Forging Alliances (Challenge IV Prelude, Chapter 6)

[SkaForHire]

Forging Alliances (Challenge IV Prelude, Chapter 6)

Previous Prelude chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Forging Alliances

fortifying by skaforhire, on Flickr

It was a long night at the Crown Inn for Lady Phlici Maderni of Sand’s End. Smaley had not caught the would-be assassin, and the town was on high alert. So it was even more disheartening when she awoke near dawn to the shouts of the guards, and the ringing of the warning bells. Three Bells, army spotted. She grabbed her dress from the previous day and hurriedly put it on. She was met in the common room of the inn by Ronalo Suarn, the mayor, he was frantic.

“A man in blue marches in front of a host of green soldiers. The identifying marks are foreign to me, my lady!” He belted out.

This was disturbing, Ronalo was one of the smartest men she knew, he also knew every major sigil in Historica. She prepared for the worst….

=+=+=+=+=+=

Three hours later Phlici was standing in front of her inn with General Latrix Veringetrix, but he had told her his ”high sands name” was Lat’ve. He was a good looking man, in his 40s, strong, confident, and somewhat attractive. It was not his looks that got him through the gates of Sand’s End though.

Phlici had been hailed by this foreign army when they approached the city. They flew a flag of truce and she was accompanied by Smaley to the parle. Before she left she made sure that every troop she had was on the front wall – she had to look like she had many banner men.

She met the leader, dressed in Green. He said his name was Castrix, and he demanded she open her gates to his army, the Salamanders of Ulandia – the sunken city? She asked herself. He looked to have about fifty men at his command… but 20 of these were no man at all… they were insectoid creatures, stuff she only heard rumored from the Rakath mountains. As she was lost in thought, Castrix snapped again “We demand water and shelter, and that your gates are open to us.” She was about to call the whole parle off, when a man in a similar uniform, but blue walked up behind Castrix. “Captain Castrix, there is no need for this, I am sure Lady Maderni will be happy to have a few extra Kaliphlin soldiers held up in her town.” He introduced himself as Latrix, and then. She had 28 men, most of them fat and old, she had no choice. She could not afford a siege right now.

So now, just a few hours later she was playing host to a military spectacle. The Salamanders, actually, only one twentieth of the whole legion, as Lat’ve was quick to point out, stood in her market displaying their arms.

DSC_3863 by skaforhire, on Flickr

“The bug things seem to have no order to them” she said to her guest.

“They do what their masters bid in combat, and nothing more, my lady.” Lat’ve said. “ It would be waste of effort to have them line up in squares like the human troops.”

He had explained earlier that these were a bug people from Ulandus, and that they were sworn into the Second Legion as harsh melee fighters. He also explained that most enemies surrendered before the “Kalcheta,” swarmers in the modern tongue, before they had to face them. He concluded with a line about the swarmers eating their enemies in the middle of battle. This sounded to her like the fierce battle gnomes of the Witherwoods.

She took a quick inventory of the 1^st company of the Second Legion. 20 swarmers, ten heavy fighters, 10 pike, and 10 tritons. An interesting compliment. “Where is the rest of the Legion? How many are there?”

Lat’ve was slow to answer, as if he was deciding what to divulge. “Each legion has funding for 1000 soldiers. There are twenty companies in this legion.” Twenty companies??? More than one legion??? She was amazed at the numbers – how did they get all the way up here without being noticed by the eyes and ears of the Kaliphlin intelligence agencies? He continued “The Salamanders have been tasked by First Centurion to defend Kaliphlin during the Rejoining, their companies are scattered to all ends of the Guild for this purpose.” She had been told earlier that the Rejoining was the name for the process of bringing Ulandus back into Kaliphlin, as it was 1000 years ago before its sinking. She also learned that “general” and “captain” were just ranks that they were calling themselves to not sound foreign to the Kaliphlinites. Lat’ve’s real title was Third Centurion, while Castrix was a Fourth Centurion. As far as she could figure, there were many Second, Third, Fourth, fifth, etc… centurions, but only one first centurion – the leader of Ulandus

DSC_3861 by skaforhire, on Flickr

She watched as Castrix took his position on her walls to deliver a speech to her town, her troops, and the Salamanders. She started to wonder if it was her town anymore.

Castrix began to speak. “Legionaries, centurions, fellow Kaliphlinites, lend me your ears.” He had a booming voice. “We come today as friends, as Kaliphlinites. In time you will know us as long lost brothers. Be not afraid, for we come to help take care of your border trouble here in Sand’s End. Tomorrow we will march out and take care of the bandit problem, the problem your leaders have not had the strength to handle.”

