The twin children of the rulers of the Greater Darksol Empire, Raziel and Elizabeth, surveyed the sight before them. They were high above the ground, floating through the air in a massive metal balloon that would make the German Empire in World War 1 green with envy. The entire outer structure was not just a canvas or even plastic covering, but instead multiple layers of various metals and some lightweight ceramics. To be brutally honest, the only thing keeping this heavy, oversized tube from falling to the ground was a mix of atmospheric thrusters and magic enchantments. There were no sacks of lightweight gasses inside this machine, just reinforced compartments made mostly from Aluminum or, in some cases, mithril that had been extracted from the Dungeon.

Without the large primary reactor hidden inside the deeper recesses of the vessel, the turbine jets that stuck out from the airship on swiveling struts would not have been able to move the contraption, let alone keep it afloat. Although to be fair, the energy put out by the secondary reactors, of which there were three, was enough to keep the various enchantments from burning through their magical charge.

The brainchild of both ‘Abandoned Genius’, Wakanda T’challa Jones, and the ‘Madman of Teutonia’, a man now commonly called ‘Baron Zeppelin’, the Combat Airship was not unique, but it was rare. For this many of them to be sent across the border on the whims of the Twins was proof of how far along the R&D had come and how much influence the Twins had in regards to military matters. In the short time since Kain had fallen asleep and had woken up, which amounted to roughly 4 years, the Twins had assisted the man behind most of Darksol’s more advanced technology to no end.

Wakanda may have been an absolute genius when it came to mundane technology, but he was still only human. The Twins, on the other hand, were essentially born as magical beings and knew the workings of the universal system of magic better than nearly anyone else. To paraphrase a certain Cinematic villain, ‘Wakanda merely adopted the magic, but the Twins were born into it. Molded by it.’

That said, Alistaira did have a hand in its design as well, along with the Leader of the Greater Teutonian Union State himself, Erwin Krueger, who helped give the design more military value by pointing out certain flaws in weapon and armor placement. Krueger may not have had much experience with airships (but then again, who did?) but he knew that the airships would be more suitable for ground attack, commanding, and observation, especially since it was believed that no foe would have a countermeasure for it.

So, as these massive metal flying machines slowly drifted over the first few tens of miles of Sultanate territory, the Twins were perfectly content to watch the ground pass beneath them as the weapons of their toys began to prepare to let loose a storm of pain and destruction.

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…

It was a lovely day in the city of Istantinople. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming, the sun was shining. It was a perfect day for a picnic. Unfortunately, there was one slight issue that soured the mood, and that issue was the most recent string of arrests made by the new regime’s inquisition. Up until around a half year ago, people had been free to worship, speak, and think how they wished. Up until around half a year ago, women were considered the equals of men, given the same rights and privileges, and treated equally by the law. If a man got raped by a woman, for instance, said woman was just as likely to spend an equal time in prison as the man would be if the genders in the listed scenario were reversed.

All of this changed when the New Sultan came to power and the regime’s brainwashed soldiers and supporters seemed to crawl out of the woodwork and make everything a living hell for the vast majority of people. Still, they had food, water, luxuries and they lived in a good part of the nation. Plus, everyone assumed that they would never be the ones targeted with suspicion. Perhaps they assumed that the rapid influx of soldiers and crazily religious militiamen would only be temporary and that this was all just going to blow over in a matter of days.

They turned out to be very wrong if they believed that, as things became increasingly more authoritarian and oppressive. One day women might be allowed to wander through the streets without an escort and then next they would be rounded up if they even stepped foot outside their homes without a man at their side. Needless to say, after having generations live in a world where this was not a thing, people were pissed. But what could they do? Every protest was met with violence in the extreme and crackdowns followed shortly after anyone was heard making even the slightest complaint about how things had become.

Thankfully, there was a day coming up that all those who hated how things had become were anticipating. There was one day that these religious fanatics could not do a damn thing about it, as it was part of their own faith. It was a day of celebration and joy where people of all genders and ages could leave the city and have some small measure of fun beyond the prison-like walls of their once free city.

That day was coming tomorrow, and thankfully the boneheads that now ran things had not been able to cancel or alter it. Everyone with any hint of hate for the new order of things had already come to the same conclusion as to what to do when the day began. They would gather, pretend to have fun until the regime turned its gaze elsewhere and then they would, all as one, run like hell. Yes, Darksol may have been an ancient enemy, but how much worse could the new Empire of Darksol be than their current Hell on Mortis?

Little did they know that they could not have timed their planned exodus any better, as the New Sultanate’s fanatics were soon going to have bigger things to worry about than fleeing civilians. After all, which of the two is more important; dealing with fleeing civilians who are trying to escape from your totalitarian religious police state or trying to fight off an armada of metal clouds that can and will rain fire and death upon a major city?