Spring 160Although the first months of the decade were very calm by pearlite standards, a number of developments did shape the direction of the ongoing war. A lot of unforeseen events can still happen, of course, but a plausible end of war scenario may now be taking shape in front of us.
Military developmentsThe situation hasn’t changed since the last six months; the army of pearls is still lacking manpower to make advances in the Stustonako Fortress, and is therefore reduced to skirmishes and cloak-and-dagger operations – conducted respectively by the assault army (tactics squad and heavy mobile infantry squad) and by the commando squad. Little, small-scales victory could be achieved, but without a massive breakthrough, the war feels like it is meandering forever.
The 11th of Marsh, the assault team breached into the fortress of Stozuumu, acting like the northern gate to Osme. After breaching the walls, they engaged the garrison of the fortress and inflicted heavy casualties to them before retreating. The fortress of Stozuumu is probably still capable of putting some resistance as it was not completely wiped out, but one more assault should be enough to have them surrender.
Now, the Army of Pearls doen’t especially want to breach through Stozuumu, but that attack helps it to evaluate its chances against its actual goal, the fortress of Stustonako.
Stozuumu was manned by about 500 souls, mostly trolls, one tenth of Stozuumu. Of those, 140 took part in the skirmish.
The assault team was composed of 17 masters-at-arms, supported by a beast squad of 5 bears and one jaguar, and could achieve a victory without casualties. Could Mong Kima line up 170 masters-at-arms to throw at Stustonako, it could effectively end the war right now… such numbers are out of its reach, but not by much. We’ll ponder the numbers a bit later on.
The 15th of Marsh and the 4th of April, exploiting the chaos generated from that brutal attack, the Commando squad conducted two successive raids on its suburbs – Xestbax – which sported one full sized beakdog stable. Their orders were to steal their cattle and come back without being spotted.
Those raids were successful.
In total, four more beakdogs, one male and three females, were added to our own stable. We asked our carpenter to craft nestboxes and gave them a little square of open space in the western side of the town.
We were not disappointed by what happened next – and in retrospective, understood why Osmite like those creatures so much.
As soon as the herd was situated, it immediately started to reproduce. Each female claimed her nestboxes, and laid a large number of eggs. The first “batch” was unfertilized – as the males had been lost wandering somewhere in town at the time.
They were given to the cooks, and the town was soon to know the taste of a beakdog omelet.
But then, once the males were added to the herd, they laid a second batch of eggs, this time fertilized.
9 eggs per female on averageThis is insane. Compare with jaguars and their at-most two cubs per year, who take one year to reach maturity. With this rate of reproduction, beakdogs will become a strong addition to our beast units in very short order.
Finally, a last raid was launched on Stustonako’s suburbs Smunstutosnung, and its garrison was slain. In total, the army of Pearls inflicted 162 casualties to the enemy this season.
A word on force generationAt the end of the season, we have one half-squad ready to take up its occupation duty, which means that we can capture one, maybe two positions in summer.
In the same time, the skill from our Strategist and the skills of our Commandos are making interesting headways.
With the Commandos reaching the rank of High Master, they should be ready to try and raid the Osmite Capital City and try to free the prisoners. This should be the most dangerous mission the elite special forces will ever undertake, but releasing Osmite’s slaves and prisoners could effectively solve the town’s manpower issues. Besides, if there are ethical reasons to confront Osme, the liberation of the slaves is definitely among them.
Histamine is also now a Grand Master Tactician, which means she is soon ready to command the assault on Stustonako. When she is, the only thing she’ll need would be an army, and so she could breach Stustonako, defeat Osme’s main forces and effectively end the war.
The army of Pearls may simply be one hundred masters-at-arms away from ending the war.
Recruitment will be intensified next season; the final battle approaches.
Rescued IferitesOn the civilian side, three Iferites vagrants were incorporated into the town temporarily. They were allowed to use the town’s facilities and to purchase its production, but were not given Pearlite citizenship. That measure was taken both to combat vagrancy and as a humanitarian gesture, which would allow the stranded elves to rebuild their forces before heading back to their forests.
Saviera Alisaero, Covema Newoçome and Piropu Neronemo – those were their names, soon bought new clothes. They mostly picked elven clothes we found on long-abandonned iferite caravans (those were more theirs than ours, after all), but also complemented their garments with osmite clothes, taken from defeated invaders and about to be destroyed. Piropu especially was fond of those goblin furs and silks; he even bought one of the silk gloves our craftmen sew the town’s heraldry on, as a training project.
One man’s junk is one elf’s treasure, so it seems.
During spring, they could be seen at the library, reading books and trying to access science; visibly totally neophytes but very curious. They would also assist to demonstrations in the guildhalls or representations in the tavern.
However, they did not leave with the spring elven merchants, and the villagers report that they have taken residence in the town. It is very possible that they do not elect to leave by themselves and the town may have to show them the door.
It’s spring, all rightsThe 25th of Marsh, we had a good news. In the dolomite mine, near the masonry workshop, a woman gave birth to her first child. She was a rather unremarkable peasant girl by the name of Eslo ; she had arrived in town last year with her husband, and since she did not have any talent in particular, helped the stonemasons and the farmers with an additional pair of arms.
Even though Elso and her husband were an unremarkable couple, the town was always very happy to see more births within its walls.
On an unrelated note, shepherds reported an unusual growth in the livestock, to the point the town had to accelerate the slaughter of older cattlehead to keep the herds reasonably sized. That increase in activity would feed imediately into a collection of secondary industries, leather, bonecrafts and cuisine. Kimaeslo Ori could eat meat every day of Spring.
Scholar Duslud comes to townIn winter 137, as he was just a child, playing outside of the fort of Thomocemir, Duslud, son of Zothoabo, became the target of an Osmite raiding party.
Because his small legs couldn’t carry him away fast enough, he was stabbed on the ground by an Osmite raider of Ansgeki origin, and brutally beaten with the sharp of his weapon.
The timely intervention of the Riverguard drove away the raid and miraculously, Duslud was saved – at a cost. His left hand was completely lopped off and he lost the use of both his legs.
The child then was removed from the typical Thomocemir military education system and was send to study medical science under the Bomreki goblin Onget Cattenatag.
Duslud was a loved kid in the Thomocemir community, as a nice kid and as the first son of the chief surgeon Zothoabo, and could live a rather pleasant life, despite his multiple infirmities. He married Nemen, a girl from Zefer’s skirmishers, and spent the next twelve years studying in the border fort’s library.
The 5th of April 160, Duslud and his wife were among the people migrating in. He was observed taking some time in the inn held by his younger brother, Kiseabo.
Duslud was given a position of a scholar in the library, and given access to as many quire as he would need.
Hopefully the development of science in the bridgetown can add to its lustre.
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The geography map is completely done. That took me some time.
I need to make a political/territorial map next, but of course, cities are about to change hands soon.
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Topic: Mong Kima - The Nation of Pearls (DF 0.47.05) (Read 253801 times)