Dyelli Beybi

Paradise Lost

@InfamousGuy101 looks grand... just for internal consistency with the stuff we've been discording about, change the name of the colony world to Shinar or Kikkar

Paradise Lost

@El Gato Naranja

Looks good to me!

Empire of the Clouds

Zoe Spyrou

Zoe stared at Mitunbaal's hands. Her brows knitted together, "Well fancy that," she said, breaking the silence that had fallen after the overt display of magic, "Father said that the healing gifts used to run in our family, but, honestly, I always thought it was a load of nonsense. I always thought the gift was a story concocted in a more primitive age."

She paused for a long moment, glancing between Aden and Mitunbaal, "I've never been more delighted to discover I'm wrong!" she declared, "Miss Vasiliou, I would love to ask you a few questions, if, of course, you have the time and inclination to answer them."

Paradise Lost

Well I know from the Discord we have a few more apps in the works.

Paradise Lost

@Pragia12 looks good to me!

Paradise Lost

This RP will stay open to new players perpetually (though we've closed off 'unique species' apps), so please feel free to join!

And if you aren't there already, feel free to join the Discord Community!

Paradise Lost

Theme Music

500 years ago Earth fell to the waves of AI controlled machines. Out of that, our people survived, fleeing to the far reaches of the Galaxy where we settled and rebuilt, though much knowledge was lost, including the star charts that might guide our path home. But now, another threat has found us and once again we must take to the stars in search of a new home or, perhaps an old one...

---

WELCOME!

Hello and welcome to Paradise Lost, an RP where you will play one of the survivors of the Colony of Eden, fleeing from an exterminating enemy horde on a colony ship. Perhaps you were intended to be on the colony ship, perhaps you snuck onboard. Either way you're there now!

Eden is a colony with humans and aliens. You can play either, using one of our main races, or even design your own, though if you're keen for that, join the discord and we'll work one out with you!

In the end, everyone on the ship, human or alien is looking for a new home in an unknown hostile galaxy. Maybe you'll find somewhere new to settle, or maybe you'll try to head back towards the legendary homeworld of 'Earth'.

Lastly, this RP is open to latecomers. To make that easier, we're going to declare that the colony ship is full of colonists in stasis. If you want to join late, we'll just wake someone new up.

Lastly, I've tagged the 18+ bit so that we can explore darker themes. Not to write porn.

---

SETTING

It is the year 3822 and the galaxy is barely recognisable.

In the Year 2307 ‘the United Nations of Sol’, by then a wealthy Faster-than-light civilisation, joined the ancient ‘Federation of Civilised Worlds’ led by the first spacefaring races. The Federation had lasted for thousands of years and at the time of signing into it, the people of Sol thought it would be eternal.

It was not. By the 27th century, there were growing rifts between the first spacefaring races, with their ‘herd mentalities’ and the more individualist younger races. A number of civil wars shook the Federation. As the Federation struggled with internal problems it was struck by two outside threats that, collectively, proved it's downfall. The first was an invasion of a devouring insectoid swarm known as the 'Metacer'. The second was the result of (illegal) AI research in the Sol system - a particularly powerful AI went rogue, sparking the 'Machine War'.

As far as anyone knows the Machine War destroyed the Sol system, though at least one convoy of refugee ships managed to escape, fleeing into a Federation 'Reserve'. The ships put down on an uninhabited garden world the refugees named 'Eden'. With their vessels out of fuel and in need of repairs, a temporary settlement was established with the expectation that the Federation would find them at some point, when stability had been restored. But nobody ever came.

It took the best part of two centuries before the Colonists were able to begin producing new FTL vessels, though the drives they constructed were slow and primitive compared to the ones they had been using prior to settling in Eden. Star charts from before the migration were non existent.

No sign of Federation or AI vessels was found though a few nearby planets were found to harbor primitive species, not capable of space flight. The Colony of 'Eden' began to expand, settling on other planets, clashing with and occasionally assimilating the locals. By 3822, New Eden has expanded to (nominally) control five habitable worlds (though clashes with primitives continue on all planets but Eden), with mining operations on several other uninhabited ones.

