>>5393710

Another halberdier is knocked down, his charge halted as a chevalier smashes into him, wrestling the poor man to the ground. Your halberdiers are excellent, their armoured plate is probably the best in the world as the interlocking plates are an exclusive design, the makers of whom are all “voluntarily housed” upon Isola d'acciaio (Isle of steel), to ensure that their secrets are not exposed to the outside world. Still, they make fine soldiers, not maddened beast, or “glorious warriors”, as these barbarians love to refer to themselves.

Blow after blow is reflected, the halberd useless in such a distance forcing the halberdier to fall back to his stiletto, trying his best to stab the exposed weak points in his foe’s armour, only for the disturbing sound of metal scratching against metal to echo as blow after blow is deflected by the armour. Meanwhile the downed man is getting continuously pummelled by the enraged Akeonian as blow after blow is struck upon his head. And then, a particularly nasty hit disorients him just long enough for the Akeonian to grab his own long, narrow dagger and thrust it straight down the helmet’s visor.

A sickening squelch of an eyeball being penetrated is followed by the pained wailings that soon increase as the dagger is withdrawn, only to be stabbed back down, just with more anger in it, finally, the screams become gurgles, and are silenced completely.

This wasn’t supposed to happen ! You cannot help but curse. “Everyone, prepare to retreat !” You call out. If Megas doux (Megaduke) Mundus wants his supplies, he can get them with his own dead. Thinking so, you yourself begin struggling back, watching as more and more men continue to flood out of the large buildings you had thought were warehouses. But their storage had not been supplies, but rather fighting men, only now belatedly do you realize.

With death as a motivator, you force yourself into a sprint, your own men scrabbling onto their galea (galley) with such vigour that they begin undocking before everyone had reached them, forcing many of your men to jump into the waters and swim onto safety.

“Sagittaire !“ Turning about, even through the shouts of panic and battle, a clear voice calls out. And you notice, standing back away from the battle proper, a collection of archers, perhaps three hundred strong, stand with their bows prepared and their arrows nocked.

In front of this gathering, you spot a man with his escorts, clad in heavy armour, with colourful coat of arms upon his chest and two flagbearers besides him holding banners showing a golden lion on red on the right, and on the left a silver dragon on black.

It is a banner you recognize. The banner of Dragon d'argent (silver dragon), a man obsessed with war that cares nought for anything else – Guillaume de La Mare, the bastard half-brother of the current king of Akeonians.

>>5393711

And as more and more men continue to stream out from the ramshackle building around the isle, do you realize that this had been nothing but a trap.

To your horror, a single order bellows across the entire isle. “Tirer !” The bows bend for only a second before a literal swarm like disaster bringing locusts descend upon your retreating forces. Those few halberdiers manage to get away even under such withering rain, their armour acting as excellent protection for the arced arrows. But the real toll comes for your sailors whom have nothing but clothes upon their backs and courage in their hearts.

Once again, screams rise from your force, as but few were actually killed, many however were wounded and pinned to the ground from the intense pain.

That is when your ship lurches and you realize that it had begun setting off without your orders, but you do not have the courage to face your men, much less so order them to wait for their deaths. You doubt that they’d obey you even if you had bothered so.

Still, the eyes, they bore into you, shouts of pain and mercy fill the throats of those unlucky enough to now be stuck at the docks, their bloodied hand reaching out to you, their eyes begging for mercy, for help. You can feel a cold shiver run down your spine when those pleads for mercy turn into looks of spite and hatred as your ship gains more and more distance. The pleas soon turn to curses, and those very same curses are silenced as the rest of the Akeonians descend and begin killing off your sailors. Not much ransom to be earned from mere commoners, after all.

You feel a sickness come from the bottom of your stomach, a sickness you had once felt when you were a young lad, on your first journey upon a ship. With cold sweat drenching your already sweat-soaked clothes, you simply collapse upon the deck, your hands still tightly clenching upon the handrails. You cannot breathe, your gasps for breath are cut short when you begin throwing up, the only mercy being the fact that the rest of your men are as equally as shaken.

War is a nasty business, one you had taken a part in before, but those were small skirmishes, anti-piracy actions really, until the big war with Patera. You sunk many a ship and earned many an accolade. Oh, how the men then cheered your name. How proud you were when your rank was bestowed upon you. The worshipping gazes of the crowds. Soon you would turn your military career into a political one, assisting your father until you yourself may become Consul. But this, this was a massacre, not a battle.

>>5393712

Minutes after, catching your breath, with strength returning to your legs, you rise up, ignoring the mess you made before you. Looking around you realize, that despite the losses suffered, most of your ships are still intact, they are still crewed. You still have a fighting chance. The Thephians better produce enough silk so that I could wipe my ass with it ! And just as quickly, your grief turns to rage, perhaps even greed. War is a nasty business, but a profitable one, just as long as you can not think about those who fight it.

-
(POV shift: You are Armentarius Theocritus, and night fighting is damnded difficult.)

You deliver a quick jab with your left, your spathion slams into the chain worn by the man before you, but it does not penetrate, the chain taking most of the hit and the thick cotton underneath taking the rest. Fearing another strike, your foe interposes a shield before you, but he does not look where he is going, the night disguising the various pieces of sandstone and other jutting out rocks. Naturally, with a quick shifting of one’s feet, the man slips and falls down. And you pounce. Moving quickly and with practised ease, you ignore the ever-building fatigue and cut down with your sword. Through the panic, the man interposes his shields and your blade gets stuck in it at the very top. Not ideal, but you can work with it. Using your strength, you pull the blade, thereby pulling the shield. Slightly twisting your torso, you allow your armour to take the blow as the Akeonian’s shortsword slices against your armour. It is easily deflected as your own mace falls down with gusto. A sickening crunch and the irritating noise of bending metal echoes out, and your foe stops moving.

With great annoyance, you kick against the body and the shield, freeing your spathion, and with irritation you see that it had been chipped. You will have to repair it as soon as you can.

“Scholae (School) !” You shout out as loud as you can. “Push them into the ocean !”

With another inspirational shout, as nothing more than means of momentary rest, you once more charge into the brutal melee. With friendly banners upon your ships, and the flashed lights of communications, you had struck hard, you had struck fast and without rest. And it paid off. The enemy was caught entirely unprepared, both for your night raid and the naval assault.

Being hit from both sides had thrown the Akeonians into a panic, and during said panic, someone somewhere knocked over a firepit, a torch, a cauldron or anything else and caused a fire to breakout within the tightly packed camp. Still, you have no idea which is worse, being engulfed in flames, or to drown as the salty waves take you, like many an invader when your ships rammed them to the next world underneath. Nor do you particularly care, all that matters now is winning.

>>5393713

Having received little rest through your days of siege, you and your tagmata (regiment/battalion) had fared better than the rough, inexperienced recruits that were raised haphazardly. You and your men are professionals, used to this sort of war, this sort of tiredness and exhaustion. But the conscripts, those that are still able to fight and are of use, you can see them flagging, their movements are uncoordinated, drunk almost.

You will have to end this quickly.

“Arrêt !” One of the Akeonians calls out. Before you, his plating similar to yours, with a set of well-fitting steel plate cladding him, obvious weak points like the joints, the armpits, the neck being protected by a layer of chain, with no doubt there being another layer of cotton underneath. An exquisitely decorated tabard is tied in front of his chest plate depicting what appears to be a black cross of the Shepherd on white in a checkered pattern taking up the top right and bottom left, with a detailed white tower upon blue taking up the rest. He has his blade sheathed, mace drawn and shield raised.

Knocking his mace against his shield, painted the same as his tabard, he continues. “Je suis Guiscard Ansure ! Je défie –” You do not give him a chance to finish, as you had begun to circle around the man, he had naturally followed, placing his back against one of the massively flaming tents, that had no doubt housed something flammable. With a quick charge, you shouldered the man, the impact on your end had rattled your head, knocked wind out of your lungs and bounced you back on your ass, but he ended up worse.

Being hit in full by a large man clad in very heavy armour, he had naturally stumbled as well, falling onto the flaming tent, the raging fires then proceeded to lick up his armour, quickly heating it, catching fire on everything they could. The gut twisting noise of heating plate sizzling flesh followed by panicked screams disturbs even you as in a panic, the man begins rolling around, trying to rise to his feet, but his endless and pained screams of being cooked alive in the very same thing he had though would protect him consumes the surroundings.

Fortunately for you, taking time to admire such a horrific death is not a part of your plan. So, rising to your feet, you begin to move onwards, ignoring the horrified looks of the nearby conscripts as the chevalier still screams in agony.

May the fires of hell be harsher than that. You think, many of your men, good men, fearful believers in God and his message had died, and many more will against these heretics. Their families forever looking up in despair upon hearing the news of their deaths, those looks are what you hate the most.

>>5393715

Noticing your distinct lack of an opponent, the enemy decides to rectify it, by placing down a wall of three terrified men clad in padded cloth, shields and spears. The trio look absolutely terrified, and you quickly realize why. Starting back at you is your reflection upon the metal reinforced part of the shield, put there to give it more toughness and protect the hand of its wielder.

From head to toe you are covered in blood, your once beautiful golden plume is had been stained red, its individual threads now sticking together with each other or to your helmet. Your immaculate armour is full of bends, missing pieces and scars, coated in between with a thick layer of both mud and blood. The perfect cloak of white and gold equally as ruined, parts of it had been torn off, whilst the ends bear signs of fire damage, to the point where on occasions you can still see bright red sparks falling down from it. To those men you seem as death incarnate. The grim reaper come to deliver his judgement upon the sinful, a herald of the final battle, the end times of judgement.

You simply walk forwards, and with every step you take the trio walks backwards, their shields visibly trembling as you keep approaching. Through corner of your eye, you can see your own men had already circled around your fearful foe.

With a simple nod, you lock eyes with the one in the middle, before shock takes hold of them, and they nothing. The man, alongside his two comrades, collapses as the mace blows to the backs of their heads had quickly finished them off.

All around you the battle continues to rage on, but only as smoulders and not like the raging flame that had originally been there. The enemy still possesses superior numbers, but they are terrified, unorganized and scattered. And your men had already made contact to the sailors of those friendly ships of yours. The mercenaries, whilst distasteful and driven only by gold, are experienced. You do wonder if some, if not most of them, were ex-pirates, that had followed their captains when they took clemency mercifully extended by his majesty.

“Domestikos (domestic, commander).” An authoritative voice calls out.

Turning around, you quickly spot its owner. “Megas doux (Megaduke) Mundus.” You slightly bow.

“Good to see that you live.”

“Thank you. How goes the war ? I assume well that you had decided to help me.”

“Well enough, I suppose.” You can tell there is some hesitation in the man’s voice. “How well remains to be seen on how well the Tarrizans perform without our help.”

“You sent them away ?”

“I did.”

“And you thought they wouldn’t run ?” You cannot help but feel slight anger rising.

“If they want their silk, they won’t. And I only sent them to secure some supplies. Now, if they fail at that, then they will truly be worthless.”

>>5393716

“I see.” Tying to turn away from the rising emotions, you quickly try to change the subject. “The Akeonians are shattered, I think we can demand their surrender.”

“I think so too. The sooner we finish the fight, the sooner we can put out those fires, the supplies they have will serve us instead.”

At least we can agree on that. You think instead of saying, being mindful of your position.

“Raise the Wolf’s banner ! Demand their surrender !” The man bellows.

With the banners of the empire flying higher and more numerous than those of the various lords, morale and a willingness to fight quickly collapses amongst the attackers.

At first, individuals surrender, but then small groups, and once the chevaliers throw down their weapons, the fight is over.

Then, a few frantic hours are spent fighting the raging flames and awaiting the Tarrizans that had yet to show, causing Mundus to pace back and forth with annoyance as he observes the coast.

Until finally, some ships do become visible, and as they close in on the docks, they made for a sorry sight. The halberdiers, pride of Tarrizo are all battered and tired, nearly collapsing when they make it ashore, the rest of the crew are also solemnly silent, as they go about their work in practiced motions, but clearly not thinking about anything, and if they are thinking about something, it is not what’s in front of them.

You can’t wait to hear the good news you were hoping to hear.

-
(POV shift: You are Mundus Helenos, and darkness is coming.)

You have a hard time supressing your rage. You can feel your nails itch as the damned Tarrizan stands before, not only not apologetic, but outright demandful.

“You failed to secure any supplies, and you demand to rest ?!” How about I put you under, then you can rest for as long as you want !” You shout, no doubt your face had turned red by now.

“It was an ambush. The Akeonians knew of our plans, they laid out bait !” Just as passionate, Vincenso responds.

“How can they know about something we didn’t even consider until hours ago ?!”

“Alright, maybe they didn’t know of our plans, but they had expected a potential raid upon their supplies !”

“So they put their entire army there ?!”

“Yes ! They kept coming without end, I could not take that isle even if I threw away my own life !”

You sit back into your chair, collapse more like. You needed those supplies, what you managed to scrounge up from here has extended your staying power, but not by long.

“Then we hit them somewhere else.” Armentatrius, whom had been silent during your heated exchange opens up. “IF, they had concentrated such a large force there, then they must have left other areas undermanned. We can attack those, maybe they stored their supplies there.”

“Or maybe they had laid another ambush.” Sourly Vincenso remarks.

>>5393718

Yes. Maybe. You try to think back to what the holy knight had said about the isles.

“But.” Vincenso interrupts your thoughts. “We’ve been fighting non-stop, everyone needs rest, we can’t go on another attack.”

“If we do not, we will give the enemy a chance to relocate.” Armentarius responds.

“And what if we get caught exhausted ? We won’t even put up a fight, all the good supplies will be then.”

“Silence, both of you.” You interject. “I will make the decision, not you.”

Leaning back in your chair, you continue to ponder in silence:

The first isle, yes, that one had perhaps around fifty ships, all docked and awaiting for the break of dawn. Maybe it is in those ships that the supplies had been put ?

The second, the one flying the bastards standard, as Vincenso informed you, is full of fanciful tents, maybe that could be your desired target ?

The third, the entire isle is an army camp, but it could also be a potential decoy. Or it could be the rest of the army. Either way, you will find supplies there.

Alternatively, you could just try to breakout, return to friendly waters. It would give Akeonians free reign over most of the far isles, but it would be a safe port for you and your men.

Can pick more than one, but it will result in less ships dedicated to each task. To pass, a choice must reach at least half of total votes.

>Strike the first isle, housing the warships, perhaps those garrisons are far emptier that you had originally presumed.

>Strike the second isle, housing potential VIPs, or maybe disguised supplies.

>Strike the third isle, housing soldiery.

>Try to retreat to friendly territory.

Finally, the matter of rest, you could strike out now, making sure that what intelligence you have is as accurate as possible, or you could rest and recuperate, preparing yourself for the next fight.

Can only pick one.

>Move immediately.

>Rest.

Total fleet strength:

43 Warships (Tarrizo)

8 Merchantships (Maniakes)

25 Warships

14 Merchantships

A total of 90 ships of whom 22 are merchantships and 68 are warships

Twitter for update announcements: https://twitter.com/NewbQm

Archive links: https://pastebin.com/YKkQ2YWT

Dramatis personae: https://pastebin.com/9vw43LdL

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>>5393720
>Renovatio Imperii is back!
>read posts
>remember how fucked up the situation is
>mfw

I have no clue what island we should attack, if any. If our scouts are so shit that they couldn't see any hint of the massive amount of soldiers on ambush island then how can we discern what forces are present on any island?

