Post by Alexandros on Dec 20, 2006 18:20:25 GMT -5
Death of a Dream
Alexandros, a young fox from the even smaller village of Arakos, was fated for great things and even greater conquests. Sadly, fate has a way of getting tangled and has a greater tendency to change on a whim. Alexandros fate was but another whim in the eyes of fate. The Fox Prince, Alexandros ‘The Great’, conqueror of the South. All of these names fitted him while on the rise, but not a one was existent in the here and now, not a one remembered by the children, or the children’s children. He was but a whisper on the wind, a myth within a myth. All anyone knew was that he did exist at some point and that he gave a life to Satsobek, which resulted in the young half-breed, Volyan.
Beyond that, Alexandros’ name was nowhere to be found. In many eyes, he was just the one night stand of Satsobek which resulted in the now-powerful Emperor, Volyan. Or, at least, Volyan appeared to be powerful.
Alexandros’ last dream, before the civil war, was a grand Republic. That Republic required the Elders to stand down and the most powerful of the Elders, Akhaenniut caught word of the plot before it ever happened. He took measures to frame Alexandros and, in doing so, force Alexander from the throne. When Alexander presented the document for the Republic to the Elders, requesting them to stand down by order of the people, Akhaenniut merely laughed, and had Alexander arrested for brainwashing the public.
During Alexander’s execution, Satsobek tricked Akhaenniut and was able to give Alexander a weapon, of which he used to kill of a Pyramid Guardian, one of the most feared creatures in all the land. What made it worse was that they were mere illusions – unable to truly die. Alexander escaped and rallied the inhabitance of the Sobek clan to his side, gaining some three-thousand followers, all canines, to take on the massive armies of the Council of Elders. Alexandros went about equipping the three-thousand men with the newly issued weapons, long pike that spanned some twelve feet, and a large shield. Thus, the first phalanx of Alexandros’ Republic was formed.
Alexander had his men line up in a wide line, blocking the streets of his side of the city while the Elders marched their large, ill-equipped, troops towards them. The numbers were staggering, some 15,000 troops against Alexander’s mere 3,000. But, Alexandros’ men were better equipped and their formation was one of sheer brilliance, given the fact it had yet to be used throughout the world. Alexander placed his phalanx on three major streets and behind them placed his heavy cavalry with their lances of which he called a ‘Xyston’.
The men braced themselves via having the long sarissa (Pike) reach out before them with one paw, while using their other paw to cover themselves and their neighbor with their large aspis (Shield). The wave of the Elder’s troops hit the pike wall in force, but the results weren’t as pretty as Akhaenniut’s troops were mowed down before the pike wall. In the end, some three-thousand troops died on the Elder’s side, while a mere hundred died on Alexandros’ side. Thus, the era of basic charges into a fray had passed, and sheer numbers alone would no longer win. But magic, magic played a major role.
The second engagement had Akhaenniut himself at the head of the Elder’s army, while Alexander joined his hetairoi (Heavy cavalry), thus both commanders were in the battle itself. The formation Alexander used was the same as before – one phalanx for each of the three streets leading into the center, approximately one-thousand men per street, in phalanx formation. Behind them waited some twenty heave cavalry men and, while not large in number, Alexander had already proven what little numbers meant.
The battle started off with little difference, Akhaenniut ordering a full frontal charge to test Alexander’s pike wall and, in doing so, proved it to be just as effective as it was reported. Akhaenniut ordered a retreat, and Alexander’s men celebrated. Some moments later, Akhaenniut sent forth his archers to harass Alexander’s line, and Alexander’s men, for the most part, resisted that, too, due to their large shields. From there, Akhaenniut used his famed ability of magic to summon two Pyramid Guardians, the large warriors cleaving through one of the pike walls. Alexander hadn’t expected such a bold tactic, and thus entered the fray himself – this gave Akhaenniut the opening he was looking for, as he ordered his men to charge the other two phalanxes while Alexander was busy defending the left flank.
The ending result was that Alexander was captured and while more of the Elder’s armies died than Alexandros’ reformed troops, the sheer numbers and the magic that was used forced Alexander into submission. Akhaenniut, rather than killing Alexander, banished him from his own Kingdom, to wander the Sobek desert until his death. Any troops that were undoubtedly loyal (Adalwolf, Adalmun, etc) were forced to follow his hopeless trek through the desert and, shortly there after, Akhaenniut formed the first Sobekian Empire. Satsobek was forced out of Aros, and instead was forced to follow Alexander for attempting to save him. One dream dying and another forming under the leadership of Akhaenniut and his ‘puppet’, Alexandros’ son, the former Price Sobek, Volyan.
