Then again, I guess Egorsmirnov himself had retconned this when he came back.
OOC: I genuinly don't remember much from here. I checked the last time I even posted was over Three Years ago. Its nice, knowing people still remember me. And by the way I am more impressed that this roleplay has gone on for more than half a decade at this point
OOC: I genuinly don't remember much from here. I checked the last time I even posted was over Three Years ago. Its nice, knowing people still remember me. And by the way I am more impressed that this roleplay has gone on for more than half a decade at this point
NO WAY!
Yep, Its been over Three, Very Long Years, But I am back.
The main body of the Sabretooth Fleet proves elusive as expected, but they soon sight a handful of patrol ships, apparently caught off guard. The Hunter ships turn north as soon as they notice Brethil's flotilla approaching. They don't have fast enough engines to outrun Brethil, but hope to rejoin the fleet in time to offer a more equal fight. Assuming the Bat and Wolf ships give chase, they soon see scattered icebergs and pieces of sea ice ahead, growing more and more frequent the further they go. Apparently the Hunters have brought the Arctic with them, their auras reducing the temperature enough for ice to form south of the border between the West Sea and the North Sea.
The fleeing Hunter ships coalesce into a group, the reasoning for which soon becomes clear. As the field of icebergs grows more dense, a wide channel opens in the middle of it. The Hunters appear to have sherperded the icebergs aside, effectively creating a road through the middle along which their ships can sail unimpeded. The Hunter ships fleeing along it visibly start preparing for battle, indicating they intend to swing around imminently - the Sabretooth Fleet must be gathered just a little way ahead.
OOC: Get more active on Minor Tribes HQ bruh.
IC: The Bat Fleet readies for battle; twelve bomber wing strikers are sent forth from one of the aircraft carriers, spreading out, flying high above and targeting, oddly, the icebergs. It seems they aim to reveal any concealed Sabertooth ships first and foremost.
This is surely a wise move given the Sabretooths' reputation for craftiness in their battle plans, but oddly no boats are found behind the icebergs adjacent to the searoad, nor are any warriors concealed anywhere on them. However, after several hours of sailing north along the searoad, sonar scanners indicate just over a dozen ships located directly ahead, sailing south to meet them.
{JAMMERS - ME - ONLY} On the south-western side of the field of icebergs, the majority of the Sabretooth Fleet is gathered. On the bridge of Argonville Remembers a number of senior officers are gathered around High Sea Lord Finnegan Senall, First Admiral of the Sabretooth Navy, Marshal of the Northern Ships, Protector of the Western Territories and Guardian of Fingir's Cove.
The gathered Hunters listen to an incoming radio message, encrypted in an ancient formula. After listening to the report, Finnegan turns to his subordinates.
"The enemy have fallen right into our trap. Raise anchor, and full speed ahead!"
The Sabretooth ships quickly begin moving east along the fringe of the sea-ice towards the corridor along which the Bat-Wolf ships are travelling north.
--------------------------------------- Meanwhile, to the north of the southern ships, fifteen Hunter ships are anchored. These are not the modern ships recently produced by the shipyards, nor older ships upgraded with modern engines and cannons. They are old wooden vessels more or less unchanged from how they were built centuries before. They are not up to much, but for this purpose they will do just fine.
Behind them, the supposed route from south to north abruptly turns into densely packed icebergs. From the south end of the route, it appears to be a clear passage bifurcating the field. In truth, however, the passage only runs about halfway through the field of icebergs. The area around it has been packed tightly with icebergs, over which Hunters have been climbing for days to add more ice, fusing many of them together into huge clumps of ice. Even with Fire Chi, blasting a path out of here would be time-consuming. The Bats and Wolves are sailing towards a dead end.
This "passage" through the field of icebergs has been built for one specific purpose, and it isn't to transport Sabretooth ships. In truth, the Hunter raiding parties have been coming around the iceberg field rather than through it.
