[Era]

   

[Sora4591]

Year 2162 AC: Six Years before Deadline

---

Decisions had long been decided even in the moments of a contract. Lies and Half Truths that were expressed. Only vengeance could be sought.
Retribution that needed to be paid. Before the people of Jotunheim and Serenity, the Jarl spoke alongside the Warmother.  This battle now transcended beyond just a squabble between two, True Giants in the making, but those of the West who fought for their freedom and their right to live.

"Today, I do not speak to you as a Radiant of Amier. Today, I do not speak to you as Jarl of Jotunheim. I do not even come to you as Titan of the West.

I come to you as Aeric Wilkinsson. For a long time, I chased the Ghost of the Past. Trying to be men that have transcended what it means to be Mortal.
Men, who are my forefathers who forged their own way. Men, who did not build off of a Name or a Title.

Here I stand as a man you have come to as a leader, as friend, as a teacher and what I am doing now is forging my own way.
Our enemies marched onto our land threatening to take what we built and nearly did they succeed. Your efforts thwarted that!
The Desire for us to break our bond with Serenity has been brought forth multiple times. Even in exchange of my freedom.

Yet, what was written on paper does not compare what was done in blood.
From the beginning when we were removed from Prospera, Serenity has stood by our side.
They have offered us homes until we created our own. In a war that sought to take our home,
They supported us. That unity will not be broken so easily.

So now we stand together united. An ally that has stood with us for years and a new ally bonded by a common enemy.
We set forth on a path to march to a new day. To show that we are not to be taken lightly.
United we march to reshape the foundation of Meranthe!"

-Jarl Aeric Wilkinsson

Let there be War!

Date: TBD
Objective: Siege

[Morg.]

---

Year 2162: 8 years since the last effort to make amends.

Walking amidst her people, the Warmother, Oshun would have her gaze set not towards the lands in which they shall attack, nor towards the enemies in which shall soon bleed onto their knees. The Gehennan's amber eyes would be focused onto her people.

Those in which follow onto her steps. Those who have bleed beside her onto the past.

The future, not only of her nation. But Meranthe.

"For generations, Serenity had been guided by the Clan Silvanas. Under their leadership, we learned the ways of the Wolf - Fangs bared, ever ready to draw the blood of the Fel armies, who time and time again sought to wrest control of Meranthe from us."

"But as the Age of Extinction ended, and I took the mantle of leadership, I taught my people to be Foxes - To create and restore, to forge alliances with those who had bled as we had. With those who had suffered, as all of Meranthe has suffered."

"Yet as nations grow greedy, their bellies swell beyond simple satisfaction. And now, they dare to see us as prey. Weak even."

"They believe we have forgotten what it means to be a Wolf."

Spreading her arms wide, the woman stood tall, her silhouette outlined against the dimming sky. Her voice rose - Not merely spoken, but declared - Echoing across the area, carreid by the winds that swept through the land. It was a voice meant to be heard, not just by her people but by those who stood against them. A challenge. A warning.

Perhaps, to find itself being heard even within the ranks of the enemy. This was not the speech of the desperate. This was not the plea of the weak willed. It was the cry of a predator remembering its nature.

"To strand true to our pack. To fight alongside our brothers and sisters. To hunt and feast together - And to end those who threaten our way of life."

"For too long, Meranthe has lived with a hand around it's throat, a blade pressed against its back."

"This moment is not only the fulfillment of our oath to balance - It is a reckoning for their cowardice and weakness. The Fox extended its hand for peace. Now, they will learn to fear the Wolf's bite."

Should they not listen, should they dismiss it all as mere words?

Then they would learn.

They would learn in the way only those who stand against the inevitable do - When it is too late.

"For years, they whispered rumors of our home, branding us as witches and necromancers. Yet in the end, it was they who released Necromancers and set the Fel Free."

"Tell me, Serenity - Shall we stand aside and let this nation belittle us? Shall we watch as their corruption spreads unchecked?"

"No. They have declined our offer to grow together, and so they shall become the soil from which we shall rise."

