The Scourge of Ayunda
Chapter I: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
10th of October, 1121 AE the Town of Zikha
"W-a-wai-t-t-t! Do-do-o you understand what you are AGHHHHH!" shrieked the former elder of Zikha, Perseus. His head rolled around on the ground like a soccer ball, before resting against a fence post. His killer, Vijaya Jagannatha wiped the blood of his strike off on a cloth. Around him, stood 500 Zikhani men, who had drug the Elder from his house to the place of his execution on the orders of Vijaya. After cleaning his blade, Vijaya looks up and says with his deep voice. "Blood brothers, this deed is done. The last obstacle to our sweet revenge on these vile sea peoples has been removed. No long will they enslave us, but we shall enslave them! Raises his voice to shout When I capture their leader, I cannot wait to drink from his skull!
"HUZZAH!" shouted the men with their arms raised "DEATH TO THE SEA PEOPLES!"
Vijaya raises his arms to ask them for silence.
"Brothers, our plan is clear. You all know it in your hearts. We will trap them in the harbor, lure them into the city and then emerge from every fucking crack and back alley to surround them, and cut them down."
"HUZZAH!"
Vijaya was 22 years old and was a giant of a man. Standing at 7 feet two inches, weighing 270 pounds and built like a bulwark. He was a fearsome sight to behold. Like many of the locals, he was a Ayundite secretly for most of his life and held sympathies for the Goddess of War and Destruction. His town had become a regular stop for Matiyotl in their slaving raids. A natural leader and an impulsive man, he finally had enough and was able to rally 500 men to his cause to not only crush the Matiyotl but the puppet Elder of his town, sent by the clueless fools at Pasuma. While they sat in their ivory tower, his people were being enslaved. No more, it was time for the Matiyotl to be enslaved. His plan was simple, as soon as the Vikingr sailed into the port, the chain would be raised, and they would be rendered unable to escape. In the meantime, his men would be sure to destroy the raiders and capture as many as they could. Many metal nets had been made for this, they didn't want to kill them, they wanted to capture these fuckers alive.
3 days later, Vijaya would get his time.
13th of October, 1121 AE the Town of Zikha
Achcauhtli, the leader of this raid in particular, had brought quite the force. He had been told in advance about this supposed counter uprising by an informant named Alisha. But the Alisha he met was not the actual Alisha, rather a counter plant. See, Vijaya had killed Alisha days before knowing she was a plant and had sent her identical twin, Anika to spread false information. Anika told Achcauhtli that 1,500 Risuners were ready to attack the town as soon as he landed from the north. She told him their morale was low and that they would likely fall if 400 Vikingr were sent. Achcauhtli, seeing the catch of a lifetime, pounced at this opportunity. It would be a major blunder.
The longboats, a good 20 of them, landed their men in the harbor at noon. Shouting chants and calling for the Zikhanis to come out, the Vikingr were soon unnerved by the silence that gripped the town. Not a single soul was heard nor was there anything in the distance. What was going on?
Suddenly, the harbor chain was deployed and the shouts of 500 Zikhanis arose from everywhere. Metal nets came down from above like hail on the Vikingr, who soon found themselves being overwhelmed by this one Giant. The Vikingr, struggling with the nets were helpless as this mammoth swung his 7-foot sword and cut them to pieces. It is said that a Vikingr is fearless. Well, this was proven wrong this day as the Vikingr were absolutely terrified by what was going on. They had never expected this nor seen anyone like this giant. All of the sudden, Zikhanis jumped down on top of them, breaking their arms with maces and strangling them until they passed out. The Giant took the opportunity to grab Achcauhtli himself and broke his axe in half with his bare hands. Achcauhtli bite him several times, drawing blood, but the giant laughed at him and uttered to the helpless leader "I will drink from your skull." He then thrust his dagger into the throat, before removing his head with his bare hands. He then lofted high the head above, which disheartened the remaining Vikingr who quickly were subdued.
It was an utter disaster for the Matiyotl, 50 men were killed, and the rest were enslaved by the Ayundites. When the rest of the Zikhanis returned to their town, they were in utter disbelief at what had happened. They saw 450 Matiyotl, in chains before Vijaya Jagannatha. With a wicked smile on his face, he remarked "This will be the fate of all who oppose us, for I am the Scourge of Ayunda! This is just the beginning, for soon, all Tupais and foreigners alike will learn to fear Ayunda through me!"
