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

[lonelywar]

[There's no break in Ashitaka's dubious gaze. That was only a change in the semantics. But by this point he's at least partially aware the man is just messing with him, so he tries to focus on the slightly more pressing matters at hand.

If he had seen any one thing to convince himself of fully since leaving the Emishi, it was that the world was ruled by conflicts, fueled by the unrest in men's hearts. They could be as small as disputes like this or as large as the war that they had been sent here to wage. Ashitaka did not, however, think that any one was more important than another; each presented a problem he felt compelled to solve.

As the man speaks up again, the altercation grows a little more intense. One of the other hunters steps closer to one of the soldiers, arguing loudly now as the original tow continue to exchange verbal blows. The energy was putting him more and more on edge.]

I'm not sure. [He didn't know. If there was another thing he had become assured of since leaving his village, it was that there was precious little he understood of the world. He had never been offered the time to be awed and excited by that wealth of new experiences, too aware of the curse slowly infringing on his mortal vitality.] But they believe in it, and that is more important. Just as I think it is that they continue to believe in it.

[For men could do terrible things to one another when they thought of their fellow man as anything else than equal to them.]

[thingpuncher]

Yeah, yeah. I get you. It doesn't matter what the odds are. If you don't work for it, it'll always be impossible. [If he sounds like he's quoting someone, he is. It's not a quotation he expects anyone else to catch, though, because when Andrew said it, Midnighter was the only other person in the room.]

[Midnighter sighs, shrugs, and stands, looking down at the kid on the log for backup. The expression he gives says he's going to do something about it, he better have backup.]

[He puts two fingers to his lips and gives a long, low whistle.] Brothers! [Calling someone your frère around here always got an argument to go a little farther, Midnighter had noticed.] If my fellow citizen and I, [He gestures to the kid, regardless of whether he got up or not,] could get you more food for tonight, would that calm you the hell down?

[Yeah, diplomacy isn't his skill.]

[lonelywar]

[From what he has seen, he has to doubt that it is possible. The doubt is not a welcome thing—it is a gnawing rot in the core of his heart, but it was unshakable. He could not turn his back on humanity as San seemed committed to doing, for he had grown up among them and knew that, despite their propensity towards strife, there was good within them. But it was that selfsame simultaneous weakness of theirs that made him lose what optimism and idealism he might've once had, knowing that each and every person had their own demons to do battle with.

But there was always the possibility they might fight and win.

Ashitaka nods; he recognizes that the words have some wisdom, though they don't sound familiar. He wasn't expecting the whistle, though, and glances to his companion with light shock impressed on his face as the attention of the quarreling men. He exemplifies his best deer in headlights impression as Midnighter continues, though he tries to minimize it as best he can, wanting to appear a confident, unified front. He has only a moment to consider the situation, feeling the weight of so much attention settle uncomfortably across his shoulders. Then he speaks up as well.] The efforts of both the hunters and the officers need not go unrewarded. We can assure that.

[Both parties seem to weigh the proposal. It's the soldier that finally seems to find his backbone, putting his foot down. He turns to the hunter with an air of finality.] These birds will be taken, as they were meant to be. But if these two speak true and bring something back from the forest, it will be yours to keep. This is the last compromise I will offer to you.

[The look on the citizen's face was venomous, but he eventually gave a begrudging nod.] Fine. [The soldiers extricate themselves from the conflict with the hunters, moving away with the brace of wildfowl. Soon Ashitaka and Midnighter are left with the crowd of rough-looking men, set in their dark gazes.] You'd do well not to leave us empty-handed, brothers. [The lead man puts a dangerous emphasis on the last word.] We will be here. So, go.

[They begin to settle into a makeshift camp nearby, and Ashitaka turns to Midnighter. He looks a little pale, but... he feels happier to have a concrete task now rather than a nebulous problem before him.]

If we can make it into the woods, I am sure I can find a game trail. [His bigger issue is not having much ability to bring anything down. The mark still rebelled too much from the touch of the firearms for him to use them effectively.]

[thingpuncher]

[Midnighter's just pleased to see the whole thing hold together. Sure, he's tempted to flip the guys off as he goes-- great attitude for somebody offering to help your whiny assess-- but he's not sure they've even invented the middle finger yet. He keeps walking.]

Good. Was hoping you were some kind of hunter.

[The computer doesn't really do predictions like that, after all, so he was working on vain hope. Worst comes to worse, this guy wouldn't know shit about shit, and Midnighter would just have to rely on superior senses of hearing, sight and smell to find a target. It would be doable, just a pain in the ass.]