The Imperial Sobek
Under the reign of Emperor Volyan, the Sobek empire took off at a freighting pace. First, they crushed the defenders of the Southwest Orcish tribes, claiming the entire south for their own. Then, they broke off ties with the far southern tribes and subjugated those regions as well, increasing the size and power of Sobek in three short months.
Akhaenniut then turned his attention to the north, towards the mainland. Sobek, now safe from rear assault and with Orcish mercenaries from the west under their command, marched towards the Demonic capital, where Alexander’s campaign had failed a mere seven months before. Alexander failed due to sudden illness, in which he faked to return home and deal with the problems in Aros. Namely that of the Elders, though his plans for a Republic were never realized. Here and now, though, the elders were in command, and their army far exceeded that of Alexander’s own at that time. The Demonic army was led by none other than Stratus, but in one decisive charge, Sobekia claimed the beast capital for their own, renaming it ‘Alexandria’, by Volyan’s orders, in memory of his father. While Akhaenniut wanted nothing of Alexander left in the world, he had to let his Emperor’s whims be realized, and thus Alexandria was formed.
While in the north, the first uprising occurred, causing the Imperial armies to withdraw from their claimed lands, all but the regions of Alexandria and the port side city that Alexander had claimed, Tarsac. The uprising was from the Orc ruled regions in the west and Akhaenniut had decided they had overstayed their welcome. Death to all rebels to the Empire was his order. Thus, the Imperial army marched into those hellish deserts again and, in the initial fray, lost.
It was after this that Volyan ordered the men to equip themselves in the style of Alexander’s troops and while Akhaenniut was furious, he saw that the phalanx style troops, with heavy cavalry, were exactly what was needed against the swift raiders from the West. He accepted the whims of his ‘Emperor’, and set out to change the way Sobekia had fought for years.
The first fight under the new Imperial army, as well with the new Imperial banner, was a crushing defeat. But, it wasn’t so much in the way of numbers than in the lack of skill. This being their first battle, the new troops had no real knowledge in the ways of Alexandrian warfare, and thus weren’t used to working as one block of men, rather than swift, fast, raiders. They routed early on, many dying in the pursuit.
Akhaenniut saw a way for him to kill two birds with essentially one stone. He ordered the army to march and asked the Emperor to join him. While Volyan wasn’t exactly willing to do so, he being merely nine at the time, Akhaenniut said he would send assassins after his father if he didn’t. Shocked to learn his father was indeed alive, but happy nevertheless, he joined the march. And Akhaenniut sent a messenger ahead to warn the Orcs. He planned to have Volyan dead in battle and without the Emperor then Sobekia would truly belong to him.
The army marched through the desert and met the Orcish barbarians in the battle of Kun’reush. The numbers were vastly against Volyan, and the ill-experienced commander would have to fight these impossible odds. Some four thousand Imperial soldiers against some ten thousand Orcish barbarians and with Akhaenniut having annulled the alliance with Rigmor The Mighty, Volyan was truly on his own.
Battle of Kun’reush
Day One
The windswept deserts of Kun’reush, the region between Ignura and Karos, would be met with the blood of thousands, everyone knew that. The moment that the Orcish horns sounded, Volyan ordered his men to gather themselves as quickly as they could. The heavily armoured men assembled their sarissas and quickly got into phalanx formation. Behind them were the powerful Alexandrian-Hetairoi cavalry, of which Volyan himself was in command of.
Of course, Alexander and his armies couldn’t be counted out. While Alexander was a rogue to the Empire, he still kept tabs in the Empire via a spy, that of Akbar. The Maned Wolf was never accused of aiding Alexander in the ‘rebellion’ and thus was allowed to stay in Sobek. Alexander visited him in secret, and the two agreed that Akhaenniut couldn’t be left in charge. Thus Akbar earned his place as an Imperial official and gained word on all Imperial doings, including the march on the west. Alexander, in turn, followed his son’s armies.
