Legends of War: For the People

Iuna Fuories did not know what to do. He had been born in Atikus and raised as to be one of the three hundred Rod-Bearers: slaves with the task of protecting the citizens from themselves. All they had to do was capture the odd thief, debtor, runaway, and murderer, while also protecting the People's Council from any non-citizen. The Rod-Bearers had been preforming this task since the creation of Atikus, though Iuna had only witnessed twenty of those years. The Rod-Bearers existed only to keep the peace in Atikus.

They had never been trained to deal with this.

On the day of the People's Council met, a careless, bribed, drunken, or murdered gatekeeper had left the gate open for an invading army to. Iuna had barely been out of eyesight of Atikus, so he had no idea who these foreign men slaughtering their way through the streets were. Their clothes were of foreign designs, and many of their outfits seemed to be an amalgamation of crudely woven cloth and repaired armor pieces. Most of them had a strange laughing motif  adorning their armor, banners, and bodies, but their harsh tongue made it impossible for Iuna to be sure if they were just a far away city-state or a race other than pale skinned Stygians. What Iuna and the other Rod-Bearers did understand was that it was their duty to protect the citizens.

Clothed only in a simple identification robe, and armed with only a copper blunted rod, the Rod-Bearers set about the task of defending the people. Whenever they engaged the enemy, they were summarily slaughtered. While they did manage to knock out the occasional enemy, most of them failed to land a single blow before being overwelmed. Still, they managed to protect the citizens by drawing the raiders attention away. This allowed the People's Council to escape to their homes, while skirmishers and other auxiliaries began peppering the enemy.

Of all the Rod-Bearers, Iuna was making a decent enough account of himself, managing to knock out at least seven enemy soldiers, with the auxiliaries finishing them off. Following Iuna's resolve, the other Rod-Bearers also began to attract auxiliaries to their positions, and eventually, it was possible to discern where the battle lines were. Soon, lesser Hoplites began smashing into the combat, and the enemy's resolve began to falter. Iuna himself could not contain his feelings of excitement as the Hoplites began slaughtering the enemy, with their lesser weapons breaking against the Hoplites' superior armor. For an instant, Iuna locked eyes with one of the Hoplites, from house Turphine if he remembered correctly, and Iuna immediately swelled with pride.

A single blow shattered Iuna's pride.

All it took to fell the Hoplite was a single blow. There was no way he could have survived the blow either, as it very neatly parted him in half. Worse still, the attacker hadn't even acknowledged the existence of the shield, and this too was neatly severed. Stunned, the Hoplite desperately clung on to life as his attacker simply allowed him to fall. With an introduction as well pronounced as this, Iuna saw the Hoplite's assailant.

It was a monster.

It stood a good foot taller than any of its minions, and was clad in a full suit of plat armor painted by countless battlefields. Even with all the buildup, the original designs of the armor somehow seemed even more pronounced, with spikes adoring the joints; skulls the hands, feet, and helm; and the laughing face born proudly on its chest. In it's left had was a round shield bearing the stretched of some luckless victim, oddly free of scars, while the right hand spouted a large, rounded axe, with a continuous edge connecting the two sides. All it had to do to defeat the nearby soldiers was fix its gaze upon them. When Iuna had snapped tto his senses, he realized that he was alone with the monster.

True, the other combatants were still there, but most of the raiders were now chasing down the fleeing Stygians. Even if Iuna wanted to run away, the tide of raiders behind him would have made it impossible. But Iuna did not want to run away: he could not let this thing attack the citizens. He could not let other Hoplites meet the same fate. Without remorse, Iuna shifted his stance and prepared to lung.

Legends of War: Legend of the Cursed Rock (Gingersanps)

            A rock. It was all I was. A rock. Yep, that’s right. Yet, I can hear every word you’re saying about me being big and dumb. I landed in this area thousands of years ago. I can’t help where I land. I don’t have legs. I can’t walk away from this inconvenienced place. You have no right to talk about me as if I wasn’t here.

            They deserved it. They deserved it for every word they spoke about me. I’m not a bitter rock, but they shouldn’t talk about me as if I’m dumb. I can’t speak to them, but they got too annoying for me. It wasn’t hard to have a few smaller, yet large rocks coming tumbling toward them as they watched helplessly as they fell. It felt nice -- extremely nice. I have this power to keep those I don’t like in line.

            Hey, wait, what are you doing? Why are you praying? It’s not going to help -- hey, who are you anyway? I’ve never seen you in your robes before. You’re not from this village are you? Hey, stop. That hurts. I don’t want it to hurt. Please, stop hurting me. Please, sto …

            It was a rock. A rock that had fallen into the middle of a road thousands of years ago. The people recently started to complain about it; it was annoying to have to walk around it. It was a huge rock, more of a boulder, but a rock nonetheless. The people had wanted to chip at it until the workers met terrible accidents. After, strange events began to occur more often. Smaller rocks would be moved to different locations. People would stop to talk to the rock. Some even apologized.

            A traveling priest came to the village to ask about the rock in the middle of the road. It had become a legend around the village and neighboring villages. He had explained the rock was possessed by a Shoshin. Shoshin were lonely spirits that normally possessed inanimate objects. Something had angered this one, and it had taken on the form of the rock itself. A poltergeist of sorts that allowed it to move smaller rocks. The rock wasn’t harmful anymore. It was eventually destroyed since the priest had cast out the Shoshin. The legend of the village remained spoken word throughout the surrounding area.

Legends of War: Battle of Wensa Pass

Wensa Pass is an obscure mountain pass on the edge of Vissaria, which has a population of barely five hundred. In years past, it was used as a trading route between the Dwarfs and the Satyrs, but a massive Goblin Warband destroyed the trading posts long ago and there have been no further attempts to use it as such. The rocky conditions of the pass make it very poor for growing crops, and the frequent earthquakes have prevented any meaningful attempts at mining. For this reason, there has only been a single minor estate and a only three small villages under the control of the Altium family, who attempted a failed revolt at the founding of Vissaria. Lacking the manpower to raise armies or the resources to hire mercenaries, the Wensa Pass has been an obscure curiosity for almost a thousand years.

However, Wensa Pass does indirectly have an important role Vissarian military affairs, as it is the only unguarded path to Seltem. In an attempt to cripple the Vissarian ability to respond to attacks, Da Dred Perat Robsya decided to destroy the College of Knights, and with it, the Vissarian's ability to raise effective knights. Using Goblin "mercenaries", Robsya proped the outer defences for Seltem, and determined that the College was far enough away from the border that they would have ample time to respond to the Trolls attack. Attempting to swing around and attack the providence from the East or North would mean having to go through other Vissarian Providences, which would mean that he would need a force five times the size of the one he had just to keep an open line of retreat. While poring over his map, a Goblin under Robsya's "employment" reported on the overall weakness of Wensa Pass, which Robsya had originally dismissed as it involved going through Dwarf territory.

And then Da Dred Perat Robsya got a wonderful idea: He could attack Dwarven cities en-route to the College, burn it to the ground, and then leave through the Dwarven territory again. In addition, he could leave behind dead Dwarfs and thus convince Vissaria that the Dwarfs were behind the attack. Before the Dwarfs could explain, the Vissarians would retaliate and lead to full scale war between the two sides. Distracted by the war, Robsya would be able, nay hired, to raid settlements, ships, and ports far away from the battle zones. On the first of Yuletide 1893 a.d.c., Robsya launched his attack.

At first the plan was going perfectly, as Goblins screened their movement in Dwarf territory, and Robsya obliterate looted several outposts. Unfortunately, one of the outposts was housing a Dwarf merchant named Rulstd Kargin, who managed to escape to the Altium estate. Alerted to the Trolls presence, Iliz Altium dispatched a messenger to the College of Knights to alert them. The day before the Trolls entered the Pass, Altium was informed that, quite politely, that no Trolls would be dumb enough to attack Seltem through Dwarven territory. Without reinforcements, Iliz Altium had only one-hundred and eighty peasants to fend off almost twelve-thousand Trolls.

