Aloria Story Progression The Merciful, The Merciless, And The Table

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The days following the initial capture of Bou Gasagou was dotted with the remnants of the Songaskian fleet crashing up against the shores of the port city, hoping to find relief back at home after struggling for survival amidst the aftermath of the battle. All they found was merciless defeat; Bou Gasagou had already been captured by a large force led by the Lieutenant General Vasily Ostrovsky. In addition to capturing the survivors of the recent naval battle, Ostrovsky callously ordered his men to round up the entirety of the civilian population. Ostrovsky spoke up:

“All male Songaskians shall be rounded up and summarily executed by means of justified justifixion, in following with the desires of our Imperial Holiness. The women and children will watch, and then be forced into slavery. If they look away, they will be whipped and beaten. If they stare for too long, they will be whipped and beaten. Those are my orders--”​

“Enough!” called off a booming voice from below Ostrovsky: It was the Emperor, Cedromar Kade. “This is not necessary.” Ostrovsky let out a breath he held sustained while he searched after the familiar voice.

“Shaaq Turnaal set the tone of this campaign,” Cedric began, moving to a spot where Ostrovsky’s soldiers could see him visibly. “But I will not discourage the Songaskians from surrender by scaring them into nihilism. Any foe that surrenders without a fight shall be given honest,” the Emperor looked around to the Songaskians, “And Human decency.” He then turned to Vasily, who felt as if there were a frog in his throat. “Finish the fortifications you set out to do and focus on that instead of a terror campaign. If the civilians rise against you, put them down; They are unworthy of my mercy, but don’t make this war harder than it already is by sending a clear message that surrender will not give these people salvation.”​

The short Emperor bustled off to his tent, as soldiers began preparing the city’s defenses on Ostrovsky’s orders, who himself was watching the Male Songaskians. They knew what he almost did to them, even if some of them did not understand Common; and most importantly, they knew what the Emperor did for them, even if the real reason eluded them.

The State Minister Redulf Ruyter himself was busy trying to aid in the war effort, but to no avail. His attempts to cull the pro-Regalian states of Hadravia, Al-Alus, and Mooriye to take action against the Masaya were futile; the Pro-Regalian states would not leave their home turf vulnerable to Songaskian invasion. There would need to be more incentive to draw them into the direct conflict, be it through diplomacy, coercion, or intrigue…

Progressions on the naval front were rather uneventful. The Crown Armada helped transport armies from port to port in the coastal cities, reinforcing poorly-defended positions as well as supplementing the massing armies. In its coastal patrols, Christopher Black’s Frontier Armada encountered no notable resistance.

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All continued as it left off on the homefront. Undercrown Charles Montagaard made the bold move to “relieve” all Drixagh barons of their titles. He then redistributed them to Opper Calem military families to colonize the now barren land. Furthermore, Montagaard ensured that the barons were adequately compensated; four million Regals were dedicated to ‘paying’ for the baronies. This sounded nice on the surface, but when divided up among all of the barons, this deal still seemed somewhat cheap.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Standard Army, under the experienced leadership of Grand Marshal von Treppewitz, continued to purge Drixagh of all seditious elements. His armies razed entire homesteads in preparation of the Opper Calem settlers who would colonize the land on their own, in pursuit of new lives and opportunities. The Grand Marshal strode through the ruins of a rather populous city in the heartland of Drixagh, owned by none other than the Arless Johanna Uëxkulla, the Shieldmaiden of Drixagh: One of the only female military leaders of the North. The Arless, in making a stand against the atrocities committed against her people, was caught in the crossfire, and ultimately perished in the purge. The city was now without leadership, and was ripe for the taking.

Karl von Treppewitz strode through the city flanked by two Calemberger soldiers, passing by the soldiers that were killing the Northerne citizens one by one. Others were repurposing the logs used in the northern lodges, using them, carved with Northerne icons and words and stories, in the justifixion of the Old Gods worshippers. The decorated war veteran smiled. All around him, his men tore down Northerne-styled buildings, smudged out Northerne-writing on walls, and smashed Northerne-styled sculptures. Further still, they ripped apart the town’s Old Gods temple, tore down Old Gods banners, and bludgeoned Old Gods priests into embarrassing disgrace. Entire libraries of books written in old Skagger languages were burned, while stone carvings were summarily pulverized.

“This town,” he began, “Will receive a fresh start. A brand new chance for brand new people to take part in the Great Way. So it has been ordered of us; and so we, as good soldiers, will obey. For those above us are the wise, and those below us, the strong. And the wise will forever guide the strong.”​

Karl von Treppewitz then turned to the Old Gods temple at the center of the town, and led his men inside to where several statues to the various Old Gods stood.

