Why Do We Fight

[Taketheshot 3834]

Why Do We Fight?

Elements of the 3rd Brigade and the Metinan company engage Ferrymen forces at the Battle of Peter’s Bridge 1819

 

 

As I walk through the streets of Providence, observing the comings and goings of various forces, watching carefully as brave men and women leave their possessions behind and depart only with blade to do battle with the Nordling foe a single thought comes to mind, why? What compels the Imperial to fight and die, to place themselves between the pagan savage and the good people of Oren? I ask this question to myself often, so I decided to query those around me. “For GOD!” one man shouted from the ranks of drunkards in the tavern, face disheveled the drink clearly taking its toll. “FOR THE EMPEROR!” a soldier in scarlet red called to me, his voice sharp and tone rough. “For them…” an old man spoke directly to me from my side, following his finger with my tired eyes I scanned the room and found where he pointed, a mother with babe upon her arm who desperately tried to calm the child in the noise of the Novellen. I took several moments studying this woman and her child, completely oblivious to the world around them as the answer to my question became clear.

 

In the year 1556 when Thomas Ruric laid the keel for the Quadinaros, the largest warship ever constructed, Imperial intelligence flurried like moths about a flame as they studied the large vessel from afar, thrice the size of any comparable Imperial ship, the Holy Orenian Empire had no true answer to the Norlandic weapon the Rurics planned to unleash upon the Imperial Crownlands, panic ruled the streets as the fair citizens of the Fifth Empire sought to flee into the Imperial hinterlands away from the port city of Felsen. Emperor John II who had only a year ago denied the title of Duke of Avar to Sven Ruric looked about his people in their terror, a fickle man with his own demons and perhaps the slightest bit odd in his demeanor was not a coward nor a fool. John II looked upon the Norlandic foe and decided there was only one clear course of action; their destruction. As the Quadinaros sank to the bottom of the Shattered Sea its hull twisted and the Norlandic invasion force still locked in the depths of its hull begging for mercy as they slipped to a watery grave a single thought still remained in the minds of many Imperials, what now? John II gave his answer in kind as he lead the Nauzica brigade over the walls at Seahelm, cutting down man after man; the Emperor personally stormed the battlements to do battle with the Norlandic host and secure for his people a future free from the attacks of the barbarians of Avar. When the battle came to close Mattington Ironsword, a recruit in the Felsen watch who would later go on to become ennobled and die in the Siege of Johannesburg asked a question of his commander “Why did the Emperor fight?” as the pair watched the aged Emperor polish his blade beneath an ash tree where Sven Ruric hung, the recruit and future knight received his answer from the gruff commander. “He did it for you…”

 

As I stand before the gates of Providence, my Archchancellor and my father one in the same, addressing me from his podium I think upon his words as I look around me at my fellow Orenians, those  who will not live to see the next sunset. I know the answer in my heart to the eternal question I asked of myself so many weeks prior. I look back upon my family, my friends, the veterans from the last war unable to march any longer and my gaze falls upon the cenotaph to my left as it towers over the entrance to Providence, dedicated to the many men and women who gave their lives in past millennia and I speak my answer out loud through the ranks. “For them. We fight for all of them, because no one else will.” As the gate opens and the order to march is given, I join in step with my comrades united in our purpose, as I leave Providence behind me I should be scared for what lays ahead, I should be scared to die in battle, but I am not for I think back to my question and its answer, I fight for those who cannot and that is what it means to truly be Orenian.

 

Joseph d’Azor

 

[𝖂𝖆𝖌𝖜𝖆𝖓 740]

Captain Robert Archibald would nod "Well, they've got a very good bass section, mind, but no top tenors that's for sure."

 

[bugbytes21 790]

Director Garret Darkwood nods in agreement with the paper stating "For the Emperor, For my children, for my family, for GOD, for all that is good and right and just in this world. We must fight and more importantly we must WIN" 

[annabanana1014 2084]

Diana d’Azor would look at the papers before her, a smile upon her face. She’d speak as she would pet her tabby cat, “Well spoken my dearest brother.” 

[sergisala 3451]

"If Our ancestors fought valiantly and did not give up during darker times, why would we now when our current times are as bright as ever?" Sir Charles Galbraith would nod to the Open Letter of Joseph D'Azor "It is our duty, as Orenians, to honour our ancestors by continuing their fight and by keep moving forward until the existence of the Nordlings is removed from this world."

 

"After all, let us not forget the words of His imperial Majesty Peter III in his epistolary response to the Chieftain of the Nordlings almost a century ago:

 

You will recall, perhaps familiarly, of the state in which John Frederick found his country. Ravaged and ransacked by years of aggression with a host of Urguanites at his gates, any lesser man would have cowed in to the submission you desire. But this is not the conduct of an Emperor! An Emperor does not abandon his faithful subjects. From the brink of devastation, John Frederick would conquer the world

 

...

 

We shall meet you again on the field of battle, again, and again, for Ours is one great spirit, and yours many disparate plots.

 

- His Imperial Majesty Peter III, Holy Orenian Emperor; Imperial Response to To The Heartland Crowns (1741)."

[Narthok 10416]

wow what a silly post narthok would say oocly as he would reserve a comment spot for his response

[thesmellypocket 1859]

2 hours ago, Average 3rd Brigadier said:

Captain Robert Archibald would nod "Well, they've got a very good bass section, mind, but no top tenors that's for sure."

 

 

 

A patriotic [Welsh]man sings: "Man of Oren, stop your dreaming!

Can't you see their spear-points gleaming?

See their warrior pennants streaming,

To this battlefield!

 

Men of Oren, stand ye steady,

Let it not be ever said ye,

For the battle were not ready,

Oren scorns to yield!

 

From the hills rebounding,

Let this war cry sounding,

Summon all to Julia's call,

The mighty force surrounding!

 

Men of Oren, on to glory,

This will ever be your story,

See these burning words before ye...

OREN SCORNS TO YIELD!" 

 

[Guzr 2050]

Edwin de Sarkozy agrees with the paper, smiling at the beautiful statements