Hello everyone! Sorry for the small delay, I don't usually write during the weekends, love ya'll for being here!
Uldeer, Senate square
2 days after the Cataclysm
(13:02 / 01:02 PM)
Roman, Chief of Artillery of the 1st Provisional Regiment
Another day, new shit
Yesterday apparently the higher-ups merged all the groups of soldiers and units that were running like headless chickens lost in the imperial fortress and Uldeer. They have also given us new uniforms and new names
I would have denied the request to merge my guild with others, but so far I had 7 cannons, and enough people to operate 2 of them, and now I have enough people for all of them and 2 new heavy cannons with people who fortunately already knew how to operate their cannons. Because I was the highest rank apparently, and most of the cannons were from my guild, that caused me to be promoted from lieutenant to Battery Chief.
The new uniforms of most of the regiment were dark blue, like many units of the Imperial Army due to how cheap navy blue was and how well it hid stains from black powder, from head to toe with details such as the rank and part of the regiment to which they belonged embroidered in golden threads, they also had red sleeves, collars, and shoulder pads, as well as black boots, belts with a red ribbon around the hip under the belt. Finally the new helmets were really similar to that of the cavalry, although these were much simpler, with black plumes shorter and simpler than that of the cavalry, finally the officers were given metal collars that hung over their chests with the rank they occupied, in addition to that instead of red shoulder pads, these had silver or gold shoulder pads depending on their ranks.
We, as artillerymen, were given different uniforms to be easily distinguished in the thick smoke caused by the black powder. Eye-catching berets rested on the heads of my troop and we did not wear the same navy blue uniform, but complete black uniforms with red trim in certain parts and gold embroidery detailing the rank of each person on the sleeves. Since I was the highest-ranking officer of the entire battery, I wore a large bicorn hat dressed horizontally with a red ribbon running from my shoulder pads to my opposite hip.
Finding my new banner was not difficult despite the sea of flags that occupied the flat senate plaza. Blue flags with makeshift white stars fluttered from the top of the banners. That was the banner of the 1st regiment, a banner that had clearly been sewn with haste, but that would fulfill its protective function. Under the regimental flag, each unit had to find its own flag, some were more complex, clearly used from before, others had been crudely made and it was clear that it was because the soldiers of that unit were a mixture of units.
For my part, I had to find the black flag. My artillery unit, and many artillery units used black or dark navy blue to hide the dirt caused by the cannons, the flags and banners were high enough to avoid being dirty, something done on purpose since a dirty banner does not have as much effect as a clean one, but since we used to wear black, most people thought "why not use black on our banners too?"
Eventually I found the striking flag among the sea of flags, getting closer I saw the new troop interacting with the old one, I'm surprised that none of those who left AWOL have returned, honestly...
- Senior officer - Someone called and the entire troop stood at attention in front of me
- Rest - I greeted as I began to inspect my unit.
As expected, they were all human, the only exception was the Amazon who was in front of me dressed the same as the rest of the men and women of the troop.
The Amazons were simply a taller than normal human subrace. While a common human male is around 1.75 meters (5.7 feet) and a woman is 1.6 meters (5.2 feet), an Amazon can measure on average 1.85 meters (6 feet) with muscles upon muscles, making them more effective as grenadiers than anything else. But seeing as she was dressed in black, I knew she was one of my troops.
That subrace was more common in the western islands where the rain never ended. The rains caused our gunpowder weapons to become glorified battering rams or clubs, so in the western islands the melee was much more used, especially to control the natural resources of those islands such as fresh water.
Checking the tanks, I verified that the cannons were properly stored, that the ammunition was stored in special barrels, and that the wheels were covered in leather correctly. The last thing you want while in the artillery is for gunpowder to explode when you don't want it to.
I need to learn the names of the new troop
- FIRST REGIMENT! - A voice rose above the others, directing my attention to this one I could see a large wendigo appearing from an equally giant balcony. Next to him I could see a small group of people, looking closer I could recognize a small number of these, most notably Sir Wellington who was on the left with a small number of senators, and Sir Nami who was on the right with some warlords, his small figure almost hid him, but his golden elven hair gave him away from a mile away.
- MATTA EMPEROR - A cavalry unit that seemed to be hussars because of their designer jacket with "many strings or braids in it", shouted when they saw Nami who waved at them
- First regiment! - War senator Glarem called again - We find ourselves in difficult times, today you have been called to arms to establish peace. After the "cataclysm" many cities and towns have been plunged into total anarchy with brothers in arms drowned by the sudden increase in hostilities. turn off the fires of fear, otherwise we will all burn - When his words finished, some officers shouted, and the majority of the 1st regiment roared with them
Officers began to move their men, and I was not left behind, so I began to move my unit, musicians dressed in yellow uniforms began to play their drums with marching music, this was so simple that even someone who did not know how to play music could learn it in a day or two, since it was simply a rhythm that indicated the pace that people had to follow and also slightly enhanced our speed and resistance if we kept the pace.