Otherwise, Eden began to function much like any other capitalist state. Farms were built on the colony worlds. Companies mined on planets and asteroids. A division grew up between the rich and poor, though the colony remained, for the most part, a fairly equitable meritocracy. Unlike on Earth, where humans formed the elite in society, on Eden, the Dhasath and Kiellar (alien groups) are just as well represented.

A year ago, however, the outside world finally found the Colony of Eden. Nobody knows exactly how they landed on Eden and her colonies, but Metacer began to be sighted for the first time in 500 years. Initially the military was slow to acknowledge their existence or act on the threat, eventually doing so when the first small towns were devoured by the ravenous swarms. By then, however, it was too late and the collapse of Eden's military was swift.

Today you find yourself one of the lucky ones who made it up to Eden's orbital shipyard where a colony vessel has been being outfitted with the hope of migrating, once again, to a new home. Rumours are circulating that the Metacer are breeding in the bowels of the station, though that couldn't possibly be true... could it?

---

LORE

Technology

As this is sci-fi, there are a number of pieces of technology that will be mentioned in the RP. Here is some info on them:

Skrim Drive: The Skrim Drive is the basic FTL drive used by all species in the galaxy, allowing them to phase across to hyperspace where an object can travel faster than light. Opening a hyperspace window requires a lot of energy and several minutes to 'spin the drive up'. Skrim Drives are prone to overheating and longer hyperspace journeys will need to be made in hops. That, along with the speed limitation means that most journeys between stars will take days or weeks and movement between galaxies is believed to be impossible.

Most ships can detect a hyperspace window opening or closing a few minutes before the ship utilising their Skrim drive moves through it.

Translator Nanites: Translator nanites, injected into children at birth and which inhabit an individual's brain, allow people to understand most, though not all, alien languages. Translator nanites self replicate, which is useful since nobody knows how to make new ones or, really, how they work.

Energy weapons (Blasters): Most weapons used in warfare are energy weapons. Units that are not connected to a generator (such as handheld weapons) will require a battery pack that usually allows for around 100 shots to be fired before needing to be swapped over. A person struck by an energy weapon can expect serious, deep burns with a high chance of death if the discharge travels through a major organ.

Shields: Large ships are always fitted with energy shields to prevent damage from space debris as well as weapons from other ships. Shields on surface vehicles etc. have been experimented with but are too heavy to be practical.

Body Armour: Body armour exists though isn't widely used. It can minimise injury from handheld weapons rather than completely absorbing the energy from a shot.

---

The Metacer

The metacer are large, ferocious omnivorous insectivores that devour anything that gets in their path including crops, livestock and people. Most metacer stand about four foot tall, but are around twice as long and appear a lot like an enormous brown ant. They can move extremely fast and do not appear to feel pain. Most metacer are not sapient, being little more than dumb animals. Big, dangerous, dumb animals but dumb animals all the same. Command Bugs, however, are not and can seemingly exert psychic control over hordes of workers. These metacer won't usually expose themselves to hostile fire, but if you can find and eliminate them, you can significantly lower the combat performance of nearby workers who will become confused and disorientated without the presence of a Command Bug. Somewhere, a nest will have a Queen, who can also exert psychic control over workers and is significantly larger, though a lot less dangerous as the Queen is usually so swollen with unlaid eggs she can barely move. Killing the Queen will slow down reproduction, though to be absolutely sure that other Command bugs won't grow into a Queen, all of these individuals need to be hunted down as well.

---

Species of Eden

Humans
As I'm assuming you are a human so I'm not going to write too much here.

Overall humans are the majority of the Eden colony, making up just over half of the population.

---

Dhasath
Singular: dhasath
Plural: dhasath
Adjective: dhasath
Naming: Click here for a generator that will spit out some thematic names.

Biology: The dhasath look like humans though they trace their ancestry to the Andromeda galaxy and are regarded as an old-medium aged race (having taken to FTL travel some 450 years before humanity).

Dhasath have less phenotypic divergence than humans and mostly look like Eastern Mediterranean/Middle-Easterner/Iranic people. While humans and dhasath are indistinguishable to look at, species with a strong sense of smell can tell them apart, usually finding dhasath to be sweet smelling.

Dhasath have the same lifespan as a human, though they are fully mature by age 14. A dhasath pregnancy is shorter than a human one (six months) and they produce ‘litters’ of, on average, 2.5 children. All of this means that, given good conditions, dhasath populations can explode.