Orcs, at the start of the battle, rained arrows down on the stationary troops of Volyan’s armies. Alexander, watching from a distance as to not get involved quite yet, prayed that his son wouldn’t move towards them but, it was too late for that as the cavalry was ordered to chase them down. Alexander ordered Adalwolf, and three-hundred archers, to take the long way around and ambush the troops that were luring the cavalry deeper into their ranks.
Adalwolf’s famous archery abilities disrupted the enemy in a single volley of arrows, causing panic in the ambusher’s ranks, and allowing the hetairoi to retreat back to their own ranks. As quickly as Adalwolf had come and aided the Imperial forces, they retreated back to Alexander’s armies. The initial fray went to the allied forced of Alexander and Volyan, and the Orcs set up camp, preparing for a full scale war in the morning. Alexander and Volyan did the same.
Alexander, during the night, snuck into the Imperial camp and, in doing so, visited with his son. He kept the meeting short, despite Volyan wanting him to return to Alexandria with him. During this meeting he told Volyan to keep his troops in a walled formation, stretching out before the camp they had assembled. Directly behind that wall, any and all missile infantry were to be placed. Telling his son that he’d return in due time to reclaim his throne, Alexander left and returned to camp, while Volyan met with the various commanders within his camp to prepare the plans for the next day.
Day Two
Alexander’s armies, numbering a mere three-thousand loyalists, watched as the Orcish barbarians appeared once more, to do battle with the well trained armies of Sobekia. The formation was as Alexander commanded, a long wall, ten men deep, in front of the camp while archers and peltasts waited behind them, and Hetairoi on the right flank of the wall.
The Orcs acted as Alexander had predicted, charging head long into the center of the wall and, Alexander had to admit, he was nervous that Volyan would, in his inexperience, do something that would cause a defeat here. But, Alexander was proud of his son as he maintained order in the wall and, seeing a chance, charged his cavalry forward, only to stop and wheel around to smash into the Orc’s rear flank. That, more than anything, panicked the Orcs who started to turn and flee.
Alexander, raising a single paw into the air, signaled for his cavalry to join the chase. As soon as they closed ranks on the Orcish flank, the entire Sobek army saw them as another division of their army; despite the fact the commanders (Alexander, Adalwolf, Satsobek, and Eos) wore cloth over their muzzles and face, to hide their identity from any troops loyal to Akhaenniut.
This combined effort, plus Volyan ordering the cavalry to stop when he saw Alexander’s troops break off from the main line, signaled the first true victory for Volyan and the new Sobekian Imperial Armies. Had the cavalry continued their pursuit, they would have ran head long into the Orcish camp, where they set up a smaller, but equally effective against cavalry, wall of spears. Had the Imperial army’s cavalry hit that, the victory would have been a defeat, and the Orcs probably would have turned around to try and hit the phalanx.
Day Three
The Orcs had, during the night, formed a new plan of action to defeat the phalanx. But, during the night, Volyan planned once more with his father who had, again, snuck into the Imperial camp (Warning Volyan than any Orc could do the same, and to strengthen the defenses the next night).
The Orcs, still a good six-thousand strong, marched in block formations, a total of six, each containing a unit of one-thousand Orcs. At the head of blocks A and C were the Orcish commanders, Kar and Ulrg.
Ulrg was a large, imposing, creature who led blocks C, D, and F towards the Imperial armies’ formation, a large column of pike men in phalanx formation. The two, equal in numbers, clashed. Alexander saw this as his time to strike the rear army under command of Kar. Blocks A, B, and E were aloof, without any formation or structure due to the fact they had the entirety of Imperial Sobek before them. Of course, Alexander wasn’t a member of Imperial Sobek. Raising the banner of Alexander’s republic (Alexander’s Banner), which would become the banner for Imperial Sobek under Alexander’s rule, Alexander’s armies charged to meet the aloof formation.
The Orcs hardly had time to take up arms and get into a basic formation before Alexander’s heavy cavalry, Alexander himself at the head of it, crashed into their formations. Alexander and his men, this time, didn’t wear any cloth over their faces, but rather Alexander let the Orcs know who they were dealing with – Kar was an Orc Alexander had fought before.
