March 10th 1840:
Volkhard Von Kilier was a humble man, volunteering to join the National Army when he was 18. Coming from a commoner background no one expected him to make the rank of General, not even himself. But surprisingly he discovered an affinity for leading and inspiring men, now 10 years later he found himself standing on the border with the Yllendyr Imperium near the Delwe River. Word had been passed to the general staff that the Yllandyr had been massing on the other side of the border. Probably due to King Aschwin’s declining health, and the three princes attempting to vie for control in the palace.
This of course led to Volkhard being sent to guard this wide open plain, this was the perfect avenue for a Yllendyr invasion. Unlike the mountains on the northern portion of the national border this southern corridor was a wide open plain with small rolling hills stretching down to the sea. Occasional forests dot the landscape primarily used as fertile farmland by the locals. Not to mention that if unopposed gave one a direct route to the capital of Venris which is 2 weeks away on foot.
Looking up from his thoughts Volkhard looked out once more across the plain and started to consider his plan.
March 24th 1840:
“The Empire enters grieving for the Late Emperor Aschwin, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 87 years. A group of officials led by the prime minister is being organized to plan the funeral, and determine the successor to the throne. The palace is going to be very turbulent these next few weeks.” ~Excerpt from Venris Tribune.
March 27th 1840:
Volkhard exits his tent after listening to a scout report with a impatient and concerned looking face. Upon reaching the nearest gawking soldier he rips the telescope from the Soldier’s hands and presses it up to his eye. Through the telescope he sees a seemingly unending wave of Yllendyr soldiers with their purple caps, and grey uniforms marching into the Empire. His worst fears confirmed he orders the men to the defences, and sends a report to headquarters. Which read as follows: “The Imperium Troops approach, Endless in number, We defend to the end, See you in Valhalla.” ~General der Infanterie, Volkhard VonKilier
August 12th 1840:
“After months of stiff resistance Imperium troops have entered Venris, the capital of our old enemy the Vaspen Empire today. This is a historic day!” ~Yllendyr Newspaper
Venris:
As the Imperium troops marched into the now former capital of the Vaspen Empire, Venris. The civilians of the city looked out of their windows and doors into the street to see the invading Yllendyr forces. The many footsteps reverberating down the streets were unsettling. As the troops approached a wave of gasps and screams in terror enveloped the crowd of onlookers. The majority of the army was composed of Lierin Spider-ants that were led by a small percentage of Yllendyr soldiers. These Spider-Ants were sent away by their home nation due to their rapid breeding and insatiable hunger. In recent years their destination was always shrouded in mystery, but now it would seem that the Yllendyr have been using them as cannon fodder to bulk up their forces to dominate the continent!
The Yllendyr Commander Andec entered the city to see and hear the exclamations of terror from the inhabitants, he let a smile creep onto his face. ‘These Vaspenians, for too many years they have been safe and sound here at home. The glory of Yllendyr finally has a chance to shine now that we have defeated you!’ He then gave an order to his commanders to proceed to the palace and inspect the food stores of the city. The food stores had all been requisitioned by the defending troops and transported to warehouses near the center of the city. Upon reaching the stores they found that almost all of it had been destroyed. Barely enough to feed his Imperium army detachment of 100,000 for a week remained. Cursing under his breath Andec proceeded to the palace where the royalty, important documents and gold reserves have been evacuated. Almost as though they were expected to be able to take the city down quickly and had been evacuated months beforehand. Andec then calls his men together and assigns them the task of defending the city until reinforcements and supplies arrive from the border region. Returning to the emperor’s bedroom he sits down in the chair and opens up a bottle of wine from the cellar, a 1810 vintage wine, takes a few sips and goes to write up his report to the Imperial emperor.
That evening outside the city Vaspen troops are massing. Under the sight that is burning buildings, and the sounds of screaming from within the city they surround Venris on three sides, the fourth being the lake shore. All of the remaining reserves have been thrown into this battle which will decide the fate of the country. Over 200,000 young vaspen warriors are taking part in this operation with another 1,500,000 defending at the front lines 50 Miles away from Venris. The troops set up camp and prepare to defend.
