Green, lush woods as far as the eye can see...
The soft, evening sunlight gently enveloped the scenery as a flock of birds made its way through the sky. If one took a peek under the treetops they would see an untouched, ancient forest with large white stones, overgrown by moss, small creeks, birds, insects and many, many other animals. The ground is covered by small plants like berry bushes or ferns. Within this idyll a single road winds through the forest. This road is made of white cobblestone as smooth as can be.
But on this day the silent forest and the lonely road experienced something entirely new and never seen before.
"Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud" thousands of boots were marching on this lonely road disturbing its peace. Long lines of soldiers moved their tired bodies forward in a lose travelling formation. The soldiers were all dressed the same, clad in brown tunics and gambesons, with partial plate armor on shins, knees, elbows, shoulders and a kettle helmet. Each and every one of them wielded a halberd about 2 metres long. On their backs they carried individual supplies necessary for a long march. Their chests wore a proud crest. A white shield with a blue flame on it.
Steadily the army advanced through the forest for 3 days. The forest had an eerie aura for the soldiers as they all knew, that their enemy was sitting in the green, able to ambush them at any given time. The minds of the soldiers were never truly at rest. They were fearsome of the treat the forest people posed. The people of this forest called themselves the Germanesh and their folk had been inhabiting and protecting the forest for ages. Now the King of Thesa, a large kingdom bordering the forest decided to make the forest and its rare resources his dominion. The forest people were in his way. What could these backwards people living in the forest even do against the power of his mighty kingdom. And while that mightve been the truth in an open field battle the forest was the home of the Germanesh and they were hell bent on defending their and their ancestors homeland. The Germanesh werea tribe connected to the natures spirits, valued honor and were fearless of death. Soon after the war initially started the bravest warriors of the Germanesh gained an unbelievably fearsome reputation asgods of slaughter. Now the second army of these was travelling through the ancient woods on their way to set up a foothold in the forest. They were the first army to ever enter the woods farther than a days march and so far no army that entered left in one piece. Morale was low among the soldiers, but with discipline they held formation and continued walking. On the 4th day the soldiers started hearing wolvish howls and bearish roars in the forest. At first they laughed it off as wild animals, but the sounds didnt stop until the 5th day, when everything went deathly quiet. No birds, no wind. Just boots walking. The frontmost soldier, a general advanced steadily on his horse. The army was approaching a small hill on top of which the sun was just setting. The round orange sun shines beautifully and created an awing contrast to the black figure standing in front of it right on top of the hill. "BLACK FIGURE?!?!?!" the general thought as he stopped his advance and took a closer look. The sillhouette has the form of a 4 metre tall man with fluttering hair and bulging muscles. In his hand he held a spear as long as himself. In his other hand he wore a huge shield having the form of an elypse. His gigantic body was surrounded perfectly by the sun and only a pitch black silhouette was visible. Imposingly the man stood there, still far away from the approaching army. His hair was fluttering in the air, his body not moving from the spot, staring down at the Thesian soldiers with contempt and without fear. The aura he exuded was one of brutality and raw power. The general sat on his horse thinking of the stories the soldiers told themselves about the warriors of the forest. "ASSUME FIGHTING POSITIONS! PIKE FORMATIONS!!!!!!!" He screams and the thousands of soldiers started busily relaying orders and moving into groups of 40 readying themselves for a fight. Many were shaking in fear from the reputation of the forest folk alone.
A minute passed without anyone moving. Then suddenly a deep humming sounded through the air. It were the sounds of a man singing with his throat. The sounds echoed throughout the forest and it was clear it came from the man standing on the hill. Suddenly a second voice joined in, then a third, then a fourth, all the way until there were 200 voices humming in a deep voice. The humming contained a profound ancient aura and sounded beastly and brutal. It made the men shiver in their boots. The humming slowly formed into rough and ancient manly voices accompanied by weapons smashing on shields. They sung a song in the language of the Thesians and this is how it went:
Hey! Every Men!
Hear our voices!
Listen to us now:
In thy hands is death
Thy people we shall slaughter
And no mercy is given
Fearless we are
Death makes us laugh
War is what we want
Thou! Dies!
In this battle thou shall die.
