bajar received the rank of a general for his brilliant defense. And king Thormund had decided to close the Thorach Pass. He ordered the construction of a large fortress to make sure that no raiders would ever threaten the Lagnarian empire as much as the empire was threatened now.
The navy was following the few enemy ships which had picked up a few hundred enemy soldiers who had escaped from the Lagnarian empire. After a long chase, the enemy lands were discovered. When the fleet had returned to the Lagnarian empire, it was decided to end the threat for once and for all, so General Bajar was ordered to occupy the land in name of the empire. With more than 250.000 soldiers he sailed out.
Bajar managed to take the land of the raiders into possession quickly, forming the first Lagnarian colonies. After that, he was named overlord of the colonies, or better said, he became the commander of the entire colonian fleet and army and he could overrule the governor if he wanted . At the colonies, many slaves were freed from the Lormanian houses (at their lands, the Lagnarians finally discovered who the raiders were), so the colonies began to prosper fairly quickly. For the next decade, the Lagnarian empire would live in peace.
Daughter of the Am Quoram
Now you know how Lord Quinten Bajar, and his lieutenant Jolvan became the high ranking officers they were at the time of the changes, but I still have to tell you about how Ayella of the Am Quoram became the first female family leader in het Clans, and how at last she managed to change the ways of her people. Many have wondered what would have become of her if she grew up in the Lagnarian empire, but I believe that she needed her education to perform the actions she became famous for in the Lagnarian empire. And that without her actions, the Clans would still be the cruel civilization they were before. Anyway I will get on with it.
It was about the time when Lord Bajar began his studies at the military academy, when Ayella Am Quoram was born. Because she was a girl, none suspected she was meant to become a ruler one day, although she was the 11th daughter of Lord Dorhae of the Am Quoram. The only way a woman could become ruler, was if she was the only surviving family member (this had never happened before, since mostly when such a majority of a family died, it was by the hand of enemies, who would take the women as slaves). But it would prove differently...
Jana's screams could be heard all across the estate, it frustrated Lord Dorhae that much that after a few minutes he sent a medic to the woman. This didn't meant that he cared for her having pain, it just meant that he wanted to stop the noise. With the help of the medic, Jana could be held alive long enough for her to give birth to her child (the fact that she was pregnant was the reason why Lord Dorhae sent a medic to her and didn't killed her). A horrified servant came with the child to his Lord, the last time when a servant brought a daughter to the Lord that servant was buried alive. The Lord didn't act unexpectedly, the servant was boiled alive in oil. It wasn't true that Lord Dorhae hated the fact that he had, once again, a daughter. He was just pissed off because of the fact that he only had 5 sons.
When the Lord finally had returned to his normal psychological state, and the servant was completely covered with sand, the Lord motioned for another servant to bring his newborn daughter. After a few minutes the servant arrived with the child, Lord Dorhae spoke: "This child shall be known as Ayella Am Quoram." That was about all the attention he would ever spend on his eleventh daughter.
After the name giving, the servant took Ayella away. She was given to a maid who had just given birth to a son of her own. The next years she would be nurtured by the maid, Ayella would never know the maid's name, but she would be the only person in her environment, who's memory she would treasure. The maid died 3 years later in the bed of the Lord, like so many others she was incapable of surviving the violent ways of the Lord.
When Ayella was 4 she was considered old enough for the education with the priests, together with 22 other girls and 41 boys (many fathers killed female offspring), she arrived at the huge temple complex of Barvaj Karoum. Even an adult would be impressed by the titanic sizes of the complex, but for Ayella it seemed impossibly massive. They were guided by a fat gray robed priest to the sleeping halls at the backside of the complex. This meant that the boys in the group were each given a sleeping mat, and the sons of nobility a bed, for the girls in the group it meant that they were given one single room, of no more than 10 square meters, without sleeping mats and beds.
They weren't allowed even a few seconds rest, the boys were immediately taken away by another priest, the priest smelled worse than an unwashed butcher, and the girls were taken with them by the same fat priest who had guided them towards the sleeping halls. The first place Ayella and the other girls were taken to was a foul-smelling chamber with twenty-seven statues inside. The chamber was the center of the temple complex, it was here were the priests performed their sacrifices, this was the place where the real rulers of the Clans resided. And the place where Ayella and the other girls would receive their first 'education'.