Deciding that a frontal attack would suicide, Altium decided to use the mountainous terrain to their advantage, and set up numerous ambushes along the path. For an unprecedented nine days, Altium and his peasants managed to not only kill almost a thousand Trolls, but also prevented them from advancing. Enraged at the mounting costs, Robsya ordered almost half of his "mercenaries" to scour the mountains for them. Despite never catching Altium's band, the Goblins did distract them long enough for the Trolls to advance into Seltem; and a Vissarian army which had been organized in response to the reports of fighting from Wensa Pass. While Robsya did manage to rout the Vissarians, the casualties he had suffered were too high, and the Goblins had reported Dwarf forces mobilizing.

Not wanting to have his lines of retreat cut off, Robsya called the attack off and headed back through Wensa Pass. During the retreat, copies of Robsya's plans were captured, and the full importance of Altium's defense became apparent. Combined with the fact that Altium lost only a dozen peasants and managed to kill about one-hundred more Trolls during their retreat, and the Altium family instantly went from disgraced to honored above all others. As for Da Dred Perat Robsya, he returned to the Blasted Desert to discover that other Trolls were taking over his territory. To this day, Robsya is still fighting to regain the power he had before the Battle of Wensa Pass.

Legends of War: Shoshin, the lonely spirits

Whenever someone declares that all of the races of the world have been cataloged, there is always another race that proves them wrong. New races are often discovered by people setting out to find them, such as with the Gnolls of the Laughing Savannah or the Faeries. On other occasions, a race literally falls from the sky and causes untold destruction, with the Trolls and Night Ones being prime examples. Still, other races were once major forces in the world, but lost out to the elements of time, like the Orcs or the Old Dragons. And then there are the Shoshin.

No one knows exactly what a Shoshin looks like, because they have no set physical body. Instead, the Shoshin are more of a wandering consciousness which can take up residence in any type of inanimate object and can then manipulate objects within a small distance from them. The objects can be anything, from a lucky coin or doll to useful tools or weapons. While there would seem to be male and female versions of the Shoshin, they claim not to have the ability to reproduce. The Shoshin rarely show up at more than one or two at a time, but have also been known to appear several hundred at a time in abandoned towns or forgotten graveyards.

Overall, the Shoshin are an incredibly peaceful race, and will even go out of their way to aid others in need. Unfortunately, this often means that the Shoshin in question is helping someone bent on sowing death, which has made some people label the Shoshin as aggressive. There have even been people who have purposely sought out the aid of a certain Shoshin, as the items that they posses are almost indestructible. It is often said that Haxor is one such weapon, but there has yet to be proof that Trolzor knows of its secret. In addition, there have been cases of Shoshin bent on spreading destruction, the most famous of which was the Blood Harlequin.

The Blood Harlequin is said to have once been the suit of a Harlequin who had been murdered by a Prince who wanted his wife. This is backed up by the fact that one of the first people to be killed by the Blood Harlequin was Prince Tilmera Felm in 452 a.d.c.. Not satisfied by this, the Blood Harlequin amassed an army of Shoshin and and began raiding human settlements across the known world. The Blood Harlequin's reign of terror lasted until 494 a.d.c., when it's army was defeat by the Combined might of Vissaria and the Dominion at the Battle of Shalin. Ever since, whenever a group of Shoshin is discovered, whole armies have raced to their locations, meaning that the only time the Shoshin can survive is when they are alone. The forced solitude of the Shoshin has lead to their nickname of "the lonely spirits".

Legends of War: The Battle of Raterillan Flats

In the opening days of 1784 a.d.c., the Ratkins of Ratilvaria found themselves the unexpected hosts to a large army of Garmarians. The army in question was known as the Nineteenth Army, and its leader, Field Marshal Granger LeeMen, had been tasked by The Parliament with destroying the Ratkins. Shocked by this revelation, the Rat-Chief Liret Raterillan clawed together all the Ratkins that he could find and marched out to defeat this threat. Between then, there was about four months of maneuvering and skirmishing between both of the armies, before the Ratkins were finally forced to give battle near on the Raterillan flats. The first day of battle resulted in large numbers of Ratkin casualties as they assaulted Garmarian field works, which forced the Ratkins to erect their own.

For five days after the first encounter, both sides fought a series of fierce skirmishes while waiting for the other side to launch an attack. Concerned by the lack of progress, Liret Raterillan personally consulted with his lower rat-chiefs and rat-priests and made plans for a breakthrough of the Garmarian lines. In the Garmarian camp, Field Marshal Granger LeeMen was also planning an attack of the Ratkin lines. Somehow, both sides decided on the same time to launch their attack as well as attacking at the same place. As the final battle plans were drawn up, Rattail Bend was marked as the perfect place to attack.

The 12th day of Tailu opened up to be an exceptionally cold and wet day, as both sides attempted to use the storms to cover their movement. Exactly an hour before the sun was set to rise, the Garmarians opened up the battle with a fierce artillery barrage followed by a charge from ten thousand soldiers. Stunned, the Ratkins reeled under the surprise attack, before the sheer number of Ratkins in the area allowed them to recover. For the rest of the day, both sides fought in the pelting rain as no less than a dozen attacks and counter attacks were launched by both sides and the dead were trampled underfoot. When the fighting was done, all either of the sides had to show for it was a thick carpet of bodies slowly sinking into the mud.

While the Ratkins managed to absorb the losses that they accumulated during the battle, the Garmarians had lost almost a quarter of all their troops. While the battle continued for eight more days, it was obvious to the Garmarians that they risked loosing their whole army if they remained. Under the cover of a fierce thunderstorm, the Garmarians quietly struck camp and began to leave Raterillan Flats. However, just when the army thought it had escaped the Ratkins, an army of Storm-Rats ambushed the Garmarians and scattered the army. The Storm-Rats managed to capture LeeMen, and brought him to The Court of Siçovul taun, where his fate has been relegated to myths.

Legends of War: Blood on the Guels

Welet Morrik was thoroughly impressed and angered. Since the beginning, the maneuvers against the Gnomes Dedlid had proven to be horribly disastrous, as the Gnomes seemed to have had Scouts placed just ahead of the Dwarven unit. This lead to many of the bridges and roads they planned on using being either collapsed, on fire, flooded, or a combination of the three, which kept them trapped on this half on the island. Worse still, he had to send out his Ram Riders on constant sororities just to keep the Scouts from raiding the actual army. During one of these sororities, they had come back with reporting that, despite the previous efficiency of the Gnomes, the stone bridge over the river Guels was still intact. Immediately, Morrik lead his army to cross the bridge.

And apparently the Gnomes had the same idea.

Morrik hid behind the makeshift trench as another round of crossbow bolts rained on his position. Range made the Dragoons reply less than advantageous, and also had the added effect of forcing the Gnome's heads down. The battle had bogged down into a stalemate as both sides waited for the other to falter before sending their troops across the 200 yard gap. Both sides had also tried to set up warmachines, but neither sides machines were capable of finding their target before being knocked out. Once a Flying Nest buzzed the Dwarf's position, but it was quickly taken out by the Dragoons and crashed into the Gnomes position. Unfortunately, the same had happened to his Aero-Clad, save the Dwarf position.

"Kukcers!" Morrik screamed as the Aero-Clad crashed into the ground.

The cheer of victory from the Gnomes was cut short as a Bombard Quill landed just shy of their position.

"Take that ya Feol Kukcers!" Morrik yelled.

"Goblen Decs!" One of the gnome replied.

"Elph Ytser!"

"Tol Hues!"

"What did you say?" Morrik rose.

He was quickly knocked onto his back as a steel ball took him full in the chest. While on the ground, Morrik heard the distinct sound of a steam engine being pushed to its limits, and realized what had happened: The Steam Cannon from the Flying Nest still worked. Cautiously,  Morrik rose and peaked his head over the trench, which confirmed his earlier suspicion and created a whole new reality.

The Harvesters were here.

"Take out those Kuckers!" Morrik bellowed.

"Ay Lord!" An Engineer responded.

Moments later, the unmistakable fire of a long rifle was followed by the equally unmistakable sound of a Gnome in horrendous pain.

"He's not dead," The Engineer smiled. "But 'is family line is."

