"Men of the Bastolli and Kavaleri! Now is your chance for revenge! These Valdrean bastards have killed too many good people of your Nation. Now let there be punishment for these dogs fitting for the slaughter of your kinsmen in Rockholme. Let this town be seen by the World as a beginning of the End of the Valdreans. Let them see the Unconquerable Axe of the Warrior Peoples smite all who dare stand against them. Let this town be an example: no Valdrean shall leave this town, except by the crows."
(From an exhortation of the Bandit troops before the Battle of Grarnoz)
"Friends, we understand your plight, and have come to free you from the unjust yoke of the tyrants in Valdran. We will support you in your struggle for autonomy, and help you to rid yourselves of the oppression of the Imperial decrees that tax you so heavily.
"The time of central control from Valdran shall pass, and you people will be free to govern your lands under a fair system of justice for all.
"Help us in our struggle, and we will help you in yours, and together we shall drive the oppressors back to Valdran.
"We are not here to destroy the common peoples. We are here to destroy the Valdrean Military Empire for all the harm it has done to the people of the Kavaleri. We shall drive them right back to the throneroom of Valdran."
(Ar mal Andar, Emissary of King Zergal to the people of West Post)
"We are not the Forces of Evil, but the Liberators of the ordinary man."
(King Zergal to his army at the Siege of Fort Kostof)
"We shall allow the Gods to help us build a better Empire. We shall not allow Them to shape us to Their own ends. Our Faith will be earned; not surrendered."
(Decus XXI of Mastrin, Emperor of Valdrea, 2000-2013)
"SARAN can never be wrong. But She may set us tests that our purposes are true. The Emperor and his Privy Council have failed such a test."
(Stirros III of Satril, Director of the Inquisition into Demon Summoning; during argument before the Rainbow Court in the case of SARAN v The Emperor and Privy Council)
"If everything went as one wanted, we would end up no better than the Chaos up there in the night sky. Think on that."
(Harlequin)
"Those who live by the ploughshare die by the ploughshare."
(Harrek, Duke of Grinen, Lord Protector of the North)
"To all our friends, wherever they may be: here amongst us, wandering out there in the dark, or back in the Halls of Karma. Wherever you are, we salute you our brave comrades!"
(An ancient toast of the Warrior Priests of ORIL)
In Valdran the trial proceeds of the Emperor Arril and most of his Privy Council for Constructive Demon Summoning. The Prosecution has given its main evidence, and it is now the turn of the Defence. Some of the Prosecution evidence was given secretly, in camera, including that of King Bjørn XVII of the North on a meeting at the Temple of FIDAR on Earth, believed to have been a convocation of Demon Summoners. But a damning case has emerged; of complicity in the use of Angels of SARAN in the Battle of Rockholme, of association with those Angels, and of friendly relations between the Emperor and several notorious Demon Summoners. King Bjørn has admitted taking part in ceremonies of Demon Summoning. Lord Protector Harrek is accused of having unnatural relations with an Angel of ESCUS: his wife, the Lady Sabrina. The late Prince Kostof II is accused of selling his soul to be made ambidextrous, and of making a Pact to secure his release from the Balrogs which captured him at the Battle of Castle Aptal. Olak-Ksirrin is accused of selling his soul for the ability to pronounce false oracles calculated to promote sedition. Ichixal is well known for having had a Balrog as the chief acolyte of his heresy. Lasker is accused of numerous appalling instances of Demonic Magic-Using. Arril is accused of friendship with all these people. The Director's case will be difficult to refute. The evidence for the Defence opens on 1 Estender.
The shockwaves from the constitutional crisis which has dropped upon Valdran have spread throughout the Empire, but have been felt most acutely in the West. The Valdrean Army in the Bandit Kingdom, which Arril had claimed as the Rockholme Province of the Empire, has crumbled before the numerically inferior forces of Zergal, the Bandit King, and his Generals. At the Battles of Grarnoz, on the 1st of Oscow, Cherkz, on the 6th, and the Blasted Plains, on the 19th, the Bandits triumphed, although each was a close-fought contest that could have gone either way.