"May the spirits bless us. May their blades shatter, their flesh wither, and their names be lost amidst the winds."

---

And as the voice died down, the army of hunters would soon be seen marching amidst the wilds. Instead of waiting for the attack of those who had openly threatned their nation time and time again - It would be Serenity, the ones who would now be marching towards their walls.

Vultures could already be seen circling high in the skies. Even if the war was still distant, there those who simply knew - A banquete was soon to commence.

Objective: Siege the Black and White gates.

[Milly]

"So this is it? Unable to keep your word? Very well."

At first, it's easy to understand the Oracle's short response - he is, after all, notoriously hateful of what he deems as monologues. And yet, after a few minutes within the square of Gloomlight as the crowds gather to hear their leader's fabled words he chews on what's been handed to him, proverbially, and eventually spits out a like minded retort.

"When Rued Silvanas ruled Serenity, he worked with Melione Hiraeth. He paraded the idea that he had slain her within the Tower of Aetius like he was a trained performing monkey taught a cheap circus trick, while continuously refusing to show proof of a body or anything. After his death, his son became her puppet upon strings. All of those years Serenity was nothing but a front for the Coven of Denath - the Coven which saw my Uncle's death. The Coven which utilized Prospera as a front before it moved onto Serenity and performed unspeakable acts there. The Coven which also squatted within the Crescent Isle, and helped those of the Grand Guignol and the Atrellyan Witches.

For generations Serenity has been led by Clan Silvanas, and by extension, Melione Hiraeth, no better than blind slaves.
For generations Serenity has been given the grace to try and correct their mistakes on their own... And for a while, I held hope.

And then you had to get a death magi within your midst.

It's very amusing that you refer to yourselves as a pack, and as wolves. I suppose I'll add another wolf pelt to my collection.

As for Aeric? Perhaps one day, you'll understand that a man is only as good as his word.
I held out hope for you. I trusted you. I believed in you.
When you told me you understood the dangers Serenity posed, as well as Basili I thought you got it...

It's a shame you're just another idiot within the sands."

Gloomlight defends their home, as they always have.

[Thumper]

Basili De Monteville, the tired rat, sits, reading the reply of the recent announcement made by Thomas Equisol. A groan is heard, as she has grown tired of hearing the accusations for what may be the hundredth time. A hand raises to her face, rubbing away at it before she lifts up a quill to write away a response. The handwriting, though terrible, was legible enough to be read.

"I've done nothing but offer you kindness. I've done nothing, but save your pups. I've done nothing, but invite you into a project that would have changed this world for the better. Every moment, of every day, I am met with prejudice. Every moment, of every day, I am told I am a monster to be reviled by you or the many others. Yet, I have done all that I could to prove to this world that I care for it. 

Yet, I hear that I am a Belial cultist hel-bent on destroying the world.

Yet, I hear that I am a Death Magi hel-bent on destroying all souls.

Yet, I am none of those things. 
Nor do I wish for those things.

Not in a world with my children.

Perhaps it is because you've not a single moment in your life where you had sacrificed yourself. You were taken captive by Varrach, yet you were never at risk. You had never faced death's door as I have. I died, Thomas, and when I lived again, I was cursed with this power I do not wish to have, while you sit upon the throne of the Oracle, hiding behind walls out of fear and out of danger... Declaring war upon lands that would never be yours.

I saved your grandchildren and your children from moments of life or death. I took great care of your daughter-in-law whilst captured. All because I live by a code... All because the sins of the father shall not be visited upon the son. Yet, your accusations... your claims have always had to do with those before. For your children and your grandchildren are good, unlike you. But that is probably because you have been so very much uninvolved in their lives.

But I suppose no good deed goes unpunished.
For I have done all that I could to protect your family.
I have never once asked anything in return.
Yet you attempt to destroy mine.

The Nexus Project could have been our unification day. In which Gloomlight, Serenity, Goldlight, Arcadia and more would have been able to work hand-in-hand to combat further threats like the Oscuri, which you have freed, and the demons which you let roam around your home. Yet it was you that threatened us. It was you that attacked Jotunheim. It was you that decided to hate me despite my kindness. 

