The idea behind this story is a rather simple one. We've seen SI fics before and know its all...
Dominion of Mars (Multicross SI)
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#1 Introduction
Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
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The idea behind this story is a rather simple one. We've seen SI fics before and know its all about wish fulfillment and all that jazz. The beginning of this story starts off in Dominions 4, Thrones of Ascension however its different for narrative and to add more difficulty against my SI as he (or she in this case, don't look to far into this, I always play the Vampire Queen and LA Ulm) attempts to conquer the remnants of the Kingdom of Aran. Hopefully I interest you fair readers enough to keep on reading. Each post will be a year in the Ascension Wars, the 'Victory Conditions' set is Conquest.
I knew something was wrong when I clicked confirmed my game settings, starting the game with the same build I always used. It probably wasn't the best of the best when it came to this game, but I loved the Vampire Queen (yes, it deserves capitalization) but it was my token build. The Vampire Queen starts with paths in Death and Blood, I upped her Death scale to 8 and her Blood scale to 7, with misfortune at two and production at one. To end it off I made my pretender Dormant.
Then everything went to hell. I was locked inside my own body, almost like sleep paralysis or one of those horror stories where the anesthesia only half works when the doctor was operating on you. Then I got pelted with memories that weren't mine. I was a normal teen, yet I am also apparently Salicara the Vampire Queen. It was painful, like a thousand needles shoved into my brain. First came the Language, Ulmish, which was basically fantasy German. Then came her/my experience as a Princess, the thirteenth daughter of King Francis I of Aran with an unknown woman (her/my father always looked so sad when he talked about her). Being a legitimized bastard was a rather mixed experience, I wasn't treated like dirt, and my siblings either treated me with aloofness or pity. It was the fact I/she, damn it, whatever I was the stain on the household to the local nobility that grated at me. I personally did everything I could to spite the nobility and acted like admittedly a spoiled brat for most of my preteen years.
Apparently I either got bored, or my father looked at me disappointingly a little too many times for me to continue these actions, and decidedly joined a knightly order instead. Father didn't protest too much, as a devote follower of the Church of Cicassrian, the current Pantokrator (an Earth Serpent, my meta knowledge pipes in). The Knights of the Serpent, or Scale Knights, were a large scale peacekeeping force tasked with eliminating bandits and the like (and purging heretics). That's what my day to day life was spent in, cleansing the land of 'filth' in the name of 'god', until before my twentieth birthday calamity struck. A giant burning inferno scorched the land, ash blocked the sky. What was once green fields turned into wastelands as the Pantocrator vanished, betraying his loyal subjects. The Kingdom shattered, and the Royal Family met its demise, it's castle a entombed in sand and ash. Salicara herself/myself (this is hurting my mind) survived, well 'survived' as in 'maimed beyond recognition', and she learned to HATE, HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. Then a Being sensed this great anger and perverted it, channeling it, possessed it, and attacked and warped Salicara's very soul, my soul into a vampire. Mindless at first, drowning in a hatred to devour the world she attacked, sacked and decimated civilizations until a new Pantocrator arrived and sealed her away. That's where I come in I suppose.
What a very disturbing girl I was/am. Apparently being betrayed by your god does that to somebody. Though I am quite curious on who this being that warped her original soul, Salicara's or I guess, my memories only give a vague depiction, an imprint of who did it. Further speculation was halted has light filled my eyes in the first time in minutes/hours/days/years/millennia and almost completely on reflex I grabbed the nearest person from my apparent position on the floor by the throat, ready to drain the literal life from his body before barely stopping myself. After all, there were fine blood slaves meant for that purpose instead. It's only now that I realize how wide my grin is before I wipe it away, a grimace replacing it, but strangely, or not so strangely I didn't feel any disgust or shame over my actions aside from a strong feeling of disappointment in myself over the mindless slaughter I partook in many seconds/minutes/years/decades/centuries ago. "What would father say, after all".
This brings me back to a snap, a profound anger on your features, and the people who were oh so kind to free me started to look nervous. I don't care. Aran, my beautiful country was turned into a desolate WASTELAND! A wasteland! Sand and Ash cover the once beautiful fields. This also brings me back to the 'game', seeing that everyone here was dressed in "LA Ulm" regalia, Black Priests, Illuminated Ones, various soldiers of what I remember in what must be an 'Alternate Reality' me experienced in the game Dominions 4.
"Well?" I snarled out, presenting myself in my ballgown, arms stretched out. "I'm here, hurry up and tell me the situation!". A vaguely important looking one, with a fanatical look in his eyes rushed over, "Yes, my lady, as you well know, Aran suffered a calamity, wiping out most organized civilization, and during what we would call the First Era (or more technical 'First Era Post Calamity' but you get the point), the wars of Ascension as they became to be known came about. Civilization was rebuilding and everything was looking up for a while, until the world was ravaged by two Pretenders that dared to call themselves gods. Eventually, one of them did succeed in killing the other, but it was quite difficult to rule anything being a disembodied hand (Oh, yes, that's an important detail, I shouldn't really say 'succeed in killing the other', as much as one 'self destructed to annihilate the other'). Now this was fine, as your faithful worshipers were looking for you during this time, and obviously didn't really succeed in that endeavor until around the Second Era. The Second Era is where the Second War of Ascension came into being. Instead of trying to annihilate each other, they were trying to Ascend using various magic sites, and places of power the Pantokrator left behind. After a few decades of war, one did manage to succeed in conquering enough of them, but either they were in reality a trap, or through sheer incompetence the thrones rejected the Pretender and killed him and destroyed the Thrones in the attempt (Quite explosively, too, my lady, which is a shame, I hoped to study those magic sites)". He looked like he was about to prattle on some more, so I stopped him.
"This is where I come in then, I assume, and in what time span does an 'Era' cover." I inquired, time for the actual important bits, hopefully. "An Era covers important events, and is not really recognized on any formal calendar. For an example the First Era was 300 years, while the Second Era was around 50 to 80 years depending on who you asked. This is currently the 'Third Era' or the year 500 Post Calamity. During the First and early Second Era, we didn't know where you were sealed, then we did find you, and after several decades of brute forcing the seal into letting you out more or less you came into being. During this time we have gone around converting the populace, rounding up blood slaves, building an army, and conquered most of the Grand Duchy of Ulm. We are currently at war with the self styled 'god' Duke Marignon to the south. To the west Abysia reigns (Do you know what they are, red devil looking cre- oh you do, well this makes this easier), and is currently in a long drawn out conflict with Lemuria (Considering you killed the previous Ghost King, I wouldn't be surprised if you knew who these "people" were). There were other small nations but were very quickly crushed between the four of our nations."