“Ellea, Lanarra, Bashtur, Mershell, Alu, Bep, Handarin, and Julla. Vile,” he said, striding in front of each of the temples. The Grand Marshall unclasped his hands and raised them, announcing: “Remove these abominations.”​

The soldiers set to work immediately, tearing down the statues with such zeal that the earth thundered for hours with the hail of columns collapsing, statues being smashed, and holy sites being desecrated. Soldiers jeered and laughed, and set piles of Old Gods texts alight. Others danced around and grunted like bears, in jeering insult to the Northerne people. One particularly seedy troupe of soldiers thought it fit to “water” the seeds of Drixagh’s future by urinating on several crumbled monuments. Grand Marshal von Treppewitz watched all of this (though not too closely) with a quaint smile on his face.

“Another successful mission,” the military leader muttered to himself. “If only you were here to take notes, Typhonus,” Karl jeered.​

Elsewhere in the Archipelago, Lieutenant Admiral Virathus Krupp supported the colonization efforts in Drixagh by transporting supplies back and forth. Krupp strode back and forth on the deck of his flagship. Morale was high, until he made the announcement:

“Plot a course to the northern shore of Drixagh. The colonists are not the only ones we will support today.”​

Many of his men looked bewildered. “Support… The tribals?” one such asked.

“Of course. Not all of them are rebel scum; we have no reason not to offer them aid.”
“But, but. Sir.”
“My orders are final,” he said in steadfast conviction, though the sailors were not all on board with him on that ship. Word would easily get back to Regalia, and Krupp’s actions would be heard by all, for better… Or worse.​

-=-​

Elsewhere in Regalia, the population had been made aware of an impending test run of some new device the Qadir had constructed in the name of the empire. With whole barrels of Soul Essence filled Qatils arriving by the day, the machine was no doubt large, and drew quite a crowd as the criers had announced it would be quite a light show. Sure enough, when the bells tolled the start of the experiment, a device was activated behind the closed walls of the Scholar’s Court, but the machine radiated a strong light ranging in colors between green and purple into the sky above it. The crowd outside clapped, and the experiment seemed to go exactly as planned, at least for the people immediate inside and around the Scholar’s complex. When the machine fired into its second rotation (the purpose of which obviously alluded the mundane folk outside, as the experiment was held in closed doors) it created some unexpected side effects for a select few individuals.

Three streets further from the experiment, Tristan the Table was walking home with a bag of groceries and dried meats, the usual stuff. When the machine elsewhere in the city charged for the second rotation, Its ears suddenly started ringing, shortly followed by a strange and sudden knocking force, causing the Table to collapse over backwards as if hit in its body with a heavy sledgehammer. Its groceries scattered all over the floor, remaining there as the Table tried to make sense of what just happened. It quickly picked up the groceries again, thinking it was just some street thug playing tricks on him with pop fruit, something it had gotten used to after its demotion to a common furniture piece. Finally, the Table made its way back home, walking at a moderate pace, and being completely oblivious to an old familiar on his face: Gold irises with a red trim, with a cracking headache to boot.

Tristan the Table wasn’t the only one. Elsewhere in the city, ex-Silven (previously called Silverts) experienced a similar response to the experiment, though not all were affected to the point where their previous eye color returned. None of their previous magical powers returned, but for those who did have their eye colors set back in, panic would immediately set back in. How would the public of Regalia respond to this sudden re-appearance of their old reputation, something they all equally suffered from for years.

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OOC Note:

• This purely affects current ex-Silvert Characters, those who were “officially” part of the registry when the Silvert system was in effect, We do not recognize ex-Silverts that were written (or had a character app approved) after the system’s downfall. Those will remain ex-Silvert by default and do not have this choice and can ignore this.
• This allows those who were ex-Silverts under the previous system to choose whether they want to stay Mundane, or become Silven (new name for the Silverts) again. @SupremeCripple doesn’t get a choice.
• For those who are to make this choice, they should be aware that becoming a Silven might subject one to story progressions, pogroms, violence and character hurt at the response of the state suddenly realizing these reviled creatures are around again. It will not come with any special powers.
• Silven approval is not immediately in effect, meaning we have no system to create new Silven Characters until the actual physical new wiki page is written. For more information for current characters however, consult the new wiki page: https://wiki.massivecraft.com/Dimenthism
  
• This World Progression Post was co-written by MonMarty and Shayin

 

Karl von Treppewitz sniffed the air lightly, before tossing the letter into the inferno of a burning house. "Damned Ithanians, always sticking their noses up someone's behind."