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War of the Red Sands (Xio Expansion IC) (Day 5)


Xio

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  • 3 weeks later...

Day 3
Sounding the Alarm

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To: Chairman Waki Ichise
Of: Aurelia Affairs Committee of the Five Provinces of @Mito
--- Є ---

Hello Waki Ichise,
I must express my dearest thank you for your nation's willingness to support us in our time of need. The Xiohane is in dire need for civilian aid, as much of eastern Hoq'nuka has become inundated with refugees from southern Xio and Nanhong. Local enforcement has already been stretched thin as much of the Hoq'nuka armed forces have been transferred elsewhere for the immediate protection of the empire. We are unsure if the kingdom of Hoq'nuka alone has the logistical support to maintain humane standards of living once refugee camps begin setting up at Qobhais and Gijnigalo.

We have sent a copy of your pledge to the Hoq'nuka national government, and we strongly urge the Five Provinces to directly contact them yourselves to coordinate routes for aid.

Regarding military aid, we have established a port in ██████, Qobhais, Hoq'nuka. All armaments and volunteer forces are being directed towards the Fallback line to ensure the last large population centres of the empire do not fall. Our analysists, at current rates of movement by both the Xioan and Sefesian armed forces, have determined that contact between the fallback line divisions and the main Sefesian armies will come on Day 5 in the south, and full contact across the eastern line on Day 7 on the 25th October.

We require full assistance by our Aurelian partners and allies abroad if we are to successfully resist the fall of Kororama and central Xio. The most important thing your nation can do for ours is to encourage other members of the League to supply us with either logistic support or direct volunteers until the frontline is stabilised or until our navy has returned from Anatea.

We have faith in your people and your government to do the right thing.

Thank you,
Kophīne Linosos

 

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To: Megas Logothetes Eugenios Goulielmos
Of: Logothesion ton Barbaron of Arhoimaion ( @Tagmatium Rules )
--- Є ---

Hello Eugenious Goulielmos,
Thank you for your kind words and your willingness to aid Na Xiohane. It is clear to everyone within the Xioan governments that Sefesia could not have acted alone, as footage and live accounts of their military armaments and vehicles have proven that Sefesia has access to an abundance of Anglian and South-East Azanian equipment. If Na Xiohane was to push back against Sefesia it will need to fight on their level, thus your willingness to supply military equipment is greatly appreciated. Attached to the form, produced by the Secretariat of War, is a complete and detailed list of required equipment. We do not require much equipment, as our military supplies regarding simple firearms and ammunitions remain protected from Sefesian rocket artillary.

We understand that this may be overstepping your generosity, but equipment is not our current concern, instead we require heavy armoured vehicles and modern artillery systems to penetrate modern tanks which have been the spear head of current Sefesian offensive tactics. According to the Secretariat of War if we were to eliminate Sefesia's imported frontline heavy armoured vehicles, their current offensive assault would come crashing down as they would be forced to play once more on an even playing field against Xioan divisions. Their achilleas heel is known, we just need the support of other governments and militaries to capitalise on such.

We have faith in your people and your government to do the right thing. May your god bless victory against the imperialists, as ours does for you.

Thank you,
Kophīne Linosos

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Imperial Decree to the Kingdom of Hoq'nuka and the junior Kingdom of Khao
Dictated by the Mountain Lord,
 77th Vosō Ne, under the protection of the 16 Imperial Dynasties
--- I ---

With the North Adlantic Union's most recent requests having reached the Imperial Government for their regime to "offer to guarantee the security of the Khao Kingdom"(1) the 3 Hoq'nukan imperial dynasties and the Hoq'nukan head of government Q'an Giqaukuma alongside the Khao imperial dynasty have been ordered to attend a virtual meeting hosted by the Mountain Lord and the Elected Grand Syndic at ██AM tomorrow (21/10/2022).

We will be discussing the true intent of this @Seylosian request, be it genuine or opportunistic in nature, and if the Khao imperial dynasty will be willing to work alongside the NAU and Kaseka.

We have no reason to suspect the NAU of imperialist ambitions, however reports by insiders within Sefesia may implicate Seylos as the fourth yet unknown benefactor of the Tripartite Border Agreements between Sefesia, Noble Nykia, and Norrium. As per the last decree, all knowledge on the Tripartite Border Agreements found by foreign intelligence is to remain hidden from the public. We cannot afford further panic across the empire than what the war has already begun. This would also implicate the whole of the empire by not acting sooner to raise defences.

