I promised Voluntaris I would do this, soooo I did it.
Act 1
A Blacksmith
We begin our story from a simple time on enla. When the morning sun meant toil and tending the land, and the night sky was dark and the seas filled with emptiness. I shared in Enlas early sentiments back then and took pleasure in forging iron hoping it would serve a greater purpose and be used for a great army. Every soldier needs a weapon. But at the time you could hardly call my close friends soldiers. We ran a small group of half tagged mercenaries with the intention of gaining a purpose on the sea and possibly being paid to handle certain..."dirty jobs". Freewind Expeditions, while the idea for holding such a camp where your guild had the freedom to roam, there would be nowhere to roam without a ship to do so. We stacked everything we had to get the job done. Running trade by clipper, at one point we even owned our own Island south of two crowns.
During this time of adventure, we ran into plenty of unsavory faces. While we could say we owned our own island, there was always that 1 person who would constantly remind us why stacking dominos in the wind was a bad idea. Veritas, a house of hooligans. They were small, much smaller than us. At one point I thought they were french. Being constantly reminded by the great Foblobster how skilled they were, and how rich they were. But nothing would come of that, yet.
A Pirates Fate
The sea was a place full of thieves back then. Some would kill for the sole purpose of killing, others would wait until you had something of value. And then still, some others would make attempts at thievery only to constantly fail at every turn. Piracy, both the west and the east had seen its fair share of destruction in that regard. There was a constant fear, always having someone look over your shoulder for you while holding the wheel of a clipper. The seas were full of clockworks, and pirates that insisted on pumping their jacks. But we made it through, managed to get on our feet all the while running into the inevitable fight. My ship, wasn't the first ship to ever be constructed, but its build was a reminder of just how wild the sea could be.
Island of Wealth
Everything I've built took mountains to achieve, and in some way, I always felt as if I was climbing and endless latter covered in random sprouting razor blades shearing its victim into a plummet a hundred feet to the ground. But alas, these falls seem perilous, but for some reason I always land on my feet, only to realize I had nothing to worry about. My ship was no different. It was the final trade needed to build my ship, an afternoons trip was all it would take to make the dream alive. But, as with everything, there's always a random encounter to get in the way. We arrived in the center of the island and stood near the traders, ready to move the final shipments and await our daily payout for the ship build. As I arrived to the trader, I suddenly found myself surrounded by 100 eyes, 100 blades, and 100 reasons to never let your guard down. When suddenly, a voice rang out to break the tension. A command was issued to hold, and 100 eyes and blades stood motionless.
"The one who juggles!" proclaimed a young Gray the Wanderer. My most loyal of friends. From behind the wall of 100 eyes and blades walked the one they called Mumjuggler. "We could have killed you and taken all of this". Challenging words to a group as outnumbered as we were, but what Freewind lacked in number it made up for in sheer determination in a fight. Adam, carried a longspear, and his battle prowess was unmatched by anyone at the time. Proverb, a boisterous one, skilled, but taking pride in his ability to swoon any lady caring to listen. Seth, a wicked lady with unmatched talents in causing her enemies to beat themselves in anguish by keeping her allies alive, and causing her friends ears to bleed with disgust and sensible humor. Aurelia, young and quick tempered but able to hold her own and in ways stronger than any male counterpart. Parmantots, wide eyed but sensible, loyal to his friends. Zaros, an eager mathematician calculated, but awkward, everyone needs an inventor, constantly babbling about probability and percentages, while failing one liners reminiscent of leasure suit larry. Fabz and Purple, a dynamic set of personalities woven in and out of the wake of freewind, Fabz has a way with posing, and tea parties, but his quickness and skill are untouchable. Purple has a way of staying silent, but always reminding a failure that she is aware of how much you suck. Gray the wanderer, the most loyal of my friends, socially awkward yes, but forever stuck behind the will of a bow and as passionate about his abilities as he is about making lewd jokes. A handful of the many faces that crossed my path on a daily basis but forever willing to fight and having a drive to do it while against the odds. But not today...Today we were met by the one who juggles, and his offer of allegiance to the Setting Suns would change my fate forever.
