Viktor Stahl
Day 6
About a week ago, I was not in fact a very religious person. Living in a world where religion and spirituality had no physical proof of being based on reality made me think of them more akin to myths or legends much like old stories.
Now however, I find myself in a world that has proof of gods existing, that being in the night sky for all to see as well, and I am accompanied by a group of religious zealots obsessed with martyrdom and washing the sins of their ancestors with their own blood. I will not deny, that such circumstances have made me be more welcoming towards the spiritual.
This new acceptance of higher powers has not demotivated me in any way to be completely honest, I do not wish to accrue enough power to stand as a peer to a god, I do not wish to denounce their existence either. After all, I desire to live and die as a human. With all our perfections and imperfections.
Why am I suddenly going on such a tangent you ask? Well, the reason is in front of me, "and how far would the nearest city or town be?" Seeing Tanya stab her mono-knife on the poor sap's knee, right between the bone and his kneecap. "Well, you better stop screaming and answer or I'm pulling this out and taking something with it."
Yeah, I am praying to the god emperor for his sake in my head, even if the guy turned out to be a bandit or a desert marauder as he called himself. My previous assessment was right, we are indeed in Menagerie, in the center of the continent to be precise.
The guy tied to a rock and being poked by a sharp stick by Tanya is part of a bandit group known as the Badlanders, they are apparently a bunch of outcasts, all thrown away from their own nomad families. And that was another… sign, it turns out the Remnant I find myself in is either VERY different from the one I know, or the show simply did not go over a lot of slightly important bits.
What little the guy could tell us paints a… Grimm picture. Apparently Remnant suffers from a very bad case of terminal dystopia, the cities of Vale, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral, are not in fact cities. They have more in common with Hive Cities from Warhammer 'though instead of being the size of a mountain, they cover a larger area instead.' than any city in my old life.
The population of Vale alone is thought to be above the 200 million range, the city is divided into layers, the first layer being the center, where the wealthy and powerful live. Then the layers continue to grow, with the outermost layer having the highest population, but also the most unfortunate.
The outermost layer being what is essentially a slum country in and of itself does nothing to help against the everpresent Grimm threat. All the suffering creates a cocktail of negative emotions, Multiplying the attraction of the Grimm toward the place more than the high population already does. And as such places the city in a constant, nonstop battle against the forces of darkness. Making incursions of Grimm inside the outer layers a common sight.
Besides that, the cities are plagued by constant violence, having such a large amount of people concentrated in a relatively small area creating a dangerous melting pot of ideas, ambitions, and vices. If you live near the middle layers, it is not uncommon to see gang shootouts, robberies, or even terrorist attacks in broad daylight.
It also seems that after the great war the Wizard of Oz was not able to overthrow the influence of the nobility entirely, as instead of ruling over the masses through force of arms or right of birth, they instead ruled over them as corporate overlords. Because this world was not bad enough already, 'I am starting to see a disturbing resemblance to Cyberpunk here.'
Besides that, one of the things that surprised me, even if it shouldn't have after hearing all this information, is that aura, the mystical power that the inhabitants of this world can awaken is made, partially illegal. I say partially because such a power is controlled by the Huntsman schools, four institutions based in the major cities that are all but micronations in their own right.
Almost entirely self-sufficient, the huntsmen academies and their branches can churn out tens of thousands of mediocre fighters every year, because it turns out not everyone is blessed enough to have a useful semblance. Most people have slightly useful abilities, such as thinking faster, having better dynamic vision, or being able to change hair color.
Speaking of semblances, apparently if all of that wasn't enough to convince you that this place is horrible for the average person, semblances are divided into different categories. Those categories are called aspects, and they are divided into 6: Elemental, Mental, Physical, Manipulative, Spatial, and Energy.
A semblance can be any one of those aspects or a combination of two or more. For example, a semblance that allows a person to amplify their strength and do the same to their mental faculties would be a physical-mental aspect semblance.
Among the aspects the most rare and coveted are the Spatial aspects, being so rare that 1 in about eight thousand possess them, be it alone or in combination with another aspect. This makes people possessing them one of the most sought-after individuals. The opposite of some Mental or Manipulative aspects.