The legend had started with a bang, and the words of Vijaya Jagannatha would soon ring ever truer as time passed along...
Chapter Notes: These aren't actual Vikingr from Matiyotl, rather are an independent operation from the Rajat Island. The year before, a Matiyotl Adventurer named Olafr Tezcacoatl raised a major force of 5,000 Vikingr to conquer his own place in the world. He managed to take Rajata Island without much of a fight, and quickly becoming a pirate king in the region. The locals do not know the difference between him and other Matiyotl so they believe this is actually from Yectic Teocuacayotl. Unfortunately for Olafr, Achcauhtli never should have been in command of anything as he was just a friend of the Pirate King. For what Olafr had in personal skills and leadership, he lacked in sound judgement. This would haunt him soon...
Chapter II: Pride cometh before the fall
16th of October, 1121 AE Island of Rajat
"You mean to TELL ME, that these semen drinkers managed to destroy Achcauhtli's entire force AND capture their ships!?!?!?!?!" screamed Olafr Tezcacoatl, the "King of the North."
"Aye, Lord. Word has it that some giant man is using his skull as a drinking cup."
"Last mistake he will ever make, Sigurdr." grumbled Olafr "This cannot stand. No, we must remind these squirrels who the fiercest warriors in the world are. Escalate the raids on the countryside. Strike fear into them. Yes, and then we will finally crush them... establishing a foothold on the mainland."
"Aye! For the gods, we shall strike true horror into these rats!" shouted Sigurdr
For the next 3 months, the Vikingr struck up and down the coast around Zikha, burning villages to the ground and enslaving many in the process. But they were not as successful as they thought, facing tough resistance along the way. You see, Vijaya wasn't idle during this time either. He had managed to rally many tribes to his cause and finally able to organize a fighting force that could counter the Vikingr properly when they weren't being led by a moron. Bloody fights at some of the villages had finally convinced Olafr that he needed to land a knockout blow on these pesky squirrels.
On January 29th, he landed with 4,750 of his best men outside of Zikha. He wasn't messing around and caught many of the civilians off guard. He proceeded to burn the whole settlement to the ground and enslave the hundreds of women and children that were left there. His next move was to seek out this giant squirrel and destroy in battle. 250 men were left behind at Zikha guarding the prisoners and building a fortified camp as he set forth to find this giant and put him to the sword. Two days later, he would find him near the village of Kalikiri.
31st of January, 1122 AE Outside the village of Kalikiri
The two armies drew up at 9 am on a flat field and readied themselves for battle. Vijaya had managed to raise 4,500 Infantry, mostly lightly armored and armed with spears, bows and sword. But his real strength was the 20 War Elephants and 500 Zikhani Lancers he raised as well. The Lancers would prove to be in time the best cavalry in all of the lands of the Tupai, and the War Elephants would prove to be one of the great terrors of his enemies in the future. But as of now, they were untested and unknown quantities. On the opposite side, Olafr had 3,500 well armored and well-armed Vikingr. Some of the fierciest infantry in the world. Both sides were motivated but the battle would not be decided by the clash of the two forces...
At 9:30 am, Vijaya walked in front of his line and bellowed "IF ANY MAN WANTS TO TAKE ME ON, LET HIM COME FORWARD!" Olafr, while not understanding a word he said, knew exactly what he meant. This was a challenge to him and him alone. The 6 foot 8 man came forward with his two handed axe, drapped in Chainmail and with a beard that went down to his chest. He raised the Axe in the air to signal he accepted the challenge. A legendary duel of arms was about to begin.
Both men approached each other as both sides grew quiet in anticipation of what was about to happen. They stopped 10 paces from each other. Vijaya, carrying his giant sword, rested it across his shoulder and stared deeply into the eyes of Olafr, who met his glares with equal ferocity. Seemingly at one, both men screamed and charged towards each other, parrying each others blows and holding them together until they both back off and circled around. With his berserker blood boils, Olafr broke this dance and charged with all of his might and forced the giant back with rapid swings from his axe. Vijaya however was calm, and landed and punch to Olafr's face that caused him to back off for the time. But Olafr wasn't done and soon came back with even more ferocity, with all of his might and vigor tried to kill this giant. But the giant was too strong and swift for his size. Olafr only grazed his face with one of his blows before the giant kicked him back. Vijaya laughed hard watching the Vikingr stammer up from the mud. Play time was finally over, and with great methodical zeal Vijaya walked towards "King" swinging his sword with strokes of death. The Vikingr was forced back until finally Vijaya delivered a mighty strike that broke the axe in half. Olafr, now in fear, through the axe head at the slowly approaching giant, who caught it and then ran at him. With one mighty blow, he cut the Vikingr legend in half, from his shoulder to his waste. He laughed greatly seeing this, and watching the shocked faces of the "king"s formed warriors. Now it was time, and Vijaya screamed "DO NOT LET ANY OF THESE BASTARDS ESCAPE!"
