THE GRAND COVENANT: ROLL OF BANNERS

[Xarkly 12618]

ROLL OF BANNERS

OF THE GRAND COVENANT

Spoiler

 

 

Iudicem Accedit.

 

This phrase - ‘judgement comes’ - was the founding maxim of the Grand Covenant, an international military alliance whose formation marked the beginning of the War for the Heartlands in the year 155 of the Second Age. Firstly comprised of the kingdoms of Haense, Urguan, Balian, Petra, and Hyspia - who found common cause in response to the perceived acts of war committed by the League of Veletz - their banners were later joined by those of Aaun, Norland and Numendil after reports surfaced of Darkspawn sanctuaries within Veletz.

 

The Grand Covenant’s chief strength naturally came in the form of the colossal army from various national militias, which numbered in excess of 20,000 at its height, and culminated in the conquest of the Veletzian forts of Breakwater, Brasca, Stassion, and Drusco to date. Despite often outnumbering Veletzian forces two-to-one, the Covenant still had to contend with elite Veletzian skirmishers - who outclassed the Covenant militiamen many times over - and sluggish pace at which its forces could be mobilised, which enabled the domination of Veletzian raiding forces and the Covenant defeat at Westmark.

 

In ensuring Covenant tactical victories, the distribution of its international troops to various battalions - dubbed ‘Banners’ -  within the overall Covenant army was of paramount importance. Herein is the official codification of these Banners, and the sacrosanct commemoration of their patriotism.

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HEAVY INFANTRY BATTALION

THE MITHRIL BANNER

GENERALS: KING ALEKSANDR OF HAENSE, BANJO MARENO

LIEUTENANTS: SER RICKARD OF VALDEV, SER GAREN BARUCH, PERCY DE LYONS, VICEROY CESAR DE PELEAR

 

The heavy infantry core of the Grand Covenant.

 

Characterised for its daemonsteel mail, bucklers, and pikes, the Mithril Banner is the central component of the Grand Covenant’s forces, whose charge typically signals the climax of battles. The Banner is composed of assorted soldiers from all Covenant nations, usually arrayed in formations whereby amateur levies are reinforced by veterans from standing national armies, such as the Brotherhood of Saint Karl or the Balianese Armada.

 

The Mithril Banner traditionally comprises the vast majority of the Covenant’s forces; however, evolving strategies throughout the War for the Heartlands led to the variation of Covenant tactics and the development of new Banners. During the Siege of Breakwater, the Mithril Banner made their famous charge over the earthen bulwarks of the Covenant siege encampment to storm the shattered walls of the Ferryman keep in the first victory of the war. The Mithril Banner likewise led the Covenant to triumph in tandem with the Northern Banner and the Yachtsmen - the Covenant’s siege engineers and elite reserves, respectively - at the Siege of Brasca.

 

The Covenant, overly-confident in the strength of its heavy infantry, deployed the majority of its forces as part of the Mithril Banner during the Battle of Westmark, supported only by a modest squadron of horsemen under the Gryphon Banner, against an entirely-mounted Veletzian-Orcish army. Unable to match the mobility of enemy cavalry on open terrain, and after King Aleksandr was unexpectedly incapacitated early in the battle, the Mithril Banner - and therefore the Covenant as a whole - suffered a monumental upset that forced their retreat, and allowed the Veletzian forces to re-route to attack the southern Balian frontier.

 

Adapting from Westmark, the Mithril Banner’s weakness on the open field was realised, and many infantrymen were instead deployed on horseback under the Gryphon Banner at the subsequent Battle of Hippo’s Gorge, where the Covenant handily repelled the Veletzian advance into Balian, once again regaining dominant momentum in the war. The Mithril Banner returned in all its glory at the Siege of Stassion, where it once again proved its mastery of heavy melee combat by storming the Stassionite keep in the wake of the destruction wrought by the Northern Thunder Banner and the Yachtsmen.

 

Similarly, the Mithril Banner was instrumental at the Siege of Drusco, where they forded a river and stormed up the clifftop upon which the Veletzian castle was built to intercept a short-lived charge of the Veletzian cavalry, which heralded the fall of the keep mere hours later.