Kar had been noted as to have screamed, “Alexander!” before Alexander’s sword, a glowing blue inferno that signaled his power over all of Sobek, meet the neck of the stocky Orc. With Kar’s head rolling onto the ground, Alexander’s cavalry, and following infantry, swept through the Orcish ranks in quick succession. With such a quick, powerful, force striking the side of his unit, Kar’s remaining men fled from the field, and the three day long battle of Kun’reush, a short, but bloody, battle ended in victory for the Imperial soldiers and Alexandros.
The outcome of the Desert Orc-Sobekian Wars
After hearing tales of Volyan’s grand victory, Akhaenniut joined the campaign with three hundred fresh troops. Akhaenniut then, once more, controlled Volyan with threats of killing his father. Volyan, giving an order to siege Ignura and Karos, caused the single greatest genocide that the lands had seen. Every Orc in the cities of Ignura and Karos were murdered, but not by a blade.
Locked behind the gates of the two cities, the Imperial Loyalists burnt the cities to the ground, the Orcish inhabitants trapped within their own homes to be engulfed by the fire. Both fires lit the desert night up, and both burned for a little over a week, the city slowly being swept up in the blaze and reduced to little more than ash.
Any that were able to survive the fires were rounded up and forced into slavery, to build the new city between the former regions of Ignura and Karos. The city was named by Volyan ‘Alexander Minor’, but Akhaenniut, once more, held greater control. In the very center of the city was a statue dedicated to a new God, ushered in by Akhaenniut. That God was none other than Akhaenniut himself, thus he was now the Sobekian Demi-God, and he declared himself religious leader of the Empire.
That move placed Akhaenniut in greater power than even the Emperor, with churches being filled weekly for the citizens of Sobek to worship their new God and Prime Minister. This power, as well, allowed him to order any and all campaigns that he wanted to without the Emperor’s permission. Of course, while he’d always be able to gain it in the end, in this light, he was able to do so quicker, and without having to wait for several dozen documents to be signed. As well, he ordered a shift in religion from the old Imân followers, banning such Gods such as Spartacus (A Demi-God), and even Rasalin, the first Fox Prince and a God during Alexander’s rein.
In the place of the older Gods, he placed himself and the other Elders, thus the council of Elders were granted their initial reward for supporting Akhaenniut, eternal fame and recognition. These six Gods, with Akhaenniut at the head, formed the new religion and power within Imperial Sobek.
The Second Year; January to December, 2 AIS
The second year marked the first, and only, year of peace for the Imperial line. Volyan, at the age of seven, was forced into an arranged marriage that would take place in 12 AIS. It was a long way away, but knowing his life was being set out before he truly was old enough to understand it was a frightening thing. Worst of all was the fact that the female he was to marry, a young vixen of royal blood, had been adopted by Akhaenniut. Thus, once they married, if Volyan was unable to do his duties or was assassinated, Akhaenniut would take the throne. No doubt, once in power, he’d have his ‘daughter’ assassinated as well, thus turning the ruling bloodline from fox to bird.
Volyan had been preparing for such an event, an assassination, and had been gathering loyalist to Alexander to his side for months. The young fox was forced to grow up much sooner than any child should, and assembled a personal, loyalist, guard. At the head of it was Walrik, a loyalist to Alexander’s great grandfather, Rasalin. Walrik was pressing his sixties, but still had the vigor and energy of someone twenty years younger, and aided in training Volyan with his own blade.
During the fifth month, Walrik gave Volyan a sword that radiated an eerie red. This blade was one of four used by The Fox Prince’s best generals. The Sword of Ice went to Rasalin himself, and no other but one of the Fox Prince’s line could wield it, another was the Sword of Lightning, granted upon Walrik, then there were the Swords of Fire and Darkness, granted to two generals. The last of which, granted the sword of Darkness, was the one to assassinate Rasalin.
The blade was called The Blade of Eternity, named so by its original wielder. The reason that Volyan could wield it as well as the original, rather than clunky as anyone else would have, was because he was a member of Rasalin’s blood line. The fox prince, as a pre-cautionary measure, infused each sword with magic that allowed only those of his, or those he granted the blades too, bloodline’s to use it. Thus, if Walrik attempted to use the sword, he couldn’t. But if Volyan wanted to use Walrik’s, he could. It was to make sure that the four wouldn’t kill one another for the prized swords.
