AtlannianSpy
Alarmed and Strangerous
--As for this so-called "Free Republic" your majesty need not concern themselves unduly with this small matter. Far from being a legitimate threat to the security of the colony, they are a mere rabble of malcontents and desperadoes with delusions of grandeur. The garrison I command at your pleasure is their superior in levels and good imperial steel will more than match whatever scraps and trinkets they have managed to dredge up from the Arkonan ruins they squat in. I anticipate writing to your Majesty again withing the year with confirmation of their demise--
-Surviving fragment of a letter from the Warden General Marrvis of the Arkonan Colonies to the Alcibard the Seventh, Emperor of Lysenna. Recovered from the wreck of the Lysennan fast courier ship HMLS Lady of Dawn....
A sudden stillness roused Karine from her uneasy sleep. The rocking of the ship had been a constant presence for the last four months, so much so that it had faded into the background of Karine's awareness, along with the damp, the salt in the air and the overwhelming odour of sweat and unwashed bodies kept in close proximity. Life as a "passenger" aboard an imperial prison ship was chiefly about coming to terms with a series of unpleasant, but unavoidable realities. Shitty food; shitty company; uncomfortable proximity to actual shit which the crew disposed of as infrequently as they could get away with and of course the constant, unceasing motion of a ship on the water.
Karine had enough [endurance] from her class and levels that sea sickness wasn't a concern for her, but she definitely felt no particular affinity or affection for the sea. When Karine had been furiously clawing her way out of the slums in her teens there had realistically been two legal options available to her: the Army or the Navy and she had never really given any serious consideration the latter, keeping her feet on solid ground had always seemed preferable to Karine even if everything else was equal, the Navy was supposed to have worse rations as well. Now of course Karine couldn't help but wonder if, as a sailor she would have avoided ended up where she was now: convicted of insubordination and dereliction of duty and shipped off to an unexplored and inhospitable continent to labour away the debt of her crimes. Logically the answer was no, the Navy was probably just as full of corrupt, self serving bastards as the army was, but those kind of questions had a way of refusing to accept logical answers.
Probably wouldn't have had a stupid horse to get so attached to in the Navy though.. Karine thought, feeling a strange ache
the empty slot of her [animal companion bond] skill. The priests always said that skills and traits and the like were built on top of your soul not inside of it, so damage or disruption to your skills couldn't actually harm your soul. It didn't always feel like that though.
"UP AND AT'EM DREGS!" Boomed a harsh voice from somewhere above Karine, interrupting her brooding. "BACKS UP AGAINST THE WALLS! THE MARINES WILL ESCORT YOU TO SHORE ONE CELL GROUP AT A TIME. OR ONE WRONG MOVE AND THEY'LL BEAT YOUR SORRY ASSES UNCONSCIOUS AND TOSS YOU INTO THE SHALLOWS INSTEAD!"
It was not an idle threat. Although the marine contingent of a prison ship was larger than standard for a ship of the line and the prisoners were suppressed by a series of enchantments carved into , they were still badly outnumbered by the prisoners aboard and consequently had been skittish and quick to resort to violence to reassert control the whole trip. With a soft grunt, Karine rolled off the sodden scrap of an old sack that she'd been issued as a sleeping mat. Karine stood against the back wall of the ship and then, when she realised she had unconsciously adopted the ramrod straight posture of a soldier at attention she forced herself to slump against the wall. If the Marines were going cell by cell then she was in for a long wait, hers was near the back of the ship, the...aft? What was it with sailors and all their weird terms anyway?
All told, Karine would have put it at somewhere over two hours of waiting before she and her cellmates were escorted, blinking, into the sunlight for the first time in months. The air of Port Alcibard hit Karine like a wall, hot and humid to the point that it seemed to drape over her like a thick blanket that did nothing to impede the sun's rays beating down on her.
Beats freezing my tits off in Hiberos at least Karine thought grimly, wiping sweat from her forehead as she waited in line with the other prisoners. The frigid Northern region had been Karine's first deployment out of basic training and still occupied a special place of loathing in her heart. Karine had nearly lost her long, pointed ears to frostbite in her first week until an older soldier had taught her how to pin them back with a second scarf under her hat. The tropical heat might be unpleasant in its own way, but at least Karine's ears were safe and the incredibly thin, ragged clothes she'd been issued as a prisoner would actually serve decently well in this heat.
