Chapter 24: Aftermath and Delegations
After the Ork Boss of the Klan was slain in single combat by Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides of the Silver Knights Order, enormous panic went through the entire battlefield.
Due to the fact that even most of the Nobz were killed either by the assassins of the Lord's Blades or the entourage of the Chapter Master, among them were also surprisingly even the Ork Champions of the Klan.
This obviously meant that all of the higher leadership of the Klan was effectively dead and there won't be any new Boss for a foreseeable time. With the death of the majority of Nobz and even the Champions, there was no one suitable to take over the leadership of the Klan.
So the Greenskins did what they were best at and started fighting among each other for the position of leadership, and some smarter Orks even started escaping from the battlefield itself.
This was rather typical behavior from the Greenskisn, as there was no one who told them what to do.
They started doing what they wanted, and the factionalism within the Klan began to show as some of the Orks had bigger authority than the others and started fighting for the leadership the moment when the Boss was killed.
After the death of the Boss and subsequent chaos that erupted among the ranks of the Greenskins, the battle continued rather fast when the Orks started fighting among each other, or the ones with more brains started escaping as quickly as possible.
The Westerlandese Army didn't pursue them all but instead focused on the surrounding Greenksins that remained on the battlefield rather than focusing on a few tens or hundreds that were already far away, and on top of that, the Westerlandese Army lacked cavalry.
After several more minutes, they managed to completely cut out the path of the retreat for the Greenskins and started systematically slaughtering them one by one. The process was relatively short because the Orks, who were already fighting among each other, were caught in a brutal ambush by the Westerlandese Army.
After half an hour, the entire Orkish Horde was completely exterminated, aside from the few hundred Greenskins that managed to escape before the onslaught could take place. After the battle ended, the soldiers of the Westerlandese Army started collecting their dead or taking out the valuables from the Greenskins.
Even though the Orks didn't have much of it, they still had a lot of weapons and armor or other things that could be melted down and used once more.
So it would be foolish just to let them there; after the armor and weapon and other equipment were collected from the corpses of the Greenskins, the Battle Wizards started burning them down.
This was a rather standard procedure of cleaning up after the battle of the Greenskins to prevent their fungoid part from releasing the spores that would sooner or later create another generation of the Orks and Greenskins.
So, that was a big no-no.
For that reason, the Battle Wizards were burning the bodies of the Greenskins and the Priests of the Healing Church were casting purifying spells on the entire area.
If they did it this way, they would basically prevent any other Greenskins from releasing the spores that would then take root and create new generations of the Greenskins at a later date.
Even in the Lordran, there were always burning down everything related to the Greenskins because that was the surest and fastest way to destroy the spores that the Greenskins were releasing when they died.
This was the reason why they were so hard to kill permanently. If they didn't burn them down, then sooner or later, this entire place would become paradise for the Greenskins, as the spores that the Orks released upon their death would then create a new Orks.
And in this cycle, the Orks were going over and over and over. For example, they were so resilient that even burning them right now would probably kill only something between 95% and 98% of the spores that they have released.
To completely annihilate them with the success rate of 100% would require either Chaos Fire Sorcery, something that wasn't present right now within the Westeros or for the Battle Wizard to have a specialized Spell against the Greenskins.
But such Wizards were relatively rare, and they also needed to be powerful enough to cast such powerful Spells.
While the Battle Wizards present within the Westeros that were left here by the Imperium were powerful, but they were not powerful enough nor skilled enough to cast such complicated Spells that especially targeted the Ork Spores.
Still, once the Orks appeared in some place, it was sure that they would return once, as they were almost impossible to get completely rid of. Such was the fundamental truth when it came to the Greenskins.
The soldiers of the Westerlandese Army were cleaning the battlefield, collecting corpses, weapons, armors, equipment or searching for anything valuable that may hide beneath.
Meanwhile, part of the Army was cleaning up the battlefield, and another part of the Army headed directly to the Nun's Deep because that place was the headquarters of the Greenskins within the Westerlands.
They needed to completely clean that place and also to discover the reason why the Orks chose the Nun's Deep as their headquarters. If there was one constant about the Greenksins, was the fact, that they rarely chose their dwellings randomly.
Most usually, they chose the places of their dwelling, in the areas that were very rich in Magic or there was something that was luring the Greenskins to said place, so this made many people curious.
As the first ones to enter the Nun's Deep were the assassins of the Lord's Blades to scout the area, but everyone predicted that the Greenskins left there only minor numbers to keep some things and primitive machinery functioning.
