Content:Percusa

From SporeWiki, the knowledge base dedicated to Spore

Color, Males are have bright orange feathers with light blue feet, wing and tail feathers. They have a crest of purple feathers along their back that can be raised or lowered for mating displays. The darker the purple, the healthier the male. Males have green eyes.

Females are all dark blue, with yellow eyes.

Juveniles are red and fuzzy with their eye color depending on their sex.

The Percusa began their existence in the oceans of Planet Velara. Due to predation, natural disasters, and their own evoloution, they eventually settled in a canyon and began their civilization. Many centuries passed in these canyons while the Percusa developed their technology and inched their way into the iron age. Eventually some Percusa moved out of the canyons onto the plains. There they established a yearly olympics-type festival where the leaders are chosen according to how well they perform. During a war with an insectoid race called the Reatlers, the Percusa gained much technology, and eventually enslaved the Reathler race. The Percusa enjoy a trade-relationship with their smaller, warm-blooded cousins, the Northern Percusa who hail from the mountains in the north.

Religion- The Percusa believe that everything has a spirit, the land, the trees, animals, other Percusa ect, ect. With the most powerful spirits residing in deceased ancestrial Percusa. They believe that it is their purpose to master and control these spirits, becoming stronger than ever, and one way of doing this is by consuming the flesh of the pack leaders and other dominant Percusa after their demise. This belief leads to the ritual eating of a Percusa by it's most dominant progeny after it's death, it is a most honorable thing to do for a dying Percusa to give their strength to the next generation in this manner. In contrast, a shameful 'funeral' would be if their body were purposely left to rot or be feasted upon by scavengers. This is the perscribed ritual for a 'weak spirited' Percusa, as consuming a weak spirit will make you weak. Another detail about this form of worship is that the Percusa believe that a Percusa's spirit becomes stronger if it has many sucessful, strong offspring and that any weak offspring make their spirit weaker. Consuming certain organs, such as heart, liver and kidneys, of a prey animal also lends to spiritual strength, while eating the fat and gristle takes away from their strength. This belief stems from the fact that the fat and gristle are less nutritious than the protein and iron rich organs. Bones, especially skulls, venom spikes and teeth also play an importance, necklaces made from teeth or venom spikes are said to lend strength to the wearer. As gory as this may seem, no Percusa are kill outright for their strength, as it is said that a murdered Percusa's strength is tainted beyond use.

• The Percusa define murder as the unprovoked killing of a strong, healthy or otherwise useful pack member.

Government- The early Percusa developed a 'pack' way of life. Allowing only the smartest or strongest to breed. This lifestyle has spilled over into the government for the Western Percusa. The Western Percusa are governed by 1 male leader and 1 female leader from each pack, these leaders are called Loklow. These 80 or so individuals are chosen at an annual gladiator-style chapionship fight called Ksotsdo. It's basically like a mix of the Olympics and a presidential election. Also during this tournament, various, lesser positions are fought for. At the end of it each, female will choose a male of her rank to be mated with for the rest of the year. This is hown inter-pack alliances are formed. Often a female will choose the same male year after year. Only Loklow Percusa may have children. There are usually 1-3 children per litter, and 1 litter per year.

Life- When a Percusa is 3 years old, it will shed it's fuzzy red feathers and grow the plumage of an adult. If they are the eldest child of their litter, they are taken to the Midway Oasis Military Base to be trained as a soldier. If they are not, they are taken to the Civillian Academy where they will live until they are an adult. At the Civillian Academy, a young Percusa will learn how to hunt, fish, read, write, make clay pottery, communicate with reathlers, play the flute and harp as well as husbandry and the basic Percusan law. After five years of teaching, young Percusa leave the academy, or opt to stay on as instuctors and be supported by tribute from the several dozen packs who send their young to this academy. Older Percusa are also sometimes allowed to become instructors when they can no longer breed, and are thus uninterested in dominance roles. After graduation from the academy, A Percusa is formally an adult, and is adopted into a pack, who the'll live with for the rest of their lives. (Not nessecarily their birth-pack.) Each pack is a sort of people unto it's own, although they are led by a Loklow representative.

Military- The Percusa have a strictly conscript military. When the oldest child of a litter reaches three years of age, he/she is taken to a Military Academy in the dessert, formally known as Midway Oasis. A young PErcusa will spen 8-10 years learning various weapons arts and military strategy. They are also tested for various skills. At the age of 15, A Percusa is formally a soldier, and is given a rank and duty according to his/her skills and ambition. Percusa must earn mililtary rank through bravery or deed. Any Percusa who ranks higher than Lieutenant is allowed to breed.

-The Percusa of the Loklow Empire (US! The Western Percusa) are in the middle of a war with the Percusa of the Eastern Empire (Eastern Percusa) over the issue of slavery and rights to this continent. The Westerners are for slavery, the Easterners are against it. Reathlers They are the slaves of the Percusa. Centuries ago, they were a great empire in the north, but were defeated when they began to encroach upon Percusan Territory. After the war, most of them were exterminated, but a few queens and workers were kept alive to produce strong, hard working slaves for Percusan use. The great Civil War was between the Eastern percusa and the Western Percusa began because of the issue of Reathler slavery. The Reathlers: (REETH-ler) There are 3 classes of Reathlers, the Hunter, the Soldier, and the Queen. The Hunters are males, the Soldiers and Queen are females.

