Post by Wolfe on Dec 25, 2018 18:36:38 GMT -5
The current state of Mistral all goes back to The Fall that happened 24 years after the treaty in Vytal was signed. A massive airship carrying the entire student population of Haven Academy crashed in the middle of the ocean between Mistral and Atlas while headed to the Vytal Festival that year, and crippled the Kingdom’s ability to defend itself. To say that every crisis that has happened since then is directly linked to this tragedy is not an exaggeration, but merely an expression of fact.
In the years since, Haven Academy has dramatically expanded recruitment and lowered standards out of necessity for the survival of the institution. The huge lack of huntsmen caused surviving ones to die without replacements, leave the country, or charge exorbitant prices for their services due to the huge demand relative to the supply. Bandit tribes roved around unchecked and even sieged the capital itself for a time before all remaining huntsmen could be rallied to break it, and criminal organizations rose up and gained strength without the Council having a means to do anything about it.
In addition, the number of cities that were destroyed and occupied by the Grimm increased seemingly every month. The two most famous examples of Rochdale and Kerch were consigned to the grave due entirely due to the lack of battle-ready huntsmen or huntsmen trainees available… and with how small some of these villages in the outskirts there is the very real possibility that there are dozens of other settlements that were annihilated by a Grimm infestation that the capital simply does not know about yet.
Then-head of the Council and leader of the Revival Party, Mr. Corbin, had a policy of letting sleeping dogs lie. As long as the criminal elements stayed predominantly in the Ground District and left the upper districts well enough alone, it was not worth the risk of losing a bunch of green Haven trainees to root them out when a comprehensive operation with more seasoned and more numerous fighters could be done at a later date. He died of natural causes in March of 27AV, and his replacement Councilman Rim had a far more hardline stance in regard to law and order.
The first trainees to enter Haven since The Fall were in their second year and more seasoned, and Councilman Rim figured them combined with the first years and some police assistance would be all that would be needed to take down the most successful of the criminal organizations to come up in the Ground District in the Kerch Kozaks. Survivors of the destruction of Kerch, led back to the capital by their leader who they all but deified, they turned the Ground District from squalid slums to a workable community… at the expense of many things that the Council would see as unacceptable.
The Kozaks heavily fortified the Ground District and militarized it, buying up hundreds if not thousands of firearms and other weaponry on the black market. They served as judge, jury, and executioner for the formerly lawless district and engaged in countless extrajudicial killings and many cases of vigilantism that began to step on the toes of the Haven Academy trainees that were supposed to be the ones resolving issues and apprehending violent criminals in the capital. They had gotten too bold and too arrogant so as to undermine Haven and the Council’s authority in the public eye, and thus needed to be removed.
The Battle for the Ground District would occur in late March of 27, precipitated by an announcement by Councilman Rim that the Kozaks had an hour to give up their leader and a list of several dozen other identified terrorists for arrest or that the full might of Mistral was going to come into the Ground District and destroy them. What happened in the actual battle is cause for much debate, as both sides of the conflict have wildly varying stories about the circumstances of the battle and who is ultimately at fault.
What we do know is that the Kozaks refused to hand over anyone and set explosive charges of dust that destroyed every road leading into the Ground District from the Wind, and their leader placed herself and a number of run down vehicles on the main road. Each of these run down vehicles, it turns out, were rigged with explosives and the first wave of attackers from Mistral Police Department and Haven Academy were annihilated with few survivors. The battle raged on for hours, ultimately ending when the Kozaks were able to blast a hole through the outer walls of the city and escape through there with the Council forces declining pursuit.
Pursuit was declined due to the staggering losses, easily numbering in the thousands for the Council. Secondary explosive charges were planted on most of the secondary roads which claimed many lives, and the fortified bunkers and seemingly endless supply of ammunition the Kozaks had at their disposal claimed many others. Death toll from the Kozaks is impossible to determine, but it was at least in the hundreds due to the bodies found in their distinctive white cloaks in the Ground District after the fact.
Contrary to popular belief that the Kozaks would die off without the protection of the capital, they did as they had always aimed and retook Kerch from the Grimm and in the following months set up a base of operations there. Now firmly anti-Council, they are the originators of the so-called “Revolutionary League” that combines a bandit tribe coalition with a number of other terrorist and outlaw organizations under one banner with one purpose: to destroy the Council and Haven Academy and thus all law and order left in the country. This Council line intending to instill fear into the hearts of its citizenry is out of context, but not far from the truth.
