Sorry for the wait! Real life sent me a few harsh blows in a combination so rapid that it would've made Ip Man proud. As such, it took me a lot longer than intended to get it posted. Although, to be fair, I chose to extend the chapter a little bit right at the last minute-which combined with my schedule to cause another two days of delay. However, the wait is over. Here it is! Enjoy!
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After seven days of riding at a pace that only the Xia and their stout and hardy little horses could muster, they had covered more than eight hundred miles and would arrive in Doria early the next morning.
Michael still had no actual memories but the information accessible to his mind seemed to be multiplying. However, the information was only that. He had no emotional connection to any of it, it was simply data. And, of course, none of the information had to do with who he was or what he had experienced. Hells, he didn't even know WHAT he was. He was pretty sure most humans couldn't punch through an Orc's thickly muscular chest, let alone pull out the offending Orc's heart in a movement too fast to see.
There were other examples as well, but more than anything, he simply felt like he COULD do more. Much more. For now though, he would occupy himself with re-examining the information that he did have. Because one thing he was sure of is that he had an absolute need to extinguish evil whenever he came across it. It was more than a dislike it even a hate. The sensation was truly physical even. He could FEEL it in every fiber of his being. He couldn't explain it but that sure wouldn't stop him from acting in it.
He also found it peculiar that he somehow knew that Demons came in varying levels of evil, containing varying levels of Dark energy. Nothing was immune to Dark energy. Not even Gods, though most of them have built up huge tolerances to it over the years. Which, combined with their immeasurable power, created a situation where some lowly Demon was highly unlikely to present a threat to such a powerful being.
Gods weren't likely to be much of a factor in this war, though. This war was going to win or lost mostly by humans, hopefully with significant aid or allegiance of the Orcs and the Elfs, for they were the races who stood to lose the most.
There were many warlike cultures on Aurion, though few of this generation hadn't seen anything like the all encompassing war that was ready heading their way. There was the Aurion Empire who ruled the lands. Their Legions were highly trained, impeccably organized and they had a major network that supported all of their logistical needs. They are also not hesitant to embrace weapons, techniques and tactics of other people, especially their enemies.
It had been the Empire who had led the Aurion against the Jotun invasion of Frost Giants and their allies. They had then built the Northern Wall to defend against any future invasions, though the Jotun were badly mauled by the end of the war and only a handful of their warriors ever made it back to their homelands.
The Xia were also very warlike and their lack of organization and absence of infantry and siege capabilities were the primary reasons they weren't a major threat to the Empire. There was little doubt that they produced the best mass cavalry force in the world. Xia parents spent their time riding, breeding, training or tending their animals. In order to keep their young children where they could keep an eye on them, their toddlers were lashed to the backs of sheep with leather straps before they could even walk. Every one of them, man and woman, could ride long before puberty.
This meant that any who chose to be warriors were already expert horsemen as well as archers. A powerful Longbow could fire a light arrow out to three hundred, maybe a little further. A powerful standard composite bow could reach out to four hundred meters or so. A Xia archer could launch an arrow five hundred meters with enough accuracy to hit an enemy shield wall or group. At two hundred meters they could hit a man's torso ten times out of ten, with enough accuracy to hit his heart, liver or lungs and with enough power to penetrate all but the thickest metal armor with lethal energy to spare or kill a horse with a single arrow.
And any enemy near or less than one hundred meters could expect an arrow through their eye socket. And that is when they are firing from the saddle. They were even trained to use their bows as close range weapons, trusting their intuitive horses to keep them moving and making them a hard target for any swords or spears. Their stirrups and inherent equestrian ability obviously didn't hurt once they had closed with their enemy, usually after picking apart their formations with waves of armor piercing arrows.
Their dedicated close combat weapons were the horseman's Saber, Crescent headed battle axes, Kontos lances for the steel scaled heavy Cavalry on the charge and the ever-underestimated Lasso for the boiled leather clad light horsemen. The Xia were extremely skilled and accurate with their ropes and each man carried one on his saddle. However, there was also an elite unit tribal horsemen called "Ropers". The two thousand man force highly feared by all who faced them.
Clad in only leather breeches, without armor or even shirts, they painted their faces, bodies and horses with intricately designed war paint. They carried no swords or spears and even their bows stayed in their saddle mounted bow-cases most of the time. Their belts carried long, wickedly shaped daggers and each had several coils of braided hemp and leather rope. A heavy shield wall was their best target. All those closely grouped and stationary men in an even front made an enticing target.
