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The Trappings of War: Volume III
An UnOrthOdOx view of the Glory of War
It did my heart good to see the rolling hills with their vineyards once again. Much as one feels returning to see their parents, I suppose, I was immediately comfortable with the surroundings and felt at peace, though no longer at home. It was mid fall, and there was much bustling about bringing in this year’s crop of grapes to make our renowned wine. Everywhere you looked you could see the workers in the field, laboring away to clear the field before the first frost came in to threaten the quality of drink. I could not help to think that one day, my own town would grow in size to match this magnitude of people, but that seemed too far off to even contemplate at this point.
The meeting would not be till the evening, so I took my leave to go and see Hot Enamel down in his armory. I had many questions to ask of him as to what he would suggest for hunting my ‘dragon’. Not surprisingly, I found him testing out yet another of his new weapons, something he called a flail. “This is but a mere test model, it will be some time before we can outfit our regulars with it.” He explained. “The chain here allows one to build up much more force than with a standard club, knocking shields out of the way, and crushing any armor it comes in contact with. This one, though, needs more work. It is too heavy for our troops to use.”
“My good friend, mind if I give it a go?” I asked. Taking measure on the training dummy he had set up for testing, and heaving one mighty stroke. This mighty weapon shattered the oaken stand and split the dummy, armor and all right in two. “Too heavy?” I asked, “I would call this PERFECT!”
“One would think so, yes, but the follow through tends to leave one exposed too much. A lighter version can compensate for that, but still do considerable force.” He pointed out. “Besides, I was saying it was too heavy for the common soldier, not for ones as large as yourself.” He commented with a grin.
“Hah! Don’t try to kid me, I was watching you swing this about with ease as well. Still, you know how much I have always preferred these mighty blunt weapons to that of a sword, is there any way I can get a copy of this, and one of these heavy ones, mind you, not one of your ‘light’ versions.”
“But of course, take that one, fool. Why did you think I had it out to begin with, I knew you were arriving this morning. Now, let us go and find ourselves some lunch, swinging that thing around angers the stomach.” And off we were to find the Kitchens.
Over the course of our lunch, I explained the predicament I was in with finding a way to capture or kill this dragon. I had remembered that he was working on a contraption some time ago that looked of a massive bow. It was abandoned, though, when the Catapult was brought into service. I believed I had need of it to resurface again, but slightly different. Attached to the bow of a ship, and on a pivot to alloy one to fire a massive spear into the side of our beast. As I knew he would, Hot Enamel went on like a child who had discovered a new toy, and was making drawings of a test design before we had even finished our meal. He assured me he would have a prototype, whatever that is, before I left tomorrow.
That evening, with the bonfire lit once more, our council finally came together, much like we had always done. “Brothers, we have gathered around today to discuss once more the future of our mighty Empire.” GhengisFarb began, speaking in his eloquent voice as always. “We have now before us a choice, one that will determine our place both in history, and in the future. We are at a turning point now, with two paths laid before us. One is commonly referred to as Monarchy, the other is known as Republic.” I listened intently as he laid out the differences between the two, and how they would be for the betterment of our lands. I for one, though, did not like this in the least. WE were the ones in charge here, and it should remain that way, damn it! What was all this about giving ‘freedom’ to our peoples, anyway. They are not being harmed, they each have their place, and they all take pride in that. I sat in amazement as nearly everyone spoke in favor of a Republic.
“Have you people lost your minds!?!” I exclaimed “We are sitting here with wars raging around us, and you all wish to change to a system that no longer requires each castle to provide for the defense of the nation? That the funding and the upkeep of our ENTIRE military must come directly from the coffers of the Empire is completely absurd. Then you are adding the fact that we will no longer be allowed to patrol our own streets and keep the lawless in line through the utilization of our security forces. How do you expect to keep order? How do you plan to support a decent military?”
“Calm down, UnO, the point is, we will be making more money than before since our citizens will be more productive, and there will be less corruption” Aggie started, but I cut him off right there.
“How DARE you accuse anyone here of corruption!?!” I was vaguely aware of UberKrux shifting to stand at the mention of this as well.
“And how DARE YOU cut me off while I attempt to explain the situation to you with your addled old mind!?!” He shouted as he made a move for his sword.
Uber also had his sword out in a flash, and my hand was closing over my new flail when we were all startled back into sanity
“ENOUGH!!!” boomed a voice as a mighty axe shattered the table we had gathered around. Ghengis had once again taken control before things got out of hand. “We have gathered, and we have voted, the dead is decided. UnO, Uber, you two are bound to follow the will of the council, as we have agreed upon in days past. You have had your say, but the decision of the council is to move towards a Republic, understand?”
Uber made a move as to object, but I steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. Ghengis was right, of course. I may not like the decision at hand, but I was honor bound to carry it out to my fullest ability. I looked forward to returning home, though, where I could forget this nonsense.