And as they predicted, the Nun's Deep was armed only with a minimal number of the Greenskins, predominantly the Ork Boss left behind some ordinary Boyz and a lot of Gretchin, but the Gretchin were right now in the process of abandoning the entire Nun's Deep if possible.
As they were more intelligent, so they decided to pack up their things and escape to some other parts of the land from the humans. The remaining Ork Boyz were swiftly disposed of, mainly by the assassins of the Lord's Blades, as there were not many Ork Boyz in the first place within the Nun's Deep itself.
Still, the entire process of cleaning out the Nun's Deep would take several days at best because the entire place was deep and there were a lot of underground spaces, tunnels and places that all needed to be searched through and through and then purified.
For the next ten days or so, the soldiers of the Westerlandese Army, Silver Knights, Battle Wizards and even the Priests of the Healing Church were searching through the Nun's Deep.
They needed to go through every single tunnel and search through every single nook and cranny of the place; they even brought some dwarven explorers that arrived from the Lordran to explore and map the entire Nun's Deep.
Dismantling the fortifications and other construct that the Greenkins built within the Nun's Deep took several days, as they needed to dismantle everything and then burn it down.
Aside from that, the Priests of the Healing Church were working non-stop on purifying the entire cavern system from the Green Taint that was left there by the Orks, something that needed to be done to prevent the residual spores from creating a new generation of Orks.
They also found out the reason why the Orkish Klan chose the Nun's Deep for their headquarters, as the dwarves discovered an entire plethora of ores that were extremely rich in Magic and there was even a vein of Lacrimas.
This was the reason that was luring the Greenskins into the Nun's Deep en masse and why they had chosen this place.
This was also an extraordinary discovery because aside from the several gold veins that were present, they had no access to another vein of Lacrimas and other things that would be used to enrich the Westerlands.
The Lord Paramount of the West was certainly pleased with this new development and with the end of the entire situation with the Greenskins. Naturally, they needed to pay the deceased soldiers compensation for their families; that would not be a small sum to pay.
From the 15,000 Soldiers of the Westerland Army, they suffered the loss of around 2,500, which was relatively a lot, but at the same time, it was not considering the number of their foes and their personal strength.
Naturally, they managed to get this kind of good results only thanks to the fact that they had Battle Wizards and Silver Knights on their side, coupled with the superior strategy and tactics that they displayed during the battle.
Obviously, the Silver Knights had the fewest losses due to the fact that they were the strongest troops on the battlefield, coupled with their vastly superior armor, which ensured that their lives were protected well during the combat.
Still, the performance of the standing Army of the Westerlands was very satisfactory, even though for their first opponent, they got Orks, which was rather unfair for the newly trained professional soldiery that barely finished the basic training or not.
But those who survived would create the core of the Army, as the Lord of the Westerlands planned to establish a standing army of 50,000 at least. The Westerlands itself had a population of a few million and in the turbulent times that were coming, having such a large military wasn't that big a deal.
Tywin Lannister already took several examples from the Lordran how the Provincial Armies and their own Imperial Army functioned and how it was able to make some money for its own expenses.
Part of it would be covered by the Nobles, as even their own lands would be protected by the standing military; part would be made by the commissions, as he would allow the Nobles, Village Chiefs, or any notable individual within the Westerlands to issue military related commissions to the Army, which would create another source of income.
Coupled with several other factors, the topic of financing the standing professional military of the Westerlands ceased to be a problem after a few short moments and a couple of reforms; in truth, it was a pretty easy thing to solve.
***
Somewhere on the Sunset Sea, near the Continent of Westeros
The ships that were bearing the sigils of the Holy Arcadia Empire that were sailing to Westeros were rare, as it was a time when the contact between two land points was just now being established.
Nevertheless, within the Sunset Seat, there were three battleships that were sailing towards the shores of the Seven Kingdoms, bearing the sigil of the Imperium of Lordran, but beneath them, there was one more symbol.
It was a blue-gray symbol of a wolf head on the yellow field, signifying the Elector Counts of the Grand Province of Fenris, the Hosue Stark an Russ.
On the command deck of the biggest battleship, a young-looking woman was standing and staring at the distant horizon, awaiting the sight of the land. She was a stunningly beautiful woman, but with a warrior-like aura, with the clothing she wore only affirming her entire visage.
She wore leather armor made from the furs and leather of powerful Danger Beasts native to the Grand Province of Fenris. Around her neck, he had a cape made from the fur of Asura Bear and a fur collar to keep her warm in the cold winds that were slashing at the ships.
