Post by Harkovast on Jan 30, 2018 15:56:09 GMT
The Levengroust lived in the South of Xalkara, physically resembled skunks and used the magics of death and technology.
The Levengroust were a high organised, communal people, who focused on putting the group before the individual and on loyalty to authority.
They were controlled by a hereditary ruler called the Kaiser and aristocracy who were seen as the personifications of the state, expected to always act in the interest of the Levengroust in exchange for the people’s undying loyalty.
The Levengroust were great builders and creators, from their massive foundries and factories to their small inventors workshops, their whole race seemed driven by a need to progress and advance.
For a long time they were a minor power, producing goods in great amounts of of great quality that were traded all over Xalkara and beyond. Though their wealth grew, they had no wider ambitions or desire for conquest.
In time, as the great powers began to decline and their own economies stagnated, they grew ever more dependant on the productivity of the Levengroust to support them, making the Levengroust economy ever stronger in the process.
Over tim the Levengroust grew strong, dictating terms to once mighty nations, who had to humble themselves to gain the Kaisers support.
Beyond their borders, the Levengroust began to see a new threat arising.
The Levengroust had never got on with their western neighbours, the Galdrasai who they saw as large, fierce barbarians, obsessed with war and violence.
When the Galdrasai decisively crushed the armies of the Ishmus King of Kings and his Immortals, the Levengroust were horrified.
Other nations they could deal with, make arrangements with, based on trade and the movement of goods. But an ascendant Galdrasai Protectorate would have no desire to talk with the Levengroust, and could threaten to bring down all the Levengroust had built.
Fear of the horrors of the Galdrasai threat spurred the Levengroust to action. Their nation was changed for a passive nation of craftsmen to an expansive empire, The Levengroust Reich.
The loyal militia would not be sufficient for this new age of war, and the Levengroust began turning their industry and inventiveness to warfare.
The Galdrasai were a warrior race without fear, each of their Gendarme personifying discipline, ferocity, skill and power, their burning blades slicing through men and armour with ease. The Levengroust, ever practical, had no illusions that they could hope to match these elite fighters in a direct contest of arms and courage.
The Levengroust would need other advantages to even the battlefield.
Pyronite hand guns, fires with a lit fuse, were produced in great amounts, along with long halbards to hold off the Galdrasai at a distance. Vast numbers of Levengroust left their factories to march to the battlefields, donning hardened leather armour and helmets with a distinctive spike on top.
Elite formations of warriors were formed. The Ritter were heavily armoured fighters, dressed in distinctive ceramic armour created to be both strong and resistant to the heat of Galdrasai weapons. Armed with lethal war hammers to batter in Galdrasai plate armour, the Ritter were created to stand where the fighting was fiercest and hold the line against the worse the Galdrasai warmachine could throw at them.
Against the mighty juggernaut of Galdrasai armoured warriors, the Levengroust looked to unconventional modes of attack.
The formed the hussars, light cavalry riders who would harass Galdrasai formations and strike at vulnerable archers or supply lines, but flee from the direct conflict with the Gendarme. The most elite and dashing of these suss riders were the Death’s Head Hussars, who wore a distinctive skull symbol on their hats. Membership to this group was granted only to those riders who had shown the greatest bravery and almost reckless courage, unusual traits amongst the normally cautious Levengroust.
The Jaeger Corps were probably the most well known, and amongst the Galdrasai the most hated of the Levengroust fighting formations. They were elite marksman, scouts and skirmishes, who would work to constantly weaken and undermine the Galdrasai forces. The Galdrasai considered them cowardly and shameful opponents, and decreed that any Jaeger captured would be hanged as a bandit rather than treated as a prisoner of war.
Despite the terrible dangers they endured, the Jaeger were a deadly weapon for the Reich. Many utilised specialised equipment and advanced proto type weapons.
Most commonly these were flintlock or wheelock guns, created by precision specialist craftsmen and fired with purified forms of pyronite that the Galdrasai could only produce in small quantities.
Some utilised curious air powered rifles, that fired based on building up internal pressure. These were virtually silent and relatively fast firing, but temperamental, expensive and complicated to operate, so only an elite Jaeger could be trusted to make use of one effectively.
