Throne Room, Great Keep, Paris, Empire of the Seine, Europe
“We must reinforce Amsterdam.”
“I disagree, sire, we must send troops to retake Dijon in the name of France.”
King Patrik I looked aghast at the succinct Haskil, their opinions had apparently flipped on the matter of Imperial expansion, “If I may ask, Lord Chamberlain, why you would like the Empire to restore True French to the City of Dijon?”
“Simple, Blessed King, I want what is best for the Empire, and the Madgod, and True France is by far the best for the Empire and the Madgod. Of course I know why
you are now after Amsterdam, and the United Netherlands, you want the secrets the Madgod himself promised us. I had been rooting for a surgical strike to behead the UN for some time, as I had not seen the Madgod take a side on this little scuffle, but since he has proclaimed it to you, the Heir of France, I feel we need no other help but His.”
“I would agree, but Our Mad Lord is a tricky one to piece together, and he appeared as a Dutch General, so it is possible that we have to sue them for peace to get this powerful secret he would like us to have.”
“It is much more likely that the Madgod wants you to return to your Francophone roots, and to discover the heritage you will be building upon to save your nation.”
“We will take Dijon before the year is up,” the King hefted the magic crystal that the Baernish had taught them how to make, the Imperials had used that technology to make a limited number, one for each army head and moved it to show the Duke of Belfast, “General De Paris, I have news of the utmost importance,” the Chamberlain quietly laid the quick groundwork for a protective spell to keep the conversation with the Duke private, “We are striking at Dijon, the homeland of General Xavier of the Netherlands Command, and you are leading the charge with the Irish Free Forces under your command.”
“My liege, why?” asked the Iron willed Duke of Belfast.
“Because Dijon is too important to the French People to waste time waiting for winter to fill our coffers once more.”
The Siege of Amsterdam Part Deux, (Fort Façade, Outside Amsterdam, Capital of the United Netherlands)
General Xavier was awaiting reinforcements that would never come; he thought they were on their way, sent by the King Patrik I to take Amsterdam, and the proverbial prize inside, but he had only seen disappointment . The Dutch were proving to be too much for the forces of the Empire, and attrition was whittling down his forces, General Xavier was almost ready to admit defeat and let the Dutch operate their nation in anonymity, without paying tribute to the King in Paris. The General was dealing with such harsh reality during his tenure a lot and his current discussion was far from the worst, “So, this it, the Dutch have won and are sending a ‘negotiator’ to gloat?”
“Not at all sir,” a minor General, in charge of the 4eme army said, “We are facing tough fighting from the Dutch, but we are far from done, when those reinforcements arrive from Central, we will roll over the Dutch so fast, the Netherlands will surrender after we take Amsterdam.”
“One would hope, ah, Negotiator, Herr, Locust,” the General stopped as the Dutchman walked into the tent.
“Ah, hello General, Xavier of Dijon, correct?” Herr Locust said in understandable French, “I would like to discuss the terms of peace between the Empire and the Union of Netherlands.”
“What sort of terms would you think appropriate?” the General asked cautiously.
“Well, we want all Dutch speaking majorities under your sway back in control of the Netherlands...”
“Hell no.”
”Defined Sphere of Influence for our nations…”
“Again, No.”
“Sir, sir,” shouted a minor captain, “A man has come to see you, he says he’s ‘The Reinforcement’ and I’m inclined to believe this guy.”
“Get out,” the General said to the Herr Locust as he turned to the 4eme General, “Well, what do you make of this?”
“We have a crazy con man loose in the camp, which won’t end well.”
“We should see this man first before we judge,” he nodded to the captain.
A Lonely Plain
A golden eyed magus, and magus he must have been, appeared on the war torn plateau outside the Crystal City completely out of nowhere. The battlefield below held precious few signs of life, half burnt grummites here, an Order flag there; it was all very depressing to the magus, who sighed and faded into the mists of time an space, choosing his perfect moment to appear. The magus appeared in one of the tallest towers in the Crystal City, feeling it was fitting that the Beast of Order lived in this tall, menacing structure.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT?”
