#Plunder Siege

[blocksventure]

Lego Oxventure - Plunder Siege

It's brigands galore in the episode that brought us All Crim's Night.

The Journey To Redcastle

Just like the folk ballad "Vindaloo" by famous minstrel Fat Les.

Merilwen has a close encounter of the turd kind

Courtesy of a botched throw from Dob, she ends up spiked directly into a freshly-manured flowerbed.

"Watch this"

While the rest of the guild are content to climb the wall, Egbert uses a bomb's explosion to sail over the outer wall atop his shield.

Corazon about to face the consequences of Egbert's actions

Inside Redcastle, Egbert sets of a series of cascading bookshelves directly on top of Corazon and one of the Duke's guards.

"He has no idea what you're planning, and frankly neither do I"

Dob turns a brigand into a goblin by way of making him eat soup from a pot that he put Prudence's grimoire into.

The Last Stand of M. Chanail

The last known picture of the rubbish gnome druid known for turning people into animals before his timely incineration at the hands(?) of Egbert's breath weapon.

With the guild's first nemesis vanquished, it's time for A Fishmas Carol, which I could have coincided with our Christmas had I planned things out slightly better. Oh well.

[illustratus]

The Triumphal Procession of Titus and Vespasian in Rome, with the Spoils of Jerusalem, AD 71 — by Peter Connolly

[unhingedtiktoks]

Description: Tiktok from user littlevictorianboy. He switches between two different characters, one being silent and just reacting in mild confusion to what he says. "Gen Z doesn't know how to lay siege. They don't! You give a Gen Z a battering ram, they'll say 'this isn't my phone!' Ha, you know, because they're always on their phones? And my legion is mostly 20-somethings and they're the worst, right? I bought them all gym memberships so that they could get big and strong, I show up, they're not lifting weights! They're in the saunas! Kissing! And sure is kissing a big part of being in a legion? Absolutely, it's one of the main parts, but it's not the only part! You know what pays for those gym memberships, for that sauna privilege? It's plunder. And if you're all dehydrated from kissing in the saunas all day, you're not gonna be able to lift heavy plunder out of a keep! Get real! Some days I think I should have never become a divine conqueror. It sounded good at first, lead a legion of men through the bog lands of Harthoon, striking my axe into the throne of false kings, but to be completely honest... I haven't sacked a keep in over a year. It's mostly just managing personalities and setting up fun activities for the legion to do on the weekends. Maybe I would've been happier in another industry, plastics or... cartoons, I don't know what people do. But Peulsupub, the blood god of the ancient stone, chose me. So here I am, tethered to my fate... Anyway, the legion's going roller skating this weekend so you should come!"

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: Along the Road of Nameless Graves

Presiding over a series of forested foothills and mountainous valleys that divide two rival kingdoms, the mist-shrouded barony of Siirvyn has seen more than its share of war over the past generations. Betrayal, invasion, and massacre are all too common motifs in the barony's long history, leaving all sorts of scars on both the landscape and the people who dwell within it.

Adventure Hooks:

Rumours of a treasure draw the party to Siirvyn, apparently concealed in a vault beneath the ruined castle of a long dead baroness Taviaa. Surely it won't be too hard to locate a single ruin in a land frequently beset by war, right?

The party arn't the only one combing across the barony looking for something. A hardluck knight seeks her brother after he vanished on a foolish quest, and might be willing to help the party out of jam if they aid her in search.

Folk of the barony tell of Grimcackle, a great black winged beast that moorlands that's sometimes heard laughing over the desolate battlefields but is only ever seen by the lost and the desperate. To heed the old stories it plunders the old battlefields of it's choicest riches, hoarding the wealth of the dead over centuries of war.

Subquest 1:

The party's hunt for riches gets complicated after arriving in the region to find that there has been no less than eight baroness Taviaas over the past century(backwater fiefdoms do like tradition after all) with five castles between them. Most have been destroyed by disaster, neglect, or siege, leaving the party to trek across the land checking checking out each option (though a clever party might narrow their search by hitting the local archives and cross referencing historical accounts).

Potential ruins include:

The delapidated lair of the local owlbear

Huanted by the ghost of one of the baronesses Taviaa,

The Hideout of a gang of smugglers with far reaching ties

Thoroughly cursed by a battlefield savaging spriggan who deals in cursed weapons.

To make matters even more complicated, one of the castles has been restored by the current baron Arkolo who would likely not take kindly to a band of renegade sellswords pilfering riches from under his nose, forcing the party to avoid it entirely or risk getting thrown in the dungeon if caught.

