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Remaint -> RE: ~*Getting To Know You*~ (10/17/2015 0:45:58)
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“...Not to mention that each element of dragon has it's own method of fighting...”
The undead conquistador nearly burst aloud laughing. The hell have I gotten myself into? Why are dragons so prone to boasting? In the military circles of Shuischeier they term this “Cock Raising,” an activity, usually done when drunk, where partakers, one being offended, would take turns bragging and counter-bragging, always one-upping each other until stories became straight up absurd. He really didn't intend to stray on that path.
Woyadei wasn’t even sure if he should seriously answer Arche’s question. Have I pissed her off, was I that provoking? Is this some ludicrous attempt at extracting my organisation’s secrets? It didn’t actually matter, however. His masters always found a path to the manipulation of those that stood in their path. There were the days where Harrowshreiken and Remilese forces tried to stand against the old four-nation Confederacy in discreet measure, willingly giving away key strategic secrets, but it was entirely futile of an effort. Targeted civilisations with smuggled modern equipment, formidable ancient magic and combative biology, even aided by armies within the Archipelago of Fog itself all fell with uncountable casualties. Bluntly, Woyadei could reveal all his secrets to this realm and it would make no real difference; the realm would be assimilated and death would claim all. That is, if an invasion was to occur, which no signs told of.
There was another reason as to why he was hesitant to answering the dragon-kin’s potential question; he did not want to be responsible for ushering an age of firearms and perfected armour. If that occurs, the fauna and landscape in this world will be changed forever. Technological evolution was good, but not if it ruined, desecrated and desolated vast areas. There floats about Harrowshreik the concept termed ‘Moth Effect’, wherein a single flap of a moth's wings from one location leads to a typhoon in another, wherein the smallest of actions, or words, could trigger a torrential wave of change.
"-We've come a long way from just being fire-breathing lizards with wings wouldn't you say?"
“I didn’t intend to incur your, or her ire, Arche. I was simply offering a perspective to Rajiri. You should note I have not been in your world for long, and have never described your kind as merely being “fire-breathing lizards.” The dragons from my realm were revered for their power, and your description of them fits well alongside the Necropaleontologists'.”
He continually thought of the former lump of questions and loosed a small smile. Arche seemed a cautious fellow, and probably wouldn’t spark an age of newfound, destructive tactics.
“Regarding the armies, and navies of the Confederacy. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. What about them? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, quite expected. Understood. You try, good.”
The conquistador chuckled.
“I’m sorry, it's not my thought to insult, it’s just kind of funny. Confederate records have it that the ego of dragons led to their downfall centuries ago, when they allowed the majority of inhabitants in the old Archipelago to band against them. I’m seeing if I could maybe try to prevent that from happening again. It doesn’t benefit me much to do so, but it’s fun.”
Woyadei tossed his glaive vertically a short distance before catching it.
“Seeing as you voluntarily gave me some combative information on your kind, I’ll hand you the same for the Confederacy of Mist.”
He looked toward the Grabbi. As usual, it was easier to concentrate without eye contact.
“Fighting underwater, is the specialty of Shuischeier. We literally have troops marching across the seafloor in ambushes. There are aquatic allies on our side. Monsters easily beyond ten meters in length armed with hydromancy few terrestrials could hope to match. Sea Dragons, they could be called.” or water-dinosaurs, an inaccurate term.
A mindless squeeze was done on the tentacle he held. His hand might have felt sleepy.
“Underground combat was quite welcome in Harrowshreik, whose alchemists could conjure golems out of nearly any earthly structure. Naturally, this makes them effective in trapping entities, both large and small. It was these very golems who spelt doom for the old dragons. Harrowshreiken golems were damn near immune to magic and require heavy artillery to bring down...or an angry wendigo.” That instance might have been the exception, they didn't call him 'elite' without reason.
Woyadei’s millipede shook itself in a funny manner. Same positions do bore you, huh?
“About flying, and fast. Some brilliant fellows down in Karaser are making machines that could do that. I don’t know the details, and they’re keeping secrets, but keeping secrets in the Dominion means it’s tech too new, too formidable, too world changing. Outside of that, we have normal, quickloading cannon with shot velocity of over 950 meters per second. If you mean keeping up by any means of locomotion, there are vampire lords I know of who can run faster than bullets flying. The Confederacy also has moths. Big moths, impervious to concussion, immune to magic and poisonous to reptiles. Very fluffy too. They’ve trained them to drop grenades, it’s amusing.”
The conquistador looked around. Standard procedure, rather not be surprised once more.
“Luxomancy is nothing new. From the very beginning the old Confederacies fought against paladins, inquisitors and the like. The inhabitants of the Dominion are practically proof against light magic. They don’t seem to even react against magic lasers cast directly against them...us…Moving on, counter-necromancy isn’t modern either. Morseren has worked with the dead for so long, enemy conversion rates for undead have gone down to practically nothing. A multitude of spells could be cast to free an undead’s will. They call Morseren the Asylum of the Dead, if that tells you anything about their experience in dealing with minds long-gone. The Confederacy keeps Dracoliches there, if that speaks to their power.”
He looked glanced toward the sky. It took longer to reach town than it did to reach away, for obvious reasons.
“Mass heat isn’t a concern. The Confederate elves were known for their excellent pyromancy and all sorts of equipment were tweaked to be proof against the interior of a magma chamber. I’ve been in one, actually, really hard to move in magma with a large ship. Uncomfortably toasty, too as one might imagine. We all lost a whole wardrobe on that occasion and they had to blow up the volcano to extract our ship. Its polar opposite, mass lack of heat, is much easier to bare. Shuischeier’s basically sub-zero the whole year round. Cold literally doesn’t do anything against the Dominion. Well, it makes it easier for an acquaintance of mine to carve ice sculptures. He’s an artist-cryomancer you see.”
Woyadei blinked. Has he ever spoke this long? Maybe when he was bloody drunk.
“Of your draconian tactics; have you heard, “All warfare is based upon deception.”? A human said that. Basically, wrenches are always thrown when fighting. Combat is ever changing, ever evolving. Those on the Dominion know this in their bones. The way they...we fight is never the same one battle later.”
The conquistador pondered something to address the Wyrms. Weather? Is she serious? Maybe she’s talkin gods, then for certain there’s that one guy!...No, we don’t talk about him.
“About your sleeping giants, I guess we don’t have an answer to that. I mean changing climates? What do we do, shoot the sky?” Woyadei chuckled.
“Then again, there’s a story about how two great empires losing entire armies against one other because of Winter. Their accomplishments included nearly conquering their entire continent, but a after a fateful victory, they had their troops pursue a retreating force to the East, far East until Winter came and froze everything, leading to starvation, mass desertion and great losses from guerrilla tactics. Both empires existed near a single century from one another, and the Eastern nation was key in defeating both of them.”
Woyadei eyed Arche.
"Again, I don't mean to insult. Simply giving information."
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