 

To date, the Mithril Banner has distinguished itself as the weight of the Grand Covenant’s blows and a natural foil to the elite cadres of Veletz and Krugmar. Despite a crushing defeat at Westmark due to their inability to engage horsemen on an open field, this loss was a crucial lesson for the Covenant and a lynchpin in its future conquests.

 

GLORY TO THE MITHRIL BANNER

GLORY TO ITS FEARLESS DEAD

---

 

ARTILLERY BRIGADE

NORTHERN THUNDER

GENERALS: PATRIARCH JOSEF, HIGH KEEPER ELLENORE

LIEUTENANTS: DANTE DENUREM, SER FLEMIUS, VIKTOR ‘DAEMONSTEEL’, WYLEIN ALPYNE, ENRICO AMADEUS, OFFICER GRUDGEBEARD

 

The siege engineers, and pride of the Covenant forces.

 

The outbreak of the War for the Heartlands brought with it significant uncertainty in the context of sieges - humanity had seen no true siege since the Siege of Haverlock, fought between the Holy Orenian Empire and the Tripartite Accord, almost a century earlier. Since then, the advancement of siegework technology had led to not only enhanced trebuchet, but the potential for the widespread use of blackpowder cannons on the battlefield.

 

The engineers and builders of Northern Thunder led that leap into the next unknown age of siegecraft. While the Mithril Banner was unmatched as a heavy infantry force, their numbers and heavy mail were of little use against Veletzian castles and curtain walls. Therefore, it was the role of Northern Thunder to operate Covenant trebuchets and cannons in order to create breaches in enemy fortifications for the Mithril Banner to charge. To this end, the brigade was regimented in crews for each weapon, and each of these crews consisted of three roles: one was the loading of the cannonballs and setting of the blackpowder fuse; the second was the aiming and firing; while the third was watching the cannonball trajectory and adjusting aim. This rigorous division became a cornerstone of Northern Thunder’s success.

 

While its primary objective was the obliteration of enemy fortifications, in order to do so Northern Thunder first had to engage in a bombardment duel with Veletzian artillery at each battle. These tense periods were marked with pinpoint aiming by both sides as they raced to eliminate the opposing cannons, but the superior numbers, training, and expertise of Northern Thunder have left them undefeated thus far. Northern Thunder’s debut at the Siege of Breakwater spelled out the integral role of artillery in the battles to come, while the Siege of Brasca formed the first formiddable challenge to Northern Thunder due to the enemy castle’s height advantage. If not for the fact that the Veletzian cannons ran out of rounds during bombardment, it was likely that Northern Thunder may have been defeated. As it was, however, Brasca fell akin to Breakwater.

 

After being drafted into the Mithril Banner for the disastrous Battle of Westmark and the subsequent redemption at the Battle of Hippo’s Gorge, Northern Thunder returned to glory at the Siege of Stassion and the Siege of Drusco, where it once again prevailed over Veletzian cannoneers and gored significant breaches in the enemy castles, which led to decisive Covenant victories.

 

Integral to Northern Thunder’s triumphs was not merely its siege engineers, but also its siege encampments. The stationary nature of siege engines rendered them inherently vulnerable to the blitzkrieg tactics of the fast-moving Veletzian elites, and so mitigating this weakness was the quest of Wylein Alpyne, a masterwork architect who designed Covenant siege encampments that were not only easy to erect on the battlefield, but capable of withstanding attacks from Veletzian skirmishers. Furthermore, the expense of cannons and manpower was offset by the addition of Hokhmat Mages - vassals to the Petrine Queen - throughout the sieges, who provided additional arcane firepower that enhanced the devastating power of Northern Thunder.

 

In a new age of warfare, Northern Thunder carved itself a place in history as an elite military unit not through skill with lance or bow, but with blackpowder and smoke.

 

GLORY TO NORTHERN THUNDER

GLORY TO ITS VALIANT DEAD

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ELITE RESERVE UNIT

THE YACHTSMEN

 

GENERAL: BANJO MARENO

LIEUTENANT: SIGMAR BARUCH

 

By all accounts, the warriors of Veletz outskilled those of the Covenant.

