Chapter 12
September 8th, 1661. The Baron and the Empress have agreed to meet on neutral ground, Bvarien province, in the capital city of Grindelburg. The baron von Bvarien, Gunter von Bvaren, was known for being eccentric. He was nicknamed ‘The Sleepy Prince’ for his propensity to look exhausted at all times.
Bvarien province was beautiful, made up of nothing but picturesque mountains with snow capped peaks and vibrant spruce, fir, and beech trees covering which continued on for miles. The Grössenstadt mountain range was widely regarded as one of the most scenic vacation destinations in the world, with the rich and wealthy from all over the world coming to stay and enjoy the view
Grindelburg itself was built and carved into the side of a mountain. The city, unlike the normal grid system that Imperial cities used, had a ‘terrace’ system, where irregular carved and flattened sections of the mountain made up what would usually be square grids. Because of this, the city was very vertical, and it was said to be exhausting to trek through for anyone not native to the province.
The Baron pulled himself up a nearly vertical flight of stairs, turning and taking a moment to appreciate the multileveled city built directly into the mountain. After enjoying the view, he moved on to the Grindelburg Administration Building, a beautiful mansion carved fully out of the mountain and decorated with various vibrant paints and local flora, looking almost like a garden instead of a government building.
The guards saluted the Baron as he walked past, and he returned the salute to them. He moved through the halls until he found the room he needed, the conference room. He entered and was greeted by Gunter von Bvarien and his honor guard, and the Empress with her honor guard. The Baron refused to have one, as he felt he could do a better job protecting himself than anyone else. And because he preferred to travel alone when he could, a remnant of his decade spent in mourning.
The Empress bowed her head in greeting to the Baron, and he returned the gesture before sitting down at the round table. The Empress smiled as he spoke.
“Johan, it is so good to see you again. I do not believe we have had the pleasure of talking since the council of barons.”
The Baron smiled and nodded.
“Ah, yes, the council of barons. I had a lot of fun there.”
“Well, at least one of us did.”
She eyed Gunter.
“Or two of us.”
Gunter rubbed his eyes.
“I told you already, if you wish for me to vote in your favor, schedule meetings for the afternoon, or preferably evening.”
The Empress shook her head.
“Right. Anyway, Johan, I am here to speak to you about your recent actions regarding the treatment of escaped elven slaves, as well as your treatment of Frederick Fabersonne.”
The Baron nodded.
“Yes, I am aware. I do not regret my actions in the slightest.”
“Be that as it may, this is not something that I can simply allow to pass by without a response, I am sure you understand.”
The Baron nodded and the Empress continued.
“I am here to officially ask you to stop whatever you are doing with the escaped slaves, and that you allow the slave catchers to do their jobs.”
The Baron smiled.
“Well, I can certainly allow them into my province, it would be difficult and expensive to check every lone wanderer who stumbles across our patrols. And, I cannot ensure their safety regardless. My people are not fans of slave catchers, you see.”
“Yes, one of your people seems to have bashed a slave catcher’s head in with a rock.”
The Baron scoffed.
“Oh, it was just a little booboo, nothing life threatening. You’re lucky he didn’t try and rope them into helping him, they might have acted a bit more…rashly. My people do not wish to become honorary slave catchers.”
“A man’s head was bashed with a rock, Johan, I cannot just ignore that.”
“A slave catcher’s head was bashed with a rock, Samanta, I don’t care. I’ll give you a thousand Reiksgeld, or something equivalent.”
The Empress smiled.
“Give me a thousand Reiksgeld worth of coral and we will call the slave catcher issue resolved.”
The Baron nodded.
“Deal.”
“Excellent.”
The Empress’s face turned far more serious, and the Baron could feel her influence attempting to worm its way into his psyche.
Not going to work, though.
“You seem to be repatriating elves back to their homeland, and that fact has been made known in Grössenstadt via some newspapers created by men whose papertrail simply…ends, when we trace it back.”