Another burst from the Steam Cannon forced the Engineer's head down, but another sound forced it up. In fact, the entire Dwarf army picked up their head after the unmistakable sound of Gnomeish War Pipes echoes across the battlefield. The Gnomeish army was doing the same, as at least two hundred Gnomes rose from their trenches and took position behind the Harvesters. The entire scene was very threatening, as a forest of spears was proceeded by two dozen towering monstrosities. A change in tune elicited the Harvesters to step forward, and in no time they were barreling across the open area.

"Wait for it!" Morrik yelled, as the Gnomes rushed forward.

When the Gnomes were about halfway across the bridge, Morrik screamed, "Now kill the Kuckers!"

Immediately the Dragoons, who were weary of taking pot shots, ravaged the Gnomish line with their iron quills. The Engineer teams were also having a field day, as their half crazed inventions tore jagged scars into the formation. Even the Harvesters, feared for their strong armor, were shredded under the intense fire. As suddenly as the attack began, it was dispersed, with the Gnomes fleeing back into their lines as the War Pipes bellowed out orders to stay. Among the chaos was a distinct, cold sound piercing through, which caused Morrik to smile.

Mere seconds later, the Ram Riders slammed into the Gnome's flank and began slaughtering their rangers. When added to the chaos brought by the failed crossing, it proved too much for the Gnomes, and they began to break. Welet Morrik howled in laughter at the Gnome's total collapse. Not wanting to miss out, he gave a sharp whistle and bellowed:

"Let's teach these Kukers about Dwarfs!"

A rousing cheer among the Dwarfs was quickly followed by a full blown charge. With little resistance, Morrik found himself at the Gnome's position, and he quickly launched himself into the fray.

Legends of War: Goblin Corpse Fire, Prayer to Sesom

Every creature that has ever encountered a Goblin knows them to be repulsive. Goblins do not care for such things as personal hygiene or medicine, and many Goblins will die from infected wounds or diseases that spread through their camp. Yet, the numbers of Goblins is such that they could lose a thousand of their own to diseases every day, and still not feel the effects of the large scale deaths. In fact, the deaths of the Goblins may actually be a boon, as it frees up more food and room for the other Goblins. However, the weapons and arms of the dead Goblins will go onto a greater purpose: the Corpse Fire.

Every night, at every camp without fail, the Goblins will gather together all the bones of the day's meals and the bodies of the enemy dead, stripped  of anything of value, and place them into a giant pile. Then the Goblins will cover them in some sort of flammable material, be it Tar or Rum, and light them all on fire. The Goblins will gather around the fire and dance around it while singing, yelling, drinking and playing instruments, until the fire is at least twice as tall as the tallest Goblin. At this point, the group will reach a fever pitch and will bring together all the dead warriors, with their weapons and armor nailed and tied to their bodies, and toss them into the fire. It is unknown why the Goblins, traditional scavengers of the highest value, would waste perfectly good armaments in such a way, but it would seem to be that Goblins will only take the possessions of any non Goblin, and, while never explained, there have been tied up live Goblins thrown into the fire, which suggests the treatment of Goblin thieves.

When the last of the bodies enters the fire, the entire congregation turns silent. If the Group is lucky, then their Corpse Fire is the largest in the world, and the Smoke will take an a form resembling a face. When this happens, the assembled Goblins will erupt into a rousing cheer as the highest ranking Goblin, be it a Supa' Geneus or Boss, approaches Sesom. The Goblin will be able to ask Sesom one question of any nature, be it about the weather or the distance to the nearest enemy army. Comforted with this knowledge, the Goblins will march forward into the world, ready to face any threat that comes their way, while the Goblins who failed to summon Sesom will simply go for a larger fire that night; creating a never ending cycle of questions and answers connected by fire.

Legends of War: On My Word

With a thunderous roar, Neike's caliver fired into the abomination in front of him. Instead of dying right away, the creature prodded the spot where its head was before a determined bash knocked it to the pavement.

"I hate zombies," Nieke muttered, as he felt for his ramrod.

An inhuman roar to his right convinced him to whip his gun in that direction, resulting in a small storm of blood and wood splinters. This time, the creature fell down gratifyingly fast while another man stabbed his Katzbalger into the creature causing it to spasm. Apparently,  there were some dredges in the fight too, but it was anyone's guess as to which were which. With a moments respite, Nieke took a quick look around himself, and was pleased with what he saw. That was, until he saw the zombie lunge right at him.

Before the zombie could reach Neike, a halberd came down and chopped its head off. It took a second for Neike to realize that he was not dead, and he gratifyingly looked for the halberd's owner. He was sorely disappointed. Whatever he had expected him to look like, he wasn't expecting a man in his fifties who had shaved or bathed in what seems to have been a year. His outfit was in decent shape, but it was painfully obvious as to how low quality it was; a fading red and disgusting brown.

Still, the fact that he was here meant that others weren't far behind, and sure enough, a unit a halberdiers was chopping up the zombies with gratifying speed. In no time at all, the zombies were all lying on the ground while the dredges were scattering in almost every direction.

"Nice to see those bone suckers run," a voice behind Neike commented.

"I suppose," Neike returned, while turning around. " I would have preferred they were never in Albion in the first place. I assume that you are the Halberdier commander?"

"Yes," said the unkempt savior. "I am Goeld Fermek, commander of the Hilgroto Regular Halberdier Regiment."

"I see," Neike said, while trying to keep a straight face, "it is not everyday I meet a Halberdier Regiment. I am Neike Un Saround, head of the Royal House Guard Caliver Company."

Fermek gave Neike an unconvinced look, before saying, "I've been campaigning for twenty-five years, and I've never encountered a 'caliver' before."

That's because it's a gun used by traditionally attentive Garmarian gun enthusiasts, Neike thought.

Instead, he smiled and said, "It's a very special type of gun."

"I suppose," Fermek shrugged, "but that gun looks like something a Garmarian would make."

"Possible," Neike distracted, "but I do thank you for helping us."

"About that," Fermek said, "we were told to get you Gold-Eaters off your collective backs, and move you to the field."

Neike didn't know what he was more shocked about: the fact that someone as unkept and old as this was telling him what to do, or the the insult to his unit. He decided to comment on the latter.

"Gold-Eaters?" Neike said, among snickers from Farmek's Halberdiers.

"Yeah," Fermek replied, while pointing at Neike's breastplate. "All House Guards have to wear that stupid gold thing. Too good for real armor aren't yeah?"

"How dare you!" Neike shouted, while his Calivers started to gravitate behind him. "We are members of the House Guard! We were hand picked by the Dominque himself to stand guard over Albion and all of the royal buildings of the Dominion. And you-"

"Are the ugly, dirt poor, low down grunt who does all the work," Fermek interrupted, while his Halberdiers did the same. "Us regulars do all the work and die like pigs while you fancy Gold-Eaters show up for the clean up, and take all the glory. Now, you either come with me to where you are supposed to be fighting, or we'll bring you back in wheel barrels."

"Oh really?" Neike said. "You'd go so far as insult a Royal House Guard, and then threaten to force him to do something? On who's authority are you acting anyway?"

"On the authority of Burgomaster-Albion, Benef Un Tylor," Fermek growled.

"And I've been given a mission to defend That building," Neike said, while pointing to a rather large and old building, "by the Dominique himself."

"What's so special about that building?" Fermek demended.

"It's a gunpowder store for naval ships," Neike said, "and there are no carriages available to unload any of it."

At this, the Halberdiers shifted uncomfortably away the building, and Fermek got a gratifying look of shock on his face. He didn't say anything for a short while, but neither did he freak out.

"I see," Fermek commented. "So why aren't you actually in the building?"

Neike motioned to the match on his gun.

"Fair enough," Fermek conceded, "so why aren't you taking the powder out?"

"We were," Neike said, "but those zombies attacked and tried to destroy our carts."

