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    1. Titanic 11 yrs ago

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Just posted, it was a little rushed but I will improve my next post.
The March of Iron

The town stood in front of me abandoned and dark, a brief glance would make you think that it was deserted long ago. Grass grew between cracks in the streets, homes and buildings hung rotting, and a number of door and windows were broken. There was nothing left of worth, even the things without any worth were taken. This town stood on the border of Ironmarch, a once proud vassal of the Kazaji. The town couldn’t have been abandoned more than a few months ago, but it had fell into disrepair along with its people long ago. There may be nothing left in this town but it is one of the legacies of the Kazaji people, a once proud people…

-Prince Daemos-
The host stretched on for miles upon miles, two million people, an entire nation in exile and on the march along with all their belongings. I stood high upon the tallest hill in the surrounding landscape yet I still couldn’t see the end. The convoy of my people stretched on past the dark, black horizon of the sky.

“My Prince Daemos, we must ride on. No light shall shine today on the land, we need to see what's beyond.” said my squire Trien as he rode up to me on top of the hill.

“Tell me Trien, what do you see in front of me right now?” I asked him as I watched the host slowly move across the corrupted landscape.

“What do you mean my lord? I see our proud people moving across lands that were once ours.” Answered Trien, a look of plain innocence on his face.

“You know what I see? I see an endless line of poor sad people that once thought themselves as gods. We once owned this land that we walk on this very moment but we lost it to the very people that we took it from, many fled this land and the ones that didn’t were killed. We have lost our claim to glory and heaven when we abandoned the old gods and this is our fate, we are now few and our land is destroyed and ruled by imbeciles that have given themselves to the darkness that destroyed us.”

Trien just gave my words a look as he tried to process my speech.

“Nevermind what I just said, we should be moving on.”

It started to drizzle an hour into our dreary ride. I sent Trien along with four outriders farther out to scan the landscape and to search for anything that was worth looking for in the dark plain landscape.

I was riding alone over a hill when I spotted the peak of a chimney, and I quickly sped up into a gallop until a large village came into my view. A stone road soon appeared from the dirt path I was following, and after slowing to a trot I carefully scanned the surrounding buildings. The settlement seemed to be a hobbit village, as there were a number of doors and windows built into small hills and the buildings that were above ground were very small and short.

Everything seemed to be abandoned, as by the time I reached the center of the village I had seen no signs of life, and it was as if even the wind seemed to die. After Climbing down from my horse, I led it to the fountain located at the center of the town square. The water didn’t look safe to drink but then again there was nothing safe for hundreds of miles. It bent its head down to take a drink when I heard a rustle behind me. I quickly drew my sword as I spun around with my other hand securely placed on my horse in case I needed to get away quickly. There was no movement as I looked upon the spot where the noise came from, but all I saw was the door of a small inn swing open as a strong gust of wind caused it to flap, almost making it fall of its old hinges. Whatever made that noise was gone, and only the dead gods know where it went. The horse was just nibbling at some grass that was growing around the edge of the fountain when I turned around to get back on him.

I was nearing the edge of the town, and the buildings started thinning out as I advanced. There was a ruined watchtower that stood to the side of the road. The tower was looming to the side of me when my horse suddenly screamed and collapsed under me. The startled horse fell on my leg. Through the pain I didn’t notice the small creatures coming out from around the buildings and the tall grass as I tried to pull my leg free.

They were horrible creatures, and most of them were barely four feet tall, but all of them were bone thin, save for a few who had bloated stomachs and bloody mouths. I already had an idea of what they ate while they were advancing on me.

“Fressssssssh meat,” some said while others just licked their black lips and crawled forward with their arms reaching for me.

“Come on you stupid horse, move.” I said as I pushed against it. I tried sliding my leg out from underneath but the hobbits grabbed me before I could fully get it out. The creatures pulled me out fom under the horse and held tightly to all my limbs. I struggled as they began clawing at me, ans trying to bite me through my chainmail. I tried clawing them back but a number of the hobbits were holding my wrist.

Then a sudden pain shot through me near the right side of my head, and I quickly realized that one of them was biting my ear. The pain intensified as it felt like my skin and fur was about to be torn away when the pain suddenly eased.

I heard a number of horses ride past and multiple outlandish screams as the pressure eased from the creatures. With less of the hobbits holding me down, I managed to shake them off and rise to my feet while they were being distracted by the riders. I then jumped and pulled out my sword but all the creatures had been cut down already.

“Prince Daemos, are you ok?” Asked one of the riders, and looking up I could see that it was Trien and the other riders that I sent with him.

“We only just came back and were looking through this village when we saw you getting attacked.”

I walked over to the small bodies that were laying on the ground. It took a second to realize they were deranged hobbits. They were horrible compared to the ones owned by the Kazaji, as they were bone thin and disfigured in nearly every way imaginable. The hobbits' faces were just skin over bone with deep dark shrunken eyes and one had a twisted mouth as if it was laughing at its own death.

“Lets get back, I want the guards doubled in the host and all civilians and soldiers are to avoid towns until we reach the capital.” I tell my squire.

-King Kajo-
The world was dark outside, and my people have marched on their feet for weeks.The old and young walked, and only the lucky rode. Yet here I was, the king and leader of them all,I was suppose to be a figure that they followed and admired but here I sat in a carriage filled with luxuries that was followed by a line of servants while many of them starved and suffered. My vassals and anyone that still holds power already hated me because they saw my choice to take everyone into exile as a sign of weakness. They are forced to ride on horses when once they rode in carriages so massive and luxurious that they could have been called palaces. While my way of travel makes them envious, it also makes them unite for a common cause. I am old and will not live much longer, and my son is loved by the people but not the lords. I hold the last of the Kazaji together, and if the lords were to overthrow me, they know that the Kazaji would forever scatter. However, if they were all to support my oldest son, not only would they get rid of me but they would better off. The people would follow my son if I stepped down in favor of him and the lords would have to be united under my son, as anyone that goes against him would be seen as a traitor and anyone that is declared a traitor is exiled and shunned by the host.

