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Completed [LP] Bleed for your Kingdom, officer! Codex plays Guns of Infinity

baud

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RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth


2
We're at war, and I don't in our case there's any moral high ground to claim.
 

Kipeci

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Vicksburg
1

Alaric just now wanted to hang everyone high, idealistic fellow. I don’t think the others make sense.
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
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2. The sacking of the city was a cruel necessity in this conflict. But it could have been handled better. The men must fear us.

Once they fear us, we shall become their mother and their father. Then their god. With every act of butchery they shall look to us for approval. When we give it they will bark and howl like dogs in appreciation.
 

LordTryhard

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Jul 7, 2018
Messages
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1. Hello, son of the Duke of Cunaris, a man who also happens to be the Colonel of our regiment, which makes you the heir to both those titles. Yes, I agree with everything you have to say.
 
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"It was a cruel necessity."

Lord Renard looks away for a moment. "Is that your belief, sir?" he asks.

"It is my experience, Lieutenant," you reply. "When one is locked in a struggle to the death with another person, one does not think of nobility, of good or evil. One thinks of killing the enemy, whoever they might be. As it is with individuals, so it is with kingdoms. In such cases, even the greatest cruelties might be excused by that justification of expedience."

The younger dragoon's eyes narrow in anger. "Expedience, sir? I ain't in much comprehension of what advantage might be won by the massacre of a city already fallen," he answers, his voice growing sharp.

"Then perhaps you might consider the longer view, Lieutenant," you reply. "Within weeks, news of the sack will be known in every city in the League of Antar. When the King's Army besieges some new town in the next campaign season, do you think the inhabitants will stand defiant if they know what awaits them if they fall? I, for one, do not. They will surrender peaceably, and be occupied peaceably, and for every life lost here, there shall be two saved elsewhere. Do you understand?"

"I-I am not sure I do, sir," Lord Renard replies, voice made unsteady by the thoroughness of your reply. "I suppose it is something I must think on."

"Yes, Lieutenant," you reply. "It is best you should."

Yet he does not hear you; he is already gone.

-

You are not given much more time to settle in, barely enough to get used to the place and dash off a few letters home. Soon, you find your desk besieged by forms, requests, and complaints, with more coming practically by the hour.

With Lieutenant-colonel Keane gone, the organisational work of keeping three squadrons of cavalry in fighting trim falls to the remaining senior officers of the regiment in Kharangia.

Normally, it would not be so difficult to split the work three ways, but Lieutenant Butler quickly proves himself as hapless in front of a desk as he is at the head of a body of fighting men. Worse yet, orders soon come down from the Duke of Havenport's staff detailing Cazarosta's Third Squadron to patrol Kharangia's hinterlands for yet more partisan activity.

As a result, you soon find yourself all but trapped at your desk, beset by half a dozen problems at a time. As the days grow shorter and colder, you are required to spend hours dealing with the billeting, provisioning, payment, and discipline of well over four hundred dragoons. You have little time to rest, for as soon as you reduce your pile of pressing issues to a manageable size, Marion sets down yet another small mountain of damnable vexations before you.

There is no time even to supervise the drill of your men. Thus, it is your subordinates who must take up the entire job of maintaining your men while you deal with the similarly unending problems of a regiment settling into a freshly occupied and still very hostile city.

Sometimes, you cannot help but envy them.

-

As the weeks grind on, you find the volume of incoming paperwork entering a steady and definitive decline. As the Royal Dragoons settle into their new billets and the regiment's junior officers become increasingly confident in their ability to deal with minor issues themselves, the number of problems which you must personally see to diminishes with every day.

Unfortunately, you have damned little opportunity to spend your free time outside your quarters. The unending rains of autumn have turned into the wet, miserable snow which heralds the slow process of transition into winter. While the rain had merely washed off the cobbles of Kharangia's roads, the sleet turns them into slippery stretches of ice, slush, and mud. Only with the greatest care can either man or horse use such roads for their intended purpose, and the drilling of troops in the city's squares is made a futile exercise.

Only the activity around the city's docks continues in the face of the worsening weather, and then only out of necessity; the last of the year's convoys from Tierra dock and unload their precious cargoes of weapons, equipment, and food with the utmost urgency, lest they be trapped in Antar when the storms of deep winter make the Calligian Sea entirely unnavigable.

When the last ships leave, Edmund Garing is onboard them. He is on his way back to Aetoria, to work on the project which you invested your hard-earned funds into. Then the docks too are silent, save for the crash of the rising sea and the howl of the winter wind.

One morning, you wake to find the outside world frozen, the roads carpeted with freshly fallen snow. The Antari winter has come to Kharangia.

As your days become more dull and empty of anything resembling productive labour, the weather grows increasingly worse. The snow comes down in a greater volume than you have ever seen, and the howling of the winter wind becomes a constant, even through the thick walls of your requisitioned house.

