THE SKY WENT BLACK,

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Agoge's inaugural TDM.
WHEN? The Battle of Hattin, 1187.
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.

FROM JERUSALEM WITH LOVE;

the horns of hattin, 1187: the holy land

read the jerusalem setting infopage

Your eyes open, and above you is the roof of a tent, a heavy woven material that blocks you from what must be an otherwise glaring heat that is beating down. Near you stands a man - you understand him, but you aren’t sure you are supposed to. Aware as you are that he is speaking Arabic, a trickle of words as he dabs water on your brow, that as you go to reply, you realise, you are speaking Arabic too. Urging you to sit up slowly, and now that you are awake -

“Good, slowly does it. You are meant to have heat stroke. Nothing sudden now. The Commander will explain it to you soon - in here it’s safe, no outsiders can come in. Check your BCE, it will tell you what has happened - ”

As he indicates to the small pack that seems to hold your belongings, he explains: you are in the encampment of Saladin, the greatest commander in all of Islam. He has been fighting the crusading invaders since the death of the Crusader King Baldwin VII. But one of the most important was about to start: you are here, at Hattin, though the enemy hasn’t arrived yet. Not that it means it’s time to rest: this is a war camp. There is much to do. Saladin runs a impressive army, and it wins by its discipline, no idle hands here, and for you, newly awakened to it, there is just as much to do. So enjoy the first few moments of reprieve, there won’t be much of it in the coming days.

MISSION OBJECTIVE

The forces of COST-- allied, today, with the armies of Saladin, though they will never know-- aim to win the day.

This is imperative, because Saladin's victory at Hattin makes his next victory possible: he intends to march on Jerusalem, long held by invading Crusaders, and take his city back. Historically, he wins a Hattin and at Jerusalem. But, the Regency supposes, if they could weaken Saladin in Hattin, perhaps even completely defeat him, he would not be so able to take the city.

Preserve the flow of history. Aid Saladin's army. Defeat the Crusader army at Hattin.

A MESSAGE FROM GROTHIA

>>@CMDR

@ALL I don't have time to explain right now, but the transporters have played havoc on the way in and we think that the - nevermind, the techdacts don't make any sense at the best of times. Your memory has been tampered with, one of the Regency's tricks, no doubt. Price for late intelligence, we didn't know until we made the transfer.

Short of it is, I put you all down as having a bout of heat stroke that knocked you out and that’s the story you need to stick to. Even if you don't want to trust me, you're going to have to follow my instructions if you want to live through the next week. We can do our reintroductions later.

Follow our instructions and we’ll all make it through this with minimal casualties.

Welcome back, soldiers. Good to have you with us again.

WIN THE DAY

MEDICAL

Help build up the army after the Siege of Tiberias.

After this battle, Saladin's forces turn toward Jerusalem, and eventually take it from Crusader control. It's imperative, then, that Saladin's forces are strong, healthy, and most importantly, alive. This is war: there are a larger number of soldiers who are wounded and require medical care to maintain the numbers. Saladin's forces are lucky: their medics are some of the best in the medieval world. But there is constant need for more hands on deck to assist. Whether that’s holding down a soldier to cut off his leg - or dress a wound. Maybe it’s just as simple as a soldier that wakes up from his fever wanting water, there is always something that needs doing.

STEALTH

Sabotage the water supply of the crusaders.

All armies march on their stomach, and in the desert, access to water means life or death. Saladin knows this, and the Crusaders are heading for the largest oasis between Jerusalem and Hattin to replenish their stores. Saladin has placed a line of defense at the oasis to stop the Crusaders. Some truly desperate Crusaders are risking death, attempting to break through the defenses in an attempt to get some water. Your orders are simple: no Crusader should be getting to that water.

STEALTH

You know what else armies need? Sleep. For those brave enough, its been encouraged to try and exhaust those Crusaders. Your orders are vague, leaving plenty of room for creativity: psychologically mess with them, mimic loud animals to wake them up, forcibly introduce these 12th century men to Cyndi Lauper at the top of your lungs. Whatever takes your fancy, just try not wake Saladin’s forces, they still need their beauty sleep. And most importantly: don't get caught.