A gold clad priest entered the room, the high priest of Golarafay had arrived. The few things the girls knew about the god was that he was the god of fertility and that he demanded the blood of young unspoiled children (it wasn't important whether the children were male or female, but the priests always took girls). A priest took Ayella and six other girls apart, this was the only advantage for being the children of Lords that they would ever receive, out of the 16 other girls 5 were taken by the priests. All of the girls were forced to watch while the priests bound the 5 victims against each other. The high priest took a long knife from his belt and he cut the wrists of each victim. The girls didn't understood yet what had passed, but when the high priest filled a cup with the blood and drunk it, the girls began to react like most 4 year olds would react. Ayella and the other girls began to cry.
After the sacrifice, the girls were taken by the priests to a small classroom, there the priests began telling them about the greatness of the gods. It is understandable that none of the girls remembered anything from the lesson. But the priests weren't known for being reasonable, which was the reason why they began their lessons on such a young age. After 3 hours she and the other girls were taken to another room where they would learn what happened to people who disobeyed the priests. In the center of the room they saw a woman bound above a long 2 meter long pike. A priest came forth: "this woman is charged for being a heretic, she is convicted to a death sentence." A priest loosened the bounds around the woman which made her fall on the pike. This was already the 6th execution the young girls saw that day. The day continued and at the end of it, the girls were brought to their sleeping room. The doors were immediately closed and the girls were in their room, it was pitch-black.
The next 6 years the self-confidence of the girls was effectively destroyed, the only one of them that became stronger by the education was Ayella, she was.. she was different. She acted like she believed the so called fact that she and the other girls were inferior, but she didn't bought it. She knew it to be nonsense. But she knew better than to show it, she had seen too many women (and also a few men) been impaled for being different. The worst time was when a small girl was drowned because the sorcerers said she had power. The girl in question was only a few days old. Another time was when one of her fellow students was raped by one of the male students, the girl was impaled because she resisted. After that all the girls knew better than to resist, Ayella was also raped more than once. The situation endured until the students began their puberty, then they were sent back to their birth estate.
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It was late spring when Ayella finally arrived back at her birth estate. By that time she already began to doubt the ways of her ancestors, although she wasn't stupid enough to show that. She endured her new duties as an adult woman, or better said: she didn't resisted when being raped. But she was trying to change it, at the moment it was still nothing more than planning, but that would change. One advantage was that of her four brothers, the eldest was taken by the priests to be trained, not the training young men had to endure, but the training to become a new priest of the gods.
It was several months later when an old monk arrived at the estate and because he claimed to be a teacher at the sorcerers academy, Lord Dorhae allowed him entrance to the estate and even invited him at his table, which was the highest honor one of their Lords would give to anybody. His opinion about the monk would change later on however.
After the dinner, the monk asked the heir, he was named Olmen, Ayella and Jelma, the second eldest sister, to accompany him to a small unoccupied room in the estate. There he began to speak: "I know that all of you desire changes in this empire." None of them reacted to the monk's words, it could be a trap after all. "I know you don't trust this, but I can say this, if Jelma stays here, she will die. She is, although she isn't aware of it yet, gifted - or cursed maybe? – with the ability to use magic. You have the luck that the sorcerer who discovered this, is an ally of me." "But who are you exactly if you talk about such things, you can't be a real monk?" Ayella said. "But I am. I am a monk to the only real god that your people worship: the goddess Alva." "Who is said to be the weakest of the gods", Olmen interfered. "That is what you are taught, she is just a creator, no destructing force. But she created the universe, your gods were invading demons from the underworld. Your priests know this, most sorcerers are unaware of it. But some know the truth, they are working on the changes you desire. They only need a ruling Lord at their side. And you Jelma, you must leave with my servant, you will be trained in the use of your gift by a good friend of mine. Now I tell you what you'll have to do."
