A Modern on
The sword is not my on.
On the field, I do not wield it.
I’m her fenor duelist.
Instead, I have a different on.
My men are my on.
On my word, they strike,
As deadly and swift as a sword,
As one, we are united and strong!
Yet the swordsmehis!
They say warriors fight alone.
Like fools, they g to the old ways.
They pretend they’re like those a heroes
The heroes of a myth and legend.
Yet where are those heroes today
Gou aomes away from the masses.
While they py pretend, my men gather,
They gather from all ers of society
Each differe united in purpose.
Each more heroic than any mythic hero.
And in their wake they leave glory,
They smash old, outdated traditions,
And they bring progress forward!
A new order arises over the horizon!
-Adelmar Athanaric
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Part 0: The Green Dagger Rebellion
| 0:5 | Battle of Gren Part Two |
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Seifedmis 26th, 856 (7/26/856) - Gren - Royal Territory of Gren - el Adelmar Athanaric
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“el, you o retreat! They destroyed my regiment, and we couldn’t even fight back!” el Bertram de Waltheri was borderline hysterical as he tried to vince Adelmar to retreat. “If you try to attack, they’ll wipe out all of your men!”
Adelmar wanted nothing to do with him, he’d seen how he had led his men into that sughter, and how he didn’t join his men itle. Instead, at the sign of danger, he fled and sihen had been trying to get Adelmar to flee as well. He wa Adelmar down with him.
Adelmar wasn’t having any of it, “If you are so certain that I’ll fail, then leave aurn to the camp with the rest of your men! I’ll have no pce for cowards like you!” With an angry gre, el de Waltheri left. Finally, Adelmar had some pead quiet.
Of course, he still had a battle to and. Regardless, it was o not have somebody like el de Waltheri b him. He returo pnning his attack against the rebels. Despite the lead regiment being shattered, he extracted some valuable intel from them, revealing that the rebels who had attacked them were wearing green cloaks with a white tree oo the best of Adelmar’s knowledge, the only rebel units that wore simir outfits to that were the personal guard of General Ruben Theodoricus.
Once agaihrew the dice. This time, he was betting everything on the idea that the General was with the rebels that had attacked the lead regiment. If he was right, he could capture the General and bring the battle to a swift end and without as many casualties on both sides. If he was wrong, though, he would have blundered his troops into a catastrophe.
With the colpse of de Waltheri’s regiment, he had fiments at his disposal. He sent el Ewald de Lutz’s regiment to the left fnk to guard against any rebel reinforts so that Adelmar could isote the General. He assighe right fnk to el Benjamin Sepp’s regiment to prevent any rebel ter-attacks. Then he pced the twiments from the 11th Brigade in the ter, sihat’s where he assumed most of the fighting would take pce. In charge of those twiments would be himself and Leonhard. He already had a rough idea of what he po d the battle, so he summoned Leonhard to brief him on the pn. When he finished describing it, Leonhard asked, “That sounds like a goof pn, Adelmar, but why do you wao be in charge of the main maneuver force? Why don’t you take the lead instead?”
“Leonhard, these soldiers fought alongside me at Strausen. They are already familiar with me and think of me as a victorious ander. My presence alone will inspire them and their officers to hold firm. Meanwhile, for the pn to succeed, I need a petent and brave ahat’s you.”
As much as Leonhard wao ask more, he kime was of the essend that the trust his friend had pced in him was a valuable thing, so he saluted. “It’ll be done.” So with that, the deployments were plete, and the se of the Battle of Gren began.
As the blue cd gover soldiers advanced, Adelmar’s presence filled them with fidence, as tales of his victory at Strausen had spread throughout the ranks. They made him out to be almost an avatar of the Aspect of War, though Adelmar in his ter years would deny anything like that being true. It stuck among the men. It would be a good thing, too, sihey were about to ehe heaviest fighting that the battle would bring. The rebels weren’t taking this lightly, either, as they wao wipe out Adelmar’s troops before they had the ce to pee further into their lihe rebel units were engaged in fierce fighting with the New Model Army across the entire frontline.
Adelmar took the lead, and some of his aides apanied him. His regiment wasn’t the most experienced, since he had left the most elite men to Leonhard, so he was mostly relying on their instincts, not their skill, to keep them alive. Though he couldn’t think much more about this, since onballs and bullets burst out of the treeline as the rebels began their attack. For a moment, Adelmar stopped. He hadn’t thought they would bring up ons so quickly. If he wasn’t currently getting shot at by them, he would almost have to give props to the rebel general for this mahis created a fresh problem since he didn’t have ons of his own, since he had left them by his staging area. As much as he cursed himself for fetting something that now seemed so vital, he pushed through it.