So, to me, it's either gamble on an island after having a rest or retreat immediatly to join up with the reinforcements.

>>5393710
holy shit your back QM, hope your Finland trip was fun
>>5393720
>Strike the second isle, housing potential VIPs, or maybe disguised supplies.
decapitation strike
>Rest.

Holy shit! We are alive again.

>>5393720
>>Strike the first isle, housing the warships, perhaps those garrisons are far emptier that you had originally presumed.
Now that we know that our enemies use ambush tactics there is no way the second isle is not a trap same as "supply depot". I recon their armed forces were split between the supply and VIP islands the two targets that they made sure looked as appealing as possible. They made two ambushes while what's left is sent to the third island. I believe this is the perfect opportunity to strike at that first island and burn as many ships as possible while their land troops are away and cannot support their fleet. There is no fucking way they can relocate from ambushes to the fleet base in time before our attack even if we rest.

>>Rest.
Have people rest for a few hours and attack by dawn. While ship crews and soldiers are resting have our air recon fly all over that fucking island and report to us every single sand particle on it and every single fish around it. If there is something fishy about the island they will notice it I am sure. No surprises this time. Tell them to spare no energy and allow them to sit this one out if necessary.

The second island is 100% bait.
If the enemy commander is competent enough to lay traps for us then I won't believe for a moment that he would leave it unattended.

I would love to retreat and get reinforcements but I also would love for us to get any tangible victory.
>>5393720
>>5393789
+1 to this I guess
I sure hope I won't regret it

>>5393789
Support.

If nothing else, we should attempt to do as much damage to their warships as possible and then depart rather than make landfall.

>>5393722
Welcome back you glorious bastard! Hope work went well enough

>>5393722
welcome back qm good to see you
ah good pastebin
>>5393720
Seems Vincenso and Arm, are doing plenty of fighting.
>Strike the first isle, housing the warships, perhaps those garrisons are far emptier that you had originally presumed.
>Rest.

Our holy knights if rested, can scout. And since we don't need too many to scout the others can kill and they are good at killing, really good. Beside being a balsam for morale when seen.
Less warships for the akeonians should help us, both because they need to leave some men behind and because they have less ships for battle. Now if i remember correctly we had also done a deal with Patera, for their aid in war. But i could mix things around, so correct me if i am wrong. If it's true i hope they join Mundus quickly.
//
I am thinking no white peace if we can destroy more and more of their fleet and leave them stranded on the islands. They have arrived with their great army here, if we can defeat them in more naval battles they will suffer heavily.
Beside that i am still thinking about the idea of making World Shield, from a generic province to a special military province for the sustainment, recruitment and training of a larger force of our elite schola. And put Armentarius in charge of it. Probably start to modify/add and change the traditions to make it more loyal.

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>>5393720
>“The third, I’ve seen a mixture of warships and merchant ships. Numerous tents flying various banners. In the middle stands a half banner depicting a golden lion on red on the right, and on the left stands a silver dragon on black.”
>a half banner depicting a golden lion on red on the right, and on the left stands a silver dragon on black.”
>In front of this gathering, you spot a man with his escorts, clad in heavy armour, with colourful coat of arms upon his chest and two flagbearers besides him holding banners showing a golden lion on red on the right, and on the left a silver dragon on black.

It is a banner you recognize. The banner of Dragon d'argent (silver dragon), a man obsessed with war that cares nought for anything else – Guillaume de La Mare, the bastard half-brother of the current king of Akeonians.
HMMMMMMMMM. Someone is not where they are supposed to be.
And a mixture of merchant ships and warships. HMMMMMMMMM.

>>5393720
It seems like years have passed, welcome back QM.
Time to work:

>Strike the first isle, housing the warships, perhaps those garrisons are far emptier that you had originally presumed.
Our enemies are numerous but not infinite, they would not set ambushes on every island.

>Rest.
If our flying units can observe enemy ships while the rest of our forces rest, that would be great.

>>5393789
Supporting

>>5393722
Welcome back boss! <3 Hope you had fun in Finngolia

>>5393720
wow tervetuloa back qm
second isle is definitely a trap
>Strike the first isle, housing the warships, perhaps those garrisons are far emptier that you had originally presumed.
well, we know where their troops are. and we do want to have them have less stuff to sail

>>5393720
>Strike the second isle, housing potential VIPs, or maybe disguised supplies.
>Rest.

>>5393789
>>5393798
>>5394039
>>5394121
>>5394671
Second isle is obviously the one with the supplies. The half-brother is not on it because he was setting the trap for us on the other island, and therefore his banner and his forces are meant to ward us off from where the actual supplies are. There's also merchant ships there, per the scout report from last thread.

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>>5393720
>Strike the second isle, housing potential VIPs, or maybe disguised supplies.
>Rest.

I think >>5394714 is right. NewbQM must have put such emphasis on the banners, having Vincenso recognise Guillaume and having him describe his personality for a reason. I think after having defeated us in that ambush he'll head for the war fleet on the first island with which he'll most likely start looking for our fleet. They know very well how much we want to sink their navy from our desperate sabotage operation so I think the third island is a decoy and the rest of their army is actually with their ships as another trap. Either way, I've got a very bad feeling about all this.

If it turns out that all those details didn't matter then at least we'll have learned to not trust the QM when he gives more of them again right? :)

>>5394714
+1 to both options.

>>5394714
Why would the presence of a VIP and the merchant ships ward us off? That would have the opposite effect as catching him and/or supplies is what we want. The second island was a great target all along which is why it is without doubt a trap. Have you considered the possibility that the island where the main fleet semms to be stationed is the one our enemy doesn't want us to go to? Dozens of ships would ward the enemy off better than the head of the enemy commander don't you think? The enemy outnumber us greatly in ground forces it can afford to set up two ambushes.
They can't transfer their forces from the ambush site to the main fleet before our attack simply because getting your troops and supplies onto ships at night takes a long ass time. We can afford a few hours of rest while our griffons are flying to the island and back.

>>5394731
>They know very well how much we want to sink their navy
Woah! The enemy wants to sink our ships during a war. That never happened before. What a revolutionary strategy.
Also what is that about not trusting the QM lmao? It's not the QM's fault if you misinterpreted the details he gave you.

>>5394921
Could you seriously not give me the benefit of the doubt? Obviously we want to sink the enemy fleet in a war, my point is about how desperate they think we are on doing that which is why I mentioned the shit sabotage op. If they think we're extremely desperate to sink their fleet, they'll be confident that we'll target it if given a tantalizing opportunity and as such it can be used as bait in a trap.

On the QM question, it's called sarcasm. I thought the smiley face and the spoilers would make that clear but apparently not.

And if this was all bait then hats off to you. You make a very convincing act of sincerety.

>>5394931
Look maybe I layed it on a little thick in my post but the point I am making is - the commander's head is a better bait than a fleet of warships. And now we know for a fact that it is bait since the commander is not at the tents but on a different island surrounded by his troops. The only way for the second island to be a more obvious bait is if they removed all ships from it.
If the first island is a trap as you believe our griffin knights will surely notice something now that we all know that the enemy uses that tactic. And if they don't and we jump into an ambush I promise that I will not vote to try being a hero and will give my vote for getting the fuck out and waiting for reinforcements. But I will not vote for the second island in a million years.

>>5394945
Not necessarily. If his reputation is one of a warmaster then his presence would dissuade attacks, not encourage them. One would assume that he would be the best protected out of all potential targets, and as we have learned, fearsome to fight too. It's reasonable then that if he's not where his banners say he is, then there's something that needs protecting there (or needs to look like it's protected) that isn't the man himself.

>>5394984
First of all we don't know about his reputation. You are constructing a scarecrow out of thin air.
Second of all his reputation is irrelevant in this case. No matter how fearsome his reputation might be taking out the enemy commander is a top priority. Doubly so if he is also competent.
If I thought that the second island actually has enemy command on it I would vote to attack it. But I know that it's just another ambush. Because the commander is on another island surrounded by his troops. Because he is not retarded enough to believe that his (presumed) reputation alone would protect him. Because military commanders are not some kind of demons who gain superpowers from sufficient level of notoriety.

>>5393720
>Strike the first isle, housing the warships, perhaps those garrisons are far emptier that you had originally presumed.
>Rest.
Tch, hate it when an enemy gets clever. Well, if cunning won't work, resort to force. Takeout the ships, that buys us time and swings the initiative back in our favor.

>>5395002
>a man obsessed with war that cares nought for anything else
He's certainly good at it, if nothing else, especially when he pulled this stunt with the ambush. Attacking enemy commanders is an opportunistic move that should be undertaken when they're vulnerable and alone, not when they've planted their banners and surrounded themselves with their forces, which he should know. And reputation is a weapon of its own too. Anyway, I can see I won't convince you, so we'll wait and see how the vote goes.

Update tomorrow, both for broken empire ground edition and renovatio imperii.

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>>5395581
Oh boy, here we go anons. And as for the QM: If the first vote has won then I do not want to split the fleet, there's no room for half measures on this one.

>>5393710
Just caught up on this and I'm loving it, Long live the Emperor, Long Live the Empire, May the Shepherd bless our Reign. Remember, the Shepherd's Sling has a long reach and a deadlier touch.
>>5394054
Damn, I'm watching Sharpe right now, great show

>>5395008
Supporting

>>5395581
nice

>>5394714
I'll support this idea

Second 5

First 9

Rest 13

Total of 14 votes

So you will be striking the first isle in total force.

Writing.

Unbroken Empire already done, will update that alongside this once I finish.

Also, banners, banners, banners.

>>5396536
you did made some nice descriptions of banners. i like the gull of tarrizo, but the wolf of the empire isn't bad either.

>>5396536
Hmm, Banners, we should probably make one for ourselves, what's the Symbol of our Faith? A Crook or a Cross?

“The isle housing warships.” You eventually make up your mind.

Both Vincenso and Armentarius turn to regard you.

“We rest, get some sleep, fill our bellies, at the break of dawn the holy knights will fly once more. Hopefully this time they will be able to actually scout things out properly.” With some sourness you say. Although you cannot blame them too much, they have to fly high, and try to make things beneath them in darkness. It still however doesn’t change the fact that the poor intelligence caused you so much damage.

-
(End of POV shift.)

You breathe out, pushing your weight upwards, breathe in as you draw closer to the ground. A series of push ups, a part of your morning routine, it is good to use the muscles you had grown accustomed using back in the village. Tilling fields is hard labour, so is chopping firewood and doing a bunch of other small tasks that would require a healthy young man. But even then, you pale in comparison to your tagmata (regiment/battalion). Unlike you, those men had trained from birth, or they were picked from other tagmata due to their skill and might at arms.

Drops of sweat begin pooling around your body, you had been at this for about half an hour now, doing push-ups, pull-ups, squatting and rising, still, your favourite were the various rocks around the gymnasium. There was a certain childish charm about them, clearly specifically trimmed and fixed up to make gripping them easier, all of them had paintings depicting the great heroes of the past, alarmingly both of those ancient heathens, whom lived before God had ordained the Shepherd to deliver his message, as well as saints known for their strength. Just for a moment, you felt like you were back in the church, in your little sleepy village, not important enough for anything but the taxman and his escort that had come once a year and left as soon as they got what was due, looking at the bright and detailed illustrations.

Apparently, there had been some discussion when Shepherd’s word swept the Empire whether or not it is appropriate to portray God’s creations by mere mortal hands. You feel quite happy that the ékphrasē (expression) faction won. To strive to portray man as accurate and as precise as possible is the best way to show an artist’s dedication to God and his perfect creation.

>>5396714

Taking a larger rock, as you are still unable to lift the heaviest ones, you strain your muscles lifting it up, as it is the only way to see the entirety of the story. This one your particularly like, in detailed and colourful drawing, is portrayed Deinomenes, one of the ancient heroes, there had been some debate whether or not to proclaim him as a saint, for he was not a part of the flock, he had fought against the cruel pagan gods and their desire to control man and his destiny, he had been kind to his fellows, strong and wise, tricking those very same gods, devils in disguise really, into giving him power that he then used to undermine them. He had even slain one, yet with their cruel mockery, the gods revealed that they had used him to kill their rival, as no divine could slay divine. For his arrogance, they had granted him immortal life, but stripped away his ability to be seen or touched, alongside his ability to touch others. And so he had spent centuries watching his loved ones pass away, his town crumble, his familial name disappear. Perhaps he is still wandering about ? Perhaps the Shepherd had taken such a great hero to his side and freed him from his suffering.

Putting the rock, you proceed to calmly walk back to the cold bath and dive into it. Washing away all of your sweat, you take another moment to ponder. About your reality, tales of heroes are fine for children, but you had not been one for too long, greater duties call for you.

Which brings you back to the headache of the two feuding kyvernítis (governors). So far you had leaned towards the senatorial favourite. You had also pondered about just simply digging up more wells, but apparently, the river – ḗremos periplanṓmenos (calm wanderer) – is and old wide river, calm in its current. However, it is already half drained compared to how vibrant it should be at this time of the year, so simply digging wells does not seem to be an option. No doubt the local administrators would have started to do so if they could.

You had dismissed both kyvernítis (governors) until you made your decision, since you naturally had to dig through a mountain of papers. As you had read, and as been reported, the droughts had resulted in hot, dry summers and equally dry and cold winters for inner thémata (placement, district), but you had also once more realized something important due to your situation, the coastal thémata help feed the inner ones. And your isles provide vast quantities of salted fish as well.

Hopefully my deal with Patera proves worth it. You can already imagine the outraged looks of Tarrizans once they learn that the purple dye that they had been long since lusting after will for ten years be a Pateran monopoly.

Rising from the cold water, you shudder as air blows over you, with a quick step you move on to the hot bath.

>>5396716

There’s a chance that your actions may cause the two mercantile republics to go to war once again. Which is…good ? You question yourself. If they are fighting each other, they will not threaten you, but at the same time, there is a chance that things may escalate beyond your control. If possible, you would prefer to both strengthen your position and reduce their influence without violence, but it seems to follow you wherever you go and no matter what you do. Such cruel times. You lament, recalling the writings of the great historians about the Thephikḗ eirḗnē (Thephian peace), where law ruled absolute, peace reigned, people prospered and wise emperors reigned. You can only wish that once the Shepherd guides you, the people of the empire shall remember you as one of the great emperors.

“Your majesty.” You hear a knock and the voice of your kanikleiou (keeper of the imperial inkstand).

“Enter.”

The warmth of the hot bath and the steam surrounding you begins its daring escape as the door is opened.

Your relaxation is cut short, once you see the man’s grave face.

“What happened ?”

“The Akeonian messenger, your majesty. He is dead.”

“What ?!” You rise from your bath in surprise. “How ?! Did he refuse to eat and drink again ?”

“No, your majesty. It was poison. Poison that he drank himself.”

“We had ordered him secured, how did poison pass through without notice ?”