Imperials
I've seen many things here, but nothing would match the wave of bodies heaving in battles unknown to the common. While the one who juggled
commanded an army of 100s, the wave of spears and spells of the Imperials were innumerable. The encounter was brief along the fields of halcyona,
but it was enough. We would meet again...but behind the walls of political strife.
The Summit
The alliance with the suns had hurdled our small band of misfits into a new side of things. Our concerns before were simple, a few handfuls of corn, a satchel of gold, a spear in your hands, and a tongue that spit fire fearless in battle. But today would be different. Today, I would put down my pitchfork, wash the dirt off my brow, dress for success, and become a delegate. Blicero, took the time to update me on the goings on of the outside world, who knows who, why who does what, where who came from, and whose bitter love story makes them a terrible delegate. All of my simple worries soon changed, and a world of pomp and circumstance replaced it. We were to have a summit, for our faction, our nation, and our people. A wash of words to determine friend from foe. The lines were full of Clockworks, and Incoming Nerfs, Imperials, and Suns. The host of our little gathering was a strange but precise man named Fact. And just like his name, his encounters with us were....strict, to the point...only the facts. He tried his hardest to never offend even a common fly, the delegate of delegates. We all sat in a room waiting patiently for the meeting to begin. Fact would lead the speeches as the room got quiet, I thought to myself, what a great leader, its no wonder he commands such a large army, the Imperials. But a different voice would chime in during this meeting, an unfamiliar one. His name was Alyx, and he spoke with certainty, and confidence....a strange and subtle hint of assuredness. He spoke of castles, and grand enemies, new lands, and the future. I tried my hardest to be a proper and sophisticated gentle lady during this proceeding of winding words. But who was I to fool anyone, I can't stand tension and seriousness, I need to throw a potato across this meeting table to break the somber mood. Words and words, pomp and circumstance, I walked away from the meeting with a head filled with information and tired ears from such stiff small talk. But it was decided, Imperial Legacy would put down its show of force and intimidation toward the west and drive the focus to an enemy whose behemoth wake shakes the earth at its core.
The Brave Beasts of the East
Earth only moves for the water, but mountains crumble for the beast. Cat people accompanied by short and cocky humanoids speaking in tongues, lead by a giant lion. The Brave Newbies. Their name wasn't intimidating at all....until you spotted 12 ships appearing on your radar with sails banded with their names. 500? 1000? Endless? Wave after wave of red would wash you and anything valuable you had away, and there was nothing you could do to stop them. The Imperials warned us about them at the summit. But how could we truly see such a force. If it was to make the Imperials shudder, then how would we comprehend such a beast. Freewind promised to loan its forces to a grander front, a larger window of battle, but it wouldn't be enough. There were just too many of them. The one who juggles would even tell stories of how his 100 eyes would vanish in an instant when they showed up. The world would freeze and everything living would be thrown to the ground. But what would it take to fight such a beast, how could our band of misfits in Freewind ever compete against something so vast, how would the Suns survive such a conflict, what was the point of inviting us to a summit to reveal an enemy that couldn't be beat?
The Moons Eclipse the Sun
By this time Freewind and the Suns had worked together for what seemed like ages. Our methods were merging, our tactics were the same, our drive was exact, but our forces were conflicted. We had dreams and goals after the Imperial meeting. New lands, castles, prestige. But how could we obtain something so far away? In the back of our minds we both knew that if we wanted to achieve greatness what must be done. The decision was made, if we wanted to achieve anything we could no longer move under separate motivations. We had to fly under one banner, as one force. The Sun sets, and its vision is blocked out by the moon, "Eclipse". Our force expanded exponentially. Our special snowflakes and elites soon joined with more who shared the same focus. Our new drive and commitment was to hear the stories Alyx mentioned, we decided to prepare to take a castle. All of my metalwork and mining would come to use, all of our efforts were full focus. We spent countless days laying out the methods and the plan, preparing everything we had. Planning and conversations flooded with words interrupted by sparse jokes from the likes of Sir Croneyus Maximus, the yatata master, and lord of the yatatas. We were a focused group of individuals. But our focus would be interrupted by the spiraling inner turmoil the west suffered. Unlike the previous summit, where everyones conditions were layed out, and their intentions were set in stone, we were to find out how quickly individuals could change for a chance at becoming "The Lord".
