---
Edmundo Scarpa was a man possessed. He had lived previously without a need in the world, the only use of the Knights Hospitaller was to fight with petty heathen pirates, a most dull and seemingly unnecessary job.
He would look with an inquisitive eye at the Knights lined up in front of him, high-born individuals who were of highest merit and honor within the order. These people were soldiers and monks, arranged at either side of the large table in which they were called for, with the Grandmaster at the opposite head.
"God has blessed us with a message!"shouted Scarpa, thumping his hand upon the table. His standing fellow knights would quickly take their seats. Flatly, Scarpa would continue "Our lord and savior Jesus Christ has bestowed a mission upon me." This was met with a few softened prayers and signs of the cross. "We are to reconquer the Holy Land and eradicate the heathen menace from Catholic soil! God wills it!"The knights, excluding the Grandmaster, would roar in approval. "God will give us strength, I doubt not." Scarpa would gesture to his right, revealing a rather oddly dressed man standing in the shadows.
"Spain offers to reward us handsomely for the conquest of Tunis." the man would say, presenting some official-looking scrolls. "Were you to wage war on Tunis, we will provide military support and refill your organization's coffers." The men present would grumble at the fact that Spain was stealing their glory, yet remained silent.
With a chuckle, Fra. Ramon I would dismiss the diplomat, telling him "We exist to help the poor and sick, we need not money, blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. We exist to help the sick."
----
The large collection of noises around the docks were nearly deafening; the shouts of the dockhands, the breying of livestock, and the creaking of the wooden galleys. Busier than on any normal day, the docks were almost overflowing with hundreds of men marching onto the ships.
Only a few days ago it had been unanimously decided by the Grand Council that they were going to war.
"Prepare my ship," Edmundo would say "We will teach them that Christian land belongs to Christians, not heathens."
----
The three Maltese ships would pull into the port of Safaqis with a tremor. Storming out of the ship were a great amount of men and a foul tempered General. Just a months days before, he had met with the King of Spain, Carlos II, who revealed that he wasn't going to get any support in his conquest of the Holy Lands.
The preparations had been immense. There had been need to stockpile supplies, gather hundreds of herectics, and train them into line. The Knights were indeed ready to face death in the eye, and fight in God's name.
The port had surrendered, and the army would sack the city and move on to the gates of Tunis.
"General," a voice would say, passing into Edmundo's tent. "We have delivered the terms of surrender to the heathen King." Swollowing, the diplomat would continue "He refuses to surrender the city."
Wordlessly, Edmundo would turn his gaze to the desert structure before him, a port city that dominated the horizon. It seems that the Barbars refused to surrender the city without bloodshed. Edmundo did not want bloodshed, he was saving that for the capital of the Barbary Corsairs, his troops with him to put down any rebels. "Begin the seige. We will wait, even if a season passes during it."
The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, revealing an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army still waited, though began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. It cast its eyes upon the roads, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper thoroughfares. If one looked far enough, one could see the enemy city in the distance.
----
The city was for the Hospitallers. The siege had lasted 100 days before the garrion finally succembed to hunger and disease, the remains of the defending regiments gone.
The King of Tunis was dead, his family dead, his bodyguards dead, his army dead, his city dead. The siege had lasted nearly a third of a year, yet the Knights managed to maintain dicipline and embark on the path of God.
The city's actual builtings had been raised to the ground, as fire roared through the bifurcated city of Tunis. Where it licked the bars and bakeries along the main street, it progressed along in a series of blazing fountains and explosions, burning sweet perfumes, spices, and incense. By now the whole downtown of Tunis was alight, with the more rich and noble citizens of the opposite side were gallantly destroying means of entrance. However, already the ships in the port docks -full of valuable cotton and corn- were blazing heartily and, their moorings burst to ashes, were sailing the sea. The smoke from the merry burning rose miles high, sculpting a grey shadow over the newfound horizon.
The fire was certainly impressive to the army of religous fanatics. His army was raising muskets in the air and cheering, they had done what was tried and failed for a full crusade by the French and Sicilians in 1270.
Edmundo Scarpa stepped out of his tent already immaculately dressed, a beer in one hand and a whore in the other. He was enjoying the feel of the sun on his body. The Crusader camp was up and moving, enjoying the show of fire.
The other of the two commanders was heartily drinking a beer as he would cheer on the burning, pumping his fist into the air, his mouth hanging wide open with a crazy grin. If it weren't for his wig and accent, he would have been mistaken for a Scot.
"Burn, ya' heathen bastards! Burn to the ground! This place will now be marked the city of fire, and our very name will bring fear into the hearts of men!"
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Topic: Empire: Total War Let's Play! - Filling out Characters (Read 7099 times)