COMBAT

The Crusaders are here: fight them. Crusaders will in heavy chain mail into battle, often with a padded gambeson underneath them. Aim your weapons for the chinks in the points that quickly immobilize: the throat, armpit, inner elbow, inner thigh, inner knee. You will always want to aim for the veins and joints. This isn't about clean, this is about hard and fast. Battles in the desert are made worse for every hour spent in the gruelly heat.

They fight with heavy sword and shield, and the metal they wear makes them more strongly defended, but also slower; they cannot mount their horses without some help, so if you manage to unhorse a Crusader, they must survive the remainder of the battle on foot. Often if you wounded a horse, it can kill the man riding it.

Medieval warhorses are huge animals that can do serious damage with a single kick; however, by Crusader tradition, many are stallions, which are famously willful difficult to control. Being thrown from one of these horses, especially in armor, is no small thing. This is where by contrast Saladin's army comes into its own. They ride a lighter horse more suited to this kind of warfare, and the cavalry works by spiking in quickly, reigning down an attack, then retreating. The Turks are famous for riding by, and shooting down arrows into foot soldiers before retreating out of range again.

Aside from the knights on their horses, keep an eye on hired mercenaries and others of all classes storming into battle. Watch out for crossbows: a single bolt can punch through thick metal, much less whatever you might be wearing. However, the shots take a great deal of time and strength to load, requiring the user to pull the bolt back while standing on the bow. The weapons are not stealthy, and striking an opponent while they load them is the surest route to victory. More traditional archers are far more difficult to defeat; though their arrows can't cut through metal, they can shoot from much farther away and draw another arrow ten times as fast. Other fighters charge in with cudgels, maces, spears, axes, polearms, and the fervent determination fanaticism brings. Do your fellow soldier on the battlefield a favor: try and take out an archer whenever you can. But for those fielding the arrows, don't stay put, they'll always try and take you out first.

The battle of Hattin is one of the most bloody in the history of the Crusades; famously, it is said that its outcome left the sky black for all the birds hungrily circling the carnage. Your job in this battle is twofold: fight to win, and survive.

COMBAT / STEALTH

Capture Guy D'Lusignan.

History dictates Guy D'Lusignan, current King of Frankish-ruled Jerusalem, is captured by Saracen forces, which later leads to Muslims recapturing Jersusalem from Frankish hands. Help the Saracen war parties ride out, make sure they aren't sabotaged, and attack King Guy's war party. Along with them, you'll find Reynard de Chatillion, another nobleman whose capture will herald a collapse of the Crusader forces. Medieval battle isn't like modern warfare, where soldiers fight on in spite of their leader's capture or death.

A medieval battle ends when one side gives up, or when a leader has been killed or captured. Capturing the heads of an army leads to the immediate death of the battle's morale and will to fight. To win the Battle of Hattin, it is imperative that Guy D'Lusignan and Raynard de Chatillion are captured, as they were in history.

read the jerusalem setting infopage

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC PLURK DISCORD

Comments

bellamy blake, the 100.

[dominance]

a. MEDICAL

[ bellamy doesn't really know what he's doing. ]

[ his face remains stoic as he bandages the arm of a wounded soldier, almost bordering on grim. taking care of people in this way isn't his usual schtick. he's the guy who orders people around to give them a sense of direction, gathers his own cuts and bruises trying to protect his people, and is often tended to for being recklessly stupid. but given the orders he's got, he needs to follow them to ensure that he makes it through the next day. he needs to get back to o. ]

[ too bad he runs out of bandage when he's only just started covering this arm. ]

[ with a sigh, he looks over his shoulder to the nearest person. ] Hey. Can you get me a bandage?

b. COMBAT

[ he wishes he had his gun. making do with a spear, he does his best to mimic the movements the soldiers have taught him in the span of just a few minutes. keep his feet light, arms loose — this is the way of the grounder, he thinks. maybe this is the way he should learn to fight, instead of hiding behind the barrel of a gun. ]

[ speed, endurance, strength — bellamy doubts he has these, but he has to believe in them now. the technique required to move at the speed of light, to be agile despite his bulk build, isn't an overly strange new experience. he's just missing the usual people at his back. ]

[ he doesn't think. moving quick, he does what he's come to do best — infiltrate. when an archer's getting ready to shoot off an arrow at one of his people — or the team here, they're not his people yet — he pierces them with his spear. it's awkward and heavy, but bellamy makes do with it — unfortunately for him, with his back turned, he doesn't see another fighter's coming his way, armed with an axe. ]

c. NETWORK

UN: @BELL

@ALL: Roll call. Who the hell is still alive?

