“Our comrades are under the occupation of savages and traitors to our cause. We must move quickly. Strike without mercy, just as they show our kin no mercy, we shall show them no mercy.”
- - Hrothuer Tenauo
Hrothur gathers the Clans[]
Vashari betrayal[]
Hrothur and his comrades arrive[]
“I do not know much of you Cyrannians. But I do not believe you have ever faced a foe like the Lagorthene. Tell your group troopers to save one last grenade in case of capture.”
- - Hrothur to Aeranyeos
The Schism comes to the homeworld[]
Battle of Braksil[]
Hrothur and the Lagori Clan Leaders[]
“Your name is what?”
- - Hrothur to Curtails.
Vanguard at the River[]
This is in need of vast rewriting and clean up from that Fash's drudgery.
- Remove non-Mendel with no business here.
Hrothur watched the Lagorthenes flee into the forest, pondering how they were going to round them up later. But with the Lagorthi packs crushed for the moment, the way was clear to the citadel where Fenric and the rest of the Hand's army had gathered. Hrothur's army was ready to move on to victory. He turned to his warriors, standing in formation and awaiting orders. He raised his two-handed axe above his head and shouted to his men.
- Hrothur - Today, the forces loyal to that fool Hand and the traitor Fenric will fall! Onward! Onward to victory!
The men set forth on a steady march to the citadel.
Meanwhile, Javik Vort, his General, Uto Tehram, and the commander of the last of the Hand's forces, Katrus Ardach, stood on a cliff observing Hrothur's approaching army from afar. Javik's orders from Fenric were to stop Hrothur's advance at all costs. To do so, he had amassed a large cavalry force consisting of Suicide Watchers on their hoverbikes and Ascetic warriors sitting atop their turakh mounts, covered in white ash and screaming for battle. Also assembled was a large group of Ferquievy soldiers, Wasterling tribals, and mercenaries from the Hyperspace Cartel. Tehram had control of those. Ardach had command of the brigades of Hand loyalists present, bolstered by Mountain and Feral Clansmen. Fenric's orders were clear. Defeat the Mendel army, or do not return. Javik's army was gathered on one side of a large, rushing river. The Mendel would have to cross it if they wanted to attack the citadel in time. Javik, Uto, and Ardach climbed down from the cliff and went over to the assembled army.
- Javik - It is time. Mount up! Prepare to charge. Not a single Mendel soldier gets across the river, understood?
- Katrus Ardach - Whether you fight for the glory of the Hand or the glory of the Vermillion clan, know this. This is the battle than decides your future!
The men roared and waved their weapons in the air. One of the Ascetic leaders rode up to Javik as he seated himself on his bike.
- Ascetic - Hey, steelman. Why don't you ride one of our turakhs? They're slower than those damn bikes, but they'll take a chunk out of anyone who gets close.
- Javik - No thanks.
- Ascetic - I understand. I'd be afraid to ride one too if I was raised a kneeler.
- Javik - What did you say? I'll have you know that my clan kneels to no one!
- Ascetic - Prove it.
Javik roared at the Ascetic, got off his bike, and mounted one of the spare turakhs. The ugly thing snarled at him, but did not attempt to shake him off. Javik dug his heels into the creature's side, and sure enough it went where he wanted it too. He rode the thing to the front of his army and saw that Hrothur's men were at the other end of the river. They too were mounting hoverbikes, though a different model from the Suicide Watch's. Javik could see Hrothur giving a rousing speech to his men and wished he had some snipers. Katrus was pushing grenades into a grenade launcher and pointing to where he wanted his men to move to. Tehram activated his energy sabre and barked orders to the Ferquievys and Wasterlings. Finally, the Mendel armies started moving towards the water. Javik gave the motion for his army to advance.
- Javik - Kill them all! Anybody dies with a clean sword or a full clip, we'll eat your fucking corpse!
