TEATRC tribute & universe expansion

Okay put it this way: the Grand Duchy is most definitely the weakest nation in Calradia. The Nirdamese reinforcements tend to balance this and the Nirdamese puts them on the grand stage. However, they have to choose between continuing their isolationism or being an underdog and go at war with the Vaegirs. Put simply, the Vaegirs and the Grand Duchy don't get along very well. The Vaegirs are racists and the Grand Duchy don't want to let go of their new-found allies.

Plus separatists from Zenislev are continually doing underground dealings with the Grand Duchy, so yeah they're not very friendly with each other.

A loong time ago, around the time when I got my moderator status, I started writing a piece about Haelmar-Grand Duchy relations. Its basis was around the idea that Haelmar wanted an ally in Calradia, and that Haelmarian Intelligence had decided, that due to geographical location and the amount of people it was at war with, that the GD was the best choice of an ally. So they sent a dragoon unit to ride in the middle of winter, through Haelmarian lands, then through Zenislev, and then into the Grand Duchy. (fail, right?)

However, I never really started or finished it.

Majority of the Grand Duchy's wars were with the Khergits - mostly border wars, raids, skirmishes, that sort - which is why you'll see most of the strongest arms of the Grand Duchy's army is cavalry. Thus they weren't exactly capable of going to war with anyone else other than the Vaegirs - they're mostly cavalry too, I think. When the Nirdamese popped up it gave them a new ability - they just gotten control of the best archers in a gun-filled Calradia. What more could they ask? This meant they would have the possibility to defend themselves from the Ormeli Janissaries and from Vaegir Streltsy.

And an alliance with the Haelmarians isn't so bad.

"COME ON! GET THE GUNNERS OUT OF HERE, WE GOT A SCHEDULE TO MEET! WE'VE GOT FIVE MINUTES UNTIL THE AURORA CANNON FIRES!"

Shouts of panic and the jostling of equipment and armor rang out from the trenches underneath the walls of Vienna. The Gunther-Piedmont gunners fired their last parting shots, reluctant to leave such a prime position to fire on the walls, before shouldering their arquebuses and carrying out the heavy barrels of blackpowder. "Valerus, what the hell is going on!?" shouted Aurelio from beneath a perilous dugout, adjusting the nose-guard on his helmet.

"Get the **** out of here you sod, the Aurora Cannon is about to ****ing fire!" returned Aurelio as he shouldered his campaign pack. Shock flashed in Aurelio's widened eyes, before he too began packing his belongings in panicky haste. Valerus dimmed the gas lantern into oblivion, attached it to a hook on his backpack, wincing as the hot glass touched the skin at the back of his neck. "COME ON!" roared junior Brigadier Valerus Ajala Nikatores to his dugout mate as he scrambled his rations into his sack. "I'm packing as fast as I ****ing can, and you aren't helping!"

"ALL BRIGADIERS EVACUATE THE FORWARD POSITIONS, THE FRONT LINES ARE WITHIN THE BLAST RADIUS! GET THE HELL OUT WHILE YOU CAN!" barked Priest-Captain Bellepheron, waving his arm to the rear of the siege lines before jumping out of sight and into a trench, his cape fluttering behind him.

"**** **** **** ****..." whispered Aurelio as the last grains of sand ran down the hourglass.

"WE DON'T HAVE THE TIME AURELIO, LETS GET THE **** OUT OF HERE!" screamed Valerus, bouncing on the balls of feet in anxiousness. The pre-Aurora strike bombardment was already beginning, with the far smaller cousins of the great mortar shells of the Aurora cannon flying over Valerus' head. But despite his comrade's increasingly desperate pleadings, Aurelio continued packing the last of his campaign equipment, until he heard it. Both Brigadier's heads turned to the south. The surreal strains and hymns, rising and flowing with the words of Filaharn himself, were chanted by the holy choir. Time was up.