Well, that changes things. By quite a lot, with Aran divided into Four, and with a large territory to start with, it made conquering Aran go from 'probably impossible to do within the next century' to 'probably a few decades'. Of course, now that I have the memories and imprints of a crazy vampire lady, and the know-how of how to theoretically rule a medieval state, and the general knowledge of my time in Universe A's Earth, there must be quite a few long term plans to well... Plan, for after the war.
SI's mind is fucked, but I didn't really want to make a drawn out story where SI learns how to not be more incompetent then Louis the Seventeenth when it came to ruling a nation. I also didn't really feel like being a powerless human grinding up magic power from Empowerment rituals. I also know that I'd be a really bad ruler, so inserting my mind into a Vampire Queen who'd know all about this ruling stuff would come in handy.
I knew something was wrong when I clicked confirmed my game settings, starting the game with the same build I always used. It probably wasn't the best of the best when it came to this game, but I loved the Vampire Queen (yes, it deserves capitalization) but it was my token build. The Vampire Queen starts with paths in Death and Blood, I upped her Death scale to 8 and her Blood scale to 7, with misfortune at two and production at one. To end it off I made my pretender Dormant.
Then everything went to hell. I was locked inside my own body, almost like sleep paralysis or one of those horror stories where the anesthesia only half works when the doctor was operating on you. Then I got pelted with memories that weren't mine. I was a normal teen, yet I am also apparently Salicara the Vampire Queen. It was painful, like a thousand needles shoved into my brain. First came the Language, Ulmish, which was basically fantasy German. Then came her/my experience as a Princess, the thirteenth daughter of King Francis I of Aran with an unknown woman (her/my father always looked so sad when he talked about her). Being a legitimized bastard was a rather mixed experience, I wasn't treated like dirt, and my siblings either treated me with aloofness or pity. It was the fact I/she, damn it, whatever I was the stain on the household to the local nobility that grated at me. I personally did everything I could to spite the nobility and acted like admittedly a spoiled brat for most of my preteen years.
Apparently I either got bored, or my father looked at me disappointingly a little too many times for me to continue these actions, and decidedly joined a knightly order instead. Father didn't protest too much, as a devote follower of the Church of Cicassrian, the current Pantokrator (an Earth Serpent, my meta knowledge pipes in). The Knights of the Serpent, or Scale Knights, were a large scale peacekeeping force tasked with eliminating bandits and the like (and purging heretics). That's what my day to day life was spent in, cleansing the land of 'filth' in the name of 'god', until before my twentieth birthday calamity struck. A giant burning inferno scorched the land, ash blocked the sky. What was once green fields turned into wastelands as the Pantocrator vanished, betraying his loyal subjects. The Kingdom shattered, and the Royal Family met its demise, it's castle a entombed in sand and ash. Salicara herself/myself (this is hurting my mind) survived, well 'survived' as in 'maimed beyond recognition', and she learned to HATE, HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. Then a Being sensed this great anger and perverted it, channeling it, possessed it, and attacked and warped Salicara's very soul, my soul into a vampire. Mindless at first, drowning in a hatred to devour the world she attacked, sacked and decimated civilizations until a new Pantocrator arrived and sealed her away. That's where I come in I suppose.
What a very disturbing girl I was/am. Apparently being betrayed by your god does that to somebody. Though I am quite curious on who this being that warped her original soul, Salicara's or I guess, my memories only give a vague depiction, an imprint of who did it. Further speculation was halted has light filled my eyes in the first time in minutes/hours/days/years/millennia and almost completely on reflex I grabbed the nearest person from my apparent position on the floor by the throat, ready to drain the literal life from his body before barely stopping myself. After all, there were fine blood slaves meant for that purpose instead. It's only now that I realize how wide my grin is before I wipe it away, a grimace replacing it, but strangely, or not so strangely I didn't feel any disgust or shame over my actions aside from a strong feeling of disappointment in myself over the mindless slaughter I partook in many seconds/minutes/years/decades/centuries ago. "What would father say, after all".
This brings me back to a snap, a profound anger on your features, and the people who were oh so kind to free me started to look nervous. I don't care. Aran, my beautiful country was turned into a desolate WASTELAND! A wasteland! Sand and Ash cover the once beautiful fields. This also brings me back to the 'game', seeing that everyone here was dressed in "LA Ulm" regalia, Black Priests, Illuminated Ones, various soldiers of what I remember in what must be an 'Alternate Reality' me experienced in the game Dominions 4.
"Well?" I snarled out, presenting myself in my ballgown, arms stretched out. "I'm here, hurry up and tell me the situation!". A vaguely important looking one, with a fanatical look in his eyes rushed over, "Yes, my lady, as you well know, Aran suffered a calamity, wiping out most organized civilization, and during what we would call the First Era (or more technical 'First Era Post Calamity' but you get the point), the wars of Ascension as they became to be known came about. Civilization was rebuilding and everything was looking up for a while, until the world was ravaged by two Pretenders that dared to call themselves gods. Eventually, one of them did succeed in killing the other, but it was quite difficult to rule anything being a disembodied hand (Oh, yes, that's an important detail, I shouldn't really say 'succeed in killing the other', as much as one 'self destructed to annihilate the other'). Now this was fine, as your faithful worshipers were looking for you during this time, and obviously didn't really succeed in that endeavor until around the Second Era. The Second Era is where the Second War of Ascension came into being. Instead of trying to annihilate each other, they were trying to Ascend using various magic sites, and places of power the Pantokrator left behind. After a few decades of war, one did manage to succeed in conquering enough of them, but either they were in reality a trap, or through sheer incompetence the thrones rejected the Pretender and killed him and destroyed the Thrones in the attempt (Quite explosively, too, my lady, which is a shame, I hoped to study those magic sites)". He looked like he was about to prattle on some more, so I stopped him.
