Canardia, Western Field
Amid the waning sun that bathed the landscape in hues of gold and crimson, a dozen horsemen rode into the empty field north of the city. It was a less-traveled stretch where the ground had been cleared and leveled for future expansion to house the lords of the Shogunate. Guided by the horsemen’s banners, the sleek yet stately airship flo...
2025-09-19 11:01:28 +0000 UTC View PostCanardia Castle
The green hedges now were tipped with yellow, a mark of the incoming harvest season, while the gravel paths were scattered with the first fallen leaves. The air carried the damp scent of earth and the fading sweetness of late summer blooms. It was two hours before sundown when Lansius met with Valerie in the garden, a fitting place for a private ...
2025-09-16 09:09:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Reconstruction of the charcoal-fuelled blast furnace at Duddon, Cumbria, built in 1736. Image Source - This is not medieval, but the function and design is similar for charchoal furnace.
2025-09-11 08:35:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Lansius
It was a few hours before sundown when the meeting finally ended. Lansius and Audrey chose to take a walk in the garden, as the weather was fair with fall just around the corner. Sir Omin followed behind. His presence was not out of the ordinary, as he was part of the family as Audrey’s cousin. Here, without the other retainers and with the entourage waitin...
2025-09-06 03:19:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Chapter Image Source: https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Sedan-Chair/
It's a bit difficult to find a picture of a true medieval litter (sedan chair). This example is from a later age, but it shows the size well, and depicts the harness correctly. The bearers did not simply hold the poles by hand, but helped by harnesses over the shoulders.
Kapua City, Nicopola
It was a wet, cold gray morning, the drizzle falling almost constantly upon the heads of the new King’s army encircling Kapua. The sea of men had eaten their warm gruel beneath leaky field tents, a meal that might well be their last. Slowly, as they had done before, they assumed formation in the field, arrayed themselves before the city walls, ...
2025-08-29 13:31:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Mountain Region, West of Three Hills
Slowly, the season turned to fall, and rainfall became a constant menace. A drizzle fell through the night, and by morning, a heavy fog smothered the plateau. In a jungle clearing, a small fortified camp stood beside a jagged outcrop of limestone. Despite its military purpose, the camp was mostly serene, almost idle save from ...
2025-08-26 15:31:13 +0000 UTC View Post
East of Canardia
The rain had fallen almost without pause through the night, softening the world into a gray blur. By morning, it lingered as a steady drizzle, cold and unrelenting. The hill that yesterday had been dry and hard now sagged beneath sheets of muck. Dust, long gathered over the summer, was carved into brown channels and carried downhill. The soil, b...
2025-08-22 22:27:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Lansius
The rain hammered against the thick stone walls, its steady drumming softened into a muffled rhythm that almost felt calming between the sharp cracks of thunder and the long howls of the wind. Lansius, still in his study chamber, could only hope his little one was not frightened by the storm, or it would be another long night. Even with Audrey’s magic, c...
2025-08-19 12:21:35 +0000 UTC View Post
East of Canardia
Amid the oppressive midday heat and the steady drone of cicadas, beneath the shade of a field tent, the Captain and his staff lay sprawled in slumber, bellies heavy from a hearty meal. From a brass censer, the apothecary’s incense curled in pale, twisting threads, its rich, musky fragrance seeping into every fold of cloth and every breath they...
2025-08-15 15:01:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Canardia Castle
Inside the Lord’s study chamber, a rhythmic sound lingered in the air. It was midday outside, the sun shining strongly, yet an unmistakable snore made Margo and Ingrid, who were working at a different table in the opposite corner, smile from their places. The three had been reviewing records when the Lord dozed off in his newly designed padded chair...
2025-08-12 15:46:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Canardia Dungeon
The small cell was damp, making it sweaty despite the lack of heat. The air hung heavy with the stench of urine and a putrid, unidentifiable smell. Only a single lantern and a few shafts of light from crudely cut ventilation holes lit the space, evidence of its former, more innocent purpose as a cellar. Outside, the last light was fading, and the ...
2025-08-08 14:56:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Chapter Image: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/trajans-column
Lansius
Clouds parted overhead, letting bright rays of summer sun spill over the rotting battlefield as if the sky intended to erase the thousands of dead from the soil. However, the heat only hastened the decay,...
2025-08-05 13:20:19 +0000 UTC View Post
*Update 5th August 2025: Kid has recovered! 🤗
Thank you for all the well wishes!
Hello everyone,
To those who have known me since last year, you know I rarely take days off, not even for Christmas or New Year. But today, I really need to take a break for a family emergency. I’ll be away for a few days, as my kid has been admitted to the hospital.
Kid is stable, so there is no immediate worry, but the blood tests for two consecutive days are concerning.
<... 2025-07-31 10:59:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Lansius
It was noon on the second day after the rebellion. Clouds hung low over Canardia City, and the wind that whipped past carried the stench of rot and old blood from the fields beyond the walls. Outside, packs of carrion birds of all sizes came and went. Underneath the cloudy skies, the banner of the Roaring Lion suddenly appeared on the horizon. It was the hera...
