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

[metacides]

( thanks, he understood that. this guy doesn't give off the same--feeling as metahumans do. so there's probably no point in killing him, aside from the satisfaction of wiping that fucking look off of his face. kinda breaks the whole "no killing humans" rule, but it really wouldn't be the first time for that either. and isn't that what they're here for?

the telekinetic energy around him fades as it becomes obvious this guy's just being a shit. ) Oh? And what are your qualifiers for looks worth killing?

[thingpuncher]

Likely to give the normal people crawling around this place trouble.

[It's the truest, most genuine thing he's said all night. There's no reason to lie. He's not going to pretend he's something he's not.]

Our normal people. The poor bastards stuck in this mess without any... abilities like yours.

[metacides]

( gross. an asshole with a sharp pointy object and a heart set on helping those less powerful than himself. jon takes a moment to. really look him over, eyes going from the tip of his toes up to his (mostly) covered head. )

Nice implants. They do you any good?

[thingpuncher]

[Of course the little Super's got x-ray vision. The computer had guessed as much, but the confirmation is gratifying, in a way.]

Yeah, they download all the best crockpot recipes. [Midnighter turns his head-- he heard someone tumbling through the sand, nearing them in the shadows between tents.] Company coming up on your three o'clock.

[metacides]

I bet those're useful--you know, in the year 1187.

( thanks for the sarcasm though. jon shifts his eyes to about where the rustling is coming from, raises one nice, red glowing hand, and makes a show of slowly closing his fingers in on his fist. there's a squelch, crunch, and the sound of the body collapsing onto the ground.

skull crushed, but. ) What company?

[thingpuncher]

You wouldn't believe it.

[And then Midnighter watches the kid crush a guy into paste. That's... never a good sign. Power is power and has little bearing on a person's personality, but the way the kid doesn't seem to care as he crushes that guy?]

[Well, shit.]

Why do I get the sense you're a little different from the Man of Steel?

[metacides]

Great observational skills. ( deadpan, as he uncurls his fingers and lets that energy fade. dude's dead, he's not coming back from his skull being crushed, and there isn't anyone else too close that's moving around.

although it's a little strange how fast that line was drawn, considering--his suit's pretty well hidden under all these layers. must be the implants inside his head. )

I'm not like him. At all.

[thingpuncher]

Yeah, I kinda got that sense. Last I heard, he's not into origami. [Midnighter points a thumb toward the crumpled bodies of the Crusaders.]

[Still, this kid's obvious revulsion at the comparison means Midnighter might have an in. Far fucking be it from him not to use one of those.]

Not that I'm judging. If Superman were here, we'd all be fucked.

[metacides]

I'm pretty sure that's not a skill he has. ( he knows it's not; it's his own brand of abilities. one clark has but doesn't use actively the way that he does. jon does turn his eyes over to the bodies, lips twisting into a scowl. )

You might be fucked. Me? I'd be alright.

[thingpuncher]

No, we'd all be fucked. [Midnighter adds, clarifying quickly but casually--] His skillset is shit for stealth. We'd be found out in ten seconds, and then what? Not an expert on time travel, but I can make an educated guess that Superman in the middle ages means a fucked up future. Present. Whatever.

[metacides]

Take away the bright blue suit and ground him; he'd been blending in for long enough, he-- ( why are we even talking about superman. he doesn't want to fucking talk about superman, jesus christ. whatever. he's dropping it, and pulling up the collar of his shirt up a bit more. )

We've got a job, don't we? Take out some assholes and make sure someone gets kidnapped.

[thingpuncher]

[Midnighter's smile twitches. Interesting. That didn't go as he figured it would, but Midnighter isn't Bendix, someone who needs all the puppets to bounce in a line. Everyone's more interesting if they're unique, surprising. So's this weirdo.]

So let's bust some heads. What'm I supposed to call you? [He says it idly, like he doesn't care, like he's not making a mental file on this potentially lethal weirdo.]

[metacides]

( the smile is irritating. his brows furrow, corners of his lips twitching down, but. whatever. subject changed. he's not sure why this asshole's so amused by it. but he can do as he wants, he supposes.

he isn't kon, but there's a moment where he considers going back to that alias, anyway. jon being here's. complicated. he'd rather not have his name passing around this far back, but. it's not like it really matters, does it. )

Jon.