LORDS OF THE EARTH CAMPAIGN 54
“LORDS OF THEEURTH”
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Turn Seven Newsfax
(A.C. 2811-2815)
oman, remember that you shall rule the nations by your authority, for this is to be your skill, to make peace the custom, to spare the conquered, and to wage war until the haughty are brought low.
– Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (7019 B.C.)
mall nations are like indecently dressed women. They tempt the evil-minded.
– Julius K. Nyerere, Prime Minister of Tanganyika
ations! What are nations? Tartars! and Huns! and Chinamen! Like insects they swarm. The historian strives in vain to make them memorable. It is for want of a man that there are so many men. It is individuals that populate the world.
– Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
ower, I said. Power to walk into the gold vaults of the nations, into the secrets of kings, into the holy of holies. Power to make multitudes run squealing in terror at the touch of my little invisible finger. Even the moons frightened of me. Frightened to death. The whole worlds frightened to death.
– Jack Griffin (Claude Rains), The Invisible Man
GM’S NOTES
1. There was quite a bit of confusion (much of it on my part) this turn about how much Agro Nomadic nations consume in certain terrains. I enunciated a rule based on BR 10.7.2. Some people thought I was arbitrarily changing the rules, which was not the case. I was, in fact, enunciating what seems to actually be the correct rule. My understanding changed and that is all.
The problem is that BR 10.7.2. is in opposition to Chart 2-10, also from the BR, which says that Nomads pay nothing for Troop support in the steppe and only 0.1 GP in cultivate or Intensively cultivated terrain. Now, those who know a lot more about the LOTE rules than me have pointed out that the two rules are not necessarily incompatible. However, what is undeniable is that the XSTATS program does not include support for the rule in 10.7.2. Equally undeniably, I’m not going to re-process every nomad support cost by hand. Henceforth, the first sentence of 10.7.2 will be ignored.
That leaves us right where this game started, with the troop support costs exactly as they have been since Turn 0, as enunciated in Table 2-10 of the Charts page
My apologies for the confusion. And that’s all it was – confusion. Not an attempt to jimmy the rules in any way, but to clarify the already-existing rules.
Please let me know if this confusion has somehow put your position in terrible danger or deep annoyance.
2. Please note that as soon as a horde pacifies or settles any civilized region or uses any tribal points to settle any pacified region, it has settled down and will become either barbarian or civilized depending on the sort of people it has supplanted. Nomads are exempt from this rule this turn only (and may reconvert settlers to TBL points), and if still settled at the end of turn 8 will become permanently barbarian or civilized.
3) Rule Change: Orcs now have a 1.5 NFP multiple and a 0.75 GP multiple.
4) Don’t move into a region you’re raiding. Next time, it’s a fight, not a raid. Consider yourselves warned.
MEDARHOS
North-Western Medarhos
| The Skane Jarldoms– Ruler – Prince Varguth Capital – Vanaheim Dominant Race – Human |
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Following in the footsteps of uncle, Prince Varguth made peaceful overtures to the southern neighbor which once felt the sting of Skane dragonships. The Regent negotiated The Treaty of Tirgon, a Skane/Tirgonian mutual defense treaty. This amicable meeting also resulted in the purchase of the Skane March from Tirgonia. Varguth sent his lieutenant Sven Hvindunkdat to Tirgon to deliver the agreed-upon price in gold. The aged Tirgonian monarch duly had his scribes draw up a gorgeously illuminated deed to deliver back to the Skane regent.
However, no one consulted with the wishes of the frontiersmen dwelling in the Skane March. For centuries, their ancestors had been the bulwark against the Skane barbarians, their land grants purposefully given to warriors who would withstand the pirates of the north. And now they were to bend the knee to pagans who spoke a harsh and meaningless tongue? Never! Count Asparian declared the March to be hostile to both the Skane and to Aramayne’s Tirgonia. Meanwhile, Varguth caused many hundreds of settlers to build towns and villages throughout Godemar. |
The Kingdom of Tirgonia –
Ruler – King Quinn Michelmas
Capital – Tirgon
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Eastern March [A]
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In addition to negotiating the Treaty of Tirgon, thus ending the long-standing enmity between his kingdom and the Skane vikings, ancient king Aramayne once more appointed an heir to his throne. He formally disinherited his daughter, the lost Princess Artemes, and named Quinn Michelmas, Duke of Sirion, as his heir. He summoned the dukes and earls of the kingdom and bade them swear an oath to support Quinn. This was a wise precaution, for in the winter of 2813, the old hero-king died at last. “I am ready,” he said just before expiring.
So ended the line of Arkemon Dragonsbane and two and a half centuries of turbulent Tirgonian history. The great lords now proved true to their oaths and renewed them to newly-crowned King Quinn. Already in middle age, the king busied himself with the business of producing an heir, but it seemed that Tirgonia’s succession woes might continue as no heir was born. Duke Farionh of Greenwood traveled to the Eastern March and there he spent many months with his distant cousin, Theros Lossian. Farionh worked tirelessly to convince the independent-minded Duke to join the March to Tirgonia. Perhaps because of the fate of the Skane March, or perhaps because he found the offer to forgive his land rents to be patronizing, Duke Theros refused to bend the knee to the new king. However, he did agree to a full alliance. Elsewhere, hired gnomish engineers directed an army of serfs and craftsmen in the continued cultivation of the grassy plain of Bekanor. In Aré, new land grants to the minor lords dispossessed from the Skane March spurred the founding of three small hamlets. |
| The Iron Empire of Daerond – Ruler –Emperor Vantos Elerek Capital – Aicherai Dominant Race – Human |
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Peace is no stranger in Daerond, but it never settles in to stay for long. The final years of the reign of Bishop Morbanes began with real promise. The great man announced from his home in Nivaan that Vantos Elerek was his choice of successor on the Council. Black Duke Null oversaw the settlement of several thousand loyal Daeron colonists as the new ruling class of the massive orc city of Vanuma. A road from Hinnom was advanced much of the way towards Vanuma, and the long-expected adventurer’s guild known as The Manticore League was at last completed in Aicherai. Morbanes spent much of these years completing a census of the Daeron people, an endeavor soon to become a bitter irony.
The Bishop passed away in a sudden fit of apoplexy in the winter of 2814. Despite his naming of Vantos as his choice of successor, each of the Black Dukes began immediately to conspire and plot to increase their power on the ruling council at the expense of all the others. Curiously missing were Morbanes’s two most prominent lieutenants, Vantos and the sorcerer Null. Neither had been seen in Daerond for years, not since Null had left Vanuma in 2812. Amidst the squabbling, the allied lords of Hinnom, The Hills of Terror and Lycia all declared themselves free of the yoke of Aicherai. The other Black Dukes named them rebels and traitors. |
Then, in the spring of 2815, Vantos Elerek appeared suddenly in the towns of Lycia, preaching respect for the old order and raising an army. The Lycians enthusiastically followed the charismatic young man as he marched down the north bank of the Narglaurith to Angaurek, up the coast to Aluirek, into his ancestral home of Nivaan (where he attached his house troops to his new army) and then marched on Aicherai. The other Black Dukes either fled the capital or were quick to express the entire support for the chosen successor. Some of these were nonetheless confined in the Marvarius Pit beneath the Temple of Evaless. Vantos Elerek was acknowledged by all as the first among equals, but this did not at all suit the young man, who perceived the weakness of the oligarchic system. Instead, he conspired with the high priest of Malbor to crown him emperor, a title no mortal man had ever held in Daerond since the fall of the Miletian empire five and a half centuries before (the lich-king Dyrethis had named the new nation “The Iron Empire”, but had never assumed the title.)
He did not bask peacefully in the title however. In the fall of that year came word of another contender, one who had actually served the lich-king as lieutenant. Null was back, and had seized command of the large Daeron army at Vanuma. The hill tribes had declared for him, mistrusting the young and untested Vantos and nursing a hateful grudge for his mentor Morbanes, who had always slighted the hill lords in favor of the lowland dukes. Now the newly-crowned emperor would be put to the ultimate test. The greater part of the Empire was loyal to him, but his army numbered only two thousand, whereas Null’s was the great army that has seized Vanuma, nearly six thousand strong.
The Black Banner Rebels of Daerond –
Ruler –Black Duke Null
Capital – Vanuma
Dominant Race – Orc
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Null consolidated his power over the Daeron highlands and declared Vantos to be a traitor. |
The Harkorian League –
Ruler –First Councillor Clytheus
Capital – Cadares
Dominant Race – Human
| The Merchant Kingdom slept.
In 2811, several post riders were murdered and a post-house burned, but those responsible were caught in an ambush outside of Cadares. Under duress, they admitted to being paid for their work, but did not know the identity of who hired them. |
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The Edgemoor Orcs –
Ruler –Malik the Timid
Capital – Zaramaka
Dominant Race – Orcs
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King Korl marched his army east into Maekron and crushed into pitiable submission the lesser orc tribes that lived there. The action was not overly fierce but its cost was great – both Korl and his ally Azgon the Foul were killed in battle. The dagger that raked across Korl’s thigh before he mauled its owner seemed to result in no more than a scratch. But the paralytic poison with which it was envenomed soon caused the warlord to suffocate on the battlefield.