As if on cue, a bolt of purple lighting arched out and destroyed one of the carts. Neike and Fermek immediately turned to the direction it came from, and were not disappointed in what they saw: a horde of zombies, dredges, and skeletons was heading right through the street to their position. At the head of the horde was a man sitting down in a throne made of some sort of quartz and about five feet off the ground. The man himself was incredibly tall and frail, with tattered black robes which looked like it would rather be anywhere else then near him.

"Interesting," Neike understated. "I suggest that we argue the finer points of rank after we kill that man."

"That would be best," Fermek agreed, before yelling his men into line.

Neike had no such problem, as his men automatically formed behind the carts and readied their guns. As he reached for his gun to reload, he remembered that the but was now in some dredges face. Sighing, Neike grabbed his Courtana, and began muttering to himself.

"When I get back to the palace," Neike said, "I'm going to put in an order for one of those Garmarian revolving guns."

Another arc of lightning dance out of the throne, and slammed into a building just in front of the lines.

"Alright," Neike shouted, "When I say so, give them the powder they came for."

Some of the Halberidiers snickered at Nieke's attempted wit, and Fermek just gave him a look of disappointment. On the other hand, his Caliveers simply set their locks, primed their guns, or pointed their guns at the enemy.

"Ready!" Neike ordered, as the Halberdiers fell in at the sides of the Caliveers.

"Level!" Neike yelled, as another bolt of lightning slammed into the ground in front of him.

"On my word-"

Legends of War:The Stygian Tyrant

Histes, the son of Lysargos, was the tyrant of Miltis in the late 6th century. Histes owed his status of tyrant of Miltis to Goblin Boss Rad 'e Uz, who had subjugated Miltis and the other Stygian states in the Goblin Plains. According to Heradoth, Histes, along with the other tyrants under Rad 'e Uz' rule, took part in the Goblin expedition against the early Dominion, and were put in charge of defending the bridge that Rad 'e Uz' troops had placed across the Dinnis River. The Humans attempted to persuade Histes and the others to abandon the bridge; one faction, led by Miltiades of Atikus, at that time tyrant of the Cheros, wanted to follow the Humans' advice. However, Histes argued that they should stay, as they owed their positions as tyrants to Rad 'e Uz and would surely be overthrown if he were killed.

Instead, according to Heradoth, Histes suggested that they pretend to follow the Human plan. So Histes was sent as an ambassador to the Humans to tell them that the tyrants would accept the Human plan, while the rest of the tyrants acted as if they were demolishing the bridge. Histes persuaded the Humans to look for the Goblin forces. Heradoth writes that while the Humans were away, the Goblins returned to the Dinnis River and Histes organized the ships to successfully ferry them across the river. During the expedition, Histes' troops had started building a settlement at Myrnus (site of the later Amphipolis) on the Stormon River. After returning with Rad 'e Uz to Sar Da 'Iz, Rad 'e Uz asked Histes what he wanted in return for his service. Histes responded that he wanted to be given control over Myrnus, to which Rad 'e Uz agreed.

However, the Goblin commander Mega Busta' suspected Histes' interest in the strategically important area, which controlled key roads from Goblin controlled territory into the Dominion, as well as known sources of silver and timber. Nevertheless, Rad 'e Uz considered Histes to be loyal, and asked him to come back to Shush with him as a friend and adviser. Histes' nephew and son-in-law Arigoras was left in control of Miltis. According to Heradoth, Histes was unhappy having to stay in Shush, and made plans to return to his position as tyrant of Miltis by instigating a revolt in Stygia. In the year 499, he shaved the head of his most trusted slave, tattooed a message on his head, and then waited for his hair to grow back. The slave was then sent to Arigoras, who was instructed to shave the slave's head again and read the message, which told him to revolt against the Goblins.

Arigoras, who was disliked by his own subjects after an expedition to Nacks ended in failure, followed Histes' command, and with help from the Stygians from Atikus and Ertehis, attacked and burned Sar Da 'Iz. When Rad 'e Uz learned of the revolt, he sent for Histes, who pretended to have no knowledge of its origins, but asked to be sent back to Miltis put down the revolt. Heradoth writes that Rad 'e Uz permitted him to leave. On his way back, Histes went to Sar Da 'Iz, where the satrap Il bit ur neez suspected Histes' role in the revolt forcing Histes to flee to Chiro. Histes tried unsuccessfully to build a fleet while on Chiro. He then returned to Miltes with the aim of becoming tyrant once more. However, the Miltians did not want a return to tyranny and exiled him to the island Larbos. There, he gathered some ships and, according to Heradoth, began committing acts of piracy in the Stygian Sea from a base in Hellspout.

Meanwhile, the Goblins defeated the leaders of the Stygian revolt at the Battle of Lare in the year 494. When Histes learned of this he left Hellspout, and his troops attacked Chiro, blockaded Thassos and then attempted to land on the mainland to attack the Goblins. After joining a Stygian force in battle against the Goblins, he was captured by the Goblin general, Raga Push. The satrap Il bit ur neez did not want to send him back to Shush, where he suspected that Rad 'e Uz would pardon him, so he executed him and sent his head to Rad 'e Uz. According to Heradoth, Rad 'e Uz still did not believe Histes was a traitor and gave his head an honorable burial.

legends of War:Dwarf Helf, True Dwarfs

An interesting fact about Dwarfs is that the world has yet to see one. While it is true that people see creatures that are short, wide, and have long beards, those are actually a sub-species of Dwarfs called Dwarf Kufr, or Light Dwarf. A true dwarf is not able to be in sunlight, for he will quickly turn to stone. As such, these true Dwarfs live in the underground cities created by their lesser kin, and will only leave if there is some sort of diplomatic crisis. These Dwarfs are distinguished from the other Dwarfs by their title: Dwarf Helf (Dark Dwarf).

Dark Dwarfs are strange, as no one knows much about them. When questioned, lesser Dwarfs prefer death to revealing any facts about them; even when drunk or bribed. Occasionally, a Dwarf Helf will leave the realm for very important diplomatic missions, such as convincing a nearby town of another race that they would benefit from leaving. They are accompanied by a throng of Dwarfs, who carry tarps, spears, and umbrellas for several yards around any one Dark Dwarf. Indeed, the "greatest" of these Dwarfs are carried around by other Dwarfs, and even the lesser among them will have a team of Dwarfs rolling out carpets for them.

When they talk, their tone matches their appearance: long, pitch black, and with an air of "this is your fault" seeping through everything. And it works. Of all the cases in which a Dwarf Helf has personally appeared, the Dwarfs get what they want almost all the time. In recent years, an extremely drunk slip of the tongue revealed that the "Dwarf Helfs" that have come on the land are really Dwarf Hoedl Helf, or Twilight Dwarfs. These are a sort of messenger for the Dwarf Helfs, and imitate their tone and style after their masters.

Barring a full scale assault of the "weakest" of Dwarf strongholds, it seems that it will be nearly impossible for anyone to see a real Dwarf .

Legends of War:Trolzor

The throne room of King Levuel was a splendid hall, placed far up in the palace so that only the most exclusive of Levuel's guests would every lay eyes on its many splendors. There, one could see marble statues of the Lord god Beation, gaze upon tapestries woven centuries ago, and then, if they were very sharp, they may even realize that almost all of the things in the room were made of gold. Often, Levuel would hold splendid feast, with meats, fruits, and fish from as far away as Arbi or, if he was feeling very charitable, he would even include that sweet drink from the Inaros and or even some Garmarian sweets. At the height of the banquet, Levuel would rise from his throne and give a speech, much as its new occupant was doing now.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He belched.

The other occupants let out a wild cheer, hoisting up their weapons and food. Some of them even had the manners to clean up using one of those "Panze fingz" on the wall. Others, in attempting to make some fun, used some of those "Stadnin' ston fingz" to sharpen (or dull) their drunken hacking skills. Even more of them were hacking up the furniture in the room, in an attempt to make a bigger fire, while others were stamping there feet (or skulls) loudly to the melodious tones of da Def Leaperz. Through the midst of all this, human slaves and Haflan servants darted around serving all kinds of drinks and, often painful, entertainment.

One such luckless Haflan was currently serving the Troll in the throne.

"Yer drink, sur," he squeled.

The Troll looked at the Haflen in disgusted shock.