August 13th 1840:
The Yllendyr commanders quickly notice that they have been surrounded, with no method of escape or resupply. The commander immediately orders all Yllendyr troops to search the city for food and to set up some defences at the perimeter of the city, hoping that reinforcements breakthrough soon. However the Vaspen Commanders know that this is their only chance to turn the tides and they are committed to defend for all it’s worth.
August 20th 1840:
“A week has passed since the encirclement, food and ammunition are running low. The surrounding forces have counterattacked everyday with unrelenting ferocity to retake this city. Their constant assaults leave the soldiers tired, and hungry. We have had to stop issuing rations to some of the Spider-Ant regiments due to the lack of food. Those regiments have been ordered to find what they can in the city, but I fear that while they come back full, the numbers of civilians in the city seems to be decreasing. My fellow officers and soldiers have started to take out their frustrations on the populace as well, many look down in shame and self disgust when I ask about where they go at night. So i followed a few last night and i saw two of my men brutally rape and then murder two women. I was disgusted with my men and this morning I punished them both with lashings to set an example, however I doubt it had much impact on the others.” ~Andec’s personal log
September 1st 1840:
“Upon entering Venris after almost 3 weeks of assaulting it we finally broke the enemy, and discovered the atrocities they have committed within our city. There are corpses scattered on the ground everywhere both civilian and Yllendyr. The civilian corpses are brutally disfigured and naked. Skeletons litter the alleyways bones picked clean of meat. In the parks mass graves have been half filled. The remaining Yllendyr soldiers that have surrendered, and the civilians that are alive tell horrible tales of the Spider ants roaming the streets in search of people to eat. The unfortunate not being found till the next day by the soldiers, and then carted off to the graves to prevent disease. The women tell us of their female friends and family being taken by the soldiers only to turn up dead the next day. It is truly a horrifying and gruesome sight to behold.”~Vaspen commander official report to headquarters on the remains of Venris
Venris, February 3rd 4907 (Imperial Calendar):
Viceroy Riceh Adruzil, was sitting in his rather luxurious office, looking out over the city. His tall and strong physique is evident in his clothing choice, a nice fitting suit. His face is quite passive as he reads the daily reports from the dominion until a screeching sound came from the radio in the corner which up until now had been playing a beautiful symphony.
“zzzzzZZZZZZ….. This is an Emergency Broadcast straight from Ylleria… The Emperor has died… I repeat the Emperor has died… The Crown prince has been assassinated, and The 2nd & 3rd princes, Olarth, and Ecruir, have both announced their intent to inherit the throne. The 4th prince has also been killed reportedly by Ecruir, and the 5th prince is currently missing. With no clear inheritance path for either Olarth or Ecruir, Yllendyr has devolved into Civil war…. This concludes our Emergency announcement thank you for your patronage. We will be bringing you further developments straight from the capital. ZZZZzzzz...”
Riceh, stares at the radio for a few moments in utter silence. His mind is tumultuous. He drops the documents in his hands as he realizes the implications of this development. He immediately calls for a meeting of the top Ministers, and the military advisor.
Cindro Sonvria, was sitting in her office in the capital as she heard the broadcast of the situation in Yllendryr. As she was reeling from the information a messenger appeared at her door frantically knocking. Upon receiving the message she reported to the viceroy’s office to find Gorrod, and Alibu, just arriving as well. The three of them enter the Office to find Riceh sitting behind his desk with a blank look on his face.
Riceh looks up as the three other most important people in the Vaspen Dominion walk in, he motions for them all to sit. Cindro is a tall (for a woman) and lanky dark elf with dark black hair falling down past her shoulders. Her glasses add a look of intelligence, as well as her business attire... Quite appropriate for the Industry Minister. Gorrod is a modestly muscular elf, with a typical purple on grey Yllendyr military uniform on. His few medals shine from their perch on his left breast, and his boots have a similar gleam. Alibu the minister of the treasury is a short elf, with a passion for numbers. He looks a little disheveled as he normally does, but always attentive to what is going on. Looks at each of them individually, and says “ I assume you have all heard what has happened in the capital by now, so what is most important is for us to hold the dominion together while this upsetting news spreads. I’m sure the resistance movement is going to make quite a few moves during this time.”