He quickly ordered the men into formation, as Adelmar sed the battlefield looking for openings for his men. Finally, he spotted the rebel ons; atop a small rise where they had full view of his men was where the ons were at. Quickly, he ordered his most experienced pany to push forward and attack the guns. As they advanced, Adelmar had other panies give c fire as they also advanced. Adelmar nning to lead his men into a more defensible area to give Leonhard the opening he needed. In order to do that, though, he couldn’t have those ons b him. As his men charged the ons, he watched as ister shot and musket fire mauled them, but they kept going. He wished there was another way that didn’t require so many sacrifices but he k was necessary for the final victory. Still, it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Finally, they reached the ons and Adelmar watched as they dispatched the gun crews. They then broke apart the gun carriages and tipped the ons over, making them useless. After they pleted this mission, the pany quickly returo Adelmar’s force. Just in time, too, as a major enemy assault was bearing down hard on them. As the battle intensified, one of Adelmar’s aides turning to him saying, “Sir, we must withdraw. If you fall, the entire line will colpse.”
As another bullet struck the ground, Adelmar looked at his aide and said, “As long as I have my men with me, I won’t fall. Besides that, the enemy general is also on the field direg his men. What kind of ander would I be if I cowered in the face of a few bullets? I’ll stand until I draw my st breath!”
Sighing, the aide would step back as Adelmar held firm, although Adelmar was silently praying his decration wouldn’t be the death of him. A cheer went up from the men as word of what he said reached them. Invigorated by their ander’s fidehey would hold as well. Even though men around them colpsed because of the relentless swarm of bullets which buzzed around them, they held firm. Adelmar stayed tered so his men could look at him as an example.
Though, Adelmar wasn’t as fident as he projected externally. He retty sure that they wouldn’t hit him, but he still had heard plenty of stories about frontline officers being killed. Hell, he was only a el because the st el of his brigade died in an ambush. He just had to hope that his men would keep him safe and Leonhard and his men would deliver the coup de grace to the rebels.
Until then, though, he was in the middle of the devastating battle. His soldiers mostly took cover behind fallen trees, which provided cover from the bullets swarming around them. He was rapidly giving orders to the anders of various battalions, giving orders on the fly and maneuvering them around the battlefield wherever he felt necessary. It worked too, as the men acted as one and faithfully followed the orders they received, and the anders followed Adelmar’s orders to the letter. Through this, he made sure that he always had the units with the most strength in the most pressing areas.
Adelmar wasn’t idle, either. Iween issuing orders, he’d take shots at the rebels with his revolver. Although it didn’t influehe enemy, It inspired the men who tio hold up against the withering fire. The battle remained a stalemate and so, attempting to break that stalemate; the rebels opted for one of their cssic strategies; a shock charge. A horn blew and instantly rebels brandishing spears, swords, axes, clubs, and bayos charged at Adelmar’s men. Looking behind him, he saw fear cross the faces of the men and knew he had to do something.
Adelmar stood up and ordered his men to fire, “Ready,” at which the soldiers stood at attention with their muskets cocked. “Aim,” the soldiers raised their muskets at the charging rebel horde. “Fire” the sound of all those muskets being fired at once left a ringing in Adelmar’s ears as he shouted at them to reload. Ahead of him, the gu the rebels to ribbons, which was deadly accurate because of the rifled muskets bined with the stant marksmanship training Adelmar forced them to do. A couple of rebels stumbled, maybe siderireat, but the men behind them spurred them forward.
Again he looked at his men and this time he didn’t see any fear, instead he saw a focus otle in front of them. Within the minute, he repeated the sequence, and they fired again before Adelmar gave them permission to fire at will. This time, more rebels fell to the ground as they had gotten closer, letting his men fire more accurately. Ultimately, the rebels reached Adelmar’s lines, but this was what he had pnned for. Almost as if on cue, his men withdrew. To the untrained eye it looked like a rout, but Adelmar khis art of the pn and now was Leonhard’s time to shine.