{JAMMERS! -me- ONLY!} Admiral Finnegan's fleet continue to edge closer to Brethil's, relying on regular status updates from the patrol ships Brethil is pursuing to ensure they don't come within sonar range of the Bat-Wolf task force. By the time the southern ships have moved a decent way into the ice field and the fifteen wooden vessels begin moving to engage them, Finnegan has his ships at the mouth of the searoad. They accelerate to full speed and sail hard north in pursuit.
IC: The Bat Fleet readies for battle; twelve bomber wing strikers are sent forth from one of the aircraft carriers, spreading out, flying high above and targeting, oddly, the icebergs. It seems they aim to reveal any concealed Sabertooth ships first and foremost.
This is surely a wise move given the Sabretooths' reputation for craftiness in their battle plans, but oddly no boats are found behind the icebergs adjacent to the searoad, nor are any warriors concealed anywhere on them. However, after several hours of sailing north along the searoad, sonar scanners indicate just over a dozen ships located directly ahead, sailing south to meet them.
By now, the advance Wing Strikers have destroyed all the glaciers aside from the smallest ones nearest to the northern icecaps, preventing the enemy ships from having any hiding places on the sea. The Wing Striker pilots, seeing the Sabertooth Fleet below and having expended their full load of bombs, fly high above and quickly make their way back south to the Bat-Wolf force, notifying the captains of that force about the numbers of the enemy ships.
a diplomat of the colony came to aether island, asking anastasia and the federation for help in the invasion of the MRE coast
The Saviorite/Federation delegate on Aether Island in place of Anastasia meets with the diplomat.
Delegate: "An invasion? I don't know if we should devote our focus to that just yet. The disrupted Elemental Balance caused by the Ice Hunters' invasion is ravaging this region, and there won't be a Chima to defend if this keeps up. Our leader is currently under Mount Cavora, and once the other Harness-Bearers join her, she'll use a Great Illumination to fix this."
{JAMMERS - ME - ONLY} On the south-western side of the field of icebergs, the majority of the Sabretooth Fleet is gathered. On the bridge of Argonville Remembers a number of senior officers are gathered around High Sea Lord Finnegan Senall, First Admiral of the Sabretooth Navy, Marshal of the Northern Ships, Protector of the Western Territories and Guardian of Fingir's Cove.
The gathered Hunters listen to an incoming radio message, encrypted in an ancient formula. After listening to the report, Finnegan turns to his subordinates.
"The enemy have fallen right into our trap. Raise anchor, and full speed ahead!"
The Sabretooth ships quickly begin moving east along the fringe of the sea-ice towards the corridor along which the Bat-Wolf ships are travelling north.
--------------------------------------- Meanwhile, to the north of the southern ships, fifteen Hunter ships are anchored. These are not the modern ships recently produced by the shipyards, nor older ships upgraded with modern engines and cannons. They are old wooden vessels more or less unchanged from how they were built centuries before. They are not up to much, but for this purpose they will do just fine.
Behind them, the supposed route from south to north abruptly turns into densely packed icebergs. From the south end of the route, it appears to be a clear passage bifurcating the field. In truth, however, the passage only runs about halfway through the field of icebergs. The area around it has been packed tightly with icebergs, over which Hunters have been climbing for days to add more ice, fusing many of them together into huge clumps of ice. Even with Fire Chi, blasting a path out of here would be time-consuming. The Bats and Wolves are sailing towards a dead end.
This "passage" through the field of icebergs has been built for one specific purpose, and it isn't to transport Sabretooth ships. In truth, the Hunter raiding parties have been coming around the iceberg field rather than through it.
{JAMMERS! -me- ONLY!} Admiral Finnegan's fleet continue to edge closer to Brethil's, relying on regular status updates from the patrol ships Brethil is pursuing to ensure they don't come within sonar range of the Bat-Wolf task force. By the time the southern ships have moved a decent way into the ice field and the fifteen wooden vessels begin moving to engage them, Finnegan has his ships at the mouth of the searoad. They accelerate to full speed and sail hard north in pursuit.
Both these posts are now available for general perusal.
By now, the advance Wing Strikers have destroyed all the glaciers aside from the smallest ones nearest to the northern icecaps, preventing the enemy ships from having any hiding places on the sea. The Wing Striker pilots, seeing the Sabertooth Fleet below and having expended their full load of bombs, fly high above and quickly make their way back south to the Bat-Wolf force, notifying the captains of that force about the numbers of the enemy ships.