Time passes in a strange, overcast fugue. The clouds become thick enough to blot out the sun. Even at midday, you must keep a lamp lit to see beyond your own outstretched hand with anything resembling clarity.

In one of your now semi-regular games of Tassenswerd with Lord Marcus Havenport, the young Kentauri nobleman, who spent some of his childhood touring Antar with his father, tells you that Kharangia's winters are mild compared to the northern regions of the continent.

You find that thought more than a little discomfiting.

Then, one day, the monotony of your long, cold winter afternoon is broken when an unexpected visitor barges into your office, his white-rimmed greatcoat still wrapped around him, snowmelt leaving a trail of wet across your carpets as he makes his way to your desk.

"I need a second," announces Lieutenant Blaylock, drawing himself up before you.

For a moment, you stare in confusion, nearly certain that you have misunderstood. "I beg pardon, Lieutenant?"

"I need a second," Blaylock repeats, more excited than annoyed, "for a duel."

-

"You realise," you reply, giving voice to your first and most relevant thought, "that duelling is punishable under the King's Articles of War, do you not?"

It is, in fact, punishable by death, not that such a fact seems to have dissuaded your impetuous subordinate any.

"He insulted the honour of the regiment!" Blaylock answers, indignant. "What was I to do? I challenged, he answered, now we are to resolve the issue with pistols."

You nod knowingly. A man might insult another man and come to blows, but never would such an affray lead to a formal challenge. For an officer to openly insult another's regiment, though, is a far graver offence. In doing so, not only has Blaylock's would-be opponent cast aspersions on the man himself but on you and every other fellow who has ever served in the Royal Dragoons.To back down after such an insult would have been unthinkable.

"I doubt there's much danger of me losing, of course," Blaylock continues. "Only thing is, I don't have a second. Lord Renard refused outright, and Saints be damned if I'll ask Sandoral when the man barely knows which end of a pistol the balls come out of."

It is hardly a trifling thing for a man to face an impending duel without a second. It is the second who must inspect the pistols to ensure that neither have been tampered with, stand in for the duellist in case he should refuse to show, and witness the proceedings. A duel without seconds is basically murder.

"So," Blaylock concludes, "I have only you left, sir. Might I rely upon you to help me uphold the regiment's honour?"

The problem remains, of course, the fact that should you accept, you would effectively be an accomplice to a breach of military law. The punishment would be quite severe.

That is, of course, only if you get caught.

Inquire further as to the circumstances of Blaylock's duel.

With a little prodding, Blaylock gives you the full story.

Apparently, according to your subordinate, he had been drinking at the officers' club when another lieutenant, an officer of the 8th of Foot, who had arrived from Tierra some months ago, made some rather foul aspersions regarding the dragoons' conduct at the Battle of Blogia. Blaylock, hothead that he was, immediately confronted the other man, demanding that he retract what your subordinate refers to as 'obvious falsehoods.'

Of course, neither man had actually been present at Blogia, and it is likely both Blaylock's vision of your regiment's heroism and his counterpart's image of its cowardice lie somewhat distant from the truth.

Things had escalated from there.

1) Agree to act as Blaylock's second.
2) Refuse to act as Blaylock's second.
3) Refuse, and forbid Blaylock from following through with this foolishness.
4) Persuade Blaylock out of this silly nonsense.

As of the Winter of the 610th year of the Old Imperial Era

Sir Alaric d'al Ortiga
Age: 22
Rank: Captain
Wealth: 443
Income: 15

Soldiering: 75%

Charisma: 43%

Intellect: 5%

Reputation: 23%

Health: 65%

Idealism: 78% Cynicism: 22%

Ruthlessness: 36% Mercy: 64%

You are a Knight of the Red, having the right to wear bane-hardened armour and wield a bane-runed sword.

You have no decorations as of yet.

Sixth Squadron, Royal Dragoons
Senior NCO: Staff-sergeant Hernandes

Discipline: 54%

Morale: 54%

Loyalty: 39%

Strength: 79%
 
Last edited:
Joined
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I really need to stop updating this thing while sleep deprived.

Option 4 is unavailable, I just forgot to strikethrough it.
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
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3. Discipline must be maintained. Not only that but this foolhardy officer acted without our express opinion. He must be punished publicly as must the challenger.

Both must be executed.
 
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I don't think challenging someone to a duel is punishable by death. Actual dueling is and that has not happened yet. And if they did duel, I don't think we, being a captain, could act as court martial either. LordTryhard ?
 

LordTryhard

Novice
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Jul 7, 2018
Messages
55
I don't think challenging someone to a duel is punishable by death. Actual dueling is and that has not happened yet. And if they did duel, I don't think we, being a captain, could act as court martial either. LordTryhard ?

