Lanek took a deep breath before explaining what had happened at the prison. Caelis seemed particularly disturbed at the news of what had become of the Warden when the city fell. She stared off into space for a moment, wondering just what had driven the Warden to such cowardice and treachery.
“So, long story short, there isn’t a whole lot left of the prison. Going forward, the city itself is disposable.” Lanek explained.
“What? No! There is too much history tied into the city to just throw it away!” Caelis erupted angrily. Lanek had expected Caelis’ objection, but as much as he owed her and understood her position, he would not allow her to change his mind.
“Was that truly necessary?” Ivan asked. “The prison was a strong and well-fortified part of the city, we could have used that in the future.”
“Yes, it was. Sure, I might have been able to wander through that building fighting in narrow hallways and possibly beat the Warden. But what about Ograch, Liv, and our animal companions? Would they have survived the fight unscathed?” Lanek asked. Ivan prepared to argue further, but saw the looks on Ograch and Liv’s faces. They were clearly in agreement with Lanek.
“I see. I can’t judge your actions and tactics as I wasn’t there. But I still stand by my statement that the prison would have been useful in the future.”
“Yeah, it would have been, but only if a lot of criteria are met. For example, we would need to have enough people to put it to use, but we don’t even have enough people to fill this building and the houses we’re planning on using to fortify the plaza. In addition, we don’t even know if we can get allies any time soon. The only sentient beings we know of are the ferals who attempt to kill us on sight and Liv’s people who are so far away that we have yet to even begin to come up with a viable way to contact and relocate them.”
Lanek continued after letting that information sink in. “Also, for the prison and other strongholds to be useful, we have to survive the current threats, which is already a bit iffy with out current numbers. We need to preserve our people’s lives as much as possible so they can get stronger and make our group stronger in turn. Yes, everyone in this room is strong, but that’s about it. As for our numbers, the only groups we have that could even attempt to grow our population naturally are the orcs and goblins. Sorry if this seems a bit… indelicate, but how long does it take for your children to reach maturity? As I’ve mentioned to Liv, any sentient and civilized species that wasn’t human only existed in fiction so I truly am ignorant in this area and hope you guys don’t take offense.”
“None taken, my khan. The people of this world also seem to have many misconceptions about how our population grows due to the hordes of ferals that have attacked the other races.” Nerek said. “I don’t know if joining the ferals and following their gods changes anything in this area, but for the rest of us, our numbers are due to the fact that an only child is extremely rare for our people. Three or four children at a time is common. Another reason that we seem to have larger numbers is that goblins tend to reach maturity and can begin leveling at ten years of age. However, the survival rate isn’t very high as we tend to be far weaker than the average human until we begin evolving.”
Khurzag chimed in. “While we orcs don’t have as many children per pregnancy as goblins and our people can’t begin leveling until thirteen years of age, we are lucky in that our children are strong even at that age. That’s probably why we don’t need to have as many children, more of them survive.” Nerek nodded in agreement at his words.
“Well, there you have it. I don’t have anything against thinking long-term, but I can’t risk people’s lives fighting on the enemy’s terms for something that might be useful in a decade or more if we don’t find people to join us. Our numbers are small enough that every single loss will bring us closer to extinction. As a result, I am of the mind that only one structure currently is worth risking our lives to preserve, this one. In the future, if we manage to reclaim the city, then the city walls are also worth risking lives to hold.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Caelis spoke up in protest once more. “But Lanek, what about the cathedrals? The museums? The libraries?”
“Caelis. I’m not saying that we are going to immediately resort to burning everything down, we still need to loot supplies and materials. I do want to preserve the city if we can, but not at the cost of the very limited number of lives that we have. I promise you that myself and everyone else leading our parties will consider other options first. Besides, unless those museums or libraries contain a threat, I am planning on just leaving them alone. My focus is survival and the dungeon. As for the cathedrals, who are they dedicated to?”
“There are several throughout the city, each dedicated to one of the greater gods.”
“Then I’m sorry, I don’t really care about risking any lives preserving those places. If they were dedicated to Harad, Wurgoth, Invidros, or Eldros, I would consider it since they are actively helping us. However, the picture I’m getting of the greater gods is that they’ve essentially abandoned this world and their people. So, unless they want to get their divine asses up and help, their places of worship are no more important than the prison.”
Caelis looked hard at him. “You would risk offending the gods? They don’t take kindly to such disrespect.”
“If they are still around and able to be offended, then they are not worth the slightest bit of respect after letting the world fall apart. If they are dead and gone, then I don’t have anything to worry about, do I?”
“I understand, but I don’t know if I can be a part of this.” Caelis said quietly.
“You don’t have to be, you are free to disagree with me. No one is going to ask or make you leave just for disagreeing with me or my strategy. I will still welcome your counsel and company. If it helps, I am willing to make a compromise on this strategy.”
“I’m listening.” Caelis said hesitantly.
“I will try my utmost to keep our people from going into those structures of significance unless there is something we absolutely need right now and until our warriors are of a high enough level that they can enter them without risking mass casualties. I’ll need a list of what those places are, but please be realistic with the list. Museums, universities, libraries and the like are fine, but trying to preserve a spot because some famous poet or writer lived there hundreds of years ago is not sufficient.”
Caelis looked up, locking eyes with Lanek before nodding. “I can work with that.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Anybody want to make any changes to this approach?” Seeing everyone shaking their heads, he continued. “Very well, I only have one final piece of business for the day. I’ve been thinking that we need something to call ourselves, especially if we do run into other factions to deal with. Sure, the city already has a name, but it’s going to get confusing really damn fast if we just keep calling everything Caelis or keep referring to everyone by their tribe or clan names.”
“Did you have something in mind?” Talwarg asked.
“I do. I want to honor the people who built the monastery, especially since we wouldn’t have made it this far at all without the place. I was thinking we would refer to our faction as the Talon. As for the city and our territory, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“Well, let me clear something up.” Caelis interjected. “We don’t need to rename the city, my original name is not Caelis, it was simply tradition to name the spirit of a city after the city itself.”
“What? I thought the city was named after you?” Lanek asked in surprise.
“Not at all, it was the other way around. The name I was given at birth was Lira.”
Lanek smiled warmly at her. “Well, it’s nice to meet you Lira. I like that much better than Caelis, for the record.”
“I’ve always been rather fond of it myself.” Lira said, blushing.
Liv cleared her throat loudly, forcing Lanek to return to the topic at hand. “Yeah, well, moving on. I also want to respect the heritage and history of everyone here. So, since the Night Arrows and Ebon Shields are the core of our fighting force, I would like those names to carry on. The Night Arrows to be the name of our ranged fighters and the Ebon Shields for our melee fighters. Of course, Talwarg and Khurzag can adjust that however they see fit, but I do want those names to stick around in some form.”
At his words, Talwarg and Khurzag snapped to attention and held their fists over their hearts in response. Oh fuck, they’re saluting now?