"LETS GO!!!" screeched Valerus, and at last Aurelio followed his orders, dropping his belongings and raced out the entrance of the dugout, only stopping to grab his sword. With the terror and fear of what was to occur behind them, an immaculate blast brought about by a unholy creation of man and deity, the two Brigadiers sprinted with all their earthly will. A sacrosanct vessel of destruction a mountain tall was about to bring the entire world coming down on them. The choir's voices began to raise. The last few grains of sand whirled around the glass hourglass, before disappearing down the funnel of time. The reverent oratorio resounded to a climax; the battlefield of the holiest crusade reverberated with the voices of a thousand followers of Filaharn, resounding with articulate beauty. And then it abruptly cut off, and Valerus heard the sound: a boom from a hundred miles, a thousand leagues, a heaven away. Hell was about to come crashing to Earth from the avenging heights of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The bunker that housed Valerus' Brigadier regiment was just a hundred feet away. He could already hear the angelic screech of the Aurora shell. He could see his comrades beckoning to him from inside the bunker, waving to him, desperate to close the door before the daily apocalypse. His lungs felt like they were on fire. His breath wheezed and rattled as his legs pumped tiredly beneath him. His body implored him to stop, to slow down, but his mind commanded him to keep running, or he would die. His armor chaffed and cut at his body, slicing a clean cut through his breeches and cutting into his calf. Blood spattered the ground behind him. And the world around him waited in silent expectation for the Armageddon gun to do it's worst. He was fifteen feet away. Ten feet away. Five feet away.

Then with one last bout of energy, Valerus Nikaphoros leaped into the safety of the log-reinforced bunker, with Aurelio a second behind. The explosion of the world's mightiest firearm followed them immediately after. The regiment's Brigadiers slammed the door shut and pressed their shoulders to the barrier; the only thing that stood between them and the shrapnel and debris wave of the Aurora cannon. The blast split their ears, and the world slipped into artificial silence. Men's mouths moved in hysteria, but no sound came out. Only the rumble and din of the passing dust cloud passed through their bleeding ears. Valerus' head stared towards to the door, then collapsed into the dust of the bunker floor. He was safe from the wrath of their God. Safe. For now.

Nice stuff Tib.

So this is when the Thronists finally break open the eggshell that is Vienna's walls?

Did we have any other narratives on the Siege of Vienna, by the way? Oh, read it with the Kingdom of Heaven soundtrack, especially "Terms" and "Battle of Kerak". Epic stuff.

Well there is FuryFire's Fall of Vienna and I did two short pieces focusing on a Swadian General as the Fillys break into the town.

Hm. I'll have to check them out, I suppose.

*EDIT*

Can you give me the link to your story, Venitius?

Erm, why?

EDIT = Here. http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,54426.msg3265588/topicseen.html#msg3265588

Think of the Battle Wagon as like those Leonardo da Vinci Pie Tanks.

And the cannon as a grasshopper gun. Loaded so it's like a shotgun.

And the steel iron plating's just under the turret and to the front so the battle wagon doesn't catch fire.

...Because I can't find it? 

Anyways, FuryFire's narrative is superb. Fantastic work, sir, fantastic work indeed.

*EDIT*

Reading D'Sparil's little narrative, I have concocted a absolutely sinister plot for the Lion Throne. Ohohooo, this is deep.

Venitius said:

Constitutional or Absolute Monarchy.

Click to expand...

if so the first line in their constitution starts with obey the kaiser ****ers    i was more interested if we have anything else in the cannon, maybe something like your work on HSE electorates?


2. it looks like i found all the missing cities for the world map (capitals in bold), if its ok then i'll add them to the map.
GD    : Birute, Lubnie, Tarnowd, Lwyw.
Vaegir: Zenislev, Ivangorod, Odoiev, Volga.
Halmar: Sveavald , Oreborg, Vasterboot.

Already placed on the map:
IS    : L'renouille, Lorraine, Mourne.
HSE    : Ulm, Zollern, Vienna, Marienburg.
Laurian: Nibelheim, Tihr, Wercheg.
LT-Ellis: Ellis, Adbera, Lerna
Ormeli: Ozalp, Rumelia, Darende, Bergama.

Venitius said:

Think of the Battle Wagon as like those Leonardo da Vinci Pie Tanks.

And the cannon as a grasshopper gun. Loaded so it's like a shotgun.

And the steel iron plating's just under the turret and to the front so the battle wagon doesn't catch fire.

Click to expand...

i must confess, every bone in my body disagrees with concept of those Battle Wagons.

Tough ****.

It's a prototype and it'll blow up in the faces of the LT.

The others are still ludicrous.

It is the work of the great Jan_Boruta! Do not deny it, heretic!

A Strelets day's work.

Ivan smirked as he surveyed the scene around him, taking in a deep breath, the scent of freshly spilt blood flowing up his nostrils before he exhaled in a cloud of water vapour. He shifted in his boots slightly his arquebus resting loosely in his hands before beginning to walk forward, his boots crunching in the blood soaked snow. He strode towards a group of his fellow Strelets and eyed the line of villagers against the building.

