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The Grassland: An Encyclopedia

 
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Camus the Noble

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:00 pm    Post subject: The Grassland: An Encyclopedia Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Please do not post in this topic. Comments, queries, and suggestions can be directed to the topic "Comment for The Grassland."

This information was compiled by Calupict, MMan9000, VikiFanatic, sybillious, Celes Tilly, Riot, MenaceX, Neclord, Highwind, Suzume, Sparda, Kalidor, Captain Hero, and myself. Special thanks to Axiose.

The Regions of Grassland

Alma Kinan

Deep in the forest of Kuput lies the magical village of Alma Kinan. The tribe mysteriously is made up only of women, and any means of reproduction is unknown.

The village is traditionally isolated from the other Clans, and in times of war or crisis the villagers even erect magical force fields preventing intruders from entering. Because of this isolation, commerce is almost nonexistent, and the village is not at all very developed or cultured. The forest also prevents the tribe from cultivating the land. However, the people of Alma Kinan are generally happy.

The village is important to the war effort of the Grasslands. Alma Kinan, in addition to being easy to defend due to the magical barriers and rugged terrain, produces powerful archer-mages able to commune with the Spirits. Recently, Calupict, Chief of the Alma Kinan, has introduced the use of spears into the tribe's military.

Alma Kinan, located at the northernmost point of the Kuput Forest, is bordered by Chisha and a mountain range to the east and Duck Lake and the Great Hollow to the west.

Amur

The Amur Plain is a vast swath of land in the central Grasslands. It is crucially important to the Grasslands as it has long been a trade route between Grassland and the neighboring countries, such as the Nameless Lands. It is also the home of the Karaya Tribe, arguably the most influential of the Six Clans in dealing with foreign powers.

The Karaya, by tradition nomadic, only settled in the Plain fairly recently, following the assassination of their chieftain by leaders of the City-States of Jowston. That chieftain's heir, his daughter Lucia, established the Karayan Tribe in the Plain. However, within approximately a century, the Karayan Village was destroyed by troops of the Zexen Confederacy. Eventually, an uneasy peace was reached, and the Karaya rebuilt.

Under the leadership of the previous chief, Abyscal, they greatly improved their village. Abyscal's successor, MMan9000, continued his work. (Abyscal is still the governor of Amur.) The Karayans have made great strides in the areas of agriculture and commerce, and travelers often stop by to drink the famous Karayan soda.

Brass Castle

Brass Castle was once a Zexen fortification, but was taken by the Grasslands fairly recently. It is of major military significance as a point from which to strike out against enemies or to defend from invasion, and has indeed been used as such in the past.

Despite its closeness to the chaos of war, Brass Castle is one the Grasslands' most flourishing cities. It is very developed and is one of the most easily defended positions in the world. The city maintains a high culture, and with its Tutor, Bujutsu Teacher, Item and Equipment Shops, Trading Post, and Inn, is a center of great commerce. All of this contributes to the high public morale and general quality of life in Brass Castle.

In the Second Fire Bringer War, Brass Castle was of vital importance as a stronghold and as a meeting place for the military heads of that time.

The region is now governed by the valiant Kalidor, leader of the Valor's Blades.

Caleria

Caleria is the most important of the Grasslands' eastern cities. Originally a Harmonian possession, it was taken by Grassland. From there, the Grasslanders pushed further east to Rega Arme.

Caleria is an extremely easy position to defend. The city has large stone walls and is situated on a mountain range. From these walls, archers can rain arrows down on the climbing attackers as infantrymen hold the gates.

Despite the rugged terrain, merchants come from miles around to Caleria, making it a great center of trade, perhaps even the greatest in the world. It boasts many shops, including a five-star Inn and a renowned Bujutsu Teacher.

The current governor of Caleria is the Flame Champion herself, sybillious.

Ceremonial Site

Only recently, a Grasslands exploration party discovered a new region, a massive ruin left over from the ancient Sindar civilization. Following the discovery, Grasslanders, led by the formidable magician Anthony Misery, settled the region and created a new city.

This city is undeveloped, does not produce much food, and generates little commerce, yet it is of great importance to the Grasslands. This importance stems from its military capacities. The Ceremonial Site contains the Grasslands' only port, and the Sindar ruins can serve, in times of invasion, as fortresses and barricades.

The Ceremonial Site is governed by Anthony Misery.

Chisha

Located on a high plateau lies the region of Chisha, inhabited by the Clan of the same name. They are an agricultural and very peaceful people. Furthermore, they have an extremely impressive underground community, an architectural wonder.

As mentioned before, the Chisha are farmers; indeed, the region is one of the most agriculturallly developed in the Grasslands. The Chisha Village also brings in a fair bit of commerce, due to its relative closeness to foreign borders. This commerce results in rare items popping up in the local Item Shop from time to time.

The governor of Chisha is Cyrano.

Daevan

Daevan is a fortified forest region on the Grassland-Zexen border. Previously a Zexen fortress, the region was taken only recently by Grasslanders. The fortifications and thick forest make assault a nightmare for any attackers that are not familiar with the terrain.

In addition to military importance, Daevan boasts a moderate village, whose people are responsible for the equally moderate levels of cultivation and commerce. Due to the recent warring in the region, these people are somewhat unhappy. That will likely change, however, as the Grasslands' recently installed government restores order.

The governor of Daevan is Camus the Noble.

Deep Forest

Earlier in the war, Jowston owned the Deep Forest, but it was taken by the valiant Fire Bringer of the Grasslands. Despite its seclusion, the region serves as a trade route between Grassland, the Dunan, and even the Scarlet Moon Empire.

The current governor of the Deep Forest is Spell Breaker.

Duck Lake

Duck Lake, a marshy region named for its inhabitants, the Duck Clan. These people, while maintaining a powerful military, have developed a sophisticated culture. Indeed, the major city in the region, the appropriately named Duck Village, is one of the most impressive in all the Grasslands, boasting a five-star inn, a Rune Master, an item shop, a Tutor, an appraiser, and a lottery, the only one among the Six Clans. Duck Lake truly deserves its status as capital of the Grasslands.

The Lake is bordered on the east by the Kuput Forest, on the west by the Lizard Clan's Great Hollow, and on the south by the Plains of Amur, home of the Duck Clan's staunchest ally, the Karaya Tribe.

Militarily, Duck Lake holds great importance to to its central position in the western front against Zexen. It is fortified, making it easy to defend. It is even possible, in times of attack, for the Duck Clan to entirely submerge their village, making it impossible for enemies to enter.

The governor of Duck Lake is VikiFanatic.

Great Hollow

A vast system of caverns carved into an ancient mountain. This is the Great Hollow, home of the Lizard Clan. The Lizards are a violent people, and, accordingly, their city's most valuable service to the Grasslands is during times of war. Indeed, the Great Hollow's most successful industry is that of its renowned smithy. The Hollow also houses an Inn, a Bujutsu Teacher, and an Item Shop.

Because of the intricate cave system, invading enemies must be on their guard. Often, the Lizards' opponents get lost, at which point they are easy prey for ambush or assault.

The Great Hollow is bordered by the Yaza Plain to the west, Duck Lake to the south, and the vast Kuput Forest to the east. The current governor of the region is halberdier.

Greenhill

Greenhill, previously owned by the Jowston Alliance, was taken by the Grasslands after a long and tiring battle. The region is famous for its prestigious school, the New Leaf Academy. Because many parents send their children there for an education, the Academy is one of the major sources of revenue for the city. Greenhill is currently led by the headmaster of the New Leaf Academy, Neclord, who recently created the controversial "Vampire lessons" at the school.

Greenhill is also of economic importance due to its location on the border between Jowston, the Scarlet Moon Empire, the Highland Kingdom, and the Grasslands. The central location allows traders to move easily between the countries.

Kuput

Kuput is a deep forest between Duck Lake and the lands of the Chisha. Because of the forest, commerce and cultivation are not among the region's strong points. However, the area is easy to defend; enemies unfamiliar with the terrain can be easily routed by the Grassland defenders.

When tourists come through this area, they often need guides, as the region is inhabited by many powerful monsters. Some say that the monsters are there to guard the magical secrets of Kuput.

One of those secrets is the existence of the village of the Alma Kinan tribe, a tribe made up exclusively of women.

The governor of Kuput is Captain Hero.

Le Buque

On Mount Sinai lies the region of Le Buque. It is not heavily populated, but its inhabitants make up for their scarcity with their uniqueness. These people have tamed the mantor, a powerful insect-like beast that can be used as a mount. This ability allows the tribe to hunt animals and travel much more efficiently.

The people are not full-fledged Grasslanders; the region is in fact a protectorate of Grassland. The tribes of Le Buque were only convinced to join Grassland after meeting with the Flame Champion, sybillious. As such, they do not provide the Grasslands with commerce or crops, and they retain their own leader, a mantor rider named Franz.

They do, however, provide Grassland with military service. The flying mantor riders are useful in raids and the mountainous terrain makes Le Buque easy to defend.

Mountain Pass

The Mountain Pass runs between Amur and Caleria, and was until recently right on the Grassland-Harmonia border. Because there is little arable terrain, and no settlements in the region, cultivation and commerce are very low. Travelers come through here to get to Caleria from the Grasslands and vice-versa. The travelers are not deterred by rumors of a horrible monster guarding the pass...

The governor of the area is the feared the violent one.

North Amur

North Amur is, as the name implies, the northern part of the massive Amur Plain. It holds little economic significance, as trade routes tend to run across the southern part of the Plain. None of the major clans have settled in this area, although smaller, more nomadic tribes live in North Amur, giving the region its population of sixty thousand, rather low when compared to its size.

However, North Amur does contribute to the war effort. The land is more cultivated than many of the Grasslands' regions, and the flat terrain makes it easy to move troops through to the more important strongholds, such as Duck Lake or the Great Hollow.

The current governor of North Amur is Pesmerga, a reclusive veteran of the Fire Bringer.

Safir

Safir has a long history of changing hands in the war. Once a possession of the Grasslands, Harmonia conquered it. After another assault, the Grasslands took the region back. The fact that so many attacks have been successful in this region is somewhat surprising, as the large fortresses, maze-like architecture, and mountainous terrain in the region make assault difficult.

The aforementioned rocky terrain also makes commerce between Safir and the other regions somewhat difficult. Thus, the Safir Clan has been forced to develop its agricultural skills to become nearly self-sufficient.

The Safir host the annual Grasslands Wrestling Championship, in which wrestlers from all over the Grasslands compete for seven days. The winner is rewarded with a one million potch prize.

The current governor of Safir is Dakota, the Wrestling God.

Vinay del Zexay

This lively city was once the capital of the Zexen Confederacy, but was captured by the Fire Bringer. This highly cultured and extremely commercial city is the gem of the western world, boasting shops of virtually every kind.

One of the reforms instituted by the new Grasslandic regime was opening the formerly government-official-exclusive Guild Hall shops to the people, allowing them to access a much wider variety of goods. This had a desired effect, raising commerce a significant amount.

The current governor of Vinay del Zexay is MMan9000, leader of the Squirrels of the Flame.

Zexen Forest

Recently, Grassland succeeded in taking over the Zexen Forest. This put Grasslanders right in front of the Zexen capital, Vinay del Zexay. Because the area is unsettled, commerce and cultivation are extremely low. However, the forest does provide the important resource of wood to the Grasslands.

The current governor of this region is Highwind.

The Governmental System of the Grassland

The Clans and Governed Regions

The Six Clans are the most important governmental entitites in Grassland. The hunter-gatherer Karaya populate the plains of Amur. The Ducks reside in Duck Village, located in the swamps of Duck Lake. The Lizards live in the massive cave system known as the Great Hollow. The all-female Clan of Alma Kinan is located deep in the Kuput Forest. The agricultural Chisha and the mysterious Safir Clan populate the mountainous regions in the east of Grassland. These are the Six Clans of Grassland.

Each of these Clans has their own governmental system and internal structure, but all are headed by a Chief that is in charge of the general management of his or her Clan. The Chiefs are MMan9000 of Karaya, Calupict of Alma Kinan, Cyrano of Chisha, Highwind of the Duck Clan, Sparda of Safir, and halberdier of the Lizard Clan.

Each Clan has jurisdiction over a number of regions; these collections of regions are known as provinces. The lands of the Grasslands are divided as listed below. The regions marked with asterisks represent the capitals of the Clans' provinces.

The Province of Karaya: Amur*, North Amur, Mountain Pass
The Province of the Ducks: Duck Lake*
The Province of Shamans: Alma Kinan*
The Province of Chisha: Chisha*, Kuput
The Province of Safir: Safir*
The Province of the Lizards: Great Hollow*, Ceremonial Site

These Clans have entered into a mutual military alliance, and, in return for this protection, they have agreed to submit to the govenance of a Federal Government of the Grassland.

In addition to these Clans, there are regions that, pending review, are unafilliated with the Clans and have come into Grassland's possession. These do not fall under the jurisdiction of any provincial Clan Chief; the regional governor manages the region alone. As such, there is no "middleman," so to speak, between the Federal Government and the region. As such, much of the larger-scale management of these locally-organized regions is enacted directly by the Federal Government of the Grassland.

This Federal Government is organized thusly:

The Executive Branch

This entity is respnsible for the general governance of Grassland, especially its military activity. The leader of the Executive Branch, who traditionally is the bearer of the True Fire Rune and known as the Flame Champion, is the most powerful authority in all of the Grassland. Today, this post is filled by sybillious. The Grassland's Second-in-Command is Celes Tilly.

