Letters to Home

This is just going to be a quick series of letters my character Corvus Anjou wrote to his fiance, Katjaa Nocte, during his time with Monvallis in the Kandarin war. All of these letters were written icly and a few may be found on the forums.

Letter 1 - 5th of Phyrrs, 6th Age
I'm so sorry, Katjaa. I trust you knew this day was coming. I've been called up for active service by the chancellor to serve with the Monvallian Rangers. It's why I had to leave in a hurry. In just a few days, Monvallian troops will storm up White Wolf Mountain and take the first Kandar camp there, near the base. There is two on the mountain, the second carrying a large contingent of Kandarian soldiers. The first is lightly guarded but has supplies and cannon and that is not to be tolerated. Almost everyone in Monvallis, it seems, is in the army. Most wear the standard heavy armor of the Legion but I see a few Mages or even Rangers. The tension is palpable. Many tears are shed daily and orphanages grow as both mothers and fathers are drafted. No one is exempt. I miss you Katjaa. I hope to see you soon.

Letter 2 - 8th of Phyrrs, 6th Age
Orders just came down from the Chancellor himself. We're going to be moving tonight. Myself and a small force of rangers are to take the base camp. The Kandars don't know. It'll be a surprise attack and we will have won the bottom half the mountain before they know it. How are things back at home? Is it starting to get cold? Everyone morning frost coats the ground here. I hope we can get at least one campaign in before the winter. Say a pray to Saradomin for me, Katjaa. Just to be safe.

Letter 3 - 9th of Phyrrs, 6th Age
We took the camp. We suffered no casualties, but it was a hard fight. The Kandars had only a few men, but they made each one count. Grenadiers showed up halfway through the battle and gave us a run for our money but our new liquid fire bombs worked very well against fools in cloth...The main camp didn't seem to want to commit more men to the engagement. I'm sitting under a pathetic hutch that me and my buddy Nolfavrell threw up against the camp palisade. It's freezing. Fires keep going out because the wood is too damp so no hot food either. We have to eat our marching rations, which consist of dried fruit and bread so hard it can break your teeth. Sometimes, when it's quiet (And it often is) We can here a Kandar patrol higher up on the mountain. We can see their fires on the Altmuaris side of White Wolf. They speak the same langauge we do, talk about the same things. It makes me wonder if they want to be here or if they were ripped from their families like so many around us. Some of the newest draftees came up today to reinforce our company. Their armor was fine, but maybe too big for some of them. They couldn't have been older than 18. So young. Their swords were held improperly. I pray for them that they don't meet their end somewhere up here. We may never find their bodies. It's starting to snow and t e pa  r i get n w t. I l v you.

Letter 4 - 14th of Phyrrs, 6th Age
It's been busy here. We've had a warm day for once and some dry wood came up from the city. The cooks have plans for some hot stew tonight. Three whole new companies have come up today, amounting to 430 men, including the recruits mentioned in my last letter. Some mortars also arrived today. The artillery crews are veterans and they're beginning to shell the upper camp as I write this. It's tiring hearing: Click - "Fire!" - Thud - Boom every 30 seconds or so. It's really too far away to hit the Kandar camp accuratly but this is mostly to make them feel the stress. Rumor has it we'll be attack tomorrow and that the Kandars are strengthed by White Knights and a new abomination, an armored fire shooter. I pray that the feeding mechanism freezes up or something so we don't have to face those. The Captain just came around and told us two things: That the stew is ready and that we should sleep on our weapons, meaning early tomorrow we're moving out. Wish me luck, Katjaa. I'm going to need it.

Letter 5 - 15th of Phyrrs, 6th Age
We're back in our lower camp. The battle was a massacre. We're down to 200 men. So much death, Katjaa. They didn't send up enough men. They outnumbered and outgunned us. The fire carriers lit up a whole squadron right in front of me. The new guys. They wore their cloaks into battle, thinking it would help at some point.

It made them burn faster.

They had repeating crossbows, engines which spit bolts faster than ours. The White Knights brought along hordes of armed priests who swarmed our men en-masse. So many people dead, Katjaa. Not that we didn't inflict casualties of our own. I'd say we killed about 200. Our mortars finally got the right range about halfway through and slaughtered many men, a few of them friendly. As I write, I'm wrapping a bandage around my left arm where a bolt grazed it. Many men here are bleeding into the snow, turning it some unearthly red. A few there is a no hope for. I can only wish the medics and reinforcements arrive soon so we can try again. We must have this mountain if we are to win the war.

Letter 6 - 19th of Phyrrs, 6th Age
After much anticipation and waiting, the rumors are confirmed true. Peace. The Republic of Monvallis has made peace with the Empire of Kandarin. They are to make little to no contact with each other in the future to avoid further conflict. The Mountain is in Monvallian hands. We're safe. What remained of our division, the 143nd Special Operations, has been sent back down. A unit of recruits has been sent up as a garrison force. Saradomin bless their souls. Our division suffered the most casualties out of all, with the others being the 301st Maniple, which took part in the final, fatal assault, and the South Fleet. the 301st lost about 50 men and the the Fleet lost two frigates in a skirmish. The losses for the war, while not terrible, are still bad. But, Katjaa, the loss of one man is a tradgedy, the loss of hundreds is a statistic. These seem to be words armies live by. I guess our's isn't an exception. I'm going to be home soon. I heard that one of the 214th Maniple guys got his hands on some blank teletablets. I'll see if I can buy one and get a mage to set it to the correct spell.

Home.

It seems odd to me. It's only been a few weeks but it feels like forever. I'll see you soon.