spoiler:

Seeing how they used the name of the antagonist, I'd say that would be case.

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Did you get the reference I made to your story?

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Yeah. So Tax was behind the forced eviction of the Vurrmen? Though I'm not sure if 'that' particular order still or had existed in your timeline

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-Azer

-King Alteon/Valen

-Xeloc/Venerata

-???/???/Azer

-Azer

-The Inquisitor

-???

-King Alteon/Valen

-Azer

-Valen

-Valen

-???/???

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@glaisaurus_x: How did you perceive the music and atmosphere in general?

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The continent of Battleonia is a fortress in its own right, to the east lie the Middle Isles holding the kingdom of Stonerule. Akriloth has been terrorizing the lands east of Darkovia for quite some time now, any army that is to invade the continent has to make its way past the troops of the Great Fire Dragon and the local defenders often supported by the Order of Carcharas. That is, if they managed to bribe or otherwise do away with the many pirates which plague the Great Sea. To actually get to the Great Sea, one must get through a rather thin body of water or sail to Tjeli in the far south where there are about as much icebergs to sink ships as there are in the waters up north.

To the west, the yearly migration of the Abyss Wyrms between the Horn of the continent and Deren cuts many fleets off from nearing the western coasts of the continent. Should they manage, they'll be greeted by the royal navy of Swordhaven who hold the beak.

Another great obstacle is that there are very few suitable spots to land an army other than by using teleportation. Willowshire is hidden by high mountains from the south and the Badlands from the north. You could potentially land at Akiba, since you'll meet little resistance from the locals there, but on the other hand the weather is too fickle and may blow your fleet (and supplies) away.
Further down south, we find Krovesport and landing here with an invading force would be to hit a hornet's nest with a bat. Either you burn everything down to the ground till the last man or you'll find yourself and your men in the foundation of New Krovesport.

There are mountain ranges along the coastlines further south till the Skraeling Desert, a wasteland in which the unprepared will die of thirst. Then there's the Grogh Swamplands, filled with bugs that will drain your blood and a wet soil which rusts your metal gear. Skipping the conflict with Akriloth, the next option is the Bennuju Wetlands which are dangerously close to Augerthorne, home to the Ulgathi, a race grown strong due to their neverending struggle with their neighbours, the mountain trolls.

---

In all of this, the Kingdom of Swordhaven has been pestered by the remains of Slugwrath's armies. These men have mingled with the bandits and after so many years can no longer be told apart, if not by allegiances to the former royal house of Swordhaven.

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In all of this, the Kingdom of Swordhaven has been pestered by the remains of Slugwrath's armies. These men have mingled with the bandits and after so many years can no longer be told apart, if not by allegiances to the former royal house of Swordhaven.

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The Ulgathi are born warriors, unlike humans, as they had to adapt to a hostile climate. An Ulgathi knows that the odds of reaching the age of fourty are slim, bigger is the chance of dying in the war with humans, elves, trolls or dragons. This hostile climate has made for a strict militairy hierarchy.

Any Ulgathi at the age of 10 is drafted into the militairy service of his or her tribe. Some tribes make exceptions to women, others do not discriminate. These greenhorns are footsoldiers and continue to be called as such until they have reached the count of twenty battles or the age of twenty, whatever comes first. Most of them do not make it to carry a sword or crossbow and perish before that.

Footsoldiers are first sent to a boot camp, which includes a lot of push-ups, boxing and brawling. A few select with promise are allowed to train in the ways of the "Fist of the Troll Club", a Martial Art which revolves around dealing powerful blows at the cost of accuracy.

---

An Ulgathi can only be excused from joining the footsoldiers if he or she is gifted in the art of magic. Of course, this path is frowned upon as it is to give up honorary combat and thus most Ulgathi do not take this path even when they are proficient in magic. Those that do become mages are either more pacifistic or protective of their tribes. As such, they train in the creation of magical wards and barriers. Some of these mages become priests, but Ulgathi are not very religious. Some worshipped the Light Lord, until the Paladins brought war to their doorstep and others worship the Fire Lord, but Akriloth's destructive path has made many an Ulgathi, not bent on war and chaos, wonder what sort of god would make such a creature act as his champion.

Another option is to provide weaponry or food for the tribe, the more warlike and chaotic tribes may send out raids to do this, but Ulgathi miners, blacksmiths (this includes working with technology), farmers, fishermen and beastmasters are not unheard of.

---

The Ulgathi armies are indirectly led by the chieftains through generals who have survived enough battles to attain the rank of swordsman. These generals are the few Ulgathi who benefit more directly from being intelligent as they make up the plans for the wars. They do so with the wizards, mainly to make sure the mages do not obliterate their own ranks if anything else.

These plans are then distributed to the warlords, who each command a 100 footsoldiers. The mages are directed by the few wizards the Ulgathi count. The swordmen and archers are given more freedom as they are considered able to handle themselves, though they are often required to fight in the immediate vicinity of the generals, functioning as their bodyguard and ensuring their survival.

Unknown to most humans, Ulgathi do use siege equipment.* However, few of the people that are faced by these contraptions live to tell the tale and the Ulgathi hardly ever bother with them as they rarely besiege castles or places which have more than a simple wooden palisade. These palisades are easily burned to cinders by Ulgathi Blasters and Bombs, a technology which the generals consider mobile enough to use during short campaigns.

---

To maintain the strict order required to make this hierarchy function, militairy crimes are punished by sentencing the criminal to the fate of gladiatorial death. This is to give the criminal a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the public and save his family from eternal shame. Gladiators are given a mace which can detonate at any given time they hit something with it.

*Cannons, also known as the Ulgathi Trebuchet.

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After all, a free stay was nothing too much now most of his income had decided to go home without him.

Come now, DD, you're better than this. :P *now that

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The yell was followed up with loud splash

*a loud splash

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continuing to walk now his curiosity was sated.

*now that his Do you hate the word that or something?

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"Oh, can I meet her? I do love a good conversation with women, are frogwomen just as good of talkers as Forest Furies are? Redtail exclaimed excitedly.

Quotation mark needed after the second question mark.

I enjoyed the humor of the chapter, although I'm still curious as to Volu's part to play in Azer's story...I will also state that Doc is one lucky Ulgathi. Although, I'm curious to this Fairy Princess and her relevance as well.

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I enjoyed the humor of the chapter, although I'm still curious as to Volu's part to play in Azer's story...

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Although, I'm curious to this Fairy Princess and her relevance as well.

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He had nearly gotten<> the shafts which he knew would

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mostly jesting, with Redtail

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The Order of Carcharas

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Love the name.

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I cheated, but Carcharas is apparently the founder of DragonSlayers

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wandering through the nightly woods, the dark tunnels of Popsprocket and the forsaken ruins of Braughlmurk Cape? I already took lordkaho's suggestion and put in a comment to warn the readers of stopping the more "serious tone" before a more humorous section.

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The protectorate to the east is the old Kingdom of Malinius.

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Poor Sek, the Queen and King rule his lands without paying their tributes to him and add only chaos.