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« on: August 22, 2012, 01:06:33 AM »
Fortunes of War
Opening: The Great Empire is in turmoil. The western provinces rebel and foreign kingdoms make trouble along the borders. General Xin, a renowned tactician, was charged with suppressing a rebellion in Jing Province, the farthest and wildest province of the twelve. The rebellion was started by a cadre of army officers who were ordered to lead their bands of commoner soldiers north to participate in the defense of Yuyang. However, they were stopped halfway by a severe rainstorm and flooding. The harsh laws of the Great Empire stated that anyone late to show up for government jobs will be executed, regardless of the nature of the delay. The officers realized that they could never make it on time and decided to organize a band that would rebel against the government, so they would die fighting for their freedom rather than by execution.
Because of the nature of the rebellion, many common soldiers joined, which led to a shortage of manpower. Xin was forced to recruit mercenaries, who were common in Jing province, as it was the center of trade between the Empire and many other foreign kingdoms. The campaign lasted several months, but gradually Xin’s army forced the rebels into a valley. Fearing the rebels could possibly escape before he could trap them, Xin ordered the servants, baggage, supply trains and other slow elements of the army be left behind and force march into valley. A scout’s report encouraged Xin to take this risky approach.
Four black crows were spotted on the general’s banner at dawn, an ill omen. Several officers advised Xin to take a more cautious approach, as the army would be highly vulnerable as they entered the valley. Xin ignored them and ordered the army into the valley.
The rebels were lying in wait at the valley’s entrance, hidden among high cliff walls. They waited until the last of the army had entered and then tumbled boulders down the exit, trapping Xin’s army. Xin was the first to die, struck by a volley of arrows. An officer rallied the army and ordered them to retreat into the center of the valley, where they would have a fighting chance. The army’s banner was abandoned in the chaos.
Before the ambush, Xin’s army was vastly stronger than the rebels but the ambush had evened it out. The rebels had few supplies and had suffered for months from low morale, poor equipment, and infighting among the officers. The ambush gave the rebels a second wind and they chased after Xin’s remaining army with a renewed ferocity.
The two armies slammed into each other in the valley, the rebels fighting for their freedom, the mercenaries fighting to avenge their dead general and their lives. To list the acts of valor and heroism of that day would take a day and a night. Officer’s Chen’s last stand. The Seven Brothers Wu testing their famed Spear Castle against the Horse Maidens. The Exalted Death of Monk Sakha. The duel between Guang, Favored Son of the Great Empire and the Wolf Ronin. All these acts of heroes and legends, destined to be forgotten by what happened as the sun faded into dusk.
A horde of the Warriors of the Grey Sky had used the rebellion to launch their own invasion of the Great Empire. They found the battle and their famed mounted archers had cleared the path out of the valley to wipe both forces out. Exhausted, neither army could do much to stop the slaughter. The remaining rebels and loyalists banded together to fight off the horde but they were doomed. The last rebel officer alive, a man named Sheng, did not want to see the Great Empire fall to the horde so he told a few remaining mercenaries of a secret exit out of the valley, on the condition that they warn the Great Empire. Sheng made each mercenary swear a blood oath to each other to keep each other alive in order to make sure the normally selfish mercenaries would work as a team.
The mercenaries managed to escape and went back to the remaining servants of the army. They took command and ordered them east. In order to keep the horde from killing them, the mercenaries posed as merchants. A few weeks later, they arrived at the capital and dutifully told the army of the horde.
The nobles and bureaucrats of the Great Empire do not like hearing bad news, especially from mercenaries. Furthermore, the court soothsayers declared Xin and all who served under him as cursed. No army would take the mercenaries now, even General Tzu’s new army, which is tasked with defeating the Grey Sky Horde.
You are Xin’s Crows – the cursed remnants of his army. Your only chance of fulfilling your destiny is to become traveling merchants, selling to Tzu’s army. While you cannot fight in an army, your reputation makes you an intriguing curiosity – a sideshow. They will tolerate you for the duration of the war, as reminders of Xin’s defeat. Once the war is over, you must return home with whatever fortune you have earned.
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Character Creation Rules to follow in next post
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