Hunter: The food gatherers and main forces of the Reathler hive. Hunters make up about 80% of any givven hive's population. They are smaller than the Percusa, about 4 ft long(no tail), whereas the Percusa are about 12 ft long. The Hunter wingspan is about 12-14ft. Their skin is a black, leathers hide that is very thick and tough to break through. Their bones are hollow, for better acrobatic ability and speed. They have two small, beady little bug eyes on either side of their head. Hunters have a large beak, very sharp and deadly. Not a curved beak but more like a sharp cone. It is also balck. In fact, all Reathlers are black exept for their eyes. All Reathlers' eyes are bright red. The Hunters have sharp talons. Their talons and beaks can pretty much crush any unfortunate thing they happen to find in them. Many thousands of years later, it will be discovered by top Percusa scientists that the pressue a Hunter Reathler's jaw has is in the area of 2000 lbs per sqaure plig(equivilant to 1 sq inch) crushing power. Hunters are built for speed, not acrobatics(like the Percusa) and cruise at about 120 mph. In a dive, a Hunter can reach speeds of up to 250 mph, although most Hunters who achieve this speed don't hold it very long before their fragile bodies are crushed by the speedily approaching ground. A more common diving speed is 200-220 mph. The Hunters other four legs have shrunken(or never evolved, I'm not sure) away to non-existence, leaving only the two talons on inverted knee joints(like a normal Earth bird). Hunters are practically blind but use an advanced radar system, like bats.

Soldier: Soldiers make up pretty much the rest of a hive's population. Soldiers are the females who are not allowed to breed(I'll get to that in a minute). A typical Soldier Reathler is about 6-8 ft tall, weighing in at about half a ton. Needless to say females cannot fly, their wings evolved into non-existance a while ago. For an easier visualization, think a small elephant, only creepier. The Soldiers' heads are not attached to a neck and are mostly made up of two giant, multi-lens eyes. Red again. Each eye is about 2ft in diamiter, huge. Female Reatlers have solid bones, how this evolutionary marvel ever occured, we will never know. Once again, thick, black, leathery skin, very uninviting. And the six legs are pretty weird too. The legs are about like elephant legs, thick, round and massive. Each leg is spaced how you are probably picturing it, like an ants or a bumblbee with a couple major differnces. The legs come out of the body of the elephant in the middle, 90 degree. It's easier to have a drawin but, unfortunately, I have no scanner. Each leg has 3 joints, rather than an elephant's two; the ball-socket "shoulder", the second ball-socket "shoulder", and a "knee" below that. females don't have feet. Soldiers have the unique ability to excrete a deadly noxious gas into the air, yeah, cool, I know. There is a gland located near each leg-body joint that secretes this gas. The gas does not as much "secrete" as it does blow up. Soldiers use these poison glands, mostly, as a defensive weapon. Or whenever anything within a 24 ft radius becomes annoying to the Soldier. These toxins proved very difficult to combat in the Great War, as it would instantly kill any Percusa 24 ft above the Soldier wh it was annoying. Soldiers move very slow but are able to "charge" at enemies at about 20 mph, if needed. Oh, by the way, the poison gas can only be used once every few hours before it is replenished. Queen: THE GREAT WAR: 1) Every year, Percusa are to take a census of the Reathler nests. 2) Every year, the Percusa recieve 5% of the Reathler population in larvae as sacrifice. 3) Every five years, a Queen is sacrificed to the Percusa. 4) Reathlers are to live and hunt only in land allowed by the Percusa Major Technological Achievments,

-Gunpowder Bombs.

-Steel. (We stole this one from the Easterners)

-Democratic Government.

-Advanced Knowledge of Animal Husbandry.

Other-

Average Life Span, Males, 45-50yrs. Females, 40-45yrs.

Weight, 40lbs.

Wingspan, 25ft. I figure at least 2ft for every 1ft of Percusa, plus a little extra for good measure And the Story. Our Story opens with the end stage of the seige on the Al'Carlit military base, currently held by the Eastern Army. (part 3 the parts 1 -2 are missing as they were not recorded but we have 3 -7 Seeing how weak his enemies are, the General Onassis of Midway has decided to send a small group of soldiers and his second, Lieutenant General Col'el to negotiate the surrender of the Al'Carlit ruins. The soldiers and Col'el approach the ruins warily, they they're at the mercy of the base's archers, but they must complete their mission. Once at the base, the envoy is quickly directed to the General's quarters, where Lieutenant General Iju-Kasha lies in bed, feverish with hunger and thirst. Jor'el asks where the General might be, but his guide, a gaunt, young soldier just sadly shakes his head, "General Ptu-Mae died three days ago, his Leiutenant is the next in line." "He is too ill to speak with us, who would be next in line?" The private shook his head, "No one sir, they're all dead."

Jor'el turns to his young and hungry escort, "Go and tell your peers that we will betaking you all hostage and we will claim these ruins as our own. I will personally see to it that you and your fellows are treated well and given food and water. Now go." The guant male eagerly rushes off to tell the other soldiers the that they can soon expect food and water. Not a single eastern male is absent from the headcount that is done before the company sets out for the Midway Oasis some 20 km from the Al'Carlit ruins. All in all there are 40 lean, thirsty soldiers left from what was once a fearsome 200 strong enemy base. Our seige has worked well... At Midway, the enemy soldiers are chained together, all forty of them, to make escape impossible. Not that they'd want to leave! After a month-long drought and famine, the soldiers are finally putting on lost weight and regaining that shine in their greyed feathers.

"We have decided that you shall hold a fake attack to make the easterners believe us," said one Percusa to a reathler, who could vaguely understand. The battle went off with 6 easterner deaths and they quickly saw the light. The war gradually continues. The Loklow Empire, having signifigantly weakened the infastructure of the Eastern military chain of cammand, decides that the best course of action to follow is relentless bombing. The primitive bombs the LE use are huge, requiring six Percusa to carry one. The bombs are not very advanced, using mostly that primitive gunpowder they've been mining for a time now; the bombs cause varying degrees of damage, depending on the quality of their construction. But it is a weapon, and a demoralizing one at that.

The capitol city of Yuan Wu Tsae is practically invincible at the moment, sentries are patroling the city on the graound and in the air, so the LE can only use the bombs on the other major city of the East, Mei Chen. Although not powerful, the bombs greatly demoralize the Percusa of Mei Chen, and only further enrage the Eastern population of Yuan Wu Tsae.