This war still remains necessary for the health of the empire, and the health of the 16 dynasties, despite our shortcomings in the last 72 hours. The fires of warfare will cleanse the empire of the Hong slave holders, and of the final holdouts of my father's regime.

Remain strong, remain vigilant, the battle continues and so shall we,
77th Vosō Ne, Rahāde saDeyakho-Xae, of the Red Painted Dynasty.

 

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Day 4
Movement

Two silhouettes danced across the riverbank; their bodies obscured by the warm glow of the morning sun. One bounced ahead of the other, leaping over tall grasses and swinging around old tree trunks.

"Rōpherapīka! Wait!" The silhouette in the back called out, waving both hands manically as they attempted their best to tip-toe around the large tufts of grass and shrubs. Rōpherapīka, a young boy no more than twelve, laughed as he continued to jump and tango with the flora that lined the river. Both wore huipils and muddied up jeans, Rophe's though were covered in rips and tears.

Rophe finally turned back towards the one who called himself, twisting himself around a tree trunk obscuring most of his body. A child even younger than him stumbled behind, almost tripping, over the rough ground keeping their limbs closed in together as their eyes remained locked to the ground just in front of them. On their back was a large woven grass bowl with a lid poking out. Rophe couldn't help but smile at his cousin's fumbling each time almost dropping their large straw hat into the river below.

"Lahulimi! Quickly!" Rophe hastily shouted, staring towards the sun with squinted eyes. It was only 6am yet the sun was quickly climbing up the cloudless sky. He tentatively reached a hand out from the shade of the old tree into the light, feeling the prickling of the new spring heat. Gently Rophe pulled back his hand, placing it softly onto the gnarled and twisted trunk of the tree.
"We only have a couple more hours!" He continued, peeling himself off the tree though kept safely within its shade. His hands remained planted on the tree, his left hand moved up the trunk, feeling the dried flaky bark. His thin fingers traced the groves in the wood, slowly stretching his arm out as he reached as high as the tips of his fingers could reach. His hand, stretched high and on tip toes, could just reach the lowest branch of the tree.

"I'm here!" Lahulimi declared, hopping from one foot to the next. Rophe yelped, spinning around almost smacking into Lahulimi, just managing to catch himself before he fell into them.

"Lahu! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Rophe said with an exasperated tone.

"I did not!" Lahu complained, hiking past him and beyond the shade of the old tree, immediately tripping and falling into the tall grass. Rophe smirked and a short puff of laughter escaped the cracks between his lips. "Don't laugh!" Lahu whined, pulling themself up from the grass. Before they could tumble and fall again, Rophe walked over to Lahu and grabbed their hand.

"I didn't laugh, come on." Rophe remarked, still smirking, as the two walk down the riverbank. "I'll tell the family you caught the biggest fish we find up ahead."

...

The two kids sat beneath a large pophoati tree at the edge of the river, on the dry gravel of exposed riverbed. The steel-blue water gently flowed past them, curving around their little piece of shade from the rising sun. Between them was the grass bowl, now with its lid strapped down with string. Inside were grey fish that occasionally flopped about. Propped up against the bowl, partly sunken into the gravel, was a trident carved out of bone and tied together with string and melted plastic, shards of obsidian were embedded into cuts at the end of each of the trident's arms. In Lahu's hand was an old makeshift fishing rod, its end gently bopping in the river. Both sat quiet for a while, with Rophe only occasionally helping Lahu keep the fishing rod steady.

"Rophe. Why does the river shrink?" Lahu asked, his eyes firmly locked to the end of the fishing rod, his hands as still as he could keep them. Rophe thought for a while, staring away and down the river.

"Uh. Oldest mama said it's because Kopodha-kaho is thirsty in winter, and she drinks allllll the fresh water in the wurld." Rophe explained, now facing Lahu.

"Thats what Rapīsishī-rama said. But why do I see rain in Hanesore on your phone?" Lahu commented, keeping their eyes on the bobble. "Does Kopodha-kaho not like Hanesore water? Why doesn't Dhiive stop Kopodha-kaho from drinking all the water?"

Rophe stifled a giggle at Lahu's confusion. "No but Hanesore water is very stinky. I'll tell you why when you're in school. And stop saying her name so much, I don't want us catching a poisoned fish."

"Tell me now!" Lahu yelled, yanking the fishing rod out of the water as a small grey fish went flying out onto the gravel beside them. Rophe quickly ripped the poor fish's mouth off the hook, with Lahu undoing the bows on the string holding the lid down. He dropped the fish into the container before helping Lahu tie the string back on. "Kopodha-kaho! Kopodha-kaho! Kopodha-kaho!" Lahu chanted, standing up and jumping in place.

