The Deathless War
Over time, Rix Telær (REE-zh TEH-leer), regarded the other nations within proximity to his, not merely adjacent, as inadequate as partners to the vision he saw for his own. He knew that they would only continue to thwart his movements, so he devised a plan by which to overcome, and rule, all of them; first to cover all of Cræy, then the Triad, and anyone else who stood in his way.
It started with border skirmishes; nothing complicated or drawn out, but enough to be won with deaths on his opponents’ sides. However, when the other sides went to collect their dead, there were no dead to be found, from either side. Telær did this for a few years, equating to annoying his neighbors. However, after ten years of skirmishes, he moved deeper into his neighbors’ territories. Over the next fifty years, towns and hamlets disappeared from the surrounding areas.
After accumulating what he believed to be a sufficient amount of soldiers, he made his move, launching armies at each of his adjacent neighbors simultaneously. It took them all off-guard, and the first year of the War was devastating for the neighboring nations. It took that long to realize what had been happening and why there were no dead. The act of raising the other armies’ dead to fuel and bolster his own was an act of genius. The collection of joint commanders and leaders were trying to figure out a way to overcome the loss of life, which would inevitably turn into soldiers for Telær’s forces. Unwilling to concede command of their forces to another’s leadership, they joint commanders fought internally for several months, barely managing for their armies to not be consumed by the tide of incoming undead.
After several months of bickering, Urixe Mæyre proposed a solution. They had to avoid the loss of life to their troops, so as not to bolster the enemy’s own forces. So he proposed that all forces should take up ranged offensives, magical and mundane. And that walls of pure power be placed as a blockade. The blockade would be supplemented by additional magical increase, particularly elemental support, to decrease the quantity of the enemy’s forces, while protecting their own. With the unknown magical abilities of the undead that comprised the army, if the force wall was able to stay, it would stop the forward motion of Telær’s forces and allow them to start cutting them down.
And while he knew it would be unpopular, he suggested that, while each of the nations’ commanders lead their own armies, he would command all of the commanders as the BattleMage. There was a lot of disagreement about it, but most of them knew his prowess, especially in elemental magicks. They reluctantly agreed to this stipulation. They bound themselves together magically in alliance, to bolster their own and to ensure no one faltered. The stipulation saved them. Several of the commanders had weaker armies and were losing hope, their supports were not holding well. Mæyre stepped up, casting magical support, as well as sending over groups of mages to cover any lack in the allies’ armies. The force walls stayed, and the undead moved, but only with command, not with magic of their own. They had no way to counter the walls of force. When they were met with elemental magic, they had no way to counter the fires or the wind and water. Earthen barricades started moving toward the undead, covering over any incinerated, washed out, and air blasted corpse they found; burying them and removing the ability for them to be reraised.
Mæyre directed each of them, particularly the ones that swept away the undead. After a few waves of the undead being unable to counter the magic, he realized that they were unable to use magic themselves. He contacted the commanders, directed them to leave their armies to their mages, archers, and siege engineers, and told them that their presences were required in the main conference room of the battle center. When they gathered, he informed them that he would be directing all of their magic, through a central focus, to attack Telær directly. They were reluctant to use their own magic, with the thought that they might need to use it later, with a final push. He pushed, adding some of his charm to the plea, and eventually won them over. The focus, a small statue with a crown, a gem centered in the in its center. They called upon their strongest forms of magical energy and poured it into this small statue. Mæyre then used his magical energy to pull the combined magic from the statue and direct it to the last known location of Telær. Directing that much magical power was an incredible strain, both physically and mentally. He showed great effort, sweating profusely. However, the effect was instantaneous. While they couldn’t prove, conclusively, that Telær was dead, his entire army, or what remained of it, fell in place, the undead returning to the dead that they were.
It took a considerable amount of time to verify that the undead were truly returned to their previous death state. Each commander took their own army back to their nation, with any dead that they could identify. Mæyre went to the heart of Telær’s nation, checking that he was dead. There was no trace of him, though there was definitely the mark of magically scorched earth. Convinced they had done as much as they could, he retreated to his own nation, to sort out his own forces and to turn in his retirement to his liege.
