RuneScape Forum Archive | Kingdoms of Karrus [RP*

Zangaro1

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Sorusian Empire

Vadim, Balduan’s second in command, leaned back on his horse as it walked along the road through the Sorusian Empire’s newly conquered land. He was dressed in regular civilian clothing and armed only with a hidden dagger. In a pouch on the horse he kept forged documents in case he was stopped and questioned by guards.

His destination was a conquered village, which according to Balduan would make a good place to begin surveillance without too much risk of being caught. There certainly wasn’t much information he could gather about the Sorusian administration there, but that wasn’t his goal. His task was to gather support from within Sorusian territory and begin training rebel groups to begin fighting against the garrisons once the dwarves’ military campaign broke out.

04-Oct-2015 19:42:15

NotFishing

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The Sorus Empire - Village

Dorinth was a small village of approximately four hundred people, about one hundred of which lived in the surrounding farmland. The central hub of the village had a small town hall, a few shops, an inn for people to stay and drink at, a temple that was once dedicated to the kingdom's old religion but re-purposed for the Sorusian religion, and most recently a small barracks of maybe twenty soldiers, although there was also a Sorusian fort only a few miles south of the village, and occasionally the officers rode into town for drinks.

The people were going about their everyday lives. Whenever a soldier passed by they cast their eyes down, but there didn't seem to be any direct conflict between the civilians and guards. That would probably be because most of these guards weren't born Sorusians - they had been conscripted. Not locally, of course, as whenever the Sorusians conscripted people they would station them in the opposite corner of the empire, if possible.

This was done to make soldiers less likely to rebel, as they were miles from home, and less likely to let citizens get away with crimes as they had no strong love for these people. But despite that, the conscripts were treated any worse by the officers than the Sorusians (or at least weren't supposed to) and after a year of service would start to get paid the same amount as Sorusian-born soldiers.

Still, there was obvious tension between the town's citizens and the soldiers that occupied it, conscripted or not, and it would be up to Vadim to figure out how to exploit this. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

08-Oct-2015 14:22:02 - Last edited on 08-Oct-2015 21:37:51 by NotFishing

Azigarath

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Tanik Forest -- The Second Offence

Sometime prior to Eodis' return to Stoneheart, the Grays who escaped the Goeracks had returned to their warlord's hold, to bring the bad news. Somewhere along the outskirts of the base of Mountains of Home, was a fort of some kind. The fort consisted of a wooden tower (or keep) surrounded by a wooden wall, and then a shorter wooden wall surrounding that.

As usual amongst the Grays, they preferred two walls, with living space within the walls depending on class and reputation. They lived in simple huts, with thatch roofing and flooring, and walls made from wood.

The fort was a rather spooky sight, for the heads of fallen enemies were impaled on spikes that adorned the tower's battlements. The heads were that of enemy Grays mostly, but a few Goeracks' heads made an appearance as well, suggesting that this hold had some success against a few of the “red apes”. The hold had three hundred inhabitants at most, most of whom were more or less warriors or at least raiders.

Anyways, the several Grays who had escaped the Goeracks had entered the central tower to report the news of their failure. They didn't really have to, though, as at the same time, a regiment of warriors had already left the tower. Nevertheless, they reported their story to the warlord.

20-Oct-2015 18:04:21 - Last edited on 20-Oct-2015 18:53:59 by Azigarath

Azigarath

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The Gray warlord was tall but slim, with an oval-shaped face and head, quite the opposite of most Grays, who usually had angular facial features. The warlord was handing out his best weapons to his best warriors, a custom amongst the Grays, for the leader to arm his companions.

The warlord wore lamellar armour for the body, a helmet with openings for his ram-horns to pass through, and greaves. Slung over his shoulders was a kite shield, and he was armed with a falchion and dagger, sheathed at his sides, and a few franciscas lined along his belt. His bodyguard of twenty warriors were similarly equipped.

This warlord was peculiar, as he wore the skulls of Gray warriors as pouldrons, for proof of his martial prowess. The horns sticking out of his skull-pouldrons also served as weapons, though also meant that anyone could grab them. The report was delivered, irritating the warlord.

“As scouts, it was your job to take a look around, not fight.” The warlord remarked as if he didn't care, “But at least you did that. Other holds have been avoiding the arrival of those pale hairy-headed apes, there are lots of them and many are armed to the teeth, and some ride animals. But I won't be letting those red apes go free. It's been a long time since I fought them, and my tactics often work.” The warlord continued.

20-Oct-2015 18:04:31

Azigarath

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* * *

Later that day, the warlord assembled a hundred warriors to go headhunting. The twenty body guards and the warlord were heavily equipped with their lamellar armour, kite shields, helmets and falchions, but they kept their blades sheathed, and wielded spears with broad blades in their hands. The Grays who had delivered the report stayed in the fort, to rest; it was common for Gray leaders to simply allow warriors who fled to stay behind to rest or at least behave defensively.

The eighty lesser warriors wore either gambesons or multiple layers of linen glued together to form a sturdy shirt, and were equipped with two-handed curved swords, spears, small halberds, or longaxes. All of them also had a large, long bag slung over the shoulders, filled with darts or javelins, but some carried large bags filled with various tools. Since Grays naturally had rather poor eyesight, they could not be useful archers, but they could still throw things.