Volyan’s constant training caught the eye of another young soul in Alexandria, that being the young Gnaeus. Gnaeus was a nineteen year old youth who had been drafted in the army during Alexander’s rein. The young fox was well liked for his abilities with the sword and spear, and, on top of it all, was still a loyalist to Alexander. Thus he took Walrik’s place in training Volyan in certain aspects that the older wolf couldn’t, such as athletics and archery.
The wolf had the vigor of someone twenty years younger, true, but his body could only do so much as he aged. Gnaeus, on the other paw, was still young and could do stuff that Walrik no longer could, so Walrik passed the training of Volyan between he and the younger fox.
The training, and the year, passed for the most part without hindrance or troubles, that was, at least, until the last month of the second year of Imperial Sobek. Akhaenniut, the self proclaimed God, declared all tribes in and around the region of Alexandria threats, and reduced them to little more than rogues to the Empire. Many were troubles as this reminded them of the past Empire, who forced the tribes to either serve them, or die. Akhaenniut put out the same ultimatum, and the Imperial-Tribal Wars officially began.
The Third Year; January to March, 3 AIS
The tribal wars started in a very unwarlike way, that being that the four tribes occupying the region around Alexandria surrendered without bloodshed. Gnaeus, Walrik, and Volyan were all forced by Akhaenniut to join the military in this war, as he led Imperial troops towards the stronghold of the Demonic Forces in the Endless Dunes. Hearing that Akhaenniut had left, the tribes around Alexandria rebelled and welcomed in the foreign tribes into their ranks, to help hold back the Imperial troops. Volyan, ordered by Akhaenniut to kill the tribes and burn their villages down, refused to do so, setting guard posts about the region of Alexandria and defensive measures as well.
Akhaenniut, angered by the outright defiance to his orders, ended his Southeastern campaign prematurely, returning to Alexandria with a weakened Imperial army. Akhaenniut confronted Volyan in public and the younger fox was able to make Akhaenniut lose his cool, causing the bird to shout ‘I’ll find your father, boy, and kill him!’ in front of hundreds of royal retainers and loyalists.
This action spurred Volyan into action, but caused the Imperial court to second guess their Prime Minister, who many now saw as a tyrant that was using Alexander’s fate as the strings to Volyan’s soul. Many thought Alexander was dead, but with this news, rumors that Alexander was still alive spread throughout the Empire, and Akhaenniut quickly became flustered, informing everyone that he meant an old God, and not Volyan’s legitimate father.
Alexandros’ Fate, March to June, 3 AIS
Alexander and his camp of loyalists received word of Akhaenniut’s outburst in late March, and Alexander allowed the camp to celebrate this small victory. Now that Akhaenniut had blurted out that he was still alive, Alexander knew there would be those that would see Akhaenniut as a tyrant and would start to see the tales of Alexander, crafted by Akhaenniut, as false. Other news, such as Satsobek being pregnant with their second son, put the camp in a joyful mood as well.
April came and went, and May was rather similar, various training exercises and Alexander sneaking into Alexandria to keep a tab on Akhaenniut’s doings. But in the late weeks of June, Satsobek went into labor. The outcome wasn’t one Alexander suspected and it spiraled Alexander into depression for the next three months.
During the birthing process, something went wrong, horribly so. The young fox Satsobek was carrying died and, in the chain of events that followed, so did Satsobek. Alexander, who was there to help Satsobek in her birth, blamed himself for the duel loss.
Imperial Sobekian-Tribal Wars, June 3rd to June 12th, 3 AIS
The first of the tribal wars broke out in the small village to the south-east of Alexandria, the village hiring local mercenaries and various others to aid them. Humans, Demons, and Anthromorphics alike defended the small village. Gnaeus and Walrik, being in command of the army, were given orders to burn the village to the ground or to capture it and execute all the inhabitants.
While doubting the orders were from Volyan himself (They outright knew he didn’t write them), they had to obey or they’d be rebels in the eyes of the Empire. The two decided to take the lesser of two evils, ordering the few Longbow men of their army to launch fire-arrows at the village. The reaction was less than expected.
The village didn’t surrender as Walrik and Gnaeus had expected, but rather they rallied together their armies and rode through the fire, a small party of elite warriors clashing with the phalanx of the Imperial armies while the rest rode towards another village. At the head of the village armies was the soon-to-be greatest thorn in Imperial Sobekia’s side, Vercingetorix.