In addition to this, dhasath require very little water to survive (and very rarely sweat) and can survive extremes of both heat and cold that would kill a human. In periods of stress, dhasath females will stop ovulating.

As a byproduct of their evolution for harsh climates, dhasath produce chemicals in their blood and saliva which can induce euphoria in other species if consumed. This had led to legends of dhasath being able to mind controlling victims with a kiss, though these are only legends.
Unusually, humans and dhasath can produce viable hybrids. Genetic tests indicate that dhasath and humans might have diverged from one another around 1 million years ago, though nobody has a particularly good explanation as to how this happened. The current working theory is that this might have been the work of some long dead precursor civilisation though if it was, all traces of their existence is now gone.

History and Culture: According to legend, and dhasath religious texts, the ‘Dhasath League’ was a power in the Andromeda Galaxy in the 1600s that was eventually destroyed by an alien race known as the ‘Ragons’ though some legends suggest the dhasath are even older than that, a ‘phoenix species’ who rose from the ashes of a destroyed empire aeons before that. Some of the survivors of the Ragon invasion found their way to the Sol system after the human uplift, becoming major players in Martian politics.

In the 24th Century, when Earth joined the Federation of Civilised Worlds the dhasath began to form communities across Federation space and, when the Federation was destroyed three centuries later, were one of the species that expanded to fill the void left by the extinguished Federation species.

Unusually, the dhasath were something of a species-religious group, almost universally following a syncretism of Christianity and their own native religion known as ‘Makerism’ through which the dhasath clergy were able to explain all things that happened to their species, as part of a divine plan. This has continued in Eden with religious texts detailing their flight to Earth and later Eden.

Around a quarter of the population of Eden are dhasath.

---

Kiellar
Plural: kiellar
Adjective: kiellar
Naming: Kiellar are usually referred to by their first name, but on official documents will be known as <Name> of <Father's name>. Click here for a generator that will spit out some thematic names.

Appearance:

Kiellar are a moderately tall race, with males averaging about and females about 5’8’’ and males about 6’2’’ with generally slim builds. Their skin tones are similar to those of humans, as are the colours of their (almond shaped) eyes. Kiellar hair is similar in shade to human hair, though it is noticeable finer and body hair is sparse.

NB: If you want to make a kiellar character and want to use a picture, Shadowrun Elves make good models.

Biology: Kiellar have an average lifespan of about 200 years. While an individual Kiel will reproduce slowly (gestation period is one year), kiellar remain fertile for most of their lives and that, coupled with their natural resistance to disease, means that the kiellar population as a whole can multiply quite rapidly – it is not unusual for a kiellar couple to produce over 20 offspring in a lifetime, with over a century between the youngest and the eldest.

Kiellar, additionally, have strong night vision.

History and Culture: Kiellar legends state that 2,600 years ago, the first kiellar ships left their homeworld of Relenar, somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy, to begin exploration of their solar system. Initially a group of waring Nation States, the kiellar became eager terraformers, turning inhospitable moons into habitable planets before over the course of the next century.

Strife, however, quickly broke out between the colonies, with some seeking independence from their home nations, which in turn ignited a wave of brutal wars across Relenar. Out of the ashes of this rose the ‘All Kiellar Republic’ which sought to unite the waring kiellar nations into one system-wide Republic. At first it seemed like a fantasy, however, the Republic continued to win until, by the time the kiellar discovered hyperdrive technology 2,400 years ago, the whole system was united.

The discovery of alien life came as a shock to the kiellar who, to that point, had assumed they were the only intelligent life-form in the universe. The Kiellar Republic began to trade with some of their interstellar neighbours, however, the kiellar culture was expansionistic and, bit-by-bit, the kiellar began to absorb their neighbours.

The first major setback occurred when the kiellar encountered the Dhasath League who destroyed the Kiellar Fleet, forcing the Republic to pay war reparations. This, in turn, paved the way for the military to seize control of the Republic, claiming the defeat was the result of corrupt politicians. The Kiellar fleet was rebuilt and the Second Dhasath war was a minor (and very unexpected) Kiellar victory, with the League handing over several mining stations and border outposts, but retaining all their inhabited worlds.