Recently, the East has been militarizing the Kun'Wa Shrine. This shrine is holy to the Easterners, it has something or other to do with a very fat Percusa with hippie-like qualities that lived way long ago. Turns out the artificial island the shrine sits upon is a powerful strategic point.

And the LE back in the Southern Plains have finished developing a primitive steel. (Remember, they started developement a while back.) All of the LE's military spears are outfitted with this amazing alloy. With a good hit, we can now penetrate the thick hide of a Reathler Gaurd (*one Reathler was harmed in the testing of this weapon*)

Boats have been a common asset across the continent for hundreds of years, but only the Plains area Percusa have bothered to develop big boats that are capable enough to sail the open ocean. The LE generals come to the craftsmen at the plains, requesting a war boat fleet. This is a monumental task, never before thought of by Percusan minds. The shipbuilders guild in Percusopolis goes into overdrive, recruiting more members and shipbuilders from as far north as Township Erops report for duty. In order to better keep track of the navy, it is decided that the entire fleet will be built and docked in Clewis Harbor. Soon, the Loklow Empire has amassed a navy of over 30 boats, all roughly identical, capable of holding 100 Percusa each, if a bit cramped.

Intelligence reports indicate that the only boats the Eastern Percusa use are dinky fishing boats. The LE army, being at a sort of standstill, has further fortified their positions in the Al'Carlit Ruins and the Midway Oasis. Supply lines are well established and they are ready to take a full-on assault at any time. The constant bombing runs over Mei Chen have not only greatly demoralized the Easterners, but have finally worn away the defenses enough for us to take the town with minimal casualties, if we want.

The LE generals wisely decide not to jump into anyhting they do not know the outcome of. Since they have had great success with spy tactics in previous months, it is decided to insert a more permanent intelligence gathering base in the Far East. This is not easy, as gaurd around the whole Empire is up; merchants are now randomly searched for any incriminating evidence, and none are allowed to enter the palace grounds at Yuan Wu Tsae.

The Loklow spies are able to set up few safe-houses and the ones they do set up are in very inconvinient locations, usually a farm house near the forests. 50 spies are inserted throughout the East, ranging from Chuknor and his squad of four others hiding out in the forests near Mei Chen to Pku'Sa, a lone operative posing as a butcher's aid just outside of the palace of Yuan Wu Tsae. With the hightened security, information is slow to leave the country. But it does flow...

Two important things are revealed in just two weeks' time, the forces at Mei Chen are much stronger than we had anticipated, a force of over 100 strong are hiding in camouflauged shelters in the forests near Lake Tao. And the main forces of the Easterners are not in the cities but the Yul'lu'yin Woods, constantly on the move, and never by air. The Eastern forces are highly mobile and deadly. But their government is slow to react, as the country is still getting back on its feet after our repeated assasinations

At the next Loklow meeting, the Loklist representing Walucaville, Jimig, suggests hiring proffesional soldiers to comlement the massive LE army. After many debates and the loss of Jimig's left eye, a vote is passed to train profesional soldiers in the art of guerrila warfare. Since the Loklow Empire has not developed currency, the soldiers will be paid in land and/or cattle(I forget the name of the Percusan cow).

Natives of Walucaville and the surrounding area have had a long history of land-based tactics. Because of the close proximity to the Western Percusa and the West's nasty habit of attacking anything they see flying near their mountains, flying has taken a back seat for the Percusa of the Western Woods. The main source of meat in the Western Woods is the Xaltork, a large, fast, feathery animal with four eyes. The eyes of these beast are located in such a way that they are very capable of seeing predators from the air. Their most vulnerable direction comes from behind, low. The thousands of years of hunting the Xaltork have led the Percusa in the area to use their flying abilities much less while hunting. The use of traps has also come into wide use in capturing these wily beasts. Due to these conditions, woodsmen and trackers are quite common near the Western Woods.

These trackers become the drill sergents of the special forces of the LE. Since this is a sort of rush job, the recruits are taught a crash course in basic traps and the rest of their training focuses on stealth in the forest. It will be another month before the first recreuits will be able to step onto the battlefield.

In the mean time, things have taken a turn for the worst. Due to inactivity on the Eastern warfront, the Easterners have had time to regroup. Intelligence reports reveal that a provisional government has been set up, led by five of the deceased Emperor's distant relatives. A charge has been led, once again, into Al'Dabu. This came as a complete surprise to our troops and, although minimal casualties were sufferes, the LE has lost Al'Dabu a second time. The defensive catapults used at Al'Dabu were in a state of disrepair and too many Percusa manned them to be efficient.

Also, a minor breach of the Reathler contract has happened. It appears that the Reathlers felt a need to expand a hive of theirs into area the LE had not previously designated for Reathler use. (see map) [13] red=Reathler territor agreed upon, blue=breach

A battalion (about 1000) of LE Percusa are sent into Al'Dabu. Supply lines have not been set up ther, yet, and defenses are minimil. Catapults are used for the first time, offensively, in teh 3rd Battle of Al'Dabu(pretty sure it's 3rd). The catapults' range is about 200 yards, and we launch various materials in them(flaming phecies being a crowd favorite). The initial bombing raids of long spears and gunpowder bombs lights Al'Dabu on fire. As the town burns, Easterners are forced to flee by air, and our troops easily gang up on them and slaughter them in mid-air. In one week we are able to search the city for survivors. This is a desicive victory for the LE, with a KIA count of under 50 and over 300 Easterners alaughtered mercilessly. On the flip side, Al'Dabu has been burt to the ground, leaving only a natural well as any sort of strategic advantage. The catapults did not perform up to par, most of the projectiles hit way off their marks or broke up in mid-air.