« Je veux quitter ce guerre avec les forces de folie, » the magus calmly explained to the currently formless beast.
”WHY DO YOU WISH IT SO?” asked the Beast in a non-voice that shook the halls without uttering a sound, the beast had a form now, he was a growing crystal, slowly turning to a roughly humanoid crystalline beast.
« Ils ont un dieu avec ils » the magus replied.
“A MADGOD HAS STEPPED OUT OF THE MISTS TO MEET ME IN BATTLE?”
«Oui, » the magus said, slowing fading out of the Crystalline City, with its Crystalline Beast of Order. Quietly, the Beast raised its giant arms and slowly chanted, “Welcome Home, Dear Lord, Welcome Home,” in a true voice, not his non-voice.
In that non-voice, one might have heard, “SHATTER,” as the Crystal City tumbled and gave way to the Capital of the Madgod’s Domain, New Sheoth.
Letter to the Pogorian King;
I would l ike to express my displeasure at your willingness to play favourites in this battle for Europe; you have the unique disadvantages, or advantages of being located right near a member of either power. It would be prudent of you to choose your allegiances wisely, and not hastily ignore one possible ally in another’s favour without just cause, or a massive pay off.
I would like to extend a late invitation to a representative of your people to proceed to join the Conference ongoing in Paris, I would apologize for not thinking of asking your presence earlier, but I felt it wrong to ask a state so primed and ready for the task of keep the Great Powers from destroying the lands to come to such a partisan gathering.
King Patrik I, Heir to the Francophone Tradition
The Winter Conference
Oseng wrote:Parisian Conference
Lord Askel had remained rather quiet as the conference drew, simply sitting and listening to the other representatives speak. The Kingdom of Dolgan was a smaller power compared to many of those gathered here, and while they agreed with the need to counteract the Eastern demons the Twin Thrones were unsure if they should tie the fate of their kingdom to an alliance such as this one.
Still they had left it in his, their court skald and chief ambassador's, hands. It was his choice within the limits that had been set upon him. And so far he was impressed with those who he was meeting with.
"Dolgan would also be willing to lend a hand if we are able to your work at this mountain." He said, speaking up for the first time, leaning forward and folding his hands together on the table. "Though considering the distances involved I am unsure of how much aid we could provide."
He glanced around the table for a moment before speaking again, meeting each of the other representative's eyes in turn.
"King Ryudra and Queen Nina have ... authorized me to extend the services of our kingdom's runecarvers to all of you." He said with a small nod. "As well as the use of our ports for resupply for any of your vessels, and of course our aid against the eastern forces."
"Our runic magic may not be the best in certain situations," The Skald said with a small shrug. "But it excels at enchanting and protecting equipment, and things such as airships."
"And to be frank we would also be willing to put resources towards these ... airship carriers you mentioned." He said with a small nod. "And lend the aid of our shipwrights to establishing your navy."
"We don't have an airforce of airships like some of you, instead we rely upon specially trained members of Brood and us Windians in our other forms." He said with a wry shrug and a small smile. "And well while that works for defense and short distances, it isn't quite so effective at long range."
"Our Great Birds and Dragons can only go so far before they grow tired and must eat and rest, even with our magical strength, stamina, and other things." The Chief Skald said as he shook his head.
“The Empire would happily accept the Help of Scandinavian labour during the Irish Free State’s Expedition to acquire this ‘weapon’ the mountain, and the Empire is willing to help move labour into the Free State if the your Scandinavian infrastructure cannot handle the movement of labour . Runic Magic may be of major use in the expedition, as we could use it to strengthen various tools and equipment.”
The King thought quickly, “The Empire will extend the same ship basing rights to the alliance, and will also propose operating jointly, in order to make our navies as efficient as possible.”
results: Plotting about Amsterdam and Dijon.
Amsterdam meets a new menace.
Plots move, and Buildings Tumble, I'm going to be getting two new Named characters next turn.
King Patrik Writes a Letter