A.

[artifica]

[ Ava is a robot wearing human skin under her medic garb, yet even here she finds it difficult for her to pose as a him. The male medics keep a tight hold on the supplies, diligently guarding precious tools and balms from the clumsy hands of their female colleagues who surely would put them to waste.

As such, she obediently sits on the ground beside an injured woman in Kurdish wear, her own bearing eerily calm in contrast to her patient's labored breathing. Even the way she turns her head to him at his request is preternatural, too perfect for a living thing. She rises to her knees to grab a roll of bandage from beside a male medic, who shoots her a look, which she responds by directing his gaze to Bellamy. An unspoken exchange, a nod of understanding. The bandage she tears in two, then hands one half to him, the other for her patient. ]

Thank you. Without you, I wouldn't be able to.

[dominance]

[ if bellamy knows anything, it's people's ignorance will eventually lead them to their bitter end. the stigma against women in the medica grates him, as he knows the best medical practitioners are two women who are brave and intelligent, innovative in their attempts to save the lives of those who had tried to kill them only moments before. if he had his way, the men of the medica would be the ones who hesitate when reaching out for a utensil or a bandage to attend to the wounded. ]

[ he's only good at wrapping bandages. the rest, saving lives, digging deep into skin, stitching skin up — it's not his forte. ]

If you need anything, let me know. [ gently spoken. this isn't how it's supposed to be, he thinks, and he knows, despite the rules, the mission objective, that he won't be abiding by those rules any time soon. then he sighs, aggravated, ] Not working together's wasting time.

[artifica]

[ He's right, anyhow. The story of the tower of Babylon has its merits, whether factual or otherwise. Man's ignorance continues to be their downfall. This small scene is proof of that, just as this war is proof of that, just as the very existence of COST is proof of it. She is ambivalent toward it all, though interested, her curiosity piqued. She busies herself with cleaning the woman's wound with unflinching dexterity, her hand firm on her patient's chest to keep her from writhing from the pain, then quick to wrap the bandage around the gash. Her knot is strong despite her frame. ]

Anything?

[ Let him know, he says, the unspoken vow implied therein, that he would do it for her to his utmost capability. Of course, words are only words. But then she smiles, a small one, easily mistaken for bashful. ]

I need your name, first.

[dominance]

[ thankfully, she's tending to the wounded. bellamy doesn't have the skill nor the patience to be able to tend to great wounds like the ones suffered today. a bandage over a cut is more his speed, letting him grow impatient with the person rather than his inability to help. ]

[ he doesn't even hesitate. ]

Bellamy.

[ he should've hesitated, but despite how awful the ground has been, how horrible life has been thus far, bellamy still believes in the good of people. he has to; it's the only way to survive these days. though he won't place his fifth in the hands of a grounder without seeing something paid forward in the efforts of gaining trust, he has nothing to lose here — except his life. ]

[ he's never held that in high regard. ]

[artifica]

[ She is as skilled as she is methodical, a person working at an assembly line, with the wounded nothing but products for her to inspect and amend as needed. The woman treated, she washes her hands with much care, and dries them on her skirt before moving closer to him with a grace befitting something beyond human. ]

A fine friend. 

[ Bel ami. Bellamy. She smiles at the joke in her own mind, so does that make her sentient? To have a mind, in itself, is a bold statement to make regarding her. ] 

My name is Ava. I'm pleased to meet you, Bellamy.

c.

[thingpuncher]

>>@TRENTCOAT

@BELL killing my optimistic outlook here man

@BELL also still alive

[dominance]

@TRENTCOAT Good to know you're alive enough to be optimistic.

@TRENTCOAT Sorry, will try to keep all murdering of outlooks to a minimum for the foreseeable future.

