[SS AAR] lakinis juice

[TheTrueGreek]

welcome to my first aar, lakinis juice

im used stainless steel and playing on hard/hard with hidden house rules and no other mods

after many months spent in the ruins of the temple of soloman, dr. kirding had unearthed a what he interpreted to be an ancient text written in latin, telling of the tale of Huges, an armenian christian.
he spent weeks deciphering the text and published his findings a year later
the book got little attention do to the fallacy of the things it suggested, however, it provided great insight to the order of the knights templar and that is why i have decided to republish the book with my own commentary to explain the mysteries of the templar order

i will begin posting tommorow but there will be a large gap in post times

[Romaios]

We are awaiting you AAR my friend!!

[Shadow8]

sounds interesting.

[TheTrueGreek]

thank you for your comments, ive been on vacation so i have not been able to make it but ill get the first chapter in tommorow, before i start, im gonna post songs that i feel should be played while reading, im posting links to youtube and noone has to listen if they dont want to, these are simply my suggestions of what to listen to while reading it

1. Lakinis Juice- live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7B0DoyEGhY

2. I alone- Live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHnGWX0kYgc

3. Bullet with Butterflywings- Smashing Pumpkins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxNX_PRqhCQ

4. Enemy- Drowning Pool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gLxsQAU2uI

[TheTrueGreek]

Chapter one
The sacrifice of blood

the king, Avak, sat on his throne, weariness showing all to clear on his face.
he knew his city, one that has been in his dynasty for hundreds of years, since the days of Parthia and Rome, was going to fall. He had been holding onto it for nearly two years now, and the enemy had drawn them to their limit, "Ararat is out of food my lord, we need to surrender now and hope they bring mercy on out souls" Vosdanig said in his usuall standoffish tone, Avak was tireing of his canstant warnings of his impending doom but knew he was his most wise and intellegent of his officers, so he stayed his tongue so as to remain on the better side of Vosdanig. Avak was fabled as a military savant, but even he knew he could not win, the turkish horde before, nearly 100,000 men strong, to his measly 10,000 men, all tired and worn down by the constant barrages of catapults and disease that was beggining to run without control through his city. With a look of extreme sorrow and burdon, he called forth all his men into earshot, and told them that they will sally forth as they need to at least repel some of the turks before the sweep through all of armenia, when the soldiers left to eat what was most likely there last dinner, he called to Vosdanig and Zoravar , and told them to ride out with his son, Vrej, to jerusalem, his men would provide a distraction for them to escape, with that he donned his armor and his steed which he has rode for nearly 10 years now. He hoped his men would hold up long enough for his son, his only mark on this world now, to escape.

[TheTrueGreek]

Vosdanig, a man in his early 30s, was raised in Ararat, he had defended it since he left the military academy when he was 16, and now he was forced to run from it. He cursed Allah for bringing the Turks to his city, but knew Avak had placed a great responcibility in him. he understood that in his escape Avak had sacrificed himself. While there was no hope for Ararat, there was great hope for Haroutioun.

Zoravar was happy, he had been picked off all the remaining knights tohelp vosdanig, and as a result he got the prize of being able to live. Zoravar was renowned as a great rider on horseback, it was he that manages to defeat Paylag the merciless in a tourney, a man who had until then, been undefeated. however his company was sad, it wasnt his friends whom he grew uip with, its was a little baby and a strategist, not very safe for him, but then again, he had forced castles to concede to him just by his presence, and those memories of great success comforted him, for if allah had wished him to live, then he must be going down the correct road.

Two weeks after they left the burning city of Ararat, they saw the great walls of Antioch, a great city that Vosdanig decided was safe enough to stop to rest their horses and gain much needed sleep.

Another week after they stopped there, they reached the city of Jerusalem, the city of 3 religions, it was here they would be free to live for the rest of Haroutioun's childhood.

Haroutioun grew up to be strong, under the constant guidance of Zoravar he learned the art of cavalry warfare, and through Vosdanigs teachings he learned over all strategy. It was also here that Haroutioun learned of the catholic religion, while initailly skeptical he eventually was converted to catholism, much to the dissamay of Vosdanig. Even with this obstruction as Vosdanig puts it, Haroutioun is able to learn the virtues of chivalry, something that Zoravar scoffs at but the easily influenced Haroutioun takes it to heart.

[TheTrueGreek]

feel free to comment, i know its a lot of story but its prologue so ill be getting pics in soon

[TheTrueGreek]

Hughes, or Haroutioun for those who know his younger years, had lived a tutors life in Tortosa, teaching the poor their how to defend themselves, however, when the time came to actually defend from the sultan of antioch, the current lord fled and left Hughes in command. Hughes had been tought the essence of strategy and this was his first time he could actually use it, gripping Zoravars lance tightly, he readied for battle.

The sultan, unwise and horribly inbred, actually led an army of horse archers against the castle, Using a basic ram guided by militia, he actually hoped to break down the walls.

Hughes laughed at his opponets feable attempt to take Tortosa and wondered who informed his lord of this army. At dawn of the next day, the sultan felt it boring to wait and decided to attack.