Thunderstruck
Many people battle for things. Honor, wealth, prestige, admiration, bloodlust, deception. Its all the same though, someone wins, someone dies.
Imperial Legacy had made a move shortly after the formation of Eclipse to bolster their own forces. Their new force was the largest anyone had ever seen, in an on going war against the beast of the east. Their new force was known to shake the land around them as much as the beast. So much so that they bent the land to their own will, and changed clearings of the world into grand forests. Forests, that would soon be full of blood and thunder. Freewind was always a mercenary group, but, we never called ourselves mercenaries, and we rarely sold our services. But a new group of Flawless individuals decided to actually go into business and live up to the mercenary standard. Mercenaries. Blood for hire. Getting the job done for a price. We had had several run ins with them under the banner of Eclipse. But we would never expect such a small group who could field a battle at less men than our own small group of Freewind to be so far in the field of deception. Their actions were piracy at its fullest. Their mentality was something to be admired in some ways, yet disgusted in others. Everyone was aware they were full of attitude. But no one could have guessed they would be so bold to do the unthinkable. The Imperials were a solid front, supported by a new Survey Corps. Their presence and number were above and beyond, and in combat they would actually drive out the great beast of the east. They had rules, they worked in isolation. The rules were simple. Whats mine is mine, whats yours is yours. Simply put, just stay out of the way and no one gets hurt. The mercenaries though, were....above rules. Who would tell a Mercenary to be quiet? Who would tell a Mercenary where to stand. I woke up that morning to go out to a hidden area, to replicate what we've seen the Imperials do, but on a smaller scale. But this time to our suprise we found something....different. The Brave Newbies had planted a small forest of trees. We had a special man of the field Maliqe. His business is finding a tree, and by cold calculations, he gets it right every time. The tree is struck by lightning, and forever burns with the energy of electricity. Most people would ignore the usefulness of such a talent, but Maliqe was good at what he did, and where there was profit to be made, these trees would make it. Word had traveled that there was a disruption in enla. As we sat at the top of this cliff, waiting for beasts to show up and claim electric possessed trees. We found that miles away a different battle had been waging since sun up.
The Imperials had planted a forest, but for the first time, an organized group of bandits had ignored the warnings they set for everyone.
"You're bat♥♥♥♥ crazy" those were the last words I could say to Retaliate before it was too late. Little could be said of Retaliate, he was around, he was boisterous, but he was...grounded, at times calm. No one would have expected him to set in motion one of the heaviest conflicts the west had ever seen. Bloodshed fed the earth as lightning struck trees and the battlecries of death and anguish filled haranya. No mercenary could be left alive, and no Imperial could be spared. "Down with Legacy!" Old outcries of hatred could be heard over and over, where bad blood has existed since the dawn of Enla. There could be no unity, there could be no Legacy. This battle would determine the future of Auroria. The land of castles and Lords. "Red is dead" an old quote, many of us in the west held close, to know that no beast could be trusted, but the Mercenaries were different they were born from both sides of the world, to them to take every advantage over your opponent is victory even if it means playing both sides of the fence. Summits were had, rumors were spread throughout the west, deception around every corner. The Shadowhawks wanted to kill the beast, Mercenaries wanted their own prestige no matter the cost, Legacy would fight at every avenue on full alert. While the world focused on chaos though, we were Eclipse, we were focused on a much greater goal, the battle for Auroria.
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Originally Posted by LokiDaKid
