"Sheogorath, help your son guide us to success, Clavicus Vile, give us the power we need for our quest, Boethiah, please help us to overthrow the current Imperium, Mephala, please help us to upset the current rule, Mehrunes Dagon, help us with our ambition to change the Empire, Nocturnal, please do bring your followers to our side so that we may steal the throne, Meridia, help us keep alive, Azura, please watch over us from Dusk to Dawn, so that my men may stay safe when they go to bed, and awake refreshed, Vaermina, grant us pleasant dreams while we sleep and give nightmares to our enemies, Hermaeus Mora, allow us the knowledge needed to shape our future the way it is meant to be and Lorkham, please allow us Nirn.
Auriel, Akatosh, the great dragon of time, help us endure our trials ahead, Stenndar, grant mercy for my men who fall, Jhunal, Julianos, grant us the wisdom and power to help us through the war, Kyne, please hold back the storms and winds for out march and Tsun, test us, show us we are worthy, and proclaim to the world.
Almalexia, please help the weak and sick, not only in my army but in the Empire I am conquering, Sotha Sil, help us reshape this world, Vivec, grant my warriors power.
I bring this prayer to all the et'Ada and Ada who are still with us, that they may allow and assist us in our conquest." He looked up at the altars of Sithis and Anuiel which his army had carried from their last fortress and placed in the temple of the nine for their praying. He stood, straightening his enchanted clothes. A suit made out of the combined silks of shock, fire, and frostbite spiders. It comprised of a black blazer, black slacks, a white buttoned shirt and a red tie. He pulled his gloves out of his pockets and put them on. He walked to the entrance of the church and grabbed his bowler, stepping outside he put on his dragonbone tipped boots, settling the pants legs over the top of them. He placed his bowler on top of his head and looked around to his seven elites.
Yagrum Junior was wearing armor that looked to be a mix between Daedra and dragonbone, large dragonbone spikes came from the shoulder pauldrons, and his helmet nearly covered his face, Uruk wore a matching set of armor, Khaj wore a set of shrouded armor, Heron wore silver and black armor, her entire body covered with the exception of her hands and feet, a sheet of bulletproof glass over her eyeslit, Albert wore his own set of robes, blue and red striped, Meroth wore ragged clothing.
Tiber wrinkled his nose at him.
"He refuses to wear anything else, sire." Albert said quietly.
"Well, time to perform..." Tiber sighed. He walked up the steps to the stage they had built so that Tiber may talk to his people in the main square. His army filled the square, milling around over broken cobblestones in the lopsided city. Tiber raised his right hand and a blast of bright light shot out of it into the air. Everyone froze, looking to the stage, "My people! My loyal subjects, we are to chase out the nearby military outpost, but afterwards, I retain full control, Camoran will not be directing us anymore, he wishes for us to operate independently. We will forge our own empire and tear the old one down, so prepare! For we leave in one hour!" Tiber walked down from his stage, "Come my elites, gather your troops and we shall join the rest of our army." Tiber said softly, walking towards the outer wall of the embassy. He leaped into the air, landing on the wall. This would be a more difficult battle. He watched as his army began to move out. He flexed his magical muscles by flying out over the crowd and landing at the head of his army. He walked with them across the snow covered hills to the military base, which, as Tiber predicted, was fortified and ready for them.
Psij, and the Orc-Breton, James, had already broken through the walls and were standing, waiting for the remainder of the army.
Tiber walked up to James, "Status?"
"Thanks to Psij's abilities being used on the front lines, we were able to enter the city with a single casualty. Phil tripped over a cobblestone and broke a leg." James chuckled, patting a soldier with a cast on the shoulder.
Tiber nodded, "Well then, shall we move to the front." Tiber walked with James and Psij, Albert and Meroth close behind.
"So, after the walls broke, they all retreated within the keep and barricaded the doors, as per your orders, we have sat out here and waited them out." They walked over to the keep.
Tiber looked up at the monolith of black brick and mortar, "Hello in there! I am Tiber Septim, future ruler of Tamriel. You have seen what just a fraction of my army can do. I have five more like the mage on the front lines, a child of a Daedric Prince, and on top of those seven and the army you have seen, I have hundreds of thousands of more soldiers. All of them as good or better than the ones who came into your walls today!" Tiber sniffed, "So tell me, will you surrender and join our army, or do we have to make that keep your tombstone?" Tiber breathed heavily, there would be no one escaping this time, and he would win, but he wanted to avoid fighting enemies in this manner. Their walls were obviously reinforced with enchantments and spells, and while they could tear down the thing brick by brick and kill everyone inside, they would sustain their own losses. Less men for the next march. He wanted a gain.
"What's your offer?" A man shouted back.
"Am I to presume you are the negotiator?" Tiber replied.
"Yes, I am sir Erick."
"Come down here good sir, I guarantee your safety, none of my men will harm you, if you have any ills or wounds we shall heal them and if you are hungry we will feed you. You may take up to 7 other men with you, any more after you plus seven, will be destroyed on sight." Tiber said. He walked away from the keep over to the small fort his people were building out of cobblestones they were pulling from the ground. They had brought their statues of Sithis and Anuiel with them and set them inside the fort. A table was set up in front of the statues and there were eight seats on either side, Tiber sat with his elites around him.
A total of seven men arrived at the small fort an hour later and took their seats.
