March on Germania
Each synchronized hammerstrike reverberated in the chest of every Charr as the building of their warmachines synchronized with the building of their spirit. Like rolling thunder, the sound of hammer-on-steel shook the very air. The power behind each resonating blow caused chest and ground alike to shake and rumble. No enemy could hold out for long, not against the tempered souls of the united legions.
The Spies and Soldiers of Germania could feel the hope drain away. Each stroke carried across the land between the lines and what ever progress they made, no matter on what front, could not match the rate the Charr improved themselves and their warmachines.
Even after making Guns widespread, arming as many commoners as they could, and having all available mages aid in the production of the firearms, the armies of the Empire of Germania, the greatest human military power, were no match for Charr brutality and steel. Forays into forbidden magic failed to make a mark... Chimeric abominations were hunted and killed for sport. Even an army of undead, created by an unholy alliance of heretical priests sentenced to death could barely slow, let alone stop. the Charr advance.
The empire crumbled, nobles taking their own armies back to there lands or even just fleeing. The remnants of the proud Germanians struggled against each other and devolved into competing factions, all vying for the resources untouched by the Charr, becoming an even softer target for the ravenous beasts.
Here, one faction was led by a proud military family that understood this, and their allies who decided to do the nigh unthinkable...
Ask for help.
They went to their mortal enemy, their Tristanian counterparts the Valliere to seek aid and alliance with the assault. After all, once they fell, Tristania would be next.
It was the first time in history did the Zerbst kneel before their archenemies. They always stood defiant, even in death, but here they knelt before the duke and his wife...
And the deal was struck.
The Zerbst Alliance would act like Tristania's shield, allowing to draw from the resources of the Nation of Magic, while those that could not fight found asylum in Tristanian homes. The only ones left in Germania were those that would fight the Charr or die defiantly trying.
To his rivals the Valliere did Lord Zerbst entrust the most precious thing he had at all, his only surviving daughter, Kirche.
Charr spies, eager to take out one of the heads of the Germanian Resistance launched an attack on the Zerbst estate.
The armies were on the battlefield, leaving only civilians, family and a handful of guards to protect the manor.
The servants fought valiantly, all the respect and love of their masters tempered with the drive to live surprised the Charr... but in the end the squads still broke through and into the Master's Chambers, where the children were hidden. Though they fought valiantly, the gaurds fell to Charr Magic and Steel and soon they turned to the children.
The elder ones held the charr off with their lives managing to kill all but a few before they fell. But fall they did, and the remaining beasts turned to the cowering five year old girl.
It is said that in times of duress a mage is able to awaken their inner power and increase their ranking. Kirche at that time knew she was about to die, and her fear, anger, and panic reached its boiling point...
Like the fires of her family, Kirche's magic erupted.
Unprepared for the human "cub" to be such a powerful mageling, the Charr were caught unawares as the flames and superheated air blinded them, burned their flesh, and eventually immolated their lungs.
It was over.
All that was left were the Charred corpses of those that fell.
And a traumatized young fire mage that soon would find solace away from her home, in the embrace of gentle "sisters".