The Fight For Freedom

[ChrisiusMaximus]

This is a story of a struggle for freedom from the tyranny of a totalitarian regime. I expect at this point that this will be quite long and ask for patience on your part. I have been mulling over several ideas for my second story but couldnt quite get going.

This story is totally inspired from my first full week of playing PTW but not a particular game so no maps as yet. I will work on some for later, but for now you will just have to use your imagination. Any way I hope you like !


THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
part one :The secret meeting

"Was there ever a time that our nation was not at war or falling out with one of our neighbours?" Bryn asked the group of likeminded young men. "Right back through the mists of time our people have struggled against outside oppressors!, The Vikings, The Saxons, The Romans to the south. There have been many foes to fight!"

All the men nodded in agreement in their darkened smoke filled corner of the Three Horseshoes Inn.

"None that have come before have treated our clansmen as badly as these Communist Pigs! Not even the English!" declared Connel, Bryn's eldest son.

"Yes, yes my son! you are right. When they took control of our government, they said it was for the good of the people. The reality is far from good! and we are merely their slaves helping to feed their insatiable lust for blood and power! be it foreign or Celtic."

Bryn Murdoch was a proud man, proud of his sons, and his service to his country in the past. He had had a distinguished career in the army as a member of the special forces. Very adept in the art of survival and guerilla warfare adopted by the Celts to undermine the English in earlier times. He missed the days of King Brennus's rule and would never be able to serve those who had executed him, the Communists!

In their midst that night was a Japanese agent, heavily disguised. His name was Scratch and he had a message for Bryn from his government.

"You say all this and I suppose I agree with you, but what can we do? We are farmhands! how can we change anything?" said Kyle the Son of Aidan Donavon, an old friend of Bryn's.

"Kyle! Kyle!, for heavens sake man have you forgotten what they did to your Father?" retorted Bryn.

Aidan Donavon had refused to hand over his whole harvest to the authorities, and had been shot for his trouble in front of his family. Bryn and Aidan had been comrades in the army years before, and he missed his old friend dearly.

"This so called peoples government is our worst enemy! they have no regard for the commoners, and they see us merely as their servants." said Connel "I say it is time to avvenge our brethren!"

"Please if I can interupt you for a moment," said Scratch. "You cannot just start a war with your government, they will annhilate you in only a short time. You must prepare yourselves carefully, you need to recruit and train many more of your clansmen. You need to win the minds of your fellow commoners if you are to stand any chance in the struggle to come."



Feedback always welcome!

[Easthaven I]

Very good beginning, got me intrigued. Revolution against the commies, perhaps?

Glad to see you begin another story!

[Civ3King]

Pretty good start.....I feel a an uprising coming on......POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

[unscratchedfoot]

With Scratch in charge there's no way they can lose. It'll be a turkey shoot.

[jdd2007]

alright

let the blood spill...!

[Odin]

Yeah, Kill the totalitarians b@stards dressed up as us commies.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Part one cont....

Bryn knew only to well that Scratch was right, he drew the meeting to a close. "Gentlemen I think we all know in our hearts this man speaks words of wisdom. The task ahead of us is indeed great, and many of us may not survive the coming trials."

"We must rise up against this evil tyranny that has beset our beloved Celtica! We must free ourselves from these chains of oppression! Go now back to your villages and be amongst your kin, and help to gather in the harvests."

"In three moons from now make your way to Devils Bridge, bring with you any volunteers from your clans. There among the ancient ruins of the iron mining colonies we shall hold council. Farewell and may the Gods be with you."

Bryn thought to himself how young these men were to be village headsmen. The government had drafted many of the older men to fight on the beleagured English front. Leaving these very young men, still boys almost in some cases to head their clans.

Bryn himself had been shunned by the army because of his outspoken loyalty to the former King Brennus, who had been murdered by these Communist Pigs.

Later that evening back at Bryn's farm the three men, Scratch, Connel and Bryn sat around the fire place, sipping at their wild mushroom soup, and freshly baked bread for supper.

"I have a sealed letter from my government here for you Bryn!" said Scratch

"Greetings Bryn Murdoch,

I have been advised of of your struggle against the tyranny inflicted against your people by the Communists. My government wishes you every success in your struggle against the oppressors.
As such we would be honoured to provide what ever assistance you may require.
I must advise great caution though, because if this information falls into enemy hands it will mean war between our two nations. We do not wish to control your people but to restore your nation to its former glory as Japan's ally and trading partner.
I eagerly await your response.

Togugawa" Bryn read the letter out loud.

"Why would the Japanese want to help us!" stated Connel, "Whats in this for them? were totally different peoples ethnically and culturally."