Immediately when he got word of Korl’s death, Malik the Timid seized the reins of power in Zaramaka by poisoning his strongest rivals. This was seen as an astute move by most of his new subjects, who agreed that one should never stand close to the throne without being ready for a knife in the back. Others marveled at the similarity of means used to dispatch Malik’s rivals and King Korl himself. Taun of Angrod died of old age, and his heirs cancelled the alliance, allowing little more than the passage of Edgemoor’s representatives across their land. |
South-Western Medarhos
| The Brythnian Confederation– Ruler – King Esriadan Capital – Carrenthium Dominant Race – Taurid |
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Nyssa had great plans for these years. She directed that most of Brythnia’s considerable natural wealth be directed into the education of its nobility and thus expanded the old but heretofore small university at Carrenthium. The city itself drew in so many scholars and students that its outlying districts sprawled far beyond the protection of its old walls. Some in the council grumbled that the walls out to be rebuilt, but the queen instead directed that the stone of the old walls be reused to construct lecture halls and dormitories. The bulk of the remaining budget was spent on the continued cultivation of the Great Meadow.
An expected treaty with the Harkorian cities fell through when the Harkorians sent no delegation. Nyssa herself, still a striking figure in her late forties, released the rebel lord Camthalion from prison with the proposal that Camthalion marry her, thus uniting their houses. Unfortunately, as he returned from Carrenthium to Cerintum, the noble Camthalion was caught in a driving snowstorm and died of pneumonia in the Spring of 2812. Undeterred, Nyssa made the same offer to Camthalion’s eldest son, Esriadan. A quiet, contemplative centaur, Esriadan was smitten with the attention of the smarter, older woman and readily agreed, becoming Nyssa’s consort in 2814. By then, terrible news had returned from the Worldspine Mountains. Lord Elpenor had crossed the Lyodan river into Itherias with six thousand centaurs and minotaurs, intending to punish the orcs of Idiolum. Instead, he found the orcs waiting for him (for it seemed that somehow the orcs knew they were coming). King Vaurog Breakspear and thirteen thousand orcs and ogres erupted out of ambush positions in the hills of Itherias and cut Elpenor’s force to ribbons. Elpenor died in the first onslaught, rended in two in the iron grasp of an ogre chieftain. From there, a general panic rippled through the tough Brythnian army. The elite brythnian minotaur guard attempted first to cut its way to the body of Elpenor, and then to cleave a path towards Vaurog Breakspear, but they ran directly into Breakspear’s ogre guard and were stopped cold. |
The allied leader Lycurgus Redshanks was able to salvage a tiny fraction of the taurid army, only a few hundred of his countrymen, and shepherd them back across the Lyodan and into the Brythnian Hills, where they were forced to retreat further from the orcish onslaught. By the end of 2813, Lycurgus had managed to rally roughly a thousand taurids. The orcish victory was nearly total.
Fresh from the slaughter at Itherias, the orcs thoroughly raided the Brythnian Hills and the province of Lloricam, even taking the time to move downriver and raid the wide grasslands of Vahdrian. They took everything of value, leaving the regions barren and in ruins.
In 2815, Nyssa became pregnant by Esriadan, but she and the baby (a girl) died in childbirth. Though the general populace did not mourn the woman seen as an usurper, those who knew her well could not help but mourn the loss of so brilliant and skillful a leader. With no females of the ruling line, Esriadan was recognized as the King, and was strictly warned by the priestesses to quickly marry and produce female heirs, lest the gods turn against him.
| Aelissia – Ruler –King Otho Longacre Capital – The Great Delve Dominant Race – Halfling |
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Aelissia returned to its customary peace and tranquility. King Otho patiently administered the details of government from the Great Delve, while Brandon Longacre administered the government of that city (again to the satisfaction of the king and squires of the city).
Pip Oxback traveled to Corland to retrieve the Aelissian army from Khairais. He was warmly greeted by King Armand and the sturdy halfling soldiers were given a heartfelt farewell by the Corish people they had come to save. That farewell was mirrored by delirious celebrations and feasting by halfling communities all along their route of march, for many of the soldiers had not been home in twenty years. The boys who had marched away to fight the H’rethek were now grizzled veterans, and though they smiled and sang with the celebrating people, many noted an air of sadness that never truly left them. And of course, their numbers were far fewer than they had been twenty years before. In other news, King Otho’s wife gave birth to two sons, one in 2812 and the other in 2814. Work continued on the intensive cultivation of Greeensward, and halfling craftsmen built many transports in the shipyards of the Great Delve in order to move the Aelissian army in times of need. |
| Corland – Ruler –King Armand Capital – Khairais Dominant Race – Human |
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King Armand married Gwendolyn of Tullieres, daughter of a trusted earl. The two produced a daughter in 2815. Armand spared no expense to celebrate the deeds of the doughty Aelissian soldiers who had done so much for the defense of his kingdom, even erecting a statue in the city center facing that of his mother, Queen Armallia.
Bohemond and Tancred led thousands of colonists into Courounnais and Serry (formerly K’chak and Ehkek 7) to reclaim the lands of their ancestors for Corland. The wary peasants sat uneasily in camps planted amidst the crumbling ruins of H’rethek cities and tried to tell each other that the tiny Corish garrisons protecting them would be enough. Earl Rademund traveled to distant Rhavais in order to govern that city, but upon arriving proved most adept at drinking and whoring and ably ignoring the angry letters of the king. In the fall of 2815, Rademund took a drunken misstep from the parapet of his own castle and plunged headfirst into the dry moat below. This followed closely on the death of Beldaric, allied earl of Rhavais. His son viewed the foppish foolery of the Crown’s representative with distasted and distanced himself from his father’s alliance. |
| Lorraine – Ruler –King Artorius Capital – Armorica Dominant Race – Human |
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King Artorius and Myrddin the wizard brought more colonists to Bruyenne and helped build a modest wooden motte and bailey on a hill near the center of the province. Upon his return to Armorica, Artorius arranged a trade route with the Crusader States and ordered more merchants to visit Elenuil in the Neldorean Wood (Queen Gwenwhyfar was fond of elven jewelry).
Artorius named his son Mordred heir to the throne of Lorraine. The smirking young knight arrived for his investiture all in black and escorting three young ladies who were most definitely neither his wife nor noblewomen. Myrddin was once more ordered to govern the city of Armorica and once more blithely ignored the order, disappearing into the woods of Howel for several years. By contrast, Sir Morgan governed the city of Cassivelaunus with vigor and dedication. By 2815, the small city had a working sewer system and a large stone marketplace where the merchants of a dozen nations hawked their wares. Sir Boedwen’s mission in 2812 to woo the pirates of Deleos was an abysmal failure. The sea lords were not only disinclined to listen to the endless small talk of the Lorraine knight, but word of his almost superhumanly bad breath soon ensured that even the least Delian functionary made excuses not to be cornered by him. |
| The Whisper Wood – Ruler –Queen Elevuil Capital – Menelcandara Dominant Race – Elf Diplomacy – Maenadia [A] |
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| Continuing her expansionist policies, Queen Elevuil negotiated the transfer of the trans-Lyodan human province of Maenadia from the Crusader States. Having learned the hard lessons of Huareth, the queen sent all her counselors to Maenadia to overcome the objections of language, race and religion, assuring the human population of her regard for their traditions. The diplomatic team did a brilliant job, and by 2815, the men of Maenadia signed a treaty of alliance with the elves of the Whisper Wood.
All else in the Whisper Wood was quiet. |
The Neldorean Wood –
| Ruler –Queen Nereil Capital – Elenuil Dominant Race – Elf |
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| Like their Firstborn cousins in the Whisper Wood, the elves of the Neldorean Wood little troubled the world of men. Queen Nereil ruled from Elenuil and Lady Senelra maneuvered the army in the Tarwood. Taralom and the Celendorean hero Valessia departed Elenuil for Dura, seeking word of the lost elven general Lothran.
A large number of hearttrees were planted in Belfirth, beautifying the region and encouraging an ever larger elven population. |
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| The Airnim Horde – Ruler – Tarl Wolf’s Paw Capital – Haelopolis Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Halianis [NT], Gelidalis [NT] |
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Tarl settled in for a stay in Ianthe. The Ianthan slaves were made to build squat fortresses in Ianthis and Riftmarch, while their new masters trained in war and the arts of statecraft. Tarl had a new stone wall built around Jarlhaven and another two thousand riders flocked to his victorious banner.
Airnim colonists settled in Ianthis and the Riftmarch, displacing thousands of native Ianthans. Tarl made Haelopolis his new capital. Tarl gave the pacified region of Halianis its autonomy, then had Araghrun “negotiate” the right to cross its land at will. Sundijama traveled to Gelidalis to negotiate the same treaty rights. Neither region mustered the will to resist the horse-lords. Aelide of Haelopolis, an Ianthan chronicler, noted that the conqueror’s hair was just beginning to gray in this his 127th year. |
| The Exarchate of the Great Crusade – Ruler –Queen Ava Capital – Pontezium Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Mocarre [T], Salt Shore [-C], Carrandis [-NT], Barrandia [-NT], Gnaesius [-NT] |
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Queen Ava named her two younger brothers Gauter and Candos as heir and Prince of Querenia, respectively, hoping thus to allay any anger on the part of Gauter’s partisans. It incidentally had the effect that her own supporters stopped insisting that the queen be immediately married.
Great reorganizations marked the queen’s early reign. She granted the restive province of Maenadia to the Whisper Wood elves and also granted autonomy to the halflings of Carrandis and the fisherfolk of Barrandia and Gnaesius. Meanwhile, she dispatched Sir Galahant across the Lyodan to secure the tribute of the former Ianthan province of Moccarre. Sir Maradoc’s diplomatic voyage to the Salt Shore proved eminently less successful, as his brusque demands for tribute met with the ire of the local lords. |
Meanwhile, great things were occurring closer to home. Thousands of Ianthan refugees were allowed to settle in Regaldros and Laedrus (though some remarked that tearing down the walls of the latter city to accommodate them was a grave error). Outside Laedrus, the peasants of the Exarchate continued to terrace the hills and valleys of the province. Finally, Sir Maradoc hired an unnamed adventuring company, but gave them no orders. They happily lounged in Pontezium on the Queen’s dole.