“I do not know, your majesty. But he left a letter, I can br-“

“No. We shall go there ourselves.” You say once more clutching your head. Is this why father went mad ? I cannot have even a moment of rest ! “Summon the servants, we need to get dressed.” With resignation you say, stepping out of the nice, hot bath.
.
.
.
“How did this happen ?” You ask the guards and the servants dedicated to keeping your prisoner comfortable. Your dozen bodyguards surrounding them all.

“It is our failure, your majesty ! We deserve nought but death !” The two members of the Scholae (School) kowtow before your standing figure. You had calmed yourself by the time you got there, so you can think clearly enough to realize that you simply cannot punish these men too harshly, you lack those skilled and loyal.

“Strip them of one year’s worth of pay. That shall be punishment enough.” You state.

The two men slam their head onto the floor multiple times, to the point where you can see blood forming. “We thank you for your mercy, your majesty !”

“Enough ! Get them out of our sight.”

Your bodyguards move to help their brethren, visibly relieved that they got to keep their lives. As your gaze turns towards the servants, they all shiver, realizing that they are far more expendable than your bodyguards, after all, you had already gotten rid half of their number before for nothing, at least in their minds. If only they’d see the balance books.

>>5396718

“Count Durant Dufour was a prisoner we decided to keep alive.” You pause for dramatic effect. “And now he is dead. How did it happen ?”

“Your majesty.” The eldest of the group of six, clearly the leader or simply taking on the role due to his age, responds. “We had thoroughly checked everything the foreigner had in his possession. Every time he is dressed, the servants make sure that he is not hiding anything.”

“Had he taken a step out of the room ?”

“Yes, your majesty. He would take walks in the garden, under guard and under watch, no one is allowed to approach him by at least two meters, if he wants to get to something, he has to inform a guard so that he could check it first.” Despite the man’s trembling voice, he clearly responds.

“Then how did he get the poison ?”

“P-perhaps during his meal, your majesty ?”

“Then why wasn’t it checked ?”

“We do check it, your majesty, we do. Please, your majesty, we did everything we could.”

With a sigh, you turn away from the kowtowing servants and make your way to the bed. The corpse of the man once known as Durant Dufour lays there unmoving, his face pale and restful. His clothing appears to be immaculate, and upon his chest, just above his locked hands, whom still clench a glass vial that had no doubt held poison, rests a single sealed envelope.

“Giatrós (Doctor), inspect the letter.” You have to admit, you are ever so slightly paranoid about poisons, after the way you came to power.

“Right away, your majesty.” The very same doctor whom had investigated your father’s death gingerly approaches the letter.

You yourself walk back and take a seat on a chair that had been specially brought from outside the room.

It takes a good thirty minutes of tense silence, as the servants continue to kowtow before you, afraid of what your judgement may be.

“The letter and the envelope seem safe, your majesty.” The man responds with a bow, bringing it over.

You take, the envelope already unsealed, you pull out the piece of parchment.

To Imperator, Basileús kai Autokrátōr Thephaiōn (General, Sovereign and Autocrat of Thephians),

Greetings, Your Imperial Majesty. I had enjoyed our conversations together. To be honest, I had not expected to have survived for so long. You are a kind man, if it were a more peaceful age, a more prosperous age, perhaps I would have had the honour to call you my Emperor, but unfortunately these are not such times.

Know that I took my own life willingly, perhaps forever damming my soul, but hopefully saving those of my family. I would like to make a request of you, Your Imperial Majesty, if you would entertain the last will of a desperate man. If you win the war, and if perhaps you manage to regain the lands once lost to us. I would like to beg of you from beyond that you would spare my family, if not their lands.

>>5396720

Please, do not blame the servants assigned to me, they had no way of knowing how I poisoned myself.

Due to your kindness, your imperial majesty, whilst not spitting upon my own oaths of honour, all I can tell you is that His Royal Majesty has eyes and ears everywhere. Everywhere.

Please burn this letter after you had read it.

Humbly, your servant in another time, Count Durant Dufour.

Putting the letter down, you turn to regard the trembling servants. “In his last will, the count had requested for our mercy upon your behalf. As a faithful servant of the Shepherd, I shall extend such mercy. You may keep your lives, but you cannot keep your positions.” You have to deliver a punishment, that is something you had learnt against your will when you are in a position of power.

“We thank you for your mercy, your majesty, may your reign be blessed for a thousand years !” The servants excitedly respond, despite being thrown out onto the streets. Odd that. How a much greater potential punishment makes something cruel seem entirely acceptable. You have no doubt that they had cursed you as a tyrant once you down-sized their numbers.

Rising from you seat, you begin slowly making your way back to your main office. And once you reach there, you dismiss everyone as you sit behind your desk. The last part of the letter had disturbed you.

Eyes and ears everywhere. Perhaps paranoia is a requirement of bearing the weight of the crown.

-
(POV shift: You are Armentarius Theocritus, you hate the ocean.)

God, you hate it. The wobbling, the blue around you, but especially the wobbling. You feel comfortable on the back of a horse, in the middle of the battlefield surrounded on all sides and fighting against all odds. Be it cold, hot, rain, wind. Be it summer, winter, or an endless change of all. Please, just get me off this damned to hell thing !

With a laugh, moving with the swaying of the ship, Mundus comes over.

“Domestikos (domestic, commander), still hating the open seas ?”

You do not even bother to respond, being far too busy holding onto the edge of the ship. The same sickness had taken most of your men as well.

“If my hunch is correct, there won’t be much fighting on water, but plenty of it on land.”

“I pray to God that your hunch is correct, then.” You wearily respond.

“Speaking of hunches, you better be right about those prisoners. I do not want defeated foes to return and fight us again.”

“Do not worry, I put some of my best men on the task.” You respond. The numerous prisoners you had captured were left behind, the isle still seems to be surrounded, so you were able to use your least able men as prison guards, thus killing two birds with one stone. Naturally you had left a couple of your trusted subordinates to oversee the whole thing, but if things go well, you will have plenty of ransom to make this war worth it.

>>5396721

“Good.” Mundus starts to look at the skies. “And the holy knights are returning. Be prepared, domestikos, that fight might come sooner rather than later.”

With a rattling impact, that you really didn’t need anymore off, you turn your head to catch pieces of the conversation.

“From what I had seen, there appear to be less men than we originally thought.” The holy knight responds.

“Are you sure ?” Mundus asks.

“Relatively, my brothers and I circled around for almost an hour, keeping ourselves to the Sun, I doubt that the enemy were able to spot us.”

“Good. And their ships ?”

“Still docked, the exact same way as they were in the night. At least it seems so.”

“No movement ?”

“No.”

You watch as Mundus starts to think for a moment. “Tell me, how deep were the ships hulls in the water ?” The man seems momentarily confused. “Did you see any barnacles sticking on the ships ? Different colouration of the wood ?”

“Not as far as we could observe, no.”

“Then that means that those ships a laden down with something at least.”

“Hopefully not the remainder of the Akeonian army.” You manage.

“Afraid, domestikos (domestic, commander) ?”

“No, just concerned whom will defend their majesty if I were to die right now.” Stoically you respond.

“Well, here’s to God’s will being that we all survive and continue to serve our Emperor.” Mundus responds before moving to the stern of the ship issuing orders.
.
.
.
“We are going to approach from the East, whilst there’s no dock there, the beach there is welcoming and flat, it will allow for us to deploy in full force.” Mundus explains. “To the west, the beach there is harsher, so the Tarrizans will be taking it, alongside some of the local fishermen to act as their guides.” You can see the slight wound on the man’s pride that he cannot rely on his fleet to deal with the difficult approach.

“And of the ships that are docked ?”

“That’s where you will be. The Tarrizan halberdiers will draw the attention of the main forces, the sailors on both sides will try to harass and delay the best they can, but once they realize our target, no doubt that the Akeonians will send everything they have to retake the docks.”

“Seems like we will have a proper fight then.”

“Anything you dislike.”

“No, Megas doux (Megaduke), this why I and my men are here, and this is why their majesty had allowed us here.”

“Good. We should hit the beaches in about five or so minutes, no doubt they had spotted us already, so be prepared to run.” With his final parting words, Mundus draws his sword and begins shouting commands, that are then quickly replayed by the various flags.

I’d fight giants, dragons, or whatever beasts the ancient crazed storytellers talked about, just as long as I get to fight them on solid ground.

>>5396725

Your men gather close to the bow, as the drummers underneath begin beating at an ever-increasing rhythm, and the expensive mercenary crews quickly respond to them and increase the sailing speed faster, faster, faster.

As you hear the sound of trumpets that is the only thing you can hear as Akeonian forces begin rushing about their camp, organizing into a line to hold off your assault.

“Here goes nothing.” You whisper. “For the Empire !” You bellow.

“For the Empire !” Your men respond as one.

And that is when the ship is rocked, its wooden hull sliding over the warm beach sands.

With a quick sprint and a hop, you land feet first onto the softness underneath. God, it feels good to be on land.

Drawing both your sword and mace, you begin rushing onwards, the noises of clinking and clanking armour inform you that your men are not far behind. Still, the sailors are the first ones ahead of you, even if they disembarked slightly later, there’s nothing you can do about it, unless you wish to drop a large part of your extensive protection.

The flapping of wings, followed by an ear piercing screech makes you look up, to see as the ten of them dive accurately onto the quickly assembling ranks, screams of pain and the noise of cracking bones, flesh being rent apart and that of frenzied feeding quickly puts the fear of God in the hearts of men unfortunate enough to hear them.

It also seems that you had struck at the most opportune time, as the formations gathered appear to only be half-dressed at best, and now the officers coordinating the formations had just been violently mutilated in front of the very men they were supposed to lead. Realizing that their targets had been ridden of, the knights once more soar into the heavens, under the cheers from your side.

Steadying your breathing, you maintain a good pace and soon enough you can hear the sound of wood underneath your feet. As well as your first opponents. A spear wall formed by men clad in chain and steel breastplates had their large kite shields raised and their spears lowered, their gleaming steel helmets, steady gazes and firm arms showcasing that these are probably some of the best fighters on the isle, men-at-arms of a noble, nobles, or even the king that had seen numerous battles.

You slam into them with the wrath of God.

Whilst the force is elite. You actually outnumber them two to one, no doubt the rest of their force is still somewhere on the isle, but what matters now are those in front of you.

Naturally, lacking a shield yourself, you had slowed down your charge, allowing your men forwards, and with the sheer weight of the attack the shield wall crumbled, it had not fallen, but gaps appeared enough for you to find an opportunity.

Swiftly hoping through a gap, you ignore the two spears ripping pieces of your lamellar away, and land safely on the other side.

>>5396727

Swinging about, you knock a spear away using your left, and with your mace held in your right, you deliver you favourite killing blow – that of a brutal blow to the head. Blood spurts out of the now dead man, staining your own helm and face red, but you do not have the time to wipe it away as another spear glances past you, and another.

Realizing that you can’t simply scare your opponent away, you take a step back, drawing distance, this naturally encourages your opponents as their weapons have greater reach compared to yours.

But you already lured the both of them away from the shield wall.

Only realizing their mistake when you simply stand there unmoving, the men try to turn rapidly, but they are quickly slammed into by your tagmata (regiment/battalion).

And just like that, the defenders crumble.

The griffins dive and rise, carrying victims in fanciful plate, either feasting upon them in flight, or simply dropping them and allowing the earth or the ocean to do the dirty work for them.

What remains of the last part of the presumed elite force is then just as quickly overwhelmed by the halberdiers, whom out number them to an even more absurd degree than your own force did.

It all seems, too easy. You cannot help but think. The forces here were tiny compared to your own.

You having secured the docks, the griffon riders having decapitated leadership, the halberdiers having broken the backs of the defenders, and the sheer number of sailors having overwhelmed the defences brought the fighting to quick end, all in all, the battle had lasted only about twenty minutes, before the Akeonians had surrendered.

Taking a moment to rest, you wait until Mundus comes over to inspect the ships, not having exchanged a single word with you, expect for a nod.

And then you are startled by the crazed laughter coming from the vessel Mundus had inspected.

“FOOD ! WEAPONS ! ARMOUR !” He roars and laughs once more…then it is silent…”WARSHIPS !” He once again out of nowhere picks up.

Having calmed his glee. He returns to your side.

“With this, we can fully resupply, and I think we just strengthen the imperial navy fivefold !” You can tell that the man is in a jovial mood.

“But can we sail them ?” And that brings it right down.

“No. We cannot, we need more men.”

>”Then I and mine shall stay here, until you return.”

>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans until you return.”

>”I mean, what are the chances that the Akeonians will inspect the isle ? A small garrison is probably better than obvious forces like us.”

>”Instead of staying with the ships, we should keep the momentum and strike while the iron is hot.” (Where?)

>(Write in ?)

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>>5396563

This is the holy symbol.

Really good rolls for the combat.

I am not sure I like any of those options. Maybe I am just a coward but I honestly think we should take as much supplies as our ships will fit and then just burn the rest together with those ships or destroy them in some other way. After that we should return to the friendly territory and wait for reinforcements to arrive.
We already did a lot of damage to the enemy. The second island is a trap, the third island is full of soldiers. I just don't see what else we could do without risking our whole fleet being sent to the bottom of the sea. And leaving people here together with warships is the same as handing them over to the enemy.
This is not a vote btw. I am just thinking. Curious what other anons think.

So yeah if I were to vote my vote would be
>Loot as much as possible,
>maybe take a few ships with us, I am sure we could crew at least an extra ship or two
>destroy everything else, especially the ships
>get the fuck out to the friendly territory and reunite with our reinforcements

>>5396731
How many new ships are there QM?

And how many can we crew?

If we use the bare minimum crew compliments on all of our current ships, how many new ships can we crew?

>>5396758
I’m inclined to agree - but we should take as many ships and supplies possible before heading to friendly waters and obtaining more sailors.

>>5396782
>take as many ships and supplies possible
Yeah absolutely. I am sure we can take a few ships as long as we run a skeleton crew on them.
Maybe sink a few of the smaller ships we have and take proper warships instead of them?

>>5396782
Agreed i would like to know how many we can take with us? Perhaps we can even attempt to shanghai some of the captured enemies? Help sail the ships back and be set free.

>>5396731
>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans until you return. But we will prepare sabotage for ships and supplies in case we are driven off this Island.

Warships and supplies for the rest of the campaign, this boom is too big to abandon. We will fight until we have no other choice but if it is not possible to have this treasure thesis our enemy will not have it either.

In the best case this will be the turning point of this invasion, in the worst case it will delay the enemy until our reinforcements show up.

But the idea that we are infiltrated by enemy spies disturbs me, maybe if we had invested in spies instead of building roads the result of this story would be different, but there is nothing more to be done now.

fivefold holy. Yeah the De la Mare must have bet everything on this. All this warships. Equipment and food.
This is quite a lot, but i am not sure if we can fight here. There must be more Akeonian soldiers in the island for guard all of this. Or are they really so ambitious they are going everything or nothing ?
I think we should interrogate and see if anyone of the captured foes knows about patrols and so on. Same if there is any papers.