Subquest 2:

Ser Riley of Breakbridge never expected to inherit the family title, her father favoured her elder brother Rhys far more, and when the old man died in the last war there was no question who his holdings would pass to. Then, a couple of years ago Rhys got it into his head that he needed to reclaim the family's ancestral sword which was lost in the same bloody battle that did their father in, crossing the mountains to scour old battlefields and not being seen since. After righting the mess Rhys caused by his chivalric absence, Riley has come to Siirvyn herself to drag him, or possibly his body back from his foolhardy quest. The party may run into her requesting aid from the Baron, seeking advice from the local shrine to Tyr, or drinking off another unsuccessful trek through the wilderness at the local tavern. She'd welcome their aid in her search, and would gladly pay them back by lending her blade to theirs in their search (or using her influence to spring them from the baron's dungeons, should they have been caught).

Rhys' trail snakes all across the barony (including leaving a journal in one of the ruins the party wanted to search), but terminates in the great barren battlefield that was his father's last stand. While searching these moorlands the party & Ser Riley will run into a band of armed scavengers apparently conducting their own body-hunt for one of their fallen comrades. They served on the opposite side of the war from Riley's family, and if that wasn't bad blood enough, they apparently came to blows with Rhys a little under a year ago and aim to settle the score with his sister.

Regardless of how the standoff plays out (talking the scavengers down and exchanging favours or beating the information out of them) the Next step is to find Grimcackle's nest. By now (especially if you're playing with my affliction system and the party is tired out from all their wandering across the countryside) the party will have realized that the only way to see the great raven is to be nearing the edge of death, whether through actively dying, being poisoned, or just being exhausted to the bone. This is because the great raven is infact a psychopomp, tasked with sorting out the dead from the region's innumerable wars. Once the party find the particular tor the dread raven uses as roost, they'll find him quite chatty in the way of most birds, happy to trade gossip or play show and tell with his many finds. Rhys did indeed come to challenge Grimcackle for the sword, an act of daring rudness that forced the psychopomp to drag the knight's soul to the purgatory it rightfully belonged.

Resigned by the love she bears her brother, Riley insists she must venture into the shadow to save him, leaving the party with the choice of convincing her to abandon her quest, leave her to her fruitless pursuit of honour, or risk it all alongside her for the sake of an idiot who thought he could convince an aspect of death to respect his pedigree.

Subquest 3:

After their harrowing adventure the party return to town to find that Baron Akolo has been assassinated and all of Siivyrn has been thrown into chaos and suspicion. Fingers point and depending who the blame lands on it might spell civil war or invasion for the backwoods barony once again.

Background: Both neighbouring powers wish to control who moves through the region's winding passes, and expend great effort in both war and peace to ensure the barony is favourable to them. While occupying armies and vassalage have been all too common in the past, the region's ostensibly independent ruler Baron Arkolo is a puppet in all but name for the winning side of the most recent war. Little more than a bandit leader during the conflict savaging battlefields and attacking supply lines on both sides, Arkolo saw the way the wind was blowing before anyone else and made himself indispensable to his current patrons before their inevitable victory.

Little more than a strongman at first, the newly elevated baron managed to ingratiate himself to his subjects by leveraging his outlaw status to cast himself as a hero fighting against the great powers rather than ruling on their behalf. All the while the canny old bandit was of course playing both sides, toadying to the victorious kingdom while helping to run the smuggling operation for their rivals.

Clues & Consequences:

The baron had a stormy relationship with his son and prospective heir Kalo, who came up raiding alongside his father. After the war however, the young man felt he'd had enough of violence renounced his possesisons and joined the secluded temple of Tyr as a means of making peace with his bloody past. Arkolo never approved of his son's taking the cloth, refused to name another heir and would frequently make pilgramage to the temple just to argue with him. Despite their years of contention however the had seemed to reconcile in recent months, becoming closer than ever. Kalo is not taking his father's murder well, and has decided to dust off his old bandit skills alongside his newfound connection to a wargod as a means of finding the killer. Like an angered bull, he's liable to charge at whoever draws his attention, a weakness the real culprit might use to direct him onto the party's trail.

Gareth Gosdown, the baron's advisor and castilian is an agent of their patron kingdom, sent to keep the former outlaw in line and the kingdom's garrisons well supplied. In the wake of Arkolo's death, he's less interested in finding the killer than he is reinforcing his masters' hold over the barony in case of a new invasion. Known for butting heads with the Baron's more slapdash ruling style he's the one the common folk are most likely to point to.

Taviaa (ninth of that name) was born to the Baron after he'd claimed the region and married one of the local nobles. Though still young, she has a cutthroat attitude and a mind for politics, which made it all the more frustrating when her father refused to give up on her pious half brother as heir and name her instead. She knows she's the obvious culprit, the case made all the more convincing by the fact that she's recently been paling around with emissaries from the other kingdom.

