Black smoke billowed into the sky. The Behemoths continued their slow and steady march south, cutting and burning through the jungle like glaciers sliding over hot metal. The ground was scorched and smooth behind them, while copper towers spewed ash and smoke skyward. The noise was obnoxious, so Arrow scanned the mind of the Mechified sergeant in front of him who was busily shouting incomprehensible words.
Something in the sky.
Yes, Arrow thought he might have seen it too in the midst of all the charcoal clouds. He sent the message buzzing over the psychic network to his superiors. Not my business, he thought.
The reports arrived on Rain's desk before they were sent. Two or three scouts reported an unidentified flying object at high altitude, and scans from the Varan revealed it had to be an airship. Only one other airship it could possibly be, so she didn't waste any time double-checking the scout's reports. Her lieutenants stood around anxiously expecting some kind of attack order.
"Don't be idiots," she told them. "How many times do you have to have your asses handed to you before you learn to change tactics. If they want to look, let them look. It won't change their fate any. I mean for this to happen on a battlefield where lives are at stake. Make them choose between protecting the rebels, or coming after us. We have nothing to gain by inflicting stupid casualties on ourselves at this point."
She could tell that her lieutenants disagreed, but were equally relieved not to be the one tasked with going after the Sennin. Let them disagree. They know that I'm the only one here with enough brains to get this thing done. There were times when Rain wished she had Katashi Blade's facility for making people give unquestioning obedience, but what she couldn't accomplish with force of personality, she managed by obsessive planning. Every man and woman in her chain of command owed Rain a debt, or feared her with good cause. So even if the obedience came with questions, it came all the same.
She ordered the Varan to follow the Sennin so she'd have an idea of what her enemy knew about her army, but it wasn't long before word was sent back that the Sennin had been lost.
"They have a good pilot," was the lame excuse.
Whatever. Knowledge wouldn't win them the war. Not by a long shot.
For example, she knew that at best she'd be facing a force of 10 million or so untrained and poorly equipped rebels. An enormous army by any standard, but at her disposal she had the combined forces of the former Yogensha League, every militia and conscripted force Goshi had been able to assemble during their months of political dominance, and a great many more divisions hastily recruited, but well armed. Dragging along behind her like some bloated centipede she had over 56 million infantry. In two separate columns coming from Thalosh and Galata she could rely on another 23 million. She had enough vehicles to make a necklace for the planet, including almost 1/2 a million tanks, and a silly amount of artillery besides. Still fighting for her, she counted 114 Mecha, among them the best pilots surviving from Washi San Academy.
Even she felt like this was overkill. As conservative as she could be, as much as she liked to rig the odds in her favor... it was unreasonable to imagine any result but a massacre. In fact, some part of her dimly held out hope that the rebels would see her army arrayed before them and realize the futility of their position. Kiyoshi and Moses at least claimed to be reasonable people, and Daitokuji Ichirou had an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. Surely, they would be willing to give their lives rather than inflict certain death on countless refugees. Only lunatics would push this thing to its ultimate conclusion.
The other part of Rain, with a bit of sadness, told her that she was indeed dealing with lunatics.
Which is why she was not even content relying on her obscenely large army. Her deal with the Shadowfang had gone rather well. So far they had fed him three members of the Biomade Oversight Council in return for his cooperation. It was an exorbitant price to pay for the somewhat dicey prospect that he would succeed, but Rain considered it a worthwhile investment, even with the risk, whenever she imagined the potential chaos he could cause.
And while Shadowfang was a risky investment, she was growing more and more satisfied with herself for taking Drives-Like-Oni up on his suggestion to capture the Many Kicks Tribe. While it had incited the rest of the Zipsum tribes against Goshi, they were more of an annoyance than a real concern and since their aggression wasn't very discriminating, it was likely to cause just as much of a problem to the Rebels as to her. No, the rewards of having these captives were going to be substantial, if fleeting... the oxymoron made her giggle inwardly.
Giggle. That's odd. Rain had never been one to indulge in laughter much, but then she had never been one to bleed from the tear ducts as she had been doing from time to time lately. She'd been careful to limit her exposure to White Rock, but she could read the signs, and they made her more convicted to finish this business post-haste.
Wiping the drop of crimson from her cheek she looked up in time to see her newest adviser entering the tent. Toshiyaki Onyx, was his name. A member of the Biomade Oversight council who agreed to serve her rather than remain a prisoner. He'd been the source of a number of brilliant suggestions, and he had Rain's gift for keeping people off-balance. There was something about his eyes that set people on edge, and Rain liked the discomfort she sensed in her lieutenants whenever Onyx was around. Still, there was something about him that she didn't trust.
"Have you been working with Whiterock again, Onyx?" she asked, tossing the soiled tissue in the trash. He nodded, and she went on, "make sure you're thoroughly cleansed before coming to see me next time. That stuff is poison. You should stay away from it yourself."
"Of course, executor. I've only come to tell you that our experiments with the Zipsum have been very promising. You should get the results you're after."
