A faint sound of scuttling was to be heard within the dark, empty and dusty hallways of the Abbey. It was the middle of the night, and most of the town had already crept away into their hovels and homes and were sleeping away, ever so quietly, ever so unsuspiciously. The faint noise grew stronger and stronger as Cillian approached the main door of the abbey, the dwarf... walking strong and decisively pushed the large doors open as he exited the building.
Cillian had been a clerk in the duchy for many years now. He was welcomed to this society in a friendly fashion, without many questions asked... he was always a reliable man but always kept many things to himself. People who saw him from afar would know this was a stoic man of solitude, and yet nobody knew anything about him... where he was from, how he turned up at the gates of Wessex many years ago, what he did in his previous life, even what he liked and enjoyed as his hobbies since he never took part in any of the sporting or social activities within the town.
People learned to leave him alone, and he wouldn't bother anyone else in return... till tonight where he would indeed wake up many from their peaceful slumber.
Cillian approached the main town gates. It was a quiet night, and deep in winter too and therefore the garrison was at minimum and the town watch calm. The gatewatch was fast asleep and was awoken to a sudden stirr of movement and noise. Fearing the worst, the guard stood up in full attention and noticed Cillian leaving the city and as he raised his head up and took a few paces back in astonishment.
There were torches EVERYWHERE.
Somehow, very silently a large group of armed men and women, on horses and foot had made it all the way to the front gates, without alerting anyone and now someone from within the city was meeting them, someone in the office, what Cillian was up to, nobody knew but the guard immediately blew the horn and the city was in full alarm while the silent horde was still waiting outside.
Soon, the Cheif Herald Komako the Hawk approached the gates. Took in a deep breath and demanded an explanation for the current situation, offered plenty of warnings of woe against all invaders and then fell silent to hear the response.
Slowly and deliberately, Cillian stepped forward and bellowed out,
"We, Sir, are a band of nomads from lands unknown to yours. These are my people, my people who fell on terrible, terrible things in our homeland and were forced to leave... leave and travel for years and years till we found our new safe haven. I, sir, am the leader of this horde, these are my people and they mean no harm. They are excellent fighters, hunters and loyal men and women. I have been amongst you, awaiting their arrival for years. They seek a place to sleep, lands to farm and enemies to fight... in exchange for being a part of your domain, we promise to defend and help the Duchy of Wessex and the Kingdom of Hyperion with all our men and women. You have our word and our honour. We are a strong and proud race, and will only live and fight with people who are worthy of our honour, and the Duchy of Wessex, County of the Kingdom of Hyperion is a mighty and honourable domain indeed... It would do us honour to join your ranks..."
The Herald fell back a few steps at the sudden rush of new information.
"How many do you fare? Men women and soldiers?" Asked Komako, high upon the city walls.
"We hold close to 80 now, and more will join us over the coming weeks... there are hundreds of us, scattered through the land and they will make their way here" was the reply.
Komako did not know what to do, He stood there and pondered at the notion. Were these fierce barbarians? Like the savage forces beyond the lands Or were they indeed honourable and able... like Cillian mentioned. It was a hard question to think about and had to be relayed to the Duke and the King of Hyperion at once...
The Crimson Horde
The Crimson horde is a group of my guildmates and close rl friends and we have been gaming together for close to 8 years. The core of the group started back in 99-2000 when UO was popular. We played UO to death on OSI and various large freeshards. Most of us went on to play other games together, most notably SWG, AO, EVE, DAoC and WoW. This is the first time, however, that we will all be playing together in 8 years, the full group, all together for this game because it is so similar to the game that brought us all together in the first place. Our numbers currently are 80, and once the game goes live and proves itself to the sceptical bunch, I estimate our numbers to be anywhere between the 120-150 mark.
We are an able bunch and will be of much benefit to the Duchy and Hyperion as a whole. As a loyal member of the Duchy for almost 3 years now, I would like to ask that we join your ranks as a fief, or a division or any form of way where we can be of use to your lands. We are a strong bunch and enjoy our gaming and will undoubtedly be a welcome change to the current setting.
Our clan is based upon central asian steppe hordes such as the mongols, huns, gokturks and even the seljucks. We have our own culture, and game style but our ranks and clan structure are identical to that of Wessex and the rest of Hyperion (bar the rank names ofc).
I request formally from the Duke and King of Hyperion to allow us into Hyperion and the Duchy and we shall all reap the benefits and spoils of war and loot together... as well as have a good few laughs. I will post more detailed information about our clan structure and such when we are closer to release and everything is set in stone, if we are to be accepted of course.
http://www.crimson-horde.com
http://www.crimson-horde.com/graphics/cillian.png