Art 1

Art 2

[leofwines]

my bitch eunuch is always asking things like “when might we lay siege to another kingdom, milord” and “perhaps we may plunder the village yonder, sire” and im sick if it i want to stick him in the pillory in the village square but i wonder if he’d like that too much

[baejax-the-great]

I know that most Americans are taught in school that ancient Greek stories are almost all about hubris and the punishment for that hubris, and I think a lot of teachers have tried to force this onto the Iliad, where it just doesn't really fit.

If you ask who caused the problems in the Iliad, I think most of us could correctly identify Agamemnon. Prior to the start of the book, he caused a plague. Then he needlessly pissed off his best general in a dishonorable display. Then he does a whole bunch of weird shit including telling his soldiers they are quitting the war and everyone can go home, and then throwing a fit when his soldiers are all like "thank god let's get the fuck out of here." His own soldiers boo him when he tries to talk.

However, if you look at who is "punished" in the Iliad, it's easy to come to the conclusion that it's Achilles (although Hector would be another solid choice. Patroclus is the most valid choice given he died as a direct result of impersonating an invulnerable demigod-sorry, buddy, but you bit off more than you could chew with that stunt).

This is the wrong framework for this story, however. The Iliad is not a cautionary tale about prideful soldiers getting their comeuppance. It's a story about the costs of a severely mismanaged war, how violence and grief beget more violence and grief, and the callous cruelty of uncaring gods.

Patroclus doesn't die to punish Achilles for sitting out the war. Patroclus dies in order to get Achilles back in the fight. During the Embassy, Achilles decides that he'd rather survive than fight Trojans who had never done anything to him. Odysseus's pragmatic appeal to greed, Phoenix's emotional plea, and Ajax's "I don't know why you asked me to come here, he's clearly not changing his mind" do nothing to persuade him. He is persuaded not to set sail immediately, but that's about it.

Had Patroclus not been slain by Hector, Achilles would have had no reason to return to the fighting. He'd already decided his life was worth more than treasure, than glory, than the return of Briseis. Troy holds nothing for him. However, the gods wanted their show, so Zeus makes sure Patroclus dies, thus giving Achilles a motive to return to the battle regardless of how shitty Agamemnon is. He no longer cares about any of that. He is driven entirely by grief.

While Achilles is killing enough Trojans to clog a river, there are mentions of how he used to be chill and ransom dudes instead of just slaughtering them all. He talks about how he can't stand Odysseus's lying, or Agamemnon's drunkenness, During the funeral games, whilst giving away all the shit he no longer needs because he's going to be dead in a week, he shows better leadership than Agamemnon does in the entirety of the book. Antilochus did something dickish? Hand out more prizes. Agamemnon is a sore loser who will throw a fit if he doesn't win? Just hand him the first prize loot and say he won before he even competes. Everyone goes home happy. Achilles might be petty as hell, but he knows how to manage people so that they don't go off in a tantrum and pray for Zeus to kill their colleagues.

The book ends with Priam appealing to Achilles' honor, which works. Achilles' grief is enough to slay an army and desecrate a body, but his honor wins out in the end. (One wonders if Hector, had he been successful in bringing Pat's corpse back to stick his head on a pike and feed his body to the dogs, would have been so moved.) It ends on this note, with the honor understanding of two men who the audience know are doomed to die very soon for no good reason.

The cast of characters in the Iliad is too broad to pin the whole thing as a story about Achilles or a simple story of prideful downfall. Yeah, Achilles steals the spotlight, and yeah, shit sucks for him, but at the end of it, he's still getting his promised immortal glory. In my opinion, Achilles' arc is more about how grief can turn a good man bad and how killing begets more killing.

The Iliad is not about Achilles' pride, nor is Achilles an antagonist or a villain in it, nor was he ever meant to be seen as such.

[warsofasoiaf]

You have neglected to address my point about Aegon the Unworthy targeting noble women, with Bethany Bracken noted to find his touch distressing and both she and her father eventually being murdered by the king.

 You also deny the lowest level of the feudal contract, the rights of serfs, while insisting that the upper levels are intact. Edmure Tully was regarded by his own sister as foolish for sheltering smallfolk in his castle despite the right of serfs to protection by their lord. The feudal contract does not truly exist in Asoiaf.

Your knowledge of chevauchee is incorrect. The Black Prince’s escapades in southern France were noted to target grain, yes, but more importantly to target smaller castles for their wealth, to the point that his forces had to toss away silver to carry all of the gold that they took. It isn’t targeting peasants/serfs and avoiding knights, it’s avoiding large armies to attack weaker targets.

I addressed it just fine: “Legal protections for young peasant women who found themselves pressured to satisfy a King’s lust were minimal.” Your argument was that the feudal contract didn’t exist because Aegon IV was able to use the Goldcloaks as his own personal procurement squad to satisfy his lusts. My counter-argument was that in our own history, women, particularly peasant women, often had little-to-no protection from a lusty King, who could use a combination of hard and soft pressure to force himself on them regardless of their wishes. I was dismissing your argument as unrealistic. Failure to read on your part does not constitute me neglecting your point.

