The Germanni, the Goths

Alicia Arcturus looked on the map of Eostia, west of Feoh was a collection of cities that is called the Gothic coasts. It has been a century and a half since the arrival of this pelt-wearing savages from the north of Eostia, they have defeated Feoh in several battles forcing them to capitulate following them were the Getheod tribes who they called the Hrussa Scielding, Horse Kings, the Getheod joined up with the Goths to which they formed up their kingdom ruled by their Reiks, Roderic which was then passed to his brother Wulfilas then to his nephew the current Reiks of the Goths, Theodoric who had two sons Roderic and Macrian.

No one knows where these people originated, only that they called themselves a collection of people from Germania they brought with them strange religions and stranger gods, they said that they were fleeing from a fearsome hordes of horse devils, a people with nowhere to go, and yet these people defeated my grandfather and held him captive, Alicia Arcturus thought as she remembered her teachers telling her of the defeat that Feoh had experienced against these barbarians. The Battle of Ashpodel was a decisive victory to the Goths when their shield wall held against Feoh knights while their infantry was lured by their horse archers and were picked off by their falxes, those scythes that could penetrate mail like a hot knife through butter.

"My lady" a knock came to her door as Alicia looks up then found one of her retainers, Krista of Friule, approaching her with a letter with a symbol stamped on it, the coat of arms of Ken, from Celestine Lucullus.

Reiks Theodoric had died in battle against the forces of the Dark Elf Queen Olga along with his son Roderic, there is a succession crisis already brewing within the Goths as the Gerichtslinde tries to recall Macrian, but the young man was a member of the Black Dog mercenary company and would surely not be interested in ruling the kingdom and so the Gerichtslinde would call on a folkamoot to elect their new Reiks, the close candidates where the relatives of the Reiks from other clans, the Wendii and the Marcii. The problem is that the Wendii hated the fact that the other kingdoms used them as a buffer against the Dark Queen's forces and so held a grudge against them, whereas the Marcii is more concern on domestic affairs rather than the affairs of others and would prefer for the Gothic Kingdom to be isolated.

Whoever wins the crown of the Goths would be a problem either way for us, Alicia thought as she re-read the letter that Celestine gave to her, after all she was the one who mediated between Feoh and the Goths to stop hostilities, she was also a friend of Wulfilas who seem to trust her counsel before he died in battle like his son Theodoric, the other Gothic clans hated Wulfilas for that and so the problem was passed to his son and grandsons.

"My lady, the Goths have decided to stop their campaign against the Dark Elves, they said that without their Reiks they cannot make a military offensive" Krista said as she handed a letter that announced the withdrawal of the Gothic forces, biting her lip she then went towards the courtroom, she is going to announce the current predicament of their kingdom.

Macrian looks at his son, Theodoric who was playing with other children of their camp, the Black Dogs company separated the Gothic soldiers to their own members, allowing them some independence other than the regular mercenary, they were also considered the elite of the elite by their leader Vault thus during a battle they were stationed at the center where they would hold the charge of monsters while Vault and his men would spring up and charge them on their flanks.

"Husband..." Lodelinde, his wife, called him out, as she set their simple table at their camp "meal is ready, my love, call Theodoric" she said as she swayed her hips a bit making Macrian turn to her, he never believed that he was able to find a wife like her, at first her father disapproved of the marriage, Esla thought of him as a common soldier until he invited the man to a feast from their hall which almost gave the man a heart attack and then went home to tell Lodelinde that Macrian was an Aetheling, a noble born.

Their marriage was also unwelcome by other Gothic clans because Lodelinde was a Hrussa Scielding, a Getheod who just followed them when they migrated south to Eostia, whereas his family accepted it and welcomed the woman to their fold much to the disappointment of the other clans, he loved this woman, she followed him when he became a mercenary and had shared hardships with him and even bore him his son, and by Tengri no one can say otherwise that he chose a wrong person to spend the rest of his life with.

Standing up from his seat he approached his son then caught his stick "come Theodoric, your mother had prepared a feast" he said as he scoop him to his arms despite the complaints while his playmates cheered the elder on, seeing that the pup was being brought to a heel.

"You don't have to do that father!" Theodoric pouted as he was set down by Macrian who just beamed at him with a big smile while Lodelinde prepared their meal, shepherd's pie with some sausages.

