[M] Southern Kingdoms' Moot of August: The Eastern Front

[Tolvo]

1 AD, August 5th

All of the relevant leaders of the Southern Kingdoms had gathered for a moot in the city of Schwarzmarsh. High King Richgarde, Queen Isilde, Monarch Narcisse, King Joeseph, Prince Gianluigi, Jogarl, Marquis Anais Philandouil, Spymaster Grecious, Lowlands Captain Ferdinanda, Knight Captain Desiderio, Kenna, Destrin and Cassandra, had all gathered in an outside garden of the castle. Guards stood at every entrance and patrolled the walls along with knights. This meeting was to go without disturbance. Lords, ladies, marquis, dukes, barons, they sat in an outer ring further from the circular table the leaders sat at.

Everyone looked to Destrin to start the moot. They had gathered as he had asked and were both given food and drink already. Now was the time to talk.

[Eddren]

Destrin sat at the table, hands folded on a massive map of the Southern Kingdoms and the surrounding provinces. He looked around toward the various leaders, before nodding to one of the assistants he'd brought with him, who began by handing a case to each of those sat at the table. They were sealed and adorned with the names of those to whom they were delivered. Obviously, a lot of care was put into the packaging. The Strategist cleared his throat. "Wit' this most recent battle, an' wit' tha march of tha Destruin forces through a large swath o' Southern Kingdoms territory, it's come to my attention that we're sufferin' from an overwhelmin' lack in unit cohesion. This meeting is ta address this problem."

He pointed down toward the map. "Tha first step ta addressin' this problem is identifyin' what we 'ave that we need. In short, it comes down ta three things. Manpower, manufacturing, an' prioritization. We need men, an' they need weapons. Those're two things that our nations're great at. Especially manufacturing. We've got some o' tha best weapons in tha world." He paused, "What we don't 'ave is good priorities. We 'ave probably some o' tha worst priorities in tha world. An' fer good reason. What King here would like ta leave his city undefended?" He looked around, "Bloody none of 'em, ah'd guess. An' we're surrounded by enemies. That means we need ta keep our borders defended."

Destrin drew a line from the Imperial borders , drawing all the way around until he reached the Southern Dominion. "All o' this right now needs ta be defended, an' well enough that we can still respond if tha enemy launches a surprise attack, like tha Deathborne an' tha Southern Dominion tried. Ta this, ah 'ave a three-fold plan. Tha first step is ta centralize our forces--We'll 'ave tha bulk o' our siege weapons, archers, arquebussiers, an' Musketmen located in tha Kingdoms. Tha same'll go fer Mercenaries, who'll remain local as much as possible. If a Mercenary Band is attached with an Army fer a Campaign, the only Mercenaries they use are ones from their area. Every other active soldier we have, though, will be located in a new base." He pointed more or less to a plains rather centrally located on the map, with a river feeding into a lake not far from the coast. "We'll place it right there. We'll begin work on roads, tha best we can afford, goin' straight ta' each border, wit' roads branching ta each Kingdom Capital. This ensures that tha furthest Kingdoms can expect a quick response from our military force, even if they 'aven't been tha site o' a recent battle. What this will allow us ta do is bring more men fer campaigns, because we won't need ta always worry about leavin' 'em behind fer defense--If someone tries a surprise attack, there's a force ta defend tha country while tha Central Force arrives ta reinforce. If we get reports o' movements, tha Central Force can be there."

"Tha second part o' tha plan is prevention. We're gunna use a bunch o' cheap tricks ta keep our neighbors occupied. Tha Western Empire likes ta do lil' forays inta our territory. An' that's fine. In that case, we'll keep their forces dispersed. Ah propose releasin' our bandits from our prisons--All of 'em. Take 'em from tha mines, too. Don't give 'em anything, we want 'em hungry. Because we're gunna abandon 'em hundreds o' miles inta the Imperial Border. We keep cavalry patrol ta catch any that make their way back, an' turn 'em back toward tha Imperials. We put spies in charge o' tha Bandits, keep 'em on point. We keep this up, an' make sure that their borders stay a crime-infested hell-hole, so that their resources are spent tryin' ta deal with tha Barbarians an' tha lowlife scum." He turned toward the Lizardman border. "Now, tha elves 'ave never marched on us, an' ah dunno if they ever will. Ah'm sure they're pretty happy ta stay neutral. But tha Lizardmen, they've always been a problem. The trolls, ah'm bettin', are more o' tha kind to Ally with anyone nearby so that they don't 'ave ta worry about bein' conquered." He looked up to Kenna, "Ah'd suggest creating a roving unit in that area. Kenna seems ta do good work in personal combat, an' so ah think she'd do well addressin' both o' these concerns, an' keepin' tha Lizardmen pacified."