After that, the monk left to the training field, taking with him a lot of soldiers, slaves, women. Actually he took with him about anyone in the estate: "The gods are a lie! Not they created the universe, the true creator was Ala. She who is taught to be the weakest along the gods!" The house priest interfered: "Blasphemy!" But the monk spoke louder: "After the demons commonly prayed to in this lands took over the universe, the Goddess Ala, who could only create not destroy, created the lesser spirits! On their own none of these spirits could take on one of the demons, but together the legions of lesser spirits were more than their match. It should be Ala and her spirits who your prayers should go to! Golarafay has no power over fertility, Jalrae doesn't heal the wounded! They have no power over that, their only strength is in destruction. Even more, the demons are locked away by the spirit legions, they have no power anymore!" The house priest interfered again: " I shall destroy this heretic!" The monk didn't even flinch when the priest began to built up his strength. And when he tried to unleash his power, the priest dropped dead on the ground. "I told you all, the spirits are stronger!" The Lord didn't let that conclude it: "Kill him!" The only sword bearer who tried to speak for the monk was the second son, the current heir: "He was right, he could beat a priest, isn't that proof of his words." And the Lord killed his current heir, this angered the personal trainer of his son (every son of a Lord was trained by a personal trainer, who was sworn to the son, not to the Lord). While the soldiers tried to cut down the monk, the trainer took his two-hander and attacked the Lord. The two last sons who tried to stop him died by his blade (without success) and at last he reached the Lord.
The Lord tried to beat the trainer by superior speed (it is easier to make speed with a short sword than with a two-hander), but he couldn't reach the trainer. The fight continued for a few seconds longer and after that the Lord fell on the ground, his head severed from his shoulders. The trainer prepared to make his stand against the soldiers who now came after him, but he never stood any chance. When the soldiers left the trainer, he was barely recognizable as a human. The monk had taken the opportunity to disappear.
This meant that for the first time in more than a thousand years, there would be a ruling Lady. Ayella knew however that her eldest sister, Gahla, would never make the changes that were necessary, she took up the sword of her brother's trainer and stabbed her through the chest. All other sisters followed shortly after, only Jelma survived, because she had already left. "I am the last of the Am Quoram, you will swear your oath now!" All the soldiers fell to their knees and began uttering their oath while the slaves took up the bodies of the dead sisters. Ayella knew what to do: "General! How many soldiers were sent along with the invasion force to the Lagnarian lands?" "5000 my Lady!" "Call them back, all of them!" "But every house has sent soldiers along with the army!", General Kree called out. "We will not", said Ayella and the matter was concluded.
War
It was a day of celebration in Lagnar, the city was founded exactly 3000 years ago. This day was one of the few days when citizens were allowed to enter the Citadel of the city. The combined Vocate would speak to the assembled crowd this day: Lavayé, she was reelected for the fourth time as Tonir, regent Draconius, who acted as human king until his nephew Malavian would come to age(the popular human king Carolian had died during a tragic accident) and King Thormund for the dwarves. Yes, even Thormund had managed to return from the borders to the capital.
Actually the only leader who was absent was Lord Quinten Bajar. But his lieutenant Jolvan had come in his place. The festivities were magnificent. There was firework for hours, jugglers performed their finest arts. Even some Magisters demonstrated their powers. But when heralds announced the arrival of the Vocate, everyone went silent. When the Vocate had arrived on the plaza, Tonir Lavajé, as eldest of the vocate, began to cite the list of all kings and Tonirs of the empire. The crowd listened to that part politely, but when Lavajé announced the birth of king Thormund's new heir, the silence was over, a loud cheer erupted in the crowd.
King Thormund began to speak: "To celebrate the birth of my new heir, everyone inside the city will have drinks for free!" Another cheer erupted in the crowd and the festivities continued. King Thormund excused himself and entered the palace, taking with him no more than a dozen guards and a Magister. It was then when fate let one of the guards look behind him. He knocked the king over and was hit by an arrow. The Magister disarmed the assassin and took him with him for questioning. The assassin's memories were under siege by a dozen Magisters for hours and at the end the assassin died. But the siege was successful. King Thormund gathered the Vocate and the Conferate in an emergency meeting.
"I was attacked by an assassin, but that is not the important part because I survived. The most important part is that he was sent by the Exiled. Yes, the ones who left this empire almost 3000 years ago. They have gathered their strength and are sending an army this way. I urge the council to declare war. I call in a vote!" Although the councilmember's were taken by surprise, the vote was unanimously, the realm was at war.
