Steven's dream

[Sebastien Alexandre]

OOC- You realize that this 'War of Vengeance' is between Yardistan and Elwynn, and that the outcome of this war will NOT effect the political nature of Shireroth what-so-ever?Please people, the Kaiser has ruled for over three years now, get used to the idea.

[stevenAntica]

Karl SchmarxNote: Karl Schmarx was a Antican philosopher, political theorist, and writer. He wrote on a vast array of topics but mostly focused on a revolutionary ideology. At the age of 40 he was exiled from Antica and sent to Gotzburg where he was allowed to continue most of his work. After his death, his works began to be circulated through the powerful intellectual circles of Aquilaria. They were the inspiration for the NWP and most of the revolutionary movements. As evening was falling, the II legion was passing through a mostly rural area. The landscape was peaceful and the haystacks seemed to dot the landscape. As the sun was setting, Steven, at the head of the legion caught a glimpse of the people of this land. They were poor. Their faces seemed tired as if not only their hard labor but generations of hard labor had worn on them. Their faces were shaggy even the children looked overworked. The image struck a subliminal tone with him however he continued on. That night, they made camp in a field. Steven entered his tent and dozed off. As he began to dream, he was transported back to that farm he had passed through. It was day time, but suddenly the farm changed. It was a farm he recognized from somewhere. The farm was from Phedodoah. He had been here before. Then his mind directed him to a podium where he saw himself standing there and shouting. Slowly, as if the sound was turned on, he began to hear himself speak. After the retreat from Aquilaria, Steven gathered an army together and began marching south to reach a port and then move to Nafticon where Foghorn was waiting for him. Steven may not have military experience, but he does have an uncanny natural ability for propaganda. Delphi said about him that he, “Brainwashed Antica”. While Chris has been named the architect of the revolution, Steven has been named the instigator of the revolution. As he retreated, he gathered with him an army of peasants and soldiers sympathetic to his cause. Delphi was in hot pursuit of him and Steven understood that if he could galvanize the rural population he could hold him off. Steven stood atop the podium. A couple of soldiers stood next to him. Steven began to scream to the crowd of rag tag farmers, “For too long now, this nation has been an oppressive fascist dictatorship! You have been denied your god given freedom, liberty, and your equal share!” Next to him standing there, obviously beaten up and brutalized were landowning families. They were shackled. A couple of them were quite chubby and Steven gestured to them now, “Look at these pigs. They have gotten nice and fat while you all have been starved! Who is responsible for this, you ask? I’ll tell you who, it’s the tyrant who sits in Aquilaria, he is responsible for your starvation, him and his regime. It’s high time for change, it’s high time for REVOLUTION!” The speech went on for some time before Steven finally took out the flag of the Dinarchy, “This flag is the flag of oppression!” The crowd cheered as he began to burn it. Then Steven had the soldiers threw the landowners, women and children, and the crowd beat them death. The peasants stomped their faces in and screamed to the scream of the women, “None that they own is properly theirs! The peasants looted everything in the tall white mansions from the paintings down to the nails. The dream slowly blacked out and there, standing before Steven in the dream was Karl Schmarx. He turned to Steven and said, “Micronationalists of the world unite. It’s up to you. Bring revolution to the micronational world! Free the masses!” Steven awoke to the sun and knew what he had to do. As the camp was beginning to come to life, he told his second in command to move the troops on the already decided path as he had to go see Chris. He rode through the countryside his face was not the face of a weary soldier but a man on a mission. It was a longer ride than he expected but he finally found the I Legion. When he arrived, Chris was already marching, he rode quickly past the infantry up to the front of the army where he found Chris. Chris said, "Ah Steven, how are you." Steven answered, "You're farther than I expected. Anyway Can I have a word with you about something." “Sure,” Chris replied. “Chris, I realized something last night, it came to me in a dream.” Chris cast him a look of bewilderment. “Do you remember why we’re here?” “To fight for the Yardistanis?” “No. See, we’ve been brought here for a purpose. If you look around, all you will see is broken faces of peasants. We were brought here by fate. These people are downtrodden. We’re here to bring the revolution worldwide. I mean look at this, we’re very close to Shirekeep, these people are burgeoning for freedom! Imagine, a free Shireroth! Imagine it! That’s what we’ve been brought here to do!” Edited by: stevenAntica at: 10/9/05 12:52