Following on from the Second Dhasath War, and the subsequent destruction of the League at the hands of the emergent Ragon Empire, Kiellar Command rapidly became the dominant power in Andromeda, conquering and enslaving innumerable other races, though as they did, increasingly large proportions of their military were required to keep their subjects in line. The Ragon Empire exploited this weakness during the War for Andromeda and Kiellar Command would have collapsed were it not for the intervention of other powers to help defeat the Ragons.

The damage, however, had been done and, following on from the war, Kiellar Command disintegrated into a morass of waring states controlled by rebels or military cliques. Refugees poured across into the neighbouring Milky Way galaxy and by the time of the Machine War, kiellar were an increasingly common sight.

kiellar make up around 20% of the population of Eden.

---

Other Species
Due to the large amount of apps for unique species, this is closed for nopw.

---

THE RULES

---

In summary, 'don't be a dick'. But here they are if that comment is confusing:

RULES!

• Decisions
  My word and the word of all Co-OPs is binding. If you don’t like a decision, you can, of course, ask for us to reconsider it. Once. If we made a decision you don’t like, complaining for pages and pages is not going to endear you to anyone. Not me, not the Co-OPs and not your fellow writers.
  On that note, I intend to run this thread as an anarcho-communist cooperative. This is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying that my word DOES NOT overrule theirs. So don’t ask me to overrule one of the others. I won’t.
• Post Quality
  I don’t have a problem with short posts but please use proper spelling (I don’t care what regional variant), grammar etc.
  Ideally also try to include a 'hook' when you write a post, which is to say something that gives other people something to respond to. If your post is something along the lines of 'Bilbo Baggins stayed in his room and read a book while the world was ending', don't be surprised if nobody responds to you.
• Posting Commitment
  Nothing is worse than making an RP only for it to die. Please try to check in to see if there is room for a post every 24 hours or so. If you find yourself unable to post for extended periods of time, please let us know on the Discord or in the OOC thread. If it looks like you've abandoned a character in the middle of a fight scene I might decide to kill them off, if I'm feeling particularly malicious.
• Posting Speed
  On the flip side, blitz posting can also be infuriating. So, especially during the important scenes, I recommend giving your fellow players a reasonable time to make a reply. We all have real lives. That being said, if someone leaves everyone waiting for over 48 hours, feel free to carry on the scene without them.
• OOC thread Manners
  Nothing annoys me more than bad manners on an OOC thread and in the Discord channel. Swearing, passive-aggressive sniping or any other rude behaviour are not welcome on the OOC. You will be warned once. If you can’t control yourself I will ask you to remove yourself from the thread.
• IC thread Manners
  Remember, we are writing a story together, not trying to win.
• Character Death
  Player death is possible in this RP, though will be quite rare and easily avoidable. Please don’t write that you have killed another character unless you have OOC permission from the character's owner to do it. Beat them into a pulp or take them prisoner, but don’t kill them. Having said that, if someone does something really stupid (such as this), I reserve the right to announce your character has got themselves killed. Likewise, if someone goes inactive without explanation and cannot be raised, I may decide to kill their character off.
• Keep it tasteful
  Yes, this is an 18+ RP but please try to keep things tasteful. Generally speaking if there isn't a narrative reason for writing stuff other people will find offensive, don't write it. We'll ask you to correct, warn and/or ban depending upon how far outside the realms of common decency you are and whether we think you're taking the piss or not.
• Banning Players
  I really don’t want to be doing that but reserve the right to do so if you cannot follow the (hopefully, rather simple) rules above.

---

APPLICATION FORMS

---

The moment you have been waiting for!

Feel free to app anything you think your character might do.

Additionally, feel free to write up a number of characters!

When filling in an application form, please delete everything in parentheses.

Character App

Character Description

Name:
Species:
Sex:
Age:
Role/Job: (feel free to be creative!)
Appearance:(Feel free to describe with text or put pictures in here. Please do not use anime face claims. They're so stylised it's hard to identify defining features)

Strengths and Weaknesses

Skills: (Is there anything you are significantly better at than most other people? If you include something, make sure it is backed up in the background)
Weaknesses: (Is there anything your character is really rubbish at? Not essential you put anything in, but can be fun)

Background:

Backstory:(How did you come to be here?)

