Aloria Story Progression As Lightning From Stone

The Obermark would once more be center of military attention reaching the end of April, though this time not by the hands of the Lieutenant General who was still in Ellador, this time rather by the hands of the Inspector Admiral Count Valdemar. The Inspector Admiral started with a relatively promising rotation of decrees, practicing the naval routes, getting acquainted with the waterways and attempting to seek closer relations with the King of Nordskag. His unfortunate mistake however, came when he decreed that the navy should capture one of the Mirnoye Stormbreakers. Privateering and Piracy of the waterways by Regalian Naval vessels was nominally not illegal, especially since the Navigation acts declared Regalian sovereignty over all waters, and all nations had simply to respect those proclamations. Attacking a vessel with the intent to capture it however, was always a risky and diplomatic move, a gamble which Count Valdemar made incorrectly in this case.

The first engagement occurred when three Girobaldin Fregats, RS Wodenstaff, RS Vladimir and RS Norn escorting a Regalian merchant colonne encountered a Mirnoye Stormbreaker. Despite knowing nothing about the Novilyud military capabilities, the Frigates broke off from the convoy and encircled the Stormbreaker vessel which moved very slowly. The Fregats opened their gunports and prepared the grappling hooks, though as soon as the grappling hooks flew out, the Stormbreaker struck back. Stormbreakers themselves were strange vessels, resembling almost floating coffins made of black wood, with seemingly no real method of propulsion. When the grappling hooks made contact with the top deck (which had no sailors or anyone on it), a hatch opened and a black granite obelisk was raised. The crews of the Fregats seemed woefully unaware of this happening and were preparing to board the vessel with the intent to capture, as their Inspector Admiral had commanded the fleet that any Stormbreaker met should be captured and brought back to harbor. Then the markings of the granite stone lit up, and the chaos erupted.

When the markings of the stone reached the top of the object itself, a light formed and immediately a flashing arc of lightning shot out from it, hitting the RS Wodenstaff. The ship immediately and violently tore apart, the arc of lightning hitting the gunpowder storages and violently exploding. The explosion was so heavy that it rocked the other boats, breaking the boarding lines. The captains of the RS Norn and Vladimir immediately tried to break contact and save the sailors that were drowning, having jumped off the RS Wodenstaff that was quickly sinking. Some Mirnoye sailors now appeared on the deck carrying strange tubes and chords. They attached them to various segments of the ship while the Granite stone was dragged further to the front of the deck. There, when they connected those tubes to the granite stone, the markings lit up once more. Both the RS Norn and Vladimir now tried to sail full sail and started opening fire with their cannons. A few shells hit the sides of the Stormbreaker, causing it to make water, but it did not seem to hold back its attack, as a second arc of lightning shot its way to the RS Norn.

The force of the lightning arc was so severe that the entire front bow of the ship shattered, the front sail collapsed onto the water and the whole ship started pulling over to starboard, yet remained afloat. A nearby merchant vessel quickly approached, attached pulling lines to the Norn and dragged her out of the combat zone while the RS Vladimir was now fully in position to hammer the enemy vessel with cannonfire. The cannonfire seemed to work, the Mirnoye were screaming and yelling as their ship started pulling on its rear end. The Regalians were ready to start rescue operations on the sailors still in the water as the Mirnoye started disappearing under the water, before one last arch of lightning shot from the granite pillar and raked the RS Vladimir, incinerating nearly half the crew in an instant. The captain’s quarters was completely destroyed and the steering controls were utterly wrecked, though this ship too was saved by a Merchant vessel that quickly approached and towed it back to port.

The Mirnoye quickly caught wind of the military action, and considered the Regalian attempt to seize a vessel of theirs nothing short of a declaration of war. The Mirnoye sent a single messenger to inform the Regalians that the Mirnoye considered themselves in a state of war with the Regalian Empire, and would come to cleanse the Skagger coasts of Regalian presence. Stormbreaker vessels could be seen mobilizing just beyond the Maelstrom from the Nordskag coast, alerting both Regalian and Nordskag forces of an impending invasion.


The King of Nordskag was reportedly outraged at this unnecessary provocation. He was forced to sign a truce with the Hvitskaggers and halt his momentum to split his forces south to prevent Nordskag itself from being invaded, while the Emperor who was still on military training with the Obermark wasn’t all too pleased. The Emperor took three battleships from the Ostmark Theatre, the RS Blackmark, the RS Silverwolf and the RS Poppy along with the Nautknight Laridae with him to reinforce the Obermark, and also personally proceeded to join this naval detachment to reinforce the Obermark personally to oversee future movements by the Inspector Admiral and Lieutenant General in that Mark.


Back at home, Regalians worried, for they had never faced the Mirnoye people in battle, and knew even less about them. Were they magical? Did they have technology that Regalia did not? How was a single Stormbreaker able to defeat three Fregats? Would the Battleships and Nautknights defend Regalia? Was a war with the Northerners really that necessary for Regalia right now? Questions that would be answered in the future, as the Mirnoye were very clearly not playing around, and all eyes were now on the Obermark to see how the leaders would respond after this procovation.