The Flame Champion serves a lifelong (that is, eternal) term, or until such time as he or she should resign. In that eventuality, a series of trials is formulated by the True Fire Rune to test potential Flame Champions.

This selection process has led some to label the Grassland a theocracy, or at the least a dictatorship. This is untrue, because the True Fire Rune in and of itself represents the will of the people of the Clans. If a Flame Champion should become a tyrant, oppressing the people, the True Fire Rune shall leave that Champion, stripping him or her of all his or her power.

The Ministry of Justice

Because the Clans and other peoples of the Grassland make their own laws and handle their own internal affairs, there is no legislature within the Federal Government of the Grassland. However, there is the Ministry of Justice, a body that acts as the highest court in the Grassland and works towards generally improving the internal order of Grassland.

One could say that the Executive Branch is focused more on military and foreign affairs, while the Ministry of Justice is geared towards internal affairs. However, the Flame Champion is the final authority on both the external and the internal matters of the Grassland.

The Ministry acts as a High Court in the event that one or more of the Clans or regional governments is unable to satisfactorily resolve a dispute. After hearing a case, the Ministers confer with one another, and will reach a decision by vote. A plurality or majority is needed to render a decision. In the event of a tie, the Flame Champion or Second-in-Command will render a decision. In this way, the Ministry of Justice is similar to a high court.

The Ministers, upon their election by democratic vote, are each assigned to study and improve a specific area of the life of the Grasslanders. For example, Neclord, the Minster of Education, is charged with the task of improving the Grassland's educational system, a task that he, being the Headmaster of the New Leaf Academy of Greenhill, is well poised to accomplish.

The Minsters of the Ministry of Justice, at this time, are Camus the Noble the Minister of Social Welfare, SpellBreaker the Minister of Commerce, Neclord the Minister of Education, VikiFanatic the Minister of Culture, VikiFanatic's Lietenant Minister of the Arts Suzume, MMan9000 the Minister of Magic, and CaptainHero the Minister of Security.


Last edited by Camus the Noble on Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:41 am; edited 14 times in total
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

History of Grassland

Origins of the Modern Grassland

Over a century ago, the region today known as the Grassland was populated by four tribes: the nomadic Karaya of the Amur Plains, the cultured Ducks of Duck Lake, the warlike Lizards of the Great Hollow, and the shamanic and exclusively female Alma Kinan of the Kuput Forest. These tribes coexisted harmonisly and peacefully.

This peace was disturbed by the invasion of Alma Kinan by the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia. Because the occupation of Alma Kinan would jeopardize the positions of the Duck and Lizard Clans, those clans joined the Alma Kinan in their fight. However, the Karaya, further to the south, were divided in their opinions. Some argued the ruthless, powerhungry Harmonians would eventually attack Karaya, and that the theocracy to the north had to be stopped at once. Others took a more isolationist point of view, arguing that Karaya should make peace with Harmonia and be spared the wrath of this aspiring superpower.

One night, the Chief of the Karayans had a dream. He dreamt of a flame that engulfed all the Grassland. All the Clans were unable to stand against this fire, and all the members of the Clans perished. However, he then saw himself raising his right hand. The smoldering flames subsided, and the mad destruction was rewound; burning building reerected themselves, the dead were resurrected.

The last image in this dream was a tall woman in a magician's dress saying, "You have been granted the powers of the True Fire Rune. Use the flames to defend your homeland and your freedom. Lead the Grassland to a new age of prosperity, and ignite your destiny."

In the morning, the Chief found a symbol of a flame on his right hand: the symbol of the True Fire Rune. He immediately called a council of the Karaya Clan and recounted his dream. In light of their Chief's acquisition of the Rune, the Clan Council voted overwhelmingly to march against the invading Harmonians.

In two weeks, the Karayan army arrived at Kuput, where the Lizard, Duck, and Alma Kinan tribes were battling the Harmonians.

The battle was going badly. Although the Grasslanders were more familiar with the terrain, the Harmonians were superior in both numbers and magical prowess. Furthermore, the Grasslanders were running low on supplies, having been under siege at the Alma Kinan Village for so long.

However, the Karayans turned the tide. They brought many strong warriors, along with food enough to boost morale and nourish the soldiers. Even more importantly, though, the Karayan Chief's True Fire Rune gave the defenders the magical "firepower," so to speak, to combat the enemies' magicians.

After the Harmonians were beaten back from Alma Kinan, the Chiefs of the Lizard, Duck, Karaya, and Alma Kinan tribes met to discuss their future actions. During this council, the woman who had appeared to the Karayan Chief materialized out of nowhere. She advised the Chiefs to join their nations together into one alliance. Despite the abruptness of this recommendation, they Chiefs took the Karayan Chief's account of his dream and the acquisition of the True Fire Rune, and decided to do just as the strange woman had suggested, to combine into one country: the Four Clans of the Grassland, to be governed by one Federal Government of the Grassland. The head of the new alliance was the Karaya Chief: now known as the Flame Champion.

The Invasion of Harmonia

The first decision of the new Flame Champion was to launch a counterattack against Harmonia. The Grasslandic armies, known as the Fire Bringer, pushed to the east. The total armed forces of the Grassland were split into two halves. The Main Army of the Fire Bringer, led by the Flame Champion himself, took the northeast road from Alma Kinan, toward the Harmonian settlements of Chisha and Safir. A second, smaller force moved southeast, toward the city of Caleria. This force was led by one of the Flame Champion's lieutenants, a general named sybillious.

The first battle in the invasion of Harmonia was fought by the Main Army, just outside Chisha. The Harmonians were vastly outnumbered, and, although they fought bravely, were encircled and defeated by the Fire Bringer. The peace-loving people of Chisha, valuing their lives over their Harmonian nationalism, surrendered to the Flame Champion. Becasue they surrendered peacefully, Chisha was allowed to join the Clans, bringing the total up to five.

After a week after the battle at Chisha, sybillious and her soldiers finally reached Caleria. It was night. Although the guard was light, the walls of the city were so impressive that even the mighty Fire Bringer could not scale them quickly enough to take the Calerians by surprise. They camped outside the city and laid siege to it. In the morning, the Calerians drew the first blood with a volley of arrows into the ranks of the Fire Bringer. In response, sybillious ordered her Earth Magicians to set up protective barriers around the army, her archers and Lightning Magicians to target the enemy archers atop the wall, her Fire Magicians to lob magical bombs into the city walls, the Water Magicians in the rear of the army to heal the wounded, and the Wind Magicians to attempt to deflect the arrows of the enemy. And thus the siege continued for several days.

By the fourth day of the siege, both armies had suffered great losses, the Fire Bringers more than the Calerians. sybillious decided it was time to take risks. At nighttime, she used siege towers that the Fire Bringer had concealed in a nearby forest. The defensive mechanisms of the Earth, Water, and Wind Magicians of the Fire Bringer were so well crafted that the Harmonian defender could not damage the towers or harm the Grasslanders climbing them. By the end of that night, a small party of Fire Bringer had taken the gate, allowing their allies to flood Caleria.

sybillious issued very strict orders to her soldiers that no civilians were to be killed in the storming of the town. These orders were followed out perfectly, so great was the discipline of the Fire Bringer.

In order to limit the chaos of the post-occupation city, sybillious immediately created a Grassland-controlled government in Caleria, headed by herself. After Caleria was fully under control, she sent a gryphon-mounted messenger to the Flame Champion to report on the occupation of Caleria and to inquire as to the progress of the Main Army.

As it turned out, the Main Army of the Fire Bringer was marching at that time toward the Harmonian settlement of Safir. Now, to understand what happened at Safir, one must understand Safir's history.

Safir was originally a Grasslandic Clan. Harmonia had conquered that area and subjugated the Safir people. From there, Harmonians had moved further west and founded Chisha.

The Fire Bringer never fought at Safir. The tribal majority in the village, inspired by the presence of the unified Grasslanders, took up arms and freed themselves from Harmonian occupation. The Flame Champion granted the Safir status as one of the Clans. Now the Grassland contained all the peoples that comprise the Six Clans of today.

At this time, the leader of the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia proposed to the Flame Champion through a messenger that the war be resolved. The Harmonian ruler traveled to Duck Lake, the capital of the Grassland, where he and the Flame Champion negotiated the Treaty of Duck Lake. Under the treaty, Grassland was allowed to keep possession of Chisha and Safir, but gave up Caleria. sybillious withdew her troops from that city and returned to her post at Duck Lake.

Thus ended the conflict today known as the First Fire Bringer War.


Last edited by Camus the Noble on Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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Les Renés


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Organization of the Unified Grassland Government

Due to the frenzied chaos of the war, the Grasslanders had not been able to set up a fully functioning government yet. This was the Flame Champion's first priority upon ending the war. Eventually, the officials of the Six Clans agreed that the Flame Champion, and his successors, would be the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Fire Bringer. However, in order to fulfill this duty to the best of his ability, he was forced to resign from the post of Chief of the Karaya Clan. His successor was a tribal warrior named Abyscal.

The Federal Government of the Grassland was, at that time and indeed for most of its history, extremely weak, leaving most of the domestic issues to the Clans and regional governments.

Several of the Clan Chiefs took this oppurtunity to retire. New Chiefs were appointed in their place. At the end of this process, the Chiefs were as below:

Abyscal the Chief of Karaya
Calupict the Chief of Alma Kinan
Cyrano the Chief of Chisha
halberdier the Chief of the Lizard Clan
Highwind the Chief of the Duck Clan
Harukaze the Chief of the Safir

There is one specificity here that is particularly telling; the Karyan Clan Chief was Abyscal, a Lizard. It is quite incredible that the Karayans stood for this, as, as mentioned above, the tribes were not especially close prior to the First Fire Bringer War. This show of unity between the Clans was a testament to the strength of the Flame Champion's new, united nation.

The Second Fire Bringer War

Hoping to take advantage of the young and presumably unstable nation, Zexen invaded the Grassland a few years after the First Fire Bringer War. The Zexen troops fell upon the Karaya Village on the Plains of Amur quickly and unexpectedly. Before the Fire Bringer could even react, the village was burned to the ground. Fortunately, most of the Karaya Clan managed to escape in the chaos. The Zexen troops immediately moved north from Amur to assault Grassland's capital, Duck Lake.

The Grassland were in dire straits. The Flame Champion and his strategists knew that because many of the Zexen troops were horse-mounted, they had a large mobility advantage. The ambush techniques used by the Fire Bringer would be much harder to execute in this fight.

The Flame Champion was outside one day, gazing at the beauty of Duck Lake. He couldn't believe that this wonderful city would soon be destroyed... the impressive architecture, the calm waters... the calm waters.

He had an idea.

On the following day, one week after the fall of Karaya, the Flame Champion, his lieutenant sybillious, and all the other non-duck Fire Bringer stationed at Duck Lake set out for the Great Hollow. There they were joined by a host of Lizard soldiers. This army set out to the south, across the Yaza Plain: in the direction of Brass Castle, the Zexen Confederacy's most important fortress.

A week later, two armies arrived at their destinations: the Zexen Knights at Duck Lake and the Fire Bringer at Brass Castle.

The Zexen Knights rushed into the city. Duck defenders, four ranks deep and armed with halberds, stood their ground on the main bridge. Other ducks, stationed at watch towers, rained crossbow bolts on the enemy. But this valiant effort was not enough. The Zexen Knights eventually broke through.

And then the Flame Champion's tactic was fulfilled. Ducks released the underwater flood gates that kept the water level in the city low. The water underneath the village rose rapidly, catching the Zexen Knights in it. The buoyant ducks, imbued with a genetic swimming ability, swan away to safety. The Zexen soldiers, burdened with heavy armor, were not so lucky. Those who survived beat a hasty retreat towards Brass Castle.

Where the Fire Bringer had triumphed over the Zexens. As it happened, a small group of gryphon-mounted Fire Bringer had flown over the walls. sybillious had correctly predicted that the army that had invaded the Grassland was the bulk of the Zexen Army, and as such, there were few defenders at Brass. The gryphon masters easily took some control of the gate, allowing the invaders inside.

Eventually, the Six Clans and the Zexen Confederacy negotiated a peace agreement. Grassland returned Brass Castle, but in return, Zexen was forced to reimburse the Karaya Clan to help them rebuild their village. Because of Zexen's great wealth, this did not injure them as deeply as one might originally think.

Thus ended the conflict today known as the Second Fire Bringer War.


Last edited by Camus the Noble on Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:31 am; edited 1 time in total
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Camus the Noble

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The New Flame Champion

The Grassland continued to exist peacefully for a decade and a half. At the end of that time, the Flame Champion decided that he wished to retire from political life, give up the True Fire Rune, and live out the rest of his life naturally. He and the Rune developed a series of tests for prospective successors prove their worth. A number of candidates from all over the Grassland signed up for the trials. Among them was sybillious, the Flame Champion's trusted second-in-command and the Hero of Caleria.

The trials commenced three months after the Flame Champion announced them. The total number of competitors was three hundred fifty.

The first trial was one of strength. A wrestling tournament, organized in a round robin fashion, was set up. Many of the potential Flame Champions distinguished themselves; of course, there were those who did not, such as Jakob of the Chisha, who passed out in the ring before his opponent even took a step towards him. In the end, Ilak of the Safir Clan was the victor of the tournament. sybillious was of the runner-up.