"You've got to give your father some patience Theodoric" Lodelinde said as she sat down next to Macrian, "he's never been a child all his life" there was a chuckle in the whole family as they did so, they feast accordingly and by the end of it they were satisfied and Macrian left their humble tent while Theodoric and his wife clean it up.

"Herr Macrian, Vault has requested your presence to the command tent" Macrian nodded to the man who had just approached him as he walked towards the direction of the command tent, Vault was a great commander, having welcomed him and his rag-tag band of second-born nobles who were out seeking glory, they had fought and bled with the man and he seem to share their sentiments about the fact that majority of the other kingdoms seem to rely more on mercenaries rather than their own army. Macrian arrived at the command tent and upon opening the flaps he seem to have stopped a conversation between Vault and Hicks.

"Macrian! My friend!" Vault called out as he fully smiled on him, the man was big, almost the size of a bear and his sword which he wield with only one hand seem to be the size of two fully-grown men, despite the man's prodigious strength he is also shrewd commander, he remembered when they lured a war party of Greenskins to a narrow cliff and then without even any warning they let loose huge boulders crushing the Greenskins before finishing off the few stragglers.

"The goddess, High Queen Celestine has called for our presence" he said as Macrian looked at the missive on the scroll, "it seems that your people at the coasts wouldn't be able to uphold the end of their bargain because their king is dead, killed in battle along with his son" it was a shock to Macrian who can't hold himself shaking.

Father and Brother why? Macrian thought as Vault approached him and gave him a pat on his shoulder, Macrian excused himself out of the command tent, outside he punched a post cursing and yelling at the heavens as he returned back to his tent where he was met by his wife who saw his face red with and his eyes sore from tears, "oh Macrian" she said as she went beside him as he cried on her arms.

Hicks looked at Vault as they watched the Goth go back to his tent, "Boss you think they will join us?" he asked worriedly as Vault looks at him then at the map of Eostia, focusing on the Dark Queen's capital of Garan, "because if we are going to do this we have to have the support of everyone in our detail" Hicks continued as Vault then turned towards the mercenary veteran.

"He would have to fall in line like the rest or else we would have to kill them" he said as he remembered that Macrian was the only heir of the Goths after both his father and brother died, and his sister and her son was declared unfit by reason that the boy was not of age and so they held a Gerichtslinde to decide who will seat the throne and wear the Gothic crown.

Vault then left Hicks to prepare the men of their plan, it is imperative that everyone should be in it and any division on their ranks would have to be dealt with quickly or this gambit of theirs would be thrown out of the window, it is time for all the pieces to fall, Vault thought as he decided to meet with the High Queen.

"Not much longer" he thought out loud as vicious smile went to his face as he went out of their camp waiting for Macrian and his followers, the man was shocked because his family had died and Vault didn't doubt that he would announce this with his fellows and let them decide whether some of them would want to go back home or continue on serving as mercenaries, Goths what a weird bunch they are, Vault sighed as he remembers his predecessor who was hired by the king of Feoh to fight them a decade ago.

They were a strong people able to withstand a charge whether it be from horse or foot, the mercenary leader still remembers when they were trapped between two Gothic shield wall closing in on them like a meat grinder killing them all one by one while their horse archers lured the Feoh knights away to support them by outflanking their shield walls, the thought of being trapped in between still sent nightmares to Vault as his predecessor was struck down by their infamous falxes he had to rally his men and break through the shield wall retreating to safety only to have heard that the king of Feoh was captured by the Goths and the nobles were forced to capitulate.

Should we have the side of the Goths then we might be able to win this, Vault thought as Macrian had arrived along with some of his escorts, "lets not keep the High Queen waiting" he said as Macrian nodded and they went to the capital of Ken, the center of all civilizations in Eostia.

Author's note: hey guys sorry if you see that the Norman Conquest of Eostia was deleted, truth is my account was hacked and the whole story was deleted while I don't have any back-up files for the story since, I only write for a hobby and not too serious so yeah, here it is a new story that follows the East Germanic tribes called the Goths migrating instead to Rome they got ISOTed to Eostia. I'm truly sorry for the fans of Deus Vult: Norman Conquest of Eostia, please forgive me!

Criticisms and praises are appreciated!

Miko 56