[OctaviusMe]

"Looks like you had your hands full during that attack, Chris."Christopher blinked and looked around, his feet coming to a stop. To his left stood a proud mountain range far off in the distance. Nearer were successively shorter and shorter hills. His right hand let go and slipped off of the wheel of a howitzer. Someone marching behind him put his hand on Christopher's shoulder. "Are you ok, Commander?" Christopher turned to look at him. His uniform's piping indicated that he was an artilleryman. On his upper arms, hastily sewn-on sergeant's chevrons."Uh yeah, sorry about that." Christopher started walking again. He wasn't sure if the feeling in his legs was fatigue or not. Some of the soldiers marching with them and the howitzers had blue armbands sewn onto their uniform's upper arms. Christopher had one tentatively sewn onto his own uniform as well. Troopers retasked as artillerymen, Christopher said to himself. Memory flowed back into his head again. A couple days of forced marching was starting to get to his head. To keep the movement up, he even sacrificed all of the officers' horses, especially his own, to get as many things onto wagons as possible back in Musica. Some of the artillery horses were killed during the unloading by the dragons, making the transport situation all the worse. Of course, at that point, everyone was caught with his pants off. With all the howitzers available at once, there wasnÂ’t a chance of those dragons ambushing them again. DragonsÂ… I never wouldÂ’ve believed I would come face to face with one, let alone fire canister shot into it.For the most part, however, the only ones not riding something were troopers and artillerymen. Some medics got the short end of the stick and had to march alongside the wagons transporting their equipment, but the tank crews were all lucky enough to be able to ride in their tanks. Hell, even some of the tanks were being used to drag some wagons for their extra ammunition.After the dragon attack, some troopers had to be retasked as artillerymen to fill the voids. Thank the gods there were enough artillerymen to give those guys a crash course in the job, Christopher said to himself. Those that remained alive were mostly promoted to fill the jobs of gun captain and such. The 4th Battalion wasn't lucky enough and had to have some artillerymen transferred from the 5th Battalion to fill in for the basic necessities. One Trooper Sergeant with an eye for the artillery and had lost his entire fireteam in the Dragon attack had even found his way into commanding a howitzer now."Sir! Sir!" Christopher turned to look behind him. He looked at the incoming shape through the crack in his glasses and then recognized who it was. It's only Lieutenant Lee, he said to himself. Then he realized something else. Christopher stopped, turned around, and walked toward Lt Lee, who was riding up to him along the column on a horse."Sir, when are we going to stop and--" Christopher yanked his adjutant down by his uniform's sleeve. With his left hand, he grabbed the front of the Lieutenant's uniform. With both hands, he threw Lt Lee into one of the hills right off of the wide road they were marching along. "Stop and what? Rest? REST!?" Christopher shook his adjutant, and then said, "And whose horse is that?" The Lieutenant hesitated, so Christopher asked him again, "whose horse is that!?""It's mine, sir! It's mine!" The horse stood in its place, and so did most of the soldiers nearby. The wagons stopped. The marching artillerymen stopped. The column was on the verge of twisting and disorganizing as some parts stopped while others kept going. One of the troopers turned artillerymen let out a, "Holy Shit!""I ordered all officers' horses, all officers' horses to be harnessed up and used to pull a wagon with the rest of them. What makes you so special, Lieutenant?" His adjutant looked like he was on the verge of shitting in his pants. His mouth hung open but nothing could make it out. Maybe he wasn't having an easy time breathing, since Christopher was both leaning on him and holding him tight with both hands."Well!?" And then a few soldiers pulled him off of the Lieutenant and accidentally tossed him into the ground as he kept trying to push forward. Landing on the ground hit him all over and snapped him out of whatever he was in. "Where the hell did that