Empires of Ashes

that night, at the campfire...
kenshin is cleaning the blade of his naginata

OOC: Naz, firstly, that's dark. Secondly..The hell you watching?

IC: *So are some of the Brigardi. The rest are on watch or out hunting.*

he looks around

*One of the Brigardi is polishing one of their outlandish tube weapons.*

he looks at it

*He can't make much out from it. It doesn't look like any weapon he's seen before.*

he keeps polishing his spear
(DONT!!!)

Brigardi: Strange polearms your people use.

"the naginata is a spear. designed for slashing. I could probably take your head off with this in one clean swing"

Brigardi: All well and fine when you're fighting someone who's on foot. No so good for fighting a man on a horse, or some monster.

"I've killed horsemen with it before"

Brigardi: In light armor, perhaps. Against heavy plate though though, you need something that will pierce as opposed to slash.

"take out the legs. kill the rider before he can stand"

Brigardi: That takes care of the horse, yes, but when the man is covered in plate that will turn aside even the most well aimed slice, a weapon such as yours is useless.

"a man pinned under his steed is no threat. he cannot defend himself"

Brigardi: Hardly. He will still have his shield and his sword or whatever weapon he had in his hand when you felled his mount. A man like that is desperate and will fight tooth and nail and is very much a threat.

"his leg will be broken. the bone likely crushed. he cannot move from under the beast. the shock and pain will likely cause him to drop his weaponry, and if not, with the naginata I can finish him from outside his reach easily"

Brigardi: Perhaps....All I know is, the damn Dracians refuse to drop their weapons even in death.

"I have never fought them"

Brigardi: Neither have I. Most of what I know comes from stories.

"likewise"

Brigardi: What stories do your people have of Dracia?

"mostly bad ones, we lost half of our empire to them"

Brigardi: I see......Some of ours have us beating them back, but....I often wonder how many of them are just stories. Some of them don't seem real in the slightest.

"My father fought them several times. He told me a dracian legion is like a single enormous monster bristling with armour and blades, trampling all in its wake"

Brigardi: Really? Mine told me my great grandfather fought alongside the Kaiser himself when the Dracians last invaded. And that his father's father told my grandfather that the Dracians trembled like children huddled around a dimming fire.

"Did they fight in the field?"

Brigardi: Depends on what part of the story you want.

"my father told me they are unstoppable in a field battle"

*The Brigardi laughs.*

Brigardi: We bested them in a field battle. We slaughtered their entire army.

"then the luck of the gods was with you"

Brigardi: Gods? What gods? There was nothing divine about what happened that day.

he shakes his head and goes back to his spear

Brigardi: What? You honestly think any gods care about a land as forsaken as ours? In Brigard, we make our own victories. We do not lean on any "gods" to carry us to victory.

"you make light of the greatest tragedy in my people's history with your ignorance"

*He stops for a moment.*

Brigardi: Forgive me....It's just....In Brigard, we don't believe in gods.....We can't. What caring "god" would let a child freeze to death in their own home....

"Dracia has killed hundreds of thousands of voldamians. there is a reason half the world is theirs."

Brigardi: And you think they have killed fewer of my people? Believe me, if we could tear down Dracia we would.

"we have fought dracia for centuries. all of it one sided"

Brigardi: So have we...but it has been less one sided....but not without its costs.

"when they truly come for your people, you'll know"

Brigardi: I told you. They have come for my people before. Sometimes we bested them, sometimes we lost some coastal territory which we'd eventually reconquer. Tell me....How have your people fought Dracia? Has it been in "honorable battle"?

"open war. thousands of battles. I cant speak for them all"

Brigardi: That's your mistake. We may have bested them in open battle, but even then we'd try and make sure we had some advantage they did. But generally...we'd try not to fight an open battle at least not at first. First we break their morale before battle is properly joined. We do anything we can to weaken them, even if means sinking to levels others consider "dishonorable".

he looks at him
despite the mask the brigardi can tell he is frowning

Brigardi: What? Don't tell me you don't ambush your foes. That you don't send your foes the heads of their own diplomats and their retainers. Among other things.

"you spit on the graves of my ancestors with your disrespect."

Brigardi *clearly confused*: Excuse me?

"my ancestors faced the greatest threat to my people in history head on, blade in hand. You call this a mistake?!"

Brigardi: If you know you cannot win in an open fight, head on, with your foe's morale as high as it could be for any force of men, then us. Break them in spirit first, and then break them in body.

he goes back to his spear
*quietly to himself* "Tada, subete no bugai-sha, keii no yōna."