Waters of ge
ge is like the water.
Men try to hold it back.
But in the end, it’ll burst through,
Passing through all their barriers.
Leaving them adrift and lost.
Or they allow it to pass,
Let the raging waters go along,
Or even to harness it to their be.
The rushing waters giving them strength!
No man will react the same.
The powerful will rush to protect their power.
Fearfully looking on, scared of the destru.
Yet to others it lets them rise up.
So as the powerful are washed away;
A new order will arise!
For no man stand against the waters of ge!
-Adelmar Athanaric
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Part 0: The Green Dagger Rebellion
| 0:1 | Hero of Strausen |
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Seifedmis 18th, 856 (7/18/856) - Grassnds between Strausen and Rechigokoe - Duchy of Rechigokoe - el Adelmar Athanaric
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Adelmar scoffed as he held a letter from his anding officer. “Sometimes I wonder if those nobles in and even know how to read.” He joked. Lieutenant el Leonhard Mathis and Lieutenant el áedán Willehad ughed, sihey uood his frustration with the high-born leadership. The only one who wasn’t amused was Lieutenant el Odalric de Wigmund, since he was the only one of the three who was born to a noble family. “How does he think we’re supposed to requer the city of Strausen with a single brigade?”
“He’s always had it out for you. Remember wheried to get you expelled back when we were in the Academy?” Leonhard said dismissively.
áedán quickly jumped in to make his point. “The Majeneral probably wants to make sure you fail or have to rely on him for support.”
Like before, the only person who disagreed was Odalric. “Before we jump to accusations of sabotage or other suder, we should just sider the fact that we just lost most of the brigade’s leadership. It would be easier to have us focus on keeping the rebels held up in Strausen so they ’t harass our main army’s rear.”
“You might be right, Lieutenant el de Wigmund. Still, these orders are absurd; we couldn’t even maintain a siege without overstretg ourselves. Regardless, I need all of you tanize your men so we mar the city tomorrow. We o get this done fast if we want a ce to win. That’s all. You’re all dismissed.”
At that, the three officers would salute aurn to their men. Leonhard and Odalric returo the infantry to gather their troops. áedáuro the small cavalry force attached to Adelmar’s unit. Adelmar stayed and thought about how he could quer Strausen. He went over to his bag carrying a couple of books and looked through them, the Book of Prayers and Records of the Sed Devastation, and finally picked one of them out. The Campaigns of Artemios of Sarpedon was the book he finally settled on. He remembered it dedicated a chapter to the request of Strausen during the colpse of the Sed Empire over four hundred years ago. He flipped through the worn pages of the book until he reached the se about Strausen. The book described i detail how well-defehe city was by the Nonus Dynasty’s armies.
Even though the Sed Empire would colpse soon after this campaign, it was impressive that they could still muster such a rge army to requer Nonesia. The great siege described in the book was also impressive, with how tenacious both sides were in their desire to take trol of the city. He flipped through the well-worn pages, trying to think of what the great general would do in his situation. However, nothing came to him after reading and instead his mind drifted towards the current rebellion in the try.
When the Green Dagger Rebellion first broke out, his adopted father described it as the culmination of the and abandohe nobility had let the try fall into. The peasants felt the nobles had abahem. In the East, the a noble houses stood idly by as their holdiually fell into famine. Seeing no other option, the peasants rebelled and formed rge armies, which overwhelmed the divided noble militias. Inspired by preachers of a millenaria of the Cyclic Path, rebellions spread across the try. The peasants then marched on and took the capital city of Gren, and decred General Ruben Theodoricus as the Protector of the People. General Theodoricus was an older man who had served for a brief time during the Nonesian Expedition in the Echille Revolutionary Wars. He left after the wars ehough, and nobody knew what he was doiween then and now. However, things aren’t going so well for the rebels. The main army of Ruben Theodoricus was currently under siege in Gren by the New Model Army, and it was only a matter of time before the New Model Army crushed the rebellion.