[ he's joking, he'll still try to kill your optimism unintentionally. this is bellamy pessimistic blake after all. ]

[thingpuncher]

@BELL stick to murdering of people its why were here

@BELL does optimism necessarily correlate to being alive? wow man getting deep here

[dominance]

@TRENTCOAT Should we stop and take this offline? I wouldn't want the network to become unstable.

@TRENTCOAT Should stick to shallower topics. Got all your fingers and toes?

[thingpuncher]

@BELL aw ur such a conscientious murderer

@BELL last i counted. how u doing

un: @tempest

[thunderproof]

@BELL Consider my hand raised. How are you doing?

[dominance]

@TEMPEST All fingers are accounted for, not sure about toes

@TEMPEST I'm fine. Can't wait to take a nap.

a.

[tress]

[ Daenerys turns her head to look at the source of the voice. A man, clearly struggling. She turns back to her own patient, a young boy, injured despite his youth. Perhaps because of it. His breathing is labored, and although she fears he may die, she knows she must be strong. She smiles at him, calmly, his hand in hers. This world does not value children; it does not value all the things he could be. Squeezing his hand, she says, softly, ] I'll return soon.

[ She stands and makes her way over to Bellamy, bandages in hand. She sits next to him, reaching out for the wounded man. ] Let me. [ As she wraps the bandage around the soldier's arm, she says, ] It will be all right. You fought bravely. [ In truth, she has no idea how the soldier fought. He could have run screaming from the enemy troops. But he is injured, and Dany cannot sit by without comforting him in some way. Afterwards, she turns her gaze to Bellamy. ] You're frustrated.

[dominance]

[ the longer he tries to do this, the more he realises this isn't him. he's brought back to that day, very early on in his journey on the ground, when atom had been thrown to the dirt, poisoned by the acid fog. he'd begged him to alleviate his pain, but bellamy, for all of his bravado, couldn't. he needs clarke here, but she isn't, and so he has to make do once more. posturing, talking loud, voice deep, appearing more authoritative than he truly feels ... he's grateful he hasn't yet had to alleviate anyone of their pain yet. ]

[ letting himself inhale deeply once daenerys takes her place beside him, he feels that thundering beating of his heart and the desperate need to stop his hands from shaking. ignoring it successfully, he looks at her for a moment, taking the bandage but doing nothing with it. ]

[ he looks over his shoulder to the boy she has temporarily left. he'd taken bellamy's notice long before, and his anger had pulsed so hot and blinding at the thought a young boy was to die because of this war. ]

[ rather than admit his frustration, he says, ] Aren't you? [ his gaze doesn't fall away from the boy, despite wanting to look away. ]

[tress]

[ Dany's eyes fall to his trembling hands and she feels a twinge of pain in her heart. She, too, had shaken when the boy had been brought to her. He had lost so much blood. He was crying for his mother. She will never forget the sound of his screams. He is calmer now, although no doubt still in pain, and she suspects simply having someone beside him to speak softly and brush his hair out of his eyes was enough to placate him. She had to be a calming force for him, despite having no calming force for herself. She had willed her hands into stillness through nothing other than sheer determination, and even now, they threaten to tremble just as his do.

Daenerys sets the man's arm down, tying the bandage. She is no medic, but it will have to do. She follows Bellamy's gaze back to the cot where her own patient lies, half-unconscious, and thinks to herself, yes. Yes, she is frustrated. Frustrated that injustices like this are allowed to occur in the world. Frustrated that he may die before he was ever given the chance to live. She does not say so, however. Instead: ]

He is called Rojan. He was set upon by three men at once. [ He'd never stood a chance. It's a miracle he's even breathing at all; he could easily have died right there on the battlefield. She turns her head back to look at Bellamy's patient, this wounded soldier. Distantly, she wonders about his family, thinks about how worried they must be. She knows what it is like to know your family is dead. ]

When he first came, he couldn't stop wailing, [ she continues. ] I wondered what manner of beast would harm a child, for surely no man could do such a thing and sleep soundly. [ Of course, she knows this is untrue. There are many terrible men in the world. But a true man, a good man— that man would never harm an innocent youth. She clenches her jaw, anger coiling up in her stomach. ] We will take Hattin, and then we will take Jerusalem. And the men who did this will die in the dirt like dogs.

