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The Muster of Stattenland

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Derek Contyre:

Close to sunrise.
Statten, river city and capital of Stattenland (primarily where the altered maps of Middenland say Estorf is),
2217.


Anastasia Contyre stood looking over the walls of her city, the fields stretched into the distance towards the Stattenwood, where the site of many major battles between Stattenland and Ahlenhof-Hohne had raged down through the centuries.
Scars of those previous battles could still be seen on the outskirts of the Stattenwood, large cairns and burial mounds where countless soldiers from both sides lay at rest.
Fresh snow fell all over the fields for miles in every direction, no one was awake at this time of the morning, the sun could barely be seen cresting the horizon far away to the east and shadows lingered across the land.

Behind her, laughter and gaiety spilled out of her children's rooms, the twins Katarina and Joshua II played a soldiers game with dice and a cup, the object of the game to try and roll as many of the same number on the dice as you could.
The twins always awoke early, their youth denied them sleep longer than they have to. Anya returned inside from the balcony to the warmth of the living room chambers, there a fire roared merrily in the hearth, the long flames licking the cool air and fresh snow off of the Countess.
Anya's long red hair spilled out of its bun, strands dropping across her face as she lent over the sleeping form of her husband.

The Dusseldorf.

Joshua Contyre von Dusseldorf was his legal name, the Count by marriage, his lower station forced him to choose Contyre as his name, though he stubbornly kept von Dusseldorf as well.
She smiled to herself as he slept through her caress, his soft snoring breaking an otherwise excellent morning.
"Wake up Joshua, you leave soon."
Blue eyes fluttered as his snoring stopped abruptly.
The Count arose fluidly, stretching his back and legs before falling back into bed.
"You must come and get me up my lady, for it seems I have lost the use of my willpower on this cold day."
Anya slapped him on his bare back, too late realising the trap as he rolled her onto the bed and tickled her. The Countess squealed and giggled at him, not stopping her slaps, though halfheartedly now that she was laughing so much.
"Stop it!" she shrieked and her nostrils flared. Joshua laughed and rolled out of bed, a twinkle in his eye.
"Are my things ready? My horse, my bow, my sword?"
"Yes, yes and yes, they are waiting with the Guard downstairs." Anya said as she rolled out of the bed, her hair askew and her dress crooked.
"Well then, I think we have some more time available to us then..." He leapt at her and they tumbled onto the bed together, squealing and laughing in equal measure, though soon the laughing turned to kissing and other things.

After sunrise, Inner bailey courtyard.
Joshua mounted his Destrier, the soldiers of the Armoured Guard stood to attention. Securing his pack and pulling his cloak tighter about himself, the Count looked up to the balcony to where his wife and children stood watching. Anya waved to him with Kat and little Joshua II, they both waved to everyone leaving for Hergig. With a smile and a wave the Count rounded his horse and led the elite soldiers of Hamburg out of the city. Their road a winding one, over two hundred miles to Hergig and the Elector that resided there. Achatius von Tiefen.

Dusk, In between Talebdorf and Tussenhof, Statten-Hergig road. Stattenland

The column of men, horses and materials marched on, the many bright colours of the Stattenland soldiery muted by the hundreds of woolen cloaks, hats and gloves they all wore.
Towards the head of the column rode Count Contyre von Dusseldorf and several Tuetonic knights, behind them stretched a column of men numbering just over five hundred.
The wind dropped considerably once they reached the treeline of the Western Forest, there they encamped for the night to wait out the horrendous wind.
Joshua looked over his army again, wandering amongst the tents of the different regiments he had helped train over the past five years.
Regiments of Pike and Halberd sat wrapped in cloaks, fires creating small pools of melted snow while brown mush slopped everywhere. The smell of cooking pots wafted across the campsite, Greencoats, veteran archers and woodsmen scoured the nearby Western forest for spies, rabbits and game. A unit of Greatswordsmen all sat polishing armour and weapons, while several dozen grey and purple clad mercenaries of the '5th' did push ups and star jumps to warm themselves up. Men from the Swords of Hamburg watched on, placing bets on who would drop first.

The baggage train was surrounded by horses and tents, there the Crimson Dragoons Pistoliers and the Stattenland Lancers competed in dress sense, style and number of foes killed by previous sergeants.
Wandering through the chaos and hoodlum of an army at rest, Joshua walked without realising to the quietest spot in the encampment. Here there were horses also, but these were destriers, horses over sixteen hands high bred specifically for the Tuetonic knights. The knights themselves all sat around a large fire, many pots and bowls swapped hands and the warrior monks took much sustenance from the many broths and stews that passed around.
Without a word Joshua Contyre von Dusseldorf, Count of Stattenland sat amongst them and ate in silence.
Hoping the peace of the present could outweigh the coming civil strife that would see if Stattenland could return to being an independant nation.

Derek Contyre:
"I remember the walls of Fort Denkh being higher than this last I was here."
One of his knights mentioned in the background.
The Count snorted into his glove.
"That's probably because you weren't sitting this close to a surrendered castle Leo."

The knights and Count sat still mounted on their Destriers, the panoply of siege weapons and arsenal behind them, ruined gates and bodies slumped around the gatehouse to their front.
"Shall we enter my lord? We are the only retinue to not."
Contyre watched the walls for a time, his thoughts straying to the bodies on the ground.
"Yes, we should enter now... It was after all, some of my troops that were in the first assault. The men from Stattenland will be missed I am afraid."

The knights and the Count entered the captured fortress, where impromptu medical tents had taken over the majority of the space. The men dismounted and wandered amongst the wounded... The fortress had put up a decent fight, though sheer weight of numbers and the surprise of the quick assault had taken the castle in only hours of fighting.

"Find me Kane and Mathison, we have much to discuss regarding the defence of this place against the retaliation that is sure to follow..."

GamesPoet:
Good to see this!

By the way, I've written up some fluff material for the Tussenhof area of Hochland, I've got backround, some leaders, and things like that.  Been contemplating doing up some Hochland units, but who knows when.

Derek Contyre:

--- Quote from: GamesPoet on March 05, 2013, 09:29:08 PM ---Good to see this!

By the way, I've written up some fluff material for the Tussenhof area of Hochland, I've got backround, some leaders, and things like that.

--- End quote ---

Oooh that is near Stattenland! Feel free to incorporate me in any way. :icon_mrgreen:

GamesPoet:

--- Quote from: Derek Contyre on March 05, 2013, 10:00:41 PM ---
--- Quote from: GamesPoet on March 05, 2013, 09:29:08 PM ---Good to see this!

By the way, I've written up some fluff material for the Tussenhof area of Hochland, I've got backround, some leaders, and things like that.

--- End quote ---

Oooh that is near Stattenland! Feel free to incorporate me in any way. :icon_mrgreen:
--- End quote ---
Oh yes, it was your fluff somewhere that initiated it.  Although I'd been looking at the area for a number of years.  I considered using this as a basis for my fluff in this campaign, but I signed up too late for it to really fit, and created Commander Karl Shultz von Weidmarkt instead, which probably better fits the Von Rusdorf faction anyway.

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