"This is where I come in then, I assume, and in what time span does an 'Era' cover." I inquired, time for the actual important bits, hopefully. "An Era covers important events, and is not really recognized on any formal calendar. For an example the First Era was 300 years, while the Second Era was around 50 to 80 years depending on who you asked. This is currently the 'Third Era' or the year 500 Post Calamity. During the First and early Second Era, we didn't know where you were sealed, then we did find you, and after several decades of brute forcing the seal into letting you out more or less you came into being. During this time we have gone around converting the populace, rounding up blood slaves, building an army, and conquered most of the Grand Duchy of Ulm. We are currently at war with the self styled 'god' Duke Marignon to the south. To the west Abysia reigns (Do you know what they are, red devil looking cre- oh you do, well this makes this easier), and is currently in a long drawn out conflict with Lemuria (Considering you killed the previous Ghost King, I wouldn't be surprised if you knew who these "people" were). There were other small nations but were very quickly crushed between the four of our nations."
Well, that changes things. By quite a lot, with Aran divided into Four, and with a large territory to start with, it made conquering Aran go from 'probably impossible to do within the next century' to 'probably a few decades'. Of course, now that I have the memories and imprints of a crazy vampire lady, and the know-how of how to theoretically rule a medieval state, and the general knowledge of my time in Universe A's Earth, there must be quite a few long term plans to well... Plan, for after the war.
SI's mind is fucked, but I didn't really want to make a drawn out story where SI learns how to not be more incompetent then Louis the Seventeenth when it came to ruling a nation. I also didn't really feel like being a powerless human grinding up magic power from Empowerment rituals. I also know that I'd be a really bad ruler, so inserting my mind into a Vampire Queen who'd know all about this ruling stuff would come in handy.
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Map
Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
- Location
- Canada
The Map of Aran, Featuring my epic Paint skills.
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Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
- Location
- Canada
That is a good guess. But I decided the Thrones were a trap, laid out by the previous Pantokrator so the SI couldn't really become 'God' quickly. I am also attempting to have most of the transitions between Universes happen due to plausible events instead of 'ROB' decided to be an asshole. Hopefully it works out.
Part One of Year One of the Ascension Wars
Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
- Location
- Canada
After that, admittedly basic run down of what probably is elaborate History, I was lead to the throne room. It was extravagant, so much so, that one could call it decadent. Simpering fools surrounded me - and I am going to stop right there. I ordered the man, Chancellor Fredrick, I learned, to compile a report, (Which then required a long drawn out talk about what a report was, and why I needed one). A map, which a shady looking man named Orion delivered to me (under the orders of Fredrick apparently, he looked excited about it at least) along with an envelope containing what he said was 'vital information', and sent for representatives for various generals across Ulm for a grasp of the basic situation (and possibly how dire it was).
The map showed, just like the Chancellor said, we had most of the duchy of Ulm, with the Marignon dogs controlling a few provinces. Orion, a member of the Illuminated Order informed me that they had spies everywhere but Lemuria, and showed me the areas with the most concentration of troops, and where Duke Marignon himself was. Duke Marignon was reigning in his castle in a province named after his family Marignon. He apparently was a pyromaniac wizard with a hateful rivalry towards the 'Great' Warlock Togaric, due to Abysia raiding Marignon for blood slaves and being almost immune to his fire in a brief duel. The only reason they aren't at war and tearing each other apart is the threat of mutual destruction at the hands of Lemuria. The Duke, was invading Ulm for similar reasons after he lost his eye in an assassination attempt by Ulmish Assassins (Not that it helped, he just replaced it with the eye of aiming).
Segwaying to magic, Ulm still bans magic, at least publicly. That has to go, magic is a useful tool, and wantonly killing people for practicing it weakens Ulm's overall position. Thanks to my meta knowledge I know a lot of spells. It's really useless because I can only use two paths of magic, but not having to research will assist me in conquering this place, the real gem is knowing the various artifacts available to forge. The only issue is that I have no idea how to spread this knowledge around, I don't have enough time to individually print out a book nor teach someone this knowledge. Creating the printing press maybe? It's a simple concept, a letter combination for every word. However lays the problem, I know the basic idea around the printing press, but I have no idea of the engineering behind how it functions. I'll put a pin on that one, maybe I'll have my mages research on how to create such an object.
After a few days of me writing out 'cease and desist' notices to various areas of the Church I was really thinking about the need for the printing press. Interrupting my thoughts a group of what appears to be scouts arrive with paper in hand, along with a very fancy envelope with a wax seal. The loose sheets of papers, have what seems to be blotchy ink barely comprehensible words, describing troop numbers and such from the various armies. The first army contained around five hundred Pikemen, six hundred Infantry, three hundred Irregulars (various Militias, Hedge Knights, volunteers , etc) and four hundred Rangers, combined strength of eighteen hundred men stationed at Castle Redmont under Commander Jean Jaques. The Second army contained three hundred Pikemen, seven hundred Infantry, two hundred Irregulars, two hundred Rangers and two hundred Black Templars, combined strength of sixteen hundred men stationed at the border under Hochmeister Grimwald. The Third army was stationed here in Ulm, with 300 Zweihanders, 300 Infantry, 100 Pikemen, 400 Black Templars, 500 Ghoul Guardians, 300 Rangers and 1000 Irregulars of various types, under the command of well... Me. There were also reports from various Garrisons summarized by the local bureaucracy that around 200 militia in each province, aside from the border where its around 400-500 men strong.
The military I also know about in strength due to the Illuminated Order is Marignon. At Worthwood Fortress around 500 Pikemen, 400 Halberdiers, 300 City Guard Militia, 400 Crossbows, and 500 Flagellants (should they really be counted as soldiers? Half of them are half-dead by the time they arrive into battle!) the combined force of 2,100 under the command of Philippe the High Inquisitor, with various fire mages in this army. At the border, there is around 230 Pikemen, 300 Halberdiers, 75 City Guard Militia, 400 Crossbows and 210 Flagellants, totaling an number of 1,215 under the currently disgraced Inquisitor Durestant. Due to Duke Zenan's paranoia and rivalry with Abysia, his third army is at that border instead. with around 500 Pikemen, 400 Swordsmen, 300 Crossbows, 30 Diabolists of various skill. Under Duke Zenan himself is 300 Palace Guards, 400 Royal Guards, 300 Hand of Justice, 150 City Guard Militia, and 300 Crossbows totaling around 1,450 men.
