949: EpilogueThe city of Arstotzka burns.
Black, oily smoke curls up over the city as the Alannar from Mehmed's Phoenix does its work. The palace itself is a pile of rubble wreathed in green flames, which even days later continue to burn. The few ships anchored in the harbor are all capsized or sunk from the sudden evacuation of the Vaulters group.
Moskurg loyalists fight Moskurg traitors fight Arstotzkan loyalists fight Arstotzkan traitors fight Arstotzkan Vaulters.
The Vaulters make good use of Helmacon's dropship, hitting isolated groups and taking up the most defensive locations in the city. They're few in number, however; less than 200, and each skirmish whittles them down to fewer members. When the Vault disappears into the sky without them many out-right surrender. The Arstotzkan rebels vastly out-number the loyalists, but with Hardrada's death and Andre's crystal mech Bjorn makes quick work of any who stand against his rightful rule. By the end of the day Arstotzka's remaining forces are severely reduced, but all under the same flag.
For Moskurg, the rebels were fewer in number to begin with, and many were simply misinformed by Mehmed's treachery. Once Hayat flew up to deal with her brother, al-Mutriqa made use of the Shortwave Teletalk to rally any mages who were listening on the broadband. With Mehmed's death and the might of all of Moskurg's mages rallied behind him, al-Mutriqa put an end to the rebellion with surprising ease.
Hayat, luckily, was saved by her betrothed. After plummeting from the sky and landing in the the harbor, Bjorn quickly dove into the freezing waters and pulled her free as the Vaulters ship disappeared into the sky above. Andres was quite upset that Bjorn risked his life to save the Moskurg Sultana. He argued fervently to let the girl die then and there and allow Arstotzka to steam-roll the lightly-defended Moskurg capitol to the south, but Bjorn denied his request. Though the marriage ceremony had been interrupted, he still made a sacred vow before his father, the nobles of Arstotzka, and even Moskurgs God that his Kingdom would be passed on to her children. There be none so cursed as an oathbreaker - he would not follow the same path that led Hardrada to ruin.
The fires in the city mostly went out within the next two days, and the green flames that had engulfed the palace went out five days after that. The palace was little more than a charred pit by that point, but there were more pressing matters than the loss of Arstotzka's history.
Once again the living began the arduous task of burying the dead. Large portions of the city were ash, and in those areas only crystal buildings stood. The captured Vaulters and remaining Arstotzkan nobility who'd rebelled were tried and executed for traitors and oathbreakers, as well as the Moskurgers who'd willingly followed Mehmed in the assassination of the Sultan. Rebuilding went slower this time, as there were fewer mages left alive to assist in the reconstruction. Moskurg kept the skies clear and churned out as much adamantium as they could, and Arstotzka raised crystal buildings as quickly as possible.
Bjorn and Hayat concluded their arranged marriage shortly after control had been regained, opting for a small, quick ceremony on the frozen shore. The loyalists of the design teams were in attendance; or at least those who were still alive. Kadzar, who'd managed to escape after loosing his falcons ended up weeping softly as they said their "I do's". Egan_BW participated in the security of the event, this time giving out his Single Action Allah's to only those who'd proved their loyalty. Taricus stood by in his adamantium armor, a thick cloth wrapped around his sword - it helped muffle the screaming, which had not stopped since the fighting. Kashyyk was unfortunately unable to attend, as he'd opened up a shop in the ruined bazaar hawking his Lightning Repeater rifles as "Home Defense - for when the looters come!" Andres was likewise unable to attend as Bjorn had ordered the production of more crystal mechs to rebuild the defense of the city. It was highly suspected that Andres' unhappiness with the impending alliance made him unwelcome, but those were merely rumors. Jilladilla stood by with BBBence1111; Jilladilla had become quick friends with BBBence1111 after the rescue during the duel between Bjorn and Hardrada. BBBence1111, ever the opportunist, quickly agreed that he'd meant to attack the guards rather than burn Jilladilla alive, and that he was most certainly a supporter of Bjorn and the new Arstotzka and that he would never, ever betray his lord in any way, ever.
Aboard the Vaulters ship, the crew has begun to notice the subtle changes. Though they were first dismissed as an adaptation to the zero-g of space, the crucial detail that revealed the magical nature of their changes was the development of whiskers. It took a while to pinpoint how the changes were occurring, but by the time their ears had become pointy and their pupils morphed to vertical slits they realized it was the Aetherfarm. Fallacy was promptly ejected out the airlock and the crew set to work trying to reverse-engineer the farm to reverse the effects. Sadly, Fallacy had independently developed the farm himself, and his notes were indecipherable scratches littered with doodles of cats. Work on the teleporter (or what little work was being done) was paused to figure out this problem. It is unknown whether the crew succeeded, but the world can rest easy knowing all of Arstotzka's prized artifacts are orbiting earth with the best and brightest.
Once the marriage had been concluded and the city had been stabilized, Hayat proposed that the two kingdoms build a new capitol for the Unified Forenia, on the eastern coast where the grassy plains would make growth easy. There both rulers could reside and rule their respective realms while still honoring their marriage. The new capitol goes up quickly, using in large parts Arstotzka's crystal and Moskurg's adamantium. The city included features such as an airship tower where ships could park without having to land, a university that combined both realms education systems and furthered their understanding of magic, and cutting-edge defensive emplacements that made use of both sides combined weaponry. Integration of both Arstotzka and Moskurg went slowly, as both sides were keen to remember the rather gruesome execution of captured prisoners. Brawls, shoot-outs, and stand-offs were a common sight in the new capitol, as well as rather vicious rioting. Attempts to stifle rioting only resulted in more brutal, vicious riots, so a compromise was made. The Ministry of Riots restricted rioting to a certain section of the city at a time, and only on weekends to prevent the disruption of commerce. The solution surprised everyone by working, and "Major-League Rioting" became the realm's new favorite past-time.
News came slowly from across the sea. Apparently the exportation of magical artifacts had kick-started a new "magical revolution" around the world, particularly in a set of islands to the west between Forenia and China. These reports were worrisome, but for now the magical firestorm seemed contained to a small, shitty set of islands called "Turbados". For now, Forenia was at peace for the first time in a long time, and that was a welcome change.
And thus ends the tale of Wands Race.
I hope I did it justice, and that those who played along enjoyed themselves. I'd like to thank Iituem for starting the game and permitting me to take it over once he was indisposed - the setting was wonderfully unique from most Arms Races on the forum at that time. It was quite a bit more work than I was expecting, but I'm happy to have finished and join the ranks of those who have actually ended an Arms Race. Perhaps one day I'll elevate that status to "People Who Have Both Started and Finished an Arms Race", but I am content for the moment with the more humble of those two achievements. This marks the official end to this game, and I encourage people to read both threads if they find the time and inclination. The way both sides went about developing their weapons is wonderfully unique and quite entertaining to read.
If you enjoyed my writing (as contrived, stilted, and cobbled-together as it may be) I would encourage you to read
The Littlest Cheesemaker - a webcomic I've been working on for quite a while! I'd actually taken a break from it to work on this game, but now that it's finished I expect I'll give TLCM some TLC.
Thank you all for reading!
Glory to Forenia!
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Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED} (Read 373411 times)