Alibu looks at the others and then at Riceh, “That would be the most prudent way to proceed, however there is the civil war we need to think about…”
“The Civil war back home will be of great importance to our control over this dominion. If we don’t manage to maintain control over the Vaspen they may take any revolution farther than their own borders. Therefore I will make an official telegram to Ecruir informing him of our intentions to maintain control over the Vaspen populace, and hopefully solicit more garrison troops from him. Riceh then looks at Gorrod. “I assume we will need more troops if any organized resistance movement begins to gain traction. Regardless of Ecruir’s decision we need to step up our presence in the north. Those despicable rebels are sure to make a move soon, and I need to know when.”
“Of course Sir, any additional troops would be welcome. However if we move to the north it will decrease our ability to deal with any protests in the cities.” replies Gorrod.
“The police should be able to handle most of that if need be. But the Rebels and their kin are what I'm really worried about.”
“It will be done then sir. I’ll pass on the appropriate orders now.” Gorrod Departs.
“Now Cindro, i’ll need you to step up the production of certain items, and do what you can to help prevent strikes in the factories. This is the list of items i need you to start producing.” Riceh says as he hands her a list of items:
Steam Locomotives, Rail cars (all types except passenger), Communication equipment, Artillery pieces (limited), Bolt action rifles (Limited), Ammunition for both previous items.
Cindro looks at the list for a moment, before looking up at Riceh and saying. “I can certainly start production on all of these, but we will need to import more raw materials for the ammunition.”
“Don’t worry about the materials, just let me know the amount you need and i’ll look to find a source for it, and as for specific numbers i’ll send it to your office later today.’
“Now that you have been apprised of the situation you are both dismissed, i’ll be here in my office if you require me.” Riceh says as he watches them both leave.
After the door closes he slumps into his plush chair as he stares at the ornaments and patterns on the ceiling as he ponders on what is next to come….
Northern Mountain Range February 3rd 1907:
In a dark cave-like room the walls hewn from stone with very little in the way of decoration, an old man sits on the side of the bed. His fur is pure white with many spots missing from what looks like old injuries, his body is muscular, but weak looking due to his age. Clothed in an old military uniform, his face hidden by the shadow from his uniform cap. He stands with the help of a cane, and exits the bedroom. Slowly making his way down a similarly furnished hallway he approaches a large room with a long rectangular table with some forty or fifty people seated at it. In this room it has been decorated a little bit more than the previous, the table has a red cloth with gold stitching running the length, the chairs are beautifully carved with red cushioned seats on the table there are wine glasses that are partially full. The people seated at the table stand at the sight of the old man and immediately salute him. The old man hobbles to the head of the table and takes a seat, glances around the table, and takes a swig of wine from the glass in front of him. One of the women remains standing while the others sit, she picks ups some paper and reads the report to them:
“One of our people within the Viceroy’s administration has informed us of the collapse of Yllendyr royal family, the Emperor, the Crown prince, and the 4th prince have been killed. While the 2nd princes are splitting the country by creating a civil war. Ecruir, has the support of the northern half of the crownlands. While Olarth, has support from the southern half. The current whereabouts of the 5th prince, Nidrak, are currently unknown, but he is believed to be in hiding. That concludes my report.”
Setting the glass down the old general thinks for a moment and then speaks with a soft but powerful voice, “Inform our people to prepare, but not to act quite yet, we need to see what the loyalists are planning. Mobilize our legions, and ramp up our production.
I get the feeling we are going to need to make this a decisive war of liberation.”
After another hour of discussion the others in the room start to trickle out, some to their posts in the cities, others to towns, all of them ready for action… but not today.
After the “local leaders” leave the old warrior looks up and addresses the few remaining in the room. “How is our infiltration going?”
One of the men obscured in shadows of the room replies “We have managed to infiltrate two of the auxiliary legions in the territory… not as many as we hoped, but we have confidence that we can disperse them efficiently.”
“Yes… not as many as we hoped, but that will be enough to give us an edge, especially once they behold our trump card.”
Later that day:
“Herr General” as he has come to be known to the rebels walks onto the factory floor, it is a large expanse situated on level 2 of the mountain fortress. The room is 20 feet tall, 30 feet in some places, a true cavern in the rock. Many machines and workers dot the floor, producing everything from Artillery guns to the smallest round of ammunition. He approaches the foreman, a dwarf actually, he’s very short in stature even compared to the old general. His beard is long and braided, with many crumbs, and rolls of paper tucked into it. The General shouts at the dwarf who is inspecting the work of one of the other dwarves. “Ludgrath!”
