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The Armies of the Raven (Domination Game)

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  • The Armies of the Raven (Domination Game)

    Part I - The Quecha Rush

    Koji's muscles ached at the end of his long day's work, but it was a good ache. It was an ache that let him know that he had done all he could that day to serve the glory of the Japanese Empire. Over the past months, he and his fellow workers had cleared an entire forest and built up a settlement of cottages for the people of Kyoto to use. Even as they were finishing, people from the city were already arriving to settle the area. The Lord Tokagawa had grand plans for the Japanese - to turn what was now barely more than a city of fishermen into a vast civilization that was the envy of the world. It had once been thought that Kyoto was all there was in the world, but brave Japanese soldiers had gone forth into the wilderness and discovered that in truth, there was so much more out there and what their ancestors had thought of as the world was in truth no more than the end of a penninsula on a vast pangaea. There were other peoples out there, too, and Lord Tokagawa's dream was to build an empire that would put them all to shame.

    This effort had not been without setbacks, however. As a boy, he had been part of the crowd that lined the streets of Kyoto to see off the hardy men and women who had set out to build a whole new city out in the wilderness, a place they would call Tokyo. He still remembered the tears of grief that he and the rest of his people had shed when word filtered back from scattered survivors about how they and the brave warriors who accompanied them had been destroyed by a band of lawless barbarians who served no master. Those barbarians had been hunted down and killed, but even that could not fully repair the damage done to the psyches of the Japanese people by their loss.

    Mindful of this loss, Lord Tokagawa had stationed a full company of archers to protect Koji and his fellow workers as they built up the new cottages. They did not speak to Koji - a member of the warrior class would never bend his stiff pride and stoop to talking to a mere worker - but he was glad for their presence. It was a cold, dark world outside the streets of Kyoto and being out here was much easier with the archer's watching over him. There had been attacks, but barbarian clubs were no match for Japanese arrows.

    Koji went to the main hall and lined up for his dinner - fish of course; if there was one thing Kyoto had a lot of, it was fish. It was then he heard the shouts from outside. People everywhere stopped what they were doing and listened.

    "What's happening?" his friend Hideo asked him.

    "I have no idea," Koji replied. "If it's barbarians, the archers can handle them. They'll be dead before they get near any of us, just like last time."

    They drifted outside to see what was going on. Sure enough, in the trees in the distance, someone was moving. The archers had lined up at the edge of the cottages, bows drawn, waiting for the invaders to arrive.

    "They seem well organized for barbarians," Koji commented idly as the invaders gave a cry and rushed towards the village. The archers waited patiently for them to get into range - barbarians didn't seem to understand bows nor realize that they could be killed from a distance and by the time they knew what was happening, they were mostly all dead; Koji assumed this would be the case again. As the invaders came within bow range, the archers loosed into their arrows into them ... and the invaders kept coming.

    Koji blinked for a moment. Why aren't they falling down?, he asked himself. As they got closer, he could see - they carried large wooden shields that most of the arrows harmlessly sunk into. A few had been hit, but the main part of the force just kept coming. The archers appeared to be as stunned by this turn of events as Koji was. The few seconds it took them to react were more than they had. The invaders slammed into their line and started laying about with their large clubs. Archers fell everywhere and their line broke and they began retreating into the cottages as the invaders drove them back.

    "Koji, run!" Hideo screamed at him and began pulling him away from the invaders. Koji looked around and saw people fleeing all around him. He started to run, only to fall and have the wind knocked out of him. As he tried to rise, an archer ran past him, stringing an arrow into his bow. When he had it ready he turned back towards the enemy. Koji looked where the archer was pointing his weapon and saw a man charging towards them. This was the biggest man that Koji had ever seen, with a patch over one eye and a crown of black feathers woven into his hair.

    The archer loosed his arrow at the man, but he raised his shield and the arrow slammed into it. The impact caused him to stumble a few steps, but not enough to save the archer. The big man surged forward and caught the archer in the face with his club, knocking him flying and crushing his skull. The big man ran off after more targets and Koji just lay on the ground, too afraid to get up.

    The battle was over quickly enough. The archers had been killed to a man, as had any civilians who had tried to raise a weapon against the invaders. Those who surrendered without fighting, like Koji, were rounded up and herded into an open field. Some of the strange invaders watched over them, while the rest ran through the village, pillaging what loot they could find. Koji heard the screams of women everywhere and didn't even want to think about what was happening to them.

    Night fell as the survivors were kept there, watched over by the few men who were disciplined enough not to join in the pillaging of the village. Koji was too frightened to even consider escpaping and eventually passed out from exhaustion. He awoke in the morning to a loud noise. The invaders watching over him and the other prisoners were banging their clubs against their shields and chanting something in their strange language.