In other news, only 3 more weeks until the first batch of lightly trained guerrilla fighters are ready for deployment. Also, a Reathler Queen has apparently been assasignated. By who, our intelligence cannot tell, the Percusa have traditionally kept to themselves when concerning the Reatlers, but this has seriously caused a disturbance in the Reathler community, as far as the Loklow can tell. Here is where the Queen was assasignated, the Reathlers in this area will die out slowly, now. [14]

The Loklow cannot cannot stand leaving the ruins of Al'Dabu on the ground. Military contruction workers are diverted from the Al'Carlit Ruins to the heap of a city. Alhtough it will be impossible to rebuild the thriving metropolis Al"Dabu was, the LE can turn it into a vital military base. By the end of the month, Al'Dabu is a lightly defended sentry post for the LE army. Mostly consisting of tents, the Al'Dabu Military base is named after the city it was founded over, Al'Dabu. We have a light troop garrison placed there and supply lines are running smoothly, as it took a lot of materials to construct the base. That's the good news...

The bad news is that the Easterners have launched a massive assault on the Midway Oasis. Over 2000 troops, by our best estimates, attacked the oasis. The LE only kept the base thanks to the massive redundancy of fortifications that have been built there over the past months.The Easterners flew in low, under the cover of darkness, to about 1000 yards east of the oasis. They all dawned some sort of camoflauge and by daybreakk, our sentries could not see a trace of Percusa. The Easternes waited until about 10am, then struck. Our catapults roved useless in the ensuing battle once again, the rising sun blocking their operators' views. Our air forces had a very hard time picking out induviduals on the ground because of teh Easterners' advanced camoflouging techniques. But the good old method of simple massive numbers prevailed, and the LE won the day with only extreme numbers of casualties. The Midway Oasis is down to a skeleton crew. They cannot survive another assault. From the dead easterners, we have gathered a massive amount of desert camoflouge suits. They are made of a unique species of plant that absorbs light through leaves that look like sand.

To compensate for the lack of personell at the Midway Oasis, the LE generals reassign 1000 troops from the Al'Carlit Ruins to Midway. Midway is slowly being rebuilt, although it is still extremely vulnerable at this point. Supply lines have remained intact, and officers estimate that the base will be up and running again in 2 weeks. Until then, the LE forces are on gaurd. All of the camoflauge they salvaged are sent back to the Walucaville for study. The Loklow Special Forces are ready for deplotyment. Although the desert defenses are nearly crippled, it is decided to deploy these deadly tools in the Yu'lu'lin Woods for ofensive use. The elite corp spends most of its time combing through the woods, searching for signs of the EE army and setting up pungii pits. The next group of guerrilla fighters sent to the front will be better equiped and trained; until then, they will make do. NEWS FROM THE FRONT: Our spy network has just recieved word that, in two days time, EE military technicians will be delivering the proto-type of a new, top-secret weapon to Yuan Wu Tsae for mass production. Our spies, unfortunately, have no way of intercepting the air-borne convoy delivering the weapon without blowing their cover. NEWS NOT FROM THE FRONT: The Reathlers have begun what appears to be a civil war. The Reathlers that breached the LE established lines are now viciously attacking all Reathlers who aren't them. Eastern Empire Flag, [15]

Reathler warfare is brutal. Really brutal. As in "Oh my God you just kicked me in the groin, punched my face, which you then ripped off, and threw it onto my friend's face before nudering him with a golf ball and implaing me with my own arm!" brutal. From the air, all the LE support troops can see is blood, acid and what looks like Satan's fecal matter. We could not spare many troops, so the local garrisons at Percusopilis, Yukata, and Pal'Chu were sent in to back up the North Reathlers(I'm gonna refer to the Reathlers who didn't breach our lines as North and those who did South). We were not able to send a message ahead to warn the North Reathlers due to the carnage and potential crossfire, so we just sort of went in. After they realize what our troops are doing, the North rally and fight with further verocity. The LE tactics have only improved in the past millenia and we defeat the South decisively. It was a defensive battle, so the lines of war only stay the same. After the madness there, an LE officer is brought directly to an NR Queen. He learns that the North has witnesses who say that the South assasignated the Queen to the east of here, which is what sparked the war. She requests the LE's help in defendeing her hive against the invaders. Here's the problem with Reathlers. They're idiots. They don't have a form of government or religion, they just kill. If the North would just unite, they could easily take on the South and win, no doubt. But the thing is, they just don't have the mental capacity. Like teaching a cat to roll over. The LE has very few troops in the Southeastern area of the continent(a name would be cool, Miroku) and the only town within range of the South, who seem to have no grudge against us, is Yukata. GOOD NEWS: Our special forces have just lured about 50 EE troops into an ambush, killing all 50!

A lone operative, Jugla'k, has been posing as a local blacksmith's assistant for some time now in Yuan Wu Tsae. When he gets word from the spy network that the EE convoy carrying a secret weapon will be flying by, he is the first to volunteer for interception. Unfortunately, for him, the plan was never acted upon. But their is new hope for this young glory-chaser. Jugla'k is the only LE spy with access to the armory where the proto-type is supposedly being kept. One day, after an otherwise uneventful delivery of spears to the gaurds in the armory, Jugla'k asks if he can use the bathroom, knowing full well that the only facilities in teh armory are the staff only bathrooms. The gaurds let him pass and Jugla'k casually strolls on through. But he does not go the bathroom hut, oh no, he sneaks into a large building labeled only "Juktorp Edusn'ak"(Classified). Once in, Jugla'k disposes of teh one inept gaurd and pulls off the sheet of a large object. What he uncovers has never before been seen in all of Percusa-kind. It is a giant base, rack over four wheels, made of iron and a bamboo-like plant. It has two rows of 40 four foot long tubes mounted on the racks. On a table near by is 80 smaller tubes with points on the ends and fletchings in the back. At first Jugla'k is puzzled, but after translating the documents lying on the table, he learns the terrible truth, these are ranged explosives. Powerful and accurate, according to testing done by EE scientists. What should Jugla'k do? IN OTHER NEWS: Our spy network has just intercepted a message written by an EE officer heading south. It is written in a foreign tounge, even the Percusan spies cannot desipher it. We must investigate further.

