THERE WERE MASTERS AND SERVANTS,

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Prepare for the historic Battle of Valmy.
WHEN? Mid September 1792, France.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

IT'LL BE FINE;

between sainte-menehould and valmy,
1792: revolutionary france.

read the valmy setting infopage

DEPARTING JERUSALEM

The clean up of the battle is slog. A full day of piling together corpses. Noting down famous men and women. In the heat, the bodies bloat and become fetid, and the smell builds until it cannot be ignored. Insects swarm, and vultures blot out the sun, swooping down and taking back what's been left for nature. Stragglers and the poor pick through the field for scattered weapons and valuables to collect. The bodies of important men and women are taken for burial; the rest are left for scavengers, animal or human.

It's in this gruesome scene that the order comes:

PACK UP, GET READY TO MOVE OUT. THE TARGETS HAVE BEEN NEAUTRALIZED. WE MAKE OUR DEPARTURE LOCAL TIME, DAWN.

DEPLOYMENT: VALMY, FRANCE. IT'S GOING TO BE A WET ONE. WE ARE EXPECTING MORE TRANSFERS ON ARRIVAL.

The present COST soldiers that have been in strict cover begin finishing their work, if they've decided to help the army move out, tend to the wounded, or clean up after the dead. There is no sign of the Commander yet, but maybe you recognise some of your fellow operatives. They seem be taking advantage of a particular event that maybe you stopped to see, maybe you didn't.

Saladin beheads Reynald de Chattilion and his words fill the camp as much as the news of their next move.

A king does not kill a king, Saladin says to King Guy, and the orders run like wildfire through the camp: next they take Jerusalem, and it's in this march, that when the rest of the army moves on that COST slips away. A order to fall back in steady increments; when the time comes, Saladin's army is out of sight, marching toward Jerusalem.

In the midst of all of this, COST operatives begin to disappear, here one moment and gone in another. Such a strange sight, more than one native soldier muses, must be the fault of heat exhaustion.

The Time-Step

The transfer begins, and it starts like a vibrating heat on the collar bone, not painful, not to start with. Just a hum of sensation. But the vibration spreads. Veteran COST soldiers often refer to this phenomena as 'the buzz'. The sensation builds, feeling not unlike standing near a great engine, or the wind rattling the branches of a great tree. There is long a moment of motion sickness, and one cannot always be sure if it is you that is shaking from the inside out, or the world that is shaking you from the outside in. It may just be better to close your eyes against the growing nausea as the world blurs out of focus. A star shines in the distance. You may hear the faint rustling of leaves. Some swear they hear voices in this moment, indistinct words echoing off nothingness. Some swear they feel a touch of the divine. One thing is for sure: One moment you are here, and the next, you are not.

The soldier next to you might not have been so clever, when it stops and you find yourself standing in the green fields of France, September 1792. She or he throws up as the vibration fades. Everyone seems to stumble sideways for a second. The world turns, and then rights itself. The heat is gone, replaced with cold and wet.



ARRIVAL FOR TRANSFERS FROM JERUSALEM

It's raining.

You're inside of a tent, (another one), and it already seems to be bustling with movements, they call to you in French, which you understand if you did not already: hurry now, they say, you need out of that cuircass before they're spotted. The rest of the army will be following, and the Prussian army to meet it. There isn't much time to loiter around getting sick in this weather. You have a kit to pick up, and perhaps training to do.

ARRIVAL FOR NEW RECRUITS

The first thing you'll notice is the sound of rain. You awake in a tent that seems to be sheltering against the ruins of a farm house, and everything feels damp. It's a wet September morning in 1792, and when the woman across from you in the tent speaks, you understand it to be French. If you didn't understand French already, you sure do now.

If you ask, she'll explain: you are fighting for France, as the Prussian army intends to invade and sack Paris. You may be a citizen, you may be a soldier; you have risen up in defense of France all the same.

She asks you what role you wish to play in the coming battle, and provides you with clothes and supplies to suit. She won't let you leave until you can pass for a native of France, setting up camp in the rain pouring down between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy.

MISSION OBJECTIVE

The forces of COST have gotten word that Regency operatives have gone to Revolutionary France, intending to turn the tides in one of the most historically important battles in European history. The Battle of Valmy, which decided the entirety of the French Revolution and all that follows it, must be won by the French army, as it was in history.

Unlike the incident in Jerusalem-- you may remember it, you may not-- COST has managed to get here before the day of the battle. Make no mistake; it's coming soon. But this time, you and your fellow travelers have time to prepare.

The French Army has managed to get ahead as well; they've maneuvered around the Prussians, cutting off their supply lines. You and your fellow soldiers are now chasing the invaders as they head for Paris. This is time to prepare and ready your forces. The fight is coming soon.



STAY DRY, STAY SECURE

A few things are strongly remembered about the Battle of Valmy; one of them is the rain. It's really pouring out here, and you're in the thick of it. Rain is a dangerous thing for an army such as this; during this era of warfare, gunpowder was an essential commodity, and wet gunpowder is useless gunpowder. Secure the supplies, rescue supply carriages from muddy sinkholes, steer the horses, check supplies, and try to keep the essential materials for victory dry.

TRAIN UP

General Kellerman and Dumouriez are training peasants in basic military tactics. While veterans make up the core of this army, there are a substantial amount of peasants, and most here have never seen battle in their lives, or ever held a gun. Many are equipped with only rudimentary farming equipment. Help train or be trained so you're ready when the Prussian army arrives.