"I dedn't ordur no drink!" He shouted.

The Haflen privately shook his head, "Ya order'd a Rad rum, sur."

"No I- ohh, lookatdat. W'O AR YA?"

"I brought yer rad rum, sur," The Haflen said.

"Wat took ya, ya Panze eatin' squish zogger!"

With that, the Troll had taken the drink, and was about to drink it, when he started eyeing it.

"'ow don't I no dat ya dedn't poezen dis!" He shouted. "Ya dink it furst!"

So the Haflen did take a sip from it, and was just about to say how tasty it was, when he realised he was headed for a new course in life: namely, the stairs.

"WHY DA ZOGG, DID YA ZOGGIN' DRINK ME RAD RUM!" He bellowed, which roused much laughter from the assembled Trolls.

He then noticed another Troll rushing up the stairs, without even so much as a chuckle at the Haflen he had passed.

"Wat da zogg do ya want ya panze!" He shouted.

It took a few seconds of incomprehensible gibberish  before he finally said, "WE GOT NEW NABERZ!"

The Werchef gasped, "Did dey bring pie!"

"No," he said, "deyz broat lotz an' lotz o' sharp pointa metal fingz wi-"

"'OW DARE DEY NOT BRING ME- ohhhhhhhhhh pert-PIE!" The Werchef shouted.

He then stood up on the throne, cupped his hands over his mouth, and bellowed, "HAXOR!"

In a moment, a 'atet as large as most people came flying through the air and into its owners arms. And chest. And his body as a whole. In fact, he flew back into the throne and left a large imprint on the wall behind it. Rather than die, as any normal human ,or Troll for that matter, would have done, he simply stood up and screamed:

"FLAM WER!"

He continued screaming as he raced across the hall and out through the door. He only realized that he had gone through a window AFTER he had landed. Luckily, he had managed to land on a filled in section of moat, and as such, his fall was broken up by sharp rocks and bits of bone and metal. The Werchef stood up, brushed himself off, and pointed at the one guy in the large mob of ohmans who was wearing the most gold.

"Why'd ya trip me!" He demanded.

At first, the ohman was to stunned to do anything (most people don't survive an eighty foot drop onto rocks), but, the fact that he had said that he was being blamed for that, snapped him out of his shock.

"You vile pig," he said, "I would never shove anyone out of a window, even a-"

"'ho da Zog are ya, ya Panze!" the Troll interrupted, gathering some laughter from his Trolls on the walls (who also shared in the humans shock).

The man was so angry at being interrupted and insulted by a Troll, that he said, "I am Prince Delpeha Levuel, the true owner of this castle, to which you and your brutish companions have defiled. I bring with me an army of ten thousand of Vissaria's finest warriors and also a hundred of our finest preachers, so that we may destroy you in the Holy name of our Lord god Beati-"

It was then that he, and everyone else, became aware that the Werchef was snoring, LOUDLY.

"What!" Prince Levuel shouted, "don't you realise the severity of the situation you are-"

"JA' MAKIN' ME BORD!" He interrupted.

"What!" Prince Levuel demanded

"JA' MAKIN' ME ANGRE!"

Then, after much thought, he added, "Ja' makin' me 'ungre." And started looking around for something to eat.

"That's it!" Prince Levuel shouted.

He turned to his trusted friend Gustev, and pointed a finger at the Troll, shouting, "Kill that abomination."

"Yes m'lord," Gustev said, before he lowered his visor.

He then lifted his lance in the air, and said, "Knight of Kealmar, Charge!"

In moments, a hundred  knights were galloping full tilt at the Troll, a little overkill, but necessary for the insolence this Troll had shown. The Troll, had noticed this, and was staring at them, much as a simpleton would a torch.

"So," a voice behind the Troll said, "You, gonna dance boy? Make those knights your rag time toys? Take their steel, bend their will, go in for the one-two kill?"

The Troll smiled, "Wat do ya fink, Gate git!"

When the knights were about two yards away, the Troll launched himself at them, with an insane grin on his face and profanity not fit for Hellspout, which caused even the older among the knights to gape in horror. To call what he did to those knights anything less than a complete massacre, would be an insult. By the time the he was finished, he was surrounded in a quagmire of blood and guts, and was already turned towards the Prince.

"YER MINE YA PANZE GIT ZOGGIN' SQUISHE FONDLA'!" He laughed.

Prince Levuel took several hurried steps back, pointing a trembling finger at the Troll, shouting, "Shoot it! Shoot the bloody monster!"

A thousand arrows flew across the sky, all pointed at the monster. Rather than run, as even the thickest of Cyclopses would have done, he simply starred at the arrows giggling to himself. He then took in a large breath, and bellowed:

"HAX!"

The arrows landed, but all of them were in several pieces now, and simply fell as a light hail. Before they had time to fire again, the Troll was already among them, with has axe swirling in gory arcs while his profanity grew to a point at which even the most sinful among them thought he was going to far. In no time at all, the Troll had hacked his way through all the humans between him and Prince Levuel. Rather than run, Levuel decided that he had had enough of the Troll's antics and had drawn his sword, shouting:

"I am Prince Delpeha Levuel, now feel the wrath of my blade!"

He never felt his sword arm leave his body, as the Troll didn't let him live that long. Prince Levuel had been thrown on his back. The last thing he heard and saw was the Troll.

"I IZ TROLZOR!" he laughed, "NOW FEAL MI AZZ!"

And with that, Trolzor dropped all his weight on the Prince's head.

Legends of War:Forward, March!

"Left! Left! Left, Right, Left!" The drums barked.

OiHeinmen marched in perfect unison with the drums orders, as did all 200 of the other men of the 297th Veilmeer conscript legion, A platoon. Each footfall sounded like the ground was shaking, loud enough to mute the sound of artillery, and as fearsome as a bull. The flag even furled in time with the rhythm, each proud wave denoting this unit as property of Garmaria. These were the sons of Garmaria about to set out on their right of manhood: first battle.

Around him, other platoons from the 297th conscript legion marched forward, but had to give the lead to the greatest platoon of them all. Behind him, a battery of artillery sung their hearts out, lobbing righteous death upon the foes of their fore fathers. Ahead of them, a company of fusileers was poring volley after volley into the enemies. OiHeinmen was a little mad that he couldn't see the enemy, but was content with the situation as it was. After all, they would soon be slashing their foes to-

"Platoon, Halt!" Ordered the drums.

The platoon obliged, but with a noticeable air of confusion. They were a mere forty yards away from the fusileer's company, and it became apparent that all of the legion had stopped. OiHeinmen felt confused: wasn't their duty to stop the enemy at all costs? Why aren't they deployed ahead of the fusileers, where they can use their swords? Looking at the sword resting on his shoulder, OiHeinmen noticed something else odd: a fusileer regiment was digging in behind them.

No one had time to ponder the implications of this, for it quickly became apparent that the fusileers in front of them had given up on volley firing. The regular rhythm they had come to expect was now nothing more then men firing whenever they pleased. OiHeinmen was on the verge of going over there and teaching them a lesson when he started to hear screaming. It was faint at first, but it tripled in intensity every second, and was overlapped with bellows of increasing rage, strong enough to shatter mountains and to freeze the blood of a mountain. Then the 297th conscript legion saw their first Troll.

That is not to say they hadn't seen Trolls before, it was just always as woodcuts in the Garmarian Review or The Daily Codex, or as pictures at magik lantern or picture reel show. The real Troll was much more terrifying: standing at seven feet tall, gripping an axe the size of a horse leg, with three yellowing tusks (one of which went down in the middle and was splattered with red at the end), pointed ears as sharp as knives, and blue skin popping with veins and muscles. It was clad in old leather, covered with rusting scraps of metal, and a helmet that used to be a human. But, they didn't immediately notice all of these qualities. The first thing they noticed was that he had decapitated a man in a single swing.

A ripple of fear traveled through OiHeinmen, and the platoon as a whole. Some of the men from one of the other platoons even threw down their weapons, and began to run away. Somebody shouted something OiHeinmen couldn't understand, and the fusileers behind the retreating platoon opened fire. Needless to say, they set a very good example. Still, OiHeinmen considered running when-

"Raise, Shields!" The drums demanded.