The envelope contained information from the Pope. Around 75% of my lands were worshiping me the other 25% are Totemic or Ancestral worshipers, and a large influx of new converts arrive each day due to Lemuria causing refugees. The population has a relatively orderly and happy life and overall opinion of me was high, seeing as word spread that I was some sort of reformer, ending the tyranny previously under the priests directly. Orion also pipes in and says around 60% of Marignon worship Duke Marignon, 10% Worship Warlock Togaric, 15 % Worship me, and the other 25% are Totemic or Ancestral worshipers. The overall feeling among Marignon is discontent, but still relatively loyal.
Happiness of my population will be an issue. I cant very well start pillaging my own cities and towns for blood slaves if it'll lead them astray. A clever plan is needed, to somehow gain large amounts of slaves, yet keep the populace happy. I motioned Orion over, being the representative of the highly secretive Illuminated Order, I asked him his thoughts. We debated over simply seizing them from refugees, before acknowledging that they'd simply go to Abysia or Marignon instead. We debated spreading "Werewolves" around hunting and stealing the young away at the dark of night before agreeing that it'd be to costly, and inefficient. I then had an idea, a dastardly idea. "What about a false plague? We'll set up Hospitals in every major town and city, disguise blood hunters as Plague Doctors. Everyone eligible for enslavement will be taken as 'deceased'. Everyone illegible will be turned back as 'cured' or 'treated' after we give them some 'medicine'?" I proposed. "Yes, that could work, various plagues always spread around Aran, and the burning of bodies is common, we will need a large amount of ash however, to give back to the families. As per Tradition, after death bodies are burnt into ash and stored into urns and taken to the Church or to be stored at home to do with as they will with their dead, an echo from Ulm's days of Ancestor Worship I'm afraid." Orion replied, "I'll alert the Order to make preparations immediately, we will also spread the rumor of Plague and what was it you called it? Ah yes, a Hospital, for the sick." and then he left, almost like he was in a rush, apparently it was a long time since the Order had to do anything but spy after all, so a real assignment must have excited him.
With no more expected appointments I called upon my Chancellor Fredrick and a representative for the Black Priests and the Pope. "My Queen! I hope you were satisfied with the map? It's the highest quality and most up to date one I could acquire from the Cartography Guild, it's even enchanted to Self Update! Such magnificent Sorcery! Why I heard it was created by Logar the Ghost king himself in the First Era right before you killed him in fa-", he rambled on, he really was getting on my nerves, but he did release some interesting information, but I did not need this exposition right now. "Enough! Chancellor, Priest, I have a task for you both to complete." I continued before the Chancellor could waste any more of my time with his talking, "An invention to revolutionize the world, and more importantly Ulm. I want you to figure out a way to create the Printing Press, the idea behind this is that every word in Ulmish is possible. A block with an inscribed letter, colored with ink, pressed down would print that letter." I felt like I didn't understand a lot that went into this process, but the me from Universe A, didn't know much about the printing press other than the basics of the basics, through curious searches through the 'web'. Hopefully that would be enough for the Chancellor and the Priests (being my only organized state controlled Magical Society) to figure out, if not, at least they'd be thinking up and researching the possibility anyway, bringing us closer to the Renaissance. "Yes, of course my lady, I'll find the greatest minds across the land! In your name-" he rambled on "Dismissed, Chancellor, actions speak louder than words, do good work, and I will reward you with riches and your name will go down in history!" that shut him up, but I think I encouraged this behavior by accident. Whoops.
No matter, that is a small issue, compared to the war going on. Luckily Hochmeister Grimwald handily defeated Inquisitor Durestant at the border town of Harwood days before I awoke. Commander Jean, has a full army ready to march down as well. Duke Zenan Marignon is known for many things, but competence in strategy apparently wasn't one of them, though perhaps it was Durestants apparently emotional response on behalf of his 'God' to be blamed. He was a true fanatic and led his men foolishly into an ambush in attempt to sack Harwood. I order my scribe (nifty little things, when you don't have the patience for any more personal letters) to write an order for the First and the Second army to press that attack, and to eventually surround Worthwood Fortress to either starve it out, or force Zenan to personally attack. While I was no Sun Tzu, or formally trained in Strategy, that was what my Generals were for, I'm just attempting to direct their collective strategic minds against Marignon. Lastly, I have my scribe write one more letter to the nearby chapter of the Black Templars for another Hochmeister to lead the 3rd Army, as I had no business leading an army I had no idea how to command.
Basic Attack Strategy:
By the way, if I'm doing anything like completely wrong, don't hesitate to call me out on it.
Edit: Expect a military 'Grand Battle Plan' map to soon accompany these posts. With militaristic information like which army is exactly where and all that, and what the individual forts are called. It'd feel really forced for a very elaborate discussion about 'Fortress locations' and the like in story when I'd probably realistically just get a basic map with a circle saying >basically there<
Edit: That's probably good enough, I don't want to squish even more names on this small battlefield.
The map showed, just like the Chancellor said, we had most of the duchy of Ulm, with the Marignon dogs controlling a few provinces. Orion, a member of the Illuminated Order informed me that they had spies everywhere but Lemuria, and showed me the areas with the most concentration of troops, and where Duke Marignon himself was. Duke Marignon was reigning in his castle in a province named after his family Marignon. He apparently was a pyromaniac wizard with a hateful rivalry towards the 'Great' Warlock Togaric, due to Abysia raiding Marignon for blood slaves and being almost immune to his fire in a brief duel. The only reason they aren't at war and tearing each other apart is the threat of mutual destruction at the hands of Lemuria. The Duke, was invading Ulm for similar reasons after he lost his eye in an assassination attempt by Ulmish Assassins (Not that it helped, he just replaced it with the eye of aiming).
Segwaying to magic, Ulm still bans magic, at least publicly. That has to go, magic is a useful tool, and wantonly killing people for practicing it weakens Ulm's overall position. Thanks to my meta knowledge I know a lot of spells. It's really useless because I can only use two paths of magic, but not having to research will assist me in conquering this place, the real gem is knowing the various artifacts available to forge. The only issue is that I have no idea how to spread this knowledge around, I don't have enough time to individually print out a book nor teach someone this knowledge. Creating the printing press maybe? It's a simple concept, a letter combination for every word. However lays the problem, I know the basic idea around the printing press, but I have no idea of the engineering behind how it functions. I'll put a pin on that one, maybe I'll have my mages research on how to create such an object.