MEDICAL

Plenty of people need medical attention, not from battle wounds so much as malnutrition and overwork. These are mostly peasant laborers, and they're not entirely fit for battle. Help people get as rested and ready as possible.

ESPIONAGE

We have reason to believe some of the 'peasants' are actually Regency spies. Root them out by seeing keeping an ear to the ground for suspicious activity. They don't know all the words to La Marseillaise? Off with their head! Be careful not to attack time travellers on your side, though!

MORALE

Keep spirits high! Sing, dance, and generally try to keep people from succumbing to fear. Despite the rain and the mud, despite the seemingly impossible odds, the average soldier is full of excitement for battle, ready to fight to the death to defend their freedom.

SUPPLY AND SEEK

Since the French army is behind the invading force, they've cut off the enemy's supply lines. This means that, should the Prussians become encamped here for any amount of time, they won't be able to send for food and munitions from their home country. It's your job to make sure it stays that way. You may see someone riding on a swift horse in a Prussian uniform, attempting to sneak through French lines and try to get word back to mother Prussia. Chase them down, and make sure they can't get their reports back home so a second force isn't sent-- or worse.

BE A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

This battle is one that's widely known for its popular support-- for the most part, France unites against this invading force with alarming cohesion. Someone gifted with a clever mind, or perhaps a clever tongue, may be able to use that. The French army passes farms and peasant villages along the way-- make rousing speeches, and try to recruit more to the cause, secure donations of food and weaponry, anything you can get.

read the valmy setting infopage

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC PLURK DISCORD

Comments

[hakanai]

Oh, well, that's interesting. Yoshitsugu is quiet for a moment while he takes in Drogo a bit more keenly. The previous comparison to Tadakatsu was a good one in some ways; tall, muscular, strong, the man has the obvious bearing of a warrior and a confident one at that. He is very aware of his strength.

But in other ways? Not so much. Tadakatsu is not a leader. He plainly states as such and is devoted to his Lord, whereas it's hard to imagine the imposing figure stood before Yoshitsugu taking orders.

"...thank you." Yoshitsugu dips his head briefly. "I will bear that in mind."

It probably won't make him strong, but Yoshitsugu is being very careful about discounting anything since joining COST. There are always things you can call ridiculous immediately but if time travel is possible, if alteration of the flow of things is possible, what else might be? This was going to be an interesting experience, albeit a tough and no doubt draining one.

(A standard situation for a samurai in turbulent times, perhaps).

"You've won countless battles. Did any of them involve this much mud?"

An assumption of Yoshitsugu's own, but it's a pretty safe one, and the question relevant. He wants to know what his allies are capable of, what they know.

[acchakat]

His upper lip curls into a sneer at that; he has no need to hide his feelings on all of this rain. The man with skinny arms at least can recognize that Drogo is a Khal, so the horselord files him into the potential ally category. He knows strength, even if he is not physically as strong. Good.

"No," he says finally, and he glares up at the sky, as if a mean look will help the sun come out.

"Mud will trap horse." It's his way of saying he's worried about the cavalry.

[hakanai]

Ah, that's interesting. This is one who associates war and battle with horses. It's not an unreasonable link at all; before the advent of artillery and the like a good cavalry could be the greatest weapon in an army. The Takeda, after all, were famous for the quality of their horses, and nobody would discredit the legendary Takeda Shingen's use of his horseman units. Yoshitsugu even thinks that, had Shingen lived, he might have found a way to overcome the guns of the Oda Nobunaga.

But he had not, and so the Takeda cavalry had been obliterated in the mud after their foolish commander had bid them charge.

There's a lesson there in the battle to come, perhaps.

"Yes." Yoshitsugu closes his eyes, thoughtful, and runs a hand through his damp hair. "The horses will be at great risk in this battle. The mud and the guns as well... it is a dangerous combination for cavalry."

He has a few loose ideas in his head about what they can do about that, but it's going to depend on what the French commanders do and the talents of the rest of COST. At least they don't lack in military experience, hmm?

"Are you are familiar with guns? How about cannons? We will be facing plenty of them as well, which will be further risk to our horses."

[acchakat]

"For little men with skinny arms." Drogo says simply--he dislikes these guns, these canons, and while he has seen and watched, he has not participated. They are fool's weapons, cowards weapons, and similar to poison in his eyes.

"A Khal needs an arakh, bow and arrow, and whip. Nothing else."

But Drogo is no fool--he knows that in order to win this, those tools are necessary. This is not the great grass sea, this is a different world. But it doesn't mean he has to like it.

"You, fight?" There's supposed to be a 'do you' somewhere in there.

[hakanai]

A stubborn will there, and pride, but the lack of experience with cannons and guns isn't particularly helpful. Yoshitsugu is more convinced than ever that a proper assault on those cannons to make things easier on their frontlines, their cavalry, everyone, will be necessary. He can't be the only one thinking this way. At the very least his similarly experience friend Takatora and their commander will have marked them out.

"Yes." Opening his eyes again, he bows his head and smiles a little, amused. "With short weapons, blunt or edged."

Best not to bring up the magic yet, for multiple reasons.

"I do not have your strength, but I have enough skill to do what the flow commands."