Empire of the Clouds

Zoe paused momentarily, glancing about the cabin, then stepped back, shrugging out of her jacket, which she bundled up in her fist, pressing it into the wound. She wasn't gentle, pressing hard enough to cause no small amount of pain, but hopefully, staunching the flow of blood, "Okay... do I need to sew it up or somethin?" she asked.

She left enough time for a response before taking a deep breath and yelling at the top of her lungs, "Help! We need a Doctor!"

Empire of the Clouds

Pvt. Aden Robertson

...
"MEDIC!!! MEDIC!!!!!"

@Terrans

Aden didn't get a medic, not right away. Instead he got Zoe who rushed into the compartment and, without any particular thought as to exactly what she was doing, grabbed Aden under the armpits and with a grunt of exertion, hauled him back towards the corridor, "Why are men so heavy?" she complained, pausing for a moment to catch her breath, "I don't know if we have a medic here, but if you know what to do, tell me and I'll do it. I think we're setting course for Mitteland so we can get you a real Doctor soon. I'm sure we can collectively keep you alive for a few hours."

She gave another grunt as she hauled Aden up the ramp towards the cabins, pausing as she reached the top to decide on her direction, and catch her breath again, "There's blood on my dress," she sounded thoughtful more than anything else, which probably wasn't the reaction anyone would have expected, "Hmm... that might actually work for me. Okay, I'm going to get you to a bunk, then you, or someone else, needs to tell me what I'm doing."

---

By now they seemed to be out of range and no more bullets were hitting the ship. Arkadios, unfolded his arms from behind his back. The soldier had seemed completely unphased throughout the skirmish, "I suppose someone should check to make sure the gas bags aren't punctured. We don't want to loose altitude over the Morktree if we can avoid it," he commented, "Can someone with the experience to locate and repair such things take a look? Itzi, Christina, Carter?" he suggested, "I imagine Captain le Marinier can hold the ship steady while you do so."

Smoke and Steel

The Battle of Kalendri, Southern Inbur

Some Music

Village of Agion Platanion, 4:30am

“Coralie! Coralie!”

Coralie felt herself shaken awake. She sat up, rubbing bleary eyes, blinking up at the familiar face of Momin Assinger, his features illuminated in the light of a candle-lantern, “Urgh… what is it?” she asked, as she struggled to put on some semblance of composure, “What time is it? I haven’t even heard a cock crow.”

“Half past four in the morning,” Momin replied without needing to consult his watch. He stepped back respectfully, the light from his lantern casting shadows across the tent. It was, by the standards of someone styling herself an Empress, not particularly grand: a simple camp bed, a chest for clothing, a chair and a collapsible table. It was, however, private.

Coralie stood up, bare feet touching on the cold, lumpy carpet that barely disguised the dirt below. She reached for a shawl she had over the back of a chair, draping it over her shoulders against the frigid night air, “So what’s happened?” she asked.

“The pickets report the Calarians are advancing from their camp to the east, no doubt hoping to catch us off guard at dawn,” Momin replied, matter-of-factly.

“Does Viryarus know?” Coralie asked.

Momin nodded, “It was his men that spotted the advance.” It made sense. Most of the Black Army were freshly raised troops – peasants drilled into some vague semblance of soldiers. They would become a force to be reckoned with… given enough time, but for now, they were rough and unpolished.

“Alright, beat to quarter General Assinger,” she replied, rubbing at her eyes again, “If the enemy are so eager to attack before breakfast we should at least have the good manners to meet them.”

Between the Villages of Ahion Platanion and Kalendri, 6am – just after dawn.

In the distance, in the dawn light, Coralie could see the gleam of pikes and the colours of the Calarian banners as they advanced towards the Allied lines, the sound of fife and drums echoing over the farmland. The advance was orderly, precise and well drilled, dragoons and lancers on either wing.

To the North, Viryarus’ Imperial forces were advancing in parallel with her own with the intention of forming a line with the village of Kalendri in their centre. The Black Army were lacking in Cavalry, though they had managed to put assemble a Squadron of dragoons since the last battle. “I thought we’d outnumber them,” she commented to Viryarus as she did her best to assess how many soldiers were advancing across the farmland towards them. Viryarus had joined her on the small rise ahead of the troops. It wasn’t much of a hill but was the best vantage they had to survey the flat, village dotted farmland where the two armies seemed destined to meet, “They look to have about as many men as us and more guns.”