“My grace, would you like another serving of wine?” asks a serving girl, a bottle of wine in her hand, it was one of the few remaining luxuries that existed for any of the Kazaji.

“No thank you, I must be sober for a little while. But may you get my horse prepared, and my armor."

I was dressed in a set of steel armor decorated from head to toe with gems, figures, and all sorts of rare items, I might not be liked by my vassals but I still must look formidable among them. I had already sent for them, they were scattered among the ordinary people as they had no other task of a normal lord except to guard his or her people. It was nearly an hour before they arrived. Only five out of eight showed up, and only one of them was a high lord, the three that didn’t appear were all high lords.

“You summoned us my grace.” said Lord Harlem. Once Harlem's family was the most powerful noble family behind the royal family, having expanded the lands of the Kazaji Empire southeastward, now he controlled no land, and his title of Protector of the South was only honorary, and his entire retinue was a mere thousand. The other four lords that had appeared were minor ones that held land around the capital, they were ancient, proud, and loyal but weak.

“Ride with me.” I told him.

“Lord Fowler, Lexum, and Kekan have sent their apologies, their people are located near the edges and rear of the host and have faced a number of troubling things that they must handle." He tells me.

“They have no need to make excuses, to protect the people is the most honorable act you can do right now.” I tell him. “Tell me Lord Harlem, how is your wife doing? I heard that she is with child.”

He fell silent before answering, “Yes, I hope it's a strong boy, but even for the strong this is a bad time to be born into the world.”

The other lords rode up to both of us a few minutes later and ask my permission to leave, a group of rabid natives appeared to be attacking the host. Lord Harlem looked down awkward when he realized that he was the only one remaining.

“I’m sorry that your heir will be born in such a dark time, but I promise you, once we reach our new land and home you shall be rewarded for your loyalty to me and be given a fourth of the new kingdom.”

It seemed to be a moment of eternity before he finally spoke up, “What new land, what hope do we have of ever reclaiming the glory that we once held as a people! Look behind you and look at what my loyalty has brought me, lordship over a few thousand poor sad people and no land! All the other lords were destroyed but at least they died honorably and in battle against the darkness! We are fleeing, given up on our fight with our enemy, we have no chance of claiming any land that won’t be claimed by the darkness and my son will be the last of my son and lord of nothing!” He screams at me.

I look at him, his words don’t surprise me one bit. “Thank you.”

He was clearly shocked by my comment from the look that was plastered onto his face.

“You are certainly the most loyal of my lords, the rest act like they are still lords over something, they deny that they have no power. They act as if they love me but in truth, they hate me and plot against me every second. You have spoken your mind, something they won’t do. As such, I know that you are the most honorable and the most loyal of them.” I tell him calmly. “We may have lost nearly everything as a people, including ourselves, but we aren’t broken. The darkness has sent us into our exile and destroyed our people but we aren’t broken. We speak and feel and move forward. We may have been set backwards but I promise you that we won’t give up and we will reclaim our homeland and glory one day.

Lord Harlem didn’t react to my comment. We rode on for a few minutes before he asked for leave and just rode off.

After he rode off, I asked for someone to summon General Krakon. He appeared shortly after I sent the message.

"You asked for me my king?" I asked as he rode up. He was dressed in plain armor and alone.

"Tell me General, what do you think of my choice to march through this grim and dark landscape called The Ironmarch?" I asked him.

I didn't speak for a while, clearly pondering my question.

"To be honest my king, I think it was a poor choice. Our people were nearly given up when we began our journey. This path has caused our numbers to dwindle, we have lost hundreds of thousands that have simply given up and wandered off when we only have two million. We won't have more then one and a fifth million when we exit this area."

"In the eyes of many, losing hundreds of thousands would seem to be a poor choice." I say calmly.

"You knew that this would if we marched through here?" I asked, the surprise clearly in his voice.

"Before I summoned you, I had a ride with one of my high lords. He spoke the truth to me but whether it was out of bravery or anger I do not know. Our people are sad and poor, we have lost the glory that we once held and many of us are weak. Many before me were too proud to save our people and make the choice to send the kingdom into exile, I realized that in order to save the Kazaji, we must find a new home before the darkness destroys us but I also realized another thing."

He didn't need to speak, there was a look of question of on his face.

"I realized that in order to survive, we needed to be strong but we couldn't make our people strong, we had no time. In order for us to survive, we need to let go of the weak, this March of Iron will let go of the weak and once we leave this land, only the strong will remain. For to rebuild our empire and glory, we must be strong."

Lord Krakon didn't speak for a while, soon we just kept riding on, going on with of our March of Iron.
I'm sorry that I haven't posted yet, will get a post up in about an hour.
I'm busy with school but I will get my post out tomorrow
Hey khan, are ther any other effects of the darkness plague other then madness and eventurally bringing you over to the darkness?
Will post HS in library tomorrow. Thanksgiving then helping my parents took a lot of time
Serp, Can you check my HS? I done and I came up with Unique Trait and Flaw #2 with Khan.
My actual army is 50,000. I just have 300k peasants armed with sticks that want to defend the host
All this started because I wondered if pixies were edible...

Edit: can a GM check my HS
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