"Ah my young friend we are merely but as the sand of a beach. You see if I take a handfull of this sand and look closely at the grains, I can see that some are different colours, and some grains are larger than others. However they are all grains of sand and they are all a part of the same beach! I recognise them all as grains of sand, can you see?" said Scratch.

"You speak much truth my wise friend, Connel you would do well to listen carefully to these things!" said Bryn. "I think its time for us to retire for the night. We can continue to discuss these things tomorrow by the light of day."

"Goodnight Father, goodnight Scratch," said Connel.

"Yes goodnight my friends," replied Scratch.






Thanks everyone for the feedback.

[unscratchedfoot]

No after-dinner fistfights for some fun? C'mon, what's going on here with these passive folks? Or are you setting us up for a nice free-for-all brawl?

[gooberboob]

Or perhaps it will be a political victory which relies upon wit instead of stupidity and clubbing motions.

HUZZAH!!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

No sorry Scratchy no big fist fights at the moment.


Part 2 The Council Of War

Bryn was thinking by himself, the three moons since the secret meeting of Clan Headmen had passed quickly. He and his Son Connel had arrived at Devils Bridge ahead of any others, and Bryn could'nt help wondering whether anyone else would show.

"I hope that no one's let the authorities know what were trying to do here Son," said Bryn.

"Dont worry Father," said Connel,"They will be arriving soon enough, and I dont think it is likely that anyone would have done so."

The location for this gathering of the Clans was an ideal choice. At least 250 miles from the nearest large city and far from any village. The only way in was on foot through the dense forests and hills of the Celtic wilderness.

Devils Bridge had once been a thriving mining colony, but the iron ore had been worked out well over a hundred years before. The place was now deserted, and the old pack horse route badly overgrown, in fact in places it no longer existed, completely hidden by the dense undergrowth or washed away by rivers in flood.

The few remaining stone huts were useless as their rooves had long since collapsed, but the old mine workings had extensive tunnels and huge underground caverns, hewn out of the bowels of the hills this was an ideal place to hide an army base.

Later in the day more men started to arrive and Bryn's heart began to lift.

A familiar voice said, "Hello again my friend, it is good to see you again."

"Scratch! thank the Gods you've made it, its really good to see you again," uttered Bryn with a widening smile on his face. The turn out was incredible, from just 20 or so men at the Three Horseshoe's Inn three moons ago, there were a hundred or more who had made it to this place. Bryn was overjoyed!

The hunting party returned successful with plenty of fresh meat, and that evening the gathered men enjoyed a great feast, washed down with fine wines from Japan.

"I hope you brought more than just wine with you!" said Connel to Scratch.

"Oh yes we have brought more than just wine. We have medicines, hides, grain and paper. In fact we have many things!" replied Scratch.

"What about guns!! How can we fight without guns?," retorted Connel aggresively.

"Hold your tongue boy!, show some respect."

"Its okay Bryn, no offence taken. Connel let me try to explain if I can. If we were to bring you Japanese arms, would not your government realise as soon as one of your number is killed or captured. The outcome of this would surely be war between our two nations! then how could we help your people." answered Scratch.

"Whats the use of you helping us if you dont give us weapons? how can we fight without weapons?" asked Kyle Donavon.

"Well my friend we have brought you weapons! not guns or bullets but paper and ink. Your fight is only just beginning, there is much that needs to be done before anyone fires a gun in anger," replied Scratch.

"How do you mean much to be done?" scoffed another head strong young clansman who had listened in on the conversation.

"You will never defeat your enemy untill you have won the support of the people. You are too few against too many and you cannot afford to sustain the losses that open warfare will incur. Before anyone of you fires a gun in anger you will have to convince the masses that all other options are dead. Youre people must be able to clearly see for themselves the futility of fighting for social justice through civil debate."

"When the masses can recognise that the forces of oppression are maintaining themselves in power by any means, and against all established laws, only then will you win the support for an armed struggle."

"So how do we fight with ink and paper?" asked Connel.

"Propaganda! my friend propaganda. You need to incite the masses to defy the government. You must become a thorn in the governments side, by letting the people know about the acts of cruelty perpatrated against the poor. This is the first phase of your struggle, and the more hearts and minds you can win over the better your prospects of final victory will be," finished Scratch.

"Well we will have plenty of time tomorrow to discuss this further" interupted Bryn, "Goodnight all."

[Easthaven I]

Bravo!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Thanks East

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Done a map of Celtica's continent at the time of the gathering of the clans at Devils Bridge.