The riders could approach without much concern, especially after any javelins had already been thrown, and cast their nooses over the bodies of the men before tearing up and using the strength of the horses to snap their necks or yank them out of the protection of the phalanx to be kicked and trampled to death by sharpened hooves. Then the next line of Ropers would appear as they attacked in waves to give their riders time and room to maneuver before retreating back out of range before any retaliation could be thrown, shot or sallied forth from the enemy phalanx.
A technique often not appreciated without bearing direct witnessed, one would think a horse and a rope would make it rather obvious that there was a painful death in store for any ensnared but many fighters get caught up in the clash and glory of steel.
The Xia also used well bred and highly trained plains Wolves in the place of dogs for guarding, tracking and fighting. Many warriors, especially officers, had large Wolves that accompanied and guarded them in combat. However, their main impact was made through a huge unit of precisely trained Wolves who were led and cared for by handlers but simply released off the leash for an attack in battle. A huge wave of a couple thousand large Wolves who could bring down horses and leap shield walls often served the purpose of infantry, being released in unison after the enemy was tired, thirsty, isolated, low on morale and riddled with arrows. If the enemy broke and fled...well, good luck outrunning a Wolf. Often times, the Wolves were covered in thick boiled leather armor, sometimes enhanced with metal spikes and claw extensions.
Being from an area that was both isolated and near the Dark Orcs and Jotun Frost Giants meant that the Dagdaii on the mainland and their crazy cousins, who called themselves the Seal People and lived on the islands off the coast, had to be fighters or corpses. The fact that they come from a hard and cold coastal land makes the tribesmen tough from youth. The fact that they had no organized heavy infantry, cavalry or navy, yet are still there, is an indicator of their fearsome wrath and intense Guerrilla Warfare tactics.
They too, can live off the land without much in the way of crops or resupply. They fought with the aid of huge, shaggy oversized hunting hounds (an ancient mix of the Giant Sheep Hound, Westero Wolfhound, Great Moutain Mastiff and the Mountain Dire Wolf (that now only inhabit the Eastern (Orc) Mountains, along with a few other otherwise extinct species). And the Seal People were fast enough on foot to keep pace with them. The fact that they knew every foot path, animal trail and shortcut in their home range made them like Ghosts.
They occasionally wore bone armor and thick pelts, but most usually made do with nothing more than blue war paint in tribal designs, swirls and flourishes all over their exposed bodies. Their scarcity of good steel was overcome by only using steel for their limited number of swords while arrowheads were made from bronze, bone or obsidian and axes, spearheads and maces were made from obsidian, bronze or sometimes even flint. They used baked clay, wood, whale bone and plant fibers for most of their construction and art work. Gold, silver and ivory made up most of their jewelry.
The Dagdaii had access to much more quality steel, though their weapons were mostly the same in all but construction material and quality, as the Dagdaii favored swords, spears, axes and longbows. Their lands also contained more timber and precious metal than the Seal People, which allowed them more wealth, trade and a wider range of resources. The fact that they weren't isolated on a chain of island tundras also helped greatly.
In the west, there was the Amazons of Olympia who use their jungle to enhance the effectiveness of their ingenious traps, natural fortifications and impossibly strong bows.
There were the Viking Marines if the Western Isles who used their sleek longships to raid along the coasts and rivers of the main island of Wessex when they weren't fighting on the seas and coasts.
Even the isolated and primitive clans of the Black mountains were masters of mountain warfare and Guerrilla tactics, using their bronze spiked rawhide boots to provide them with a firm platform on the icy mountains to launch their huge javelin-sized arrows from longbows or swing their pole arms, the inner curved blades of their Falxes cleaving shield and limb alike.
However, the purest and most dedicated people were the Hoplites of Doria.
Their children were examined for weakness or deformity at birth and their males start military training in their brutal academy at seven years old. Weak children were to be abandoned and those who failed the academy couldn't attain full citizenship.
Both were rare, though, as Dorian couples were only allowed to have children if both parents were unusually strong and intelligent and they lived up to the Dorian ideals. A couple thousand years of selective breeding turning the average male into a specimen of masculinity and the average female unusually strong, capable and attractive. With all of the fit citizen men of age in the military, it fell to their large slave population to work the fields, cut the lumber and smith the metal.