"Humbly, your servant in another time, Count Durant Dufour." too bad he died

>>5396731
Dear god, fantastic, truly blessed
>”I mean, what are the chances that the Akeonians will inspect the isle ? A small garrison is probably better than obvious forces like us.”
We need to steal EVERYTHING, also the Enemies are now pretty fucked if we captured their storage depot
>>5396716
>>5396732
Awesome, I love the world building you're putting into this quest
Also, we really should find the Dufour family and make them regional governors or something he really went above and beyond for us while not breaking his oaths

The more I think about this the more I dislike the options given. This island is the enemy supply depot. Sooner or later their fleet will come to resupply here and will immediately discover the whole situation. They will slaughter whoever we wleave there and retake all their ships making all our achievements pointless. I highly doubt we will be able to return before that happens.
I believe this is the perfect situation when a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. taking all those ships would be nice but it's not worth risking our troops and givcing the enemy an opportunity to reverse most of the damage that we have done.

>>5396731
>>(Write in)
Take as much supplies as possible. Take a few warships with us with skeleton crews. Everything that we cannot bring with us including supplies and ships should be destoyed be it by fire or by sinking it into the sea. After that we leave to regroup and get reinforcements.

>>5396731
>>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans until you return.”
try to be speedy about it, interrogate the foes taken and see how much time we have

Would be nice to have a rough map of the region or at least a vague idea of the distances between islands and our current position. Kinda tough to make logistical decisions while floating in a deprivation chamber.

What an oppurtunity. At the same time risking again Arm and the boys.

>>5396731
If our resupply point is close enough for us to return in 2-3 days I vote
>>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans until you return.”
to leave Tarrizans and our troops on the island.

If it isn't then I am supporting this >>5396890

>>5396930
Support, until better information is offered.

Don't suppose we'd have been lucky enough to capture some catapults and ballistas would we? Some improvised shore batteries would do wonders.

>>5396731
Could we get a map of the isles if that's not too difficult for you to make? It'd help with planning and strategy loads if we know the distances between the isles and where we can and cannot go.

You could crew 20 or so ships, but that would drain your fleet, making it combat inefective. The Tarrizans would be unwilling to let go of their crews for such an endeavour.

To get where you currently are from the capital would take about a week or so of sailing depending on the wind.

And since anons asked for it, I will make a rough general map later today once I am back from my lectures.

>>5397170
What are you teaching boss? I'm assuming that your trip to Finngolia was something academia related kek

>>5397170
>You could crew 20 or so ships, but that would drain your fleet, making it combat inefective. The Tarrizans would be unwilling to let go of their crews for such an endeavour.
That's fine. We just need to get to resupply. Tarrizans can be our escorts for this.
This is miles better than leaving a part of our troops and ships on the island.

>>5396731
>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans and Holy Knights until you return.”
This could really cement our victory and our position as a naval power, if we succeed. The Tarrizans, while bloodied, are a formidable naval force on their own, and if worst comes to worst and the Akeonians come at us with an overwhelming force the Holy Knights can see them before they're in range and give us the opportunity to burn the supplies and disengage without a battle.

>>5397170

>>5396943 here
I'll maintain
>>>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans until you return.”

With an additional step, leave the merchant ships here and crew some of the captured warships with their crew, they can be picked back up on the return voyage. This will beef up our navy both for the trip out and any relief efforts required on their return.

Perhaps we should split the holy knights into two contingents as well, so that we can both have eyes in the sky and a way to establish communication ahead of time.

I suppose the men should be put to work making what defensive emplacements and traps that they can. Hopefully there are some good weapons and armor that we can loot as well.

>>5397527
Oh, and use the prisoners for labor as well!

File: War for the isles.png (97 KB, 1000x810)

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Right, here it is. I passed the fuck out once all of my lessons were over.

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as pic says

>>5397170
>>5397618
So let me get this straight
We are leaving our royal guard and half of our fleet for TWO WEEKS on the farthest from the capital island that is currently in the contested territory. We are leaving them with most of the supplies and all the warships that we just captured. Additionally that island is the enemy's supply depot which further increases the chances of our people getting discovered by any enemies that decide to resupply.
I thought this was the "send your people into the enemy capital for sabotage" level of retardation but now I realize that this is the "let's turn our capital into a pirate haven" level.

>>5397634
No, I think it's at the level of "let's build roads in a nation that trades by sea and doesn't have the population to maintain those roads", while spies and foreign agents party in our capital.

>But it's okay if the worst happens, you can always blame democracy.

>>5397646
Roads have more than just a trading function. Infrastructure brings cohesion.
Also internal trade exists.

>>5397646
We have a hole in our budget right now but sure let's not try and fix that. Let's spend our money on building a spy network instead. And build an university while we are at it.

>>5397659
We are Byzantines not Chinese, and the "internal trade", is pathetic because of the multiple tariffs that the merchants have to.pay. In fact, if we take that away from the nobles they will revolt, we pay from our coffers to give more power to the nobles.

>Brillant!

>>5397634
Are you going to vote anon?

>>5397668
Will you withdraw the right to collect fees from the nobles who are currently maintaining these roads?

I liked it! You have my support, kind of radical but after the Civil War we will be able to exercise more control.

>>5397672
Do I really have to list all the benefits that good infrastructure brings? The Roman empire also had majority of their trade by sea but they still built roads everywhere. I wonder why?
>>5397674
I already voted here >>5396930
Now that we know that the trip will take 2 weeks I can clarify I guess that I support your vote of fucking off and burning everything that we can't take with us.

>>5397679
Why would I do that lmao? Let them nobles keep maintaining those roads. Those who can't do that do not deserve to have land. Simple as.

>>5397682
Anon I'll ask sincerely without sarcasm, how many of these benefits take into account that our lands are ravaged by plagues, droughts, famines, civil wars, and not enough people to defend the nation?

The problem is not the idea itself, the problem and the moment it came in.

>>5397689
So how are we going to make money if it's the nobles taxing these new roads?

>>5397692
>Well how am I supposed to be a merchant if there is a customs fee at every border?
>Well how am I supposed to be a farmer if I have to pay rent for my fields?
>Well how am i supposed to be a fisherman when I have pay every time I need a new boat?
>Well how am I supposed to have a job if there are taxes?
I wish your post would make sense so I could retort. But it doesn't.

>>5397703
>Most of them divert a good amount of this taxes
Proofs? Numbers?
>roads that I can't tax
Roads have more than 1 function holy fucking shit just google it. Good roads are good for the economy.
Even if we would revoke the right to tax from nobles we would still have to appoint administrators that would still could take part of those taxes for themselves. The moment you remove nobles from the equasion those tax money do not magically appear inside your pocket.
Do you understand now?

>>5397695

>Well how am I supposed to be a Medieval State if I'm investing money in roads that I can't tax?

Do you understand now? And before you say, NO, we can't depend on the taxation of these nobles. Most of them divert a good amount of their fees, and our army is not loyal nor strong enough to try to collect these by force

>>5397709
Also what the fuck are you even talking about? Every medieval state relied on the nobles to tax the lands. What are you going to do? Personally send a tax collector to every fucking hamlet? Nobles are the foundation of the medieval administaration. Even if we swap them with non-nobles nothing will change. We need to facilitate loyalty of our administrators or get rid of the corruption with force.
But guess what? Whatever path we take we need the fucking roads because having a mud river instead of a road is bad.
Good roads good.
Bad roads bad.
Do you understand now?

>>5397691
>plagues
What plagues? Did I miss a thread?
>droughts
You mean one singular drought that is happening right now and could have been alleviated were we to have a good infrastructure that would allow us to get water from better supplied provinces to those that are in worse condition?
>famines
Famines? Am I in the wrong thread?
>civil wars
We were in the peace time until recently. That is usually when you would rebuild.
>not enough people
Good infrastructure facilitates economic growth and business activities. Economic growth improves living conditions. Improved living conditions facilitate population growth.

But in all seriousness if you are going to wait for a "perfect time" you will never get any major project done. Rebuilding the infrastructure will take us years. Anything could happen in those years. Should we cancel it every time a mild distraction occurs?

>>5397707
QM made that very clear more than once, Do you remember when we had that opportunity to attack one of the great noble houses, when the shield house fell? The noble house of our suitor, the psychopathic wolf tamer bride, was one of these targets precisely for corruption. This wasn't the only one of them doing this.

Yes, in a normal twenty-first century nation roads have multiple uses, in a medieval kingdom roads only serve two things, to bring merchants to richer regions of the nation in exchange for tariffs, or to move armies faster. We're not going to get any benefits from either, that's the point. Rich merchants go by ship to our luxury resource producing regions, and our army has no problem reaching any part of our lands because they are so close. Get that modern image of infrastructure out of your unhappy mind.

>>5397717
You don't read all the dialogue do you? It's explained why you think that way.

>>5397718
>This wasn't the only one of them doing this
Proofs? Photos? Witnesses?
>>in a medieval kingdom roads only serve two things, to bring merchants to richer regions of the nation in exchange for tariffs, or to move armies faster
Stopped reading right there. I will no longer waste my time on this conversation since you clearly have no clue what you are talking about.

>>5397721
What way do I think? That having good infrastructure is beneficial? Sorry for being so narrowminded.

>>5397722
Do you want me to take every written snippet of quotes in archived threads about the multiple civil wars, loss of territory, and barbarian invasions? or that these droughts and famines and plagues have already happened and at this moment we are in the aftermath of these events?

>>5397728
Our current population is too low for these investments to give an immediate return, this is the problem.

>>5397729
Not sure what that have to do with anything I said but go ahead.
Google what functions road had in the medieval society while you are at it so you won't look like a moron next time.

>>5397730
Did you even read my post? Better infrastructure facilitates population growth.
>immediate return
What action would have an immediate return for us then? Construction of a spy network? I am not sure if you are aware of this but spies are not genies. They can't snap their fingers and make gold appear out of nowhere.

>>5397735
And will building roads make peasants magically fuck harder? That's what I'm talking about with the modern mindset.

>>5397737
Yes it will. I will copy my own post just for you.
>Good infrastructure facilitates economic growth and business activities. Economic growth improves living conditions. Improved living conditions facilitate population growth.
I hope this time you will actually read my post before answering. And answer the question. You pretending to be literate would really make this discussion go more smoothly.

File: King Charles.jpg (912 KB, 2400x2968)

912 KB JPG

Long live the King!

I am so grateful we no longer have to deal with 'that' kind of monarchic power struggle like in this quest.

The favela monkey strikes again

Yeah fuck roads, we need spies and pirates. Lol lmao

>>5397784
School shooter, how long! I thought you had already killed yourself, tell me did you miss me?
>You'll never forget that thing with your mother, will you?

>>5396890
supporting

>>5397634
No, it's not so risky. We have the Holy Knights who can scout and keep an eye on the other islands, and we have all the enemies supplies. We have the advantage now, if they return the Holy Knights should be able to tell us and we can burn the supplies and run. Even if they somehow manage to pursue us we will be fully supplied and rested and they will not, and they will have to break off pursuit lest they starve to death. We have, essentially, already won, it's just a matter of whether we'll be lucky enough to grab everything we can or if we'll be forced to destroy it all.

>>5398204
The knights are cool and all but we already have a precedent of them managing to miss a whole fleet in the previous thread. I understand that was an unlucky diceroll but still the birds are not infallible.
If we truly control all of the enemy's supplies that just mean that they will be desperate enough to charge us with all they have.
There are what must be a hundred ships or so. Do you truly believe that if the griffons were to successfully notice the enemy in time we would have time to burn a hundred ships And run away?
I agree that we have the victory in our grasp right now but I really don't want to risk it slipping away. We are right now akin to a player at a casino who just won and now can either take what they have (20 ships and a ton of supplies burn the rest) and leave or double down (all the ships and supplies) and risk loosing everything. And as we were on the backfoot throughout this whole war I am not so eager to gamble.
I understand that those ships are our chance to retake some of the lands that were lost in the previous war but I am not voting for that gamble. If anons are of a different mind so be it but I won't be responsible for that.

>>5398240
>that just mean that they will be desperate enough to charge us with all they have.
That presupposes that they know that their supply isle has been captured. They have no reason to pull back their entire fleet to resupply, and they are the ones one the offence, they'll be seeking to grab as much land as they can, especially after their victory on the supply isle. They also shouldn't know about the victory on Armentarius's isle, and that will also sting. If anything we should be sending the Tarrizans on the offensive, lightning raids on the enemy where it seems advisable to in order to keep up the pressure.
>Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.
>If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him; if well supplied with food, he can starve him out; if quietly encamped, he can force him to move.

>>5396731

> Take what supplies we can and man as many warships as we can and burn the rest of the ships and supplies we cannot take with us.

Any other option will put our current forces at risk something that we cannot afford.

>>5396731
>Take all the supplies we can hold, destroy the rest. Take as many ships as we can reasonably man with a skeleton crew and then head back to friendly territory to get the crew to man them. Burn the rest of the enemy's unmanned ships that we don't take.

If this is the island the enemy uses to store their supplies then our presence here will be discovered here no matter what we do. They'll notice the missing garrison, or find any small hidden camps we set up, it is a small island. Once discovered we have no chance of holding this island, they'll divert as many men and ships as needed to take back this island in order to get back their ships and supplies, their campaign depends on it.

The enemy already outnumbers us, leaving just our elite guard and some mercenaries here won't be enough to hold off their entire army, the only reason Armentarius was able to hold as long as he did before was because he had well-maintained proper fortifications and because he wasn't facing the possibility of the entire enemy army crashing down on his head.

I know the opportunity on equalizing the number of warships seems like too great an opportunity to pass up, but I seriously think we have an extremely high chance of squandering the victory we have just obtained by getting greedy over hopes of evening the numbers of prized warships.

Remember, our strategy was to use the enemy's numbers against them by destroying their supply. By taking what we can and destroying the rest, we have achieved that goal, at least partially. There may be other supply depots, or perhaps not, at the very least we would've made progress towards that objective and put the enemy on a harsher time limit. We don't need to get distracted with thoughts of strengthening our navy or fighting decisive battles with our new found strength.

Not to mention as I already said and has been discussed long before I got here, Armentarius would have to somehow hold out for two weeks in the backyard of the enemy with no serious fortifications before we got back, it just isn't worth it. Like, it isn't worth it to the point of barely being a choice at all imho.

>>5396731
Never have I been so glad to be so wrong.

I'll support >>5397527. I see some anons getting way too scared of being attacked but there are many things in our favor that makes taking the risk of staying here worth it.

1. They need to find out we're here
2. If they find out we're here they'll need a really powerful and numerous army to defeat us in a contested landing.
3. If they do have such an army, they'll need a lot of their ships to transport them.
4. They'll need fullfill all of the above before our reinforcements (that are already on their way) arrive.

>>5398776
>>5398805

I wonder what our talley is for destroyed enemy ships? I know that we have already put quite a few of them down, and now we have ~125? Of them sitting pretty in our hands. That's a pretty serious blow to their naval forces either way. 43 warships on hand would be enough to run down any small detachments that come close to the island, guided by the holy knights recon. I wonder how many ships they do in fact have available in the area now.

The way I figure it, once discovered it would take a significant amount of time for them to organize an appropriate response, and in doing so they would reverse many of their advances, either leaving men stranded on the islands they have captured or withdrawing them.