Roughly thirty years ago, the Kingdom of Nonesia established the New Model Army as a professional standing army. Leneral Niko de Diederich, the Duke of Rechigoke, Adelmar’s adopted father, assumed the position of the first Leneral in the New Model Army by appoi from the King of Nonesia. The nobles fiercely opposed this and thought it would curtail their power. However, King Albert II held firm and defended Leneral de Diederich from the attacks of the nobles. With this prote, he focused on making his army into a modern force by establishing military academies in Gren and Reichgokoe with fn instructors and creating arsenals in those same cities to produce modern ons for this army. It was this army that Adelmar joined after making it through the academy with flying colors. Now, the army is proving its worth in putting down the rebels. With no new ideas or strategies, Adelmar slept on it and hoped to find a rategy.
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Seifedmis 19th, 856 (7/19/856) - Strausen - Rechigokoe ty - el Adelmar Athanaric
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The 11th Mixed Brigade quickly marched along the road to Strausen. The Brigade took the old Imperial roads on their march to the city. They quickly reached Strausen and saw the walls adorned with the fgs of the Green Dagger rebels flowing over the walls in defiance of the Kingdom. As Adelmar’s Brigade settled into a siege, his small artillery battery started b the city walls. Even though he only had eight field ons, it was better than nothing and damaged the morale of the defending rebels.
Looking over the city from a distance, Adelmar saw the city’s most promi features: the walls, and the old partially ruined aqueduct. The high walls had frequent watchtowers along them, with only a couple of gates people could enter. Adelmar silently cursed his luck. There was no ce his ons could take down a se of the walls, nor could he storm the gate without getting his men killed. The sed promi feature was the aqueduct, which had fallen into ruins in the turies sihe fall of the Sed Empire. Adelmar sidered the possibility of sending an attack across the aqueduct, but quickly realized that it would be suicidal. His men would have no prote, and capturing the city this way would be impossible for them. Ultimately, he didn’t know how he could retake the city.
Just then, áedán, in charge of scouting, rode up to Adelmar. He saluted and hopped off his horse. “Sir, my men found a woman from the city who cims to have information that you could use.”
Adelmar raised an eyebrow at that and asked, “What kind of information?”
áedán shrugged, “She wouldn’t tell me just that it could help get into the city.”
With a sigh, Adelmar decided he might as well speak to this woman after all. She might know something. As the two rode back to the main siege camp, Adelmar wondered about what information she could have to win him the battle. The two young men quickly made it bap, sihey were both excellent horsemen.
As the two returo the camp, áedán led him back to a small tent guarded by his cavalrymen. Adelmar entered, with áedán close behind him. In front of him sat a woman around Adelmar’s age earing practical w clothes but was still surprisingly beautiful. She looked up at Adelmar and said, “You must be the one in charge here, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I’m el Adelmar Athanarid you are?”
“Valeria Kassandra, el. I happen to have some information that I think you’ll find some use out of. But I have one dition: it only be you and me in here.”
áedán ughed at that. “e on, el, there’s no way yoing to sider this. What if she attacks you? It’s not like the rebels haven’t dohat before.”
Instead of ht dismissing it, Adelmar thought about it for a minute. Unless he tried something new, he would be stu a siege for basically the rest of the war. That would essentially prevent him from advang up the ranks, and it would prevent him from having a position to advocate for the ges he wanted in the try. So, against his better judgment, he said. “It’s alright you leave us.”
áedán looks surprised. “Sir, are you sure? She could try to kill you, and nobody could get to you in time.”
“I uand the risks, but I have to do this. So again, Lieutenant el, please leave us.”
Finally, áedán just sighed a, but Adelmar knew he would be right outside the tent, ready to jump in if he suspected anything. Adelmar turo the women. “Why did you want it to just be the two of us here?”
She smiled with a twinkle in her brown eyes. “Who wouldn’t want to be aloh such a handsome man like you?”
Adelmar was pletely unphased and stared at her bnkly, silently calling her a liar. She sighed and tinued. “Fi was because I didn’t want anybody to influence your choice. I mean, you seem to have good subordinates, but I think they ck the imagination to see what you could see.”
“Fttery’s not w on me,” Adelmar simply responded.
She ran an olive-skinned hand through her long bck hair and looked offended, but tinued. “Fine, let’s see if I’m right then. To spare you the details, I grew up here and I know about a rge Imperial Era sewer system that’s not in use anymore.” She then looked at Adelmar, challenging him to see what she was getting at.
