Blog: Big Small Worlds
Owner: Padre
Author: padremack
Post: Contracts and Alliances
An Excerpt from Bonacorso Fidelibus’s Work: The Many Wars of the Early 25th Century
During the spring of 2405, the army of the VMC licked its wounds, dwelling in Alcente while the company’s newly won realm continued its slow recovery. Half the army had returned from the far north, having faced the vampires, while the other half had struggled in the war against the Sartosan pirates. The VMC trading company primarily sought profit, not bloody victories in war, and with Alcente and the surrounding lands being their source of such wealth, it was no surprise that they looked primarily to revive that realm, to repair and restore all that has been ravaged.
Several many letters were received from the troubled realms in the north, but few expected the VMC to engage actively in wider affairs after its recent tribulations. It was commonly said that General Valckenburgh spent his days composing excuses to be sent to his paymasters regarding the diminished returns yielded by Alcente and all the realms under his command, and that his only recourse would be to promise even greater profits in the years to come.
Meanwhile, only weeks after the second departure of the Sartosan pirates from Luccini, Vizconde Gismondo Giacometti arrived with the remainder of his army – the first parts having landed during the weeks before.
His presence immediately reassured the people, for it was widely known that King Ferronso had retreated into self-imposed isolation, entrusting his council, guided by his aged uncle, to deal with all worldly affairs. His cousin’s arrival only encouraged the young king’s further withdrawal, for now there was yet another surrogate to help shoulder the burden of public duties and general governance. As the vizconde brought both soldiers and money to the kingdom (from his thriving Estalian realm of Solsona) the people felt this more than compensated for their king’s delinquency. Gismondo also brought vitality to the realm, both in himself and his officers, a quality entirely lacking in the cloistered king.
Previously, most Luccinans had expressed love for the king’s uncle, Duke Ercole, for he had obtained the gold needed to ransom the king and had not ceased his attempts to thwart the Sartosans. But the pirates had so ruinously plundered the orchard of Luccini, that great stretch of green valleys known as Aversa, as well as the fishing villages and vineyards of Turno, that the people’s hunger waxed and their bodies wasted. Their love for Ercole faltered, as many laid the blame for their troubles on the elderly duke’s deficiencies – his dithering and disastrous military defeats. As the Duke Ercole had borrowed the ransom money from Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore, it was commonly, and not unreasonably, presumed that the necessary repayments would be raised through heavy taxation, at a time when the realm needed salutiferous care and attention, not further depredations.
Yet, the healing powers of spring gifted the kingdom sundry signs of recovery, while the vizconde’s presence was a new and happy circumstance. Lord Gismondo busied himself with a multitude of tasks, the most obvious of which was the commanding of his soldiers and ensuring that their presence was evident throughout the realm, making it clear to Luccini’s enemies that the realm was now strongly guarded. He had brought with him two contingents, the first being his own mercenary company, the Compagnia del Guanto, commonly known as ‘The Guantlets’ …
… as well as a large company of Solsonans raised in his newly acquired Estalian possession.
The first were mostly northerners, from the great Empire beyond the mountains, liveried in red, with occasional white flourishes, while the second were little more than militia, sporting particoloured green and red, colours quite common in Estalia.
He and Duke Ercole negotiated a contract with the last surviving part of the Compagnia del Sole, a not insignificant force of men at arms, both horse and foot, as well as artillery, lodged in Urbimo since their departure from Campogrotta.
Despite some grumbling about even more mouths to feed, the seems to have been mostly accepted as a further means to strengthen Luccini. A rumour soon circulated, however, that the vizconde was personally paying for the Compagnia, so that they could take over guardianship of the realm from his own soldiers, allowing him and his army to return to his own, rich realm in Estalia. Those who pondered this possibility could not decide if this would be a good or bad thing, and instead were forced to await the Compagnia’s arrival, while hoping they might prove just as reassuring a presence as the vizconde’s army.
