HOME | DD

Description
As was mentioned earlier, warfare more or less stopped during the winter months in the Cold Lands. Snow made marching to battle a horrid ordeal for men and horse alike, besieging a town with stores for the winter was an exercise in futility and the last thing you wanted was for your warm clothes to have bits torn off of them. In any case, having a breather to let wounds heal and to rebuild their equipment was considered to be a good thing. Out of the high failure rate and reprisals that happened afterwards, a distain emerged among the warriors about any form of winter fighting save for guarding what they had and the occasional actions against bandits.

That said, the constant skirmishes and raids of these fractured lands would often claim its victims even in the dead of winter. Once and a while, villages would be leveled and those who survived would be left homeless. Groups of vagrents would wander the lands, with little more than what they could carry on their backs in search of some place where they could live. They would aimlessly wander from town to town hoping for someone willing to shelter them. They were generally turned down by the local warriors, the way most of them saw it they were weak cowards for letting that happen to them in the first place. Bandits rarely bothered with them, as they rarely had anything worth stealing. More often then not they were turned down. They foraged for food, found what small items they found in the forest, took advantage of those people who were charitable and gathered sticks to sell as firewood and pelts to get a meal or a couple of copper coin. However, many would eventually be forced to some theivery to keep themselves alive. Some would eventually become outright bandits. A few of them would even give themselves over to slavers, even though they had a tendancy of killing unmarketable merchendice. However, few remained homeless like this for more than a year, they largely either found somewhere that they could settle during the summer or autumn, or they faced the winter with neither supplies or shelter against the cold.

A small family of these victims made their way across a field, having been rejected several times near the Solstice. They were peasants who had their lives swept away when a dozen men driven by bloodlust and beer. The family name of these six figures was Kyoth, for that was the name of the town they came from. Now nothing more than ruins that would be resettled next year by those brutes. They had not had a decent meal in a week and four days ago, they had lost one of their own, a boy of nine. A big strong lad named Anton, loyal and hard working, he had succumed to cold. In their ranks was a Stefia, who carried in the mess of rags that served as her clothing her three month old daughter. They set up camp near Dalatyr with nothing more than a and the ariel recon drone discovered them. They had been lucky that while their had been snow, there had not yet been a major cold snap. As they settled down with nothing but than their blankets, body heat, a meager fire, their raggety clothing and the bare minimum of a tent to keep them warm. This was enough for an infrared scanner to pick up.

They were awakened by the sound of hoofbeats. They peered out of the tent as the lone rider dismounted. He was rapped completely from head to toe and carried a blade. They would have darted, but doing so would mean abandoning what little they had. "Do not fear." He said in a flat, calm monotone "I bring assistance." It then produced a flask and several cups, pooring each one a measure of hot chicken soup as well as a loaf of bread. They thanked the stranger for this unexpeted kindness. "This tent is a poor shelter against the cold. We can provide a superior one." They agreed and were led by him. It was a two hour walk, even when he refilled their cups with warm soup, but they made it to the gates. Mythalya, the matriach of the famly insited in carrying the hand wagon along. As they walked, he asked a few questions. They saw the faint glow from the torches of guards manning the walls and a lamp nearby the gate. The Guard, who was resting in a heated shed signaled that all was clear. The door gate was unbarred and their hearts rased as it opened. The rider dismounted, his horse was taken inside to be stabled and he invited them in. They were soon led to a brick building. It was bare save for a fireplace, a pile of logs nearby it, a lavatory composed of a chair with a hole in it with a bucket underneith, a water barrel, a broom and four other people lying in blankets. These stirred in annoyance at sound and the draft that was let in, muttering. To the Kyoth family, this might as well been a palace.

---
As the newcommers were settled in the Dormitory, One Which Seeks To Understand Everything New It Encounters Upon It's Discovery-153401 (Discovery for short) was pleased at the sucess. Five new labourers had been procured, with two more being well on their way. Plans were already being made for their long-term accomidation. This would mean that housing would need to be aranged. As it stood, they would most likely be put to use making brick molds starting in the morning. There were definately problem figures among the displaced, but if worse came to worse they could always be added to the detentional labour force, although Discovery did not believe that would be nessisary with these individuals. Still it was a sucess to save them, it was criminally wasteful to let such valuable human resources expire in the cold. They thought they were weeding out weakness, and yet they did not cease on sources of strength when they presented themselve before them.