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you! Just give me the fishing rod first." Rophe sneered, swiping the fishing rod from his cousin as he attached new bait to the hook. "So, the air is like this river." Rophe began, moving his hand towards the river. "In the sky there are invisible rivers of air, they bring water and heat and cold around the entire wurld."

"The whole wurld?" Lahu repeated, in awe, slowly sitting back down cross-legged.

"Yes. The whole wurld. And from November to April, they bring lots of water to the mountains, where Dhiive sleeps. The water fills up all the rivers and sometimes even rains down here like it did two years ago." Rophe continued to explain, casting the fishing rod out. Seconds later the bobble made a tiny splash in the river. "But once the rain stops, the mountains slowly run out of water and the rivers shrink, like now!"

"Woah." Lahu involuntarily remarked. Raphe smiled as he pulled Lahu closer to him. Lahu crawled across the gravel and gently placed their head on Rophe's shoulder, both of them looking to the bobble calmly moving up and down in the slow river. "So Ko-- she doesn't drink the water? Did Rapīsishī-rama lie?"

"She does drink the water, the gravel here was wet, but now its dry. All the water goes deep, deep, underground where she can drink it." Rophe concluded.

"If she's unkillable, why does she need to drink water? And what does she eat?" Lahu continued to pester Raphe, who let out a slow, drawn-out sigh.

"That's why we bury the dead and dig up our ascended one's skulls after a couple years." Rophe reluctantly continued, focusing more on feel of the fishing line in his hands for any tugs and pulls. "She noms on your bones."

"Eww."

"Don't judge. We eat goats, and bugs, and any pork and beef jerky the caravans bring. When we die, we don't need our bodies anymore. Now, no more questions I need to focus." Rophe finally concluded, his grip on the rod tightening. Something was tugging at its end. "Move your head.". Lahu reluctantly shuffled a bit out of Rophe's way, and suddenly yanked the fishing rod backwards, pulling up a massive green-grey fish unlike the others. Rophe squinted at the monstrous fish as Lahu scampered up towards the tree trunk.
"(Kertosonan Perch... Invasive fish... Stupid farmers...)" Rophe muttered to himself, carefully pulling out the trident before diving onto the creature and swiftly impaling it down between the gills of the flopping perch.

"What is that!" Lahu screamed out in fear, hugging the tree. "Did I curse us?!"

"No, it's okay!" Rophe yelled back, stumbling back upright "it's a fish oldest mama told me about!"
Lahu carefully walked back down to the gravel patch, looming over the dead fish, staring into its freakish yellow eye. "Help me put it in the bag, I'll carry it back."
Lahu sheepishly agreed, and before long the two kids began to climb up from the gravel patch, with Rophe holstering the grass bowl on his back.

"You can tell your oldest papa that you caught the evil fish. I don't want it." Lahu mumbled, kicking a pebble near their foot. Rophe could only laugh at his cousin's serious remark, patting them on the shoulder.

"Okay. I'll tell oldest papa that I caught it. I'll tell him you caught the little smelly fishes." Rophe remarked, causing Lahu to pout and jab him in the shoulder. The children continued to jab and laugh at one another as they began their long hike back home, the sun almost reaching its midday peak.

...

The movement of the train carriage jostled Rōpherapīka awake, his eyes darted from wall to wall of the large dark container he found himself in. Before a sound could come out of his mouth a wave of nausea and dizziness overwhelmed him, causing him to instinctively reach out to the floor. An intense wave of pain and coldness rushed across his body, its epicentre coming from just to the left of his forehead.
"Rophe! Oh, thank Dhiive you're okay!" A woman beside Rhope cried out, hugging him tightly. The voice, and faint smell of vanilla told Rhope it was oldest mama. "I-I... I thought I might've-"

"Where are we?" Rhope mumbled, his hand clasping the left side of his forehead, where he could feel a welt. "Did I... Hurt myself? Where's Lahulimi?"

"Those bastards... The Sefesians they took everyone from Silodhāa. Rapīsishī-ram, she kept Lahu and her others, they saw on the television, the warnings. She- the warnings said it was better than being taken."
Oldest mama hugged Rhope harder, her silent tears running down onto Rhope's arm. He could only put his own arm around her, holding his own mother tightly. His eyes looked out towards the opposite side of the carriage, as the orange haze of sunset slipped through the gaps in the locked doors, others from Silodhāa huddled together in the corners and back walls of the carriage.