Serfs were frequently turned out of castles at risk of a siege. The goal was simple, reducing the number of mouths to feed increased the time that the castle could be besieged, allowing the defender a greater opportunity to wait out a change in conditions - a relief expedition or the besieging army falling apart due to time pressure. Likewise, French nobility was often quite laggard to defend the peasantry against the 100 Years War’s various chevauchées. Your assertion is again, ahistorical, and can thus be dismissed.

Chevauchées were frequently used to target the agricultural productivity of a region. In Spain, they were called cavalgada and frequently targeted cash crop production, burning vineyards and olive groves, specifically to hamper their productivity and usefulness. The further back you go, and the more cash-poor a kingdom became, plunder often was as much materials as it was bouillon, coinage, and jewels, and what couldn’t be taken was often destroyed. I’m sorry, but your knowledge is insufficient. I was fine with correcting your inaccurate assertion, but you not reading what I’ve written makes this a pointless endeavour. 

Good day.

-SLAL

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens (17 January 1781) was a decisive battle in the southern theater of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). It saw a detachment of Continental soldiers and Patriot militia under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat a British force under Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton. The battle helped lead to the end of British domination in the American South.

Background

On 2 December 1780, Major General Nathanael Greene rode into the American military camp at Charlotte, North Carolina. A 38-year-old Quaker from Rhode Island, Greene had been entrusted by General George Washington to take charge of the remnants of the Southern Department of the Continental Army after its disastrous defeat at the Battle of Camden (16 August 1780). What Greene found at Charlotte was less an army than a rugged gathering of 1,400 disheartened men. The troops were undersupplied, underfed, and lacked clothing. Several men sat huddled around the campfires practically naked, with only rags or blankets to protect them from the elements. Many of the soldiers stirred themselves only to plunder the surrounding countryside for food, and the officers had grown jaded enough not to care. It was a ghastly display of dejection that must have reminded Greene of the state of the main army at Valley Forge three winters before.

It was not hard to see why the army was in such a depressed state. The Americans had suffered nothing but defeat since the British had first invaded the American South in late 1778. Having grown frustrated with their unsatisfactory military campaigns in the North, the British had shifted their focus to the South, which was rumored to be replete with Loyalists as well as the source of much of the United States' commercial wealth. The capture of the South, it was believed, would not only cut the United States in two but also cripple its ability to keep fighting. The British implemented their so-called 'southern strategy' in December 1778 by seizing Savannah, Georgia; the following year, a Franco-American attempt to retake the city failed, and Georgia became the first state to fall back under British control. In May 1780, the British won the Siege of Charleston, taking the largest and most important city in the entire South. Under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis, the British then set about pacifying the rest of South Carolina. This sparked a bloody regional civil war, as the state's Patriot and Loyalist militias brutalized one another in the South Carolina backcountry. The southern Continental Army, under General Horatio Gates, had tried to retake the state but had been decisively defeated at Camden.

Now, as Greene took over command of the depleted army from Gates, he realized the monumental task that rested upon his shoulders. Should he fail, there would be nothing to prevent Cornwallis from conquering North Carolina and Virginia, completing the British 'southern strategy'. Greene was a cautious commander who pursued a 'Fabian strategy'. That is, he tried to avoid fighting any pitched battle that he was not sure he could win, instead wearing the enemy down through attrition and guerilla fighting, striking only when he spotted vulnerability. The Patriot militias already operating in South Carolina could serve this purpose well; Greene hoped that they could keep the British distracted long enough for him to whip his army into shape and maybe find new recruits. However, he would need someone he could rely on to go down into South Carolina and keep the militias supplied and organized. As it happened, Greene already had just the man in mind.

Continue reading...

[girlactionfigure]

The Heroic Nanny: Erzsebet Fajo

She saved the entire family

Erzsebet Fajo was a brave young babysitter who saved the lives of her employers – a family of four – during the Nazi occupation of Hungary in 1944.

Erzsebet Fajo was a Slovakian girl from a poor family who emigrated to Hungary by herself at age 13 to work as a nanny. She found employment with the Abonyis, a Jewish family in the small town of Bekescsaba. Parents Laszlo and Margit treasured Erzsebet as a member of the family, and she became like a big sister to their two children, Zsuzsanna and Ivan.

In 1941, the family moved to Budapest because of anti-Jewish persecution in Bekescsaba, and of course Erzsebet went with them. Despite the violent turmoil engulfing Europe, life in Hungary was relatively normal for the Abonyi family. Hungarian President Miklos Horthy had an alliance with Hitler’s Germany, but was reluctant to enforce Nazi decrees against the Jews. That reluctance, plus Horthy’s secret attempts to strike a deal with the Allies, led Germany to invade Hungary in March 1944.

