Flassche:The black Legion(open)

[DarkEnigma]

Please refrain from replying directly to this thread, Pm me if you are interested.

Title:The black Legion

Summary:
We follow the tale of a former man, betrayed by his liege and left for dead upon the very unnatural doorsteps of the eternal enemy. It would change his body, his mind and his very soul, yet through some means he manages to retain some semblance of himself. Years later he has established a small but effective fighting force that is bound to him by monstrous means (tentacles) and seeks to ever expand his army and conquer the lands of the living,  to prevent the extinction of all life.

(Basically a former human/elf gets half turned into a monstrous form. He’d be able to infect others, slowly creating loyal soldiers in a sort of collective. Your characters would be those that he’d need as generals of his growing army, or as breeding vessels for his tentacle spawn)


Content:
-Tentacle play
-Court/political play
-Multiple characters
-Physical alteration
-Mental alteration

Setting:
Fantasy

My Character(s):
I would pray the Emerald Prince; an enigmatic figure cloaked in mystery.
He controls an effective and unique mercenary company, yet from the shadows would manipulate things on a global scale, using dark arts and his true monstrous nature.

Beyond him I will be playing a large cast of side characters on both spectrum to enrich the world and the plot.

Your Character(s):
The story was written with both males and females in mind.
Their genders, ages, personalities, physical traits would be up to my character to decide.
The story starts off with your first slave, a recent capture red individual that was awarded to the black Company. Each character you add will be another Herald for the Black Legion or a mere soldier.


Inspiration for the scene:
To be filled out

[DarkEnigma]

Chapter one: A world in flames

The year is 1912 AC, nearing two thousand years after the great cataclysm. One can safely say that few, if not all, souls who had witnessed the first outbreak have now long since perished, or were craving this.
The great cataclysm happened absurdly and without warning, swallowing whole swaths of earth, poisoning the lands and maddening those that had dared linger to closely.
Most heavily affected in the beginning were the dwarves, with their mountain homes that had once been safe bastions of stone, now were desolate places, infected with the remnants of the great cataclysm. A few scholars had speculated in those early days that this new and evil force was drawn to great mineral deposits. Most, if not all the dwarves strongholds rested on rich iron deposits and other minerals, once having offered them a great source of military wealth, commerce and scientific advancement, yet sadly now spelling their doom.

Some dwarves managed to escape the calamity and have sought refuge within human or elven communities, yet even then they would never be the same again. The fair few dwarves that had been traveling on the surface or staying in elven or human settlements fared better, yet even they could feel it in their core that their species was on the brink of extinction.
In the hundreds of years since their great fall their race has dwindled steadily over the years and with them their secret art of forging pure-steel. The few surviving dwarves can mostly be found in the larger capitals where non-humans are welcome or in the employment of military leaders or coalitions.

Although none of the other races has had it as rough as the dwarves from the beginning, most have felt the effects of the great cataclysm, be it the fact that whole towns could crumble down and be swallowed in the earth overnight, the poisoning of livestock and citizens or the constantly shifting borders of nations desperately fighting against this new danger or amongst themselves in an attempt at seeking safety.
Nearly two thousand years of dwindling resources, shortage in food, land and other supplies have had an effect on the other races and on their way of life.

Some nations have managed to keep hold of their sanity and morality, desperately trying to keep their citizens safe from the dangers of this new world, whilst others have adapted accordingly.
Each year new coalitions are formed to band against a rising power or be shattered by infighting and subterfuge. Great powers rise due to charismatic leadership or technological advancement, only to be squashed and all but forgotten in the years following their untimely death.