After a few days of me writing out 'cease and desist' notices to various areas of the Church I was really thinking about the need for the printing press. Interrupting my thoughts a group of what appears to be scouts arrive with paper in hand, along with a very fancy envelope with a wax seal. The loose sheets of papers, have what seems to be blotchy ink barely comprehensible words, describing troop numbers and such from the various armies. The first army contained around five hundred Pikemen, six hundred Infantry, three hundred Irregulars (various Militias, Hedge Knights, volunteers , etc) and four hundred Rangers, combined strength of eighteen hundred men stationed at Castle Redmont under Commander Jean Jaques. The Second army contained three hundred Pikemen, seven hundred Infantry, two hundred Irregulars, two hundred Rangers and two hundred Black Templars, combined strength of sixteen hundred men stationed at the border under Hochmeister Grimwald. The Third army was stationed here in Ulm, with 300 Zweihanders, 300 Infantry, 100 Pikemen, 400 Black Templars, 500 Ghoul Guardians, 300 Rangers and 1000 Irregulars of various types, under the command of well... Me. There were also reports from various Garrisons summarized by the local bureaucracy that around 200 militia in each province, aside from the border where its around 400-500 men strong.
The military I also know about in strength due to the Illuminated Order is Marignon. At Worthwood Fortress around 500 Pikemen, 400 Halberdiers, 300 City Guard Militia, 400 Crossbows, and 500 Flagellants (should they really be counted as soldiers? Half of them are half-dead by the time they arrive into battle!) the combined force of 2,100 under the command of Philippe the High Inquisitor, with various fire mages in this army. At the border, there is around 230 Pikemen, 300 Halberdiers, 75 City Guard Militia, 400 Crossbows and 210 Flagellants, totaling an number of 1,215 under the currently disgraced Inquisitor Durestant. Due to Duke Zenan's paranoia and rivalry with Abysia, his third army is at that border instead. with around 500 Pikemen, 400 Swordsmen, 300 Crossbows, 30 Diabolists of various skill. Under Duke Zenan himself is 300 Palace Guards, 400 Royal Guards, 300 Hand of Justice, 150 City Guard Militia, and 300 Crossbows totaling around 1,450 men.
The envelope contained information from the Pope. Around 75% of my lands were worshiping me the other 25% are Totemic or Ancestral worshipers, and a large influx of new converts arrive each day due to Lemuria causing refugees. The population has a relatively orderly and happy life and overall opinion of me was high, seeing as word spread that I was some sort of reformer, ending the tyranny previously under the priests directly. Orion also pipes in and says around 60% of Marignon worship Duke Marignon, 10% Worship Warlock Togaric, 15 % Worship me, and the other 25% are Totemic or Ancestral worshipers. The overall feeling among Marignon is discontent, but still relatively loyal.
Happiness of my population will be an issue. I cant very well start pillaging my own cities and towns for blood slaves if it'll lead them astray. A clever plan is needed, to somehow gain large amounts of slaves, yet keep the populace happy. I motioned Orion over, being the representative of the highly secretive Illuminated Order, I asked him his thoughts. We debated over simply seizing them from refugees, before acknowledging that they'd simply go to Abysia or Marignon instead. We debated spreading "Werewolves" around hunting and stealing the young away at the dark of night before agreeing that it'd be to costly, and inefficient. I then had an idea, a dastardly idea. "What about a false plague? We'll set up Hospitals in every major town and city, disguise blood hunters as Plague Doctors. Everyone eligible for enslavement will be taken as 'deceased'. Everyone illegible will be turned back as 'cured' or 'treated' after we give them some 'medicine'?" I proposed. "Yes, that could work, various plagues always spread around Aran, and the burning of bodies is common, we will need a large amount of ash however, to give back to the families. As per Tradition, after death bodies are burnt into ash and stored into urns and taken to the Church or to be stored at home to do with as they will with their dead, an echo from Ulm's days of Ancestor Worship I'm afraid." Orion replied, "I'll alert the Order to make preparations immediately, we will also spread the rumor of Plague and what was it you called it? Ah yes, a Hospital, for the sick." and then he left, almost like he was in a rush, apparently it was a long time since the Order had to do anything but spy after all, so a real assignment must have excited him.
With no more expected appointments I called upon my Chancellor Fredrick and a representative for the Black Priests and the Pope. "My Queen! I hope you were satisfied with the map? It's the highest quality and most up to date one I could acquire from the Cartography Guild, it's even enchanted to Self Update! Such magnificent Sorcery! Why I heard it was created by Logar the Ghost king himself in the First Era right before you killed him in fa-", he rambled on, he really was getting on my nerves, but he did release some interesting information, but I did not need this exposition right now. "Enough! Chancellor, Priest, I have a task for you both to complete." I continued before the Chancellor could waste any more of my time with his talking, "An invention to revolutionize the world, and more importantly Ulm. I want you to figure out a way to create the Printing Press, the idea behind this is that every word in Ulmish is possible. A block with an inscribed letter, colored with ink, pressed down would print that letter." I felt like I didn't understand a lot that went into this process, but the me from Universe A, didn't know much about the printing press other than the basics of the basics, through curious searches through the 'web'. Hopefully that would be enough for the Chancellor and the Priests (being my only organized state controlled Magical Society) to figure out, if not, at least they'd be thinking up and researching the possibility anyway, bringing us closer to the Renaissance. "Yes, of course my lady, I'll find the greatest minds across the land! In your name-" he rambled on "Dismissed, Chancellor, actions speak louder than words, do good work, and I will reward you with riches and your name will go down in history!" that shut him up, but I think I encouraged this behavior by accident. Whoops.
No matter, that is a small issue, compared to the war going on. Luckily Hochmeister Grimwald handily defeated Inquisitor Durestant at the border town of Harwood days before I awoke. Commander Jean, has a full army ready to march down as well. Duke Zenan Marignon is known for many things, but competence in strategy apparently wasn't one of them, though perhaps it was Durestants apparently emotional response on behalf of his 'God' to be blamed. He was a true fanatic and led his men foolishly into an ambush in attempt to sack Harwood. I order my scribe (nifty little things, when you don't have the patience for any more personal letters) to write an order for the First and the Second army to press that attack, and to eventually surround Worthwood Fortress to either starve it out, or force Zenan to personally attack. While I was no Sun Tzu, or formally trained in Strategy, that was what my Generals were for, I'm just attempting to direct their collective strategic minds against Marignon. Lastly, I have my scribe write one more letter to the nearby chapter of the Black Templars for another Hochmeister to lead the 3rd Army, as I had no business leading an army I had no idea how to command.