He did and looked at her in surprise. “You’re saying there’s arao the city that’s not guarded by the rebels?”
“What did I say, you’ve got the imagination I thought you did.” As she said this, she let a smug smirk rise.
This souoo veo Adelmar, so he asked, “How do you know the rebels don’t know about this entrance?”
“I got out using it and I know for a fact that they didn’t follow me, sihere’s no ce they would’ve let me get all the way to your camp.”
Again, Adelmar was suspicious, but seeing no other option, he resolved to check out this sewer. He again spoke to the woman, “So why did you leave the city in the first pce?”
Throwing her hands up, she decred, “I’m not blind. I see the writing on the wall. The most disciplined rebels have already left fren to join the main army and all that’s left are essentially bandits and peasants who have no ce of winning against a sizable force. The only reason they’re still fighting is they think your forces are too small to worry about.”
At this fession, Adelmar could tell she was being genuine, plus her speech made her seem like an opportunist and Adelmar had plenty of experieh those types from his time oreets to his time in the Academy. So he stood up and offered a hand to help her up, which she took. The two of them walked out and instantly áedán saluted Adelmar. “Gd to see you safe, sir, but what’s she doing out here?”
“She is going to show us a way ihe city.”
áedán was instantly on board with this pn and, putting on his hat over his light red hair he said. “Alright, let’s go.” So Adelmar, áedán, and several cavalrymen mounted up with Valeria riding with Adelmar. They rode up to the walls and in a small depression, they finally reached the area where she said the sewer was at, and it was there. Adelmar walked forward to study it, and like she said, it was big enough for a man to enter, although they couldn’t carry a musket with them, he his was enough to satisfy Adelmar, and so the group agai bap, where Adelmar quickly gathered the officers in order to inform them of the new pn to retake the city.
As before, Leonhard, Odalrid áedán were all there since. As Adelmar expined his pn, they all had varied reas. Leonhard was the first to speak. “Adelmar, this pn seems risky, but if you think this is a good idea, then I’ll happily join you.”
Adelmar would nod appreciatively, but quickly, ave his opinion. “el, I uand you are the anding officer, sive me, but this seems like a foolish pn. We have no reason to believe that this woman is somebody we trust. For all we know, she phis out in order to ambush our men as we attempt to gh with this pn. We shouldn’t trust any random person g to have a way for us to win. Personally, I think we should just wait for the Prince’s noble militia from Seier to arrive.”
áedán was immediately hostile towards this idea. “Why? Should we just wait until they arrive and then watch as they burn Strausen to the ground, like how they devastated Bollstadt?”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting. You know as well as I do that we don’t have the men to it to this siege.”
“Even though we only have a few men, we’re still better trained and equipped than the rebels are. All that’s stopping us from taking this city are the walls keeping us outside the city. Now we have the perfect way to get past the walls, a we’re stuck here debating it!” áedán argued.
Leonhard would interrupt this debate, stating, “Alright, before things get out of hand, let’s focus on the important thing here, which is that we seize this city without a long siege. Even if it is a trap, we have to at the very least explore it and see where it leads us. Besides, if it doesn’t work out, the Prince’s noble militia still e and take the city.”
Odalric looked around the table and saw Adelmar and áedán both nodding their heads, so he sighed and gave in. “Alright, I still have my reservations but, I think we should pursue it.” With that, Adelmar told them their assigs for the uping battle and the officers left to prepare their troops, except for Leonhard, who walked over to Adelmar to talk to him. “You know, I hought you were the gambling type. Especially after the academy.”
Adelmar leaned back, putting his dark olive-skinned arms behind his head and responded, “Well, sometimes the reward is so great that you have to take a risk. Don’t you agree, Leonhard?”
“Yeah, I agree. With this victory, we could have a major victory to use to support our efforts to modernize Nonesia.”
“Exactly. That’s why we have to gamble on this opportunity. Sure, the Prince also has a desire to moderhe try, but if we depend on him, then he’ll domihe discussion and prevent the true reforms this try needs.”
“I uand and besides, I’m in this with you. We both agreed that we’d stop at nothing to moderhe try and bring it up to the rest of the world.”