So, we've sunk 130-150 ships from what I can tell, and captured nearly as many now.

If these estimations are correct the Akeonians may only have half of their fleet still operational. As spread out as they are I think it will take them longer to organize enough ships to retake the island than it will for relief to arrive.

>>5396731
>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans until you return.”

>>5398805 and >>5398893 convinced me.

>>5398956
Half of their fleet is still 300 ships compared to our 50 that people want to leave behind.
Also if the dice rolls fuck us up they might capture those 150 ships back. It's not worth it.

Right now we have 90+20 that we captured+80 that are going to join us=190 ships against their 300. This is a decent line up.
If we try to take all those ships and fuck it up we will have 170 minus whatever tarrizans will loose while defending the island against 450 ships. This sucks.
190 vs 300 and 170 vs 450
Which one seems better to you?

>>5398963
>Half of their fleet is still 300 ships compared to our 50 that people want to leave behind.

At most, and they are not concentrated, nor do they know of what has transpired. Keeping those ships with us may well help delay that information from getting out, and will necessitate the enemy gathering in strength to be able to make a landing. The presence of the Tarrizans buys time in and of itself, not to mention that them simply being at sea will not allow the Akeonians to dedicate all of their ships to a landing effort.

>>5398974
Don't forget the two hundred reinforcement ships that are yet to arrive.

>>5398974
400+ ships vs 300 sounds better.

Depending on how long the addional 100 Pateran ships take to join the frey, of course. Having naval supremacy in the fight, and having a sizeable number of our own ships crewed by our own men afterwards sounds better.

>>5398994
*fray

>>5398990
>two hundred reinforcement ships
?
I am pretty sure it's just a hundred ships

>>5398994
>400+ ships vs 300 sounds better.
Sure but those numbers exist only if we are lucky. And if we aren't then we get exactly190 vs 450.
I am not willing to gamble our decent chances for victory to maybe get great chances for victory. Giving the enemy a chance to recover warships that we captured is just stupid.
Also holy shit we started this war with 180 ships of our own. Now we have only half of those.

>>5399049
They came with a hundred and promised a hundred more if we do the purple dye deal with them.

>>5399086
Then why the fuck do we even need those stinkin' warships?
If we have 200 ships coming in then if we burn the ships that we captured we will have 310 ships on our side vs 300 ships on the enemy's side. We are set. Fuck staying on this island in the middle of the enemy territory like sitting ducks. This gamble is getting worse and worse by the minute.

>>5399126
First, at least we have to think that this war will one day end, and our allies will have the chance to think if it wouldn't be easier to conquer territory than dealing with contracts.

These ships will avoid such petty thoughts, and making the transition from merchant ships to an all-battle fleet is worthwhile at this point in the war. After all, we don't know when our allies will show up.

>>5399138
>our allies will have the chance to think if it wouldn't be easier to conquer territory
That's why you make sure that they suffer the most losses so they wouldn't have ships for such thoughts.
>we don't know when our allies will show up
So what? They will show up eventually. All we need to do now is to retreat with the ships and supplies that we already captured and burn everything that we can't carry with us. Our fleet will relax and resupply in our capital port while waiting for our allies to show up.

I swear every second post you are attempting to solve problems that don't exist.

>>5399145
I'm just showing another point of view, seriously man being angry all the time is not good for your health. This is just a game, it's not worth getting so angry about.

But just out of curiosity, how do you make our allies suffer more than we do?

>>5399158
What makes you think that i am angry? I am not angry at all? Is it the word "fuck"? I just use it for emphasis.
>how do you make our allies suffer more than we do?
Simple. Mundus is the one who is commands our united forces so all he has to do is to make sure that our allies get all the most dangerous and risky missions. Have them be our spearhead when we attack and our first line of defence when we defend. They are effectively mercenaries anyway. We just pay them with trade privileges instead of money.

>>5399162
Don't you think he'll notice? Generally telling people to go in the direction of certain death has a tendency to make them less friendly. Especially if he has more ships than we do, and they will.

QM has a tendency to create characters who have this thing called call self-preservation instinct. I personally find it annoying but I can't do anything about it.

>>5399126
Because they would be our ships, not the ships of predatory merchants. We are giving away some major concessions precisely because we do not have a proper navy of our own. The merchants are interested in our trade goods, and undoubtedly maintaining the balance of power in the region. I expect that if we attempt a counter invasion, which would only be possible if we totally crush the Akeonian invasion, their aid shall become sparse.

It's better that we come out ahead rather than break even.

Suppose the pretender in the east offers them a sweeter deal? What shall we do then?

>>5399162
The problem with that is that from a mercenaries point of view they don't get paid to die, such a ploy would not likely work out as well as you imagine. Nevermind that these aren't simple mercs, but the representatives of merchant republics.

>>5399171
We are at war. In war people die. Those merchants came to us themselves and begged us to let them participate in this war on our side. I would imagine they were prepared to die the moment they sailed away from their home.
Besides if they don't want to work they won't get paid. And that was the entire reason they came to us in the first place.

>>5399175
What pretender? You mean rebels? It would take merchants awhile to get to them by sea and what would they even have to offer? We have all the silk and dye - the things that merchants want. They will negotiate with us or they will get a miniscule fraction of the goods if anything at all.
I agree that we need ships for the invasion but once again - I am not willing to sit for 2 weeks in the nemy supply depot hoping that a fleet that is 6 times bigger than the forces we leave behind won't come and retake the island together with all the supplies and ships. If that were to happen we would not only lose any means to recapture anything we would lose any chance of breaking even as well.

>>5399182
But they do. What are you even talking about? They came to us to pay with their blood for trade privileges. Did they expect to sit at our capital and have tea parties and then when the war is over recieve those sweat silks and dyes?
You are really making them out so much more stupid than they really are.

>>5399175
you mean the guy that said he is an emperor now after uniting some of the eastern magnates ? the ones plagued by barbarians more than us, that were in chaos for the most and likely still are ? i am not even sure if that guy will even remain in charge there, i will be suprised if he can manage anything from that position.

>>5398805
They can easily find out we are here given this is seemingly their main supply depot, ships are going to be streaming back and forth to and from this island normally in order to make up for deficits in local supply and just for communication purposes. Not to mention we just recently failed an attack on the fake!supply depot, meaning they have insight into our intent and should've begun to reorganize and reorient themselves based on this knowledge. With this knowledge they can guess that we are after their supplies and will surely check on their actual supply depot.

No they won't need a "powerful army" to defeat Armentarius and the Tarrizans. Armentarius's original force on the island he laid a trap on was 300 dogshit conscripts, 100 well-trained garrison troops that were originally there, 200 Scholae Tagmata, and an unspecified number of mercenaries. Armentarius lost hundreds of the conscripts and garrison troops and at least 50 of his Scholae Tagmata, plus however many mercs lost.

This was on a small island with well maintained fortifications that was prepped ahead of time with traps and with only enough space for a few thousand enemy siegers. The siege took place over only a few days if I recall right. The Tarrizans only have less than a 100 halberdiers who recently just got mauled in an ambush, plus however many worthless in CQC sailors. The island we are currently on is a little bit bigger and notably has a wide flat beach perfect for landing on on one side of the island and another usable beach on the other that is rougher, we know this because we literally just took the island. Maybe my reading comprehension is just dog shit, but I don't see any mention of any castles or forts on this island for us to use. We wouldn't be able to contest shit.

The enemy can afford to spare a few hundred of their ships to come and take this island no problem, they have hundreds of ships and we are literally sailing a week away to pick up sailors to come get their spare ships that we captured. Contesting them on the open ocean means splitting our ships, meaning less capacity for spare sailors to take their ships with and less to fight them on the sea nearby the island with, meaning we most likely lose that fight as well.

Our 100 Tarrizan ships that aren't appraised of our current situation, who may not know how to find Armentarius and whom Mundus may not be able to communicate with if he heads back to pick up sailors. Do we know exactly when they will arrive even? Unless you mean some other reinforcements?

Destroying their supply achieves our objective that we based our choices around in the previous threads, lets not get greedy.

>>5398805
And 5. They must come to us, giving us the opportunity to choose the battleground. Either we can engage and hope the reinforcements come, or we take what we can and burn the rest. Either way, it's a win-win, the only difference being the degree.

>>5399183
>>5399186

In regards to the merchants, of course they are prepared to lose men and ships. I can not imagine they are willing to simply let us throw their forces away in suicidal missions. Suppose the heads of those republics were, the crews of those ships might not be willing.

In regards to the east, we do not have a clear picture on the situation, and even so who knows how it will play out? Say he offers a sweeter deal to the merchants in exchange for their support? Or what if they simply decide they want to take the islands for themselves? If we have no navy of their own what is to stop them?

>>5399260
The likelihood of remaining undetected is practically zero I agree, it is a matter of time and I believe that time is in our favor. The Tarrizan ships should be more than capable of taking out small groups of ships that may come to the island for one reason or another, assisted by some of our holy knights of course. Once word does get out, the Akeonians will have to organize their response.

I would say that with some of the holy knights staying with Mundus, it would behoove him to send a messenger ahead to begin gathering crews for the ships we've captured. If that information were to be passed on to those 100 Pateran ships it would be a happy coincidence to get them underway to our location before Mundus even makes port.

Another thing to consider, perhaps Mundus will draw away some of the Akeonians on his way out?

I do agree that taking what we can and burning the rest is a good idea, I simply think the risk is worth the reward.

QM, could we get some info on our potential defenders of the island and any defenses that may be used or readily constructed? Perhaps there are some marines from the fleet that can be detached?

>>5399299
...? No, that isn't how this works. If we want to keep the ships that we don't have the sailors to man then we have to be on or near them, otherwise the enemy will simply board them and take them out of our reach. Furthermore this island is slightly larger than Armentarius's trap island, mean it has room for thousands of men to stand in or maneuver on.

One of the advantages of amphibious operations throughout history was the ability to choose the land site and to attack in unexpected locations and arrive with large amounts of manpower and materiel. They can sail around the island in any number of different sizes of groups forcing our men to follow them on the shore and waste energy lest they lose sight of their landing site. Or we can split up and defend the two mentioned beaches but then we are dispersed and they can just focus on one.

Once on the island itself, yes they have to come to us to get the supplies assuming we keep any significant amount on the island for whatever reason, but as I mentioned in my post above Armentarius and the Tarrizans barely have a few hundred actually worthwhile fighters, unless by the Tarrizans staying the QM means their navy as well. Even then we still run into the issue of the enemy being stronger, they have more ships and men that they can concentrate on us in a shorter timeframe.

>>5399341
>unless by the Tarrizans staying the QM means their navy as well.

I am operating under that assumption.

>>5399341
I would also note that with the captured gear, we could outfit any sailors with some good arms and armor. I bet we could also stack up a bunch of crossbows and quarrels in any prepared defensive positions to rain down hell on any invaders, no mg42 at Omaha beach but a force multiplier nonetheless.

>>5399340
Perhaps I was slightly hasty in my judgement, I just wanted to reply to one of the anons that seemed to be influencing things based on assumptions I didn't agree with. Since I was rushing to catch up with the thread I only read everyone's post once hastily and then skimmed a second time.

If what QM means by having the Tarrizans stay is that the ships and not merely the halberdiers are also staying, then yes, I do think we have an okay chance of maybe succeeding. Not a good chance mind you, just kinda-sorta okay.

I think we either need further information or a reminder of info we already know from the QM or otherwise someone should go back through what has already been posted and the archives to check for the time-frames and distances involved. I'm talking outta my ass with this bit, but I was under the impression that all the islands in the map QM just posted are well within a week's journey from here. Given we'd be gone with some of our ships for two weeks going back and forth, I am of the opinion that the enemy could organize within that time-frame and crush Armentarius.

I do think we have a chance with the aforementioned defeat-in-detail shit you and others have mentioned in regards to crushing small groups heading to be resupplied at the supply depot, but some ships will likely eventually get away and alert our foe to our presence in the area. Then it'll be all over I think.

I do think we could do something to help mitigate at least part of the problem though. Perhaps before we leave we could ferry all supplies to Armentarius's trap island, or just load them onto the ships that are leaving for friendly territory to equip and supply our own troops. That way at least we'd either have a castle and better terrain to fight from or that we wouldn't have to defend the supplies at all. It would accomplish our goal of disrupting the enemy supplies while still risking some men and Armentarius for these ships. The ferrying to the island is only needed if we don't have room to just carry all the supplies off with the ships we have though.

That would still leave the issue of the ships though, and that is the real issue. With my idea above, it isn't a good idea to defend two places at once, so it wouldn't work well if we moved the supplies to the other island, it'd be fine if we have enough room to just take them back to friendly territory. (we should, hundreds of ships should have the room for all that) Since it is a shorter journey we could move them to the other island with the manpower we have in 20 ship batches to confuse the enemy or just try the default approach in the prompt and hope it works out.

Perhaps we could bury all the bodies and hide the signs of battle and just abandon the island and leave the ships we can't take there and hope the enemy gets confused and assumes the garrison force just left for somewhere on assignment or to move shop in a hurry. The hope would be it doesn't warrant a centralized response quickly enough with enough men to move all the ships. After all, one of the prompts is to leave a small garrison seemingly in the hopes of not being noticed at all, this would hopefully be the slightly less stupid version of that, arguably. Then once we arrive back we could take the remaining ships or ambush any folks arriving to move the ships.

>>5399344
>>5399347
Fair enough. This has slightly better chances of working then I initially made it seem assuming QM doesn't require us to write in all these specific tactics and procedures in order for them to be used. If this doesn't fail spectacularly then I won't be super mad if the vote doesn't go my way.

I still think it is greedy and a bad idea based on super optimistic assumptions*, but at least I don't feel like anons are being literally retarded this time.

*Mainly in regards to time-frames involved in how fast the enemy discover us and organize to crush Armentarius, and the idea that if we are discovered and fail to stop the enemy from landing significant numbers of troops that we could hold out in land battle to any meaningful degree with a couple hundred elites plus some up-geared sailors.

>>5399363
>>5399372

Hey, it's a gamble I freely admit that, but it would seem that the odds are somewhat in our favor. Keep in mind that many of the ships we have already sunk were on patrol duty, others are tied up in sieges and raiding. Should the Tarrizan fleet manage to pick a couple off while buying time, the actual number of readily available ships the enemy has to send at us is much smaller than it would appear.

Let us not discount the strength of the griffin riders in all this, besides their invaluable reconnaissance ability, no ship can outrun them even if it manages to outrun the Tarrizans.

The name of the game is buying time, time that the men at the island can be preparing defenses.

As I've said, should a force the Tarrizans cannot cope with arrives to invade the island they will be compelled to reserve a contingent of their ships to keep them in check, further reducing the actual amount of men they can actually land.

It would appear to me that the difficult beach was available to us on account of locals and the ability of the Tarrizans, an advantage that the Akeonians do not hold.

>>5399340

>QM, could we get some info on our potential defenders of the island and any defenses that may be used or readily constructed? Perhaps there are some marines from the fleet that can be detached?

You have around 148 scholae, there are around 76 halberdiers from Tarrizo still up and about.