Previous-[link]
Next-[link]

Description
As was mentioned earlier, warfare more or less stopped during the winter months in the Cold Lands. Snow made marching to battle a horrid ordeal for men and horse alike, besieging a town with stores for the winter was an exercise in futility and the last thing you wanted was for your warm clothes to have bits torn off of them. In any case, having a breather to let wounds heal and to rebuild their equipment was considered to be a good thing. Out of the high failure rate and reprisals that happened afterwards, a distain emerged among the warriors about any form of winter fighting save for guarding what they had and the occasional actions against bandits.

That said, the constant skirmishes and raids of these fractured lands would often claim its victims even in the dead of winter. Once and a while, villages would be leveled and those who survived would be left homeless. Groups of vagrents would wander the lands, with little more than what they could carry on their backs in search of some place where they could live. They would aimlessly wander from town to town hoping for someone willing to shelter them. They were generally turned down by the local warriors, the way most of them saw it they were weak cowards for letting that happen to them in the first place. Bandits rarely bothered with them, as they rarely had anything worth stealing. More often then not they were turned down. They foraged for food, found what small items they found in the forest, took advantage of those people who were charitable and gathered sticks to sell as firewood and pelts to get a meal or a couple of copper coin. However, many would eventually be forced to some theivery to keep themselves alive. Some would eventually become outright bandits. A few of them would even give themselves over to slavers, even though they had a tendancy of killing unmarketable merchendice. However, few remained homeless like this for more than a year, they largely either found somewhere that they could settle during the summer or autumn, or they faced the winter with neither supplies or shelter against the cold.

A small family of these victims made their way across a field, having been rejected several times near the Solstice. They were peasants who had their lives swept away when a dozen men driven by bloodlust and beer. The family name of these six figures was Kyoth, for that was the name of the town they came from. Now nothing more than ruins that would be resettled next year by those brutes. They had not had a decent meal in a week and four days ago, they had lost one of their own, a boy of nine. A big strong lad named Anton, loyal and hard working, he had succumed to cold. In their ranks was a Stefia, who carried in the mess of rags that served as her clothing her three month old daughter. They set up camp near Dalatyr with nothing more than a and the ariel recon drone discovered them. They had been lucky that while their had been snow, there had not yet been a major cold snap. As they settled down with nothing but than their blankets, body heat, a meager fire, their raggety clothing and the bare minimum of a tent to keep them warm. This was enough for an infrared scanner to pick up.

They were awakened by the sound of hoofbeats. They peered out of the tent as the lone rider dismounted. He was rapped completely from head to toe and carried a blade. They would have darted, but doing so would mean abandoning what little they had. "Do not fear." He said in a flat, calm monotone "I bring assistance." It then produced a flask and several cups, pooring each one a measure of hot chicken soup as well as a loaf of bread. They thanked the stranger for this unexpeted kindness. "This tent is a poor shelter against the cold. We can provide a superior one." They agreed and were led by him. It was a two hour walk, even when he refilled their cups with warm soup, but they made it to the gates. Mythalya, the matriach of the famly insited in carrying the hand wagon along. As they walked, he asked a few questions. They saw the faint glow from the torches of guards manning the walls and a lamp nearby the gate. The Guard, who was resting in a heated shed signaled that all was clear. The door gate was unbarred and their hearts rased as it opened. The rider dismounted, his horse was taken inside to be stabled and he invited them in. They were soon led to a brick building. It was bare save for a fireplace, a pile of logs nearby it, a lavatory composed of a chair with a hole in it with a bucket underneith, a water barrel, a broom and four other people lying in blankets. These stirred in annoyance at sound and the draft that was let in, muttering. To the Kyoth family, this might as well been a palace.

---
As the newcommers were settled in the Dormitory, One Which Seeks To Understand Everything New It Encounters Upon It's Discovery-153401 (Discovery for short) was pleased at the sucess. Five new labourers had been procured, with two more being well on their way. Plans were already being made for their long-term accomidation. This would mean that housing would need to be aranged. As it stood, they would most likely be put to use making brick molds starting in the morning. There were definately problem figures among the displaced, but if worse came to worse they could always be added to the detentional labour force, although Discovery did not believe that would be nessisary with these individuals. Still it was a sucess to save them, it was criminally wasteful to let such valuable human resources expire in the cold. They thought they were weeding out weakness, and yet they did not cease on sources of strength when they presented themselve before them.

Previous-[link]
Next-[link]