The second trial commenced one week after the end of the tournament. This trial tested candidates' intelligence. Those who had proceeded past the first round of the trials were put into a similarly organized tournament of kacec, a board game developed by the Duck Clan long ago. In this game, players war with their opponent or opponents, while regulating their country's budget and civic welfare. It is generally considered to be the most accurate simulation of the managing of a nation ever developed. In this tournament, sybillious placed first. Ilak, sybillious's most major rival, placed fortieth, showing his aptitude to be more focused towards brawn than brains.

These two tournaments eliminated all but twenty of the candidates. The third and final trial was performed directly by the True Fire Rune. It temporarily transferred itself to each competitor to search their soul and mind. This was naturally the most boring trial for spectators, as the candidates actually did very little.

At the end of that trial, the Flame Champion (and the True Fire Rune) returned to the Flame Champion's chambers to reach a decision. After two hours of deliberation, the leader of the Grassland announced to a crowd of thousands his successor: sybillious.

Expansion to the South

At that time there was a large area of unpopulated land to the south, between Grassland and the nearby Republic of Tinto. This area contained the regions Gor, the Toza Marshes, the Field of Golden Arrows, and Silver Lake. sybillious, within her first month in office, approved a petition by members of the Karaya, Duck, and Chisha Clans to settle this land.

Five years passed, and the fledgling communities were doing very well. Construction of buildings was being completed very quickly, trade flourished, and the soil was fertile in the new land. However, this prosperity was to be shortlived.

The Tinto-Grassland War

The President of the industrial nation of Tinto, iscalio, a man known as the "Mountain Fox," sought to expand his young nation's territory. He deployed three of his five armies: the Northern, Central, and Western Armies. The Northern and Western Armies marched to the Field of Golden Arrows and chased out the Grasslandic settlers living there. From there, they diverged; the Northern Army moved north to Gor, while the Western General, a powerful magician, led his troops to the Toza Marshes.

The Central Army moved down the mountain on which Tinto's capital is located and struck the Grasslanders at Silver Lake and in the Forest of Morkata. All three Armies fulfilled their orders perfectly, greatly expanding Tinto's territory. Neither country pursued further fighting, although the conflict was never officially resolved.

Thus ended the conflict today known as the Tinto-Grassland War.

NOTE: This conflict is not called the Third Fire Bringer War because the Fire Bringer themselves; that is, Grassland's organized army, never participated in the fighting. Furthermore, the conflict resembled more a border conflict then a full-scale war.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Third Fire Bringer War

Several years after the Tinto-Grassland War, the City-States of Jowston invaded the Grassland. This set off a chain of hostilities that has since engulfed the entire world. This conflict is known as the Third Fire Bringer War in the Grassland, but necessarily is known by other names elsewhere. It is generally considered by all the involved nations to be divided into various "phases."

The First Phase

The war began on a calm, cool day in early autumn. The Flame Champion, sybillious, was in the middle of a basic patrolling session in the Mountain Pass. A bird flew overhead, continuing past the waterfall on the Pass.

sybillious was startled to see the same bird plummet to the ground, an arrow in its breast. Alarmed, she turned to her companion shabadoo to take a small contingent of cavalry and scout out the area ahead.

shabadoo trotted his steed along the winding pass, his one hundred sixty-five charges in tow. Nothing appeared unusual... but wait! In the distance, he could see horsemen! They seemed to be wearing the crest of the Jowston Alliance.

Invaders! shabadoo charged his soldiers forward, eager to rid the Grassland of these trespassers. But in his haste, he greatly underestimated their numbers, and his horsemen paid for it with their lives. Eggith Cyrene's own cavalry proved far too numerous to be defeated.

Half an hour later, a wounded shabadoo appeared before sybillious.

"shabadoo?!? What happened?" asked the shocked Flame Champion.

"Jowston soldiers... invasion... behind the waterfall" was all the commander could utter before fainting.

Taking charge, sybillious ordered Lord Riou to launch a barrage of magical spells in the direction of the waterfall. However, Riou's magicians were cut short by a more physical volley: the shafts of the Jowston leader's archers.

As sybillious sounded the retreat, that same Jowston leader, Schala-Kid ordered two infantry regiments, those of StarlightEx and Schala, to pursue. However, MMan9000, a Grasslandic magician of much fame, summoned the Pale Palace, a dragon that kept the Jowstonians at bay on the narrow Pass. It was more than enough of a delay for sybillious and the other Fire Bringer to escape that area.

Two hours later, having disposed of MMan9000's dragon, the Jowstonian infantrymen arrived at the entrance of the Mountain Pass. There was no sign of the Fire Bringer. Jubilant, the footmen turned back on the path. It seemed as though the Grasslanders had simply deserted the Pass! Hah! So much for all those legends of the fearsome Fire Bringer...

It must have seemed as though sybillious heard their thoughts, for no sooner had they turned toward their camp than the cavalry of the Flame Champion and Croix were upon them, in a literal sense. Horses were actually trampling down the footmen, or knocking them flying through the air. In frustration, Schala deduced what had happened. The Fire Bringer had hid their horsemen on top of the mountains! The steep charge downhill had granted great velocity to the horses, while the angle of the mountain had deflected the sound from the horses' hooves and allowed the Grasslanders to attack in secrecy.

Furious at this loss, Schala and StarlightEx commanded a retreat. But sybillious and Croix pushed their horsemen onward, and every one of those invaders was run down.

However, the battle was far from over. Curious at the amount of time it was taking StarlightEx and Schala to get the job done, another contingent of Jowstonians had set out. Upon seeing the carnage wrought by the Grasslanders' cavalry, Bugg, a Jowstonian commander, and his Earth and Fire Mages caused the ground under the Fire Bringer's feet to rupture and spew magma from its depths.

In retaliation, MMan9000 used his powerful Shining Light Rune to call forth meteors that crashed into his enemies' ranks. His disciples followed suit with a torrent of spells, creating a magical fracas that shook the foundations of the very world. Still, the clash ended abruptly, as too many of MMan9000's mages died for him to be able to continue the fight.

By now, the main force of the Jowston Army had arrived. They were greeted by the bolts of Celes Tilly, sybillious' second-in-command and a feared archer. However, the bolts fell the ground after clattering harmlessly against heavy tower shields, and Starslasher's infantry ran down the archers and butchered many of them.

As she once again ordered a retreat, sybillious lamented the loss, not only of the Mountain Pass, but of the lives destroyed by the battle. Little did she know that this attack by the City-States of Jowston would soon become a world war.

After the disaster at the Mountain Pass, Grassland was in complete disarray. The savvy High Priest of the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia, Saben, took advantage of this -- by invading Safir.

Harmonia had never truly forgiven Grassland for taking Safir. Thus, the force sent to take the region back had high morale; in their minds, they were fulfilling their patriotic duty to the Holy Kingdom.

sybillious, who had rushed back from the Mountain Pass to defend Safir, was the commander of the Fire Bringer defense. Her counterpart, Saben, was also personally leading his troops.

Once again, sybillious sent out a small scouting party, led by Abyscal, Chief of the Karaya; Pesmerga, a feared infantry commander; and the valiant warrior NeonMouku. Sadly, this scouting party was overtaken by the cavalry of Maximillian Quixote and Masaya's infantry. What few soldiers remained were quickly picked off by the magic of Lahti of the Flame.

Back at Safir, sybillious was getting worried. She did not yet know that the scouting party had fallen, and they had been gone for hours. The Flame Champion looked in horror as Harmonian troops drew near.

Nutflush, future High Priest of Harmonia, led these troops. At their head were three prisoners: Abyscal, Pesmerga, and NeonMouku. The defenders on the walls of Chanta Safirii gasped when they saw that all three had knives at their throats.

"I believe these three are members of the Fire Bringer," began Nutflush. "Now, we would be more than willing to free them -- if you abandon the city."

sybillious didn't say a word. Rather, she signaled the Alma Kinan Chief, Calupict, who led a regiment of eighty-seven magicians, to attack. To the Harmonians below, it appeared that the Flame Champion was deliberating their offer. By the time they figured out what had happened, they were already dead. The now-free prisoners, whom Calupict had taken great care to not injure, ran into the gates of Chanta Safirii.

That night, the Grassland leaders held a council. Their predicament was unenviable: the Harmonian troops far outnumbered them and had them surrounded. In the end, they decided that the only logical course of action was to abandon the city to prevent further loss of life, just as Nutflush had recommended.

However, this was not made easy by the Harmonians. Troops under the command of Saben and Kobold managed to infiltrate the city and attack from the inside. Frantically, the Fire Bringer tried to escape. They managed to, but with the loss of Cyrano's cavalry and greenunderground's infantry.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the First Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Second Phase

sybillious's Fire Bringer were devastated by these blows that Fate had dealt them. They had lost a region vital to commerce, and worse, one of the Six Clans. The entire country was in complete disarray. sybillious and her advisors, of whom the most influential was a Safiri called Harukaze, went into a council to decide what to do.

They decided to strike back exactly where they had been hit. sybillious led the full army to the Mountain Pass.

The Fire Bringer spotted the Jowstonian army across the path. Working quietly, sybillious ordered MMan9000 to launch a magical assault on the enemy. The wizard complied; his magicians called forth meteors to rain down on the opponents' heads. However, the mages soon found Jowstonian arrows raining down on their own heads.

The Fire Bringer, aghast, realized what had happened. That first regiment was just a decoy! Schala-Kid and other Jowstonian leaders were atop the mountains, raining arrows on them! Immediately, the Grasslanders began firing arrows at the Jowstonians above them, resulting in a stalemate.

Still, sybillious knew that, as time went on, the Jowstonians' high terrain would give them the edge. She had to do something to break the impasse. She eventually decided on leading her cavalry up a well-hidden road that crested the mountains and would put her right behind the soldiers of Jowston.

However, the path was well-hidden for a reason: it had not been used in years. And that too had an underlying cause: it was extremely treacherous. The rocky terrain, coupled with the heights, made it dangerous to traverse on foot, let alone on horse. Still, sybillious made it. Her mounted soldiers crashed into the rear of the Jowstonian contingent of archers, who, astonished, fled for their lives.

The battle proper began the next day, as both armies met at a plateau near the middle of the Pass. Cyrano opened fire, shooting a volley of arrows at Arevus' infantrymen. However, the volley was blocked by the footmen's tower shields, and the counterattack led to Cyrano's utter defeat.

Schala-Kid, the feared leader of the Jowston Alliance, led her own unit of archers in attacking this time. Calupict's magicians desperately tried to muster up a counterattack, but the sheer volume of the flurry of arrows ruined their concentration, leading to their annihilation.

Faced with such devastating defeats, sybillious called for a full retreat.

When the Fire Bringer returned to Duck Lake, they were met with horrible news: Chisha had fallen to Harmonia! Because Cyrano had been at the Mountain Pass, there had been no adequate defense for the Clan, and the Harmonians had put down the militia's paltry efforts. The Clans were once again down to four.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Second Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Third Phase

As the Third Phase of the war began, Grassland's situation looked bleak. Two of the Clans had been conquered, and enemies were closing in on all sides, including one new enemy: the Zexen Confederacy.

Zexen soldiers were invading the plain of Amur, led by none other than Chairman of the Council Gaara. The battle on the plain began as Gaara's personal unit of bowmen, paired with that of Klonoa Lunatea, loosed a volley at the army of Grasslanders assembled against them.

However, the rain of arrows was unsuccessful. The mercenary Synchisi, the Graveyard Duck, and the native Grasslander Knight of Saint Loa, commanded their infantry to turn up their heavy tower shields and advance. Despite the archers' best efforts, the heavily armored footmen could not be stopped, and they butchered the regiments of the Zexen advance force.

The next day, the battle began anew as yet another volley, this one coordinated by Kilawher, was launched at the Fire Bringer. Once again, Synchisi's infantry defeated the bowmen and pushed back the Zexen offensive.

Gaara's arrow-based strategy was failing against sybillious's strong defensive line. In an effort to turn the tide, the Council Chair ordered forth Sun_Quan's horsemen to charge the Fire Bringer and, hopefully, break their resolve. As it was, that too failed; Celes Tilly's Buttery Lungs fired volley after volley at the cavalry formation and reduced it to rubble by the time it had crossed the plain.

The battle at Amur had granted Grassland its first victory in the war. With renewed morale, the Fire Bringer set out again to reclaim their territory at the Mountain Pass.

Schala-Kid was startled as meteors started raining down on the Jowstonian encampment. She couldn't believe that those crazy Grasslanders were attacking yet again. Frustrated, she sent Schala to find out just what was going on.

Schala had not gone more than two miles down the Pass when she encountered the magicians of MMan9000, one of the architects of the assault. The two regiments began to fight it out. In the end, the berserker rage of the indignant Jowstonians and their superior numbers led to the devastation of MMan9000's unit.

MMan9000 returned to the Grassland camp and gave his report of defeat to sybillious. Moved to action, the Flame Champion assembled the entire army and marched on the enemy camp next morning at dawn. sybillious herself led the charge. However, even she could not break the enemy line; Schala-Kid's archers cut down the knights of squee.

Schala-Kid gave the order to pursue the fleeing army. However, she soon realized that one regiment was not fleeing: that of Calupict's Alma Kinan magicians. The all-female regiment of witches and sorceresses summoned a massive wall of fire from the ground, leading to the incinerations of nearly seven thousand of Eggith Cyrene's horsemen.

What happened next owed itself to the weather. On that day, it was very rainy and very overcast. So overcast, in fact, that heavily disguised Grassland infantry had been able, the previous night, to take up position around the battlefield.