The country was now run by the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross party and the situation for Hungary’s Jews got very bad very quickly. All Jews from the moment of birth were required to wear a yellow star prominently displayed on their clothing. Erzsebet, who felt like a member of the Abonyi family, wanted to wear a star too even though she wasn’t Jewish. Instead, they sadly told her she’d have to leave their employment to save her own life – non-Jews weren’t allowed to work for Jews. The Abonyis knew their days were numbered. Ten year old Zsuzsanna tried to convince her parents to commit suicide rather than be separated and murdered. Of course they refused to consider such a drastic act and tried everything to get out of Hungary but they were trapped.

At that point, young Erzsebet stepped up to become the family’s savior. Zsuzsanna remembered, “How (could) she save (us)? She didn’t have any money. She didn’t have an independent life… It (was) very sweet, but it (had) no validity. But I was wrong to think that. When the siege of Budapest started (and) virtually every home was ruined and bombed down, she was in the streets trying to get false papers.”

Erzsebet visited the Abonyis every day, bringing them food as well as medicine and other essential goods. She took all their valuables and brought them to an aunt so they wouldn’t be plundered by the Nazis.

On October 15, 1944 Laszlo Abonyi was arrested at his home and taken to a deportation center, where he awaited transport to a brutal Nazi slave labor camp.

Determined to save him, Erzsebet boldly approached the Red Cross and somehow obtained a letter of protection that she used to get Laszlo released. She knew the Abonyis were not safe in their home, and not sure what to do she pleaded with a local priest for assistance and advice. He helped her get letters from the Vatican which made the family eligible to take shelter in a building in Budapest owned by the Apostolic Nuncio. The Abonyis sheltered there for a few weeks, until the facility was attacked by the Arrow Cross. Storm troopers forced all the Jews outside and prepared to shoot them on the banks of the Danube river. Somehow, in the chaos, Erzsebet helped all four Abonyis escape.

For the next two months, Erzsebet found hiding places for the Abonyis and obtained forged papers for them. She continued visiting each member of the family every day, even though they were all in different parts of Budapest. Finally Erzsebet found safe shelter for the family in a “White Cross Hospital” – an apartment building packed with bunk beds where families targeted by the Nazis were hiding out.

Hungary was liberated by the Soviet Union in January 1945 and the Abonyis were able to return to their apartment. After the war they legally adopted Erzsebet, making it official that she was a member of the Abonyi family. They sent her to school so she could get a good education, and left her a third of their estate. Zsuzsanna and her husband left Hungary following the failed revolution of 1956 and moved to the United States, where Zsuzsanna became a respected writer, professor and founder of the Holocaust Studies Program at the University of Texas. She maintained a close correspondence with her adopted sister until Erzsebet’s death in 1995.

Erzsebet Fajo was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in 1986. In her testimony, Zsuzsanna said, “Driven by the desire to save us, Erzsi defied the Germans. She saved us from death, saved my brother and me from becoming orphans and my parents from the worst anguish that can befall people – the loss of their children. It was her strength and heroism that gave us life, allowed us to grow up and eventually have children of our own.”

For her astonishing bravery in saving the life of an entire family, we honor Erzsebet Fajo as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[pterbitrary]

Keeping Chenqing and People Interpreting it as Jiang Wanyin's Care

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin were quite close in their youth despite Wei Wuxian's awkward position with the Jiangs. There were times when Jiang Cheng showed concern for WWX e.g. carrying when he was beaten, the distraction with the Wens.

I think post-sunshot there was almost none of those. People were ok with WWX's cultivation after war, but they turned on him. Things snowballed to people sieging the burial mounds, led by Jiang Cheng, and WWX dying. The masses took it as JWY did it.

Now.

My question is just...

Why do people take JWY keeping WWX's Chenqing as caring for him? I always thought of it as just people taking the possessions of formidable foes as trophies e.g. hunter displaying horns of animals they killed. People who sieged the burial mounds ransacked and plundered WWX's possessions.

If by just keeping it makes one care for the owner, does this mean Jin Guangyao secretly cared deeply for WWX too by keeping Suibian?

By Jiang Wanyin's reactions during WWX's resurrection. When he only had suspisions, his primary action is to whip him with Zidian. This action, if as people suspected WWX was possessing a body, would have ultimately killed the spirit (WWX). This makes me doubtful of the theory that JWY secretly cared for WWX post resurrection. In their youth, they were quite close, but moving forward from post sunshot, they were already strained. JYL's death which JWY blamed WWX for further poisoned the well.

Did I miss something? I am looking for novel lines, but I can't find any. Maybe there are side chapters I missed. Maybe you could refer me to a novel line containing something similar. I am frankly confused with people mixing their headcanons and such.

[blocksventure]

Lego Oxventure - Quiet Riot

At long last we are here, with the guild taking on The Order of Keeping It Down.

