Wolves in the Gates | By : imp_pulchra Category: Final Fantasy Games > Crossovers Views: 1630 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Final Fantasy related. I am not making any money or profit off of this story. The Leggari are of my own creation and may at some point appear in other works I write (or not) |
The Leggari had arrived on Ultima about 800 years ago, and unlike many events that far back in history it was a very well known, and well documented, event. One fine summer day in the kingdom of Arkadia had seen a massive shooting star hurtling toward them, witnessed by pretty much anyone in the world who had cared to look up at the sky that night. That shooting star was the Leggari star vessel in a controlled, but still disastrous, descent towards the planet. The vessel landed in the outskirts of Arkadia’s second city, causing massive damage and huge loss of life.
For approximately 12 hours nobody knew what was happening. Leggari emerged from the vessel established a perimeter and even did there best to put out fires and succour the wounded. The large Grey skinned black armoured warriors made no hostile moves and seemed genuinely distraught by what had happened, but when the local duke arrived with his army to ascertain just what was going on blood was spilled. To this day the Leggari claim that they crash landed and had no intention of going to war, the Arkadians on the other hand claimed that the Leggari were invading them, and as all of Arkadia now lies in the Leggari Dominions that seemed a persuasive argument to many.
Whatever the case once fighting broke out it proved impossible to stop for the next several hundred years. The Duke was killed, then the king of Arkadia, then the two neighbouring kingdoms were embroiled in war with the Greyskins. At first the Leggari were hideously outnumbered, but they had weapons on their side. Leggari weapons were magical and devastating and even a small number of Leggari could fight armies many times their size, on top of that the skill of an individual Leggari could best a dozen regular men in combat, more if he was particularly skilled. Soon though numbers began to tell, and their magic of their weapons began to fail them. For a while it seemed as though the Greyskins would be wiped out, until their next generation began to join them on the battlefield.
At first it was seen that the Leggari had no women among them, not unusual for an army of campaign but soon the truth was revealed, the Leggari had no women at all. The Leggari propagated their species by mating with the women folk of others. Any girl child would be born her mother’s race, any boy would be born Leggari. What’s more, pregnancies lasted half the time, were much less hazardous to the mother and Leggari were extremely fertile, if he was minded a Leggari male could surely impregnate a woman on a single insemination, and even women outside of child baring years or with some infertility could become pregnant by them. Women impregnated by the Leggari also became more vigorous, diseases melted away, wounds or deformities healed themselves, wrinkles vanished, excess weight melted away. Most frighteningly, women seemed to like their Leggari mates, or sires, as they called them and there was no indication that the Leggari were forcing themselves upon women, there were no stories of rapine or ravishment, oh there was the odd tale of coercion, blackmail or bribery and just a small number of wild lust, but even in these tales the women were always more willing than unwilling, mostly though it was just growing numbers of women starting families with Leggari sires in occupied areas. In fact, Leggari seemd to have an irrational protective streak when it came to women. Some said it was because they lacked any of their own, other’s that they formed some kind of alchemical bond with women. Whatever the case, if ever they saw women being hurt they would visit horrible retribution upon the perpetrator.
Most problematically for the war, Leggari boys were ready for the battlefield at age 12, 10 if there was dire need or the youth was particularly eager. By the time the 30th year of the war had rolled around the Leggari were outbreeding their human opponents, by year 100 Leggari armies were bigger than when they had first arrived, by year 150 the first truce was instated which allowed the Leggari to consolidate, by year 155 fear of growing numbers started the war up again and by year 175 a number of kingdoms had fallen and a few others had joined the fray. By year 200 the Leggari had become the dominant power in the region, even without their magic weapons. By year 250 all organised resistance had stopped, neighbouring kingdoms declared peace and decided to give “live and let live” a try. By year 300 hundred the last disorganised armies of irregulars, bandits, guerrillas, insurgents and die-hard noblemen with private forces and a desire to take back family land had been swept away. Peace reigned, at least for a while.