She had long blonde hair, but on the right side of her head, she had shaved off her head; instead, she had several runes inscribed there together with one rune of arrow-like appearance on her forehead reaching in between her eyes.
Her steel-grey eyes were piercing through everyone like the sharpest sword or steel.
"You should go sleep, Astrid... we would be spending more time on the sea; the captain said that we should arrive in a few days at best."
Her father, Leman Stark an Russ, was the epitome of a traditional Fenrisian warrior; he was a huge, bulky man, wearing very similar clothes to that of Astrid; his stern expression was never changing, always the stoical cold one as he constantly observed everything that was happening around him.
"I am not that tired, father... and I am certainly not Ysgramor, who would drink for the whole night and then sleep like a killed bear."
Compared to her brother, Astrid was a far more responsible person than Ysgramor.
Even though when it came to combat skills and being a warrior, Ysgramor was a peerless warrior of his own generation and one of the best that the Grand Province of Fenris ever produced.
But like many Fenrisians and many Dwarves, Ysgramor loved mead, ale and beer too much, so he was often drinking together with other like-minded Fenrisians and Dwarves that were living within the Grand Province of Fenris.
Ysgramor was also a so-called problematic child of the Elector Count of Fenris, a rather very problematic child, as he always got into fights with other people and he even got into a few street brawls or fights in the inns.
"Why must we go all around the Westeros and not directly into the Moat Cailin?"
When the Imperials first landed at the shores of Westeros, obviously, one of the first things that they obtained were the maps and other things that were showcasing the landmass of Westeros, so when this information was passed back home, the Fenrisian delegation new exactly how to go.
Unfrutnaly for them, while they could go to the Lannisport, the Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark, who was personally present at the delegation to meet their supposedly long estranged kin, ordered them to sail directly to the North.
One of the more problematic aspects was that, from this side of Westeros, which was bordering with the Sunset Sea, there were no ports within the North of the Seven Kingdoms capable of accommodating their enormous battleships.
Their obvious choice was the White Harbor port, and for that, they needed to sail around the whole of Westeros, pass through the Stepstones, and cross the Narrow Sea, finally arriving at the White Harbor.
From there on, they would be directly going to the Winterfell that was built by their ancestor Bran the Builder, the founder of the House Stark.
"Why did the Imperator order us to depart to his forsaken land in the first place?"
Astrid asked as she was staring into the horizon, her mood plummeting after finding out that they would be spending more time on the ships than it was healthy.
"Everything that the Imperator does has a reason. And why, right now the Westeros and Essos are barren wasteland in terms of Magic and even more precious crucial resources for the Lordran, that it only a temporary matter. Due to the Magic Resurgence, Westeros and Essos would benefit tremendously from the Magic Resurgence and they would become essential points of interest for the Holy Arcadia Empire."
While Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ looked like typical Fenrisian brutes, he was in fact very apt politically and very skilled person in these areas. He knew very well what was going on in the head of the Imperator and what the Imperator was watching with all of this scheming.
"And aside from that, our utmost mission is to secure that the Westeros won't become a danger to the interests and sovereignty of the Holy Arcadia Empire."
While the Holy Arcadia Empire had a tremendously large territory and many, many resources, if there was one thing that they were severely lacking, it was the population. Compared to the enormous size of their territories, then their population was severely lacking, as it was very low.
The continent of Lordran was enormous, bigger than the entire Westeros and Essos together, and the territories of the Holy Arcadia Empire spanned approximately 60% of the entire Lordran, but at the same time, according to the last count of population, they had only something around 40 million citizens.
So, for such an enormous country, it had a very low population and they were often constrained by this fact alone, as it slowed down the expansion of the nation, as they just didn't have enough people.
At the same time, Westeros, with a much, much, much smaller territory, had an overall population that probably matched that of the Holy Arcadia Empire.
Some of the higher-ups of the Imperial Administration were growing increasingly paranoid with the Resurgence of the Magic.
Some of the War Hawks were considering the scenario of someone truly unifying Westeros under one centralized government and, with some centuries of development, may create a nation that could endanger the supremacy of the Holy Arcadia Empire on a global scale.
So, the best strategy was to destroy the threat before it could even be realized, something that the Imperium was right now attempting to do. It was also the common strategy of the Imperial Military Intelligence and other specialized organizations within the Imperium.
If they managed to pull out the North of the Seven Kingdoms firmly on the side of the Imperium, then together with the Westerlands, that would be two Kingdoms that would be opposed to any kind of centralized unification that may or may not take place in the future.
"So because some bureaucrats and Generals in the Imperial Military are growing increasingly paranoid, we are going to do their dirty job?"