The two armies plunged into the river, the hoverbikes kicking up waves as they zoomed towards each other. It didn't take long for the two sides to come in contact with one another. Mendel Lancers aboard their bikes aimed long spears at their foes as they drove past each other. The spears caught a few Suicide Watch Goblins in the torsos, impaling them and lifting them off their bikes. Hobgoblins reached out with their wrist blades, striking the Lancers in the face and chest. Hrothur himself rode with his men, smashing his axe into the fronts of the Suicide speeders, flipping them over or causing them to stall. A Hobgoblin zoomed towards him, then jetpacked off his bike and let it smash into Hrothur's. Hrothur barely steered it out of the way, sustaining some ripped-off chunks of his bike, but otherwise avoiding damage. But the Hobgoblin was still airborne, and jumped right at him. He knocked Hrothur off the back of his bike and raised his claws to finish off the general, but just before he could, a riderless bike slammed into him and killed him instantly.
Hrothur stood up from the water and saw the carnage all around him. The water was changing color from all the Ugandal blood pouring into it. The number of bike riders was running low, and the Ascetics on their turakhs and Uto Tehram's infantry were charging into the water, engaging Hrothur's own infanry in a brutal close-quarters melee. A charging Wasterling attempted to stab Hrothur, but he evaded the blow and smashed the warrior in the side of the head with his Axe, crushing its skull. Hrothur threw himself into the battle, killing Ferquievys and Cartel mercenaries with blows from his axe. He saw his comrade, the Kaguran lord Abu Kolotai, slicing down an Ascetic warrior before spinning around and decapitating a charging Cradosan merc.
Javik rode the angry turakh into battle, slashing down at the Mendel troops around him. His mount contributed as well, grabbing a warrior by the head and biting it off, or swatting away an attacking Kaguran with his tail. To his left, a Ferquievy had pulled a Kaguran down and was in the process of cutting his throat. To his right, a Kramalin merc was engaged in a swordfight with an Ugandal soldier as more Wasterlings hacked their enemies apart. It was quite a glorious sight. Javik drove the turakh on, decapitating a Vashari with a blow from his sword. A Mendel Lancer, deprived of his bike, thrust his spear at Javik, but Javik grabbed it and yanked it out of the warrior's hands before delivering a skull-splitting blow to the top of his head.
Uto Tehram charged into the river with all his fury, Ferquievy and Wasterling soldiers at his back. He lamented that Fenric had not sent more Red Veil troops, but he would make do with what he had. As Mendel warriors charged at him, he slashed them down with his energy sabre, the blade drawing white, searing marks across their flesh. However, Uto could see they were at a a disadvantage. Most of the Suicide Watch bikers had been eliminated, and the Mendel advance was not slowing. The men under Hrothur were fighting hard, determined to defeat the Vermillion forces. Tehram would not see that happen. He raised his sabre and charged, slicing apart any Mendel warrior who got in his way. A Kadalien Giant stomped through the water and caught sight of Uto. The Giant roared at him and charged. Uto raised his blade and roared back.
The Giant kicked out at Uto, sending a large plume of water into the air. Uto dodged the kick and dove past the Giant, slicing a gash into its leg. It roared and swung a fist at him. Uto dodged this as well and sliced off the Giant's fingers. It howled in rage and stomped the water, sending up a large wave. The rush of water blinded Uto, and when the water ran from his eyes he saw the Giant about to crush him. But just before it could, its head exploded. The lifeless creature slowly toppled over, landing in the water with an enormous splash. Uto saw Katrus Ardach pump the empty shell from his grenade launcher, then spin around and fire another grenade into an onrushing speederbike. The machine erupted into flames, skittered across the water, and exploded.
Hrothur kept mashing heads open with his axe, and soon noticed that whole areas of the river were filled with giant piles of dead bodies, eight feet high or more in some places. There were also ruined bikes and dead turakhs adding to the pile. Hrothur pulled a spear from the muck and climbed atop one, and as Ferquievy troops ran by, jammed the spear into their backs. He killed one, then two, then more. After a killing almost a dozen, a group of Ferquievys and Wasterlings started to clamber up the pile at him. Hrothur jammed the spear through the chest of a Wasterling, causing him to tumble off the pile, but the rest of his comrades were still coming. Hrothur raised his hammer and charged as best he could across a pile of dead corpses. He brought his hammer down on the first Wasterling, and heard a sickening crunch and a scream as his collarbone shattered. The next warrior, a Ferquievy, caught the axe in the stomach, rupturing and spilling his organs on the ground and killing him almost instantly.