The combined allied force was just over 15,000…

“They must have received reinforcements,” Viryarus commented with a slight shrug to indicate this had been, perhaps, to be expected, “They’ll be dragging behind the guns we abandoned at Hjodfelt.” He paused before adding, “They use deeper formations than Imperial troops… or for that matter your own units. They’re too deep to be efficient and make their units an easier target for cannon.”

Unlike Viryarus who wore a simple buff coat and hat, Coralie had donned a full suit of blacked plate. It was heavy and she didn’t like it much, being more used to the decks of ships where wearing armour was a risibly bad idea, but she had been convinced by her Captains that she should wear adequate protection and black, after all, was her colour.

“That village over there, between our two armies? That’s to be the centre of our line?” Coralie pointed to a cluster of houses, smoke curling from the chimneys in the still, dawn air.

“Kalendri,” Viryarus confirmed, “Yes, it is.”

“I’ll dispatch a battalion to move on ahead take and hold it,” Coralie said, “I’m concerned we are not in position and it could be a problem if the Calarians get to it first.”

“Also, that manor to the South-West of your lines looks like a good spot to set up your dragoons,” Viryarus commented.

There was a flash in the distance, followed by another, then another. A few moments later the flash was joined by the distinctive roar of cannons, “They’re firing on our men,” Coralie remarked. The balls, thankfully, weren’t directed at the Commanders’ position on the hill.
“I had best ride back to my lines,” Viryarus doffed his hat politely, “God willing, I’ll see you once the battle is lost and won.”

South of Kalendri, 6:45am

Coralie had joined her elite Iktani musketeers, held in reserve behind the main battle line, though she had stayed on horseback. She stood up in her stirrups for a better look as a unit of Calarian dragoons swooped down on one of her forward batteries. With the flat terrain it was difficult to find a good vantage point. There was a ripple of gunfire from the nearby battalions and the Calarians fell back in disarray, dropping one of their colour standards in the chaos.

To one flank of the guns, a battalion of foot began to push forward, advancing towards the dragoons as they sought to reform in the fields between the two lines of infantry, “Order those men back into position!” she called to one of her dispatch riders, “Keep them in line!”
The rider tipped his hat, galloping off in the direction of the advancing battalion. She watched for a moment. It would be time before the rider reached them, a few minutes at least.

She turned her spy glass to South. She could see the flash of gunfire from the manor her dragoons had occupied, harassing a large body of Calarian lancers advancing on the flank; Viryarus' prediction of the usefulness of the manor had proved correct. Her own, badly outnumbered, Black Riders advanced cautiously to meet them.

Abruptly the Black Riders charged, spurring horses forward with whoops and cheers, pistols held at the ready. The Calarians surged forward to meet them. There was the flash of pistols, then, moments later, the clash of steel and the screams and cries of the men and horses struck down. Despite the numerical advantage of the Calarians, the heavily armoured Black Riders pushed forward, driving them back, though as they did, a second unit of Calarian cavalry swept past to the North, ignoring the melee as they closed on Coralie’s lines.

Coralie trained her spyglass on where they were headed, only to find the battalion that had been out of position before had wheeled and was now marching back towards her line, “That damned fool…” she growled, grinding her teeth as the inevitable unfolded before her.

It was too late to do anything. The Calarian cavalry crashed into the formation’s rear, lances levelled before the fool of a Colonel had time to react. In moments the men were running, leaving dead and wounded in the grass, streaming towards the gap they’d left in the Black lines.

She signalled to another rider, “Order Kadis’ battalion to advance to fill the gap.”

Losing soldiers unnecessarily was upsetting, but she had several battalions held in reserve, including her own Iktani musketeers. This was still only the opening moves. The next few hours would be a blood affair.

South of Kalendri, 7:30am

“Forward men!” Coralie called to her musketeers.