The Holy Order of the Dawn –
Ruler –Grand Master Tiberius
Capital – The Akasian Hills
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Bregor – [OH]
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The Order’s aging Grand Master knew that his last campaign was upon him. Perhaps it was the rare foresight granted to one long in service of the gods, and perhaps it was only the aching of his bones from long days in the saddle at a time when most men dandled grandchildren on their knee, but Brutus Aurillius knew that his time drew near. However, he had one last quest to accomplish, one last dragon to slay.
He had fought the Hive’s Brood Mother all his adult life, had driven her out of once-fair Corland and had doggedly chased her into the Worldspine Mountains. Now he had lost the scent, but the white-haired old man refused to let go. He would chase her to the Walls of Night or die in the saddle on her trail. Brutus had lost the Hive’s trail in the Southern Worldspines, just as the orcs once more flooded into the region. His captains urged him to fight the enemy at hand, but Brutus had no thought for orcs. They were vermin – he had real demons to follow. His path north blocked by the colonists, he returned south to Lenicum, where by chance his scouts captured a petty dwarf named Grend. This peddlar and itinerant trader told the Grand Master of a safe route through the mountains. The dwarves and orcs having pulled apart, a path could be had through the dire peaks of Endorwaith and Mar Kheland, and so through the desolate forests of Rhundur and Brolok beyond. Once on the open steppe, perhaps the knights would find what they sought. This is exactly the path on which Brutus took his Legion of Righteous Vengeance. He emerged from the forests of Khrundu into the open steppe of Ruathkel in the spring of 2813 and picked up the Horde’s trail (years old by now, but recognizable by its sheer destruction) at the estuary of the Mistriven river. Before winter set in, he crossed the river and encamped on the north shore in Kajd Tudun. From local nomads, he learned that the Hive had made an encampment in Airnim, former home of the horse lords of the same name. |
In the Spring of 2814, Brutus and his three thousand knights entered the lair of the dragon – they had found the Horde’s new home in Airnim and rode bravely to the attack. Three thousand against nearly eight thousand warriors, drones and flyers. More than half the Order’s riders were elite Knights of the Dawn, but the har’keen combined size, ferocity, aerial troops and numbers. On a wide plain beside the Little Wolf River, the two sides met in battle. Brutus managed to take the har’keen by surprise, driving his knights in among the alien encampment before the har’keen knew the humans were even present. With wild cries of “For the Grail!” and “Artorius!” the armored horsemen drove in amongst their hated enemy, slashing and killing with professional precision. In the initial headlong charge, Brutus himself impaled one of the giant Brood Daughters, driving his lance into the ground beyond her.
| As the battle heated, it was Brutus’s presence on the battlefield, constantly exposing himself to danger and constantly exhorting his exhausted men on, that made the difference. Panic spread through the stunned har’keen, and for the first time in recorded history, they broke and ran. Few of Brutus’s forces remained mobile enough to harry them as they fled northwest into frigid Athor. After the battle, nearly seventy percent of the Order’s forces were dead or scattered, but the grim remainder held the bloody field. Estimates of the har’keen losses were about twenty-five percent. Unscathed by claw or fang, Grand Master Brutus Aurillius died that night in his tent, a contented smile on his face.
Meanwhile, Master Sirius had ridden off into the Empire on an unknown quest in 2811 and has not yet returned. Master Tiberius took up command of the Legion of the Iron Guardian in the Akasian Hills and also became Grand Master when word came back of Brutus’s death. |
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Rhanalor
| The Shadowed Realm of Ascarlon – Ruler –Baron Gauros the Arisen Capital – Denavine Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Mahant [F], Dhurkun [F |
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| Gauros continued to drag his bloody nation back into the civilized world. Thousands of colonists were sent to Galati, while the orcs of Dhurkun and Mahant were convinced to swear allegiance to the ancient Baron. They marched in grotesque ceremony to Denavine, where they added their armies to his, thus replacing those the baron had sent to be colonists.
The baron spent his years performing a census of the regions in the wake of the Airnim assault. In the summer of 2811, a force of more than a thousand infantry and cavalry rode out of Lorricar and raided Silvator, taking a few unlucky woodsmen captive. Furious at this unauthorized raid, the baron castigated his vassals, each of whom in turned denied being behind the raid. The baron put several local authorities to the rack, but no satisfactory answer was forthcoming. |
The Worldspine Orcs –
Ruler –Vaurog Breakspear
Capital – Mount Kauroth
Dominant Race – Orc
Diplomacy – Brolok [A]
| It was a glorious period for Vaurog and his orcs. Vengeance upon the hated taurids! Ascendancy in the Worldspines! Blood and souls dedicated to Caravok!
Vaurog summoned to him more than four thousand lightly-armored goblin warriors, the type so common in the Worldspines and added them to his already large army. He set a watch over the likely approaches from Brythnia and prepared to raid the soft hills and valleys of the taurids. He sent his only daughter, Ilgress the Unwilling, to be the bride of Vorstagg of Orodh Dhorn. Thus elevated to a member of the royal family, Vorstagg preened with pride and brought his thousand uruks to his overlord’s call. Vaurog also named his son, Vraag Irontooth, as his heir and successor. Thousands of orcs were settled into farms in the hills of Vilcea, slowly beginning the cultivation of that province. Meanwhile, Markhag, one of Vaurog’s most trusted lieutenants, traveled to Brolok to secure an oath of alliance from the chieftain of that realm. But the great news of the age was the total surprise and success of the army over the hated taurids. True to their nature, the snivelling minotaurs and their centaur slaves had sought once again to stab honest orcs in the back! Goblin spies observed them massing at the Lyodan river in time to let Vaurog’s army prepare defensive positions along their route of march through Itherias. The surprise was total (see Brythnia, above) and the cowardly taurids slaughtered. Thousands were taken alive as slaves and sent back to Mount Kauroth, while the few survivors fled before the victorious orcs. |
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Vaurog raided across the Lyodan river into the Brythnian Hills and Lloricam, forcing the shattered Brythnian army to retreat further into the Dacian Hills. Seeing his opportunity, Vaurog then marched down the Lyodan and raided into Vahdrian, stealing everything of value and burning the rest. The army returned to Mount Kauroth covered in blood and glory. Then, they ran into a really big army. (See Against the Worldspines, below).
H’Rethek –
Ruler –The Hive Queen
Dominant Race – Har’keen
Found at last by the dogged Grand Master of the Order of the Dawn, the remnants of the once-mighty H’rethek nation have decamped to Athor. The order believes that the Hive Queen probably has some six thousand effective soldiers and many thousands of colonists.
| The Empire of Carhallas – Ruler –Emperor Maugrath Capital – Carcaroth Dominant Race – Hobgoblin |
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 First Spear of the Flayed Man Legion |
Emperor Maugrath ruled from Carcaroth, investing vast numbers of slaves and free hobgoblin labor into the improvement of his homeland. swelling its already vast and ordered populace. In the vasty fields of Sauthor, he drilled his cavalry mercilessly to acclimatize them to the steppes in which they sought to be masters.
Duke Zdrach, most of the feudal lords and eight thousand troops, mostly infantry, poured across the Manndaran river and into Emekh. In several brief battles, the Carhallans easily overran the small militia and enslaved the populace. These, too, were brought back to labor in the fields of Sauthor. Prince Khazal worked a mighty sorcery, summoning demons of the earth whose might and clever crafts completed the buildings and villages of Sauthor. Borokoth, lord of Cavakal and the Duke of Adrhrak both passed away of old age. Their sons were quick to renew their father’s oaths of fealty to the Emperor. |
| The Great Kingdom of Annvar – Ruler –Councillor Marvaith Capital – Varthane Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy –Torava [A] |
The Standard of Annvar |
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From 2811-2814, Annvar quietly pursued a policy of internal improvements, expanding the villages of Asep and increasing the size of the merchant fleet based on the Wolf river ports. Sir Tellenor had traveled to Torava and convinced Sir Morder to ally himself with the crown.
Then, in the winter of 2811-2812, Sir Poddicar the Fey, heir to the throne died at the age of fifty-two of apparently natural causes. A day later, Crag, duke of Dumnava died at the age of twenty-seven, of pneumonia. Then, in the sping of 2814, King Udoin died of a sudden heart attack at the age of seventy five. The line of succession fell upon the slim shoulders of ten year-old Astilgen, son of Poddicar. Though Sir Tellenor and Sir Brinn of Gastos remained loyal, Sir Marvaith, governor of Coinde, saw his opportunity to end the tyrannical rule of the House of Udoin. He immediately declared that he would not follow the boy-king and marched on Varthane with a thousand rivermen from Coinde. Tellenor and Brinn were closer to the capital and soon had Udoin’s ten-thousand strong army (nearly half of which were elite Annvar Jaegers) to defy Marvaith. As Marvaith marched through the Annvar heartland, he convinced rebel leaders in Dumnava and Torava to join his bid for supremacy. On the actual field of battle, Marvaith proved a cannier foe, for the army knew him well and also knew the foolish and weak-minded Tellenor. The army officers seized Tellenor and Brinn and delivered them up to Marvaith, declaring him to |
the be the king. Marvaith accepted Brinn’s immediate oath of fealty, but kept Tellenor captive for several months until the latter’s family could be secured. Marvaith then announced a pardon for Tellenor. In fact, the old ruling family had held together the immense nomadic nation by will and brutality alone. Marvaith now needed Tellenor and his ilk to help him run the nation.