Note the size of the Celtic nation having swallowed the Vikings and Saxon in the past.

The neutral zone is a huge mountain range to inhospitable for human settlement.

The Viking and Saxon nations used to occupy the region next to the English border.

Rome is on another continent further to the south which I will show in a world map later in the story.

The hostilities between Rome and Celtica have ceased for now and the war between Celtica and the English is at a stalemate.

Japan does not wish to get involved in war but fears that should the Communist Celtic regime annexe England they will turn their greedy eyes over the mountains to Their lands.

Japans gamble to assist a Celtic uprising is risky but if successful should secure peace for the inhabitants of the continent of Celtica.

The only problem for the revolution if sucessful would be whether the Romans would again try to claim a chunk of Celtica for themselves.

Just what will happen is in the hands of the Gods!


EDIT apologies for getting the spelling of the Celtic capitol city wrong on the map should be Entremont.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Part 2 continued

The following morning after a good breakfast all the men gathered in the large central cavern, designated as the Great Hall.

"Order! Order, Brothers we are gathered here todey to witness the birth of a movement, a movement of the people. Not just to witness its birth, but to swear allegiance to its just cause. This movement my Brothers shall be known as "Free Celtica"," said Bryn Murdoch to those gathered before him.

A cheer went up from the men, "Place your right hand over your hearts, raise your left hands and repeat after me," started Bryn.

"We swear, on our honour, before our Brethren and the Gods, that we will give our lives to "Free Celtica","said Bryn.

All the men gathered their gladly made this vow, and the first council of war of the "Free Celtica" movement commenced.

"Brothers I know that many of you have come here today expecting to go to war imediately," said Bryn.

"Here, Here, we wish to avvenge our murdered clansfolk," was the general response.

"I understand your desire to fight, but we must stop and assess the situation. We have a long and difficult struggle ahead of us," returned Bryn, and he continued to explain all the things that had been discussed by the Japanese envoy, Scratch the night before.

The men seemed to have calmed down and Bryn invited Scratch to speak.

"Brothers! please I call you Brothers for I too have taken the pledge to "Free Celtica". This struggle is as important to my country as it is to your clans. Brothers if the communists defeat the English then we in Japan feel it will only be a matter of time before they turn their eyes south."

"as your leader Bryn has explained to you it would be senseless to supply you with Japanese weapons, for fear of their discovery in the field. However we pledge to supply this base via the ancient pack horse route, from our northern cities with all the necessary food, supplies and resources needed to sustain your fledgling army."

"In addition to this to help you to manufacture your own equipment I have brought with me many tradesmen and professionals to train your people.
Horse breeders, Blacksmiths, Gunsmiths, Explosives experts, Engineers, Bakers, Doctors and Cobblers to name but a few. In a few moons from now a detatchment of Elite Imperial Samurai special covert troops will arrive to train your people in the arts of warfare and assasination techniques."

"Before you can fight you must be transformed from farmers into deadly warriors trained to kill."

"What on earth are we going to learn from a load of old Cobblers?" shouted young Angus O'hara from amidst the gathered men, who broke out into raucious laughter.

"Order!, Order, please continue Scratch," said Bryn.

"Thank you Bryn. Yes, yes I see your joke, but my Brothers do not mock. It is a very long walk back to your villages, and further still to your nearest cities. Much of your activity will be on foot especially later when the real fighting begins. In those days ahead remember when you laughed so today, but be thankful that you will be wearing a pair of boots of the finest quality. You will come to see how important good footwear is when it has saved your life a time or rwo."

"Thank you very much Scratch for your ever insightful wisdom. Right Brothers, for the next two days the Japanese Printers will teach you how to construct and use a simple press, to use in the field for printing leaflets etc. From here several of you will head back to your villages to begin the the first stage of the struggle, the war of propaganda."

"Your three priorities are to inform the wider population of the truth in any way possible, stay in touch with HQ with messengers wearing good boots naturally, and keeping one step ahead of the enemy," this raised a smile to everyones face including Scratch's, " and to recruit new volunteers to our cause."

"All new recruits are to be sent here for further training straight away. No heroics Brothers, when the time is right we will step up our operations. Good luck and may the Gods be with you," continued Bryn.

And so it was that the "Free Celtica" movement had been born, and the war of propaganda was set into motion.

.................................................. ........................................


Still no fighting for those who like to see it, however I hope you like the story so far. Im finding it enjoyable to write and I anticipate it being quite long. I just hope I can continue to get it from my mind onto the screen.

Comments would be appreciated.

[TheGuitarist]

This is great, Chrisius. It's picking up a little but I'm anxious to see the revolution begin.