Leader: Sheb McBrent
You lead your forces personally to the last stand of Brian the Blessed. At Loch Karmon your army meets the ragged forces Brian was able to summon, mostly members of the McKarmon clan. They barely number a hundred men, most of them archers. You arrive outnumbering them seven to one.
"Hail, thane of Karmon!" called the grey-haired lord to the low town walls. A middle-aged figure whose blonde hair was starting to grey raised a sword in response.
"I know you, Sheb McBrent," Thane McKarmon cried back. "Have you come for me, for my lands?"
"I come for my son."
"You will not find him here, McBrent."
"Will I not? Is that not his ghost by your shoulder, McKarmon? Does he not cry out for vengeance?"
"I did not kill your son, McBrent."
"But you harbour the man who did!" Rage flecked in Sheb's eyes. "You spit in my face, McKarmon! You would stand here and talk while the murderer of my son hides in your cellar like a rat?" McKarmon's lip curled slightly, as if at some black amusement. It seemed Sheb's accusation was more than hyperbole.
"This is not the McBrent I know, not the Lord McBrent whose table I sat at as a youth. Whose table I sat at and drank with his son. You think I do not mourn your loss, Sheb? But the Sheb McBrent I know is a scholar, a seer, not a soldier."
"I can see no longer, McKarmon. My sight is blurred by blood, and the thirst for it. Hand me the lord you hide."
"I harbour a king, not a lord."
"And you oppose an Emperor!" Spittle flew from Sheb's lips as he roared the last word, and around the town the seven legions raised their weapons in a cry of war. The clan McKarmon shook, some from fear, others rage. Thane McKarmon's lips thinned.
"I swore an oath to my cousin, Sheb. Would you have me break my word?"
"You owe no word to a traitor as he. But know this, Malcolm. I came for Brian, and for the insult I come for your sons. If you will not hand them over to be my commanders, and you will not hand Brian over for my vengeance, I will take them both by the sword. Your sons will die. You will die. Your women, your children will burn like your town. I will scatter their ashes into the loch and burn the land and boil the loch until it is dry. I will salt the marshes that remain so nothing will grow here for a thousand years and they will look on this place and they will say; 'Here, my son, do you see? This is what became of the men who stood against Emperor McBrent because they thought they were still bound to a traitor's word.'"
Wind whistled across the town walls. Here and there, weapons clattered.
"Very well," said McKarmon, "my men shall bring forth Brian." He descended to one knee. "Hail to ye, McBrent. To ye we swear our oaths."
"Aye!" came a roar from beyond both armies. Ahead of a clan of twenty enormous black bears, riding on the back of the largest, was the figure of the druid Bearskin. "Hail McBrent, lord of the highlands and lowlands! Hail McBrent, king!"
[You got very lucky and made the 2% chance of effecting a surrender. You actually rolled 2 out of 100. The fact you outnumbered them 7 to 1 with largely equivalent troops helped.]
Bearskin: Because you unified Brent, Bearskin has joined you at his full strength. He joins you as a Druid with 2 units of War Bears. He also brings knowledge of Nature Magic [Foundation] and Summon War Bears.
Unification: By uniting the fractured kingdom of Brent, you have earned the (sometimes begrudging) loyalty of all the clans. They come to pay homage to you in a new Jarlsmeet at Sinterness, where you sit on the throne of Brent the King and are coronated by Bearskin. Of greater celebration than your skill as a warrior is your skill as a statesman and diplomat, bringing much wealth into the country through your trade links with other nations and your vassals. Most of this culminates in the port of Gasket where the city's merchants are clamouring for a centralised location to peddle and trade their wares. They have drafted in-depth plans for a new
Marketplace - they just need you to pay for it.
Buoyed by the success of your armies in war, the armourers of Sinterness have refined the design of the maces your gnomish vassals brought, taking cues from the design to improve the balance of Brentish swords and axes. This knowledge soon spreads throughout your kingdom, resulting in a general improvement in the quality of weaponry.
You were not able to successfully glean much information about the actual summoning of faeries from the Old Booke, beyond getting a description of one type - Pixies, a sort of tiny imp armed with equally tiny magical bows, or possibly blowdarts.
Your priests produce a framework for the new religion's theology, working from records of the old beliefs before the Old Empire subsumed them. It will take about four times the amount of money you have already put in to disseminate the new religion within your home county and convince the people to move over to it.
You were not able to pay enough money to tempt over trained drill instructors, and what you had left was not enough to train your own.
TerritoriesBrent L (£500/turn): Palace, Fishery. Fish.
(+£25/turn from fish)
(+£100: Fishery)
Brent S (£234/turn): 1 trireme.
(upk: -£70)
Brent U (£287/turn): 4 light axemen. Walls, Deep Mine, Forge. Coal.
(+£14/turn from coal)
(+£400: Deep Mine)
(+£92/turn from Forge)
(upk: -£250)
Brent N (£137/turn): 3 spearmen, 1 light axemen, 1 archers, 2 war bears, 1 druid.
(upk: -£440)
Finances:Cash Reserves: £0
Revenue: +£1789
Trade Pact(Farland): +£98 [Access grain, sheep]
Trade Pact(Arcadia): +£156 [Access lumber, game, iron]
Trade Pact(Grouting): +£130 [Access gold]
Trade Pact(Vremya): +£76
Upkeep: -£760 [5 light axemen, 3 spearmen, 1 archers, 2 war bears, 2 trireme, 1 druid. 1 walls.]
Total: £1419
TechsNature Magic [Foundation]
Summon War Bears
Weaponsmithy I
Marketplaces
Armies1 Trireme (Petris Coast) (upk: -£40)
Vassal Armies3 light macemen [Farland Gnomes]
Author
Topic: Fiefdoms @ War: Turn 15 (Read 130227 times)