"Finally, we 'ave tha last step. Single-theatre, multi-prong attacks. When we suppress a nation, we don't do it one city after another, like we used ta. We do it by storm. Multiple Kings, multiple armies. We hit several targets at once an' suppress them. This is tha real game-changer, an' tha reason we're minimizing our presence so much. If tha enemy goes down faster, then we can refocus faster." He looked around, "An' we need ta be able ta refocus faster. If the Southern Dominions have taught us anythin', it's that these alliances are temporary at best. We can only rely on 'em for long enough ta get a military edge elsewhere. Once our allies 'ave what they want, they'll turn right back on us. So we need ta be able ta take advantage o' short-term alliances. An' we need ta make them, regularly. Never break 'em, but be ready ta respond when our former friends do."

[Derpnaster]

Kenna shifted in her seat, which had to have multiple cushions just to get her head above the table, when the Trolls were mentioned. After her previous encounter with them she had been meaning to bring up the alliance the Troll King had agreed to upon. Beneath her feet her newly adopted Warg lay it's tail slapping against the cool stone floor, Kenna had gotten many strange looks in camp when she first brought the little guy back, but he followed her home so now she took care of him and sometimes rode him as the Warg even as a pup was quite large. But what caught her attention was the idea of Trolls being willing to ally.

"If I may, I have met with the Troll King, I have seen their way of life and their respect for the spirits, the Trolls and myself have a lot in common, and after a trial of strength. The Troll King has agreed to aid us against our foes, so long as we in turn aid them and do not hinder them as they expand, they need war and conquest to ensure they have the resources to sustain themselves, their farms are few and grow poor crops and they as a culture respect two things above all else, the spirits, and strength. By both of these have I managed to broker peace for a time."
Kenna rubbed her foot against the soft fur of her Warg, still trying to determine what she would call him.

[Tolvo]

Jogarl opened his mouth for a moment but then closed it. King Richgarde slammed a fist on the table. "Centralizing the army might not work as you hope. Setting up a single base seems foolhardy. But, I can see a way it can work. Instead of one base multiple ones. We set one up in between each kingdom. We still need swift replies and this would allow that." Narcisse swirled their whine in a goblet. "Putting everything in one place would jeopardize our infrastructure and we would lack the means to transport enough food and water to feed that large of an army in one location. I do agree with the theory though of establishing multiple bases. They could more easily reinforce one another then." Queen Isilde placed her elbows on the table. "The spy network should be extended as well, we plan to spy on our enemies but we need to also know what is going on in our own borders."

Joeseph shook his head. "I feel uneasy about the bases, it's better for certain lands but worse for others. Joetel for instance could not survive another surprise attack like the last. The walls still aren't fully repaired." Gianluigi tugged on his mustache. "We could send a representative to the Elves to the Northwest to make some sort of accord with them. And the Trolls are good news, hopefully if they can be trusted, we could use them as a roving horde and unleash them to the East on the Dominion." King Richgarde nodded. He pointed at Destrin then looked to the others. "We could also send the Trolls after the lizard people. One band of monsters to defeat another."

[Derpnaster]

"The Trolls will in all likelihood, not listen to any human here. They respect strength, and to them, humans are weaker than they are, I can say with surety. You are, the spirits are with them, and their strength is with the earth itself, I've never seen anything like that outside of creatures like myself."

Kenna closed her eyes and breathed in deep, straining her ears for anything the spirits would have to say on this. Kenna could guess that human ignorance here would be the downfall of the small peace she had won, even if the Trolls would likely leave her alone(which she doubted) their wrath would be a sore blow to an already weakened kingdom. Though Kenna was never sure just how weakened, each city was itself fiercely independent, only banding together out of need rather than any true unity. And while the Humans Kenna grew up with knew and respected the world around them and held a strong bond to one another, Kenna felt she was the only one among these people who really understood just how desperate this war was becoming, and how wasteful they had all been. So much had been lost already , lives, time, resources. Things humans held dear in peace, but in war they would casually throw away on a coin flip.

Kenna would need a lot of help today.