The words were rolled and sounded spit from the throats laced with hate and power. When the song arrived at the last word the voices faded away. Even the bravest of Soldiers were now quivering and the first unexperienced soldiers started fleeing. All before the battle even commenced. A large battlecry from the man on top of the hill sounded out, the ripples in the air visible to all. What followed his were hundreds of other battlecries sounding out as men twice the size of the Thesians jumped out of the thick trees on the sides of the sizeable army that as formed like a long snake due to the forest and narrow road. The big and burly men and agile women that appeared were nearly unclothed. Only covering their privates on each and everyones back one could make out fearsome tattoos seemingly laced with power in all different colors. The Germanesh all had a frenzied look in their eyes as they jumped into the formations smiting down multiple common soldiers with each swipe of their towering axes, spears, falchions, bihanders and many other weapons. Many Germanesh were impaled and killed by the tight pike formations, but each life of a Germanesh traded for tens of Thesians. The Germanesh bravely jumped into death smiting down dozens of Thesians and suffering many injuries in the process. Despite their injuries each and everyone fought on like crazed dogs wasting not even a single thought on fleeing. The 10000 soldiers of the Thesians were reduced by 2000 after the first charge of the Germanesh. The Germanesh lost a total of 100 men and women. The soldiers of the Thesians were regaining hope and stood strong. All Germanesh that had attacked were now dead. Finally, the man on the hill starts walking down and towards the army. The General standing in the middle of the army surrounded by his personal guard called out to him:"So what are you gonna do, wild man, fight us? You and what army?". Each and every one of the personal guards was 2 metres or taller and exuded unnatural strength. There were a total of 50 of them. The tall man finally comes in sight of the general. The man has black hair and black tattoos. His hands have transformed into demonic claws up to his shoulders. He throws away his weapons, spreads his arms and walks towards the general in a dominating manner. "This army." he mumbles. As the general hears this he starts sweating. The next wave of Germanesh warriors has arrived. This time the warriors are all partially transformed and with demonic, animalistic cries they jump right into the pikes. The metal seemingly unable to harm the warriors in the slightest. They rampaged through the ranks of the 8000 Thesians even though they didnt count more than 50. The Germanesh leader continued to slowly walk to the general. The personal guard assumes an offensive formation and moves forwards. With open arms the tall man rushed into the pike formation and tears apart the personal guards. He grabs the closest guard, lifts him up and bites off his head, followed by a loud battlecry making the other Germanesh attack in an even stronger frenzy. Now covered in blood from top to bottom only wearing a loincloth and with demonic arms he slaughtered his way through the 50 guards. Nobody in his way survived. He was like the bringer of death himself. Now even the most experienced veterans pissed themselves rendered unable to fight from their fear. The last thing the general saw was a claw about to penetrate his throat. "This is the Forests Wrath, why did we have to wake this sleeping giant...." he thought with regret before his conciousness faded away never to return.
2 weeks later on the border of the forest the Thesians found 10000 heads on top of sticks right outside of the forest painting a gruesome, bloody picture. The eyes of each and every one of them were gouged out and their faces were distorted in fear or pain.
As the Thesian king saw this he was horrified. The gruesome methods and absolute power of these warriors intimidated him immensely. He walked to a temple made of black cobblestone in a place near his capital city. As he entered he saw a small figure in a black robe seemingly sitting in the air its eyes seemingly two blue flames in the dark.
"Grandmaster Mumbulu. This king humbly seeks to cash in on the favour you owe my family. Fight the Germanesh for me and eradicate them from this world!"
"Now now, dont be hasty. The Germanesh are the protectors of the forest and their warriors are the most fearsome I have ever encountered. Their runes and unwavering spirit give them strength even our order has to respect. But do not worry. I have a plan."
Over the next 20 years hundreds of thousands of men died in the Kings attempts to subdue the Germanesh. Only once a hidden organisation took action did the tides change. This order of dark robed monks were able to subdue and eliminate the grand and powerful Germanesh tribe. The monks systematically killed off all Germanesh warriors they could find and the ancient forest was integrated into the Kingdom of Thesa, its resources plundered.
A hundred years passed and due to the steady hunt on the Germanesh they slowly but surely turned into legends that were told to intimidate children.