Should you keep the Tarrizans there, five warships would be slotted out, since you do need the supplies right now. So you'd have a strike force of five warships to deal with messengers or small supply runs should they occur. Leaving more would just draw even more attention. Once again, the tarrizans refuse to abandon their ships or divide their crews.

The Tarrizan galleys being big and hefty, each carries a compliment of 150 men (Including the oarsmen), so in total you'd have 750 sailors ready to fight. They could be equipped with heavier arms and armour, but they are unskilled in its usage, the heavier the gear, the less effective they will be.

As for defences, the isle had not been inhabited besides acting as a neutral trading ground for the monthly fair around the surrounding isles, which is why it only really has a rickety, but large dock.

Around the East is another even, large beach, to the west is another beach, but with jagged rocks around the area there, making approach difficult for unskilled crews lacking knowledge about the area. Then to the South is the main dock where the 50 warships are docked. The north has relatively steep cliffs, making approach difficult.

The camp where the Akeonians set up did not have any walls, since there is a lack of trees in the area. In total, the garrisoning force here had consisted of 2,000 light infantries, armed with thick cloth, steel helmets, spears and shields. Alongside a more elite force of 300 heavy infantry men-at-arms, whom I already described. Then there were about 20 or so knights clad in steel plate. The men-at-arms died to a man. 15 knights are still alive and imprisoned alongside around 1,600 light infantry.

>>5399487
Hm. I'm wondering if the best course of action now really is to continue harassing the enemy and keeping them from the island for as long as possible. We have their supplies, if they want to get them they have to go through us. Bleed them slowly and by the time they realise we have their supplies we can force a decisive battle against a tired enemy that hasn't been supplied for several days, even if we would be outnumbered.

OR

>1,600 light infantry.
That's a lot of men. A navy's worth of men. I have no idea how stupid this option would be.

>>5399536

Well...such things as rules of war and human rights do not exist, the reason why you take prisoners is to ransom them or sell them into slavery. The prisoners could be executed, but that would be an unpopular decision unless you are willing to compensate your men for potential profit lost from such an action. But it is an action you could take.

>>5399340
>I can not imagine they are willing to simply let us throw their forces away in suicidal missions
They don't have to be suicidal. As I said just pick the most dangerous missions. Someone has to do those so let it be the mercenaries instead of our troops.

>>5399541
QM when will our reinforcements show up? I mean, how many battles are we going to fight until they show up?

>>5399541
So it's entirely feasible to crew the ships we just captured with prisoners?

>>5399591

>QM when will our reinforcements show up? I mean, how many battles are we going to fight until they show up?

Depends, they had set off immediately once the deal was ironed out, so they had been travelling for at least two days. So they should be showing up soonish, the issue is you actually running into them and vise versa. As said, it takes about a weeks worth of travel to reach the isles, so unless there are unfavourable winds or storms, they should enter the theater of engagement if five days. The other hundred promised ships are still at Patera, so it may take them a few months to show up.

As for how many battles you have to fight, it depends entirely upon you. Just keep in mind, as far as your men are aware, there are not reinforcements incoming, and I suggest for you anons to start thinking how you are going to deal with the fact that both Tarrizo and Patera will be fighting side by side, since both sides despise each other with such hatred that they wish to raze one another's city.

>>5399598
Just keep them away from each other. Unless there is a decisive battle they should be on different islands at all times.
Besides paterans knew we had tarizzans in our fleet when they asked to join right? Are they really going to sperg out over it?

>>5399596

If you want to risk it, yes.

>>5399602

What commanders want is not always what the soldiers do. There's a lot of bad blood on both sides.

I think getting our enemy to crew these ships is just a bad idea. Unless they are sailors then they would be as good as useless actually manning the ships, maybe they'd be adequate running the oars at best. I think there would be a substantial chance of them overpowering any overseers and just sailing their ships away if they are actually competent enough to sail the ships in the first place. Our meagre numbers of griffon knights wouldn't be able to wrangle up all the escaping ships if there was any degree of coordination amongst the escaping prisoners in this hypothetical scenario.

To be fair, I could be wrong. If someone does the math and works out that we have adequate numbers of prisoners to just man the oars and we have enough soldiers or sailors to split among the ships and act as overseers or to handle the other sailing tasks then perhaps we could make a break for friendly territory with all the warships in tow, no having to leave any behind or go back and forth to retrieve sailors then warships.

>>5399610

Kek. To all of you anons, I'd recommend just picking up some random wars in Italy during the medieval/renaissance period, shit's wild with the amount of betrayals.

>>5399612
The Italian Wars from 1494-1559 were wild.

>>5399598
Wait, if our reinforcements don't know where our fleet is and our capital is infested with spies and agents, doesn't that mean they can be ambushed before they join us? So the scenarios are:

Our fleet can be focused by the enemy fleet and destroyed, leaving the defense of the islands to foreigners.
>Very bad scenario.

The allied fleet can be ambushed and destroyed. Our fleet will have a better chance of escaping with all the loot, but we won't have the superiority of numbers.
>Acceptable scenario.

One of our two fleets was attacked but not destroyed. If our new allies bleed our enemies a little, but manage to catch up.
>Excellent scenario.

Our looting attempt failed but the fleet survives with losses, we can still reach reinforcements.
>Average scenario, close to being bad..

None of the possible battles happen, I don't think it's possible but if it does.
>Perfect scenario, the end of the war would be in sight.

>>5399487
>Should you keep the Tarrizans there, five warships would be slotted out,

Ok well fuck that, Im changing my vote to loot and scoot.>>5397527

I mentioned earlier about trading the merchant ships for warships, can we do this?

In regards to the prisoners, perhaps we can offer the commoners their freedom if they man the oars on our trip home? I expect that will possibly free up enough men to sail a few more ships, or at least help keep some ships combat effective.

>>5399667
Yeah, I already mentioned the communication problems with our allied reinforcements, they don't know where we are or vice versa and we have no real reliable means of communicating other than being in the same location or by sending messages to a pair of preestablished bases of operation like the capital and some island.

>>5399917
My fear is that they will be ambushed and destroyed in waters unknown to them, after all it would be easier for the invaders to attack one of the isolated forces rather than letting the fleets meet.
And we know that the enemy has this information because we have evidence of infiltration in the capital.

>>5399609
What if we put barrels of oil on the ships crewed by prisoners? A self-destruction mechanism if you will.

If they revolt, the overseers know that they’re dead anyway - so they ignite the barrels and doom everyone.

>>5400072
It could work hypothetically, but do we even have these barrels of oil in the first place? Oil is valuable, especially back in the olden days, I doubt we have a ton of it just lying around even in the supply depot we just raided. It is more likely we have less useful oils for lighting lanterns and torches like vegetable oils and pig fat.

>>5396731
>”Then I and mine shall stay here, alongside the Tarrizans until you return.”

Update coming tomorrow, meaning that the votes will be locked in soon-ish.

I had updated broken empire whilst you wait >>5386850

Oh, snap! One of two good quests I saw this year so far has resurrected a week ago.
Time to re-read from the beginning so I can remember what the fuck is going on here.

>>5401075
Shit was fucked, but is now slightly better since we've got a free navy, if we manage to keep it.

Actually, thinking about it, I may have the solution.

>Armentarius and the Tarrizans ferry all the supplies and gear to Armentarius's isle.
>The Navy uses the prisoner light infantry (of which there are 1,600) as crew for the captured warships, and sail home for proper sailors.
>The risk of mutiny is low because the prisoners will only get themselves killed if they try fighting a battle-hardened naval force.
Anons thoughts?

>>5401172
Using the prisoners as oarsmen may have some merit, provided there is a carrot to wave in front of them - consider the service them paying for their freedom. Repatriation after the war is over I suppose.

Looking at the map I think we could avert some risk by trying to swing wide and follow the coast back to port.

Ferrying the supplies would probably take too much time.

>>5401172
>>Armentarius and the Tarrizans ferry all the supplies and gear to Armentarius's isle.
What for? Our land forces have all the supplies they need and our fleet will get what supplies they can carry from here and then go for a resupply. Better burn all the excess here so the enemy can't get them.
>>The Navy uses the prisoner light infantry (of which there are 1,600) as crew for the captured warships, and sail home for proper sailors.
>>The risk of mutiny is low because the prisoners will only get themselves killed if they try fighting a battle-hardened naval force.
Could work but if we get into a fight and those ships start flipping mid-battle we are fucked

Also I am sorry to say this but even if your idea was the best idea ever it's not going to gather enough votes to pass at this point. Maybe if it came up sooner.

So I've been thinking about us retaking that big island that we lost to Akeonians in the previous war and I gotta say - it ain't happening. Not in this war at least.
I mean just look at that thing it's the size of half of our empire. We aren't taking it without navi and army both participating. With some spies working behind the scenes to drag some sympathetic local nobles to our side.
Unfortunately our army cannot leave our eastern border right now and our spies do not exist so whatever grand invasion some anons imagined will have to wait for the next time. Maybe in 20 years or so.
As for this war we will have to settle on the white peace maybe with some trade concessions or monetary compensations. Our demographics are in decline and we have another war brewing in the east so it is in our interest to end this war as soon as possible.

>>5401229
There is the fact that much of their elites and a lot of their able bodied men are tied up in this campaign, if their losses are bad enough it may give us an opening. Though the prospect of being able to take the land would still be pretty slim even then.

>>5401213
>>5401202
Supplies are supplies, it'd be a shame to waste them. We not only have food, we have weapons and armour in this cache as well, but I will admit that the warships are the real prize. I definitely think we should try crewing the fleet with prisoners though, strengthening the navy would be a massive boon for us, one that we couldn't accomplish otherwise without great cost and effort.

>>5401234
>strengthening the navy would be a massive boon for us, one that we couldn't accomplish otherwise without great cost and effort.
I 100% agree. Unforunately this is a situation when a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
A bird in the hand in this case being the fact that we get to deprive the enemy of a huge pile of supplies and destroy a third of the enemy's fleet while taking some for ourselves.

>>5401172
I'm not sure my contribution to this combination is even necessary or worthwhile. Realistically we should be able to fit enough supplies from the cache to supply all our ships and equip all our ground forces with stuff to spare for basically the entire campaign with just the storage capacity on our the ships we have, particularly if we are taking all the enemy spare warships. The other anon is right, it is probably just better to take what we can and destroy the excess by burning it or throwing it into the sea. Given we are on home turf, food shouldn't be an issue, we should just take the arms and armour and any supplies relevant to sailing like ropes, sails, tar, etc. Exclude some categories of goods to fit more of others on.

I'm unsure about using prisoners as oarsmen, if we are attacked and they flip mid battle then we are fucked, but that was the case anyways if we decided to strip our own ships of manpower to crew the 20 warships QM said we had the manpower for. Though to be fair, we may not be rendering our own ships combat in-effective anymore if we are getting the prisoners to be the oarsmen, so if it is only a small attack we would have a chance of holding them off. Since the prisoners would only be the oarsmen with overseers then them flipping wouldn't necessarily doom us unless we were facing a large force.

I disagree about the risk of mutiny being low though, weather phenomena or the natural process of sailing could cause some of our ships to drift apart from one another or lose sight of one another, we wouldn't necessarily be able to easily catch and engage any revolting ships, nor would I assume that if they retook some of their ships that they'd be immediately engaging us, I think they would just run and I don't think we could catch them.

>>5401265
The difference is if our ships are just ineffective we can have Tarrizans be our screen and give us time to break away.
In case of ships flipping mid-battle we will get hostile ships in the middle of our formation. Which is in my opinion much worse.

>>5396731
Supporting these two
>>5396890
>>5398776
Splitting our forces in the face of the enemy who outnumbers us seems like a bad idea

>>5401318
I am this anon btw >>5401075
Finally caught up. Can't wait for the boring War to be over and for a fun waifu-war to begin.

Fuck off 11

Stand and fight + prepared sabotage 1

Stand and fight 4

Small garrison 1

Total Votes 17

Taking what you can and destroying the rest wins.

>>5401910
QM are we going to exchange our merchant ships for warships?

>>5401933

The merchant ships are privately owned and pressed into service, so unless you are willing to give the warships to whomever abandons their merchantships, that'd be a no.

>>5401938
They are smaller, more fragile and carry less material, so I'll leave them intact on the beach. They are not dangerous to us in enemy hands.

>>5401938
It would be preferable to leaving them on merchant ships and having them sunk in any case.

>>5401954
Further, a decent reward to those that have been pressed into service by us, if they get a few warships out of it.

I suppose I could be a bit vague on my descriptions when it comes to the ships. Twenty ships guaranteed, I hope you anons can reach a consensus on the rest.

>>5401971
No problem

>>5401971
QM in my opinion we are going to use the slaves and if necessary our sailors to set sail with as many warships as possible, with as much weapons and armor, as well as riches, as possible.

Supplies will taken if there's space left on the ships, all the equipment that we can't carry we throw into the sea, steel plus salt water its a bad combination.

The ships that we can't steal will be incapacitated, let's put the supplies that we didn't carry on these ships and we'll set them on fire, of course we'll save that for last before we leave because the smoke will draw the enemy's attention.

Finally, we are going to leave our merchant ships behind empty for two reasons, one because if the enemy troops are left behind without being able to leave the Islands, the local population will suffer. according we have the enemy sailors, a bunch of land knights and soldiers will not frighten us on foreign trade ships.

What are we talking about again? Are we having another vote?
Do NOT get prisoners as crews. They will flip during battle and make things complicated.
What's that about incapacitation? Just burn it all the moment we set sail.
Do NOT leave any ships behind. Are you nuts? The whole point of burning ships is so tthe enemy doesn't get them and now you are gifting anemy with more ships? Just tell the owners they were sunk during battle and pay the standart compensation for those cases.
Stop being so fucking greedy.

>>5401971
Take what ships we can crew without using prisoners.
Swap our shitty ships for better warships when possible.
Take what supplies we can and burn the rest with the ships including merchant ships that we leave.
Prisoners are low priority for us. Take as many as we can and put the rest to the sword.
Have Tarrizans be our screen and set up a perimeter around the main fleet as best as it is possible.
Also have the griffons be our eyes as always. We want to avoid battles at all cost.

>>5401971
I support using a limited amount of prisoners as oarsmen to free up some more to sail what ships we can.

Trade the merchant ships for warships, compensate their owners or allow them to keep the warships after either way.

Destroy and burn all supplies and ships we cannot take.

Take what prisoners we can for ransom, leave the rest.

>>5402021
Why leave them alive though?
I understand using them as oarsmen even if I disagree with it but why leave the ones we don't take alive?

>>5402022

Sets a bad precedent, I'd rather leave them here needing to be re equiped, provisioned, and transported rather than have the Tarrizans start butchering our men who are captured and civilians in reprisals.

>>5402025
They are already doing that though? This is middle ages there are no war crimes invented yet.
Every enemy soldier we leave behind is going to kill our own soldiers and civilians in the future.

>>5402025
>Tarrizans
Wait I didn't read your post properly. Why would Tarrizans butcher any of ours?

>>5402029
I could be mistaken, though I don't believe that has been explicitly stated. Ransom or slavery being the standard for prisoners has been though.