Ludgrath looks up from what he is doing, and quickly shoves the rifle back into the other dwarves’ hand. “General! Good to see you! What brings you up here to the shop?”
“Oh come now Lud, you know I'm up here to see That. now let’s go have a look.”
The General hobbles over to a large curtained off section of the shop with Ludgrath in tow, as he steps inside Ludgrath guides him over to a small desk, where he pulls out one of the rolls of paper from his beard and spreads it out on the desk. As the general looks across the plans for his beloved weapon one more time, Ludgrath runs around the various large sized objects covered in tarps and pulls the tarps off one by one.
The general looks up from the plans, and beholds what they have manifested. The objects once covered in tarps now are revealed to be an armoured Locomotive and carriages, four in total. Ludgarth then started to describe each part in detail for the general.
“The locomotive is a 0-10-0 G-10 class steam locomotive, the standard goods train in the Dominion. Rebel forces had captured it a year ago in a raid on a local rail yard. After my assistants and I disassembled it and transported the parts back to the fortress we reassembled and modified it to what you see here, I call it the RL-1.”
“The other cars have been “Reposessed” from the dominion in a similar fashion, any time we looted a train for supplies a couple railway cars would go missing discreetly. Two of cars were passenger cars, that we armoured to allow troops to be transported inside through any small caliber fire with no harm to the occupants. These will allow us to have a mobile strike force to threaten multiple places on the battlefield at once. The other two cars as you can see were once standard flat cars, but have been modified to mount two 15cm artillery guns in turret mounts on each car. Each with a copious amount of ammunition. We estimate that these four guns can provide up to four hours of effective barrage before having to resupply. And how could we forget to add gatling guns to every possible surface!” Lud says with a grin on his face while gesturing to the gatling guns, two on each side, and one on each end of the cars.
By the end of Lud’s description the General is grinning from ear to ear. “Very good Lud! You have done me proud! These will provide us an excellent surprise for those traitorous Loyalists!”
Volkhard Von Kilier was a humble man, volunteering to join the National Army when he was 18. Coming from a commoner background no one expected him to make the rank of General, not even himself. But surprisingly he discovered an affinity for leading and inspiring men, now 10 years later he found himself standing on the border with the Yllendyr Imperium near the Delwe River. Word had been passed to the general staff that the Yllandyr had been massing on the other side of the border. Probably due to King Aschwin’s declining health, and the three princes attempting to vie for control in the palace.
This of course led to Volkhard being sent to guard this wide open plain, this was the perfect avenue for a Yllendyr invasion. Unlike the mountains on the northern portion of the national border this southern corridor was a wide open plain with small rolling hills stretching down to the sea. Occasional forests dot the landscape primarily used as fertile farmland by the locals. Not to mention that if unopposed gave one a direct route to the capital of Venris which is 2 weeks away on foot.
Looking up from his thoughts Volkhard looked out once more across the plain and started to consider his plan.
March 24th 1840:
“The Empire enters grieving for the Late Emperor Aschwin, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 87 years. A group of officials led by the prime minister is being organized to plan the funeral, and determine the successor to the throne. The palace is going to be very turbulent these next few weeks.” ~Excerpt from Venris Tribune.
March 27th 1840:
Volkhard exits his tent after listening to a scout report with a impatient and concerned looking face. Upon reaching the nearest gawking soldier he rips the telescope from the Soldier’s hands and presses it up to his eye. Through the telescope he sees a seemingly unending wave of Yllendyr soldiers with their purple caps, and grey uniforms marching into the Empire. His worst fears confirmed he orders the men to the defences, and sends a report to headquarters. Which read as follows: “The Imperium Troops approach, Endless in number, We defend to the end, See you in Valhalla.” ~General der Infanterie, Volkhard VonKilier
August 12th 1840:
“After months of stiff resistance Imperium troops have entered Venris, the capital of our old enemy the Vaspen Empire today. This is a historic day!” ~Yllendyr Newspaper
Venris:
As the Imperium troops marched into the now former capital of the Vaspen Empire, Venris. The civilians of the city looked out of their windows and doors into the street to see the invading Yllendyr forces. The many footsteps reverberating down the streets were unsettling. As the troops approached a wave of gasps and screams in terror enveloped the crowd of onlookers. The majority of the army was composed of Lierin Spider-ants that were led by a small percentage of Yllendyr soldiers. These Spider-Ants were sent away by their home nation due to their rapid breeding and insatiable hunger. In recent years their destination was always shrouded in mystery, but now it would seem that the Yllendyr have been using them as cannon fodder to bulk up their forces to dominate the continent!