Following his breeding, OiHeinmen raised his shield from his left side. Because he had no other orders, he looked forward and saw about a hundred more Trolls hacking through the fusileers with the same ease as the first. They were still putting up a fight, but even their guns wouldn't block a Trolls attack, being dispatched with the same ease as its owner. A few of the men even had shields like the one OiHeinmen had, but these proved to be as effective as blocking with the bare arm, and one man's arm was even jarred from its socket on impact. OiHeinmen winced as the man, clutching his useless arm, was silenced by the same Troll, who's laughter mocked him.

OiHeinmen was now furious. That man had died for Garmaria, and all that Troll could do was laugh? What right did these creatures have to mock the sons of Garmaria, who were the rightful masters of this world? What right did these creatures have to live? NONE!

"Ready, Arms!" Sounded the drums.

By now the feeling of fury had spread to the platoon as a whole. How dare they mock Garmaria! They all took their swords from the resting place on their shoulders and went from cupping the hilt to squeezing it. They knew what their duty was, and they knew what they had to do. But they were still those who were scared.

Then someone began singing a child-rhyme. They all knew it by heart, and, despite the imaturity of it all, they all sang:

Oh my mother, cry not for me.
Oh my father, cry not for me.
I go to war for the sake of you, mother.
I go to war for the sake of you, father.
I go to war for the sake of everyone.
If I die on the fields of war, cry not for me mother.
If I die on the fields of war, cry not for me father.
For I died for your sake, mother.
For I died for your sake, father.
For I died for the sake of everyone.

Everyone sang this, except OiHeinmen. He sung a sung only he and his father had known:

One more time to the maw of Limbo,
One more time to the heart of the storm.
One more time to the heat of battle,
for this is the last great battle I shall known.

And then the drums gave the last order OiHeinmen would ever know:
"Forward, March!"

Legends of War: Terat Felmerat, Dream-rat

Terat crept up slowly, then stopped and listened. Then he crept up again, then stopped and listened. He then repeated the process, until he was on the top of the wall, and even then he just stuck his snout through the parapets and sniffed. He then looked over, and then put his head down.

This is it he thought this is the place I have seen in my dream.

The day before, Terat had been a normal Ratkin living a normal life in a normal invasion fleet headed for Stygia. The fleet in question was supposed to be well supplied, but a pirate raid, combined with a freak storm, had cut off their supply lines and decimated their stock of weapons and gun powder. So they had to go some fast, or else the whole invasion would fail. Unfortunately, rat-scouts and wer-rats had confirmed that the only place within striking distance with gunpowder was a Garmarian fortress, and, unless they wanted scythes and pitchforks, it was also the only place with weapons. The Storm Captain in charge of the raid, dreaded that he would lose all of the Rats in the invasion fleet, and still wouldn't have have anything to show for it, other then some piles of dead.

 And then yesterday, Terat had had a very odd dream. It was so odd in fact, that he told it to his best friend who told him to tell it to the rat-priest, who brought him to tell it to his rat-chief, who finally brought him to the Storm Captain and Storm Priest who listened intently. When Terat had recounting his dream, he was declared a "Dream-rat" by the Storm Priest. Then the Storm Captain, having seen Terat's confusion, had explained to Terat that a Dream-rat was a chosen among Ratkins, who had been selected by Siçovul taun to fulfill Terat's dream in real life. Terat acted enthusiastic, but that was because he hadn't told them about the green shirted man.

So here he was now, after he had successfully killed six sentries and one guy who had simply been answering "the call" in the wrong place (his favorite part of the dream). Then, Terat had scaled the wall (it was as if the hand-holds had been made for him) and the last sentry was in his sights. What worried Terat is, he couldn't remember how he got from injured sentry with two canes, to explosion, to dodging bullets, to guy with green shirt. Actually, Terat had forgotten about sentry with two canes. But he had a grey shirt on so it was all good.

The man was walking to a tower on the wall, with a bell and maybe signal, but empty, and seemed to be hobbling as if both of his legs had been damaged, but that he had been declared "fit-for-due-tee" by some Garmarian or another. The man was making so much noise, that Terat couldn't even hear himself breath. Terat moved slowly, and silently behind him, waiting for him to enter the tower. When he did enter the tower, he had stopped, like he had to re-fix his boots, and that is when Terat struck. 

Wait, how is he...

Terat had realized the ploy to late. The man had blocked Terat's knife with one of his wood covered clubs, and had brought the other one crashing into his skull. Terat flew back two tails and landed hard on his back, but wasn't out. He got up in time to see the man cocking his pistol. Without thinking, Terat threw his knife, which, as luck would have it, lodged directly in his throat and threw him down. However, he must not of died instantly, because his gun still shot off.

The shot had barely left the gun, before warning bells began to be run, and the area was almost immediately bathed in light. It was then that Terat noticed something: a thick double door was open about fifty tails away, and inside of it were barrels. On the Barrels, was a black skull with two torches and a musket, the symbol the Garmarians use for-

Gunpowder he thought that explains the explosion.

Wasting no time, Terat searched the body of the man he killed, and had found a wide barreled pistol with a single shoot and the hammer was seated in the middle of the gun, not to the side. Terat had never seen one before, and had heard only vague rumors of it (excluding its appearance), but somehow, Terat knew what this was.  Despite having no skill with guns in the past, Terat leveled the flare gun at the powder stores and fired. The recoil was immense, knocking Terat off his feet, but luck was on his side, as a bright red light corkscrewed into the stores. Even if Terat hadn't been knocked over by the recoil, the actual explosion was much greater.

It threw large amounts of stones, metals, and other unidentifiable stuff into the air, and seemed to have woken up the garrison too. When Terat had gotten back up, about a dozen or so soldiers were leveling their guns at him.

None of the have green on.

Terat immediately ran at them, and apparently they were horrible shots as not a single one hit him, a very odd coincident. Terat was among them and, before one of them with a grey shirt  could bayonet him, Terat had grabbed the guys gun, and had forced the but into his face. The man fell back stunned, and Terat wasted no time in bringing the pointy bit into the mans face. Terat then used the gun as a sort of pole vault (it was stuck) and managed to land his foot claws into another mans eyes. Another man, of a somewhat higher rank (or lower, Terat never learned how to tell how good something was) came at him with a sword, but, Terat was quicker, and all he hit was a blind man.

Terat took this opportunity to scamper away, and had just come to an open part of the wall, when he looked left. Sheite. There had formed up at least fifty Garmarians who were leveling their guns at Terat. Terat did a frantic scan.

All grey he thought good. They all are grey. Maybe the green shirt isn't here.

And with that, Terat fell down a hole in the wall, just as the bullets came at him. For a moment he just laid there, enjoying his new found luck. But something seemed odd, the location looked familiar but...

A bullet whooshed past Terats head, and he saw that he had disturbed a grey coated man with a repeating pistol. Terat got out of the way of his second shot, and was running towards him before the third shot fired. All in all, his neck gave a real good snap and he was lying face down on the ground, his pistol now in Terat's hands. Terat had started to head down the hall, when he heard a door slam open. He turned around with all his speed and fired the pistol at the man with the grey coat coming out of the door.

AHHHH, he screamed, clutching the stump were his hand was.

His gun had misfired, taking his hand along with it, and when Terat looked up he understood why. The man had a grey coat on, but it was unbuttoned, and undearneth he was wearing a nightgown which was-

Green...

For a moment, Terat considered fighting the man, maybe even kill him. Maybe he could even cheat death and-

no he thought ...this is how it is to end. yes.

Terat closed his eyes and embraced the coming lead. 

Legends of War:Snafaris, the Red Pyramid

No more then a century ago, the Trolls and Reptillions had rediscovered an ancient and abandoned city in the middle of the desert, named Deshar. In the middle of this city made of stone lies an ancient Pyramid, which stood there since before the coming of Trolls. The city, as well as everyone else in it, was drowned in sand so the Trolls were unable to find it and the Reptillions had thought it forever lost. But recently, due to a mysterious and vicious sandstorm which came from the East, the sands had lifted, and it didn't take long before both the Reptiles and the Trolls saw it.