[The fact that this kid knows what he's doing, even a little, is a great fucking sign.]

[Hunter at his side, Midnighter walks on through the line of trees to a quiet forest-- the wild animals that live within have heard the army nearby, and are doing their utmost to steer clear. They'll have to go a little way before they find anything living. Midnighter walks over brambles and clears low-hanging branches from their path.] You got a name, kid?

[lonelywar]

[Ashitaka worries that it is merely a bandage over a wound that threatened to fester. This man was right—these people's goals of equality was a lofty one and it threatened to collapse beneath its own weight. Small altercations like this were merely the visible spiderwebs of faults in the foundation. Still, they had not the tools to fix such incredible problems on their own, so they would have to manage with maintaining damages.

He follows alongside the man, eyes shadowed in thought. He glances sidelong at the comment, to which he gives a nod after a long moment. Of sorts. And, a little more derisively: a hunter with no way to down his prey.]

I will not be able to shoot whatever we find. [He is noticeably without any sort of firearm. He had left it behind, unable to bring himself to fire it.] Can I rely on you for that?

[To tell the truth, exiting the labyrinth of humanity, warcraft, and refuse and into the quiet embrace of the forest was an exhilarating one. Perhaps he had been looking for an excuse to escape to a place that seemed to make more sense to him by this point. Ashitaka carefully makes his way through the undergrowth, gratefully following the swathe that the man clears for them. His eyes are already sharp to the path before them, looking for tell-tale signs of trails.

He is carefully crossing a tangled mass of above-ground roots when the question is posed. After continuing along, he responds simply,] Ashitaka. [He hopes he will take his name and use it rather than "kid."] And yours?

[thingpuncher]

[When the kid mentions shooting, Midnighter thinks oh, right, and grabs the nearest tree branch. He has a knife, which he immediately uses to fashion the thing into-- not quite an arrow. But something like one, with a point on one end and leaves cut off to reduce drag.]

I'll manage. And I'm Midnighter. [He looks down at the kid, Ashitaka, sizing him up.] You can call me M if you got a problem with that.

[lonelywar]

[Between dodging obstacles strewn in their path and the branches and foliage catching at their clothes, Ashitaka can't help but stare at what the man is doing. He recognizes an arrow—or something that is very similar to one—when he sees one.

He nods, a little distracted, though happy that he had a name to attribute to the man (even if both names were a little cumbersome and treacherous for someone accustomed to Japanese). Instead of focusing on that, however, he can't help but ask,] What do you plan on doing with that?

[Because he didn't see a bow.]

[thingpuncher]

I'm gonna throw it.

[Midnighter's tone what passes for serious out of his mouth. He keeps cutting the point until it's nice and sharp.]

You do the tracking thing, I'll do the killing thing. Trust me here, kid. Killing's my specialty.

[lonelywar]

[...Throw it.

Ashitaka is an impassive kid, but he shoots Midnighter a look that is downright dubious. He's right, though. He has no reason to doubt the man—he certainly doesn't have any evidence against it, and from what he has heard, many of the other recruits have abilities that he would never dream of.

He feels a chill at the final comment, though—not necessarily at it, but at the blasé manner it was delivered. It wasn't the first time he had spoken to someone who was so flippant about such matters, but it was still a shock to him.

He might have considered responding, but instead he stops.] Here. [He gestures, and to an untrained eye, it might appear that nothing was there. But to Ashitaka, the faint traces left behind by passing-by wildlife—the bruised leaves underfoot, bent and broken branches along the path—were definitive.] We follow this. [And he moves forward to do so.]

[thingpuncher]

Yeah, smells about right. [They're... downwind, right? That's what you want to be when you're tracking something, he thinks. He can faintly smell an animal, something passed through here less than a day ago, maybe.]

[But, really, the Ashitaka kid's the expert, here. He follows his lead.]

Soooo, you do this a lot? Before all the time travel, I mean.

[lonelywar]

[Fortunately they were; this would be more difficult if the winds would change. Ashitaka gives Midnighter another odd look at the comment, though this one is considerably less sharp than the last—either his dubiousness is fading or he simply doesn't know what to do with it. Surely he can't actually smell the trail, right...?

He keeps leading them along the game trail, doing what he can to keep his senses focused on that rather than wonder too much about his enigmatic companion.

It's a slightly more complex question than the man might've thought. He slows a moment, making sure they were continuing along the trail, and speaks up once he reaffirms it and continues moving.] I hunted to provide food, yes. [He pauses a moment and his tone grows a bit more distant.] It's a useful skill that has helped in many ways since then also.