Hughes, told his archer division to rain hell on the enemy, and at once the battle begun. Astonished at the sultans success at getting the ram to the gates, Hughes realized that he was facing a smarter opponet that he thought he was.

However, with success almost always comes failure and once the gates were broken, the sultan tried to force his poorly equipped horse archers thru in the city, only to be beaten back be one hundred spears. this disheartened the enemy and to raise moral the sultan himself charged into the spearmans extended arms.

The sultan was found not long after noon, he had been stabbed thru the stomach, then decapitated, resulting in an instant rout of the Islamic army.

Hughes knew that this meant greater things for him, however there was a coward lord to deal with first....

[TheTrueGreek]

The next few pages are illustrations of a great battle Hughes fought between his lord for supremecy, the words are incomprehensible so ill just show you the illustrations.

This is what appears to be the lords horse falling after he was slain



And this is the final count by the end of the day, its obvious the lord had taken only his knights with him, leaving the peasents to fend for themselves which much to his amazement they did



The next pages are incomprehensible but it is assumed that Hughes noticed the ability of a knight named goddfried and placed him as second in command

"prepare a boat to Rome", Hughes said,"we need the graces of god to be with us if we will survive in this muslim world". thus, a ship of low quality was mustered from the little wood in the surrounding land, and a man who knew the secrets of words was placed on board with orders to gain the popes favor no matter what the cost.

We will build up an army to strike back at the cursed men of Antioch in the meantime, once we establish a connection to god, we may call upon his army to assist us in battle.




There, the preface has been finished, please tell me if you like it or not and any suggestions would be nice since it is now the year 1080 and i can do anything after i siege antioch

[Zhangir]

Wow ))))) nice nice, i like it, but i can't get it, this stainless steel mod, has Templars??? Coooool )))

[TheTrueGreek]

ya, stainless steel is a mix of the kingdoms expansion and medieval 2, its really good but extremely hard as they gave the templars a peasent army and one wooden castle

[Zhangir]

ya, stainless steel is a mix of the kingdoms expansion and medieval 2, its really good but extremely hard as they gave the templars a peasent army and one wooden castle

Aaaah I see
I ll go read about it now

[TheTrueGreek]

Chapter 2
The gift of god



Henry, after drifting for what felt a week, finally landed on land. Henry had lived a good life in Tortosa, acting as the embassador to the turks and egyptians but this was his first experiance in europe, and quite bluntly, he hated it. his boat, if thats what you want to call it, made it to crete safely but thats were the good fortune ended. halfway to italy his boat was attacked by pirates and after barely making it out alive with only 4 other sailors he hoped to get to rome within a week, but the pirates wernt happy with wounding his ship, oh no, they wanted to make an example out of him and they hunted them down till he was cornered 20 miles or so off the italian coastline, his ship was destroyed and thank god a plank had been drifting by for him to float on. from there he had to swim the remaining distance to shore, but he knew he would never see his family again, his only thing keeping him sane was the letter he had protected that he was ordered to deliver to the pope, he had no idea what it carried but he didnt care as he wanted to be rid of the aweful hughes as soon as he could.

Gregorious IX was surprised when he saw a half starved man running to him, with about 20 gaurds chasing him. He told the obviously crazy man to stop and tell of why he came without an warning or invantation, When Gregorious heard that the man had a letter to deliver to the pope for only his eyes to see, he was surprised but did not let it show, for the man carried himself like a diplomat and he could show no weakness to such types or they would take advantage of such things. However the contents of the letter shocked him and he knew that god had given him a gift for him to be remembered as a great pope that spread the faith rather than sit and preach. He asked if the messenger had means to return from whence he came, and he said no as his boat was sunk of the shoreline, Gregorious said that that shall not matter to him now for he would be given 10 years in pay and could stay here should he want, for his devotion was obviously great.

Henry was pleased at his pay, with this money he could pay for a voyage home and live the rest of his life at home, but curiosity got the best of him as he looked at the reply the pope gave to the letter and it made him suddenly very thankful that he was in Italy an not Tortosa.

the letter inside bore a message that would make history and make or break the castle of tortosa

[TheTrueGreek]

Tortosa had accepted his leadership with arms wide open, and thus expected fair treatment in return and they had recieved it, Hughes was kind to all, poor and rich.

as a result the city loved him, he hoped this proved to be correct as he had just recieved word of the popes acceptance of his proposal, "Men, as you know we have been readying for action against the city of antioch, our army is large, but we cannot wage this war by ourselves, so ive asked the for the pope to sanctify Antioch as the leader of heathenism, the target for all catholic factions and in helping the taking of this he has ordaned that we are now a sovereign kingdom known as the Knights Templar, and we have his backing in all of our actions to further Catholism in the Holy Lands"



The hall erupted into sounds, there were many men saying that we could take on the men of antioch for we have proven we could do it before, and others congradulating Hughes for his decision of caution rather than recklessness.

"Now, we ride out to meet Godfreid who has his army in wait for the order to strike" Hughes said, leaving to get his equipment and the lance that Zoravar had left him when he came of age.