"ATTENTION PRISONERS!" boomed a voice from the head of their queue, where a portly officer with a greenish tint to his skin stood with a scroll under one arm. THe officer was dressed in the crisp, full length naval officers uniform and was sweating profusely in the tropical sun, every few seconds he had to raise a little handkerchief to his forehead to mop it in a way that seemed so practiced he was no longer consciously aware he was doing it and Karine almost felt a pang of sympathy for the man. Almost.
"You will now be assigned your work postings! Your skills and class levels have been assessed as per your intake forms and taken into account for these assignments but priority has been given to those roles the colony needs filled. If your skills aren't suitable for any specialised roles the colony needs filled then you will be assigned to the general labour pool to assist in construction and transportation of material. If you don't like your labour assignment you can refuse it in favour of general labour but I don't recommend it! Specialists are entitled to a modest set of privileges and rations as long as they perform their duties competently and obediently. Remember that these privileges can and will be revoked at the first instance of misbehaviour so if you want to continue enjoying them you'd best mind yourself! Now step up one at a time! Look lively!"
Being at the back of the ship meant Karine was at the back of the queue as well, so it was hurry up and wait again while the other prisoners were processed ahead of her, it was almost like being back in the army again. By the time Karine was face to face with the officer the man was clearly bored out of his skull, but his expression livened up into a nasty sneer after he gave what was presumably her paperwork a cursory scan.
"Well well, fancy meeting one His Majesty's finest here," said the Officer, earning a snicker from one of the Marines behind him. Karine schooled her features into a flat mask of indifference. It wasn't hard, there'd been plenty of this already from the Marines in the early stages of the journey, before they'd gotten bored with her lack of reaction and moved onto softer targets. Karine was feeling pretty indifferent to most things these days anyway so it was hardly much of a leap for her.
"You've been assigned to the scavenging and exploration teams Corporal," said the Officer "Lucky you! Scavengers can shorten the duration of their sentences significantly by retrieving valuables from the Arkonan ruins dotting the jungle out there. Or by getting devoured by some horrible, tropical dungeon spawn of course. We always seem to have plenty of openings on the scav teams for some reason so we're glad to have you here!"
Karine nodded once. "Where do I go?" she asked flatly.
"Bah, you report to Sergeant Kilakkis, over there," said the Officer, scowling now that he was deprived of whatever reaction he'd been after. "Get the fuck out of my sight and go do everyone a favour by getting yourself killed out there,"
Karine turned and left, although once she was no longer making eye contact with the officer she rolled her eyes. Prick. Well he was right about one thing, one way or another her sentence had probably just gotten a lot shorter.
Skylord Nexus
-Surviving fragment of a letter from the Warden General Marrvis of the Arkonan Colonies to the Alcibard the Seventh, Emperor of Lysenna. Recovered from the wreck of the Lysennan fast courier ship HMLS Lady of Dawn....
A sudden stillness roused Karine from her uneasy sleep. The rocking of the ship had been a constant presence for the last four months, so much so that it had faded into the background of Karine's awareness, along with the damp, the salt in the air and the overwhelming odour of sweat and unwashed bodies kept in close proximity. Life as a "passenger" aboard an imperial prison ship was chiefly about coming to terms with a series of unpleasant, but unavoidable realities. Shitty food; shitty company; uncomfortable proximity to actual shit which the crew disposed of as infrequently as they could get away with and of course the constant, unceasing motion of a ship on the water.
Karine had enough [endurance] from her class and levels that sea sickness wasn't a concern for her, but she definitely felt no particular affinity or affection for the sea. When Karine had been furiously clawing her way out of the slums in her teens there had realistically been two legal options available to her: the Army or the Navy and she had never really given any serious consideration the latter, keeping her feet on solid ground had always seemed preferable to Karine even if everything else was equal, the Navy was supposed to have worse rations as well. Now of course Karine couldn't help but wonder if, as a sailor she would have avoided ended up where she was now: convicted of insubordination and dereliction of duty and shipped off to an unexplored and inhospitable continent to labour away the debt of her crimes. Logically the answer was no, the Navy was probably just as full of corrupt, self serving bastards as the army was, but those kind of questions had a way of refusing to accept logical answers.
Probably wouldn't have had a stupid horse to get so attached to in the Navy though.. Karine thought, feeling a strange ache
the empty slot of her [animal companion bond] skill. The priests always said that skills and traits and the like were built on top of your soul not inside of it, so damage or disruption to your skills couldn't actually harm your soul. It didn't always feel like that though.
