500 Hell Hole (1/2)
Several fat sausages looking and fish shaped ships floated leisurely over the crude settlement which could barely be even called a town. Surrounded by a ring of sharpened logs, the small town was populated by barely three thousand people. Mud and thatch houses were hazardously built on the dirt ground filled with puddles of mud and waste.
The only proper looking building that was made out of stone and logs belonged to the town's overseer and garrison, an Imperial noble called Wickebine Osthan. It was a small stone keep and sited on a small slope at the east corner of the walled town and he was the Lord and Master of the people on this island of exile.
Located north of the Empire of Bluewood, laid a large untamed island. The Empire named the northern island as Exile Island where certain people of noble birth who had committed crimes against the throne was thrown there to live out their lives in exile. The settlement was run by Wickebine and a small detachment of Imperial soldiers and it was a place where no one leaves once they step foot there.
The people no matter what their previous lives were had to work to eat, or they can starve to their deaths and no one will even care. Scions and princess that never had to work or do anything ever once in their lives had to toil the fields, chop trees, mine ore, and even hunt or capture monsters, especially young wild dragons or eggs in this untamed land, to be send back to the Empire.
Now, Wickebine Osthan stood on the only tower of the stone keep, half naked and wearing a pair of well worn leather breeches and stared up at the underbellies of the floating ships in awe and shock. He had seen many things in his life but this was a first time seeing a ship that could fly. And he was not the only one, as the whole settlement had stopped whatever they were doing and stared with different expressions on their faces.
”Lord Osthan!” His second in command, a once promising young officer in the Imperial Army but had the unfortunate luck to have incurred the jealously of some of his more well connected peers and ultimately, he was sent here to watch over the exiles. ”W- What are those flying things?”
Wickebine could only stare in surprise as he too had no idea what they were, news from the mainland to Exile Island was not really frequent, with only a ship coming once or twice a year. ”Mata! Order the guards not to do anything stupid! Tell them to stand down if they want to live pass the day! Send my orders, now!”
”Y-yes, at once!” The youngster ran off down the tower and soon his voice rang out in the tiny courtyard, ordering the soldiers to stand down.
”Could this be the Un Ann?” Wickebine wondered as the last news he heard many months back was that there was a demonic rebel nation that killed the Emperor. ”Have they conquered the entire New World?”
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Tri State Exploration Fleet, Flagship Victoria, Command Bridge
”This... place looks no different from the slums I grew up in,” Her personnel aide, Aulus, remarked as he eyed the viewing crystal. ”How can such a place be rich in resources if even its town looked so barbaric?”
”Oh, little Aulus, don't judge a book by its cover,” Manarva said in a lazy voice. ”Why, did you not notice the trophies laid out on the gates of the town?”
”Hmmm?” Aulus took another closer look before his eyes widened. ”Oh... is that... what I think it is?”
”Yes,” Manarva sat up straight and leaned closer to the viewing crystal. ”It's the skull of a dragon... and not just one!”
”H- How are they capable to hunt down a dragon?” Aulus had a look of disbelief on his face. ”Could it be a mutated drake breed?”
”Well, we will find out when we question the people down there!” Manarva said with a smile and she stood up. ”Order the ships to deploy the landing ships... And prepare my launch! We will go down and take a look at these... barbarians!”
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Sleek looking Tri State troop barges and the boxy shaped Iron Kingdom transports hissed out from the respective airships and they landed on partially harvested grain field. The farmers working on the fields fled in terror at their approach, dropping their tools and ran towards the walls of the settlement.
Soldiers rushed out from the transports and barges as they landed, the hatches dropping down and forming ramps. Tri State soldiers were dressed in silver cuirass and morion style helmets over a set of white puffy sleeved uniform and flared black pants with a silver stripe. A steam tank was strapped to their backs with other equipment and hoses were connected to long poleaxes and the soldiers formed up into a phalanx of blistering spears.
The Iron Kingdom soldiers were dressed in black plate mail over dark navy blue coats and wore black shakos on their heads. They carried a similar tank of compressed steam that was hooked up to long rifle like weapons that ended with a sharp spike. After forming up next to the Tri State soldiers, an officer from the Tri State gave out and order, and both forces started marching across the grain fields towards the settlement.