Again though, it's men they will have to rearm which they might find difficulty with on account of losing all these supplies.

>>5402035
Sorry, brainfart Akeonians

>>5402041
>Ransom or slavery being the standard for prisoners has been though.
Sure anon but you are advovating for leaving enemy soldiers on our territory without any overwatch to do anything they please.
They could go and rape and kill our citizens the moment we leave the island. On top of that once the enemy ships arrive they will be able to decribe the size and composition of our fleet and ground forces as well as the direction we left in.

>>5402047
>On top of that once the enemy ships arrive they will be able to decribe the size and composition of our fleet and ground forces as well as the direction we left in.
Don't like this part.

>>5402047
I wonder how many of them we can realistically transport between our ships and the Tarrizans? Offering some to pay their ransom by rowing the boats back would free up more men to crew more ships.

As far as being oarsmen, I don't think any ship should be fully operated by them.

>>5402054
>I don't think any ship should be fully operated by them.
I agree. The thing is I don't know how many people are needed to operate what ship type and i don't really want to bother QM with this. How about no more than 20% from the overall crew? Seems reasonable?
And then we kill the rest.

>>5402057
Say 25%, but I expect we would still be able to transport a lot of them in chains.

>>5402059
>25%
Ok. I would take less but 25 is still alright with me.
>we would still be able to transport a lot of them in chains
A lot but not all. There are 1600 of them. That's a small army. We have to decrease their numbers.

>>5401971
Minimal prisoner crews
Swap merchant ships for warships
Destroy everything we cannot take
Don't leave any alive prisoners behind so they don't give Intel to Akeonians

I especially don't like the idea of them knowing the direction we went into. The enemy commander is competent. He might figure out our plans and set up an ambush or try and chase us down.

>>5402016
Our troops will guard these prisoners, besides they are slaves for sale. If a battle happens we kill them before the confrontation. Ships at the moment are more important.

>>5402075
What troops? Are you going to leave our troops on this island to die?

>>5402077
Our troops (The fighters on the boats), plus our sailors who are going to arm themselves will keep an eye on captured prisoners so we can use them to sail with the ships. Prisoners that cannot be watched can be killed before we leave the Island.

>>5402091
>Prisoners that cannot be watched can be killed before we leave the Island.
This is not what you voted for.
>Finally, we are going to leave our merchant ships behind empty for two reasons, one because if the enemy troops are left behind without being able to leave the Islands, the local population will suffer. according we have the enemy sailors, a bunch of land knights and soldiers will not frighten us on foreign trade ships.
You voted to leave prisoners we can't take with us alive and also supply them with ships.

>>5402093
The confusion comes from that I was referring to two distinct groups, the first being the prisoners that captured in the last fight. Yes I'm adding to the vote , I'm clarifying what to do with prisoners we can't take.

The second group are the troops that are still on the nearby islands, if they don't have ships to evacuate they will massacre the local population.

>>5402101
So you want to go around leaving 1 merchant ship per island for the evacuation of the enemy troops?
Or do you expect them to know that you left them a few dozen merchant ships on this island and then swim to it?

>>5402103
If their fleet was on a single island and because they have smaller rowing boats to navigate between islands, we just have to leave the merchant ships intact next to the burning warships.

>>5402108
Dude you are voting to give free ships to the enemy that already has more ships than us. They had 500 ships originally. They have less now but still more than us. Every single ship is vital for us we can't just hand them over.
Even if we assume that enemy soldiers are indeed decided to swim to the surrounding islands on rowboats while having dozens of warships at their disposal which is retarded I still want to burn everything.
First of all if they want to slaughter locals they are already doing it.
Second depriving enemy of dozens of ships is more important than lives of a people living on these small far away islands which can't be many.
Third you have no clue if there are even any civilians living around here or enemy soldiers fucking around on those small islands. You are just assuming that. You are just pulling problems that do not exist out of thin air again.

So I did a little research, and I see numbers ranging from 120-200+ rowers per ship on ships similar to ours, at say 120 rowers and 80 ships thats 9600 rowers, 25% of which would be 2400. I think we can safely assume that we can make temporary crew of or transport all of the captives.

>>5402108
>>5402124

The island we are currently on is a meeting place correct? There is no one for them to terrorize if left stranded, if I understand correctly.

>>5402129
Ok if this is the case then I agree.
If this is not the case I'd like to reitrate that no more than 20-25% of our crews should consist of prisoners.

>>5402133
I want them dead (if we leave any) for the sake of information about our fleet not being leaked.

>>5402124
The dice benefit from warships, besides as I said, knights and warriors without the aid of professional sailors on foreign merchant ships are no threat to us, they are not in a position to attack us with these ships.

They are not a unified force there are several factions, we are crippling one of them. They will escape and look for other ships if they want to fight.

They are not Norse, many of these nobles intend to rule these islands one day, exterminating their tax payers is a stupid idea, looting? Yea! Exterminate? No!

>>5402133
The other camps on the islands nearby?

>>5402129
>>5402140

You could probably crew each ship around 25%-30%, and of that number the prisoners will consist of only 25%. So the number is much, much smaller. Unless you'd like to take the risks necessery. Do keep in mind, that you did lose men in previous engagements as well, so not all ships are at full strength.

>>5402140
I mean unless we are using glorified rowboats for ships we wouldn't even be able to make 25% of the rowers prisoners if every single one of them took the offer, if we trade the merchant ships out and take only 20 extra ships. The transport capacity of the Tarrizan ships isn't factored at all for that matter.

It's a huge non issue we're making here if what I've read translates to what we are using.

Google dromon or galley crews yourself if you would like.

>>5402153
No more than 25% please. This is already too risky.

>>5402153
My point really was the capacity to transport them, though the total percentage of rowers even if all of them took the offer would not be extreme.

>>5402152
Proofs of them existing?
>>5402148
All you typed is a pile of assumptions.
What stops the main fleet won't crew the ships we left for them and throw it back at us?
Why would we let them escape at all? leave them stuck on those islands let the enemies scramble for them.
You have no clue about what soldiers are part of what faction and what intenntions they have for the islands stop making assumptions.
I still don't see any proofs that there are any civilians on those islands btw.

So let's count the votes so far instead of arguing.
3 votes for small prisoner crews VS 1 vote for as big prisoner crews as possible
3 votes for swapping ships and burning what we leave VS 1 vote for swapping ships and leaving them intact for the convenience of our enemies
3 votes for killing the prisoners we can't take with us VS 1 vote to leave them alive and unharmed

This seems to be correct?

>>5402171
Again, did you read anything? We attacked two islands, and there is still an island with a huge flag in the middle of a camp that is, well, a target. This entire area had multiple enemy targets, have you just started playing?

Each of these questions can be answered in the other QM posts of this quest, seriously you only read the answer options right?

>>5402187
>We attacked two islands, and there is still an island with a huge flag in the middle of a camp that is, well, a target. This entire area had multiple enemy targets,
So what? What does that have to do with my post?
Let me copy it for you since you clearly didn't read it.
What stops the main fleet won't crew the ships we left for them and throw it back at us?
Why would we let them escape at all? leave them stuck on those islands let the enemies scramble for them.
You have no clue about what soldiers are part of what faction and what intenntions they have for the islands stop making assumptions.
I still don't see any proofs that there are any civilians on those islands btw.
>Each of these questions can be answered in the other QM posts of this quest, seriously you only read the answer options right?
Point them out and I will concede or stop making a fool of yourself.

Seriously you're arguing over nothing, there should be no issue at all transporting prisoners who do not take the offer.

>>5402199
That's not what we are arguing about. We are arguing about leaving the ships we swap intact so the enemy can use them. Mr Advisor believes it is a good idea.
As for the prisoners it is currently been voted to kill all the prisoners that won't fit onto our ships after we take supplies.

>>5402194
Ok there we go, first you gave two answers.
>Proofs of them existing?
I showed you the evidence about the enemy camps you said don't exist.

Second about your questions:


What stops the main fleet won't crew the ships we left for them and throw it back at us?
>"besides as I said, knights and warriors without the aid of professional sailors on foreign merchant ships are no threat to us, they are not in a position to attack us with these ships".
See? I also know how to copy text, you just have to learn to read.


Why would we let them escape at all? leave them stuck on those islands let the enemies scramble for them.
>Because these islands are inhabited by citizens of the Empire, if the enemy sees that their fleet has been burned that they are trapped until the creator knows, at the mercy of the enemy, they will attack these innocent people because it is the only harm they can do.


You have no clue about what soldiers are part of what faction and what intenntions they have for the islands stop making assumptions.
>Remember the beginning of the war when we created that fort, trap to stop part of the invasion? Those forces were led by a single nobleman, who abandoned the main invasion to invade a specific location. That huge flag I mentioned earlier is from another noble who did the same thing. Not that I think you have the mental capacity to realize that.

I still don't see any proofs that there are any civilians on those islands btw.
>If these islands are completely abandoned, why the fuck would they be attacking the area?
Because they don't have any richer places to attack? It's not as if this entire area isn't the only place in the Empire capable of producing silk because of the weather. Of course this specific one would be doing it for no reason right? In your head maybe.

>Satisfied?

-
(POV shift: You are Mundus Helenos.)

Those warships you had no way of taking were now blazing in front of your eyes, what could be cleared from their hulls for your own use was, what could be crewed, was.

“Heave !” Comes from below you, the oarsmen put their backs into it, no one wants to risk getting caught now that you have a bunch of ships laden with supplies, as well as a few prisoners. You had naturally taken the knights in chains, the ransom brought from them could easily buy a ship each, depending on just how wealthy, influential, or favoured they are back in their homelands. As such, you decided to keep them close to you. As the leader of the overall war effort, it is only natural that you acquire the lion’s share of booty after all.

With a screech above, you watch as the holy knights continue to circle your fleet as you begin once again moving through hostile waters, whom just weeks prior had been your own territory. You hail from these isles, it is only natural for imperial sailors to come from here, the lands where if you walks for no more than few minutes, soon you shall see nought but the raging ocean, its strong and wrathful storms, or it being the most serene and azure looking glittering jewel unmatched by any worn by the wealthiest of men and ladies.

The isles will be returned to the fold, even if it is the last thing I do.

“Come on you rats, you serve the empire now !” Once again, a shout comes from below. You had decided to take on more oarsmen so as to ensure your speed is unimpeded. The local Akeonians, especially those that the Tarrizan could converse with, were more than happy to join your crews when given a simple choice – slavery, or death. Sadly, you couldn’t take all of them, the risks of them rallying and overpowering your crew had been too much of a concern.

Still, your decision to allow the local merchants to change out for the warships, at least a quarter of the oarsmen being Akeonian, had resulted in you being able to take all fifty warships, all of whom are so laden down, that they are fat and slow, but the Tarrizans are covering your flanks. About which you have some grumbles, as the warships captured are Tarrizan make to begin with. One can never trust merchants, that’s for sure.

>>5402211

Your intended course will see you swing by the fortified isle, dropping off a part of your supplies there for the local garrison, whom is still housing prisoners. The position there is still strong, so you doubt that the Akeonians will be able to take with any ease, especially with fifty warships lost alongside a large part of their supplies. Afterwards, you will skirt around the west, once again bypassing the supply isle at a larger distance. Most likely that area will be the least patrolled after the defeat dealt to you. Whilst the other way would see you pass close to the isle filled with noble tents, an isle you think is another ambush, no doubt filled to the brim with Akeonian warships and soldiery. So the West will do.

And that is all you need, as currently, all of your warships are only at around quarter crew, a bit more than that really, and that’s with taking around six hundred of the prisoners with you. The rest. Well. You had been fair, you allowed them to draw lots. After the rotting bodies are found, maybe the Akeonians will reconsider invading you home ? Once again, a shame, they would have gone for a premium at the slave market, but there are plenty of stories of slavers being overpowered by their merchandise when they least expect it.

Luckily, the winds are favourable today, carrying your fleet onwards, allowing the tiresome task of oaring to be put on hold, conserving the strength of the oarsmen for whenever it will be needed in battle or storm.

-
(End of POV shift.)

“Is this truly necessary ?” You ask with some bafflement.

“Of course, your majesty. You had reigned on the throne for so long, but most of the empire know not their emperor.” Your kanikleiou (keeper of the imperial inkstand) retorts.

You stare at the sculptor walking circles around you, drawing quick sketches, alongside a coinsmith and a painter.

“Your majesty, how about an open book held in your right, with the world held in your left, with a casual disregard, dressed in simple scholarly clothes ?” The sculptor asks.

Well, you like the book and the simple clothes. “What about us holding the world with disregard ?”

“Naturally, to symbolize your disregard for human vices and your expression and dedication to God, as well as showcasing that even the entire world would not matter as much as the knowledge before you and the empire set upon your brow, alongside the duty and honour you hold.”

That’s a…that’s a stretch. Is this how you do it ? Lacking any diplomatic tact, you simply nod along, at the very least it seems that the man knows what he is talking about.

>>5402213

You are glad that you are in one of the massive terraces facing the ocean, the Sun provides you with warmth and the cool winds brush against your face. Your bodyguards wander about your surroundings, constantly keeping vigilance over your surroundings as the gaggle of artists had gathered, quite forcefully mind you, to put your shape to various material.

It came as quite the shock when every single one of your advisors informed you of your schedule for today, as such, begrudgingly, you had dedicated time for this once endeavour. They wouldn’t need to see you afterwards, right ?

“How about depicting your majesty crushing the Akeonian fleet ? It would be a strong showing of your might.” The painter humbly suggests.

I hadn’t even seen the isles my soldiers are currently fighting over ! “No, we had taken no part in the war directly, if you are going to paint our figure, paint it as truthfully as possible.”

“As you command, your majesty.” With a deep bow, the man retreats, beginning his sketching once again.

“Your majesty, what words would you like inscribed upon the back of the coin ?” Now the coinsmith comes up.

“We shall decide it upon a later date. It is not necessary for the initial production ?”

“No, your majesty. I can prepare the samples beforehand and inscribe the words later.”

“Then do so.”

Slightly miffed, you wait for the various artists to finish their sketches, for them to get their bearings, for them to “capture” your spirit and then portray it for all to see.

“Your majesty.” A servant, after being checked, approaches you. “Kyvernítis (governor) Bardanes, is requesting a meeting with your majesty.”

An opportunity ! “Is that so. In that case we must carry out our duties. It had been interesting meeting you all, we hope that your works will turn out well.” You say rapidly escaping, your bodyguards quickly following behind.

A quick walk later, the doors leading to the throne room are flung open by your servants, upon noticing you, Bardanes bows deeply. “Rise.” You say sitting upon the throne.

“Your majesty.” He begins, his eyes looking just below your own. “It is currently summer.”

“Indeed, it is.”

He clears his throat. “Now would be the height of the courtly season, your majesty, yet no great balls are held to proclaim the superiority of our venerable empire.”

“Is that so ? As you know, kyvernítis (governor), the empire is at war. Not to mention that its great wealth had been squandered throughout the centuries. It is not a time to hold great balls.”

“But your majesty. The balls are important, it is through these daily summer balls that the young make acquittances, that the merchants converse with great nobles. It is a time of great deals and fostering of friendly relationships amongst all classes.”