“I know nothing about that.”
“Of course you do not, it is not something that you yourself would do. Your son, however, would very much do such a thing.”
“Well, he’s his own man, I don’t control him.”
“Yes but surely you influence him, in more ways than one.”
“Well, before I do any influencing I would need proof that my son is doing it. Are you sure your record keeping did not just miss these men at some point? Or maybe they’re unrelated to me and just believe in the cause.”
“The cause? There’s a concrete cause now?”
The Baron scoffed.
“Of course there is, don’t play dumb with me. My opinion on elven slavery is very well known, as is my record on it.”
The Empress smiled.
“Regardless, I would like for Bickenstadt to keep its influence out of my province.”
“Oh please, like you don’t have agents in Bickenstadt. We have some reactionary newspapers in Bickenstadt, and I haven’t even dissolved them!”
The Empress tilted her head.
“Reactionary?”
Shit. That’s not a term used yet!
“It means people like your base, generally people who are against social liberalization and civil rights. They are called reactionary because their talking points change depending on what the current advancement in civil rights is. In the Empire now, they would be the supporters of elven slavery.”
The Empress nodded.
“I suppose that makes sense, yes. Where did you hear this term?”
“That’s not important, what’s truly important is that I am not connected to those newspapers, I cannot make them stop. Are you sure these aren’t just progressive Grössenburgers?”
The Empress nodded.
“Yes, anyone with a paper-trail that added up properly was allowed to keep their newspapers running, with a few caveats.”
“Ah, with a few caveats. How generous. I haven’t given the reactionaries caveats.”
The Empress raised en eyebrow.
“You haven’t? Why not?”
“Because I believe that freedom of speech is an inalienable right.”
The Empress nodded.
“Of course, you are very much into freedom. Speaking of freedom, since you will not stop with the newspapers, you must stop taking in runaway slaves.”
“I am not returning runaway slaves to you. I am willing to give you concessions, but I will not be staining my hands with elven blood.”
“You are not staining your hands with elven blood, you are returning property to its rightful owner.”
“I don’t care, and you can’t make me care.”
The Empress pursed her lips in thought, sitting in silence for a while before speaking again.
“How about this, slave catchers are allowed in Bickenstadt province, and you must guarantee their safety and prosecute those who attack them.”
“No. Completely unacceptable. I will not punish people for doing good.”
“Baron your principles are grating against reality here. The merchants and nobles are furious, they’re threatening to pull all business investments in Bickenstadt and Holenstadt if you continue to take in escaped slaves.”
“Then think of something to appease them, because I do not care.”
He very much cared. As much as he hated it, Holenstadt heavily relied on business with Grössenstadt to keep the lights on. He just had to hope the Empress thought he’d be willing to starve Holenstadt for his principles, which he wasn’t.
“The taking in of elven slaves is non-negotiable for you, that is very clear. There must be something you are willing to allow, for the stability of the Empire.”
The Baron crossed his arms on his chest.
“Then think of something reasonable.”
The Empress scoffed.
“You want me to be reasonable? Do you have any idea the nest of bees you poked by not punishing those boys?”
The Baron shrugged.
“The one who did it was a mid level nobleman, I can’t give him anything more than a slap on the wrist for anything less than murder.”
“He assaulted an officer of the law.”
“Yes, assaulted. Not murdered. I would have him locked up if he killed someone of course, I’m not that blind to political realities. What if I just locked him in jail for a week. During his school break, of course.”
The Baron smirked.
“Wouldn’t want him to get behind in his education.”
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The Empress scoffed.
“Just send him assignments and books for his jail cell, and he will be in there for no less than a month.”
“I will do three weeks.”
The Empress pursed her lips and glanced up with her eyes in thought.
“...That is acceptable. We will announce a month, and he will get out early on good behavior.”
The Baron smiled.
“Deal. But I won’t be cooperating with any slave catchers or sending a single slave back to the clutches of your reactionaries.”