Hrothur slashed away, but suddenly felt a spray of warm blood and a sharp pain in his side. He looked down to see a large gash in his side. The Ferquievy soldier swung his shortsword again, but Hrothur blocked it, the blade clanging off the handle of his hammer. Hrothur jabbed the butt of his axe at the Ferquievy's face, shattering his nose and knocking him off the pile. Hrothur swung his axe in a wide circle around him. The blow caught a Wasterling in the side of the head, snapping his neck and flinging him off the pile. However, a second Wasterling leaped at him, through the arc of the axe, and buried the glass-shard it was wielding as a knife into Hrothur's shoulder. Hrothur felt muscle part from bone, but also felt himself sliding. The pile of bodies was shifting, and both he and the Wasterling, still locked in combat, tumbled down the mountain of bodies.
The first thing Hrothur felt was pain. Lots of it. He had landed directly on top of a ruined speederbike. Luckily, the mutilated occupant had helped cushion the fall, somewhat. The Wasterling was not so lucky. It had been impaled upon the spear the dead biker was still clutching in his rigor mortis-hardened hands. Hrothur strained to lift himself up, and then realized that his axe was missing. He had dropped it in his fall. Hrothur had no time to look for it, however, as the Ferquievys and Wasterlings who had attacked him before were now rapidly descending the mountain of corpses, intend on adding his body to it. Hrothur yanked the shortsword from the dead biker's scabbard and rose up to meet the charging warriors.
The first Ferquievy was met with a slash to the throat, the first Wasterling a stab to the gut. Hrothur preferred his hammer, but he was no slouch with a sword either, as these Vermillions discovered. Hrothur spun, hacked, and sliced, dead Vermillion troops forming a new pile around his feet. Other members of his army began to fight their way to him, forming a sort of defensive line. The Vermillions and Hand loyalists saw this as a retreat and pressed the attack. The violent slaughter that followed began to produce a veritable sandbag line of dead bodies. With a ten-foot stack of corpses to the left and ruined bikes to the right, it provided a decent line of defense.
- Hrothur - Grab those spears! Set them against the corpses!
His men followed orders, and the next wave of Vermillions were impaled on a row of spears. Hrothur and his men clambered up the pile of bodies, hacking down at the foes doing the same on the other side. The Ascetics couldn't figure out how to bypass the death wall on their turakhs, so most simply rode their beasts back and forth in front of the mound of corpses, attempting to figure out how to get over it and attack. Others simply dismounted and charged through the water on foot with the next wave of troops, climbing over the piles, perhaps killing a soldier or two, and dying with a spear or blade in the throat and being added to the pile.
Watching this futile massacre, Javik began to grow angry. If he had any Suicide Watchers left, he could order them to jetpack over the mound of corpses and bombard the Mendel with a missile barrage. But almost all of the Watchers were dead, and there would be no reinforcements. He noticed the other commanders pacing up alongside him. Uto was covered in blood and gore, and Katrus was pumping an empty grenade shell from his launcher. This gave Javik an idea.
- Javik - Hey Katrus! Shoot a few grenades over that pile!
Katrus nodded, took aim, and fired. The shell sailed over his mens' heads, over the speartips and bodies, and landed in the middle of a crowd of Mendel troops. There was a loud thump, and then a whole lot of screaming as men tried to find their severed limbs. Katrus launched another one, with a very similar effect. Then he launched a third one, that happened to be filled with napalm. This one started living men on fire, dead men on fire, and soon the whole row of bodies was blazing, immolating any Mendel or Vermillion who still stood on it. Screaming Mendel troops ran out from behind it, throwing themselves into the water in a vain attempt to douse the flames.