2025-07-29 14:38:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Canardia Outskirts
Underneath the cloudy skies, seventy riders and three half-breeds approached the road leading into the vast arena. Eyes sharp, every sense straining for signs of an ambush, they kept a steady pace, careful not to stir up dust or thunder across the ground and risk giving themselves away too soon. Because of their rushed return to Canardia, Sir H...
2025-07-25 10:37:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Korimor's Chamberlain Ingrid
Propelled by the urgency of the Great Gemstone, Ingrid strode toward the innermost chamber of the castle, where the Lord resided. Flashes from the previous night still lingered in her mind. She remembered how the Lord had entered, his armor bloodstained and broken, flanked by his men in the same condition. That powerful image would likely...
2025-07-22 11:31:22 +0000 UTC View Post
The Previous Night
The chill air in the corridor did not bother the master of Canardia Castle as he walked across newly laid rush mats. They cushioned his steps, muffled his passage, and offered some warmth against the stone. Herbs woven among the rushes gave off a gentle fragrance and kept insects at bay. These new mats were clearly for the benefit of his newbo...
2025-07-18 15:46:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Field Next to The Arena
Out in the fields north of the battlefield where thousands had fallen, sixty cavalrymen pushed their weary horses through the darkness, desperate to break free from the enemy that surrounded them. The night air was thick with the memory of carnage and the stench of death. The riders were too exhausted to punch through to the north a...
2025-07-15 13:55:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Inside the Arena
The vast arena was engulfed in darkness, with light surviving only by the gates where bonfires still burned. Amid the chill night wind and the tense aftermath of defeat, a white-robed youth known to them as a cleric candidate stood near the arena’s gate, surrounded by his honored guard. He had climbed atop an empty wooden barrel, his figure ...
2025-07-11 13:08:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Canardia Castle
The five guardsmen’s roar of celebration echoed through the vast Great Hall, their voices raw and unbridled, ringing with gladness and triumph. Lansius saw the joyous expressions on the faces of others in the chamber, including the maids and servants. Their expression confirmed Audrey's words: a male heir had indeed been born to their House of Bl...
2025-07-08 11:54:39 +0000 UTC View Post
The Second Hill Path Battle
They were hot to the touch, Lansius knew, yet it still seemed unbelievable that human blood wasn’t just warm but truly hot as it splattered from one of the rebels his guards had fought just a few steps to the right. The rebel, young, brash, and poorly armored, staggered from a deep sword cut to the neck that slashed the main artery, spra...
2025-07-04 13:28:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Big Ben
There in the field, surrounded by unconscious men and horses, a hulking wolf-like creature sat groaning on the ground. He gripped the reins of three horses, each animal so frightened of him that they didn’t dare make a sound.
“Why doesn’t the Lord ask me to join the fight?” Big Ben complained, glancing at the horses in annoyance.
Re...
2025-07-01 11:17:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Saint Candidate's Separate Army
Hundreds of meters long, the line of five thousand marched forward. Crossbow bolts hissed out of the darkness, trying to repel them, but despite the wounded and the dead, they kept their stride. Weapons in hand, these newly arrived rioters were bent on bringing carnage to the Lord's men, whom they believed were led by a Black...
2025-06-27 13:41:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Arena, Inside
The inside of the vast wooden structure, with its long horse track and spectator tribunes built to hold thirty thousand, now lay deserted. Lanterns and torches along the far side guttered and died, letting shadows swallow much of the arena. The thousands of rioters, hired swords, and Saint’s followers who had used the arena as their base h...
2025-06-24 13:35:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Previous Chapter The Rioters' Three Columns Many underestimated the risks of a flanking maneuver, thinking it was nothing more than attacki
The Rioters' Three Columns
Many underestimated the risks of a flanking maneuver, thinking it was nothing more than attacking the enemy’s side. As a result, many commanders ignored the inherent danger in the maneuver, g...
2025-06-21 14:45:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Previous Chapter The Northern Side The proud Lowlandian heavy cavalry galloped across the field before slowing to form up in a tight line a
The Northern Side
The proud Lowlandian heavy cavalry galloped across the field before slowing to form up in a tight line and leveling their lances. The rightmost rioters’ fresh column, intent on flanking, was caught in...
2025-06-17 10:02:16 +0000 UTC View Post
The Rioters' Northern Side
Amid the chaos of shifting battle lines filled with cries, angry shouts, and frantic chants, a group of men rushed in from the rear to where the robed youth watched the fighting between columns, guarded by his newly formed retinue. With shields, they kept him safe despite the hail of bolts constantly seeking his life. They had dragged hi...
2025-06-13 13:55:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Lansius
At the heart of the battlefield, where the war wagons were stationed, Lansius’ few hundred fought their hardest against the onslaught of a thousand. One column of rioters had gone down, but a fresh column quickly arrived to replace it. In this battle, they were like mosquitoes against giants, but even mosquitoes could be terrifying under the right circumsta...
2025-06-10 11:26:02 +0000 UTC View Post
The Battle at the Arena Gate
The right wing’s ferocious assault caught everyone by surprise. Even the Lord watched in disbelief. He had wanted them to probe and bait the enemy, but they were crushing it. He had never realized how brutally effective a pike charge could be when led by a competent and powerful column against a weaker one. Right now, his left wing w...
2025-06-06 10:37:10 +0000 UTC View Post