Astrid asked as she pondered over the words of her father for some time.
"Essentially, yes, but we are also tasked with leading a partial expedition to the Lands of Always Winter and getting into touch with the Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights Ornstein and transporting as much of local wildlife and plants as possible to the Fenris. If possible, then we are also to negotiate with the locals about relocating."
As the Elector Count of Grand Province, Leman Stark an Russ was informed about several threat that were spotted and noted down within the new continents, more throughroughly than the others.
And within the depths of the Lands of Always Winter, there was a very high probability of a Grand Necromancer or Lich King residing there.
So, it would do good prevention to take everything that could be taken from the True North and certain areas of the Lands of Always Winter before it became part of the Undead Scourge.
***
One Week Later, Stepstones, Narrow Sea
The three battleships sailed under the flags of the Imperium and Elector Count House of Starn an Russ of the Grand Province of Fenris.
The journey took longer to reach this point because while they were approaching Westeros, they were met with bad weather and seastorm, which significantly slowed down their traveling speed.
Only after the storm had passed could they sail at their full speed; thus their entire journey was prolonged by a great deal. Not many of the Lordranians like the seas too much; perhaps it was related to their history of never using it too much, aside from fishing.
Or from the old legends about the Kos, something that only a few of the oldest and most veteran Hunters of the Workshop remembered till this day, as it happened too long ago, but the horrors of it still pursued many rather vividly.
Nevertheless, they now entered the Narrow Sea, which was, according to all the information gathered, a den of pirates and buccaneers that were mainly residing within the Stepstones; having managed to avoid the Ironborn, they would not be lucky twice in a row.
The Stepstones are a chain of islands between the southern narrow sea and the northwestern Summer Sea.
The islands are east of Dorne in Westeros and west of the Disputed Lands in Essos, the Disputed Lands were essentially a no-man zone that was contested by the Free Cities of Myr, Lys and Tyrosh.
In and of themselves, this small chain of rocky islands is worthless - however, the major sea lanes between the narrow sea and the Summer Sea have to pass through the straits between the Stepstones, making them strategically very important.
All the sea trade to the east coast of Westeros and to five out of nine of the Free Cities has to pass through the Stepstones to reach the other major markets of the world. Due to this fact, the Stepstones were one of the most strategic and crucial places within the Narrow Sea.
There are a little over a dozen islands in the Stepstones, along with smaller islets. Bloodstone was the largest island and at several points in history, has been the unofficial capital of larger pirate fiefdoms that have risen in the chain.
Other known islands are Grey Gallows and Torturer's Deep; the rest of the islands were not particularly named and were just known as islands because nobody really bothered to name the smallest islands of the 14 of them.
The Free City of Tyrosh is located on the northernmost island in the chain, just off the coast of mainland Essos, but it usually isn't considered politically part of "the Stepstones" and its lawless pirate enclaves.
Still, for the Fenrisians, some pirates were not really threat, as they would be massacred in whatever numbers they came, unless they had an overwhelming numerical advantage.
Fenrisians had only three battleships that were armed with cannons and some of the new weapons that came straight from the dwarven forges and in terms of warriors they had only a few hundred of them.
So, unless they encountered a pirate fleet number of several thousand at least, they were good to go. With the canons that was essentially unknown concepts within the Westeros and Essos, they had a great element of surprise on their side and they would use it to their maximal advantage.
Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark was standing on the helm of the capital ship of their delegation as he looked over the Stepstones. One of the missions that was directly ordered to him by the Divine Throne was to carry out a preliminary survey of the Stepstones.
While the Imperium wasn't really known for seafaring, some of the Fenrisian Tribes had a long tradition of building small boats and conducting raids on the different parts of the Lordran.
Of course that was already a long part of the history, but they had more experiences with the seafaring and with naval warfare and defense than anyone other within the present Holy Arcadia Empire.
"It indeed has a good strategic advantage..."
The Elector Count then heard the voice of his son, who had an uncanny strong appearance to him, showing the strong genes of the lineage, while Astrid took more from her mother in terms of appearance.
Compared to the two huge men, she was indeed a petite woman, but she also could throw a pretty powerful punch.
"Yes... it is highly possible that in the near future, the Imperium will aim to secure control over the Stepstones. It would allow us to have a foothold in a crucial place if we want to pursue trade with Westeros and Essos. At the same time, it also has a good location for creating a strong influence over the area."
Leman Russ an Stark new that once the situation within the territories of the Holy Arcadia Empire stabilized enough, namely the situation with the Children of Bul-Khatos was resolved and the situation with the Orklands and so on...