Lord Gismondo also entered into correspondence with Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore, and was pleased to have read in the council and even in the temples (so that all subjects could hear it) a reply he received from Lord Alessio, which went thus …
This to Vizconde Gismondo Giacometti, from Lord Alessio Falcone
I am happy to learn that you have at last returned home to the royal city of Luccini. I share fond memories of times past in that great city and remember well your youthful enthusiasm and vigour. Knowing also of your military experience and successes in the intervening years, means I gladly anticipate future joint ventures with you, your own soldiers and the army of Luccini.
Omnes deos legitimos
A sursum et deorsum
Audi verba gratiae et laudis
(All the legitimate gods, from above and below, hear words of thanks and praise)
This pleased the Luccinans, for surely such a good friend to Vizconde Gismondo would be unlikely to inflict further suffering on the realm by extracting cruel loan repayments. A few dared to hope that, given the Portomaggoran ruler’s particular words, the vizconde, a renowned condottiere, might be about to enter into Lord Alessio’s service, and in so doing, could negotiate forgiveness of Luccini’s debt as part of his contract. The fact that Gismondo was bringing the remnant Compagnia del Sole to bolster Luccini’s own limited forces lent credence to this notion, for it would allow Gismondo’s army to serve such a contract. Of course, this was all wishful thinking, for the common folk rarely know the nobility’s true intentions, and the wisest amongst them simply await events before claiming any knowledge of the rulers’ affairs.
Lord Gismondo’s correspondent, Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore, had busied himself with his own realm’s affairs, doing what he could to heal the grievous wounds inflicted by the Sartosans’ rampage through his heartlands.
He also corresponded with Lord Silvano Gondi of Pavona, although there was nothing amicable about those letters, for Alessio had harboured a hatred for the Gondi family since their horrendous libelling of his good name. That hatred was surely exacerbated by the misery of his own realm, and the difficulty of his own affairs. His army remained most probably the mightiest in the whole of Tilea, nevertheless his subjects reeled from all they had suffered during the army’s absence in the north, and now, daily, Lord Alessio saw their pain.
A little to the north of Portomaggiore, the last Sartosans to remain on mainland Tilea, the brute Captain Kroll and his crew, busied themselves in the Carattello Hills, presumably searching for something – perhaps mutinous crewmen, or hidden treasure?
Then, halfway through the season, after burying some of their own close to the shore, they finally embarked upon ship, whither bound none could say.
In Pavona, while his incapacitated father remained confined to his chambers, Lord Silvano seemed unperturbed by Lord Alessio’s mocking rebuffs to all attempts to restore friendly relations between the two ancient realms, instead busying himself with the forging of a new alliance, intended to thwart the uomini ratto’s devices. None were surprised by this, for the young lord had for many years served at the forefront of the wars against the undead and the ogres, on occasion barely escaping the field of battle with his life, on others falling wounded, even close unto death, yet not once had he faltered in his desires to serve the common good both vigorously and constantly.
While the Visconte Carjaval led a Pavonan force to secure Astiano (once more), Lord Silvano received word from the Reman arch-lector, Bernado Ugolini, that he was sending a small army to Trantio as Silvano had asked, there to join with the Pavonans and whosoever else assembled, to seek out the verminous foe, intent on destroying them wheresoever they were found. As Lord Silvano marched at the head of his own army …
… the Visconte Carjaval joining him enroute to Trantio – he learned that close behind there was a small force of Verezzan halflings, led by Captain Muzio Vanni. Perhaps Lord Silvano dared to hope that this was proof that relations between the two realms had finally, after all his efforts, been repaired? Previously, despite his own meeting with Lord Iacopo Brunetti, in which he both apologised for his father’s mistakes and asserted his own worthiness, his advisers had been unconvinced that anything like true friendliness could be re-established.
Before he departed Pavona, Lord Silvano was met by an ambassador, one Lord Uluar Greenstone of the forest realm of Tettoverde.
After royally entertaining the elf, Silvano let it be known that an alliance had been forged between elves and men to ensure cooperation against the ratmen. Of course, none but the elven emissary, Silvano and his closest lieutenants knew the terms agreed, but the young lord made a great show of his martial departure to Trantio, before the elven visitor himself headed home – all the better to reassure his new friend that he was in earnest in his desire to face the foe.
People suppose that the young lord had an easy rapport with the elf, for he was served in the past by a most loyal company of elven guards, the Sharlian Riders. Indeed, the only detail concerning the discussions promulgated from the palazzio, was that Silvano was keen to reform the riders.