Of Astilgen and his several brothers and sisters, no sure tale is known, but none have heard of them since the accession of Marvaith to the throne.
The Conorrian Heartland –
The Conorrian Empire –
| Ruler –Emperor Constantikos III Capital – Echoriath Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Lidhinos [FA] |
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| The allure of jobs and food in the cities caused a migration of many tens of thousands to the great urban centers. The population of Callistus expanded greatly and new walls were erected to protect the two neighborhoods which had sprung up on the banks of the Phaedon. The emperor also granted a charter for a new port city in Autricum on the estuary of the Esharias river. He named the new city “Varantium” in honor of his late father. The emperor sent several thousand peasants across the Phaedon and into the hills of Lenicum, there to establish a colony in the shadow of the orc-infested Blue Peaks. Finally, the emperor founded the Domus Illuminatus, the imperial college of wizardry, in Echoriath.
Elsewhere, general Palos Eatredes raised ten thousand lightly armed limitanei infantry and used imperial gold to hire six thousand Rhanalorian mercenaries. He joined his army to that of General Falkion Xeccus, magister equituum (in command of sixteen thousand cavalry) and the combined army of more than thirty thousand met up with the armies of Bishop Phaetus and marched north against the orcs (see Against the Worldspines, below). In 2815, Princess Anna Comnena reached the age of fifteen. In an unusual move, Constantikos named the girl his heir, preferring her to her twin fourteen-year old brothers Arcalas and Varantius. Several of the leading families of Echoriath immediately offered their sons for consideration in marriage to the princess. |
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After spending a year governing Callistus (and overseeing the construction of streets in the newest parts of town), Gaius Calos traveled to nearby Lidhinos and managed to convince the rebellious General Domus to return his allegiance peacefully to the throne.
The Great Church of the Lords of the Grail –
| Ruler –Patriarch Palladius Holy City – Conorr Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Tarrentica [CH], The Great Delve [CH], Mynos [AB], Mons Llyrae[AB] |
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The Patriarch’s Standard |
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The Great Church invested truly staggering sums into the improvement of their infantry and their infrastructure, and reaped the rewards of both. The Church sent large boxes of gold to the lords of Aelissia, Corland and Har’akir, while they sent foodstuffs to the Llyran Republic. It finished construction on its college of wizadry, the Mentaurus Center for Magecraft in Conorr, named for the late Patriarch Flavius Mentaurus.
Three major military efforts were undertaken by the Church. The largest saw Bishops Phaetus and Calidonus take ten thousand troops (including two thousand Paladins of the Grail), meet up with thirty thousand troops under Imperial command and march into the Worldspine mountains (See Against the Worldspines, below). The other two efforts were both in Har’akir. Bishop Iscandus, after dropping off troops in the Llyran Fortress of Vorogrod, journeyed to Conorr for reinforcements, then took four thousand troops and a dozen or so warships to the defense of Agazier. Meanwhile, at Iscandus’s behest the dwarven mercenary Khedem-Var led five thousand mercenaries in the defense of Mar Awas. |
AGAINST THE WORLDSPINES
Grail Bishop Phaetus led a combined Conorrian/Grail army of thirty-eight thousand troops from Lenicum (where the two forces met in the spring of 2812). At this point, unbeknownst to the Conorrian/Grail forces, Vaurog Breakspear and his orcs were thoroughly routing their Brythnian allies some three hundred miles to the northwest. The allied force marched into the forbidding southern Worldspine Mountains and easily overran the paltry militia of the region (whom the allies outnumbered thirteen to one.) After stationing five thousand Conorrian cavalry in the region, they then marched on the Northern Worldspines, where they were to face a stiffer challenge.
Vaurog Breakspear and his victorious army of thirteen thousand arrived in the Northern Worldspines from out of the Maurellians just as Phaetus’s allied army marched in from the southern passes. The two armies met in a perilous ravine where a narrow ribbon of water fell from a great height and thus washed the stones of the valley with a fine, slippery mist. Too, the thundering fall of the water made commands and distant noises fade into obscurity, so that the scouts of the two forces were practically atop one another before they knew it. Both armies pushed into the other pell-mell, each thinking that the other was but a small group. All around them lay the fastnesses of the orcs, from which arrows began to pour in abundance.
The allies suddenly realized their great weakness. Although they had tens of thousands of light infantry, their main strength was in cavalry, and that cavalry needed room to maneuver. The orcs and ogres were able to move about on the slopes with great ease and outflank the milling cavalry. Then, too, the forts and fortresses of the orcs poured horrible amounts of fire down onto the allies. The allies had many advantages – the military genius of Bishop Phaetus, the blessings of the lords of the Grail, and of course, numbers. Also, a magical artifact possessed by the Bishop, known as The Aggadhu Glass, kept them in constant communication with the Patriarch in Conorr. But they were also civilized men fighting as part of a coalition army deep in savage mountains. Their enemies were fighting in their homeland, with several excellent commanders who also possessed magical abilities.
The battle was long and bloody, but it was never in doubt. The orcs surrounded the humans and drove an ever-tighter noose around them, denying them the open field needed to bring their cavalry to bear. The Conorrian limitanei proved to be highly effective in the broken terrain, but was simply not enough to overcome the arrogance of its generals. In the final stand of the allied army, fifty paladins of the grail fought back-to-back around the faltering white pennon of the Church as thousands of shrieking orcs closed in for the kill. The disaster was total. Thirty-thousand men died, fled or were taken prisoner that day, and fewer than a thousand orcs were slain. Thousands of Conorrian and Grail soldiers were taken as slaves by the victors. The losses were heavy among the allied leaders, too. Bishop Phaetus and General Falkion were both killed in the battle, while General Palos was severely wounded. The Aggadhu Glass was lost. Only Bishop Calidonus, nephew of the lord of the Valesian City-States, survived unscathed.
The Dwarven Realm of Dhûnazhar–
Ruler – King Valand Dragonsbane
Capital – Khelem Vala
Dominant Race – Dwarf
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The Kingdom Under the Mountain slept peacefully. |
VALES –
North-Western Vales –
The Llyran Republic –
Ruler –Constans Harko Marova
Capital – Tarrentica
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Geshtai [FA]
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Constans Harko sent much gold and treasure into the provinces, improving the small villages in Mons Llyrae and Camistella. He also began the process of clearing Nova Valis for farmland. In Kardev’s Aerie, he caused a Llyran Skyship to be built. The Constans himself accomplished most of this from Vorogrod, where he commanded the defenses of the city until 2814, when he transferred his flag to the province of Akir to aid the Grail nations’ allied defense of Har’akir.
Meanwhile, Giancola Bolusova traveled to the island of Geshtai, where he convinced the people of that island that they’d be safer allied to the Republic. They readily agreed, nervously eyeing the dark land of Accolon just onshore. Bartholomew Marova had the task of transferring Grail Primacy troops from Votois to Akir. He died shortly thereafter in 2813. Strategos Zohan Bolusova commanded the Llyran forces in Akir. Command of those forces reverted to the Constans after Zohan died of a brain hemhorrage in 2815. |
| The Holy Matriarchy of Ahuran– Ruler –Queen Jerzuul Moonshadow Capital – Sedeskan Dominant Race – Human |
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Sirrush at Sunset |
| Ahuran’s national agony continued as the dragon Sirrush raided Rarram, Imultorn and Lann. The army of the Matriarchy fell back to Veij, trying desperately to amass enough power to resist the beastlord before it was too late.
In 2814, Naomi Moonshadow, heir to the throne, died of pneumonia in Veij. Jerzuul appointed Naomi’s sister Luriaal heir, doing away with the use of the House of Consorts during this time of crisis. The queen also sent most of her vassals on a desperate quest to seek any advice or power which could resist the dragon. |
| Har’akir – Ruler –Sultan Socacia Alouda Capital – Mar Awas Dominant Race – Human |
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The young sultan prepared for the imminent defense of his kingdom by a prudent mix of diplomacy, troop conscriptions and espionage, as well as a flexible series of orders to his commanders. The Red Pact of Vales (Har’akir, the Llyran Republic, the Valesian City-States and Thariyya), along with the Grail Primacy, had come to defend one of their own.The main Har’akir army of ten thousand waited at Har Mekelle, supported by the six thousand mercenaries hired by the Great Church. A further five thousand Grail troops and eight thousand Llyran troops stood ready to defend Akir and Agazier. Fifty Llyran ships and twenty Thariyyan vessels stood ready in the harbor of Agazier, and the Primarch of Valesia had promised to send his army to assist.
Perhaps sensing the vast numbers arrayed against them, the Marrakhan Orcs simply left. They vanished one day into the Marrakhan Hills and marched east. As suddenly as it had come, war left the Sheltered Kingdom. While great rejoicing rang in the streets, there were a few reasons for sadness. The great Sultana Farida, who had guided Har’akir past the dark waters of civil war, died in 2814 at the age of seventy-two. After bringing the garrison of Galim to the defense of Agazier, Emir Ojab died in that port of a burning fever at the age of twenty-eight. Zander of Har Jadme, a close ally of the sultans, died in 2813 during a hunting accident. His son fulfilled his feudal duties, but was no longer as close to the throne as had been the case with his father. Finally, the Emir of Husen died in the spring of 2812. The family was releasing no details. |
After the departure of the horde, Socacia awaited the arrival of the Valesian army, which would be the signal for the two nations to jointly hunt down the orcs. It was a signal that never came (See The Battle of Khars, below). However, on 16 Northhale, 2811, a lone rider came galloping into the Har’akir lines with a message from Anaxes, the Valesian General, summoning Har’akir help at once. (See The Battle of Shavas, below).