An UnOrthOdOx view of the Glory of War
It did my heart good to see the rolling hills with their vineyards once again. Much as one feels returning to see their parents, I suppose, I was immediately comfortable with the surroundings and felt at peace, though no longer at home. It was mid fall, and there was much bustling about bringing in this year’s crop of grapes to make our renowned wine. Everywhere you looked you could see the workers in the field, laboring away to clear the field before the first frost came in to threaten the quality of drink. I could not help to think that one day, my own town would grow in size to match this magnitude of people, but that seemed too far off to even contemplate at this point.
The meeting would not be till the evening, so I took my leave to go and see Hot Enamel down in his armory. I had many questions to ask of him as to what he would suggest for hunting my ‘dragon’. Not surprisingly, I found him testing out yet another of his new weapons, something he called a flail. “This is but a mere test model, it will be some time before we can outfit our regulars with it.” He explained. “The chain here allows one to build up much more force than with a standard club, knocking shields out of the way, and crushing any armor it comes in contact with. This one, though, needs more work. It is too heavy for our troops to use.”
“My good friend, mind if I give it a go?” I asked. Taking measure on the training dummy he had set up for testing, and heaving one mighty stroke. This mighty weapon shattered the oaken stand and split the dummy, armor and all right in two. “Too heavy?” I asked, “I would call this PERFECT!”
“One would think so, yes, but the follow through tends to leave one exposed too much. A lighter version can compensate for that, but still do considerable force.” He pointed out. “Besides, I was saying it was too heavy for the common soldier, not for ones as large as yourself.” He commented with a grin.
“Hah! Don’t try to kid me, I was watching you swing this about with ease as well. Still, you know how much I have always preferred these mighty blunt weapons to that of a sword, is there any way I can get a copy of this, and one of these heavy ones, mind you, not one of your ‘light’ versions.”
“But of course, take that one, fool. Why did you think I had it out to begin with, I knew you were arriving this morning. Now, let us go and find ourselves some lunch, swinging that thing around angers the stomach.” And off we were to find the Kitchens.
Over the course of our lunch, I explained the predicament I was in with finding a way to capture or kill this dragon. I had remembered that he was working on a contraption some time ago that looked of a massive bow. It was abandoned, though, when the Catapult was brought into service. I believed I had need of it to resurface again, but slightly different. Attached to the bow of a ship, and on a pivot to alloy one to fire a massive spear into the side of our beast. As I knew he would, Hot Enamel went on like a child who had discovered a new toy, and was making drawings of a test design before we had even finished our meal. He assured me he would have a prototype, whatever that is, before I left tomorrow.
That evening, with the bonfire lit once more, our council finally came together, much like we had always done. “Brothers, we have gathered around today to discuss once more the future of our mighty Empire.” GhengisFarb began, speaking in his eloquent voice as always. “We have now before us a choice, one that will determine our place both in history, and in the future. We are at a turning point now, with two paths laid before us. One is commonly referred to as Monarchy, the other is known as Republic.” I listened intently as he laid out the differences between the two, and how they would be for the betterment of our lands. I for one, though, did not like this in the least. WE were the ones in charge here, and it should remain that way, damn it! What was all this about giving ‘freedom’ to our peoples, anyway. They are not being harmed, they each have their place, and they all take pride in that. I sat in amazement as nearly everyone spoke in favor of a Republic.
“Have you people lost your minds!?!” I exclaimed “We are sitting here with wars raging around us, and you all wish to change to a system that no longer requires each castle to provide for the defense of the nation? That the funding and the upkeep of our ENTIRE military must come directly from the coffers of the Empire is completely absurd. Then you are adding the fact that we will no longer be allowed to patrol our own streets and keep the lawless in line through the utilization of our security forces. How do you expect to keep order? How do you plan to support a decent military?”
“Calm down, UnO, the point is, we will be making more money than before since our citizens will be more productive, and there will be less corruption” Aggie started, but I cut him off right there.
“How DARE you accuse anyone here of corruption!?!” I was vaguely aware of UberKrux shifting to stand at the mention of this as well.
“And how DARE YOU cut me off while I attempt to explain the situation to you with your addled old mind!?!” He shouted as he made a move for his sword.
Uber also had his sword out in a flash, and my hand was closing over my new flail when we were all startled back into sanity
“ENOUGH!!!” boomed a voice as a mighty axe shattered the table we had gathered around. Ghengis had once again taken control before things got out of hand. “We have gathered, and we have voted, the dead is decided. UnO, Uber, you two are bound to follow the will of the council, as we have agreed upon in days past. You have had your say, but the decision of the council is to move towards a Republic, understand?”
Uber made a move as to object, but I steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. Ghengis was right, of course. I may not like the decision at hand, but I was honor bound to carry it out to my fullest ability. I looked forward to returning home, though, where I could forget this nonsense.
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