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Seifedmis 26th, 856 (7/26/856) - Gren - Royal Territory of Gren - Lieutenant el Leonhard Mathis
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Leonhard’s regiment moved slowly through the thick forest, trying to remain hidden for as long as possible. Away from them, they could hear musket and on fire, and Leonhard knew Adelmar had ehe rebels in battle. As much as he had fiden his friend, he still worried about what might happen if he died in battle. Adelmar had given him a solid pn, but it would amount to nothing if he died and the men under his and broke because of it. But he remembered his duty was to follow Adelmar’s orders, and so had his men tinue on. Though that wasn’t difficult, he had specifically picked the most veteran and experienced regiment to join him. Everything going as pnned would require their experience. Only Leonhard and a couple of officers knew about the pn, but even still the soldiers went along with it sihey had already won a brilliant victory at Strausen uhe same leadership. They were fident they would win another here.
The thick forest cealed the regiment exceptionally well, whibined with Adelmar leading his troops in the ter, made them basically invisible to the rebel leadership, who assumed that the entire force was with Adelmar. It would be a costly assumption which would leave them pletely helpless in the face of Leonhard’s regiment. That time hasn't e yet, though, but the trap was slowly closing around the rebels. On the left and right fnks, biments were holding steady, repealing wave after wave of rebel forces. Unknowingly, the rebels had walked right into Adelmar’s trap, and it was slowly strig the life out of them, with only the finishing blow left to send them fleeing.
Across the etle lihe New Model Army and Green Dagger Rebels were engaged in fierce struggles, but none had peed as far as Adelmar had. Yet their battles were just as important because they held down on the rebels and wouldn’t let go, keeping them i the same time, thunderous artillery duels tinued between gover and rebel artillery pieces, with her side seeming to have the edge. While all of this was raging, gover and rebel cavalry were g in the fields he battlefield, with the gover cavalry winning, though with heavy losses.
Yet her Leonhard nor Adelmar were aware of those battles, as their own battles forced them to focus. To ehe enemy wouldn’t discover them and to find a suitable position to unch his attack from, Leonhard had a small group of scouts moving ahead of his troops as a precaution. Moving through the forest was being rather dull by the time his scouts reported they had found a suitable position. Having this information, Leonhard quickly reached that area and reoriented his men to face the enemy's rear, which was in pin sight.
One of his officers eagerly asked, “Why don’t we advance right now? Their backs are to us? They won’t be able to stop us if we attaow!”
Leonhard stopped him, though. “Now’s not the time. There’ll be a better opportunity for us soon. Save yor and don’t be hasty.” Slightly defeated, the officer returo his men, leaving Leonhard at the head of the regiment. He khe officer had a reason to so eagerly try to get Leonhard to attaow. It was logical that they should attaow sihe rebels were pletely defenseless, but Adelmar had told him when to attad Leonhard wasn’t about to go against those orders. Especially since Leonhard was fident that the rebels would fall right into the trap that Adelmar had id for them. Then it happened.
Leonhard heard a horn blow, and he reized the sound as the sound that the rebels were about to charge. The st time he had heard it was during the ambush which killed the leadership of the brigade before Adelmar took over. Naturally, many of his men also remembered that, and he saw that many of them were nervous, so Leonhard stepped forward. He dramatically uhed his saber to draw his men’s attention. “Soldiers, we’re on the verge of a glorious victory. Follow me. Charge!” With that, the regiment sprung forth from the forest shouting war cries to intimidate the rebels, who were now surrouhey quickly formed into a battle line and fired off a single volley before charging with cold steel.
In the middle of this fighting was Leonhard, who was fighting with a saber in hand against the rebels. As soon as he began the charge, scattered rebels began firing at him and his men, but the shock of his charge caught them off guard, so they couldn’t aim very well. As the bullets streaked over their heads, Leonhard and his men finally made tact. The rebels were no match for the goverroops as they chewed through the rebels, with their superior training giving them the needed edge. The only troops that could’ve survived or even thrown back this onsught were out of positioween Adelmar and Leonhard’s men.
The rebels weren’t able to respond effectively, with Leonhard’s men having materialized out of thin air behind them, and then Adelmar’s troops wheeled and turned back to the rebels which had charged them. Ihan a mihe situation had turned pletely against the rebels. In response, many of them simply threw down their ons and fled or surrendered. Others fought on to the bitter ee the cowardice of their fellow men, though the twiments quickly cut them doidly, advang ohe rebel battle line quickly fell apart under all this pressure, causing their entire force to disie.
Leonhard stayed front aer during the melee as he traded blows with rebel infantrymehankfully never got hit. He had always been good with his saber, which served him faithfully now that he was ihick of the fighting. Finally, the rebel’s st anized resistance colpsed as they retreated. Leonhard didn’t let up, though. He wouldn’t let them go that easily. Instead, he ordered his men to pursue them and to not let them get even a moment to rest. He had a slight worry he might have walked into a trap, but based on the way the rebels were retreating, he assumed they had pletely broken them. He pressed forward, following the fleeing rebel infantry back to their camp.