The Jaeger also deployed poisoned gas bombs, a deadly weapon the Levengroust also flung from catapults at the enemy. However, lacking proper protection from their own gas aside from a soaked cloth over the face and goggles, the Jaegers used these weapons at great personal risk. Whats more, a sudden change of wind could make gas as deadly to the Levengroust as to the enemy!
The most lethal, and feared, of this elite force was Panzer Jaeger Frou Vandertrop.
She fought in a distinctive suit of armour of her own creation, mounting large spikes on the wrists. If they pierced an opponent she could drain the magical energy from their body, reducing them to a shrivelled husk. This stolen energy was converted into a substance she referred to as “Death Plasma” and her suit was able to project it as streams of horrendous, green acid that would melt flesh, bones or armour.
With her face covered by an unblinking mask and shrouded in green poisoned smoke leaking from her equipment, she was viewed with horror by the Galdrasai. Her terrible weapons operated at very high pressure, producing a frightful, high pitched whining sound. This otherworldly noise led the Galdrasai to refer to her as “The Banshee” after the mythical howling spirit of the same name.
While her methods might have seemed monstrous to the Galdrasai, to the Levengroust she was a national hero. To them war was a horrible thing by nature, fought for survival, and there was no room for niceties in such a struggle. Galdrasai notions of honour and glory from bloodshed were alien and barbaric to them. The Levengroust had no desire to dress up their conflicts as anything more then what they were, a fight for dominance form which only one people could emerge victorious. Frou Vandertrop was an absolute patriot, ready to use her talents in anyway she could to defend the nation she loved and serve her Kaiser.
The Levengroust were the first nations to be able to hold their own against the mighty Galdrasai. The Levengroust, true to their cautious nature, were primarily defensive in their tactics, harassing approaching enemies and then mounting a strong defence. If things went badly they would retreat to their now heavily walled cities or the many fortresses they had built to defend their territory.
The Galdrasai were aggressive and decisive by nature, always keen to attack and take territory.
In the Levengroust they found a supremely frustrating opponent, one that couldn’t be decisively destroyed on the battlefield and would always withdraw, regroup and return.
Between the Galdrasai’s supreme powers of attack, the Levengroust’s unbreakable defence, the two nations became locked in a great struggle that would drag on for years. Each side would claim many great victories and many mighty heroes would fight and die for each side, but neither could find a way to break the stalemate and achieve a truly decisive advantage.
Soon the other nations of Xalkara, once great powers, became mere pawns in the conflict between the two rivals. The Lukavir in particular soon found they were no longer masters of their own destiny, with foreign leaders choosing the fate of their nation, always thinking of their own advantage and caring nothing for the Lukavir’s fate.
The Levengroust had no religion as such, and considered talk about any kind of after life to be idle speculation and distasteful. There was plenty of hard work to do in this world without worrying about another one! Supernatural claims were not worth their time, the Levengroust only dealt in the definite and the practical. They were creative but not especially artistic, with things they made being desired for function rather than form.
This led foreigners to view them as a drab, unimaginative people, with a grim, colourless society.
The Levengroust focused their adoration on the state and on their leaders, a greater cause beyond the individual that they were all expected to strive for.
Communal and cooperative, they would eat in great halls beside their factories, farms and workshops, eating a diet of sausage and pickled cabbage, as well as tankards of beer.
To outsiders the Levengroust existence seemed drab and miserable, full of toil and drudgery. However, their food halls were full of much singing, as the Levengroust found great satisfaction in their productive existences. To be useful and to play their part in helping the Reich was a worthy life for the Levengroust.
The Levengroust were inventive and creative, always keen to explore new ideas and looking to their craftsmanship to solve problems. They were defensive and cautious by nature, adverse to danger and unnecessary risk. Protecting what had already been won was considered more important than winning new resources. The Reich’s expansion was always gradual and carefully planned, avoiding over extending but perhaps letting opportunities slip away.
The Levengroust had no prejudice between genders or towards homosexuality in their society. Laziness, disobedience or disloyalty were the things Levengroust considered deadly sins, people’s private lives were of no significance. They were also tolerant of half castes. Those with a Levengroust soul were considered full Levengroust and to question this was considered in poor taste. One who had a mother from another nation would be welcome amongst the Levengroust, but might struggle to live up to the standards of their Reich expected.
The Levengroust were not a warrior people by inclination, but they committed to all problems with great enthusiasm, dedication all their resources to a cause, so that their society came to rival even the mighty Galdrasai.
