Rise of the Nogatii

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......It wasn't often that Lethe found himself satisfied with the type of weather they were having, especially considering the time of year it was. Even in the deep forests, away from the wide open plains of the continent where the sun reigned supreme, the heat could sometimes reach extreme levels. In a way it may have been due to an effect of the thick canopy, trapping whatever heat came to the ground. But, today was of special note, as a thick overcast dominated the skies, casting a grey shroud over the viewable sky and darkening the ground below. It all came together to create a mild day, a heavy breeze kicking up and sending the trees into a spectacle close to dancing.

The setting around him brought a smile to a young captain's face, basking in the feeling of the cool air. It was a nice change of pace, having a reason to smile, especially after the week they'd just had. After leaving the Village of the Moon, the remnants of the Order of the Moon weren't met with the easiest of times. The former samurai of the village was leading a brigade of ten men; all men without homes, wanderings to the northern steppes in search of a group of people they weren't seven sure if they existed anymore. Ever since leaving they'd been met with rough weather, attacks by bands of thieves and bandits, and that wasn't even the worst of it. Sickness had struck them as well, and they did well enough to simply survive it all.

But, it all seemed okay now that they seemed to be out of the worst of it.

[/color]..EXP Gain: 300
..PWC Gain: 300
..Other: +1 TEXP (June 7th, posted in 2 threads)

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......According to his second in command they were coming upon the area Gilleg had described, the location being where the Nogatii tribes made their home. Up until now Lethe hadn't made his plan known to anyone except for him and Remus, the aforementioned second in command. The rest of his brigade had simple settlement on their minds, thinking that they were leaving one village to go and live in another. Such assumptions were truly foolish, as Lethe had no intention to ever serve anyone ever again. In fact, his intentions were quite the opposite. Of course, all of these new found agenda had a single defining trait: his allegiance to Iskra. It was true that he had no intent to ever serve anyone in the mortal realm, the young captain would forever have loyalty to the woman that saved his life. In many ways he saw this new opportunity as not only a way to extend his own power, but hers as well.

The brigade traveled a distance more, having traversed a great distance to the northeast of the Village of the Moon. Lethe would be lying if he'd told someone he had wavering hope they were going to find anything, but all of those doubts were put to rest as a smokey cedar scent caught his attention. At the time they were moving through dense foliage and couldn't see far in front of him, but it didn't take Lethe to realize what they were about to run into. And sure enough, as they reached a several mile clearing in the forest, smoke rose into the sky from the center of a small village.

To his surprise they weren't met with any defensive measures of patrols, and by the looks of it, it would seem that all of the population of the surrounding area (probably a few miles) and come together in a singular village. There was a banner that flew on one of the palisade walls, of a "N" symbol with a strange marking above it. It was the same symbol that Gilleg had described to him upon their last meeting, and there was no mistaking it: it was the symbol of the Nogatii.

"We've finally arrived." Lethe gave a self satisfied grin, and nodded to Remus, who commanded the men - all on horseback - to fall in behind Lethe. The last thing Lethe wanted to do was somehow provoke them and cause an incident resulting in all their deaths, because he had no doubt that he could best them if needed.

[/color]..EXP Gain: 459
..PWC Gain: 459
..Other: None

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......The young captain gave his men the order to halt outside of the village's makeshift walls. According to Gilleg the Nogatii people were one spawned from a warrior culture, and individual strength was valued above all else. It was something that he'd have to refocus the attention to once he gained control of them, but it presented him with a perfect opportunity and excuse to easily evoke his will upon him. Lethe dismounted his horse, his heavy boots kicking up dirt as he touched the ground, and took heavy strides across the village. He didn't even take the time to pay any attention to the villagers that had stopped and began staring at him, making a bee line to the largest building in the village, assuming that was where the leader was.

He eventually came upon an old chieftain claiming to rule over the tribe. There wasn't anything particularly imposing about him save for the giant "N" symbol that was carved into his chest. They certainly took their symbols seriously. He figured that as a leader he'd find the same value in such things, as they were a representation of what he would stand for, but once he was finished here his first priority would be changing these people into something a bit more presentable. Their warrior nature would make for an excellent pool of soldiers to draw from, creating a strong military force to be recknoned with in this region, but those that weren't warriors would need to become more ... civilized, for a lack of a better term. Even the village of the moon was more civilized than this ... a lot more, actually.

Lethe knew the customs of the Nogatii from Gilleg, and after making his intentions of taking over the village clear, the elder declared that he must do battle with their champion. Normally one would expect an outsider making a claim like that to be attacked by everyone in said village, but the Nogatii were different. Being a people that valued power and individual strength above all, they allowed their leadership position to be contested by combat. After all, the strongest person would be the one expected to lead them. Unfortunately for them none of them stood a real chance against Lethe, but in order to achieve his lofty goals striking down this champion of theirs was unavoidable.

[/color]..EXP Gain: 451
..PWC Gain: 451
..Other: None

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......In expected fashion for a people that wielded large swords, the champion was ah hulking man nearly seven feet tall. It was rather cliche to Lethe, but his physicality was definitely imposing. Not that he had anything to fear, though, being able to transform through Samael's powers into an entity he had yet to name. In fact, this would be a good time to showcase it ... such a display would cause complete and total loyalty from all in the village, and that was the goal of it. So, as the man prepared himself, Lethe focused his power and instantly morphed himself. He became a brute that made their champion look small by comparison, his white hair turning a pitch black, and his body growing taller and wider, an emotionless, cold mask covering his transformed face.