The Yllendyr Commander Andec entered the city to see and hear the exclamations of terror from the inhabitants, he let a smile creep onto his face. ‘These Vaspenians, for too many years they have been safe and sound here at home. The glory of Yllendyr finally has a chance to shine now that we have defeated you!’ He then gave an order to his commanders to proceed to the palace and inspect the food stores of the city. The food stores had all been requisitioned by the defending troops and transported to warehouses near the center of the city. Upon reaching the stores they found that almost all of it had been destroyed. Barely enough to feed his Imperium army detachment of 100,000 for a week remained. Cursing under his breath Andec proceeded to the palace where the royalty, important documents and gold reserves have been evacuated. Almost as though they were expected to be able to take the city down quickly and had been evacuated months beforehand. Andec then calls his men together and assigns them the task of defending the city until reinforcements and supplies arrive from the border region. Returning to the emperor’s bedroom he sits down in the chair and opens up a bottle of wine from the cellar, a 1810 vintage wine, takes a few sips and goes to write up his report to the Imperial emperor.
That evening outside the city Vaspen troops are massing. Under the sight that is burning buildings, and the sounds of screaming from within the city they surround Venris on three sides, the fourth being the lake shore. All of the remaining reserves have been thrown into this battle which will decide the fate of the country. Over 200,000 young vaspen warriors are taking part in this operation with another 1,500,000 defending at the front lines 50 Miles away from Venris. The troops set up camp and prepare to defend.
August 13th 1840:
The Yllendyr commanders quickly notice that they have been surrounded, with no method of escape or resupply. The commander immediately orders all Yllendyr troops to search the city for food and to set up some defences at the perimeter of the city, hoping that reinforcements breakthrough soon. However the Vaspen Commanders know that this is their only chance to turn the tides and they are committed to defend for all it’s worth.
August 20th 1840:
“A week has passed since the encirclement, food and ammunition are running low. The surrounding forces have counterattacked everyday with unrelenting ferocity to retake this city. Their constant assaults leave the soldiers tired, and hungry. We have had to stop issuing rations to some of the Spider-Ant regiments due to the lack of food. Those regiments have been ordered to find what they can in the city, but I fear that while they come back full, the numbers of civilians in the city seems to be decreasing. My fellow officers and soldiers have started to take out their frustrations on the populace as well, many look down in shame and self disgust when I ask about where they go at night. So i followed a few last night and i saw two of my men brutally rape and then murder two women. I was disgusted with my men and this morning I punished them both with lashings to set an example, however I doubt it had much impact on the others.” ~Andec’s personal log
September 1st 1840:
“Upon entering Venris after almost 3 weeks of assaulting it we finally broke the enemy, and discovered the atrocities they have committed within our city. There are corpses scattered on the ground everywhere both civilian and Yllendyr. The civilian corpses are brutally disfigured and naked. Skeletons litter the alleyways bones picked clean of meat. In the parks mass graves have been half filled. The remaining Yllendyr soldiers that have surrendered, and the civilians that are alive tell horrible tales of the Spider ants roaming the streets in search of people to eat. The unfortunate not being found till the next day by the soldiers, and then carted off to the graves to prevent disease. The women tell us of their female friends and family being taken by the soldiers only to turn up dead the next day. It is truly a horrifying and gruesome sight to behold.”~Vaspen commander official report to headquarters on the remains of Venris
Venris, February 3rd 4907 (Imperial Calendar):
Viceroy Riceh Adruzil, was sitting in his rather luxurious office, looking out over the city. His tall and strong physique is evident in his clothing choice, a nice fitting suit. His face is quite passive as he reads the daily reports from the dominion until a screeching sound came from the radio in the corner which up until now had been playing a beautiful symphony.