 

For over a century, national militaries had fallen into decline and obscurity due to the prevalence of mercenary warfare amidst the Descendant realms which nations greatly struggled to deal with from war to war. The incorporation of many of these mercenaries, namely the Ferrymen and Blackvale, into the ranks of Veletz over the past generation therefore presented what many thought with be an insurmountable threat, as these elite cadres had excelled over more numerous enemies many times before, such as the Battle of the Lower Petra during the Sinners’ War decades prior.

 

If not for a certain factor, it may well have been the case that the superior tactics and blitzkrieg warfare adopted by the Veletzian elites may have steered the War for the Heartlands towards a very different outcome. That factor was, of course, Banjo Mareno -- a wayward ally of the Royal House of Barbanov of Haense, and the most prestigious and capable military general of the modern day. Formerly the leader of the Ferrymen mercenaries, it was Captain Banjo’s prerogative to schism from the mercenary group due to misgivings about the band’s allegiances, which led to the creation of the Yachtsmen. While only a modest number of Ferrymen chose to follow Captain Banjo and abandon Veletz, the ranks of the Yachtsmen were instead comprised of warriors of particular renown from the Covenant nations.

 

With a corps of warriors capable of matching Veletzian elites and a genius martial mind to steer them, the Yachtsmen quickly distinguished themselves as the celebrated backbone of the Grand Covenant, and the ace up its sleeve. As a reserve unit, the Yachtsmen primarily operated by riding around the fringes of the battlefield and harassing enemy skirmishers and executing rival commanders, who would otherwise proven to be an immense thorn to the regular Covenant forces. In the Banner’s debut at the Siege of Brasca, Captain Banjo and his troop did battle with many of his former comrades, and soundly bested them.

 

The Yachtsmen complimented for the Covenant’s lack of organised elite troops, which was its glaring weakness and had led to Veletz’s domination of raiding throughout the war. With the Yachtsmen at their side in battle, that threat was removed from the throat of the Covenant’s other Banners, and was integral in the victories that ensued.

 

GLORY TO THE YACHTSMEN

GLORY TO ITS HONOURABLE DEAD

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SHOCK CAVALRY BRIGADE

THE GRYPHON BANNER

GENERAL: GRAND KING SIGRUN IREHEART

LIEUTENANTS: SER GAREN BARUCH

 

In a new age of tactical warfare, cavalry remained far from outmatched.

 

At the outbreak of the War for the Heartlands, the Grand Covenant mistakenly disregarded cavalry from its tactical makeup, and surmised that a massive heavy infantry armoured with daemonsteel in the form of the Mithril Banner would prevail in any scenario. This was initially the case at the Sieges of Breakwater and Brasca, where the combination of Northern Thunder’s bombardment, the Yachtmen’s strikes, and the Mithril Banner’s numbers led to victory, but the Battle of Westmark would serve as a brutal reminder to the Covenant of their foe’s tenacity.

 

As the first open-field battle of the War, the Covenant deployed the vast majority of their forces in the Mithril Banner with pikes, and supported only by a modest battalion of horsemen led by King Aleksandr, who left the Mithril Banner in the rear of the battlefield - this was the debut of the Gryphon Banner, which the Covenant had initially foresaw only as a support force to the Mithril Banner. However, in failing to anticipate that the hugely-outnumbered enemy Veletzians would be entirely mounted, the Gryphon Banner was overwhelmed and defeated, and the slow-moving Mithril Banner were eventually whittled down by rapid passes of the Veletzian cavalry.

 

Following that upset, the Covenant developed the Gryphon Banner into its dedicated army for field battles under the command of the Dwarven King Sigrun Ireheart, while King Aleksandr returned to leading the Mithril Banner. While many Covenant levies lacked horseback training, this was offset by reinforcing squadrons of amateur cavalrymen with seasoned riders who comprised the Gryphon Banner at its maiden battle at Westmark - this was the same tactic used in the Mithril Banner formations. This adaptation was put to the test at the Battle of Hippo’s Gorge - where Veletz attempted to annex a region of Balian after their victory at Westmark - and the Gryphon Banner, supported by Yachtsmen skirmishers, successfully defeated Veletz in a fully-mounted battle.

 

Thereafter, the Gryphon Banner became an integral support Banner in the Sieges of Stassion and Drusco. While most of their numbers were drafted back into the Mithril Banner for the storming of keeps, the Gryphon Banner remained as a corps of fast moving-lancers whose role was to occupy and defeat Veletzian horsemen on the battlefield, which largely comprised the main tool remaining to Veletz.

