On the crossing the lake (now inland sea) thing, they could well just cross the edge of it, such that they still get across it in a reasonable time frame.

Also, new lore.

[hider=Kalesian Siege Engineer Corps]

The Siege Engineer Corps in the Imperial military is a small and oft-overlooked section, whose importance to the Kalesian war-machine is smaller than most similar groups in respective militaries across the world. From the very beginning the engineer corps has had to deal with the overshadowing influence of the battle-evokers that are employed on the front lines of the Empire, as well as the brutal effectiveness of the Kal beast. These factors combined with the militaries policy of preserving enemy infrastructure as much as possible have forced the siege engineers into a very much supportive role.

The siege engineer corps is responsible for several things in the war effort, first and foremost being tunneling. The excavation techniques used by the engineer corps are far beyond any other country, and on the rare occasion that the Kalesians need to bring down an enemy wall they will turn not to the catapult and trebuchets that usually typify such a task, but rather the quick but careful digging of a tunnel under the wall, followed by its rapid collapse, bringing whole sections of wall down without any obvious attack being made. Perhaps the most ambitious application of this skill, however, has been the recent bypassing of a mountain range, allowing a surprise of attack of unprecedented effectiveness on the Othean capital Amaryth. The task combined the skills of the Engineers and several Evokers, the Evokers doing the majority of the actual digging while the Engineers directed them and reinforced the tunnel behind them. It is considered the crowning achievement of the engineer corps to this day, and even now a sizeable portion of the corps is engaged in efforts to turn the tunnel into a permanent passage between the Empire and Othea.

When the engineering corps is called to participate in direct battle, they employ expertly crafted ballistae that incorporate elevation control and the capacity to launch both long impaling spears and moderately sized rocks, all on a quickly set up platform. These weapons are not particularly effective against walls, but the engineers make use of range finding equipment to ensure they are at least fairly accurate.

As well as this, they have a variety of payloads to maximise the effect they can have on an enemy army. As well as the plentiful rocks and spears, they employ shot containing volatile oils to create firebombs, as well as thick flasks containing flesh searing acid extracted from a particularly deadly giant snake found only in the southern reaches of the Empire. Tests with more exotic compounds have always resulted in disaster however, and while the corps is always on the lookout for another edge to match evokers, they avoid anything even remotely unstable or dangerous to their skilled personnel. Better to use safe and reliable methods than have to spend years training more men. Any research into the field of explosives has been abandoned due to being too dangerous.

The members of the Siege Engineer Corps tend to be highly motivated over-achievers - a direct result of fulfilling such a marginalised position in the military. They force themselves to succeed as spectacularly as possible in an effort to match or exceed the results the battle evokers tend to attain with what they perceive to be ‘incredibly lazy methods.’[/hider]

[Hider=NPCs]

[b]Name:[/b] Lord Dorian Sorus-Vecusa
[b]Age:[/b] 38
[b]Gender:[/b] Male
[b]Rank:[/b] Commander
[b]Known:[/b] Personal friend of Alessia. Career military man, believes in the Empire. In charge of the rear-guard of the current army.

[b]Name:[/b] Lord Valerian Kroseus
[b]Age:[/b] 27
[b]Gender:[/b] Male
[b]Known:[/b] Intended Kalesian Governor of the new Imperial City Amaryth.

[/Hider]