Nemaisare

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

Sir would be down for rescuing. And I like ideas, and collaborative posts. Yepyepyepyepyep :D I was thinking Sir would probably wind up saving one or the other, or both. Or well, saving in his mind, lol. Whether or not they actually needed the rescuing would be wholly debatable, likely. And whether or not he could manage both would depend on the archers on the walls, likely. He'd most likely go after Riven first, since he actually saw her jump. I'm not entirely certain if he noticed Taula... Which would, granted, make rescuing her difficult. :P

blackbird claw, raven wing [ closed for El Taco Taco && Nemaisare ]

Eeeeeeeee, Family trees are awesome!

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

Writing is fun. :P

And that insult was pretty epic.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

Fast pacing and getting in the details you want are the bane of each other. I think you did a pretty good job with balancing them both though. And with getting Riven's thoughts through. Which is, of course, always important. :) Any more description will probably slow the pacing too much to keep the action flowing, at least in the actual fight scenes nearer the end. But I don't think it needs anything more there or in the beginning either.

Sir is quite happy she dealt with the other man for him, and is now wondering if he should save her. :P And if Taula needs saving... Speaking of, how close was Taula to Sir at her jumping off the wall point?

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

No worries, we kinda got going there. I had fun imagining people going out of their way to befriend dragons though. That amused me, yes it did.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

Also keeping in mind that conscription doesn't need to mean everyone of age, but could just be one person from every family, or a certain number of people from a certain size of village/hamlet/community/town, it would make sense that at least some of the army brought against Erasmus aren't as well trained. Of course, that could also be the whole, they're the new recruits thing. What better way to get them blooded than tossing them into a siege that seems a pretty cut and dried victory?

Most peasants, even in England, would probably not actually want to be caught with a bow as it would surely mean they've been poaching larger game than they're allowed to take from the lord's land. Although not every country had that rule, it would be fairly prevalent. Peasant weapons were most often their farm tools re-imagined, or slings. Though I honestly have no idea what most conscripts were given when they were brought into an army. Most probably, unless it was a regular thing (which isn't the case here anyhow, I'm just babbling because babbling is fun), they were expected to bring their own or pick something up from a dead enemy.

Pikes can be useful in closed quarters, as moving forward with them would require the whole phalanx to be facing the same direction, so they'd be susceptible to attacks on their flanks and from behind, but then city streets would offer some protection from that. Still, in order to be offensive with pikes, you'd want well-trained men. They do make a great defense, but against enemies on walls... Maybe not so much.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

That makes sense. I keep forgetting about vassals. Should stop doing that...

Technically, most vassals would be using conscription to build their own armies, which they would then send to the king, unless they have the rights to a mine or other enriching ressource that would allow them to pay for their own little army and the upkeep of infantry and yeomen, but there are numerous methods of getting professional troops, and they could all be using whichever best suits their fancy unless the monarch decreed a universal method or there was some law passed concerning peasantry and citizenship and conscription during active war time.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

That map is great! I see my assumption of city walls abutting the keep was incorrect. Ah well, that happens, presumably, Sir could still have made it over the walls, as undetected as he was... probably not, but shhhhhhhh(unless you'd like me to change that?). Also, now I'm curious about the other royal emblems. That manticore is pretty awesome, by the way.

Acrolith, I liked the post too. :)

So, does that mean that all, or most, of the kingdoms wouldn't demand levies except in the form of taxes? No enlistment demands of having every of age citizen spend two years in the army or join the ranks whenever war is declared? I suppose since the other kingdoms are constantly warring, it'd make sense they'd have an actual standing army and find it worth their while to pay it, since they'd be, hopefully for them, adding to their coffers from the loot of each victory. But how do they keep the numbers up? They'd still have to recruit from somewhere, and fighting generally dimishes the ranks rather than replenishes it. (Duh, Nem, thanks for that bit of wisdom. *coughs*)

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

I'd imagine that unless there's a courtyard within the walls of the castle itself, the general principle with fortified castles is that there's one(or two, but I think this only has one) outer wall that circles the building and one main building, with perhaps stations and small huts built against the walls, but rarely any true separation to make for individual courtyards. I could be wrong though.

That being said. It's a pretty big space to move around in if it belongs to a king and can fit a full stable and other animal pens in it. Soooo, it's probably entirely possible that they're in the same space and not able to see each other.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

I thought it was brilliant.

And I don't know if you meant poisonous fog or really did mean poisonous frog, but that made me laugh out loud.

Reread, you did mean frog... still hilarious. I don't know why.