“I’m gd you remember, because things are only going to get more hecti here.”
“Ohis rebellion is over, I know the nobles will try to overturn the progress we have already made. It’s going to be up to us and the reformists iates General to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Adelmar would nod at this, since he was well aware of the political game that he and many others would have to py ohe rebellion was over. His biggest fear was that the King would uniterally get rid of the reforms currently in pce as a rea to the rebellion. If that happehere would be no way for anybody to stop him from doing that. Then the try would regress bato weakness and irrelevancy. That was somethiher Adelmar nor Leonhard could abide by. So the two of them talked for a bit longer befoing their separate ways.
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Seifedmis 20th, 856 (7/20/856) - Strausen - Rechigokoe ty - Various Points of View
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Throughout the afternoon of the previous day and night, the 11th Mixed Brigade prepared for the uping battle. The night before the battle, Adelmar and Odalric were up te devising a battle pn, with the two of them eventually creating what they believed was a solid pn. The day of the battle, the infantry ran through st-minute bayo and musket drills to prepare for the battle, as others ate or ed their ons. Odalric was running bad forth between different regiments, making sure that their training was being carried out correctly and ?iing the troops to make sure they were ready. The cavalry checked their revolvers and carbio make sure they were and loaded. They also sharpeheir sabers, and áedán had them gh saber drills to make sure they were up to hand-to-hand bat. Finally, Leonhard’s handpicked team of infiltrators focused heavily on their close quarters bat with sabers, axes, and revolvers. They also focused on marksmanship drills with their revolvers to make sure they were accurate with them. All the while, the ons bombarded the city at a steady rate to disguise the preparations going on.
Finally, as the first rays of the sun peeked out over the horizon, Adelmar gathered the various units which made up the brigade and gave them their orders oo go and what to do. Adelmar and Odalric would take the bulk of the infantry and silently get close to the walls before the rebels could spot them. áedán would keep his cavalry in reserve for whee opened. Finally, Leonhard took a handpicked team to infiltrate the city. This group had already made its way down to the sewer aered it as the sun rose.
Leonhard went first, since he khis was a risky mission, and he wao inspire his troops. As he crawled through the sewer, he could see that nobody had used it in a long time, sihere was no water or waste in sewers. The issue was that he couldn’t see anything, so he had to feel around to find his way. Finally, though, he felt what he thought was a hatch he could use to exit, so he pressed on it, and it fell to the ground, flooding the sewer with light. As Leonhard and his men stepped out into the streets, they saw them mostly deserted, minus a couple of civilians, who instantly ran as soon as they saw the armed men. They all khat it was only a matter of time before the rebels sent a force to attack them, so they quickly looked around before finding the gatehouse.
They burst through the door on the ground level. Ihey saw two rebels who looked shocked to see them but then quickly raised their muskets to fire at the intruders. Before they could, though, two of Leonhard’s men rushed forward with their sabers and silently cut them down. The group would then rush up the staircase, fag ance, sihe rebels didn’t know they were there. They finally reached the floor with the gatehouse and saw that there were several rebels milling around. The two groups froze for a sed before Leonhard’s men opened fire with their revolvers, as the rebels returned fire with their muskets while others tried to charge the group with their spears and swords.
Leonhard led a small group to ter charge with their sabers and axes. Supported by his men still providing c fire, Leonhard’s shofantry smmed into the rebels, with them cutting a bloody path through the rebel defenders who surrendered or retreated. Unfortunately, the ones who ran away got into and barricaded the room with the gate log meism. So Leonhard had his men chopped at the door with their axes while he reanized his troops to prepare for a ter-attack by the rebel forces. It came faster than he expected, with rebel infantry p into the gatehouse to dislodge his men. Bullets ricocheted off the stone walls as both sides fired every gun they had. Musket fire and close quarters bat cut down others, but his men still had the advantage of better equipment and training.
This ultimately let them hold on long enough for the door to the gate log meism to be cut open and the rebels io be cut down by Leonhard’s men. As the battle raged around him, Leonhard and a couple of men would ehe room. They would unlock the gate as Leonhard peered outside and saw Adelmar’s infantry taking fire from the walls. He took out his fre pistol and aimed it into the sky, and then he fired, letting the fre illumihe dawn sky. His part was done. Now it was time for everybody else to take the stage.