The Calarian infantry had come within firing range half an hour earlier and the two lines had exchanged fire, rapidly cloaking the battlefield in smoke and making it even harder to discern what was going on. So far the Battle had progressed reasonably well though it was still far from won and from what she could see of the exchange of fire between the infantry, her own troops were not getting the better of it. The Calarian Cavalry had been routed to the South and, from what a runner from Viryaris had told her, the Imperial Cavalry had carried in the North as well, though her units in the centre were hard pressed. Coralie had slowly fed in her reserves and, ss a battalion of foot wavered, ahead, the first men beginning to flee backwards as the officers did their futile best to keep them in line, Coralie realised her own Guard were the last at her disposal. So into the breach they must go.

As fleeing men streamed around them, they marched forward into the acrid smoke of the battlefield, Coralie remaining on horseback on the flank, though a part of her itched to pick up a musket and join the firing line. In the early part of the battle Black and Imperial batteries had shot ragged lines in the dense Calarian formations but the Calarian infantry had silenced two Black Batteries, while her own forces hadn’t come close enough to the Calarian guns to even fire a shot.

As they moved into position, Coralie’s guard were struck by a volley of fire from the front, bullets, zipping through the smoke to strike men down, including one man, including one no more than three feet away from her, “Form up!” Coralie called, “Fire by rank.”
And they did, with the front rank taking position to fire back on the Calarians who seemed little more than shadows in the smoke before dropping back to let another man take their place.

Coralie watched, unsheathing her sword, gritting her teeth again, ready for the Calarians to surge forward. Her heart beat wildly in her chest. It was like waiting to board a ship, with the bullets zipping past and the smoke making it impossible to properly see what you were doing. No control over whether one of the bullets hit you or not. More of her men went down and the practiced, drilled precision began to break down just a little, one man fired too early. Another froze in place, obstructing the shooter trying to step up. A cannon ball crashed through their rank, taking down a whole file of men.

Somewhere in the chaos, an Imperial rider managed to find her, reigning in his frothing horse alongside Coralie, “The Calarians have broken the line North of the village!” he declared without any ceremony.

Coralie turned her eye away from the exchange of fire, “My reserves are all deployed…” she trailed off, thinking for a moment, then motioned to two of her message riders, “You two, with me. Assinger, take command of the men here!”

As they group rode out from the carnage, Coralie’s ears still ringing, the air began to clear a little. She spurred her horse East, away from the fighting and North, towards the smoke-wreathed houses of Kalendri, “It looks like Mousikou’s men are holding.”

Colonel Mousikou had led a green unit to hold the village. It was a relief he was still here. She had half expected the Calarians to dislodge him by now, but he hadn’t and from her position she could see him delivering fire into the flank of the Calarian forces trying to split the Allied armies.

Coralie paused. She saw some Imperial troops begin to fall back as they threatened to be encircled. But all her nearby units were engaged. What could she do?

Almost as an answer to prayer she saw one of the Calarian units begin to fall back. Not in a disorderly route, but an orderly withdrawal, slowly stepping back, away from the village. Over the cacophony of battle she could distantly here the Calarian fifers and drummers sounding out the retreat.

“They’re pulling back,” one of her runners commented, “Should I order the men to give chase?”

Coralie paused, then shook her head. There were still plenty of Calarian units in good order. Her infantry were, for the most part, exhausted and her cavalry were few in number, “No, let them leave.”

The day, it seemed was theirs.

The Aftermath

While the Calarians had managed to push a gap between the Allied armies, on the North and South flanks their cavalry had been routed and the troops on the both wings had begum to roll up the Calarian line with Imperial Cavalry threatening their rear. Seeing the danger, General Caldarini, who was leading their forces, had tactfully ordered a withdrawal.

Novertheless, of an original force of over 16,000, he had left over 2,300 dead on the field with a further 3,700 having surrendered to the Alliance. The worst casualties were in the infantry regiments on the Calarian flanks. The Allies, originally fielding a slightly smaller force of 15,400, had lost just over 700 men killed or missing with a further 1,200 wounded. The Battle of Kalendri had been the largest battle of the war to date and had, for this season at least, put an end to Calarian invasion plans. With the agreement between Viryarus and D’Ambois, the Black Army had been granted a firm foothold in Southern Inbur.

However, nobody, least of all Coralie, was expected Ariana’s Red Army to march against her…