It started with border skirmishes; nothing complicated or drawn out, but enough to be won with deaths on his opponents’ sides. However, when the other sides went to collect their dead, there were no dead to be found, from either side. Telær did this for a few years, equating to annoying his neighbors. However, after ten years of skirmishes, he moved deeper into his neighbors’ territories. Over the next fifty years, towns and hamlets disappeared from the surrounding areas.
After accumulating what he believed to be a sufficient amount of soldiers, he made his move, launching armies at each of his adjacent neighbors simultaneously. It took them all off-guard, and the first year of the War was devastating for the neighboring nations. It took that long to realize what had been happening and why there were no dead. The act of raising the other armies’ dead to fuel and bolster his own was an act of genius. The collection of joint commanders and leaders were trying to figure out a way to overcome the loss of life, which would inevitably turn into soldiers for Telær’s forces. Unwilling to concede command of their forces to another’s leadership, they joint commanders fought internally for several months, barely managing for their armies to not be consumed by the tide of incoming undead.
After several months of bickering, Urixe Mæyre proposed a solution. They had to avoid the loss of life to their troops, so as not to bolster the enemy’s own forces. So he proposed that all forces should take up ranged offensives, magical and mundane. And that walls of pure power be placed as a blockade. The blockade would be supplemented by additional magical increase, particularly elemental support, to decrease the quantity of the enemy’s forces, while protecting their own. With the unknown magical abilities of the undead that comprised the army, if the force wall was able to stay, it would stop the forward motion of Telær’s forces and allow them to start cutting them down.
And while he knew it would be unpopular, he suggested that, while each of the nations’ commanders lead their own armies, he would command all of the commanders as the BattleMage. There was a lot of disagreement about it, but most of them knew his prowess, especially in elemental magicks. They reluctantly agreed to this stipulation. They bound themselves together magically in alliance, to bolster their own and to ensure no one faltered. The stipulation saved them. Several of the commanders had weaker armies and were losing hope, their supports were not holding well. Mæyre stepped up, casting magical support, as well as sending over groups of mages to cover any lack in the allies’ armies. The force walls stayed, and the undead moved, but only with command, not with magic of their own. They had no way to counter the walls of force. When they were met with elemental magic, they had no way to counter the fires or the wind and water. Earthen barricades started moving toward the undead, covering over any incinerated, washed out, and air blasted corpse they found; burying them and removing the ability for them to be reraised.
Mæyre directed each of them, particularly the ones that swept away the undead. After a few waves of the undead being unable to counter the magic, he realized that they were unable to use magic themselves. He contacted the commanders, directed them to leave their armies to their mages, archers, and siege engineers, and told them that their presences were required in the main conference room of the battle center. When they gathered, he informed them that he would be directing all of their magic, through a central focus, to attack Telær directly. They were reluctant to use their own magic, with the thought that they might need to use it later, with a final push. He pushed, adding some of his charm to the plea, and eventually won them over. The focus, a small statue with a crown, a gem centered in the in its center. They called upon their strongest forms of magical energy and poured it into this small statue. Mæyre then used his magical energy to pull the combined magic from the statue and direct it to the last known location of Telær. Directing that much magical power was an incredible strain, both physically and mentally. He showed great effort, sweating profusely. However, the effect was instantaneous. While they couldn’t prove, conclusively, that Telær was dead, his entire army, or what remained of it, fell in place, the undead returning to the dead that they were.
It took a considerable amount of time to verify that the undead were truly returned to their previous death state. Each commander took their own army back to their nation, with any dead that they could identify. Mæyre went to the heart of Telær’s nation, checking that he was dead. There was no trace of him, though there was definitely the mark of magically scorched earth. Convinced they had done as much as they could, he retreated to his own nation, to sort out his own forces and to turn in his retirement to his liege.
Conflict Type
War
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What a battle of the minds. It boiled down to ingenuity, intelligence and planning here. Both Telær and Mæyre were using their heads for this war. I like how Mæyre took charge and stood his ground to convince everyone to follow his plan, that kind of tenacity is admirable. I also liked how both sides of this war were credited as having smart ideas and doing whatever it took to win. Fights in life are never fair either. It would have been interesting to see more world details on the sidebar or maps of the region to break up the text but over all an enjoyable article.