 

The Gryphon Banner is a cautionary tale of the tactical depths of warfare on Aevos. Despite numerical advantages, the Covenant’s failure to anticipate enemy strategies led to a major defeat that may have led to the collapse of the Covenant had it not adapted and developed a dedicated cavalry unit.

 

GLORY TO THE GRYPHON BANNER

GLORY TO ITS HEROIC DEAD

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COURT AUXILLIARIES

THE ROSEN BANNER

GENERAL: QUEEN AMAYA ‘THE WHITE FLAME’

LIEUTENANTS: DAME ROSALIND VALKONEN, RONJA KORT

 

Never before has there existed a military force akin to the Rosen Banner.

 

The idea of women - from peasants to court maidens - fighting on the battlefield was popularised by Queen Emma of Haense during the Sinners’ War, when the then-Queen’s Court insisted on taking up arms in honour of their homeland. This notion has since developed as a hallmark of Haeseni patriotism championed by various Queens coronated since Queen Emma, though none more so than Queen Amaya, who earned the moniker of ‘the White Flame’ for her purity as a monarch and her ferocity as a warrior.

 

Queen Amaya, like her predecessors in the Sinners’ War and the Successors’ War, enlisted many of her court ladies as her personal retinue as she joined her husband on the battlefield. Such did this retinue grow that it assumed its own identity and standard -- it became the Rosen Banner, characterised by their rose colours and female combatants. While the Rosen Banner filled no particular niche - unlike the other Banners within the Covenant - it was recognised as a distinct entity due to its efforts in providing additional soldiers through militarised courts.

 

Though the prospect was initially ridiculed by the Banner’s opponents, that came to a swift end with the marked participation of the Rosen Banner in the Sieges of Breakwater and Brasca, where the comedic battlecry of “the maidens are shelling Veletz!” originated from. The Rosen Banner was likewise a noted participant in the field battles at Westmark and Hippo’s Gorge, in the latter of which Dame Rosalind of the Rosen Banner slew a Veletzian champion.

 

The Rosen Banner stood out amongst its peers for their remarkable morale and spirit, even in the face of constant Veletzian raids in the aftermath of the Covenant defeat at Westmark. In turn, the presence of a charismatic figurehead in the form of the White Flame, together with her retinue, served as a backbone for the Covenant’s perseverance and fighting spirit.

 

GLORY TO THE ROSEN BANNER

GLORY TO ITS VENERABLE DEAD

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DEFENSIVE GARRISON UNIT

THE PALISADE BANNER

GENERAL: PERCY DE LYONS

LIEUTENANTS: KING ADRIAN OF BALIAN

 

If the Mithril Banner is the Covenant’s blade, the Palisade Banner is its shield.

 

An extension of the Mithril Banner, the Palisade Banner was a force deployed early in the War for the Heartlands as a dedicated defensive garrison for the Covenant siege encampments designed by Wylein Alpyne. Rather than any particular design by the Covenant, the Palisade Banner developed as a necessity during the Siege of Breakwater in order to defend the encampment’s bulwarks from the rear while the Mithril Banner was locked in an exchange of arrow-fire with the Breakwater garrison.

 

Unlike most of the Covenant’s other units, the Palisade Banner was specifically composed by Balianese and Petrine troops and operated as a heavy infantry garrison equipped with daemonsteel. Despite the fact that most of the Covenant’s campaign against Veletz was offensive, the Palisade Banner fulfilled a uniquely defensive function in order to foil blitzkrieg Veletzian attacks on the Covenant’s vulnerable. It largely served as a deterrent against Veletzian incursions, as most Veletzian skirmishers operated in small cadres who would not risk engaging the large Palisade force on standby in the encampment’s rear. The Palisade Banner was utilised to similar effect at the Siege of Brasca.

 

After the field battles of Westmark and Hippo’s Gorge, the Palisade Banner largely became reincorporated into the Mithril Banner. This was chiefly because Veletzian attempts to strike Covenant siege encampments from the rear were frustrated both by the prevalence of the Yachtsmen and the Gryphon Banner on the battlefield, which occupied the entirety of Veletz’s harrier forces.

