The sun rises over the Smoky Mountains, revealing dew- and fog-covered valleys, the remnants of East Tennessee after the veil fall. The parting fog reveals a settlement, a mixture of old and new buildings with a definite medieval flair, a castle on a hill overlooking a medium town with people beginning to truly leave their homes for work. Whether it be working fields and shepherding herds or more skilled work like blacksmithing and carpentry.However, to you this is the new beginning; your father lies buried in the graveyard next to the small orchard the family has maintained for generations. With his passing you are now the duke of Stone Bridge. A man you had once thought indestructible layed low by a poisoned arrow from some Swail clan scum. His armor had stopped dozens of arrows, spears, and axe strikes, but there is always one. What had been an attempt to open some communication to at least lessen the constant hostilities between some of the mountain clans and your own house, not to mention all the other houses and noble lords that dotted the rivers and hills just below the mountains, instead ended in the death of your father and some of his retinue by ambush.Now though is not the time for grieving, for you are a Duke of Stone Bridge, and you must take your vengeance as all lords of the hills and rivers do through reiving, and you shall not just stop at some lives of their boys and whatever herds you can claim from Clan Swale today; no, you shall destroy their main winter settlement if you can as you stand from where you were kneeling before the cross that marks your father, and you begin sending riders to all who swear their arms to you in the outlying villages as you order your servants to prepare rooms for the lords and knights with a mustering space for their respective retinues. This is a quest set in a post-apocalyptic America where, at least to your knowledge of the surrounding regions, it is anything from forest and mountain clans who only wear their highest chain and live a semi-nomadic lifestyle all the way to the early modern period, circa the English Civil War, with everything in between being possible. You and the lands you control have a tech level of mostly the hundred wars era equivalent with some things that are more advanced, like stagecoaches. Your stylings and culture are somewhat inspired by English border reivers, but you're more likely to have some full plate, but you will have more medium and lighter cavalry in the form of hobelars and similar things. Monsters and magic similar to fantasy do exist with monsters being not uncommon, some even talk of different races, but magic of any real power is incredibly rare.Feel free to ask any questions you may have this my first time running a quest here What is your name [ write in ]Are you married or at least betrothed already [ yes/no ]
OP, may I ask what is with the formatting?>Name: Jacob Duke>No
If you mean the text formatting for the general writing it was more spilt up until I guess my copy and paste messed it up, for the options that's just how I did it because it's my first time writing a quest on here and I don't know how else to do it.
>>6377082Ah, yeah, spacing often needs some adjustment after posting in the 4chan texr box. Also, and I mean no offense, but I strongly recommend being a bit more particular with some of the punctuation for readability. That said, it's a cool premise!
Yeah, punctuation is not my strong suit I use a grammar and spelling checker but, in the future, I'll look at more closely.
>>6377051>What is your name [ write in ]Isabel Holbane>Are you married or at least betrothed already [ yes/no ]Married
>>6377115Just wondering if you meant for your vote to be a female character I mean I could try writing her, but I had planned on it being a male character I probably should have mentioned that.
>>6377118Yes
>>6377115Supporting
Voting will be done around noon tomorrow I'm going to be honest I'm not sure how I could make this story work with a female main character not to mention I don't think I have the skills to write that. So I might not count those votes I'm sorry for not making that clear earlier .
>>6377079+1
Just so you have a general idea of what land you control, if the county is red, that means it is definitely under your control. Of course, that's often through vassals rather than directly, though there are still dangers in these areas, such as monsters and bandits. The yellow counties are technically controlled, but that just means you may have a few towns that are always under threat by various groups.measurements of the land total land you controlTerritory size 2770 square miles total 2687 square miles land 83.5 square miles water
>>6377051>NameLee-Reeve of House Wesmoreland>Marital StatusBetrothed. Would be quite unusual for an Heir Apparent to not have a fiance.
Nice I don't know if you made that yourself or got it somewhere else but that is super cool.