“zzzzzZZZZZZ….. This is an Emergency Broadcast straight from Ylleria… The Emperor has died… I repeat the Emperor has died… The Crown prince has been assassinated, and The 2nd & 3rd princes, Olarth, and Ecruir, have both announced their intent to inherit the throne. The 4th prince has also been killed reportedly by Ecruir, and the 5th prince is currently missing. With no clear inheritance path for either Olarth or Ecruir, Yllendyr has devolved into Civil war…. This concludes our Emergency announcement thank you for your patronage. We will be bringing you further developments straight from the capital. ZZZZzzzz...”
Riceh, stares at the radio for a few moments in utter silence. His mind is tumultuous. He drops the documents in his hands as he realizes the implications of this development. He immediately calls for a meeting of the top Ministers, and the military advisor.
Cindro Sonvria, was sitting in her office in the capital as she heard the broadcast of the situation in Yllendryr. As she was reeling from the information a messenger appeared at her door frantically knocking. Upon receiving the message she reported to the viceroy’s office to find Gorrod, and Alibu, just arriving as well. The three of them enter the Office to find Riceh sitting behind his desk with a blank look on his face.
Riceh looks up as the three other most important people in the Vaspen Dominion walk in, he motions for them all to sit. Cindro is a tall (for a woman) and lanky dark elf with dark black hair falling down past her shoulders. Her glasses add a look of intelligence, as well as her business attire... Quite appropriate for the Industry Minister. Gorrod is a modestly muscular elf, with a typical purple on grey Yllendyr military uniform on. His few medals shine from their perch on his left breast, and his boots have a similar gleam. Alibu the minister of the treasury is a short elf, with a passion for numbers. He looks a little disheveled as he normally does, but always attentive to what is going on. Looks at each of them individually, and says “ I assume you have all heard what has happened in the capital by now, so what is most important is for us to hold the dominion together while this upsetting news spreads. I’m sure the resistance movement is going to make quite a few moves during this time.”
Alibu looks at the others and then at Riceh, “That would be the most prudent way to proceed, however there is the civil war we need to think about…”
“The Civil war back home will be of great importance to our control over this dominion. If we don’t manage to maintain control over the Vaspen they may take any revolution farther than their own borders. Therefore I will make an official telegram to Ecruir informing him of our intentions to maintain control over the Vaspen populace, and hopefully solicit more garrison troops from him. Riceh then looks at Gorrod. “I assume we will need more troops if any organized resistance movement begins to gain traction. Regardless of Ecruir’s decision we need to step up our presence in the north. Those despicable rebels are sure to make a move soon, and I need to know when.”
“Of course Sir, any additional troops would be welcome. However if we move to the north it will decrease our ability to deal with any protests in the cities.” replies Gorrod.
“The police should be able to handle most of that if need be. But the Rebels and their kin are what I'm really worried about.”
“It will be done then sir. I’ll pass on the appropriate orders now.” Gorrod Departs.
“Now Cindro, i’ll need you to step up the production of certain items, and do what you can to help prevent strikes in the factories. This is the list of items i need you to start producing.” Riceh says as he hands her a list of items:
Steam Locomotives, Rail cars (all types except passenger), Communication equipment, Artillery pieces (limited), Bolt action rifles (Limited), Ammunition for both previous items.
Cindro looks at the list for a moment, before looking up at Riceh and saying. “I can certainly start production on all of these, but we will need to import more raw materials for the ammunition.”
“Don’t worry about the materials, just let me know the amount you need and i’ll look to find a source for it, and as for specific numbers i’ll send it to your office later today.’
“Now that you have been apprised of the situation you are both dismissed, i’ll be here in my office if you require me.” Riceh says as he watches them both leave.
After the door closes he slumps into his plush chair as he stares at the ornaments and patterns on the ceiling as he ponders on what is next to come….