Upon arriving at Trantio, the Pavonans were surprised to be greeted not only by the Reman arch-lector’s military commander, one Captain Sirus Ricci, but also by Ricci’s new friend, Galeotti de Medizi, cousin to the dead tyrant Prince Girenzo, and pretender to the throne of Trantio.
Considering Lord Silvano had ruled Trantio as governor after the Prince Girenzo de Medizi has been killed by Silvano’s own brother during the Pavonan capture of the city, it seemed likely this new alliance army would disintegrate before it had even properly formed. Yet the young lord made no fuss and happily greeted both captains as comrades-in-arms. Nor did he seem nonplussed when the Verezzans arrived, yet another past enemy! (He did, however, send a letter to Lord Iacopo regarding his disappointment at the meagre strength of the Verezzan contribution). Suspicions lingered, however, and many supposed the apparent amicability among the gathered captains was feigned, and that the true, currently concealed animosity would surely emerge during the alliance’s first army council meeting.
The Verezzans had previously made it known, in a strongly worded missive sent to Lord Silvano before leaving their realm, that the alliance army’s captain-general should be appointed in the traditional manner, according to the proportionate strength of each commanders’ contribution to the whole, rather than, as they believed the Pavonan lord wished, command being given to the originator of the scheme – being Silvano himself. When it was discovered Silvano’s force was larger than that of any other individual commander, the army council fell to bitter disagreements.
But Lord Silvano surprised the gathered captains by quickly agreeing to the proposal that the captain-general should instead be appointed according to a combination of age, experience and the seniority of the realm he represented. Thus, the Reman Captain Ricci was elected commander-in-chief. Lord Silvano asked only in return that the council write a joint letter of complaint to the various rulers who had yet to send a force to join the alliance, first and foremost to Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore (who had the most to offer).
Not only did the previously elusive elves of Tettoverde send an emissary to the realm of Pavona, they also dispatched a significant force of warriors to the realm of Campogrotta (presumably circumnavigating the poisoned land made by the ratmen’s terror weapon).
The dwarfs of Karak Borgo had let it be known that despite asking the sylvan elves to assist in the fight against the uomini ratto, the forest folk had rebuffed their suggestions, being more interested in jealously guarding the trees’ timber and the fauna’s fur from any who might wish to make good use of them. (In ages past, the dwarfs had obtained both from the forested valleys of Gasharmak where Tettoverde met the lower slopes of the mountains, the quality of which was praised in their historical tomes.) And yet the lie was revealed when this elven force, led by no less than High Lord Veluthil Sarenmire himself, arrived at Tarano Keep, fortress guardian of the road and river west of Campogrotta.
There, the elven lord, himself a wizard of great power, met with the wizard Lord Totto of the Arrabiatti, self-proclaimed protector of Campogrotta. Totto professed no authority over the newly formed Republic Commune, only that he served the realm like a governor to a royal child, as a guide and guard, rather than a ruler.
Discussions were had between the two wizards, until an understanding was reached, after which both parties departed the keep, the elves heading west upon the road …
… while the Arrabiatti rode to the watchtower of Lugo …
… there to speak with the dwarf Lord Narhak (presumably to ask what the dwarfs could offer for the war against the rats). Thus it seemed that the alliance army gathered at Trantio had friends in the north, if the enemy of their enemy could be assumed to be so.
After the demise at Remas of Seer Lord Urlak, a new, verminous power has arisen in the far north. Another rat-lord, commonly known as Cralk, has mustered an army, and begun to march across northern Tilea, east to west. The ratmen slave-masters in Ravola yielded to his command quickly, likely because they knew they could not resist such a power, but Cralk did not linger there, instead marching towards the smoking husk of Miragliano. No man could tell you why he headed there, other than to suggest flippantly that rats thrived best among ruins, and that their larger cousins were no different. Doubtless, there was evil cunning to Cralk’s manoeuvrings, some grand scheme, most likely unfathomable to men, who could not hope to understand the labyrinthine politics of the uomini ratto.