Jugla'k, thinking quickly, stashes the documents away in his man-spy-purse. He sneaks out, undetected and drops off the documents the next day at the nearest safe-house. When LE scientists(by the way, I've been calling them scientists, but they're little more than Percusa with glasses and hammers) they build a proto-type. The rocket launcher proves exeptionally deadly and is rushed into production. They will be in the hands of the LE forces soon. After two weeks of careful observation, our spies discover that the EE officer in Mei Chen is sending messages to the Southern Reathler territory. What could this mean? IN THE NEWS: A force of EE troops numbering in the 300 range has just attacked the Midway Oasis. Thanks to our special forces, however, they were starving and covered in warts by the time they got within range of the Oasis. And troop movement has been noticed in the Rimbulan Ridge. We do not have very many spies in the area, as it is a very inhospitable place with no villages areound for miles.

The newly inserted spies near Rimbulan Ridge quckly discover teh details of teh EE presence in this seemingly unwantable mountain range. The Easterners are carving out massive caves into the sides of the mountains and using them to build a secret navy! Somehow, the EE has built up a massive navy to rival that of our own, and has the troops stationed there to back it up. All the doormitoriesa nd other facilities abre entirely underground. But that's not the worst of it... Reathlers inhabit this area. The Loklow Emprire has no idea how they got there or why they would be there, but it seems that the Easterners are in league with the Reathlers. So far, no Queen has beem sighted, thank Shleiberko'ok(God), but the massive presence of Hunters and Soldiers is still unnerving.

The LE spies decide that the best approach to finding out how and why the Reathlers are in the Easterner's Rimbulan Ridge base is to kidnap ant interrogate as many EE soldiers as possible. Two weeks and a dozen bloody, beaten, bruised, and mostly dead Percusa later, the spies have a general picture of what has been happening. According to the hostages, the East had maintained peaceful relationships with the Reathlers long before the Plains Percusa had the Great War with them. Since the war with the east, however, most communication has ceased due to the LE's tight control(mostly) of the land around the Reathlers. With Al'Dabu gone, the East finally had an esier chance to communicate with the Reathlers again. From here the information is sketchy. Depending on the loyalty and severeness of vocal chord inguries incured on the prisoners, varied information is discovered. It is unclear who came to who for aid, the Reathlers against their "oppresive" masters or the East for help against the "savage" Loklow. In either case, it is clear that the EE is allied with the Southern Reathlers and that they are planning some sort of joint assault using the EE's massive navy. Where, we are not sure, but we do know something is going down. Unfortunately, the spies brash methods have sort of wound them up in an Eastern war prison. And troop movement has been seen near the Midway Oasis again. And it appears that the Eastern provisional government has re-established itself with the new Emperor Kich.

The generals decide to drop small bombs on the enemy bse and outside their entrances to hopefully kill a few via rockslides. But really their purpse is to keep them awake all night long and make them all a little edgy and tired then attack in the morning. The westerners don't want to make the caves collpse, as they still want to use the place later a stheir own base, so the bomb size is limited to about teh size of a baseball. So the bombing commences in the early afternoon, dozens of Percusa fly back and forth over the caves, dropping baseball sized bombs that make a lot of noise and send rocks flying. The easterners quickly realize the situation and hole up deep inside the caves to avoid being hit by a flying boulder, but there is nothing they can do about the noise from the explosions that echo throughout the caves. By the next morning, the eastern forces are tired and edgy, they hav enot slept all night and some of them have begun to go deaf because of the constant noise. When the troops finally begin to hope that maybe the bombing run is through, they find that the bombers have only stopped so that enemy troops could enter the caves. The battle is short and bloody, many Eastern soldiers die valiantly trying to stave of the invasion, but they're just plain too tired to do it for very long. Eventually some of the soldiers flee farther into the catacombs, never to se ethe light of day again. Meanwhile others are captured by the west and tortured for information regaring the makeup of this extensive cave system. A map is made, the remaining arms are inventoried and the prisoners are sent away to be re-educated. The base is firmly in our command. Now we have a beautiful view of a nearby valley where 60% of the cattle raised in the east graze.

The soldiers of the new Rimbulan Ridge base decide that they need a good supply of resources before they begin a campaing into the East. The general has been eyeing a small ranching town not far from the ridge, where much of the East's cattle is raised and processed. In broad daylight, the soldiers move out towards the peaceful town of Niobrara. The inhabitants of Niobrara saw the battle that occurred a week before, and suspected that the Eastern forces had lost when the general had failed to send someone to collect the weekly tribute of meat and fermented drink. That being so, the citizens had assembled a small militia to defend the city from the western barbarians if nessecarry. To their shock and surprise, the Westerners have come for the same things that the previous soldiers needed. Tributes of food, drink and servants. The villiagers are all to happy to comply with the soldier's demands, why they're even smaller than the demands of the Eastern soldiers!

Since they have nothing to do but wait for the Loklow to decide to give them reinforcements, the soldiers at Rimbulan Ridge have decided to fortify the small city of Niobrara agaist the Eastern assault that is sure to come when the Emporer discovers the sudden beef shortage. The soldiers borrow axes and the like from the villiage and begin constructing a high wall around the city so only fliers can get in, making it easier on the people to regulate who comes and goes. Of course they also construct a large gate at the eastern end of town so that cattle can be driven into and out of the city when need be. While they're at it, the soldiers also figure they might as well remodel the stock pens, seeing as this place is going to become an important cattle grazing place for the West as it was for the East. It takes the soldiers about two weeks to get everyting done. In the meantime, scouts have been sent out to map the surrounding areas and the more extensive caves, and the villiagers have begun to respect the western soldiers for all the work they have done. Things are starting to look up for our newly acquired outpost... Until scouts come back with a report that a small army is on it's way, they'll arrive in 2-3 days.