Ivan nodded as he approached his second, Vasili, before speaking in a gruff voice "Why are these ones still alive Vasili." who replied by spitting at the feet of the villagers "Were tryin' to find out where this bastard keeps the villages coin."and pointed at the elder who was currently tied in his chair, covered in bruises and cuts, barely conscious. "Screw the money. Were here to show the grand duchy that this is Vaegir land. Not bloody Nirdamese  or anyone Else's.".

When he finished Ivan pulled a knife from his belt, holding his gun in his left hand, leaving the right free. He strode towards the elder who began to struggle weakly seeing the knife flash for a moment before Ivan's hand flashed up slashing the man's throat, sending a huge spray of blood all over Ivan, staining the snow further. "Kill the rest." he said simply as he turned around brushing the knife clean in the snow and slowly beginning to walk towards the village centre, not even blinking as a series of gunshots rang out, sending the bodies of the remaining villagers slumping to the floor in pools of their own blood. 

Ivan grabbed a still burning torch from a nearby house as he walked towards the centre, a smirk still playing upon his lips, he strode through the corpse filled streets, stepping over bodies with swords lodged in their backs, their heads smashed open by the butts of a gun or the sharp cruel slash of a scythe. It was truly a glorious sight to see the enemies of the Tsardom slaughtered in such a manner. He reached what looked like an important building, opening it up and leaning inside, his eyes peering into the darkness and seeing piles upon piles of dried food and grain. He grinned and threw the torch within, watching as some bails of straw began to catch alight and turning to leave as the fire quickly spread from wooden building to building, catching across the entire village. Ivan walked through the village, framed by the fire as though he was the devil himself, barking out to Vasili as he passed him "Were leaving now Vasili. Gather everyone, I think there's another village a few miles from here." an evil grin cracking across his face.

something a little different from my last one, not sure if its as good though.

((edit. right I fixed the spelling errors I think))

Well apart from the odd spelling error, it's nice.

Right, I'm gonna do something on some Swadians during the Siege of Vienna. Ideas?

How about something about that theoretical city buried under Vienna that was discussed somewhere earlier?

also

Venitius said:

Also, I'm surprised the resident Kaiserlichers haven't started putting the Deutschlandlied into the lore.

Click to expand...

Just couldn't resist...
I just had to try, even with my awful German.

From what I gleaned with my crap knowledge of German and Google Translate, very nice. Was expecting "Uber alles in der Welt" and possibly the two lines after that (making it the song of those stupid kaiserlichers who would want the Swadians united.) but it's still very nice.

Come to think of it..

The Swadians capture a Kaiserlicher Engineer with the blueprints of some new stuff and as they try to extort things from him he tries to sing it and just gets punched up.

The main thing is that it gives them something to hum as they stand around on top of some hill taking pot shots at the advancing enemy.

Sir Gawain said:

How about something about that theoretical city buried under Vienna that was discussed somewhere earlier?

Click to expand...

No no no no no, I got that covered. And I hope Furyfire doesn't mind if I run my story in tandem with his.

thanks Venitius despite having firefoxes spellchecker i managed to miss a few errors...not sure about my IG things spelling errors though.

Anyway, I'm considering writing some more about the Tsardom ((i've been playing them far too much lately)) maybe something about how they choose the Strelets? Or their oaths or whatever

Flames of Death
Grand Ironworks, Industrial District, Vienna

The mighty walls had fallen, and now the Filaharnist tide had reached the first major strongpoint inside Vienna: The Grand Ironworks and the attached arsenal. Before the Siege, the place had bustled with activity to equip the Swadian Army. Now, with most of the equipment moved to Zollern, and the weapons dispersed, it lay empty and quiet. Sergeant Heinrich Essenwitz commanded a section of the barricade constructed around the large stone building, and was one of the most experienced men there.

"ACHTUNG! INCOMING ARTILLERY!" Heinrich heard one of his recruits shout in alert as mortars in the flattened Lower Town fired. One shell smashed into a brick watchtower and it collapsed in a heap of brick and mortar. As the artillery barrage continued, the foe ran up the street towards the barricade which crossed the street. Behind it was the square, then a barricade, then the Ironworks itself. A shell exploded behind the barricade, spraying three men with shrapnel. They fell to the floor, bawling.

"Steady lads.. wait for it..." Heinrich called to his men as he pulled back the hammer of his arquebus. "Steady...steady... FIRE!" The Swadian line gave a volley of lead, snatching back some of the Filaharnists. "Reload!" The men reloaded and gave another five volleys. "Gunners back! Infantry to the front!"