    "Raven! Raven! Raven!' they cried. Koji didn't know what that word meant, but it seemed they were chanting to the large man he had seen last night, who had just come into their encampment. By the light of day, he didn't look any less fierce. He stood a foot higher than anyone else around him and he'd had another scar added to his face during the fighting, but he appeared to ignore the drying blood covering his eyepatch and the crown of black feathers on his head had most of the feathers broken.

    The big man spoke to the assembled prisoners, barking orders at them. None of them understood what he was saying and this just seemed to make the man angry. He walked into their crowd and stopped before Koji, glaring down at him with his single eye. He spoke some more words and poked Koji in the chest with his club. Koji nodded with a defeated look on his face. He may not have understood the words, but the meaning was clear - whoever these strange men were, he worked for them now.
    petey

    -When in doubt attack. When not in doubt, attack anyways - it's more fun

  • #2


    So, was the lord Tokugawa aware of the threat posed by the strange men with feathers on their heads, or did the attack come as a surprise to the ruler?

    Intently looking forward to the continuation.
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    • #3
      Part II - The Battle of Kyoto

      Koji awoke with a scream. Looking around in the darkness, it took him a moment to remember where he was. I don't have to be afraid. I'm home, he thought to himself. He was in his chambers in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, an honoured servant of the Emperor, no longer an abused slave to tyrannical masters.

      The past few years had been terrible for him. He and his fellow workers had been enslaved by the brutal invaders who had attacked their village. He had come to learn that they were members of a vile civilization known as the Incas, who worked for nothing less than the conquest and destruction of all those who were not part of their despicable empire. Their warriors, known as Quechas, hunted down and destroyed anything they could find with no mercy or pity. Their battle leader was the large man who had captured him, who called himself the Raven, after a black bird that symbolized death which lived near their capital city, and he was so brutal and blood-thristy that even the rest of the Quechas looked reasonable next to him.

      Koji had been forced to aid in the expansion of the Incas empire, even helping to build a road so that Incan settlers could build a city on the very site where Lord Tokagawa had wanted Tokyo to stand. He never wanted to help them, but his masters were cruel and he was too much of a coward to die, so he did as he was ordered. Then a blessed day had occured - Lord Tokagawa sent a force to take the new Incan city and drive the Incas away from Japan. That effort ultimately failed and the Japanese were driven back, but Koji and his fellow slaves had been out building a pasture to help tame some horses for his Incan overlords and one of the Japanese parties going towards the city overcame their guards and set Koji and the others free, allowing them to return home.

      During his time as an Incan slave, Koji had learnt their strange language. He was beaten when he disobeyed, regardless of whether or not he understood the command, so as a matter of survival he had managed to teach himself what his masters were saying. This ability had earned him a place in Lord Tokagawa's court, as did his knowledge of the Incan society - what little of it he had been allowed to see as a slave to them. So the former slave now lived a life of relative luxury in the Imperial Palace and he could now spend his life serving the master he loved, instead of being forced to serve the one that he hated.

      The luxury of the palace was beset by an aura of fear, however. After driving back the Japanese assault on their city, the Incan armies pressed their attack right to the walls of Kyoto. They had built a fortified encampment on a hillside outside the city and from there struck out at any Japanese forces that attempted to leave and their fortifications were strong enough that any Japanese attempts to take their position were beaten back, often with terrible casualties. Each day, more Incan forces arrived and the Quechas were being joined by other warriors carrying large copper axes that were dreadful to face in the field. Everyone in the city knew that it was just a matter of time before the Incas attacked and there was nothing they could do except wait. Lord Tokagawa was doing all he could to train new military companies, and it could only be hoped that these efforts would be enough.

      As the sun rose that morning, horns blew throughout the city, signalling that the day that Koji and the rest of the Japanese had feared had finally come - the Incans were attacking. Dressing quickly, Koji hurried to the throne room to take his place by Lord Tokagawa's side. The news there was not good. While an assault by axemen at the main gate had been beaten back, Quechas had come over the wall and overwhelmed the archers defending them. Fighting was going on through the streets of Kyoto and the efforts to take out the invaders on the city streets had allowed a second group of axemen to break down the main gates, allowing more Incan invaders to pour into the city. The Japanese fought hard, but in the end, their efforts were futile and by the end of the day the Japanese were driven back right to the Imperial Palace itself.