“...Bickenstadt province is not a safe haven, the city is. Slave catchers may enter Bickenstadt province, but not the city if they are there on business.”
The Baron scoffed at the word ‘business’. The Empress continued.
“Any elf who can reach your walls is safe, any who get caught before will be returned to their owners. Slave catchers will not ask for the assistance of your populace and your populace will not interfere with their work. Is this acceptable?”
The Baron bit his thumbnail in thought.
“...My population will interfere with their ‘work’, realistically speaking, even if I ban it.”
“I don’t care if they will, I care that they are punished. That’s what the noblemen and merchants would want, it would get them to be quiet in the very least, which is good for Imperial stability.”
“Even if it’s just a slap on the wrist?”
The Empress shook her head.
“No, it must be a real punishment. Public flogging would be ideal, but time in a cell would suffice. At least three months, and I am not budging on that number this time.”
The Baron continued to bite his thumbnail for a few seconds before reluctantly nodding his head.
“That is acceptable, the jail time, not the flogging. Slave catchers may enter Bickenstadt province unmolested by state employed people, but they may not enter Bickenstadt city. Any actors found to be interfering with their work will be punished with three months in Bickenstadt jail. Any elf who arrives in Bickenstadt city is legally considered freed, not simply if they step into Bickenstadt. Is this acceptable to you? They are to me.”
The Empress smirked.
“One more thing I would like to add, unrelated to the elven slavery business, but still part of the deal. I want Grand Imperial Army drill sergeants and officers to be allowed to observe your training, and you ours. I believe this is a fair deal, and a gesture of good faith. It allows for better transparency between us, and seeing as we are both Empiresmen at the end of the day, that sort of thing should be done regardless.”
The Baron stood and extended his hand.
“Deal.”
The Empress stood and shook his hand.
“Deal.
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August 3rd, 1662.
The Bickenstadt Provincial Guard had been heavily expanded and fully reorganized to adapt to what seemed to be the future of warfare in the world: Linear Warfare.
It had been expanded from twenty thousand part-time soldiers to nearly sixty thousand soldiers, more than doubled in just a single year. While they were not as well trained and drilled as those of the Grand Imperial Army, they were highly organized, and their training was still nothing to sneeze at.
From top to bottom the entire structure of the army had been changed. The army was organized into six corps numbering ten thousand men each. Each corps was divided into ten battalions made up of one thousand men each, and each battalion was made up of seven companies of one hundred forty men each.
The soldiers of each company stand elbow to elbow in two horizontal lines, called ‘closed order’. The soldiers who made up these line formations would live, fight, and die together. An incredibly strong sense of comradery came from relying on other men to keep you alive, and the one officer and two lieutenants worked hard to keep the men literally united under one banner.
The officer ordered the formation to stop and the trumpeter gave the order, causing the drummer to change his cadence and bring the formation to a stop. He ordered the men to level their guns towards their enemy, a line of wooden dummies.
“Fire!”
The front row fired as one, a single deafening roar sent echoing through the field. The first row dropped to one knee as the second row took aim and fired, further blanketing their battlefield with acrid smoke.
The officer drew his saber and tilted it forwards.
“Charge!”
The trumpeter gave the order and the men began to walk forward again. They walked, then began to jog, then, within fifty yards, they broke into a sprint, bayonets held high and low ready to thrust at their foe. They impacted the wooden dummies with such a loud clash that anything else would be completely drowned out, even any orders the officers or lieutenants tried to give.
A little ways away the thunderous boom of artillery could be heard. The artillery pieces themselves were state-of-the-art six pounder cannons. The crewman put a six pound iron ball into the cannon after the powder charge was inserted. Another rammed the two down into the barrel, making sure they were all the way down and snugly fit. A man pierced the powder charge with a needle through the borehole and another lifted their lit linstock.
As soon as he was given the thumbs up he touched the lit matchcord on his linstock to the borehole, and everyone around covered their ears as the cannon fired, the force of the massive charge of black powder sending the cannon rolling backwards before the crew recentered it where they wanted.