The close pursuit of the rebels led Leonhard and Adelmar’s men straight to the rebel camp. It was clear this was it for the rebels, and they had no hope of victory. Yet they held on, knowing that they wouldn’t receive any mercy if the gover soldiers captured them. Still, everybody khey couldn’t hold out forever, aually the goverroops would break through. While the two forces were stu the stalemate, Leonhard and Adelmar met behind the lines,
“Adelmar, isn’t there something we could do t this battle to a close?”
Adelmar looked over towards the men who were still trading fire with the rebels. “Not that I see at this point. We just have to hold and wait until we’ve won. I have full fidehat el de Lutz and el Sepp hold off the rebels until we’ve won here.”
“I’ll head bay men then,” Leonhard said with a salute before turning and heading back to where his men were stu a stalemate. From his perspective, he could see that the goverroops were still in high spirits and were firing off stant volleys of musket fire into the rebel camp. On the rebel side, he could see that they were slowly being whittled down by each volley. He thought it was only a matter of time before they would crush them.
For his part, Leonhard was right on the frontline, giving the orders to fire and reload to his men, keeping them in order and keeping discipline high. Each volley was oep closer to victory. Still, the rebels kept up their fire, even if it was getting weaker with each passing moment. Around Leonhard, men fell as bullets tore apart muscle and shattered bone, leaving them dead or bleeding out as the fighting tihe soldiers disregarded the pain of their fellow soldiers, as the soldiers on both sides were only ed with firing and reloading their muskets, and they couldn’t focus on anything else.
After around ten minutes of this stalemate, a messenger from Adelmar reached Leonhard. His message was simply for Leonhard’s troops to charge the rebel camp. Instantly upon hearing this, Leonhard sprung into a, signaling the drummers to give the order to charge while he vocally gave the order to his men. The men, for their part, followed their ander as he advaowards the rebel camp. They stepped over the dead bodies, whiow littered their position, before ref their lines just in front of the rebel camp. Finally, they charged and stormed over the makeshift barricades around the rebel camp.
What few rebels remained barely put up a fight as the goverroops overwhelmed them. Goverroops captured tless rebels or cut them down as they stormed the camp. In the middle of this, both Leonhard and Adelmar met up and also searched for the rebel general. The two of them started looking around the rebel camp for the rebel general. Until finally they found what they assumed was the ander’s tent because it was rger and more decorated thaher tents. So they entered with their ons drawn. Ihe tent was mostly empty, with only a table in the ter and at that table was the rebel general.
He gestured at the ope in front of him. Instead of instantly sitting down, Adelmar and Leonhard exged a wary gnce, w what he could be pnning. Finally, Adelmar sighed and sat down in front of the general. Adelmar began, “Ruben Theodoricus, you are under arrest by the authority of King Albert II of Nonesia and his loyal court.”
The General waved his hand dismissively. “His authority only sts as long as you soldiers blindly follow him. Why do you fight for a king who doesn’t even know or care about you?”
“I fight for what’s best for our try. That means fighting for the King.”
“And what if what’s best for the try isn’t the King? What then?”
“If that time es, then I’ll sider my options.” Adelmar responded.
The General smirked. “Some would sider those thoughts as treason.”
“You led an army against this try.”
“I did what was best for the try.”
Adelmar looked at the General, seemingly in thought, before responding, “And what did you aplish?”
The General sighed, “We didn’t have enough time to do anything that could’ve ged this try.”
“So nothing.”
“And I see that we’re getting nowhere with this versation. I tell that you have ambition. Mark my words, in a few years they’ll throw you away o bees ve. The nobles who rule this try won’t want somebody like y to upend their order.”
With that, the versation was over and Adelmar brought over some of his soldiers to take the General away. As the two of them stood alone ient, Leonhard asked, “Why did you talk with him instead of arresting him right away?”
Adelmar rexed a little. “I just wao uand him. If I’m going to fight somebody, I want to uand why they fight.”
“Yeah, that fits. You’ve always been that type of person.” Leonhard patted Adelmar on the shoulder before walking away, back to his troops. The General’s words lingered in Adelmar’s mind after they took him away.
Over the few hours, the rest of the New Model Army broke through aroyed the rebel army occupying the capital. That same day, the Kiuro the city with massive fanfare aement by the people, though their excitement robably more because for now their suffering was over. Iermath, dramatic ges still tinued.