      The battle continued through the night as Koji huddled in the throne room with the rest of the court, listening to the screams from the city around him. Lord Tokagawa kept issuing orders to what generals remained to him and, while there were some successes, by midnight, the handful of soliders left alive were barricaded in the throne room itself as Incan axemen pounded on the door. Soon enough, they broke through and axemen and Quechas charged into the few remaining defenders, led by the Raven himself. The battle was over quickly enough, and axmen grabbed Lord Tokagawa and threw him at the Raven's feet.

      Even in defeat, the Japanese Emperor stared up defiantly at the man who had just taken his city. the Raven looked at him coldly for a moment, then walked past him to where Tokagawa's daughter huddled in the crowd. The Raven casually backhanded her across the face, ripped her clothes open and raped her right on the floor of her father's throne room. Tokagawa screamed at him and tried to rush over to help his daughter, but the axemen holding him knocked him to the floor and held him back, bellowing with mocking laughter at his futile attempts to resist.

      When the Raven finished with the princess, he turned back to Tokagawa and waved his hand at his men, allowing them to take their turn on her. Standing before the Emperor, he said to him, "Now you know how completely you have been defeated."

      Looking over at Koji, Tokagawa ordered, "Tell me what he said." Koji translated for him and Tokagawa then told him to tell the Raven "No matter what the circumstances, Japan never accepts defeat." Koji was terrified to say something like this to a man such as the Raven, but he did as his Emperor ordered. When Koji had finished translating, Tokagawa spat at the Raven's feet.

      "So there is someone here among these barbarians that speaks a civilized tongue," the Raven said. Koji was shocked that this brutal creature would have the audacity to call them barbarians. "Tell your emperor that if he bows to me, he will be allowed to live on. He can serve in the court of the Incan king as a jester and his daughters will become honoured concubines of noblemen. If he does not, he will die and his daughters will be forced to live out their lives in the lowliest and dirtiest brothels I can find, whoring themselves out to beggars for less than the cost of a meal."

      Koji repeated this for Tokagawa, who responded, "The Japanese Emperor bows to no man." When Koji translated this, Tokagawa again spat at the Raven's feet.

      The Raven just laughed. "I like you," he told Tokagawa. "There are too few men these days who know how to die well. You may die quickly." Before Koji could even translate this, the Raven signalled to the axemen holding Tokagawa and with one swift blow, they took off the Emperor's head.

      The Raven them came over to stand before Koji. Looking down at him with a cold expression in his one eye, he said, "I remember you - you were one of my slaves. Since you speak our tongue, you can serve me again and let your people know that we are their masters now." Koji began to weep as the Raven turned away. The Raven then paused and listened to the screams from the city around him. "On second thought," he said, turning back to Koji, "I think your people already realize that." With that, he smashed his large club into Koji's chest. Koji heard his ribs break as the breath was knocked out of him and blood coughed up from his mouth as he fell to the floor.

      "Burn the palace. Kill the men and take the women. " the Raven commanded, not even looking back as he walked away.

      Koji wept in pain as he lay dying on the floor as the Imperial Palace was set in flames around him. It was not his own death that he wept for. Lord Tokagawa had once talked about his dream of Japan - to make it a shining light of civilization throughout the dark and cold world - and it was the death of that dream that Koji wept for. The dream of Japan was no more and all that was left of her people would forever be nothing more than slaves to the brutal Incan Empire. Koji's last thoughts were hopelessness and despair as he drifted into eternal darkness while the last remnants of his empire burned to the ground around him.
      petey

      -When in doubt attack. When not in doubt, attack anyways - it's more fun

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      • #4
        Excellent tale! Was this based on a game? If it was, were you Japan?
        First Master, Banan-Abbot of the Nana-stary, and Arch-Nan of the Order of the Sacred Banana.
        Marathon, the reason my friends and I have been playing the same hotseat game since 2006...

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        • #5
          Great story!

          I hate a sad ending...

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Metaliturtle
            Excellent tale! Was this based on a game? If it was, were you Japan?
            It is and I was the Inca. I had a lot of fun killing and pillaging with my initial Quecha rush, so I thought I'd start out the story from what it was like on the receiving end.

            The later chapters are going to focus on the Inca's POV.
            petey

            -When in doubt attack. When not in doubt, attack anyways - it's more fun

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            • #7
              Heh I guessed Incas were the player, as it's an (unwritten?) rule that Japan always gets wtfpwned early in the game.

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              • #8
                In my game I finished an hour ago as Russian Japan ended up with almost completely owning their continent. I was on a much bigger continent though and they were completely backwards in tech.

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                • #9
                  Thanks for this, I read it on the plane the other night.
                  Gurka 17, People of the Valley
                  I am of the Horde.

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                  • #10
                    petey, any chance of some more?
                    Gurka 17, People of the Valley
                    I am of the Horde.

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