>>6377246I just made it. UUUU
It is far more interesting than the map I made, which honestly took me far too long to decide which counties to actually give you. Also, for making that map, I will go ahead and give some lore you would know in character about some other places in Tennessee. The most powerful nation, so to speak, and self-proclaimed petty king of the whole state is the ruler of Memphis and most of West Tennessee. He considers you and Duke Donegal to be his vassals, but due to the time it takes to actually get to you and his contentment to just become rich off of the Mississippi, he doesn't actually ask anything of either of you really. Your closest equal rules from Knoxville and that area, while as far as anyone knows, Nashville is a massive monster hive, and few if any who go their return, and those who do are usually just passing through at night via boat if possible.
>>6377253So something like 'iss.
Pretty much I'll expand on nearby states and the really big powers that you or may not ever run into at some other point.
Absolutely crazy to realize that a lot of the geography of tennessee would not exist after all the dams were blew'd up, and didn't exist just 85 years ago. Center Hill and Dale Hollow would be canyons instead of lakes.
There is a reason the Tennessee valley was considered the worst place in America for a very long time chattanooga randomly getting flooded by up to 54 feet of water just being an example. though luckily for you and your vassals the TVA was somehow far more effective at creating long lasting infrastructure to a point and magical apocalypses are a little less explosive than nukes flying.
I have finished asspulling names for the duchies and things. Take them or leave them as you will, hopefully it will give you some inspiration.
Some more lore just so you know generally what you have available to you militarily for black powder weapons you technically have access to them but only really as part of your own castle as bombards on walls or a couple in storage you lack people who really understand them that well so your limited in how many you can operate at a time and by the fact that if you wanted to move them you would need to disassemble them put them on a wagon and lug them with your army as for handgonnes and equivalent things you don't have access to them really at all.
I'm calling the vote now wining plan is Jacob Duke and you are not Betrothed yet though that will probably happen soonish. I will probably have the next update out sometime tonight as always ask any questions about the world and stuff I love answering those.
Five days pass as your vassals filter from their own holdings; that's a new feeling. They're yours, not your father's. Enough of those thoughts; you have a war to plan, you think to yourself as you school your face from the subtle break in the facade. Rooms fill in the castle as lords and knights filter while their more common-born retinues gather in a massive tent city outside of the castle while more horsemen and carts continue to gather, whether it be camp followers always eager to support an army or the soldiers themselves.Though you have omitted two of your lords, Baron Hackney from having to gather here at Chattanooga, as he holds the town of Benton, which will likely be your staging ground for moving into the Okoee Wildlands, and Count Herron, who controls Cleveland, which is on the way to Benton, once you have linked up with their forces, your total forces would be around two and a half thousand men.
The army finishes gathering, and with two more days passing, rain and fog make the already difficult task of making an army move as even a semi-cohesive force. It is not some well-ordered march talked about with the greats of military skill; no, it is like a wheezing animal dragging its way across the road as wagons get stuck in mud or detritus needs to be moved off of the roads for the rest of the force as you finally reach the outskirts of Benton, the rain threatening to flood the whole valley. It feels like mud tries to devour men if they step off of what remains of ancient paths.With many of your lords gathered together in the halls of the manor, you begin going over the aged map in front of you. Clan Swail has several holdouts they use in this region; they have a large camp at Parksville Lake. They have two more camps on both Big and Little Frog Mountains. While by far their largest towns, so to speak, are at Ducktown and Turtle Town, though there are other clans in your more northern holdings, trying to overextend too far north could become quite an issue.
What is your general plan for this campaign? While things can change due to stimuli like an ambush, it can lead to you changing plans if you take a lot of losses.As an example, and some basic starter options >Will you try and keep your army together as one large force?>Send out riders and men to begin reiving the land, stealing cattle, burning farms, and causing general havoc to try and force a field battle. >Split your army into several forces to try and begin sieges or attacks on multiple locations at the same time.> feel free to write in and edit these options to your liking