[Eddren]

Destrin steepled his fingers. For a variety of reasons, the deal with sending the Trolls to fight the Lizardmen actually worked out well for them. And they were right...The ability to supply a single, central base would be too great. The response time still too slow. It'd be somewhat dangerous. "Kenna, ah'd like ta task you wit' bein' tha emissary ta tha Troll Kingdom. Tell 'em that we'll be busy fightin' tha Dominion, but if they're lookin' ta expand, that you've been tasked wit' keeping the Lizardman threat ta a minimum, an' we're willin' ta lend men ta their expansion efforts if they choose that path. Otherwise, we're willin' ta supply them with arms. Ah do agree wit' tha spy network, Queen Isilde, ah believe yer tha most skilled 'ere at that, although Grecious there would more'n like be o' great assistance fer that."

He nodded to the others, "An' an emissary ta tha Elves'd be a boon, too. Ah'd like ta write 'em a letter ta go wit' that, if ya don't mind. It's some information that might buy us a longer truce. As fer tha proposal ta use military bases dispersed among tha Kingdoms, ah'm fine wit' that, but tha important thing ta remember is that tha bases 'ave ta be a balance between proximity an' 'ow many o' our cities they can reach. Too many, an' there's no point in buildin' 'em."

Finally, Destrin acknowledged Joseph's own predicament. "If yer worried about tha Kingdoms ta tha East, then ah'd turn yer eyes North, an' ta yer Navy. Because we're gunna wipe out the Southern Dominion. Completely." He placed three tokens along the border. "We'll split our armies inta three--Ah'll head one o' tha armies. The three'll push, taking cities an' objectives as needed. Tha primary discussion on this point'll be tha composition o' our armies."

[Tolvo]

The High King scoffed at Kenna's remarks. "They're like beasts aren't they? But enemy of our enemy is our friend as they say. And who knows, maybe the Trolls will end up civilized by us." He rested his chin on his hand as he leaned forwards. "I do agree though if Kenna already has a rapport with them she makes sense as the liaison." Queen Isilde merely nodded and began to look over the maps of each kingdom. With her finger she kept checking areas between cities, likely she was mentally plotting fortress locations. Again the High King spoke up. "Yes on the navies. The Dominion has the best one in the world, there's no denying that. And we've seen the undead have a naval presence as well. We'll need a unified armada working together to keep them from landing while to the East we push and conquer the entirety of the Dominion."

Narcisse tilted their head back. They had on dark make up that highlighted their eyes and eyelashes which were quite long. "As for army compositions, we lack the cannons of the Dominion in field battles but cavalry could make up for that. A problem is sieging their cities. We'll need to go for a war of attrition instead of attacking their walls. Force field battles where their firepower can more easily be hit." Gianluigi chugged an ale then loudly set it down. "Narcisse I know you have the best cavalry, no doubting that. But we need more infantry. We can't be sure that we can outlast their supplies with our own in deserts. We need a few cavalry and more infantry, more cannons, more ladders, and siege towers to get everyone on the walls. In melee we'll slaughter them with all of our armor."

Isilde continued to check spots on the maps before tapping a finger on the mountains between the Kingdoms and the Dominion. "We should send the Trolls here. They thrive in mountains. We can promise them the mountains, land we don't want anyway, in exchange for their protection of our borders." Cassandra spoke up. "We should send all our mages to the Eastern front. It leaves us magically weaker in other positions but during the siege of Joetel I noticed many of the undead were harmed more by magic. It seems they have a weakness to it. Which makes sense if they are so magical themselves. We'll also need more demons. We should try to make deals with any remaining demon lords to swear allegiance to us to join in our fights. They still have lands in Destruin they could use against the lizards."

[Eddren]

Destrin rose an eyebrow, but smiled. "Ah might have worked a solution ta our supply issue by tha time we reach any deserts. Tha Deathborne were using flying magical ships. They used a lot o' magic ah can't reproduce, but...Ah'm lookin' inta alternate ways ta make our ships lighter, an' ah 'ave secured a method o' getting them inta tha air. We can ferry large amounts o' supplies with 'em when not in battle." He paused, "Ah agree wit' infantry an' cannons. Ah also agree wit' tha Cavalry. A solution fer tha problem o' deserts, then." He took a careful look at the map, then moved the pieces, marking their locations. One piece, in particular, kept taking a path of taking cities that avoided deserts. Whenever it would cross over to another prong in order to do so, the other army would switch places, hitting the cities it was aiming for instead. "In case we don't 'ave enough ships fer supplies, why don't we 'ave Queen Isilde focus cavalry inta one army in particular? Then, any time she runs tha risk o' runnin' out o' supplies by traversing a certain area, she can hit another city, an' another army can step in ta deal wit' that one."