Where are they being taken?
 

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Edited by Xio (see edit history)
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  • 2 months later...

Day 5
Horizon

The steel wheels rumbled down the desert train tracks, rails so recently well-worn there wasn’t a sand grain on the metal. Sunlight from the cloudless midday sky shining off the reinforced hull of the armoured train. The train’s three engines pushed and pulled, straining at their maximum capacity, causing the entire convoy of armoured and transport carts to shudder and groan, as if any minute they’d fall apart. In the far distant horizon, the hasty preparation of war scarred the landscape with deep trenches and makeshift fortifications all along the Xi river.

Karla sat on her bed’s grim-yellow mattress, hunched over with her face illuminated by her phone’s screen only a couple inches from her eyes. Karlia swiped through her phone, circling between Wittier, the RNN app, FIYD, anything to keep her mind off what was coming, who was coming. She was one of the lucky ones that got to sit in a commandeered passenger carriage and not packed in like sardines at the front in the armoured carriages, or the real poor sods forced to sit inside the tanks and trucks in the back, dragged in or purchased from all across the glube. Before they had set off Karla had managed to snatch a glimpse at the arsenal packed into the back of the train, looked like the backdrop to an international firearms convention more than equipment for the field. Fulgistani, Kirvinian, Mitonese, Rhodellian, Tagmatine, hell even a little bit of Seylosian. At first it was like entering a candy shop, until she had overheard two Xioans chatting in their native tongue within the train station they had all be shephard outside of. After three years of being stationed in rural northern Xio, she had become quite well-versed in the local language.

She had hidden behind a crate of ammunition, one of thousands donated by the Mitonese, just around the corner of the room the two men spoke in. With slow and deliberate deep breaths she maintained utmost silence, not daring to put any of her weight on the crate in case it creaked or its contents shifted inside.
Rhodellia will be furious. They’d have never agreed to this if they knew it was eighty percent-

One general was cut off by the other, who’s raspier yet sterner voice told Karla he was clearly the one in charge.
Rhodellians have fought in Baltica and against their own neighbours. They’re hardened by war.

They’re just children-- twenty one at most! Half of them are missing an arm or a leg- we know this won’t be--
The pleading subordinate was once again cut off by his superior.

All of our ports but Qobhais are overrun with refugees. Spineless allies, only Mito agreed to take any, what do you want me to do? Dump our potential fodder at ports already overcrowded? Turn these trains around with all our ammunition and vehicles?
The subordinated tried to speak up again, but was quickly halted. Karla heard the wooden boards beneath their feet creak and groan. For a second she almost fled in case they were walking towards her, but instead their footsteps became fainter. The superior general continues to speak, the venom in his mouth frothing in anger.
The Fulgistani abandoned us at the first moment of conflict, the Barbaros colonists down south give us pittance when we sent our navy to assist them. These are the only foreigners willing to help us because they signed some bloody contract and you want to send them home? Send them back to their mummy and daddy, whilst our own children die in sand pits and their blood spilt on rocks?

Karla felt the rage deep within the superior’s voice within her own stomach which twisted into knots in response.

We’re not the only ones at war sir- we can’t expect them to drop everything for us.” Once again the subordinate tried to reason with his higher-up. Instead the superior’s voice only raised higher, threatening to be heard by the students in the other rooms of the train station.

Zaxar? They invaded first, they’re the ones who brought us into this bloody war in the first place! Azuria is already falling to the damned Louvians! And what is Kirvina doing? The ‘almighty stabiliser’ of the continent?
Karla felt the boards creak again, slowly. The superior’s voice dropped down into a deep guttural snarl, hidden behind clenched teeth.
F*cking. Nothing. I don’t care what the Mountain Lord is saying about an eighty percent death rate, get these kids on those trains now, or I will personally see to you being placed at the first line of the fallback.

Karla took this as her moment to leave, gently slipping away with her heart beating so hard and fast against her chest it felt as if it was about to burst out from within her ribcage. She threw herself behind another crate of ammunition just as the two generals walked past who stopped in the entrance room of the station. The superior still talking, though his voice now calmer and quieter still out of earshot of the students outside, barely audible to Karla as she gently leaned onto the crate to just get a little bit closer.