Dob gliding on a wave of Corazon's grease

Just out of frame - Corazon and Flannery also gliding on the grease, while the others all stack it.

Merilwen's Meatgrinder

Truly one of the most iconic moments of the Oxventure.

Corazon fillets a man

Disguised as a paladin, no less. For shame Corazon.

Merilwen turns into a bear

Much to the confusion (and, immediately thereafter, panic) of Corazon.

Egbert immolates a bunch of paladins

Makes you wonder if this would be considered... friendly fire.

Merilwen and the gang have conflicting opinions on the Owlbears fate

The Owlbear is based on the Honour Among Thieves depiction because I couldn't accurately replicate the Monster Manual version.

And that's it for the chapter. You will see Flannery in the future I promise, and we will get out of the dark grey castle wall setting that's been so prevalent of late. But unfortunately not before we're done with Plunder Siege next time.

[kebriones]

Today's third lecture on Alcibiades' adventures

On the following day Alcibiades set up a trophy of victory and plundered the territory of Pharnabazus, no one venturing to defend it. He even captured some priests and priestesses, but let them go without ransom. On setting out to attack Chalcedon, which had revolted from Athens and received a Lacedaemonian garrison and governor, he heard that its citizens had collected all their goods and chattels out of the country and committed them for safe keeping to the Bithynians, who were their friends. So he marched to the confines of Bithynia with his army, and sent on a herald with accusations and demands. The Bithynians, in terror, gave up the booty to him, and made a treaty of friendship. While Chalcedon was being walled in from sea to sea, Pharnabazus came to raise the siege, and at the same time Hippocrates, the Spartan governor, led his forces out of the city and attacked the Athenians. But Alcibiades arrayed his army so as to face both enemies at once, put Pharnabazus to shameful flight, and slew Hippocrates together with many of his vanquished men. Then he sailed in person into the Hellespont and levied moneys there. He also captured Selymbria, where he exposed himself beyond all bounds. For there was a party in the city which offered to surrender it to him, and they had agreed with him upon the signal of a lighted torch displayed at midnight. But they were forced to give this signal before the appointed time, through fear of one of the conspirators, who suddenly changed his mind. So the torch was displayed before his army was ready; but Alcibiades took about thirty men and ran to the walls, bidding the rest of his force follow with all speed. The gate was thrown open for him and he rushed into the city, his thirty men-at‑arms reinforced by twenty targeteers, but he saw at once that the Selymbrians were advancing in battle array to attack him. In resistance he saw no safety, and for flight, undefeated as he was in all his campaigns down to that day, he had too much spirit. He therefore bade the trumpet signal silence, and then ordered formal proclamation to be made that Selymbria must not bear arms against Athens. This proclamation made some of the Selymbrians less eager for battle, if, as they supposed, their enemies were all inside the walls; and others were mollified by hopes of a peaceful settlement. While they were thus parleying with one another, up came the army of Alcibiades. Judging now, as was really the case, that the Selymbrians were disposed for peace, he was afraid that his Thracian soldiers might plunder the city. There were many of these, and they were zealous in their service, through the favour and good will they bore Alcibiades. Accordingly, he sent them all out of the city, and then, at the plea of the Selymbrians, did their city no injury whatever, but merely took a sum of money from it, set a garrison in it, and went his way.

1. Capturing preists and priestesses and letting them go without ransom

2. Extracts supplies for his army from a city using 1 herald.

3. Wins a battle where he's being attacked by two sides.

4. Puts himself in huge risk, when things get dangerous he just. Signals for silence so he can buy some time and succeeds.

5. Makes sure there's no plundering happening in a city he's just taken over.

[sunnycanvas]

Translation:"Reverently in Christ the father and lord of the Lord God." ecclesize the patriarch of the Holy Resurrection, the teacher also Temple A. and the master of the holy house of the Jerusalem Hospital R. beloved of you, Baldwin by the same king of Jerusalem, May health and continued success abound. We have received with joy the letters in which you have applied to all the healthy and cheerful people of Brundusius. The knowledge of which matter has rendered my breath both tender and pleasant. On the ninth day of the tenth day of Julius, Salahadiuns entered the land of Crates, and for three weeks he ravaged its territory, and plundered it, and collected and gathered food. On the vigil of St. Potris, he entered the city of Crates in chains, besieged the fort, and held the siege for four weeks, fourteen petraria When Salahadin learned of our approach, he set fire to his stone walls, of the roads which he had built, and, taking his route, came to Naples, where he ravaged and burned the town which he could consume with fire. When the men and women of that town learned of his arrival, they fled to the castle and were saved. Going forward, he went to a city called Sebastien. And the people fled to the village, not that they might resist, but that flight was not otherwise threatened. Hane, the bishop of the same city, having received the inslues, went out to meet Salahadin, and his village "and the church Ixxx. He redeemed the captives. Retiring thence, he came to Arabia, and destroyed it, taking men and women captive. Afterwards he came to Magnum Gerina, and all the people fled to the castle, and he himself pierced it and destroyed it, and the bellies were captured, the women and children died at the edge of the sword, but the village was also consumed by the route. it was the town of the Temple, and it was completely destroyed, and he retired through a certain castle of the Hospital, which is called the Belverium; some of those who had gone outside were captured, and some killed, and he retired to his own.