As of now, they lack the capability to do so if not the will. Kerch is still in the process of being rebuilt and is more of a military fort than civilization at this point and the bandit tribes while pledging allegiance to the cause are not under the thumb of their leader by any stretch of the imagination. They lack the firepower to pose any threat to the capital, especially as recruitment for Haven has reached record levels to replace those who lost their lives in the Battle for the Ground District.
Both the Council and the Revolutionary League are in the rebuilding phase, unable to do much other than fight for the hearts and minds of the populace they claim to represent for the moment.
____
Original text of recent events summary below:
In the years since, Haven Academy has dramatically expanded recruitment and lowered standards out of necessity for the survival of the institution. The huge lack of huntsmen caused surviving ones to die without replacements, leave the country, or charge exorbitant prices for their services due to the huge demand relative to the supply. Bandit tribes roved around unchecked and even sieged the capital itself for a time before all remaining huntsmen could be rallied to break it, and criminal organizations rose up and gained strength without the Council having a means to do anything about it.
In addition, the number of cities that were destroyed and occupied by the Grimm increased seemingly every month. The two most famous examples of Rochdale and Kerch were consigned to the grave due entirely due to the lack of battle-ready huntsmen or huntsmen trainees available… and with how small some of these villages in the outskirts there is the very real possibility that there are dozens of other settlements that were annihilated by a Grimm infestation that the capital simply does not know about yet.
Then-head of the Council and leader of the Revival Party, Mr. Corbin, had a policy of letting sleeping dogs lie. As long as the criminal elements stayed predominantly in the Ground District and left the upper districts well enough alone, it was not worth the risk of losing a bunch of green Haven trainees to root them out when a comprehensive operation with more seasoned and more numerous fighters could be done at a later date. He died of natural causes in March of 27AV, and his replacement Councilman Rim had a far more hardline stance in regard to law and order.
The first trainees to enter Haven since The Fall were in their second year and more seasoned, and Councilman Rim figured them combined with the first years and some police assistance would be all that would be needed to take down the most successful of the criminal organizations to come up in the Ground District in the Kerch Kozaks. Survivors of the destruction of Kerch, led back to the capital by their leader who they all but deified, they turned the Ground District from squalid slums to a workable community… at the expense of many things that the Council would see as unacceptable.
The Kozaks heavily fortified the Ground District and militarized it, buying up hundreds if not thousands of firearms and other weaponry on the black market. They served as judge, jury, and executioner for the formerly lawless district and engaged in countless extrajudicial killings and many cases of vigilantism that began to step on the toes of the Haven Academy trainees that were supposed to be the ones resolving issues and apprehending violent criminals in the capital. They had gotten too bold and too arrogant so as to undermine Haven and the Council’s authority in the public eye, and thus needed to be removed.
The Battle for the Ground District would occur in late March of 27, precipitated by an announcement by Councilman Rim that the Kozaks had an hour to give up their leader and a list of several dozen other identified terrorists for arrest or that the full might of Mistral was going to come into the Ground District and destroy them. What happened in the actual battle is cause for much debate, as both sides of the conflict have wildly varying stories about the circumstances of the battle and who is ultimately at fault.
What we do know is that the Kozaks refused to hand over anyone and set explosive charges of dust that destroyed every road leading into the Ground District from the Wind, and their leader placed herself and a number of run down vehicles on the main road. Each of these run down vehicles, it turns out, were rigged with explosives and the first wave of attackers from Mistral Police Department and Haven Academy were annihilated with few survivors. The battle raged on for hours, ultimately ending when the Kozaks were able to blast a hole through the outer walls of the city and escape through there with the Council forces declining pursuit.
Pursuit was declined due to the staggering losses, easily numbering in the thousands for the Council. Secondary explosive charges were planted on most of the secondary roads which claimed many lives, and the fortified bunkers and seemingly endless supply of ammunition the Kozaks had at their disposal claimed many others. Death toll from the Kozaks is impossible to determine, but it was at least in the hundreds due to the bodies found in their distinctive white cloaks in the Ground District after the fact.