"Good. Now let me attend to the annoying supply chain issues." The dismissal in her voice was firm and he immediately departed. As Onyx left she remembered why she didn't trust him. Toshiyaki Onyx had been one of the Biomade Oversight Council members that she fed to Shadowfang. No sooner had she realized this than she promptly forgot it again.
Ruins
Cities
13 comments:
Okay friends. This post is your opportunity to do reconnaissance. If any of you have any questions or want info about the Goshi Army ask them in these comment threads and I'll give you whatever your characters could reasonably get without incurring combat. If you don't ask questions, then you know what this post told you - the army is huge.
Not a question yet - a comment - man, that's cool. I like where Shadowfang is going. That's exactly what I had in mind when I sent him to feed on Biomade Oversight members. Cool.
A good question, which would probably come from Rei rather than Moses, who will be a bit stupefied, is: what long-range capability do they have? Range of guns on the tanks? Long-range heat-bomb throwers? Can they, for example, deploy at the edge of the pass where we'll meet them and lob huge bombs over our heads to melt Stardown? That would be a deal-breaker, I think.
Glad you like it.
Good Question. The artillery has a good long range, the tanks not so much. Still, they will not be able to launch things all the way up the pass over the mountains and onto Stardown. That's why Ichirou wants the lines where they are at the opening of the pass. So he can fight a slow retreat and protect Stardown as long as possible. Once Goshi gets through the pass it will be bad for all of those refugees, who will be helpless.
The artillery will still be a big problem since it has a longer range than the crappy artillery the SDF has. Goshi will be able to sit back and shell Ichirou's army all year long if they want.
Ok - how many large artillery pieces are there, and how are they distributed? (as far as we can tell, since they might redeploy once they're there. Though, with a 70 million member army, that'll take, like, a week :)
Goshi's artillery is measured in the tens of thousands. It is distributed mostly to the flanks, but definitely carefully spread out to avoid losing a lot of artillery from one attack.
There are a variety of styles of artillery:
Traditional mortars and shell artillery designed to puncture bunkers and armor. About 50% of the total.
Cluster Bomb launchers designed to spray infrantry and troops. About 40% of the total.
And the most dangerous, long-range Heat-Bomb launchers. Only 10% of the total.
There are a very small number of guns that you've never seen before, but look like they might be surface to air. ie: for the Sennin.
Wish I had some more of those moths. If they had no metal, this would be about a fair fight.
Another solid strategy: find Rain and kill her, let her become an Oni, then leave...
More questions, numbered (these also make sense to come from Rei) - 1) if we travel onwards a few hours, and come to Marina, how well is Marina defended?
Also, 2a) at their current rate of travel, ETA?
2b) how long after that until they are all actually anywhere near Stardown? I assume the vanguard is probably hundreds of kilometers ahead of the main force, which itself would have to be spread out over hundreds of kilometers along its own line.
2c) how many will we actually be dealing with attacking Stardown, rather than defending their supply lines, providing a rear-guard, and so on?
With 56 (or 23 million) marching, they have to be in lines. 3) How dense are the lines, in general, that they're marching in? 4a) How are they being supplied? 5) How well-defended are their supply-lines? 4b) Like, how are they getting 102 million pounds of food distributed to their army every day? 4c) And about the same in gallons of water? 6) Where is the food and water coming from? 7a) Their camps would have to be spread out to avoid everyone getting dysentery and dying on the way. How far apart are they and how are they organized? 7b) If we attacked a camp, how long would it take to reinforce it?
8) are the forces coming from Thalosh and Galata different from the Marina force? i'm assuming the Marina force is the one with most of the heavy hitters, but is that accurate?
Doug,
Those moths would be handy.
Finding and killing Rain would be a decent strategy. Easier said, than done. Also she's more of an organizer than Blade was, it's possible this ship could still run (or at least crash into port) without it's captain. In anycase, 70 million soldiers aren't going to just disappear. They become 70 million rampaging bandits if no one is giving orders.
1)Marina is not well defended at all. There is a token force left behind and the city looks gutted. It was ravaged by the plagues and looks more like an inhabited ruin than a city.
2a) The army moves to the plains about 50km north of Stardown, stops and redeploys in battle formations. That takes 6 weeks.
2b) the whole force is assembled and on your doorstep in 7 weeks. I was planning on passing that time by out of session. Thus, apart from High Dive's adventure with the Inertial Dampner next session will take place 7 weeks from now.
2c) You'd figure they can commit at least 2/3 of their force to the attack and still be very conservative with defending their supply lines and artillery.
3) The lines are spread out while in the jungle, but once they redeploy on the plains they are packed pretty tightly. More vulnerable to bombs and artillery, but also more potent against infantry.
4a) They have a corps of engineers that has been laying rails behind them at incredible speeds and bringing goods from the cities by train, which are then distributed by trucks around to the various camps. The rail lines are subject to frequent attacks by Zipsum so they're pretty well guarded.
4b) They keep a goodly amount of food with them. Each division has its own support for provisions, medical care, communication etc...
4c) Also, this is science FANTASY, they eat and drink magic.