Basic Attack Strategy:
By the way, if I'm doing anything like completely wrong, don't hesitate to call me out on it.
Edit: Expect a military 'Grand Battle Plan' map to soon accompany these posts. With militaristic information like which army is exactly where and all that, and what the individual forts are called. It'd feel really forced for a very elaborate discussion about 'Fortress locations' and the like in story when I'd probably realistically just get a basic map with a circle saying >basically there<
Edit: That's probably good enough, I don't want to squish even more names on this small battlefield.
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Interesting... *holds hands in front of face with reflective glasses hiding my eyes*
Do continue
On another note, your map of Arun failed to load in my screen. I'm using a laptop, not a mobile for the record. Your basic attack image loaded though.
Do continue
On another note, your map of Arun failed to load in my screen. I'm using a laptop, not a mobile for the record. Your basic attack image loaded though.
Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
- Location
- Canada
That's probably Google's fault then instead of your phone. The important bits will be focused on these small battle plan maps anyway. The big map is for people curious on the Geo-Political stance between the four empires.
Edit: You're not on mobile. Whoops. Anyway, it's probably Google's fault then.
Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
- Location
- Canada
As for anyone wondering why SI doesn't rush Gunpowder weapons: MC doesn't know how to create guns, and even if she did, she'd still need the printing press for that knowledge to have any use. (That's my personal pet peeves with Modern people getting inserted into Fantasy, even in the implausible situation MC knows how to make guns, or have the basic idea, the smiths make quality weapons like they've been doing it for years). MC's knowledge about crafting guns is limited to the Huolongjing gun, and even then, she'd only know how to explain how it's supposed to function, and the gaps left behind would probably lead to disaster.
Part Two of Year One of the Ascension Wars
Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
- Location
- Canada
Not having to eat was an odd experience. I mean, I didn't notice it at first. But after going a few days without food, I was perplexed, not at the fact that I didn't need food (I was an Undead, after all) but by the fact I didn't really feel any sort of feeling of loss. Oh individual foods for sure, I missed pizza, strawberry ice cream, and a whole lot of other things. But hunger itself wasn't something I felt need to sweat over apparently... On that note, drinking someones blood for the "first" time was an experience. Metallic and Sweet were two words I'd give my taste, apparently every vampire tastes are different, but I was never curious enough to inquire why during my time in the First Era to other vampires.
My thoughts were interrupted as someone entered the throne room. Dressed in full plate, a mace hanging loosely by his side, an average looking face, ah this must be my new Hochmeister. Now that I think about it, I haven't created a prophet yet, and this seems to be the best choice as of yet. By the time I've finished my inner monologue he's already kneeling before me, awaiting for my words. Considering the Church only recruits among the most fanatic of the population, he'd probably stay there for days. Hmm. "Arise, what is your name Hochmeister", he abruptly stood up, and declared his name "Hermann von Burke" I didn't wait for him to start listing reasons on why I was the greatest thing since sliced bread (did they have sliced bread here? Probably...) and tried to be as dramatic as possible "Well congratulations Hochmeister Hermann von Burke, or should I say, Prophet Hermann von Burke, you've been chosen to lead the Third army. Do not disappoint me." he looked shocked and stammered out a thank you, bowed a little bit longer than necessary and almost retreated out of the room. I smiled and gestured my hand for my cup bearer to pour me a glass of "wine" only for the cup bearer to trip on the carpet, covering the floor and leaving me drinkless. Misfortune does that to you apparently, it effects your every day life with a bunch of petty tricks and sorrow. It messes with the tax collector, and it ruins the harvest. It doesn't do much more than annoy thankfully, and it's very rare that such events damage the Orderly lives of Ulmerites.
The cup bearer stammers a apology like I'm going to drink her instead, which is stupid. "Clean yourself up, then bring me a drink." she barely lets me finish my sentence after she realizes I wont punish her for a simple mistake. Using my mastery of Blood Magic I clean the carpet, and move the blood into an easy to clean puddle. Eventually she comes back with my drink, and a servant goes through the hard work of cleaning up the mess. Now I had nothing to do. That happens often, apparently, my Order scale makes the bureaucracy efficient, and hard to corrupt, so there's not much left for me to handle that the local ministers cant. Eventually, a messenger with a clean envelope arrives, along with various other papers, Orion arrives just after him, apparently deciding to report himself the goings on in the front and how successful our "Project" was. Orion waits patiently to the side as I look through the local reports.
Taxes weren't interrupted, and the harvests, while not optimal still came through for us apparently. To summarize the report I spend 30,000 gold monthly maintaining the military which is self explanatory, and 10,000 monthly on Government and Misc Expenses which is less so, included in there are the wages for my servants, the bureaucrats, the 'Plague Doctors' while I gain 50,000 to 80,000 each month in taxes, harvests, and plunder, in the vault around 100,000 gold sits unused, of which there was originally 200,000 that was used to build hospitals all over the duchy. The various papers are local nobles, barons and the like looking for attention, and generally pledging their allegiance to me, and promising to send their personal levy and donations to the cause. It's nice to know that we weren't in debt just yet, and that the nobles wouldn't do anything foolish.