OOC: Oh, you were trying to destroy the entire iceberg field? From your previous post I thought you were just targeting the nearest ones that might be hiding Sabretooth ships. I was visualising the ice on a large scale - packed together into this dense "field" to more-or-less entirely block-off the water between the West Sea and the North Sea, as far out as anyone typically sails - so it'd take more than twelve Wing Strikers to destroy it, and a lot of it is north of where these Hunter ships are, so the Wing Strikers haven't come far enough to destroy many of the icebergs yet. But I guess we could say you'd done enough damage to widen the passage down the middle, destroyed a lot of the nearest icebergs to make the field less dense and partially navigable, and have done enough bombing to be clear that no Hunter ships are hiding on either side of you. Would that be a suitable compromise?
I'm doing a separate IC post due to the character limit - you might want to read the two jammered posts first, as those no longer have anything secret.
IC: As the Wing Strikers fly over the enemy ships, they notice strange visual details that sonar scanners hadn't picked up. Although reports from the coastal raids suggested the Sabretooth Fleet had a large number of newly-constructed ships based on modern designs, all of these are centuries-old wooden sailing ships as used in their very first ventures back onto the sea. Such ships are now an uncommon sight. Further, they only seem to be very lightly-crewed, as if many of the sailors had been sent elsewhere. More critically, though, the sea-road through the iceberg field stops right behind the Hunter ships. They are not blocking the road partway through to the other side of the field in order to block Brethil - they are there to lure Brethil to the end of it. The "sea-road" is clearly a trap. It only goes halfway through the icefield, the northern half of which is solidly packed with ice.
At the same time, the rearmost ships in Brethil's fleet suddenly notice their sonar scanners picking up additional vessels. Additional vessels behind them. As the new targets come close enough for visual contact, the Bats and Wolves see that these are the modern Sabretooth ships. A huge dreadnought is at the centre of the formation, surrounded by smaller warships. All have steel hulls bristling with cannons. The Sabretooth ploy now becomes clear: Brethil was right to expect hidden ships, but not concealed within the ice field. The bulk of the Sabretooth Fleet was hiding south of the icebergs and miles west of the sea-road this entire time, using frequent encrypted reports from the decoy patrol ship to ensure they never came within sonar range of Brethil until now. Whilst the southern ships sailed up the sea-road towards a handful of outdated ships with skeleton crews, the rest of the fleet moved to block the southern mouth of the sea-road - positioning itself directly behind Brethil - and have now sailed into detectable range. Even after having destroyed a considerable part of the ice field, Brethil finds himself precisely where the Sabretooth admiral wanted him. Ahead of the Bat and Wolf ships, the old wooden ships lie just ahead of a semicircular wall of dense icebergs. And behind them, a large number of modern ships are nearly close enough to attack Brethil's ships from behind.
Worse, scanners also pick up a respectable number of enemy aircraft closing in hard from the north-east. It seems the Wing Strikers will not be left free to play any further part in the sea battle; they will have their own battle in the skies.
By now, the advance Wing Strikers have destroyed all the glaciers aside from the smallest ones nearest to the northern icecaps, preventing the enemy ships from having any hiding places on the sea. The Wing Striker pilots, seeing the Sabertooth Fleet below and having expended their full load of bombs, fly high above and quickly make their way back south to the Bat-Wolf force, notifying the captains of that force about the numbers of the enemy ships.
OOC: Oh, you were trying to destroy the entire iceberg field? From your previous post I thought you were just targeting the nearest ones that might be hiding Sabretooth ships. I was visualising the ice on a large scale - packed together into this dense "field" to more-or-less entirely block-off the water between the West Sea and the North Sea, as far out as anyone typically sails - so it'd take more than twelve Wing Strikers to destroy it, and a lot of it is north of where these Hunter ships are, so the Wing Strikers haven't come far enough to destroy many of the icebergs yet. But I guess we could say you'd done enough damage to widen the passage down the middle, destroyed a lot of the nearest icebergs to make the field less dense and partially navigable, and have done enough bombing to be clear that no Hunter ships are hiding on either side of you. Would that be a suitable compromise?