At once, his entire army surged forward and the Vikingr now panicked as the Tupai fell onto them with great speed. It was a massacre, 1,500 were killed and 3,000 were captured. He cut off Olafr's head and paraded it around. Another cup to drink from. The next day, the army reached Zikha, only to find it abandoned, with the slaves still in chains. The Vikingr had panicked so badly that they didn't take their slaves back to their island fortress.
But that wouldn't matter anyways as Vijaya was about to land the final killing blow on them all soon enough.
4th of February, 1122 AE Island of Rajat
Only 500 Vikingr remained on Rajat and they quickly had realized their situation. Sigurdr now their leader, offered them two choices, flee or fight. They chose the latter and fully prepared themselves for the inevitable assault on the island. Little did they know that this assault would come under the cover of night, in the middle of a rainstorm.
Vijaya had assembled 250 of his best men that wet night for this task and without detected landed on the island. The watchmen were quickly subdued by "sleeping darts" or the sword. With the element of surprise still there, Vijaya assaulted the sleeping Vikingr. It was a tough fight, with all of the Vikingr fighting till their own deaths and 100 of Vijaya's own men were killed. But when it was all over, the menace that was the Vikingr Kingdom was now finally gone. Thousands of Tupai, which were kept deep in a mine for safe keeping were soon liberated and rejoiced at the arrival of their savior. Off of Sigurdr's dead head, Vijaya retrieved the crown of the former "king" and declared himself to all that were there to be Raja.
He then gave a short speech to those with him "Brothers, I have recieved a vision, from Ayunda herself tell me of my divine destiny. This vision has told me that I shall united all of the peoples of our land under my banner, from Silvanus to Panrong! This destiny starts here today, brethen, so join me and let us bring order to this land of chaos!"
Vijaya's words were correct, but perhaps not in the way he thought of them. He would indeed unite many people, and many of them under his banner. But that is another story for another day, for the Scourge of Ayunda's tale is just beginning...
Chapter III: Fall of the North
11th of August, 1123 AE Ruins of the City of Gangarampur
Vijaya rode his stallion past his ever-victorious army. Pounding their shields and raising their weapons high into the air, they chanted for their great leader:
"OLE MAHAN SAMRAT! OLE MAHAN VIDHVANSAK! OLE MAHAN BHIMAKAR! OLE MAHAN VIJETA! OLE AYUNDA!"
Vijaya waved held his hand up in acknowledgement and passed by the whole army with his generals beside him, before turning around to gallop in front of them. They all cheer loudly and he held his hand up to call for their attention before falling silent as the giant took his helmet off to deliver his speech.
"Brothers of Ayunda! Yet another enemy lie destroyed at our feet!" motions to the smoldering remains of the proud city behind him "On the ground of where heathens once called their home, I shall build a city for all the world to marvel at! A city worthy of all of YOU and our Goddess, Ayunda herself!" Cheers erupt from the men and Vijaya puts his hand up again to ask for silence. "But our task is far from complete my dear friends, and each one of you will earn greater glory and riches as we continue on this path of destruction of the old and corrupt ways of the past." Raises his lance high into the air "Gentleman, it is now time to strike fear into the rest of the Karnali River!" Cheers once and erupt and Vijaya once more raises his hand "And then, next year, we will strike at the greatest prize of the north, Silvanus! FOR VICTORY!" The Army erupts into even louder cheers and shouts as Vijaya trots away.