Hrothur heard the thumps behind him, knew there were explosions, but was unsure of where exactly they were coming from until he was flung off the body pile and into the water. The shock woke him up, and he sat up just in time to see the whole wall of bodies ignite. He saw his men burning, knew there was nothing he could do, and was just about to stand when he felt an excruciating pain in his side. An ascetic warrior had just kicked him in his wounded side with all of his power. Hrothur leaped from the water and tackled the Ascetic, sending them both tumbling down. The Ascetic pulled out a jagged, dangerous-looking knife and tried to jam it into Hrothur's shoulder. Hrothur caught the blade just in time, and held the warrior's arm back. Hrothur began punching the Ascetic in the side. Finally he hit something soft and the Ascetic momentarily lost his concentration. Hrothur pulled the knife from his hand and jammed it into his neck. The flow of blood was barely noticeable in the already blood-filled water.
Hrothur stood up and looked around. He saw the Vermillion troops rushing his own, hacking them down as they rushed to escape the flames. Abu Kolotai the Kaguran charged through the water at a group of Wasterlings, cutting them down before they could reach some Mendel soldiers. Seeing one of their commanders attack again gave the Mendel troops something to rally behind, and they formed behind Kolotai to finish the battle. Swords in hand, they charged the Vermillions, engaging them in yet another bloody melee. Heads and limbs flew as the two sides hacked at each other.
Javik watched this, then noticed someone else was merely observing for the moment as well. As soon as he saw Hrothur standing alone and unarmed, he kicked his turakh into a gallop and charged right at him. Hrothur turned and spun out of the way to avoid the turakh's lunge, but was unable to avoid the hefty smack Javik gave him with the flat of his sword. He turned the turakh around again, and once again landed a flat blow between Hrothur's shoulder blades. Hrothur landed in the water face-first, and as he looked up he saw the wrecked bike he had rode in on, and nearby, floating in the water, his axe! Hrothur got up as fast as he could and ran for it. Javik saw him running and charged. Hrothur picked up his hammer and spun around, using the handle to block Javik's sword strike, which would have instantly decapitated him. Javik turned the beast once more, glaring at Hrothur through his helmet's eyeholes. Hrothur climbed atop the broken bike, bringing him to about eye-level with Javik. Javik kicked the beast into a gallop, raising his sword high above his head and roaring some battle cry. Hrothur did the same, raising his axe. Javik ran right at him, swinging his sword at Hrothur's neck...
Hrothur's axe slammed into Javik's chestplate, the force of the blow at the speed he was going caving in his chest. The spike on the end of the axe penetrated plate, flesh, and bone, with Javik's shattered ribs finishing the job. Amazingly, Javik stayed on his turakh as the beast slowed and turned instinctively. His eyes blazed with fury, but then he slid off the turakh's back and landed with a splash in the water. Javik weakly sat up on his knees, barely able to stand up. Hrothur thought he saw sparks inside Javik's chest, the last legacy of Grox technology frantically trying to repair a dying vessel. Javik coughed within his helmet as Hrothur walked up to him, blood trickling from under his helmet. Javik did not look up at him.
- Hrothur - You have fought well, warrior, but only Hoorangir can judge you now.
- Javik - I... never believed... in Hoorangir...
Hrothur wasn't sure if he heard disdain or regret in Javik's voice. He assumed it was a bit of both. The strain of speaking those last few words seemed to consume the last of Javik's energy, and the sparking slowed and stopped. With a last ragged breath, Javik slowly toppled face-first into the water, then was still. Javik Vort, atheist warlord of the Suicide Watch, was finally dead. Hrothur found himself lacking the usual feelings of satisfaction after he killed a foe. This one had fought well, unlike those Lagorthene freaks. Still, there was a war to be won, and Hrothur readied himself to finish the battle.
As Javik fell into the water, Uto Tehram and Katrus Ardach stopped fighting for a moment and gazed at their dying leader, the enemy commander standing over him.
- Katrus - Well, I guess you're the leader of the Suicide Watch now.
- Uto - Yep, and my first order? Everybody run for the fucking hills!
- Katrus - Yeah, screw this!
