Free Cities League
Establishing Nation
Eriksbrock, Goddhaus, Boganhem
There is a saying in Boganhem – even when the sun bathes all of the country, Goddhaus is covered in dark clouds. And the day following the summer solstice was no exception – the province was indeed covered in dark clouds, giving even the hottest summer days a dark feel. Not very far from Svarttor, the only major city in the province not under Rikhardist control, lies the village of Eriksbrock, a small settlement with over 10,000 inhabitants. What seemed to be an irrelevant town was, in fact, a point of utmost strategic importance – just north of the settlement was an important 17th century bridge, the Eriksbrock, from which the village borrows its name – the Eriksbrock brige was the only effective and quick way for someone to access large areas of Goddhaus, namely extremely mountainous zones, which otherwise could only be accessed from the north or through the Bantyric border.
Eriksbrock was not directly under Rikhard’s control, lying between government- and rikhardist-control areas. However, the peaceful status of Eriksbrock as an ambiguous town was about to end.
Some local children had come to the city running, visibly scared. ‘There are soldiers coming!’ they said. The locals didn’t know what to think – could they be Robert’s soldiers, or could they be Rikhard’s soldiers?’. Helicopters were sighted over the town, and, from the rocky road that connects Eirksbrock to Svarttor, tanks and armed men started to arrive, telling the locals to be calm and to retreat to their homes. The town’s Hebtburger (Head-Citizen, a local kind of Mayor), refused to abide until explanations were given. So, after about 500 armed men arrived and started to mount tents and campaign material, a tall man, dressed in military attire and full of medals, managed to start a small conversation with the Hebtburger.
“I am General Ferdinand fon Goggenveld, and this is the 51st Batallion… We are so sorry for the unexpected arrival. But we could not warn you earlier due to the classified nature of it. It has reached my knowledge that your town hasn’t had any incidents with the Rikhardists – they use Eriksbrock merely as a gateway to Svarttor, right?”
“That’s right. They had done nothing to us – just threats concerning their ‘right of passage’. They promised they would do us no harm if we just let them pass through the bridge.”
“Well, we got informations that tell they are about to break the promise. In the next moments, they are planning to attack Eriksbrock, in order to stage a grand attack southwards.”
“I hope you are not lying General – we value very much our situation and our quietness, away from those political events.”
“Oh, but sir. Your town is in Goddhaus – it is impossible to stay outside these political events…”
After giving his permission to the General, the Hebtburger ordered the local police to tell the people to go inside their houses, cover the windows with black paper, turn off the lights and be silent.
While tents and artillery was being mounted in the town’s outskirts, a scout sent by General Goggenveld arrived. Apparently, Rikhardist guerillas were sighted on the other side of the bridge. While the scout gave fon Goggenveld more details a large explosion was heard. As the General turned around, the batteries had been hit by something, a missile probably, but surely some kind of artillery.
While he was trying to evaluate how many injured and dead resulted from the explosion, two more were heard, this time a bit further. As some soldiers followed the smoke they reached another disturbing conclusion – the bridge was no more. As the smoke faded, only a pillar was left, with the rubble going away with river Hölig’s stream.
General fon Goggenveld, visibly troubled said to his aides: ‘How the fuck did they get artillery?’
There is a saying in Boganhem – even when the sun bathes all of the country, Goddhaus is covered in dark clouds. And the day following the summer solstice was no exception – the province was indeed covered in dark clouds, giving even the hottest summer days a dark feel. Not very far from Svarttor, the only major city in the province not under Rikhardist control, lies the village of Eriksbrock, a small settlement with over 10,000 inhabitants. What seemed to be an irrelevant town was, in fact, a point of utmost strategic importance – just north of the settlement was an important 17th century bridge, the Eriksbrock, from which the village borrows its name – the Eriksbrock brige was the only effective and quick way for someone to access large areas of Goddhaus, namely extremely mountainous zones, which otherwise could only be accessed from the north or through the Bantyric border.
Eriksbrock was not directly under Rikhard’s control, lying between government- and rikhardist-control areas. However, the peaceful status of Eriksbrock as an ambiguous town was about to end.
Some local children had come to the city running, visibly scared. ‘There are soldiers coming!’ they said. The locals didn’t know what to think – could they be Robert’s soldiers, or could they be Rikhard’s soldiers?’. Helicopters were sighted over the town, and, from the rocky road that connects Eirksbrock to Svarttor, tanks and armed men started to arrive, telling the locals to be calm and to retreat to their homes. The town’s Hebtburger (Head-Citizen, a local kind of Mayor), refused to abide until explanations were given. So, after about 500 armed men arrived and started to mount tents and campaign material, a tall man, dressed in military attire and full of medals, managed to start a small conversation with the Hebtburger.
“I am General Ferdinand fon Goggenveld, and this is the 51st Batallion… We are so sorry for the unexpected arrival. But we could not warn you earlier due to the classified nature of it. It has reached my knowledge that your town hasn’t had any incidents with the Rikhardists – they use Eriksbrock merely as a gateway to Svarttor, right?”
“That’s right. They had done nothing to us – just threats concerning their ‘right of passage’. They promised they would do us no harm if we just let them pass through the bridge.”
“Well, we got informations that tell they are about to break the promise. In the next moments, they are planning to attack Eriksbrock, in order to stage a grand attack southwards.”
“I hope you are not lying General – we value very much our situation and our quietness, away from those political events.”
“Oh, but sir. Your town is in Goddhaus – it is impossible to stay outside these political events…”
After giving his permission to the General, the Hebtburger ordered the local police to tell the people to go inside their houses, cover the windows with black paper, turn off the lights and be silent.
While tents and artillery was being mounted in the town’s outskirts, a scout sent by General Goggenveld arrived. Apparently, Rikhardist guerillas were sighted on the other side of the bridge. While the scout gave fon Goggenveld more details a large explosion was heard. As the General turned around, the batteries had been hit by something, a missile probably, but surely some kind of artillery.
While he was trying to evaluate how many injured and dead resulted from the explosion, two more were heard, this time a bit further. As some soldiers followed the smoke they reached another disturbing conclusion – the bridge was no more. As the smoke faded, only a pillar was left, with the rubble going away with river Hölig’s stream.
General fon Goggenveld, visibly troubled said to his aides: ‘How the fuck did they get artillery?’