For the Trolls this was a new looting ground, with mountains of untouched spoils left by the sands of time, waiting to be rediscovered, while the Reptillions saw it as a chance to retrieve the archives within the pyramid of Snafaris, which hold the sacred texts of the cold blooded lizards. Soon, Trolls sent raids into the city while the Reptillions would meet them and many battles were fought in the dense streets of the dusty city of Deshar, and eventually, when the entrance to the Pyramid Snafaris was excavated by slaves, the Reptillions had sent an army of 5000 soldiers to safeguard the Pyramid from the inside and retrieve as many chronicles as possible as well as hieroglyphs containing ancient spells, meanwhile the Trolls were planning an assault on the pyramid, claiming "Dat's wer da perte iz!" and sent a horde of Trolls, lead by Gangrotz da Despoila, to fight.

The head Priest Hachare, upon hearing of the horde, sent an Archeos bird to the Reptillian Capital to demand aid so they would not loose all that knowledge. Guarding from the inside, and learning all it's secrets, the Reptillion elites utilized the closely packed corridors to plant ambushes and lure the dimwitted raiders into the ancient booby traps, which had guarded the pyramid for centuries. They evaded the Trolls for several days, until reinforcements arrived, a fresh army of 10,000 Reptillions poised for war had entered the cities borders and had started a bloody massacre. Eventually, the battle was taken to the steps of the Pyramid itself. Fearing that more Trolls would come, the Priest uttered a spell, which had not been spoken for thousands of years, and arcs of lightning sparked from the top of the Pyramid Snefaris and would struck down thick groups of Trolls while setting others ablaze. Those who weren't killed outright would topple off the steps of the Pyramid and plummet into the ruins below or become easy prey to the enraged Reptillion warriors. The Battle ended swiftly after the spell was cast, and by the time the last Troll fell dead, the entire Pyramid was drenched in blood, and from then on it was named the Red Pyramid.

The Reptillion warriors celebrated the deaths of their hated foes, but the Priest Hachare had a bad feeling, and had sent scouts to scour the borders of the city and the desert beyond. Meanwhile, the Reptillions transported the last of the important artifacts and writings and only gold and jewelry ,from when they treasured such things, was left behind. By the time they finished, the Scouts had confirmed the coming of an even large horde of Trolls,this time lead by Da Dred Perat Robsya. But the Reptillions could not fight back, as they had less then 200 warriors left, and they decided to leave the city, and the spoils that remained were left for the Trolls.

A few years later, the Reptillions brought slaves to reconstruct the city of Deshar, but by the time they came, most of it was covered in sand, and with a fierce sandstorm coming in, they decided to leave and the city has once again been lost to the desert.

Legends of War:Ma'tai, wandering merchants

Among the many hundreds of cities and thousands of villages that make up all of the world, there is a common need. These needs, no matter what names they are given, are all the same: food, water, and a way to defend themselves. Many places are self sustaining in any of these regards. There are villages built on rivers, hamlets that grow food year round, and cities who are surrounded by high walls and deep ditches. For those places which can't get the supplies they need, do to drought, siege, or surprise, then there are the Ma'tai.

The Ma'tai are a strange sort of creature, looking like an upright wolf, coyote, or fox, they have adapted customs and objects from some long lost civilization. They appear just about everywhere, from the sprawling heart of a Garmarian city, to the loneliest villages in Inaros, and have even been recorded as appearing inside a besieged city months after the roads were blocked off and the rivers dammed. They always travel light, they have large stall like carts, which they can pull from place to place and it doubles as both their residence and place of business. Occasionally, they will travel in groups of several families but, for the most part, they are content to travel as a single family going around. On some rare occasions, perhaps an ancient festival, all of the Ma'tai in a certain area will gather together and form a sort of merchant town, to which people from miles around will come and see.

When pressed for where they get their goods, a Ma'tai will never answer. This has lead to a large number of people becoming suspicious that the Ma'tai steal all of their items, and some villagers will go and attack their stalls. However, they quickly discover that, while a Ma'tai is friendly and a soloist when doing business, when they are threatened, they become extremely ferocious and will form a large pack with any other Ma'tai in the area. If they are pressed enough, they will actually come back with all of the Ma'tai in an area and destroy the offending village or city:but they never loot anything of value. This has lead mercenary captains, up-and-coming nobles, and experienced generals alike to seek out Ma'tai for soldiers, but, no matter how much money, land, or slaves they are offered, they always give the same cryptic answer :
"He who takes the lives of the living, is no better then he who takes the possessions of the dead."

Legends of war:Battle of Vail Valley

The Dwarfs are a proud race of exploring mountain dwellers, who venerate their ancestors, worship their gods, and  praise skill in the arts above all. The Gnomes are a proud race of seafaring forest people, who sleep when they die, never wasted time on the whole god thing, and praise quantity above all. The two races are also such fierce rivals that, even in a peaceful small farming village with no history of violence, their anger towards each other will result in full blown war. The only reason their two nations are in full blown war, is because the Dominion stands between them, and the Stygians and Elves simply won't let them. However, this was not always the case, and their hostilities can be traced back to one single event:The Battle of Vail Valley.

Vail Valley is an odd part of the Dominion, situated near the heart of it on a long destroyed mountain, it still retains the air of treacherous passages, and is also home to a several prosperous villages and cities. Every year on Tailu the 5th, all the doors and windows are barred, as the elders tell the stories of what happened long ago, over the din of rekindled battle. In the year 510 b.d.c, what was once part of the Stygian empire was now a barren land, still ringing to the sounds of battle as what was left of the invading Trolls fought with fleeing Goblins, vengeful survivors, and hunting Centaurs. The Dwarfs, recognizing a chance to expand their empire, went into this area and tried to forge new cities while the Gnomes, recently freed from the Orcs, were looking for a land to settle on. For a while the colonists from both sides excepted the others existence, and set up colonies within earshot of the others, until one day in 500b.d.c the cities of Herdwe and Livgngard, about thirty miles south of Vail Valley and only five-hundred yards apart, both spotted a Goblin tribe.

The militias form both cities followed the tribe, unaware of the other existence, and even gathered up more militias until they came Vail Valley. A sudden rain storm prevented the two armies from seeing far, but they went forward anyway. Details of the actual battle are vague at best, but both mention that the other army was allied with the Goblins(indicating that they fought with both side in an attempt to blend in, or that they are both lying) and ambushed the other army. News of the battle ignited a full blown war between the two powers which, if it weren't for a Goblin army destroying all the towns and villages , may have lead to one of the powers being destroyed. As it stands, both the Gnomes and the Dwarfs never forgave the other for the "injustices" they had done, and will fling themselves into any battle, from a pub brawl to a city siege, with the battle cry, "REMEMBER VAIL VALLEY!"

Legends of War:Battle of the Trolls

After the Trolls had crashed into the Southern Continent, the Stygian Empire perceived that the Trolls could pose a direct threat to their lands north of them, which had already suffered numerous attacks from the Goblins. King Helieus, head of the largest city-state in Voreia Edafi, was already upset by the loss of Hellspout and decided that his best option lay in attacking these barbarous creatures before they did him. In 514 b.d.c. Kin Helieus, aided in no small part by his charisma, managed to gather more then four hundred thousand hoplites, toxoties, perioikoi, and warmachines and marched them south to the Imperial Ford. They had planned on attacking the Trolls while they were still preoccupied with the Reptilions, but were shocked when they received the news that, in less then one month, the Trolls had already destroyed almost all of the Reptilions and were already on the other side of the Imperial Ford.

King Helieus was faced with a major problem: was the Trolls speed due to great strength in their part, or did the Reptilions pay them off and make a story so that they could invade Voreia Edafi after them. In addition, their were rumors of strange and magnificent weapons that belched fire, flew through the air like birds, and also destroyed whole cities with a single strike. Helieus, and a large number of the other kings, decided that these were all just fanciful rumors, and actually decided to fight the Trolls as you would fight an army of Goblins. They selected a narrow valley, known as Loomers Craig, and arrayed their army in a purely defensive formation. To explain this, they had chosen the worst possible situation to face a Troll army in.