come from?" he muttered to himself. Lt Lee stumbled to a standing position and brushed off his uniform."Commander, we've been marching for days, and almost straight.""We'll set up camp tomorrow night.""Sir, you said that yesterday, and the day before!""I want your horse to get put in a harness and to start pulling a wagon.""There aren't any more wagons to pull, sir. All of our wagons are being used.""Then it can be used to help one of the wagons already in operation. Hook it up to one of the howitzer wagons." Lieutenant Lee sighed and he looked over his Commander. Gods, he's lost it, the Lieutenant thought, whatever those dragons did, they undid one of his screws or something."Yes sir." Christopher stood up. His legs started feeling fatigued again, or maybe it wasn't fatigue. Whatever it is, he said to himself, we have to keep moving."We have to keep moving, lest someone pick up on our position and perform another attack like that in Musica.""Sir, we haven't been attacked since. They don't know where we're heading, not exactly. There are a few roads leading from Musica in the generally Northwest direction. We had decided on the not so obvious one farther away from the river than Commander Foghorn had taken. Sir, we're trailing ahead of II Legion, and if we keep up this forced march, we'll be exhausted if anyone actually does come upon us, and II Legion will be too far behind." Christopher thought about it for a few minutes."Maybe you're right, Lieutenant. Maybe you're--" Christopher was cut off by the distinctive sound of a ricochet bouncing off the barrel of one of the howitzers. Everyone fell to the ground. It came from over the hills to the west."Shit! Troopers!" 4 Fireteams of A Company ran back as best they could to the position of the marching column where they were. They reached the position in a few seconds, just as The Commander stood up and pulled out his pistol. The troopers turned right, Christopher's left, toward the west and the source of the shot. Another shot rang out, and ricocheted off a trooper's helmet, then another howitzer barrel. Each trooper's rifle was pointed forward, bayonet secured on the end."Troopers... Move!" The Commander and the 4 Fireteams moved up the hill and over the top in a not straight line. Their boots seemed lined in lead. Quickly, a couple of fireteams surrounded an aged man with a rifle. The man was frozen in position, his hand on the bolt. He was picked up and carted over to Christopher. At first, the man slouched, but then he stood straight, as if he was trying to use his 6-foot height to somehow intimidate the Commander. Only when he had finally stood straight did he realize he was an inch shorter."Who are you and why were you shooting at us?""Your insignia... looked a lot like the Yardistani soldiers who were here yesterday afternoon.""Yardistani... oh no..." Foghorn, Christopher thought, "what did they do?""Forced me at gunpoint to give them all my horses and rode off with them to the north. One of them soldiers was nice enough to leave me a small, smoldering fire that didn't spread enough for me to notice until my home burned down last night. Been wandering around, mostly southward, expecting the rest of them Yardistani to show up. I figured his force wasn't enough to be an invading army, and that he was scouting ahead for a larger force. Looks like I found it after all.""Fraking asshole..." Christopher muttered to himself. The man misunderstood him. "Excuse me? You're the ones who stole my horses and burned my ranch down!""Not you... the Commander who had done that." Christopher sighed, and then asked the man, "How many horses did he steal from you?""Sixty-eight." 68... Christopher thought. We could've put some troopers and their packs on that... And he stole them for what? The Naval Infantry have almost nothing but themselves to carry about. Christopher pulled off his helmet and threw it into the ground with a scream."I'm going to kill that man!" He calmed down, straightened himself, and snapped his fingers. His adjutant, still a little shook up, walked over to him. He stayed outside of Christopher's arm reach, though. Christopher noticed this when he calmly reached for him while still looking at the old man, then he took a quick step over and softly grabbed him."Lieutenant... I want you to get on that fraking horse and find Foghorn as soon as