5) Well enough defended to keep off Zipsum. Regular machine gun emplacements and sniper towers. Not so well defended it could prevent an army (or you guys) from doing some damage, but they can also rebuild pretty fast and they have done things in duplicate and triplicate. They're counting on it not being worth your effort when they're blowing up Stardown to go after their supplies.
6) Matamos, Ithica, Marina, Galatas and Thalosh.
7a) They cover a huge amount of ground. Each division runs it's own series of camps divided up by regiments. They are often as much as half a mile or more from the next closest camp - while journeying. Once they redeploy they camp much closer together.
7b)The Division camps are like small cities. They consist of several thousand infantry, some artillery, medics, tanks etc.. They may not need reinforcements if attacked. However it would probably take about 15 minutes or more to effectively reinforce a camp from others nearby. The whole army is in communication via the psychic network, and radio.
8) the forces from Thalosh and Galata are indeed separate and with less heavy machinery. They will arrive at approximately the same time.
Sounds like we should spend some downtime training a secondary Senin pilot - Rei maybe? Or maybe an NPC? Or all of us? That could be a good 'use' for Zipporah or Aimi actually, come to think of it. Zipporah at least has some Boating...
I definitely think we'll be most effective as close to Rain as possible. That means that they're pretty unlikely to send in heat bombs or artillery or to just open up with thousands of snipers into their own people...maybe. AT least, I doubt Rain plans to go down from her own friendly fire.
Maybe we'll have a story Kata to cut our way out or to evac us if things go really bad.
About as far as Moses will think through this is that we should get rid of Rain and maybe that will stop them, or at least demoralize and confuse them some. And whoever we can get on the way to Rain will probably be important as well. He's definitely a "find the important thing and smash it" kind of guy at this point. No use trying to fight Geneva Prime +50% in soldiers. They'll just bury us all alive in dead soldiers or something.
Anyway, someone else should comment here.
Damnit, Doug, you addressed almost all of the points I wanted to address. O_o
A few outstanding points, however:
- is the first defensive line actually inside of the dome? If not, we can expect to all be murdered in our sleep by Heishi.
- what kind of military resources does Stardown have in total? We know we've got 9 million troops or so plus a handful of mecha and an airship, but what else? Guns? Heatbombs? Any artillery?
- Something Rei suggests to Ichiro is actually blocking the pass at several key points so as to create killing fields for Goshi to move through. If we get our troops and our terrain set up correctly, enemy numbers won't matter. Deploy a few smallish forces of capable troops on good terrain and they'll be able to delay the enemy advance for days on end. Since we've apparently got plenty of diggers, even if there isn't any helpful natural terrain, we should be able to make it easily enough. Ideally, we're talking places where, if Goshi used artillery bombardment to dislodge the troops, they would render it impossible to move their own troops through.
- Another suggestion Rei offers: Setting timed explosives (shaped charges, if we have them) to cause landslides onto the advancing enemy formations.
- The mountainside will be a sniper's playground. We need as many of our own snipers up there as we can manage, covering as large an area as possible. Not only do we want to harass the enemy as they approach, we want to prevent them from getting their own scouts and snipers into position for as long as possible.
- Mountain passes will, again, serve as a force multiplier if we use it correctly. Any cave systems within the mountains need to be fully explored if they aren't already, as possible sites to launch ambushes from (and possibly retreat through, and to seal off if necessary). People with detailed knowledge of the mountains are to be highly prized for the kind of intelligence they can give on the countryside.
- With their army as large as it is, we don't really want to engage it in direct, full army on full army combat until we can no longer avoid it. Hopefully, by the time we actually have to engage it full scale, we'll have weakened and disrupted it to the point that the odds are more in our favor.
Paul,
the first defensive line is inside the dome, yes.
You have enough guns, barely, for the 9 million, but no more. And many of the guns are in poor shape. Ammunition is also a big problem. You will need to be conservative in that regard. Ichirou has 140 pieces of artillery. All, traditional shell/mortar artillery. No Heat bombs, no cluster bombs. Very few mines.
Ichirou agrees about blocking the pass. The plan for the retreat is along underground rail lines that have been built through the pass. The tunnels are rigged to explode. The plan is to retreat and then collapse the tunnels. So your army can bypass the obstacles, but Goshi will have a hard time getting through the mountains.
Timed explosives. check.
Snipers. check.
No really useful cave systems.
Anyone with any knowledge whatsoever has been rounded up, for sure. Ichirou agrees that full army on army conflict will be disastrous for you guys. At the same time you can't give up ground too quickly. He thinks some pitched battle is inevitable. So he's dug trenches, built bunkers and planned for withstanding a couple waves. The closer Goshi gets to Stardown the sooner they can start shelling the refugee camps and stuff which is bad.
I think we should have some sort of plan for when they start shelling - move more people out onto the lake if possible, since that'll save shrapnel at least, and have more of them just abandon the city and flee into the surrounding hills and mountains during barrages - as much as possible. There'll be panic no matter what we do, but the more spread out they are, the lower the casualties will be.
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