The Throne of the Stars

One of the objectives set in the Agarthan war was to secure the throne of stars that stood in a forest close to Agartha. Thanks to Helheim’s pressure, the enemy never had time to take it for himself and the guardians were still standing there after the final battle for the capital.

Thus, just after storming Agartha, a firm assault was launched by Skaljv and her Valkyries. Nothing special here as the enemy force, 140 humans warriors and tribesmen, was quickly taken down for minimal losses.

The throne was then claimed immediatly and added to Lord Kall’s power. A small addition, providing only a few more Astral pearls every month, but still, a little step further toward Ascendancy.

The Throne of Elements

Another throne had been left aside for more than a year. Indeed, the Throne of Elements stood unclaimed in the far-eastern reaches of the empire. It was a very powerful throne, and as such the previous Pantokrator had assigned its defense to a goddess, an Annunaki of the Underworld . Unlike most other beings of power, she had decided to stay faithful to the old Pantokrator and keep her vow of defending the throne with her life.

The force gathered here to defend the throne was formidable, with more than 150 tribe warrior and 280 shades and shadows from the underworld. But even though they were strong in numbers, they were rather weak as individual fighters.

So, it was decided that no Valkyrie would be put at risk here. The most famous vanjarl of the empire, Hrimmner, renowned for his incredible agility, had volunteered for this assault. He claimed he would be able to beat, alone, that whole force.

This plan was accepted and the best equipment was given to Hrimmner. The assault was launched the same day Skaljv fell on the throne of the stars. The battle lasted hours as Hrimmner killed scores and scores of enemies. Ultimately, exhausted and unable to see the end of the enemy tide, he bitterly decided to retreat. But even though he hadn’t won, the enemy force had suffered huge losses as about 300 of 440 enemies laid dead on the ground.

However, the effect of surprise was lost and another approach had to be devised to finish them off. It was time to test the new war tactic that was kept in reserve in case of a conflict with marverni. Hilder the hangadrott was sent alone to let loose the Winds of Death on the enemy force. Those struck by the winds, and not strong enough to resist, were doomed to age a hundred years within minutes and die out of it. The operation was successful and half of the surviving human tribesmen fell down as dried, lifeless skeletons.

After that action, only a small force of 100 enemies remained. Hrimmner and Hilder then joined their forces to settle the capture. During that fierce battle, Hrimmner fought along with several skeletons raised by Hilder’s death magic and managed to kill with his own hands the Annunaki of the Underworld. A feat that made him even more famous, not only in the empire, but also in the whole world.

Lord Kall was pleased. Not only he had captured a very powerful Throne, but the battles to seize it had given opportunities to test and validate several new war tactics. Both the use of the Winds of Death and of a lone Elite warrior had shown their efficiency beyond anything that had been done before … a good omen for the forthcoming challenges …

The Border with Tien’Chi and throne diplomacy

During the last months, the northern kingdom of Tien’Chi had been inflicting a severe defeat to Mictlan. The infamous blood nation was about to collapse … and Lord Kall was quite dissatisfied with that. Indeed, he had wanted to spill their blood in the same way they were spilling the blood of their own population. But when Helheim was ready for the move, there was not much left of them.

As such, the War council decided to make the smallest possible move : take back from Mictlan the 2 former provinces they had gotten from Agartha. The Throne of the Moon was very close to these provinces and a heated debate occured in order to decide whether or not it shall be taken. But, in the same way Lord Kall had given up the former Ur’s throne of Winter to Marverni, it was decided to give up the throne of the Moon to Tien’Chi.

Indeed, the empire of Helheim had become really strong and everybody knew it. It was important not to reach the threshold where its neighbours would ally and attack it together. The idea was to keep a low profile, and giving the thrones was part of that diplomacy.

Furthermore, Tien’chi was a new neighbour that Helheim didn’t want to fight, yet. This “gift” was a way to appease them and make them think twice before pulling hostile actions. This throne was their reward for destroying Mictlan, but in the same time, by capturing a province adjacent to it, it would be rather easy to take it later.

The campaign was quick and short. Both the fortress and the forest province were captured without much opposition from them. And so, by the end of summer, both thrones and borders were secured. All military forces had to regroup for a new objective that was yet to define …

Peace !

And in this early fall of the 4th year of the Ascension war, for the first time in years, there was peace. Not a single battle was fought this month, it was the time to contemplate the mightness of the new empire and think about what to do next.