The Marrakhan Horde –
Ruler –Voraun Shatterhand
Capital – None
Dominant Race – Orc
ELIMINATED.
The Marrakhan Horde, sensing disaster in Har’akir, headed for the hills. Specifically, the East Marrakhan Hills, where the orcs pacified and looted the region (putting down a local rebellion in the process) before moving on to Khars to do the same thing. However, in Khars, they ran directly into the Valesian army, marching to relieve their Har’akir allies. (See The Battle of Khars, below). After the battle, a Valesian spy attempted to assassinate Voraun. He was apprehended by the warlord’s fierce elite guardsmen and the truth tortured out of him over several days.
| The Valesian City-States – Ruler –Primarch Euristis Capital – Orcholus Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Phalces [EA] |
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| The mighty Valesian people prepared to go to the defense of their Har’Akir neighbors. General Anaxes recruited a thousand elite Valesian hoplites and five thousand cavalry from the noblemen of Laedos and Ventas. With an army of ten thousand, including six thousand hoplites, he, Archon Dracon and Lord Cassidon marched west to relieve the Akir. (See The Battle of Khars, below).
Meanwhile, Primarch Centorius and Archon Meikos traveled to Phalces to heal the rift in the League. Centorius died there of a liver ailment in 2811. Meikos carried on the diplomacy, but he, too died (of heat stroke) in 2813. Just before his death, the lords of Phalces had agreed to coordinate their trading and economics with the League. With the death of Centorius, the throne fell to Anaxes, but word came back from Khars that the General had also died. Thus, the succession fell to Prince Euristis, who ascended in a lavish ceremony in the winter of 2811. The following year, Euristis’s wife gave birth two twins, considered a very good sign for his reign. Lord Cassidon of Euristi died in 2813, and his son raised several hundred extra peltasts in his honor. |
THE BATTLE OF KHARS
13 Northhale, 2811
Two forces moved blindly towards each other along the north Valesian coast in in the summer of 2811. Thirteen thousand orcish cavalry marauded their way towards Valesia and ten thousand Valesian soldiers marched briskly towards Har’akir. The Valesians and Akir had coordinated their intelligence activities with each other and the other members of the Red Pact of Vales. Unfortunately, when the Marrakhan Horde suddenly pulled out of Awas Fahan, magic and the combined intelligence services failed to locate them. Thus it was that in mid-summer the two forces met in the rugged hills of Khars with little warning.
The orcs had a slight numerical superiority, and much greater mobility, but the Valesians had the better generals and better troops. The hoplites, in particular, were superb in their discipline against the savage orcish charges. The day was a series of charges by the orcish cavalry which were for the most part solidly rebuffed by the sturdy hoplites and whose mastery of the field was repeatedly challenged by the smaller corps of Valesian cavalry. Late in the afternoon, Anaxes moved his center wing back, feigning retreat, and the orcs charged forward, sensing victory and the imminent chase. But instead the Valesian wings closed in, trapping many thousands of orcs and hacking them to pieces on the inside of their formations. The surviving orcs routed from the field. But so desperate had been the fighting and so terrifying the charges of the orcs that the Valesians retreated also, albeit in better discipline than their foes.
The orcs retreated into the forests of Shavas, and spent months trying to recover their losses. Valesian cavalrymen estimate that perhaps a quarter of the Orcish army was slain or injured. Losses were similar on the Valesian side, though after the army spent months regrouping in Dikhil, its total losses were approximately two thousand men. General Anaxes died of a strange tropical coughing disease in the fall of 2811, and it was up to General Dracon to return to Ventas with the army, where he was hailed as a conquering hero.
THE BATTLE OF SHAVAS
7 Berlas, 2811
Immediately upon receiving the call to arms of the Valesian general Anaxes, Sultan Socacia set out with ten thousand troops, and accompanied by two thousand troops troops from the Llyran Republic (Thariyyan and Grail troops, as well as Llyran Skyships, would arrive in Akir too late to take part in the coming battle) to support his ally. The scout had said that the orc horde had been sighted in Khars, so Socacia quickly marched towards that hilly wilderness. Arriving to find that a great battle had occurred but that most of the horde had escaped, Socacia determined to seize the weakened orcs and beat them decisively. Thus it was that his combined army followed the orcish route of retreat into the woods of Shavas.
Good fortune smiled upon the sultan, and the orcs were still in a state of disarray, with the various clans each blaming the other for the loss to the Valesians and each camping in a separate place. Thus, as the battle began, the Akir and their Llyran allies had a distinct advantage. The allied armies plunged into the scattered orcish camps and began their slaughter. Daoud Ibn Fayin, then a soldier in the sultan’s army and later a famed philosopher, would write that the orcs were by far the better soldiers. He marveled at the speed with which they organized their defenses and the terrifying ferocity of the ogres on the attack. Writing in The Seven Tablets of Gold, Ibn Fayin identified the reasons for the horde’s defeat. Despite the valor of the individual soldier and despite the competence with which they were led, the orcs were cavalry fighting in the dense Shavas woods. Also, Socacia was not merely competent but brilliant, seeming to be present at every critical point of the battle and anticipating Voraun’s moves as does a chess master patiently teaching a newcomer to the game. Most important, according to the future philosopher, was the initial disarray of the orcs. Although the Valesians had failed to destroy the orcs, the hoplites had so shattered their ranks that a month later the allied army was still able to capitalize upon the chaos thus created.
In the end the horde was slain or scattered. Orcs melted into the woods in skulking bands or fled south wailing their dismay. Voraun Shatterhand was captured in single combat by sultan Socacia himself. When the sultan returned to Mar Awas, a great triumphal parade was held in which Voraun and a few other orcish survivors were made to walk in chains before the chariot of the victorious sultan while the crowds screamed their hatred at the captured foe.
Luxur –
Ruler –Speaker Jesserek
Capital – Thedelos
Dominant Race – Sathla
Diplomacy – Aysira [N/E], Hawat [War], Mekhet [War], Qassara [N/E], Kerma [C], Zorches [C], Pyrayus [C], Keferis [NT]
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Speaker Jesserek and his council struggled to bring great Luxur back from the brink of civil war. Two thousand soldiers were recruited, including a thousand elite sathla archers. Priests were sent into Merwal to cleanse the holy city of all vestiges of the Grail churches, which were torn down or rededicated to the worship of Udjo.
Speaker Jesserek traveled to the city of Aysira and entered into talks with the lord of the city, but his brief visit resulted in no agreements with the powerful trading port. Worse, the haughty demands of Speaker Moltass to the lords of Hawat and Mekhet caused both of those regions to declare war on Thedelos! Similarly haughty demands in Qassara yielded no results, while Zorches, Kerma and the city of Pyrayus each declared themselves indifferent to the rule of of Thedelos. Only the desperate settlers of distant Keferis seemed receptive, granting the crown the right to move troops across its territory. General Eshamok took up command of the main Luxurite army in Thedelos. As a result of the great upheavals of the last five years, many sathla soldiers had returned home and sired children. The cities of Pyrayus and Thedelos both experienced rapid increases in population. |
The Autumna Primacy
Ruler –Grand Priest Kyassthi
Great Cathedral – Thedelos
Dominant Race – Sathla
Diplomacy – Pyrayus [MN], Merwal [AB], Durudin [AB], Ser Medhele [AB], Kuzsu [AB], Ursurrnam [CH]
The Patriarch traveled to meet the Marrakhan Horde and deliver to it a chest of jewels – the agreed-upon price to leave sathla lands in peace. Then he and Bishop Slaasthess set about spreading the word of Udjo among the faithful and preaching in the streets and cathedrals of great Merwal.
The Serpentine of Mykele –
Ruler –Sauressh Sishtreth I
Capital – Oroyon
Dominant Race – Sathla
Diplomacy – Oroyon [A], Mikkulizim [NT]
| Expansion by means both peaceful and forceful was on the minds of the sathla of Mykele. The Sauressh remained in Oroyon, working patiently and diligently to heal the rifts of the trade war, and over time convinced the Trade Guild to create close ties to the Mykele government and grant broad concessions of power to the throne. He also fathered a daughter in 2812.
