The chest-pounding thrum of war drums and dark plumes of smoke over the horizon heralded the coming of the Red Knights long before their ships were visible to the eye. As their fleet crested the horizon, the drums grew louder, the smell of smoke drifted over the settlement they approached, and the men there grew restless. It was not fear of the Red Knights that stirred in their chests, but the inspiration of bloodlust, incensing them to battle. The ships grew closer, and it became clear that this was not a unified fleet of matching ships, but a rag-tag flotilla of stolen ships, ramshackle rafts, and even those that rode on the backs of huge maritime beasts.

Finally, the Red Knights came ashore, their chaotic fleet crashing into the shore at full speed with small explosions of sand and splintered wood. Others straggled ashore from where their mounts had left them in the shallows. At once the disjointed ships disgorged their myriad passengers, all manner of strange beasts and monstrous folk, who immediately set about tearing down the ships themselves. They pulled apart the ships' planks, ripped down the sails, and looted every oar and ration from their appropriated vessels. Ignoring this rabble, a band of warrior-beasts strode toward the gathering of leaders. They had been the last to arrive, and their coming signified beginning of the true struggle.

At the fore of this band was Jagannath, the semi-divine monstrosity known to friend and foe alike as the God-Eater. Arrayed in his full panoply of war, his brass armor seemed to boil and steam in the sunlight as he radiated heat from his red flesh, as though he were a living forge. He carried a hammer large enough to smash a carriage into splinters in a single fall, a massive blade of malevolent, violent power, and a huge bow-like apparatus strapped across his back. His accoutrements were spare besides that; a huge cloak of the stitched-together hides of hellbears, long, draping necklaces of skulls strung together like beads, and his iron elephant-helm. He was flanked by many other savage warriors, the Red Knights, who were each terrifying in their own right, but none commander the divine terror of the God-Eater in the flesh.

Jagannath stood amongst his peers, the other leaders of this desperate coalition. Only the minotaur stood anywhere close to his statue, and the others were the size of children in comparison to him. "[color=9e0b0f][b]WELL MET, LITTLE KINGS.[/b][/color]" Said the God-Eater, his dark, thunderous voice reverberating in his iron helmet. "[b][color=9e0b0f]THE LOYAL SERVANTS OF THE RED GOD HAVE ANSWERED YOUR SUMMONS, AND WE STAND READY FOR BLOODSHED. I ONLY HOPE YOU WILL PROVE TO BE LESS DISAPPOINTING THAN I EXPECT.[/color][/b]"