áedán saw the fre and k was his turn, and ordered his cavalry to charge through the now open gate. They sprihrough the gate and quickly dispatched a couple of rebels with accurate fire from the cavalrymen. Realizing the rebels would soon encircle his squadron, áedán and his rades hastily moved through the streets, making their way towards the governor’s pace. That was where the rebel leadership was at, at least acc to their best guesses, and since his information had been right so far, áedán was ready to believe this. Passing by shocked rebel infantry, they quickly made it to the pace with minimal casualties.
The pace was a sight to behold, with its old medieval marble facade beiiful to look at and the statues outside of it being masterpieces. The only thing that sullied its beauty was the remains of the smashed statues of the Twin Gods and Asded Heroes, with only the statues of the Twins still standing. They weren’t here to admire the beauty of the pace, though. They were here to capture or kill the rebel leaders, so they made their the steps and into the pace. Ihey came across a hastily assembled barricade which they quickly broke through a deeper into the pace.
Every so often they would e across a rebel who would point their ons at áedán’s men, who would respond with gunfire or their sabers. They wouldn’t find the leaders, though, which was curious sihey expected them to be easy to find. Finally, áedán would stop and have his men look for rebels and interrogate them to figure out where the rebel leaders were at. Eventually, one rebel would reveal a secret room the leaders were using to hide from áedán’s men. They would then have his mehem to this room. As soon as áedán and his men burst into the room, the rebel leaders would turn in shock. Seeing all of áedán’s men fully armed and aiming their ons at them, the rebels would throw their hands up, surrendering. All the while, the people they anded were still fighting and dying throughout the city.
Adelmar and Odalriahe primary force of the infantry, which was clumped together at the foot of the walls of the city. Adelmar was leading from the front and was in the vanguard, giving orders on the fly as situations developed and making adjustments to the pn as needed. Meanwhile, Odalric was at the rear of the infantry. His strength wasn’t in fighting on the frontline like Adelmar. Instead, he stayed in the back of the formation, where he had a better perspective otle. From this position, he and Adelmar would work together to make sure that Adelmar didn’t overextend the line or send troops in unsupported, while Odalric had a view of the frontlio help him direct troops from the rear.
áedán’s cavalry thundered past the infantry as they rushed through the gates. As they did, though, rebels appeared on the walls as they realized they were utack. They fired down at the gover infantry, who tried to fire back to little effect. Adelmar quickly took trol of the situation by having his personal infantry bodyguard move forward into the city, with the rest of the infantry following close behind. As the infantry poured into the city, the officers directed their men to their assigned ses of the city.
Adelmar quickly took his personal bodyguard and a regiment of soldiers to occupy the gover district. As they marched through the streets, Adelmar saw the terrified faces of the people. They obviously knew of the fates of cities like Bollstadt, which were sacked by noble militias following their capture. Adelmar khis and wao avoid something like that happening in Strausen, so he was determihat it wouldn’t happen once his men took the city.
Finally, though, Adelmar and his men made it to the gover district. There were only a couple of rebels left. They took a few potshots at Adelmar’s men and Adelmar’s men responded with a fusilde directed towards the ragged rebel lihen they quickly stormed into several buildings in the Gover Distrid dispatched the rest of the rebels. Anroup of soldiers went towards the Governor’s Pace to help áedán’s troops, who were under siege in the Pace. Adelmar’s troops poured musket fire into the fnks of the rebel formations, devastating them once again. For the few hunshots echoed throughout the city as the st of the rebels put up a st stand against Adelmar’s troops. Meanwhile, his troops triumphantly raised the fg of the Kingdom over the Governor’s Pabsp;
Finally, the battle was over and Adelmar's 11th brigade had retaken Strausen. As Adelmar got to the work of occupying the city and all that apa, travelers spread the miraculous victory at Strausen across the Kingdom. This was a massive morale boost to the New Model Army and the noble militias, si to this point the most culturally important city that the gover had recaptured si previously had been the capital during the Imperial Era. For his victory, these travelers and storytellers would give Adelmar a title. “Hero of Strausen.”