NeonMouku's regiment was the first to attack. However, they picked a bad target. Wing Blade's magicians shredded them -- quite literally, with the Wind spell known as The Shredding.

Pesmerga's ambush was more effective. His footmen crashed into Schala-Kid's very own regiment, creating mayhem and chaos throughout the ranks of the Jowston force. With their leader's unit routed, the defenders lost all hope for that day, and retired to their camp.

The armies met one last time on that high plateau in the middle of the Mountain Pass. Schala-Kid was surprised at the size of the Grassland contingent sent against them; it consisted only of the cavalry regiments of Croix and sybillious. Expecting an easy victory, the leader of the Alliance ordered Wing Blade and his wizards to attack the horsemen. However, the Fire Bringer had one more trick up their sleeves: Deloseth's archers emerged from under a spell of illusion cast by MMan9000, and launched a devastating volley at the mages.

With the spellcasters defeated, the Grasslanders were granted a wonderful opportunity, one that they took. Croix led the full charge of the Fire Bringer, and the Jowstonians died before the spears of the Fire Bringer. In haste, Schala-Kid fled from the Mountain Pass, forfeiting it to Grassland.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Third Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Fourth Phase

The Fourth Phase of the war began with a bang. The Fire Bringer, seeking to continue their string of victories, launched a surprise attack on Jowston's Deep Forest. A small raiding pary eliminated the enemy's flank archers, and when the main force, led by Trevoke, charged, the Jowstonians, situated on a plateau, expected backup from those archers. Needless to say, the support never came. The Jowstonians were forced to abandon the plateau and fall back.

The Fire Bringer led the pursuit with a cavalry charge, led by the mercenary Barbarossa Rugner. However, this mercenary was not as lucky as Synchisi had been at Amur; more than half of his troops were lost to multiple volleys of arrows.

The next round of battle was a magical showdown between the magicians of Tabris for the Jowstonians, and Calupict for the Grassland. In the end, Calupict's troops' superior numbers and training completely annihilated Tabris's disciples.

In desperation, the Jowstonians send out the Royal Guard unit, Kohaku's infantry. However, the infantry was decimated by sybillious's own cavalry, who did not lose a single soldier in that charge. The Jowstonians, shaken by this defeat of their greatest champion, were forced to withdraw all their troops from the Deep Forest.

The next battle took place at the Great Hollow, home of the Lizard Clan. The Chairman of the Zexen Confederacy felt the need to push back the borders of the "barbarian" Grasslanders.

The defenders of the Great Hollow were led by the general PalominoMule and the tactician Timbo. PalominoMule's infantry were stationed at the entry to the cave system, and thus were the first to be attacked. The initial assault was a magical attack by the Zexen captain Pyroflame. PalominoMule's soldiers rushed immediately following the first Fire spell. Although her infantry suffered heavy losses, PalominoMule routed Pyroflame's magicians. The invaders, not having expected such heavy resistance, were forced to withdraw.

That night, the Zexen commander Malc tried to sneak his way into the Great Hollow, backed by his eleven thousand magicians. However, the Fire Bringer's intricate system of scouts tipped Timbo off to Malc's presence. Timbo's archers climbed to the roof of the Great Hollow and let fly scores of volleys, eradicating the invading wizards.

Everyone's Grudge led the initial assault the next day. His infantry were not fired upon by the bowmen, making him feel assured that the Fire Bringer had resigned themselves to defeat. He ordered his troops to pick up the pace. However, he was overconfident, and easily fell prey to shabadoo's surprise cavalry charge.

The Zexens, desperate, sent their Marshal Kagematsuri to flank the Hollow and attack it from another direction. Timbo's archers fired at them from on high, but the Zexen infantrymen's tower shield protected them. Finally, PalominoMule led her own infantry out from the Great Hollow's secret passageways, overcoming and routing Kagematsuri's men, and securing the Lizard Clan's safety.

The next battle also saw the Fire Bringer defending their territory, this time at the Mountain Pass. The invading army hailed from the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia.

For this phase of the war, Grassland had hired a mercenary, the much-feared Sars Ad-Minh, and his cavalry regiment, Der Trauerzug. As the Harmonians marched up the mountain, the met this powerful mercenary. He proposed a duel between himself and the Harmonian champion, but the invaders refused. They felt that they had a better chance on the field of battle.

Incidentallly, they were wrong. Cyrano, the exiled Chisha Clan Chief, and Sars Ad-Minh steamrolled the Harmonians and pushed their offensive front far back. The next wave was led by one of Harmonia's newest officers: Deloseth, who had once served the Grassland. He sent a regiment of infantry, led by Angelus Silverberg, against the Fire Bringer's own infantry, led by Red Fang. Superior numbers tilted the clash in favor of the Harmonians.

However, the Harmonians would fall victim to overconfidence, as had the Zexens at the Great Hollow. Deloseth charged his archers out from the encampment to fire a series of volleys, but themselves suffered serious injuries from the arrows of Cyrano's archers. As the Harmonians beat a hasty retreat, they were ambushed by a large Grasslandic infantry unit led by the feared general, the violent one. The Harmonian survivors left as quickly as they could.

Now the Zexens and the Grasslanders would again face off. Dedicated Fire Bringer reached the walls of Brass Castle just as Zexen Knights prepared to ride against the Karaya at Amur. Neclord and the Knight known as the Man in Black faced off just outside the Castle, and eventually, Neclord won by virtue of his larger troop. At that time, it was the middle of the night, so both armies retired until morning, when Nichtwar led a Zexen regiment of magicians onto the Amur Plain, where the Grasslanders had set up camp. These magicians met those of MMan9000, sparking a ferocious magical clash. When all was said and done, the Zexens had taken heavier losses than the Fire Bringer.

That night, the Zexen mages lit up massive fires outside Brass Castle, as a signal system; if a fire went out, the Zexen defenders would take it to mean that Neclord's demons were again launching a surprise attack. No such attack occurred that night.

Drummsta, a Zexen commander led her infantry onto the Amur Plain, where they met mounted troops led by none other than Abyscal, the Karaya Clan Chief, himself. At the same time, Neclord led his dark troops into the castle, making use of a secret passageway. However, he was discovered, and his troops were routed and he was captured.

Out on the plain, Abyscal had routed Drummsta and her soldiers. He was met shortly thereafter by the remnants of Neclord's troop, those who had managed to escape the slaughter. They explained the situation to Abyscal, who redoubled the Fire Bringer's efforts to take Brass Castle.

The remnants of Neclord's followers managed to sneak into the castle and open the gate, after killing the guards silently and swiftly. After the gates were opened, Abyscal and the other Grasslanders walked right in, freed Neclord, and took the city, adding a very important fortress to Grassland's territory.

The fifth of Grassland's Phase Four battles was fought near Chisha, on a plain. The adversary of the Fire Bringer was Harmonia. For this battle, the Grassland once again enlisted the services of the mercenary Synchisi.

The battle began as Synchisi proposed a duel. It was refused, causing morale to drop among the Harmonians. Some soldiers even deserted the Harmonian army, they were so disheartened.

Harmonian mages, led by Filipe and High Priest Saben, began to assault the Fire Bringer with magic spells from afar. However, Grasslanders ambushed them from both sides, peppering their ranks with arrows and forcing the magicians to retreat or face certain death.

As the Harmonian army pulled back, the Grasslanders pursued them vigorously. Saben dispatched three regiments, led by Nutflush, Dynast, and Maximillian Quixote, to protect the vanguard and hold off the Fire Bringer.

When the Fire Bringer met Nutflush's troop, the Harmonians were situated on a hill. At the bottom of the hill was Synchisi's mercenary troop. Maximillian Quixote led the Harmonians' downhill charge, putting his cavalry into a wedge formation. He trampled many of Synchisi's infantry, but the charge put the Harmonians in a vulnerable position.

A fact that the Grasslandic strategist Anton Misri took full advantage of. Thundering from around the hill came Sparda's cavalry, who immediately engaged the horsemen led by Nutflush. As for Dynast, he and his unit were struck by the magical spells of VikiFanatic's unit. Although they launched an impressive counterattack, they were ultimately annihilated.

As the battle between Sparda and Nutflush dragged on, Nutflush decided that it would be to Harmonia's benefit to forfeit Chisha, rather than continue an unwinnable battle.

Although all the Grasslanders rejoiced at the liberation of one of the Clans, Anton Misri, VikiFanatic, and Sparda were more jubilant than most. Anton Misri and VikiFanatic were of Chishan descent, and this milestone marked an important step toward rescuing Sparda's own people, the Safir.

As this extremely long phase of the Third Fire Bringer War dragged on, officers and soldiers of all nations had suffered heavy losses and were much fatigued. Still, they fought on.

The next battle took place at the Amur Plain, where forces of the Tinto Republic, led by the Republic's President iscalio, attacked the Karaya Tribe. As Dark Horizon Angel prepared a spell to cast against the Fire Bringer, his troops were cut down by a sudden volley of arrows shot by Celes Tilly's elite bowmen. iscalio retaliated with a volley shot by his own archers. These arrows found their mark among the Grasslanders' ranks. The Tinto soldiers followed that up with a cavalry charge. However, Harukaze and his magicians stopped the horsemen dead in their tracks.

The next day, the battle began as Celes Tilly and inko37 launched opposing volleys. Proportionally, each side suffered comparable casualties, but Celes Tilly's overwhelming numbers swung the battle in her regiment's favor. Hoping to build on this momentum, the Fire Bringer followed the volleys up with an infantry rush. However, the Tinto cavalry charged, and the infantry could not stand against them. At the end of the day, another regiment of Grasslanders had been eliminated by iscalio's personal regiment.

The third day represented the final showdown for Amur. The Tinto invaders were running out of supplies; if they were to take Amur, it would have to be done today.
Relying on the same cavalry that championed them on the previous day, the Tinto soldiers charged. However, Harukaze eliminated the horsemen through his Earth Magic, as he had on the first day of battle. To change the direction of the battle, iscalio's archers fired a volley. The Grasslanders were caught off guard and were severely injured by this assault.

Celes Tilly responded, once again, with her own salvo of arrows. This proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Although the Tinto archers managed one more volley, it was weak and casualties were somewhat isolated, forcing the Tinto to retreat from the Amur Plain.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Fourth Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Fifth Phase

This phase did not hit the Grassland as brutally as the others; most of the initial fighting was further to the east. Because of this lull, the Grasslanders took the oppurtunity to explore some of the deeper cave systems beneath the Great Hollow. One exploration party, led by Abyscal, Cyrano, and MMan9000, discovered one remarkably long passageway. After days of exploration, they discovered its destination: a massive ruin of an ancient structure. In the following weeks, a group led by the magician Anton Misri settled the site and turned it into a town called the Ceremonial Site.

Eventually, the war came to Grassland once more, and the Fire Bringer invaded Caleria. Some of the younger Harmonians were confident that the city could hold, but those with memories of the First Fire Bringer War were not so sure. The mercenaries of Synchisi, who had served Grassland so well in the past, led the scaling of the walls. As that was happening, Grasslandic and Harmonian archers squared off, as did Calupict's and skymansxeno's magicians. The Harmonian archers were victorious; however, Calupict was able to do major damage to the walls. Synchisi's mercenaries also prevailed, and although they did not take the walls, they did major damage to the defending forces.

When the Grassland recommenced the attack, several days later, Harmonia, expecting Synchisi's infantry unit to again take the lead, sent out three thousand five hundred mounted soldiers to mow them down. However, the Grasslandic unit was not Synchisi's, but Calupict's. The magicians used their shamanic powers to completely annihilate the Harmonians.

This defeat led High Priest Nutflush, Saben's successor as ruler of Harmonia, to personally take command of the defense of Caleria. Indeed, Nutflush accurately predicted the actions of the Grassland and repelled the next two attacks. However, the Fire Bringer refused to give up. In one final rush, Trevoke's infantry rushed over the battlements and took the walls just as Sparda's cavalry broke through the gate and took control of the lower city.

In the end, the city of Caleria fell to the Grassland. sybillious, the Flame Champion, personally took command of the city. This eased the minds of many xenophobic Harmonians, who, although fearful of Grasslanders as a whole, remembered the benevolence sybillious had shown during the First Fire Bringer War all those years ago.

At this time, sybillious gave the order to invade the Safir region. It was time to reunite the Six Clans. This siege would be the most important battle the Fire Bringer had ever fought.

Accordingly, Grassland threw all its weight behind this battle. The troop that was to take the maze-like city of Chanta Safirii was led by none other than sybillious herself. Under her were Harukaze, the Fire Bringer's most respected strategist and the former Chief of the Safir, and Celes Tilly, sybillious's most trusted lieutenant.

It was raining torentially as the Grasslanders reached the gates of Chanta Safirii.

This did not deter the wrathful Harukaze from riding to the gates and demanding a duel with Deloseth, leader of the Harmonian defenders. That duel was refused; Deloseth felt that the duel was an attempt by Grassland to avoid having to resort to their supposedly inferior fighting force.

Perhaps if the rain had not been so dominating, Deloseth would have seen the massive army of Fire Bringer and accepted the duel. Harukaze himself started the battle by slaying two of Deloseth's guards as the Harmonian himself retreated to the battlements. There, he directed his troops, fifteen thousand archers, to fire on the Grasslanders.

Harukaze was being overpowered by those of Deloseth's guards that had stayed outside the fortress. Seeing that her ally was in danger, Celes Tilly rode to Harukaze's defense after hastily issuing orders to her regiment to launch a volley at Deloseth's men. Celes Tilly, upon reaching Harukaze, launched a crossbow bolt into the back of the last of the guards. She then returned to her unit.