you can. When you do, tell him to hold back and to scavenge the local area for as many wagons as humanly possible. Tell him also that if he doesn't do this, my machete will spill his blood, and not just from his neck." Lt Lee's were wide open, but he nodded, saluted, and hurried on his way. The horse's gallop was the only distinct sound, and after a while even that softened into nothingness. But as that gallop drifted away, a new gallop could be heard following the road from the southeast. Christopher was still standing on the hill with the old man and the troopers when a new horse rode up to it. Sitting on it was Commander Steven, eyepatch and all.Sarcastically, he said to Steven, "Ah Steven, how are you?" Not noticing how he had said it, Steven replied, "You're farther than I expected. Anyway, Can I have a word with you about something?" Oh gods..."Sure," he said. Steven hopped off of the horse and walked up the hill to him. The two of them walked away from the old man and the troopers pointing their guns more or less in his direction. Once they were sufficiently out of the way, Steven started saying, "Chris, I realized something last night, it came to me in a dream."Christopher cast him a look of doubt. Steven continued, "Do you remember why weÂ’re here?""To fight for the Yardistanis?" because they can't do it themselves, Christopher continued to himself."No. See, weÂ’ve been brought here for a purpose. If you look around, all you will see is broken faces of peasants. We we're brought here by fate. These people are downtrodden. We're here to bring the revolution worldwide. I mean look at this, weÂ’re very close to Shirekeep, these people are burgeoning for freedom! Imagine, a free Shireroth! Imagine it! ThatÂ’s what weÂ’ve been brought here to do!"Christopher gave Steven the blank stare for a couple of minutes. Growing impatient, Steven finally asked him, "What?""Steven, we're here to do a job, and that job is revenge. Our job isn't to change the government or to change its vantage point. It's the people's job to do that. If they were so downtrodden enough to want freedom, then they should demand it themselves. We demanded it ourselves, and when we weren't given it, we made ourselves free. We aren't here to free them. We're here on a matter of revenge." Steven looked a little disappointed as Christopher paused."I don't even know why we're here! Shireroth is one of those lands that should be dealing with its own problems. But we're here. We have our job to complete, and then we need to leave." Steven now looked even more disappointed."What is it you want to do about it, anyway? Burn down Brookshire? Burn down Shirekeep? The people will still be in the same state. Hell, they'll probably be galvanized against you for destroying their centers of government. These Shirerithians aren't like us. They're more content with the living conditions and if they fight over something, they fight over who handles managing those same conditions. These civil wars they fight... they're just the leaders in an over elaborate chess game to decide the winner, and the people they recruit to fight for them are convinced that their man is the one to get the position. To presume that we can come in and convince them differently is arrogant. They need to convince themselves of the futility. All you can do is help show them."Christopher walked away from him and back toward the roadside. By now, the entire column was stopped. Even though the Sun was still not even at its highest in the sky, he called out to them saying, "all units, make camp. We'll pick up tomorrow morning. Each Battalion will take turns heading the lookout." Almost everyone was silent at first, and then smiles returned to their worn out faces."We're safe right where we are for now, and if anyone wants to give us trouble, we'll be well rested to meet them." Christopher said out loud to himself. A trooper nearby heard him, and nodded in agreement. I pray to the Gods that no-one comes to mess with us.Summary: I Legion had been marching parallel to but pretty far from the River Elwynn for the past few days and is a couple of days ahead of II Legion. I Legion is now setting up camp and is going to rest for a day, with lookouts to alert the camp of anyone coming by landÂ… or by air.Quote:OOC: Don't worry, Ozarka. He's not going to do anything... RIGHT Steven?