LETTER FROM KING BALDWIN IV TO THE ENVOYS WITH NEWS OF SALADIN RAVAGES NABLUS, SEBASTE, AND OTHER TOWNS

Source:https://goodshksk.space/product_details/13546547.htmlhttps

[scotianostra]

On March 28th 1318 A Scots army retook Berwick on Tweed.

Some sources give "April" as the date of the battle one of my sources gives this exact dates so rather than a vague month I am posting this today.

Following the decisive victory at Bannockburn in 1314, the only stronghold Edward II's army held was the border town of Berwick, a town that has been fought over and changed hands many times over the centuries, at one point it was Scotland's wealthiest port.

In September 1317, King Robert Bruce attempted a siege of the town, which lasted until November before he withdrew. The following year, an English sergeant was bribed to allow a party of Scots to climb the town wall. The raiding party, led by Sir James Douglas, and possibly the Earl of Dunbar, took the town after a fight.

The castle was warned when they lost control of their men, who began to plunder and failed to capture the castle. King Robert soon arrived with an army, and after an eleven-week siege, the castle garrison capitulated due to a lack of supplies. The English burgesses were expelled, and King Robert re-established Berwick as a Scottish trading port, installing his son-in-law Walter Stewart as Keeper.

Berwick would change hands several more times in the years to come, before permanently becoming part of England when the town was captured in 1482.

The pic shows The Good Sir James outside Berwick, you can tell this depiction is meant to be pre 1330 as the heart has not been added to his coat of arms as yet.

[amin13864]

Why doesn't Iran intervene?

Khalil Rizk

The question of bad intentions is raised and repeated by spiteful people and those who pretend to be patriotic, but with Zionist minds. We remind them of the facts they know and ignore:

1- Palestine, Lebanon, and all the occupied territories are Arab lands, not Iranian lands.

2- The party concerned with liberating them is the Arabs, not Iran.

3- The Arab regimes fought wars against Israel, and all that resulted was catastrophe, setback, and the occupation of more Arab lands.

4- The Arab regimes are panting after normalization, and Iran supports the resistance against Israel. Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Israel has been living in terror and fear of it. While the Arabs are dancing and having fun.

5- Iran closes the Israeli embassy and raises the Palestinian flag, and the Arabs open embassies for it.

6- Since the start of its revolution, Iran has been paying the price of supporting Palestine and offering it temptations to abandon support for the resistance in order to be the master of the region, lead the Arabs, and return to what it was like during the days of the Shah.

7- After Iran announced its support for the Palestinian cause, the Arabs were the first to confront and fight it before the West.

8- Iran is the first country to seek unity between Muslims and Arabs, and they respond by promoting that it is Persian.

9- The results that Iran has reaped from this support are years of great siege, while the Arabs are submissive and humiliated.

10- What do you think, Arabs, if Iran joins hands with America? Will you not become its slaves and praise it?

As for Lebanon and Palestine:

1- Iran has given and provided to the resistance, so what have the Arabs given in return?

2- You accuse Iran of having personal interests in supporting the resistance, so we ask you to show us one of these interests and we challenge you in that.

3- Since Iran participated in supporting the resistance, missiles have reached Tel Aviv and thousands of Zionists have been displaced, and in all the Arab wars not a single bullet has reached it and not a single Zionist has been displaced.

4- Iran was the actual partner in the liberation of 2000, while the Arabs were panting at the negotiating table.

5- Only Iran stood in the face of American arrogance that plunders the wealth of the nation, while the Arabs are drained by America and robbed of their dignity and money.

6- When Iran ruled the Arabs during the Shah's time, they kissed his hands, but today because it wants their interest and the liberation of Palestine, it has become their enemy.

In any case, the field is between the resistance and the enemy.

So wait for the resistance in Lebanon to restore the stolen Arab honor with the help of those you call "the Magi"(magus)

لماذا لا تتدخل إيران؟

| خليل رزق

سؤال النية السيئة يطرحه ويكرّره الحاقدون والمتظاهرون بالوطنية ولكن بعقول صهيونيّة.وهؤلاء نذكّرهم بالحقائق التي يعلمونها ويتجاهلونها:

‏1- فلسطين ولبنان وسائر الأراضي المحتلّة أراضٍ عربية وليست إيرانية.