Less then a day after their scouts had spotted the Troll horde, some fifty miles away, they were almost upon the Stygians. King Helieus thought that they would fight like savages, and told his men to stand firm against their primitive weapons. When the Trolls came close enough to pick out their general features, the Stygians realized why they had beaten the Reptilions so fast: they were built for it. Before the Toxotes could fire their arrows, Trollish weapons opened fire and began scything down whole ranks of Stygians, while their Terrpeda's began smashing into the Stygian blocks. In addition, behind the whole Trollish army was a metal effigy, which spewed forth molten metal, strolled over any obstacle, and sent out enough trollish ammo to kill a hundred men in a minuet.

Unaccustomed to such a painful, yet short lived, barrage they assumed that it meant that the Trolls would be horrible fighters. The Trolls were horrible fighters in the sense that they forgot to give the enemy a chance of winning. The powerful arms of Trolls literal sliced whole hoplites in a single blow and their skulls were thick enough to break a spear. Even if they managed to kill one Troll, there was still an army of them numbering well into the millions. Faced with no alternatives, the perioikoi and toxoties tried to run, but found their path cut off by an army of Goblins, which had wanted to destroy the Stygians and test out the Troll's metal.

In the span of only 6 hours, all of the Stygians were killed, as well as almost a million Goblins, but barley a thousand Trolls. News of the battle spread like wildfire, and Goblin tribes and Stygian cities alike tried to surrender to the Trolls to avoid their wrath. It was all for naught. In less then a year, all of Voreia Edafi was reduced to burning cities and fields of corpses as the Trolls destroyed every threat in their way. Only the brave armies of the Plain Riders, who had been annoyed by the sudden influx of Goblins and the instability they brought, saved the entire world from being destroyed. While numerous names for the battle has been suggested (such as the Massacre on the Craig, The Battle of Loomers Craig, Dat furst time we fout da Trolls, Da time eva un' woud't get out o' da way, so we killd dem al) the Battle of the Trolls is the most enduring, as they are the only ones who survived that day.

Legends of War:The Grand Line, The ring no man shall pass

Since time immortal, any race has seen the sea, they have always dreamed of sailing the world and controlling any land they happen to come across. They have always come across obstacles to their goals, such as distances, lack of food, great storms, and the general unwillingness of natives to give them their land, but they have always triumphed. Their is not a single island which has not been visited by at least one ship, and the continents are a hub through which countless thousands of ships navigate with and through. But their is one area which is so deadly, so unpredictable, and so huge that, while hundreds of ships have entered it, none have ever been seen again. This area is known and feared by all sailors as the Grand Line.

The Grand line is a stretch of ocean to the far south of all the continents, and is thought to be the edge of the world. It is a wild and unpredictable place, with a dense dark fog covering it at all times, and freak storms of all types are known to burst out without warning. While the Grand Line itself is cold, the islands which happen to lay within close proximity to it, have numerous different climates, so diverse that no two islands of the same type or conditions can be found within a thousand miles of another island of the same climate. Also near the Grand Line, are several perpetual storms known by such names as the crackling Eye of Thead, the frozen Hand of Beation, and Da Fut o' da Groove o' Tings (best not to esquire as to what its nature is). These storms are so constant, that their positions can actually be used for navigating ships, and are often better navigation aids then stars or the sun.

While large numbers of people believe it is the edge of the world, there is a growing school of thought (mainly in Garmaria), that the Grand Line is actually just some sort of ring on the world to divide it spheres. Such a idea does have credit, as on oddly calm days, sailors have reported seeing ocean on the other side of the Grand Line, and Dwarven Tradition maintains that the the world is square and they have sent numerous aero-clads to prove just that. However, time and time again, the age old wisdom that it is best to leave the Grand Line alone has proven itself an infinite number of times. Recently some fishermen did report seeing black ships leaving the Grand Line, creating even more interest in the Grand Line then ever before. Perhaps one day some lucky ship will actually make it through the Grand Line and survive to tell what happened.

Legends of War:Luciena, the peaceful nation

As most of the nations engages in war as the only means of politics, it is hard to imagine that a country would every try to be peaceful and last for several thousand years, but there is. Situated in the Niybrem mountain ranges (just south of the Goblin Plains) and the Kije lowlands, Luciena is one of the most peace loving nations in history. Luciens is a place of peace, where wisdom and knowledge are held in higher esteem then strength and anger. The country also has a very sizable and stable population of casters of various strengths and schools, making it the leading nation in terms of magic. And the country is blessed with the divine protection of its patron god: Verbode Kennis.

 The story of Luciena's founding, and the choice of patron god, goes all the way back to 930b.d.c and all the way to World's End. After the defeat of Chaos' forces, the gods who had stuck by him had to flee to escape the wrath of the victorious armies. Many of them tried to hide back at their palaces or kingdoms, but were hunted down and destroyed by the other gods or, if they had ran, by the Kost. Verbode Kennis was in just just predicament and he was running away from a Goblin army lead by Lezy Az who had been given a god killing sword by Sesome simply so he would kill Verbode Kennis. As he only had fifty body guards, and the goblin horde was well into the hundreds of thousands if not millions, Verbode Kennis had no choice but to outrun them, and he eventually came across a small farming city called Luciena, which had been harassed by Goblins for as long as it had existed. In an attempt to save his skin, he promised that he would grant each of the villagers access to his power, if the would help him defeat the goblin horde. They accepted without question, for they had no choice.

Immediately, all one thousand of the villagers became powerful necromancers and, with no instruction, they went with Verbode Kennis to face Lezy Az. In the span of five days and 5 nights, the entire goblin army was battered nonstop by the necromancers, who were protected by Verbode Kennis' bodyguards, and slew over half of the Goblins, including Lezy Az. Leaderless and broken, the Goblins fled the battle field and immediately began heading west, where they pillaged the Stygian Empire. When the battle was over Verbode Kennis laid down the Sixoeb Ges Owde Que(Doctrines of a Perfect World), and lead the village to its empire. Upon its completion, less then five years later, Verbode Kennis left them promising that, so long as they followed his teaching (which they did, up to the formation of a militia known as the Imperial Guard) that he would protect them from harm and allow them to prosper in a violent world. Since then, they have only one major battle, The First Battle, and only one war, The Xuvio(One-eyed one) War.

Legends of War: Karcharias, Creeps from the Deep

From the darkest depths of the seas, around the Northern Wastes, live the amphibious beasts which had remain hidden from the eyes of surface dwellers for thousands of years. They are humanoid in structure, with a head and tail of a shark, and thick skin covering their entire bodies. They are also armed with a set of powerful jaws with rows of dagger-like fangs. They were only known as rumors by the fishermen who dared to venture too deep into the Northern Wastes, but others would say that they only mistook them for ordinary sharks or just polar bears. However, the Karcharias were also met before, by the Stygian sailors, who had explored the Northern Wastes many centuries ago.

The Karcharias had resurfaced, revealing much about their mysterious kind to the surface. The Karcharias are hunters, and they live of it, they hunt everything; foxes, rabbits, seals, walruses, dolphins, bears, even whales. They use the skin and fur of mammals to make their clothes, the bones of whales to make their tents, which are made either near the shore, or on watery reefs. Their culture is seen as savage and bloody by others, even Trolls, for example, before battle, they tear the heart out of a creature (be it an animal they had, or a prisoner) and painting themselves with blood, to appeal to their Gods. Another one is gathering the teeth of prey which is seen worthy and then making a necklace out of it. They were even seen grinding bones and putting it in soup as a medicine.

Their primary weapon is the harpoon, which they use with great skill, however, they were also seen using knives and axes once they got up close. They never wage wars, but they rather make encounters, and they see other races as no more then prey sometimes, but they will pay their respects to great sailors, therefore, some Karcharia Tribes were known to make trade pacts with Hellspout or Stygians. They also migrate across the oceans, and are more then capable of traversing a long distance of sea in a short time span, which makes them even deadlier opponents.