After several rounds of arrows were exchanged, Deloseth's unit succumbed to the Buttery Lungs' superior equipment, numbers, and experience.

All of a sudden, lightning struck the ground where Harukaze and his regiment were stationed. "Wizards!" muttered the tactician under his breath. And then to his soldiers, magicians themselves, he said "Show these scum some real magic!"

Which is exactly what they did. The very raindrops turned to deadly icicles and hailballs which fell savagely upon the Harmonians, eradicating them.

These defeats forced the Harmonians to stop attacking, at least for the moment. But the pause cost them dearly, for in that time, the Fire Bringer were able to set up camp on the plateau in front of Chanta Safirii. The Harmonians' area of control was pushed back to the very walls of the fortress.

When the rain subsided the next morning, the Grasslanders were greeted with a shocking sight: the gates of Chanta Safirii were open! It was clearly a trap, but one they had to risk, for in not doing so, they forfeited the battle to Harmonia. Harukaze designated Kalidor and his Valor's Blades cavalry regiment to go inside the fortress and see just what was going on.

After exploring the fortress for some time, Kalidor and his horsemen found a well. Upon examining the well, Kalidor's lieutenant observed a shimmering object at the bottom of it. The troops pulled it out. It was a silver plate, on which was etched the words "Here, a Grasslander dies."

The sun's rays reflected off the plate, signaling the Harmonian soldiers on the walls above. The magicians among them sealed off the entrance, and other Harmonians opened hatches on the walls, causing water to flow into the corridor from a resevoir hidden in the walls. Archers on the walls efficiently picked off the cavalrymen not killed in the original rush of water. In essence, it was a massacre.

Embolded by this victory, the Harmonians sallied forth to retake the field. A regiment of archers, led by Alucard, launched a volley of arrows that decimated Timbo's own bowmen. The Harmonian infantrymen then rushed the field, but were stopped dead in their tracks by Harukaze's magicians.

Avenging Timbo, Celes Tilly once again took the field with her elite crossbowmen, the Buttery Lungs. Alucard's archers were eradicated, although the Buttery Lungs did suffer moderate casualties. Harukaze continued the assault by bombarding the walls with magic spells. However, the archers on the wall, the very same archers that had defeated Valor's Blades, pushed back the magicians.

Now, the supply lines of the Grassland were running low. sybillious, anxious to end the battle, led her personal unit, the knights of squee, over the threshold of the fortress and through the labyrinth. The Harmonians, although they fought bravely, could not resist the power of the Flame Champion. With that final push, the Fire Bringer made their way to the village at the heart of Chanta Safirii and took control of the region once again. Harukaze openly wept when the battle was over and the Safirii poured out of their homes to celebrate with the Fire Bringer.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Fifth Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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Camus the Noble

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Sixth Phase

To shake off the sting left by the departure of the strategist Harukaze, Grassland immediately went on the offensive. The Fire Bringer marched to the Zexen Forest, where they were met by Zexen defenders led by the warrior Gaara. Gaara, having more faith in his own strength than that of his soldiers, proposed a duel. The Grasslanders accepted, and sent forth a magician by the name of Gremio.

The Zexens jeered loudly; surely this frail wizard could not hold a candle to their great leader. But they were wrong. Gremio, using a powerful Sorcerer's Rune, immobilized Gaara and bombarded him with a diverse array of magical spells. The duel was over in minutes.

The Zexen ironheads, seeking to recover from this blow, charged with their entire force, a mass of foot soldiers, their flanks guarded by Beast Rune's cavalry. The Zexen commander, Marshmallow, was confident that this rush would frighten the Fire Bringer and scatter them.

The charge did not have the desired effect. The brave Grasslanders stood their ground, and the Buttery Lungs launched a volley of arrows at the perfect trajectory; nearly half of the Zexen infantry were killed. Marshmallow, seeing that the battle was lost, gave the order to retreat.

But the Grasslanders would not let them off so easily. Kalidor, and his Valor's Blades, had been hiding in the woods. Normally, the thick trees would slow down cavalry, but these horses were so intelligent, and their bonds with their riders so great, that the horsemen swerved among the trees with absolute ease. They came crashing into the the left flank of the Zexen force, tearing through Beast Rune's soldiers. However, Kalidor's regiment suffered heavy casualties.

And so the Zexens withdrew from Zexen Forest. This was a major loss for them; the Forest had long been a source of national pride, and, more practically, a buffer for troops marching toward Vinay Del Zexay.

However, the Grasslanders did not continue on that path. For Harmonian troops, wishing to once again take Chanta Safirii, called the main force of the Fire Bringer back to the north.

The Harmonians marched onward with a bold strategy in mind. Their fighting force was meager in the extreme; approximately ten thousand cavalry, archers, and magicians were attempting to lay siege to a trap-filled fortress defended by a force almost nine times the size of their own. The attack was virtually suicidal.

However, the difference between "virtually" and "truly" depended on the success of the aforementioned bold strategy. Harmonia planned to propose a duel, and the Harmonians assumed that the warlike Safir would accept, overconfident in their abilities. Harmonia would send its greatest champion into the duel, and win. The drop in the morale of the Fire Bringer would be so great that even the much smaller Harmonian force would be able to defeat them and take Chanta Safirii.

Of course, this strategy relied on a number of things falling perfectly into place. Grassland accepting the duel, for one.

And sadly, that didn't happen. The Harmonians watched in horror as the Fire Bringer opened the gates of Chanta Safirii, and an entire army, rather than one man, rode forth. Over twenty thousand horsemen, led by Sparda, the new Chief of the Safir Clan, and his subordinate Peeps, charged. The Harmonians hastily assembled their own cavalry troop to counter the attack. At the same time, the archer commander MrMan (not to be confused with the Grasslander MMan9000) commanded his troops to fire volleys at the charging Fire Bringer.

These archers made a respectable effort; they routed Peeps's horsemen. However, Sparda's main force was not deterred. They continued to trot forward.

Now, this fact much disturbed the Harmonian commanders. The Grasslanders weren't galloping, they were trotting. Just as Algus and Rai-jin, the Harmonian captains, began to formulate theories in their minds, the true reason was revealed to them.

Sparda's force had been surrounding an equally large regiment of infantrymen, led by the Safir commander the violent one, who was also Sparda's sister. Before, the horses, obviously much larger than foot soldiers, had hidden those same foot soldiers. To the Harmonians, it had seemed that the cavalry were simply marching in box formation. However, this was only an illusion; the siblings had worked in tandem to make the Grasslandic force seem half its true size!

Before this, the Harmonians, though outnumbered five to one, had managed to delude themselves that they had some chance of victory, much as a gambler might convince himself that he has a chance at winning the Grand Prize at the Duck Village Lottery. Now, they lost all hope, like the gambler who finally has nothing more to spend on the Lottery, and realizes that he likewise has nothing more to spend on food.

the violent one split her regiment from her brother's, and went around to strike the left flank of the Harmonian fighting force. Because cavalry have a strategic advantage when fighting infantry, Rai-jin tried to lead his horsemen to intercept the violent one, but was himself intercepted by Sparda's troop, who utterly obliterated the Harmonian unit.

In a last-ditch effort to save their skins, Algus's archers turned and fled. As they ran, they saw that Sparda's cavalry were on a course to intercept their escape route. The archers changed direction abruptly, only to find the violent one's infantry staring them in their collective face. the violent one certainly lived up to her name; not one of the Harmonian archers under Algus's command escaped.

At the end of the day, the vast majority of the slain bodies littering the ground were clad in blue and white.

The Harmonians resumed the attack the next morning, albeit feebly. The archers of Ardus and MrMan launched volleys at troops stationed on the walls of Chanta Safirii. Those same troops, the magicians under MMan9000 and the archers under Tenko Star brushed off the Harmonian assault and retaliated, scattering what few Harmonian troops remained. Chanta Safirii was safe. It seemed that the Six Clans would not again be fractured so easily.

At this time, the military heads of the Fire Bringer decided that it was time to once again turn their attention to the east; that is, to the City-States of Jowston. One of the greatest and most prosperous City-States, Greenhill was within range for an attack and ripe for the taking. And so sybillious sent an army to take it.

Neclord, the Dios de Vampiros, Supreme Commander of the invading Fire Bringer, rode ahead of his army. He shouted to the defenders stationed on the battlements, "We shall decide this battle in a civilized duel. There is no need for thousands of deaths where one will suffice. Now, who among you is brave enough to face me?"

None were. The Jowstonians waved a red flag, the traditional sign of the refusal of a duel. Neclord, down on the ground, yelled up to them, "Fine. Then, my Spectral Nightmares will kill you on the battlefield. In truth, it makes little difference to me." And he rode back to the camp to prepare the troops for siege.

The initial assualt was led by Mekou. His infantrymen, though under heavy fire by kuwaizair's archers, managed to erect siege towers, slaughter all of the archers, and ultimately take control of the gates.

Neclord, from the ground, saw that the walls had been taken on the first attempt. Even a general with the most rudimentary understanding of tactics would know that that was a good thing. (Although Neclord's understanding of tactics was much more than rudimentary; indeed, his magically prolonged life had seen him come to possess great wisdom.)

But what was this? A new regiment, coming from the far side of the wall, was winding its way toward Mekou's unit. Neclord decided to personally take control of the situation. He sent those of his troops that were capable of flying, such as vampires and imps, to the top of the wall. They shredded the enemy infantry unit, led by Kohaku, but suffered some losses themselves (a rare occurrence among undead troops) to Holy spells being cast by rangers on the ground below.

Seeing that there were troops amassing behind the gate, Mekou opened it, letting Abyscal, Chief of the Karaya, lead his cavalry into the city. However, Jeremy's rangers decimated the horsemen, but themselves took casualties that forced them to withdraw to the New Leaf Academy, the center of Greenhill's culture and government. There, they met some of Neclord's "agents," who promptly ran the rangers out of town.

Despite Abyscal's defeat, more Grasslanders, led by Calupict's spearmen, rushed into the city. Stormbringer's archers caused great losses among the Fire Bringer -- until the spearmen came close enough to impale them.

Neclord, who had since joined his men atop the wall, descended. He began to move his troops toward New Leaf Academy.

The Jowstonians, led by Geddoe, and six hundred strong, made one last futile attempt to keep the city. Into the jaws of Hell rode these brave six hundred.

Neclord, upon taking the city, installed himself as governor of the region and Headmaster of the New Leaf Academy. Eventually, the people of the city warmed to the Grasslanders, and life resumed normality.

After the conquest of Greenhill, the Fire Bringer realized that their enemies were taking great care to fortify their borders shared with Grassland. It would be much harder now to expand. So, sybillious came up with an innovative, if risky, strategy: attack a new nation, and take their cities before they had time to mobilize and prepare. After much debate, it was resolved that the Fire Bringer would launch a naval attack on Gaien, one of the states that made up the Island Nations.

The Grasslandic fleet encountered a fleet, of comparable size, of the Island Nations not far from Razril. The Islanders noticed their enemy shortly before the attack commenced, but by then, it was too late to escape. They would have to fight head on.

The Grasslanders opened fire --literally-- as Guardian and his regiment of archers armed with fire-tipped arrows bombarded the ship of Admiral ChiByakko. However, this volley failed, and ChiByakko's counterattack was deadly. The Admiral rammed the archers' lightweight boat head-on, and every archer, with the exception of Guardian himself, drowned or was subsequently picked off by archers of the Islands.

Captain Kyojin Blight, of the Island Nations, was sent west to scout out the enemy's position. However, MenaceX, a commander of the Grasslanders, saw Kyojin and rushed him at full speed. Kyojin realized that he could not make it back to the main fleet in time, so he decided to preemptively attack MenaceX. His archers loosed thousands of arrows, killing thousands of magicians. Even so, the Grasslanders were too disciplined and resilient, and their magical attack eliminated Kyojin Blight's regiment and destroyed their ship.

Even in one's enemies, one must appreciate craftiness. And one of the Islander generals, Archangel, was very crafty indeed. Seeing that the Grasslandic ship moving toward his own was full of swordsmen, he predicted that they would do something along the lines of boarding the ship via the rail. This, of course, would limit their visibility with regards to what was actually happening on deck.

Now, Archangel's troops were cavalrymen, but had not brought their steeds onboard. (The rocking boats tended to alarm the animals.) Archangel quickly ordered his men to build fake horses out of some of the straw that was kept belowdecks. When the Grasslanders, led by NeonMouku, leapt onto the rail, approximately ninety minutes later, they could not see that their swords were striking only straw. The Knights of Gaien atop the deck simply plucked the invaders off the sides of the ship and turned back towards home, thinking that they had repelled the Grasslanders.

That was not quite true. That night, all of Gaien was awakened to the sounds of thousands of wizards, led by MenaceX and halberdier, bombarding the city with magical spells of great magnitude. What followed was a series of weak, almost pitiful attempts by the Islanders to repel the invaders. In the beginning, it was a single mounted warrior attempting to board the invaders' ships. Needless to say, his attempt, though noble, was far from successful.

The next counterattack, if you can call it that, was a group of the town's magicians, hurling some incantations at halberdier and his soldiers. Of course, the magicians, unlike the horseman, did not have to physically approach the enemy before attacking, and thus managed to defeat six of the enemy before succumbing.

Finally, nine of the Knights, reckless and overeager for battle, rushed across the dock and actually managed to board halberdier's ship before being killed. To their credit, three of halberdier's mages died as a result of this assault.