The Filaharnists charged with a mighty cry of "FILAHARN VUUULLLT!!", drawing the last syllable into war cries as they charged the barricade. From the roof of the Grand Ironworks Swadian Jaegers sniped the Filaharnists from above.

Heinrich had walked back with the gunners and told them, "Load shot if you can. Prepare to support any breakthrough with your melee weapons or to use your arquebus' butt. Aldrich, you will command them."

He then returned to the barricade, drawing his sword and large buckler as he walked, and entered the melee. He parried a wild swing by an Ellisian Officer then hacked at the man's shield. As the man kept his shield above his head, Heinrich pulled a pistol from his belt with his left hand, and hiding it from view with his buckler. As the Ellisian swung again, he fired the pistol straight into the man's gut, and then stabbed him in the chest. He then dropped the pistol on the ground and swung his katzbalger at the back of a lightly-armoured Lowlander, the sword cutting through the leather cuirass. Then a large explosion nearby knocked him off his feet.

A large mortar shell had landed nearby and smashed apart the barricade. It also killed many men and dazed and winded many too. The Swadian tried to get up, failed, then got up again. He tried to look around for his weapons, but failed to find them. He picked up a battered halberd and saw what he presumed to be an officer of some kind, screaming and hacking down a Swadian militiaman armed with a shortsword. The bloodied Filaharnist was bleeding badly and only had a broadsword, though his faith in Filaharn had somehow made him ignore his wounds and was determined to kill Swadians. Heinrich finished off an Ellisian trying to get up with his polearm then helped a grim bearded Swadian hack a Gunther-Piedmont gunner, who was seemingly crying for mercy, to death.

A large shout indicated the arrival of a phalanx of Ellisian infantry, sprinting towards the gap in the line. However, these were engaged by the arrival of the Swadian gunners, who fired their guns at point-blank range and then engaged the Ellisians. The crazed Filaharnic Officer then charged Heinrich, who eventually stuck the halberd into the man's thigh, then knocked him down to finish him with a dagger. He then turned around to see a Brigadier fall backwards, his face a bloody mess. Presumably a sniper had got him. Shrapnel from a shell then struck the Swadian in the shoulder, and then engaged a Lowlander where he was badly wounded, but a militiaman armed with a woodcutter's axe felled the Lowlander.

The Swadians then began to break and run for the Ironworks. Heinrich shouted at them, "KEEP FIGHTING YOU BASTARDS! KEEP HOLDING THEM!" Then he saw the arrival of a lot of Gunther-Piedmont gunners. He swore to himself and ran himself. Captain Erich von Drenneven, the overall commander here, shouted at the men, "WITHDRAW TO THE IRONWORKS! WITHDRAW!" Heinrich ran towards the barricade in front of the Ironworks and jumped over it, then bandaged his wounds. He turned back to see the artillery bombardment intensify.

Then a shell plummeted into the Brewery, and a mighty fireball engulfed the building, and flaming material flew all over the area. The Filaharnist advance was temporarily stopped and the Swadians fled over the barricade to reload their weapons. A hay wagon was knocked over, but it did not yet catch fire. Filaharnist Officers drew back the damaged men and sent the Gunther-Piedmont troops forward. The wagon then caught fire as flaming bits continued to fall over the square and it set several infantry on fire. A watchtower built on top of a building by the square was knocked down and the rubble fell on the square. The Gunther-Piedmont then exchanged fire with the Swadians.

"Ask... the Graf von Fleussringen.. if he has any reinforcements.. we are under heavy pressure!" von Drenneven told a messenger. "We're running out of ammo and the Fillys are pressing us!"

"Out of Ammo!" A recruit cried out from behind the barricade, and his cry was soon echoed. Despair arose among the Swadians. A man, standing by one of the columns of the colonnade of the Ironworks was crushed to death when a dud shell knocked it down. The shell was then seized, a match attached and then lobbed at the foe. His gunpowder and lead was looted as men scrabbled around to find anything to lob at the enemy. A greater tide of enemy missile troops arose and many men just hid behind the barricade.

Then, a huge crash came from behind them, from the windows of the Ironworks, which were uninhabited at the start of the skirmish. Mercenaries and professional soldiers who had offered to help Swadia in its hour of need gave fire from within the great stone structure. And one sound rose above the jeers and shouts of the men there...

Swadschland, Swadschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt,
Swadschland, Swadschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt!