Kona looked at the Ovascaliiatrii Armadiivus (Holy Reclamation Army) assembled before him. 50,000 Renoan soldiers, the largest single force ever assembled on this planet yet, and yet there were still smaller armies as he stood there operating to expand Reno and incorporate its Evonamagnus allies fully into the Renoan fold. Kona stepped up onto a platform to look over the massive army before him, all for him to command. He cleared his throat, and began to speak(this will be fully translated), "Today is the day our dreams come true, the day in which we began the Grand Crusade to reclaim the Holy Lands of the Great Old Kingdom, a journey the Great Kingdom itself went through under the firm guidance of Jakus the Clever, Julii the Great, Troy the Wise, Augustus the Kind, Tiberiionus the Conqueror, Casius the Firm, Juliianos the Expander, and finally, Tiberii the Reformer. The 8 mortal rulers of the Old Kingdom, whose deeds were so great, they became Gods. We shall make the Eight proud today! They smile down upon us, the Renoans who settled in the ruins of their old Capital! The Renoans who seek to remake the greatest empire to have ever lived! And as your Natusarrius, I intend to make Reno greater. We will control not only the Land as the Old Kingdom did, but also the seas! We will absolutely control the Gulf of Reno and the Sea of the Old Kingdom. Mountains stopped the Old Kingdom! They will not stop Reno. Those who accept the fact that we were DIVINELY BLESSED to conquer the lands we are to conquer, then we shall reward them with peaceful incorporation and some level of autonomy, but...if they resist, foolishly hold onto their precious "independence" against us! Well then...we'll have to break it. Break it into so many peices you can't even sweep them up! For those that resist, they shall be cleansed! The men must be taken out, for they are the backbone of armies and nations! Then, the women and children shall be reverted to Conqueonotestoes and scattered across Reno, for they, deserve no fate better than the fate of rebels. Now! Onward to victory! Onward to Glory! Onward!"
Velvet woke up from her day-sleep. The party last night sure was something, and refering to the sky, she could tell it was around the afternoon. Taking their Witch and two soldiers, she decided to explore the Island, refering by the smoke columns she could see over the trees. Going East, the quatuor decided to take the cover of the trees to any kind of road they could get on; That way, they had more chance not to fall on raids or hostile creatures. After a while, they suddenly arrived to a group (LARGE GROUP) of armored, bipedal creatures. Hyde, one of the two male zebras, spoke up first. ''Arr, what in Tartarus Is these Ruffians Monsters doin' at eye Range?'' Velvet blinked. ''Why are you talking like a pirate, Hyde? Hadn't Jekyl here thaught you how to properly talk while on the boat?'' Hyde looked up at his Captain. ''It's natural to speak like this, sorry. But what in the holy flowers are theses things?'' Velvet cracked her neck. ''We'll find out pretty soon, Matey.'' She lead her troop to the bunch of bipedal Creatures, a little nervous.
Arleton sat in the great hall. Waiting to see if they accepted the alliance and were ready to sign the official agreement. People were starting to come in. They wished to witness this momental occasion and were ready to sign them. On the table in front of the two seats for the other leaders was a vile similar to the drink she gave to Ellis. Only these would hold more essence and magical strength due to it being closer to the sinkhole. She sat there waiting as the last of the people came in.
Silver signed the treaty, thanked the Heavilians for their hospitality, and walked out of the hall. He ordered the chariot bearers to remain, to take the Saberai home when they were ready. Picking up Holly, he flew back to Luneria City as quickly as he could. Something was happening in the lands southwest of Luneria that required his immediate attention. The expansion campaign was going well. The continent was full of tribes and city-states, many of which were under constant attack by warlords and other aggressors. The Lunarian strategy was simple: Destroy the aggressors, and their grateful former victims would accept annexation. The strategy was also working better than planned. Tribal Leaders were beginning to seek out the Lunarians, begging for rescue from their oppressors. It wasn't long before the Lunarians learned of the Renoans, as survivors of their "Holy War" began arriving in Lunarian Empire lands.
One nation signed it, so she was pleased to say the least. She just needed Saberai to sign it and the Eclipse Union would exist fully. She then noticed Silver leave so she turned to Saberai. "Seeing as your associate has left without stopping may I turn your attention to the flasks on the table. The dark energy you have been feeling is known as Luni Aeroix. The essense of which is in the air around us. Though there is a light side to it which is Celest Aeroix. You have already been exposed to this magic and harness the potential to control it. Though there is one problem. You cannot fully wield it without staying here. That is where the flask come in. This is concentrated essense. This allows you to stay in control and harness even more of the essense to help or hinder. It will help you in the oncoming storm. Something is growing and it's heading straight towards us. I can feel it through the Gods."
Valacian smiled as he picked up the flask. He inspected it for a moment and placed it down on the table. "Thank you." He signed the treaty and his guards saluted the heavilia flag. "My new friends... I will consider your offer, and I am pleased at our treaty. May we help each other through the troubling times you detect ahead." With a final bow, Valacian took the flask and took off for his chariot. Wicker joined him holding a bag of the mint candies. "Ah, my only true weakness, thank you Wicker." With that, they took off, back to the Sun Civilization. The Saberai, as an originally nomadic species, cared little about the news of the Renoan's and their seeking of holy land. While it was also not their concern for Lunaria's land expansion, they still assisted as they could, helping in the battles.
Kona looked at the strange equine figures approaching him and his army, "¿Hu út diisa?" He demanded, then realized they probably wouldn't speak Renoan, "What are út doing here?" He corrected himself, "Why út on holy Renoan lands?"
Velvet cocked an eyebrow at the strange dialect, but then released a breath she didn't knew she was holding wen he speaked Equestrian. ''Hum, you see, i'm... '' She cleared her throat. ''I'm Windlady Velvet Purple, Captain of the Blue Pearl, and the Head of the Blue Guitar's Clan! *she abruptely made herself little after her outburst of confidence* And, I was looking to... Exchange some rare objects from the country i'm from.'' Jekyl spoke up, ''Excuse me, sir, madam, i don't know... Are you what our nation called Jyords?'' He took an hit to the stomach from Hyde, wich signed him to stay silent. Velevet continued, ''We've got lots of precious metals and stones, as well as the finest jewelry you'd ever seen. But, most of all, Wouldn't be somepony that could... Help us around? We just arrived by ship, and... *she swallowed* Our little crew could use a map or something, and maybe a little info about that island.'' Velvet tried not to shake too much, as she waited for the answer.
Kona simply stared at Velvet, "You're lucky I just don't forcibly integrate you into Reno. I have more important things to do than discuss trade with you, we have kept the Gods waiting long enough. Go sell you stuff to vendors in UrbaReno." And with that, Kona turned to his army and handler brought Kona's loyal stallion, Themus, to him, completely ignoring any further interjections from Velvet and her zebras. Mounting Themus, Kona picked up his spear off the side of the saddle and a horn, blowing a loud series of notes through it and motioning with his spear, and his great army began to move northward....
Velvet looked at the bipedal creature, speechless. Has it... Restisted to her charms? ''Hey you, Won't you go away!'' she turned at jekyl and Hyde. ''You two, get to the Crew. We need to make ourselves heard. And by that, i mean showin' those monsters what we can do. Silence and i will follow them and assist them in whatever way we can.'' Jekyl looked at Velvet with a cocked eyebrow, his head tilting slightly. ''Windlady, have you said 'Assist them'?'' She rose her hoof. ''Certainly! That sound, my friend, was that of a war's Horn! We'll show them by fighting alongside their troops that we're not to be ignored. Now, Shoo!'', she said, waving her hoof to their camp's direction. The two stallions ran away. Her eyes connected with the silent witch. ''Silence, you'll leave a trace of ashes behind us, as usual. I'm gonna rush with them and send you a crow once we're on their battlefield.'' Silence nodded, and began silently chanting an incantation. Velvet Looked at the bipedal Creature. ''Hey, i haven't came here to be hushed away like a fly, you monster. Let me prove our strenght, not as zebras, but as fearless warriors. What are you fighting today, Monkey?''
One of the perks of being apart of Reno is that Venquis got the benefit of having his own military councillor from his ally that told him what the empire was planning in terms of the military . Once he heard reports that Reno was ready to begin its holy crusade, Venquis mobilized approximately 700 Ryborian soldiers, 47 Spell-Swords and 3 Crimson Roses who would act as leaders to assist Reno with their quest to take the Old Kingdom under the command of Lucius Cotana. Once the Ryborians met up with Reno, they would both fight under both of their gods. They sent Reno messengers to alert the main force what was happening, before joining them several days later. With the Eriborian’s blessing, Lucius was allowed to head to the north with his small army. Meanwhile, Venquis had discovered something very interesting. Located 250km Northwest of Neromia was the discovery of a new race. While appearing like humans, they stood approximately 10.4 feet tall and weigh around 800 pounds, possibly even more. With a blueish tint of the colour of their skin, it is extremely tough, with the addition of their muscle and bone structure are well beyond the human norm, allowing them for unparalleled strength. What surprised the Ryborians was that this race had a near flawless immunity of disease with many of the most common ailments like diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease eradicated. It also surprised the Ryborians by the race having regenerative capabilities to some degree. They also observed that they had an impressive ability in combat, watching arrow fire being deflected like nothing. However, they mostly had the intelligence of a 12 year old, with rare individuals being as intelligent as a normal human. They could be easily manipulated through the use of a leader, whom they follow almost religiously and without question. They observed a custom, in which the leader and a challenger will fight to the death. Whoever won the fight was crowned leader, the loser being killed. Venquis thought of using this race as heavy infantry and as ‘helpers’ for Reno and Ardelan. A week later, Venquis decided to challenge the leader of this mysterious race for leadership, which ended with a landslide victory, with the Eriborian killing the leader in a single blow. The entirety of the race not only bowed before the Ryborians, but took them back under their control. They fitted them with their toughest, fearsome armor they could create and equipped them with swords and axes the size of a person and sent them as ‘Reinforcements’ for the Ryborian army. This race was named ‘Devena’, translating to ‘Titan’ in Ryborian.
Long before the reinforcements arrived, Kona heard of an assembling army of resisting tribes, who though foolishly they could save their independence. He had scouts quickly track down this "resistance" army had gathered, and marched his grand force to face them, confident that all the tribes had done was make things much easier and quicker for him, by defeating this army, he knew from its reported size that the vast majority of remaining tribes would be left virtually defenseless. After a few days of marching, the two armies caught sight of each other, and instantly began getting into battle formation. Kona ordered his units to stretch no further out than the "resistance" army, the reason being because he knew that when the Biilones charged in, they would flow around the fighting Auxiilus and around the resistance army, trapping them to be slaughtered, and by not stretching out, he gave his enemy the illusion of escape until the very last moment, which would prevent them from fighting harder, and this make killing them so much easier. After the two armies formed up, Kona rode up to the calvary heavy right flank, and lifted a horn to his lips. Taking a deep breath, he blew into it to produce three sharp, quick notes which signaled for all with bows to ready to fire, the horn keeping their preparation secret. After he saw all bows out, he blew three sharp, longer notes, which signaled "Fire at Will"....
The Ryborians set up camp almost twenty miles from Kona and his force to allow for a brief pause after walking nonstop for an entire week. Knowing there was a battle nearby, Lucius decided not to assist in the battle incase he would screw up Kona's strategy. The Devena arrived later clad in iron clad armor that covered their entire bodies and carrying enormous weapons. Instead, Lucius started to plan for taking down his enemies. Once they caught up, the Devena and the Ryborians watched the ensuring battle and the chaos on the enemy side that followed.
The zebras had follown the Bipedal army (wich they still didn't knew the name of) with a little distance; They wanted to get behind their enemies and help them ''ambush'' them, or ''Gank'' in their own way of speaking. Their small crew of 16 members were all ready for the upcoming battle. Spears and Scimitars were sharpened, Hoof-handles strapped with leather, and the witch had brew several potions to sharpen the fighter's reflexes. As for Velvet, she prepared her gypsy magic, and her illusion charms started to take effect. ''Alright Zebras, let's do this!'', she started with an autoritary tone. ''Theses bipedals monsters hadn't given us the respect we deserve! It's time to show 'em why We called ourselves Priates! We'll Gank'em hard as stone, and prove theses monstruous bipeds that WE are to be feared! We will stand up today and prove them that our number mean nothing!'' The zebras clapped their hooves on the ground, cheering. Velvet looked at her witch. She nodded, and walked away with the three other females. Velvet turned to look at her Crew, and raised her hoof in the air. They ran to a position behind the enemy, passing by their right flank.
The Equestans rode forward, bows firing at both the opposing cavalry and the main infantry body as the Riilones unleashed a constant cloud of arrows upon the Resistance forces, sending the lightly armored force into chaos as they knew if they stayed tightly packed, the arrows would cut them down at will, and if they spread out to avoid the arrows, they would suddenly be vulnerable to a sudden charge. Seconds after the barrage began, the Equestans engaged with the enemy cavalry, beginning to cut them down with ease as the metal of the Renoans easily cut through the leather armor they usually wore, or spearing the horses they rode as those were completely unarmored. It took barely 5 minutes before the 1,000 strong cavalry force was massacred by the Renoan Equestans, whose vastly superior training, armor, weaponry, and horsemanship lead them to taking not a single casualty, all the while the Riilones firing arrows down upon the Resistance fighters, a bombardment soon joined by the Equestans. After a ten minute long arrow rain, the Auxiilus were ordered forward, smashing into the chaotic front line of the Resistance, soon followed by the Equestans at the flanks and the Biilones right behind the Auxiilus. Just as Kona predicted, the Biilones flowed around the Auxiilus and surrounded the Resistance army, completing the encirclement and making the "battle" into a massacre. Just a mere 30 minutes after the barrage of arrows began, every Resistance fighter lay dead, with the Renoans taking a mere 1,000 casualties, most of them within the ranks of the Auxiilus as they were armed and armored by the basic hardened leather armor, wooden shield, and iron spear and whatever extra they could buy/get their hands on. But little known to them, a small group of 10 Resistance fighters had managed to escape the trap, fleeing north to the lands beyond the Evonamagnus... (I'll introduce them to another nation in the next post I make)
*Fight statistics* Nothing much happened. The zebras killed under 100 enemies. Treating the injuried placed as a priority, they haven't got any death in their ranks, though nine zebras are in really bad shape. At the end of the fight, Every zebra returned home. Except Velvet. She walked to the one who ''insulted her'', her head held high. ''Bipedal Monkey, Let me congratulate you for your beautifull fight. Our help was futile, but my crew really wanted to help, i couldn't stop them. Now that this is over, what about we introduce ourselves properly?''
Unbeknownst to the Renoans, the slaughter of the Resistance fighters had been observed from above. The dozen Lunar Pegasi scouts that had watched from the clouds returned to Lunaria City with a detailed report, describing Renoan weapons, armor, and tactics. One of the scouts had even managed to grab a Renoan arrow from the air. The strange gold-hued metal of the arrowhead proved to be strong enough to pierce Rotgut leather armor. Silver listened to the report with great interest, and gave the order. "This is a threat that the Lunarian Empire cannot ignore. Prepare for war."
After more than a week of walking and hiking, the ten surviving Resistance army soldiers stumbled into a random town on the other side of the Division Mountains, well, not quite on the other side, but quite a bit further, they managed to secure a peaceful place to rest in the town and usually stayed in the town's tavern to tell about the massacre they barely escaped with their lives. Their stories would soon spread quickly, revealing the true and full brutality of Reno to its enemies, and would more than likely reach the leader of the nation they had found themselves in within the next few days...
News quickly reached Silver Crescent of a small group that had survived the Renoan massacre. Aside from very basic tactical information, the Lunarians still knew almost nothing about Renoan culture, or their motives for slaughtering so many. Perhaps the survivors would be able to tell him what he needed to know. Silver arrived in the Earthkin village of Kuchikuchiku, and headed for the tavern, making a mental note to talk to the Earthkin leaders about choosing new village names. With Holly at his side, he approached the tired looking refugees and introduced himself. "Greetings, strangers. I am Silver Crescent of Lunaria. I understand that you come from Renoan lands. We have much to discuss."
One looked up from a large glass of mead at the strange equine figure approched them, calling himself Silver Crescent, "Interesting name." He said bluntly, giving away his status as the group's "leader" fairly quickly, "And those lands may be occupied by Reno, but they aren't Reno's." he continued, "Hell, this whole land ain't really ours." He took a deep swig of the mead, completely emptying it before leaning forward, "Now. What could you possibly want with us ten lucky bastards?"