The cavalry, organized into companies of sixty men with an enchanted breastplate and helmet each, were practicing firing their blunderbusses as they charged. The magically enhanced barrels greatly extended the effective range of their buckshot, allowing them to fire, holster their firearm, and draw their sabers before reaching the enemy’s line.
The dummy’s formation was already broken up by the artillery’s bombardment, and the cavalry’s buckshot would break it up even more. They slammed into the dummies, biting into wood with enchanted sabers and sending dummies flying with the force of horse and riding crashing into them.
Udo stood off to the side of the field, alongside Ludwin and a few observers from the Grand Imperial army.
“Man, they’re looking pretty good. How are your guys coming?”
The officer nodded slightly.
“They’re doing well. There has been some difficulty with the older, veteran troops, but they’re just stuck in their ways. They’ll change, they have to.”
Ludwin nodded.
“We have had similar issues with the mercenary company, however those have mostly been ironed out. We have been doing this for longer than anyone else in the Empire, afterall.”
Udo chuckled as he saw a dummy’s head fly into the air.
“Looks like their cavalry is doing great! Happy to have these guys as my colleagues, huh Ludwin?”
Ludwin nodded.
“Agreed. They have come a long way since their part-time militia days. Say, Oskar, how would you say they hold up to the Grand Imperial Army? In your completely unbiased opinion, of course.”
The Grand Imperial Army office chuckled.
“Well, they’re not bad, however they do not have the same discipline our troops have. It is simply a matter of time in training, and the quality of our drill sergeants.”
Udo nodded.
“Sounds about right. Wonder how Helmut’s liking your boys?”
Ludwin shrugged.
“Who knows? His criteria feel like they are everchanging and completely arbitrary at times, though I can’t deny his eye for quality. I imagine he is finding them at least adequate, which is fairly high praise coming from him.”
Oskar looked at Ludwin.
“I have heard rumors about your Helmut, most of them somewhat negative. How is it like working with him?”
Ludwin bit his thumbnail as he thought. It was a more complex answer than he had realized.
“Well, for the most part it is a positive experience, though he does have some eccentricities that make it a tad rough at times, some through no fault of his own.”
Oskar tiled his head.
“How so?”
“Well, he has a gift from the gods that essentially dulls his emotions and makes others perceive him as…well not as he is. Makes it harder to notice him, if that makes sense. We have to make an active effort to remember him even when he’s in the room. However, the only thing that makes it possible is that he is quite the memorable man.”
Udo spoke.
“Yeah, I tried to ask him about his sex life and he said he didn’t have one. I asked if he wanted a wingman and he said he doesn’t want a sex life.”
Ludwin squinted his eyes at Udo.
“You remember him because of his lack of sex life?”
“Because of his lack of interest in having a sex life.”
Ludwin rolled his eyes.
“Oh yeah, far more reasonable. Do you think about anything other than sex?”
Udo nodded.
“Yeah man. I think about fighting, battle, drinking, partying, hanging out with you guys, that sort of thing. I don’t like to read books, they’re boring and I’ve seen it all before.”
Oskar interjected.
“Seen it all before? What do you mean?”
Ludwin piped up.
“Yes, what does that even mean, Udo?”
“Well, I’ve read through all of Hans Brueckner’s novels, half of the shit in the Baron’s library, all of the shit in Wolfgang’s study, that sort of thing.”
Ludwin looked shocked.
“You read?”
He shrugged.
“Not anymore. Used to do it while doing planks and other stuff like that. It was great, but I’m sick of it now. I like to just be left alone with my own thoughts.”
Ludwin shook his head.
“That’s insane. You’re insane. Deranged even.”
Udo shrugged and looked back to the soldiers.
“Sure man, I’m deranged and insane. And in better shape than you.”
Ludwin chuffed and shook his head.
“Ape.”