She began to speak, but Lat’ve put a hand on her arm and whispered “He is one for theatrics.” She let it go.

Castrix continued, “we will put down the Avalonian Scourge on the King’s way, tame the centaur menace to the north, and we have already put the sand bandits of the south in their place – the grave. Rejoice now that your brothers have come, eat, drink, be merry, know that peace has come to Kaliphlin again, and that the Great Disturbance is over. We are the Salamanders, we are your blood, and we shall spill our blood with you in the name of Kaliphlin!”

Cheers went up from his men, and to her surprise, her men. Not her town anymore…

She turned to Lat’ve, “what do you want from me?”

He smiled, “your introduction and backing to the council. We wish our cities to be fully represented on the high council.”

She had a feeling that this was not everything, but she could come to appreciate his smile.

DSC_1563 by skaforhire, on Flickr

=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Three days later the Salamanders made good on their promise.

salamanders by skaforhire, on Flickr

DSC_1577 by skaforhire, on Flickr

At Wagner’s Glen in the Cedrican Plains, the Salamanders met the last of the Centaur raiding parties. In phalanx formation they slaughtered almost every rogue centaur.

DSC_1583 by skaforhire, on Flickr

DSC_1587 by skaforhire, on Flickr

They didn’t even have to take the swarmers, and they left them in town. Phlici found this very disturbing as the they mingled with the populace.

hey girl by skaforhire, on Flickr

Lat’ve stayed in town too, and she learned much more about Ulandus, but by this time she was more interested in the man himself, although she could not get over his and other Ulandian’s use of Leander as slaves.

DSC_1597 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Edited February 21, 2015 by SkaForHire

[Lord Vladivus]

Cool figs! It gets ever more interesting!

[robuko]

Oh great story! Those figs are going to be expensive to build battle scenes...

[soccerkid6]

That's a large army! Nice use of Galaxy squad parts

[LittleJohn]

Excellent story! Great to see those figs used for castle.

[Spader]

Nice work! not sure what I think of the soldier's armor, but a nice build.

[LordDan]

Nice build! However Lord Dan wishes to know what this "Avalonian Scourge" is that Castrix speaks of. We Avalonians do not take lightly to being threatened, and you will find that we can put up more of a fight than a handful of savage centaurs!

[Bregir]

Nice build! However Lord Dan wishes to know what this "Avalonian Scourge" is that Castrix speaks of. We Avalonians do not take lightly to being threatened, and you will find that we can put up more of a fight than a handful of savage centaurs!

I stand with Lord Dan here! We shall not take your petty accusations lightly!

OOC: What a great build, and a wonderful story! Can't wait to get cracking on the challenge!

[SkaForHire]

Oh great story! Those figs are going to be expensive to build battle scenes...

That's a large army! Nice use of Galaxy squad parts

Nice work! not sure what I think of the soldier's armor, but a nice build.

I knew they were clearancing out most places, so I thought that would allow everyone to get a couple, if they decide to represent the Ulandians in that way. As we will see soon... the Ulandians have two types of armies, the ten legions and another set that is more eastern in their appearance. Also, my-collaborator on the Ulandian stuff (besides NM and his mapmaking), Mike S, also has some problems with the armor, but we agreed that people could represent the legions in other ways too. More will be revealed about their organization and color schemes soon.

[Mike S]

Nice build and story!

Also, my-collaborator on the Ulandian stuff (besides NM and his mapmaking), Mike S, also has some problems with the armor, but we agreed that people could represent the legions in other ways too.

The figs actually look better than I expected in the zoomed out pics so probably are quite suitable for large army depictions where you won't get a close up of the torso.

[SkaForHire]

Unfortunately, the Red troops don't look as good, I think I need another common accessory...

[Gunman]

The story is getting better and better.... I like phalanx formation there.

[MassEditor]

Wonderful, this story is developing awesomely. This Rejoining seems to have some ominous undertones. Not sure how much to trust those Ulandians just yet!

[SarahJoy]

Great build, great story, and impressive troops! I particularly like the architecture of the inn, your refreshing use of turquoise in the wall, and the grey round tiles to break up that expanse of tan plates.

[mccoyed]

My $0.02 about the fig parts used here is that the body armor works fine (as long as the back isn't visible) but those legs are much more obviously "futuristic" in design. Too late to change it now, for this build, anyway, but I can see why people have reservations about adding GS stuff to Historica. It's always a tough call mixing in parts that skirt the edge of authenticity in a medieval-ish setting.

I really like the story in this build. There's a nice mix of "could this be the answer to our prayers?" and "what do these people really want?" here. Great escalation of tension.