Chapter 2: BloodmoonUnite the independent unaligned states into the Last empire, become emperor of it.
Your fledgeling empire is slaughtered by a coalition of states. So are you. You are dead. Be emperor of my empire here. the northern reaches one, or at least the ruler of that place.
You are
Greg Rothild. Before war broke out, you were the opposition leader for the Northern Reaches. Now, you're a sub-lieutenant on the Rear Lines, about six miles of twisting trench from the no-man's land. You have 100 men under your command, standing orders to recieve and direct troops for the front, a mission to defend Wreckton rail station, and a telephone line to battalion HQ.
Have pet elephant. Ride it into battle.
You briefly entertain thoughts of heading the local city,
Vok, and stealing an elephant to charge across the no-man's land wire. Over-technician Fredrick Kirdef shouts at you to stop daydreaming a few minutes of glorious carnage later.
Bug captain Vash into giving me my mission
Vash snarls at you when you barge in on a meeting, and assigns you three men and a 'mission'. By which I mean, get a lift over to the even more brutal fighting of the Western Goblin Front, sneak across five hundred yards of barbed wire, machine gun posts, and artillery, kill a cat, and get back. Alive. The men are, understandably, very angry about this.
Give Lieutenant Rilk mission to assasinate Mister Tad, a cat serving the enemy forces.
He made you cross, so you gave him a suicide mission with literally no purpose in the unlikely case of completion. You feel pleased with yourself briefly, then get back to receiving the actual mission brief from HQ. You are to infiltrate the northern Lines, and seize the Wreck from enemy hands. This will be ludicrously dangerous, albeit with a massive potential payoff in strategic terms. You are feeling margainally less smug about sending one of your lieutenants to his death, but he's already left by the time you leave the dugout to apologize.
Sacrifice to the Norse gods and ready the longships. Everyone still armed with an axe? Or are we in a later time where axes got upgraded to guns?
You smash a bottle of fine champagne on the bow of your AM-'Longboat' submarine, and prepare to dive. You are
Beth Trikslow, a Valhallan submarine commander. There are four submarines in your pack, and your orders are to harry Goblin military shipping off the South Isle. The submarines are armed with thirty 'Axehead' torpedoes each, and an eighty-millimeter deck gun.
Dig in, and have my men create a bunker to reduce incoming fire.
After checking that the Goblin's aren;t actually attacking, you ask the soldiers to pick up shovels. A few hours of work later, they've a series of zig-zag trenches down to waist height along about a half-mile of the Line. The other companies who are watching the no-man's land are grateful, as this severely reduces the chances of them suddenly exploding due to artillery, or keeling over after sniper fire. You put tin sheeting over your dugout to keep the rain out, and stack wooden crates on the floor to keep your feet out of the mud.
I have two flashlights. I (naively?) assume that since both flashlights are part of my starting equipment, both have decent battery life.
Start using one flashlight in tandem with fine brush in the vicinity of the word fragments.
You start examining the fragments of metal with the words engraved into it. They seem somewhat similar to words in your notepad, so you examine them more closely. After some serious comparison between confirmed letters and the symbols, you determine the first shard to have 'MA*N C*M*-', ending in a smashed, jagged edge. The other is really very damaged. After closer inspection of it, it seems like the metal was smashed off something, possibly by the force of the Crash.
((You have ONE flashlight, and two word fragments.))
Patrol for mice, rodents, vermin, and enemies to the state.
The rats are refusing to come out in the rain, and you ate all the mice.
Split my men into three parties, one each under each of my sub-inquisitors, and one under myself, split up and investigate the three nearest fires.
You take your lackey to the largest fire, and in the charred wreck of the building where it started, you find a thick safe and a spiked implement, as well as what appears to be half of a skull, twisted and covered in slagged roof tile.
Popcheck.
The Free Cities comprises of roughly one and a half million citizens.
Be the leader of the Goblin Republic.
Check on treaties
Check on military strength of Republic
Get known details of nearby nations
You are sadly not the leader of the glorious Goblin Republic. You are an underclerk in his office. Your name is
Kik Filnass. You know that you are neutral with Valhalla currently, and at war with both the Free Cities and the North Reaches. The complex, shifting political state in the unaligned zone is barely even worth paying attention to, let alone recording. Some dictator was overthrown yesterday apparently, and his conquerors then started shooting each other.
The Goblin Republic is of course the mightiest. Twenty-seven divisions split into five armies across two fronts. All other nations are worthless, and will be brushed aside at the Republic's convenience.
You read the Leader's mail. You are fairly sure most of that is trash.
Rilk Faklish[Flabort]
Goblin Skirmisher Corps: Lieutenant
Stuff:Longbow Sniper rifle, flak vest
Vash Goldtooth[Darkpaladin]
Goblin Skirmisher Corps: Captain
Stuff: Important Documents, Longbow Sniper Rifle, body armour
Kik Filnass[zanzetkuken]
Administrative Wing: Underclerk
Stuff: Copied Documents x3, Legal Papers x2, Pen, concealed knife.
Dal Parathnik[Elephant Parade]
Ressurection Corps: Technician
Stuff: Relife Coresx4, surgeon's drill, Scalpel, saw, Ratberg revolving pistol
Rath Coldbloom[fractalman]
Archaeological Corps:Linguist
Stuff:Word Fragmentsx2, Flashlight, Fine Brush, 'Mule' oneshot defence pistol
Greg Rothild[poketwo]
83th Liners: Sublieutenant
Stuff: Ratberg revolving pistol, armoured vest and hat, telephone to HQ
Mister Tad[Xantalos]
O-Company: The Lucky Cat
Stuff: Half a dead mouse, leg collar
Cortez Malisqua[mastahcheese]
The Faith: Inquisitor
Stuff:Censer, incensex12, thumbscrews, hooded robe
Enuk Dlave[Coolrune]
East Defense Division:Corporal
Stuff: Flak jacket, Tinpot helmet, P-12 rifle, binoculars, beard
Beth Trikslow[Highmax]
Valhallan Sea Core: Longboat Captain
Stuff: A nice hat, a nice cigar, a nice blindfold.
Map of the Torn IsleMap of the Lines