Continue reading on the Big Small Worlds blog
Owner: Padre
Author: padremack
Post: Contracts and Alliances
An Excerpt from Bonacorso Fidelibus’s Work: The Many Wars of the Early 25th Century
During the spring of 2405, the army of the VMC licked its wounds, dwelling in Alcente while the company’s newly won realm continued its slow recovery. Half the army had returned from the far north, having faced the vampires, while the other half had struggled in the war against the Sartosan pirates. The VMC trading company primarily sought profit, not bloody victories in war, and with Alcente and the surrounding lands being their source of such wealth, it was no surprise that they looked primarily to revive that realm, to repair and restore all that has been ravaged.
Several many letters were received from the troubled realms in the north, but few expected the VMC to engage actively in wider affairs after its recent tribulations. It was commonly said that General Valckenburgh spent his days composing excuses to be sent to his paymasters regarding the diminished returns yielded by Alcente and all the realms under his command, and that his only recourse would be to promise even greater profits in the years to come.
Meanwhile, only weeks after the second departure of the Sartosan pirates from Luccini, Vizconde Gismondo Giacometti arrived with the remainder of his army – the first parts having landed during the weeks before.
His presence immediately reassured the people, for it was widely known that King Ferronso had retreated into self-imposed isolation, entrusting his council, guided by his aged uncle, to deal with all worldly affairs. His cousin’s arrival only encouraged the young king’s further withdrawal, for now there was yet another surrogate to help shoulder the burden of public duties and general governance. As the vizconde brought both soldiers and money to the kingdom (from his thriving Estalian realm of Solsona) the people felt this more than compensated for their king’s delinquency. Gismondo also brought vitality to the realm, both in himself and his officers, a quality entirely lacking in the cloistered king.
Previously, most Luccinans had expressed love for the king’s uncle, Duke Ercole, for he had obtained the gold needed to ransom the king and had not ceased his attempts to thwart the Sartosans. But the pirates had so ruinously plundered the orchard of Luccini, that great stretch of green valleys known as Aversa, as well as the fishing villages and vineyards of Turno, that the people’s hunger waxed and their bodies wasted. Their love for Ercole faltered, as many laid the blame for their troubles on the elderly duke’s deficiencies – his dithering and disastrous military defeats. As the Duke Ercole had borrowed the ransom money from Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore, it was commonly, and not unreasonably, presumed that the necessary repayments would be raised through heavy taxation, at a time when the realm needed salutiferous care and attention, not further depredations.
Yet, the healing powers of spring gifted the kingdom sundry signs of recovery, while the vizconde’s presence was a new and happy circumstance. Lord Gismondo busied himself with a multitude of tasks, the most obvious of which was the commanding of his soldiers and ensuring that their presence was evident throughout the realm, making it clear to Luccini’s enemies that the realm was now strongly guarded. He had brought with him two contingents, the first being his own mercenary company, the Compagnia del Guanto, commonly known as ‘The Guantlets’ …
… as well as a large company of Solsonans raised in his newly acquired Estalian possession.
The first were mostly northerners, from the great Empire beyond the mountains, liveried in red, with occasional white flourishes, while the second were little more than militia, sporting particoloured green and red, colours quite common in Estalia.
He and Duke Ercole negotiated a contract with the last surviving part of the Compagnia del Sole, a not insignificant force of men at arms, both horse and foot, as well as artillery, lodged in Urbimo since their departure from Campogrotta.
Despite some grumbling about even more mouths to feed, the seems to have been mostly accepted as a further means to strengthen Luccini. A rumour soon circulated, however, that the vizconde was personally paying for the Compagnia, so that they could take over guardianship of the realm from his own soldiers, allowing him and his army to return to his own, rich realm in Estalia. Those who pondered this possibility could not decide if this would be a good or bad thing, and instead were forced to await the Compagnia’s arrival, while hoping they might prove just as reassuring a presence as the vizconde’s army.
Lord Gismondo also entered into correspondence with Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore, and was pleased to have read in the council and even in the temples (so that all subjects could hear it) a reply he received from Lord Alessio, which went thus …
This to Vizconde Gismondo Giacometti, from Lord Alessio Falcone
I am happy to learn that you have at last returned home to the royal city of Luccini. I share fond memories of times past in that great city and remember well your youthful enthusiasm and vigour. Knowing also of your military experience and successes in the intervening years, means I gladly anticipate future joint ventures with you, your own soldiers and the army of Luccini.