General Lisal’assh and Lord Heshtreth of Naszgiri had taken their combined armies of four thousand and marched to war in Gulalagu at the western edge of Vales. The peerless general maneuvered the native devil-worshiping sathla into a rash and ill-conceived open-field attack on his own forces, where he sprung an ambush and slaughtered them, though they were nearly equal to his own army in number. The “lesser serpents” of Gulalagu were rounded up as slaves and marched back to Sia. The Mykele forces suffered only a few dozen killed. Meanwhile, Lord Kouresh traveled to Naszgiri to negotiate closer ties, but Lord Heshtreth of Naszgiri had marched off to war. Luck was with the diplomat, however, for Heshtreth perished of a jungle fever on his march home, and with his last words pledged his lands to the Sauressh. Naszgiri now belonged to the Serpentine. Kouresh then traveled to Mikkulizim, where he negotiated a fleet-basing and trading agreement with the native nobles. Finally, in 2813, the sauressh sent thousands of colonists into the empty lands of Kurgal, there to till the farms left empty since the Sendahlese slave raids a quarter century before. The abandoned farms in neighboring Gingu finally faded into history as the jungle reclaimed its own. |
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North-Eastern Vales –
| The Kingdom of Thariyya – Ruler –King Al-Kadem Vahdin Capital – Uls Fakhar Dominant Race – Halfling |
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King Al-Kadem saw to the details of his peaceful realm. Amidst the settlement of various disputes and the constant struggle to raise enough taxes, he created a new school for civil servants in Uls Fakhar and instituted a significant raise in the wages of his bureaucracy. The queen also presented her lord with two fine sons in 2812 and 2813. Upon his sixteenth birthday in 2813, Al-Kadem named Mogrihan, his eldest son, as heir to the throne. The boy was showing a strong aptitude for government and sorcery. He urged his father to establish a Thariyyan academy of magic to rival those in Adamos and Dammarask. Twelve year-old Prince Zarahan was pulled from his studies of law to serve under hid uncle Admiral Kaedir, and was commissioned a Junior Assistant Lieutenant Aide de Camp de Flag and given a dashing blue and buff uniform in which he felt four feet tall. The fleet itself set out under the name of the First Thariyyan Expeditionary Force, heeding the call to arms of Har’akir, Thariyya’s ally in the Red Pact of Vales. Twenty warships set sail from Uls Fakhar and the entire city came out to watch and cheer. The king had a special coin minted and distributed to commemorate the occasion. |
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| Accolon – Ruler –Warlock Belshazu the Evoker Capital – Dammarask Dominant Race – Human |
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The Warlocks continued to grow in strength and power under their sly leader Jordanes. A power cyst was created in the fertile fields of Akin, using the energies of the earth to increase the fertility of the fields. The slave pens were expanded in Dammarask to handle the new influx from the Ymarian Sea trade. Engineers built a defensive dike in Carru and several castles in Eumana to overawe the heretical peasants.
Jordanes ordered land grants given in Hamsh to anyone who cleared at least thirty acres of woodland. By 2815, nearly forty percent of the forest had been felled. The government called the small farm holdings that began to spring up by the grandiose name Spiderhaunt Heights Jordanes also continued to support the missionaries in the province of Bakir, though their successes were hard-won against the devout Grail worshipers already in residence. The Annointed One governed the city of Agharra from 2812-2815. His efforts were mostly given to training the local garrison, although several grain silos and cisterns were built. Kurotsuki Black Moon and Sithmor the Brave governed Nuradeem and Dammarask, respectively. Each displayed an adept understanding of administration and were popular with the citizens. Kael Swiftwing, Lord of Sin died of a lung ailment in 2811. Pharran Xiang of Anur-Da drowned in a local ditch after a lengthy drinking binge in 2812. But in 2815, an epidemic known as Mulgaunt Pox spread throughout the nation, seeming to strike the nobility with the greatest force. Hagop Wolfson died early in the year, followed by Robyn Stark of Hatti, Mulmer Jerik of the Tigrian Islands and finally, by Jordanes the Transmuter himself. The city of Dammarask held its breath as the various factions vied for control of the government. It came as a surprise to many observers when Belshazu the Evoker was chosen to succeed Jordanes, for he had few allies or friends. But he was without a doubt one of the most capable and dangerous of all the warlocks and few cared to contest his rise to power. |
| The Shadowed Primacy of the Dark Court – Ruler –High Priest Gezz Half-Shadow Holy City – Dammarask Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Merisri [MN], Eumana [AB], Nuradeem [AB], Carru [AB], Esagal [AB], Mitan [AB], Anur-Da [AB], Teush [AB] |
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| The Church of the Dark Court invested most of its men and treasure into establishing clear chains of command between its various branches, thus quieting several impending heresies.
The great churchmen of the Primacy wandered the rural areas of Accolon, founding abbeys and a great monastery at Merisri. Mukahdor’s plan to convert the tribes of Ziyata failed when Accolon horsemen raided the region for slaves. |
The Shadowguard of Marador –
Ruler –Queen Madariel Shadowfoot
Capital – Lantar
Dominant Race – Elf
Diplomacy – Nivrost [EA]
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The Shadowguard was wary of the new orc nation beyond the banks of the Mulgaunt, and Prince Ilwendil Swiftbow recruited three thousand light cavalry to help patrol the western border. Lord Glorfindel of Beduina roused the spirits of nature in the trans-Mulgaunt province of Indoglaurë in order to slow down any orcish advance. Too, elven scouts were sent out to watch the river, thus to give the elven defenders warning of an attack.
In Alako, Queen Madariel ruled in serene beauty. Alako was enhanced with simple villages and treegardens. She hired Xuku’s Band for an unknown mission from which only one survivor returned in 2814 to report the Band’s destruction. What he said to the Queen was not known by any other of the Firstborn. Continuing her brilliant career as a diplomat, Princess Vaeril Fallingwater traveled to Nivrost and convinced the elf-lords living there to bring their herbs and trade goods to Marador markets. Then, in 2813, the Ogre Horde stormed across the Mulgaunt and changed everything. (See The Battle of Dimbe, below). |
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The Ogre Horde
Ruler –Quor of the Seven Skulls
Capital – None
Dominant Race – Orc
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“Mountains” thundered Quor of the Seven Skulls as he dashed the head of one of his advisors against a rock. “Mountains! What is there to eat?” Having eaten two of his orcish viziers for letting him even conceive of the previous plan, Quor looked down in envy at the elven vale of Dimbe. “Now that would be the place to live!” he cried.
Quor spent two years recovering his scattered forces from across the Yuratahm mountains and marched into Indoglaurë, which seemed to have come alive with stinging nettles and grasping plants. Cursing the elvish magic he knew this to be, Quor pushed his army slowly forward and crossed the Mulgaunt in Maravis of 2813. (See The Battle of Dimbe, below). |
THE BATTLE OF DIMBE
8 Cleon, 2813
Fourteen thousand orcs and ogres (nearly all cavalry) forded the Mulgaunt in Maravis of 2813 and entered the elven vale of Dimbe. Opposed to them were eight thousand elves under the command of Ilwendil Swiftbow, son and heir of Queen Madariel Shadowfoot. About half of Ilwendil’s forces were elven archers and the other half light cavalry. The border scouts had warned the prince of the orcs’ approach, and the Glorfindel’s spells had delayed them long enough for the elves to dig in and prepare defenses. On the eve of the battle, a trio of orcish assassins entered Ilwendil’s camp and very nearly reached his tent before being found out and slain.
The elves held most of the advantages – their position was better and the orcs were attacking across a major river. But Quor was not without his resources. His sorceror Taurog cast an enchantment over the elvish host that caused terrible fright in their ranks, and orcish scouts brought him very exact reports of the elvish dispositions. In his paean to Quor entitled Master of the World, Son of Caravok, the orcish scribe Usrek ascribes the battle’s outcome to Quor’s brilliance as a commander and to the inherently effete nature of elvenkind. Nonetheless, he is candid about the major role that luck played in the rout.
The orcish host did not come on directly at the elven defensive works, but instead was led behind the host to a position between them and the city of Oromardi. Finding this route was not serendipity, but the work of elven traitors, locals whose secret lust for gold overcame any loyalty to their own race and crown. By these means Quor and his mighty army were able to take the unfortunate Swiftbow by complete surprise, crashing into and through his line like a hammerblow from Caravok himself. Once the elven lines had broken, the rest of the battle was over in mere hours. The elves were completely routed and their army destroyed. Prince Ilwendil was killed when an orcish arrow took him through the throat during the pell-mell rout from the prepared positions. His body was hacked nearly beyond recognition by the spiteful ogre nobles who came upon it. Thousands of elves were taken prisoner and turned to slaves for the orcs.
In the aftermath, Quor settled hundreds of his people in the best elven farms, thoroughly taking over the region.
South-Western Vales –
The Steaming Kingdom of Drormt –
Ruler –KingBraa’k
Capital – Breeka
Dominant Race – Saurus
| Regent Y’grak worked on improving the giant cricket farms of Hassh’Met and rebuilding the port of Bree’ka while waiting for his young sovereign to come of age.
Kra’quam marched off across the Ulailai river with two thousand soldiers in 2811 and returned in 2814 with one thousand hardened soldiers and an equal number of saurus slaves. These he immediately put to work in the giant cricket farms of Hassh’Met. Keek’za was given the governorship of Bree’ka, but died of scale fungus in 2811 at the age of twenty-six. King Braa’k came of age in 2814 and immediately took control of the national army. His first act was to ask Y’grak to stay on in place of Keek’za. |
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Sendahl –
Ruler –King T*ko
Capital – Nyange
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Itu [N/E]
| Scrambling to adjust to the realities of civilized life, King T*ko made a momentous decision. He gathered his troops and dismissed them. Six thousand of the best cavalry in Theeurth were sent to recolonize the coast of the Songtide Straits. Kalesigur, Koher and Sigesa all were once again home to nomadic tribes, but now these tribes were loyal to the throne in Nyange. In order to pay for the colonization, T*ko took a further leap of faith and required a large loan from the few merchants of Nyange, which he promised to pay back within ten (or fifteen, it really wasn’t clear) years.
Os’Elm, heir to T*ko’s throne, had a daughter in 2811, but was himself dead of a bee sting later that same year, leaving the kingdom without an heir. Lord Maduan traveled to the island of Itu and tried to convince the fisherfolk there to ally with Sendahl, but the Ituans felt that they had nothing in common with the rude horselords and sent Maduan home with barely-disguised hostility. |
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| Mekebele – Ruler –Emperor Mufun Capital – Awayal Dominant Race – Human |
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Emperor Mufun spent enormous sums on the improvement of Ola and its capital, Kaznuma. Mekebelans built villages, dug wells and cleared more of the jungle to make Ola a bustling, crowded and wealthy region. Kaznuma’s old walls were torn down for the raw material of thousands of new buildings spreading north along the sun-drenched coastline.
