Board Thread:Random RP/@comment-25344655-20150908031022/@comment-26863727-20150909023134

The Indomitable wrote: Aramirtheranger wrote: The Indomitable wrote: Auraestus wrote: The diplomat says the same to Berry that he said to spega.

The dwarves agree.

they wonder who this person was.. They hear news that much of the western coast has been assailed, and taken.

(There, to ease myself into the mix.) The Orsimer are unsurprisingly pissed at the conquerors who just took over part of their west coast. Emperor Ulfric orders the marshaling of the Imperial Army.

Quick overview of the Imperial Army's strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths: A noteworthy number of them have steel lamellar armor but the majority wears finely woven(?) steel chainmail, and they use well-made weapons. They are also highly trained. They are all equipped with a compound bow, and carry a weapon of their choice with a shield if it's practical for that weapon. The one-handed scimitar, the one-handed spatha, the  and the polearm military scythe(deadlier than it sounds!), are the most common, but you can also find battle axes, kriegmessers(known to cut through chainmail and put nasty dents in plate armor, there's a reason enemies fear warriors with these things) flails, and even katar punching daggers. They have a decent number of cavalry, but they usually fight on foot where the bulk of their weapons are most effective, but the scythe and bow are the most common for when those who do fight on horseback.

Weaknesses: The training takes longer than most other factions and all that high-quality equipment is expensive. Hence, they are quite smaller than most armies, but they are also far more dangerous than most. My guys number even less, but are even better trained, and more varied. The equipment is made of alloys long lost to other civilizations. Those are alloys of the High Men which should provide a hint.

Anyway, the black armored foes continue their systematic campaign of conquest. Everything of value is taken, and stowed away. (People, livestock, gold, silver, cutlery, plates, scrap metal, weapons, etc.) Pretty much anything that can be recycled, reused, rationed, or distributed as the spoils of war. They then raze the settlements, those unfortunates who resist, even verbally are cut down where they stand. The weak, old, and crippled who are captured are killed almost immediately. It is a swathe of utter devestation the men of the Empire find themselves in. (Orsimer. Orsimer, not humans.)

But, these were mere peasant farmers and village watchmen they had to deal with so far.

Falvik had been sent with an advance group of Orsinian Rangers. They numbered only one hundred, but the Rangers were the best of the best. The elite troops. The apex predators. The macho ones. "Ghosts", enemies who were more on the less skilled side of things sometimes called them.

(The Rangers are differentiated from normal troops by the customized symbols on their armor.)

The group came upon a burned out village. "Not even the younglings were left alive." One of the Rangers said as he bent down over the corpse of a small child. "Look. There are old, but no young women among the dead, except for some who appear to have resisted." Falvik said, in the tone of voice his men had come to know meant "I am going to hunt down and give whoever did this a death a thousand-fold more unpleasant". "Captain, look!" Another Ranger called to Falvik. He went over to the Orsimer, and he found himself next to a woman who looked like she had been struck down trying to defend her father. "She's still holding on, Sir!" The Ranger said. "HEALER!" Falvik bellowed to the main group.