Thus, the warlord as his hundred warriors jogged throughout the night non-stop, and reached the outskirts of Tanik Forest. Rather than running in recklessly, the warlord examined the forest.

“Doesn't look like there was a forest fire at all! Alright boys and girls, let's rest here for now, we start work upon sunrise.”

At that, the Grays slept in three circles, heads facing inward, so that it was difficult for them to be ambushed. Although most Grays avoided the Tanik Forest due to the presence of the humans, this warlord was one of the few who remained unflinching.

20-Oct-2015 18:04:40

Azigarath

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The Sorus Empire – outskirts

In broad daylight, thirteen odd-looking figures jogged along farmlands somewhere, coincidentally, jogging through a herd of cows. From afar, the figures looked like cows moving upright. The figures were in fact Grays, the minotaurs from the mountains. They resembled people, but had three large toes and three large fingers, digits having hoof-like tips. They ran on the forefoot, and had horns like that of various bovines.

The Grays wore an unusual garment, resembling a cape with a narrow hood covered with the feathers of ravens and crows, giving them the appearance of shamans. The hoods were narrow so that they were worn in-between the horns, and then tied under the chin. They also wore trousers, but nothing else, perhaps to show-off their muscular builds, as well as to remain as agile and quick as possible.

Interestingly enough, these Grays were adorned with odd tattoos: they had smeared woad into intricate patterns on their faces, arms and chests very many times, until the woad corroded the skin and fuzz, damaging the tissue enough to form visible patterns of exposed flesh.

20-Oct-2015 18:53:25 - Last edited on 23-Oct-2015 03:06:41 by Azigarath

Azigarath

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What was rather frightening of them was that they wielded a rhomphaia, a kind of two-handed sword with a forward-curving blade, sharpened on the front edge and tip, essentially something in-between a scythe and sword, and each Gray had a human head impaled on the tip of his rhomphaia.

These shamans also wore the heads of slain humans around their waists, so that the hair of the decapitated head was tied onto the belt. If the head did not have enough hair to form a knot, the shamans had a gruesome practise of simply hanging a hook from their belt, which was hooked into the eye socket of the skull.

Most of the Gray shamans were male, but three were female, wearing a short shirt to cover their chests. Curiously, the female Grays only had heads of human women tied at their belts. The thirteen shamans jogged along eagerly and gladly, talking about the people they had killed, how they killed their victims, and who they would kill next. It was quite a frightening sight, to see the shamanistic minotaur in some kind of killing ecstasy, seemingly oblivious to the world around them and filled with the thought of killing.

Curiously enough, the shamans seemed to be ignoring the farmers, jogging along casually with such stamina that they were not even breathing audibly; for them, jogging was as easy as walking for a human.

How these Grays ended up so far from home is anybody's guess, but this small group sure possessed enough stamina, speed, agility and stealth to travel great distances unnoticed. They were obviously nothing but a danger, yet they did not react to anything around them, passing through cattle and homesteads obliviously. They seemed to be somewhere around the outskirts of the Sorus Empire, perhaps around the Northern Kingdoms. The shamans, if they awake from their ecstasy, would be dangerous indeed!

20-Oct-2015 18:53:35 - Last edited on 23-Oct-2015 03:08:47 by Azigarath

NotFishing

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((Okay guys, if the lack of anything to do is an issue, remember that this roleplay is largely player driven. Make something to do. Have an encounter with another civilization. It could be as small as a trade ship needing to be rescued.)) Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

20-Oct-2015 21:17:49 - Last edited on 20-Oct-2015 21:18:11 by NotFishing

Aug

2023

Pink 4 Twink

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Samanju's return:

Samanju was humiliated and he knew that the jig was up... At night, he plucked up a baby Goerak from northern Tanik and dropped it off in Stoneheart, unaware of the mess he was about to place Stoneheart in. but he didn't care. he was there for the giggles. Just your friendly neighborhood gay boy!

23-Oct-2015 04:40:49

Aug

2023

Pink 4 Twink

Posts: 4,152 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Attack of the Trilophene

Off the coast of Osgalethe, a Sorusian Merchant ship was attacked and sank by a Trilophene. The only survivor was a Sorusian teenage boy, And he was drowning. Having been up deck, he saw as the massive jellyfish/giant squid/ thing attacked with its massive pink tentacles drawing the ship under the ocean. Several minutes before, this Teenager heard a beautiful song. Before the captain could get the trireme out of the way, the ship was attacked, And now this teenager, only 16, was drowning. Luckily for him a Te*can swooped down and picked him up out of the water and dropped him off in Osgathosse, where he was arrested, but safe.

A few days later, Ardithitine had heard of the Sorusian teenager and went personally to interrogate him. Ardithitine and presumably the Eldrancy wanted to know how he got onto the Osgalethan mainland, but he knew to be gentle and keep the interrogation civil- he was only a teenager afterall, Ardithitine wanted to get him home to his family safely- if he had any. Just your friendly neighborhood gay boy!

23-Oct-2015 04:58:15

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