The two commanders turned tail and ran, followed closely by the rest of their men. They scrambled out of the water and ran into the forest. The Mendel did not give chase. They had won this round, but there were still rounds left to fight, and there was no point in wasting lives on a fleeing enemy. Hrothur watched the Vermillions flee, thankful he did not have to waste any more men to fight raiders and mercenaries. The true foe lay somewhere ahead. Abu Kolotai walked up behind him, was about to say something, then saw what lay at Hrothur's feet.
- Abu - You killed him! The warlord Vort is dead!
- Hrothur - Indeed, Abu. Javik Vort is dead, by my hand. What were our losses?
- Abu - As bad as you'd figure. Half of our army will leave this river in bags.
- Hrothur - We stopped the rebels from advancing into the capital. Their deaths were not in vain.
- Abu - No sir, but do we have enough men to take the citadel where the traitor Fenric hides? Or the hills crawling with Ardach's loyalist remnants?
- Hrothur - There will be no reinforcements! Either way, we have broken the strength of the Vermillions in this river, and Ardach's grunts took heavy losses as well.
- Abu - But sir, Fenric has the loyalty of the Scythe of Glory! The Pseudopath!
- Hrothur - He has but a few of the houses. And the Scythe fleet is caught in a space battle with our fleet. Fenric may be guarded by his vile beasts and tribesmen, but he has not the strength to resist us.
- Abu - My lord, Fenric's Lagorthenes number in the millions! If he has regrouped them...
- Hrothur - He has not. The Lagorthi ran for the hills like Ardach did. Do not fear beasts and pirates, Abu. They will not halt the glory of the Pact. Now, we must rally the men. More obstacles await us.
- Abu - As you command.
Abu walked away to rally the men. Hrothur stood over Javik's body for a moment longer, before turning and walking back to his men. Despite the massive loss of life in the battle, there was still a job to do.
Last Ride of the Ashi'yyar[]
Seeing their cause is lost, the entire Ascetic Order rides out to meet their destiny. They expect to be slaughtered to a man, and thus fight until death. Afterwards, the Reclaimers push on into the Bleeding Desert and rout the Feral Clans. Finally, they come upon the mountain hold of the Moonsends where the Mountain and Feral Clans have gathered with the Ashi'yyar women and children.
Indoctrinated by their slain manfolk that they too are all going to die, and erred on by the tales of the routed Ferals, the Ashi'yyar women and children plan a collective suicide inside the Moonsend, but once the Mountain Clans learn of this they open the gates and overpower the Feral and Ashi'yyar survivors with the Reclaimers. All gathered witness the Reclaimers defuse the situation and are surprised when she allows the Ashi'yyar, Ferals and Mountain Clans to retain autonomy of their own lands in return for internal reform. Led by the Green Faun, the Ferals and Ashi'yyar set back of to their own lands, satisfied that they were spared, while the Mountain Clans offer to lead Hrothur's forces into nothern territory.
Blood upon the Mountains[]
With the Mountain Clans in the fold, the Reclaimers can finally push into the treasonous north to deal with the Northern Clans. Katrus Ardach organises a rigid defense, however, using all sorts of underhanded tactics to slow the Reclaimers down. Finally, the Southern Clans forced to work with Fenric have enough and revolt, pînning Kratus' traitors between two fronts and cutting off all routes of escape. Hrothur brutally beats down Katrus before killing him, while the jubilant southerners set about to put the northern Vixen fields to the torch. With their economy ruined, the Northern Clans have no choice but to submit as the Southern Clans join the Reclaimers to push into Koridable.
Victory upon the Hills[]
Hrothur and Abu lead the combined New Republic/Mendel Pact armies into Koridable. Surrounded on all sides, the remaining Syndicate forces are closed in and destroyed in a brutal fire fight across the city. Hrothur brutally executes the remaining Largothi leaders. The Krayett brothers beg for their lives and their judgement is holographically deferred to Kirta due to their slaughter of the Cletts. Kirta orders their execution. Fenric receives a stray blast round to the head, damaging him, and fraying his sanity, but escapes.