It goes without saying that Lethe easily dispatched the champion, his blade splitting the man's skull with ease after traded blows. The champion had done his best to parry Lethe's attacks, but by comparison the champion was moving at a snails pace. There was truly no contest and lethe knew it, but he allowed it to go a few seconds out of pity.

With the champion dispatched, Lethe digressed back to his normal form. The people, in awe by what they had just saw and left staggered by the display of power, gazed upon their new leader.

Lethe, and the brigade he rode in on, not only now had a home, but an entire small society to call their own, to build, and protect.

..EXP Gain: 289
..PWC Gain: 289
..Claimed: J2-C (total words 1,349)
..Other: +1 TEXP(June 7th, posting 5 times)

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......It didn't seem like it was that long ago that Lethe found himself in the slop house for the local tamed animals, cleaning up their excrement, ensuring they had all of their needed materials, and general maintenance that was forced upon new members to the village guard. Back then they told him it was to ensure that he was enough of a man to handle the position and demand that being a soldier required. Looking back it was probably nothing more than mere hazing, as there wasn't much a ten year old could do when given those conditions. But, at the time the young Lethe was sure that what he was doing was an important role, and did it with the most due diligence that one could.

Of course, later he found out how insignificant it was and just what it probably was, but that's not the point.

The point was that he'd come from that to where he was now: the captain of a brigade and for all intents and purposes the leader of a small tribe of peoples, the Nogatii. It was definitely a sharp turn around from that one time low, and in many ways he considering himself to be pursing a life long dream. It didn't matter to him how small they may currently be or how many troubles they may run into; what was here was his, and these people were his. Whenever he put his mind to something he put forth everything to ensure it'd succeed, and this was no different.

[/color]..EXP Gain: 272
..PWC Gain: 272
..Other: +1 TEXP (June 7th, posted in 2 threads)

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......It was only the second day that was dawning upon his new venture, and he already had big plans for it. The previous day had been full of excitement, with the battle against the champion and the actual travel here, but there was no time to sit and bask in his accomplishment. Remus, his un official second in command, was never one to let Lethe escape duties he had to perform. This morning he brought up the notion of needing to secure Nogatii borders. As it stood they were a small tribe in the middle of a several mile wide clearing in the forest, and not only were they exposed to attack but they also needed to be aware of their surroundings. That is why Lethe had decided from the very beginning of this day that they would be in need of a watch tower a few miles outside of the village, where the forest met the edge of the clearing. It would give them a strategic viewpoint into their already settled lands, while giving them a buffer to the outside world.

A goal such as this one would require a good amount of supplies for the coming construction. Lucky for Lethe the village already had a bountiful stockpile of wood. Wood would serve as the most important aspect of this all, since they didn't have any stone readily available to construct a permanent environmental fixture, but the wooden outpost tower would serve it's job well enough on it's own. The only thing it would require would be a set schedule for people taking shifts in it.

[/color]..EXP Gain: 290
..PWC Gain: 290
..Other: None

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......Having gathered the needed supplies, Lethe set off across the open plain. Of course, he wouldn't leave the village unprotected, and he ordered half of his men to stay behind, remaining diligent upon the goal of protecting the Nogatii people. The plain itself was actually larger than he'd originally anticipated. Things don't seem to be quite as big as they probably actually are when you're far way from it. Once you actually try crossing it, well, it's a completely different story. The treks unanticipated longer distance was actually an inconvenience in the sense that the soldiers Lethe had brought with him found themselves required to assist the villagers in transporting the wood. More likely than not his men would take offense to such a thing, having an opinion of themselves that put them above such labor, but it couldn't be helped.

Eventually they came upon the area they'd been traveling to. It was positioned within the transitional area between the forest and the open plain. The first order of business was to make a clearing, which would actually give them more wood to work with. The laborers spent the majority of the first day making their needed clearing. A makeshift camp would be where they'd rest, and the next day brought continued work. The workers cut what wood they had gathered the day before, along with what they'd brought, and were prepared for the actual construction now.

[/color]..EXP Gain: 281
..PWC Gain: 281
..Other: None

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

..Rise of the Nogatii
..Lethe, the Cryosamurai:
......The construction itself went about as smoothly as one could imagine it'd go for primitives being used as labor. Which is to say not all that well at first. There was a magnitude of errors made with the initial construction, and if it wasn't for the intelligence between the soldiers. But and Lethe, this may have ended up a failed outing. But, thanks to some quick thinking whatever mistakes they had made were quickly corrected. It took them the better part of three days to complete the rest of the construction, and before they knew it what had once been a simple clearing in the forest was now a fully built outpost. A large wooden tower extended into the sky, giving whoever was inside of it a birds eye view of the surrounding terrain, outfitted with a bell for alerting the village.

Celebration was called for among Lethe and his men, and the rest of the night after returning home was spent with drink and stories of their success. Everyone would have been having a good time except for the man stuck on patrol duty during that time, as they had a set schedule for who went where.

Even though it was nothing but a simple outpost, it'd serve as the first expansion of the Nogatii tribe. Hopefully the first of many, as well as a growing presence.

..EXP Gain: 252
..PWC Gain: 252
..Claimed: K2-C
..Other: +1 TEXP (June 8th, posted 5 times)

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