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[h1][b][u]Carn[/u][/b][/h1]
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[h1][b][u]Titania[/u][/b][/h1]
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[hr]
The new armour was unlike any metal Carn had ever seen before. It was a dull grey, but not nearly as light as the sword he carried, or Titania herself.

The commotion had stirred the entire camp. Some men had heard the initial screams and thought they were being attacked, which had led to dozens of men running about in panic, and in some cases almost clashing with each other in the darkness. Then they had noticed the true source of it all, and had clustered in the center of the camp.

Carn had ordered them all back to their beds and their posts. Those encamped closest to the pile were ordered to move elsewhere, in preparation for when the pile inevitably fell. To his surprise, they had agreed without hesitation, leaving only the dozen or so guards that had been assigned to guard Titania in the first place. Then, he himself had gone back to bed. The armour would need to be sorted and distributed, but not in the dark. That would have to wait until morning.

[hr]
“Lord Carnelian!”

Carn stirred, sitting up on the lumpy straw mattress. He had thought the events of the previous day might have been a dream, but the cloak which he was now using as a makeshift blanket proved otherwise. He rose to his feet, put the cloak on properly, and stepped outside.

Yarwick was there, along with a small group of warriors. “What is it?” Carn asked them.

“Armour fell over,” Yarwick replied. “Crushed tents and shelters. “Half the camp is already roused.”

“Gather everyone,” Carn ordered. “We need to see those suits distributed.”

Yarwick nodded. “I’ll see it done.”

[hr]
The crowd that had formed had quickly become a mob, with some already pulling at the pile. They quickly got into fights, as men went for the same pieces, or got in each other’s way. Carn had Titania’s tent pulled down, but she remained on the table so she could witness everything. She needed to see rather than hear just how chaotic this army truly was.

For several long moments, Carn allowed the chaos to go on, even as Lothar, Yarwick, Ingrid, and a few others all shouted to restore order. Then, the moment one fight went too far, and a blade was drawn, he shouted. “Enough!”

The fighting stopped, and heads turned. “Everyone, back away!” he commanded. “Form four orderly lines, one on each side of the pile. Take a full set of armour, then go somewhere else to put it on. I’ll take off the hand of anyone who grabs more than they need!”

The warriors paused, exchanged glances with one another, and then grudgingly began to back away. The crowd shifted into four lines, as Carn had commanded, each going in a different direction. Chieftains and leaders hung off to the side, keeping a watchful eye to ensure nobody strayed. One by one, a man came forward from each line to grab a set of armour, before hurrying away from the collapsed pile.

The process moved quickly, though later on Carn began to see that some men with armour were seeking each other out, because the pieces they had chosen didn’t fit quite right. It was only then that they discovered that the armour was the same size, forcing most to wear armour that was ill-fitting. For an unfortunate few, the armour did not fit at all. Carn watched them with a sour expression.

[colour=deepskyblue]”What? Dissatisfied?”[/colour] came a metallic mutter.

“The armour doesn’t fit,” Carn replied.

[colour=deepskyblue]”’The armour doesn’t fit’. What, did you expect me to know the exact sizes of your every soldier? You wanted armour; I gave you armour. I based my design on knowledge about the average size of a ‘human’ as accumulated over the millennia. If your warriors don’t fit the armour, they could do with losing or gaining some weight.”[/colour]

“And how do you propose they do that before we reach Ketrefa? Do you expect them to become taller, or shorter, too?”

[colour=deepskyblue]”Not my problem now, is it? After all, this is all -your- campaign. If your troops are outfitted wrongly, then it’s your responsibility as a commander to fix that, isn’t it?”[/colour] There came a metallic [colour=deepskyblue]hmph![/colour]

Carn glared at the armour. Meanwhile, men were beginning to recover items from the tents that had been crushed under the pile. Then, one shouted in alarm and began tugging on something. Carn observed from a distance, and then realized it was an arm. “By the gods…” he whispered, as others came to help the man pull the body free.

[colour=deepskyblue]”Why, what’s happening?”[/colour] mumbled the armour, only halfway interested.

Carn ignored her. “Is he alive?” he called out to Yarwick, who had approached the scene. Yarwick and two others then began to move the armour aside, allowing the body to be pulled free. The Chieftain of Thyma took one look at it, then back at Carn, and shook his head grimly.