"UP AND AT'EM DREGS!" Boomed a harsh voice from somewhere above Karine, interrupting her brooding. "BACKS UP AGAINST THE WALLS! THE MARINES WILL ESCORT YOU TO SHORE ONE CELL GROUP AT A TIME. OR ONE WRONG MOVE AND THEY'LL BEAT YOUR SORRY ASSES UNCONSCIOUS AND TOSS YOU INTO THE SHALLOWS INSTEAD!"
It was not an idle threat. Although the marine contingent of a prison ship was larger than standard for a ship of the line and the prisoners were suppressed by a series of enchantments carved into , they were still badly outnumbered by the prisoners aboard and consequently had been skittish and quick to resort to violence to reassert control the whole trip. With a soft grunt, Karine rolled off the sodden scrap of an old sack that she'd been issued as a sleeping mat. Karine stood against the back wall of the ship and then, when she realised she had unconsciously adopted the ramrod straight posture of a soldier at attention she forced herself to slump against the wall. If the Marines were going cell by cell then she was in for a long wait, hers was near the back of the ship, the...aft? What was it with sailors and all their weird terms anyway?
All told, Karine would have put it at somewhere over two hours of waiting before she and her cellmates were escorted, blinking, into the sunlight for the first time in months. The air of Port Alcibard hit Karine like a wall, hot and humid to the point that it seemed to drape over her like a thick blanket that did nothing to impede the sun's rays beating down on her.
Beats freezing my tits off in Hiberos at least Karine thought grimly, wiping sweat from her forehead as she waited in line with the other prisoners. The frigid Northern region had been Karine's first deployment out of basic training and still occupied a special place of loathing in her heart. Karine had nearly lost her long, pointed ears to frostbite in her first week until an older soldier had taught her how to pin them back with a second scarf under her hat. The tropical heat might be unpleasant in its own way, but at least Karine's ears were safe and the incredibly thin, ragged clothes she'd been issued as a prisoner would actually serve decently well in this heat.
"ATTENTION PRISONERS!" boomed a voice from the head of their queue, where a portly officer with a greenish tint to his skin stood with a scroll under one arm. THe officer was dressed in the crisp, full length naval officers uniform and was sweating profusely in the tropical sun, every few seconds he had to raise a little handkerchief to his forehead to mop it in a way that seemed so practiced he was no longer consciously aware he was doing it and Karine almost felt a pang of sympathy for the man. Almost.
"You will now be assigned your work postings! Your skills and class levels have been assessed as per your intake forms and taken into account for these assignments but priority has been given to those roles the colony needs filled. If your skills aren't suitable for any specialised roles the colony needs filled then you will be assigned to the general labour pool to assist in construction and transportation of material. If you don't like your labour assignment you can refuse it in favour of general labour but I don't recommend it! Specialists are entitled to a modest set of privileges and rations as long as they perform their duties competently and obediently. Remember that these privileges can and will be revoked at the first instance of misbehaviour so if you want to continue enjoying them you'd best mind yourself! Now step up one at a time! Look lively!"
Being at the back of the ship meant Karine was at the back of the queue as well, so it was hurry up and wait again while the other prisoners were processed ahead of her, it was almost like being back in the army again. By the time Karine was face to face with the officer the man was clearly bored out of his skull, but his expression livened up into a nasty sneer after he gave what was presumably her paperwork a cursory scan.
"Well well, fancy meeting one His Majesty's finest here," said the Officer, earning a snicker from one of the Marines behind him. Karine schooled her features into a flat mask of indifference. It wasn't hard, there'd been plenty of this already from the Marines in the early stages of the journey, before they'd gotten bored with her lack of reaction and moved onto softer targets. Karine was feeling pretty indifferent to most things these days anyway so it was hardly much of a leap for her.
"You've been assigned to the scavenging and exploration teams Corporal," said the Officer "Lucky you! Scavengers can shorten the duration of their sentences significantly by retrieving valuables from the Arkonan ruins dotting the jungle out there. Or by getting devoured by some horrible, tropical dungeon spawn of course. We always seem to have plenty of openings on the scav teams for some reason so we're glad to have you here!"
Karine nodded once. "Where do I go?" she asked flatly.
"Bah, you report to Sergeant Kilakkis, over there," said the Officer, scowling now that he was deprived of whatever reaction he'd been after. "Get the fuck out of my sight and go do everyone a favour by getting yourself killed out there,"
Karine turned and left, although once she was no longer making eye contact with the officer she rolled her eyes. Prick. Well he was right about one thing, one way or another her sentence had probably just gotten a lot shorter.
Skylord Nexus