People possessing a semblance with both of those aspects or in some cases even one, are discriminated against. The reason is that if Aura and semblances are reflections of the soul, what does someone possessing a semblance that allows them to control others' bodies say about their inner self?
One thing that is slightly better than old Remnant though, is the treatment of Faunus here. Instead of being seen as Slaves because of their animal features, they are seen as slaves for any other reason, same with humans. After the 'abolishment' of slavery Faunus and humans that were chained simply rejoined society, albeit with tension much like back on Earth.
This change in the history of this Remnant made it so the creation of the 'white fang' never happened, at least not as an activist turned terrorist group, they are apparently a group of racist bandits running around somewhere in Sanus. While the bleeding sieve was useful for gaining a general idea of the state of things, at the end of the day he is simply not important enough to have other information.
My rumination on this new information ends as instead of screaming in pain, our prisoner responds somewhat coherently. "O-Ok, p-please just stop! The nearest town is a small city called Kuo Kuana, it's about two weeks east of here."
Moving closer and motioning for Tanya to back off, she lets go of the knife stuck inside the guy's knee and straightens beside me. With a hint of curiosity, I question. "A small city you say?"
Stammering and Breathing heavily he says, "Y-yes, It's a s-small city run by the Belladonna clan, the current chieftain is Kali Belladonna." as he says that it makes me think, it seems that in this version of remnant, without the tension between faunus and humans, Kuo Kuana never managed to become the Defacto home for faunus.
Besides the large shift in this world's makeup compared to the one I remember, it seems that some, if not all the characters I am familiar with should exist. I blame this cosmic impossibility on my cosmically impossible patron or whatever entity threw me into this world.
Satisfied with the information we managed to gain I turn around and motion towards my throat with my hand, making Tanya enthusiastically nod. As she starts walking towards him, I can hear his breathing pick up, "W-wait! I told you everything! You ca-" By the time I make it back to my horse the only sound left is the sound of fluids dripping on the rocks.
Picking up an extension for my Vox-caster, I tune in to the main camp frequency. "This is commissar Stahl speaking, I want you to pack up everything and come towards these coordinates." after sending them the coordinates of the outpost the two centaurs are at I continue. "We have located a small contingent of bandits in need of extermination, as well as a potential source for the abilities of our current world."
Letting go of the button on my Vox-caster I can hear white noise for a few seconds until, "Affirmative sir Commissar, we will be at the location within 12 hours." satisfied by the answer i turn off the transmission.
Turning toward Hains and Tanya, the latter of which is poking the other unconscious prisoner with the tip of her lasgun boredly I say, "Hans, pack him up on the horse, we will be going back to the encampment for now."
With a salute, he picks up the unconscious body and places it on the back of the horse. Rummaging through the rucksack on my horse I take out a syringe and an unmarked ampule. Walking to the now tied-up body while reading the instructions on the ampule I think to myself, 'It says that it can knock out a Krieg Steed for an hour with 10 milligrams, so 2 should be enough until we get back to the encampment right?'
Poking and injecting our prisoner with what's maybe a too-potent general anesthetic is easy. Throwing the syringe and still mostly full ampule to the ground I turn back and hop on my horse, "Let's go, all this new information needs to be accounted for. Hopefully, by the time we get back, the others will have made dinner."
Day 7
Atop the centaur with one hand on the heavy stubber I can see the sun begin to rise on the horizon, as I admire the untouched beauty of the desolate wasteland I begin to hear the unholy sound of engines roaring. Turning towards the sound, over the horizon I can see a dust cloud forming. A few minutes later, a Convoy of 8 centaurs comes into view.
Dropping down from my position, I wait for the Convoi to come closer. As they near I can make out the shapes of kriegsmen manning the heavy stubbers, some of the centaurs carrying only personnel, while others carry supplies and materials to remake the camp.
As they make their way into the clearing, the first centaur drops Dr. Ludwig. With a salute he announces, "Herr Commissar, we have arrived." nodding at him I motion towards the clearing.
"Make camp, we will be discussing our next steps in a few hours, Hans will give you a debriefing." with another salute, he goes back to coordinating the other Kriegsman in setting up camp.