Messengers were sent to the Colonies, heralds spread out through the realm: "Hear, hear, the realm is at war! The reservists are called to arms! Any other volunteers are needed!" Thousands gathered to volunteer for the army, the fleet sailed out to meet the enemy fleet. The guards were gathered: the 5000 Royal axe-men of the dwarven king, the 7000 Royal halberdiers of the human king and the Legendary Elven archers, who were 3000 strong. And the engineers of the standing army began to built barricades in the streets, to gather projectiles for the trebuchets, ballista's and the other catapults. The farmers outside the city were ordered to begin the harvest immediately and every farm would be destroyed immediately after the harvest and all the wells had to be poisoned.
It was several weeks later when a courier arrived at Lagnar with the message that the fleet was crushed and the harbor of Harmat was beaten. The Vocate gave orders to obstruct the Harmat-Lagnar-channel. And the army was sent to the outer wall. The last farmers outside the wall began to enter the city, taking all their belongings with them.
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Lord Bajar was watching his army exercise when a member of the governor's household came riding towards him. Quinten immediately knew that this was a serious matter. "My Lord, there is a message for you from the combined council, I was ordered to bring you to the governor's study as fast as possible.", the messenger told while he dismounted his horse. Quinten ordered one of his scouts, they were no part of the current exercises, to fetch Jolvan. Another scout was ordered to fetch two fast horses. When Jolvan was at Quinten's side. Quinten told him to follow him. They both mounted their horses and they left at full speed towards the governor's mansion. When he arrived at the mansion, he pushed open the doors, went through the corridors and without waiting for the doors of the study to be opened for him (as the protocol wanted), he entered the study.
The governor, who was more a clerk than a ruler, gave Quinten the message. Quinten quickly began to read the message, after which he ordered the governor to organize the delivery of long lasting food (which had to be enough for a 100.000 men, 20.000 horses to live on for 3 months at least). And he began, together with his lieutenant, Jolvan, to organize the call to arms. He intended to sail out with the entire Colonian army and fleet within 3 days.
3 days later, the army began to embark the ships of the Colonian fleet (It was a pity that the Lagnarian galleons, massive ships with a length of over 300 meter, were all in the Continental fleet.). The majority of the fleet stayed together, only a few patrol galley's were sent away to check out the situation. Those ships arrived back at the fleet a few days later with the news that the harbor was occupied by the enemy. On Quinten's orders, the fleet sailed to the far southeast of the continent, were they embarked on the small shoreline near the Blood peaks. It was at the blood peak mountains, were (according to legends) the demon gods were imprisoned by the spirit legions. These mountains were left alone for millennia, but this shoreline was the only place where they could disembark unseen.
Scouts were given the order to search a route over the blood peaks and the main army made camp at the shore. The Colonian fleet sailed away to defend the Colonies, leaving behind a large division of marine soldiers. It was several hours later when some scouts reported that they believed to have found a way over the mountains. It would take days to make sure they were right however.
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A few days earlier, the enemy legions had arrived at the city of Lagnar. Thormund, who had taken command over the entire defense of the city, knew that it would mean suicide to attack them in the fields. This was why he held the army on the outer wall. He appointed his second in command colonel Petas to lead the defense of the gate. General Drone and his fifth legion would stay in the outer city region to defend the barricades should the outer wall be breached. The artillery was held ready and the archer brigades were spread across the wall.
Thousands of soldiers ran towards the wall, many of them carrying ladders. The cheer size of the enemy army was unbelievable for the Lagnarian reservists, most of them hadn't fought in anything bigger than a small skirmish. But when Thormund passed through the order for the artillery to start bombarding the enemy troops, they still followed the commands. A rain of rocks, ballista-arrows and glass bottles of oil with a burning rag at it flew through the skies. Although many of the enemy soldiers died, still more came towards the wall. This was when the archer brigades were ordered to commence the barrage, that and the artillery were enough to hold the enemy at bay for almost five minutes. But it couldn't hold them off the walls forever. The first ladders were placed against the wall, and although the soldiers climbing on those walls were greeted with boiling oil, it wouldn't take long for the first enemy soldiers to arrive on the wall. Luckily, the trained heavy infantry battalions on the walls were enough to repel them. Enemy soldiers would keep on attacking for another hour, but after the hour, they would retreat.