Omnes deos legitimos
A sursum et deorsum
Audi verba gratiae et laudis
(All the legitimate gods, from above and below, hear words of thanks and praise)
This pleased the Luccinans, for surely such a good friend to Vizconde Gismondo would be unlikely to inflict further suffering on the realm by extracting cruel loan repayments. A few dared to hope that, given the Portomaggoran ruler’s particular words, the vizconde, a renowned condottiere, might be about to enter into Lord Alessio’s service, and in so doing, could negotiate forgiveness of Luccini’s debt as part of his contract. The fact that Gismondo was bringing the remnant Compagnia del Sole to bolster Luccini’s own limited forces lent credence to this notion, for it would allow Gismondo’s army to serve such a contract. Of course, this was all wishful thinking, for the common folk rarely know the nobility’s true intentions, and the wisest amongst them simply await events before claiming any knowledge of the rulers’ affairs.
Lord Gismondo’s correspondent, Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore, had busied himself with his own realm’s affairs, doing what he could to heal the grievous wounds inflicted by the Sartosans’ rampage through his heartlands.
He also corresponded with Lord Silvano Gondi of Pavona, although there was nothing amicable about those letters, for Alessio had harboured a hatred for the Gondi family since their horrendous libelling of his good name. That hatred was surely exacerbated by the misery of his own realm, and the difficulty of his own affairs. His army remained most probably the mightiest in the whole of Tilea, nevertheless his subjects reeled from all they had suffered during the army’s absence in the north, and now, daily, Lord Alessio saw their pain.
A little to the north of Portomaggiore, the last Sartosans to remain on mainland Tilea, the brute Captain Kroll and his crew, busied themselves in the Carattello Hills, presumably searching for something – perhaps mutinous crewmen, or hidden treasure?
Then, halfway through the season, after burying some of their own close to the shore, they finally embarked upon ship, whither bound none could say.
In Pavona, while his incapacitated father remained confined to his chambers, Lord Silvano seemed unperturbed by Lord Alessio’s mocking rebuffs to all attempts to restore friendly relations between the two ancient realms, instead busying himself with the forging of a new alliance, intended to thwart the uomini ratto’s devices. None were surprised by this, for the young lord had for many years served at the forefront of the wars against the undead and the ogres, on occasion barely escaping the field of battle with his life, on others falling wounded, even close unto death, yet not once had he faltered in his desires to serve the common good both vigorously and constantly.
While the Visconte Carjaval led a Pavonan force to secure Astiano (once more), Lord Silvano received word from the Reman arch-lector, Bernado Ugolini, that he was sending a small army to Trantio as Silvano had asked, there to join with the Pavonans and whosoever else assembled, to seek out the verminous foe, intent on destroying them wheresoever they were found. As Lord Silvano marched at the head of his own army …
… the Visconte Carjaval joining him enroute to Trantio – he learned that close behind there was a small force of Verezzan halflings, led by Captain Muzio Vanni. Perhaps Lord Silvano dared to hope that this was proof that relations between the two realms had finally, after all his efforts, been repaired? Previously, despite his own meeting with Lord Iacopo Brunetti, in which he both apologised for his father’s mistakes and asserted his own worthiness, his advisers had been unconvinced that anything like true friendliness could be re-established.
Before he departed Pavona, Lord Silvano was met by an ambassador, one Lord Uluar Greenstone of the forest realm of Tettoverde.
After royally entertaining the elf, Silvano let it be known that an alliance had been forged between elves and men to ensure cooperation against the ratmen. Of course, none but the elven emissary, Silvano and his closest lieutenants knew the terms agreed, but the young lord made a great show of his martial departure to Trantio, before the elven visitor himself headed home – all the better to reassure his new friend that he was in earnest in his desire to face the foe.
People suppose that the young lord had an easy rapport with the elf, for he was served in the past by a most loyal company of elven guards, the Sharlian Riders. Indeed, the only detail concerning the discussions promulgated from the palazzio, was that Silvano was keen to reform the riders.