As the others are making camp, I move towards an empty area in the clearing. With a pull of the strings in the back of my mind, I summon three Basilisk artillery pieces. The basilisk is the most common self-propelled gun used by the imperium of man, while most effective if used by entire regiments to erase anything they target, they are still formidable weapons even if used in small numbers.
Featuring the long-barreled Earthshaker cannon, one of the most powerful cannons available to the Imperial guard, on top of a Chimera Chassis providing it decent mobility, the basilisk can carry out a large number of roles. From being a defensive emplacement to a mobile artillery piece, to an anti-air unit. With the ability to hit targets from over 15km away, these units will be the main part of my plan in the next few hours.
About half an hour later, I am now accompanied by Dr. Ludwig, Hans, and Tanya inside of a war tent. In front of me is a map containing the surrounding area, as well as the location of the Bandit camp.
With my hands crossed I begin, "First off, from our observations we can assume that the Ramshackle town has at the very least 100 inhabitants, one of them having been confirmed to possess the power of aura." staring at the map I continue, "Currently with all the kriegsmen that we have managed to find, we are 40 people strong. If we wish to come on top in this engagement we will have to do a devastating alpha-strike."
Tanya, not wearing her gas mask currently, raises her hand. "Yes, Tanya?"
She straightens and begins, "Sir, since we have 3 available Basilisks you wish to bomb their settlement first correct?" at my nod she continues, "I would like to request being deployed nearby to surround the crater their encampment is located in, with such a large amount of people, there are bound to be escapees from the original bombardment, the chances of the individual possessing aura to escape is also high."
Mulling over her reasoning I nod, "Request accepted" At my response, she gives a toothy smile with a small fist bump. "However, at your current rank, you do not have commanding power, effective immediately I am promoting you to the rank of Granedier."
As she straightens herself with a salute I continue, "I will leave the plan of operation for the infantry in your hands Tanya, I myself will be leading the artillery teams." moving my gaze toward Dr. Ludwig, "We have kept one of our captures alive, he is yours to do with as you please. However I would request you catalog their anatomy, I want to know if the humans of this world are different from what we know. I know for a fact they are more resilient, during the capture the prisoner went tumbling for about a dozen feet from a high-speed crash, the only notable injuries were some scratches and a few bruises."
With a nod, the doctor salutes, "Very well Herr Commissar, I will make sure to note any anomalies." as he finishes and leaves the tent I turn toward Hains.
"Hains, you will be going with Tanya as an escort. While she will be in charge of taking out the bandits, you will be responsible for the capture of the individual possessing aura." hearing my orders, Hainst salutes and leaves the tent to equip himself.
Turning toward Tanya I say, "You have permission to use any equipment you will need, however, the maximum amount of men you will be able to take is 20." She nods sharply. "Dismissed."
As she makes her way out of the tent, I begin to calculate the amount of destruction I wish to cause. My math comes out spelling 'Vraks'
1 hour later
My vox-caster buzzes with white noise before I can hear the voice of Tanya, "Sir, we have arrived, we will be in a position in 5 minutes."
Reaching towards my headset I say, "Confirmed, ETA on bombardment is 5 minutes."
Getting up from my Lawn chair, 'Crazy these things are used even in the 40th millennium' I order the men, "Climb into position! The coordinates of our target are known by all of you, if any of you miss I will have you work on logistics for a month!"
With a simultaneous salute and a crisp ""Yes Sir!"" everyone gets into their positions in the basilisks.
Deciding to have a bit of fun with this, I go to my tent and pick up a speaker, bringing it in front of the basilisk trio I set it down and look at my watch. '2 more minutes'
As a minute passes by, I turn on the speaker picking up a stick I climb on a stool with my feet. As the music begins i motion for the kriegsmen to aim their cannons, with the sounds of violins and piano, the Earthshaker cannons lift one after the other.
As the music begins to pick up, with every sharp note, I motion for one of the pieces to shoot. The explosion of air, caused by propelling a 38kg shell through the Earthshaker Cannon packed full of explosive makes my greatcoat flutter in the air behind me, picking up dust and… shaking the earth.
As all three cannons fire, the music cycles back, and I motion again like directing an orchestra, the cannons fire again perfectly on beat. After three volleys, I think 'boom, boom, boom, the sound of coming doom~'.