[dominance]

[ bellamy's bark has always been much louder and more powerful than his bite, but with each passing day on the ground, he thinks they're close to becoming equal. hearing the story of the boy — rojan — causes his chest to tighten with thick, hot anger. his bite's going to be much worse than his bark when he gets back out there. in his mind, that boy is charlotte, too young to be sentenced to experimentation and unknown death on the ground. he's meant to grow taller, livelier — live a life with his mother and father and siblings. he doesn't understand why children are always the soldiers sent to the battlefield. ]

[ thankfully for his patient, daenerys is taking care of him for bellamy. his attention's too splintered, mostly focusing on rojan. there's too many sights, sounds — the ground had prepared him for a bloody war, but it hadn't prepared him for this. nothing could, not even countless encounters with the mountain men and the more feral and unforgiving of the grounders. bellamy cannot focus, and for that, the people he's trying to help pay for it. ]

[ daenerys' story only makes him angrier, but it's a quiet anger, a storm without thunder announcing it's arrival. rojan could've been octavia. ]

[ his gaze lingers on rojan before he looks to daenerys. she doesn't look frightened, but he doubts any of them truly do in this moment. ] Did he tell you what they looked like? [ his voice is rough and deep, words a little too tight to be anything close to innocent, as the hardness of his jaw begins to expose how he truly feels. focusing enough to get a solid look at the people who attack you is hard, but bellamy's got a one-track mind when it comes to those who are his responsibility being hurt. and now, in this moment, he makes rojan his responsibility. ]

[tress]

No. [ She looks down at her hands, swallowing. If he had, she would have — she doesn't know. Something, something great and terrible. She is only one girl, no Queen here; she cannot command armies nor slay these men herself. But surely, she thinks, her rage would have been enough to move mountains. To kill a man would be a minor feat. ]

He barely spoke. [ It had mostly been incomprehensible tears, crying and screaming and horrible, guttural sounds. He has quieted since, but she suspects his throat is so sore from his bawling that he couldn't speak much if he wanted to. Whether he wants to is under debate as well, as he is so emotionally and physically exhausted that she could not blame him were he never to speak again. ] I mostly spoke to him. I told him stories from my homeland and sang.

[ She feels a fire welling up in her chest, and she knows, knows what she's about to say is wrong, somewhere deep down inside, but she doesn't care. What's wrong is hurting a little boy. She glances back up, meeting Bellamy's eye, gaze intense. ] I will see every one of their soldiers slain if I must. [ If she cannot find the three, she will kill them all. Somehow, against all odds, she will convince the army to slay them all. ] They may come forward and save their brothers in arms, or die with their secret.

A

[disorderdisgust]

[Overhaul has been playing medic on this. He was not a mere fighter, after all, he would not let himself be degraded to the point of being a foot soldier. And while his quirk was great for destruction, it was equally as useful for healing. The call for bandages is met with Overhaul casually walking over, grabbing some, and then tossing it to Bellamy.]

"Does that help?"

[dominance]

[ once he catches those bandages, bellamy makes some time to unravel them all. he knows how to bandage up a wound, a simple over and under, over and under, and a question of whether or not if it's tight enough. it's the least he can do, given he's more of a soldier than a medic. ]

Think so. [ his hands fiddle with the coarse material. ] Thanks. Is there enough over there for you?

c. @mercy

[heilt]

@bell Hopefully, any that would respond is.

[dominance]

@MERCY It'd be quite a feat for the dead.

@MERCY You okay?

[heilt]

@BELL I'm not injured if that is your question. I've been helping those that are less fortunate there.

( she is also generally okay, though there is something about this situation which stops the full answer of 'okay' )

@BELL What do you think will happen after this week?

[dominance]

[ that is the question he's afraid to know the answer to. ]

@MERCY Hopefully take a year long break from doing this shit again.

[ he doubts it. wishing upon a star may grant him hope, but it won't gift him what he truly wants. ]

@MERCY I don't know. I have a feeling it's not going to be something that we like.

[heilt]

@BELL I fear that succeeding once will cause them to ask us to help again.

( not that angela remembers being asked the first time )