2- الجهة المعنيّة بتحريرها هم العرب وليس إيران.

3- خاضت الأنظمة العربية حروباً ضد إسرائيل ولم ينتج عنها إلاّ نكبة ونكسة واحتلال مزيد من الأراضي العربية

‏4- الأنظمة العربية تلهث خلف التطبيع وإيران تدعم المقاومة ضد إسرائيل، ومنذ انتصار الثورة الإسلامية وإسرائيل تعيش الرعب والخوف منها. فيما العرب يرقصون ويتخامرون.

5- إيران تغلق سفارة إسرائيل وترفع علم فلسطين والعرب يفتتحون لها السفارات.

‏6- إيران منذ انطلاقة ثورتها تدفع ضريبة دعم فلسطين وتقدّم لها المغريات للتخلي عن دعم المقاومة لتكون سيدّة المنطقة وتتزعّم العرب وتعود كما كانت أيام الشاه.

7- بعد أن أعلنت إيران دعمها للقضية الفلسطينية كان أوّل من تصدّى لها وحاربها العرب قبل الغرب.

‏8- إيران أوّل دولة تسعى للوحدة بين المسلمين والعرب يقابلونها بالترويج أنّها فارسية.

9- النتائج التي حصدتها إيران من هذا الدعم هي سنوات من الحصار الكبير، فيما العرب خاضعون ذليلون.

10- ما رأيكم أيّها العرب أن تضع إيران يدها بيد أميركا ألن تتحولوا إلى عبيدٍ عندها وتسبّحون بحمدها؟

‏أمّا بالنسبة إلى لبنان وفلسطين:

1- إيران قدّمت وأعطت للمقاومة فماذا قدّم العرب في المقابل؟

2- تتّهمون إيران بأن لها مصالح شخصية في دعم المقاومة، فنرجوكم أن تبيّنوا لنا واحدة من هذه المصالح ونتحداكم في ذلك.

‏3- منذ أن شاركت إيران في دعم المقاومة وصلت الصواريخ الى تل أبيب وتمّ تهجير ألاف الصهاينة، وفي كل الحروب العربية لم يصل إليها طلقة واحدة ولم ينزح صهيوني واحد.

4- إيران كانت الشريك الفعلي في تحرير 2000، أما العرب فكانوا يلهثون على طاولة المفاوضات.

5- وحدها إيران وقفت في وجه الغطرسة الأميركية التي تنهب ثروات الأمّة، فيما العرب تستنزفهم أميركا وتسلبهم الكرامة والمال.

6- عندما كانت إيران في زمن الشاه تحكم العرب كانوا يقبلون أيديه، وأما اليوم فلأنّها تريد مصلحتهم وتحرير فلسطين صارت عدوّتهم.

وعلى كل حال، الميدان بين المقاومة والعدو.

فانتظروا أن تعيد المقاومة في لبنان الشرف العربي المسلوب بمعونة من تسمّونهم "المجوس".

[mbta-unofficial]

Map of New England after the Bakerite wars of 2307-2319.

Charlie Baker, 9th of his name, declared war on the Dunkin-General-hospitals dynasty in boston from his stronghold in Milton MA. This was the first outbreak in hostilities in the region for more than 600 years, since the coup which politically separated the region from their lords in South Anglia, then England. He declared war after the dynasty refused to place him on the ballot, a variety of local democratic ticket. However, his stronghold on the neponset river was quickly breached, forcing a tactical retreat to allied lands in the south. This act which pulled all local eyes to boston, however, prompted a number of local independence movements culminating in a major redrawing of the political and cultural borders of the region. New Hamshire was among the first to arrest the massachusetts diplomats in the region and declare war, hoping to score territory in the north. However, an unpopular peasant levee left them dealing with morale issues as the Massachusetts army quickly advanced and laid siege to the city of manchester. The siege lasted for almost two years, during which time it was renamed Manchingrad after the famous Russian city of stalingrad which resisted teutonic assault for years in the early 20th century and was the turning point in the second war of american supremacy. Over time, the entire region adopted the name manchganistan in reference to the famously unconquerable region between russia and india. Springfield MA, which had long depended on Connecticut for trade along the connecticut river, and Pittsfield which had long allied with Albany, quietly seceded without military intervention as the massachusetts forces were directed north.

In order to support its war effort, however, the nation of massachusetts began a protracted campaign of plundering coastal regions as far north as nova scotia, as well as taking the harbors of portland and portsmouth as naval bases to control the north atlantic. Their southern reach was curtailed by a treaty with New York City, which had in past centuries expanded considerably and separated from Neue York, the french speaking region dominated by torontonian influence. However, both parties began to squeeze connecticut for their mutual military advantage. In 2314 a Marquis of rhode island was designated with the objective to move the front as far into connecticut territory as possible, and this permanent mobile border still exists to this day.