 

Despite its eventual redundancy, the Palisade Banner was an important defensive limb of the Covenant’s forces that provided stability and security during battles in the initial phase of the War. From the outset, it represented the Covenant’s preparedness to ward off Veletzian rear-attacks, and a clear indicator that the Covenant would not be struck with impunity.

 

GLORY TO THE PALISADE BANNER

GLORY TO ITS STALWART DEAD

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While each of the Banners of the Grand Covenant played a distinct purpose throughout the course of the War for the Heartlands, its font of military strength was its collective unity.

 

No grand charge of the Mithril Banner could have happened without swathes of levies from each of the Covenant nations; no Gryphon Banner would have redeemed the Covenant on the field of battle had the soldiery not steeled their will to triumph in the wake of their loss at Westmark; and Northern Thunder would never have felled the walls of Breakwater, Brasca, Stassion, and Drusco, were it not for the unfaltering dedication of its crews to see it done.

 

While the Covenant’s victories are owed to its champions and commanders, so too are they owed to each and every common soldier -- from Aaun, driven to avenge their murdered King; to Balian, spurred by the capture of their now-Queen; to Petra, defiant against the threat of tyranny; to Hyspia, scorched by the flames of Krugmar; to Haense, sworn nemesis of the Renatian dynasts; to Urguan, ever eager to crush a daunting foe; to Norland and Numendil, compelled to bring the light of virtue to dark creatures.

 

The formation and subsequent victories - and defeat - of the Grand Covenant are historic for many reasons, but chief among them shall always be the union of these nations - who at times throughout history had been adversaries - under a common cause, the likes of which no known army could surmount.

 

GLORY TO THE GRAND COVENANT

GLORY TO ITS UNBROKEN DEAD

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 Big thanks to @ContestedSnow & @FloralHedgehog for image help

[FlemishSupremacy 4930]

Flemius inspects the cannons and other siege cannons after the battle of Drusco, taking note which need repair and which may continue to serve as is in the battles ahead! 

[Javert 5573]

29 minutes ago, Xarkly said:

VICEROY CESAR DE PELEAR

Vicente Murietta goes back to babysitting his kids, happy to know the rightful title of his Liege was placed upon the paper. He then gives a cheer to the Covenant and its victorious campaign thus far! He pledges to be at the next siege, since he missed the last.

[ContestedSnow 778]

The aging Duke Viktor 'Daemonsteel' swore he could still smell that overbearing stench of sulphur and steam and saltpetre even now, as he set to work saddling newly broken warhorses, and busying himself with the ledgers of the Northern Thunder's ammunition logistics alongside the Patriarch. It was bothersome work, and tiring, but rewarding to spy these leisure manors peeled away by the fruits of his labour. 

 

He recalled, though. There could be no rest until the fight was finished. He and his Brothers would continue till that end, no matter the cost in blood. Their honoured dead deserved no less than victory.

[sarahbarah 5021]

Queen Amaya, the White Flame, distributes various pink capes to the members of the Rosen Banner.

[seannie 6856]

From upon the Fields of Middelan, Tiber had set his gaze upon the devastation of Veletz - plumes of smoke dotting the landscape, castles ruined, hamlets laid to waste. The Elf of nigh seven centuries took another drag on his cigarette, his helm uncharacteristically removed in doing so and puffed out the smoke into the open sky. He had seen these sights countless times before, so much so that the memories now blended together in an addled amalgamation of what his mind struggled to conjure up in his aging.

 

As he tapped away the ash, his pondering strayed; What was he fighting for? Ultimately, the lives of his human compatriots, their tribulations, ambitions, determination, meant little to the Elder Elf, for he would outlive them well over a couple more centuries - they were like children toying with flames they had no control over, like every other before them. Tiber had once cautioned that Mankind had degraded far too much to be salvaged, but, once in a while, stars align, and the passion of Mankind was revived. This is what endeared the Elf to these wildly ambitious beings, who so threw themselves into life with such reckless abandonment, and sought to seize their own destinies with unmatched ferocity, this is what kept the Elf in close ranks with the race of Men, instead of his lackluster brethren. A smile broke then as he scrubbed away his finished cigarette into the ruined stoneworks of Drusco beneath him, flicking it off into the chasm below.