“And of the commoners ? The citizens of the empire ?”

>>5402214

“That is why the festival is held alongside it, your majesty. I admit that it is nowhere near as opulence, but they themselves are undeserving of such expenditure to begin with.”

“So you desire for these balls to be reinstated.”

“That would be my humble request, your majesty.”

“We shall take it under consideration.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“If there is nothing else, you are dismissed.”

The man continues to stand in place.

“What is it ?”

“There is another reason that I had come here, your majesty. A far graver matter.”

“Speak.”

“For the last four years, the amount of gathered grain, barley, oats, other foodstuffs had continued to decrease in the lands governed by me in your name. As such, I would like to request additional funding from the treasury.”

”Is it the droughts ?”

“Yes, your majesty. Over the last four years, the production had decreased by one fifth, as such I have already drawn up plans for extensive irrigation works, and now I only require the necessary funding. Naturally, I shall, as a noble of this great empire, descendant of one of its ancient families, cover a third of the total cost.”

“Have your plans presented, we shall consider their value.”

“Once more, thank you for your wisdom, your majesty.” With another deep bow, the man finally begins to retreat.

You sit back deep into your throne. The droughts, huh ? Hopefully God graces us with strong rain soon. You shudder at the thought of further decrease in food production. You remember those days when the harvest had failed, where you went to sleep starving, when your mother had to barter for scraps just to feed you.

“Kanikleiou (keeper of the imperial inkstand).”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Have the documents prepared. I also wish for you to summon the two kyvernítis (governors) whom had been disputing with one another.”

“Right away, your majesty.”

You will have to deal with the two men, you had already previously asked them questions and leaned towards the old-blood, but after so long, perhaps your mind had changed ?

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5279354/

>Side with the new blood.

>Side with the old blood.

>Favour neither, have them both removed.

>Favour neither, have them both executed.

>(Write in ?)

>>5402216

Then, there’s of course the issues brought up.

Perhaps you should restart the summer balls, the large expense could be beneficial, if what Bardanes said is true.

>Return the balls and the festivals in their full glory, let the world know the might of your empire.

>They shall return in a subdued manner, befitting your current war-footing and economic situation.

>You had not restarted them for a good reason. You need money !

>(Write in ?)

Finally, the plea for help to irrigate your most fertile théma (placement, district).

>The plans seem well thought out enough. Sing up for it.

>If he wishes to improve the province, let him do it by himself.

>The situation seems stable enough, it is better for you not to show any favouritism right now.

>(Write in ?)

>>5402208
You are so tiresome to talk with. Nothing you uoted has answered my questions. Luckily there is no reason to argue with you anymore on that point.

>>5402220
Finally! The problem is that you ask a lot of stupid questions, you're so mentally retarded that I need half a book to prove how stupid you are.

>>5402216
>>Favour neither, have them both removed.
The fact that they entered armed conflict wasting the lifes of imperial citizens is a reason enough for this imo. Let them think about their actions and try for a position again next time.
>>They shall return in a subdued manner, befitting your current war-footing and economic situation.
Let's throw the nobles a bone. We want them to be in a good mood to introduce more reforms.
>>(Write in)
Study that plan thorougly both from the administrative and engeneerial perspectives and see if everything is in order. Is the plan going to solve the issue or is it simply a scheme to suck some money out of the imperial treasury?

>>5402216
>Side with the new blood.
We gave the road construction project to an old blood, we have to keep the political balance.

>>5402219
>They shall return in a subdued manner, befitting your current war-footing and economic situation.
It's better than not having, maybe this war will still profit us in the end.

>The plans seem well thought out enough. Sing up for it.
As long as someone guarantees that the money won't be siphoned off into the pocket of a corrupt noble, it's a good project for the nation.

>>5402216
>>Favour neither, have them both removed.
Get someone less bloodthirsty
>>5402219
>>You had not restarted them for a good reason. You need money !
We are hundreds of millions in debt and at war ffs
>Write in
Have someone who knows shit about irrigation take a look at the plan before deciding anything

>>5402216
>Side with the old blood.

>>They shall return in a subdued manner, befitting your current war-footing and economic situation.
A good compromise

>>The plans seem well thought out enough. Sing up for it.

>>5402219
>Side with the old blood.
Let's stick with what we were going with

>They shall return in a subdued manner, befitting your current war-footing and economic situation.
Merchants making deals will stimulate our GDP and you can never say no to improved cashflow. Same with the commoners with their festival, all the buying and selling that will happen there might even stimulate the economy more than the higher classes ever will.

>The plans seem well thought out enough. Sing up for it.
Drought resilience is a must for every 3rd world shithole

>>5402216
>Side with the old blood.
The new blood are only in place because of us, they present no threat. (Though we probably should throw some of them a bone soon)
>They shall return in a subdued manner, befitting your current war-footing and economic situation.
Once this war is over we need to unfuck our economy. Hopefully we can negotiate a good amount of reparations from the Akeonians, plus the temporary income from opening up our silk. There's also the religious conflict brweing, we'll probably have to set up an ecumenical council for that one.

>>5402414
You missed one of the votes anon

>>5402414
>The plans seem well thought out enough. Sing up for it.
Forgot this.

>>5402303
Supporting.

But we need a greater return from an investment in the irrigation works - maybe structure the payment as a 10 year loan instead of a grant. That want he can pay the Crown back when the drought ends…

>>5402645
But we will already get increased tax revenue from the more productive farmland.

>>5402645
There is a "write-in" option for things like this
>>5402738
What makes you think we get a percentage of profit instead of a flat tax? Flat tax was a standart practice in Byzantine empire. We might get more food but that's about it.

>>5402645
>>5402760

The more concerning issue is food production rather than taxes.

>>5402764
I agree. I was just pointing out that the guy is most likely paying us a flat tax like every other land owner and there won't be any "increased tax revenue".
Also I don't trust the guy not to pocket a part of money we give him for this project. Will he even actually do that project at all? Why are we even paying 2/3 of the price out of the imperial tresury? Is the amount of money he requested really necessary or did he just made it up?
We will never know I guess.

>>5402216
>Side with the old blood.

I think grain and cattle is probably more important and based on my reading of their responses to our questions it seems like the new blood actually did attack first, though both escalated to private war rather than going through courts or anything so I suppose you could say they both deserve removal.

>>5402219
>You had not restarted them for a good reason. You need money !

I debated this internally but I feel like we shouldn't be swayed by notions of a perfect middle road or trying to have our cake in eat it too or whatever. The balls will return, just not this year. We are at god damn war and are millions in debt. Be consistent both for the sake of good financial sense and for a consistent reputation. Yes, there may be consequences from the lack of socializing and it may be taken as a sign of weakness, but unless this is the straw that breaks the camels back I think we ought to be frugal.

>The plans seem well thought out enough. Sing up for it.

This, however, seems like something of more tangible and existential importance, we need food, and we don't want to piss off one of our most powerful governors.

I could probably be persuaded for any of these choices when I read through the discussion after I sleep, we'll see.

>>5402216
>Favour neither, have them both removed.
>write in
>Reassign them somewhere else away from each other.
They have both done enough problems to each other, when in a time of crisis they should have worked together.
Politically we should side with the new blood since we have given more bones to nobles, and with this agricultural deal we are supporting another major noble. But for being fair, both have err. They should be able to find other positions in time, if they were capable to pass the exams. So they aren't going to the streets.

>>5402219
>You had not restarted them for a good reason. You need money !
>Write in
But, they might restart when the war ends (the economic ones that is).
If the war ends in a success it would be far better to have them start, when our fleet returns victorious at home. Now that would be the perfect way to restart them, beside giving a victory parade to our military with Mundus and Armamentarius at the front.
Imagine that. That would be very cool, a perfect move.
Instead it would leave quite the poor taste in our emperor mouth (and probably many other people) if he allowed them, but the fleet returned defeated and with an Akeonian general demanding surrender and ending the war with the silk island being given to Akeonia and the De La Mare. So let's wait and hope that victory arrives

>The plans seem well thought out enough. Sing up for it.
>(Write in)
>Study that plan thoroughly both administratively and technically and see if everything is in order. Will the plan solve the problem or is it simply a plan to suck money out of the imperial treasury?
Our young man was a villager so he would have some experience with agriculture, but if needed we could ask someone that knows more than us about irrigation what he thinks of the plans. I like the initiative and i imagine it will be fine, but having a look at a larger project we will spend plenty of money on is probably a good idea.

>>5402287
supporting

>>5402216

QM I would like to change my vote from:
>>5402243

To support this vote:
>>5402835

>>5402835
+1

Remove both 3+(3) (Reassignment)

Old Blood 5

Subdued parties 5

You need cash 6

Study the plan 6

Agree to the plan 5

Total votes 10

Alright, you will remove both governors and instead of just sacking them reassign them somewhere else.

You shall also decline the request to restart the balls, due to the need of cash and the potential fallout of hosting festivities in the middle of a war.

And you shall study the irrigation plan before deciding to sign up to it.

Writing.

With a heavy and loud thud, as you had instructed your men to perform so, the large door leading into the throne room closes. Your men stand on both sides of the long carpet leading up to the throne itself. A total of forty of them, their shields raised and spears gripped tightly in their arms, it is a slightly blinding sight as the pouring sunshine impacts the armour, spreading it all around the chamber.

You had put up this show for a damned good reason, as the men before you are a vital part of your administration, and they themselves hold tremendous influence. Both are kowtowing, their heads just barely hovering over the floor. The girthed soldiery, your silence, and of course the sight of you holding a scroll, no doubt outlining your decision, makes both of them quite nervous.

The gathered observers, senators, courtiers, clerks and other hangers on also stand in absolute silence, awaiting your decision. It had been a long time since your throne room had been filled so much after you had dismissed many of the courtiers, but you need your words to be heard by all. And what better way to spread information than to simply allow gossip to take its natural course.

“Hear our words.” You calmly say as they echo across the still room.

“We hear !” In tandem both of the men respond, quickly followed by the gathered onlookers.

“We had examined your case. We had poured through numerous texts of laws in our libraries.” A bit of a lie there, but your erudite reputation should keep everyone silent, even if you know how to read, write and discuss theology, the intricacies of law are still barely scratched by you. A weakness you will have to address when you find enough free time for it. “And we, have decided.”

Both of the men tense up as you hand over the scroll to Gallienus, whom quickly unfurls it, clears his throat, and begins. “We, Manuel Angelus, first of our name, Imperator, Basileús kai Autokrátōr Thephaiōn (General, Sovereign and Autocrat of Thephians), hereby make this judgement as is our right and duty:

The kyvernítis (governors) are both found guilty of disrespecting imperial authority, wasting resources in times of need, causing unjust suffering and pain upon imperial subjects, ignoring the courts ordained by us to solve disputes such as these, raising armies without any imminent outside threat.

For such violations of the law, we should judge thee as harshly as we should, but alas, we see that the actions carried out were not done so out of malice or ill-intent, they were action carried out for the purposes of safeguarding the interests, safety and well-being of the lands given to govern in our name.

>>5408254

As such, we decree that both the kyvernítis shall forfeit their offices and be reassigned to lesser stations of thémata (placement, district), in recognition that both men are skilled and capable administrators. Their work shall be monitored and if no issues are found, they may once more hold more important thémata once more in the future, should we deem them worthy of doing so in our name.

Our judgement is final and indisputable. Our mercy had been extended through goodwill and belief in the pure intentions of both men. Should our trust be broken, both men shall suffer our wrath so great, that their families shall forever be forgotten in the annals of history.”

“We thank you for your wisdom and mercy, your majesty !” Both men once more call out, whom you order dismissed by the wave of your hand.

Many take pride in the fact that they can trace their lineages for hundreds, if not thousands of years. This should hopefully be a clear warning to the nobles. Whilst everyone else, they should care deeply for their families and friends. Your mood sours slightly, as you recall your own mother. You hadn’t even the time to mourn her passing, with so much happening all around you.

And once more, you cannot rest with your thoughts, as Gallienus finishes rolling up the scroll. Signalling that one issue had been resolved, which instantly leads to the next. You hadn’t expected that the vaunted position of Emperor, a position so many had dreamed of having, to be so exhausting. The largest, most extensive libraries in the world, the greatest of minds in many a scholarly field, all at your fingertips, yet so far away at the same time. It is…tiring.

It had been a couple of hours since you last spoke with Bardanes, (it had taken a while to gather everyone and everything as you had wanted) whilst the irrigation plan still requires you to look through it in detail, you had made up your mind about the summer festivals.

“It had come to our attention, that some are requesting the return of summer balls and festivals. As we had heard, it is the most opportune time for many to entertain themselves through such events.” A small, excited murmuring comes over the crowd. This will be painful. You can already imagine the outraged disappointment of many an excited socialite. “Yet, we had decided not to host them.” It does not take an expert to notice the body language of a few gathered courtiers, incredible dismay clearly visible by the slumped shoulders. “We are in a time of war, to host such excess would be to spit in the faces of those currently fighting to keep our home ours. As such, should a great victory reach our ears, we may reconsider this decision of ours, but until then, the treasure saved shall be diverted to the construction of more ships, recruitment of men to defend what is rightfully ours.”

>>5408256

This, at least, silences the protests before they could even begin. No one wants to be branded selfish to the point of sacrificing one’s own country just for simple satisfaction and relief from boredom. Still, some are clearly petulant, the war is far, upon the seas and away from sight, and you simply lack the tact needed to convince the few malcontents. But as said, they are few and they will hopefully stay that way.

With a signal to your parakoimomenos (one who sleeps nearby), the man once more pipes up.

“The court is dismissed !”

And with those words, you rise from the cushioned throne, the diadem upon your head rattles as the hanging jewels and pearls click against the diadem proper and brush against your head.

Heading straight for your office, as it had become routine to you, you sit down once more upon your chair, just less ostentatious, and put away your diadem as its continuous clicks annoy you.

Taking the plans for irrigation, you start looking them over once again, this time in incredible detail. With at least a dozen books on matters of agriculture besides you, the process itself will take a while, but when it comes to the matters of the budget, it is not something that you can easily pass through without an aching heart. You suppose the life of a peasant had rooted itself deeply in you, not a single coin is to be wasted, not a single drop of drink or a bite of food is to allow to rot.

Overall, the plan calls for construction of new, smaller aqueducts, feeding from the main system. This is perhaps the most expensive part of the project, and Bardanes is willing to cover the costs of the project, as is noble duty, as he keeps saying so. The smaller aqueducts would divert some water into the fields themselves proper, where rivers cannot be diverted or no water can be diverted, the work there will be relatively cheap, you only really have to pay for the workers to undertake the rather massive program. The fields, with the new aqueducts, would then be fed it from reservoirs built at the ends of said aqueducts. Meaning that when there is a lack of rain, the reservoirs can be unleashed, and when there is an excess of rain, not only will it help to fill the reservoirs back up, but it prevents the plants from being flooded by the surging water.

Most of the costs of the project will come from the sheer scale of it, with new infrastructure in place, the entire area should be able to ensure a steady increase in harvested number of foodstuffs. Which means an increase in people, an increase in taxes. That is if your censors and the tax collectors do their job.