The Lagnarians made use of that temporary moment of peace to evacuate the wounded to the second wall and to move the corpses to the citadel, where they would be ritually burned. The respite was too short however, it was only twenty minutes later when the enemy troops began their second assault.
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The colonian troops had began their march through the mountains, in the beginning they were marching with good hope, but when the first soldiers fell from the cliffs in exhaustion. It would only be the steel force of Quinten's will, which kept the men going. Every day something went wrong, somebody would fall down, a donkey carrying food would break its legs, the army had to stop because the road was blocked by giant cliff (the only reason they could pass such cliffs, was because their dwarf engineers could tunnel through them, but that still made them loose valuable time). One time, even the engineers were unable to pass a barrier, which caused the army to return and use a different route. It was a week later when the first scouts returned to the news that they had reached the peak. This was seen by the soldiers as a sign from heaven, never again would they doubt their leader. From that moment, the soldiers would follow Lord Bajar to the underworld itself if he chose to go there.
It would take half a day till at last the entire army had reached the peak. There they would camp for the night, it was now proven: the only thing needed to tame the blood peaks, were an army that would follow their leader to the gates of hell, and a leader with a will of steel.
The next day the army began the descend at the other side, it would take another two weeks, but this time nobody died. Quinten Bajar had managed to get his army within a few day's march of Lagnar city without being spotted by the enemy troops.
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Although he had managed to hold the gate for an entire week against a much larger enemy force, colonel Petas looked worried. He realized that he couldn't hold the gate much longer; too few soldiers still stood defending the gate; it was only a matter of time before the enemy would take the gate. Knowing he had no other choice, he began to give orders: "The 5th legion stands ready in the streets, they will defend the barricades. But all others must retreat to the second wall. Except the 1st, the 2nd and the 5th archer brigades, they must head on to the Varmond citadel."
The order came only right on time, simultaneously with the abandoning of the wall, the main gate cracked. The ranks of soldiers fled through the streets till they passed the barricades. The bloodbath in the streets was about to begin. The enemy troops who thought to be able to take the outer city region with ease were disappointed, the 5th legion of general Drone stood ready for them. The first small bands of enemy troops spreading through the streets, were quickly annihilated by general Drone's light infantry troops. It would be half an hour later when the enemy leaders realized there still was an army in the outer city region. From that moment, the fighting became more organized. It would still take 5 hours for the enemy to take the upper hand. General Drone and his men did all they could, but half an hour later, they were all dead.
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While his main army was camped at the feet of the Blood peaks, Quinten Bajar and one cavalry patrol rode through the land towards the northern territories, a dragon hunting ground. There he took an ancient horn out of his saddlebacks. This horn was enchanted by one of the colonian Magisters to sound like a dragon. When Quinten let a roar come out of the horn, it wouldn't take long for the first dragons to arrive. Unafraid, Lord Bajar approached the dragons: "You know that if the enemy defeats Lagnar, that it will not take long for them to start attacking your territories! You know that although we have the power, we always let you live your lives! I say, fight for us, and together we will beat them! In exchange, we offer the entire region behind the Felochs to be given to the dragons! Will you fight with us! My army is camped at the feet of the Blood peaks!"
While the dragons considered Lord Bajar's proposal, he himself rode back towards his army, confident that the dragons would accept his proposal. When he was halfway towards his army, he saw the proof that he was right: 2OO dragons flew towards his camp.
It was two days later when the combined force of the dragons and Colonians arrived at Lagnar city. The dragons took off, most of them carrying rocks and Lagnarian soldiers to throw them off. The sudden arrival of Quinten Bajar tipped the favor, for the first time in this war, to the side of the Lagnarians. The dragons literally smashed the enemy sorcerers, they couldn't stop a physical attack and continue a mental struggle with the Magisters at the same time, allowing the Lagnarian Magisters to unleash their full power on the enemy army. The Lagnarian defenders swarmed out of the city and the Colonians attacked the enemy from the other side.
The enemy still had a huge army, but without the assistance of their sorcerers, they stood no chance against the dragons. The city of Lagnar was saved, the last enemy force to be destroyed was their navy, but the dragons, combined with the Colonian army, made short work of that. The threat was over, for now.
