Negaverse Omake:
The Fall of the Xoh
The inner city was in chaos. Priests and nobles alike were running to and fro, desperately trying to find a way out of the situation. Some called for more sacrifices to appease the gods. Others urged their leaders to surrender, or fight on, or simply flee from the city before it was too late. Everywhere he turned, the Head Priest saw only fear and desperation. He met up with the War Chief several times, hoping to come up with a strategy to enable them to survive before it was too late.
But it was already too late.
The Ymaryn army had marched up to the very walls of the capital, their iron armor and elite Red Banner warriors allowing them to sweep aside all resistance in their path. Their current king, the nomad chieftain Phygrif, seemed all too eager to crush any warriors that attempted to stall his advance, though he made a point to spare any villages that willingly surrendered.
Camped outside the capital, the Ymaryns surrounded the city, cutting it off from the food supplies needed to keep the people fed. Worse, their numbers only seemed to swell with each passing day as more and more lowlanders joined up for a chance to strike back against their former masters. The priests did their best to maintain order, but there was only so much they could do. The mighty walls of the capital held firm, even as the people inside slowly starved to death.
Just when the Head Priest thought things couldn't get any worse, the Ymaryns brought out their newest contraption - a massive log of wood, bound together with iron and bronze and protected by a roof of wood and leather. The device was wheeled to the walls, where the men pushing it began swinging it into the gates again and again like a massive hammer. The people cowered in fear as the thunderous booming began to echo throughout the city. The gates were massive affairs, made of thick wood that had been carved and bound together hundreds of years ago. But even they could not hold on for long. Under the force of the blows, they began to crack, splinter, and finally shattered with an ear splitting crash.
The Ymaryn's Red Banners poured into the city, their iron tipped spears gleaming in the sunlight. The Xoh warriors were already demoralized by their past defeats, but when they realized that the walls had fallen, many of them broke completely and ran rather then fight against the iron clad scorpions. The Ymaryn spent hours scouring the outer city, raiding and pillaging at will.
As the sun began to set, the war chief Phygrif rode his cart up to the gates of the inner city and studied the great Bone Wall. The priests and nobles inside watched him carefully, knowing that at this point they would only be able to delay the inevitable. Once the great battering ram was rolled up into the city, it was only a matter of time before the inner walls fell as well.
However, it seemed that Phygrif had a different fate in store for the Xoh.
Buildings were smashed apart for firewood, citizens were forced out of their homes, and everything of value was carted off before the entire city was set ablaze. Trapped inside their own walls, the priests and nobles burned. The slum dwellers fled the burning city in droves, but even so tens of thousands of them perished among the flames. By the time the fires had died down, the once grand city of Xoh was nothing more then a burnt out husk.
Bad End - Your Civilization has been destroyed by the Ymaryn!
Akamaru said:
OH COME ON! Iron weapons, mercenary companies, even battering rams? What next? Are the Ymaryn going to discover gunpowder next turn?
Shoggothslp said:
Dammit, if only we had more Martial. The damned climate problems made it impossible for us to get anything done before the Ymaryn showed up.
redscale78 said:
So can anyone tell me why the hill people were so keen on destroying us? I don't think they've even bothered coming into the Lowlands for centuries and now suddenly they decide to sweep in and smash everything. What gives?
Veeka said:
IIRC, they saw that we were doing human sacrifice and decided that the reason that the weather's been so bad is because we'd pissed off the gods.
CanaryOgre said:
Dammit, I knew that the human sacrifice thing would come back to bite us in the arse.
Filledinfinity said:
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time? Everyone was just happy to have something that could stop Stability from dropping below 0.
redscale78 said:
Gods damn it guys. I told you that we should discuss things first, but nooo, we just had to follow the Veeka bandwagon.
Akamaru said:
The goddamn Ymaryn are the reason why we couldn't let Stability drop below 0 in the first place! Every time we lost Stability, they'd swoop in and steal all our Econ. Why do you think we haven't been able to get anything done since the climate crisis began?
Veeka said:
So what have the rest of our neighbors been doing lately? Even with all the climate issues, I doubt they'd be happy about the Ymaryn muscling in on the lowlands.
Scholarly Seed said:
Well, the Highlanders tried attacking the Ymaryn earlier. It's actually the reason why they ended up burning Xoh down instead of conquering it. The Ymaryn king had to rush back to protect his territory, so he decided that if he couldn't have the city, nobody could.
KFClover said:
Shit. Fucking HK. I knew we should have smashed them while they were still weak
Livingangel said:
We kinda did? It's why we've been stuck in a constant war for centuries over who gets to rule the Lowlands.
Citina said:
Hey guys! I just got back from my vacation! Did anything interesting happen while I was away?