By the 21st Zergal had reached the Dyke of SARAN, where he invested Fort Kostof, said to be the strongest fortress in the World (after the Citadel of Rockholme). The garrison of the Fort was reinforced by Valdrean Adventurers, Noble Champions and Clerics, and Zergal was unable to take it by storm, even though he had the assistance of the Beast, a Demonic Creature of Hate mounted on a Giant Red Demonic Scorpion, which had appeared at the earlier battles too.
So Zergal challenged the commander of Fort Kostof to single combat on the 22nd; the loser's army to be allowed to return home unharmed. The commander accepted the challenge, sending his champion to fight Zergal. That champion was Gaston of Jalaskir, XX Earl of Carnad, 5th Champion of his House, and Commander of Fort Venture.
The duel took place before the gate of Fort Kostof, between the two armies. Holding his sword aloft, Gaston cast a spell at Zergal. Zergal froze, then marched woodenly towards Gaston. The Valdreans cheered. But suddenly Zergal broke free of the Spell, and leapt into melee with Gaston. There was an outcry from the Valdreans at this, and a cheer from the Kavaleri. Zergal got the first hit, in Gaston's chest. They fought on, and Zergal hit again. Gaston's face contorted, and he dropped dead to the ground, although the wound did not look fatal. The Bandits rejoiced, but the Valdreans cried foul.
Zergal then met the Valdrean commander, who accused him of cheating. Someone had cast a Dispel on Gaston's Hold, and Zergal used Blade Venom. The Bandit King retorted that it was cheating to cast a Hold on him, and he never agreed not to use poison. He ordered the commander to surrender. The commander replied that Gaston properly won the duel, and Zergal must surrender himself. Zergal immediately took a hack at him with Gaston's bastard sword. He missed, but the commander froze, and Zergal's next blow beheaded him.
Zergal's cavalry bodyguard then charged forward, as arrows and crossbow bolts rained down on them from the walls. They reached Zergal, and the whole Kavaleri army charged forward. Zergal led his bodyguard against the gate, which was now closing. But they failed to take it, and had to withdraw.
The following morning Zergal announced to his army that, as the defenders of Fort Kostof had broken their word, and refused to surrender to him when he had defeated their champion in Duel, the immortal souls of every being in the Fort were to be considered as forfeited. He was turning them over to the Undead and Demon Summoners of Rockholme. His army now maintain the siege, but do not attack, whilst inside the Fort the garrison and the Adventurers strive to resist waves of ghosts and worse terrors, imported by Zergal's Planists from the devastation of Rockholme. Zergal himself has left the Fort to its fate, and advanced on a raiding mission into Valdrea.
The shock of defeat in the West reverberated back into the Empire, and rebellion broke out all across the Western Provinces. The hold of Valdran has never been so strong there as elsewhere, and the people have not forgotten the time when they were semi-independent, under LOFIR, and allied with the Bandits against Valdran. Following poor harvests, they have been bled white to support the War, and now they saw their opportunity. In the past, rebellions have been sporadic. Now they are widespread, and troops which had been intended as reinforcements for the front have been diverted to put down the rebels, which they have been doing in the customarily bloody way. But they have not been successful everywhere, and the fighting continues in several places. The Imperial Army has not fully regained control of the towns of Torel and Cantif, and the town of Gamart has declared itself free of the Empire. West Post is heavily occupied, and has remained quiet, although an attack on the populace there by Zergal's Beast has been reported.
Back in Bjarmigen the schism deepens between the Temples of Peace on Earth and of the Gods on Earth, despite well-intentioned attempts at reconciliation. The situation has been aggravated by a "Moral Crusade" launched in Bjarmigen by the Crusaders for Truth, who have challenged the Thieves' Guild and claimed that the City is riddled with Evil Temples. They have declared their support for the King, but have described his armies as "military threats" to the Kingdom, and have urged their disbandment. Although they preach Peace and Harmony, they have met vociferous opposition, led by the Church of ESCUS, and there have been assassination attempts on Clerics of FIDAR, for which the Guild is blamed.
On a happier note, King Bjorn and Queen Yolande of the North have announced that they are expecting their second child.
In the Dungeons of Mount Anar the war escalates between the Dwarves and the Orcs, as Dwarf Hold challenges Heaven and Hell. But the restricted battleground of the tunnels and caves that form the Dungeons means that this will be a slow and bloody contest.
The Apostles of Change are coming.
© P.R. Wild, 16 March 1986
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