Then, inside the city, Admiral ChiByakko rushed into the town square. "Are you mice or men, citizens of Gaien?" he shouted to the flustered crowd. "If be you men, take up arms to defend your fair city!"

"We are men!" cried the now-slightly-less-flustered crowd, except for the women willing to take up arms, who cried, "We are women who can fight just as well as men!" and the village idiot, who cried, "What's a mice?" These varying answers somewhat lessened the impact of ChiByakko's rhetoric, as he had been hoping for some more mob mentality, but the people of Gaien, and with the exception of the village idiot, rushed into their homes to take up pokers, pitchforks, frying pans, chickens, brooms, and whatever other potential weapons they could find.

ChiByakko led this militia to the dock, where, by sheer force of numbers, they managed to make it aboard MenaceX's vessel and eliminate his magicians. However, they were still being harassed by halberdier's spellcasters, whom they could not reach in time. It seemed as though Gaien would join all the other regions conquered by the Fire Bringer in this war.

However, Archangel and his cavalry, on real flesh-and-blood horses this time, came thundering onto the dock, their horses' hooves making an explosive chorus of clip-clop, clip-clop. (Of course, the clips and the clops were not easily distinguishable among a force fourteen thousand and two strong. halberdier, seeing the oncoming force, dispatched a small force of cavalry to hold them off as halberdier provided magical backup.

This plan did not exactly work. Just as soon as the magical pressure on ChiByakko's militia was relieved, they joined Archangel's horsemen in fighting the Fire Bringer's own horsemen. In the end, the horsemen were defeated, and halberdier was forced to sail off before more Grasslanders lost their lives in this now-futile battle.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Sixth Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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Camus the Noble

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Seventh Phase

With the acquisition of the Zexen Forest, the Grassland were now in a position to take other major Zexen possessions. They decided to begin with the region of Daevan, a southern fortification. A large army of Grasslanders and their allies, the people of the Nameless Lands, marched on the fortress.

Both armies were gigantic, both the attackers and the defenders. And as such, neither side was fully confident in their ability to pull off a victory in a conventional clash of forces. However, both sides were led by powerful commanders: Gaara, the former Head of the Zexen Council, and Midori the vampiress, one of the greatest champions of the Nameless Lands. These commanders agreed to duel; the loser would have to withdraw his or her entire army by dawn the next day.

As the two champions met each other in the field, Gaara went immediately on the offensive. He caught Midori off guard with a low swipe; the vampiress's ankle was injured, putting her at a distinct disadvantage. She, however, had one major advantage over her opponent: she could fly.

Midori launched into the air, and out of dark magical energy fashioned herself an elegant sword, similar in style to a rapier. Lowering herself to the ground, where she hovered gently, she began a series of rapid thrusts. Gaara managed to block a few of these blows; however, the majority of them nicked him, causing blood to flow from these small wounds.

And Midori, of course, was a vampiress. She used her Darkness Rune to cast a Black Shadow over her opponent, completely blocking Gaara's vision. Her plan was to turn into a bat, zip into the Shadow, drink as much blood as she could, and get out of there.

But somewhere between the second and third steps, things went horribly wrong. Gaara, who had begun wildly swinging his scythe, struck the bat that was Midori mid-flight. She was forced to leave the Shadow prematurely, and take refuge in a nearby tree, wating for an opportunity.

That opportunity presented itself shortly after the Black Shadow wore off. Gaara, seeking his enemy, let his guard down. Literally as quick as a bat, Midori swept down upon him and latched onto a wound near his shoulder. Rejuvenated, she fashioned herself another weapon, this one a scythe like Gaara's.

All in a split second, Midori materialized the scythe, turned back into humanoid form, swung the scythe in a complex spiral, and knocked Gaara's scythe from his hands. Midori knocked Gaara to the ground with a blunt blow to the stomach, and rested the blade of her scythe against Gaara's neck.

The duel was over.

Gaara returned to Vinay Del Zexay furious. His humiliation at Daevan had convinced him more than ever that the Grassland had to be eliminated. He persuaded the Council to send a massive army, one of the largest the Confederacy had ever fielded, to Zexen Forest to reclaim this Zexen land.

The invading Zexen army marched carefully through the region of Zexen Forest. Because there were no fortified settlements in the region, the two armies, Zexen and Grasslandic, met in a large clearing. They stared each other down for some time, until Abyscal, Chief of the Karaya Clan, strode forward.

"Are there any among you brave enough to face me in single combat?" he asked of the Zexens commanders.

Milan Fiori, Gaara's successor as Head of the Zexen Council, scoffed at the idea. "Are you such a coward that you fear relying on your men's skills? We will not participate in such a barbarous exercise!"

"Then, let it be on your conscience that thousands will die needlessly on this day." And with that, Abyscal returned to the Grasslanders' side of the chosen battlefield. Many of the Zexen soldiers, troubled by his words, deserted their country's army.

The forces sent forth their chosen lead units: Marshmallow, the Silver Knight, for the Zexens, and Highwind, Chief of the Duck Clan, for the Grasslanders. As Abyscal had forewarned, the battle was bloody; fifty-four thousand and two hundred ninety brave warriors, most Zexens, lost their lives in that initial skirmish.

Seeking to benefit from the confusion, a troop of Zexen magicians, led by Man in Black, began quietly casting spells. Unfortunately for them, Neclord, one of the most feared generals of the Fire Bringer, used his inherent ability as a vampire to sense magical activity, and led his undead Spectral Nightmares to attack the wizards. The mages were stopped, but at great cost to the Nightmares; nearly half their own number were lost in the risky assault.

Angered by the recent setbacks, Milan Fiori led his own regiment of archers into the field, where they were met by MMan9000's infantry. These were two amazingly large and well-trained regiments, and this led to a truly climactic clash. It was perhaps the bloodiest battle ever to occur in all the world; both troops were completely annihilated. In the end, Milan Fiori gained victory by gravely wounding MMan9000 with his enchanted longbow, Leviathan. Still, his lack of soldiers denied him the chance to participate in any more fighting. He turned to withdraw to the Zexen camp.

Sparda of the Safir, in an attempt to capture the Zexen leader, charged his cavalry forward. However, they were intercepted by Beast Rune's own horsemen. Sparda's regiment, The Chain Gang, eventually prevailed over the weaker Zexens, but Beast Rune's regiment provided sufficient cover for Milan Fiori to retreat safely.

Following the cavalry battle, Zexen troop numbers and morale were running dangerously low, almost to the point where the invasion could no longer be considered as having a modicum of a possibility of success. Calupict decided to take advantage of this fact and lead her spearmen toward the remains of the Zexen army. They met resistance from the only fully intact Zexen troop, the archers under the command of Blank. The spearmen easily overpowered the archers, albeit while suffering considerable casualties. This proved to be too much for the Zexens, and they were forced to withdraw from the battlefield.

The Grasslanders, after a string of victories on the western front, decided that it was time to turn their attention eastward once more. To that end, sybillious sent a large army, led by the Fire Bringer general VikiFanatic, to take the Harmonian stronghold in the region of Rega Arme.

Eventually, the Grasslanders reached the gates of Shwartz Kastel, the massive fortress in Rega Arme. VikiFanatic drew his épée, Ouragon, and pointed it at the defenders, who, seeing the invading army from afar, had hastily assembled atop the wall. "We shall settle this battle by duel!" shouted the general.

Axis, the commander of the Harmonian defenders, shouted back, "We shall settle this battle not by duel, but by the deaths of all the Fire Bringer!" And with that he secretly gave the signal for his archers to fire upon VikiFanatic and the Grasslanders. Fortunately, a Chishan spy who had infiltrated Axis's unit relayed this signal to her Chief, Cyrano, who promptly ordered his own archers to let fly a preemptive volley. The Chishan bowmen carried out their task with speedy and ruthless efficiency; many of the Harmonians died before even putting shaft to string.

Sadly, the Chishan spy had only interpreted part of Axis's signal. After the signal to fire, the Harmonian commander had issued another order. A massive cavalry regiment under Sai Fujiwara and a large infantry regiment under VINCENT05 were to directly charge the main force. This was a risky task, but one that had great possible payoff.

Caught off guard, VikiFanatic's magicians fought tooth and nail. Sadly, because of the very short window of opportunity, they were not able to muster more than a few short fire spells before being completely eradicated by the Harmonian force. The Harmonians began to celebrate...

Just then, the ground beneath their feet was torn asunder. Massive lightning bolts flew down from the heavens. At this time, the troops realized they were being assaulted by a truly powerful magical force. They turned to flee, but a wall of fire sprung up in front of the gate, then proceeding to form a ring around the Harmonian troops. Only Sai Fujiwara, VINCENT05, and one hundred seventy-eight of the more mobile mounted troops managed to beat the fire and safely escape inside Shwartz Kastel. The remaining troops, numbering over one hundred thousand, could only stay in the ring and wait for their impending doom to come.

And it came. Anton Misri and his magicians (for they that had been directing the magical assaults) teleported into the ring of fire themselves and summoned a torrent of otherworldly spirits through Blue Gate Runes; dragons, phantoms, and afrits all had their turn at the poor Harmonians. Needless to say, all of the defenders trapped in that ring of fire perished. However, they fought fairly well, managing to kill approximately fifteen thousand of the Fire Bringer mages.

Rallied by Anton Misri's masterstroke, the Grasslanders, led by Mekou and Kalidor, charged the gate, which the Harmonians, in their haste and awe, had neglected to close. However, this charge, like the Harmonian one before it, was destined to fail. Ranadiel, a Harmonian, managed to reassemble his stunned cavalry troops and lead them against Mekou's infantry, whom they trampled to the last man. Kalidor's regiment faced a similar fate; a Harmonian wizard, The Hot Ice, brought the force of his magician regiment against them. Kalidor's physicallly inclined horsemen did not stand a chance.

The Grasslanders, having failed to capitalize on their initial victories, retreated back to their camp in the field.

That is, they would have, had the Harmonians not sent their remaining troops, mounted on horseback, the pursue them. This was the third in this battle's series of doomed charges, and ultimately, the one that would decide the winner of the battle.

halberdier was the first to respond to this threat. Instead of trying to beat the Harmonians to the camp, he immediately turned his regiment around. The nearest detachment of pursuing cavalry, that of Sai Fujiwara, was easily picked off with a Shredding spell.

Seeing that his ally had done so well simply confronting the Harmonians, Anton Misri adopted similar tactics. His task was more difficult; however, after his impressive magical display, the enemy had marked him and made him the primary target of this pursuit. Outnumbered, Anton Misri developed a cunning strategy: the Wind Mages in his regiment would create powerful gusts and push against the cavalry, giving the other wizards much more time to cast their offensive spells.

As with the ring of fire, many of the more intuitive horsemen simply fled and escaped. The majority, however, continued to charge and fight until they were right on top of the magicians. Indeed, they managed to take down about half of the mages; but of course, they eventually succumbed to Anton Misri's magic.

As stated before, this last failed charge was the final turning point in this back-and-forth battle. VikiFanatic waved Ouragon in the air, rallying the Fire Bringer for one final assault in this quick and hectic siege. The Harmonians, having spent most of their forces in that final pursuit, were unable to cobble together anything resembling a real resistance, and Rega Arme finally fell to the Fire Bringer.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Seventh Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Eighth Phase

As the next phase dawned, the Fire Bringer were in an enviable position. Their central position among the nations of the world fostered trade and cultural exchange, while large plains and hard mountain ranges made an attack on Central Grassland unfeasible for most of Grassland's potential enemies. Furthermore, the Clans' primary rival, the Zexen Confederacy, was in a state of complete disarray; unable to withstand attacks from all sides, Zexen's status as a world power was essentially snuffed out. For the Grasslanders and their staunch allies, the nomads of the Nameless Lands, it was simply a matter of cleaning up the mess.

However, the Grassland did have one weakness: they were completely shut off from the sea. A natural disaster had destroyed the port at the Ceremonial Site, and the settlers there had decided that it would be too costly to rebuild. So, sybillious adjusted military plans to lead to the eventual acquisition of a port.

The Fire Bringer decided to mop up the remaining Zexen territories, starting with the Mountain Saint Loa southeast of Daevan. The mountain was inhabited by a community of religious zealots, who believed that the martyr Saint Loa resided, in spirit form, within the mountain.

The venerable Celes Tilly and the noble Kalidor led the assault. The overwhelmingly massive army of the Grassland positioned itself directly opposite the camp of the Zexens, who had decided to wall up in their village. Actually, that phrase is somewhat inaccurate; the city did not have true walls, only a low wooden palisade that would not keep out anything more dangerous than a coyote.

Celes Tilly called out over the wall: "If you choose to fight, many will die. Will you not surrender? As you can see, we would crush you in any clash of armed forces."

Vince Muerto, a leader of the local resistance, utterly rejected the proposal. "We cannot surrender the sacred mountain to foreigners! And there is the matter of our honor! How will our children's children remember us if they are told that their grandfathers shirked duty in the face of adversity?"

The Grasslandic general sighed. It was always the same. She attempted to negotiate a compromise. "Then, at least choose a champion to defend your honor, and avoid needless loss of life. If your champion can defeat me in single combat, we will withdraw from this mountain."

Again Muerto rejected the plea. "This is unacceptable. We of the Mountain Saint Loa will defend our city together! Now, die, Grasslanders!" And he and his nine hundred disciples launched a magical volley at the Fire Bringer. That is, they tried to. Most of the lightning bolts and fireballs simply fizzled out.