The path to revenge
After the battle, Quinten Bajar was asked to attend the next council meeting. Some council members were opposed to the promises he had made the dragons. To be sure that the dragons knew that he held his word (the contrary would oppose them against the entire Lagnarian empire), he asked the dragons to send someone to speak for them. The dragon appointed as their spokesman introduced himself as Wicked Claws (this was his name literally translated, he was aware of the fact that no human, elf or dwarf could pronounce his true name).
When they arrived at the citadel, Quinten and the dragon left towards the council hall (luckily for the dragon, this building had no roof). Once arrived, Quinten saw with relief that the Vocate was also present this meeting, he knew they would at last support his decision. When the council-spokesman had opened the meeting, the councilmember who asked his presence during this council meeting began to speak: "You betrayed the empire by giving away what is not yours to give!" "People who are so narrow-minded as you, they are the only people whose death I would not feel sorry for if the Clans did had success! I did what I had to do for the survival of the empire!" After Quinten's words, half the council became furious. But then the king Thormund interfered: "Silence! Lord Bajar did what he had to do for the empire, for without his gift to the dragons, there would be no council to punish him! The Vocate supports Lord Bajar! We call on a vote!" When not only the Vocate, but also a full quarter of the Conferate supported the case of Lord Bajar, the other council members were forced to give in (The combined Vocate had the same number of votes as the combined Conferate).
The dragon told the council that they had no intentions to let the farmers in their new lands leave, the only thing he wanted from them was that their farms would not be expanded. King Thormund left the council meeting along with the dragon and they took off towards the Felochs.
Although his decisions were now approved, Quinten Bajar was still ordered to lead an expedition to the lands of the Exiled. Although he did all he could to persuade the council that an invasion was a bad idea (he knew from the interrogation of the prisoners, that the exiled were with millions, that the gigantic army that invaded Lagnar, that it was only a small part of their military might). At the end, Quinten had no choice but to agree upon the invasion.
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Jelma had begun her magic-lessons and they were absolutely not what she expected of it. For a start: she had to sit down in meditation for days, without sleep or food and she had to focus upon a certain brick in the wall. Her teacher, a renegade sorcerer with the name Felirs, kept telling her that this was the only way to begin learning magic, you had to exceed in pure concentration. Since magic was nothing more than using your imagination and concentration to change things. The gift was actually the ability to make use of a part of the brains were normal people couldn't come.
When the teacher at last felt that Jelma had reached pure concentration (magicians use other parts of the brains for concentration, which made this easier). He made her willing the stone to become wood. The teacher told her that in time she wouldn't need to meditate to use magic, but that at the time, meditating was still necessary.
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When a messenger told Ayella that the offensive against the Lagnarians was broken, she knew that everything went according to the plan. She called all her soldiers and servants together: "everyone who can use arms must take arms. The rest must learn how to use them. Make sure that we can immediately march out of here when I give the signal. "
The soldiers left towards the weapon stores to make sure everyone would be equipped properly, even the slaves (the slaves knew that the plan was the only path to freedom, so they had no intentions of resistance) would be trained. Ayella herself received training from her leading general.
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Meanwhile, the Lagnarian army was assembling at the great port of Harmat, over 300.000 heavy infantry, 20.000 light infantry, 50.000 pike men, 100.000 men of the archer brigades and 50.000 cavalry would form the invasion army. This army was also reinforced with 300 Magisters.
The first divisions had already begun embarking the Lagnarian vessels when Quinten Bajar himself arrived together with Lord Jason, the Grand Admiral of the remaining parts of the Lagnarian fleet. The bulk of the army had to be transported with commercial ships, but the Grand Admiral was confident that his remaining galleons and galleys could get the fleet across the sea without serious damage.
It was almost halve a day later when the entire army was entirely on board. Lord Jason's flag ship 'The Dolphin' began moving, the fleet slowly came to live. The Admiral walked across the deck of his ship constantly giving orders (which were given to the rest of the fleet with flag signals). He gave order to let the galley's lead the way, his own ship (a galleon) would sail in the center to coordinate the fleet, the other galleons would guard the flanks and the frigates were ordered to guard the rear.