I'm doing a separate IC post due to the character limit - you might want to read the two jammered posts first, as those no longer have anything secret.
IC: As the Wing Strikers fly over the enemy ships, they notice strange visual details that sonar scanners hadn't picked up. Although reports from the coastal raids suggested the Sabretooth Fleet had a large number of newly-constructed ships based on modern designs, all of these are centuries-old wooden sailing ships as used in their very first ventures back onto the sea. Such ships are now an uncommon sight. Further, they only seem to be very lightly-crewed, as if many of the sailors had been sent elsewhere. More critically, though, the sea-road through the iceberg field stops right behind the Hunter ships. They are not blocking the road partway through to the other side of the field in order to block Brethil - they are there to lure Brethil to the end of it. The "sea-road" is clearly a trap. It only goes halfway through the icefield, the northern half of which is solidly packed with ice.
At the same time, the rearmost ships in Brethil's fleet suddenly notice their sonar scanners picking up additional vessels. Additional vessels behind them. As the new targets come close enough for visual contact, the Bats and Wolves see that these are the modern Sabretooth ships. A huge dreadnought is at the centre of the formation, surrounded by smaller warships. All have steel hulls bristling with cannons. The Sabretooth ploy now becomes clear: Brethil was right to expect hidden ships, but not concealed within the ice field. The bulk of the Sabretooth Fleet was hiding south of the icebergs and miles west of the sea-road this entire time, using frequent encrypted reports from the decoy patrol ship to ensure they never came within sonar range of Brethil until now. Whilst the southern ships sailed up the sea-road towards a handful of outdated ships with skeleton crews, the rest of the fleet moved to block the southern mouth of the sea-road - positioning itself directly behind Brethil - and have now sailed into detectable range. Even after having destroyed a considerable part of the ice field, Brethil finds himself precisely where the Sabretooth admiral wanted him. Ahead of the Bat and Wolf ships, the old wooden ships lie just ahead of a semicircular wall of dense icebergs. And behind them, a large number of modern ships are nearly close enough to attack Brethil's ships from behind.
Worse, scanners also pick up a respectable number of enemy aircraft closing in hard from the north-east. It seems the Wing Strikers will not be left free to play any further part in the sea battle; they will have their own battle in the skies.
OOC: The wall of icebergs in front of the wooden ships would've been destroyed by the Wing Strikers, if it was just ahead/to the north. I'll say that's what they had expended their load of bombs on, having focused on eliminating the wall; so, the Sabertooth ships can still move behind the icebergs to their left and right, which remain intact.
IC: Though the 12 bomber Wing Strikers are now occupied by the enemy aircraft, those on the Bats' other 2 present aircraft carriers launch. These squadrons, 24 Wing Strikers in total, all take sharp turns and fly low to avoid the dogfight above. They are all sent behind the Bat-Wolf Fleet to engage the modern Sabertooth ships coming in from behind, and fire on the decks of those ships with fire chi laser blasts.
The 8 submarines (since each non-Croc tribe has 4, so 4 for the Bats and 4 for the Wolves), are also sent south, going under and between the modern Sabertooth ships. They shoot fire chi-powered missiles upward, which cut through the moving ice sheets around each ship and widen the distance between the enemy ships, since the Sabertooths need to steer their ships away to avoid the "upward" launched missiles from literally crashing onto their decks when they sputter and fall from their short ascent.
The entire Bat-Wolf force aside from the Wing Strikers and subs, meanwhile, fires nonstop on the old ships, making short work of whatever remains of the wall of icebergs as it's melted down by hundreds of simultaneous fire chi laser blasts, which then cut through and set fire to the wooden ships. The Wing Strikers and subs keep the modern enemy fleet in the south occupied for as long as possible, so Brethil's main force can focus its full firepower on the old fleet.