[TheTrueGreek]

Goddfreid was waiting at the edge of the Tortosa border, he had been stationed there 1 month ago to get the troops used to marching and be ready to strike at the city of Antioch. He owed much to Hughes and he hoped he would gain the opportunity to show his appreciation in the future.
However, when he saw Hughes himself leading an army of his own, his expectations for greatness in battle dropped. Hughes appeared to have a couple hundred men, which was odd as Tortosa only had a garrison of 300, which meant that Hughes didnt have faith that he could take Antioch himself.

No matter, he will still show his ability in the seige one way or another, and he knew that the walls would be difficult to scale and that he couldnt be there to personnally fight for the gates, so it may be better in the end.


Hughes looked at the Goddfreid, just entering his early 20's and thanked god for giving him such an able man under his command. His father was part of the army that took tortosa from the sultan of Antioch and he had been born in Tortosa. Who the mother was was unknown but she is rumored to be of royal blood, however none of that mattered, for goddfreid worked hard to acheive the position he was about to bestow to him.

"My lord, we have numorous men at our disposal and the army of Antioch has lost the majority of its men in their failure to take Tortosa, i have also found 120 pilgrims who wish to help in our quest to take the city. they are poorly equipped but they should prove to be good arrow fodd-"

"Dont you dare utter those words goddfreid" Hughes said, anger flashing in his eyes,"we are an order that are to protect Catholics, not use them to save our own men."

"But sire, surely they have no better use?" Goddfreid said pleading his perspective.

"I will have none of it, you will need to learn the essence of chivalry if you are to be my heir, and all men have a use other than arrow fodder."

With this Hughes left, and ordered a servant to give goddfreid a book that he himself had recieved on Vosdanigs death bed.

Chapter 3
The fall of a heathen city

The men reached Antioch in 6 months, and set about sorounding it, they had also sent in a spy and he had earier reported that the gates were to well defended to be opened, however they had only a few units of militia and some archers.

"We need to starve them for a little while, for every man they lose, we gain 2 in their stead, we will stop there trade, seize all farmers around the city, and convert them to catholisism, we are here to spread the faith and this we shall do" Hughes ordered to his officers, he had brought along a cardinal the pope was kind enough to give to the holy order. this cardinal had brought with him 10 other preists and they started to convert the surrounding lands.

a year passed with no occurances, other than a messanger reporting the building of a road network in Tortosa.

6 months later, Hughes decided that Antioch had been weakened enough to be asaulted.

he had been building a pair of ladders from the surrounding woods and he had given them to the pilgrims, they had been practicing the art of running while carrying the ladder, and to one of the spear militias he gave his ram, this was one of the most important things as once the gates are down, he and goddfreid can show them the might of knights and the power of Christianity.

"Men, today you fight and slaves of antioch, we were sent here by god to free them of their shackels, now ready yourselves for unforgettable glory!!!!!"

The horns were sounded, and the pilgrims picked up the ladders, with one spear militia trailing each, ready to climb once they are set.



the first few minutes were filled with screams as the officers ordered their respective men forward, the pilgrims ran in front of everyone, and reached the wall quickly before the archers could do real damage with their arrows.
there was much fighting in the walls, with almost all of the pilgrims being killed one by one by the archers,



However they eventually fought off the archers and sounded the horn for the militias following them to run up the ladders. At this time the ram had been pounding on on the gates, the men taking fire from the towers. however the broke through the gates and took the gates, at the sight of the flying wood Hughes spurred his horse and led ran to get through the gate.



The spy had informed him of the captain being a horse archer, the last one left of the Antioch army. Hughes ran through the militias gaurding the gate, currently fighting the men from the walls and the men who operated the ram. Goddfreid ran through to the center of the town, ready to catch any routing men before they could reform.



Hughes men charged the captian, who had been shooting at the pilgrims on the walls, they however didnt see the knights charging, focused as they were on the men on the walls, and the majority of their men died on impact, impaled 3 feet into the lances of Hughes men,

Hughes own lance crashed through the stomach of the captain, who had slid down towards the gaurd of Zoravars lance. at this gruesome sight, the remaining men fled, the battle had been won, but at the cost of the noble pilgrims who volunteered to assist his quest.





This angered him beyond comprehension, that he was unable to take the city without taking such sever losses and that the losses be innocents shamed him to no end, but not so much as goddfreids orders to sack the city, at this Hughes entered a fit of greif and it is said that he had almost ran Goddfreid through right there.

alright, im going on vactation next week so this will most likely be the last update for a while

[TheTrueGreek]

all right, i know some of you are reading this as i have 190 views, so could you please voice you opinion on this. i really want to know how you veiw this

[TheTrueGreek]

ok, ive been giong through my screenshots and realized i dont have a single one thats in battle except for the final count, so if you want, ill continue without the pics and make an update today, or ill do the battles and have to wait a week to update?

[emperornovaroma]

its your choice, keep up the good work. hope your aar does well

[TheTrueGreek]

ok, i have decided to take the time to play out the battles one by one, i thank you for reading my aar and hope that you will comment on how it may be improved while im on vacation

also, ive added to the seige of Antioch

[Zhangir]

Good so far
But... erm u r right, too many casualties at Antioch