Looking towards the balcony again, I waved to Sir Nami, and he waved to me as we left the square towards our objective.
Uldeer, Senate Palace
2 days after the Cataclysm
(13:46 / 01:46 PM)
Sir Nami, Emperor and warlord
Deep dark circles infested the faces of those present as if it were an inevitable plague, my face included.
I've did it, I've taken taken a handful of soldiers who were leaderless or low in numbers and had formed a regiment of 1,492 people. As commander of that regiment, I placed Rogier as their leader, former colonel of the 34th Cuirassier Cavalry Regiment and current General of the 1st Regiment, with both heavy cavalry, light cavalry, infantry, artillery and engineers to rebuild as much as possible while maintaining peace.
Rogier had orders to empty towns if they were too badly damaged, and gather the population into cities if necesary. The man had been present at the meeting, so he knew the possibility that we were actually in the game…
The damage to our food supplies had already been done, and warehouses and farms had to be protected at all costs, otherwise we would all starve if we were stuck in SaS for much longer.
- Mr. Nami - Someone broke the silence of the meeting room causing my gaze and that of many others to be directed to that of the culprit. At the door, the same senator from yesterday who suggested creating percussion caps to see if we were banned or removed from the game, stood with a leather bag on his hands, but his look told me everything I needed to know.
- Give it to me - I said as I stood up from my place with my palm exposed before him. He took off his bag and gave it to me. Opening it, I found a pistol, a small handful of small gold "caps," and paper ammunition with a gunpowder bag on the side.
Loading the gun with experience, I used paper instead of a lead ball. It was at that moment that I froze, in my small fingers I was holding a percussion cap, something that in itself should not be possible... If it really worked... Were we really trapped in SaS?
The system for the percussion caps to work was not much different from normal flintlock weapons, so a few small modifications had been enough to make the weapon functional. Placing the golden cap in place, I cocked the hammer and pointed it at an empty part of the room. The gun wasn't loaded with anything, but the smoke could burn someone anyway
My hands were shaking slightly and not exactly from the weight of the gun, closing my eyes, I pulled the trigger.
BANG
It worked… oh no
- How many times has it been tested? - A senator asked
- Five rifles were modified, 50 shots were fired with 3 misfires and three weapon malfunctions, but those were caused b the inexperience of the smiths of creating the mods - The man indicated. It can't be possible... IT CAN'T BE! IT MAKES NO SENSE!
In anger, I threw the unloaded pistol to the ground as if it were to blame for my stress.
- Try something that CANNOT BE IN THE GAME CODE - I ordered
- Like what? - Someone else asked in alarm
- We have to warn people if they don't already know - Another senator added innocently, as if that wasn't going to add fuel to the fire!
- Pregnancies! Only livestock was coded, not between people - When you respawned, your character had a small "story" of how he ended up in an orphanage or church that functioned as spawn points, which is why players already appeared as a 16-year-old or the equivalent of their species instead of full babies - Try it, or check the whores on the corner, I don't care how, but do it - I ordered. Technically the only species that was born as a baby were the insectoids because these were parasites that grew from a larva to practically adults in 1-2 days at most depending on the amount of food they had access to.
In SaS, despite not being a porn game specifically, it was a game (18), so people could enjoy how permissive it was, especially in "nations" like the empire which were full of brothels that offered pleasures that did not exist in real life.
Because it moved the imperial "economy" moved, and many people visited them, no one really did anything against them, plus since the filters could be used by the workers too, they didn't even have to really "work", just act as if they were doing it and since you couldn't get anyone pregnant and the devs didn't add diseases of that kind, no one used protection, so if this was a game, nothing would happen, but if someone really was left... Then I didn't know what to do
- And what happens if it really… happens? - Someone asked
- …I don't… I know - I surrendered in my chair - ….We'll see I guess -
Silence returned to the room for a few moments before it was broken again by someone else speaking.
- What about the lands beyond the waters? Reports indicate that there is a city to the north across the water - One of the warlords asked to which Sir Wellignton replied
- Our ships are gone, and no available air units can reach the other side. Fortunately the water is drinkable once boiled, so at least we won't have much of a drought - That was good, because water was always a highly sought after supply in SaS, so much so that the empire or our allies spent all their time fighting on the western islands for the divine resource.