He paused, "Tha Trolls should be free ta' all our mountains. We're better fer them 'aving 'em. Hell, tell 'em if any o' 'em want ta' live in a Barony, ah'd welcome 'em, as well. But their big problem right now is food. We need ta provide 'em with a breadbasket region, too, else they might start gettin' feisty. Hunger starts most rebellions, as we all know. Ah'll work on gettin' 'em ta swear allegiance, if yer all fine wit' that. Bein' as ah 'ave tha largest demon composition, an' ah've spent most o' my time infiltratin' their ranks, ah should be tha most experienced wit' dealin' with 'em."

Finally, he paused at the mention of the Deathborne. Well, it was time to bring up the big one. He hadn't really planned on making this any sort of secret. The Deathborne thrived on such secrecy, and the Southern Kingdoms would be worse for it. "As fer tha Deathborne, we need ta talk about 'em. They're willing ta sign a non-aggression treaty. O' course they are, right, we won tha last battle an' now ah know how ta win tha next one, too. But it'll give us tha time we need ta take down tha Dominion." He looked around for reactions, "If we want ta win it all, ah think we need ta accept. Ah'm not sure we need ta honor it for tha whole war, though. Ah think they're tryin' ta use tha opportunity ta take us over without armies. Anyway, in return fer tha non-aggression treaty, though, they'd want tha ability ta be allowed ta bring in churches an' missionaries. They want tha ability ta raise their followers from the dead." He looked toward the other Kings and Queens, "Ah told 'em ya might be willin' ta accept, given tha undead didn't stay on our soil. There's opportunity here. Their bringin' necromancers ta their church means we can infiltrate their churches. We can learn how their magic works. We can learn ta counter it, an' we can learn ta use it."

[Tolvo]

Queen isilde laughed at Destrin. It was sharp, short, and to the point. She had an icy cold glare. "Yes a treaty with the Deathborne. I should mention I was contacted by a member of them. Whatever it was it was intent on getting me to betray you all for greater power. The pitch wasn't all too convincing but I accepted. I was to allow their troops to replace mine for some sort of sneak attack." Richgarde blew on hs beard and shook his head. "Never trust a fucking corpse I say. We can't allow them anywhere into our lands. We'll have to destroy them all. Only good dead are fucking staying dead." Everyone nodded in agreement to this. King Joeseph dragged a finger across the coasts. "We'll need advanced patrols of our waters. They're the places I suspect they'll be attacking from. With a united navy as suggested we could perhaps fight, but we'll get crushed. Dominion has the best navy as we discussed, and we don't really got any other than our own while the dead back them up." Anais joined in. "I suggest we defend Tidren as our seat of power it is most vulnerable from the sea." Richgarde nodded in agreement while Joeseph felt this was a problem. "But that leaves the East and Western parts of the North coast open. We should set up somewhere in the waters between us and the Dominion. So we can react and not get our whole navy cornered at Tidren and destroyed."

[Derpnaster]

Having said her piece Kenna finally opened her sealed package and rummaged through it, whilst pretending she could read the large map and tiny markings that seemed to spell something out. Though she never could be sure with Human writing. Beneath her the Warg pup yawned and shook itself as it stood up, brushing against Kenna's feet as it did so. Kenna gave it a nice rub in return, then shifted her attention back to the matter at hand.

Thankfully it seemed that at least Destrin understood what she was getting at with the Trolls, and made the decision to keep her as the point of contact between them, Kenna figured he didn't have much of a choice anyway, the Trolls would probably skin anyone else now that she thought about it. Kenna was surprisngly OK with that.

Then it seemed things turned toward matters out of Kenna's realm, war with the Southern Dominion, which she had no interest in. Something about how they would manage their armies, which Kenna didn't really care about as all the same she would end up somewhere having to fight anyway. And then to the threat of the undead. This did interest Kenna a little, as far as she knew they were spirits forced to linger, and that was beyond the order of things, more ambition of mankind in his quest for power, only this time taken to an extreme.

Kenna however had no words on it, after all, no one really seemed to pay any heed to what she had to say, well except for Destrin.