But do not take kindness for weakness, Thomas Equisol.

For while you may not have seen death as I have.

You may very will see it soon.”

[DirectorBright]

Letters reach the office of the Captain-General, yet for some time now he had remained silent. A meeting with the Bastion Commander finds, still, no announcement in public. The time of the year had come in which the administrative work that piled up needed to be tended, last bits resolved before the turn of a new year. Even with that, a noticeable absence had occurred, with him spending more and more time on Nilhirra.

Until, at the turn of the new year, he had come back with a simple message to contrast the speeches of the others, as troops begin to move northwest.

Couldn't leave well enough alone, nor shift focus onto things that matter more than grievances. Common foes and causes still exist, better uses for men's lives than this... but it seems fools ever repeat their follies.

So be it.
We will honor our alliance, as ever.

---

Objective: Defend Gloomlight Grove

[Drive]

Fixing the cuffs of his suit, his gaze ever watchful - a tower near Gloomlight gave him the necessary insight, Melos dul Vique simply watched as the troops were approaching, be it kin and be it kine, soldiers of Aeitus, the drones of Serenity and the forsaken Giants of Jotunheim. 

A simple wave of his hands, the Titan allows the curtains of the tower to open, as he looks down towards them - those were the pelimenary forces, scouts and those setting up supply lines.

They feel the winds carry their pace,
The clouds darken,
The rain falls; unforgiving.

Thunder sounds, and falls wherein they are holed up, it targets none - to make a statement.

The Titan stood there, crimson hues flash in the darkness, produced by the cloud clad skies thanks to the magic at play.

The Titan found the earth, the winds softening his stride towards the forces, and words to be conveyed to the rest of their people.

"While I would love nothing more than to have this place razed to the ground, my personal reasons matter little in the grand scheme of things.

This is the home of my family, which I will not stand by and watch it be razed by those I consider inconsequential.

Aeric Wilkinson, a coward incapable keeping his own people together.

Basili de Monteville, a pathological liar.

Oshun, I don't even remember what you've succeeded in doing. Perhaps nothing all along.

And the sorcerers that came from beyond, thinking they can stake a claim in what they do not understand.  

I commend you for taking initiative, really, Aeric was too much of a coward to make this move on his own - Basili had enough self doubt to never consider this on her own, it was by all of you joining together that the 'Giant' could find a backbone.

But all of you fail to realize,

Gloomlight isn't yours to conquer."

The Giant does not harm the soldiers, battles aren't initiated before their time - yet his lightning burns a sentence for the rest to take into account.

"Come prepared."

A warning of sorts, a promise perhaps, that is for them to find out - as the Titan announces himself a defender of the city he despises, and the city he grew up in. Nostalgia was the destruction of conflict, after all.

[Gunner]

"We Do What We Do, Not Because It's We Enjoy It, But Because It Must Be Done... Actions Have Consequences."

From atop The Drakanspire high within the peaks of Mt.Grimhjall the decision is finalized, as the eyes of the Inquisitor fixate on the bastion of twilight in the distance. 

Disappointment evident as the orders are finalized as troops and supplies are dispatched to the West. Not a full mobilization, hardly even a noticeable one. Though amongst those sent, a garrison of The Inquisition's finest, led by The Left Hand of the Inquisition Asteria V. Nakano.  Their destination, the base of the Tower within the walls of Aetius.

---

You've had time to reprimand your soldiers and kin for standing alongside the Godkiller... You have not. 
You've had time to distance yourself from those who harbor necromancers, witches and undead... You have not. 
You've had time to denounce and make amends for releasing an oscuri and his undead with express intention to capture and kill those of another nation... You have not. 
The actions of your former leader is merely the punctuation in a long list of mounting sins and that is not mentioning those committed by your forbearers. 
There have been chances, but now there is only room for judgement.
There are those of you within those walls I respect. 
I apologize you must suffer for poor leadership.
By My Hand, The Will of The Four Shall Be Done.
 
- Inquisitor Suzuka Kazana

The Inquisition Cannot Ignore These Sins
They March With The West