[OctaviusMe]

Quote:OOC: Yeah, but then I'd kill him in real life.

[extreme007]

Quote:OOC: Steven is in the game as a player on his own... He can do anything he wishes.. offcourse, the end result of it is not going to be considered "real" or have taken place in the actual history of Shireroth, or that of micronational world itself... but, yes.. he is allowed to do whatever he likes.. infact, he can shoot you (chris character) and start a revolt for the freedom of Shirerithian peasants, should he choose so..... a renegade army unit in the middle of shireroth, fighting for the freedome of Shireroth, while shireroth's own army is divided into two fighting each other over some religious view!... wonderfull story.. Discover, Invent, Theories, Experiment,Advance Science,Advance Extremism,(in Karnali, Republic of)Edited by: extreme007  at: 10/9/05 14:53

[stevenAntica]

Look, I thought this would be an interesting plot twist. It in no way reflects what I really believe. If you think it does...then you don't have a sense of humor or a sense of reality.It fits well with my character. I'm allowed to be creative without being hounded. When someone plays a Nazi in a movie, does that make him a Nazi? I'm actually if you really wanted to know trying to display the problems with fanatacism through my own actions...ugh... Edited by: stevenAntica at: 10/9/05 17:57

[Nick Foghorn Leghorn]

The Naval Infantry had made it most of the way to the rallying point. The horses were getting a little tired, but they were still moving at a fairly steady pace. At this rate, Foghorn expected to be there within the next day. He was considering all of the intel he had recently received about the area and the approaches when Lt. Lee rode up beside him with a wide eyed stare on his face.“Sir, Commander Chris said you only stole sixty-eight horses. I count over 500.”Foghorn kept staring straight ahead down the road. “Let me take a wild guess: that old coot we annexed the first horses from shot at you, didn’t he.”Lt. Lee looked a little puzzled. “How’d you know?”Foghorn smirked. “I thought I heard a few gunshots when we left. And before you ask, we made more than one annexation back there. You might want to keep your eye out for about three more disgruntled ranchers.”“Well Chris isn’t happy. He wants you to return the horses.”“No can do. I annexed these horses fair and square.”“Well, he’s complaining that there aren’t any horses left for him to use.”“Well, you can inform him that this whole valley is covered by horse ranches. And if he feels like breaking a few Shirerithian laws, he can “liberate” some horses himself.”Lt. Lee looked disgruntled. “Well, he still wants you to return the horses.”Foghorn stared right into Lt. Lee’s eyes. These horses are staying with me. But here’s something you can tell Chris so you don’t have to go home empty handed: there’s a large force gathering at the rallying point. Ask him if he wants to bypass it and go straight for the primary objective.”Lt. Lee opened his mouth. “You’re dismissed, Lieutenant. Get back to your unit.”Lt. Lee saluted and turned around. ‘This might get even more interesting than I anticipated’ Foghorn thought to himself. ________________It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.-Andrew Jackson

[extreme007]

Quote:OOC:.. so, um.. foghorn, you are close enough to hear the gunshots.. and he (octavius) is not close enough to see you or even fire at you with those tanks and howitzers?and, if you are far enough, then i assume Lee's horse will be quite tired by the time he gets back to octavius.. which means lee is walking too!.. yes! Discover, Invent, Theories, Experiment,Advance Science,Advance Extremism,(in Karnali, Republic of)

[Nick Foghorn Leghorn]

Quote:OOC: No, the gunshots are assumed based on prior experience. The approximate distance between the leigon and NI is 20 miles. And yes, that horse will be quite tired by the time it returns. ________________It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.-Andrew Jackson

[OctaviusMe]

.Summary: I Legion, stronger for a reason that can't be easily summarized, crosses over the River Elwynn, using a method that can't be easily summarized, and goes up the eastern side. There is no mention of Christopher's reaction to Foghorn's message.

[extreme007]

Quote:OOC: LOL. please post the entire thing.. this is even worse than ozarka. Discover, Invent, Theories, Experiment,Advance Science,Advance Extremism,(in Karnali, Republic of)