An attempt by the Emperor to interest his irreligious people in their ancient gods resulted only in popular scorn for the now nearly-forgotten religion. The last priests retreated into the jungles and the once-great temples were overgrown with vegetation or used as playgrounds for the nation’s children. Prince D’Hargi and Warleader Bor’ufan were given the governorship of Kaznuma and Awayal, respectively. Both acquitted themselves well, particularly Bor’ufan, who founded both a school of philosophy and a new barracks for his troops. Prince Kupuckle of Prorte died in 2815. His son and heir maintained his loyalties to the Empire, but was no longer a close confidante of the Emperor’s. |
South-Eastern Vales –
| The Dwarven Realm of Aurdrukar – Ruler –King Norrim Forgemaster Capital – The Brass Tower Dominant Race – Dwarf Diplomacy – Kamandi [N/E] |
 Banner of Aurdrukar |
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King Norrim invested prudently in a wide swathe of interests, but also improved the defenses of his realm. A thousand elite Aurdrukar Burundur Guards and four thousand dwarven warriors were recruited into the kingdom’s armies. Numerous defensive works were set into hillsides and ravines across the already trackless jungles of Qiya.
Norrim himself commanded the armies and watched the borders for invaders, particularly from the north. His son Belak took care of the day-to-day concerns of a monarch from the capital. Lord Balkin traveled to the realm’s critical region of Kamandi to treat with Lord Farzar, its dwarven overlord. Unfortunately, the two were both tragically killed during a boar hunt in 2813 before any treaties were concluded. Farzar’s son held Balkin and the realm to blame, and renounced his forefathers’ oaths of loyalty to the Brass Tower, though he was careful not to contest the army’s right to cross his lands. |
| The Elven Empire of Sengkar – Ruler –Emperor Valoril Greenshield Capital – Ezrand Dominant Race – Elf |
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| Their hovercraft was full of eels. |
The Valraj –
Ruler –Sultan Valoon of the White Knives
Capital – Muddakir
Dominant Race – Human
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Sultan Valoon recruited an additional five hundred Ghandoori Foot Guards and drilled them in the defense of the capital. There were those who claimed that the aging sultan was obsessive about defense, but others insisted that he was merely cautious.
His son, eighteen year old Farouz, saw to the governance of the realm and to the fathering of a brood of grandchildren for the sultan, including two sons and two twin daughters. Farouz invested considerable sums into the improvement of Valraj, causing a series of irrigation canals to be cut across the region. Lord Jameel maintained a vigorous correspondence with friends and colleagues abroad and received a string of foreign visitors at his palace offices. Prince Udin was given the governorship of Muddakir, but seemed little interested in the task of governance. His passion was the theater, and he often appeared on one of Muddakir’s small stages dressed in full costume and make-up to declaim a scene from one of his favorite works (many of which he had written himself.) |
The Kingdom of Weshtayo –
| Ruler –King Piccarome, Red-Feathered Lord Capital – Khulank Dominant Race – Human |
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| King Nokrome, to be remembered as “The Castle Builder”, founded forts, castles and defensive works throughout Tresalet, Siruvay and Tsu’u. He also had land cleared in Tsu’u for the site of a city he would never live to see.
Nokrome died in 2811 of a gastric ulcer. Though he had failed to name anyone as his heir, the nobles quickly threw their support behind his oldest son, fifteen year-old Piccarome to be the new Red-Feathered Lord of Weshtayo. Lord Lanza was given twin governorships, in Khulank in 2811 and in Rendulha in 2812-215. The nobleman was more interested in the collection and cataloging of Numanthaur artifacts than of pursuing his appointed duties and was rarely seen in council meetings The Lord of Siruvay passed away in 2811 having fallen from his balcony while haranguing the local peasants. His son was among those who most ardently supported the accession of Piccarome. |
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The Imperial Realm of Zikuyu –
Ruler –Emrpess Neela
Capital – Ivallkyu
Dominant Race – Human
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Content with their lot, the Zikuyans felt no need to exert themselves.
Tribesmen out of Viratsu report that a great sandstorm in 2813 uncovered the stone spires of a lost city on the edge of the Durumintu Wastes. |
The Kingdom of Tas Dar –
Ruler –King Adier
Capital – Darious
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Lumad [C], Vagis [NT]
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Adier ordered a castle built in Zathor Sor, and a few wells dug in Darious. He spent most of his time engendering the next generation of the royal family. In 2812, Queen Narouda gave birth to sextuplets, three boys and three girls!
Prince Sendor traveled to the elven woods of Lumad and although he did little to impress the solitary elves, he did return with a map of the region, and that was good enough for Adier, who claimed the entire woods in the name of Tas Dar. Lord Deneil traveled to Vagis, where the elves were marginally more receptive. They agreed to acknowledge the preeminence of Darious in the region and sent Deneil home with some lovely wooden sculptures. After spending a year or so wandering the woods of Sartus and Gandar Shab, Lord Markil returned to Darious, where Adier appointed him governor. Markil spent most of his time producing plays about elven legends, and built a rather respectable theater in the process. |
The Kingdom of Ukanve –
Ruler –King Mazool
Capital – Ukanve
Dominant Race – Human
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King Damwen was feeling the call of age and desired to father a dynasty. Thus it was that in 2811, he married Maryam, a doe-eyed beauty from Yezhu’u. However, in several years of trying, the two produced no heirs.
Damwen dispatched Mazool to claim the excellent farmland left fallow by the departure of the Meneen elves. Mazool led many thousands of colonists through the jungles of Olvie, Darja and Kim Taba, where they were eyed by sullen men and elves but allowed to pass peacefully, and settled into the farmlands of Ayma Vas. While Mazool was away, Damwen died during a joust in Ukanve. A shard of a shattered lance flew through the eyeslit of his great helm and he was dead before he hit the ground. With no heirs and no one to take the reins of government (Mazool being hundreds of miles distant), the kingdom fell into anarchy and banditry. It was months before a fast ship could bring word to Mazool and months of slogging through trackless jungle before he returned to set things right. In the absence of any heir, Mazool claimed the throne. In this he was supported by Ukanve, Yezhu’u, Shoggen and the Ayma Vas colonists. But Hydrsha and the elves of Rhundal rejected the new government, refusing to recognize Mazool’s claim to the throne. In an attempt to shore up his legitimacy, Mazool married Queen Maryam in the Heartwood grove of Ukanve’s royal castle and returned much of the power that had been centralized under Damwen to the local lords and knights of the realm. |
The Grand Duchy of Meneen –
Ruler –Grand Duke Salene
Capital – Yaz Meneen
Dominant Race – Elf
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The Grand Duke spent pleasant years overseeing his new realm. He ordered that half of the white ships be beached and cannibalized, their crew and materials being converted to new dwellings and craftsmen in Yaz Meneen and Dreta.
Lord Feante took forty swift ships into the Gates of Arthys and raided the sathla jungles of Assa, Sankail and Mananta. Suprisingly, he also raided the elven mountain province of Sandor. The sudden raids, led by the energetic and brilliant Feante were total successes, striking fear into all the regions of the southern Ymarian sea at this new menace. |
UKELE –
The Emerald Realm of Lekandi –
Ruler –King Galens Eagleheart
Capital – Suwelho
Dominant Race – Elf
Diplomacy – Gyanlay [T]
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Crying “This is for what they did to my son!”, King Galens ordered that the captured sathla city of Upashan be sacked and burned. The troops spent three days collecting everything of value and then set about burning the ancient jungle port to the ground.
Later that year, Galens met iwith Bloodspear, who had fled the field of battle at Fikosha. After a long parley, the two healed their rift and Galens declared Bloodspear to be his heir. Their combined army then marched into Arumbom to hunt down the sathla forces of King Slaartor the Golden. The two armies met in the rolling fields of sweet potatoes within sight of Lake Itaka. The defenses of the sathla (ditches, trenches and many small forts) proved as useless in Arumbom as in Fikosha. The elves’ discipline and leadership overawed the primitive warriors of Fikosha, driving them back into their own breastworks, and peppering them with expert archery. The sun still stood high in the sky when the elves were dispatching the wounded and driving off small bands of surviving sathla. Once again, however, Slaartor the golden survived and escaped the field. |
Galens and Bloodspear intended to lay siege to the sathla city of Isanio, and had enlisted the aid of the tiny naval force of Lord Tanathasia to seal off the port. But alas, the defenses of Isanio’s harbor were too great for Tanathasia, who could not wholly prevent supplies from entering the city, and thus the city persisted in its defiance of the hated elves even as Galens’s army began to feel the pinch of hunger outside the walls.
In the meantime, Lord Juelans negotiated tribute from the disaffected city of Gyanlay.
The Restored Empire of Fikosha –
Ruler – Slaartor the Golden
Capital – Upashan
Dominant Race – Sathla
With no central authority left, the remaining sathla tribes repudiated the rule of lost Upashan.
ELIMINATED.
Rumors from Elsewhere –
Travelers from the north tell of a terrible war raging among the elves in great Celendor.
Rumors from the Dragon’s Reach claim that a wizard in Kasadir has invented a titanic machine capable of automatically sowing and reaping fields in mere days.
GM’s Tip #7 –
Each turn, I will use this space to present a useful rules hint. Eventually, all of you will know what LOTE GM’s and experienced players know.
COMBAT, PART THE SECOND –
Combat in Lords of the Earth is typically governed by one of two rule sets. Thomas Harlan’s is the standard, but many GM’s use an alternative combat rule set (also included in the GM’s handbook) written by Lorne Colmar. I liked aspects of the two, and so Lords of Theeurth combat is best described as an amalgam of the two, with some additional rules regarding race and magic. NOTE: The following details are not universal and are possibly related only to L54.