Death is preferable than being taken. The Rhodellian government doesn’t need to know we’ve already calculated how many will die at the fall-back line.
A cold chuckle escaped the superior’s mouth, sending a shiver down Karla’s back. The last words the superior said searing into her mind:
And if we position this fodder correctly, there’ll probably be none left to tell their government anyway. Get rid of these land-stealing barbaros from our empire.

You’re sick.” The subordinated muttered in disgust, the superior walking out, as he began to yell for the students to get ready to board. Just as the subordinated was about to follow his superior, Karla pressed to much of her weight onto the crate, causing its insides to jostle and the whole crate to shift slightly. Karla’s heart froze in terror as the subordinate turned his attention to the noise of trickling bullets.

Who’s there?” The subordinate commanded, his voice suddenly raising to carry the authority one would expect from a general. Karla awkwardly rose up from behind the crates. The two stared at each other, both knowing the other knew that she had heard the whole thing. The subordinate was the first to break the silence, his words making Karla’s eyebrows raise in surprise.
I need you to help me.” His tone was a mix of commanding and pleading, without her mind even coming to a conclusion, before she had even weighed the consequences of what she had heard, her mouth blurted out with confidence she hadn’t felt in years:
I will.

 

The jostling of the train dragged Karla back to the present, followed by a sudden silhouette in the carriageway. Her new ‘comrade’, as he put it. Some logistics nerd who’d been staying at Xiseka. Her only night of sleep on the train continuously disrupted by him going on and on about how he could ‘totally snipe some Seffies from our train window’.
Hey Karla, almost at the front line! This is gonna be so f*cking cool!” He cheered, clambering past her and onto her mattress to look out of the window.

Get off my bed Ram.” She sighed, shuffling to the edge of the mattress, still staring at her phone. Ramhart just shrugged in response, his face plastered up against the smudged plastic window.
With a couple barrels of ammo I bet-

You could kill a trillion Sefesians?” She groaned, completely apathetic to his excitement. Ramhart chuckled at her absolute ‘doneness’ with him, finally moving himself off her mattress and onto his, on the other side of their room, only at arms-length away from her.

The entire floor was just three separate mattresses.

Ramhart remained silent for a couple minutes, taking out his own phone. His eyebrows furrowed as a look of confusion took over his face.
How the f*ck is there 4G out here? Talk about mismanaged priorities. No wonder the Seffies blitzkrieg them, all their money is in cell towers.

Karla just rolled her eyes, though as soon as the peace and quiet returned, another uni student popped his head out from outside the room, their other ‘comrade’.
“Get your asses out here. We’re almost at Hanedii... Hanodhii.. Hana… F*ck it we’re almost at Hannah Soupdiri.

Karla reluctantly got up from her mattress, slipping past their ‘comrade’ into the carriage hallway, where Rhodellian students and Mitonese volunteers were already queueing, taking her place in the line just behind their ‘comrade’. Ramhart just barely squeezed in behind Karla.

Welcome volunteers, recruits, heroes of Xio!” A cheerful voice yelled out from the front, one that immediately caused Karla’s hands to go cold. The superior. “-To Hanēdhi Soōdiri. The Sefesians have already made contact with the fall-back line in the south, we have forty eight hours to prepare!

A long thin smile stretched across the superior’s face, a sinister betrayal of his happy-go-lucky tone.
Good luck!

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Edited by Xio (see edit history)
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DAY 1

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To: Kophīne Linosos, Secretary of External Relations for the Empire of Great @Xio
From: Zachary Monroe, Minister Of Foreign Affairs for the Socialist Federal Republic of Advocatius


Greetings and Salutations,

I write this on behalf of Premier of the Advocatius, Louis Monet, to address the most recent circumstances with war betwixt Great Xio and Sefesia.
Advocatius wishes full support to Great Xio and it's people during these troubled times, the actions of Sefesia are based upon cruel imperialism and oppression of the native peoples of Aurelia, because of this Advocatius, as a member of the Aurelian League, will take actions against Sefesia as listed below.

  • Advocatius will impose heavy sanctions upon the Democratic Republic of Sefesia in response to the invasion
  • A Volunteer program will be set up in the Advocatian Armed Forces for servicemen who wish to fight alongside the forces of Great Xio
  • Advocatian manufactured weapons shall be sold to the Xioan Military

We wish for the sake of Great Xio the best in such troubled times, and that the actions taken by Advocatius can do their most in aiding Great Xio, and to hope for sake of Aurelia that peace can one day return to the continent, cheers.

Sincerely,
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Edited by Advocatius
armed forces not defence forces (see edit history)
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