The scene that he would build his city on was, as of now, a gruesome one. Every living being that once called Gangarampur was either dead or enslaved. Such was the fate for those who did not submit to his army. Lining outskirts of the city were thousands of crosses, where all of the living men of the city hung, still clinging to life as their bodies slowly died from crucifixion. The rotting stench of flesh could be smelled from miles away from the foul oder of the deceased. Not a single building was left standing in the city, all being reduced to burnt piles of ash and debris. What a few days earlier was a bustling city of a few thousand was now a wasteland. It was one of many examples of the cruelty unleashed upon the people who lived in relative peace until recently.
Vijaya had spent the past year and a half in a constant campaign of conquest, destruction and integration. Tens of thousands perished, Tens of thousands were enslaved and Tens of thousands eagerly joined his army. By the end of the year, all lands between the town of Uttarakok in the south to the Karnali River in the north were in the hands of the Great King. His eastern border was defined by the savage flips and the Rishamate, where he had decided to stop.
His army now numbered some 60,000 warriors by this point, including 60 War Elephants. While not well trained, their sheer force of will, desire for victory and zealotry had made them unmatched till this point and there was little reason to believe that would change as the new year came and Vijaya launched his campaign against Silvanus...
21st of March, 1123 AE City of Silvanus
"Most esteemed Elder! T-The savage has executed Abyasa and his entire retinue aside from me! I bring this message from him." said a man frantically.
Looking at the half blinded and maimed man before him, Yuanita cringed at the sight of him but opened the scroll.
To the pathetic Whore of Risu, Swine of Silvanus, and Cuckhold of the North,
The vile den of sin that you call yourself the leader of is no more than a mere obstacle in my path of conquest. If you have any wisdom, any common sense, any understanding of the fate that lies before you, you will submit to me at once. The lucky bastard that has given you this message will tell you that I am not willing to negotiate with you, and that the envoys you sent me lay on the side of the road as a feast for the vultures! My terms are quite simple, and many have agreed to them before.
- You will submit to me and Ayunda, before your city and kiss my feet as your Lord.
- You will convert to the true faith, implement it in your city and destroy all vestages dedicated to the false Goddess.
- You will pay half of your treasures to me and give over all weapons.
- Should you fail to abide as a faithful servant of Ayunda and myself, I will ensure that you are killed.
However, if you refuse these demands, your life and the lives of your people will be forfeit. I have destroyed hundreds of thick-headed fools and I will destroy hundreds more in my divine destiny of unity. You are nothing compared to me, but a mere pebble in the path.
Choose wisely, goatfucker.
The Samrat of Ayunda, the Great Victor, the Colossus of Chaos, the All-powerful and All conquering being of the world.
Vijaya Jagannatha
Yuanita was furious at this letter. This barbarian had the gall to demand such things from him, a Risu fearing elder and the elder of the greatest of all of her cities! Who did he think he was! He would teach this barbarian a lesson he would never forget and send out messengers to rally an army to crush him. By early May, the army was assembled, some 30,000 strong and armed with the best weapons they could get from the Moriji. With the blessing of Risu and the Divine Nut of Silvanus in toe, he marched out to fight Vijaya.
30th of May, 1123 AE Near the Village of Zusa, 20 miles from Magwe
At the small village of Zusa, the two armies lined up to fight each other. It was a hot and humid day, but the ground was dry, perfect for the cavalry and elephants.
Yuanita's army, while well equipped with 75 cannons and many muskets, was undoubtedly the underdog in this fight. Tupai had before this time never fought in battles this large and many were nervous about facing the vicious Jagannathani Army. Setting up ramparts and stakes, Yuanita hoped that his outnumbered force could crush Vijaya with its advantage in cannons and firepower.
On the other side, stood the Jagannathani army. While only having perhaps a dozen artillery pieces, the armies' numbers, zeal and advantage in cavalry gave them the clear upper hand. Vijaya was not a tactical mastermind, but rather relied on his friend Chakradhar to make his battle plans. Chakradhar road from a distance the day before to scout the enemy position, and that evening came up with a cunning plan. The army would feint an attack in the front while the cavalry, using the wooded patch to the west of the Silvani line would flank around into the rear and destroy them. As the cavalry emerged, a trumpet would be sounded to signal the rest of the army to commit to their attack which would overwhelm and annihilate them.