IC: As the Wing Strikers fly over the enemy ships, they notice strange visual details that sonar scanners hadn't picked up. Although reports from the coastal raids suggested the Sabretooth Fleet had a large number of newly-constructed ships based on modern designs, all of these are centuries-old wooden sailing ships as used in their very first ventures back onto the sea. Such ships are now an uncommon sight. Further, they only seem to be very lightly-crewed, as if many of the sailors had been sent elsewhere. More critically, though, the sea-road through the iceberg field stops right behind the Hunter ships. They are not blocking the road partway through to the other side of the field in order to block Brethil - they are there to lure Brethil to the end of it. The "sea-road" is clearly a trap. It only goes halfway through the icefield, the northern half of which is solidly packed with ice.
At the same time, the rearmost ships in Brethil's fleet suddenly notice their sonar scanners picking up additional vessels. Additional vessels behind them. As the new targets come close enough for visual contact, the Bats and Wolves see that these are the modern Sabretooth ships. A huge dreadnought is at the centre of the formation, surrounded by smaller warships. All have steel hulls bristling with cannons. The Sabretooth ploy now becomes clear: Brethil was right to expect hidden ships, but not concealed within the ice field. The bulk of the Sabretooth Fleet was hiding south of the icebergs and miles west of the sea-road this entire time, using frequent encrypted reports from the decoy patrol ship to ensure they never came within sonar range of Brethil until now. Whilst the southern ships sailed up the sea-road towards a handful of outdated ships with skeleton crews, the rest of the fleet moved to block the southern mouth of the sea-road - positioning itself directly behind Brethil - and have now sailed into detectable range. Even after having destroyed a considerable part of the ice field, Brethil finds himself precisely where the Sabretooth admiral wanted him. Ahead of the Bat and Wolf ships, the old wooden ships lie just ahead of a semicircular wall of dense icebergs. And behind them, a large number of modern ships are nearly close enough to attack Brethil's ships from behind.
Worse, scanners also pick up a respectable number of enemy aircraft closing in hard from the north-east. It seems the Wing Strikers will not be left free to play any further part in the sea battle; they will have their own battle in the skies.
OOC: The wall of icebergs in front of the wooden ships would've been destroyed by the Wing Strikers, if it was just ahead/to the north. I'll say that's what they had expended their load of bombs on, having focused on eliminating the wall; so, the Sabertooth ships can still move behind the icebergs to their left and right, which remain intact.
IC: Though the 12 bomber Wing Strikers are now occupied by the enemy aircraft, those on the Bats' other 2 present aircraft carriers launch. These squadrons, 24 Wing Strikers in total, all take sharp turns and fly low to avoid the dogfight above. They are all sent behind the Bat-Wolf Fleet to engage the modern Sabertooth ships coming in from behind, and fire on the decks of those ships with fire chi laser blasts.
The 8 submarines (since each non-Croc tribe has 4, so 4 for the Bats and 4 for the Wolves), are also sent south, going under and between the modern Sabertooth ships. They shoot fire chi-powered missiles upward, which cut through the moving ice sheets around each ship and widen the distance between the enemy ships, since the Sabertooths need to steer their ships away to avoid the "upward" launched missiles from literally crashing onto their decks when they sputter and fall from their short ascent.
The entire Bat-Wolf force aside from the Wing Strikers and subs, meanwhile, fires nonstop on the old ships, making short work of whatever remains of the wall of icebergs as it's melted down by hundreds of simultaneous fire chi laser blasts, which then cut through and set fire to the wooden ships. The Wing Strikers and subs keep the modern enemy fleet in the south occupied for as long as possible, so Brethil's main force can focus its full firepower on the old fleet.
OOC: Well...at this point, maybe this battle will continue through and after the Illumination, and will be interrupted by a Manta Ray Empire attack, mirroring how the Ice Hunters interrupted the Crawler Empire and Chima Alliance's last battle back in 2018. It's like poetry, it rhymes.
OOC: The wall of icebergs in front of the wooden ships would've been destroyed by the Wing Strikers, if it was just ahead/to the north. I'll say that's what they had expended their load of bombs on, having focused on eliminating the wall; so, the Sabertooth ships can still move behind the icebergs to their left and right, which remain intact.