Seeing me momentarily free for a few minutes Orion took this time to deliver his report. "The plan presented was a failure" That was grim, hopefully we had enough men to-"because High Inquisitor Philippe sallied out and attacked Commander Jean on the field.", "W-what! that's foolish, why on earth would you do such a thing when the enemy isn't strong enough to force you out?" I was shocked, sallying out and facing Jean head on was an option I never really considered. Orion continued despite my shock, "Considering High Inquisitor's force was largely militia and for some illogical reason, Marignon thinks shields are heresy, most of his force was annihilated at range. During the melee, Marignon faltered to our obviously superior soldiers, and broke them into a shattered retreat, of the troops originally stationed at Worthwood Fortress, 1,200 perished in battle, our casualties, of the 1,800 men under the command of Commander Jean, 400 of them perished in battle. 75% of those casualties were Pikemen during the initial charge, and the rest were deaths in the opening skirmish between the Rangers and the Crossbowmen. Apparently this was possible due to a luring tactic, where Commander Jean's forces were split into two, the one Jean was using personally used an artifact for his army to seem smaller than it actually was, and Philippe seeing what he thought was a small vulnerable army of 800 with a small vanguard of 200 sallied out only to be pincer attacked between the two separate forces. While this is good news as we now vastly outnumber Marignon and it's just a case of mopping up the Duke himself and what remains of his devastated army, such tricks will never work again. What remained of the garrison surrendered, and is currently in a prisoner transport towards Castle Redmont. As of around a week ago Commander Jean is awaiting Hochmeister Grimwald to unite their forces to march on Marignon itself. However acting on your behalf the Order told him to wait for the 3rd army to arrive, unless you wish for something different? While the initial stages of "The Grand Battle Plan" were a failure, it still resulted in its primary objective, the capture of Worthwood Fortress, and the death of the army there. However, one thing to note, Abysia has launched their own invasion, its unclear who the victor was, as it's much more difficult to send a human spy in a inhuman xenophobic nation. To summarize your choices here, my lady, combining the 3rd army with the 1st and 2nd will lead to less casualties, but will surrender a lot of territory to Abysia, and possibly the capital itself to Abysia. While attacking with the armies already there will maximize territory gain and the capital itself, we aren't debating the 'what if Duke Zenan wins' we both know he wont, it's just how many he'll be able to bring down with him."
I was shocked still, before I started laughing, it wasn't a happy laugh. To think, a mere mistake was the reason for everything to come tumbling down around Duke Zenan. However I wasn't an idiot. No, I smiled, I wasn't fooled Orion, the ambush was a coincidence, but this, this was no mere mistake was it... "Orion, you and your Order, had something to do with this didn't you..." it wasn't a question. He smiled, the only thing I could see under his crimson robes and hood, he then gave out a laugh. "You give us too much credit, we might have told Philippe about the small army that 'dared' to mock him with its presence, we might have told Durestant that the border town really was undefended and ripe for the picking, but in the end its their choice of whether or not they decide to do what they do." I was genuinely impressed with how far the Illuminated Order has infiltrated Marignon, before it came to me. The Diabolists! "Your order and the Diabolists of Marignon is one and the same isn't it." I only made the connection through meta knowledge, but the Illuminated Order and the Diabolists are very similar in their ideals, and having two orders of such similar kind next to each other cant be a coincidence. "Mostly, however, there are many members not fully apart of the Order. I'm surprised you figured it out, we were going to tell you eventually, after you proved your worth as a leader, but I think this is enough. I'll see to it that the mages inside Marignon, the county, are all Order supporters, and disable most of their ranged, and for good measure leave the door unlocked for you. The next move is yours, my god." Orion then bowed, and its only now I realize its the first time he's done such, after a moment of shock, I motion for him to rise.
"First, I want you to note, that after this meeting I want the First and Second to then attack Marignon, this is the last time we can utilize your Order's vast influence, and I'd be a fool not to after realizing how many plants you have inside the Capital itself. The operations, then, I wish to know how successful the Hospital Scheme was," Orion nodded his head, and started speaking like he hadn't just shattered my view of him and how powerful his Order really was. "All over Ulm, and the Duchy of Marignon, or at least the area's I expected us to gain from this war, have hospitals with the Plague Doctors like you ordered, you can thank me latter for the initiative, we currently gain around a thousand blood slaves each month, spread in various laboratories scattered in Ulm and the North half of Marignon."
This is beyond useful, having a steady supply of summon material would make invading Abysia much easier later. Such a shame Abysia isn't a human nation, they'd be much easier to infiltrate and destroy like what seemingly happened to Marignon. Thinking about Abysia, I'll have to impose a bodyguard law for important officials, making it mandatory for them to have some protection to hopefully ward of Abysian assassins.
Current Situation:
If you're wondering why Marignon fell so fast, well, most of its land is Desert or Swamps, and Wasteland. They had no chance from OOC point of view. Very low population, and it was hinted on a war on two fronts was occurring during the beginning chapters. Finally the SI actually gets a chance to do something next chapter though, aside from organizing bureaucracy and attempting to bring in the Renaissance.
As always if you need me to explain anything, or tell me if I did something wrong here please let me know.
My thoughts were interrupted as someone entered the throne room. Dressed in full plate, a mace hanging loosely by his side, an average looking face, ah this must be my new Hochmeister. Now that I think about it, I haven't created a prophet yet, and this seems to be the best choice as of yet. By the time I've finished my inner monologue he's already kneeling before me, awaiting for my words. Considering the Church only recruits among the most fanatic of the population, he'd probably stay there for days. Hmm. "Arise, what is your name Hochmeister", he abruptly stood up, and declared his name "Hermann von Burke" I didn't wait for him to start listing reasons on why I was the greatest thing since sliced bread (did they have sliced bread here? Probably...) and tried to be as dramatic as possible "Well congratulations Hochmeister Hermann von Burke, or should I say, Prophet Hermann von Burke, you've been chosen to lead the Third army. Do not disappoint me." he looked shocked and stammered out a thank you, bowed a little bit longer than necessary and almost retreated out of the room. I smiled and gestured my hand for my cup bearer to pour me a glass of "wine" only for the cup bearer to trip on the carpet, covering the floor and leaving me drinkless. Misfortune does that to you apparently, it effects your every day life with a bunch of petty tricks and sorrow. It messes with the tax collector, and it ruins the harvest. It doesn't do much more than annoy thankfully, and it's very rare that such events damage the Orderly lives of Ulmerites.
The cup bearer stammers a apology like I'm going to drink her instead, which is stupid. "Clean yourself up, then bring me a drink." she barely lets me finish my sentence after she realizes I wont punish her for a simple mistake. Using my mastery of Blood Magic I clean the carpet, and move the blood into an easy to clean puddle. Eventually she comes back with my drink, and a servant goes through the hard work of cleaning up the mess. Now I had nothing to do. That happens often, apparently, my Order scale makes the bureaucracy efficient, and hard to corrupt, so there's not much left for me to handle that the local ministers cant. Eventually, a messenger with a clean envelope arrives, along with various other papers, Orion arrives just after him, apparently deciding to report himself the goings on in the front and how successful our "Project" was. Orion waits patiently to the side as I look through the local reports.