The general sends an emergency message to Midway asking for re-inforcements. Later that day he recieves word from the general there that they won't arrive for three more days. All we have to do is hold off the Eastern army for a day before our reinforcements arrive. What should we do to slow down the army?

The General looks at their meager store of bombs, and considers the small force he is in charge of and decides that facing them in battle or a bombing run would not be a good course of action. He has heard from the locals that way up in the Eastern mountains, there is a small pass that you have to go through if you want to get to this place from the nearest Eastern Military Base. The general leads a small platoon of air bombers, and their supply of bombs out into the mountains where this pass is. From his perch way up high on a cliff, the General can see that the Eastern army is already halfway through the pass. The large male utters an expletive as he tries to figure out how they moved so quickly. But then realizing the advantage of the situation, he smiles with an evil grin and orders the soldiers to commence with the landslide that will fill up the pass with snow, mud and rocks. They move quietly, placing the bombs where they need be until the order is given to fire. The enemy army is so sure of their success and the surprise they're going to give us that they don't even bother to watch for Western soldiers flying above them. Once everything is in place, the general gives the order for the bombs to detonate. With a loud explosion, akin to that of lightning stiking about 3/4 of an inch from your ear, millions of tons of snow, mud rock and various rubble comes pouring down off the mountains into the small pass between them. The Eastern soldiers panic, some begin to frantically throw off their armor and take to the sky, some turn around in a vain attempt to go back the way they came, but most just simply run. When all is said and done, only the few who hurriedly shed their armor are left alive, they are quick to dessert and speed off back to the safe base they left several days ago.

When the re-inforcements for the non-existent battle of Niobrara arrive, the General has a bit of explaining to do as to why there are no longer any enemy troops about to anihilate out newly acquired base. But when all is said and done, the general is to be commended for his quick thinking that resulted in the destruction of nearly 1/5 of the entire Eastern army. Now onto other business, if we hurry, our troops can reach the nearby Liu-Kang military base before they can be re-supplied with troops. The temptation proves too much for the two generals, so they quickly divide their forces and send the larger group off to the Liu Kang base. It takes our soldiers almost two weeks to reach the base, trekking over the pass with full armor. But they have arrived in time, the base is defended by a scant 150 soldiers. After a nights rest, our army is ready to attack the base.

The troops decide to hurriedly build a small catapault out of several trees nearby, meanwhile a single soldier is sent back to Rimbulan base for a few kilos of exploding powder. By morning, the catapault is ready and the stones have been gathered. We are ready for The Battle Liu-Kang. With surprise and numbers on our side, we probably could have taken the base without the catapault, but we would have lost quite a few men in the process. Instead, we spend teh day lobbing gunpowder-coated rocks at their walls, and slaying the small bands of soldiers that dar come after us. When the day is done, there are no surviving enemy troops, our army moves the catapault into the fort and begins to settle in.

The soldiers all agree that the don't want to start angering the locals now, so they graciously hand over the enemy soldier's bodies to the families that live in the nearby town. The villiagers are grateful for the chance to honor the dead in their own fashion. Which usually means that they burn them on a pyre with flowers and incense to speed them on their way to Heaven. So, while the great funeral bonfire is going on in the villiage, it is time to plan our next move.

The two generals in charge of our army agree that the best target to go after would be the merchant city of Tao-Shin. With relatively few soldiers, and lots o spoils for our battle-weary soldiers, a raid on a merchant city is just what this army needs. The generals split their forces, leaving one general here with 200 soldiers to keep the base and taking 500 up North a ways to raid the town. After staking out the place a bit, the soldiers realize that this isn't going to be as easy as it first seemed. True, there are only 50 or so soldiers, but each merchant has at least 10-15 mercenaries guarding his stuff. With 40-50 merchants currently in town, our soldiers can't fight those numbers and expect to come out with few casualties. We need to come up with a plan to git rid of the mercs. Half a dozen of our soldiers enter the town under the guise of new mercenaries. The next morning, they hurry to a print shop, and have dozens of posters made. The printer and his apprentice don't bother to call the town soldiers about these mercs obviously serving the West. This town has seen little support from the Emperor in the past, and most citizens don't give a care about the war. So the posters are made, and our soldiers are wary all throughout the day. It was a huge risk ordering the posters from a local press shop, but they had no choice. But eventually night falls, and our soldiers are able to tack up most of the posters all throughout the city. When all is said and done, our soldiers anxious to get out of the town and get some real rest before the coming battle. They are stopped by several soldiers who regularly patrol the skies above the city. Luckily, one of our guys happens to have a leftover poster. He shows it to the soldiers who nod regretfully that they cannot join them in their pursuit. One of the soldiers questions why they don't kill these mercenaries right now, seeing as they're going to be enemy soldiers soon. But the Captain halts him. They're only mercenaries, and besides why would the Western Army ever come this far South of the capital anyways? Our soldiers breath a great sigh of relief when the enemy captain waves them on. Back at the temporary base, our soldiers get some well-deserved sleep and wait for the morning. At the very crack of dawn, there is loud collective commotion rising from the merchant city of Tao-Shin. It would seem that many of the loyal mercenaries have left their bosses and gone to join up with the Western Army at Midway Oasis. Of course when they arrive there, they will be captured and become prisoners of war, but the mercenaries don't know that... All has gone according to General Sellitna's plan. Now all that is necessary is to go in and raid the city. With only 50 soldiers and two dozen mercenaries to stop them, the raid of Tao-Shin is sucessful. After everything is quieted, General Sellitna allows her soldiers to take what they pelase from the rich merchants. After all is said and done, we come away with droves of cattle and loads of gold and jewelry. Our army hurries to get the spoils back to the rimbulan base, where most of it will be smuggled back West and used for comissioning new armor, blades and other weaponry for our soldiers. The two generals in charge of our army agree that the best target to go after would be the merchant city of Tao-Shin. With relatively few soldiers, and lots o spoils for our battle-weary soldiers, a raid on a merchant city is just what this army needs. The generals split their forces, leaving one general here with 200 soldiers to keep the base and taking 500 up North a ways to raid the town. After staking out the place a bit, the soldiers realize that this isn't going to be as easy as it first seemed. True, there are only 50 or so soldiers, but each merchant has at least 10-15 mercenaries guarding his stuff. With 40-50 merchants currently in town, our soldiers can't fight those numbers and expect to come out with few casualties. We need to come up with a plan to git rid of the mercs. General Sellitna orders her troops to start making bombs, as they are going to make some runs over the city tonight. The Soldiers are glad for a rest. Some of them sleep, in preparation for the bombing run, when the'll have to be up all night. Meanwhile, others begin making bombs from the several kegs of gunpowder they have with them. While the wind and rain rage outside. All day the soldiers ready for the bombing run while the officers draw out the plan of attack, eventually everything is ready, all they have to do is wait for night to fall. Several hours after, now that the town is asleep, the bombadiers are awakened and sent out. General Sellitna and her lieutenant wait inside the cave, and wait for teh return of the first flight before they send the next one out. But after an hour, well beyond the time it would have taken for a bombing run and return not one of the bombadiers have returned. After another half an hour and no word from them, Sellitna figures something is up. It could be that the bombadiers got confused in the storm, it could be that they've been spotted by the town guard, or they might have just gotten stupid with their bombs and blown themselves up. Something must be done to find out what has happened. The General and her officers decide that the ind and rain possibly confused the bombadiers and something went wrong with the bombs. The next flight of bombers is sent out with a warning about handling thebombs safely. But those twelve don't return either. The General and her officers agree that it is unlikely that flights blew themselves up or got lost in the storm. The only alternative is that the town guard has found them, and it's only a matter of time before the storm subsides and the cliffs are searched.