Trying to minimize spoilers, but all I know is that regardless of whether Blaylock tries to go through with the duel or not, there is no court martial, and nobody gets executed, but there are still consequences/benefits depending on how you handle it.

Short-term Spoiler:
In the worst case scenario, the two men are caught with pistols in hand, but because neither of them have fired a shot yet it is decided that it doesn't count as actual dueling, but I assume this is more due to the shortage of junior officers than any technicality in the army's rules.

Long-term Spoiler:
But I don't see why a captain can't be involved in a court martial, considering how you end up being a voter in someone else's court martial later in the game, and your rank at that point can be anything from Captain to Lieutenant-Colonel.
 
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I meant "act as court martial" in terms of literally having the authority to execute the men, which doesn't appear to be a thing we can do given that one of them is in another regiment altogether.
 

baud

Arcane
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RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
3. Let's try to enforce military discipline. Also avoiding further casualties in the middle of a war could be a good idea.
 
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Blaylock grins wide when you give your reply. "Thank you, sir! The business is to take place at dawn tomorrow, outside the north gate, out of sight of the sentries on the walls. I trust you have no objection, sir?"

You shake your head. "I have not."

Blaylock smiles. "Then we shall see this issue resolved tomorrow, sir."

-

Alas, it is not to be.

When you arrive at the chosen ground, you find that somehow, the word got loose. The provosts are waiting for you.

They cannot arrest you or bring charges, of course. Neither you nor Blaylock have done anything illegal. When Blaylock's would-be opponent and his second arrive, they are not charged either. Instead, the four of you are placed under close escort and brought back to the city.

However, the story of the shambolic incident soon spreads, with your name irrevocably attached to the whole affair. Worse yet, the men seem to see your willingness to flout military law as an example, a connection which the provosts themselves seem quite eager to point out as they bring news of more and more infractions by dragoons under your command to your desk.

Needless to say, things could have turned out far better.

-

As the wind and snow of winter finally begin to give way to warmer weather, the amount of work bound for your desk increases once more.

Though the harbour is still iced over and the streets still covered with snow, arrangements are already being made for the coming campaigning season. Thus, little by little, the preliminary work of getting the regiment ready for action begins to make its weight known upon your shoulders.

There is much to be done: horses must be shod, faulty and worn equipment must be replaced, and those few who have perished over the winter to disease, cold, or skirmishes with the enemy must be struck off the records so that Grenadier Square does not waste the Crown's precious coin on rations and pay for dead men.

Arrangements must also be made for replacements. There will be a fresh draft of men arriving with the first convoy of the year, men to replace those who have fallen, deserted, or been invalided over the past year. Your squadron has taken some heavy losses over the past year. Some reinforcement would be quite welcome.

The problem, of course, lies with the sour but undeniable fact that with each passing year of war, the quality of the newly arrived men grows worse and worse. The flower of Tierran manhood had flocked to the colours at the beginning of the war, but now, eight years later, you are more likely to get gutter scum and criminals, given the choice between the King's dam and gaol.

Adding such men to your squadron's ranks will be detrimental to the qualities of your unit, to say the least.

What shall you do?

1) I'll request as many replacements as I can.
2) I throw my weight around and try to get the best replacements.
3) It's not worth the trouble; I don't request replacements.

As of the Winter of the 610th year of the Old Imperial Era

Sir Alaric d'al Ortiga
Age: 22
Rank: Captain
Wealth: 458
Income: 15

Soldiering: 75%

Charisma: 43%

Intellect: 5%

Reputation: 18%

Health: 65%

Idealism: 83% Cynicism: 17%

Ruthlessness: 36% Mercy: 64%

You are a Knight of the Red, having the right to wear bane-hardened armour and wield a bane-runed sword.

You have no decorations as of yet.

Sixth Squadron, Royal Dragoons
Senior NCO: Staff-sergeant Hernandes

Discipline: 49%

Morale: 54%

Loyalty: 39%

Strength: 79%
 
Last edited:

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
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Jersey for now
1. We shall make them men worthy of the the regiment or bury them.

I am reminded of the film March or Die, and the final words of Marco Segrain, echoing his late commander: "If the Legion doesn't get you, the desert will. If the desert doesn't, the Arabs will. And if the Arabs don't, then I will. I don't know which is worse."

Edit: Meant 1 actually. Thanks ERYFKRAD
 
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ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
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28,242
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
3. We shall make them men worthy of the the regiment or bury them.

I am reminded of the film March or Die, and the final words of Marco Segrain, echoing his late commander: "If the Legion doesn't get you, the desert will. If the desert doesn't, the Arabs will. And if the Arabs don't, then I will. I don't know which is worse."
You sure you're voting 3?
 

LordTryhard

Novice
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
55
For anyone interested, it's possible to do the duel and avoid getting caught. You just need a decent amount of intellect, which lets you realize that you need to change the time and location.
 

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