Carn fell silent. “The pile fell on someone,” he said after several long moments, his voice devoid of emotion. “He’s dead.”

The armour was silent. [colour=deepskyblue]”What a shame. Death can strike anyone at any moment. It is the fate of all living beings. All we can do is make certain it won’t happen again.”[/colour]

“...you don’t care, do you?” Carn asked quietly.

[colour=deepskyblue]”Crying over the death of a soldier will leave you weeping for eternity. Soldiers die to protect the innocents; they fight for what is dear to them. Regardless of how they die, death is their fate. There are worse ways for a warrior to die than being crushed armour.”[/colour]

“Armour conjured forth by a being they thought was going to help them,” Carn countered. “That man deserved better than that, I think.”

[colour=deepskyblue]”I have helped you - I have given you the strongest armour in the land - full suits for almost everybody. Is your integrity really so faint that you would focus on one man’s death over the now-much more likely survival of thousands? Have you not the honour to be thankful?”[/colour]

Carn gave a bitter chuckle at that. “I choose to spare Aurielle, because she might still be useful to us, and you go on about justice. I choose to keep this cloak, because it might be useful to us, but you want it burned simply because you don’t trust it. But when you get one of my men killed, [i]now[/i] you go on about the greater good?” He shook his head. “Do you even know what honour is?”

[colour=deepskyblue]”Auriëlle, a criminal, walking free is -not- for the ‘greater good’. She is a wildcard at best and a demoness at the worst. Your weakness in handling her shows your misunderstanding of righteousness; the cloak is a product of Neiya, the queen of demons, and destroying it -is- for the ‘greater good’. The failure to do so shows your broken sense of right; and to weep over the loss of one man when your whole army has been harnessed with the greatest plate in the land? You show nothing but childishness and lack of resolve! Honestly, why did I even choose you?”[/colour]

“An easy thing, to judge people, isn’t it? To second-guess them when you’ve never seen life through their eyes?” Carn ignored her question. “You’ve never been hungry, have you? Your life has never been at risk, has it? Do you have family? If you do, have you seen them cut down before your very eyes? Have you ever been at someone else’s mercy? ” He shook his head. “I don’t think you have. The question is, why did [i]I[/i] choose [i]you?[/i] I didn’t have to pick you up. I could have left you with that merchant, or thrown you in a ditch somewhere. I’m not your slave, Titania. I’ve never been. I thought you’d understand that, considering it’s what we’re fighting to stop.”

The armour scoffed. [colour=deepskyblue]”Of all the stuck-up--! I have never once treated you like a slave! I have made demands, yes, but never with the expectation that these would not be compensated for! I even offered you a new cape to replace the one you would, oh so slavishly, have to toss away, because, I don’t know, it’s made by the incarnation of evil?!”[/colour] She heaved some furious breaths. [colour=deepskyblue]”You know what? I was wrong about you - so wrong. I see it now. You’re not doing this to free the innocents of Ketrefa - this is an ambition of yours: your project, isn’t it?”[/colour] She paused. [colour=deepskyblue]”Yes… Yes, no wonder Neiya would reach out to you.”[/colour]

“And now you turn your paranoia on me,” Carn sighed. “Think what you want. I don’t care. Leading this army wasn’t even my idea. But if you won’t support me, then I might as well leave you behind.”

[colour=deepskyblue]”Fine! I’ll find a better wearer - one whose heart outshines yours like the sun outshines a torch. They will become an invincible paladin of justice - something you could never be.”[/colour]

“I pity whoever you find, then,” Carn said as he turned away. “Everyone! Pack up! It’s time to move!”

[hr]
[hider=Post Summary]
The suit of armour falls over in the night, waking everyone up. Carn then gets up and decides to start distributing it. Things are a bit chaotic at first but his cloak helps him get the situation under control. Unfortunately, all the armour sets are the same size, which means not all of them fit Carn’s army. It then turns out that when the armour fell it crushed one of Carn’s men, which Titania is surprisingly indifferent to.

This then escalates into an argument, where they call each other out for their flaws, cast aspersions on each other’s motives, and then finally go their separate ways. Titania vows to find a better wearer while Carn figures he might be better off without her.
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[hider=Prestige Summary]
[u]Carn[/u]
[b]Beginning:[/b] 41
+4 for 7500+ characters
[b]Ending:[/b] 45
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