The Levengroust were a high organised, communal people, who focused on putting the group before the individual and on loyalty to authority.
They were controlled by a hereditary ruler called the Kaiser and aristocracy who were seen as the personifications of the state, expected to always act in the interest of the Levengroust in exchange for the people’s undying loyalty.
The Levengroust were great builders and creators, from their massive foundries and factories to their small inventors workshops, their whole race seemed driven by a need to progress and advance.
For a long time they were a minor power, producing goods in great amounts of of great quality that were traded all over Xalkara and beyond. Though their wealth grew, they had no wider ambitions or desire for conquest.
In time, as the great powers began to decline and their own economies stagnated, they grew ever more dependant on the productivity of the Levengroust to support them, making the Levengroust economy ever stronger in the process.
Over tim the Levengroust grew strong, dictating terms to once mighty nations, who had to humble themselves to gain the Kaisers support.
Beyond their borders, the Levengroust began to see a new threat arising.
The Levengroust had never got on with their western neighbours, the Galdrasai who they saw as large, fierce barbarians, obsessed with war and violence.
When the Galdrasai decisively crushed the armies of the Ishmus King of Kings and his Immortals, the Levengroust were horrified.
Other nations they could deal with, make arrangements with, based on trade and the movement of goods. But an ascendant Galdrasai Protectorate would have no desire to talk with the Levengroust, and could threaten to bring down all the Levengroust had built.
Fear of the horrors of the Galdrasai threat spurred the Levengroust to action. Their nation was changed for a passive nation of craftsmen to an expansive empire, The Levengroust Reich.
The loyal militia would not be sufficient for this new age of war, and the Levengroust began turning their industry and inventiveness to warfare.
The Galdrasai were a warrior race without fear, each of their Gendarme personifying discipline, ferocity, skill and power, their burning blades slicing through men and armour with ease. The Levengroust, ever practical, had no illusions that they could hope to match these elite fighters in a direct contest of arms and courage.
The Levengroust would need other advantages to even the battlefield.
Pyronite hand guns, fires with a lit fuse, were produced in great amounts, along with long halbards to hold off the Galdrasai at a distance. Vast numbers of Levengroust left their factories to march to the battlefields, donning hardened leather armour and helmets with a distinctive spike on top.
Elite formations of warriors were formed. The Ritter were heavily armoured fighters, dressed in distinctive ceramic armour created to be both strong and resistant to the heat of Galdrasai weapons. Armed with lethal war hammers to batter in Galdrasai plate armour, the Ritter were created to stand where the fighting was fiercest and hold the line against the worse the Galdrasai warmachine could throw at them.
Against the mighty juggernaut of Galdrasai armoured warriors, the Levengroust looked to unconventional modes of attack.
The formed the hussars, light cavalry riders who would harass Galdrasai formations and strike at vulnerable archers or supply lines, but flee from the direct conflict with the Gendarme. The most elite and dashing of these suss riders were the Death’s Head Hussars, who wore a distinctive skull symbol on their hats. Membership to this group was granted only to those riders who had shown the greatest bravery and almost reckless courage, unusual traits amongst the normally cautious Levengroust.
The Jaeger Corps were probably the most well known, and amongst the Galdrasai the most hated of the Levengroust fighting formations. They were elite marksman, scouts and skirmishes, who would work to constantly weaken and undermine the Galdrasai forces. The Galdrasai considered them cowardly and shameful opponents, and decreed that any Jaeger captured would be hanged as a bandit rather than treated as a prisoner of war.
Despite the terrible dangers they endured, the Jaeger were a deadly weapon for the Reich. Many utilised specialised equipment and advanced proto type weapons.
Most commonly these were flintlock or wheelock guns, created by precision specialist craftsmen and fired with purified forms of pyronite that the Galdrasai could only produce in small quantities.
Some utilised curious air powered rifles, that fired based on building up internal pressure. These were virtually silent and relatively fast firing, but temperamental, expensive and complicated to operate, so only an elite Jaeger could be trusted to make use of one effectively.
The Jaeger also deployed poisoned gas bombs, a deadly weapon the Levengroust also flung from catapults at the enemy. However, lacking proper protection from their own gas aside from a soaked cloth over the face and goggles, the Jaegers used these weapons at great personal risk. Whats more, a sudden change of wind could make gas as deadly to the Levengroust as to the enemy!