Celes Tilly, her spirit of caring and generosity gone, laughed. "You call that an assault? Take this!" Her sixty-two thousand crossbow-armed warriors let their bolts fly. Every single one of Vince Muerto's magicians was killed.

Another of the Zexen militia leaders, Evil Baz, enraged at his comrade's defeat, ordered his own magicians, a regiment as large as Vince Muerto's had been, to cause a tornado to sweep through the cavalry wing of the Fire Bringer group, which was led by Kalidor. Seeing the storm clouds begin to form, Kalidor led his select unit, the Valor's Blades, to the palisade. They quickly broke down the wooden barricade and trampled over Evil Baz's wizards. The Blades suffered minimal losses.

Traumatized by the loss of the palisade, a group of militia infantrymen, led by its captain, a warrior named Zieg, charged from its position and engaged the cavalry. Kalidor responded to the new threat with his usual efficiency. He swung his Valor's Reach down from atop his steed with speed double that of a normal man. His troops carried out their task equally well, and Zieg's soldiers were routed quickly.

Ed_20, the final militia leader, surreptitiously brought the mages under his command to the top of a building, with the intention of raining Breath of Ice spells on the cavalry below (the said cavalry were holding their position, waiting for the rest of the Grasslandic troop to reach the city). Celes Tilly, however, saw the magicians take position atop the roof, and ordered her soldiers to launch a volley at them. Now, this task -- the launching, from outside of a city, of crossbow shafts onto the roof of a building in that city -- would be impossible under normal suggestions, but these were no ordinary crossbows. They had been designed by the master weaponsmiths of the Lizard Clan, and as such, managed the difficult feat with deadly accuracy, killing all of Ed_20's subordinates.

Kalidor looked up at the flurry of shafts flying over his head. What on earth is Celes doing? he thought. But as magicians, speared by the thick black bolts, fell from the sky, he understood. Celes Tilly had just saved his life.

With their leaders defeated, the citizens of the mountain settlement were cowed. They submitted to the Grasslanders, who in turn treated the conquered with great respect.

With this Zexen region taken, sybillious and the other military leaders set their sights on a bigger fish: the Zexen capital, Vinay Del Zexay.

As the Flame Champion mobilized forces on the western border, a group on the east decided to raid the nearby Harmonian region, Sorrow's Peak. This group was led by the commanders Calupict, Highwind, and Captain Hero. Captain Hero led the way, as the raiding party passed through a narrow valley.

"I don't like the looks of this," said Captain Hero to Highwind. "If the Harmonians knew we were here, a well-placed ambush could decimate us."

"Well, then let's hope they don't know!" laughed Highwind jovially.

Captain Hero opened his mouth to say that this was no laughing matter, but events prevented him from doing so; several of his troops had just dropped to the ground, pierced by arrows. Taking quick, decisive action, he called on the power of his Great Hawk Rune. He launched an arrow at the Harmonian faces that had just sprung up on the cliffs above, and his Rune multiplied that arrow until it was five thousand shafts flying through the air, killing some and gravely wounding most. Naturally, this amazing diplay on the Captain's part did much to boost morale, and his troops regrouped and launched many a volley up and over the high cliffs, taking advantage of the powerful animal-bone bows they were equiped with (Captain Hero's own was made of tough dragon bone).

While Captain Hero's regiment dealt with the remnants of Chimei Star's (for he had led the ambushing bowmen), Calupict and Highwind rushed their troops over the summit of the mountain and into the town at the peak. Highwind's cavalrymen naturally were the first to reach the top, so they were the ones pitted against the remaining defenders of the town: an infantry regiment led by the ninja Darko17. Although they fought bravely, the footmen were not capable of stopping the charging horsemen, and were quickly trampled.

The fight gave Calupict's spearmen enough time to catch up with Highwind's regiment, and it was the spearmen who were the first to enter the tower at the center of the city. (The tower served as the main defensive structure in the town.) However, there were no soldiers inside the tower, simply civilians who still fought to defend what was left of their town. Calupict mercilessly swung her partisan, Shaman, left and right, butchering the ramshackle militia warriors. There have been reports that she became fully consumed by bloodlust in the heat of battle, screaming "Die pigs, die!!! HAHAHA!!! Worms!!!" The eyewitnesses who reported this incident gave the information only on the condition of anonymity.

Eventually, Highwind and Captain Hero led their troops inside the tower as well, leading to even more chaos and destruction. In the end, the town's inhabitants had been all but exterminated, its wealth plundered, and its governor, Ranadiel, captured for ransom

Approximately one week later, preparations were finally ready for the assault on Vinay Del Zexay. This would be the definitive battle between Grassland and Zexen, the battle where Zexen's fate would likely be sealed.

Intimidated by the massive army at their walls, the Zexen leaders proposed a duel. Representing Zexen would be Keith Archer, a fairly new recruit in the ranks of the Zexen commanders.

The duel was accepted. The Fire Bringer sent forth as their representative the Flame Champion, sybillious.

Keith Archer and sybillious met midway between the two armies. They shook hands, sybillous casually and Archer nervously. He was almost certain he would lose. After all, this was the Flame Champion herself...

"Are you sure you want to do this?" said the Champion. "There's still time to turn back."

Archer gathered all his courage and shot back defiantly, "No! I will defend my honor and that of Zexen, and turn you back from our fair land!"

"No, you won't," replied sybillious, shrugging her shoulders. With that, she thrust forth her right hand, sending out a spurt of flame from the True Fire Rune and burning Keith Archer's left arm. Caught off guard, Archer pulled out, with his good arm, his long knife he kept at his waist and swung at sybillious. In response, sybillious whipped out her own blades, two short swords, and easily parried the blow.

His momentum disrupted, Archer tumbled to the ground. Had sybillious taken advantage of the oppurtunity, she could have finsihed the duel then and there, but her initial reaction was to put distance between herself and her ferocious opponent. After some time, both had got their breath back, and the battle began anew.

Keith Archer, who was naturally an archer, fired off a series of arrows, one of which struck sybillious's right hand, forcing her to drop her sword. Now, the Zexen commander made a grave mistake: he forgot the True Fire Rune. Confident that he had gained the upper hand, Archer rushed his foe, knife held high. As it was, this pose left his body dangerously unprotected.

When Archer grew close enough, sybillious unleashed a blast of fire that hit her opponent squarely in the chest, knocking him back and immobolizing him for several seconds, more than enough time for sybillious to plunge her blade into both his legs. He was unable to move, and thus unable to fight.

Turning her gaze to the wall, sybillious shouted, "Your champion has fallen, ironheads! As will your city!" And with that, she strode back to the Fire Bringer's camp, leaving Keith Archer to be retrieved by the Zexen medics.

The next day, the siege truly began, as sybillious's knights of squee wheeled massive wooden siege towers toward the walls of Vinay Del Zexay. The first Zexen line of defense was the regiment of Shadow Wolf, comprised of forty-three thousand magicians of the first class. Shadow Wolf pointed his staff in the direction of the siege towers, preparing to launch a fireball and engulf the towers. He stopped, however, when he noticed that something very odd was happening: the sky was raining zombies.

Shocked, he looked up into the air. Large flying shapes could be seen, silhouettes against the bright, sunny sky. Unbeknownst to the Zexens but knownst to the Fire Bringer, these shapes were the Mantors of Le Buque. They had transported the zombies through the air, and dropped them off above the wall. (Because the zombies were undead, the fall did not hurt them.) Immediately following the zombie drop-off, another host of undead, a group of vampires, flew atop the walls and began to fight. Although it was brutal for the undead to fight in the daytime, they perservered, and Neclord, the leader of this unholy crew, took control of the walls and fate for Grassland.

Now, Neclord's assault on the wall was completely unplanned; none of the leaders of the Fire Bringer, not even the Flame Champion, had known it was going to happen. When sybillious saw that the gate was open, she immediately commanded her troops to abandon the siege towers and simply rush the gate. However, the kinghts of squee were dealt a harsh defeat, as Gaara's cavalry rushed into the field outside the city and trampled them to death. sybillious was forced to retreat.

Again acting on the spur of the moment, Neclord closed the gate. Although this prevented any Grasslanders from entering the city, it also prevented Gaara's cavalry, who were still numerous even after their battle with the Rangers, from reentering. Faced with the gates closed behind them and the Fire Bringer in front of them, the horsemen were forced to leave the battle. As it was, Gaara did not return to Zexen after that ill-fated battle; he retired and turned his regiment over to his brother Galvas, a mercenary.

But this account digresses. After sybillious's retreat, Anton Misri, the Sorcerer of the Lake, had taken control of the Fire Bringer. He realized that, despite Gaara's withdrawal, the battle was going poorly. The defeat of the Flame Champion had crushed morale, and Neclord's Spectral Nightmares were isolated. Anton Misri realized that decisive action was needed, and he gave the order for the Blinking Mages among his regiment to teleport the entire unit inside the walls. Obviously, this was an extremely risky strategy; if it failed, there was no hope for survival.

The Sorcerer's regiment collided with that of Everyone's Grudge, an infantry commander, inside the courtyard of the city. Immediately, sparks flew. Literally, sparks flew. Lightning and Fire spells from the mages filled the courtyard, while the foot soldiers fought back with sword and spear. The battle was going more or less evenly when Anton Misri had an idea. In the center of the courtyard was a fountain. If he could use that water...

And here Anton Misri showed why he was called the "Sorcerer of the Lake." The warlock pulled the water out the fountain and launched the whole of it as a projectile, right into the face of Everyone's Grudge. Needless to say, the sheer pressure knocked the Zexen unconscious, harming the ironheads' morale and allowing the Fire Bringer to triumph.

By the end of that night, every Zexen commander had been exiled from Vinay Del Zexay. The capital of the once-mighty Zexen Confederacy had fallen.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Eigth Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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Camus the Noble

Les Renés


Joined: 24 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Sat May 06, 2006 9:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Ninth Phase

The Ninth Phase marked the dawning of a new age for the Grassland. With the acquisition of Vinay del Zexay, the Zexen capital, Grassland had taken control of the commercial aspects of the western coast of the continent, and, at long last, had gained access to the sea. The Flame Champion did not underestimate the importance of the port, and immediately commissioned the building of a massive fleet of warships. In other domestic news, Chief Abyscal of the Karaya, who had suffered from failing health for some time, stepped down and was replaced by the younger MMan9000.

But dynamic changes were also taking place on the international scene. With their ally, the Nameless Lands, the Fire Bringer set out to take the plains of Yaza, the last remaining Zexen stronghold. The Grasslanders invaded Yaza from the south, and the Nameless Landers from the north.

The Fire Bringer amassed a huge army, prepared to fight harder than they ever had before. But Fate had different plans. When the armies from north and south began to spill into the plains, they realized something: there were no ironheads around! Apart from extremely sparse resistance (to the tune of three soldiers) in the north, Zexen had forfeited the plains of Yaza to the invaders.

Although the Grasslanders were geared for a fight, they were rather pleased that things had gone so well. But then a grim realization set in: If the Zexeners were not at Yaza, they must be somewhere else.

Worried that the ironheads might have slipped past them and invaded Grassland, sybillious ordered extensive scouting of the Zexen frontier. But not a single soldier was found. It was then that the Grasslanders realized what had happened.

When they had taken Vinay del Zexay, they had noticed that all but one of the ships of the Zexen fleet were missing. In their euphoria, they had foolishly failed to consider the implications, which were now all too clear. As it was, Zexen was in possession of a small region of the sea, off the coast of Highland. The Zexeners must have taken the ships and fled there. With all haste, the Flame Champion sent word to the army commanded by Kalidor near Vinay del Zexay, ordering the former knight of Kamaro to take the few ships the Grassland had at that time and make for Blight's Bay. At the same time, sybillious began to take a land route to the port herself, fearing that it was too late to intercept the Zexen ships.

Kalidor's army, though weary from recent excursions, did not hesitate to obey the orders. The contingent's one hundred thousand soldiers, commanded by Kalidor, VikiFanatic, and Captain Hero, were loaded onto vessels and set out onto the ocean. It was not long after they left that they ran into trouble.

It was a calm day, and Kalidor was enjoying the tranquility of the sea. Suddenly, he noticed something far off in the distance. He signaled the lookout atop the crow's nest, directing him to examine the object with his telescope. The lookout returned a startling discovery: it was a gigantic and gray tentacle. Kalidor was alarmed. There had been rumors of large octupus-like creatures, but they generally came from further south, near the Island Nations. If there was indeed such a creature in their path, it could interfere with their journey. However, the course as planned did not run toward the creature's location; Kalidor only worried that the creature would attack them.

As it was, Kalidor's fears were not unfounded. Several munutes later, completely without warning, tiny shelled creatures leapt onto the deck and attacked Valor's Blades. Taken by surprise, the knights of Kamaro and the Fire Bringer fought bravely. However, the soldiers of Valor's Blades were best on horseback, and their horses had not been able to go on the boat with them, severely limiting their military capabilities. Nevertheless, Kalidor's regiment managed to win, but at a cost: over half of the ship's crew and passengers were lost.

Seeing the battle unfold, VikiFanatic gave the order for his ship to come to Kalidor's aid. It was then that the creature surfaced. From the ocean arose a great monster, of species unknown. Some have theorized that it was a kraken, though members of that species are rational while this beast seemed to be just that -- a wild beast. Whatever it was, it wrought great destruction on VikiFanatic's ship. With a whip of its tentacles, the ship was capsized, knocking each of its thirty-five thousand passengers into the ocean. In the raging waters, few of them were able to stay afloat. The remaining WikiWarriors were individually targeted by the monster and eradicated with prejudice.