Then the Imperium would be able to send more forces into the wider world and once the MIlitary Reform was completely finished and executed, then their hands would be much more free and the room for maneuvers would be expanded several times over.
And just as they were entering the area of the Stepstones, from a distance, they saw incoming several ships, more than forty of the, but many of them were in a relatively poor state...
Most of the pirate ships were not even properly taken care of or were already damaged galleys from the previous engagements that they survived. Compared to the battleships of the Imperium, even the biggest warships that the pirates controlled looked pretty small and terrible.
Meanwhile from the distance, more ships appeared, but it seemed just simple boats that were accompanying the galleys that were sailing towards the Stepstones. From how it looked, it seemed that it was the pirate fleet that was returning home from raiding and reaving...
"Prepare for the engagement; aim to disable the ships, not sink them down!"
Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark shouted the orders, as everyone then started running here and there around the entire ship. The crew that was on the ships was mainly consisting of the private soldiers of the House Stark an Russ and experienced sailors of the Imperium.
While the ships of the Imperium were normally armed with the canons, they were also armed with several weapons that were designed to immobilize the ships instead of sinking them down.
Even the canons could be used to immobilize the hostile ships, by aiming the cannons at the sails and masts that were basically behind the ship's ability to move forward. When those things were destroyed, then the ship couldn't really move...
There were even scorpions that were firing chain arrows that would then envelope around the poles of the ship and bring them down. Just moments later, after Elector Count issued orders, the sailors started firing from the canons at the boats.
The Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris wanted to raid the raiders... this came from the minds of the Fenrisians, who were very conservative with their resources and also, they used every opportunity to obtain the resources.
And what was better than obtaining the resources from the raiders?
Such a case was rare within the Lordran because there were not many bandits or brigands actually within the lands of the Imperium. Of course, there were some, but those were always swiftly taken care of.
Hundreds of cannons fired at once, and everyone in the entire surrounding could hear the thunderous sound of the cannons firing as they literarily rained at the boats that were accompanying the pirate fleet.
One by one the boats started sinking down, as they were used only to transport the pirates, from what the scouts saw. So Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark didn't really care about them and they would be better dead.
The sole thing he cared about were the galleys and war galleys that were part of the pirate fleet, which was right now returning to the Stepstones.
Another reason why he ordered the attack on the pirates was he could see that most of his men were already getting too bored and Fenrisians were rather combat breeds; they hated boredom and having no one to fight and kill.
So, this would be all his warriors to release some steam, including his son and daughter, who were already ready for the combat. Ysgramor already took out his enormous runic waraxe Wuuthrad, while Astrid, like most of the shield-maidens, was armed traditional longsword and shield.
They would be leading the soldiers and private household guards to fight against the pirates during the boarding operations.
When the Imperator himself was ambushed by the Ironborn, they got enough information about the tactics and fighting style of the pirates and reavers, even from the Euron Greyjoy himself, after he was captured.
On the other hand, they also got the information that the Ironborn were basically the elites of elites among the pirates and rest of the pirates that was plundering around the Narrow Sea and other seas of the Essos were far, far, far, far, far worse.
Many times, they didn't even have basic equipment and were not even armed properly... that wasn't even talking about their ability to fight.
Many were not trained, as they were mostly petty thieves or criminals, some of them were killers and cutthroats and only a very small part of the entire pirate population were former soldiers or fighters.
So nobody really cared about a bunch of pirates and the soldiers were instead pretty eager for the upcoming confrontation, as the pirate fleet was one by one immobilized by the precise firing from the cannons and scorpions.
Soon enough, everyone saw the three battleships ramming into the galleys of the pirates, as the soldiers of the House Stark an Russ started the boarding operations towards the pirates galleys.
When it came to the fight itself against the scums of the sea, it was relatively short-lived because the private soldiers and household guards of the House Stark an Russ were all powerful warriors on their own; most of them were physically strong as peak Level 1 and many were at the Level 2.
The Rune Knights of the Hosue Stark an Russ were comparable to the Level 3, so it was a pure massacre the moment the fight started. When the Fenrisians boarded the private galley, it didn't take them long to conduct a slaughter on the ship.
As survivalists, many pirates were, when they noticed these phenomena, many pirates, even from different ships, hearing the screams and pleas for mercy, started abandoning their ships and jumping into the sea.
This was their last effort to save their very own lives.
Leman Stark an Russ as the leader of the Fenrisians took personally charge and as one Level 5 powerhouse, he was like death god incarnate on the battlefield, as he alone cleaned several ships from the pirates in a few moments.
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