Obviously we weren't the only ones... But now that there will be no drought in the short term...
- Sir Wellington, have you received reports on how our resources are going? - I asked with a dull look.
- In terms of gunpowder and ammunition we are doing well, we can wage a few major battles with the gunpowder we have, but in terms of food... - He shook his head - Our mines have collapsed, and with them whoever was inside, the few factories that we also had are out of action now that the population is in the state it is. We have plenty of raw resources, but we have no one to work them, and eventually gunpowder without sulfur mines is going to run out -
-…. Not even dragons can reach the coast? - I asked
- They should be able to get there - Another warlord responded
- All units are busy moving supplies from one city to another, wounded from one side to the churches. The trip to the foreign coast will surely be a few hours of flight, only on the way - Another senator responded
- If we do nothing we will slowly die of hunger - Indicate, in SaS there were hardly any animals on land or in the air that were edible, most of the food was fish and vegetables. No one was really complaining because it was x1000 times better than real life slope - We don't have a fishing fleet or a military fleet, so we don't have fish. Animals and farms cannot generate enough meat for everyone, even if we include horses for slaughter, and our farms are almost or completely ruined, hence there is not even bread. We are running on supplies in the imperial warehouses that even while rationing… I doubt it will last even a year - My hands grabbed my face, the empire had never prepared for a famine of such magnitude
-...and if we form a 2nd temporary regiment? A regiment that looks for supplies? - Someone suggested
- There is not enough people - Another person responded
- I can spare a unit of dragons and their riders - A warlord suggested - I myself can personally command - Looking at the owner of the voice she revealed Pirwoon, from the 7th air regiment
- ...Why not - I gave up - Don't kill yourself - Technically senate approval was needed for this kind of thing, but at this point no one cared about following protocol, it wasn't like anyone was going to scold them, they were the highest rank after all
- I'll try - She laughed at my misery
Sighing, I stood up from my chair with a slight grunt.
- If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I'll return to my fortress. If you need me for something, send a messenger - I said while straightening my tunic. Once I made sure there weren't many wrinkles, I left the room and went into the hallway.
Suddenly however, I was carefully grabbed by an insectoid. Looking at the culprit's hand I saw Dan's familiar scar
- You have to sleep - He said trying to sound like it wasn't something debatable - Go to sleep or I'll devour you - He threatened with false promises. Looking up from my grip, I saw both Dan's head and his mouth slightly open, threatening to keep his word. - You haven't slept in two days. -
- I'm not tired - I told him while looking directly at where his eyes were supposed to be under the natural shell. As if keeping his word, Dan easily lifted me to his head level, leaving my body dangling, although I didn't react.
- …And you don't even blink at my threat - Dan gave up first, allowing me to go back down where I lost my footing for a moment. An insectoid can keep a victim in its abdomen for a long time thanks to the small tube in their abdomen feeding fresh air to the poor bastard eaten by them.
They used this skill either to infect people and set spawns for themselves, or to be cunts and trap people inside, forcing them to either use the suicide command or wait to die from thirst if they hadn't been spat out before that. Generally people commit suicide the moment they are grabbed by an insectoid that is going to eat them, since the experience of being eaten alive is as incredibly unpleasant as one might expect. They also used this skill to transport supplies, or smuggle things and people if needed, some even used them as "safe zones" to disconnect as while disconnected your character wouldn't disappear, only "fall asleep" and good luck trying to get past their armor
Even so, the ability to eat and spit out a person minutes or hours later alive was the main reason why insectoids are so used in the black guard to the point that these being 80% of the members, because if you did not do what they asked, they would devour you on the spot and spit in a cell if you had not committed suicide before.
Of course, the fact that the insectoids can do that makes the job of the black guard extremely boring, so it was not unusual to see how they "played" before arresting or before "slapping them on the wrist", perhaps they gave more time before starting to chase someone, or if they fought, they did not fight very seriously. But the moment they tried to grab you, the "game" was over, that being a "warning" without words.
I knew Dan like the back of my hand, I knew he wouldn't eat me because I found the idea of eating at a living person completely unpleasant
-…How many are there already? 12,000, 13,000 people dead? Possibly even truly dead… How do you want me to sleep knowing… that? - I asked him tiredly
- They they are already gone, the best thing you should do is make sure the other 35,000 don't go with them, and you can't help more than what you did already anything if you're on the verge of unconsciousness all the time - He said while kneeling in front of me to be more equal in terms of height, although even kneeling Dan was still taller than me - Rest, recover your energy, or I will call another member of the guard with more guts than me to force you, if not to sleep, to rest at least -
-...I'll try - I grunted in annoyance - But I don't promise anything -