You notice the incredulous look on the face of the commissar as you begin painting your men in the sacred Red Woad. The skymaster have a low regard for the proper incantations, the fetishes and rituals, the hexes and spells a chieftain needs to learn. In time he will understand. The towering warriors looking too big in the restraints holding them in place are typicial of your kind, broad, large and muscular, coloured like the great silver trees, camouflaging them well in your home. You are not home, you are in a monster rocketing towards some distant plane, ready to slaughter the enemies of the skymasters.
"Brothers, Warriors of the Okai, remember our families, remember our home. Remember your duty. Today we might die but we do it for our future. Our ancestors watch over us, the gods smile on us and the skymaster have bestowed upon us their boomsticks!"
you hold your own aloft and your men follow suit shouting encouragements to each other.
"Kill their enemies and the skymasters will reward us greatly! Our families will never go hungry again! And you, you who brought honour to the Okai will live like kings!"
deafening cheers revebrate through the iron beast, enhancing it even further.
The Commissar steps up next to you.
"High Command has called in, we have the honour of being in the first wave. Once we land take down everyone who is not hu-i mean a skymaster or of the Okai. TERRA INVICTA!"
his fist slams against his chest, determination on his face. Your senses can smell his fear however, his false bravado not able to conceal it. You just know that this man knows what is coming. Before your men can smell the fear musk, you decide to take a gamble.
"You hear? The mighty High Command is watching over us! The greatest of the skymasters bestowed the honor of the first assault upon us! They saw the strength of the Okai and have decided to grant us the chance to earn Glory!"
More cheers from your warriors. Finally the approach is finished. You turn around and wait at the maw of the iron beast. With more force than you thought possible in the little body, the skymaster drags you away from the front rank. "Trust me you don't want to stand in the first row."
As the shuddering beast finally crashes to the ground and opens its maw, you are first blinded by the sun and then by the impact of the enemies lightsticks. You and your men had been warned beforehand but seeing the lightsticks in action is still terrifying. Before your warriors can charge out the entire first row of them is cut down by the impact of dozens of incandescent spears piercing their bodies. The remaining hundred manage to charge out of the Craft wildly firing the unfamiliar boomsticks and seeking cover. You leave the iron beast together with the skymaster commissar, half blinded by the sudden light and the impact of the incadescent spears from the lightsticks it takes you a moment to reorient. the skymaster is faster, clearly used to the situation at hand and drags you down towards some cover.
Your two hearts are beating arythmically as though they are racing each other. The situation is overhelming. Your senses are overhelmed. There is noise everywhere, appocalyptically loud, fire falls from the sky and more of the iron beasts with it. Some of them never reaching the ground. incadescent spears fly around everywhere, contrasted by the loud staccato reports of the boomsticks.
Screams of the dying and the wounded foul the air congealing into the general cacophony that is invading your ears. For a second you just stare ahead, until a stinging slap to your face rips you out of your reverie. The skymaster.
"GODDAMNIT YOU FUCKING APE! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER! We have to get out of the landing zone! We-" you miss the rest of his orders as you watch in awe as one of the iron beasts is struck by a massive light spear. Screeching its mortally wounded body falls from the sky impacting with the beast you came in on. The resulting explosion is not unlike the volcanoes at home.
This is Death. This is the End. The Gods have abandoned you. The Ancestors have abandoned you...The End Times are here!
A. Get your act together. Calmly analyze the situation and act accordingly
B. CHAARGE! SHOW THEM WHAT PASSES FOR FURY AMONG THE OKAI!
C. Let the Commissar handle the situation, you have to look to the wounded and dying!
As a result of your Actions:
Shamanism,Superstition, Magic and the Occult is a part of your Culture.
The Cultural Cohesiveness of the Okai has risen.
The Obedience of the Okai has risen.