Watever we're going to do, it has to be done before the storm is over.Our soldiers must act quickly if they are to take the town. An alarm is sounded to wake the troops and get them assembled ASAP. Within thirty minutes, every one of our 700 soldiers is awake and ready for battle. With some paint, and a clear, flat part of the wall, General Sellitna hastily goes over the battle plans before sending her soldiers out. The army moves out, their intended targets are the barracks, where most of the soldiers are sleeping or sheltering from the wind and rain. But they don't get very far. Our army is met with some resistance by the guard that patrols the skies over the town. But the roughly 2 dozen guards are quickly and easily taken out. Having dispatched most of the town guatd, the few remaining are flown back to the HQ and interrogated to find where they're keeping our bombadiers. It dosen't take much to convince the already injured and beaten guards to tell us that our soldiers are being kept in an underground barracks for prisoners. The officer in charge of the base makes a note on the map of the town, and sends a copy out to General Sellitna on the battlefield. Meanwhile, our army has attacked the first two barracks but to our surprise the soldiers were not asleep. They were armed, and fully awake. It seems that the enemy general ordered his soldiers to stay awake, but in their barracks on the guess that we would attack there first. At first, our soldiers are taken by surprise, but we have the advantage of larger numbers and a full day's rest. The battle is quick to turn in our favor, and the first two barracks fall... But not before one of the enemy officers manages to sound the alarm.

What do we do? We're in the middle of an enemy town, the alarm has just been sounded and the enemy army stationed here is about to be joined by the local militia, what do we do? At first, the battle of Shao-Li is going well, but a lucky shot from the bow of a militia man strikes our General Sellitna in the eye. The arrow's shaft pierces her brain, and the general falls never to rise again. The next officer in line, Sergeant Kameko is stunned. He does his best to hold the army together, but our morale has been broken. Sergeant Kameko thinks quickly remembers when he was a boy, growing up in this area before his mother died and the family moved out West. He remembered how criminals and convicts could take refuge in the temple, and live there without fear of revenge or retribution for their crimes. Thinking that this might be a good way to give the troops a rest and wait for re-enforcement from the Rimbulan HQ. Kameko dispatches several messengers to the various Western strongholds nearby, as well as the temporary base up in the hills before sounding a retreat for the temple. The priests, who had been holding an emergency midnight vigil for the sake of the soldiers and militia battling outside, are shocked to see 620 enemy soldiers come pouring onto the temple grounds in the middle of a fierce storm. Their first reaction is to sound for the town guard, but when the leader of the tired and bloody group asks for refuge, they cannot refuse him. It doesn't take the enemy soldiers long to find our army, and when they do, the local colonel rushes into the temple and attempts to drag our men out by hand. But Caiaphas, the high priest will have none of it. True these men and women are the enemy, but they have asked for refuge in the dwelling of Jove. Having done that, they are formally Jove's house guests and must be treated as such, or a great calamity will befall the city. The colonel, red faced and fit to kill storms out of the temple to awaken the mayor and his council. The mayor, although he recognizes the threat to the city, agrees with Caiaphas in that they cannot risk JOve's anger by attacking the soldiers who are residing in his house. Before long, the whole town has heard about the battle last night, and about the hoarde of Western soldiers taking refuge at the temple. Many of them lost sons in the battle the night before, and are justly angry about the mayor's official descision about the foreigners, others are devout and faithful, Caiaphas has said it, so shall it be. Tensions become tight in the town. Within hours, you're either a Jovian or a Militant, you either agree with Caiaphas and the Mayor or you agree with Colonel Sanders. ((Sorry, I had to!)) Days later, people are eaither wearing white sashes, as those in prayer do or they wear bloodstained bandanas on their arms and necks. Meanwhile, our message has gotten to Rimbulan. Unfortunately, they will not be able to send more troops until the next graduation at the academy some three months from now. Until then, we're on our own. This message comes to Kameko through some spies in the city. The soldiers, who are growing more restless with each passing day, are absolutely crushed. Morale couldn't be lower. But on the bright side, the emporer himself is said to be coming to Shao-Li to decide on the matter... As a descendant of the gods, he is sure to know of the soloution to this problem Sergeant Kameko belives, along with the other officers, that now would be an opportune time to start a riot in the city. So, late one night, one of the soldiers posing as a cleaning maid for the priests, makes off with a few of the white garments worn by the low-level clerics of the temple. The next day, disguised in the garb of clerics on their way to the market for some more ink and quills, fiv of our soldiers find themselves in the middle of a public debate between a priest of the temple, and a lieutenant in the Eastern Army. Being a public debate, the five "clerics" blended right into the crowd of Jovians that stood on south side of the street. As the two leaders started getting into it, our five clerics sensed the perfect opportunity. Here there were about 50 or so citizens gathered, and all of them were angry and ready for a fight. All they needed was a good reason... That reason came in the form of a small rock fired from a slingshot at the Leiutenant. Suddenly, all hell broke loose. That rock was the only excuse the two factions needed to get the fight started. Having recieved the excuse, the two went at it. Meanwhile, our guys beat a hasty retreat back to the temple. Out here, they were fair game. The brawl, which started in the public square with fifty or so combatants, has turned into a bloody miniature war that has lasted at least a week, and shows no signs of letting up. No window sits unbroken in this city, and upwards of 200 are dead so far... Including the mayor and his entire family as well most of the officers ranked above captain. The priesthood though, is amazingly untouched. Having taken a non-combatant approach, they simply sat down and meditated while looters ransacked the temple around them. With no reason to attack the priests, the looters and militants left them alone. At first, our soldiers also took the priests approach to the riot. They simply ignored the mess and went through their exercises and yoga-like stretchings to keep their bodies limber... But unlike the priests, the militants have an excuse to beat on us. Now that there are few officers to keep the sodliers in line, they have bullied their way into the temple, and have dragged a dozen or so of our female soldiers out of the temple. The next morning, they are hanged in the public square and left to rot.

