The current year is 40 After Dheynor, and the Empire has seen better days. It has been only five years since the death of the first Emperor who united seven disparate and powerful kingdoms under one iron fist, and the Empire is already struggling to survive. Imperial forces pulled out of the beast lands of Ajourah only last year, with the damned savages in the region too much to deal with for such awful land. The ex-Kingdom of Sioure, once the most powerful in the region had been reduced to ashes and memories thirty years ago, but as soon as the Emperor died rose up in rebellion after rebellion. The third one was just quelled, and the region was devastated once again by the Imperial forces. The former kingdoms of Archaea, Ismaea, and Illyria have proven more loyal, as have the Merchant Princes of Enden. On the western border, the region of Cisalpine past the mountains was largely abandoned due to the savages that remained in the forests there and outlaws of all stripes have taken up residence in a region where the Imperial fist does not reach. The Empire of Dheynor, a name that for decades made many tremble in fear was now by some seen as an aging relic of a bygone time and the vultures have started to circle. The great Emperor, whose name was abolished from the records so he would only be known as the conquering, nameless Emperor who brought a whole continent to heel had two sons and one daughter who would just bear the moniker ‘of Dheynor’ because the Emperor had declared a country that would last a thousand years. The eldest son, Erik of Dheynor, was killed during the First Sioure Rebellion by an angry mob who lynched him after stabbing his guards to death in the streets. The youngest, Sylas of Dheynor, was shaken by his brother’s death and allowed his sister, Alana of Dheynor to rise to power. The woman was already married to one of the younger generals of the army, Aranion, who rose to be both commander of all the forces of the Empire but its King as well. With new rulers, a threat to the North has emerged. The Kingdom of Chreina was amassed in the past thirty years from a great tribal leader named Arthur of Chreina who had united the region of savages and even started civilizing the creatures. He took the moniker ‘of Chreina’ early on to mimic the Emperor, but in the single excursion he made to test the mettle of the Dheynorians he was absolutely routed and took a decade to fully recover his forces. That decade came and went, and now Arthur smelled blood and opportunity in the form of two young and green leaders who had never faced imminent crisis. Which brings us to the present day. Arthur was right to smell opportunity, because he cut right through the mountains separating Chreina and Dheynor in the beast lands of Ajourah. He bet that the crossing would not be disrupted due to lack of scouts, and was correct. He furthermore gambled that the savages in the land would not warn the Dheynorians what was coming, which was also correct. Even with the losses crossing the mountains and fighting the savages of Ajourah, the Chreinian host numbers roughly 80,000 soldiers, and the Dheynorians found out far too late. The major city in Northern Dheynor is called Trihali, and the anniversary of Dheynor’s official founding was going on with many high ranking officials in attendance. They have just gotten word of the Chreinian advance from men and women who managed to flee the slaughter of the border towns and make it to civilization to warn them. They managed to get there despite attempts by the Chreinians to stop them, and for their part the officials in Trihali including the King-General Aranion himself is keeping word of the coming invasion tightly under wraps. He has sent out messengers ordered to travel a hundred miles in each direction to ask every Imperial military or mercenary force for aid and more to go to the capital to send for a relief force. The Chreinians are close, too close for even the most noble of men to make a break for it. What they must do, instead, is stall for time. How to do that, you might ask. One way is to simply close the gates of the castle and leave the outlying towns to die, but only after requisitioning their resources for the Crown. In the time it takes the Chreinians to slaughter all of the villagers, perhaps some reinforcements might arrive for the 25,000 active defenders and roughly 90,000 of the wealthiest and most well-connected men and women in the area. As for the other roughly 150,000 civilians plus roughly 30,000 of the least important servants and laborers brought by the traveling nobility kicked to the curb on the outside of the castle with little idea of their impending doom? Good luck, I say. They’ll need it. ___ Roll20 Link with more info: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/66536/empire-of" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/66536/empire-of</a>...