Under the cover of morning fog, the Jagannathani Cavalry rode off into the woods and began a slow trot into position on the left flank of the Silvani Army. Meanwhile, the rest of the army slowly approached, with cannon fire paying its toll on them as they advanced. The Elephants approached, a few being struck by cannon balls, but continued to get closer and closer to the Silvani line. Finally, however, the cavalry emerged and the signal was given. All hell broke lose as many Silvani threw down their weapons and tried to flee. But it was no use, the entire army was killed or captured by the end of the day and Yuanita was captured and brought before Vijaya
Vijaya mocked him and thanked him for providing him with so many cannons and gunners, as he would need them. He used him as his footstool and promise him that he would have a miserable death when he got to Silvanus. Yuanita wept, knowing the fate of his city was now likely decided.
the Night of the 21st of June, 1123 AE Silvanus
Following the disaster at Zusa, Silvanus urgently requested aided from Moriji, who gave them as much help as they could with cannons and ammunition. A Black Fleet squadron was being prepared to be dispatched to guard the city, and would arrive on the 1st of July with reinforcements after some delays. These delays, however, would prove to be the undoing of the city in the long run.
Vijaya's army arrived outside Silvanus on the 19th, and quickly made his intentions known. To the horror of the Silvani, he executed Yuanita in front of the city, had his corpse dismembered and then fired his remains into the city itself. Believing his point was made, Vijaya quickly sent word demanding the surrender of the city. In an act of defiance, the Silvani killed the envoy and had his mutilated corpse hung from the ramparts and opened fire on the besiegers, killing a couple dozen and destroying a few cannons. All they had to do was wait a few more days and they would be saved by the Deadbeats.
However, Vijaya had other plans. His chief engineer, Onkar and Chakradhar came up with a clever plan to end the siege quickly. Using sympathetic contacts within the city guards, the plan was rather simple. Have the traitors open the gate and the army would pour into the city on the night of the 21st, spearheaded by 500 picked men that would sneak close during the night. Vijaya found this to be quite the good plan and approved.
It was thus on the night of the 20th and 21st of June that the reaper of death would be unleashed on the city. As planned, the guards of the eastern gate would betray their comrades, kill them, open the gate and light a torch. The vanguard quickly rushed in and secured the breech, as the rest of the army soon came running and then pouring into the city. The defenders stood no chance whatsoever, and the Rape of Silvanus began. Over the course of the next 5 days, Vijaya's army would lay waste to the largest city of the Tupai, killing tens of thousands, and enslaving even more. Women were raped in mass by the soldiers, drunk with plunder of their minds and the very guns which the Deadbeats provided the city were swiftly brought to bear against all ships in their harbor, sinking a Corvette and forcing the rest out. Vijaya did however, order two things to be protected. The Luknight Embassy, and the Moriji Lumber depot. He wasn't too fond of the idea of bringing the wrath those nations to bear on his still forming state, and he saw great profit in the future from the lumber trade. He also forbid anyone from being killed within those areas, regardless of who they were. This saved around 2,000 from the terror that the rest of the city endured.
When it was all said and done, the city was in complete ruins. Almost all buildings had been torched, aside from those mentioned above and the district they were in, the port district. All temples to Risu were utterly destroyed, and the gruesome seen of thousands of Tupai lined up on the beach crucified would greet all those who came to the city. Indeed, when the Black Fleet arrived on the 2nd of July, they were in horror at what happened and wanted revenge, that was until they realize that Vijaya had trained 200 guns, most of their own design, on them. Holding their fire for now, Vijaya sent an envoy to the Deadbeats, where he made it clear that he did not harm any of their kind in the battle and was more than eager to renew the agreements that they had with the city, but on an even larger scale. He invited the admiral to join him and discuss terms. For 4 hours, the Deadbeats debated what they should do. They were horrified at what happened, and many of the more moralistic commanders demanded reprisals for this act of evil committed against the innocent people of Silvanus. Others made the simple point that they now had many of their own guns trained on them and that even if they went and bombarded every city under the rule of the savage, they had no army to enforce any demands onto him and that the offer he presented was quite profitable.
Biting the bullet, the pragmatic Vice Admiral Takumius agreed to meet with Vijaya and the two would come to terms over this whole affair. Vijaya would renew all agreements with the deadbeats, just under different terms of trade. (Put actual agreement here.)
When it was all said and done, Vijaya decided to rest his laurels for the rest the year. The destruction of Silvanus struck such fear into the rest of the northern tribes that every single one submitted to him and joined his cause. With more men joining his ranks, and better equipment now avaliable; the steamroller looked to the south eagerly...