IC: Though the 12 bomber Wing Strikers are now occupied by the enemy aircraft, those on the Bats' other 2 present aircraft carriers launch. These squadrons, 24 Wing Strikers in total, all take sharp turns and fly low to avoid the dogfight above. They are all sent behind the Bat-Wolf Fleet to engage the modern Sabertooth ships coming in from behind, and fire on the decks of those ships with fire chi laser blasts.
The 8 submarines (since each non-Croc tribe has 4, so 4 for the Bats and 4 for the Wolves), are also sent south, going under and between the modern Sabertooth ships. They shoot fire chi-powered missiles upward, which cut through the moving ice sheets around each ship and widen the distance between the enemy ships, since the Sabertooths need to steer their ships away to avoid the "upward" launched missiles from literally crashing onto their decks when they sputter and fall from their short ascent.
The entire Bat-Wolf force aside from the Wing Strikers and subs, meanwhile, fires nonstop on the old ships, making short work of whatever remains of the wall of icebergs as it's melted down by hundreds of simultaneous fire chi laser blasts, which then cut through and set fire to the wooden ships. The Wing Strikers and subs keep the modern enemy fleet in the south occupied for as long as possible, so Brethil's main force can focus its full firepower on the old fleet.
OOC: Well...at this point, maybe this battle will continue through and after the Illumination, and will be interrupted by a Manta Ray Empire attack, mirroring how the Ice Hunters interrupted the Crawler Empire and Chima Alliance's last battle back in 2018. It's like poetry, it rhymes.
OOC: That wouldn't really make logical sense at this point, seeing as a lot of time has passed in-universe and we've been wrapping this war up. (Speaking of which, I actually realized today just how many plotlines we were able to wrap up before this RP kind of "died". )
IC: Having made short work of the wooden fleet, the Bat-Wolf Fleet was still stuck with the true Sabertooth Fleet at their backs, struggling to turn their long ships around to counterattack before their fire chi runs out and they're frozen. However, a large yet ragtag Air Force composed of jets and helicopters from various tribes (all of them painted with a distinct black and silver color scheme) eventually flew in from the southwest, attacking the Sabertooth Fleet from behind with bombing runs and giving the Bats and Wolves time to turn their ships around.
Brethil: "So, these are the 'Saviorites' from Aether Island that I've heard a bit about. We'll have to repay them for the help later."
With the Sabertooths bombarded on all sides by the Saviorites and Bat-Wolf force, on top of being unable to return to Fingir's Cove with the Eagle Triumvirate having conquered it, they're left with no choice but to surrender. The Bats and Wolves board the Sabertooth flagship and capture Admiral Finnegan.
Brethil: "You fought bravely and intelligently, Admiral, but it's over. There's no point to this war anyway."
The southern forces tell Finnegan about the events in the Arctic, which they've recently been told about by the Vultures over radio.
Finnegan: "Scat... So you'll ransom us to Maulisa? Why would we swear loyalty to a mammoth? What about King Finglor?"
Brethil: "As far as we know, him and the rest of the royal family abandoned you, or they're holding out in their Iron Mountains outpost, opposing Maulisa; if the latter report is true, they won't last much longer, wedged between the United Northern Kingdom and the southern forces. It'd be foolish for any Hunters to follow anyone other than Maulisa at this point, both for self-preservation reasons, and because she's seen reason and is in favor of peace."
The captured Sabertooths are put on a Bat aircraft carrier that's been converted into a prison barge, sailing north as the Saviorites plug fire chi into the remaining Sabertooth ships, melting away the ice and turning them into a regular fleet.
Saviorite Commander: "You mentioned repaying us for the aid earlier? You can repay us with a Saviorite Fleet."
Wol'jin and Brethil grin.
Wol'jin: "Fair enough; you've proven yourselves to be on the right side of history, and naval prowess isn't the Wolves' strong suit anyway."
The Bat and Saviorite fleets go southeast and southwest respectively, the former dropping the Wolves off back in their territory before going straight west to New Bat Island, and the latter returning to Aether Island.
)