The fleet didn't make a stop at the Colonies, but sailed on straight towards the enemy lands. Only one time did they meet an enemy fleet, but this inconvenience was taken care of immediately by a swift strike of the galleys. It was 2 months later when they reached the enemy shores at last. When the army had disembarked completely Lord Jason made sure the commercial vessels were sent home together with his frigates. He himself would stay near with his galleons and galleys. Lord Bajar took command of the army, the expedition had begun
Revenge
Logically, the giant Lagnarian army couldn't stay unnoticed for long, but the first attacks upon them were still broken easily, mainly because of the Magisters who annihilated them in a whim. But it wouldn't last, one week later, the enemy sorcerers had arrived. This time, the Magisters couldn't resist the tide, although the Lagnarian Magisters were superiorly trained, the sorcerers had the advantage of the number. One by one, the Magisters died and every time a Magister died, thousands of soldiers were killed as well.
It was when all seemed to go wrong, when the renegade sorcerers interfered. They were unable to save the entire army or destroy the enemy sorcerers, but they could transport entire battalions in a few seconds. At the end, they succeeded in saving 23 Magisters, and about 20.000 soldiers. That was all that was left of Lord Bajar's army.
The sorcerer Felirs approached Lord Bajar: "Fools, did you honestly thought that you could beat this entire nation, you're army was to small, even if our Sorcerers were with less than your magicians, the Clan forces would have beaten you. They can call to arms up to a billion soldiers, that's more than a thousand times your total military strength."
"We couldn't win anyway, so I chose the way in which we could beat as much of your Clans as possible, I was already aware that we couldn't beat them. It wasn't my choice to come here", Quinten answered. "You could and can destroy much more and beat your enemy if you would have fought hidden. A magician cannot see you while you are cloaked by other magicians, unless if they already know where you are." Felirs repeated, "You don't look stupid to me, but why were your actions as such?" "Does this mean you want to consider an alliance between us to beat the Clans", Quintus asked. "No", Felirs answered, "An alliance to change them."
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It was a few hours later when Quintus, his lieutenant Jolvan and his other officers met with Felirs, Lady Ayella of the Am Quoram and the military leaders of the Am Quoram. One of the first things they wanted to discuss was the fact that the Am Quoram warriors didn't liked the Lagnarians (especially not the elves). Not that the Lagnarians liked the Am Quoram. It was necessary to end that situation, otherwise their alliance would not last very long. Their conclusion was that they would let Am Quoram commanders lead Lagnarian soldiers and Lagnarian officers Am Quoram troops. They also decided to choose their first target: The Lord Francis Kolman, who had lost ninety percent of his army with the invasion of Lagnar. One of the reasons to choose a weaker opponent was the fact that the renegade sorcerers and the Lagnarian Magisters were not yet able to cooperate with each other for a hundred percent, they just weren't used to each other.
The sun had just begun to rise when hell broke loose at Kolman estate, the combined will of all the magicians (although still not how it should become) was able to break the few magicians inside the estate (although they had the time to send messages), the gates were smashed to pieces and the Am Quoram soldiers entered the estate. They had to crush any resistance before the Clan-sorcerers would arrive. Only ten minutes later, they left the estate taking with them only the slaves (and enlisting them In their army). The army disappeared into the hills, when Clan-sorcerers arrived at the Kolman estate, the only thing they found were corpses of soldiers and the burning estate of the now dead Lord Francis. From the attacking army, no trace.
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When Jolvan returned with the Am Quoram troops he had to lead against Lord Francis, the troops behind him had begun to have at least a bit of respect for the elf. They still disliked him, but they knew he could and would keep them alive if it came to that. The Am Quoram commanders and Lagnarian soldiers had also lost a part of their disdain when they returned from their missions. They had tracked down and annihilated several Clan patrols.
Meanwhile, General Karee and Lord Quinten Bajar had decided to give both armies one hell of a demonstration. Both Karee and Quinten Bajar were rarely beaten in combat and it would give both of them more respect in the army of the other one.
They both approached each other training sword in the hand (a training sword had roughly the same weight as the sword it represented, but wasn't sharp). The general used a giant scimitar, Lord Bajar a straight long sword. The general began, he swung his sword right at Quinten's side, which Quinten easily parried with an elegant swing. The Lord Bajar began his counteroffensive, he stabbed at Karee's chest, while simultaneously he kicked him against his knee. General Karee managed to divert the stab of Lord Bajar's sword, but his knee was still hit. He fell on the ground, but he could still hit Quinten's side. At the same time, Lord Bajar stabbed Karee for a second time. It was decided that in real combat, both would have been killed (Quinten would die slowly, but he would die anyway).