Fortunately, VikiFanatic himself managed to survive, thanks to the help of Captain Hero, the third officer in charge of the fleet. He had tossed a rope out to sea toward VikiFanatic, who caught hold of it and began to move steadily toward Captain Hero's ship. But the sea creature was not willing to let VikiFanatic off so easily. It reached out a tentacle to grab him... and was hit in the back by a fireball.

Enraged, it turned to see Kalidor, having regained his bearings and with his Rage Rune-bearing hand lifted. Being the dumb beast that it was, it began to prepare an attack on Kalidor's ship, only to be struck in the back by a volley issued from the bows of the Merry Men of the Grassland. It was by now furious. It raised a tentacle, disrupting the boat's equipoise and toppling some of the Merry Men into the sea. However, the real assault was to come. From the tentacle, it sprayed sharp needle-like projectiles toward Captain Hero's regiment, and the needles were death to all they pierced.

But the Merry Men's barrage could not be deterred, and their superior numbers eventually overwhelmed the monster. When a final arrow pierced its skin, it suddenly stopped struggling and died. Its body sank into the sea, and all was once more calm. With their numbers reduced to less than a third of their original total, the Grasslanders regrouped, in an attempt to decide what to do. In the end, Kalidor, VikiFanatic, and Captain Hero decided that to return to port would only ensure that the Zexens would get too far ahead to be caught. The only thing to do was to keep going.

As Kalidor and his crew persisted in their travels, another group of Grasslanders was embarking on another, admittedly less important mission. Given the Zexen Confederacy's decision to not defend the Yaza Plain, most of the officers of the Grassland had very little to do. Out of boredom more than practicality, three of those officers, Camus the Noble, Spell Breaker, and HarmonianHiccup began their trek north from Chisha Village into the heart of the mountain range between Chisha and the Nameless Lands' region of Zumrut. HarmonianHiccup, being an archaeologist, was curious as to whether or not the lake system there could support a primitive civilization. If the Grassland had any unknown neighbors, it was in their best interest to make them less unknown.

The trip took several days, and when they arrived at their intended destination they clearly saw that there was no society there. After half a week of scouting out the area, they were prepared to leave. But on the last day, Spell Breaker discovered something: there was a cave carved into the face of one of the nearby mountains.

As they entered, they were astonished at the extraordinary treasures within. Mountains of gold and silver rose almost to the ceiling; chests bulged with their p. It was an astonishing sight.

"Who do you think this cave belongs to?" queried Camus the Noble to his companions. "Bandits?"

"Most likely," confirmed HarmonianHiccup.

"I wonder where they ar--" Spell Breaker's sentence was cut short when the group heard a muffled sound coming from the rear of the cave.

"Who's there?" HarmonianHiccup asked as she unsheathed her fearsome scimitar. "I'm warning you, we're armed!"

The three waited. The sound recurred, this time more urgent. As they stood there, the Grasslanders came to realize that the sound was far from menacing; it sounded almost like a plea. Cautiously, they approached the rear of the cave.

As they drew near and lit a torch, they saw what had been making the sound. Tied up on the ground and gagged was an elderly man, presumably a captive of the bandits. Shocked, the three freed him from his bonds.

"Who did this to you?" asked Camus. "Was it bandits?"

The old man took a few seconds to acclimate himself to freedom before answering. "Bandits? You could call them that, though they are more like mercenaries. They are fighting for a nation in this war," the man eventually responded.

"Why did they have you bound?" Spell Breaker inquired.

"I was taken as a hostage. For sport, they tied me up and left me to die."

HarmonianHiccup was aghast. "How could they do such a terrible thing?" Then, regaining her usual cheerfulness, she asked, "Why don't you join the Grassland? We may be a little offbeat, but we have never tied anyone up and left them to die!"

The man chuckled, probably for the first time in a while. "No, although I thank you for the offer. I've had enough of all this chaos... I think I'll just go find someplace quiet. Maybe the western continent... Anyway, you don't want to hear an old man's sentimental ramblings. You youngsters are with the Fire Bringer aren't you? You should take what's in these chests; you deserve it far more than the bandits, and you just might find something you could use." And with that, he left the cave.

Spell Breaker turned to the chests. "Well, shall we?" The trio opened the chests, took the contents from within, and loaded their mounts with as much of the loot as possible. They returned to the Grassland and deposited the riches into the national coffers.

But of course, the seafarers under Kalidor were unaware of their nation's gains. In dogged puruit of the Zexen fleet, the Grasslandic ships pushed ever forward. In an attempt to intercept the ironheads, Kalidor, VikiFanatic, and Captain Hero took a shortcut through the Toran Lake and its river system: a risky move. If the Kooluk or Scarlet Moon Empires had chosen to, they could have attacked the ships for trespass. Fortunately, no such altercation materialized, and the Grasslanders emerged on the other side of Scarlet Moon in the sea.

It was not long before they reached Blight's Bay. And there their worst fears were confirmed: the Zexeners had blockaded the port and were amassing an army to storm the city. The martially-inclined Fire Bringer were sorely tempted to attack the ironhead fleet, but knew that they were far too greatly outnumbered to do so. Reluctantly, they put into port at a nearby shore, out of the blockade's radius, and began the trek home to Grassland to report the situation to Lady sybillious.

However, Lady sybillious had in fact gone to Blight's Bay herself, to aid in the defense of the city. And as it turned out, many of the knights of squee, the Flame Champion's own unit, died on the shores of Highland that day. After two extremely bloody skirmishes and a duel between King Sage of Highland and Sars, the most powerful mercenary in all the land, sybillious' rangers were charged with the task of preventing Zexen Council Chairman Everyone's Grudge from landing his Tonbrigade. As ranks of soldiers streamed onto the docks, the knights of squee cut them down and were themselves cut down. When the smoke cleared, every infantryman in the invading force had been killed, and the knights of squee had themselves taken severe losses. That night, tens of thousands of bodies were cast into the sea, simply because there was nowhere else to put them.

For several days, there were only minor clashes and barrages exchanged between the attackers and defenders, as both sides reorganized after such bloody battles. But one night, the attackers launched their attack. A contingent of the knights of squee, patrolling the streets, was caught in the initial assault and was trampled by the legendary Wynguardians. However, the remainder of the defending army was able to rally together and repel the invaders. Forced to admit defeat, the Zexen Confederacy was stripped of its last piece of property and the government of Zexen fled to Jowston, where the ironhead leaders took refuge.

Thus ended Grassland's activity in the Ninth Phase of the Third Fire Bringer War.
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Camus the Noble

Les Renés


Joined: 24 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

The Tenth Phase

The Ninth Phase had been a rather quiet one for the Fire Bringer. Their largest planned battle had not occurred, so their only real encounter had been a run-in with sea monsters off the western coast of the continent. The Tenth Phase, however, promised to be much different. With the Zexen Confederacy, Grassland's once-primary enemy, driven into the asylum of the City-States of Jowston, the military leaders of the Grassland prepared for a shift from a western focus to an eastern one; in short, the Fire Bringer were launching a campaign against the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia.

The city of Trista Duon, on of the northernmost settlements on the continent, was one of the targets of this offensive. From Vinay Del Zexay, a fleet consisting of four ships captained by Neclord, Kalidor, Camus the Noble, and Abyscal — who was embarking on his first active mission in some time — set out to the north, planning to sail around the northern lands and attack the Harmonian port. Their formation was such that Neclord's and Kalidor's respective ships were in the front, with Neclord on the port side and Kalidor on starboard; Camus' ship was directly behind those two; and Abyscal was in the rear position, several hundred meters behind.

On the way, however, the Grasslanders encountered an obstacle. At first the object on the horizon appeared to be nothing more than a large rock, but as it drew closer it became clear to Kalidor — who was in the foremost position of the Grasslandic fleet — that it was a ship of the Prandt clan of the Archonate of Norðeland. Over the first few minutes, as the ships moved closer, the Fire Bringer realized that it was not just one ship that lay in their way, but an entire fleet. At the stern of the first ship to the starboard side of the Grasslandic fleet stood Grozny, a pirate captain and one of the Archonate's most savage commanders.

From the moment he had seen the Prandt crest on Grozny's ship, Neclord had known that a battle was inevitable; the Archonate of Norðeland and the Grassland were bitter enemies. But he hoped to avert an all-out clash of forces, which would almost certainly force the Fire Bringer to turn back to Vinay Del Zexay. To that end, Neclord rushed to the stern of his own ship and shouted across the waves to Grozny, his voice carrying a challenge to a duel.

With a laugh and a shrug, Grozny turned down the challenge, and directed his ship to move toward Kalidor's, the vessel nearest to his own. Although Kalidor did not wish for such a battle, he realized that it was unavoidable; his ship was restricted in its movement, boxed in by Neclord's and Camus' boats. So, he ordered his men to prepare themselves for the strike. Unfortunately, that was not enough. Kalidor's cavalry regiment was best fitted for battle on the plains, where the mounted soldiers could charge and trample the enemy. But on the deck of a ship, the horses were uneasy, and did not have the room to take advantage of cavalry's greatest asset: its mobility. By contrast, Grozny's Ice Pirates were acquainted with the sea, probably more comfortable on the waves than they were on solid land. When the two forces clashed, the differences were apparent. Kalidor's soldiers, normally an organized and coordinated bunch, were an unruly mess, while the pirates struck with brutal speed and efficiency. In their terror, many of the Fire Bringer's mounts leapt off the sides of the ship, consigning themselves and their heavily armed riders to a watery death. In short, Valor's Blades were butchered.

Seeing this carnage unfold, Camus the Noble ordered his ship to turn right to outflank the northern fleet. But Seid the Butcher, another commander of the Prandt fleet, noticed the move. Once Camus' ship was sufficiently detached from the main fleet, Seid ordered his regiment of bowmen to fire a volley. It took Camus' magicians completely by surprise, and troops of the Grassland died by the thousands. Emboldened by his success, Seid ordered another volley. But this time, the magicians were ready. As the arrows began their downward descent, Camus' soldiers summoned an enormous wall of water from the depths below and whipped it up over the boat as a sort of shield, through which few of the arrows managed to penetrate. Once the volley had subsided, Camus led his fellow mages in sending the mass of water back into and through the sea, to reappear under Seid's ship and claim it for the depths.

By that time, a third ship had positioned itself directly in front of Neclord's vessel. The vampire's undead horde sprang to attack, moving effortlessly across the water from their ship to the next by their unholy powers. But as they reached the enemy ship, they found that there foes were clerics, magicians skilled in the magic of the light. With a blinding flash, the Norðelanders exorcised thousands of Neclord's creatures and incapacitated the rest. Neclord alone was unaffected, and he responded with a blinding flash of his own: the flash of bolts of lightning descending from the heavens to wreak havoc below. With that, the clerics' second salvo of spells was interrupted, and the remnants of Neclord's undead army rallied to eliminate the threat. But no sooner were the clerics defeated than a new force attacked Neclord's. The new aggressors were Grozny's Ice Pirates, who, having defeated Valor's Blades, had moved in on the undead from the starboard side. Unfortunately for the Norðelanders, the pirates did not have the skill in dealing with the undead that the clerics had benefited from, and were quickly eliminated by Neclord's regiment.

Throughout the entire altercation, Abyscal had been lingering behind the rest of the Grasslanders, protecting the back of the fleet. As such, he was not totally aware of what was happening in the front. However, his first suspicion was that a battle was taking place, and by the time the clerics unleashed their holy spell, he was close enough to see somewhat clearly Neclord's lightning spell and the following fight between the undead and the clerics. Suddenly, he realized that arrows were raining on his regiment! Quickly scanning the area and locating the source of the projectiles, Abyscal, a peculiarity among the lizard people in that he was skilled in magic, commanded his mages to attack, which they did with gusto, eliminating Jurhael's archers completely.

With that, the Norðelandic fleet was completely destroyed. To the dismay of the Fire Bringer, the leaders of the fleet were able to escape via a small lifeboat, but the Grasslanders were nonetheless happy with the victory in and of itself. But casualties had been extremely high; Kalidor's knights had been annihilated, and Camus', Neclord's, and Abyscal's regiments had also suffered greatly. With this force, they knew that they had no prayer at taking Trista Duon, and were therefore forced to abandon the offensive and return to Vinay Del Zexay.

Elsewhere, the armies of the Fire Bringer were attacking another of Harmonia's regions, and this time there were no barbarians to get in their way. The Grasslanders arrived at Sorrow's Peak without a hitch. As they surrounded the Tower, the fortress of the region and the headquarters of the Howling Voice Guild, the mercenary Sars (more recently known as Vector Xthonic) issued a challenge to a duel from the top of the strucutre. sybillious had no choice but to turn it down; disheartened, some of the Grasslandic troops secretly deserted.

The battle itself began as Highwind charged, leading his cavalry, the Tempest, against Filipe's crossbowmen, who were standing at the foot of the Tower in a rectangular formation. Despite the bolts being fired ever toward them, the Tempest did not falter. Crashing into the enemy lines, they managed to defeat well over a quarter of Filipe's soldiers before falling. With that victory, the Harmonians decided to attempt a counterattack, sending another mercenary, Barbarosa Rugner, into the field. Taken aback, the Grasslanders attempted to intercept Rugner's cavalry with their own horsemen under Dakota, but the young Safir chief was no match for the veteran mercenary. The first round of battle went decidedly to the Harmonians.

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