This hint will be broken up into three parts. In the first part, I discussed command and control. This turn I’ll discuss open field combat, and on Turn Eight I’ll discuss sieges.
I. Definition of Terms
There are two important terms of art to understand in all LOTE combat. The first is Combat Strength, which is a measure of the overall power of your army, including numbers, quality ratings, troop types and terrain modifiers. The second term is Battlefield Effectiveness (also called Battle Modifiers), which is a measure of the situational power of your army, including first and foremost the Combat ability of your commander, modified by additional commanders, and many other factors, as seen below. One can think of Combat Strength as power and Battlefield Effectiveness as accuracy.
II. Calculating Combat Strength
This is one of the places where the two methods above are at variance. Here, I follow the alternative combat rules.
Combat Strength is Base Value x Equipment x Experience x AQR x Terrain
The Combat Value shown in the unit charts on your turn sheets already includes the first three factors (Base, Equipment & experience) (e.g., Cavalry x Heavy x Elite), so all that is necessary is to multiply the AQR and terrain modifiers. Terrain modifiers may be found on the Charts page of this web site. It is very important to check out the chart.
So, for instance, if 10 heavy elite cavalry with a 5 cavalry QR are attacking in a mountainous region (where they are disadvantaged), their Combat Strength would be:
10 (numbers) x 1.5 (cavalry) x 1.5 (heavy) x 1.5 (elite) x 5 (AQR) x .5 (Terrain) = 84.375 (rounded to 84.4)
This formula gives a much greater weight to elite forces and QR than does the standard combat model.
The final factor in Combat Strength (for L54) is magic. Some spells (and a very few artifacts) may act as a modifier to Combat Strength.
III. Calculating Battlefield Effectiveness
Battlefield Effectiveness is at least as important to victory as Combat Strength, and in most cases, Battlefield Effectiveness is more important.
The basis for all Battlefield Effectiveness is the Commander’s Combat rating. A low number here will condemn even a large, elite force to high casualties and probable defeat. The Combat rating is then modified up or down by many factors:
Positive Modifiers to Battlefield Effectiveness
Commander has a non-zero Sorcery rating
Commander has a 9+ Sorcery rating
Army is at least ¼ elite
Army is at least ½ elite
Army is all elite
Army has more mounted troops than the enemy (except in Mountains or Jungle)
Mounted Units outnumber enemy mounted units by 2:1 (except in Mountains or Jungle)
All mounted units vs. All Foot (only in Cultivated or Steppe terrain)
Army has more aerial units (airships and aerial beasts) than the enemy (except in Forest or Jungle)
Aerial units outnumber enemy aerial units by 2:1 (except in Forest or Jungle)
All aerial units against a force with no aerial units (Cultivated, Steppe and Hills only)
Army has more light units than the enemy
In Friendly Territory
In Homeland
Each additional commander with a Combat of 9+
Each additional commander with a Sorcery of 9+
Currently under Defend orders
Currently under directed Defend orders
Each 2 AP on Defend this turn prior to contact
Currently under Attack (A, AL, AT) orders
Attacking directed Defense from unexpected direction
Outnumber the opponent by 2:1
Outnumber the opponent by 3:1
Outnumber the opponent by 4:1 or more
Intel Battle Assistance
Magic spells
Magic artifacts
Negative Modifiers to Battlefield Effectiveness
Army is at least ¼ inexperienced
Army is at least ½ inexperienced
Army is all inexperienced
Attacking in mountains
Attacking across a river
Attacking across a canal
Making an opposed amphibious landing
Army is at least ½ mounted in Mountains
Each additional commander with a Combat of 4-
Army exceeds the Command Control limit (discussed in last turn’s hint)
Coalition army (contains troops from more than one nation)
Regrouping after retiring
Regrouping after retreating
Regrouping after routing
Distance from nearest controlled city or Friendly Region 3-4 AP
Distance from nearest controlled city or Friendly Region 5+ AP
Isolated from other controlled regions (unless supplied by an adequate naval force)
Surprised while raiding or looting
Surprised while sieging or genociding
Surprised while enslaving
Army on forced march
Army on extended forced march
Action being attempted in a region with a hostile fortress
Renaissance/Civilized/Seafaring attacking Forest/Hills/Swamp/Jungle (bad)
Renaissance/Civilized/Seafaring attacking Mountain/Steppe (worse)
Renaissance/Civilized/Seafaring attacking Desert (even worse)
Barbarian attacking Steppe (bad)
Barbarian attacking Desert (worse)
Nomads attacking Forest/Hills/Swamp/Jungle (bad)
Nomads attacking Mountains (worse)
Magic spells
When facing a force with no Leader as commander (such as is often the case with garrison troops, walled cities and native troops, an initial combat rating of d10-5 is generated, giving a result of 0-5. It is for this reason that well-led troops so often defeat poorly-led native troops.
IV. Combat Resolution
Once each side’s Battlefield Effectiveness is calculated, a Combat roll is made against each of these two numbers, and the success effects compared. The difference is then compared to a chart which generates Attacker’s Damage Modifier, Defender’s Damage Modifier, Leader Fate and Morale Modifier.
Attacker’s Damage ModifierThis percentage of the Attacker’s Combat Strength is removed from the Defender’s army as casualties.
Defender’sDamage ModifierThis percentage of the Defender’s Combat Strength is removed from the Attacker’s army as casualties.
Leader FateThis is the chance that each leader in the combat must make a Leader Fate Check, which could result in death, wounding, capture or a Loyalty check.
Morale ModifierThis is an adjustment to each side’s army morale, used in Morale Checks (see below).
V. Morale Checks
After a round of Combat, the GM checks to see if either army has reached or exceeded a Breakoff Point set by a player. If so, the army faces a Morale Check. If it passes, it retires. Otherwise, after each round (generally a day) of combat, both armies check their morale.
PositiveModifiers toArmy Morale
Army is at least ¼ elite
Army is at least ½ elite
Each army leader with 9+ Charisma
Each army leader with 11+ Charisma
In Friendly Region
In Homeland
Positive Morale Modifier from Combat Results
Magic
Negative Modifiers to Army Morale
Army is at least ¼ inexperienced
Army is at least ½ inexperienced
Each army leader with 4- Charisma
Each army leader with 2- Charisma
Outnumbered 2:1
Outnumbered 3:1
Outnumbered 4+:1
Each 10% loss suffered so far in battle
Negative Moral Modifier from Combat Results
Magic
Once each side has had its Morale level calculated, a check is made against that level. If both pass, battle continues. If either or both fails, they break off battle. The amount by which a Morale Check if failed determines the sort of breakoff that results: Hold the Field, Retire, Retreat or Rout.
Hold the Field An army that passes its final moral check while its enemy fails to do so will hold the field. It suffers no further losses. It is not susceptible to Pursuit Resolution
Retire An army that retires leaves the battlefield in an orderly manner. It is susceptible to Pursuit Resolution.
Retreat An army that retreats leaves the battlefield in a disorderly manner and is susceptible to Pursuit Resolution.
Rout An army that routes collapses into panicked flight. It loses 20% of all remaining forces and is susceptible to Pursuit Resolution.
Any army which does not hold the field at the end of combat will withdraw towards the nearest non-hostile region or city
VI. Pursuit Resolution
If an army Holds the Field and has more pursuit forces (cavalry and aerial) than the enemy, it may inflict further losses on the enemy through cavalry and aerial harassment. The losses depend on the Combat rating of the two primary leaders, the ratio of pursuit forces between the two sides, and the form of Breakoff (Retire, Retreat or Rout). In cases where the victor had many more pursuit forces than the loser, losses from Pursuit Resolution can be more devastating than from direct Combat.
VII. Figuring Unit Losses
When armies take losses, they suffer losses proportionately. That is, if the army is one-half Light Infantry, then one-half of the losses suffered will be applied to the Light Infantry. Troops in advantaged terrain will suffer less, while those in disadvantaged terrain will suffer a greater percentage of the losses.
If a Full Allied or Feudal Allied Leader loses his entire army in battle, he must pass a Loyalty Check or the allied region will go neutral. Assuming that his region does not go neutral, all losses from a Feudal Allied army are automatically replenished at the start of the next turn at no cost to the owning player.
Any leader that survives a battle in which their army was totally destroyed must make an additional, harsher than normal, Leader Fate roll. This is another excellent reason to set Break Points for your armies and avoid fighting to the death where possible.
VIII. Regrouping
Unless the player has given orders to the contrary, an army will immediately attempt to Regroup in an effort to collect its stragglers, heal the wounded and take stock of its situation. An army completely wiped out in Combat or Pursuit is not able to regroup.
Armies which Hold the Field or which have Retired may recover 20% of their casualties per AP spent regrouping, to a maximum of 60%.
Armies which Retreat may recover 10% of their casualties per AP spent Regrouping, to a maximum of 40%.
Armies which Rout may recover 5% of their casualties per AP spent Regrouping, to a maximum of 20%.
IX. Experience
Inexperienced units that survive a substantial battle become Regular units without any halving. Theyve seen the elephant and become men (or women as the case may be). Ten percent of Regular units in a battle where their side suffers at least 40% losses (in total units) become Elite.
X. Captives
If the victorious army Holds the Field after combat and is a slave economy, it will capture some percentage of the defeated army’s soldiers and followers as sNFP.
XI. Damage to the Region
If a battle continues in the region for more than a single combat round then portions of the region will be wrecked according to the size of the armies doing the fighting. This will destroy first Public Works, then the Gold Piece Value (GpV) of the region.
Page Completed 15 July 2006