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October 11th, 1661. Erich and his friends were hanging out at a coffee shop named ‘Dietrich's Place’, a smaller café popular amongst the more radical students at the University of Bickenstadt. They were currently in their study hall class, which functionally meant that students were released from school for the day if one didn’t plan on studying.
However, they weren’t just there to hang out.
“Adolf and his boys like to hang out at that one cafe near Der Imperial’s printing press building, not sure it even has a name-I hear it’s trendy these days. They go every Thursday, in fact, at the same time as well. Then, they walk home, and a little birdie has told me that they leave using the same route as well, one through some alleyways.”
One of his friends chuckled.
“So you want us to beat the shit out of some racist trash? Count me in brother.”
The rest of the table agreed with the sentiment, and Erich continued.
“Well, they’re actually there right now, just got there, in fact. We’ve got some time, so let’s get moving.”
His friends stood up and they left the coffee house after paying their tab.
“Hey, guys, no weapons, alright. I don’t wanna kill anyone.”
They all agreed, and the group made their way to their ambush position, the alleyway outside of an unnamed coffee house.
They waited there for nearly an hour before they heard the unmistakable sounds of young men walking in a group together, whooping and making fun of each other as they made their way through their usual path home.
As soon as they entered the alleyway the trap was snapped shut. Their entrance was blocked by two men, and in front of them three emerged from the garbage they were hiding in.
“Adolf, you fucking racist. How’s your night going?”
Adolf briefly checked behind him before answering.
“Erich, didn’t know you were a fan of ambushes.”
Erich cracked his knuckles.
“Well, you’re gonna learn my preferences today.”
Erich rushed at Adolf, who raised his guard immediately. Erich threw a wide hook and Adolf ducked to the side and punched Erich in the stomach, causing him to grunt through gritted teeth. He kneed Adolf in the chest, driving the wind out of his lungs and sending him stumbling back into his friend.
Erich’s two friends rushed forward and rammed into Adolf’s friends, who immediately brought them to the ground. They wrestled for control, rolling and punching, kneeing and elbowing, headbutting and slamming down onto the bricks. Erich’s friend Otto managed to get on top and deliver a devastating punch to his opponent’s face, visibly rattling him as he looked around confusedly and lowered his guard somewhat.
Otto punched him again, knocking him out cold. He got up and tackled Adolph’s friend Hans, who had just wrested control away from Herwig. The two men quickly overpowered and beat the downed Hans, leaving him a bruised and unconscious pulp.
Erich threw a straight punch and Adolf slipped past it, catching him in the jaw with a brutal right hook. Erich dropped the ground and tried to crawl to his feet as Adolf pounced on him from behind. He grabbed Erich by the hair and slammed his face into the ground, knocking him out cold and sending a tooth clattering against the brick.
Adolph turned and rushed over to help his last remaining friend Freiderick. He slammed his shoulder into Otto, knocking him on his back. Herwig kicked the downed Hans and Adolf delivered a straight punch to his face, breaking his nose and knocking him backwards. Adolf helped Hans up and the duo took up their fighting stances, though Hans looked rattled and exhausted..
Otto blew some blood out of his nose while Herwig held his broken nose, groaning loudly in pain. Adolf looked at Hans, who was barely able to stay standing, then to Herwig, barely able to fight due to the pain of a broken nose. He and Otto locked eyes, and Adolf spoke.
“Hey messerohrleiber, why don’t we just leave it at that? You can pick up your boys, and we can take ours.”
Otto looked at Herwig, then to the knocked out Erich lying behind his opponents.
“Hm. Fine.”
Adolf lowered his fist, as did Otto. The two groups moved, extremely tense and ready to react to anything the other did. Thankfully, the only thing exchanged were angry glares as they passed and lifted their friends.
Otto turned and yelled at Adolf and Hans.
“This isn’t over you fucker. You’re getting off lucky. Next time we'll have numbers.”
Adolf scoffed.
“Yeah? So will we.”