 

With such processes of war having become a routine to him now, Tiber took up the BANNERS OF THE GRYPHON AND THE YACHTMEN, slaying his way through those who would hinder the birth of a new order. The possibilities to emerge from this war, what could be, what is to be, were endless, Aevos, and thus the world would be reshaped in a new image dictated by the victors. These events flared the embers of curiosity within the Elf and thus the purpose of his existence. He had no desire to idle away, and since took up the sword in order to extend the Tapestry with new chapters of history.

 

Having now concluded his time sufficiently wasted in mediation, Tiber picked himself up, brushed away the debris that caught onto his uniform, and made his way to his horse - riding off to regroup with General Ireheart and General Mareno as they pushed deeper into the territories of Veletz.

 

Another year, another battle, another victory - one step closer to a new world.

[Azukazi Khuzai 138]

The acolyte of the priesthood of the Owynssiah labored hard to build and bless and operate the great guns of the unit, but even then did the manufactory capacity of their forges extend only as far as the virtuous laborers could toil alongside the priests and neophytes of the Exalted of War. In truth, the guns were mighty, and their ammunition strong, blessed by the saints and martyrs and the fire of god filled their barrels. Truly a sanctified offering upon the altar of war. Yet there was plainly something amiss... 

 

It is plain that those forces they fought alongside was riddled with iniquity. 'Yactmen'. Ferrymen by any other name. Truly a cursed bunch. Made anathema by word of the holy pope, and for good reason. In the words of St Evaristus in his epigraphs. 'To fight alongside the impure, is the same as not fighting the impure at all'. Truly. The only repentance that can be offered for these sins is upon the penitence of toil. More labor... MORE PRODUCTION. 

 

The temple of manufacture cannot rise soon enough. The Great Work is unceasing. Godan save our souls for our impure deeds. Through the fire of our blessed forges may we be saved from sin. 

 

Amen. 

[Crusteh 20]

3 hours ago, Xarkly said:

Wylein would perch himself atop the cannon lined cliff edge, he tosses a stone into the gorge below before lighting up his pipe. He thinks to himself "One task is over yet the work isn't finished, but I may rest for now..." He would blow rings out toward the ruins of Drusco before they where swept into the wind.

 

[CyyanTea 353]

Pale sunlight trickled through the meagre parting of the thick drapes, dancing across the wooden floors adorn with a rug, worn from use, and several toys disregarded by their infant owners. Soldiers carved from oak, and patriotically painted black and yellow, had been arranged in a nonsensical manner beside their toppled steeds. The scene of this miniature retinue provoked a subtle laughter from the Dame as she scooped up a plush bear from the disarray of toys and delivered it to one of her sleeping babes, who had stirred upon the arrival of the morn. Another, one of three, stirred in his crib - threatening to wail, and wake his siblings, until granted the attention of his dotting mother, who was content to oblige.
"My Lady." A matured voice hollered in a half-whisper. "Another missive has arrived." The nursery door clicked open, revealing the Valkonen housekeeper who extended a parchment that still possessed the sent of freshly pressed ink.
"Spasiba, Agafa." The Baroness returned with a sleep-infested smile, before promptly plucking the missive from the elderly woman's grasp. Rosalind pored over the contents of the missive, whilst simultaneously rocking her infant son - too possessed by drowsiness to seize whatever it was that had consumed his mother's attention. Crows shattered the otherwise peaceful atmosphere, their caws echoed through the frost-ridden streets of Valdev, provoking the Dame to recall the memories associated with the parchment at hand: blood-soaked fields, cannon fire, groans of the dying and namely the silence of the dead - always broken by crows, the emblem of her Kongzem, bound to the battlefield as she was and similarly desperate to fulfil a hunger.
"Vy have never known a time of peace." She uttered from her trance, rescued from the true depths of her thoughts by the coo of her children. "But vy will. Vy will know spring, summer and the joys of humanity, relishing their freedom. Vy will niet know tryanny, niet as Ich have. Know that the world has fought for vy, our children, for vyr futures."
Only now had she realised the vulnerability in her voice as she lay her heir in his crib, planting a kiss upon his brow as he settled. Similar attentions were deliver to her second son, still grasping his tattered bear, and daughter who was angelic in nature since her birth and had not once roused.

"Krusae Zwy Kongzem..."