The most lethal, and feared, of this elite force was Panzer Jaeger Frou Vandertrop.
She fought in a distinctive suit of armour of her own creation, mounting large spikes on the wrists. If they pierced an opponent she could drain the magical energy from their body, reducing them to a shrivelled husk. This stolen energy was converted into a substance she referred to as “Death Plasma” and her suit was able to project it as streams of horrendous, green acid that would melt flesh, bones or armour.
With her face covered by an unblinking mask and shrouded in green poisoned smoke leaking from her equipment, she was viewed with horror by the Galdrasai. Her terrible weapons operated at very high pressure, producing a frightful, high pitched whining sound. This otherworldly noise led the Galdrasai to refer to her as “The Banshee” after the mythical howling spirit of the same name.
While her methods might have seemed monstrous to the Galdrasai, to the Levengroust she was a national hero. To them war was a horrible thing by nature, fought for survival, and there was no room for niceties in such a struggle. Galdrasai notions of honour and glory from bloodshed were alien and barbaric to them. The Levengroust had no desire to dress up their conflicts as anything more then what they were, a fight for dominance form which only one people could emerge victorious. Frou Vandertrop was an absolute patriot, ready to use her talents in anyway she could to defend the nation she loved and serve her Kaiser.
The Levengroust were the first nations to be able to hold their own against the mighty Galdrasai. The Levengroust, true to their cautious nature, were primarily defensive in their tactics, harassing approaching enemies and then mounting a strong defence. If things went badly they would retreat to their now heavily walled cities or the many fortresses they had built to defend their territory.
The Galdrasai were aggressive and decisive by nature, always keen to attack and take territory.
In the Levengroust they found a supremely frustrating opponent, one that couldn’t be decisively destroyed on the battlefield and would always withdraw, regroup and return.
Between the Galdrasai’s supreme powers of attack, the Levengroust’s unbreakable defence, the two nations became locked in a great struggle that would drag on for years. Each side would claim many great victories and many mighty heroes would fight and die for each side, but neither could find a way to break the stalemate and achieve a truly decisive advantage.
Soon the other nations of Xalkara, once great powers, became mere pawns in the conflict between the two rivals. The Lukavir in particular soon found they were no longer masters of their own destiny, with foreign leaders choosing the fate of their nation, always thinking of their own advantage and caring nothing for the Lukavir’s fate.
The Levengroust had no religion as such, and considered talk about any kind of after life to be idle speculation and distasteful. There was plenty of hard work to do in this world without worrying about another one! Supernatural claims were not worth their time, the Levengroust only dealt in the definite and the practical. They were creative but not especially artistic, with things they made being desired for function rather than form.
This led foreigners to view them as a drab, unimaginative people, with a grim, colourless society.
The Levengroust focused their adoration on the state and on their leaders, a greater cause beyond the individual that they were all expected to strive for.
Communal and cooperative, they would eat in great halls beside their factories, farms and workshops, eating a diet of sausage and pickled cabbage, as well as tankards of beer.
To outsiders the Levengroust existence seemed drab and miserable, full of toil and drudgery. However, their food halls were full of much singing, as the Levengroust found great satisfaction in their productive existences. To be useful and to play their part in helping the Reich was a worthy life for the Levengroust.
The Levengroust were inventive and creative, always keen to explore new ideas and looking to their craftsmanship to solve problems. They were defensive and cautious by nature, adverse to danger and unnecessary risk. Protecting what had already been won was considered more important than winning new resources. The Reich’s expansion was always gradual and carefully planned, avoiding over extending but perhaps letting opportunities slip away.
The Levengroust had no prejudice between genders or towards homosexuality in their society. Laziness, disobedience or disloyalty were the things Levengroust considered deadly sins, people’s private lives were of no significance. They were also tolerant of half castes. Those with a Levengroust soul were considered full Levengroust and to question this was considered in poor taste. One who had a mother from another nation would be welcome amongst the Levengroust, but might struggle to live up to the standards of their Reich expected.
The Levengroust were not a warrior people by inclination, but they committed to all problems with great enthusiasm, dedication all their resources to a cause, so that their society came to rival even the mighty Galdrasai.