"Ok, let's get this done quickly, yes we realize you obviously have reinforcements on the way, but surely you realize that they will be destroyed upon showing up and will be able to offer you no assistance. That being said, we don't want them to show up in the middle of negotiations, that would be inconvenient for us. So... My first offer is this, upon initiation into my army you will be treated as a soldier of my army, you will join us in our trainings and such, you will join us in battle, we will make you armor, you will get paid a soldier's wage upon completion of the war, and we will protect your families to the best of our abilities. That last part is something my normal soldiers don't get." Tiber said softly.
"What will our families do in the meantime?" Erick asked.
"What would they do if you were prisoners of war? If we find your families in cities, we will have them enter into our side, they will become part of the nonfighters back in the facility that we came from. There is plenty of room, it is well fortified and well hidden and we send them there by portal." Tiber said, trying to reason with him.
Erick folded his hands together, "My comrades and I will need time to discuss this."
"Obviously. We will leave you alone to make your decision, my elites and I will be right outside the door." Tiber said, standing, his elites following him out. He walked out and stood by the empty door frame, "Hey! Soldiers, we need a door here, someone get us a door, our guests need privacy!" Within moments a door crowdsurfed to them and was stood up in the frame, a mage walked up to the door and melted it so that it fused to the frame, "Thank you." Tiber said softly. This military base would be abandoned soon enough.
There was a knock from the inside of the door a few minutes later, Albert made sure the door could be carefully slid away and Uruk slid the door and the connected cobblestones from the rest of the fort.
"We have come up with a counter offer." They said. Tiber nodded and went in with his elites, Uruk sliding the door shut.
They all sat at the table again and Tiber folded his hands, placing them on the table.
"We are being asked to betray our country, so we want more than a soldier's wage."
"Do you even know what my soldiers will receive?" Tiber asked.
"No, but we should get more." He said huffily.
"Government endorsement for life is not enough?" Tiber asked.
"That is quite generous, but that only works if you win the war." The man countered.
Tiber sighed, he had a point. He smiled, remembering how the empire currently worked, "I have a question for you in turn, as a soldier of the empire, no matter what I offer you, what do you get if we lose?" Tiber laid his hands flat on the table, drumming his fingers.
Erick's eyes widened as he thought about it.
"Correct, your getting payment, doesn't matter if we lose the war. You will be branded a turncloak by the empire, ostracized and possibly killed." Tiber said calmly.
"Then allow us to be prisoners of war!" Erick begged.
"Now you see, that's a drain on my army I can't afford..." Tiber looked at the insignia on Erick's arm, "Sergeant, Sir Erick. It appears as if we have killed all the officers upon breaking in here, or they're all cowards. Sending a private out here." Tiber continued softly, his voice almost a whisper, "I notice Erick, that you are the highest rank sitting at the table. While your officers cower inside the keep, you are out here, bargaining for their lives. If they join us, they will become normal rank and file soldiers, but they don't want that do they, they will do anything for their superiority, won't they, so they forced you out here. And told you to make sure they didn't become soldiers." Tiber said softly, "No, not even that, you're buying time, relying on reinforcements, you think that you can hold out, or even if you didn't, reinforcements would arrive and we would be severely crippled and fail here. But what do you fight for? A country? Your superior officers? Your Emperor? Freedom? Morals?" Tiber chuckled, "I can guarantee you will get them from us. And I can guarantee we will do better than the Emperor has." Tiber stood, "Think about it." He turned to walk away.
"Wait, we'll take your deal... Just please... We need to get to the cities of our families first, we need to secure our families before the Empire marks us as traitors... And we need to do the same for the families of those who died here, they need to be paid like soldiers, but they can't be forced to take part, please." Erick begged.
Tiber smiled, "But of course, you thought we would do any less. I will need a list of families by city." Tiber turned and held out a hand for Erick.
"Deal." Erick shook.
"Block out the sun! Cover us with Earth!" Tiber shouted. Psij and Albert raised their hands and a large spiked Earth dome grew over the top of the military outpost. A few minutes later a sonic boom could be heard outside the dome. Tiber chuckled as they walked back to the keep, "Great timing."
Erick walked back and into the keep, talking to the soldiers within.
"We have an hour until someone figures out a way to get in, we will not be spending undue power and time trying to extend that time limit." Tiber shouted after him.
Erick nodded and closed the door to the keep behind him.
Tiber leaned in close to Psij and Albert, "Albert, let Psij outside, Psij, go outside and run interference, kill everything outside the dome that's within your range. I lied to these people, but I want to have plenty of time." Tiber said quietly.
The two nodded and Psij disappeared.
The light was dim, so no one had noticed the missing elite other than the other elites.
Explosions went on outside for nearly two hours and everyone had gotten ready to leave. Tiber had been handed the list of families by location.
"Albert, get Psij and then take everything inside the dome to..." Tiber pondered for a moment, then looked at the list with a bit of a light, "Lake Honrich, the dome will be able to touch bottom there and we can get a number of families from there."
Albert nodded, Psij joined them.
"Party's over?" Psij asked.
They were in the middle of lake Honrich, "Why, yes, yes it is." Tiber said with a smile, he looked over to the city and looked over the paper, we have a lot of work to do, 436 families to gather." Tiber sighed, they would have their hands full after the war, if it wasn't for the magic farms in the fortress, there would be a large strain on taxes.
Tiber stretched, the most difficult times would be after the war.