A few minutes later, a Magister had managed to heal Karee's knee. He decided to let the bruises heal by nature, Quinten decided likewise. The soldiers of both armies now looked at both leaders with awe, this fight was the fastest they had ever seen. They realized that none of them would be able to beat any of the two in single combat.
The demonstration by Karee and Bajar would become a turning-point, the cooperation between the two armies would increase in effectiveness and another three months later, the two armies were effectively turned into one larger army. But we mustn't get ahead of the events.
Both generals, the Lady Ayella, Felirs, Jolvan and the junior officers of both generals retreated to a small pavilion. Felirs knew a trick or two to create incredibly detailed maps of the entire Shadow Clan territories. Felirs tried to persuade the others that they should continue to attack weaker opponents, to his own surprise Jolvan agreed with the Clan sorcerer. Karee and Bajar however weren't convinced.
"How long would it take for the combined might of the enemy sorcerers to reach Barvaj Karoum from the sorcerer's academy?" Lord Bajar asked suddenly. Felirs, who hoped he was wrong about the thing Lord Bajar was planning, answered: "3 days at least." Karee began to chuckle: "I believe I understand what our Lagnarian friend means. We must march our army to Barvaj Karoum and destroy it completely." "You two are insane!", Ayella and Jolvan yelled out together. "The only way to victory lies in the unexpected.", Lord Bajar responded, "They will search for us almost everywhere, but not near the center of the entire might of the Clans. If we take it down, then at the end we will have a victory. Otherwise, utter destruction."
At the end, the officers agreed on the course of action. They called both armies together and Bajar began: "Men, from this moment on, we are going on a march. And to the Lagnarians here I want to say, the Blood Peaks will be nothing compared to this." Karee took over: "We are going to march over a thousand miles through enemy territories, straight towards the temple complex of Barvaj Karoum. And we're going to sack it!" Now Jolvan began: "We take only what we can carry, leave nothing behind for the enemy, poison the food we can't carry. We do not leave behind what the enemy can use. We march at sunrise!" And Ayella concluded: "Anyone who isn't ready to march by sunrise will be left behind! They will be left behind dead!"
By sunset, not a single soldier had neglected to stand ready. 15.000 Quoram soldiers and 20.000 Lagnarians, 22 Magisters (one other magister died a few days earlier due to a stray arrow) and a dozen Sorcerers, an army that could crush any but the largest of the Clan Lords, but nonetheless weak. It took only one Clan scout to report their whereabouts and the Clan Lords would combine their forces, which would mean the end of both the Lagnarians and the Am Quoram.
The mission of the army was fairly uncomplicated: if possible, they had to stay undetected and if detected, they had to kill every single living human being in the group that detected them. A small group of volunteers, under Yolvan's command, had the task of creating a diversion. They had to wreak as much havoc as possible to make sure that the bulk of the Clan armies would be as far away from Barvaj Karoum as possible.
Yolvan and his men waited until the main army had disappeared from view, the main army was aided by all but one of the available magicians (one sorcerer remained with Yolvan's group), these magicians used their powers to make it harder for other people to detect them.
Yolvan's crew consisted of no more then a hundred soldiers. Strangely enough, the majority were Clan Soldiers. But they would be enough, being an elf, Yolvan was an expert in stealth guerilla warfare.
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Unlike the main armies, Yolvan had no need to cover his tracks, au contraire in order to achieve his object, he had to make sure that every Clan Soldier could follow their tracks. The only thing he had to make sure that no one would learn his current location, no one who stayed alive at least.
Every time they attacked a patrol, they made sure that at least one enemy soldier remained alive to spread the news. Yolvan never attacked in full daylight nor at the dead of night, it was always during the twilight when the Clan Soldiers died. Since Yolvan attacked a vast quantity of patrols and small armies in only a very short period, the Clan Lords became convinced that Yolvan's track, was the track of an entire army.
It was a few weeks later when the Clans gathered in an even larger force then the force that destroyed the majority of the Lagnarian expedition army.
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