With the cataclysmic targeting mineral-rich nations and regions the distribution of wealth and commerce has also changed accordingly. Now even a single bar of pure-steel is easily worth a lifetime of food for an entire family or even a small town.
Gold and silver has lost much of its value and has smelted down and used in constructions works whilst Copper and crude brittle iron is now used mostly for trading or cladding your troops in protective shields or damaging weapons. Bronze is generally the upper tier of offense and defence and is a clear symbol of military might, whereas steel has become synonymous for the elitists.
It isn’t all that strange to see a steel-clad soldier hack his way easily through brittle iron and copper weapons as if through paper, easily outclassing them. Yet steel is rarely dared to be used on the battlefield, seeing as the temptation of ‘allies’ turning on said steel-clad warrior for potential stolen wealth is always a tempting prospect.


The once chivalrous style of war, with grand armies and great cavalry charges, has changed over time, warped and corrupted by the constant brutalization of the world and the adaption to a more and more hostile world.
Steam-powered contraptions have seen its implementation on the battlefield, with great steam cannons or soldiers wearing steam-powered rifles.
Great siege artilleries now fling corrosive elements, poisonous toxins or large vials of boiling or burning oil.
More people die due to stone shrapnel hits from above or a lucky chemical strike in a day than people die from a sword or a spear during an entire skirmish.
The occasional magically attuned individual still exist, yet they are a rare sight and genuinely not risked at the front of a battlefield.

Some armies are comprised entirely of humans, some are larger orc tribes, others are a coalition of elven, dwarves, humans and others. Still, the humans are the largest force out there, able to breed quickly and reproduce enough men and women for the meat grinders. Dwarves have gone nearly extinct and most of the withdrawn elves nations have either been subjugated and pressed into slave camps, or put to the sword.

Fortifications are today’s shields and its spears are its new offensive capabilities.
Great warriors thrown in a melee still happen, yet is mostly seen in great rushes or raids, or at opportune moments when a cold snap happens, that has rendered the offensive strength of steam-powered weapons somewhat less effective.

And it is within this new world, this planet that is consuming itself in the fires of war, that a man can truly make his fortune.
With borders being redrawn by the day and new wars starting and ending each week a mercenary can turn a profit whereas a trader wouldn’t even dare venture.
It is quite a common sight for mercenary companies to be hired during a siege or as a harassing skirmish force.
Some are only loyal to the highest paying client, whilst others uphold a more respected name and could possibly earn land and knighthood if he is successful enough to a specific country.


It is within this world, this time, that we find fate itself taking a keen interest in a single individual; one soul apparently not willing to be tied down by the strands of fate, yet daring to rip them apart and forge his own path.

[DarkEnigma]

Mercenary company: The black legion
Company leader: The emerald prince (presumably an alias)
Company strength: Twenty

heavy footmen

Bronze armoured heavy footmen.
Their thick bronze armor is lacquered black and they carry both spear-Lances and close combat weaponry. They fight in close and tight formation of six men and take full advantage of their thick armour and even thicker shield to protect them from most forms of ranged fire. Each six men fight as a single unit, with one of them leading them as a squad leader. Each leader carries a distinctly different fur cloak and differently coloured adornment on his armour
Their physical and facial features are hidden within their armour at all times.

, Fourteen

rangers

Bronze armoured rangers.
Their thick bronze armor is lacquered black and is only slightly less thick then the heavy footmen, trading partial defence for mobility and speed.

They fight in close and tight formation of three men and take full advantage of their rounded shields and close combat weapons to flank enemies when needed. They carry long ranged steam powered rifles, aimed more at precision rather than rate of fire.
Each three men fight as a single unit, with one of them leading them as a squad leader and targeting coordinator. Each leader carries a distinctly different fur cloak and differently coloured adornment on his armour
Their physical and facial features are hidden within their armour at all times.

, ten horses, two wagons.
Assignment: Capture or destruction of the eastern gate of Greenhope.
Agreed upon payment: One pure bronze bar, three copper, twenty handpicked captured slaves.

“What is taking them so long.” The man snarled, throwing a tip cup to the side of a nearby table. His veins were clearly swollen and visible on his neck, a sign of his irritation and anger. A trait that his family was known for.
The Meors were a small noble family within a coalition of others. They banded together to fight off larger nations, or at least thwart them so much that they would look for easier prey elsewhere.
Within this coalition they had a security of sorts, yet it was a fragile one. Already the coalition was showing signs of inwards collapse and the Meors were taking pre-emptive strikes to ensure they had a larger realm then before they had joined the coalition.