Contrary to popular belief that the Kozaks would die off without the protection of the capital, they did as they had always aimed and retook Kerch from the Grimm and in the following months set up a base of operations there. Now firmly anti-Council, they are the originators of the so-called “Revolutionary League” that combines a bandit tribe coalition with a number of other terrorist and outlaw organizations under one banner with one purpose: to destroy the Council and Haven Academy and thus all law and order left in the country. This Council line intending to instill fear into the hearts of its citizenry is out of context, but not far from the truth.
As of now, they lack the capability to do so if not the will. Kerch is still in the process of being rebuilt and is more of a military fort than civilization at this point and the bandit tribes while pledging allegiance to the cause are not under the thumb of their leader by any stretch of the imagination. They lack the firepower to pose any threat to the capital, especially as recruitment for Haven has reached record levels to replace those who lost their lives in the Battle for the Ground District.
Both the Council and the Revolutionary League are in the rebuilding phase, unable to do much other than fight for the hearts and minds of the populace they claim to represent for the moment.
____
Original text of recent events summary below:
It's been 25 years since the Great War ended and the treaty at Vytal was signed. Twenty-five years since the Big Four Huntsman Academies were tasked with training the future defenders of mankind how to fight against and more importantly survive against the Creatures of Grimm. Many classes of huntsmen and huntresses have graduated from the Big Four Academies since then, and those licensed by one of these Academies have developed a reputation for peerless skill in battle and remarkable tenacity. The profession of huntsman is viewed as being a wandering hero, going off to save people from the forces that would do them harm.
There have also been great strides in terms of coming together as a species since then. Many technological advancements in the fields of communication, robotics, airship technology, dust refinement, and heating have all been conducted and spread across Remnant since the end of the Great War. While there still are tensions between nations, no human kingdom has gone to war with another human kingdom since the end of that world-changing event.
Where this is progress and triumph, however, there is also great failure. The format of the Big Four Huntsman Academies was not set in stone for years, and each Academy plays by their own rules and does what they think is best in order to train the next generation of huntsmen. At the creation of the Huntsman Academies, before they were the massive enterprises they were today it was fairly simple to get recruits. Veterans of the Great War who had distinguished themselves in battle made natural choices to become the first Huntsmen, because they were the best warriors that humanity had to offer.
As years passed, however, veterans of the war became harder and harder to come by. Chances had to be taken on promising students from the primary combat schools throughout Remnant, and tournaments were established like the Mistral Regional Tournament in each kingdom in order to gauge the quality of recruits and see the quality of the instruction offered in these lesser combat schools. It was hugely beneficial for the Big Four to continue to take candidates who already showed potential and bravery rather than take risks on unknowns, because fighting the Grimm was exceptionally dangerous and those who were not up for the task died in the attempt every day all around the world.
Haven Academy, for years, took only one class of students and ran them through three years of instruction. They would take large groups and then work with them for those three years, only filling up slots as other people dropped out. This worked for quite some time, as the veterans of the Great War were still the backbone of the Huntsmen out in the world. All they needed to do was train enough to replace those who retired or died in the line of duty.
In what was known amongst the populace as The Fall, however, the structure of Haven Academy changed forever. The exact circumstances of the event are not known, and will likely never be known, but the general outline of what happened was pieced together after the fact. An airship carrying the vast majority of students and faculty were travelling for the Vytal Festival in the Kingdom of Atlas when something happened. Whether it was an equipment failure, a Grimm attack, or something else entirely that caused the disaster is not known. What is known, however, is that somehow the ship crashed into the frigid ocean about a hundred kilometers away from the shore. They were unfortunately out of communication range of any major city, though at least one cargo plane in the area caught wind of the distress signal and went back to Atlas to get help. Unfortunately, however, help came too late. The ship had crashed into the water, and one hundred students and twelve members of the Haven Academy faculty drowned or froze to death in the frigid water.
The lands around Mistral City are extremely dangerous once the relative safety of the mountain is left, due to a noticeable uptick of bandit activity making trade and travel much more difficult. The loss of so many trainees made the area extremely vulnerable, as there simply weren't enough Huntsmen who were willing to relocate to the area of the capital to make it safe again. Raids on caravans have become much more frequent as a result, and more than a few smaller villages on the outskirts of the city haven't been heard from in quite some time. The only safe way to travel in and out of the city is by air, and that's very expensive. Because of this, trade in all forms has gone down dramatically due to the complete lack of caravans passing through and the fact that by this point every other kingdom is aware of the situation and while the governments provide what aid they say they can… the corporations aren't so charitable and use the crisis to force Mistral into paying higher rates on Dust and other necessary supplies due to the added danger on flying near the capital.