The Leggari kept their word, they were a warrior people and brutal fighters but they believed in promises kept. That didn’t stop other kingdoms and races from picking fights with them from time to time, but never anything so big as the Great War. For the most part the Leggari inhabiting their corner of Ultima became normal, and they were just another Empire looking out for their own.
Through 300 years of chaotic war with the Leggari, and a few more on either side between humans for that matter, a sort of neutral zone popped up between the Leggari Dominions and the Castellan Empire to it’s east and the Principalities of Zaria and Ombrya to the north. Within this Neutral zone many city states had sprung up, or declared their independence from the shattered remains of Roerian Kingdom which had once occupied those lands. To say that this neutral zone was lawless would be an exaggeration, to say that it was a well ordered and law-abiding society was no more accurate. It was a land of bandits, desperadoes, fugitives, the dispossessed, refugees, pauper princes, robber barons, mercenaries, pirates and smugglers with all the danger and exoticism that implied. It was also quite wealthy despite its lack of central order with many banking houses and merchant cartels taking advantage of the lax laws to ply their trade unmolested by kings, princes and most importantly, taxes.
In the Southeast corner of the Neutral zone was the prosperous and wealthy city of Fabula. It was not only the home to several banks, rich merchants and thriving textile, leather and steel industries, it was also an unofficial leisure capital of the area boasting many brothels,inns, bars, taverns and card rooms, ranging from filthy stews to veritable pleasure palaces. Unfortunately for Fabula, the surrounding area had also become the home to the infamous knight Cecil Harvey, his second in command Kain and their private army the Red Wings. If this weren’t bad enough, thanks to a string of successes raiding shipping and caravans, Harvey has thrown together enough money to hire three bands of mercenaries Squall Leonhart’s hyper disciplined SeeD, Cloud Strife’s magically enhanced SOLDIER and the adept at infiltration Tantalus Company, to say nothing of the various bandits and runaway slaves flocking to the Cecil’s banner, hoping for their own slice of the pie once Harvey has claimed his kingdom.
The Leggari however abhor banditry and scofflaws, and several of their own merchants have been attacked in the neutral zone. Beyond mere concerns of money, or even the insult this does to Leggari honour is the danger that Harvey poses to peace in the region, and the Castellans, Ombryans and Zarians all look on in worry as to what Harvey may do, he may pose little direct threat to the Leggari but their own states are much more vulnerable to the Red Wings attacks, to say nothing of the other city states in the neutral zone, ripe for the proverbial picking.
In a great conference between all the concerned parties the human kingdoms strike a deal with the Leggari, free reign in the neutral zone to deal with Cecil Harvey and his rebel army, in return they may take Fabula and it’s surrounding lands as part of their Dominions. The guild council of Fabula is not at all pleased with this development, throwing their gates open to the Red Wings who promptly garrison the city, but before they can make it secure the Leggari advance guard arrives, led by the legendary commander Adreck and his newly minted Clan, the Shadow Wolves.
Before the gates can even be barred against them, or Leggari reinforcements can arrive, the Shadow Wolves have entered the city causing confusion. Both Red Wings and town guard are badly mauled, not least of all because in the chaos they start to fight one another. Fearing the Leggari numbers are much greater than they are the Red Wings flee from the opposite gate, the town guard, the guild council and anyone else willing to follow. The regular folk of Fabula for the most part stay, they may have no love for the Leggari, but they have even less for the Red Wings who have been raiding them or the town guard and guild council that has abandoned them. Those who flee are largely the criminal element of the city, knowing the Leggari’s strict adherence of the law, and runaway slaves choosing this as their moment to flee their masters.
The Shadow Wolves and the rest of the advance guard simply make sure to hold the west gate so that once the main army comes up they simply march into the city.
This is where our story begins, a freshly conquered city, a people on edge, unknown soldiers patrolling the streets and a dangerous army lurking just out of reach.
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