Northern Mountain Range February 3rd 1907:
In a dark cave-like room the walls hewn from stone with very little in the way of decoration, an old man sits on the side of the bed. His fur is pure white with many spots missing from what looks like old injuries, his body is muscular, but weak looking due to his age. Clothed in an old military uniform, his face hidden by the shadow from his uniform cap. He stands with the help of a cane, and exits the bedroom. Slowly making his way down a similarly furnished hallway he approaches a large room with a long rectangular table with some forty or fifty people seated at it. In this room it has been decorated a little bit more than the previous, the table has a red cloth with gold stitching running the length, the chairs are beautifully carved with red cushioned seats on the table there are wine glasses that are partially full. The people seated at the table stand at the sight of the old man and immediately salute him. The old man hobbles to the head of the table and takes a seat, glances around the table, and takes a swig of wine from the glass in front of him. One of the women remains standing while the others sit, she picks ups some paper and reads the report to them:
“One of our people within the Viceroy’s administration has informed us of the collapse of Yllendyr royal family, the Emperor, the Crown prince, and the 4th prince have been killed. While the 2nd princes are splitting the country by creating a civil war. Ecruir, has the support of the northern half of the crownlands. While Olarth, has support from the southern half. The current whereabouts of the 5th prince, Nidrak, are currently unknown, but he is believed to be in hiding. That concludes my report.”
Setting the glass down the old general thinks for a moment and then speaks with a soft but powerful voice, “Inform our people to prepare, but not to act quite yet, we need to see what the loyalists are planning. Mobilize our legions, and ramp up our production.
I get the feeling we are going to need to make this a decisive war of liberation.”
After another hour of discussion the others in the room start to trickle out, some to their posts in the cities, others to towns, all of them ready for action… but not today.
After the “local leaders” leave the old warrior looks up and addresses the few remaining in the room. “How is our infiltration going?”
One of the men obscured in shadows of the room replies “We have managed to infiltrate two of the auxiliary legions in the territory… not as many as we hoped, but we have confidence that we can disperse them efficiently.”
“Yes… not as many as we hoped, but that will be enough to give us an edge, especially once they behold our trump card.”
Later that day:
“Herr General” as he has come to be known to the rebels walks onto the factory floor, it is a large expanse situated on level 2 of the mountain fortress. The room is 20 feet tall, 30 feet in some places, a true cavern in the rock. Many machines and workers dot the floor, producing everything from Artillery guns to the smallest round of ammunition. He approaches the foreman, a dwarf actually, he’s very short in stature even compared to the old general. His beard is long and braided, with many crumbs, and rolls of paper tucked into it. The General shouts at the dwarf who is inspecting the work of one of the other dwarves. “Ludgrath!”
Ludgrath looks up from what he is doing, and quickly shoves the rifle back into the other dwarves’ hand. “General! Good to see you! What brings you up here to the shop?”
“Oh come now Lud, you know I'm up here to see That. now let’s go have a look.”
The General hobbles over to a large curtained off section of the shop with Ludgrath in tow, as he steps inside Ludgrath guides him over to a small desk, where he pulls out one of the rolls of paper from his beard and spreads it out on the desk. As the general looks across the plans for his beloved weapon one more time, Ludgrath runs around the various large sized objects covered in tarps and pulls the tarps off one by one.
The general looks up from the plans, and beholds what they have manifested. The objects once covered in tarps now are revealed to be an armoured Locomotive and carriages, four in total. Ludgarth then started to describe each part in detail for the general.
“The locomotive is a 0-10-0 G-10 class steam locomotive, the standard goods train in the Dominion. Rebel forces had captured it a year ago in a raid on a local rail yard. After my assistants and I disassembled it and transported the parts back to the fortress we reassembled and modified it to what you see here, I call it the RL-1.”
“The other cars have been “Reposessed” from the dominion in a similar fashion, any time we looted a train for supplies a couple railway cars would go missing discreetly. Two of cars were passenger cars, that we armoured to allow troops to be transported inside through any small caliber fire with no harm to the occupants. These will allow us to have a mobile strike force to threaten multiple places on the battlefield at once. The other two cars as you can see were once standard flat cars, but have been modified to mount two 15cm artillery guns in turret mounts on each car. Each with a copious amount of ammunition. We estimate that these four guns can provide up to four hours of effective barrage before having to resupply. And how could we forget to add gatling guns to every possible surface!” Lud says with a grin on his face while gesturing to the gatling guns, two on each side, and one on each end of the cars.
By the end of Lud’s description the General is grinning from ear to ear. “Very good Lud! You have done me proud! These will provide us an excellent surprise for those traitorous Loyalists!”
RL-1 In Transit