The Kingdom of Atlas has publicly vowed to improve communications systems so that a tragedy like that from ever occurring again, claiming that if the distress signal had reached their coastal cities a rescue could have been made in time. Since then, they have been working diligently to create what they call the Cross Continental Transmit System which they claim could make communication between kingdoms possible for the first time in history without the use of couriers or messengers who physically made the trip to another kingdom. Atlas engineers are certainly building something in the capital of Mistral, but it is very debatable if that something will ever grow to be half as useful as they claim.
There have also been great strides in terms of coming together as a species since then. Many technological advancements in the fields of communication, robotics, airship technology, dust refinement, and heating have all been conducted and spread across Remnant since the end of the Great War. While there still are tensions between nations, no human kingdom has gone to war with another human kingdom since the end of that world-changing event.
Where this is progress and triumph, however, there is also great failure. The format of the Big Four Huntsman Academies was not set in stone for years, and each Academy plays by their own rules and does what they think is best in order to train the next generation of huntsmen. At the creation of the Huntsman Academies, before they were the massive enterprises they were today it was fairly simple to get recruits. Veterans of the Great War who had distinguished themselves in battle made natural choices to become the first Huntsmen, because they were the best warriors that humanity had to offer.
As years passed, however, veterans of the war became harder and harder to come by. Chances had to be taken on promising students from the primary combat schools throughout Remnant, and tournaments were established like the Mistral Regional Tournament in each kingdom in order to gauge the quality of recruits and see the quality of the instruction offered in these lesser combat schools. It was hugely beneficial for the Big Four to continue to take candidates who already showed potential and bravery rather than take risks on unknowns, because fighting the Grimm was exceptionally dangerous and those who were not up for the task died in the attempt every day all around the world.
Haven Academy, for years, took only one class of students and ran them through three years of instruction. They would take large groups and then work with them for those three years, only filling up slots as other people dropped out. This worked for quite some time, as the veterans of the Great War were still the backbone of the Huntsmen out in the world. All they needed to do was train enough to replace those who retired or died in the line of duty.
In what was known amongst the populace as The Fall, however, the structure of Haven Academy changed forever. The exact circumstances of the event are not known, and will likely never be known, but the general outline of what happened was pieced together after the fact. An airship carrying the vast majority of students and faculty were travelling for the Vytal Festival in the Kingdom of Atlas when something happened. Whether it was an equipment failure, a Grimm attack, or something else entirely that caused the disaster is not known. What is known, however, is that somehow the ship crashed into the frigid ocean about a hundred kilometers away from the shore. They were unfortunately out of communication range of any major city, though at least one cargo plane in the area caught wind of the distress signal and went back to Atlas to get help. Unfortunately, however, help came too late. The ship had crashed into the water, and one hundred students and twelve members of the Haven Academy faculty drowned or froze to death in the frigid water.
The lands around Mistral City are extremely dangerous once the relative safety of the mountain is left, due to a noticeable uptick of bandit activity making trade and travel much more difficult. The loss of so many trainees made the area extremely vulnerable, as there simply weren't enough Huntsmen who were willing to relocate to the area of the capital to make it safe again. Raids on caravans have become much more frequent as a result, and more than a few smaller villages on the outskirts of the city haven't been heard from in quite some time. The only safe way to travel in and out of the city is by air, and that's very expensive. Because of this, trade in all forms has gone down dramatically due to the complete lack of caravans passing through and the fact that by this point every other kingdom is aware of the situation and while the governments provide what aid they say they can… the corporations aren't so charitable and use the crisis to force Mistral into paying higher rates on Dust and other necessary supplies due to the added danger on flying near the capital.
The Kingdom of Atlas has publicly vowed to improve communications systems so that a tragedy like that from ever occurring again, claiming that if the distress signal had reached their coastal cities a rescue could have been made in time. Since then, they have been working diligently to create what they call the Cross Continental Transmit System which they claim could make communication between kingdoms possible for the first time in history without the use of couriers or messengers who physically made the trip to another kingdom. Atlas engineers are certainly building something in the capital of Mistral, but it is very debatable if that something will ever grow to be half as useful as they claim.