Upon arriving at Trantio, the Pavonans were surprised to be greeted not only by the Reman arch-lector’s military commander, one Captain Sirus Ricci, but also by Ricci’s new friend, Galeotti de Medizi, cousin to the dead tyrant Prince Girenzo, and pretender to the throne of Trantio.
Considering Lord Silvano had ruled Trantio as governor after the Prince Girenzo de Medizi has been killed by Silvano’s own brother during the Pavonan capture of the city, it seemed likely this new alliance army would disintegrate before it had even properly formed. Yet the young lord made no fuss and happily greeted both captains as comrades-in-arms. Nor did he seem nonplussed when the Verezzans arrived, yet another past enemy! (He did, however, send a letter to Lord Iacopo regarding his disappointment at the meagre strength of the Verezzan contribution). Suspicions lingered, however, and many supposed the apparent amicability among the gathered captains was feigned, and that the true, currently concealed animosity would surely emerge during the alliance’s first army council meeting.
The Verezzans had previously made it known, in a strongly worded missive sent to Lord Silvano before leaving their realm, that the alliance army’s captain-general should be appointed in the traditional manner, according to the proportionate strength of each commanders’ contribution to the whole, rather than, as they believed the Pavonan lord wished, command being given to the originator of the scheme – being Silvano himself. When it was discovered Silvano’s force was larger than that of any other individual commander, the army council fell to bitter disagreements.
But Lord Silvano surprised the gathered captains by quickly agreeing to the proposal that the captain-general should instead be appointed according to a combination of age, experience and the seniority of the realm he represented. Thus, the Reman Captain Ricci was elected commander-in-chief. Lord Silvano asked only in return that the council write a joint letter of complaint to the various rulers who had yet to send a force to join the alliance, first and foremost to Lord Alessio Falcone of Portomaggiore (who had the most to offer).
Not only did the previously elusive elves of Tettoverde send an emissary to the realm of Pavona, they also dispatched a significant force of warriors to the realm of Campogrotta (presumably circumnavigating the poisoned land made by the ratmen’s terror weapon).
The dwarfs of Karak Borgo had let it be known that despite asking the sylvan elves to assist in the fight against the uomini ratto, the forest folk had rebuffed their suggestions, being more interested in jealously guarding the trees’ timber and the fauna’s fur from any who might wish to make good use of them. (In ages past, the dwarfs had obtained both from the forested valleys of Gasharmak where Tettoverde met the lower slopes of the mountains, the quality of which was praised in their historical tomes.) And yet the lie was revealed when this elven force, led by no less than High Lord Veluthil Sarenmire himself, arrived at Tarano Keep, fortress guardian of the road and river west of Campogrotta.
There, the elven lord, himself a wizard of great power, met with the wizard Lord Totto of the Arrabiatti, self-proclaimed protector of Campogrotta. Totto professed no authority over the newly formed Republic Commune, only that he served the realm like a governor to a royal child, as a guide and guard, rather than a ruler.
Discussions were had between the two wizards, until an understanding was reached, after which both parties departed the keep, the elves heading west upon the road …
… while the Arrabiatti rode to the watchtower of Lugo …
… there to speak with the dwarf Lord Narhak (presumably to ask what the dwarfs could offer for the war against the rats). Thus it seemed that the alliance army gathered at Trantio had friends in the north, if the enemy of their enemy could be assumed to be so.
After the demise at Remas of Seer Lord Urlak, a new, verminous power has arisen in the far north. Another rat-lord, commonly known as Cralk, has mustered an army, and begun to march across northern Tilea, east to west. The ratmen slave-masters in Ravola yielded to his command quickly, likely because they knew they could not resist such a power, but Cralk did not linger there, instead marching towards the smoking husk of Miragliano. No man could tell you why he headed there, other than to suggest flippantly that rats thrived best among ruins, and that their larger cousins were no different. Doubtless, there was evil cunning to Cralk’s manoeuvrings, some grand scheme, most likely unfathomable to men, who could not hope to understand the labyrinthine politics of the uomini ratto.
Continue reading on the Big Small Worlds blog