Sergeant Kameko now has a real problem on his hands. On the one side, Kameko remembers the penalty for such crimes, and leaving the soldiers as they are will certainly anger the Emporer to no end. But on the other side, Kameko's soldiers are equally ticked off over the treatment of their sisters in arms, and they're ready for some vengeance. Besides, what will happen to their souls if they are left as food for the vultures. Sergeant Kameko's fury eventually wins out. Later, in the dead of night when the town guard is asleep, and the priests are busy attending midnight prayer, fifteen of our men sneak out of the temple armed to the teeth to cut down the rotting bodies of their slain compadres. The plan goes well, and no one is the wiser when the fifteen soldiers, weighted down with their sad cargo, re-enter the temple. Now, before dawn breaks, the soldiers each take their turn respectfully consuming the twelve slain females in the fashion of their eligion. By morning, all that remains are a few mangled bones, and the various "sacred" bones which are allotted out to the brave fifteen who rescued them. The soldiers are relieved that the funerals have taken place before the carrion birds could eat them, but that dosen't replace their grief and anger over the treatment of their companions. They're ready for vengeance

Half a dozen of our soldiers enter the town under the guise of new mercenaries. The next morning, they hurry to a print shop, and have dozens of posters made. The printer and his apprentice don't bother to call the town soldiers about these mercs obviously serving the West. This town has seen little support from the Emperor in the past, and most citizens don't give a care about the war. So the posters are made, and our soldiers are wary all throughout the day. It was a huge risk ordering the posters from a local press shop, but they had no choice. But eventually night falls, and our soldiers are able to tack up most of the posters all throughout the city. When all is said and done, our soldiers anxious to get out of the town and get some real rest before the coming battle. They are stopped by several soldiers who regularly patrol the skies above the city. Luckily, one of our guys happens to have a leftover poster. He shows it to the soldiers who nod regretfully that they cannot join them in their pursuit. One of the soldiers questions why they don't kill these mercenaries right now, seeing as they're going to be enemy soldiers soon. But the Captain halts him. They're only mercenaries, and besides why would the Western Army ever come this far South of the capital anyways? Our soldiers breath a great sigh of relief when the enemy captain waves them on. Back at the temporary base, our soldiers get some well-deserved sleep and wait for the morning. At the very crack of dawn, there is loud collective commotion rising from the merchant city of Tao-Shin. It would seem that many of the loyal mercenaries have left their bosses and gone to join up with the Western Army at Midway Oasis. Of course when they arrive there, they will be captured and become prisoners of war, but the mercenaries don't know that... All has gone according to General Sellitna's plan. Now all that is necessary is to go in and raid the city. With only 50 soldiers and two dozen mercenaries to stop them, the raid of Tao-Shin is sucessful. After everything is quieted, General Sellitna allows her soldiers to take what they pelase from the rich merchants. After all is said and done, we come away with droves of cattle and loads of gold and jewelry. Our army hurries to get the spoils back to the rimbulan base, where most of it will be smuggled back West and used for comissioning new armor, blades and other weaponry for our soldiers. The Shao-Li naval base is looking really sweet right now. The Easterners have always held the naval advantage over us, and now General Sellitna is thinking to claim that advantage for us... And she figures that a major Eastern seaport will go nicely on her list of victories. Sellitna sends word to the Liu-Kang base and to Rimbulan for more troops so she can take the naval base. The commanders there send as many as they can afford, as well as food for the soldiers and gold for bribing if need be. Sellitna sends a messenger back with her thanks, then begins her march towards the ocean. Shao-Li began as a small fishing town several hundred years ago. As the Eastern Empire grew, and their knowledge of Shipwrighting with it, Shao-Li became an important shipyard and naval base. Being so important to the Eastern Empire's navy, this town has quite a few soldiers and the citizens here are very loyal to the empire, being that most of it's citizens are either retired navy soldiers or youths going to be. Sellitna has her work cut out for her. But she dosen't know that yet, they've only just arrived at the cliffs overlooking the beach-town. After settling in some caves that overlook the town, Sellitna needs to come up with a plan of attack