Henry Meors was the third son of Gerald Meors and now in charge of this siege of Greenhope. It had originally been designed to be a quick and decisive raid, yet through external and internal factors the city of Greenhope had dug in and prepared for a lengthy siege. Both sides were ill equipped for a proper lengthy siege, with many of the armaments of a larger army not on the field, yet it was still a siege none the less.

Henry Meors had spend some coin on siege engineers to build trebuchets, yet it had only been met with even harsher counter attacks and determination from the defenders. They had dug in firmly and from the looks of it this ‘quick’ raid was looking more and more like a siege that would stretch out for another three months, well into winter. Henry had not the supplies nor the coin to sustain such a thing. Either his army would desert him or his father would replace him with his younger brother. Henry himself wasn’t sure if the latter wasn’t the worse of the two.

“Calm yourself, my lord. Like I said, I vouch for the newcomers. I have had the pleasure of seeing them at work at Cadius.” His grizzled advisor told him, flashing a reassuring smile that lost any and all warmth due to the fact that he was missing most of his front teeth.
Through his advice he had steered Henry Meors into recruiting the help of the black legion, a relatively new but effective mercenary company. They were small, yet organised and well equipped. They only took on contracts that suited their services and worked on their own.
He himself had brokered the deal and had Henry sign off on it. The bronze and copper bars were the more expensive items on the list, yet Henry had accepted it in the end. The twenty or so slaves were nothing compared to the hundreds of potential slaves that could be claimed from such a town.

He was about to reassure Henry more when the earth trembled violently for a second accompanied with a thunderous roar.
When both Henry and himself ran outside of the tent they could see the in the distance eighteen black figures rushing forwards in a tight formation, followed by several others in more tactical and protective routes. They clearly were all rushing towards the Eastern gate that had once thwarted Henry’s army due to the sturdy wooden gateway and thick stone walls. From what they could see from here and judging by the thick plumes of black smoke rising from the eastern gate it had apparently been breached in a violent explosion.

“Dwarven powder” He said both to himself and Henry. Expensive, yet effective if you had the chemical knowledge to safely use it in the field.
The explosion was apparently quite effective, seeing as alarm bells were going off all around the city, with reinforcements from the western gate streaming towards the eastern one. It was futile however, even Henry could see that clearly. The black figures had cleared the gatehouse and were barricading strategic positions with heavy infantry whilst ranged units were picking off reinforcements that dared to come to close. Anti-personnel siege craft such as boiling tar, thick rocks and Javelins were quickly redirected from facing out of the town to its innards by these black legionnaires.
Even if Henry’s men weren’t rushing towards the eastern gate the black legion would be able to hold it for quite some time, impaling or boiling soldiers to death that came to close, whilst precision steam propelled rounds were picking off archers and other ranged units.

Four hours later and the town was Henry’s, or what was left off it. A lengthy siege did breed hatred in both defenders and attackers. Henry’s men had not the discipline that the black legion had, swarming in the city and ransacking it. More civilians died in those four hours through rape, looting and pillaging then during the many months before it.
Henry had been tempted to go back on his promise to pay the black legion, yet feared that it might damage his reputation and cause other mercenaries to refuse to work with him in the future. Whilst he thought about it in a monetary way, his advisor was quick to point out that the black legion was still positioned in a strategic way. Even if they were going to double cross them, the end result would be a frightening amount of casualties.

So, Henry prepared servants to bring the requested metal bars for the black legion whilst five of them went towards the keep to pick out the twenty slaves. Henry had promised that the legion had the first pick and that these were not ‘damaged or sullied’ as of yet.

[DarkEnigma]

Change log

10-01-2020 – Added the plot.
15-03-2021 – Bumped the plot.