Taxes weren't interrupted, and the harvests, while not optimal still came through for us apparently. To summarize the report I spend 30,000 gold monthly maintaining the military which is self explanatory, and 10,000 monthly on Government and Misc Expenses which is less so, included in there are the wages for my servants, the bureaucrats, the 'Plague Doctors' while I gain 50,000 to 80,000 each month in taxes, harvests, and plunder, in the vault around 100,000 gold sits unused, of which there was originally 200,000 that was used to build hospitals all over the duchy. The various papers are local nobles, barons and the like looking for attention, and generally pledging their allegiance to me, and promising to send their personal levy and donations to the cause. It's nice to know that we weren't in debt just yet, and that the nobles wouldn't do anything foolish.
Seeing me momentarily free for a few minutes Orion took this time to deliver his report. "The plan presented was a failure" That was grim, hopefully we had enough men to-"because High Inquisitor Philippe sallied out and attacked Commander Jean on the field.", "W-what! that's foolish, why on earth would you do such a thing when the enemy isn't strong enough to force you out?" I was shocked, sallying out and facing Jean head on was an option I never really considered. Orion continued despite my shock, "Considering High Inquisitor's force was largely militia and for some illogical reason, Marignon thinks shields are heresy, most of his force was annihilated at range. During the melee, Marignon faltered to our obviously superior soldiers, and broke them into a shattered retreat, of the troops originally stationed at Worthwood Fortress, 1,200 perished in battle, our casualties, of the 1,800 men under the command of Commander Jean, 400 of them perished in battle. 75% of those casualties were Pikemen during the initial charge, and the rest were deaths in the opening skirmish between the Rangers and the Crossbowmen. Apparently this was possible due to a luring tactic, where Commander Jean's forces were split into two, the one Jean was using personally used an artifact for his army to seem smaller than it actually was, and Philippe seeing what he thought was a small vulnerable army of 800 with a small vanguard of 200 sallied out only to be pincer attacked between the two separate forces. While this is good news as we now vastly outnumber Marignon and it's just a case of mopping up the Duke himself and what remains of his devastated army, such tricks will never work again. What remained of the garrison surrendered, and is currently in a prisoner transport towards Castle Redmont. As of around a week ago Commander Jean is awaiting Hochmeister Grimwald to unite their forces to march on Marignon itself. However acting on your behalf the Order told him to wait for the 3rd army to arrive, unless you wish for something different? While the initial stages of "The Grand Battle Plan" were a failure, it still resulted in its primary objective, the capture of Worthwood Fortress, and the death of the army there. However, one thing to note, Abysia has launched their own invasion, its unclear who the victor was, as it's much more difficult to send a human spy in a inhuman xenophobic nation. To summarize your choices here, my lady, combining the 3rd army with the 1st and 2nd will lead to less casualties, but will surrender a lot of territory to Abysia, and possibly the capital itself to Abysia. While attacking with the armies already there will maximize territory gain and the capital itself, we aren't debating the 'what if Duke Zenan wins' we both know he wont, it's just how many he'll be able to bring down with him."
I was shocked still, before I started laughing, it wasn't a happy laugh. To think, a mere mistake was the reason for everything to come tumbling down around Duke Zenan. However I wasn't an idiot. No, I smiled, I wasn't fooled Orion, the ambush was a coincidence, but this, this was no mere mistake was it... "Orion, you and your Order, had something to do with this didn't you..." it wasn't a question. He smiled, the only thing I could see under his crimson robes and hood, he then gave out a laugh. "You give us too much credit, we might have told Philippe about the small army that 'dared' to mock him with its presence, we might have told Durestant that the border town really was undefended and ripe for the picking, but in the end its their choice of whether or not they decide to do what they do." I was genuinely impressed with how far the Illuminated Order has infiltrated Marignon, before it came to me. The Diabolists! "Your order and the Diabolists of Marignon is one and the same isn't it." I only made the connection through meta knowledge, but the Illuminated Order and the Diabolists are very similar in their ideals, and having two orders of such similar kind next to each other cant be a coincidence. "Mostly, however, there are many members not fully apart of the Order. I'm surprised you figured it out, we were going to tell you eventually, after you proved your worth as a leader, but I think this is enough. I'll see to it that the mages inside Marignon, the county, are all Order supporters, and disable most of their ranged, and for good measure leave the door unlocked for you. The next move is yours, my god." Orion then bowed, and its only now I realize its the first time he's done such, after a moment of shock, I motion for him to rise.
"First, I want you to note, that after this meeting I want the First and Second to then attack Marignon, this is the last time we can utilize your Order's vast influence, and I'd be a fool not to after realizing how many plants you have inside the Capital itself. The operations, then, I wish to know how successful the Hospital Scheme was," Orion nodded his head, and started speaking like he hadn't just shattered my view of him and how powerful his Order really was. "All over Ulm, and the Duchy of Marignon, or at least the area's I expected us to gain from this war, have hospitals with the Plague Doctors like you ordered, you can thank me latter for the initiative, we currently gain around a thousand blood slaves each month, spread in various laboratories scattered in Ulm and the North half of Marignon."
This is beyond useful, having a steady supply of summon material would make invading Abysia much easier later. Such a shame Abysia isn't a human nation, they'd be much easier to infiltrate and destroy like what seemingly happened to Marignon. Thinking about Abysia, I'll have to impose a bodyguard law for important officials, making it mandatory for them to have some protection to hopefully ward of Abysian assassins.
Current Situation:
If you're wondering why Marignon fell so fast, well, most of its land is Desert or Swamps, and Wasteland. They had no chance from OOC point of view. Very low population, and it was hinted on a war on two fronts was occurring during the beginning chapters. Finally the SI actually gets a chance to do something next chapter though, aside from organizing bureaucracy and attempting to bring in the Renaissance.
As always if you need me to explain anything, or tell me if I did something wrong here please let me know.
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Sword of Mars
Magical Girl Aficionado
- Location
- Canada
I'm exhausted, so if there's any weird sentence structuring errors that's probably why. I've run through and edited it, so it's not that horrible, but I'll check again tomorrow to make sure.